christmas past and christmas present

December 2009

December 2011

aaaand, this is why I'm glad I kept Avery's old clothes =)

a little DIY

We've almost been in our house 2 years. Just yesterday I hung the first curtain downstairs. The girls' rooms were done right away .. dark rooms for naptime are a must, right? Anyway, I have had MAJOR issues deciding on how to decorate our house. I just can't ever decide on anything! I know what I like, but finding it (and finding it at the right price) and putting it up are so hard. So yes.. without further ado... our new kitchen eating area curtain! And I had a little extra fabric that I used to create these little things up. Black hand towels for 50 cents? Yes, please. I like how the curtain came out. I just hope I'm not the only one =)

BEFORE

AFTER

Happy Halloween!

miss riley in oct

Any takers to clean miss riley?? she is SO messy!

What a difference a year makes!

October 2011

October 2010

Riley is 15 months old!

Update time again!  Riley is 15 months old today! She is SUCH a happy girl. She is constantly on the move. Girl doesn't stop. She can understand so much now and communicate with us. She nods yes and no to things we ask, and says "yea" and "no" too. She's learning lots of new words. We can understand her saying cracker, cookie, cheese, bite, wawa (for water), up, help (which sounds just like up), more (which she says a lot =), car, dada, mama (finally!), Avery (sounds like "a-wee", "buh" for book, ball, and "craw" for crawl. And she does lots of jabbering. She can clap and wave and say "hi" and "bye bye". She can point to her nose when asked. And she recognizes lots of things we talk about... like she knows what it means when we say "go outside".. she runs for the door. She is branching out a little more these days on what she eats. Not crazy variety, but she won't throw a fit when we show her a new food. She just will drop it off her tray or fuss until I take it away if she thinks she won't like it. Milk is still on her "no" list. Luckily she eats yogurt and cheese easily. She's getting better at using a spoon. Probably from all her playing with it in the tub drinking bath water! She still sits backwards in the car since she couldn't handle facing front and seeing me in the front seat! I am in NO rush to turn her around. She's been walking for a while, but she can walk really fast now. She usually trips all over the place if she gains too much momentum... most likely from trying to keep up with big sis.

She still takes 2 naps most days. Always a morning nap, but doesn't always fall asleep for her afternoon nap. She handles being tired SO much better than Avery did at this age! (knock on wood). Avery would just meltdown like crazy if she was even remotely overtired. I love how Riley is different than Avery in a lot of ways, but they are similar, too. Riley is such a cuddlebug. I can honestly never remember Avery resting her head on my shoulder EVER.. even when sick. But Riley does it a lot. I like it =)

We're loving every day with Riley. She's turned into such a happy girl. Makes the memories of the hard first 10 months of her life fade away. Happy 15 months RyRy!

sweet, clean baby

anyone want a wipe?!

trying on avery's leotard.. she started spinning right away

happy 14 months Riley

Just a little update on Riley. She's now 14 months old! This is a random, unordered list of things you're doing lately.

Babbling and walking all over the place. It's rare to see her crawl now. She's getting super fast at walking. She often tumbles because she gains so much momentum or she fails to see obstacles on the ground and topples right over. You've turned the corner for sure on napping. What a long journey that's been =) 2 decent naps a day (usually around an hour maybe an hour and a half) Occasionally you'll do a classic 30 min cat nap, but you can handle it pretty well now.. I'll take it! And you sleep from like 8pm to 6am each night. You LOVE water. You enjoy the pool and love taking baths. You are headstrong just like your sis. You are pretty fiesty if you don't get what you want ;) You wish milk didn't even exist and you would live on pouch baby food if we let you (sorry girl, those things are too pricey to become habit!) There's only a handful of things you'll eat. Miss picky eater. You'll get better, we're sure. right?! You cry when there's new food on your tray you haven't tried before. And won't stop until we take it away. Luckily you seem to enjoy fruit (applesauce and bananas) and cheese. Haha. Today you ate some yogurt! woo hoo.
You say "Dada" ALL THE TIME. Whenever you hear a noise outside you perk up and say "dada? dada?" You understand a lot of what we say to you. You can answer yes or no to questions and it's usually right. You love to be outside and walk around. Just the other night you chased some dogs down the street. You can bark and babble some word for puppy. Stranger anxiety? yep. still there! You love your sis. You perk up when she wakes up in the mornings and comes down to play "with" you.
You enjoy going out in the car and going to the mall to play, or to parks when it's cool enough. Maybe in a few more months you'll walk on the mulch at the parks =) You love the playground areas and think you're a big girl like Avery and head right for the slides.
Each new month is more fun than the next. You love being able to move around and do things. I love being able to communicate with you now, love learning your likes and dislikes, and love having another buddy around during the day to play with. Oh, and I love you not crying and fussing all hours of the day. =) Here's to being 1 and growing up!

sisters!

a rare, calm side-by-side playtime

morning person? i think not!

what a difference a year makes... (sisterly couch time)

August 2010

August 2011

sleeping beauty or cinderella?!

silly faces

need I say more?

Riley's ramblings

silly face

Some days I can't believe Riley is old enough to be talking and understanding what I'm saying to her. She's starting to say a few more words. I swear I heard her say "apple" yesterday! She loves eating those dried apple bites. She saw the bag and said, "apple." She said "hi" to a lady walking by her in the shopping cart yesterday. The lady stopped in her tracks and was like, "hi sweetie!" Haha.. moments like that make me smile. I really have no clue if she actually knows the word "hi" ... but she babbled it at the right moment. She will say "hello" when she plays with a phone. And will hold it up to her ear. I think she's learning the word "crawl." Everytime she goes to the stairs either Avery or I will say the word crawl. A few times yesterday, Riley said "CRA!" when she reached the stairs. Oh, and she's saying "yea" for yes and nodding her head when I say or show her something she wants. And she vigorously shakes her head no when it's not what she wants =)

Riley LOVES to push her little walker toy around. But beware of her bumping into a wall. She will scream immediately! I can't wait until she learns to move it herself. And if Avery ever so slightly even comes near it or touches it while she's walking with it, she'll turn on the water works and just lose it. It's hard not to laugh. Poor girly wants to play with it so bad, and can't stand the thought of sharing it!

how to... wash a car

This post is inspired by THIS ONE of Avery getting ready for baby sis back in March 2010.

How to wash a car. Step by step ... by Avery

 

Step 1: Take off your shoes and get out bucket, soap, and any and all sponges you see (3 is way better than 1). Fill up bucket with sudsy water. Sponge your feet off. Must have clean feet to wash a car.

 Step 2: Examine the soapy sponge

Step 3: Smile because washing cars is so much fun!

Step 4: Examine the suds on your finger, too

Step 5: Walk on the sponge to make soapy footprints on driveway

Step 6: Step into the bucket to maximize the amount of soap you can get on your feet

Step 7: Smile because you forgot you are actually supposed to be washing a car and not playing with soapy water ;)

Step 8: Step on the sponge yet again... they are very squishy and soap squirts out when you jump on them

Step 9: must.run.in.puddles

Step 10: Show mommy your soapy hands. You are hard at work

Step 11: Empty bucket because it's way more fun to play in water than to use it for washing cars

Step 12: Go swimming in the bathtub. Washing cars is dirty work!

words

Riley, 1 year old (June 15, 2011)

Avery, 1 year old (June 17th, 2009)

 I always hoped I could use this dress again after Avery wore it for her 1st birthday. And lo and behold, we were able to! And of course we busted out the lovely pink blanket, compliments of Aunt Krista. Seriously.. Riley's one now? Crazy.
She's picking up a few more words. She can say "up" and "cracker" and she babbles mama and dada (but not using them as our names yet). She makes the "ma" sound for more and "wa" when she wants water. Oh, and she has the head shake down for "no." Haha. She's cruising all around. Just today she walked across the floor holding on to the shopping cart. First time for that. And a few days ago she took one step while standing up not holding on to anything. She is NOT into having her arms held so she can walk, or anything of the sort. She does it when she wants to. Hmmm... sounds like someone else around here...

Avery's THREE! ~June 17th

As you can see Avery and I had lots of fun outside in the morning. We played with water and bubbles (her personal favorite). Went to the play area at MacArthur later. Had lunch at the mall! Then went to the pool later in the afternoon. All topped off with froyo at Skinny Dip! What a great day =) Happy Birthday, Avery!