Swimming Lessons!

Riley had her first swimming lesson last night at the YMCA. She is in a class called Waterbabies I with 11 other babies. I have to say she was by far the happiest baby to be in the pool last night. I think at least 6 of the other babies were crying for the majority of the class. We sang songs, splashed, sprinkled water over Riley, floated, and moved through the water. Riley was a kicking fool. She loves to kick! She took a couple face dives into the pool and wasn't too sure about it, but still managed to love the water. Before class she was mesmerized by the swim team practice and all the waves of the pool. She just kept staring into the pool, bouncing on my lap, and smiling. She was exhausted by the end of the class and slept very well for Mommy and Daddy last night! Here are a few pictures:

Brett did participate in the lesson, but I made him jump out and take some pictures before we got out of the pool. I'll be sure to get some pictures of him with Riley next week!

Riley had some more firsts over the last week. She tried meat for the very first time. I cooked a pork chop in the crock pot and pureed it with some apple juice and apples. She wasn't so sure about the texture, but loved the taste. Here she is trying it for the first time:

Lastly, Riley rolled from back to tummy for the first, second, and third time last night. She is growing up so fast! Crawling next??

Fun With Cousins

We stopped by Grandma and Grandpa Burch's on Sunday so that we could see my brother, Nick, and his family: Casey, Kennedy, and Addie. Nick and Casey were picking up the girls after a fun night with Grandma and Grandpa. Riley loves playing with kids and it is so fun to see her with her cousins. Addie, the younger one, is rambunctious and sometimes a bit overzealous when it comes to babies and her cousin Riley. She's the one that always wants to hold Riley, stick her face in Riley's face, and pat (or slap) Riley on the back. Kennedy, the reserved older sister, loves to hold Riley, read books to Riley, and sing songs with her. Here are a few pictures and a video. As you can see Riley loves her cousins as much as they love her!

Lastly, here is a video of Riley playing with her cousins:

Fun with Grandma and Grandpa Murphy

We had Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Denny over for dinner on Saturday night. It was a great time and great dinner. Brett grilled pork chops and it was so great to be able to use the grill. The weather was great and Riley was in such a good mood. Here are a couple pictures from the fun night.

Lastly, fun with Daddy:

CIO Update

OK, so I quit being a push over and had Riley cry it out (CIO) last night. The last few nights she was really fighting me. She loves her bedtime routine until we turn the lights down and quit reading books. I think that she could read Goodnight Moon or Barnyard Dance until 11pm if we let her. She loves to turn the pages, shut the book, open the book, stuff the book in her mouth, suck on the book, chew on the book, and look at the cover of the book over and over and over. Don't get me wrong, I love that she loves story time and hope that she'll continue to love it as she gets older. But, I wish she would get sleepy during story time and be ready for bed.

So last night we read a couple books and then I turned off her reading lamp and said "OK Riley, it's time for night, night" and then preceded to rock her. This immediately began the arching of the back, face nuzzle into my shirt, and whine. I stood up with her and went into the bathroom to rinse her paci off and she looked into the mirror and smiled and giggled. It is the cutest thing ever when she does this, but not at night, night time. We went back into her room and I gave her hugs and kisses and laid her down in her crib. To my surprise she didn't cry. We turned on her rain forrest music and movement toy in her crib and she watched it and played with it as I left the room. Two minutes later when the music and movement stopped Riley was whimpering. Brett and I stayed downstairs listening to the monitor and cooking dinner. Several times we thought for sure she was done crying only to hear her start up again. I think we went into her room a total of 3 times in the 35 minutes that it took for her to fall asleep. Finally, the last time I went into her room I put her paci in and placed my hand on her chest (which all I could think of was the feel of her tiny heart pounding away so fast) and turned my head to the side (a tip from my sister-in-law, Casey). As soon as I put my hand on her chest she was asleep. About every 15 seconds she would open her eyes wide and look to see if I was still there. I left her room after a minute or two and she was out for the night!

I think it's fair to say that Riley is stubborn. I'm sure she got this from her mother. If you are a relative of mine reading this I believe that a few stories may come to mind...how about the time I pulled my Aunt Bev's curtains off the wall because I wanted different cereal? Or all the times that I wouldn't calm down from a temper tantrum until I was put in the bathtub and splashed with cold water...all the time yelling "you can't do this to me!" If Riley could talk, I bet she would have been saying "you can't do this to me!" last night.

Spring in WDM

First off, Riley is 7 months old!! I can't believe how fast 7 months has passed us by. Riley is changing every day and growing so fast. I keep praying for the day that this tooth finally pops through. She has been biting her lip in pain for the past couple weeks now. It breaks my heart when the Tylenol and orajel wear off and the whining sets in! Because she's been in so much pain I haven't been able to make her "cry it out" at bedtime. I keep asking myself, "is there really anything wrong with rocking my baby to sleep?" Well, there is...now she's fighting falling asleep, and the rocking isn't as pleasurable for either of us. My plan: let the tooth come in and then cry it out. I'll keep you all updated on how that goes.

Riley and her lip biting:

On to brighter topics...the weather has been beautiful here the last couple of days and we tried to enjoy as much of it as we could. Saturday we took a walk to the park again. It was a little windier than I thought so it was a short trip, but we still had fun. Once again, Riley loved swinging at the park. And, since it was a bright and sunny day she got to sport her stylish sunglasses that my friend, Sarah, bought for her! I'm sorry to say that she has been blessed with my eyes and extremely thin nose so they are a bit large. (for those of you that don't know...my face is extremely thin and I can only wear kids glasses...sad).

Mommy and Riley swinging:
Riley swinging solo and having way more fun!:

Some more firsts to cross off the list:

• Plums. Riley tried plums for the first time this weekend. Brett and I both thought they were a bit tart, but Riley loved them. Although, she did squint her face up when she first tried them, but it didn't take long for her to ask for more.


• Big girl bath. We tried bathing Riley in the big tub and she did great. We were afraid that she might fall over into the water or fight laying back in the water. She didn't do either. She loved having all the room to kick and play in the water. I think the infant tub will retire itself to the basement along with her swing! I'm so excited to get the swing out of our living room and free up some much needed space!



• Pushing herself into a crawl position. She only did this once and it was with help, but it still counts. She was able to hold herself in the position for a little while, and then Lazy Riley came back. We keep practicing.

One last thing...Riley starts swimming lessons in a week! I'm so excited. I think that she'll love it. We were able to sign her up through the YMCA. They are at 7pm which is about when we feed her her last bottle and get ready for bed. Hopefully we can push it up a little bit and she's not too cranky. But, we'll never know if we don't try. I'm sure I'll have a ton of cute photos to post next week! I found her the cutest tankini. It's turquoise, green, and yellow striped and has yellow and white flowers on the side. It's a little big yet, but she still looks so cute in it!

6 Month Checkup

OK, so I know Riley is almost 7 months old (only 7 days away), but we just took her for her 6 month checkup on Friday. Her original 6 month appointment turned into visits for RSV and Bronchiolitis. So, we took her back for her shots. Riley weighed 15 lbs 7 oz. That's a whole pound more than when she was sick. She was measured at 24 inches, but that is 1/2 inch less than the last two visits...so I'm saying that she is still 24 1/2 inches. She was healthy and passed all of her developmental tests with flying colors. The doctor gave us the go ahead to try teething buiscuts and crackers. We upped her solid meals to 3 times a day. Dr. Fred said that we can try meats (pureed, of course) in a couple weeks if she handles all of her feedings as well as she is now. That will be interesting. I've never pureed meat!

We took advantage of the 70 degree weather last week and took Riley on a walk to the park. We have a really nice park about three or four blocks from our house. It was the first time that Riley had been on a walk in her big stroller without the carseat attached. She loved it! At the park, she swung in the baby swing. She has so much fun watching the other kids playing and loved swinging. I can't wait for spring so that we can go on walks to the park more often! I forgot to take my camera to the park so I don't have any pictures of that to share. I'll be sure to take it the next time we go.

Riley is Changing So Fast!

So much has changed with Riley since I posted last. First, she is pretty much completely over the RSV and Bronchiolitis. We haven't given her a breathing treatment in two days! She is doing great and sleeping much better.

Second, She is sitting up on her own for long periods. She did such a great job with her pictures. She sat up for about 10 minutes straight and smiled like the flirt she is! She loves to sit in her jump-a-roo and exersaucer and chew whatever she can get her hands one. Which leads me to number three....teething is underway. We've had to start rubbing the numbing gel on her little gums. She is constantly chewing on blankets, toys, hands, shirts, pacies...you name it, she's chewing it.

Forth, she is drinking from a sippy cup. I'm not so sure she's actually drinking, but she's sucking. We started giving her a little bit of water after she eats her solids and she loves it. I tried putting milk in her sippy and she thought that was just the most absurd thing ever! Mom should have known that milk belongs in bottles!

Riley has also found her feet. They might be her favorite toys at the moment. It has made changing her diaper interesting. Half of the pictures taken last week show her obsession. It's too funny, until she is constantly pulling her socks off!

Last and most exciting, she's finally rolling over. Yippie! My goal this weekend was to teach her to roll over. She's never been interested and totally develops on her own time. I've given her a little break since she has 5 weeks of catching up to do. She's always been able to push up and swing her legs, but her arms always held her up. We worked on showing her how to manuever her arm so that it wouldn't stop her and she did it! Not just once, but three times completely on her own!

Our next project...soothing herself to sleep. Friday I started a method I read about online. I put Riley down in her crib...she cries...I pick her up...she calms down...I lay her back down...repeat x10...Riley falls asleep. Each time it is taking less and less time for Riley to calm down and go to sleep. I'm hoping that this method works and soon we won't need to rock and cuddle her to sleep every night. I'll keep you all posted on how it goes.