Fun with friends

Riley has been enjoying her time with some friends.

First, are pictures of Riley hanging out with Evan. Evan is Matt and Lauren's sweet baby boy, he is just a few months younger than Riley. Please excuse the very blurry pictures (I had my camera on a funky setting.)

Next, is Riley's good friend Pax. Pax is Kevin and Kari's precious 3 month old baby boy. Riley and Pax have been meeting up each week for awhile now. I just LOVE Pax's hair!

And last is Riley's very best friend. Scout!

Riley all your friends are boys, we need to find some girl friends!! (It seems everyone we know has had or is going to have a boy.)

Yumm!

At Riley's 6 month appointment our doctor told us we could start giving Riley solid food! How exciting. So far, we have tried sweet potatoes, avocado, and now we are on to pears. Pears are by far her favorite. I am making all of Riley's food and I have to say I love doing this! It is so easy and I know exactly whats she's getting (no preservatives and weirdly named additives.)

Riley's first try at solids happened to be while we were in Ft. Worth for a wedding. My mom and dad really enjoyed seeing this milestone first hand. Since then she has become a pro at eating and really enjoys playing and eating in her highchair (thanks mom and dad!)

Oh and for anyone who may be interested, I am using The Baby Bistro cookbook and the awesome website www.wholesomebabyfood.com. Both have been amazing resources for what foods to give, when to try them, and how to prepare them.

Pro pictures

We had Riley's six month photos taken a few weeks back by the same wonderful photographer that did her newborn pictures. Brittani, the photographer, and her husband are so fun and they make things easy by coming to our house. Unfortunately, it was sooo cold outside so we didn't get any outdoor pics. But these turned out fabulous!! Here is the link to her blog for the sneak peek!

http://www.brittanilouise.com/blog/



*I have been slacking on my blog posting and have several posts to update. Hopefully I will get around to those soon. I am just enjoying Riley so much right now, and I haven't really wanted to be on the computer.

Discovering Scout

Riley has been able to see Scout and follow him with her eyes for awhile now. Several weeks ago, Riley discovered how to pet Scout. And she Loves this!! She will try to touch and pull on Scout anytime he comes near.

She also thinks anything she touches must go into her mouth...including Scout! (Doesn't he look slightly traumatized? haha)

6 months old!

Riley just turned six months old!!! Over the past month she has been so much fun!! She really turned the corner as far as the way she feels (reflux, spit up, stomach trouble, colic) and the way she sleeps. I am SO proud to say we now have a good sleeper! She takes 4 naps a day, anywhere from 45 minutes to 2.5 hours. She is also sleeping at night in her own crib from about 7:30pm-7:00am. Amazing!! (She will still wake up one to two times per night, but she just wants her paci back and a pat or two on the back and she is back to lala land. Any tips on how to stop that are welcome.) But really after all we went through that is the least of my concerns.

We saw Dr. Shuman on Wednesday morning and she said Riley looked great and was doing great developmentally. We had taken Riley off her meds (she seemed to be doing better off of them) and Dr. Shuman thought that it was perfectly fine. She saw Riley spit up a few times and said that since she doesn't seem to be in any pain then we could cancel our GI appointment. (It took forever to even get a "special" phone number to call for an appointment for the GI. Texas Childrens' really made it difficult for us to see a specialist. Anyway that matters none now.)

Riley got 1 oral vaccine and 3 shots...I fully expected our sometimes drama-queen to be inconsolable and wail to no end. However, she did SO good!! The first two shots she barely even noticed. The third she let out a few sad tears and small little whimper like cries and that was it!! What a big girl!

She weighed in at a mighty 12 pounds 9.5 ounces (5% and yes every half ounce counts.) Dr. Shuman was fine with her weight. She is gaining and is on her own growth curve. She was 26 inches long (50-75%) and her head was 16 inches (10%.)

Here are a few things I'd like to remember:
-Riley is rolling from her back to her tummy and tummy to back (although we haven't actually witnessed this...we know she can due how she ends up at the end of a nap.)
-Riley can sit for a very short amount of time, and sometimes uses her arms to help keep herself upright.
-She wants to touch everything!! Texture amazes her.
-Anything she touches she wants to put in her mouth!! She tries to eat some funny stuff...mommy and daddy's nose.
-She grabs for toys and is able to hold onto most of them.
-She can extend her arms and arch her back so that none of her tummy touches the floor.
-She makes lots of gremlin-like noises and lots of sounds (but nothing sounds like consonants or vowels just yet.)
-She is constantly trying to get her feet in her mouth. Often her socks are soaking wet.
-And Riley loves Scout and tries to pet him daily!!


She was so interested in her chair this time and like everything else, she tried to put it in her mouth.


Clearly, we still need to work on the Baylor "bear claw" thing. Come on Riley...its Guns UP!

Riley we love you and thank God for you each day!

Sitting

Over the Christmas break, Riley learned to sit on her own. At first, she needed her little arms to support her but now she can sit for a few seconds up to a minute or so without toppling over. (She is quite top heavy with her head still being the heaviest part of her small little frame so she sways alot!)

I've also included alot of other random pictures taken throughout Christmas.

My Dad having fun with Riley roo. Do you see any similarities?

My mom having fun dressing up sweet Riley!

Christmas

After Riley woke up Christmas morning, opened up her remaining presents and saw the swing from Santa, Clay and I headed to spend the day with his family in Kingwood. Riley did really good this time (aside from one screaming incident with Clay's sister Kate) and was even able to nap a few times in her pack and play.

Clay's parents were so kind to invite my family to join them for Christmas dinner. I was very very appreciative because my parents were helping my sister move apartments and were in packing limbo and would likely have had chinese food for Christmas (insert The Christmas Story "duck" scene.)

Clay, his mom and Riley opening a present.

Clay being silly with a stuffed animal from Kate.

Clay, Riley, and Clay's sister Kate.

Clay's dad getting to snuggle.

Riley's first Christmas Eve

What a sweet celebration Christmas was this year! Riley makes everything more joyful, special, and fun!!

We spent Christmas Eve with my family. We started off the evening by attending our church's candlelight service. There were so many people there this year that we had to sit at the very top and on the last row. But I was glad, I wanted a quick exit in case Riley got a little crazy. The seats also made for an awesome view of the hundreds and hundreds of lit candles. What a beautiful worship! Oh and Riley did amazing. Not one peep, she just stared and stared at all the people.

After the service, we checked out some fun Christmas lights (a tradition). Then we headed back to the house to fill our bellies then we opened presents.

Riley was very observant when it came to opening the presents and even helped pull the paper off. Here we are with one really fun toy (a rocking caterpillar) It was one of the few toys that didn't make some crazy sound. Yikes, I better enjoy the quiet now! :)

Even Scout got in on the action.

Santa came and brought Riley a fun new swing, some new shoes, and the remaining presents were from the night before (She had to go to bed before she was finished opening all of her presents.)

Here Riley is posing in some super cute outfits Mom and Dad got Riley.