Hello 2011!

I’m a little late with my New Year’s post, simply because so much happened at the end of 2010. I cannot believe another year is in the books. Over. Done with. I cannot believe I started off 2010 newly pregnant and ended the year with a 4-month-old little boy who I love more than I thought capable. And I still cannot believe how lucky I am to have married my best friend. 2010 was great, but I hope 2011 is even better.

Kenny, Riley, and I went to a party at Brian and Bridget’s house on NYE night. There are so many kids at our get-togethers these days! I was watching the older ones run around, blowing on their noisemakers, yelling and screaming, and generally creating mayhem, and I thought to myself, “I can’t wait until Riley is old enough to do this.”

  

Then I realized he’s much easier to deal with NOW. Even with all of the drool.

He was up for about two hours after we got there and then went down relatively easy, considering all of the noise. He woke up crying once, but he slept through the entire stretch of New Year’s fireworks. How, I don’t know, because the people in the neighborhood seemed like they were trying to outcompete one another for the biggest and loudest firework display. Brian included. But they did provide me with a good chance to test out the “Firework” setting on my camera.

Riley also got to meet his potential future (older by three weeks) girlfriend, Ashlyn. She was born just 5 days after her cousin, Jack (who slept through the whole party. Kenny and I are very jealous of the peace Kelli and Steve are enjoying right now. Although, they did have some very rough times with Jack early on, so I’m ultimately glad for them. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t still wishing with all of our might for Riley to sleep for 12 hours straight.). And all of the parents are friends. How cool is that?

  

It really was a fun, low-key, laidback night. Kenny and I hadn’t seen any of our friends for quite a while, so it was nice to spend some time with the ones who were able to make it to the party. I hope your New Year started off as great as ours did!

Unfortunately my first picture of 2011 didn’t include Riley: he was sleeping. :(

Rice Cereal = One Big Mess

When we went to Dr. B a few weeks ago, one of the main things he talked to us about was starting Riley on solid food. We began with a tablespoon of Gerber rice cereal mixed with formula on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve. We were supposed to give him two separate feedings of the cereal on the first day, but Friday was a little busy, so we decided to ease him into the new process. He reacted like a typical infant trying something new and not having a clue how to master it right away. He made an absolute mess of himself, sported some pretty funny faces, and generally didn’t know what to do. We loved every minute of it.

All clean and ready to go!

I’m not quite sure what I think of this, Mom.

   

What have you gotten me into???

Time out for a smile!

Pardon me, but is this supposed to taste this bad?

I don’t like it, Mom. And please stop smiling; it’s annoying.

Oh, no. Now you’re BOTH smiling.

Please, no more.

Ah, at last, something familiar.

And I’m spent.

The next morning was our second attempt. It went much like the first time did, but he did get a bit better with taking the cereal from the spoon. And we got smart: we stripped him down to his diaper for this one and then plopped him in the kitchen sink afterwards. Good plan. I have a feeling he’ll be getting a bath every day from now on until he gets used to this new style of eating.

We also took a video of the second feeding. Please enjoy. We sure did!

A Sad Day

On December 27 at approximately 6pm CST Riley had his very last bottle of breast milk. This was the momentous occasion I mentioned a few days ago. When I took the bottle out of the refrigerator and realized it was the last one, I got a little emotional. I don’t at all regret stopping, and I’m glad I could provide milk for Riley for as long as I did, but it was sad to see all of my hard work for three months come to an end.

Even though we were surrounded by lots of family who probably all wanted to be the one to feed Riley (I couldn’t remember the last time I had fed him since we got into town on Christmas Eve), you had better believe I claimed this feeding with my boy. 

Riley has been solely on Enfamil formula for just over a week. And guess what? He is significantly less gassy. (He’s still unfortunately waking up in the middle of the night, but we won’t talk about that.)

My mother could not believe I was planning to post this entry on my blog. However, I’m becoming a big fan of the motto “anything goes.” If it’s something I’d like to remember, I plan to write about it. So my sincere apologies to those who didn’t appreciate this one; perhaps you’ll like other upcoming subject matter better!

More Fun with the McFs

The McFs didn’t leave to go back home until New Year’s Day, so Riley and I got to hang out with them a few more times after that first night in the Quarter. They were nice enough to drive out to my parents’ house twice for visits during New Year’s week. Both girls got to feed him, we all played a couple of Apples to Apples games, and Riley even got to spend some time outside among the leaves with his “aunts.” I felt a little bad because Riley slept through a decent amount of their time with us during both visits, but he was awake long enough to provide me with plenty photo (and one video) ops.

  

 

The three McF girls, QP, Mom, Erin, and I also took some time to get together for tea at the Windsor Court. Mom and QP had gone there for tea a few days previously with some of our female relatives, and I stopped in with Riley for a quick hello. I remarked how nice everything looked, and the next thing I knew we had reservations of our own for New Year’s Eve morning! It was a lovely way to start the holiday, and it let me spend even more time with the McF girls. I really wish we lived closer to each other; I just love them!

I’ll leave you with a video. This went on for some time before I thought to video it, so I unfortunately didn’t capture the best part. Margaret McF is conversing with Riley, in a language only they understand, although the exchange did freak one of the cats out. So bad, in fact, that I made Marge stop so he wouldn’t act on the evil, possessed look he had in his eye. Freaky.

Enjoy!

Holiday Post #7: Snowflake

This is the LAST holiday post, I promise.

There were really pretty lighted snowflakes hanging in the windows at GW Fin’s on Christmas Eve, and I couldn’t resist taking a bunch of pictures of one. Plus, the windows of the restaurant across the street were all decked out in holiday attire as well, which made the pictures even better. If only there hadn’t been any cars parked in view that night!

 

 

Holiday Post #6: Another Family Christmas

As I mentioned previously, we had a second celebration with my dad’s side of the family the Monday after Christmas, on account of some out-of-towners arriving that day. We all gathered at my parents’ house, ate too much, drank a decent bit, opened gifts (again!), and watched the Saints beat the Dirty Birds. And Riley got to meet his other Aunt Dawn and Uncle Phil, Blaire, and Cathryn. Good times were had by all!

This night also marked a momentous occasion (as I alluded to in Riley’s official four month post), but it definitely deserves its own write-up. More on that soon….

Holiday Post #5: Christmas in the Quarter

Our good family friends, the McFs from Chapel Hill, came in town right after Christmas to spend a week in New Orleans but also, and perhaps most importantly, to meet Riley. So Mom, Dad, Riley, and I went down to the Quarter on Sunday evening (the McFs stay with QP and UJ when they visit) to have a belated Christmas celebration with them. It was, as always, so wonderful to see the four of them. And I think they now have officially all fallen under Riley’s spell!