Sick babies make my heart hurt...

There are so many sick babies in our area right now and unfortunately Riley is one of them. She had a mild cough early in the week and we thought nothing of it until I realized Tuesday that there was an RSV breakout at her daycare. I quickly pulled her out and got her tested and luckily she tested negative but we decided to keep her out of daycare the rest of the week just to be on the safe side. Wednesday her cough and breathing got worse and she started running a fever...Thursday she got even worse and I took her back into the doctor and they didn't hear anything in her lungs but decided to do a chest xray just to be on the safe side. Riley did so well with the xray and just let me hold her still so she didn't have to be strapped down in this horrific contraption. They even had a tiny little lead mat to cover up her reproductive organs...it was kinda cute! We were expecting to get the results Thursday afternoon as any parent would and apparently the radiologist had more important things to do and left before reading the results. Thursday evening was rough...her temperature spiked and she was breathing very rapidly. We were very close to taking her to the ER but managed to get her temp down and her breathing more manageable. She woke every hour last night as she is very uncomfortable between coughing, sneezing, and running a fever. We found out this morning that she has viral pneumonia...poor thing. She is doing much better this morning as she watched some cartoons while I tried to get a few moments of sleep in. Her fever is coming down and staying down without motrin/tylenol for now and she is taking fluids well. She is not eating and if you know Riley she LOVES to eat...a true sign that she is sick if she passes on food. We are hoping that last night was the worst but we are keeping a close eye on her. Please pray for all the sick babies out there...RSV is like an epedemic in Little Rock right now among other things.

Here's some pics we took while were staying home with her before she got really sick...we had a lot of fun!

Reading books...

Putting on a show...

Cleaning out the cabinets...

I'll keep you updated on our little Riley!

And we have Pigtails...

I have been waiting for this day and it has arrived...Riley has pigtails! Her hair has been growing longer and longer and getting curlier and curlier...I had been patiently waiting for the opportunity to put pigtails in her hair and finally I can!

My first attempt was on Saturday morning and it was not very successful! I got the pigtails in while Riley was trying to crawl and climb all over the house and right when I got them in she decided to throw a temper tantrum and roll her head all over the floor preceding to pull out the itty bitty pigtails that I had worked so hard to get in...mom was ready but Riley was not!

This morning I was determined to try again so this time I got her hair all wet and it was easier to get all of her hair in and I put them in while she was in her highchair eating breakfast and this attempt was much more successful! They managed to last all through the morning until nap time arrived and when I pulled the rubber bands out she had free standing pigtails...so cute!

We had a great weekend...yesterday we spent the WHOLE day with Jason's family! We ventured to CJ and Gaby's basketball games and they both played great and Riley had fun watching and clapping to cheer them on!

After the games it was time to hit up On The Border...a tradition for us that we hadn't done since right before Jason left for Iraq...yummy! Riley was performing all new tricks for us at lunch and we were all laughing in glee and she would laugh right back at us...she was definitely putting on a show! Gaby taught her Patty Cake and now she loves to play!

After lunch we spent the afternoon at their house playing and then had a great steak dinner...basically a day of eating and hanging out...doesn't get much better than that!

The weather here sucks...just thought I would throw that in! I am reminiscing of the weather in Mexico realizing that it is bitterly cold here and we can't escape it...the whole week is supposed to be cold...please go away bitter cold! Off to start a new week...hope yours is good!

Sooooo.....

I have decided that every weekend should be a three day weekend...what do ya'll think?

For me it's just the perfect mix of work and play and the week goes by much quicker. We had a great MLK day weekend...dinner with the Witte's, lunch at Fantastic China, smoking a brisket, and some good relaxing!

We did spend our Saturday morning remembering the life of a wonderful woman...many of you know my dear Aggie friend Mr. Lloyd...I met him several years ago when he was a customer of mine and we have been kindred spirits ever since. He has such a caring spirit and much of that has been expressed by how he cared for his wife. He is the true witness of what it means to love "in sickness and in health." The love of his life, Marge, passed away last week...her heart gave up. My heart hurts for Mr. Lloyd, but it was also refreshing to see how proud he was of her and he knows she is rejoicing in Heaven as we speak and he will get to spend eternity with her.

On Sunday we had a rather nice day weather wise...not as nice as Cancun, but I guess I shouldn't complain! Jason smoked a brisket all day and we had some friends over for dinner. While Jason was tending to his meat, Riley and I went for a run...yet another opportunity so sport another cute hat! This her Nike hat from the Yaz fam...so cute!

And yes...those are socks on Riley's hands! We don't have any mittens and I haven't found any her size so we improvised and it worked out quite well!

Here's Riley playing with Courtney that evening!

The Burns family was over as well and I was hoping that Riley and Kaleb could play but he was asleep while she was awake and he woke up after Riley had gone to bed so they never even saw each other! Here's our family pic...with the wrong kid...and everyone but me looks confused!

So Saturday as I was typing all the fun things Riley is up to at 13 months of age I talked about what a good sleeper she was...ha! Not this past weekend! We still haven't figured out what was bothering her...perhaps her 6th tooth although none of her other teeth have bothered her much. Needless to say our little 12 hour sleeper was only sleeping 9-10 hours and waking up several times in the middle of the night! I am happy to say that as of the last two nights she is back to normal...thank goodness! I was beginning to worry that my 12 hour sleeper had been kidnapped...oh how good sleep is! Speaking of sleep...our little girl has the funniest bed head ever! She definitely has started to get her mama's curly hair and it becomes most apparent when we go to get her in the morning...here's some proof! Don't worry...my hair doesn't look like this at all since I have straightened my curly hair for many years now!

This week has been great...just normal life and evening spent playing with Riley...we have so much fun with her! She has really started walking more and now will just get up and go...how our life is going to change! She loves to crawl all over us, tear down the towers her daddy builds with her blocks, play with her daddy's hats, have fun in the bathtub sporting curly mohawks, and play with her many purses!
Tonight Jason started teaching Riley how to use a spoon to eat...she kind of got it! She did take some bites of food using the spoon, but she also rubbed it all in her hair...perhaps she was confused as to whether it was a brush or a spoon! Good thing tonight was a bath night...she was one dirty girl!

13 Months Old...

Sorry this post is a little late...we have had intermittent internet problems! My mom has been begging for Riley pictures since the last post just had me and Jason! So here's to you mom...a Riley fix...for now!

Wow...so after making it to the one year mark it feels funny to count Riley's age in months still but I like keeping track of her milestones by month so here goes...

• Sleeping well...except for last night and today! Bedtime for Riley has been around 7 or 7:30 and she wakes up between 6:45 and 7:30...not bad! At home she has been moving to just one nap a day but it will be a long one...2-3 hours! Last night she went to bed at 9:30, woke up at 2:30 and then back to sleep and woke up at 6:40...and only two 20 minute naps today...geez! Hopefully last night and today were just a random fluke...needless to say she was SUPER tired tonight and was asleep by 6:45!
• Eating well...no surprise here! We still haven't found anything this little girl doesn't like...she even had tastes of Egg Drop soup and Hot and Sour soup at lunch today and you can see from my previous post that lemons don't phase her. At her 12 month doc appt I was surprised to find that she had only gained 12 oz in the previous 3 months and dropped to 50th percentile weight but remained at 90th percentile height...nothing wrong with long and lean and the doc said this was normal to see a drop in weight percentile when they start becoming more mobile! She eats like a horse so we are definitely not worried! Here's the proof...

• Walking...not all the time and not all by herself but definitely walking! She will take about 10 steps at a time here and there and she's more likely to do so if she's going between me and Jason...she gets the biggest grin and then just falls in our arms...so cute! She still resorts to crawling when she really needs to get some where and I think her crawling has even gotten faster...if I turn my back she's gone! We have gotten her a play yard for our living room which is a total "safe zone" for her and allows us to get things done every now and then...mainly she is here in the morning while I get ready for work and we rotate the toys so she's always having fun and she plays really well in there! Here's the view we see most of the time...
  

• Yackety yack yack yack...that is what Riley is doing ALL the time...a true little girl! She imitates us reading books, she sings songs, and her main words are "doggy" "dada" "gaga" "uh oh" and FINALLY...."mama"! Doc worked with her on the "mama" while we were in Mexico and his hard work paid off because she finally started saying "mama" this week!
• Signing...Jason started working with her on sign language when he got home and she picked it up so quick...it is so cool to be able to communicate with her in this way. It also helps in her frustrations of learning what she can and can not play with because when she has gotten something she shouldn't we can sign "please" to her in order to get the item back and she gets much less upset than just taking it away...proof that she actually understands the concept! We started with "please" and "thank you" and we are still working on "milk", "more", and "all done"...here's a video of her manners!
  
  


• Learning her body parts...so far she knows her belly, her nose, her ears, and her eyes...she likes to sing "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes" so I have been working with her on those but she doesn't quite have them down yet...she is such a sponge!
• Still has 5 teeth...they have just come in more and now she is learning to brush her teeth!


Note how curly her hair is...she got that from her momma!




• She has gotten over her bath temper tantrums...I handed the task over to Jason when he came home and I have only given her one bath since but she seems to enjoy them once again...hallelujah! Her daddy gave her an extra bubbly bath tonight and she had lots of fun!
• Blowing kisses...this has to be one of my favorites! She even makes the lip smacking noise...just melts my heart!
• Riding in her big girl car seat...at least in my car! Riley technically still fits in her carrier seat since it accommodates babies up to 30 pounds but we needed a seat for each car since pulling the carrier out is anything but practical these days so we got her a big girl car seat and put that in my car and she is so cute riding forward! I love it because I watch her in the rear view mirror taking everything in! So far she hasn't had a problem riding forward in my car and backwards in Jason's...she's pretty easy going so we hope she keeps it up!

We are cherishing each and every moment with this little girl and each day gets more fun! I love walking around holding her hand and she loves it too because we could do it for hours!

Here are some cute shots from this past week!

Riley is wearing her daddy's boots
Going on a jog with daddy...she got this super cute hat from the Burns family for her birthday and I just love it on her...it kept her nice and warm on a cold winter day!

Mexico...

Well we are back and Mexico was AWESOME! I got to spend a week with this studly man...

We had so much fun and it was the perfect length trip...we did a lot, relaxed, and were so ready to get home to Riley! It's kind of nice to avoid the dulldrums of ending a vacation with the anticipation of seeing your baby girl! Riley did great with DiDi and Doc and we talked to her everyday while we were gone! We got in late last night and even though you're not supposed to wake a sleeping baby we so did! She was so cuddly, gave us some huge grins, and showed us her improved "motoring" skills! We loaded up our baby, dogs, and all our belongings and got home in the wee hours of the morning but it was good to be home as a family! Today we skipped church and got settled...unpacking bags, doing laundry, and restocking our kitchen with food! This is our life truly getting back to some level of normalcy...it was a nice day! Since Jason has been home we have had the holidays, company, and a vacation so now it is time to get on some sort of routine!

Here's a recap of our beach getaway...

We flew to Cancun and stayed at the Aventura Spa Palace in the Riviera Maya...it was an awesome resort with great service, food, and with beautiful grounds! We left NASTY weather in Little Rock to get to sunny 80 degree weather in Mexico...what a transformation! Here's some pics of the weather we left behind...

We had an interesting ride from the airport to the hotel with an unexpected stop at a military checkpoint...apparently the Mexican federales are out in full force with increasing problems due to drug trafficking and the mafia and we looked somewhat suspicious...we had to get out of the van and they pulled all of our luggage out and had a drug dog sniff it out...all the while we stood next to the federales who were fully armed with M-16's...nice! Luckily we were "clean" and quickly made our way to the hotel which truly looked like a palace all lit up at night! We decided to have a nice dinner to celebrate making it to the hotel "safely!"

The next morning we finally got to see the resort in daylight and this was the view from our balcony...
Here are some other pics from the resort... Our first day we planned all of our excursions and enjoyed an afternoon at the spa...I have never had a spa experience like the one we did here...it was AWESOME! We started with an hour of hydrotherapy which included an incense infused sauna, a vapor steam room, whirlpools, and reflexology...then we had an 80 minute couples massage and were served tea afterwards...so relaxing! I made several trips back to the spa just for the hydrotherapy treatments!

The next day we visited the Mayan ruins of Tulum...one of the only ruins that sits on the ocean...we had a hilarious tour guide and learned lots about the Mayan culture and then had time to venture through the sites...


After our exploration of Tulum we walked around the local market and got our picture taken with some "Mayans"...

After Tulum we were off for zip-lining, repelling, and swimming in cenotes...LOTS of fun!

We had three ziplines with each one getting taller and longer...I thinking climbing the stairs on the towers was scarier than the actual zipline...we both had a blast!

After zip-lining we were off to the repelling tower...I was a little nervous about this one but it was a blast too!

After repelling we swam in a cenotes...a cenotes is an underground river and there are apparently hundreds that feed from the gulf. Many of them have not been uncovered and the one we swam through had only been known about for 3 years. You basically walk into a cave and there are your typical stalactites and stalagmites. The river was SUPER cold...65 degrees cold and we snorkeled through it. Eventually we got used to the temperature and it was beautiful!Our next day we decided to head to Playa del Carmen to hang at the beach...we found a beach club called Mamitas that had chairs and umbrellas and we laid out all afternoon. It was a lot of fun, yet interesting to quickly find out that topless sunbathing was widely accepted...weird!

After our afternoon at the beach we strolled the streets of Playa...there were tons of stores...a mix between name brand and local mercados! We had the opportunity to take a picture with these cute monkies for a small price of course! They kind of freaked me out, but we were both cracking up and the monkeys were convinced Jason had something good in his front pocket...it was hilarious!

After our stroll we decided to have an authentic Mexican dinner at a local restaurant called La Parilla...it was very good and we had TONS of food!

Our last day we took a deep sea fishing trip in the morning...we shared the boat with a couple from Liverpool who were exceptionally nice and we all had a great time and caught some trigger fish and baracuda! The waves were HUGE and it was a daunting task to take photos of our catches as we risked flying overboard to get these pictures!

That's a wrap folks!