Riley got lots of stuff today!

Well, our orders from BabyCenter and Babies R Us came today... she got the doorway jumper, and all the solid food feeding supplies! And, I got a tiny food processor to make purees for her. Very exciting. Here she is, trying out her new tub!





We did put water in it and tried the bath thing, but I think we'll wait a while to do that again. She's not quite sitting up well enough on her own to get the most out of it.

And, there's a diaper rash in the house! Don't know how that happened because we're very careful during diaper changes. Now we're working feverishly to try to get rid of it. No fun, that diaper rash.

Hopefully tomorrow, we'll be able to try the doorway jumper! I can't wait....

Cranky day

Riley and I drove Russell to work today, because I wanted to make a trip to Costco (it's near his office). So we went, and got Riley all suited up in the Baby Bjorn, got the diaper bag all ready and in the cart, and went into the store, only to discover that I forgot my bank card at home. So back home it was. Now, THAT was a dumb-ass move.

Riley had a rough day today... I think she has a tooth about to break through, so she was crying a good bit. Poor thing! She didn't even want her bath... she cried in there, and she usually loves the bath. I just put her to bed with a nice feeding and some Tylenol.

Here's a video from a happier day.



Off to watch a good action movie... The Marine. I love brainless movies like that after a big, exhausting day.

Good nite!

A funny treat

As you know, we have a little squealer. It's her way of expressing extreme happiness... have a look!



What a happy baby. Wow!

Today we went to pick dad up at work, and stopped in for a visit. Someone bought a big beanbag chair for the office, and it ended up by Russell's and Marcus' desks. Imagine that.... It's comfy, and Riley loved it!





While I edited this video tonite, Russell went swimming at the local pool. I'm so proud of him! He did a bunch of laps, and his back and shoulders are sore now. I hope he keeps it up, it will be great exercise and help strengthen those surfing muscles. And we'll be going to Santa Cruz for his surf classes soon...

I'm exhausted! Good night.

Today's cereal extravaganza

Well, as I said earlier, today's cereal with water didn't go over as well as yesterday's. So, we'll be back to mixing it with milk tomorrow. Check out how much she hated it! I'm sorry, Riley!!



I cleaned the whole house today, and then Riley and I went for a big walk. She was so tired from all the play with daddy, that she fell asleep on our walk, right in the BabyBjorn!

Oh, and here is Quinn... she started eating cereal this week, too! What a cutie-pie. Look at all that hair!!!





And here she is with older sister, Charlie, another doll!



Nite-nite!

More eating!

This is more footage from yesterday... today we used water and that didn't go over as well! I'll try to post that tonite.



And, we're off for a walk!
Enjoy.

She likes it, hey Mikey!

Well, today we gave Riley her first taste of real food. Well, solid food, anyhow. Rice cereal! And she loved it. She ate from the spoon like a real natural... it was kinda weird. Like she's been doing this behind our backs. Have a quick look-see:



Check back tomorrow for more.

Rain sends us to the mall!

Riley's so funny. She's been doing this thing, where when she smiles, she crinkles her nose all up and squints her eyes. One of the photos above shows that. She just keeps getting more adorable, if you can imagine!

Today it was raining, so we went to the mall for a walk. She got to wear a barette! Her hair is finally getting long enough to hold it in. Yay! How cute...



We visited Max. He's a friend I worked with at the San Francisco Apple Store, and now he's a genius in the mall's Apple Store! We always surprise him at work and make him blush in front of customers. Hehe!!



Yesterday was Riley's doctor appointment at the Ear-Nose-Throat specialist. She's fine! The doctor said she still has fluid in her ears from the last infection, but the infection is gone. Yay! It can take up to 3 months for the fluid to leave a baby's eardrum, so we're going back in 2 weeks. Oh, I'm so glad it's not still infected.

Yesterday I ordered a bunch of solid food supplies (I think we're going to start that tomorrow morning!), and I had to get her a present, too. I can't wait for it to get here... she's gonna go BONKERS. It's a doorway bouncer. Oh my gosh... she's gonna be all over the place! I'll be sure to take video of that!!

The happiest girl ever

Today was another beautiful day. Riley and I went for a big walk through Golden Gate Park and found a nice playground. There were lots of little kids playing there, and we had fun watching them. She had some serious attitude today:





Here is how she returned home. Oh well. Bound to happen.... it's actually the first sock we've lost!



Then, we napped! And played!





And here is some more sitting. This is it... I'd call this a milestone. Wouldn't you agree??

A playful gal today

Today, it was beautiful outside. Riley and I just played and went for a big walk around the neighborhood. She was sitting up a lot, playing with her Ann B. Dextrous toy. Funny, she's figured out that when she starts to fall backwards, she uses her feet to grasp the toy and pull herself back up. And when she starts to fall to the side, she waves her arms in circles to keep her balance. I'm so proud of her!



She was also eating all the toys on her ExerSaucer:







Well, Russell went out with Marcus tonite. It's trivia night at the pub, and Russell has decided that his "100 days of health" isn't quite so healthy. It's been 3 weeks, and he's not been feeling creative or friendly. So moderation it will be. I like moderation...



Thursday is Riley's appointment at the Ear-Nose-Throat doctor. I'm nervous, of course, because that's just me. I'm sure she'll be fine, but I just want it to be over with! I want her to feel better. Her ear didn't seem to bother her much today, because she wasn't really pulling at it. I hope it's getting better on it's own.

The doctor says....

The ear infection is still there. Shoot!! Dr. Pepitone is referring Riley to an Ear-Nose-Throat specialist, to see if it's just wax by her eardrum, or if it's mucous. She was really unhappy today, for a good amount of time. And there's just nothing I could do. I feel so helpless, and I don't like that. Hopefully the ENT doctor will be able to see her this week.

What a wonderful day!

Today was my favorite day. We had such a great time, together as a family. We started with breakfast at home (!!!) with bagels and lox. Then after Riley's nap and breakfast, Russell took us to a special place he found on his adventures around town. It's a long walk, in the top corner of the Prisidio, along the water. It was a very exhausting walk with lots of hills and stairs. I wore Riley in the Baby Bjorn, so I probably lost 10 pounds. OK maybe not, but I wish! And it felt like it. Great exercise.

Riley wore her new sunglasses... they finally fit! And were so super-cute. She didn't even try to take them off. She's a stylin' babe, for sure!



We saw the little buoy that makes the fog horn sounds we can hear from our bedroom. The sounds lull us to sleep. And when it's foggy at night, you can hear the ships passing with their fog horns, too, and they usually have a much deeper pitch. How nice to live by the ocean. The buoy is the little white thing in the water, towards the left of the photo:



After our big walk, we went down to the mall, where Russell wanted to go to the bookstore. Now that he's no longer drinking, he's reading even more than he used to. I'm so proud of him. He finishes a book a week. At least.



So, Riley and I went and picked out some books for her. She LOVES her books. It's amazing how she arches her back in the rocking chair to look back at her books. And every time I read to her, she smiles and gets really quiet, even if she was upset before we started reading, and she helps me turn the pages. I hope she continues to enjoy reading like her daddy does.

After the mall, we came home and Riley was totally ready for bed. She had her bath, and got to read a new bedtime book. And she fell right asleep.



Tomorrow is her doctor's appointment to check on the ear infection and talk about solid foods... I'm very excited to see Dr. Pepitone. She is such a wonderful doctor. And I have a lot of questions and a big shopping cart set up on BabyCenter, for solid food feeding equipment! What a huge milestone... I can't believe it. We'll video tape the whole thing, for sure!!!



Now it's my turn for some sleep. zzzzzzzzzz

Sitting Pretty: Part Deux

Here is the footage I took of Riley sitting up. There are two segments. Enjoy!!





And while I'm at it, here she is, kicking frantically and wanting desparately to crawl. Any day now, I think!



Today, we had a very eventful day. We took daddy to work, because we had to go to the post office and apply for Riley's passport! We don't want her to get stuck in Canada when we go in April for Passover. Then we visited everyone in dad's office, and had lunch.

After filling our bellies, Riley and I headed over to the Apple Store to say hi to all my buddies. She had so much excitement with visiting everyone, she fell asleep mid-conversation in the Baby Bjorn! So sweet. She was facing outward, so it was a total face-in-the-mashed-potatoes episode! I turned her around to rest her head on me.

I made an appointment for her ear infection follow-up. We're going on Monday, so I also scheduled a conversation about starting her on solid foods... look forward to that footage in the next couple of weeks!!!

A day of play

Today, Riley and I played a lot after we went grocery shopping. She loves her feet! I can't believe she has an ear infection... she's in such a good mood! She had one big cry this morning, so I gave her some baby Tylenol. And then she was fine for the rest of the day. What a little sweetheart... I hate to think she's in pain!

And here is a special treat. She was in her crib, and I gave her a binky. She loves to play with the binkies.



She's been sitting up really well... I took some video today. I'll post that soon, after I download and edit it!

Sitting pretty

Well, Riley is almost sitting up on her own! She leans on things, but she's just about there. Any day now!

Today, I took Riley back to the doctor. Man, I feel like the paranoid mom. But, I was right-on, again. I thought she had a wax build-up in her right ear (where she had the infection a few weeks ago). She did. And after the doctor got the wax out, he found that she had another friggin' ear infection. Russell and I decided to wait this one out for a couple of days, to see if it goes away. I don't want to give her too many antibiotics! I got the perscription, though, just in case. Poor little girl... and she's still so happy through it all.

Oh! And I measured her... she's about 25" long. That's not totally accurate, but pretty close. And 17 pounds. Yup, she's a chubb!

Daddy got her another present. Surprise, surprise? She deserved one after today's doctor appt. This is another one that is for Russell, I think... but she laughed at it nonetheless...



And here's a photo of daddy hugs. I'll tell you, Riley can be the fussiest baby in the world (which she sometimes is around 5:30-6pm), and as soon as she sees daddy, all that goes away. She is so in love with him, and I love watching them together.



Make sure you check out Russell's blog. He's at it again... although not every day, they're the best blogs out there.

As if Riley doesn't have enough toys....

Well, today was pretty uneventful. Riley slept a lot, but in between naps, we went to the Day One Center for some browsing and weighing. She weighed 17 pounds! What a little chub. We were going to measure her length tonite too, but we forgot because she was sooooo tired and ready for bed. Tomorrow.

She got a couple of books today at the Day One Center. The Big Red Barn, because there was a big red barn I used to go to as a kid. And Good Puppy, which has dogs with fuzzy ears she can play with and chew on.



Daddy bought her a new toy today, too. It's a total daddy toy. In fact, this one, I think, is one where daddy used Riley as an excuse to get for himself.... agreed? It's a Bubble Vapo-Blaster. I'm sure Riley will love it, though, too. She always loves daddy's presents.

That's all for today... it's off to finish the laundry.

Recovering from a big weekend

Well, Justin is on the plane back to NYC. We had a fun weekend... nonstop, for sure! We are all exahusted. Today, we finally had a chance to do a photo shoot of the gift Justin gave Riley. He had this small custom surfboard made for her by a shop in NY.



Here she is, trying it out!





Riley was so tired too, she napped for 2 hours today and still went to bed at 7:30. She was zonkered. Here she is in her chair, waiting to eat:



And here she is in her crib, with some of her Ugly Dolls. They're her favorite stuffed animals.



Time for bed.

Another special treat

In this footage, Riley had just awakened from a nap. This is what she does when she wakes up. She really likes her bedroom, I guess. The things around her make her happy. And she makes me happy.



Today, we went to Cole Valley and Haight St. for breakfast and a walk. It was pretty cold out, so Riley got bundled in her pink fleece jumper. She was a hit everywhere we went. Here she is one minute:



And here she is the next:



More later!

Just the girls today

The boys went surfing today. So it was up to Riley and me to entertain ourselves. We started off by sleeping in. Late. We got up at 11:30 (after a couple of hours awake for the 7:30 feeding and playtime). Then we had some breakfast here, and went to IKEA.

Here's what she wore. She now fits into her first pair of Adidas from Duke. They're super-cool.



It was crazy in there! But Riley loved it... laughed and squealed all day, with so much to look at. Good thing she slept in this morning, because there was no chance of an afternoon nap with all that excitement!

Something I noticed... Kathy and Sarah gave Riley an outfit for Christmas. The top is a little striped onesie by Ralph Lauren (and the pants are in the photo above!). She wore that top yesterday, and I put a pink sweatshirt on her, also by Ralph Lauren, but given to her by Duke before she was born. The two pieces have exactly the same fabric pattern!! And she got pants to match the jacket, too. How funny is that?! Here it is:



Oh, and here's Justin yesterday. He snores like Russell and Zoe. I had to finally wake him at noon for breakfast because I was STARVING!! He ate the entire restaurant. He ordered the breakfast with eggs, pancakes, bacon, sausage, biscuits with gravy and ham, hash browns, ... and he ate it all. And he weighs about 100lbs. Got me.



Now Justin is going to pick up some sushi for us. Yum!

A goofy threesome

Here is a special treat. While at my folks' house for Christmas, I used my new video camera to take some footage of Riley with my parents. I'll tell you, she gets a real kick out of my dad! Every time she sees him, she just laughs and screams, and can't get enough! Here's a great sampling of that. They go on and on... I just love it!!



More later!!

Old-fashioned photos

Russell got this old camera from his dad, and took some shots of Riley and me. I love them... they remind me of the film quality from when I was a little girl!





Justin will be here soon; his flight lands at 10pm. I'm going to bed. More tomorrow.....

Becoming a little girl

Riley doesn't quite seem like a baby anymore. She's a little girl. She is developing into such a funny, loving person. And her hair is finally growing! Sometimes it looks like it's going to be blonde. It turns up at the ends a little bit, too, so it might be wavy.







We spent a lot of quality time together today. Here we are napping together, in my new favorite way to nap. She is super snuggly. Even better than a kitten!! : )



Here she is, just looking cute.



Honorary Uncle Justin comes in tomorrow night. And it seems the weatherman might have been right after all... it's very, very cold. Going down to about 40˚ at night. Brrr!! And that crazy man is going to get in the ocean and surf. Guess it's not that crazy, he surfs the Long Island Rockaways in January. I'll be sure to take photos of him freezing his bum off.