moving around

Riley

Avery

It's crazy how different every baby is from one another. I probably think that a zillion times a day. Avery and Riley are SUCH different babies. The list is endless. Riley isn't crawling yet. She can move around though. She does this twisty turn manuever where she almost gets into the crawling position but sits back up and has shifted positions. It's hard to explain. So I looked back at pictures to see what Avery was up to at this very age. She was already crawling and pulling up on things to stand! How crazy is that.

a hard, but good day

 The day started out early with Riley waking up completely inconsolable. As a side note, last week she started getting her two top teeth in and had been handling it quite well. Well Tuesday morning she had woken at 3am and she felt warm. And again at 6am when she woke again. I just figured it was warm in her room or something. The thought of dragging both kids to the doctor for a "false alarm" just is not fun, nor easy. I figured I would try to rock Riley back to sleep since maybe she was crying because she was still tired. Well she fell asleep in my arms and just moaned while doing so! It was so pitiful. She slept about 30 minutes until I figured I needed to rescue Avery from her crib who had been happily awake hanging out in her crib for a good while. Riley was none to pleased about being moved. By 8:30am I was still unsuccessful at keeping Riley consoled. Every time I sat her down so I could do something she would just lose it! Tears were streaming down at a rapid pace. Avery was doing her two-year-old antics in full force that morning, so I quickly decided we needed to get out of the house and head for a park. The outside air might snap Riley out of whatever was bothering her. Avery had a blast! She LOVES slides. Climbing up and sliding down. Riley, on the other hand, wasn't as thrilled about the park. She did have some good moments and did cheer up some.

I finally decided to call the doc (when Brent offered to come home to be with Avery!) .. I felt like I could manage that. After all, I figured it was probably teething, but she had been good with it the past week, and being inconsolable just ISN'T like her.

Long story short, I took Riley to the doctor and did not feel dumb for doing so! The nurse even said "that's why we're here!" When I said I just brought her in to rule out sickness. Everything checked out just fine. Her ears were good. She was just a little stuffy. Seems like she has a little cold. The doctor took one look inside her mouth and said "wow, she has a gazillion teeth coming in, huh?" After waiting over an hour for Riley to go to the bathroom (to rule out an infection) we were free to go. Riley is just having a rough go at it with all her teeth coming in. She's got 3 coming in.. with at least 4-5 more that I see will be coming in the near future.

It was a good day in the end because as we were waiting in the room, Riley was so exhausted she just collapsed in my lap and took a little nap. It was the sweetest thing. I could've stayed like that ALL day. Thank you Lord that Riley is healthy!

my snuggle bug

a natural fence

Brent did THIS! I love it!! These trees will grow to 10-15 feet. 16 trees in 4 hours. You may now all call him "Mr. Green Thumb."

lots and lots of pictures

the baby push-up

the classic, drooly, teething baby

strong arms, Riley!

blue duck.. "daisy"

green duck, "donald"

9 months of Riley

Happy 9 months to my littlest girl. Here's the latest scoop:

• you're becoming much more mobile.. you move around the floor by sitting up and leaning over to reach things and rotating and twisting and everything but crawling.. you can get over to your tummy, but you do this plank/push-up move and end up pushing yourself backwards.. not forwards
• you like to bop to any music you hear (it first started with the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse "hotdog song")
• you FINALLY are getting some teeth! the top two front teeth are coming in
• daylight savings wasn't too bad on you! just a few nights of rocking you back to sleep after you woke up after an hour of sleeping.. and a few mornings you slept 'til 8 (and only getting up from 4am or 5am to eat once). you're back to 645/7am wakeups. and only eating once at night! I'll take it because you still go to bed by 7/715pm
• everyone comments on your shyness... you always smile and turn your head away when people smile at you
• you have recently cut back on how much you eat... those pesky teeth are bothering you, i'm sure! table food is your fav.. i think you're finding pureed baby food boring =) OH and you SHOVEL in the shredded cheese like it's candy
• you are able to drink from a sippy cup now! you beat your sis by 3 months on that "milestone"
• you love being outside
• you still ride in your infant seat in the car (it's got a lovely 30lb weight limit).. although it's pretty near impossible for me to carry you IN it anywhere.
• you're down to two naps a day... most days they're 30 minutes each.. a few times a week you'll do a 45 min or hour long nap. A Sunday or two ago you hit a new record.. 1.5 hrs! THAT was crazy.
• you love mommy.
• you love mommy to hold you
• you love mommy to be within arms reach
• your 9 month stats: 21 pounds 13 ounces. and 26.75" long (i doubt that's 100% accurate.. you were crooked on the table and crying, so we'll say 27")

9 months old

her expression is so funny

happy girl!

no words

I have nothing to write about... just love this little girl to pieces.

thoughts from Avery

riding along in the car we passed a park

Avery: Can we go to that park, mommy? Do they have a potty there? (I had told her a few days earlier that the park we were going to would not have a potty. So we needed to go at home before we left).
Me: Not today, grandma and grandpa are coming to visit! We gotta go home to see them.
Avery: We have a potty at home.
LONG PAUSE
Avery: God made my potty!!
Me: Yep! He sure did..
Avery: Mmm Hmm.. and God made me too!
Me: And He made Riley and Mommy and Daddy too!
Avery: and Wally and Henry... and AUNTIE!
***
I love how her little brain works. It's so fun.

moving backwards

 

Look where Riley got stuck! She can now push up on her knees or into the push-up position and she moves herself backwards... not forwards yet :)

Mommy, please stop taking my picture and help me..

riley's a tough cookie

I'm trying very hard to keep up my blogging resolution for 2011. Riley is down for her vintage 30 minute catnap and I'm choosing to write a post instead of cleaning, straightening, folding clothes, or putting my feet up for a few. I know a few months from now, I'll be glad I did! I had a few things I wanted to write about.

Avery somewhere picked up the word "however." She will now say things like, "HOWEVER am I going to do [so and so]??" It's usually said with an exasperated voice =) I don't think Brent or I say things like that. I love it when Avery picks up a new word from somewhere and ends up using it correctly. I always chuckle. Like a few months ago when she caught on to the word "situated." She had heard Brent saying it whenever he'd help her on the potty. He'd say he was situating her undies so she could get them back on the right way. Then one day she was fixing her twisted socks and I heard her say she was "trying to situate her socks."

In some sad news, Riley has a scratch on her nose! Poor thing. She and I were outside sitting on the porch today and she fell over! Her face broke her fall. She has a tendency to reach for things that are too far our of her reach, thus toppling over and landing on her tummy. She was trying to reach for a leaf to chew on and toppled over and scratched her nose on the way down. She only cried for a minute. She's a tough cookie!

Smile!

Hi miss bee!

Fixing the bouncy seat

A few random things said by Avery that I don't want to forget ..
Avery was excited to drink from my camelbak water bottle in the car today. All of a sudden she cries out, "God made your water bottle, mommy!"
Me: "oh yeah? that's pretty neat"
Avery: "Mmmm Hmmm!"
***
Driving down Millville we passed a little church on the right.
Me: "That's a church right there"
Then we passed a new house right after the church.
Avery: "And that's a house church"
pause
"We're not going to church today... we'll go on Saturday" (first time I heard her say a day of the week in regards to a certain activity... and she almost got the day right =)

games

Avery loves playing with board games. Not the correct way, obviously. But she loves to play with the pieces and have us tell her what everything is and where it goes. I think she'll like playing games like Candy Land. She already wishes she was old enough to understand our games.

Until then, she's content to throw game pieces up into the air and make huge messes until I hear the words "can we play another game, mommy?".. and then the cycle starts all over. =)