under the weather

For all those who have inquired about the bugs whereabouts in blog-world...

Both Riley and I have been sick for several days. We've been living in a world of snotty noses, fevers, tylenol, tissues, sick days, Disney channel and gatorade.

Hopefully we'll emerge soon, but in the meantime, Bug and I appreciate your well-wishes, thoughts, prayers and good vibes.

XOXO

Lots of new Riley Pics!

Not much time to blog tonight, but I wanted to get a few new pics of Riley up for your viewing pleasure! Enjoy!



Looks like i gotta "lefty" on my hands. I was trying to teach Riley to draw on paper, and no matter how many times I put the pen in her right hand, she switched it to her left. I'm not really surprised, my Dad and Grandma are both "Lefties", too.



Riley's newest obsession- digging through my purse. I will fill it up with random stuff and she'll play in it for quite a while. It's a good way to keep her entertained.


Ummm, yeah....she snuck over and got into my soda. This is the downside of her newly developed walking ability - I need to do a better job at babyproofing! She does seem to be enjoying it, though.


Another simple pleasure for Riley - sitting in a rubbermaid container with an armload of toys. She thought it was a BALL!


When I'm gettting ready for work, Riley likes to sit right by me and play in my makeup bag. I had to put together a special "riley-safe" bag she can dig in.


Bettie (our neighbor) brought over a chocolate cupcake for Riley. She certainly enjoyed it.


Riley loves to hang out in her crib and read books. This was taken after a nap...she woke up and started looking at her books. What a great kid!



Nothing special was happening in this picture, but look at her eyes! So beautiful!

Ask and ye shall receive or When you wish upon a blog or I have the best sister ever!

A while back, Becky posted a Blog-wish asking for Riley to come and visit her. Beck is in the middle of a pregnancy with twin boys (!!) and can't travel to see us, so we have to go there. Now, a visit to California to see two of my favorite people is never a hardship, but it can be difficult to make it happen. Apparently the blog-fairy granted her wish, because Riley is indeed going to spend a few days in California in a couple of weeks.

Here's how it happened:

I am currently participating in a year-long Health Leadership Institute that is meeting in Lake Tahoe in early October. This institute is a very good experience for me, both personally and professionally, and I am really enjoying the challenges and learning that have come from my work with it. I had made arrangements for Riley to be cared for during this week by one of her other family members, but these plans fell through and I was not aware of it until this week.

With only a couple of weeks before this trip, I was a little panicked about what to do with Riley. I felt like these meetings were important for me to attend, but I was not seeing a workable solution. I mentioned this to Beck and she immediately volunteered to keep Riley while I went, if I could bring Riley there. After she made that suggestion, everything fell into place. I was able to get my flights changed so I can take Riley to Cali, drive to Tahoe, drive back to Cali, and fly home with Riley. Riley gets to see Aunt Beck and Uncle Joey, I get to see my sister and bro-in-law, I get to go to my meetings, and Aunt Beck gets her blog-wish fulfilled.

The things I've learned from this: I truly have a wonderful sister who is thoughtful and generous and my best friend, I have a great brother in law who is willing to help out wherever her can, my daughter has a fabulous aunt and uncle who love her and are so excited to see her, and Finally...Blog wishes do come true.

Thanks, Becky and Joey. You guys ROCK!

Finally- Pics from our birthday party

Riley in her birthday hat - it lasted about 4 minutes on her head.


Our shared birthday cake


Riley and I share the same birthday, Sept. 1st. It was her first birthday day, my *ahem* ahem* birthday, so I thought it appropriate to celebrate with a family party. I also wanted the chance to thank my family for being such amazing support to me and Riley over the past year. They have, without a doubt, gone above and beyond for us many times over.

Well, it's taken me a few weeks to sort out some technical problems from my new camera, but I finally got the pics from Riley's (and my) birthday party off the memory card.

Originally, we planned a backyard barbecue, but it SNOWED in Idaho on Sept. first, so we had to move it indoors. Still, it was a lot of fun, and great to see everyone who showed up to celebrate with us.

Hallee and me....love that kid.


As per tradition, Riley got her own first birthday cake - chocolate, of course.


Busted, Uncle Keith. Sara is gonna kill you now.


Nita thought it was her job to help me enjoy my birthday cake. Thanks, Mom.


Ambrie, Nic, and Grandpa Lane - isn't she so cute?


Grandma Lane and Grandma Clark - Grandma Clark's birthday was just a few days later!


Papa Tony, Uncle Fry (kale) and Lexi - I think Lex is going for the cake!


Don't these guys look excited?

Ambrie actually gave me a hug and a kiss - special birthday treat for me!

One Year Photos

To mark Riley's first birthday, I had our amazingly talented friend, Carrie, take some pictures of Riley and of the two of us together.  She did SUCH a great job...Riley loved her, the shots were unique and fun, and she really worked to make sure the personalities came through in the photos.  

Here are a few of my favorites:

Check out carries photoblog here 

to see some of the collages she put together for us.  

Also, I'll post some of my favorites of Riley and I together on my blog here so check that one out, too. 

Thanks Carrie!! You did an amazing job!  

...And she won't shut up...

Anyone who knows me knows that I can talk.  A lot.  Ok, more than a lot.  

It looks like Miss Ya-ya has inherited this tendency. 

Besides the constant babble and baby talk, she currently is using 4 words in perfect context:  "Hi", "Mama", "Buh-bye" and "Ouch!".  

Today when i went in to pick her up from her daycare, she looked up at me, smiled, and said "Hi, Mama!"  

It was one of those moments that melts my heart....

11 Months Old!

Riley is 11 months old today, and I am blown away by how fast the time has gone by.  It's amazing to me how much she grows each day and how much she has learned in such a short amount of time.  

At 11 months, Riley: 

• Weighs 26 pounds and is XX inches long (will fill in tomorrow, when I wrestle her down to measure her).
• Has a TON of reddish blond hair - I swear it thickens each and every night.
• Crawls everywhere - nothing gets in her way...she goes over, under or around all the obstacles. 
• Can stand alone for short periods of time and has taken 2 steps by herself. 
• Pulls herself up to everything. 
• Still loves to play in water - baths, swimming pools, the ocean...you name it..is it's H20, she's good to go! 
• Loves music and will "sing" along whenever she hears it - especially in church, to the amusement of everyone who sits near us!
• Is OBSESSED with the electrical outlets - she figured out how to remove the normal covers and how to work the twisting ones, but I stumped her with lamb and elephant shaped covers.  She can't figure out how to get her chubby little fingers into the grooves to pull them off (ha ha - score one for mama!)
• Loves to read books - her favorites right now are "Tails" and "Fuzzy, Fuzzy, Fuzzy".  We read these at least 3 times a day. 
• Likes to watch TV first thing in the morning, especially "bunnytown". 
• Shakes her finger and gives little "lectures" if she isn't happy with something.
• Oreo cookies are her favorite special treat (note the above pictures). 

Riley is truly the brightest, best thing in my life and I get very emotional when i think how much love and joy she has brought to my life and the lives of our friends and family in the past 11 months.  I love her so much!  She is such an awesome kid and I am so lucky to be her mama.