Another visit with Big Papa!

After a visit to the doctor, it was determined that Riley's cold had turned into an ear infection (poor girl!). She was given antibiotics that will hopefully clear it right up. Regardless, Riles went on to have an amazing trip to Florida! She got to join Papa and Doris for lunch a few times, and saw Debbie, Erin, Drew and Alivia when she went over to Papa's for dinner. She even got a special treat - a ride on Papa's lap in his wheelchair! One day she joined her three cousins at the Young at Art Museum, and they had a ball going around to check out all of the exhibits. Riles especially loved anything she could put her hands on that moved or made noise! Before she returned home, she got in some more snuggles with Big Papa as everyone met for some enormous ice cream sundaes from Jaxsons.

The following week she joined her fellow ODU fans for some tailgating action, where she thoroughly enjoyed playing in Uncle Davy's van with Colton and Levi and devouring some graham crackers. Riles is really starting to love pulling up on anything and everything, and is babbling a lot more. It must be she's looking forward to her London trip!

 

 

 

 

 

 

ODU Tailgate

As mentioned in our '8 Month Old' post, Riley officially crawled for the first time this week! One day after daycare, Mom and Riles were playing on the living room floor. Riles saw her pacifier lying several feet away and just decided to go and get it (easy as that!). Of course, she then had to practice some more so Mom could get some videos to send to Dad (see one of them below!). Riles finished out the week with a couple fun lunch dates with Dad - and made sure to stop in both times to say hello to her friends in the One Hour office. On Saturday she joined many of her favorites - and some new friends too - at the tailgate for the ODU home opener. After Riley took a nice long nap, Maisy was nice enough to lay down and rub her back as she was waking up. Once she woke up and adjusted to all the noise and people, she was raring to go. She made friends with Jennifer & John, and played with all the others too. At the game, she sat with Mom, Dad, Gigi, Jennifer & John, and had a great time watching all the crazy fans. She also got to meet Mom's boss Jeff, who coincidentally sits right next to us this year. Then it was football Sunday, and she took a trip to Joey & Leah's house to help Mom cheer on the Packers (who put a beating on the Skins!). This week she is looking forward to Wednesday, when she gets to fly down to Ft Lauderdale to visit with Big Papa, Debbie, Tony, Erin, Drew and Alivia!

 

8 Months Old

Now that Riles has hit the 8-month mark, she is officially on the move. This week we saw her crawl for the first time! She was previously getting around in her own way, but now she knows how to move directly over to what she wants. This should get interesting very quickly! At the same time, her legs are getting stronger as she practices pulling up to a standing position over and over and over...all in all, we have a very active girl on our hands. Riley has always been a very social girl, but lately she's beginning to really show a preference for some people over others. Her favorites will always get a huge smile and wave of the arms, while a stranger might only see her acting shy and putting her head on Mom or Dad's shoulder. She loves waving hello and goodbye to people, and just today we started teaching her how to high five (which she thinks is hilarious!).

Still a tiny girl, Riles is weighing in at approximately 15.6 pounds (we don't go back to the doc until she is 9 months). She certainly loves her food though! We are pretty sure that as long as we kept putting food in front of her she would keep eating it. One of her main faves is pasta, and she will eat almost any fruit you put in front of her too. She has mastered the art of picking up small pieces of food and getting them to her mouth, and doesn't miss too often. She's even learned to drink out of her sippy cup too! We are still in somewhat of a rut sleep-wise, with Riles still waking up 3-4 times a night. But we do think it has something to do with her cough, which is still lingering from a few weeks ago and tends to get much worse at night. One of her favorite pastimes is watching Ski run back and forth chasing after toys - she thinks it's hilarious. These two girls are the very best of friends - Ski even comes in the nursery to help when we are putting Riles down for a nap (she's more of a distraction than a help, but it's just too cute that she does that!).

ODU Football is back!

Princess Riley has decided she no longer likes riding in the car (or being set down on the ground or having you walk out of the room), so it was a risky move when we decided to travel to UMUC this past weekend to take her to her first ODU football game. Although there was some screaming as expected, she still did pretty well on the 3 1/2 hour drive. Once she arrived at the hotel the fun began as she met up with a bunch of her good friends: Davy, Michelle, Maisy, Rob, Jenny, Bill and Leigh. She had a lot of fun playing with them before and after the game. At dinner she got to sit at the head of the table and share some snacks with her buddy Maisy. The return trip went about the same, and after some playtime at home, she headed out to Nene and Papa's to watch the Steelers game with her aunts and cousins. After that she suited up to help Mom cheer on the Packers.

Riles is still practicing crawling - we like to say she's a pro at the "pretend crawl". She gets onto all fours from a sitting position and even moves an arm or leg forward, but then always changes her mind and sits back onto her butt again. Eventually she'll figure out that it will help her get where she wants to go; in the meantime, what she would really rather do is practice standing up. She loves to hold onto your hands and pull herself up to a standing position, and is so proud of herself when she does! Riley is still eager to try new foods, and she has gotten very good at picking up pieces and getting them to her mouth. She has also started to show a little bit of preference for certain foods over others. She has started eating the fruits and veggies from the cafeteria at daycare. Today was pears and mixed veggies, and her teachers all said how she was raking it all into her mouth with both hands and was finished practically as soon as they sat her at the table! I guess we have an eater on our hands :-)

Cruisin' to the Eastern Caribbean

Once August began it was time for Riles to prepare for and look forward to her next adventure - a 7 night cruise to the Eastern Caribbean! Once she was packed and ready, it was time to get on the plane to Orlando. Before leaving on the "big boat" though, she had the special treat of a dinner out with some family members she hadn't had the chance to meet yet - her great aunts Frankie & Gina, and her Great Grandma Yancey! She had a nice long dinner with them, making sure to fit in some quality time with each of them before they said their goodbyes.

Next up was the cruise. Sunday morning she breezed through the whole boarding process and went straight to the dining room to grab some lunch. (Over the next week, Riles became quite used to a solid three meals a day - eating eggs & potatoes for breakfast, and pizza, mashed potatoes, fruit, and pasta for lunch and dinner!) She had a blast exploring the boat and even grew to love the water while splashing around in the baby pool. She did very well during mealtimes, and was treated like a princess by the staff. She even cut her first tooth while she was on board the ship! She spent a few nights in the babysitting room with Levi while Mom and Dad went out for a bit. Overall, she was a hit with the guests and employees on the boat (we even got a few babysitting offers from other guests, which were politely declined). The boat stopped first at Cococay, where she joined the Kletz/Hobbs crew in a cabana and enjoyed the water as well. Then in St. Thomas, she got to go on a boat tour that took her island hopping to a few places. The final stop before heading back was St. Martin, where a van tour took Riley around to see all the sites. The beaches were gorgeous, and the weather couldn't have been better!

The excitement didn't stop after she arrived home, because soon afterward her Nana, Aunt Lizard and UC (Uncle Colin) came to visit! She had a blast spending time with all of them while they were here. At Busch Gardens, Mom and Aunt Lizard took her on the merry-go-round. After she left the park, she headed back for an overnight with Nana, Lizard and UC while Mom and Dad spent the night in Williamsburg for their anniversary. She got to stay at a condo at the beach for the night, and went to the pool with Nana (where she ended up getting kicked out because it was adult time only...oops!). One night, Riles got dressed up in her brand new Pirates outfit to surprise Dad! He loved it, and unfortunately now wants her to wear it every day :-) Another night she stayed with Lizard and UC while the rest of the gang went out for some drinks. She also cut her second tooth while the family was here (little girl is growing up!!) All in all, she had a fantastic visit with them and was sad to see them go.

On Friday Riles joined Mom and her friend out for lunch, where she got to hang with Finn, who is just 2 weeks younger than she is. They are so cute together! She also went to the doc due to a nasty cough she's been having, but the doc confirmed it's a cold and we'll just have to wait it out. Her time on Labor Day weekend was spent shopping, hanging out on the beach, cleaning the house, and going to a pool party. Now this week it's back to school, back to school...until next time, here are a ton of pictures to capture the last month or so of Riley's life!