My little helper

Yes, he is EVERYWHERE.

Halloween

Unfortunately I don't have a picture of Craig and me dressed up... I'm going to have to try and find one that someone else took. But lucky for you I have ones of Riley!
Our little monkey...



Trick or Treating was really fun for me because I have never lived somewhere that I could walk up and down the street trick or treating. Where I grew up we had to drive in our car because there weren't many close neighbors. So I lugged this kid up and down the street while Craig stayed home and gave out candy. Some would say I only did it so I could have the candy, and I would have to admit that's partly true. But don't worry...yes, I shared the candy with my 9 month old.

Here he is asking my why I've kept chocolate a secret for 9 whole months?
He's totally on board with this whole Halloween thing.


You would think from the following face he'd had enough...but no he cried when I wouldn't give him anymore.

9 Months correction

I've been meaning to post this for my own records... A few days after Riley's cardio appointment we had his normal checkup and the stats were a little different so I wanted to correct it for myself!

20 lbs 2 oz 50th percentile
29.3 inches 90th percentile
18.3 inches (head) 90th percentile

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