Mommies little MESSY helper

Not a lot has been going on except for sickness. Miss Riley caught a cold two weeks ago and has since given it to EVERYONE in the family! Including Mommy Shelly, me, Grandma, Papa and Aunt Angie. Riley's on the mend but everyone else is just feeling the affects.

This past weekend we didn't do much of anything and it was WONDERFUL! I got a chance to do some cleaning, laundry, and had lots of play time with Riley. Sunday we all went to the nursery and bought, and planted, plants in the yard. Miss Riley helped and learned two new words, dirt and grass. Dirt is now a favorite word as it's easy to say.

We're still making progress in the walking department. The most she's taken is 5 steps but she attempts taking a couple steps many times throughout the day. She's so close.

Lots of pictures today. I couldn't resist.

Miss Riley LOVES helping with chores. Although when she helps with dishes, such as pictured below, progress seems to get stalled. But that's okay. She's too cute. She can stall my chores all she wants. She also loves to help with laundry. Our washer and dryer are front loading. She LOVES taking the clothes out of the washer and putting them into the dryer. I'll have to get it on video next time she helps.

As posted before, Riley is a picky eater. Yesterday I decided to try SpaghettiO's. She wasn't a big fan until I decided she could feed herself. Only she thought drinking them would be best. Notice the ring on her forehead from the brim of the container. FYI - when drinking SpaghettiO's most of the noodles and sauce end up down your shirt. Needless to say she went straight to the bath after this.

An Upright Child...Almost

Just when I was getting ready to post about how Miss Riley may never walk she goes and surprises us. Last night she took FIVE STEPS on her very own. And then held a repeat performance today! She's almost there. We're very close to having a walker in the house. She's such a super speedy crawler I thought she may never see the benefit in walking. I was imagining taking a crawling five year old to kindergarten. Okay, that's a joke, but seriously, she is the fastest crawler. Sometimes I can't catch her. Let's hope she keeps taking steps on her own because when we try to get her to walk she throws a fit, pulls her legs in, and refuses. This little girl will do things WHEN SHE DANG WELL WANTS TO! And I LOVE that about her.

Pictured here are the front and bank of our princess. I love both of these pics. For some reason I'm obsessed with pictures of her from behind. I think they are so dang cute!

Happy Birthday to Talor (& ME)!

We had a very busy, and fun, weekend. It was my birthday weekend and I'm all about celebrating my birthday ALL WEEKEND so we packed as much fun as we could into one weekend. To the left, a picture of a very happy girl celebrating Momma Dee's birthday.

Friday night we had an adult dinner with our close friends. It was so nice to sit, have an adult beverage, and enjoy fun conversation without the little ones. Even better is that I had enough adult beverages (3 in total, I'm such a light weight these days) to make me super funny. At least I thought so. Shelly on the other hand was ready for me to rest my lips (stop talking non-stop).

Saturday was Talor's (Tate's little sister) big 1st birthday bash. We had it our clubhouse so that the kids could swim. And swim we did. I've posted lots of fun pictures in the slide show. We decided after the first 1/2 of the day we should switch and make it my birthday party and brought out more adult beverages and gui.tar he.ro. We had A LOT of fun. BUT, the next day, yesterday, my birthday, I really wasn't feeling well.

Sunday, my very birthday, was another busy day. I met my crafty girls in the morning to stamp. Angie even made us cupcakes (again, for my birthday)! :) Next Riley and I met Grandma Connie for lunch at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. We finished off the day at Mimi's for dinner with the family.

We had a wonderful and busy weekend. Enjoy the pictures!

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"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.

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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???