I have a confession to make: I cheated. I broke my own rules a couple of weeks ago. Oh, and I did it again last week. But neither time lasted very long, so that makes it okay. And I think we both got something out of it, which justifies it even more.
I couldn’t help it! It was just so tempting, and it was just so easy. Plus, he was just so cute.
Yes, I had a moment of weakness. I let Riley snooze on me for his third nap of the day.
Twice.
Just don’t tell the author of my sleep book.
I hadn’t pulled the Boppy out for a long time but did so one afternoon to see if Riley would do well sitting up with its assistance. It worked pretty well, although I did have to stay right by him lest he lean too far forward and fall onto his face.
Nope, that didn’t happen. That didn’t happen AT ALL.
I got a few cute pics and then Kenny took a video of us when he got home from work. Enjoy!
Don’t forget to tell a special someone that you love them today. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Hi, Mom.
I know it will be hard, but please….
….pay no attention to me.
I‘m just going to slowly move in….
….and attempt to eat the camera.
What do you mean I’m not allowed to do that?!?
That’s okay. I still love you anyway.
But if you would take care of that long line of drool on my chin I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks, Mom!
We all know how much I love my cowboy boots. Right?
I may have mentioned them once or twice?
Remember?
Okay, good. But now my question is, is it possible to love them even more?
If you add Riley to them, the answer is most definitely yes.
This may be my new favorite picture of him.
I’m back. Yay! I know y’all missed me very much, and trust me when I say that the feeling is mutual. It sure was weird not posting anything for two days.
I’ll try not to let it happen again.
So this was the first year I can remember not going anywhere for Superbowl Sunday. Someone in our group of friends has thrown a party every year, starting back when we were in college. But I guess things change once you add kids into the mix, and many of us are at that point.
Plus, this year was not nearly as appealing to us Louisianians as last year was. Sigh. Maybe next year, Saints; maybe next year. Although, I did hear that a friend of my mom's was invited to a party where LAST year's game was shown instead of this year's. Awesome idea. Because really, what do the people of Louisiana care about the Steelers or the Packers? Give us our boys in black and gold!
(Congrats to the Packers for their big win, though. We were rooting for our fellow NFCers!)
It was actually kind of nice not to have any plans for the game. The three of us had been in New Orleans for a long weekend starting Thursday, so we were glad to come back home early Sunday afternoon and relax. We went into town for a couple of reasons, but the main one was for the Rascal Flatts concert on Friday night. I have always wanted to see them perform live, so when I heard they would be in NOLA, I got tickets for Kenny and me. I love their music, and besides, what better venue is there for me to wear my boots! I was psyched.
Sadly, the concert was not to be. The huge winter storm that affected so many people across the U.S. prevented the band's equipment from arriving safely and in time (we almost didn't make it in, either), so the show was postponed until March. Damn.
My mom was still prepared to babysit for Riley, though, so Kenny and I went out anyway, to dinner in the Quarter. We tried a fairly new restaurant called Sylvain, and we both loved it. I'll definitely want to make a return trip.
Being in NOLA this weekend also meant we got to see lots of our friends at a birthday party on Saturday morning. Karen's daughter Molly turned 4, and we were there to help her celebrate. Riley slept through the first half of the party and then woke up in a great mood. And the birthday girl even took time out from her adorable princess-themed party to help feed my boy. Too cute.
After the party we went back to my parents' house to have lunch with Lizzie and Doug. My dad got into town shortly after we arrived at the house, and QP and UJ also stopped by later that afternoon. Then later that evening Uncle Jeff and Aunt Erin came over for family pizza night. It's always so fun seeing so many people when we go to New Orleans!
I recently purchased Baby Neptune – Discovering Water, which is part of the Baby Einstein DVD series. I decided to play it for Riley one afternoon last week and see what happened.
This is him after the 25-minute main attraction was over. (I contemplated playing it for him again but instead selected the “Aquarium” option from the Bonus Features menu.)
This is what he was like during much of the main part of the DVD. Alternating between calm and mesmerized and then non-stop with his legs and fairly vocal, too, including some cute laughs every now and then. Perhaps he’s going to be interested in marine life like his mom!
After about 5 minutes of watching the “aquarium,” I picked him up and put him on my lap. He was still very restless and squirmy, so I started bringing his foot to his nose to see if that entertained him.
This is him about a minute into this activity:
He was so wired after watching the video. I could tell he was getting sleepy (note his squinty eyes in the second video), but I was afraid he wouldn’t nap at all that afternoon because the video wound him up so much. I guess he tired himself out enough, though, because he napped for an hour!
In short, the Baby Einstein video seems to be a hit. I may have to look into purchasing a few other titles. And his playmat is actually made by Baby Einstein, too, so it has many of the same characters and music on it. It will be really cool when he can associate one with the other!
Although very pretty, sunrise is not my favorite time of day. I’ve never been much of a morning person.
Same here. It’s still way too early.
Ah, midday. Nope, still not it.
Oooh, a storm!
Now we’re getting somewhere.
Yep, this looks just about right.
This is my favorite time of day.
When the sun barely has enough strength left to shine light on my area of the world.
It doesn’t last long…
…so it’s up to you to enjoy every second of it.
But the reason why I like this part of the day….
.…why it’s my favorite part of the day….
….is because it means Kenny will be home from work any minute….
….and the three of us can be together again.
I just love that time of day.
We started Riley on pureed baby food on his five-month birthday. He gets half a serving of baby food plus four tablespoons of rice cereal twice a day. We’re supposed to work our way through all of the veggies first, sticking with one kind for a few days to make sure it doesn’t disagree with him. After he’s tried all of the veggie options we can add the fruit selections in, one by one.
I decided to go with squash first. Riley’s reaction to it the first feeding was pretty amusing. He made lots of funny faces, squinting his eyes closed and even appearing to gag on it a few times. Poor thing: he had four adults laughing at him while he suffered. Kid couldn’t get any sympathy.
Don’t feel too bad for him, though. His second feeding later the same day went much better. He seemed to actually enjoy the squash and only sported one funny face during his first bite. After that, he sailed through the rest with no problems.
So, squash seems to be a hit. Up next, green beans!
