5/28/14

Riley: 8 months 3 weeks

As of yesterday Riley is pulling herself up on furniture. It started when I came in her room to get her up from her nap and I saw that she was on her knees and had her hands on the sides of the crib.  I coerced her with a toy and she stood up.  Well, let me tell you, once she learned something there is no forgetting.  No she is trying it all over the place.  She also learned that her bed is bouncy when she stands up ;/ eek.  We lowered her bed last night though to take those necessary precautions and all.  They other thing that she started was this hilarious noise.  She is really learning her voice and it cracks me up every time.  She is also really mimicking people.  Nate was doing this little laugh cough and she was copying his noises.  So cute!

It is crazy how fast babies develop! I am just blown away and just trying to be in the moment and play with her and watch her grow.

5/23/14

Slowing down

I have taken a week off of Facebook perusing for the greater good of Riley and myself.  Times where we may may be in her room playing I would sit in the rocking chair with the iPad and on Facebook.  This week I have been down on the ground with her playing around and crawling.  I have loved just being. Nothing else "needs" to be done.  I hear over and over again from many people how fast she will grow up. I also hear many parents saying I can't wait until... Living is now!  Riley is growing everyday and there is no when she starts doing this or that.n it is the day to day living that is the most important because that is what we have.  She is learning and growing right in front of me.

5/21/14

Riley 8.5 months old

My little Riley girl is growing like a weed.  I wanted to do an update of where she is.

She is crawling all over the place
She loves her smoothies still
She loves avocado, banana, rice, and raspberries
Just this week she has started this really funny laugh.
She has been teething the last four to five days with her second bottom tooth.
Still loves her baby Einstein
Loves to stand and walk while we hold her hands
Really loves bath time and watching the water go down to drain
Changing her diaper and clothes is such a challenge because she always wants to be crawling and rolling
Loves to blow raspberries with her fingers as well as on my shoulder
Loves eating puffs
If we are eating she wants to be eating
A bottle isn't enough food for her anymore, I give her such a variety of real food throughout the day to satisfy her
Still in size two diaper but I know she has to be pushing 18 lbs soon.  Those diapers are feeling a little tight.
She is officially in 9 month clothes, not 6-9 but fully 9 months! Ahhhh!
She loves peekaboo
Attempting to feed herself
Will tolerate blueberries but not her favorite
She eats tomatoes
Seriously she eats pretty much anything I give her
Still really enjoys the stroller and the backpack
Has not yet ventured into the hallway while crawling
Is not pulling herself up on things yet
Can go from a sitting position to crawling
When I place in front of something while,standing she can hold herself up
Does not have stranger danger
I have been away for her for more 9 hours and she was fine
She loves playing with books and biting them
Laughs and smiles when I play guitar and tries to help me play
She still smiles at this little sun on her baby Einstein that always makes me smile
Still absolutely loves being outside
Totally sleeps 10-12 hours a night.
Still needs to hold blanket in hands when she is trying to fall asleep

She is just growing so fast I can't believe. The Lord is good to us with having such an amazing healthy daughter.  I am thankful.

5/15/14

8 months. 1 week// changes

Riley is just growing too fast! She is crawling, saying mumu, wawa, pupu, baba, and a lot of other screeching type noises that are super cute and fun.  She is teething again with her second bottom tooth coming in and I feel so bad. I have been giving her baby Tylenol which seems to help.
     It is funny to me that the toys she loves to play with are the random household items that make no noise and are not very colorful, but because she sees mom and dad with them, she wants it! That is completely inherent of us humans.
   So she has been crawling for 6 days now and is just getting faster and faster at it.  Her crawl is so cute though because it is totally unique and her own style. She has this little hop and scoot thing that is just super cute.  She doesn't have that typical crawl down yet which is fine with me.  She still sleeps thought the night-praise The Lord so I am a happy momma.  This stage is super fun and I definitely am getting my workout!
    I have been giving her so many different foods. Still no milk, meat or processed food.  Trying to delay that as long as possible.  She absolutely loves avocados, tomato, bananas and strawberries.  I love that she is not picky.
   She still loves her bottle but i am finding that she is so hungry all the time.  With all the crawling now her appetite has really taken off.  I find her eating a lot more now.  But hey she is eating clean so she can eat as much as she wants! We gotta keep her little body fueled up!
  Seriously though I love being a mom, I love staying home with her to see her grow and the funny things that she does.  Life is really good right now which leads me to thoughts and feelings of wanting to give more.  I have been given so much that I want to return it.
   The cultivate bible study that I am in has been a huge blessing and definitely a general concessus of wanting to give.  We have discussed getting more involved with the homeless and doing what we can as women to stand up and take action.  I feel like I have been give so much that I do not want to become a reservoir but a channel.  I don't want  what has been given to me become stagnant or stale but to flourish like that in a channel.  The blessing comes in and then gets filtered back out to someone else.
   I am a mother and a wife that stays at home and their is a unique place for me right now in this season that I don't want to let slip away.  I want to give my time and resources for others around me. To get involved with things during the day that a normal job would not allow for.  It is time to take action, to get serious, to get intentional and do what The Lord wants.

Being Real.

Happy Mother's Day! The year 2014 I have know celebrated my first ever Mother's Day and it was so incredible.   My grandmother, mother, two sisters, brother in law, my husband and daughter all gathered at our house to celebrate. All the daughters cooked breakfast and devoured the amazing food over a game of thrones styled table inspired by my husband. He totally turned our pool table into this huge 20 seater table. It was incredible to say the least.  After a delicious meal and a very messy Riley, we all played catch phrase and cracked up laughing multiple times. My grandma, sweet granny, who had never played before kept getting the buzzer on her turn.  It happened like 5 times in a row.  Drew just started pressing the timer again when it would go off so she didn't even know. We all had a good time.
    I really just loved being around my daughter and husband on Mother's Day. The original plan was to just have a girls day and the more my sister and I thought about it, it really didn't make sense.  Holidays, get togethers primarily should be very inclusive.  I felt like I made the plan and it was to exclusive. Now don't get me wrong their is always a time and  a place for girls days and guys hang out but this was my first Mother's Day.  I think that I lost sight a little when making the plans and didn't really think that I actually really wanted my own little family with me.  Sounds crazy but I really had all the focus on my mom and grandma and kind of forgot that I was a mother that could celebrate too. So we all gathered at my place with our families and celebrated together. It was such a wonderful time and I am so blessed.   I received so many thoughtful texts from many friends who knew it was my first Mother's Day and I truly appreciated that.  I also was able to call my two aunties and wish them a happy Mother's Day and that ended up being a great conversation.

  All in all it was a really good time and I am blessed with my little family.

Riley : up on her knees: funny noises: mumumumumum!

On April 6th,  Riley's 7 month birthday she rolled from her back to her tummy.  She has also been hiking up her knees when on her tummy and rolling on to her back.  She makes mama noises when she gets up from naps. Still suck on bottom lip when she is tired.  Loves her formula, baby food, rice cereal smoothie and has been sleeping 11 hours a night for 9 days now.


She weighs 15 lbs, well maybe more, wants to grab every, has a tooth coming in that I can feel now and loves her baby Einstein.  Everyday she is learning new things and I am so glad I get to see it all.


She loves sucking and chewing on her KTM pacifier, oragel seems to help right now with that.
She likes when I wipe her mouth of and then her hands cuz it tickles. Drew does this hopping around thing that she cracks up at.  For the last month she does this backwards scoot thing to get around.

So far she has tried sweet potato, carrot, apricot, pumpkin, apple, banana, blueberry, a little grits and I think that is it.

Still loves blow bubbles with her mouth,  likes when I make pee noise when changing her diaper. Cries when she sees the bottle but it's not warmed yet. Cries if she has teething pain.

Grabs things with her feet and passes them to her hands, little monkey.


If she is crying in the car seat or wherever she is because she is tired we give her a blanket and the. She is fine.  She makes high pitched screaming noises,


When she wakes up in morning she bangs her feet up and down in the bed.