My Favorite Things About Riley at 17 Months!

As I was putting Riley to sleep tonight, he started to ask for a toy. I told him it was time to go to sleep but that we would see his toys tomorrow. He looked at all the toys wistfully and began to slowly wave bye-bye to them. It was such a sweet moment that I had to share! It made me start thinking about all of my favorite things about Riley at this age so I decided to create a list to help me remember. ;)He is growing up so fast!

These are a few of my favorite things about 17 months....
1. The way he grabs my hand while he leads me where he wants to go!
2. The way he sweetly gives us Eskimo kisses!
3. The way he dances any time he hears music!
4. The way he tries to strum the guitar and sing!
5. The way he tries to communicate with us..his voice is so cute!
6. The way he understands everything we are saying!
7. The way he plops down in our lap to read books!
8. The way he reaches for us when we wakes up and holds on!
9. The way he belly laughs when we are playing with him!
10. The way he points to his crib at night when I am trying to fit in one more cuddle before bedtime, like mommy it is time for me to go to sleep!

Spring Break

Matt and I went to NYC during Spring Break! We went to a Ranger's game, a taping of the Jimmy Fallon Show and the St. Patrick's Day parade. The Fallon show was a highlight for us! Lt. Dan and Flavor Flav were guests! Fred Armisen showed up to do a skit and we got our picture taken with him after the show! He was great On St. Patrick's Day we actually walked from Battery park to our hotel in Times Square...we estimated this distance to be about 90 blocks! You could say we participated in our own little NYC parade! We had a fantastic time, but Murphy's Law occurred and Riley was sick the entire time we were gone. We are so lucky to have such wonderful family members take care of him while we were gone. They kept me calm and reassured while I was gone which is a feat! ;-) My favorite story is the one of my sister and nephews introducing Riley to a frog and the tool belt!


St. Patrick's Day parade in NYC!


The girls and Fred!


Riley meets a frog and the frog survives!


Riley and the tool belt!


Riley and I spent my first day home lounging in our Pj's!


He loved playing with the luggage!


We were playing with the camera.

I have to teach him my favorite way to take pictures. ;)

Snow Day

I was so excited when I woke up and saw the snow outside on Sunday morning! I could not believe it...I had to do a double take. I couldn't wait to wake up the boys to go outside and play! Here are some pictures of our snowy morning! Enjoy!


Matt getting Riley ready to go brave the snow!


Riley was so excited to be outside!


He loved going up and down the snowy stairs!


This is the sad face we got when we brought him inside! ;-(

Of course, we went back outside!

What a Weekend!

Matt and I have been house hunting this weekend and we think we have found the one! We got a storage unit to get our house ready for the market and spent a lot of time going through all the stuff we have collected! While we were cleaning out, Matt found some old hockey sticks! He cut one down to Riley's size and taped it up for him! Matt even put Riley's name on it! I thought that was too cute! Riley loves playing with it, but we realized his favorite thing to do is bang the stick on the floor! So adorable, right? Normally we would not even think twice about it, but since we are getting ready to sell we noticed his banging is leaving dents in the hardwoods! We have got to teach this boy to pass! ;-)

It is just my size and it has my name on it!


I look like a natural!


Daddy even gave me a puck!


Mr. Parker came over to watch Riley while we looked at houses. Riley just thinks the world of him! Mr. Parker makes Riley laugh out loud! Riley put on Mr. Parker's glasses and we thought it was hysterical!



Riley even got in on the house cleaning fun! He loves to play with this mop! A man who loves to clean is a man after my heart! ;-)


He was so tired, I was able to sneak in and take a picture of his sleeping! ADORABLE!!!

Blessings

I finally decided to start trying to loose my last 15 pounds of baby weight about three weeks ago! A team of my close friends at work and I are all trying to loose weight together and it has been great to have their support! I could not have done as well as I have without them! I so happy to say that I have already lost 11 pounds!!! Wonderful news, huh? I was feeling pretty successful in my quest...until Saturday when Matt tells me he thinks our scale is wrong! I asked him to weigh himself at the gym and then at our scale at home and we would figure the difference. He found that our scale is off by not 1, not 2, but 10 pounds! Great! Now I am pretty much back to the weight I started at, but I am choosing to look at it as a blessing because I think God knew I would have been discouraged if I thought I had 20+ to loose in the beginning! ;-) It is time for me to shoot for the last 10 pounds of baby weight....take two!

I also wanted to tell you a couple of Riley stories! He is so much fun these days! Every day he does something I want to blog about, but he is treating me like I am an annoying paparazzi when i try to take a picture to post with the stories! There are no good pics for these events, but you will just have to create a mental picture. ;-)

Anyone who goes shopping anywhere with me knows that I make friends where ever I go! I love to talk to everyone! Well, I think little Riley is following in my footsteps! When I took him to Publix last week, he spent the entire trip waving at every person who went by us in each isle. He was so happy when people waved back and it was absolutely adorable! What was supposed to be a quick grocery trip turned into a 45 minute excursion because everyone was stopping to talk to him! I loved every minute of watching him become a social being!

I also had to joy of taking him to play with his cousins Nate and Tyler last week. We went to their house to visit and usually, I stay around him helping him play with the big boys. This trip was different! He was actually playing without needing my help! It was amazing!!!! I just sat back and observed his little mind at play! I could not have been happier watching him hang with the big boys! These are the days!

I finally uploaded a picture of our shopping excursion. I am not sure if this is a wave to a fellow shopper or if he is putting his hand up so I won't take any more pictures! ;-)

He Makes Our Day!

I was so excited about being home with Riley on Monday! Since I had the day off, I thought we should do something fun. I decided to take him to see Julie and Connors at The Matrix because I thought Riley would just love getting out of the house and playing with all of the cool toys there. It was fun seeing him play with the kitchenette and big blocks. But wouldn't you know that out of all of the toys there his favorite thing to play with was the kid sized chair! ;-) I guess we will have to get him one of his own!

Riley and Connors playing with in the Chair!


Chef Parker at work!


Riley does something new to make us smile every day! He kept reaching for the spoon the other night so I gave it to him and he started feeding himself! It isn't neat, but it sure is cute!


Riley took a nap yesterday and when I went to get him and this is what he looked like! I don't know how he did it, but the one shoulder look made our day! How did he know the 80's are back?

Long Time, No Blog

Wow...how time flies! I looked back to see when the last time I had posted and asked myself why had it been so long? Then I realized that at around the same time I stopped blogging, Riley started walking! I guess it has been so much fun that I have not had time to post! I have lots and videos and pictures to share though so sit back relax and enjoy Riley's latest favorites.

Playing with the pots and pans...


Reading with mom...


Playing like Mr. fix it with dad...


Eating whip cream...


Playing peak a boo...


Going to the UAH game with his cousins...



I also wanted to include some holiday photo traditions we are trying to start! We have this plan to take a picture as a family in front of the tree every year so we can track Riley's growth. Here is the 2008 edition.


So you can see the difference...here is the 2007 edition! Yes, I am in my pajama's! He was 2 months old! ;-)



I also want to take a picture of Riley with his stocking every year. This year, he was thrilled!


He was much more cooperative as a 2 month old. ;-)



I was trying to add some videos of Riley walking and dancing, but for some reason they are taking forever so I will post them next time. ;-) It will give you something to look forward to and I promise that I won't take so long this time! Happy 2009!