Nesting has begun.

Now that we know the gender of the baby, I am itching to get his room all put together...19 weeks out.  We have been using his closet for random stuff for 4 years now.  Today our goal is to get it cleaned out.  Eeehhhh.  Now, most of this stuff is Woody's (I know you are shocked).  I don't know how that man has clothes in every closet of this house, but he does.  And there are pictures, art supplies, office stuff... you name it, it's probably in there... hiding and waiting for a new home. 

I would consider our house a good size, but I don't know where I am going to put all of this stuff.  You know how I like to be organized and all put together, so this may take me a while to find a home for everything.  But this is something that has to be done and I think I would rather do it when I have that second trimester energy.  I know when the third trimester is upon us I will be very tired... while chasing a toddler around and going to the many games that make up baseball season.

We have his crib and know what dresser we want to order.  So all that is left; clean out closet, move current bedroom furniture, gut clean the room, pick out window treatments, fabric for bedding, order it all, put the furniture together, get wall decorations, assemble the room....wow.  That doesn't stress me out at all. May the force be with us for the remainder of Christmas break so I can get this nesting business attended to!

It's a BOY!!!!!

We went for my 20 week appointment a few days before Christmas for the ultrasound.  SO FUN.  My primary concern was that everything was looking good with our new baby.  We went got into the room, Woody kept Riley entertained with some Cheerios (an all time lifesaver) while we got to watch the show.  Everything is measuring great on baby #2.  And of course they wait until the very end to tell you the sex of the baby.  Now, since I've done this once before and know what to look for, I thought for sure I would be able to tell what it was before she told us.  Wrong-o.  I kept looking for the 3 white lines or the male genitalia...nothing.  I knew I was looking at the "money shot" because I could see the little leg bones rolling around.  Finally she told us it was a boy.  Oh, I am so excited. 

Don't get me wrong, I would have been happy either way.  Having two girls would be fun too.  I am so excited that we get to experience raising both a little girl and a little boy!

No, we don't have a name yet, although we are in the narrowing down process.  This may take a while though, with us being teachers and Woody being a coach. 

I will say the little man wasn't moving around as much as Riley did.  He was pretty still and let us look at everything.  Maybe he was asleep.  But as soon as it was over, he made up for his stillness.  He moved around constantly while Dr. Smith was trying to listen to his heartbeat and I don't think he has stopped moving since.  I feel him kicking and moving around at all times of the day.  Riley was a nighttime mover, but this boy is an all-the-time mover.  Woody has even gotten to feel him moving around.  I think I was further along when he first felt Riley. 

Woody and I both agree that he might be a bit bigger than Riley (since we have felt him sooner than his sister).  We also think, with her example, he will be hitting those milestones faster than she did.  This is exciting, but also makes me tired just thinking about it.

Now about Riley Grace.  This girl has decided crawling is not for her anymore.  But since she isn't confident enough to walk by herself yet, she prefers to walk all over the house while holding my fingers...or who ever has fingers available.  Luckily, my family helped out a lot while they were here for Christmas, so my back was saved.  She spends long minutes walking all over the house with no destination in mind.  As soon as she gets to one end of the house, she'll turn around and make the same circle again.  This is a fun stage, but very wearing.  It really takes a village.  At first, I wasn't eager about her walking, but now I think I would rather chase after her than walk in a stooped over position while little man floats in the womb.  We have a riding/push toy for her, but she isn't interested in using it when she has real hands to help her.  She has had a couple of episodes where she has taken steps by herself, but only a couple, and with a fall (into someone's arms) at the end.  I foresee independent walking occurring soon in our house.  My back is really hoping for it!

Happy Birthday Sweet Child O' Mine

How has it already been 365 days since she was born?  It seems like yesterday that I was

• carefully scouring my dog-eared, coffee stained Babywise book about what to do about naptime and wake time and eating
• Praying daily that this would be the day I would go into labor
• swaddling her little tiny body
• Continuing my constant search for a nursing bra that fit (okay, that's about me, but ultimately about her)
• Planning my day around the 3 hour loop that was eating, wake time, and sleeping. 

Now look at her!  Before my eyes, she has gone from a small helpless, depending-on-me-for-everything baby to a somewhat independent child.  People told me it would fly by, but I didn't believe it, until now. 

This morning, Woody and I took the glider out of her room and replaced it with a bookcase and the table and chairs her Nona and Poppy got her for her birthday.  Her room quickly went from a baby's nursery to a little girl's room.   I am almost at a loss for words about how this year is over.  Some days have seemed like years, but this year has seemed like a day.

Riley Grace,
You have grown faster than I ever thought was possible.  Before our eyes, you have accomplished so many milestones; like smiling, sitting up on your own, saying your first word, crawling, standing, starting solids, getting teeth, the list goes on and on.  We have loved you from the beginning, and that love has continued to grow every day since then (all 365 of them).  We are watching you becoming a happy, healthy, funny, and loveable girl.  You already have such a sweet heart and show that everyday by loving on me, your daddy, and your stuffed animals.  Watching you with smaller babies makes us so excited to see what a great big sister you will be.  We are so excited to continue to watch you grow into the big girl you are quickly becoming.

We are blessed beyond belief that God gave you to us to love and teach and mold in this life.  We love love love you.

Birthday Cake

I realize it isn't even Riley's birthday yet and I am already posting pictures of her birthday party.  But really, how many people celebrate their birthday on the exact date?  We will do something special for her tomorrow, like have her favorite for dinner- spaghetti with meat sauce. We worked on her telling us she is "1", but holding her one finger.  This is what we caught of it.

This is the head of her catepillar cake.  Yes, I beheaded the animal to feed sugar to my daughter.   But if you think about it, don't we do that to pinatas too?  We take our favorite character, stuff it with candy, then beat the tar out of it to get to the good stuff.  I wonder if that is scarring to a small child...  Riley wasn't very sure of the cake.  She is testing out the icing.

Even with my nudging, she wasn't really excited about eating the cake or the icing.  Odd because I thought she would tear into it since it is so sweet.  But I guess the only sweet things she has experienced so far are fruits...

Even though she didn't eat much of either, she sure did make a mess of it.  After about 10 or 15 minutes, we gave it up and cleaned her up.

How many pictures do I have of her trying to touch the camera?  A LOT.  But this was too cute to pass up.  I guess the sugar didn't agree with her system.  About 20 or 30 minutes after this, she got very fussy.  We attributed it to the "sugar low", but then, she vomited all over both of us.  Woody had put her in a white onsie, which then looked like streams of fruity pebbles.  Too much information?  Not for my mom friends!!!!  Luckily, she felt much better after she got it out of her system, then went on to have a large portion of spaghetti with meat sauce.

Her birthday party was so much fun.  I cannot believe she is almost one year old.  Sappy posting to come tomorrow.  :)

First birthday party

Before I get started on this super fun post, I am fully frustrated with my blogging skills.  Please enlighten me on how to upload more than one picture at a time.  I don't have time for that, and as a result, you get to see less pictures...

Okay, so last Saturday was Riley's first birthday party.  We kept it pretty low key with just family and a few close friends.  Mom help me put a great snack spread together, and she did most of the cake decorating.  You know I'm not big on themes as I feel like you can quickly overdo a theme and it becomes too much.  Riley has always loved "The Very Hungry Catepillar", so we did that (I almost hate to say it) theme.  The cake was a small cake for his head, then cupcakes for the body.  I thought it turned out pretty cute.

Here, Riley is seeing Adalyn Jones for the first time in a few weeks.  She was absolutely delighted to see her.  She squealed for about 10 minutes when Adalyn and her mom (Stephanie) arrived, somehow, Adalyn slept through most of the squealing.  This gave us a small glimpse of how Riley (hopefully) will react with her little sibling.  So sweet.

Then when Macy and her parents got here, all the girls were awake and in a good mood. So we wasted no time in putting them all together for a photo op.  Unfortunately, we were missing Millie and her parents.  :(  But alas, I know there will be many more opportunities to get them all together for more pictures.

From left we have Adalyn, 4 months; Macy, 2 months; and Riley 1 year.  Imagine, with three little girls, no one got a shot of them all looking at the same place!

Riley could not get enough of Adalyn.  I was afraid she was going to reach out and put her hands in Adalyns face or mouth or something like that, but she was very gentle and just talked to her mostly.

More postings to come on the cake and rest of the party.  As for now, I'm going to try to hone my posting skills.

Christmas Card

A few nights ago we tried to have an impromptu photo shoot at our house to get a good Christmas card shot, or two.  Riley was in a good mood, so we put her Christmas dress on and brought out the camera, which usually brings lots of smiles and posing on Riley's part... not this time.  Riley was very adamant on showing us that she had no plans to sit still.  The Christmas tree was just up and the presents just placed under it.  So much to look at, so little time before bed...

She did not want to stand up, but wanted to crawl everywhere.  This is my back, trying to place her in a pose.  Riiiiiiggghht.

It was about here that she realized she could not crawl well in this beautiful dress.  I should take time here to thank her Nona for the beautiful Christmas dress.  She is absolutely precious in it.

I'm pretty sure she was in the middle of a sentence here, something along the lines of "Can I please get up now?  This is boring and I haven't gotten to touch the tree yet!"

Look at that lonely tooth.  We are hoping it's mate will pop up soon, but there is no evidence of that happening in the near future.  Her possible thoughts here, "Here's the smile you are constantly asking for.  Now that you have it, can we be done?"

Yep, the big present is for her.  Don't tell her, but it's her new "big girl" car seat.  I had to wrap it and put it under the tree, otherwise it would already be in the Tahoe, being used before Christmas.

Already a lover of Elmo, she was happy when she was reading, completely away from all Christmas decorations (where we might capture a sweet picture for the card).

Aw, what a sweet face.  She has taken to trying to grab the camera when it's trying to take pictures of her.  While cute, pictures of her hands aren't as fun as pictures of her face.  After about 20 minutes of this, she started to melt down and the photo shoot was over with.  I think we probably could have gotten some awesome shots if we had put her in her PJs and started snapping.  Oh well, I think we got a couple of card worthy shots.  Maybe next year will be better.  Ha ha ha ha.  I'll eat those words at that time.

Hog Game

Riley got to go to not one, but two Razorback football games this season. When we don't sell the extra two tickets we have, she has the chance to go.  With 2 games at 11am this year, it fit perfectly into her schedule (because I do NOT want to mess with nap time).  The weather was PERFECT, 70 degrees and sunny, in November!  While we were tailgating, the mascot Tusk and his trailor arrived in the parking lot, so we went to meet him.  He is very large, but doesn't stink like I thought he would.  Someone near me said he was very soft, Riley and I didn't get close enough to find out.

This is her looking at the mascot on top of the trailor (where he and the cheerleaders were).

She got bashful when we got closer.  I selfishly love it when she gets bashful because she gets very cuddly with me.  She usually too busy to cuddle, so I really cherish those moments.

After all of the fun of tailgating, and a great lunch, she was out during the first quarter of the game.  Who knew?  This girl wakes up at home if I cough during her naps, but yet, she can sleep through a college football game, with the band playing, and the students in the next section (we are at the end of our row), not to mention the interception and two touchdowns in the middle of all of that!

As sweet as this was, my back was killing me after awkwardly holding her during half of the 1st quarter, all of the 2nd quarter, and half of halftime.  We even have chairbacks, but I had to constantly move for people trying to get out of our row (the only downside to our tickets).  Luckily, she woke up in a happy mood and lastest through all of the third quarter and most of the 4th.  I was the one who threw in the towel with 5 minutes left in the game and asked Woody if he wouldn't mind leaving the game early.  Being the sweet husband he is, he obliged.

So next season, I really don't see any Arkansas games in my future.  Riley would be fine to go (she may get to go with her daddy), but baby #2 will only be a few months old, and because "all Razorback fans must have a ticket to enter the stadium", #2 and I will probably be staying home.  I'm sure our family of 4 will be able to watch together, in a few years.  Until then, I am in no hurry.