the hope of things to come....

We aim to make our cornflower blue bedroom a thing of the past... I'm a much bigger fan of light butter yellow. I tried out a couple of coats this past weekend and boy did it improve things:














Alecia's painting deserves a better background that what it had:














I'm excited to have Alecia and T (our pastor's wife & painter extraordinaire) coming over in a couple of weeks to finish the room with me. Can't wait!!

In other news, I'm sick with a sinus cold and Riley is NOT to blame this time. He hasn't been sick for weeks (praise God!), so I figure that I stuck my fingers near my eyes, nose or mouth one too many times and gave myself someone's cooties. I've got my other brother Brian flying in from New Zealand for a brief visit and I just hope to have my strength back by Saturday when we "do" Boston.

Riley is doing great. Still practicing his walking, destroying anything we build out of his toys, chasing his mini-basketball around the house and now is making a complete mess at mealtime. My days of giving him a bath once or twice a week are over:














He's been enjoying spaghetti as I blog... time to sign off and clean my kid.

I love my messy boy!

Shelby

new feats

I guess Riley felt like trying some new things now that he is 11 months old. After a couple of months of crawling, pulling himself up to things and a little cruising, he's beginning to show signs that he's ready to do more.

These things all happened in the last 48 hours:

1) After a walk around the lake, I put Riley in the living room with his toys and he proceeded to go to town. This usually affords me the opportunity to do a household duty or two. So, I get the laundry from upstairs and take it down to the basement. After a couple of minutes I go back up just to make sure Riley's still playing merrily. He was. So I head back down for a couple more minutes to finish up. I get back upstairs and I don't hear a peep. Very unusual for my vocal child. Where do I find him?

































He had already crawled up 4 steps by the time I found him. I guess it's time to purchase the gates (sigh).

2) I'm sitting at the computer and Riley's playing on the floor nearby. Suddenly I feel the chair moving backwards -- he's pulling it back all by himself with all 100 plus pounds of mama in it. Granted, it is a hardwood floor, but still, how does he do it?

3) Lastly, it appears that his confidence in walking has increased suddenly. He has one of those walkers that he just plays with the lights and sounds rather than using it to walk with. It rolled too fast for him to control and he just ended up on his knees. He tried it again yesterday -- this time with success! He was pretty pleased with himself.






























That's our mobile boy!

Shelby

beijing & baseball

We have this cool little device on the right side of our blog that shows the cities where our blog visitors live. This morning, we had someone in Beijing, China view our blog. Cool! I've seen France, Australia, Brunei, Spain and Brazil pop up as well. Makes one wonder how they find us among the thousands of blogs out there.

Something else that may be of interest to our faithful blog readers is a new link that I added in our list of blogs call "Summer of Matt". One of our paralegals recently left his position to attend law school in the fall. In the interim, this Sox fan is visiting all 30 of the baseball parks in the US and Canada. He's 1 week into his dream trip and has been to 3 parks so far. He gives a humorous account of his adventures at each park; naturally they will be compared to the Fenway experience. Anyway, it's a great blog and I encourage you to check it out.

Ok, so much for my random blog... gotta get out and enjoy another beautiful day in Boston.

Shelby

11 months old!

Today was a great day to turn 11 months old -- it was mid-80's with a light breeze and we got a good dose of sunshine and vitamin D. I can actually believe that the winter is over and that summer is just around the bend...

The big news is that Riley has broken his third tooth. It's the top right one and we caught a pic of it when Riley was hanging upside down today:














All this teething means that his bath toys have become some of his favorites to chew on. He chomps on this plastic starfish and drool runs down his chin, neck and collar and he's happy 'bout it.



















The other thing he's been doing this past week is crawling with his feet instead of his knees. It used to be he'd just do this with his right leg, but now he's doing it with both. He doesn't show much interest in walking. He does cruise around the furniture, but only if he's not heading anywhere special. If he's got his eye on something he wants, then he drops to a crawl and pulls himself back up at his destination point.




















He loves to pull himself up to things and he seems quite comfortable with standing and using one hand to stabilize himself.

Other than that, not much has changed other than he's heavier (23#) and outgrowing his 12 mo clothes. We managed to squeeze him into this cute little plaid number to get a picture with Pooh bear. I like how he looks all casual and at ease with a hand on Pooh's shoulder:















Countdown to May 23rd officially begins....

We love our boy!

Shelby

patriots day (riley's first post)

Hi everyone. This is Riley. I want to tell you all about the fun day I had. Mama didn't have to go to work because of the Patriot's Day holiday. This holiday is only celebrated in Massachusetts and Maine. Mama wanted to take me to Boston so I will tell you all the things I did.

First, we rode the Commuter Rail from Wakefield to Boston. I liked looking out the window:












I met a girl named Julia on the train. She didn't speak any English because she was from the Netherlands. She was very nice.









In Boston, we got off the train and on to a very crowded trolley. There were a lot of people going to a Red Sox game. I was glad that Mama put my Sox shirt on me today so I could show my team spirit.









We went to the Children's Museum. They have a playspace just for kids my age. First I played with the train set. (Actually, I put the train in my mouth or threw it on the floor).









Then, I played with puzzles -- Well, who are we kidding -- I threw all the pieces on the floor and then proceded to do the same with the puzzle board. It was very fun.









Mama rocked me in a boat:









Then, we found a room that was just for crawlers. I spent the rest of the time there. I climbed up the stairs (for the first time!) to the aquarium. I was a little puzzled though that I couldn't catch the fish in there. They kept swimming away.









I enjoyed kissing myself in the mirror:









This was my favorite...it was like a waterbed. Mama would make waves and I'd move all around.












The Boston Marathon is on Patriots Day. Mama has run two marathons and likes to cheer the runners as they are near the finish line. She was jealous of the people who got to run today and is trying to figure out how she can run THIS marathon before her body gives out. Maybe I will run a marathon someday....









We had a late lunch at one of mama's favorite restaurants, the Parish Cafe. This place is known for their creative sandwiches which are designed by chefs all around Boston. I ordered avocado slices:









On our way back to the T, we walked through the Public Garden and I hung out with the ducklings.












Since Mama likes the accordion, we stopped to listen to these guys:









By the time we got back home, I was plumb tuckered out. Mama let me nap for about an hour since I missed both of my naps today:









Mama's postscript:
We had a great day "doing" Boston together on this beautiful and sunny day. I was glad that I took the umbrella stroller, which made it so much easier getting around the T since I can lift Riley up and down the stairs in it. Riley-boy was a trooper. We left at 10 and didn't return home until after 5 and he gave me no fuss.

The only thing that would have been better is if Daddy could have come. We look forward to more family days like this during the summer.

Shelby

home improvement...pt 1

Riley no longer has a beige room. It's pistachio green, similar to the background of our blog. Alecia came over to help on Saturday afternoon and we got it done in about 3 hrs. Being better at the detail work, Alecia taped while I painted:






































Done!














I used Benjamin Moore's Potpourri Green and one coat was all we needed. Here's what his room looks like now:















































I get happy every time I walk into his room. One room down, two more to go. The bathroom and bedroom are next...

Shelby

demolition boy

A couple of weeks back Shelby posted a picture of Riley in a hat so that he looked "Like A Boy". It's funny, knowing my boy's personality I have a hard time imagining that anyone could think of him as anything but a boy. (Of course, they don't live with him...and he is a good looking boy.)

There are certain traits that are just hard wired into the two sexes. Girls (in general) naturally notice and are attracted to babies. I've seen this over and over with friend's and family's little girls.

Boys however, (once again, in general) tend toward testosterone laden activities and interests. Males love to demolish things. This is true pretty much across the board, as is evidenced by the great joy we take in watching the destruction and mayhem in Bourne / James Bond / superhero movies.

Which brings me back to my sweet, wonderful BOY. The evidence:



Fueled by 100% pure testosterone. There is no question. He won't even allow the foundation of what we build to remain in place. No stone left unturned!

Man, are we going to have some fun over the years. I can't wait to go out and destroy, I mean ride some mountain bikes together. Oh, and I'll have someone to watch all those cool action adventure movies with...

I love my boy!


Jonathan

a visit from uncle dave and cousin daron

Last week, we received our first visitors in our new home -- my brother Dave and nephew Daron. They were marking Daron's 13th birthday with a trip to NYC, so they stopped by Boston for a few days as well. Riley enjoyed having them around as we did:




































Dave took us to the Museum of Science (I forgot to bring my camera!) and I can report that Riley stayed in good spirits for the entire 6 hours that we were out and about. It was cold and rainy that day and I used the Kelty backpack carrier for the first time and with success. He didn't seem to mind the rain too much as we walked to and from the train stations. Riley enjoyed the Museum's Discovery Center which is made for kids under 5. Afterwards, we watched an IMAX movie on the Alps which thankfully, didn't make him want to toss his milk.

We enjoy seeing my far-flung family (Seattle, New Zealand, Alaska) whenever possible. 2008 has been a good year for Browning family visits -- mom came in February, Dave in April and Brian will be visiting next month from New Zealand. We're looking forward to his visit.

In other news, Riley has a bulge where his top two teeth should be coming in and so we're on tooth watch. He had a fever a few days ago and has been scrunchy and out of sorts since then. J's been giving him chiropractic care to deal with what appears to be an ear infection, in hopes to avoid antibiotics. More on that later...

Shelby

sick boy - again...

Riley is sick again. I knew that it was just too good to be true that our household had been well for a little more than two weeks now. He went off to daycare feeling great this morning but deteriorated as the day went on. He got "scrunchy" as we call it when he's out of sorts.

Shelby is off to see a Red Sox game tonight, so I have boy duty. When I got home I found outRiley has been running a fever, and he certainly was warm when I was holding him tonight. It seems like he's been sick more than he hasn't. Most of the time it's just a head full of snot and he's his usual cheerful self. Fevers are different though. I understand very well having had one for a few days back in Feb. (while we were moving, of course.) I feel so bad for him as he lays on my shoulder and wimpers. As I said in a much earlier post it's such a helpless feeling as a parent. All I can do is just hold him and give him a little comfort. Hopefully the sicknesses will drop off a bit with the nice weather coming. I'm really sick of my boy feeling like crap so often!

Which leads to another topic. I've heard plenty of parents talk about their kids being sick a lot during the first year of school / daycare. So I guess you could say that in a way I was prepared for this. What nobody said anything about was how often the PARENTS get sick. I've had four colds and the flu and Shelby has had at least five colds since Riley went off to daycare. I guess it's kind of hard to avoid if your sick kid is sticking his fingers in your mouth (or Riley's favorite, his thumb up your nose...) It just seems kind of odd that I've never heard anyone talk about it.

Did you other parents not want to scare anyone else off? Did you want to share the misery?

I hate it.

I love my boy though.

He's totally worth it.


Jonathan

boys weekend

Shelby was away for a women's retreat this weekend which left Daddy and Riley at home together. We decided not to shave and to sit around in our underwear watching TV all weekend. Not really. We put on clothes and didn't watch TV. We had a good time. Friday night we played in the living room and I got some video of Riley and his favorite: Ducky.


Here's one of my favorite pictures of late, Riley going after the camera:










Yesterday I spent some time figuring out how to best get video from the video camera to the computer. While I was doing that Riley had the run of the place. He was back and forth from the living room to the kitchen over and over with brief stops to say hi to Daddy who was on the computer in the middle of his traffic pattern:



We had a ball all weekend (Daddy loves to play with his boy, and so did a lot more of that than working on the computer.) The only difficult time came at meal time. For some reason Riley has decided that he's only going to eat a little of what he's given. Then he pushes it away or grabs at the spoon. Odd, since he's always been a good eater with little fuss. (Also kind of funny as he would eat ANYTHING that he found sitting on the floor. Hmm, dinner on the floor?) The worst was dinner on Saturday. The only thing that he ate without a fight was avocado (oh, and of course Cheerios...) We started with Gerber's version of Lasagna, which looks and tastes (yes, I tried it) suspiciously like really small SpaghettiO's. In between each bite he would give a half whine, half cry, which would immediately stop once the spoon was inserted into his mouth. Before I could clean up the excess (the kid is fast) he'd get his hand up into his mouth, get it covered in "Lasagna" and then immediately rub it into his eyes / hair / etc. He did the same with the yogurt I gave him when he wouldn't have any more "Lasagna". No issues with prune juice, avocado or Cheerios though... Here are a couple of shots of the carnage:




















Overall it was a really fun weekend, although Mama was missed quite a bit by both of her boys. We're glad to have her back. Oh, and I am so grateful that I am not a single parent. The optimal number of parents really is two in my opinion.

One more shot of my beautiful boy on one of his visits to the computer desk:










I love my boy!


Jonathan