9 Months

Our little bundle of joy is 9 MONTHS old today, I can't believe it. He weighs 20 lbs, and is 28 inches tall. These statistics are not quite what his Daddy wants for his developing quarterback, but I'm sure he'll get there!
What's he's up to at 9 months:
Riley was born with a heart murmur, which is quite common and since it hasn't gone away he had an appointment with a pediatric cardiologist this week. After some test and examinations he narrowed it down to one of two things neither of which are too concerning and said he'd see him back in a year.
Riley is all over the place this month. He pulls up on everything and walks around as long as he is against something. I'm sure he'll be walking in no time.
When he's in a hurry he still does his army crawl.
He's liked his car seat lately and takes daily naps in it.
He loves to eat things he can feed himself.
When he's tired he will actually sit somewhat calmly on my lap (he's never been much on being still so this is pretty amazing).
He often smiles at me even if I'm not smiling to get me to smile back. It's fun to see his personality developing.
He's fearless. Sometimes he forgets he can't walk and will let go and totally eat it. He chases the cat, the vacuum cleaner and anything else that should scare him.
He ate cat food. (On Craig's watch)
He took his first shower.
He hates getting dressed.
He has 7 teeth.
My list has to end here because he's chewing on the computer cord.
I posted a couple of pictures of him NOT smiling.

He spilled formula all over and started crying. I think he thought if he cried he wouldn't be in trouble.

This is his "Mom stop taking pictures" face.

One of those days

I blogged how my day began in the previous post, little did I know how much better it was going to get.
At 2:30 PM my little angel had yet to take a nap. Enough said about the morning. So I finally put him in his car seat and headed to happy hour hoping he'd fall asleep. Thank goodness he did for a little while. I went back home and moved him to his crib. When he woke up from his nap I could hear him in there talking and playing so I waited a little bit to go in and get him (just in case he decided to go back to sleep. yeah right.). When I heard him pounding on wood of the crib I decided to go get him. I noticed brown stuff all around his mouth and couldn't figure out what it was until I looked down at the crib. That little rascal had about chewed his way out of the crib! UGGHHH. Should have gone with the cheap crib.
4:30 PM I decide that it's time I get dressed and do something with myself before Craig gets home. It's very hard to get ready now a days because you can't look away from this kid for one second before disaster will strike. I should've just stayed in my gym clothes. I'm looking in my bathroom mirror finishing up my hair and Riley is playing on the floor RIGHT beside me. I finish look down and...there sits Riley in a pool of nail polish and glass. Completely covered in nail polish! And we're not talking pastel pink polish, it was a dark brownish shade. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? I quickly take the glass from his hands and throw him in the tub simply to contain the mess. Fortunately it hadn't made it to his mouth, there were no cuts, and it wasn't on carpet. As I cleaned up the floor Riley crawls around in the tub (getting polish everywhere), pulls up and proceeds to turn the water on and stand under it. So now he's covered in polish AND soaking wet. (patience, patience, patience) I get him stripped down and run a bath for him and began to use polish remover to try and get most of it off his skin. I finally decide it's reached a point that I shouldn't scrub him anymore with the harsh chemical and leave the remainder of polish to hopefully someday wash away.
As I'm sitting there thinking what a long stressful day it's been I can't help but think of the people in my life I love so much who long for, hope for, and would give anything for a day like this. I shed a tear for them and I am grateful for my day.

I went to pick Riley up from child care at the gym and the girl said he's so compact and muscular! She gave me a quick once over and asked, is his dad that way??

Sent from my iPhone

Riley swinging

Recent Happenings

Mia has become a couch potato.

Riley likes to dunk his face in the bathwater and drink it.
We now find this sight all over the house pulled up on everything. Just when we thought he couldn't get cuter!
Yes, Riley is in there. We recently had a fun trip to Florida and Riley had lots of fun with cousins.

Skeleton Jammies.
Trying on a Halloween costume.
He's alot happier in his car seat lately...I can't figure it out.
LSU vs Florida


Grandma Laura and Grandpa George
Apparently I have a thing for Gator boys!

Gotta stay hydrated.
It was SOOOOOO fun to be in Gainesville and see our friends!! I miss them so much!
Sometimes Riley crawls into closets, laundry baskets, etc to find a quiet place.
We also went to Louisiana to visit Grandparents a few weeks ago.

Yesterday Craig had the day off so he went golfing with our friend Todd and Abby and I took the boys to the zoo in Fort Worth.
Caleb and Riley are just 2 months apart, aren't they too cute? Caleb has major surgery coming up this Wednesday so remember him in your prayers!! He's the sweetest little boy.
Laura- white Tiger.

Oh look Laura- another Tiger. :)
The lions were really pretty!
Riley's favorite part was this giant bird cage. There were tons of birds that you could feed and he loved that they got so close. He was constantly jumping out of my arms trying to touch them.


Tanner with the Iguana, I had no idea they were this big!

Watching Daddy and Uncle Cameron play softball.

Help! (and) We're going down!

I'm sucking up my pride and asking for HELP. Riley turned 8 months September 29th. He still gets up twice a night during the 12 hours he's in bed for a bottle. I want my nights back! After 8 months, I am becoming very exhausted. Most people tell me that I need to let him cry it out, but I just don't know if I can. Not if there's another way. We've recently changed his bed time, which is working great, but it threw what little nap schedule he had off so that's a battle too.
Someone should have mentioned that when you are pregnant you should read the pregnancy books AND the after pregnancy books because you aren't going to have time to read them after the baby comes.
That's why I need yalls advice. How did you get your babies to sleep through the night and take naps? I know they say don't rock them, let them fall asleep on you, with a bottle...blah blah blah. So let's start with I do ALL of those things. Why is rocking so bad? Isn't that how we were all put to sleep? And why does every baby store sell rockers and gliders if you aren't supposed to use them? I dunno...obviously my child isn't sleeping through the night so what do I know? I'm sure you all have different experiences and opinions so SHARE, maybe someone will have something that I feel like I can do and will work for us!

On a side note, Riley's big 8 monthish mile stone happened last night. I told Craig about a week ago we should lower Riley's crib before he starts pulling up because I think it's going to happen soon. Craig usually gets home after Riley's already in bed though so it hadn't happened and I've been so worried about it. Last night I had put him down and was on the phone with Craig complaining about my failures as a parent and Riley not sleeping and I could hear him whining in the background so I said I'd better go. (Cause as you've learned I don't let him cry!) I walked into his room and he was standing in his crib leaned over the side, I about had a heart attack. It was one of those moments where I wanted to yell at him (which would have been pointless) and cry at the same time. I'm sure babies have fallen out of cribs, but that's quite a fall and it would have been very traumatic for at least me if not him. Needless to say he got to stay up late last night until Craig got home and we got it adjusted.

Sometimes I look at this kid and I just want to say SLOW DOWN, he's just growing up too fast.