Birth announcement

We took some pictures of Riley for her birth announcement. Getting her to smile is such a fun time for us. I can't get over how perfect she is. I'm still astounded when I think about how that entire body, complete with all of its parts, was created in a mere 37 weeks. God is amazing.

Snow Days!!!!

With all of this ice we received on Monday and Tuesday, Woody has had 4 1/2 snow days this week. Riley and I are very spoiled now. We love having Daddy home with us. Of course, she has been an angel for him, rarely crying and going down easily for naps. I told him he's going to start wondering why he gets home and I haven't showered or made dinner or touched the house. He hasn't seen the days when she doesn't want to be put down all day. That little stinker!

(the pictures are of icy Lake Windsor, our street, and Woody all dressed in his ski gear playing outside)

On another Riley note, she has had 3 nights now that she has slept from 11:30ish to 5:30 or 6:00!!! I would consider that sleeping through the night. She's 6 weeks old now, which is early for sleeping through the night. I know she's still going to have those bad nights, but now we know that she can sleep for longer than 3 hours at a time! I would like to officially take back what I said about Babywise. Even though I haven't let her "cry it out" yet, I think the basic schedule idea works. Like anything, taking bits and pieces from different theories seems to work for us.

Coaching

No, this entry isn't about my sweet baby girl.

Rather, it's me venting about how screwed up the Arkansas Department of Education and Arkansas Activities Association is. I'm not saying too much, but let's leave it that they are going to cost us thousands of dollars so Woody can get his coaching endorsement to keep coaching football. So I'm paying them so our district can continue to pay Woody for coaching. Really? This seems very counterproductive.

I really do need to run for State representative... and get a job at the Depart. of Ed. I can totally streamline our education system since apparently the people making the rules haven't stepped into a classroom since their senior year.

Bath Time

Bath time has become one of our favorite times with Riley. Now that we have our method down, she loves being in the warm water and we love watching her coo. This pic is just after we were finished with bath time (we don't let her run around in just a diaper as a normal practice). She looks like such a big girl here!

Unlike Mia and Crawford, my little Riley has almost no hair. As I was "washing her hair" the other night, she looked at me with furrowed eye brows like "What are you doing? Patronizing me and acting like your washing hair that isn't really there?!" It was SUCH a cute moment.

New best Friends

My new best friends: Lanolin and my Snugli.

The Lanolin for obvious reasons. Nursing has become quite literally a pain. The next time I go to the dentist, they're gonna ask me why I've been grinding my teeth.

Riley has become pretty fussy in the last few days. It could be that she hasn't had much luck pooping on a regular basis. Or it could be that she's a baby and is going to cry... a lot. Today I discovered the snugli used in conjunction with the vacuum cleaner works wonders. But as I am typing this, I am learning that she will only stay asleep while the vacuum cleaner is on. She's back at her crying game... Will write more when I get this all figured out. Surely there is a trick to get her to stop crying, I just haven't found it yet.

Why God invented the kiss

I've always thought that kisses were for telling people how much you love them without saying a word. This still is true, but I don't think this is why God created the kiss. I think He created the kiss as a way to gobble your baby up without harming her.
Look at my little supermodel. She's a natural. :)