standing boy

Today I got a surprise. I put Riley into his crib for a few minutes while I was off on my morning routine. He enjoys playing with his toys there if we need a few minutes to do things. When I came back into the room this is what I saw:














He had gotten himself into a standing position all by himself for the very first time. I immediately ran out to get the camera, hoping that he'd still be upright when I came back. Not only was he upright, but as soon as he saw the camera he flashed the huge smile you see above. He was obviously as proud of his achievement as Daddy was.

Riley's really close to crawling, but this tells me he's pretty close to walking too.

Look out world!

Jonathan

9 months old!

In the midst of the unpacking, we paused to celebrate our son’s 9 month birthday with his first biter biscuit:

Riley weighs 20 lbs and is 28” tall.

He’s just days away from crawling, we think. The “underside” leg still gets stuck as he tries to go for something out of reach, but he figures out a way to get there eventually. We catch him up on all fours before he goes back to sitting, so we're hoping he gets courageous before Grammy leaves on Tuesday. Once he does, the chasing will begin.

He’s trying to pull himself to a standing position, still lacks the strength, but he gives it a good effort with certain pieces of furniture or toys. Here he is on his knees, peering over the ottoman:

His favorite game continues to be dropping or throwing toys and seeing where they land. His favorite toy is any plastic duck. He now has four scattered around the house.

He seems to recognize certain words such as eat, milk, food, mama and daddy as he perks up and looks around for said or related object associated with these words. He laughs when we flop his arm up and down and say "bye-bye". Since he also does this motion all on his own for other reasons, I’m not convinced he’s actually waving goodbye intentionally as of yet.

As mentioned in last month’s birthday blog, I’ve not focused on expanding his cuisine, but once we get settled in, he’ll start trying some new things.

For the past 3 weeks, he’s been waking up between 4-5a, so I’ve started putting him to bed an hour later at 8p with limited success. Sometimes, he sleeps in past 5a, and other times he gets up during the 4a hour and then takes an extra long morning nap. We’re hoping this will end by March 9th with moving the clock forward and hour.

Here’s the latest Pooh-bear pics:

As with every other toy, he tried to throw Pooh on the floor:

Poor Pooh; Riley won't sit for a picture with him anymore:

Not finding success, he started crawling over the edge:

Daddy's got a good grip on him, so no bumped noggin this time:

Riley continues to be a source of joy, amusement and delight for his mom and dad. These days seem to fly by as we start the countdown to his first birthday. We'll leave you with a short video of Riley's first episode of self-feeding:



Shelby

We're in...

The day started at 6a and ended at 10p and we're exhausted, but living large in Wakefield. It was determined earlier this week that J didn't have a cold, but the flu, which I think he got from Riley. He had just enough strength to get the essentials done and we're thankful for that. We're also thankful for good movers who worked hard and took care of our things. We're also thankful that the latest winter storm isn't moving in until tomorrow morning.

Lastly, we're thankful that mom is here to help with things and lend her organizing skills to our kitchen. Now time for bed and the fun part of settling in...

Shelby

T-minus 3 and counting...

We're anxiously awaiting 3p on Wed when we can finally close on the sale of our new home. Here's a picture of it -- we're buying left half of this beautiful building:















Everything seems to be in order -- we're just in that in-between stage being settled nowhere.

As if the stress of moving and getting everything packed up (with FT jobs and infant) wasn't enough, J came down with a bad cold on Tuesday night. He's very congested and the coughing had made his stomach muscles sore. Throw in extreme sluggishness and feeling like a Mack truck hit him and he's pretty miserable. He actually didn't go in to work on Wed; something very rare for the self-employed.

It's still touch and go -- yesterday he was alright until around 5p and today he's feels worse. Poor guy. He's the expert packer, having many years of experience in the moving business. I over-think the process and takes me twice as long. We're praying for the strength to make it to Friday when the move is done and we're just settling in. My mom's flying in on Wed and she'll be a big help with the home and Riley.

While J was eating lunch, I was cleaning up in the kitchen and realized that I hadn't heard any noise from either of the boys in several minutes. This is what I found:










J was napping and Riley just playing by himself, keeping quiet as though not to wake J.

One of the skills our boy has acquired in the past few days is the ability get into a sitting position when he's lying down. When I put him down in his bed and 30 min later he's still talking or laughing, this is what I'm likely to find:









He loves looking at himself in the mirror (and chewing on his fingers):










He likes his two Baby Einstein videos -- I put them in every week or two just for something different. Here he's watching the Baby Signs one:










We're signing "Mommy", "Daddy", "milk", "eat" and "more" to him in case it catches on. He understands these words already but not coordinated enough to sign. The way the kid jabbers, it may not be necessary. He just needs some teeth!

My break is over and my child refuses to nap so I'll close here. Keep us in your prayers, esp J and he's not at full capacity right now.

Shelby

wanna-be crawler

According to J, Riley has crawled 3 "steps" in his sleep. When he's awake however, he just sits there frozen, not sure of what to do next. If he's feeling particularly wild and crazy, he may rock front and back before dropping to his belly.

Today, we had a little practice session:


















Is that a sweet face or what?









I love my little Valentine (and my big one too!)

Shelby

duckie

Riley has a new favorite toy... the famous plastic yellow duck. We received two as gifts and it's the toy that our son prefers to all others. If he starts to act fussy, this toy puts him in a good mood. I admit that I had my doubts that a toy so famous would have this much appeal to Riley -- I guess the classic toys are such for a reason.













He also got what I call a "baby iPod" from my mom for Valentines day...it plays popular kids songs and teaches them numbers, letters, opposites etc. He's figured out the main button that makes the music play and seems to be enjoying it, when he's not gnawing on duckie:



While we were packing last Saturday, I gave him some of our plastic bowls and my little drummer was whacking them with a wooden spoon all afternoon. He didn't like it when J put one on his head however:










He still enjoys his jumper and we recently adjusted the height up a notch to accomodate the extra inches that he's added in the past few months. Notice his left arm about 28 seconds into this video...he looks like such a cool cat:



And this one, just 'cause it's cute...









Shelby

a happy day for mama

Today, I had another milestone (of sorts)... I was able to wear a pair of my pre-pregnancy pants to work. I've been able to wear my activewear since November, but that's due to the elasticized waists and spandex. A couple of weeks ago, I packed up my maternity clothes and decided to wear just my skirts until my pants felt comfortable again. So, I have one pair of work pants and one pair of jeans that I can fit in to. I think that leaves about 10 more to go!

After gaining over 70 pounds in my pregnancy and having 40 left to lose at the end of my post-partum period, it has seemed like a long, long road getting to this place. It's definitely harder to lose the weight at 38 than it was at 33. The first six months, I just ate smaller portions of healthy food and always felt satisfied. After that, I had to deprive myself a bit more in order to see results. But it strengthens my theory that losing weight is 70% how you eat and 30% how much you exercise. Exercise helps, but the diet is what matters most. Again, I'm glad to have such a supportive husband who enjoys eating healthy too.

The one thing I disliked most about pregnancy was not having the freedom to do the physical things that I was used to doing -- from rolling over in bed to running 3 miles. After a year and a half, it feels good to have the ole' bod back.

Shelby

on the mend and pulling up

Riley finally started showing signs of improvement on Friday and by Sunday, he was pretty much back to his old self. It was good to see his energy level at it's norm and to hear him jabbering away. I didn't realize how much I'd miss his talking until it was gone.

I mentioned back on his 8 month blog (Jan 23rd) that we've been using the laundry basket as a play "boat" for Riley. Well, less a week later he started trying to pull himself up in it. He's still not strong enough to get very far and is still figuring out how to get his knees in position, but it has to be secured against something else so he doesn't topple over.

In fact, anything he can reach to pull himself up with, he will. I'm just hoping he holds off for a couple more weeks when we get moved and can spare the time to watch him more closely.

J took these last Friday morning when Riley was throwing his toys out of the basket and you can see him trying to get to the box next to his boat.

I often put him in his crib when I need a few minutes away. After making his dinner, this is what I came back to:

I guess we'll be dropping the crib mattress down to a lower level this week...my boy could be doing a face plant on the hardwood floor before I know it.

Shelby