HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday to my little sister and best friend.

(she's the sassy one in the belly shirt in the front! - plus I promised my blog readers that someday they would get a glimpse of the big red glasses)











LOVE YOU SEESTER!!!

Things I Love, pt. 2

I LOVE

the way Riley crosses her feet when she sits in her highchair.


that she's not a picky eater (and she's got the little belly to prove it!)


her silly side!


her eagerness to get a move on in life!


her sweet wonder for the things in her world.


her little spirit that kept her stirring the nothing in that bowl and feeding herself as if it were the yummiest treat ever.

I LOVE

this little 13 month old!

Craft Fever

It might be the Kindergarten teacher in me or maybe it's the restless gene I know I inherited from my mother, but I'm a sufferer of "Craft Fever". It hits randomly, without warning and we never know how long it will last.

My most recent bout of craft fever came about after a trip to the local mall where I spent $20 procuring 3 new hair bows for Riley. Now I'm not easily parted with $20, but I'm a sucker for all things girly especially when it comes to the princess. When faced with a wall of bows all glittery, argyled, striped and polka dotted I am rendered unable to say no.

However, closer inspection of the purchases at home began to make my crazy craft fever rise. It starts easily enough...I casually mention to my husband that I could probably make these bows if I really wanted to. On a trip to Target I happen to buy a spool of 5 grosgrain ribbons for $1. Last week after using the glue gun for a classroom activity I accidentally drop it in my bag to take home for the night.

And then full Craft Fever hits and this is the result. (Please forgive my terrible photography skills and not so great camera)

Ahh craft urge fulfilled my ADD the fever subsides...for now.

Miss Manners

I never thought that Riley's first words (meaning they come out loud, clear and often) would be thank you. It is darn cute though.

Not Me! Monday

It's Monday again and time for Not Me! fun created by the one and only MckMama. If you want to get in on the fun head over to her blog for the rules or stop by just to read what everyone else did NOT do this week. Boy do I have some doozies this week!

We did NOT start off our Monday by getting pulled over for "disregarding a stop sign" within sight of work. The man did not actually laugh as he told us how many teachers he had gotten that morning. It was NOT just the most delightful way to start our week.

I did NOT send my kid to daycare in her footie jammies today. I always wake up in time to get her and myself dressed and ready for work. She is not still in her jammies at 12:45 in the afternoon.




Oh I did NOT come down with a cold on Friday essentially bombing our whole weekend. It is NOT fair to be sick over the weekend! However, due to my illness I excused myself from my housekeeping side job and I did NOT do any of the usual weekend chores.

My little sister is NOT turning 26 on Wednesday. No, NOT me. My little sister is still in her teens, thus making me in my early twenties. We are NOT both officially over the 20's hump this year and inching closer to the next decade.



I do NOT mind shamelessly plugging a good friend of mine's photography business and will NOT at all hesitate to recommend her for your infant, child and maternity photographing needs. She is new, but very talented and so wonderful to work with. Visit her site to check out her work.

I Live For

the little moments with Riley. Last Wednesday night we were just about asleep and it hit me hard how much I missed snuggling her in bed with us...smelling her sweet baby skin, listening to her little breaths, looking at her peaceful face. It's been months since she slept with us and while we are glad for the increased hours of sleep and the room in our bed I have to admit I sometimes miss those days. T.G. consoled me with the reminder that she would soon enough be trying to sleep in our bed again and I let it go, but I was still thinking about it and wishing I could snuggle her sleeping little body one more time.

Today I got my wish because one hour after we put her down for her afternoon nap she was up crying screaming in her crib. For whatever reason in the afternoon she tends to wake up from her nap this way. We still haven't figured it out, but that's another post. I went in there to get her and picked her up and started snuggling her trying to calm her down when T.G. came in and started waving his arms at me trying to tell me that she was sound asleep on my shoulder. That isn't usual, so we both stood there for a minute not sure what to do with her. Put her back down in the crib? Sit in the rocking chair with her? But I was already holding her and I just couldn't pass up my chance. I took her into our room and quietly lay down on our bed and snuggled her close just like I used to do. I held my breath as her eyes fluttered open and peered at me before she let out a baby sigh of contentment and fell back to sleep. I couldn't believe my luck God's grace as an hour ticked by with me holding her close, smelling her sweet toddler skin, listening to her one year old sighs and looking at her angel face. I live for moments just like that.

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I read an article in Parenting magazine today about the many and varied ways babies show their love. Some of them were no brainers like Riley loves giving kisses and huggies. She certainly wiggles and gets excited when she sees us and is starting to cry and fuss a little when one of us leaves.

The article also talked about imitation as flattery or in her case L-O-V-E. Let me tell you if imitation is love this girl is doling it out for us left and right. These days she cracks us up when she will take my phone and hold it between her chin and her ear and walk around the house "talking" into it like she watches her Mommy do. We swoon when she picks up her baby doll and snuggles her into her shoulder kissing her head and patting her on the back. I tear up when I hold her and pat her on the back and she pats me on mine at the same time (mostly because my Dad lists this as one of his favorite memories of me as a baby). We watch amused as she stands in her kitchen and stirs things in her pots and bowls. We giggle as she tries to wear our shoes.






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Windy cold days, GO AWAY, bring the warm weather back, so we can play! (in a short sleeve onesie and no jacket in February!!!)

We had a spring teaser two weeks ago with an entire week of very warm, think 70's, weather. Riley LOVED getting out to the park almost every day that week and running herself silly. We tried to go out one day this week by going to an outdoor inline roller skating rink that is 2 minutes from our house. She loved pushing her umbrella stroller in a place with what must have seemed like infinite space to her, and I enjoyed not worrying about her getting away. It was fun while it lasted, but it wasn't long because the wind was fierce that day. Here's hoping for an early spring!

Girly Fun

I LOVE having a little girl. Don't get me wrong, I want a son so badly that I think about stealing borrowing my friend's little man all the time. However, I love bows and dresses, skirts and glitter. I drool over tights and Lelli Kelly's, hot pink and sequins.



What's cuter than a dress? A very chic brown and blue dress!


Give us a big bow anyday!

From Riley's First Birthday!

Tiara, check! Multi colored gift ribbon flare, check, check! Footie pajamas on your birthday, check, check and check!

Pink, gingham, and bedazzled! Do they make these in adult size??

Luckily the princess is a willing participant in these shenanigans of mine and my husbands. That's right I said my husband. He frequently will deem my choice of outfit not quite right and march our baby back into her room to fix it. What can I say? My man's got style.

Deceptively Delicious!

For Christmas, Riley's Great Aunt gave me a cookbook called Deceptively Delicious. The idea behind the book is "hiding" veggies and other very healthy things in foods that kids like to eat. Now, Riley doesn't have a problem eating her fruits and veggies these days, but I know it's coming so I want to be prepared! Yesterday I tried one of the recipes in the book for the first time and made applesauce muffins (with carrots and squash). Riley LOVED them, so I'm sure we'll be trying more of the recipes soon.




They smell like apple pie and you can't even see the vegetables can you? E-mail me if you want the recipe.

Daddy's Girl 6

It never gets old for me to watch them together.

Not Me! Monday

It's 8:00 and my sweet princess is drinking her milk and relaxing next to me while I get ready to participate in the free weekly therapy created by MckMama. If you want to get in on the fun head over to her blog and read what everyone else has NOT been doing this week. And away we go!I am NOT thrilled to be sitting at home on a Monday with my little princess while my husband snoozes in bed. I am NOT so glad to be a teacher and get all these wonderful holidays. I am NOT double blessed to have a husband who teaches too (at the same school I do) so that we can enjoy these delightful holidays together as a family! I was NOT so bummed when following a great idea of my husband we went to a Circuit City yesterday in search of Adobe Photoshop deeply discounted and discovered that those were long gone. I did NOT then ask him to take me to Cold Stone because if I couldn't have my software I needed some ice cream.I did NOT indulge myself in another favorite therapeutic activity last night by creating and coloring this squiggle while watching Big Love. I am NOT a dork who still loves to break out the crayons and color sometimes.

From February 09

I did NOT just have to go do an 8 baby wipe change on my daughter thanks to Rachel Ray's cheeseburger chili mac that we had for dinner last night.Our princess does NOT have her first sty! She did NOT develop it while I was away all day on Valentine's Day. Since I did NOT forget to take pictures of her in her adorable PRE Valentine's Day outfit I did NOT snap a few pics of the poor thing sty and all at our Valentine's Day family dinner at Red Robin. We were NOT the only family in there - in fact it was packed full of families enjoying LOVE day together.

From February 09

HAPPY PRESIDENT'S DAY!

Happy Valentine's Day!

What a difference a year makes!

Last year my parents were here and my father met Riley for the first time. Last year she slept through most of Valentine's Day as we ran errands at Fort Myer and I fed her in the car between the comissary and the px. Last year I dressed her up in a Daddy's Lil' Cupcake onesie, heart covered jean skirt, and valentine's tights and snapped this photo.

This year she was old enough to go to the (one day early) Valentine's Day parties at her Daddy's and my school and steal everyone's heart. This year she spent the entire day with her #1 Sweetheart while Mommy was with her swim team. This year she had enough hair for a pebbles ponytail and bow (but she still rocked out valentine's tights and a heart covered jean skirt). And this year she can say "WUV UUUUUUU".

What a difference a year makes...

Free Spirit

How I managed to have a baby that is fearless and so eager to take on the world and all its challenges is completely beyond me...but I love it. This picture was taken by my photographer friend Lindsley while Riley was perched atop a climbing wall section of the playground yesterday (don't worry I was behind her).

I think this picture captures her perfectly...so proud of herself, up high where the air is clean and the view is unobstructed and loving life as her hair blows in the wind. I'm so proud of her and gosh I hope some of her fearlessness rubs off on her Mom.

Just because...

I think she's so darn cute!

From February 09

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week...

I've been away from Not Me! Monday for a while, okay, more than a while, more like two months?!?! But, I know you'll forgive me as I write my first Not Me! Monday of the new year and purge myself of all the things I've NOT been doing lately.

I did NOT blog 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 times!! tonight (including this one early!) in the hopes of making up for my two week hiatus.

We did NOT waste any of our lovely 60 degree weather in February by staying indoors this weekend. Okay, at least we did NOT waste both days, and today we visited Dinosaur Park with our girl for some much needed fun in the sun.






I did NOT have the NORO virus last week and I most certainly did NOT call my Daddy on a break between bathroom visits sobbing and telling him how miserable I was. Because I did NOT call him in the first place I definitely did NOT call back two more times throughout the night just wanting to be comforted. (That's my Daddy with Riley.)

I did NOT almost give up on my Steelers when Larry Fitzgerald scored that touchdown with 2 1/2 minutes to go in the Super Bowl. I would never almost turn off the tv and decide to skip the end of the game believing that there was no way they could pull it off. Luckily I did NOT turn it off because we won!

My baby did NOT throw my cell phone into the toilet on Saturday. No, not me because there is no way I would let my baby play with my cell phone and speed dial family members on a regular basis so much so that when I do actually call they say, Hi Riley! before they say Hi to me. I would also NOT leave the lid on the toilet up since I learned my lesson with the car keys a few weeks ago. It did not take me five minutes to figure out why she kept walking around our bedroom saying "uhhhhh ooooooooo" over and over again totally ruining any chance of saving the phone. I did NOT have to reach in and fish it out knowing that it was beyond repair.

Lastly, I did NOT look at this photo and wish to myself that I was MckMama for a day so that I could hold a Name That Photo contest because it was such a good one!

Laughing Queen, pt. 2

The other night we were tag teaming 3B's time, better known around here as Bath Time, Bottle Time, Bed Time. Now, Riley LOVES the bath, and she goes to sleep very easily after her bottle, but going from being in the bath to being in her pajamas ready for bed is not so easy. She almost always screams and fusses while we race to throw on her diaper and pjs. It's so much easier when both of us are there because one of us can distract her while the other dresses her grand prix style.

A few nights ago Daddy discovered some sea themed finger puppets Riley's Gigi got for her last summer. He put them on and started to put on a show for her and she started to laugh harder than we've ever heard her. I mean she has been laughing and it has been documented, but we've never heard a belly rumbling laugh out of her before. I actually raced downstairs for the camera and instructed him to keep doing whatever it was he was doing. WARNING: Her laugh is infectious, so be prepared to laugh with her.

Gabby McGabberson, Pt. 2

We all know that Riley has had a lot to say from very early on, but these days we're getting actual words and phrases which is both fun and at the same time frustrating for all of us. She talks at us and to us all day, but so far we've only identified the following:

tchnk uuuuuuuu - thank you
hiiieeeee - hi
deedee - Daddy
mahmahmah - MORE
um um um - yum yum yum
dggeee - doggy

and
uuuhhhh ooooooo - as in I threw mommy's cell phone in the toilet - by the way if you're calling me there won't be an answer for a while

And we've not been able to figure out what the heck the following means:

bigaaaaaaaaaah - ??? she says it multiple times a day???


No, you're not mistaken, Mommy or any variation of it is not up there, BUT she does do the cutest little bouncy dance whenever she sees me and gives me wonderful snuggles several times a day that I wouldn't trade for just one word.

A couple of firsts

Riley's had a couple of firsts since we've been gone, check them out!

MY FIRST CHAIR!

Riley got a microsuede rocking chair from us for her first birthday. It is too cute to watch her crawl in and out of it. She loves sitting in her special chair, especially when she's having her milk in the morning.





MY FIRST KITCHEN!

Riley's Gammy and Gampy got her this AMAZING play kitchen for her first birthday. It has a "working" microwave, stove top, and phone and lots of kitchen items for her to play with and doors to open. We love watching her stand at it and stir things in her pots and pans. She's also very good about cleaning up after herself.









MY FIRST PONYTAIL!

Riley's bangs have gotten so long that we had to start pulling her hair up off of her face. We went to a store in the mall called Pretty, Pretty and got her some new bows and hair ties. Linds says it looks like Pebbles and I think she does too! Poor girl got her mother's straight as a stick hair...

So many things happening, in so little time

Hello blog friends! I'm sorry I've been away for so long, but if you've been reading since the start of our blog you'll know that only happens when we get sick around here. Luckily our princess was spared this time, but her Daddy and I were down for the count last weekend and into much of this past week with a very NASTY NASTY virus. It's taken me two weeks to catch up with all those other not so fun things that have to be done around here and the blog just wasn't at the top of the list! But we're back and A LOT has happened during our break! So I invite you to sit back, relax, and catch up with our precious Riley Boo.

Last week we got our first snow/ice storm here and we had 2 snow days!! As teachers this meant two extra days at home with the princess. We were homebound for most of the time, but luckily we have Riley to keep us entertained...


Doesn't she look like a character in Where the Wild Things Are?


She's figured out how to bend over and look back at us through her legs. It got BIG laughs the first time she did it in this photo so now she laughs anytime she does it.


Pillow wrestling is always a good time in our house.




When we got hungry she fed us...


And don't worry, we made sure she got a break and a meal too.


All in all, we had lots of fun and laughs!