Eye Twitches

For 3 days now, my right eye has been twitching. This is so annoying!  And there is nothing I can do to make it stop.  I've read that it could be a lack of potassium.  Believe me, this body is lacking nothing in the way of vitamins, nutrients, and sustenance.  I eat like a 13 year old during a growth spurt.  I think it may be stress.  The year (from hell) that I was the cheer coach, my eye twitched for the entire time.  What am I stressed about?  There are a few things, but I didn't really think it was enough to make me twitch.  Hopefully by the time that taxes are done (check), consignments sales are done, yard sales are done, and Praxis III's are done and entered I can get this twitching under control.  Until then, if I see you, I'm probably not winking at you.  It's probably completely involuntary.  Feel free to have a little giggle at my expense.

Like Daddy like Daughter

One thing that has always perplexed me/ wierded me out about Woody is his ability to eat lemons.  My mouth waters (not in a good way) and my jaw clenches up just thinking about it.  I was making hummus the other day and had a lemon there so I could use the juice from it (that makes my mouth water in the good way).  Riley was sitting on the counter watching me and started reaching for the lemon.  So I thought, 'Okay, I'll call that bluff' and handed her half of the lemon.  That girl went to town on it!  Unbelievable.  I tried to get a picture of her making the sour face, but there was no sour face to capture.  She loved it.  She tried both the flesh and the skin and the flesh won.  She only stopped eating the lemon when she had sucked the juice from it.  That is just wild.  Now I just hope I didn't completely wreck the enamel on those cute little baby teeth!

Snow Days # 6 & 7

Oh how I love snow days.  It's an unexpected chance for us to hang out together as a family while cuddling under a blanket on the couch and watching Riley's favorite TV show, Super Why.  Riley enjoys her milk or juice while her parents enjoy coffee or spiced tea.  No, I don't have any pictures of this because I'm always under the blanket with my cold hands and feet.

For this round of snow, we wanted to make sure we got pictures of Riley in her snow suit.  We didn't do it at Christmas because it was cold (duh) and we didn't want to get out in it.  This time, we got the little one all bundled up for a grand total of about 3.5 minutes outside, just long enough to snap some pictures.  I don't think she had a clue of what was going on, other than the fact that she couldn't reach her hands because of the built in mittens on the suit.  By then it wasn't snowing anymore and there wasn't much for her to look at besides the white stuff everywhere.  I went to stand her up in it, but Woody reminded me that her shoes are nowhere close to snow boots.  Good point.  So she got carried the whole time, which she didn't mind.

One of her new favorite activities is bird watching.  We have a bird feeder that can be seen from the kitchen and the back door.  She loves to watch them eat (especially the woodpecker that visits every afternoon) while pointing (or reaching) and talking to them.

Future Computer Genius

Riley loves to help me check my emails, etc during the day.  So when Alex was checking out the web, she thought she would help.  While this is all very helpful, it isn't helpful when she somehow deletes all of my desktop icons, or pulls up programs I didn't know we had.  Like I said, computer genius...or maybe I'm just a computer lay-person...

Don't worry, Woody is right next to her, I just managed to not get him in the shot.  Her favorite key is the mouse pad and buttons.  I have a feeling this is how she is finding Adobe Reader.  :)

How big does she look here?  If it wasn't for the single top tooth, she would seem so old!  I hope she isn't one of those girls that looks 18 when she's actually 14.  If this happens, Woody may be a very busy Daddy, and I'll be a busy mom, fighting my daughter to wear outfits that make her look younger.  Fourteen isn't too old for Jumpers and overalls, right?

Feeding frenzy

Riley has expressed interest in feeding herself lately.  She does this by reaching for the spoon while grunting at us... This is our first attempt at it.  Not too shabby!  She was eating mashed potatoes here, although you wouldn't know it because they all miraculously made it into her mouth.  Not so lucky with our next attempt.

Aw, how we love our yogurt.  This is attempt #3.  Maybe I should call them "sessions" since she is getting the food into her mouth, so attempt seems like the wrong word.  She is getting really good at scooping the food onto the spoon, but then she turns the spoon upside down into order to get it onto her tongue.  In this process, she tends to lose some of her yogurt where it falls on her bib, or lap, or tray...

Look at those hands.  She went straight to the bathtub after this.  I learned the hard way that yogurt is very sticky when it dries on the skin.  And as for the one lone tooth on top...it's match is coming in slowly.  I think it's been without its partner for coming up on 3 months now.  At some point, I'm expecting multiple teeth to appear at once.  I mean, she is 13 months, and only 3 teeth.  I read that babies who get their teeth later tend to have healthier teeth, so I'll take it.

So funny that she opens her mouth way before the spoon gets near it.  She is using both hands to eat with.  It's almost a set pattern of two bites with the right hand, then two with the left.  Still no clue as to what hand will be dominate.   Maybe she'll truly be ambidextrious.

Big girl car seat

Riley's first ride in her big girl car seat.  She loves watching everything go by in the car.  As long as she has her "Kitty" (not pictured here) and her lullaby tunes on, she could ride for hours.  Alex got her the coolest CDs for her birthday and Christmas.  They are called "Rockabye Baby" and they are albums we love set to lullaby instruments.  He got us the Beatles, Guns N Roses, Cold Play, The Eagles, and Led Zeppelin.  She is going to be very educated in classic rock before she can even talk.  Truth be told, Woody and I listen to these CDs all the time because it's great background music.  It soothes the mind... just like a lullaby should.

Next step, we need to get a portable DVD player hooked up in the Tahoe for our long trips!

Milk anyone?

At last count, I have gone through a full gallon of milk in 4 days.  Not sharing with anyone.  Just me.  Wow.  And I'm not even in the third trimester yet.  I'll go through 2 gallons a week EASY.  This little boy loves his milk!