Today we decided to take her for her first haircut. She did not need much cut other than her bangs, which have been hanging down in her eyes now for longer than they probably should have been. Neither of us were quite sure how this one would go, since her reaction to and mood around strangers can be hard to predict. But we were prepared for the worst going in. To our surprise, it went very well, and although she seemed a little scared or unsure about the whole thing, she handled it nicely, up until the very end. She had a snazzy little yellow taxi cab in which to sit, and the lady cutting her hair was very friendly. However when the hair dryer made a brief appearance, the water works started, but they ended quickly.
After the haircut we stopped off at Target for a little "Boudreaux's Butt-Paste" (has there ever been a better named product than this one? I think not.) for her diaper rash, and a new toy. While standing in the toy aisle, the water works started up again. Except this time it was Mommy. "Her hair is totally blonde now!", or something to that effect, was mentioned, and the tears were flowing, accompanied with laughter as well. Wait...what? :) I was not sure how to handle this one, so I did what every caring husband would do and told her "You're a wreck." In the end it had hit her that the hair she was born with had just been cut (although the back and sides were not touched, so we still have the original and authentic Riley hair in place there), and gone are the natural brown tips that everyone oohed and ahhed over, so afterwards the emotions made more sense. All in all it was a fun trip.
Backing up a bit, earlier this past week she had what must have been the absolute best sweet potatoes EVER. If you don't believe it, judge for yourself from the pictures. Sweet potatoes and also blueberry pancakes are undoubtedly her favorite food at the moment. Someday I hope to find a food I enjoy this much. Until then, I suppose we will live vicariously through her on this one. 
(Don't worry, she didn't make it)
First the good stuff. We had the 9 month wellness check-up on Friday, and everything is right on track. 29 1/4 inches long (95th percentile) and 19.6 lbs (60th percentile). No shots this time, so that was a good thing, but unfortunately they had to jab the big toe to get blood for an iron-level test. That wasn't fun, but the crying died down quickly, as opposed to when the shots are in play. Still no signs of teeth yet, but we're assuming they'll be here soon. If not, do they make baby dentures?
Later on Friday, we had a visit from Barrett, her friend from down the street. As you can see, they enjoyed hanging out. Barrett tried to take her juice cup, but in his defense...it did look pretty tasty. :) They had a nice chit-chat about who knows what...the weather (too hot) and naps (too short) perhaps.
Today we made a trip to see two of her future friends, Eva and Jacob Steiner, the twins of Rebecca and Terry who came into the world late yesterday, and for the record all are doing well, including the new dad from the looks of it. It started off as a nice trip, as most trips usually do. Unfortunately, that was not to be the case for long. On the way there we had planned to stop off at Medical City to pick up a new box of "Simply Thick", the thickener we have to mix in with her formula and juice due to her aspirating (hopefully coming to an end soon). It can be tough to locate, and the prices can vary wildly if you do find it. We go through about one box each month at $50 a pop, so looking forward to those days coming to an end whenever.
Now, one would think that the pharmacy/drug-store of a hospital would have Saturday hours. Not the case. So now it's 4:00 and we haven't even made it to see the twins yet. We panic, because we absolutely must have this stuff. Call #1 to Granddaddy and Nana to go online and look up locations for us which sell it. No answer. Call #2 to Papa and Nana for the same thing. They are in the car, nowhere near a computer. Finally Uncle Greg saved the day and found a couple of locations, one of which, as luck would have it, is located at the very hospital we're heading to for the visit with the twins. As we round the corner...lights off. Seriously? Two hospital pharmacies, two closed. Brilliant.
So we go up to visit for a bit with the plan of heading to the other location Uncle Greg gave us afterward. During the visit, Rebecca mentioned that their (hers and mommy's) work has some Simply Thick for the babies they see who may need it. Excellent. So now we can just stop by there on the way home and borrow a few packs until Monday, at which point we re-stock them. This location is about 10-15 minutes north of the second pharmacy we had learned of which sells it. See where this is going? We get there...and there is no "Simply Thick" to be found. Turns out they had run out a short while ago and have not re-ordered. So, after all is said and done we go almost the whole way back from which we had just come, and finally arrived at the location which does sell it (and was actually open). Naturally, their price was nearly double what we usually pay, but luckily they had a smaller box, so we took that until we can buy from our usual place on Monday. Good...grief. All did end well, however, and she was in quite a good mood when we got home, and enjoyed her evening dinner of sweet potatos and bananas. Finally, we were introduced to a new face today. Her "grumpy old man" look, as mommy calls it. 
(Somehow, she has seen 80's punk rocker Billy Idol I think)
Well, Riley had a very big "first" this week...her first plane ride! Actually, I think it may have been a bigger event for me than her. After all the stress and worry, she did great and I couldn't have asked for a better little girl on the flight. She stood on my lap holding my hands, and smiled at the flight attendants as they walked up and down the aisles. She smiled and flirted with the other passengers, and when the guy sitting next to us wasn't giving her enough attention she had no problem leaning towards him and saying "Hey! Hey!" 
This was also big for me because it was our first trip together without Daddy. Mark had to stay home and work, so Riley and I made the journey alone. She was easy on me though and we both made it back home in one piece. We had a great time at Nana's house, playing with Nana and great-aunt Marla (Grandaddy unexpectedly had to work out of town- we missed him, but hopefully we'll see him soon). Riley had another first while there...swimming! She loved the water, just like we all knew she would. She splashed and splashed while I pushed her around the pool. Then she sat on the top step and splashed some more. She loved it and probably would've stayed in there all afternoon.
While we were gone, I asked Mark to lower her crib mattress to the 2nd setting. She hadn't sat up or pulled up in her crib, but I figured it wouldn't be long so might as well do that with all the free time he'd have on his hands. The timing couldn't have been better! The morning after getting back home, Mark and I awoke to find her sitting up in her crib! As we were watching her on the video monitor (one of the greatest baby inventions ever, by the way) she proceeded to pull herself up into standing! She spent quite awhile this afternoon practicing pulling up to her exersaucer. Things are about to get quite exciting around here!
Surprise, we're all still here! :) Apparently, we forgot that part of having a blog was actually keeping it updated, so it's time to get caught up on the past few months. Every week, and sometimes every day, brings something new. Within the past two weeks she has started to "army crawl", and has gotten quite good at it now. Very soon our house will be transformed with gates and corner guards since the days are soon to be long gone where we can turn our backs even for a second.
So here we are at 8 months. She loves to stand...with a little support of course...but then again who doesn't like a little support when standing? She is starting to wave and clap, and above all else loves eating her mum-mums and cheese puffs. We have considered dropping baby formula and baby food and going to an exclusive mum-mum/cheese puff diet. Speaking of those, she is using her fingers to feed herself now, which can be quite a scene at times when the cheese puff gets caught on her hand and she ends up with four fingers and a cheese puff in her mouth. To finish off, she washes it down with water from her sippy cup, which she's gotten quite fond of and has learned to hold and drink from without much help at all now. She's also quite the talker...if we only knew what she was saying. Among the words we would like to believe she is saying are "da-da" and "hey!". But that could be us projecting :) The two things in this world she hates more than anything at this point are 1). Car rides longer than 20 minutes (if we're lucky) and 2.) Having her hair rinsed when taking a bath. Hopefully those two dislikes go away soon, as they can both present quite a challenge...especially the car rides.
For her first Memorial Day weekend, we headed down to see Nana and Grandaddy. The car ride wasn't fun, but the time spent there was. I had been waiting to show her the sheep, but she's not quite interested in them just yet, although she will be soon I'm sure. We waited too long to get pictures of her at home in the Blue Bonnets, so we settled for wild flowers instead, and it ended up being a nice substitute we think. 
She had fun sitting in Grandaddy's lap on the front porch (especially fascinated by his watch), as well as playing with Nana and mommy. But unfortunately she wasn't in the best of moods on this trip since she was a little stuffy/congested, along with the fact that her naps continue to be a challenge. But all in all she had fun and I know Nana and Grandaddy did as well.
In June we took her to see the tigers, lions, and other big cats at the local big cat sanctuary (http://www.insyncexotics.com/). After $20 and walking around in a ridiculously sweltering heat for half an hour or so, we realized that she was far more interested in the orange wrist band they had given me than any big cat, regardless of how close that big cat may be ( a few feet). So with that in mind, we called it a day. But we did get to see a tiger eating ice cream...so that's gotta count for something. So it will be a little while before we make the first trip to the zoo I think.She also got her first swimming pool, which she has quite a time in. She splashes almost the entire time...not caring a bit if it gets in her face. Which of course makes perfect sense considering she hates it in her face in the bath tub. Go figure! Maybe we should bathe her in the pool.
For her first 4th of July weekend, Nana and Papa flew in from South Carolina. Nana had seen her in March, but this was Papa's first visit since she was two weeks old, so needless to say she had changed quite a bit since then. The reintroduction to Papa wasn't one for the story books though...as she stared for a few seconds...and then bawled big tears. Unfortunately, the timing of this trip happened to be at a phase where she is not at all crazy about anyone (including me, at times) holding her other than mommy, so there was a lot of fussiness. But it ended up being a great stay for them, and Papa finally got to do what he'd been talking about doing for many months...which was getting in the floor to play with her. After a couple of days she was really warming up, but by that time it was almost time for them to leave. We think she picked up the "Hey!" during their stay, so we'll give them credit for that one. :)
(3 generations)So that's it for now. For those who have been keeping up and waiting...and waiting for an update, forgive us for being a little slack. I mean, it's not like we have a baby to occupy all our time or anything. ;) We will definitely keep things a bit more updated going forward. So stay tuned...
Oh, one last thing before we go...Riley would like to say a few things.
Today we decided to take her for her first haircut. She did not need much cut other than her bangs, which have been hanging down in her eyes now for longer than they probably should have been. Neither of us were quite sure how this one would go, since her reaction to and mood around strangers can be hard to predict. But we were prepared for the worst going in. To our surprise, it went very well, and although she seemed a little scared or unsure about the whole thing, she handled it nicely, up until the very end. She had a snazzy little yellow taxi cab in which to sit, and the lady cutting her hair was very friendly. However when the hair dryer made a brief appearance, the water works started, but they ended quickly. 
Backing up a bit, earlier this past week she had what must have been the absolute best sweet potatoes EVER. If you don't believe it, judge for yourself from the pictures. Sweet potatoes and also blueberry pancakes are undoubtedly her favorite food at the moment. Someday I hope to find a food I enjoy this much. Until then, I suppose we will live vicariously through her on this one. 
(Don't worry, she didn't make it)
