happy 6 months, riley!

Today marks 6 months since Riley was born. It's hard to believe. Here's what you were up to this past month:

• you sit up all on your own now
• you still don't enjoy playing on your back .. or tummy
• you've still never even attempted to roll over
• you can pick toys up off the ground if they're nearby while you're sitting
• you are a pro at putting the paci in your mouth.. and taking it out
• you're in 9 month and 12 month clothing, and moved you up to size 4 diapers a week ago (little miss thunder-thighs over here)
• you eat a little rice cereal each night at dinner time, and occasionally eat a little oatmeal in the morning (when I think of it!)
• you still nurse every 3 hrs during the day and up until a week ago when you got sick you would go upwards of 9 hrs without eating at night
• you still do your 30 minute cat naps.. you average 3 of those a day
• bedtime moved earlier this month.. baths are at 630/645 and you're in bed by 715ish
• until you got sick you were sleeping until 330-430am to nurse and then go back to sleep for another 2 hrs or so.. since you've been sick, let's just not talk about it! you're up 4-7 times a night now
• you still LOVE watching your sis play
• I haven't picked up on any favorite toys you have.. you will smile at your pink musical bug most often
• you will fall asleep and nap in the car.. 30 minutes.. even with Avery chatting away next to you
• we moved you to the "sitting up" side of the infant tub this past week.. you love it!
• your baby bald spot is disappearing on the back of your head.. your hair is coming in more now and it's very blonde!
• you have the CUTEST smile.. you love smiling at mommy, daddy, and avery
• you're excited to see your Uncle Travis for the first time next week! He deployed two days before you were born.
• you're still in your infant car seat. we're trying to hold out moving you into the next car seat until our road trip in January.. since we know you'll nap in your current seat =)
• I'll update with your stats on Friday after your doctor's appointment.. but I'm pretty sure you're topping the charts weight-wise.. love my little chunky monkey!
• update: you weigh 19.1 lbs (above 95%ile) and you're 25.25" long (35%ile)

Riley at one month.. we've come a long way, kiddo!

Here's Avery at 6 months to compare!

same place, a year later

 I think I'm starting to realize how quickly time is passing. Maybe that's why I love seeing photos of Avery and comparing them to ones from when she was younger just to see how much she has grown! Here's Avery playing with her farm toys on the same table .. one is from Sept 30, 2009 and the other one is from a week ago:

21st century toddler

need I say more?

5 months old!

Yesterday Riley turned 5 months old! So far it's her best month yet ;) What's she up to, you ask?

• she is starting to grab toys
• tolerates playing on her back longer than a few minutes! 
• likes jumping in the jumperoo.. especially if Avery is around for her to watch
• eats a little rice cereal each evening during dinner time
• still not a fan of tummy time
• doesn't even know rolling over exists! 
• still working on sitting up on her own.. she can do it for a little while before tumbling over
• one bottom tooth is STILL working it's way in.. has been since she was just under 3 months old
• takes 3 or 4 30-minute naps a day
• hits a wall around 7pm and all she wants is to take a bath and go to bed
• her bedtime is between 730 and 800pm
• she now sleeps through 'til 4-530am and then eats and goes back to sleep for another 1-3 hrs
• we ditched the swaddle blanket AND paci at night and naps 3 weeks ago today (we did the hotly debated tactic of "cry it out" and lemme tell you... it WORKED. The most she cried was 30 minutes the first few nights and she even stopped waking at her famous "30 min mark") She now just makes some noise and fusses a little or even cries a little and will put herself to sleep. It's the best thing I did for her.. she's been so much more relaxed and happy during the day. Now if only she'd learn how to nap!
• but BY FAR her favorite activity of all time is watching her sis =) She sometimes even starts fussing when Avery leaves the room.

5 months

4 months

3 months

2 months

1 month

I'll end the post with a few more pictures.. 

silly girls

just playing

a fun comparison

Avery, September 27, 2008 (3 months, 10 days old)

Riley, September 27, 2010 (3 months, 12 days old)

ok so I might be the only one who notices this, but this proves how long Riley's torso is! look where her's and avery's right ears hit the bouncy seat! or even just look at the top of their heads! no wonder Riley's shirts are always so short!

3 months

Riley just turned 3 months old. I thought I'd recap the past 3 months with her "chair picture."

the digital age

random post:

Avery LOVES talking to cousin Henry over Skype.. how cool! It makes North Dakota seem not so far away. Love you HD!

my poor blog

these two keep me too busy to blog! hopefully some day i'll update again!

smile!

the newest arrival

Better late than never, right?? I think it's time to announce the arrival of

Riley Quinn Ustick!!
7 lbs 14 oz
21 inches long
2:14 pm June 15, 2010

getting closer

So we've got 27 days to go.. that's LESS than 4 weeks 'til baby #2 comes. Yikes! We had an ultrasound yesterday at the 36 week check-up. She did have her hands and feet in her face, so it was hard to get a good look, but here's what we got. Notice there's a foot lodged in her nose:

ziploc bags and storms

Sometimes you just gotta put your bowls and lids in ziploc baggies.

Avery learned all about storms the other night. She learned lots of new words... "thunder" "lightning" & "booming". All was safe inside the house perched on Daddy's lap.


I think practice is helping... a few people have actually wanted some!

nothing beats it...

nothing beats playing football with daddy!

getting crafty

just a little project I started today:



it definitely takes practice to get good at lining the ribbon up and not making a complete mess of the hot glue, but I'd say for my first trial run, they don't look too shabby, right?

coloring: avery-style

Here she is drawing a fish... maybe i should put that in quotes: "fish"



and in other exciting news... Avery has finally taken to wearing something in her hair/on her head... we'll see how long it lasts =) and in case you were wondering, her shirt is on backwards.. oops!

a little project

What can I get done in 15 minutes? I took this:


and made it into this:

We figured the old, "blue" recliner that is quite ancient needed to be tossed and replaced before the baby arrived. As a baby, Avery often woke up when I'd get up out of the chair because it creaked and squeaked so much! So far this one is as quiet as a mouse!

fun with cardboard

Brent mowed our lawn for the first time on Sunday afternoon... and Avery enjoyed playing with the packaging from the box the lawn mower came in. She played in her "house" and watched Brent mow the lawn. So much fun!


Avery also got her first legitimate facial scratch over the weekend. She gained too much speed running down the driveway and tripped and let her nose break the fall. Oops!

thought it couldn't get any worse!

but it did! the next day!


Avery loves snuggling up CLOSE to her bumper while sleeping... can you tell?