A Day with Our Boy

First off, our visit to Dr. N yesterday went fairly well, especially considering the 4 shots and a toe prick that Riley got. Poor kid. He did cry (who wouldn’t!), but he calmed down pretty quickly.

Riley is no longer on any restrictions as far as food, and we started weaning him off of formula and onto whole milk right when we got home from the appointment. It was only a quarter portion, but he sure did suck down that first sippy of milk mighty fast!

Here are his official one-year stats:

• Weight: 24lbs, 5.5oz (75%….either he’s slimming down from starting to walk or the scale I used last month is wrong)
• Height: 31in (85%….proportional but pretty tall for his age)
• Head: 18.1in (average)

Okay, back to business. Kenny and I had such a fun day with Riley on Tuesday, his actual birthday. Ken had to go to work in the morning, but we were able to spend the whole afternoon together with our boy. And, being photo-obsessed, I decided to document Riley’s entire day, from the normal routine things to the special afternoon outing the three of us took together. Here’s a look back at Riley’s day.

As has become to norm, Riley woke up happy and babbling around 6:45am.

Shortly afterwards, he was in his highchair for a birthday breakfast of pancakes and strawberries, two of his favorites. Yum! (I was really close to giving him some of his birthday cake, but I decided to wait until later to do so.)

After a morning play session with all of his new toys, as well as a snack of watermelon on the kitchen counter…..

…..he went down for his first nap and slept for close to two hours. A bit of playtime in his room and then I got him dressed for the day and brought him downstairs for lunch with Nola. Kenny and I met up around noon at the wake for a good friend’s mother and then went back to the house to eat a quick lunch and grab the boy for our special outing.

  

Since Kenny and I were in separate cars, we arrived back at the house at different times. I got there first, and when Kenny walked in he was carrying a gorgeous bouquet of flowers that he “found” out on the side porch. They were for me. From Riley. SO sweet.

Before we left on our outing, Kenny and I gave Riley our present to him. We got him a personalized “anywhere chair” from Pottery Barn Kids. I’m not sure how much Riley will actually sit in it, but so far it has proven to be a decent climbing apparatus.

  

Gift given, we all changed clothes, packed up, and piled into the car. We were headed to Jambalaya Park in Gonzales for an afternoon at the splash pad. I had that on my list of things to do with Riley at some point, and I’m so glad Kenny and I could both take him for the first time. He had a BLAST, and the two of us thoroughly enjoyed watching him.

 

When Riley started to get fussy around 3:15, we knew he was done with the splash park. So we stripped him down, put dry clothes on him, and got back into the car. He took a sippy of milk clutching his giraffe in his carseat and fell asleep for about a half hour on the way home. Not much of a nap considering the busy day he had had!

We played for a bit when we got home, but I had to interrupt playtime to document a special part of this particular day: the time of his actual birth, 5:03pm. I can’t believe we saw him for the very first time at that same moment one year ago.

After he was a good boy and ate most of his dinner, we sang “Happy Birthday” to Riley with a little piece of his birthday cake. I didn’t let him dig in again, but he still enjoyed the special yummy treat.

 

A quick bath and some climbing on his new chair and before we knew it, Riley’s day was drawing to a close. I had requested to be the one to put him down on Tuesday night, and Kenny happily obliged. I dressed Riley in special first birthday pjs (thanks, Grams!), read him a special birthday prayer, gave him his last milk of the day, and enjoyed a few quiet minutes with my boy.

Once Riley was safely ensconced in his crib for the night, I went to get ready. Kenny told me on the way home from the splash park that he wanted to take me out to dinner. He had already arranged for Nola and Nopsi to stay home with Riley while we went out to celebrate making it through the first year. We decided to go back to Atchafalaya, which did not disappoint the second time around. We had a wonderful meal and enjoyed lots of quality time together.

When we got home, I went to check on Riley as I always do before bed. He was, as usual, sleeping soundly, through the last few hours of his first birthday.

Happy Birthday, my sweet, sweet boy. Daddy and I are so glad we got to spend most of your special day with you. We love you so much!