Morello Girls Visit...

Becky, my best friend from college, and her 2 year old daughter Sydney arrived Thursday for a visit to me and Riley! The girls are cute together and Sydney likes to help Riley with her paci and she plays really well with her! Becky and I have had the evenings to ourselves after the little ones have gone to bed...we have cooked good dinners, watched Olympics, and just caught up...it has been refreshing and relaxing! Looks like Sydney had fun relaxing on my gumdrop pillows too...

Today we ventured out to the Zoo...I have to admit I was not expecting much from the Little Rock Zoo because the last time I went it was pitiful...but my how they made improvements...it's looking very nice and they had lots of fun animals! The giraffe was my favorite! I think Riley was mesmerized most by the Bobcat...it kind of looks like Jack, my parents' cat!

Here's Riley checking out the fishies...

Here's Sydney talking to her daddy on the phone...

Cool Giraffe...

Huge Elephants...

The Gang...

After the zoo we went to Burge's to grab a bite and then to Cupcakes on Kavanaugh...a new cute cupcake eatery! I had the Mud Pie, Becky had plain 'ol vanilla, and Sydney had the Black Bottom...of course we all shared and tasted each one and Riley even got a swipe of marshmallow icing...YUMMY! It was a fun morning and now everyone is napping...except me!

My sweet hubby

Check out these beauties...Jason sent them to me for our anniversary!

These made my day and they smell great too! Riley LOVES the balloons too...she just stares and stares at them! Love you!

Happy Anniversary My Love

Today is our 4 year wedding anniversary...we have had been so blessed throughout the years and can't wait to see all that God has in store for us in the future!

Our Wedding Day...

Our Honeymoon...

MANY MANY Aggie games together...

Mike flew us to Austin for dinner on 6th Street...

I have always loved a man in uniform...

Our first puppy...Hank

So many memories at the lake...

Little Rock AFB Air Show...

Running in the LR Marathon together...

Easter...

Greer's Ferry Lake Camping Trip...
And then there were three...

Our family's getting bigger...and so was my belly...

We are about to meet our daughter...
Our Little Family...
Thank you Jason for being the man of my dreams...from the age of 14 until today you have been and always will by my best friend and the love of my life. You are a wonderful husband and an absolutely amazing father...I am proud to be your wife.

I love you. I am proud of you. I miss you.

Happy Anniversary!

1 Week Down...18 to Go!!!!

Riley and I have been keeping busy and Jason is keeping VERY busy! I got to hear his voice today for the first time since last Thursday...that was just what I needed. We have still been heavily relying on e-mail and chat as our main source of communication...I send about 5 e-mails for every 1 that he sends...proof that women have many many more words...and perhaps b/c I have continuous access to my e-mail and just send him a word whenever I think of something I want to tell him...I know he looks forward to reading them though!

Here are some pics from our past week...

All of my girlfriends got together the night Jason left for pizza, brownies, Andrea's famous corn dip, and just hanging out...just what I needed. Riley played with the boys...Gabe and Chandler...Kaleb was on vacation and she missed him!

Riley now uses a sippy cup every evening for her last bottle...she is really getting the hang of it!

Here's Riley at lunch on Sunday at Macaroni Grill...

Sunday night we went to a Pampered Chef party with a chocolate theme...yum! Mom got some fun toys for the kitchen and Riley had fun playing with Laurie!

Monday night Jennifer and Chandler came over with Pei Wei and a movie...The Other Boleyn Girl...good movie...and yes I did fall asleep! However, I only fell asleep for the last 5 minutes of the movie and rewound it and made Jennifer watch the end again...thanks for putting up with me Jenn and I really enjoyed your company!

Last night Riley and I had a slumber party at Jason's parent's house and Riley got to spend today with her DiDi...the two of them met me for a girls lunch and then I went to work and they went shopping...not fair! DiDi had some new toys for Riley to play with...a xylophone and some foam letters / numbers...she LOVED all of them!

And last but not least here's some video that you have to turn your head sideways to watch...i keep forgetting to think of that when I'm taping, but trust me it's worth it!

8 Months Old...

My big little girl is 8 months old today! She is such a cutie and so fun to be around...can't say enough about that! I keep thinking "this age is my favorite" at every stage but I love seeing her personality come out and being able to interact with her...she is the apple of my eye and I know her daddy misses her like crazy...we send him lots of pictures and he can check the blog too!

Here are some things Riley is doing at 8 months of age:

• Sleeping 10-12 hours at night...we love those 12 hour nights especially if they are on the weekend so we can sleep in too...but if she happens to wake up at 6:30 on the weekend we take advantage of guggling (that is cuddling in our family) time and let her sleep on one of our chests for a little longer!
• Grabbing everything and pointing at things...she likes to bang her toys together and make noise as well
• Playing fetch with mom and dad...especially when she is in her highchair she likes to take her toys and play with them and then throw them on the ground and then repeat and repeat
• Clapping like a pro and waving sometimes as well...we love to play clappy clappy!
• Very close to crawling...she can move in a complete 360 degree circle on her tummy and sometimes backwards but no forward movement yet...she has yet to get her legs up under her body...she is also trying to figure out how to get from a sitting up position to a crawling position...I'm telling ya she will be moving before I know it!
• Much better at not crying when someone leaves the room...still happens some but we have progressed!
• Still eating like a champ...I attempted some Stage 3 foods this past week and I don't think we're ready for that...she didn't quite know what to do with the noodles in the spaghetti and it was making me a little nervous because of the gagging faces she was making so we aborted and are not rushing on those...the jar says "around 8 months"...maybe we'll slowly work them in and work on getting a few more teeth!
• Speaking of teeth...she has two very noticeable bottom teeth...they just keep creeping up...she still gnaws on everything so there are soon to be more teeth making their debut
• She is talking more and more and has started roaring like a monster in an attempt to play with whomever she is roaring at...with the roaring comes mimicking and it is SOOOO cute...I will roar at her and then she will roar back at me and so on and so forth...we both end up giggling because it is so fun!
• We are working on Peek A Boo...she's getting the hang of it!
• She can give kisses...her dad was much more successful at getting open mouth kisses than I have been but I have managed to get a few!
• She is now making diaper changing a little more difficult because she tries to roll all over the changing mat and grab things out of the baskets so that is a lot of fun!
• Lastly, this girl has got some rhythm...I have found that she loves music and starts laughing and dancing when she hears it...last weekend I was playing RockBand with CJ and Gaby and Riley was sitting on a blanket right beside all of us and she was clapping, rocking back and forth, and making noise the ENTIRE time we were playing...today I put her in her car seat and turned the car on and as soon as the Texas Country music came on she just grinned and started grooving in her car seat...she knows how to have a good time!

Happy 8 Months Miss Riley!

Gig 'Em and BTHO Bin Laden

Here is a photo of Jason and his buddies Scott and Aaron in Iraq. The three of them were all members of Gator 2 in the Corps of Cadets and who would have thought that they would all be together over there...pretty cool! Scott will be home soon and Aaron and Jason are there for the same amount of time. This is in front of their housing quarters and those are huge concrete barriers surrounding them...Jason said it makes it seem like a big giant maze. Thanks guys for all you are doing and Gig 'Em!

Pop Goes the Binky

Here is a cute video I took this morning...Riley and I are having lots of fun together!

We are also getting to communicate with Jason via e-mail and online chatting pretty regularly. He is working a lot and starting to get into a routine. He says that he is enjoying it over there...this is what he signed up for...the real deal. Hopefully we can Skype with him soon and see him...that will be good for all of us!

Riley and I went to dinner with Laurie Friday night and today we went to the commissary and just hung out at home...I had some things I wanted to get done! The weather was very nice so we took a long walk this evening. Tomorrow is Riley's 8 month birthday so I will post about all her latest milestones!

On a random side note, I have endured yet another random injury. I often think back to the "injuries" that interrupted my life or required some kind of medical intervention and I have never broken a bone but I have had some very random and ridiculous things happen to me. Let's see..first there was the stress fracture in my vertebrae from volleyball that required that I wear this huge turtle like plastic brace for 23 hours a day for 8 weeks, then there was the finger crushing that took place when the referee stand fell onto my pour middle finger, then there was the accidental self stabbing incident with my hand in which I was simply trying to get the pit out of an avocado and ended up severing a nerve and having to have surgery, and Friday I managed to rip off my own fingernail...I was simply trying to move Riley's stroller and my hand was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and my beautiful "fake" nail popped off and took a quarter of my actual nail with it...not fun! So I am thankful that I have not had anything "major" happen to me but I find it humorous to think of the random injuries that I have had in my lifetime. Hope you can find humor in my anguish as well!

The countdown begins...

Trying to take a positive approach to our current situation...19 weeks to go! Tuesday was one of the hardest days...glad that's over. I am happy to report that Jason has safely made it to his destination...thanks for all of your prayers. I have actually gotten to talk with him several times and that is what is keeping me going...that along with my precious little girl! She is such good company!

We spent this past weekend lounging for the most part. It was also a rainy weekend which made it even better conditions for lounging! Friday night we had BBQ at The Whole Hog with Jason's family...their potato salad is my FAVORITE...apparently Jason's favorite is cute piggies with BBQ sauce!

The girls...

The boys...

Okay...Jason give Riley her toy back!

Saturday Jason mowed the yard for the last time this year and cleaned up the garage and his family came over to eat dinner...Jason grilled burgers and smoked a brisket so we had tons of food. The brisked turned out great and I have most of if in the freezer...probably will be the only real food I will eat at home while he is gone b/c I am looking forward to cereal for dinner...and that's what I've had the past two nights!

Here's Jason and Frank smoking cigars from Jamaica!

Sunday we played hookie and skipped church...we literally laid around and watched the Olympics and ventured out around 3 pm for our first meal of the day...Texas Roadhouse! Then we went back home and laid around some more and watched more of the Olympics. Monday we had lunch with Jason's family, ran a few errands, and got his final bags ready to go.

Here's some cute pics of Jason and Riley...she is sporting her camo onesie that says "My dad rules"...a bow is a necessity with this outfit!

Jason taught Riley to give kisses before he left...it is so precious. She turns and opens her mouth super wide ready to plant one on your lips...big slobbery kisses...the best!

Tuesday was...yuck.

Here's the guys getting on buses to head to the plane

Here's Jason actually getting on the plane...he turned and gave me and Riley a wave and blew us a kiss before he stepped into the plane.

We miss him so much...Riley has been sleeping with her Daddy bear and the other night I found her clutching on to him...how sweet is that!

We get visitors next week and are excited about that!

We miss you.

We love you.

We're praying for you.

We're proud of you.

Riley is her Daddy's Daughter...

Okay folks...since the moment Riley was born everyone has been so amazed at how much she looks like Jason...to the point that our neighbor even asked me one day..."Were you even there?" She has been called a mini-me for Jason and Jason has been told he looks good in the female form...you name it has been said...we ALL know she is Jason's daughter...no doubt about that!

Now that she is getting older people are now starting to believe that I really am her mother...do you not remember the pregnancy pics of me with that ridiculously huge belly...well I do! She is mine and luckily I carried her because that is my only proof! My mom brought up my 4 month old pic several months ago and I got a pic of Jason around 3 months old and well it is so true that Riley is her Daddy's daughter...they look SO much alike! I even struggle to find resemblance to me...I think she may have my smile, but then again her mouth even looks like Jason's in this picture...see for yourselves and let me know what you think!

By they way, from left to right it's Jason, Riley, Me...just in case you couldn't tell the two pics to the left apart...ha!

Sweet Family Time...

We are cherishing every moment together these days and yesterday was no exception! Jason and I had a "date day" including lunch, a movie, ice cream, and a pedicure for me! The whole movie and ice cream reminded me of the good 'ol days nearly 11 years ago when our parents would drop us off at The Quarry and we would go to a movie, go to Amy's ice cream, and then hang out at Borders until our parents picked us up! We had a lot of fun together and Riley spent the day with Jason's family so she had a lot of fun too! After our fun filled day we went as a family to Build A Bear...Jason has been wanting to take Riley to make a Daddy Bear for her to love on while he is gone...it was so fun and so cute!

First Riley picked out her bear...a small soft brown one!

Then she kissed the heart that would go inside of it!

Then she and her daddy watched as the bear was stuffed with fluffy stuffing!

Then we picked out some clothes for her bear so it will remind her of Daddy!