Houston, We Have Liftoff!

Aside from dog hair and paw prints, I can now add baby drool to the lovely list of items that seem to find their way to my floors.

A couple of weeks ago, Riley started crawling. I say that conservatively, since it was only a couple of "steps" at a time. This week, she really started with the distance. She still doesn't have the complete hang of coordinating her legs with her arms, but she gets there. Her biggest hang-up are her "ham hocks", otherwise known as her thighs. When she goes from the sitting to the hands-and-knees position, 99% of the time, one of her legs gets caught underneath of her. Determined, she finagles her way out of it and is on the move. She is now boastfully cruising across the room. Seeing that she is in full teething mode, she usually leaves a trail of drool behind.

She is so proud of herself, as you can imagine. The smile on her face discloses her feeling of freedom, as she wobbles across the floor to whatever object it is that she's after. I, on the other hand, am sad. This is such a bittersweet moment for me. We've reached yet another milestone...just like that...and I know that with every day that passes, she becomes more and more independent.

I leave you with a video of the other night, when she was after my cup. And so it goes...

"Hi" Pretty Girl!

Nostalgic, I am. It seems Riley went from a newbie to nearly 8 months in the blink of an eye. I find myself asking David, almost on a daily basis, where the heck our baby went.

In previous posts, you read that Riley is already mimicing us when we tell her "HI". From day one, every time we'd make eye contact, I'd find myself telling her "hhhiiiiiiiiiiiii" in my long, drawn out way that I do. Well, after 200+ days of hearing it, she started repeating it. That started about 2 months ago.

Most recently, every time we tell her hi, she starts waving. She doesn't do the backwards, fist curling hi or bye-bye that most kids start out doing. She actually waves. Maybe she's practicing for Miss America one day????? Haha! In any case, we love it! And so it goes...

Saying "Hi". She just must say it even more long and drawn out than I do.


Waving Hello.

7 Month Milestones

Height: 26" (40th percentile)
Weight: 17 pounds, 11 ounces (52nd percentile)

Sleeping Patterns: We are back to our schedule of going down between 8:30-9:00 and sleeps until right around 7:30 am. Her naps are still pretty consistent with her morning nap still being the long one, usually around 11:00am. It still averages about 3 hours. Her afternoon nap is only about an hour and it usually happens around 4:00.

Places Traveled: Again, and as usual, our calendar was almost completely booked over the past month. Our travels included going to the Florida Keys and to Lake Wales.

Accomplishments: Again, with a full schedule, we have tons to touch on this month.

Among Riley's "firsts", we can now add attending a wedding (or two), the big girl shopping cart, first swing ride, first wagon ride, first airboat show, and first celery stick to the list.

We attended Aunt Steph's wedding on Feb. 26. It was a day wedding, so Riley slept most of the time since it was during her prime nap time. But, during the time she was awake, she got passed around among family members and was a happy little camper. My favorite part, getting her dressed up. I splurged on a dress at Macy's that I couldn't resist. To make myself feel a little less guilty about it, I dressed her in the dress again and did a little photo shoot here at home. At least I can say she wore the dress twice! CONTRATULATIONS TO AUNT STEPH & UNCLE JARRETT!

One Friday, Riley experienced a handful of "firsts" all in one day. We started the day shopping and since she'd been sitting on her own, I elected to put her in the shopping cart "big girl" seat, rather than lugging in her carseat. She loved it! I attached a few toys and she was just as content as could be. Big Brother Tyler loved it too, since he got booted to the big part of the basket. He thought he was hot stuff back there. Later that day we went to the park with Grandma Carlson and Riley got her first ride in the swing. She was a little unsure of it at first, but she eventually got used to it and the smiles on her face indicated success. I think she may have even fallen asleep in the swing if Grandma would have pushed her for 10 more minutes. To wrap up her eventful day, when Daddy got home from work, he decided to put her in the wagon and walk down to the neighbor's house and hang out. I outfitted Tyler's Radio Flyer with 2 seats (with seat belts) and an umbrella when I found out I was pregnant with #2. It worked out perfect and she LOVED the wagon ride!
We spent the weekend of March 5th in the Florida Keys, for a friend's wedding at a private estate. This was Riley's second wedding in 2 weeks and her first trip to the Keys! We had such an amazing time and can't wait to go back down again when we have more time!


Tooth #2 showed up on March 16, which we were all happy to see. So far, Riley has proven that she and teething don't get along. Hopefully the rest won't give her such a hard time, but the first 2 were rough on my little stinker.

We spent some time at the Broward County Airboat Show on the weekend of March 12. Although it was her first show, she didn't really experience too much at it. She mostly just rode in the stroller and slept. But, it was still nice to see everyone. Just before going to the show, we stopped to have wings for lunch. We decided to give Riley her first celery stalk and let her knaw away on it. That, she did! By her reaction, I'd say it is safe to assume that it felt wonderful on her gums!
Sitting is now second nature to Ms. Riley and she now thinks it fun to lean over and get on her hands and reeeeaaaaaacccccchhhh for anything and EVERYTHING in sight. The knees are still lagging behind, but that's OK with me. I don't want her to grow that fast. She also grabs the side of the tub and pulls herself up to her knees. She does the same thing in her beach dome. Something tells me this girl is going to be trouble...
Among Dadadadada and "hi", we also think she says "yey". When you show her her bottle or food, she gets SO excited and it sounds like she's saying "yey". In time, we'll find out if that's what she really is saying. I need to video this and post it.

I REALLY hate to admit it, but yes, we're still battling this lingering cough. The runny nose and most of the congestion has subsided and I am happy to report that I have PACKED UP THE HUMIDIFIER [FOR NOW]!!!

Riley celebrated her first St. Patrick's Day during the past month. Of course, I went crazy with the accessories, but that's just me and I LOVE it! We steered clear of any pub or Irish Restaurant on St. Patty's Day and went and had sushi instead. All the su-chef's enjoyed our green garb!


We also attended cousin Madison's 4th Birthday Party. Riley enjoyed hanging out with cousin Raegan on the blanket outside, enjoying the awesome weather!

The beach has become our home away from home. We are there at least once a week. Riley is a definite people watcher, so when we go, she spends a majority of the time sitting in her sunshade, playing with her toys, watching everything going on around us. It also lets Mommy get some R&R and some sun all at the same time. I sat her on the shoreline and let the water rush up to her a couple weeks ago and she wasn't too thrilled about that idea. I have to say that I don't blame her much though, the water is still a bit chilly.

I recently went and got Tyler's old horsey jumper out of storage so that Riley could give it a whirl. The first day, she was not very fond of it. I think it was a mix of not feeling well and the bounciness of it. It took her by surprise and she was over it. The next day.....a whole different attitude. She jumps and jumps and jumps and jumps. She LOVES it. Again, I need to video it. Tyler used to do the same thing and then he would get so worn out from jumping that he would fall asleep in it.

Foods: March 10th was Riley's last day nursing. 6-1/2 months was long enough for me and plenty beneficial for her. I have a little bit of supply still frozen, but it will be gone in the next week or so and she will be solely on formula. As for solids, she's had all of the stage 1 and some of the stage 2. She DOES NOT like her green veggies. Peas and Green Beans cause some serious gag reflex! So, for now, we stick with the red veggies and fruit and some occasional meats for dinner.

Apparel:6 Month clothing and Size 1 shoes.

Happy, Healthy and Growing WAY TOO FAST! And so it goes...