a weekend full of friends

This weekend we had a lot of much needed interaction with friends. We started on Saturday with some friends of mine that I know through the BOMB mountain bike ministry that I'm involved with. Shawn and Nina were heading up to Bar Harbor with family for a vacation and needed a place to spend the night. We had a great evening with them all and Riley got to play with their daughters who are five and one.

Riley had a co-ed bath with Aspen (the one year old) in the afternoon, and then assumed that it was OK to help her eat her dinner later on. She didn't seem to mind:














On an absolutely terrifying note, Riley fell down the stairs Saturday afternoon. There's more to the story that I'm not going to go into, and yes Mama and Daddy had put the gates in place properly. Amazingly he was unhurt. He was obviously quite scared (Mom & Dad were pretty freaked too!) but he calmed down pretty quickly and was back to normal in no time.

The fall brought up once again the Whole New World of Terrors that I have a a parent. It scares me senseless that something beyond my control could happen that would harm my boy. I'm normally not one to live out painful and terrifying scenarios in my head (I leave that to my wife...) but with Riley it's different. My love for him is so incredibly powerful and I have such a strong desire to protect him from harm. I also feel horribly inadequate to do so. Parenthood has made me cling to my God so much more than before. Where I am inadequate God is all powerful. I am constantly needing to put my son in His hands knowing that God loves Riley far more than I'll ever be capable of...and He loves Riley's Mama and Daddy that much too. Learning to trust can be difficult sometimes. Fortunately I have a patient teacher...

The house cleared out on Sunday morning. We spent Sunday afternoon with a bunch of friends from church. We were delivering a meal to Chris and Jenny who are new parents (for the second time) and also lending them our Bumbo seat again. When I first got it out Riley saw the Bumbo (which has been in the basement for a while now) and wanted to sit in it. We got a picture and thought it would be fun to contrast pictures from four and 14 months:

Four months old at Acadia:














Our 14 month old:














We had a great afternoon, but Riley had a better one. He got to play with a couple of ladies that are kind of close to his age. Hannah chased him around the house:


















Frankie didn't seem too sure about Riley though:














I'm really surprised at how much Riley does play with other kids his age. I would have expected a little bit of interaction here and there, but they actually play together. It's really fun. We got such a kick out of watching Hannah chasing him around. Kid's laughter is such a happy thing. Makes me want to have another kid and soon. Hopefully that's a blessing that God will give us.

We love our boy!


Jonathan

14 months old

Since I completely missed the 13 month blog, I thought I'd better make time to let y'all know what Riley's up to since he turned a year old. The times they are a changin'...

Gross Motor: After a couple of months of cruising, Riley took his first independent steps on Independence Day. In the past 2 1/2 weeks he has been perfecting this skill and is walking all over the place and navigating the thresholds with ease. He's even mastered drinking from his sippy cup and walking without falling down. That's my boy!

Walking naturally leads to climbing...in and through things:




























Words: He says da da, ma ma, light, uh-oh, ball and has said diaper & water, which sound curiously similar to his generic, all-purpose word "dat dat". He loves to hear the sound of his voice. When he's in the upstairs hallway which echoes, he's particularly loud with his vocal exercises.

He can understand simple commands like "Give it to mama", "Go get your ___", "Put it in there" and "No no, don't _____", although he usually chooses to ignore the last one.

Sleep: He sleeps from 8p-6a, give or take a half-hour, and takes a 2-3 hour nap during the day.

Eats: 3 meals a day plus 2 snacks and wants finger foods he can feed himself. Frequent menu items are yogurt, chickpeas, blueberries, carrots, green beans, watermelon, avocado, mango, cheese, hummus on whole wheat, pasta, chicken, sweet potatoes, black beans & brown rice.














He snacks on toasted seaweed, which he eats like potato chips. Sushi lovers will understand.

He's essentially weaned off the bottle, though I'm using the last of the formula by giving him 4 oz before bed. I don't anticipate any problem once we're done with it at the end of this month.

I give him plastic cutlery to use, but he ditches it within a couple of bites since fingers are faster:














Play: His favorite game is to turn lights on and off. His favorite toys are two lighted bath toys that I picked up at Target last week. When you push the button they blink on and off.














His favorite book is "First Words" by Bright Baby and Barnyard Dance.














When I look at the above picture I can already imagine what Riley will look like when he's older...(sigh)

Teeth: Riley has 7 teeth and we think he might have a molar coming in. Besides the excessive drooling, he's been in pain several times this week, crying inconsolably. I gave him some baby Tylenol and topical gel and that seemed to help.

Temperament: We're definitely seeing his desire for independence now. I've seen the first maneuvers of a tantrum --he goes limp and arches his back, but nothing more...yet.

Another thing we've noticed is that he gets impatient if he can't get something to do what he wants right away. He'll throw said object within 5-10 seconds, showing himself to be his mama's boy.

Otherwise, he's still an easy-going kid. He doesn't like anything on his head though, so he's not too keen on the bike helmet we bought him. Don't let that smile fool you, he was whining shortly after when he couldn't pull it off!














Sports: For now, his outdoor activities include riding in the jog stroller/bike carrier, swinging and playing in the pool. He took a spin in the kayak with mama last week. We'll do that again since we bought him a float vest. He'll get to try hiking when we go to Maine later this summer.

Those who told us that it just gets better and better were right -- we have always enjoyed our boy, but the joy increases as his personality becomes more apparent and we can interact enjoy more activities together.

We love our boy!

Shelby

gramma betsea's

Today, we worshiped with our friends at Hope Church in Newburyport, where J was an active member for many years. Many of our friends had not seen Riley, but had prayed for him while he was in the hospital being treated for seizures. It was great to see them again and Riley enjoyed showing off his new walking skills.

Afterwards, J went to Maine to race go-carts with some of his Hope friends and Riley and I got to spend time with his "other" gramma, Betsy (aka "Betsea"). Betsea is a dear friend of ours who lives on Plum Island and was my roomie when I was dating J and has babysat Riley when daycare was closed. She's got a great little beach house that she shares with her friends and it had been months since we'd be up to visit. We couldn't wait!














With as much as Riley loves to swing, it's no wonder he loved her hammock:




























Instead of the ocean, we walked to the basin and Riley taste-tasted the sand while I went kayaking:














Riley's view:














I took Riley for a little spin in the kayak... this will be the next sporting skill he learns after biking:














Jessie's a lucky dog to have her own water chauffeur:














Riley held up with no nap all afternoon...what a trooper. We had a great time and we hope to visit Chateau Betsea again soon!

Shelby

update on "stuff"

We thought we'd update y'all on the situation regarding the insurance claims that have been unpaid (see July 3rd post). We were informed the following week that Medicare claims were going through and cleared for payment. Today, we received payment for 6 of those claims. Hallelujah...the first payment from them in two months.

Blue Cross claims are still being rejected so Emdeon has more work to do to fix the problem.

So, it appears to be partially resolved, but we still need prayer that BCBS will start paying as well. I for the most part have been able to leave this in the Lord's hands and trust him with the outcome. I don't like having to borrow to make sure next month's bills are paid, but since it's the Lord's money, I'm learning to accept this reality as part of His larger plan.

The Lord that can speak worlds into existence and heal disease with just a thought can surely fix a technological problem. Please pray that we'll continue to trust and not fear.

Shelby

my trip to alaska (by Riley)

Hi everybody. This is Riley. Mama and Daddy usually do all the writing here. I'm going to do this one though. I want to tell you about the fun trip I took!

Mama and Daddy told me that we were going to see Grammy and Poppa. They live really far away in a place called Alaska. To get there we would get to go on an airplane!

Mama and Daddy told me I've been on an airplane twice before, but I don't remember because I was too small. I knew that this would be really fun though.

First, Mama and I looked out the window. We saw all sorts of interesting new things! There were trucks and planes and a lot of people walking around outside the plane:














Every time the plane went up or down I got to eat! Here I am having a bottle when we left Boston:














When we were in the air there wasn't much to look at outside. But I had toys and books and Mama and Daddy wanted to play with me! Here I am playing:

I love Ducky














I had some of my stacking cups too. Ducky is sitting in one.














I love toys!














We actually got to go on two planes! During the first plane ride they gave us cookies! Here Mama is feeding me my cookie:














During the second plane ride Mama and Daddy wanted me to take a nap. It was just way too exciting for that though! I made sure that they didn't nap either. I didn't want them to miss anything.

Toward the end Daddy read me a book:














I also got to eat one of my favorite snacks...Sushi Nori! (It's toasted seaweed, whatever that means. I love it!)














The plane rides were really fun. I was so excited I couldn't sit still for a moment! We had to get off the plane when we got to Alaska though. It was sad. There were so many people on the plane I hadn't met yet! I couldn't wait to go on a plane again.

Next we got to see Grammy and Poppa. They came with their minivan to get us at the airport. Here I am in the back seat:














We went to their house. I had lots of fun there! The first thing we did was play with toys! They bought me a special truck. Here I am playing on it with Poppa:














I loved the truck. I could sit on it and sometimes push with my feet a little and it had a phone. Sometimes I held on and walked behind it. The best part was that it made a lot of different noises. My favorite was the fire truck siren! All the noises were good though.

Grammy got me a really cool book. It has great big eyes on it that stick out through all the pages! Here's Grammy reading it to me:














Poppa loves blueberries. I do to! He always gave me some when he ate them:














One night some friends of Mama's came over. They had a boy too! His name is Ransom. We played together. It was really fun to pass the truck's phone back and forth. We also played with a ball under the kitchen table:





























The next day Poppa took me to McDonald's for ice cream. It was OK (very cold!), but I liked my seaweed better:





























When we got home Grammy blew bubbles for me in the kitchen. I love bubbles!














One day we went to a cool place called the Arctic Roadrunner for lunch. I got to eat all kinds of good stuff there. Here I am trying some of Mama's root beer float. I loved it!














One of the best things I got to do in Alaska was to turn lights on and off. I even learned how to say light! Here's a video!


The last day in Alaska was really fun. First we went and watched jets take off near the airport:














Then we went to Grammy and Poppa's church where they have all sorts of fun stuff. First I went on a big slide with Daddy:














It was kind of scary though. Maybe I'll like it more when I'm bigger. Next I got to go on a slide that was more my size:














Then I got to go into rooms where they had all sorts of cool toys. I'd like to go to that church every day!














After I played for a while we had to leave. It was sad, but the best part of the day came next. I got to go see Poppa's plane! Here are some pictures of me in the plane with Poppa:












































Next I got to swing. I love the swings! This swing was even more cool because it was at a lake where planes were taking off!














The last new thing I got to do was ride on Poppa's four wheeler. I think I'll like that better when I'm bigger too:

Finally it was time to go back home. We got to go on a plane again though! This time the plane ride started really late at night. Mama said it was 12:50 am. I had some sleep before we left, so I was ready to stay up all night! I love plane rides!

Since I can walk now I played some standing in front of the seats:














The man who worked on the plane said I was so good at flying that I earned my 'wings.' Here's a picture of me wearing them:














Pretty soon the plane was getting ready to land. That means that I got to eat! I had a bottle and some seaweed:





























Soon we were back in Boston. Here's a picture of me while we waited for our friend Miss Alicia to pick us up:














Pretty soon we were on our way back to our house. I was pretty tired by now since I didn't sleep much in the plane (it was too exciting!) Daddy took this picture of me when we got back home:














It was a really great trip. I can't wait to go to Alaska and visit Grammy and Poppa again. I hope we go soon!

Riley