"BREAK"ing in the Baby Sitter

Miss Riley's not been watched (baby sat) by many other people. Shelly works from home and takes care of her Monday through Friday while I work. I then play Mom on the weekends when Shelly works. That means Riley is pretty much always with a Mom. When we do need someone to watch her for a few hours we've got a live-in Baby Sitter, a la Steve, or Grandma, who lives a block away. Both Grandma and Steve watch her at our house. Needless to say, she's a little dependent on her routine.

Well, now it's summer and Aunt Angie is out of school and has volunteered to take the princess on Monday's. This helps tremendously as it's Shelly's deadline day. This is week three of Monday's at Aunt Angie's. And, I'm worried, it could be the last. Sweet little Riley is doing her best to wear out her welcome.

The day starts with a brief tantrum once she realizes I've left. So, we've decided no more sneaking out. From now on we'll say goodbye and she can watch me leave. Hopefully that will make for an easier transition (after she's done crying).

Next the little pill starts getting sleepy, yawning and rubbing her eyes. It's 9:00 am and nap time is usually between 9:00 and 10:00. Aunt Angie does the nap routine and puts Riley down for her first nap. Well, Miss Riley wasn't having it. We've said it's okay to let her cry. Aunt Angie hates this but is obliging us. Well cousin Sarah doesn't like it either and sneaks into the room to save her. Riley then decides, hey, play time, and the morning nap has been forgotten.

On to lunch where the little pill goes crazy for her peaches and becomes a sticky mess. She's got peaches all over her face, clothes, and has used the peach juice to give herself a nice punk rock hair do. So off to the tub for Miss Riley.

Next, while enjoying a bath, complete with dual entertainment from Aunt Angie and cousin Sarah, little miss decides to Baby Ruth in the tub. So chaos ensues while they get her out, clean her up, and start the bath process over again.

Who knows what might be next. Is there hope for an afternoon nap? Not sure, Grandpa is headed over there to play. Will Aunt Angie survive the day? Not sure, hopefully she's got enough wine to help her get over it. Will we still have a baby sitter come next Monday? Hopefully for a small fee.

Pictured above, Miss Riley (the sweet version), getting ready for her first swim lesson. And, what Riley usually always does with her feet during a meal. You put her in her high chair and she immediately struggles to get both feet in one slot. Plus, if she can get the socks off, they're off. (Both traits from Momma Dee...barefoot or bust and squirmy feet.) These pictures are a little dated and were actually taken at the first of May.

Picky Eater

I had hoped that Riley would be one of those kids who likes to eat almost anything, as long as it's food. (We all know one year olds love to eat plenty of things that aren't food.) I like everything, almost, but Momma Shelly is pretty picky. So what do we have, a very picky eater since the day she started solids.

She has always loved oatmeal and baby foods that are sweet. She has also, usually, somewhat liked the orange foods, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash. But, NEVER, has she been able to stomach any of the vegetables or pasta baby foods. She has always gagged any time we've tried to feed them to her. But try and try again. We've spent countless dollars on wasted baby food because of trying, trying, and trying. Now that we're moving to primarily regular food, with some 3 foods mixed in here and there, we are struggling to find a variety of foods she'll eat. She hates pasta (aren't all baby's supposed to love pasta?!), hates meat (except all beef hot dogs), and likes very few vegetables. She has shown interest in peas, carrots, black beans and Lima beans. But, she'd be much happier with fruit (almost any kind, especially grapes and strawberries), yogurt, cheese, and bread.

Now that she's moved to whole milk versus formula I'm worried that she's not getting enough variety and vitamins in her diet. Am I just a first time parent and worrying too much? We continue to try everything but she won't give. I try pasta at least twice a week. Two bites max is all we get. We've bought the "Graduate" meals to try, again, and again, thinking what kid wouldn't like that. Our kid of course! Help! Any suggestions from the seasoned professionals?

Pictured below, our picky eater then (5 months) and now.

It's Official - She's ONE!

Yesterday was Miss Riley's first birthday! I can't believe it's come and gone already. I'm having many mixed emotions over her first birthday but I'll save that for a later post. More importantly is how the birthday girl celebrated her big O-N-E!

If anyone knows me they know that I'm a birthday FREAK! I love birthdays, birthday celebrations, presents, anything birthday - I LOVE IT! So, Miss Riley's first birthday had to be all sorts of special and it all started a week ago when Grandma and Grandpa Las Vegas came to see her. We played, we ate, we spent time together. Unfortunately, I didn't take a lot of pictures. The only picture worth sharing is of me and Miss Riley at our families favorite mexican restaraunt. Riley looks like she may have had too many Marghartia's at this point.

This past weekend was actually Riley's weekend extravaganze. Friday night was the family birthday party with Shelly's family. Saturday was a small birthday party with a few of her/our friends. Sunday was a birthday visit with Grandma Connie (my Mom) and Sunday was birthday with her Mommies at the petting zoo. This little girl is loved, and spoiled, by so many people.

Below I've created a slide show of pictures from her Birthday Weekend Extravaganza. And I promise I'll be back soon with LOTS of updates because there is a lot to catch you up on.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy Heart Day!

Happy Valentines Day from our little Valentine to yours! AND BIG Happy 1st Birthday Riley Elizabeth!!!

We've had a major grumpster for the past two days. Miss Riley is GRUMPY! Nothing makes her happy for very long. Not even Roxi or her round-a-bout make her happy. She's waking every 3 to 4 hours during the night. Usually she'll wake for a bottle and go right back to bed. She's typically not too cuddly during the night either. It's the same thing, night after night, bottle and then back in the crib with her bunny and a binky and she goes back to sleep. But not the last two nights. She cries when we put her back in her crib so we've been rocking and holding her, for up to an hour, before she's ready to go back to bed. The only thing I can think of is teething but I can't see anything trying to work it's way up. Maybe since today is Valentines Day she'll find love in her heart and start being happy again. Oh where, oh where, has my happy baby gone, oh where, oh where can she be???

My Life in Pictures

Hi everyone. This is Riley. I'm taking over our blog today and giving you a little update myself.

This is me at 5:30 am Wednesday morning. I look happy, and for the most part I was, but my Mom's wouldn't give me a bottle AND I didn't sleep good the night before. I came down with this nasty cold and couldn't breath through my nose so I didn't sleep well. Can you believe my Mom's had me up at 5:30 in the morning and wouldn't feed me! Next thing I know they bundled me up and took me for a ride, in ANOTHER snow storm, first thing in the morning. We never leave the house that early so I knew something was up.



They tooke me to Primary Children's Hospital where I sat in a room with lots of other kids. Pretty soon they called my name and took us into an exam room where my Mom's put me in these silly hospital jammies.





After a couple of different nurses poked at me my Momma Shelly took me for a ride in this super cool giant red wagon! I loved riding in the wagon up and down the hall of the hospital.




Before too long another nurse came out and talked to my Mom's. They took me out of the wagon and we walked down this long hall. I started getting a little scared for some reason. At the end of the hall we stopped and my Mom's started giving me lots of kisses AND they were crying! Then they gave me to this strange man! I started crying hard. I didn't understand why they gave me to a stranger and left. He took me into a room where he gave me some medicine that made me go to sleep.

Next thing I know I woke up with no jammies on and Momma Shelly was holding me. Boy, I sure didn't feel good. For about a half an hour I cried a lot because my head was spinning and my stomach felt wobbly, like I needed to throw up. But I never did!

After taking a little nap I woke up and felt MUCH better! My Mom's got me dressed and we headed home. Of course it was still snowing!





I was so happy to be home! I felt great expect for my cold. I hate having a cold!

Here's a picture of me "Home and Happy". Everyone was treating me extra special. You can see my sore in this picture. I doesn't bother me at all. I guess we leave this tape on there until it falls off.

I felt so good my Mom's put me in my favorite toy. I played for awhile and even got a kiss from Roxi. She was really glad I was home too. Then my Mom's finally gave me a bottle and I took a super long nap. So did Momma Dee.




Last night Mommy Shelly decided to give me a Faux Hawk. Having all this new hair is crazy. I just like to pull it. My Mom's keep trying to do crazy things with it.























This is my favorite picture. It's my "Girl Power" pic!

Finally, today is Andrew's first birthday! Happy B-day Andrew!!!

Bye bye everybody!

We're home!!!

It's 11:15 and WE ARE HOME! The surgery and recovery went great. No problems. She did amazingly well. We're home feeding and cuddling the little princess. I'll post more when we get settled and she's down for a nap.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the day. Riley's surgery. We have to be at the hospital at 6:45 am. Surgery is at 8:15. We should be home around noon. I'll post an update then. I know it's minor but still, someone is taking my baby, and they'll have control of her precious little life. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Also challenging will be the fasting. Seriously, how do you have an eight month old fast?! She can have regular diet up until midnight. Then clear liquids until 5:15. Then nothing. I think it may be the longest ride to the hospital ever. She's going to want that morning bottle when she gets up. I might have to drink wine for breakfast.

Above, a picture of Miss Riley sticking out her tongue. Or at least an attempt. And, a picture of what we dealt with on Super Bowl Sunday. 25 inches of snow in our driveway! I called it "Super SNOW Sunday".