Thirteen Months

Riley is thirteen months old today, which means Kenny and I made it not just through but past the first year. Woo-hoo!

We don’t go back to Dr. N until he’s 15 months, but here are some unofficial stats:

• Weight: 26 lbs
• Height: 31 in
• Head: 18.5 in

Here’s what I want to remember about this past month:

• He is still eating (and sleeping) really well; he LOVES tomatoes and blueberries. And he still loves to feed himself.
• No more bottles or formula! Woo-hoo! As of early on this month, it’s whole milk (or water) and sippies, all the time. He gets approx. 24 ounces of milk a day, and as much water as he wants. I started giving him some milk with breakfast and lunch mid-month (instead of a whole serving before naps and bedtime), and then I added dinner a week or so later. So now he gets 6 half servings instead of 3 whole servings, and that is working well.
• He still has only four teeth, but I think a couple more are going to sprout very soon.
• He still shakes his head “no” a lot but he is also now nodding “yes.”
• He knows where his ears, toes, belly, mouth, nose, and hair are.
• He has started to blow kisses, and he still loves to give kisses to everyone, Jem included.
• He is saying his version of a number of words, including the latest ones of banana (“nana,” and he can also recognize these), ball, quack, more, meow, wow. He is also repeating a LOT, mostly the last word of any sentence we say to him, and his pronunciation is actually quite good.
• He can tell you what sounds cows, ducks, tigers, and cats make, and we’re working on pigs, sheep, owls, and snakes.
• He is walking! Since he’s still trying to figure out his balance, he walks with his arms bent and his hands up near his ears. Nopsi calls him Frankenstein because of this.
• He likes to hand/bring us things (shoes, paper from the trash, his toys, etc.), and he loves to push his toys down his slide and then go after them.
• He loves being outside in his wagon or his swing.
• He is starting to get upset when told “no” (scrunchy face, fussy, some tears).
• He is getting more leery of people he doesn’t know and clings to whoever is holding him when seeing someone new. But he knows who “Mama” and “Dada” are. Now when asked, he pats our chests instead of his own.
• He points to everything. He loves looking at the “riley” canvases hanging on the wall above his crib and also the picture banner from his birthday that Nola hung above his closets.
• A few cute things: he sometimes eats with his feet crossed at his ankles, he holds up one finger when asked how old he is, he waves bye-bye to his swing before going inside, and he kisses the bird pictured on his last prayer every night.

He is such a happy and smart little boy, and Kenny and I feel so lucky that he came into our lives. We love him so very much!

Video Thursday: Crib Bounce

When I went to get Riley up from his nap one day last week, he was in a particularly good mood and very bouncy. I grabbed my camera and took a short video of the bouncing Bean, who also had to stop bouncing to point out the bird on his crib bumper.

Happy Thursday!

Editor’s note: there will of course be a post tomorrow (it is someone’s “birthday,” after all), but I have a very busy weekend out of town (Jackie’s bridal shower and bachelorette party in North Carolina….yay!), so posting will most likely be significantly decreased next week. I will try to get Video Monday set up before I go, but I have no idea what the rest of my week will be like once I get back home. Just warnin’ ya!

Nopsi’s 60th Birthday

Nopsi turned 60 this past Sunday, and we conspired with Nola to drive over to Houston and surprise him. Jeff and Erin came, too, and the five of us left after Kenny got home from work on Friday evening. This was our first experience taking Riley on a trip this long and this late, and I was nervous about how the night would go.

Everything ultimately worked out just fine, but the boy did not fall asleep until 9:30pm and was completely awake when we arrived just before midnight. Wonk. Potatoes.

But we put him in his pack-n-play, told him night-night (again), climbed into bed ourselves, and crossed our fingers.

We didn’t hear a peep out of him until 6:45 the next morning. He may be wonky, but he is such a good boy.

Nopsi was completely and utterly surprised to see us the next morning. He actually accidentally walked into the room we were sleeping in at 6:30 Saturday morning and was shocked to see people in the bed! He ran back down the hall and said to Nola, “Do you know there is someone sleeping in our front bedroom????”

Nola ‘fessed up and also told him that Jeff and Erin had come as well and were downstairs sleeping. Needless to say, it wasn’t how we had hoped to reveal our surprise presence, but it does make for a good story. I think Nopsi was really touched we all made the trip, which of course was our goal!

After a leisurely morning, including a pancake breakfast, the girls headed off to shop. I needed to look for shoes for Jackie’s wedding in November, and Erin and Nola had no problem accompanying me to DSW. Then Nola and I had savings cards to use at Loft, and Erin came along willingly. We got back a couple of hours later, with 14 (FOURTEEN!) pairs of shoes and multiple Loft purchases. I’d call our outing quite a success.

While Riley napped, the six of us had a late lunch and then collaborated in the kitchen to prepare the rest of the weekend’s food. Nola couldn’t really do anything in advance so as to not tip Nopsi off, so we pitched in and helped her make lasagna for dinner, breakfast casserole for Sunday morning, and two desserts (Rice Krispie treats and peanut butter cup brownies) for something sweet. Riley woke up and was entertained by the birthday boy while the rest of us cooked. Good times!

    

Nopsi doesn’t eat sweets, so the two dessert items were really for us. We had something else planned for his birthday “cake” the next day, but he did enjoy smelling the ganache that went on top of the peanut butter cup brownies. (Goodness gracious were those things rich and delicious.)

LSU played (and beat!) West Virginia Saturday night, and we ate Nopsi’s lasagna birthday dinner while we watched the game. Riley was in bed at a much more reasonable hour that night, but we did do something special with him before he went down: he had his first bubble bath in Nola and Nopsi’s big tub!

He was very unhappy at first, but that may have been because the water was a tad too hot. All it took to put a smile on his face was Nola blowing bubbles at him.

The best part of this particular bath, though, was the crowd of people around the tub. I wonder what Riley is thinking to himself in this picture…..

Sunday was Nopsi’s actual birthday, and we stuck close to the house all day. Riley had an early breakfast on the kitchen counter, Nopsi played the guitar for him afterwards, and then we all sat down at the table to eat the breakfast casserole we made the day before.

After that came presents for the birthday boy, a smorgasbord of options for lunch during the first half of the Saints game (including Nopsi’s cake alternative: a fruit and cheese tray put together by Nola), and then it was already time for us to head home. These trips are definitely worth it, but they sure do go by way too fast.

Riley did okay on the drive back, even though he didn’t fall asleep until after 4 and only slept for maybe 45 minutes. But he was back in his own bed just one hour past his normal bedtime, and he got to spend a fun weekend with Nola and Nopsi. We all did!

Happy, happy birthday, Nopsi! We hope we gave your 60th year a proper (albeit surprising!) send-off. We were so glad we could spend your day with you; thanks for letting us crash your birthday weekend.

Oh, and a very Happy Anniversary to you and Nola today….37 years! Wow. We love you both!

Video Tuesday: The Walking Bean

I remember how proud I was of my boy when I posted this video last month.

That only makes me even prouder to post this one of Riley-bean really and truly walking. He is getting pretty darn comfortable on his feet now, and he is starting to prefer walking to crawling.

Next step: running!

Happy Tuesday!

Video Monday: Riley and Jem, Yet Again

As I mentioned last week, Jem loves being around Riley-bean.

And Riley loves to try to give Jem kisses.

Happy Monday!

Video Friday: Dancin’

Riley has started dancing a little every now and then, to music on my iPod, to the tv, and to some of his toys. It is so cute to watch him bounce on his little legs, shake his head back and forth, and generally get excited about moving his little body.

On this particular day, of course he was dancing a lot before I thought to grab my camera and record him, so unfortunately he doesn’t keep it up very long in this video. But it’s still cute so I thought I would share.

Happy Friday!

Mama Down

Let me preface this story by saying that everyone is okay.

But oh, did this hurt. This hurt a lot. And, two days later, this actually still hurts.

(These pictures have nothing to do with this post, but they’re cute. I thought I would interject them in between paragraphs to give you something to look at besides words.)

On Tuesday afternoon, Riley and I fell down the stairs at my parents’ house. We were heading back downstairs after a diaper change, my foot slipped out from under me, and down we went. It may or may not have had something to do with the fact that I was still in my new Gilligan & O’Malley purple pajama pants, which I am in love with right now but which are also slightly too long. (Yes, I was still in my pjs at 1 in the afternoon. Don’t judge.)

 

The whole thing probably took less than 5 seconds, but it was one of those instances where everything seems like it’s being played in slow motion. Looking back on it, I also felt slightly cartoonish as we bumped and bounced and jolted and thudded our way down the stairs. It’s actually quite comical to think about now, but it really did hurt at the time.

Luckily, I fell more backwards than forwards, so Riley was protected in my arms while I absorbed all of the impact. Specifically, while my butt absorbed all of the impact. My rear end came in contact with every single step on the way down. And I do mean Every. Single. Step.

However, my booty happens to be quite cushy, which helped provide some padding during our fall. However, that does not mean I escaped without any pain. I am pretty sure I bruised my tailbone, and I also gave myself a wicked brush burn near my elbow. Riley was absolutely fine, but we both did our fair share of crying right after the tumble. I was hurting, but he was probably just scared.

So, lesson learned. I will be super-duper, extra careful when carrying my son on the stairs from now on, and I will also make every effort not to remain in my pajamas past noon from now on.

Unless it’s the weekend. Or a holiday. Or a Thursday.

Just not a Tuesday.

“r” Is Still for Riley

Out of all the latest custom creations from QP, Riley’s new “r” onesie is definitely my favorite. I loved the first “r” she did, and I was so glad to see another one in the most recent batch she gave him for his birthday. It’s so simple yet so cute.

 

The starfish is a close second, though.