Riley's 2nd Christmas

The Christmas season started with us getting our tree and ornaments down the weekend after Thanksgiving. At that point, I had a HUGE epiphany!! Every single ornament I had for our tree was GLASS! I'm not lying besides 1 that Riley's Great Grandmother sent last year, and the Baby's 1st Christmas that I put Riley's photo in - every single ornament was glass! I had to give up my "adult tree" that was all silver and white and streamlined which I had just completed getting put together last year! However, this was a welcomed sacrifice considering what I was giving it up for!! However, it did require several trips to the Christmas store and Target. In the end, it wasn't everything I would have liked it to be, but it was all "baby friendly" so crisis averted! Mom's 1st Christmas Mission Accomplished!!

Riley handled the tree pretty well. He wasn't very interested the first couple of days, then all of the sudden his new skill of "finding matches" got the best of him. He started pulling ornaments that "matched" off at the same time. There were 2 that were his favorites, so they were worn out by the time we took the tree down. The only other near 'mishap' we had was that he loved the ribbon I had wrapped around the tree, so he started this nasty habit of grabbing the ribbon at the bottom of the tree and pulling! OMG! Since it was at the bottom of the tree it didn't pull it over, it just moved the tree a few inches! He's STRONG like an OX! So I finally figured out I would just wrap the bottom row of ribbon back around and hide it on the backside of the tree to avoid us having to call "TIMBER"! And Mommy and Riley having to cry!! He did walk around with glitter on him for the entire month of December from playing ornament match every day though!

Once the tree was complete, Christmas started early for Riley. The 1st presents under the tree were from his Great Aunt Shireen. Obviously, she's a lot better at getting her shopping done early than Mom is! In fact, I think we received her presents before I completed the tree!! They were under the tree for at least a few days before Riley all of the sudden noticed them the first Saturday night in December while Kelly and I were sitting right there with him. Out of the blue, we looked over and he had picked up a present and pulled it out from under the tree. We were interested to see what he'd do with it so we just let him go. It took a little while and some assistance, but he got it open. The funniest thing was that he knew what it was before he opened it! He carried it over to me still wrapped and said "book", which is what he does when he wants me to read a book to him! It was a Merry Christmas book, so it was the perfect one to choose to open early! ;)

The next weekend, he did the same thing with a stuffed animal from Grandma & Grandpa Sterne. He carried it around the house wrapped for over an hour tossing it around then picking it up, he'd even put it back where he found it for a few minutes then grab it again. Then we finally had to prod him along to help him open it. The cutest thing was that he put the wrapping paper "back" in the same exact place he took the gift from once he was done opening it. Then he just went about with what he had been doing before like he never even opened a gift!

I know this could be a BAD habit to form, but I'm pretty sure he's not going to remember that I let him open presents early this year next year! And we had to see how this "opening presents" was going to go!

Here's another present we let him open early from Emily (his Nanny) and her family. He LOVES it! OMG! I mean LOVES IT! It cracks me up so much! It's an adorable little Toy Story sofa that's just his size! At first, he just opened and closed it (it's a sleeper sofa you can fold out). Then he sat on it and I pushed him around the house like it was a ride! And finally, I SWEAR (I can't make stuff this funny up!)! one day he came took the remote off the coffee table, then went and sat on his sofa and pointed it toward the TV pushing the buttons! I almost peed my pants!!! Kelly was at work, but he was TOTALLY mimicking Kelly! Kelly is Mr. TV! Riley and I can stay home all day and never turn the tv on, but as soon as Kelly walks through that door - it's like he can't function until the tv is on! I swear! There have been times when he's actually turned the tv on before he's greeted us! In my mid to late 20's, I lived without a TV for over 3 years, but I'm pretty sure Kelly would not be able to survive that! Drives me MENTAL for the tv to always be blaring in the background on videos I make of Riley, but Kelly's gotten pretty good at pausing the tv or muting it when we get the video camera out now. I think he's tired of hearing me complain about it!

My other pet peeve is a bunch of "stuff" in the background of a picture, but with an open house like ours - I've just learned to live with that. Unless I want to spend all my time "cleaning and straightening up" instead of hanging with my boys, I'm going to have to get over it! As my Mom said growing up our house is "lived in". Keeping my house spotless is a lot less important to me than spending quality time with Riley! I'm sure the background stuff will still bother me years from now when I look back at pics though! Maybe I can "photoshop" the backgrounds out in my spare time! Yeah right! What's spare time?!


Riley opening his sofa - do you see how "large" the piece of wrapping paper is he tore off! This was actually the LARGEST piece he tore off the entire time! Kelly and I had to assist or we would have been here 3 days waiting for this present to get opened!


He's thinking this is just the right size! Now I'm really like Daddy! I LOVE it!

The Sunday before Christmas we celebrated at my cousin Brandi's house with my Mom's side of the family. I already posted a video of the kids all dancing from that celebration, but here are some more photos of Riley have a BLAST with all his cousins! I can only imagine the trouble they'll get into together for years to come!


Riley saying "Gitcha Gitcha Gitcha" to Lessa Kate which is Riley speak for "I'm going to tickle, tickle tickle you like my Mommy & Daddy do me"!


Riley & Ross - Ross had a Cars sofa like Riley's Toy Story one. They had a lot of fun "horsing around".


More horsing around!

And more with the balls of course! They were the MAIN EVENT of the day!

And some more...


And more horsing around....


More ball fun!!!


And more....


And more! Look how rosy red those cheeks are from all this playing!


Kinlee never would have seen this coming, but luckily for her Riley was more likely to throw it over the back of his head than forward!

Those balls were worth their weight in GOLD for the entertainment they served this day!!


They ONLY picture we have of him "not on the move" the entire day!!! He took a very short break to open gifts.

This was the 1st Christmas in my ENTIRE life that I didn't spend Christmas Day at my PawPaw's house! For real! When I was really young before my sister was born, I even told Santa to bring my gifts to my PawPaw's house because me and my cousins would all spend the night there every Christmas Eve. Our tradition was to go driving around looking at Christmas lights with my MemMaw and PawPaw while our parents took care of business getting ready for Christmas day! ;) I totally get that NOW! ha! I handled this being the 1st Christmas I didn't go there pretty well. Things definitely change when you have your own kids, and it's important to Kelly and I that we have our own family traditions with Riley. And I don't really want one of those to be him seeing his gifts from Santa then having to pack up in the car and drive somewhere for lunch, etc. That's just not fair to him, so we've already made the decision that all Christmases will be spent at home from here on out. If any of our family wants to come here to celebrate with us, they are more than welcome!

So this inagural year, GiGi and my Granny (my Mom's Mom) came up to celebrate Christmas with us. They came up on Christmas Eve. Luckily, the left early in the day to come or they may not have made it at all! For the 1st time in my life, we had a white Christmas!! And the "blizzard" blew in on Christmas eve. They said at some points, they couldn't even see the car in front of them! Glad they made it safely!! Once they got here, Mother and I ventured back out to the grocery store to buy all the goodies for our Christmas lunch. By the time we were headed home, we were slipping and sliding! I couldn't even see the lanes on the road! I've never seen it like that here!

On Christmas Eve, Mother and I made homemade chocolate peanut butter cups just for Kelly. Anything with peanut butter is one of his FAVORITES! I told him they were one of my favs growing up, and he said they were just as good as I described! Melt in your mouth yummy!! He couldn't get over the paraffin thing though! That totally freaked him out!

This also started the string of comical mishaps we had doing our 1st Christmas lunch at our house! First, my Mom broke the lid to the slow cooker as she got it out of the cabinet. We improvised with foil though. Then my Mom & I went up to put Riley to bed, so we told Kelly to yell at us when the timer went off on the oven so we could take the cornbread out we were making for the cornbread stuffing. Well Kelly's friend Will called, so he got 'sidetracked' and forgot to tell us! The cornbread was supposed to cook 20 mins. It ended up cooking almost 40 mins by the time we came back down and saw it!! Thank GOD it wasn't totally burned! A little on the "well done" side, but not a total loss! If it had been, we wouldn't have had dressing for Christmas day because everything was closed at this point!! Crisis averted once again!!

The 3rd food mishap was when Granny accidentally added cold water to the green beans in the slow cooker the following morning before the rest of us got up- it basically broke the bottom perfectly out of the slow cooker! Luckily, we had more green beans we could cook though!

But the BIGGEST mishap of all was Granny falling during the night! She ended up looking like we had beat her by the time she went home! She told us she fell when we got up, and she had 1 bruise at the top of her head. Then when we were sitting eating lunch later, I sat across from her and noticed that her entire forehead was swollen even down between her eyes!! Kelly said he couldn't see it, and I was like she's 73 years old and she doens't have 1 wrinkle on her forehead right now! Then he could tell!

Later that day we were all watching "It's a Wonderful Life", Granny got up for something then we she walked back to the sofa I looked up and she had 2 black eyes!! It was SPREADING!! The following morning, her eyes were so swollen one of the wouldn't even close all the way!!!

She was a total sport about it though! She laughed about it as much as we all did! I never would have laughed if she hadn't started it first!! It was so bad, the following week - she took one of her sister's to the Dr, and they thought she was coming in because her ENTIRE face was black and blue!!

Now to Christmas morning! Kelly and I asked Santa if he would mind delivering almost all of Riley's gifts even from us, GiGi and PawPaw & Shelia after we got a glimpse into Riley's present opening tactics! We would have been here a week opening presents! And Riley doesn't have that much patience! Trust me!! I didn't even get one picture of ALL his presents. I think I got them all on video, but not camera.


Here was his table of "little" presents Santa delivered.


His favorite of the bunch - the classic popper of course!! He got this down pretty quickly!


What has since Christmas become his definite favorite is the Basketball goal! He LOVES it! Actually, I think he just loves to hear the crowd cheer everytime he makes a goal!! Santa delivered this from PawPaw & Shelia.


Riley Sterne with the dunk!!


Daddy, GiGi and Granny cheering him on!! He even claps for himself after he makes the basket too! Oh so cute!!


I think he may be Steve Nash though! He almost likes getting the assist by bringing the ball to you more than actually making the baskets! In the background is one of his "Santa" gifts - the Bounce, Spin and Learn Pony. We ended up returning that gift to Santa b/c even though it's supposed to be through 3+ years of age - our little man is BIG so he looked like Shaq riding that poor pony!


His other Santa gift was the Kangaroo Climber!


I think he likes it!!


Sure looks that way!


He wasn't too sure about going down the slide at 1st, but he's got it down now! Right now I have to put him up on the platform and let him sit to slide down the slide to me. He doesn't know how to climb up on the platform yet and isn't confident enough to slide without someone there to slide to. I'm sure he'll get it soon enough though!!


And of course, he wants to climb up the slide rather than slide down it!


This is a picture of the size of the piece of wrapping paper Riley would tear off and bring to me piece by piece! Now you see why Mom & Dad asked Santa for the favor of delivering other gifts too, huh?!


He did have gifts from Grandma & Grandpa Sterne and Great Aunt Shireen to open though, so Dady helped him out!


"Book" as he would say from Great Aunt Shireen. I have it on video, but he actually turned through every page of the book when he opened it.


Jungle Popup book from Great Aunt Shireen. This one will have to go on the shelf to only be read with Mom & Dad, or all the animals will no longer be living in the jungle! :)


My sweet little man on his 2nd Christmas!! OMG! We love him SOOOOOOOOOOO much!!!

Despite all our mishaps, our inagural Christmas lunch turned out PERFECT! And I made (with GiGi's help) my MemMaw's Cornbread dressing for the 1st time ever and it was perfect too!! I was so excited! That dressing is my all time FAVORITE holiday meal! Kelly's too now! Now we won't have to fight over the leftovers as much as we did before! Especially since we have to share with Riley now too b/c he LOVES it too! You should have seen the recipe my MemMaw had written, it didn't even have AMOUNTS on it! That's where my Mom came in helping fine tune the recipe and fill in the blanks!!

Then we all watch It's a Wonderful Life, then played with Riley and his toys more once he woke up from his nap. Then Kelly and I went to see Sherlock Holmes while GiGi and Granny watched Riley. Unfortunately, I literally slept through the entire movie! I think mainly b/c I could finally relax once everything was over! A successful Christmas! However, I have no idea how I would have gotten everything done if I hadn't been off since the 14th. Hopefully, my job won't be as crazy for the last 6 months of the year like it was last year and I'll be able to get stuff done earlier rather than later!!

Wow! It's been a while!

Wow! I knew it had been a while, but I didn't realize it had been so long since I had last posted! My excuse for November is that I didn't have my home pc going for a while because I got a new one (Thanks Rusty!)! Then work has been so crazy lately! I had to cancel at least 4 scheduled vacation days early in December due to issues at work, which meant I REALLY didn't have any extra time to post. Then when I finally got to start my vacation on Dec 14th, I had to play holiday catch up! I joked to Kelly that I needed to go back to work so I could get some rest! Seriously, the 1st day I got to relax was yesterday (the day after Christmas). Leading up to that was all nighters to get Christmas cards done and out, gifts wrapped, photobooks made, etc! Which is ironic b/c I so want Riley to know the reason for the season and not get caught up in all the mass marketing hoopla of it being all about him and what presents he gets! However, Mom is going to have to practice what she preaches and lead by example there! There's always next year!

One tradition we decided to start this year was Riley choosing which toys he wants to donate the day after Thanksgiving. Obviously, Riley can't choose yet, so I started that process this year by gathering up at least the toys he never plays with. I am sad to report they are still stacked in a box in my room. My intention is to get them donated so less fortunate people will have them to choose from for Christmas presents! I did however offer to our housekeeper to take whatever she wanted out of the box to her daughter and nieces. Which she did, so it wasn't a complete lost cause! I also had lofty goals of filtering through Riley's toys before Santa came, but my to do list was too long and that one wasn't on the critical path so it didn't get done!

Okay...enough of my rambling on and on with my lack of blogging excuses! Let's play some catch up!!

Riley continued to add to his dancing repertoire through all of November and December. He actually started to put some of his arm and leg moves together, then he added a shoulder swivel, then all of the sudden his main move became pivoting on one foot in a circle as if he were dancing around something. He's still the same way - he can be doing anything - and if Kelly turns it to the "dance music" Riley comes running to the front of the tv and starts working his moves. He even shows a preference for certain beats, etc. He doesn't like them all.

Here are a couple of the "greatest" hits videos that I've captured over the last couple of months.


Here is his greatest hits (from a month ago). GiGi, my sister Amy and her new baby Jayden came to visit for Kelly's birthday (Nov 20th) bearing an ice cream birthday cake! Yum! My mom grabbed my point and shoot camera and captured Riley working the dance floor which is why it's a little dark. As you can hear in the background - the 4 of us are literally crying we are laughing so hard! This went on for a WHILE! This is just the 1st video captured of his best moves before he started to get tired!


This is another video of Riley dancing with all his cousin's at my cousin Brandi's Christmas celebration for my Mom's side of the family on Dec 20th! As you'll see, he's stopped doing some of his moves and traded them for this new shoulder twist thing! Here since there was a larger crowd than normal, he was giving other people their props by clapping for them too. When he would do one of his funny moves and people would cheer. He would stop dancing and clap with everyone else. It was so funny! My Mom was much better at holding the camera steady than I was though! So prepare yourself! This is still so funny! I can only imagine all the fun these kids will have playing together as they all grow up. Lessa in the pink pants is 6 months older than Riley, so it's interesting to see all the things he'll be able to do in 6 months that he can't do now.

Riley had a really good Thanksgiving too. Unfortunately, I don't have any pics. Kelly and I BOTH dropped my new Nikon camera on Halloween so it's been out of commission! And you can't get pictures of Riley with the little point and shoot one anymore - they are all blurry because he's constantly on the move. We got a new lens for it just before Christmas, so we at least have some Christmas pictures! For Thanksgiving, we went to my PawPaw's house. He was the center of attention and worked the room! He also LOVED all the Thanksgiving food! This was his 1st time to eat the same meal that we did. From the way he ate it, I'd say he agrees with Mom & Dad that MemMaw's Dressing recipe that Aunt Char continues the tradition of is the BEST of all time!! :) Afterwards we stopped by to see GiGi at work, and he worked the room there too. All the elderly people LOVE him! And he loved all the wide open spaces to run up and down the halls!

He's signing a lot more now. And also adding many more one worders to his vocabulary. It consists of Mamma, Dadady, ball, baaaaallllll, BALL, curtain (go figure! I have no idea except that he's always pointing to his curtains so we say it A LOT!), GiGi, he signs and says 'all done', dog, downshairs (downstairs) as you walk down the stairs, and he'll just randomly repeat words you say throughout the day like cheese at his snacktime, etc.

BUT the BEST and WORST one of all is SHT! SHT! SHT! This one actually deserves a post all on its own but I'm playing catch up! Literally, I don't think he means "sh*t" when he says it obviously...I'm thinking it's code for something obvious, but he says it at the most appropriate and inappropriate times! You'll open his door in the am, and he'll greet you good morning by saying it. Then one day he was literally squatting down doing his business, and he started saying it! I was like WHAT?!? Then Kelly went into our powder bathroom one day and he said it! Then he dropped a toy and said it! The best was probably when Kelly brought him down on Christmas morning, and it was the VERY 1st word he said when he put him down and he saw all his toys! I think I have that video to upload here. Kelly and I of course have done the worst thing you can do! We can't help but crack up when he says it! OMG! It's so cute! GiGi and Granny did the same thing when they were here for Christmas, so it may take us a while to undue the damage we've done this past week! I forgot about taking him to Walmart and him literally saying it non-stop as I walked up and down the aisles! Some people would do a double take, other's didn't even notice. I just kept walking as if that wasn't what he was actually saying! What can you do?! I'm hoping we move on to the "next" word sooner rather than later! But I think this SHT has gotten him so much attention and laughs from me, Kelly, GiGi and Granny that he may keep using it for a long while! Kelly and I joke that Emily (Riley's Nanny) is the enforcer b/c she's so much more about discipline than us that she'll break him from saying it after the 1st week in January! We can only wish!! Ha!

He's also become a Stage 25 Clinger and total Mamma's boy in the last month! Seriously, I dream of the day when I'll be able to go to the restroom in peace again! I walk 4 steps away from him, and he comes running and screaming and grabs my legs as tight as he can. I'm washing dishes - he's standing between me and the sink looking up at me. It's so sweet on one hand, but a little scary on other! If I go upstairs, he'll cry at the bottom of the stairs until I come all the way back down - standing at the top and talking to him just won't do it! So much so, that he's also become my little helper with laundry. Since that's usually the reason I go upstairs. It's so cute! Of course, dirty clothes get put in the dryer, and clean clothes back in the washer, and I've found socks in the trash can in the laundry room and his clothes in the sorter in our closet! But I'll take whatever help I can get with the laundry! :)

One day I couldn't find his shoes that I had set out in our room! I mean I looked ALL OVER for them! I finally declare myself insane and gave up only to find them perfectly lined up with my shoes in my closet. It was so cute to see his little shoes lined up neatly and perfectly right by my big shoes. He's totally figuring out "which one of these things does NOT belong". And where things go. He does the same thing in his bath each night. We have 2 purple bottles, so I will put them in separate corners, but by the end of his bath they always end up in the SAME corner together. Like he's organizing it! I love it! :) Now if I can only channel that skill to putting his toys away! He also would remove the same types of ornaments from the tree, he'll carry 2 sippy cups out of his drawer around, or two of the same types of blocks or puzzle pieces. Everything is about similar pairs of things right now.

Toddler Tantrums have officially begun!!! He's started the back arching, screaming, protesting, tossing toys, throwing food on the ground out of his high chair. His biggest tantrum tactic is lying down on the ground, then S-L-O-W-L-Y lowering his head onto the ground (because we have hardwood floors) and giving you a fake cry! Please pray for Mom & Dad! I've read about people putting their kids in timeout already, but I can't even imagine trying to pull that off with him. And I just don't think he'll get it. At this point, I'm just trying to squat down to his level and tell him in a calm voice that we don't do that, etc.

A Week of Boo-Boos and Take Out Toys!

So our little rumbling stumbling man is earning his stripes with boo-boo after boo-boo! Right now he has a bruise in the middle of his cheek - I have NO idea how he even got that one! And one on his forehead. That one wasn't a very hard boo-boo, but it must have hit perfectly on a vein or something b/c it bruised almost immediately. He also still has a little bruise under his chin from when my Dad & Shelia were here. He's our little bruiser!! I'd say we average a spill at least once every hour-ish all day every day. Kelly's much better at "distracting" him out of his meltdown from a boo-boo than I am! But we've seen our fair share of crocodile tears since the walking began!

For the take out toys....it just goes to show you never know what he's going to be drawn to. It's always the most random things! This week it was a Taco Bell side of rice bowl and lid. He literally carried it around the house holding it over his head, then dropping it and laughing hysterically for over an hour!! Then today it was a to go cup, lid and straw from Firehouse. First he just wanted to mimic me and "drink" from the straw - which meant him biting on it. Once I drank it all, I showed him how to take the straw out and put it back in, so he sat by me on the sofa for again over an hour which is UNHEARD of and played with the cup, lid and straw!! He never sits still for more than the blink of an eye! If that!

He's also learning body parts - mainly nose, ear, etc. He'll point to yours and grab or touch his own.

He's also going crazy with the sign language! It was HILARIOUS today! We were at the grocery store, and when the cashier picked the milk up out of the basket - he did the sign for milk then more! We were cracking up! I need to expand the sign language while he's "in the zone" with it right now! And he's SUCH a flirt! The cashier at the grocery store was like he's working me over talking to me with those eyes and flashing those rosy cheeks at me!

For 2 weeks, we have a new weekend routine (while the weather cooperates - 75 degrees and sunny). We've been meeting my friend Darcy at Lake Grapevine with her dog Rocky to go for a 4.5 mile walk. I think since I've walked with him in the stroller since he was literally 1 week old - he still loves it. It's like his "zen" time to just hang and enjoy the ride. I better enjoy it while I can. I know eventually he'll want to be walking everywhere on his own.

He's still jibber jabbering like crazy too! But now more and more, he actually says words or at least "parts of words". Like today when I said, here's your cheese - he said "eese". At the grocery store, he was looking at the apples, so Kelly said "apple" and he actually repeated it back. The other day he was watching his "Your Baby Can Read" video, and the video said say "No" and he did! It was so funny b/c Kelly and I were standing in the kitchen and we both snapped our heads and looked at each and said at the same time - "Did you hear that?! He said NO!". Of course, I'm cool with him not learning the meaning of that word for a really long time! :)

I've been really surprised he isn't saying more words that we use every day like milk, more, kiss, etc but who am I to speculate how a new little mind forms?! It's like his 1st word besides Mama and Dada being bubbles of all things!!! Which he still says at least every few nights in the bathtub when he wants me to blow bubbles.

Well...I think that's about it for this week!

One More!

I'm on a roll today! Can you tell I had a little extra free time from taking a vacation day?! I even got the majority of my "to do" list done too! Mass producing as my friend Courtney would say!

This video captures a day in the life. These days it's more Riley making this same trek with one of our shoes in his hands or something, but you get the jist. He's a BUSY little boy! All day! Every day! No wonder he sleeps through the night!!

Go Steelers!

My main men in their Steelers jersey's. This is Riley's 1st jersey. We bought it while we were in Pittsburgh at the San Diego game.

Demolition Man

These are just a few of the shots we have captured of the damage demolition man can do in the blink of an eye!


I think the kid needs a few more toys, huh? I'm almost embarrassed by this picture! This is a little ridiculous!! I mean - how does he even decide what he wants to play with!! We're definitely going to be donating, lending out, gifting a lot of this soon. And I think Santa is going to have a "toy limit" that must be adhered to! It's usually a little more organized than this, but STILL!


Yes...he's sitting on our coffee table banging a puzzle piece. So glad we invested in new furniture right before a kid! Smart move! At least we have the leather warranty on the sofa! If he decides to "mark his territory" or take scissors to it - that's covered!


What he can do with a napkin if you lose sight of him for 2 seconds!!


His favorite drawers...and the "clean them out" game he plays! Now he's actually progressed to putting things back in them too. Just not the things that came out of them!


His 2nd favorite place - Tupperware City!! Oh...I have many more pics! They are just on the other camera that I haven't uploaded yet!

The favorite part of my day!

I've been meaning to post this one for a while! This picture is actually from August! But this is the favorite part of my day! Riley can hear the garage door open, so he knows that it's me getting home. And he'll walk/crawl as fast as he can to the gate to greet me!

How can you not forget about whatever stress you had during the day when this is your greeting as soon as you walk in the door! It's the best thing EVER!!! What you can't see in the picture is the squeals and screams that come along with it as well!!

Another one of the greatest inventions ever!

The battery operated nasal aspirator!! OMG! I LOVE it! And Riley does too! Could you ask for anything more! Ours plays music, so as soon as Riley hears the music - he literally sticks his nose out and opens his mouth so you can suck his nose! It's AWESOME! And this is totally gross, but I get gratification by being able to see exactly what I sucked out! I know! Yuck!! I shouldn't admit that!

If you know someone having a baby - get it! They'll thank you for it later!!

Another Week in the Life of Riley

What Riley's up to these days....this weekend he's been fighting yet another cold! Ugh! No fever, but he's got a constant runny nose and cough. I keep thinking he's going to wake up each night sick, but he hasn't yet. I'm taking a vacation day tomorrow, so I hope he doesn't end up ill on our day off together! Right now with all the illness he's had in the last month, I can't imagine day care being much worse! It seems like every time he gets over something, the next thing moves in! I guess it's just a right of passage.

One of his new things this week is finger pointing. He's constantly pointing and jabbering like you understand what he's saying. If there's a lack of an object to point at, he just points to the sky and jabbers along. I can now anticipate the phase of him becoming frustrated that he can't communication what he wants/needs to you. There's already a hint of it.

His 1st sign and most frequently used is the sign for milk, and now it is becoming the "go to" sign. If he's excited about something - sign for milk. If he's drinking his milk, he'll be making the sign for milk with his other hand. If he's "all done", he'll make the sign for milk...then it will slowly transition into the "all done" sign. It's like he knows we understand that sign, so he wants to use it for everything! We need to start working on more signs now that he's more receptive. I was teaching him to point at the yogurt bites then give me the sign for "more" the other day, and he got that pretty quickly. But I don't know if he would do it again on his own.

Walking Walking & More Walking...now that he's taken those first 2 steps...that's all he does. He just walks around and around our house - lugging our shoes, his balls, a book - whatever. But he'll continuously do laps around our kitchen bar. It never gets old.

He's also started to learn how to get off the sofa. I showed him how to back off by putting his feet down, and to my surprise - I caught him getting one of his balls off the sofa and "backing" off of it. But if he's focused on something else - he'll still just walk right off it you don't watch him!

He's also started mimicking us more and more this week. If he picks up my iPhone, he puts it to the back of his head and starts jabbering as if he's talking on it. The other night I was fixing his hair, and he picked up his comb and started combing his hair. And he's all about drinking out of whatever "big person" glass you are drinking out of. He'll walk up and smack his lips, lick them then open his mouth for a drink.

I can't remember what he did the other morning, but I remember saying to him - you may be a little OCD after all. We'll have to train your Daddy to be like us! ha! ;) Then 2 days later Emily told me that he was exhibiting the same behavior at her house. She said she noticed him shutting her pantry doors, so she went behind him and opened one of them - and he circled right back behind her and closed it. Then he was in Rowan & Camden's room, and he closed their closet door and pushed some of their drawers closed too. It's probably just more of his mimicking us, but it's cute! And it gives me hope, he'll be trainable! ha! Just kidding! I was telling Kelly we need to start letting him be part of picking up his toys each night. Right now we just pick them all up after he goes to bed, so our house is "straightened up" from about 8pm to 9am every day. The rest of the time, it looks like a 15 month old child lives here. I'm all about it being his domain and him having the freedom to explore and do what he wants within reason. It's his house too! We just try to make it as child friendly as possible.

Green Lantern Squared

Riley was still a little too young to really enjoy Halloween, but we took him trick or treating with Ethan anyway. It's our 2 year old tradition to go trick or treating in their neighborhood with them. Ethan is 3 and a half, so he was WAY into it this year! It was so cute! Even Ms. Emily (8 weeks old) dressed up like a little bunny! But she pretty much slept through all the excitement!


Me, Riley aka Green Lantern & Ethan aka "ROARRRR Dinasour" ready to go!!



Had to get a pic of him standing up! His little muscles are so cute!!
Speaking of - I think I paid $20 for the costume in August, and we spend almost $70 having it tailored to fit him! Nice!! Maybe it'll fit him next year too! Yeah right!!


I'm thinking he may not like this dressing up stuff like his Mom! But SHHHH! Don't tell his Dad!


Riley's 1st house EVER for Trick or Treating.


His 2nd house EVER! I just love how he's looking up!

Nancy & Ms. Emily-look at her cute bunny tail!!

Dad carried Riley 1st.


My Dad, Shelia & Ms. Emily. Yes! That's my Dad pushing a stroller! And yes! That's a real baby in it!! :) I have photographic evidence now! As you can see, Ms. Emily was over the trick or treating pretty quickly!


Then Josh carried Riley.


Then it was Mommy's turn!


Then he was DONE!! I think his muscles are going to choke him!!

Anyone that knows Kelly knows Halloween is his FAVORITE holiday (is it even a holiday?!, but you know what I mean)! So my Dad and Shelia came to the rescue this year! They came to town earlier in the afternoon, so they could go trick or treating with us then watch Riley so Kelly and I could go out. We did the "Boo" package at the Gaylord Texan resort that included admission to the club there - Glass Cactus, and brunch the following day. Could new parents ask for a better gift? A night out on the town AND getting to sleep in!! Throw in an extra hour with the time change, and you couldn't ask for anything more!! WooHoo!! Getting to sleep in makes ALL the difference in the world on how much fun you can really have! LOL!

We tried to make it as easy as possible for my Dad and Shelia, so we wouldn't feel like we were leaving them high and dry! We checked into our hotel in the afternoon, and we all had an early dinner there. Then we went trick or treating, and Kelly and I put Riley to bed, then went out. That way they didn't have to struggle getting him to go to bed. They could just get up with him in the morning and feed him breakfast and lunch before his nap. And PLAY PLAY PLAY! Because the mornings are prime time play time around here!


I forgot about this until I was uploading my pics - this is a REAL person! He was at the Gaylord when we ate dinner there. Pretty cool!!

It was very nice to have my Dad and Shelia here. I think they really enjoyed it too. And this was something my Dad never really took part in when we were little because he was working, so now he gets the chance to experience it all with Riley which is cool. He's said to me recently that he's sorry for missing out on things with us girls when we were growing up, but I realized long ago that he was of the generation that thought his job as the man of the house was to work and provide for us. I don't want him to have guilt over that - I just want him to take the time to enjoy those things with Riley. It's more important to me now that Riley have involved Grandparents than anything I may have missed growing up. Both sides of my Grandparents were very involved in my life as I was growing up. My Dad's parents literally lived 800 yards across the pasture from us. Yes! I said pasture! That's what is was!! And I just have such fond memories of spending every Saturday night at MemMaw & PawPaw's with MemMaw scratching our backs and running her nails through our hair (my PawPaw had to time each of us so one wouldn't get more "time" than the other), getting to have a REAL coke float, watching Love Boat, sleeping on a pallet in their floor, and getting up to have "coffee" with them in the mornings! It was really just milk with a dash of coffee and some sugar,but we thought we were totally grown up! Then during the summer us staying with MemMaw every day, and she'd ring the dinner bell for us to come to lunch when were were off in the back pasture on our horses. At my Mom's Mom's house I remember things like watching Willie Nelson on tv, and sitting in Granny's recliner with her and eating cucumbers soaked in vinegar with salt and pepper...random memory....but something I still love today!! We also always played music instruments there b/c most of my Mom's family is musically inclined. And my Grandpa Garland taking us to town for gum, always buying us rabbits to my Mom's dismay and driving fast over the hill so your stomach would feel like you were on a rollercoaster ride! Those are some of my fondest memories! And I want Riley to have those too! I'm sure it's just as enjoyable for Grandparents to have grandchildren they can break all the rules with b/c they can send them home too! :)

Okay...I digress! This is a Halloween post!!

Here are some pictures I snapped of BIG and little Green Lantern! No! Kelly didn't dress up to take Riley trick or treating - as you can tell from the pics above! I took the pictures real quick when we got home before we got Riley ready for bed.


Green Lantern Squared!


Green Lantern & Mini Me Lantern - I think Riley's muscles are bigger than his Dad's! j/k!!


This one makes my heart melt of the 2 of them looking at each other! Although I think Riley was trying to make sure that was still his Daddy behind the mask!

As for our night out, let's just say we both had A LOT of fun! So much fun that I had an iPhone casualty!! It's a long story, but let's just say iPhones and vanilla vodka and diet coke don't mix very well! I dropped my phone in my drink. To be honest, I still have NO idea how it even happened! I thought Kelly or Scott had tossed it in there from afar! LOL! Then I found out Apple won't replace your phone if it has "liquid damage". Luckily for me, honesty is the best policy, and by the time I got an appointment with a "Genius" to pay them $$ to replace my phone - I guess it had dried out b/c they covered the replacement at no cost to me! Yippee!! That was $200 I didn't care to spend right before the holidays! And I think everyone should know that I survived 4ish FULL days WITHOUT MY PHONE!!! With the launch of our new platform being so new, it caused me to have nightmares that work couldn't get in touch with me and the site was down! SAD! Obviously, I need a vacation!! Being constantly in touch via email, etc is a double edged sword for sure! It feels like a ball and chain some days! So when I didn't have it for a few days...I must admit that it became a little liberating! And I haven't been constantly checking my phone as much since!


Kelly, Scott & Dewain

That's Kelly's old Harlem Globetrotter costume Dewain is wearing. It's even autographed by a real Globetrotter we saw out the year Kelly wore it. He said it was an honor to have people dress up as them! Pretty cool. Kelly's "anti store bought" costume, so they always have to be authentic! Yet, another conversation I can hear Riley having with him one day! I just want a store bought costume like everyone else! Not a homemade one!! LOL! Kelly actually made his mask, and even crazy glued his own glasses lenses into it! He's so creative like that! Definitely the parent that will be helping with "art" projects!!


We had to have a picture of Dewain with the "Blind Refs"!


OMG! This guy was the BEST!! He's dead on for Alan in the movie Hang Over! I swear he was even in character too! I heard him yelling at his friend that they had been looking for him all night! Which was pretty much the premise of Hang Over! LOL! He totally would have won the $1000 costume contest, but he didn't even know there was a contest! Hello!!


This guy was pretty good too! The contacts were FREAKY! Kelly...always posing! lol! The Hulk doesn't know he's supposed to "be in character".

I'm glad to report when we got home the following day my Dad and Shelia survived their day with Demolition Man! And had a great time too! They actually thanked me for asking them to babysit!! I was like I'm the one that's supposed to be thanking you!!

Much to my Dad's delight, Riley called my Dad "PawPaw" while he was here, so he pretty much sealed the deal on my Dad & Shelia babysitting again by working them over with his charm! :)