Recipe for Disaster

1 cup tomato soup
1 serving grilled ham and cheese sandwich
1 full sippy cup, preferably malfunctioning
1 mischievous 11-month-old
1 easily amused audience (1 mommy and 1 daddy, home for the day)

Makes: messiest mealtime ever

The Cure for Crankiness

When we left Houston, I swore I'd never again complain about hot summers. And when a heat wave hit Portland this week, I didn't need to complain, because Riley was cranky enough for us both.

...until we discovered the perfect prescription: playtime in Anna's new kiddie pool!

Thanks Anna!

4 1/4 Things About the Fourth

4: pounds of berries Riley and I consumed on our berry-picking excursion with Aunt Sheri and Aunt Alison this morning

4: times per minute on our berry-picking excursion I said: "I can't believe I forgot the camera!"

4: hours spent in the sun—picking berries, eating hamburgers with Matt's rehab group, and going on walks (and zero: sunburns!)

4: collective hours of naptime between Riley and me this afternoon

1/4: fraction of the city's firework show I was able to view (between the trees) from our 5th-floor apartment

And one little goal: figure out the camera's night-vision feature...

Eliminating Expectations

Well that July 3 timeline was a little off. So we've decided to forgo timelines altogether and just let Matt's body recovery whenever it wants. (Although he'd like to be home for Riley's birthday on July 25...)

Turns out, it's not unheard of for Guillain-Barré patients to require a second round of that immune system-boosting treatment. And if he becomes weak and numb again, he may need to continue treatment like steroids for awhile to aid his recovery.

Meanwhile, he's done at the hospital and heads back to rehab this morning. I've gotta figure out how to sneak in sparklers tomorrow... (Happy fourth!)

Baby Olympics

Yesterday morning, Riley's favorite friend Anna came over (while her parents moved—against my will—from six blocks to six miles away) for a Playdate Extraordinaire.

Activities included:

• Baby races
• Sofa pull-ups
• Cheerio-eating contests
• Teddy-bear tug-of-war

They were a pretty darn even match—except Riley dominated at teddy-bear tug-of-war. I'm so proud of my little bully!

(Unless...is it time to teach sharing?)