My husband, the amazing Witchy tamer

Let's start this blog by informing you that those who know me well will tell you that I am NOT a morning person, ESPECIALLY if I'm lacking sleep. In fact, in college there were a few of my swimming teammates who characterized me as downright scary in the early hours. Knowing this information, on with the blog...

Last night Princess Riley started crying at 2 am and I stumble in there to find that my child has scooted herself into the corner of her crib and can't back out. She has not mastered the reverse scoot. She is wide awake and tummy patting and paci will not do so I bring her to bed. Needless to say I am up again in 2 hours for a feeding and then she's wide awake at 7 punching me in the nose and kicking me.

I am grumpy, not at her, but just in general and I feel like I cannot just lay in bed and I must get up immediately to tackle the million things to be done in this house. At this point my husband starts eyeing me warily because after 4 years of marriage he is quite aware of my morning alter ego, Witchy.

I stumble downstairs with Riley to sit on the couch and play with her. A few minutes later I can hear Matt coming down and he sits cautiously, a safe distance away from Witchy on the couch in learned silence. A few minutes later, he carefully breaks the silence and says that he will take Riley and go get breakfast for us. **My husband is the GREATEST.** However, Witchy is still in full control and she starts to ramble about how that's fine, but she's going to be here vacuuming and doing all the other things that need to be done. Again, my amazing husband knows me well and says nothing, but quietly goes upstairs to get ready and returns and gets Riley changed (because Witchy gave her a zwieback cracker to chew on and she made a mess of herself).

By this point, he can see that Witchy is fading, and she only tries to crazily protest one more time about cleaning the house before he calmly reminds her it's 7:15 am on a Sunday morning and asks her politely for his sanity and hers to please go back up to bed. And then he even kisses her goodbye.

He returns, after getting breakfast and taking our precious baby to the park and lets me sleep in until 9:15. We all had a fun family breakfast in bed and then we watched our little girl drift off to sleep laying between us. At that moment, I immediately prayed to God and thanked him for blessing me with a husband who knows my faults and still loves me and a daughter who brings so much joy to our lives.

P.S. We all slept until noon! :)

MAMA...

She has no idea what she's saying, but let it be documented that today, July 31st, Riley actually babbled Mama several times. Luckily Matt returned home just as she started doing it so I have a witness. :)

Baby Monitor Insomnia

Sigh, I'm tired. Every day when I wake up I promise myself that today I will go to bed earlier. I head upstairs almost every night around 9:00, with good intentions of being asleep by 10. I lay down, the lights are off, fan is going, it's the perfect sleep environment except...

I have insomnia and not just any insomnia, specifically what I have dubbed baby monitor insomnia. I can't turn away from my baby monitor. Riley tends to wake up a couple of times a night and I lay there waiting for her cries because inevitably when I do manage to fall asleep she usually wakes me up right as I'm getting into that deep sleep fog that is hard to function in.

Where's the logic in this you ask? There isn't any. I've been sitting here trying to justify this post and I still can't think of a solid explanation. Although, I assume (okay HOPE) I'm not alone in this.

97th percentile

Of course we think she's in the 97th percentile for intelligence, but our little munchkin also continues to be at the top of the growth charts. Riley had her 6 month check up today and she's a whopping 27 1/2 inches tall and 20.4 lbs. The doctor said she's perfectly healthy and thriving so we were pleased to hear that. She did get some shots today and unfortunately they were out of the same vaccine we missed at four months so her lucky parents get to take her to the county health department Thursday to catch her up with another shot this week. She did SCREAM this time, but not as loud as the child in the room across the hall. We could hear the doctor trying to reason with the toddler that it wouldn't hurt, but clearly you can't reason with a toddler, and I was silently calling the doctor a liar in my head because we all know shots hurt.

A Treasured Moment

Last night Riley had a rough night sleepwise. Usually, Matt and I have to go in about twice a night once she's down to give her belly a pat and to pop the paci back in. For whatever reason though she was just miserable last night and after about an hour after she went down she started crying and just couldn't be soothed with tummy pats and her pacifier. Eventually after an hour and 1/2 of this back and forth soothing I decided to pick her up and bring her to bed with me and snuggle her.

As I lay there with her watching her sleep she started chuckling and then laughing out loud. She carried on for about 15 seconds, all while still asleep. I was so happy to have been there with her and able to enjoy this moment in the peaceful dark of the night. It reminded me of a picture we took when she was only a few days old.

I can hardly believe Riley is already 6 months old, I know it doesn't seem like much time, but she's changed so much in such a short time. I have loved every moment of her life so far and I feel so blessed to be her Mommy. She's gone from being completely dependent on me to discovering the world around her and taking charge. She amazes me every day, and while I miss her letting me snuggle and cuddle her whenever I want I am so thrilled by her love for life.

I wonder what she was dreaming about last night?

Hands at 10 and 2!

After brunch today, Riley and I had a fun moment in the car. Okay folks, please don't be concerned, I was not driving with her on my lap! She had just finished "eating" before the drive home while parked in a garage and I had stripped her out of her fancy dress so she might be comfortable enough to sleep on the way back (she was). While I was standing her up to get the dress off she took hold of the wheel and stood up in my lap. She's a safe driver! She kept her eyes front, checked her mirrors, and kept her little hands at 10 and 2. Bonus - I got video footage too!

We love brunch!

Today, Riley and I met one of my very best friends for brunch and had a very fun time. Lacey hadn't seen her since she was about 2 months olds (and a sleepy lump) so it was fun to introduce her to the bigger, louder and definiteily more active Riley.

I did warn Lacey ahead of time that it's hard to have a civilized lunch with a 6 month old. Riley was wonderfully behaved, but wiggly as usual. She started by flirting with some men at a table behind us, teething on some bread, trying to flip over plates and cups, and then proceeded to play her new game of toss everything on the floor and wait for someone to pick it up. Luckily there were servers, hostesses and other guests to help out this time. ;)

Here's a pic of Riley and Lacey

And another very cute pic of Riley completely relaxed while Lacey rubbed her head. Notice she has pulled her dress up a bit to rest her hand on her belly!

Too cute not to post

These are just some random pictures of our princess that are too cute not to post.

Maximum 25 lbs....

It's amazing how quickly you learn as new parents! We have rapidly moved from carefully diapering our little girl with just the right powder, cream, and wipes to managing one hand diaper changes while on the phone with her laying in the back of the car before running into the supermarket. Our newest learning experience is that when a car seat says that it should last for the entire first year that might not necessarily be the case. We carefully picked our car seat after perusing Baby Bargains, and decided upon the Graco SnugRide. It has served us well, but the weight limit is 25 lbs. I assume that most babies are not 25 lbs until they are a year old. However, Miss Riley was pushing 20 almost 2 months ago. So the search for a new car seat began. Here's the latest and greatest, key word convertible, car seat that goes from rear facing to front facing and eventually becomes a booster seat and, wait for it.....maximum 100 lbs! We figure Riley won't need a car seat by fifth grade so now we're set.

Riley's To Do List

Since birth Riley has been eager to take on the world! She's never been satisfied to lay when she can roll over, or lounge when she can sit, or heaven help us sit when she can stand. Here's some of the bigger things our little munchkin has already accomplished.

She is sitting up by herself these days and especially takes great joy in being able to sit at a table with Mommy and Daddy like a big girl. She loves to sit and play on the floor with some of her toys. She is VERY close to being able to pull herself up into a sit from laying flat on her back.

She can very easily roll front to back and back to front and loves to perform log rolls across our bed. She's also started to pull herself onto her side to sleep which we find adorable.

She has pretty good hand eye coordination (she did not get this from her mother) and can grasp things and bring them to her mouth. She can also already pick up small things like raisins or m&ms between her thumb and finger!

Lastly, yesterday she shocked us all, herself included by grabbing Daddy's shirt and pulling herself up to a full stand from a sit.

Gabby McGabberson

Riley is so gabby lately! From the moment she wakes up she is babbling and screeching away, about what we so wish we knew. No mama or dada sounds yet mostly it's babababa sounds and variations of that. A typical conversation follows:

Riley: Babababababa
Mommy: Oh, really? And what else do you think about that?
Riley: eeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
Mommy: You're so smart.
Riley: Bababababa....

It goes on like that for most of the day. Here's a video so you can hear for yourself.

Daddy's Girl 2

These are some of my favorite photos ever.

A Very Happy 1/2 Birthday

Riley is 6 months old today! Well technically she has another 13 minutes to 8:20, but we had such a great day together she's already passed out in her crib. The weather was beautiful today so we spent her big day outdoors. We started with a walk and lunch at Fuddruckers where the little princess showed her Daddy that she can reach further than he thinks. She is so grabby these days, so when Matt wasn't looking she promptly dumped his rather large glass of lemonade in his lap. Luckily it was free refills. After Fuddruckers we took her to a park very close to our house. She LOVES watching little kids and she laughs when they run and jump. After a nap we took off again to Riley's first experience at the driving range. Everything fascinated her! She especially liked the ball dispenser and the thwack sound of golf balls. Then it was over to the mini golf section of the driving range and we toted her around in the baby bjorn while we played 18 holes. Mini golf with a 20+ lb baby strapped to your chest is challenging, but completely possible and FUN! Daddy won AGAIN, but only by 6 strokes this time. Riley mostly enjoyed grabbing leaves from the trees, trying to stuff the flags in her mouth, and watching a strange squirrel that acted like a dog. Since she's too young for birthday cake we wrapped up our wonderful day by giving Riley peaches for the first time. She loved them and kept gabbing at Matt to give her more. We can't believe she's already half a year old, and we are just so thankful everyday for a truly happy and healthy little girl. Here's some pictures of our day for you to enjoy!

July 4th Weekend

This posting is a little out of order, but I wanted to put it up because I love these pictures (thanks Lo)! Fourth of July is one of my favorite times of year. My birthday is right before it and I love barbecue and fireworks.

Riley's very first Fourth of July was spent at the Grandparents V. house. The weather was great during the day! We went swimming and after a yummy dinner we took Riley out to the hole behind their house so Matt and I could play a little golf. (I use the term play as it relates to myself very loosely). Riley laughed and seemed to enjoy her first golf experience. She was asleep before the fireworks, but we only got to see a few before the t-storms rolled in anyway.

Toes are yummy!

Everything within reach goes into her mouth these days, and that means toes are not off limits as long as she can grab them. We helped her out by propping her legs up a little bit. She spent about 10 minutes "eating" her toes this morning while her Daddy and I had our cereal.

Riley's Favorite Game

Riley loves watching the dogs - of which we have two, Duke and Dahntay. She also loves to pull their hair, and luckily they are good brothers and patiently wait for Matt and I to pry open her little fist. We discovered yesterday that she thinks it's hilarious when she startles them and they bark at her. Her fun is doubled right now because my sister's two yorkie girls are here as well. Here's a video of Riley "chasing" them around the ottoman and laughing. Enjoy!

Daddy's Girl in the making

Need I say more?

Excuse me, I'm working here!

With both of her parents enjoying their summer break from teaching Riley decided that someone should be working around here. :)

Truthfully, Riley is OBSESSED and fascinated by electronics: remotes, cell phones, laptops. Place any of those within her line of sight along with toys and she automatically heads for the technology item. Common sense would suggest that we buy our poor child toy versions of these, right? Would you believe that we think she can tell the difference between the two? Her Gigi bought her a very high tech Sesame Street remote control that has a real volume control and a channel button as well as highly amusing (at least to her Mommy) Sesame Street character one liners, my personal fave Cookie Monster saying "YUMYUMYUMYUMYUM"! She will cast this aside in favor of the less entertaining, but somehow far more intriguing real life version that always finds its way into her mouth.

On the upside, in an effort to keep my child germ free we now have the cleanest remotes and cell phones you've ever seen.

She's no Bugs Bunny....

but she seemed to tolerate her first experience with carrots today. We started her on cereal almost 2 months ago and she has been loving that ever since. Matt and I decided that today was as good as any to broaden her nutritional horizon and introduce her to vegetables. While Daddy did the feeding I snapped as quickly as I could to capture the following priceless facial expressions. For those of you who know me well...you might suspect I started her on carrots in hopes that she would be able to build strong eyes and avoid the Weaverling family eyesight and the potential for her to choose big red glasses in the future. You would be right. AND for those of you who weren't lucky enough to know me during my BRG days, please refer to the following TV character for a pretty darn accurate visual of myself during this time of my life. I suspect someone on this show knew me back then and perhaps I have a potential lawsuit? I promise to post the real deal ASAP for proof.