Giggles

One of the best sounds in the world has to be a baby's first laughs. Riley loves silly noises and tonight I was making this noise with my teeth that sounds sort of like a sniffing dog that my Aunt Anita taught me when I was a little girl. She was thrilled, and when I started "sniffing" her legs (which were bare because we had a fire in the wood stove again and it was 82 in the living room), she started laughing. We tried to get it on film but then she caught sight of the camera and stopped. We decided to just enjoy it and tried to get her to laugh again by poking her on the nose. She liked that too and we did manage to get it on camera.
Another great sound is a parent's happy sigh of relief when they realize that the mess in their little one's diaper didn't squirt out of the new diaper brand the way it surely would have with the old diaper. We bought new diapers yesterday when it became apparent that once daily diaper blowouts weren't the norm and got sick of doing so much stain treating and laundry. I'm glad to say today that the new diapers have been working so far (Huggies, by the way, in case you run across any coupons and want to send them our way.) We loved the diapers we were using, but as Riley grew, the shape just didn't cut it anymore. As further proof: before we got home, Riley woke up in her car seat and started screaming. She almost never wakes up when we are out and about so Chris and I figured she was hungry. The plan: he would go in to BJ's (wholesale store) while I stayed in the car and fed the baby. Well, I unstrapped Riley to pull her out. Her clothes were all wet and I said to her, "Oh, you're all sweaty." She's gotten that sweaty once before in her car seat so it wasn't out of the realm of possibility. Unfortunately (and I'm sure you could see this coming) it wasn't sweat. Ankles to armpits, folks. I'm not exaggerating either. Thanks goodness for that second outfit in the diaper bag.

Snow Day

And you thought it was spring! Last night we received about 6 inches of snow. School was canceled for the day and we enjoyed a nice day at home. Chris started a fire in the wood stove which ultimately made all of us a little uncomfortable due to the heat. It is a bit discouraging though, as we still have at least a foot of snow covering our entire yard. The snowbanks are more like three feet. I'm wondering when all of this is going to melt, and it doesn't seem like we have any really good melting days coming in the near future. Even though I said I wouldn't, I might pot up a few of my tubers since I have some potting soil left over from last year and I need the encouragement that warm weather might actually come. This, by the way, is the second snowiest winter New Hampshire has had since the 1800s.

Ladybugs

OK. I know ladybugs are supposed to be lucky. Last fall on one of the final really warm days, ladybugs swarmed our house. Honestly, we had thousands of them. We were vacuuming the darned things up for weeks. Well, the ones that made their way in to the house that escaped the vacuum, found some nice cozy place inside to spend the winter. Now that it is warming up again, they have begun to emerge. One day I counted 13 of them in the big window in Riley's room. There are usually at least 4 in every window of our house and also a few hanging out on the ceiling of our bedroom. Chris and I have tried to catch them, throw the in the toilet, suck them up with the vacuum, capture them in water bottles - nothing works. There are always more. Chris hates them because they leave that ladybug smell on him if he touches them. I hate them because of the casualties. It's not like they just hang out in the windows and eventually work their way outside - it's still too cold for them there. Instead, once their window sojourn is up, they die. I have ladybug carcases everywhere.

On Monday I went in to school for a quick visit at the end of the day. It was nice for everyone to see Riley and she slept the entire time. It was nice since she was asleep; I could just leave her in her carrier in the stroller and she didn't get passed around to people. I'm not going to wake her from a solid snooze and it sounded like a lot of people were getting oner illnesses anyway. While there though I did grab my dahlia tubers from the fridge in my classroom to bring them home and wake them up. I had wrapped them in saran wrap individually after dividing them last fall and was pleased to see that I didn't lose too many this way. Last year I lost most of my tubers to rot. Right now they are all sitting out where they can get light so that they will start to show their eyes and I'll know if they will produce a plant for me. I have about 50 or so from last year, so I'm sure I'll be giving some of my duplicates away since I have 30 new varieties coming this year. I'm not quite sure where they are all going to go - I might have to dig a new garden over April break. I'm thinking about getting a big half barrel to put a few of them in - I have quite a few unknowns and hate to give away a mystery.
As far a Riley goes, nothing new to report except that we had a diaper situation at Target yesterday that required a complete change of clothes. She was not a happy camper especially considering that the store restroom was freezing. She was screaming up a storm, but I couldn't blame her. I would have too if I had to get naked in that room.

Littlest Red Sox Fan

As you probably already know, today was the first game of the season for the Red Sox. It broadcast here early in the morning live from the Tokyo Dome. (I think that's right by the way, I could just be making all of this up.) Anyway, I didn't get up to see it the way Chris did, but Riley and I did watch some of the end while I was getting dressed. She loved the TV. I had her in her pack 'n' play with the TV on in the bedroom and didn't realize she would be able to see the TV from where she was. Well, she could see something because she was loving it. It was probably just moving colors and sound, but we can all pretend that she's a fan already. Daddy would say she is anyway. Just ignore the mess between Riley and Manny in the picture!
We had a lovely Easter on Sunday at the in-laws. Peter joined us for lunch of lamb (which I didn't eat) and Roast Beef (yum). Riley was a little fussy, but I think it was to be expected in a strange place with new people around. Perhaps she has a little stranger anxiety, and, since she has such an undeveloped memory, the only people who aren't strangers are me and Chris. She also gets overstimulated easily I think. I've been reading a lot lately when she lets me so the house is pretty quiet most of the time. There seem to be plenty of things for me to do without the TV on.

Easter

Since I know you all just care about the pictures, I'll quickly add a couple from yesterday so you can see Riley's Easter outfit. She did not have a pooptastrophy in it (though I'm not so sure about what she's wearing now, which is why this has to be quick). Riley also spent some time cooing at her Uncle Peter which was adorable.

I don't know why...

I don't know why, but I've been trying to get a pout picture. Either the camera takes too long to take the shot and she changes or she sees the camera and becomes stone faced. So here is an attempt to catch one, and also a few more - one with Chris trying to contort her face. These were, by the way, all taken within about a minute of each other.

Where's the lamb?

I don't really have any news today except to say that mother nature can be cruel in the spring and what looks like a beautiful sunny day can, with the help of some incredibly strong wind, be brutally cold. We actually lost power for about an hour. Fortunately it was just an hour - without power the basement floods quickly and I REALLY didn't want to go outside to start the generator to get the sump pump working again. I'm waiting for the lamb March is supposed to go out as.
I just finished reading Jodi Picoult's new novel Change of Heart. Every year when her new book comes out, I go to BJ's the following weekend, get the hardcover and spend the weekend devouring it. I don't have quite as much time on my hands anymore, so it took me a bit longer to finish. It was ok. She has really settled into a formula as an author and it makes me kind of tired. She sticks to her formula so I find, if you've read a lot of her work, that you know what is going to happen. Change of Heart actually seemed to have pieces of her past novels in it. Maybe there are only so many deep questions you can center your novels on before you start to sound redundant. I also recently finished Chris Bohjlian's The Double Bind which I read after rereading The Great Gatsby (for school) to which The Double Bind refers. I don't want to say too much about that book because I'm afraid I'll give away the end, but it was a good read.
Riley did in fact make it through the entire day in yesterday's spring outfit. The outfit in today's picture is outfit #2.

Yay It's Spring!!

I thought since it's finally spring, I'd dress Riley in something adorable and springy to mark the occasion. So, here you go. AND, I was smart about the picture taking and did it right away since the overalls are a new never been worn clothing item and you know what happens to new things. Perhaps I should dress her in her Easter outfit sometime before Sunday so we can get the new clothes christening out of the way.
Oh, and my formerly napping baby is now awake and making some "these overalls are too clean" noises. No wonder she goes through so many diapers!
Also, I woke this morning to the sound of the cat jumping down from something and crying in Riley's room. (The cat was crying, not the baby.) He must have pushed the door open just enough to get in and then, since our house isn't level, the door shut and he got stuck. When I opened the door to find him in there I grabbed him by the scruff and threw him outside - he knows that room is off limits. He's been outside since. I put the dog out a little while ago and have seen him now twice chasing that bad cat around the yard. Too funny!

Foiled again!

So this morning I had plans to meet with an in home daycare lady in Milford. Riley and I were going to be leaving the house around 9:30 which is no small task anyway. So, last night I got Riley dressed for bed, fed her, wrapped her up, and put her in her crib with her happily dozing off to lala land. I get downstairs and turn on the baby monitor and I can hear her up in her crib grunting away the way she does when she is loading a diaper. So I wait a second for her to stop grunting and go upstairs to assess the situation. When I turn the light on in her room she has this blinky, dazed look - clearly she was asleep. But, alas, her diaper does in fact need to be changed and not only that, she needs new pajamas too. So I change her, put her back to bed and eventually she goes back to sleep. Then she woke up at 12:40 am, and 3:20am, and 5:15am, and 7am. Usually she gets up only once or twice per night. Finally we got up for the day at 8am because we had to leave the house early even though we both still had the sleepys in our eyes. I rush around feeding her, showering and getting ready, only to have her blowout another outfit as soon as I get her dressed and as we are almost on our way out the door. Finally, I'm strapping Riley into her carseat when the daycare lady calls to reschedule - her daughter is home with a fever. So now we're all dressed up and home. Oh well.

Mud

The plan: Go to the store while Chris was at the gym.
The procedure: Take shower. Get dressed. Dress baby. Feed baby. Start car. Get baby in infant carrier. Get infant carrier in car. Get in car. Buckle up. Put car in reverse. Get stuck in the mud 10 feet from where I started. Get out of car. Check out the situation. Get feet all wet. Curse up a storm. Curse into the house again to put on my boots. Curse back out to the car. Attempt to fix the situation. Get back in the car and try again. Curse some more when I realize I'm not going anywhere. Get baby out of car and back into house. Remove baby from infant carrier and put her in swing. Curse at the dog who is thrilled that I haven't left after all. Be furious at the situation for awhile especially because the baby was sleeping before I put her in the the car in the first place and now isn't anymore. Complain on the phone to father-in-law who called to complain about doing taxes.

Sprouts

So, I have one sprout from the seeds I planted the other day. I think that's pretty good since it's a morning glory that I sowed Tuesday I think. It hasn't been too sunny here, so I'm sure once there is more sun over the next couple of days, I'll have more.
Chris is away in Concord today with the "youth in Government" group from school. Riley is taking a little nap in her bouncy seat and I am at a bit of a loss with what to do with myself. Tonight is the annual neighborhood St. Patty's Day Party at our 80 year old neighbor Charlie's house. The three of us are going, but I'll only be staying for 1/2 an hour or so, so I can bring Riley home and put her to bed. The party starts at 6:30pm and she goes to bed sometime in the 7 o'clock hour. Charlie is a real hoot. He has a much younger girlfriend, (and by younger I mean maybe 60ish), has a kegerator with a counter so he never runs out, and has his divorce decree framed on the wall next to one of those fake pictures with Britney Spears. I'm not too upset about missing the dinner portion of the evening although it is nice to chat with the neighbors and Chris and I always end up staying longer then we intend.

The New Clothes Curse

It seems that there is a curse when it comes to Riley and new clothes. I have suspected this to be true for a few weeks and have been paying attention - it hasn't failed yet. Without going into too much disgusting detail, the curse is this: every time Riley wears anything new, the outfit must be christened by being soiled. It has not been fully broken in until it has had poo on it and a good scrubbing from the Shout brush. Anyway, we had one of these incidents today.
I also managed to sow some seeds indoors today. Yesterday I started soaking my morning glory seeds and sowed them today along with Zinnias, something that begins with an L and had seeds like grains of sand, and, of course, dahlias. Last year was the first year I did any indoor sowing and this year I've scaled back a bit. I don't really have the garden space for everything anyway. I also grew dahlias from seed last year and that was fun. You don't know what you're going to get from the seeds, so it's kind of exciting. Plus, if you like what grows, you can dig up the tubers it makes in the fall and know that you can have a true to bloom plant the following year. This summer I plan to try and harvest some of the seeds from my dahlias to see what I can grow from them next summer. Due to cross pollination it's fun to know that you're the only one with that variety - especially if something exciting comes up!
I've included a picture of Lindsay holding Riley during their visit. Lindz tried so hard to get a picture of Riley smiling, but, alas, she was unsuccessful. I have the same problem. It seems that every time you put a camera in her face she clams up. I've managed to get a few little grins, but none of her big smiles. It's ok; you kind of have to see them in motion anyway.

Family Time

After a nice two day visit, Lindsay and Matt have just left for Boston to visit with Peter. He's planning on taking them for a tour around the city this afternoon. They won't arrive until probably 3pm and it's supposed to rain tomorrow, so hopefully they'll see everything they want to.
We had a nice visit with them. They arrived Sunday afternoon and we enjoyed a nice dinner and hung out. Then yesterday Chris took the day off and we drove in to Peterborough and had lunch. We went to a few shops, but it was wicked cold, so in the end we just went back to the house, built a fire and relaxed. After dinner we played a long game of Monopoly which ended when Lindsay and I conceded the game to Matt who had built up half the board. This morning Lindz, Matt, Riley, and I hung out some more until they left right after lunch. It was a nice visit, just too bad that it's winter and there isn't much to do because it's so cold. I think I convinced Lindz that she needs a dahlia garden in the front yard too and showed her the ebay guy I've bought lots from in the past. It's an inexpensive way to start if you don't care which specific variety you get.
Now I'm just waiting for the oil man to come for our furnace tune-up. It's also town voting day in NH, so we have to go down and vote for the school budget later. The teacher contract is up at Chris' school this year and the school board still doesn't want to pay their teachers anything, so it's important for us to go. It's warmer out today, but not to the point where we're getting any melting. Grrr....I'm ready for spring!

It was a fluke

Kurt Vonnegut wrote in an essay on writing that "one of the most damning revelations that you can make as a writer is that you don't know what is interesting and what is not." I think the same thing happens when you become a parent. As the stream of friends came through to visit, I found that Chris and I would share funny (to us) stories about Riley's latest poop or something equally disgusting. The thing is that it IS funny to us, and most parents take great interest in the bodily movements of their child because outtake shows intake. Maybe our friends with children get it, because they probably told us these types of stories when they became new parents and we just smiled and nodded, not quite finding the humor in pee on the bathroom mirror. Now we do. You have to laugh when your child sprays your toothbrush. You have to laugh when you're in a rush out the door and your child has a diaper blowout so intense it requires a complete change of clothes and the use of about 20 wipes because she should really get a bath, but you're on your way out the door. You laugh because at this point everything she does is cute and I can't help but share the cute things she does. I have to remind myself that some of it isn't interesting to everyone - or anyone but me and Chris. On that note, I have to add to the "things I love about Riley" list from the other day that I love the little grunty squeal noises she makes and the look on her face when she's loading her diaper. I know - I'm basically saying that I love it when she takes a crap. I don't love the diaper change that goes along with it, but the way she does it is just so CUTE!
Anyway, it does turn out that Thursday night was just a fluke and she was up twice last night. I won't complain though because I think being up only twice per night at 9 weeks old is pretty darn good.

Fluke?

Well, it could totally be a fluke, but Riley slept through the night last night. I put her to bed at about 7:30pm and by 5 am she was still sleeping. I woke her up and fed her so that I could get a few more hours of sleep after that, and I did check on her a few times over the night, but I was pretty psyched. The night before she slept until 3am before squawking for food. It could totally change tonight, but I'll take what I can get.
Two nights ago she started sleeping in her own room in her crib instead of in the bassinet at the foot of our bed. I think that because she's getting so big, the bassinet jiggles more and she was more apt to wake up. If she startled the whole bassinet would shake a little. I do miss her now that she isn't in our room anymore. It's weird to be able to watch TV and read before falling asleep again.
Chris was surprised to read yesterday that Cesky was injured. He came home and looked at the dog and decided that he only has an irritated paw from all of the salt in the driveway right now.
I go back to work in 4 weeks. I can't believe that time has gone by so fast. when Riley was first born I would have loved to be at work everyday since being at home with her was so hard. It's easier now that she's older and I love watching her as she discovers things. At least she'll be home with Chris and he can watch her discover instead of some daycare person.
OK - I can smell that dinner is ready!

-K

Chunky Monkey

In most pictures Riley looks like a total chunky monkey. She doesn't look that way to me in real life though. She's getting better about being placed on her belly which she sometimes HATES. I've gotta time it just right though. Too close to meal time and she either spits up her last snack or cries because she wants the next snack.






I LOVE PLASTIC LINKS!

Still Sleeping

I hope I don't pay for this later...

In the swing this morning...

How many days till spring?

So, here I am - my very first blog. Little Miss Riley is taking a nap and the ticking time bomb could awaken at any moment screaming to be fed. This could be short. Of all the things I could be doing around the house right now, my daughter is sleeping and I'm doing this. To be fair though, I have been doing laundry, I swiffered the kitchen and even got the Murphy's Oil Soap out in contemplation of washing the wood floors. (It's only been since last Easter I think. Apparently floor cleaning was not one of those "nesting"things I did at the end of my pregnancy.)
Anyway, Riley had her two month check up on Tuesday. She's up to 13.4 lbs now, so she's gained 6 pounds since birth and almost 4 pounds in one month. I sure hope she slows down a bit since at two months she's outgrown all or her 0-3 month clothing. (And I once complained that she had too much to wear!) I have this irrational fear that she's going to keep gaining the way she has been and I'll have a 4 month old who can't fit in the carseat that's supposed to last her one year. Each day gets more rewarding as she becomes more and more active and starts smiling and cooing more and more. Her own little personality is becoming clear. She also received her first immunizations on Tuesday which was hard to watch. She was all happy and cooing and looking at me while the nurse held down her legs and I held her arms. Then she got jabbed with the needles and the poor thing didn't know what hit her. Next time she goes she'll be four months and Daddy will get to take her during his tour as stay-at-home-dad.
With another above freezing sunny day, we have more melting going on here - which we need. The snowbanks at the end of the driveway are still high, but with yesterday's rain the pond is a frozen sheet of glass (so is our driveway for that matter.) The dog seems to have injured himself. I think he maybe slipped on the drive or he has salt in his paw. I'm sure that he'll recover without a trip to the vet. We shall see.
I'm getting excited about this gardening season. Last year was a drag since not many of my dahlias came up and bloomed and I was tired and pregnant and couldn't really do what I wanted to the garden. Of course this year I might not have the time either with the baby, but I'm hoping for success with my dahlias and to maybe dig a new garden during April break. I'll be starting some seeds inside within the next few weeks, but won't be potting up my dahlias inside the way I did last year. Too little time plus Chris complained of the smell.
Well, time to change over the laundry. I'm sure that my time bomb will awake soon.

Things I love about Riley:
1. How she sometimes grabs onto my shirt when she's nursing
2. How freaking excited to see me she is when I go to her in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning.
3. The cute little smirk she gets on her face when she makes a mess in her clean diaper before I even have the chance to get her clothes back on.
4. The fact that she's a pretty good sleeper at night

Things Riley loves:
1. Her bouncy seat (which she has now been sleeping in for almost three hours)
2. The ceiling fan
3. Those little plastic rings you can link together
4. Looking at herself in the mirror