A Busy Week!

Wow! We all really had a busy week this week! I don't think I've had 5 minutes to relax all week! We started the week with my friend Angie giving birth to her son Kaden on Saturday! He reminds me a lot of Riley - they were both 21.5" long..so he has skinny little legs like Riley did, and a full head of dark hair. Awe..... Our friend's Greg & Renee also had their baby on Saturday too - Dalton! Lots of April babies! And we have a lot of friends that celebrate birthday's in the month of April too...makes me wonder if you count back 10 months...what holiday or 'special' time it is! lol!

Kelly, Riley & I took Angie and Korey food the day they came home from the hospital. We were lucky that my Mom pretty much moved in with us on her days off during that time, but I know everyone is not that fortunate. I was also fortunate to have so many wonderful friends bring us food, so I wanted to pay it forward and do the same for Angie. I remember the days of only having a second to grab a bite to eat of whatever was available, so I figured any little bit would help her. Our friend Nancy brought us dinner once a week for the 1st month too, so I'm going to do that for Angie as well. And when she asked me how to thank me, I told her to pay it forward to one of her friends. It's something that doesn't take a lot of time and effort, but it helps so much during those first few weeks of adjusting to being new parents!

It was so funny though. I had gone to see Angie in the hospital on Sunday, and when I came home I told Kelly Kaden was SOOOOOOO little - like his face is this big - putting my hands together to show how small his face wa! I couldn't believe Riley was ever that small! Let's face it Riley's 3 times that size now! Then when Kelly saw him on Tuesday...it was freaking him out! He was like there's no way Riley was ever that small! And Kaden outweighed Riley a full pound when he was born! It just drives home how quickly they grow and change!

Then Thursday night, we had dinner with our Lubbock family! Talana, her parents and her brother Kyle. They were in town before heading out for a family trip to Chicago for the weekend, so they invited us over for dinner. It was yummy as usual! Talana and her Mom could totally open a restaurant and make a killing! Think Pauladine Texas Style. They could be one of those restaurants that's only open on the weekends, and they'd make money hand over fist!

This is the 1st year in 5 years that we aren't going to be going to their house the last week in April. Texas Tech hired a new women's head volleyball coach, and she's decided not to host the Spring Fling volleyball tournament this year. So Kelly went out on top - he won all 6 years he played in the tournament! And I guess he'll remain reigning champ indefinitely! We didn't start staying with Talana's family until the 2nd year of the tournament. That's when we were introduced to warm snickerdoodles when we arrived at their house from the airport! And even though Kelly called them everything BUT snickerdoodles the 1st year - he's NEVER forgotten the gesture! Suzanne had him hooked at snick! :) This was going to be our 1st "test flight" with Riley because it's only an hour flight, and we'd have Talana with us as a backup if he was absolutely crazy, so we were disappointed when the tournament was canceled. BUT I think we're going to go in May for Kyle's 30th birthday party now.

Friday I took some more essentials over to Angie...obviously those 1st few months are fresh in my mind, so it's easy for me to remember what will help her out most. Of course, I had to take her an infamous Izbeen! I swear! That is the BEST present EVER when you have a new baby! (Thank you Mother/GiGi!) You can't remember if you've eaten all day! Much less how long "itzbeen" since you feed or changed the baby! I just think about how raising a child used to be done "in a village" so to speak - families lived in the same neighborhoods or next door to each other, etc. So I figure I can help my friends in a modern village sort of way! Because it does take a village to raise a child!! :)

Then today Kelly played golf, so Riley and I went to Kindermusik in the am. Then we had an early dinner with my friends Kelly Brown and Anne. We also finally got to meet Kelly's little girl Katelynn who is 3 months old! OMG! She was sooooooooooo precious! You could definitely tell the difference between sweet, QUIET, princess Katelynn! And LOUD, BOISTEROUS, can't sit still for TWO seconds, BANGING, PULLING, testoterone FILLED Riley! OMG! Never has it been more prevalent to me than today! I've been noticing it more and more at home, but it was really obvious when you have him next to a sweet little baby girl! He was like a human wrecking ball! There is definitely a difference between girls and boys! His is already so rowdy! It amazes me! And even though he's not mobile, all of the sudden this week he has become Mr. Grabby Von Grabberson! You blink for one second and he has something else in his hands and it's already tossed across the room before you blink again! We are in for a RUDE awakening once he becomes mobile! I can already tell he's going to be getting into things I have never even imagined! And my house...my new house...my new furniture...it's as good as GONE! Flashes of every funny commercial with some mischievious boy are cycling through my head nonstop these days! I know that will be my life soon enough!

It's weird though...we've been thinking Riley was a little shy, and that it took him a little while to warm up to new people. But that was NOT the case today at all! I think maybe because we we were in a loud restaurant he felt like the crowd level was competing with him or something because he was bound and determined to DEFEAT it with his shrieks! And he did! I got a few dirty looks, but we were at Logan's for God's sake! Like Anne said, we're in a restaurant where you throw your peanut shells on the floor! If he can't be a loud, rough & tumble little boy there - where can he be?!

This week Kelly and Riley started the funniest thing - at least to Riley it is. Kelly will put Riley in the middle of our bed and run around from side to side. Riley DIES laughing and starts screaming at the anticipation of Kelly getting to the other side of the bed to tickle him! It is soooo funny! And it's that adorable, innocent little kid laugh that just melts your heart! I may have to try to video it soon!

Wow...well I think that's it for now! I'm worn out just thinking about everything we've done this week! On top of preparing for the Easter bunny and sending out Easter cards! We accomplished a lot!! Now I better get to bed so the Easter bunny can come....

Week 16 in The Life of Riley

Hmm, so this week was a low key week for us. I think I knew it was my last full normal week at home with Riley so I wanted to relish every moment, smile, giggle, etc! This coming week we have his 4 month checkup, then Thanksgiving so I won't be able to just stay in my pj's all day and hang out with Riley! Oops...did I just admit that publicly?! Yes! There are still days when I stay in my pj's and we just hang out ALL day! And I LOVE them! Kelly gets home from work, and we're like Hey! We've been having fun all day! No time to bother with getting dressed! Haven't I said this before - I STILL don't know how I'm going to go to work!!

One of our big treats this week was having my friend Doug come over to take some at home photos of Riley! He's taken up photography as a hobby, so he wanted to do it as practice and of course - I can never have enough pics of my boy! I swear my picture folder on my pc is 15GB! I keep saying I need to back them up to an external hard drive because I will FREAK if I lose all my pics!!

Anyway, I couldn't be more happy with the shots Doug captured! OMG! It was a Mother's dream! I feel like he totally captured the Riley I spend every day with! Those cheeks and that drool and those funny looks! I know...things only a mother could love! But that's the thing you miss with studio portraits - it's hard to capture the essence of who Riley really is in that setting. But at home, Doug could take pictures during his nap then when he woke up again so we got an entire feed, wake, sleep cycle of a day in the life of Riley! It was AWESOME! I just keep looking at them over and over again! Here's a couple of my favorites!


Riley & Dad talking and laughing like they do every day!


OMG! Those CHEEKS!! See why I can't stop kissing them?!

And how do you know you're a 1st child?? When your Mom has pictures of you getting your picture made! I couldn't resist!


Doug taking Riley's picture

Kelly's 35th birthday was Thursday, so Riley and I did take a trip to Central Market to get a birthday cake and nice dinner for his birthday. Then GiGi came Saturday and babysat so we could go out with friends and celebrate Kelly's birthday. And I only text messaged home ONCE!! It was a record!! Mainly because my Mom said he was already asleep, so there was no need for me to text again! We had a great time out with friends, but let's just say we both felt 35 the next day! We're WAY out of practice!!


Dinner @ Baja - l to r Kelly, Grace, Doug, Kelly, Me & Scott


The boys - Kelly, Scott & Doug


Me & Kelly

The girls - Nancy, Talana & Me


The boys II - Scott, Josh & Kelly