Rolling Back Over!

I posted the video of Riley rolling over from his front to back in October. As of December 19th, he can now roll from back to front! And the best part of it all is that Kelly was watching Riley that day, and he caught the inaugural roll on video!!! How lucky is that?! And he stuck with it, I've edited this video down but Kelly had already been recording for almost 3 minutes when Riley finally got it!

What makes this REALLY funny is Kelly's play by play 'color' commentary! And you thought I made a big deal about him rolling over from front to back when I caught it on video - ha!



Now this adds an entire new dynamic to some of the 'no-nos' we've been getting away with - like leaving him on his changing table for TWO seconds while you grab his pjs or whatever. I actually strapped him in for the 1st time after this!

It still amazes me how quickly he's able to master things! And it seems like he doesn't really try to do something until he can actually do it. As soon as you see him trying to do something, that's your cue to get the video camera ready because he's more than likely going to do it at that point.

He's totally mastered his jumperoo in just a couple of weeks! He jumps so high I swear his bottom comes out of the seat! And now he knows how to straighten his legs and lock them out so he can immediately stop bouncing, look you right in the eye from across the room and let out the LOUDEST shriek possible! It's hilarious! If he catches you not paying attention to him (like blogging or checking email), prepare yourself! He'll be bound and determined to shriek until he has your full undivided attention!

OMG! And I have to brag on how good a baby he is! Last week went out to dinner for my sister's birthday, and between 4 adults - me, my Mom, Kelly and my sister - we forgot the paci! We almost forgot the blanket to put over him, and it was in the 20's that night! He's not really dependent on his paci except at nap and bed time, but we were going to be getting close to his bed time by the time we finished eating! This easily could have been a recipe for disaster, but not with Riley - he was cool the entire dinner! As we were waiting for the check, he got a little impatient so we improvised and let him knaw on my knuckle.

I'm an even more firm believer in the scheduling now! As long as you respect the schedule - all is well! But I'm SURE if I tried to take him somewhere during the middle of his nap time, there would be HELL to pay! That's why we always try to adjust his schedule to any plans we have, etc. Some people might say I'm being too accomodating, but I figure it's a small price to pay during these early months for a happy, well rested, easy going baby! And I could be completely wrong, he may just be so easy going that even if we hadn't focused on scheduling you could take him anywhere and do anything. We may never know, but I know enough to appreciate it!!

Riley Pulling an All-Dayer

So anyone that doesn't believe caffeine is passed on through breast milk, please see exhibit A here. I stopped drinking caffeine when I was pregnant excluding having 1 cream soda a week as a treat, and I switched to caffeine free all natural cream soda once Riley was born. But yesterday I was craving a Starbucks Chai Tea Latte, so this energy you see here is from the caffeine left over from my latte yesterday in his 1st feeding this am. He's been going non-stop since then! And when I say non-stop - I mean kicking, jumping, shrieking! I put him down in his bed and his legs were going non-stop! He reminded me of myself when we used to go out, and I'd have to beg Kelly to let me dance to ONE MORE SONG because it's my FAVORITE song! And I'd say that about 10 times before he'd finally make me leave! So I can empathize with where Riley's coming from on this one! Therefore, I gave in and brought him down to play in his jumperoo - hoping it would help him burn the energy off. That didn't exactly work the way I thought it would! If anything, it just got him MORE wound up! And as you can see - he's over being intimidated by his jumperoo! Now he literally jumps so high in it, I SWEAR his bottom comes out of the seat! It looks like he's going to give himself whiplash sometimes!

To put this into perspective, this is the time of day when Riley should be taking his 2nd nap. He had already missed his 1st 2 hr nap, and as you'll see he's showing NO signs of slowing down anytime soon. Update - I'm happy to report he finally crashed and burned a few minutes ago. I'm wondering if we'll actually have to wake him up from this nap!

Riley's 2nd Photo Shoot

So Riley had his 2nd studio photo shoot the Friday after Thanksgiving, and I wanted to share a few of our favorites from that session! The reason for the shoot was to get pictures to use for our Christmas card and to take his picture at almost 4 months old. I'm trying to at least have his picture taken professionally once per quarter the 1st year or so. Talana helped me with a 'theme' for our Christmas card, and these pics are great but they didn't fit the 'theme' so I figured I'd share them here!

Plus, a picture is worth a 1000 words so this will help me make up for running behind on blogging now that I'm back to work full time! It's gonna take me a little time to adjust! When I get home from work, all I want to do is hug & kiss my Smoochie! Then I have to prepare for the next day, so that's not leaving a lot of spare time for blogging especially when I have to do Christmas shopping (Amazon is still my BFF!), Christmas cards, etc! The scary thing is that I'm still spoiled because Riley is staying home with my Mom & Kelly so I don't have to get him and all his stuff ready for day care yet! And I'm not an emotional wreck because I'm leaving my baby with complete strangers! So consider this your warning that it may actually get worse before it gets better!


What are you talking about Mom?! Dressing me like Payne Stewart the golfer!


Awe....our little Smoochie!


I'm warning you! I'm about to eat my hand off if you don't stop taking my picture!!


OMG! This is my FAVORITE!! He looks like a little angel! Because he is!!!


He's thinking Mom why do we have to show my pecs and belly button to the entire world?!


Awe....my sweetie! Trying to eat that hand again!


Based on his right hand, I think he's letting us know what he thinks about all this picture taking! LOL! Only Kelly's son would do that! Not mine! I almost had to make a funny & naughty Christmas card with this pic - just for our friends that would appreciate it, but I resisted temptation!

Riley's 1st Picture with Santa

Okay...so I'm not keeping up with the blog as well now that I'm back at work, but I'll get back in a rhythm eventually!

This is Riley's 1st picture with Santa. They have pictures with Santa at work every year to raise money for charity, so I figured this would be A LOT better than dragging him to the mall to stand in some crazy line! I'm not sure he even knew what was going on, but at least he wasn't screaming! I'm sure that'll be next year!