Riley at One Year Old

I thought that I would devote one more post to Riley's new status: Being a one year old. For some reason she doesn't feel like my little baby anymore. Brett and I were just saying last night that she is turning into a toddler and looking less and less like a baby now. I think it's a true sign that she's growing up when most of the shirts I find for her now AREN'T onsies! Here are a few things about Riley now that she is one:

• She gives open mouthed kisses when you ask for one.
• She unknowingly says "shit" repeatedly throughout the day. It sounds more like "shi" and it's just one of her babbles. It's so funny!
• She is nearly running! And, she refuses to stay in one room longer than 25 seconds.
• She loves "boos" or balloons. She could play with them for hours.
• She is the most animated child I know. She truly has 30 different faces she uses on a daily basis.
• She demands attention, and people love to give it to her.
• She cried when I left for work today for the first time ever. She is a true "mama's girl."
• She points at everything over and over and over.
• She loves trees. She especially loves eating leaves when Mom and Dad aren't looking.
• She ate dirt for the very first time last night. Apparently helping mom pick weeds wasn't a good idea!
• She puts food on a fork/spoon with her hands and then will eat it off the fork/spoon.
• She uses her right hand to do most things.
• She cries when it's time to leave daycare.
• She's a horrible passenger in the car. She throws everything and then screams for most of the ride! She better get used to it because we have decided to try to keep her rear facing until she is 2.
• She gets frustrated very easily and is very impatient.
• She LOVES books.
• She doesn't have a favorite blanket or stuffed animal, but does sleep with a small duck at night.

I'll leave it at that. The list could go on and on, but then I would just sound like a bragging parent!

A look back on August 15th, 2008

It's hard to believe that a year has passed by and Riley is now a one year old. I still remember feeling huge, swollen, sore, and exhausted! I remember watching Shawn Johnson win her gold medal the night before. I stayed up late and knew that I would be sorry for it in the morning when I had to get up. Little did I know that I would wake up at 2am to my water breaking. Good thing for adrenaline because I wouldn't have made it through the delivery any other way. I was exhausted, but super excited to finally meet Riley! Here are some pictures of our little girl one year ago!

Happy Bithday, Riley Nicole!

The much awaited 1st birthday has come and gone. It was a great day, great party, and Riley seemed to enjoy all of her guests! She is a lucky girl to have so many people who love her and wanted to help her (and her mom and dad) celebrate this special milestone! I must point out that Riley gave her mommy and daddy a birthday gift: She is walking everywhere. We are hoping that it jump starts our workout and weight loss program because she's a quick little thing. She didn't crawl once this weekend; and loved chasing her friend, Carter, around the house. I think she'll be running any day now!

Saturday we welcomed family and friends to the house to celebrate the big day. Brett and I had been preparing for this party for weeks so we were excited that the day was finally here. We had a menu of pulled pork sandwiches, pasta salad, potato salad, mixed fruit, veggies, and cake. Brett designed the cake. He even created a drawing on the computer complete with color! It turned out great and pretty darn close to the drawing. We picked up a small "smash" cake just for Riley.

I have to say that Riley looked adorable in her little green polka dot dress. And boy did she LOVE all of the attention. She is a true Leo! She opened up her gifts with as much attention as a one year old can. She really received a ton of great gifts. She loves all of the toys and doesn't know what to do with so many to play with! I'm excited to dress her in all of her cute clothes and shoes.

After presents we decided to strip Riley down and let her dig into her cake. She started off slow, but it didn't take long for her dig in. Every time someone laughed she laughed with them. She was so funny and had the cutest pink face in town! After two baths she still had some pink cheeks!

Overall, it was worth all of the hassle and it was the best 1st birthday party ever!

Riley's Birthday Week

OK, so I've been so excited for Riley's birthday on Saturday and busy planning the best party ever that I've kind of been overlooking my own. I'm going to be 27 on Wednesday! I'm sure this is how it will be for the rest of my life! :) Anyway, thanks to my mom and husband for trying to make it special. We are having a BBQ on Wednesday and Brett is trying to plan a night out for the two of us. So, Riley will truly be having a week full of birthday fun!

Saturday we started her Birthday Week off with some one year pictures at Portrait Innovations. Like always we walked out of there with 7 poses and way too many pictures. Riley decided to hit herself in the eye on Friday so in some of them she has a black eye. Overall, we were happy with how they turned out. In her jeans outfit she looks so tiny! She is wearing 12 month jeans. I tried them on her inside of Target and said "oh these fit perfectly!" Saturday morning Brett thought I was nuts because they are clearly way too big! They still turned out cute.

Sunday after weathering the storm and finishing nearly all of our landscaping projects we went to visit grandma and Grandpa Burch. Grandma just had to give Riley one her presents while we were there - her very first baby doll! She loves it! Last night we were playing before bed and I told her to go find her baby. She stood up and walked right over to her (yes, that's right - walked!), grabbed her, and gave her a "kiss." Here's Grandma, Riley, and Baby Doll!

One Year Ago

...I wrote this on my babysite...

"SWOLLEN

8/1/09

I thought that I was going to get through most of this pregnancy without swelling up like a balloon...I was wrong. The heat we've had the past few days has not been kind to my body! My hands, wrists, ankles, feet, and face are so swollen. It's almost painful to bend my fingers because of the swelling. We only have seven weeks left of this pregnancy and then we'll get to finally meet Riley!"

So, reading this really made me think about life back then. And oh my, the swelling, was not a joke! I'll find some pictures that were taken a couple days before Riley was born and post them. But in the meantime, check out this one!

A couple days later I wrote this:

"9th Appointment...We're Nearing the End!

8/8/08

We went back to the doctor on Wednesday for our 33/34 week checkup. Everything went fine. I had a list of questions, and of course, everything that I'm feeling is normal. :) Riley's heartbeat was at 140 which is good. The doctor didn't seem to think that my swelling was too bad - so maybe I'm just a wuss! We go back to the doctor on the 21st to get checked again to see if I've begun to dilate and take the strep b test.

I called the doctor's office yesterday because I had a couple concerns. They informed me that they thought that with everything I was experiencing that I would be going into labor in the next few weeks. Hopefully Riley will wait it out so that we can get settled into our new house!

I haven't been able to feel Riley move as much lately because she's "dropped." The nurse assured me that this is all normal. Thanks to some good friends we've been listening to Riley's heartbeat at home with a fetal monitor.

I'll be sure to keep you all posted if anything changes before our next appointment. It's hard to believe that we're going to have an addition to our family in less than 6 weeks!"

As you know, the nurse was right...I had Riley 7 days later! We didn't make it to our next appointment, we didn't get settled into our new house, and just barely made it out of our townhouse in time! It's funny looking back on these old journals and remembering how our life was then - chaotic. Here's what I looked like back then (notice how my backside grew as much as my belly...not cool):

Spaghetti at the Murphy's

Jackpot

Looked what Riley stumbled upon.



She finally found where all of her toys are stored in the family room. She crawls to the cupboard every night now and pulls out 3/4 of the toys. How much fun!