Thanksgivukkah Celebrations

Last night was the first night of Riley's first Hanukkah. She helped Dad light the candles and say the blessing, and then it was present time. She and Ski thoroughly enjoyed their respective presents! Today was Turkey Day, and Riles headed out with Mom and Dad intending to sit down for some breakfast, but they wound up picking up food at Wawa instead since their breakfast place was closed. Riles had a somewhat rough night (we think it's the top teeth coming!), so she proceeded to take a nice long nap while Mom and Dad wrapped gifts and watched football. Then it was time to head to the Hobbs household for some yummy Thanksgiving dinner. Riles sampled a little (a lot!) of everything, and even got to open a couple Hanukkah gifts from Nene and Papa, and Michelle, Josh and Gigi. She had a great time playing with her new toys with many of her favorites - Papa, Nene, Gigi, Michelle, Colton, and Levi, to name a few. Riley also got to meet Uncle Gregg for the first time!

A visit with Nana

On Thursday the 14th, Riles was super excited to welcome her Nana to NY! The airline unfortunately made her wait a bit longer than planned, but at last Nana was here! The next day Riley got to stay home with Nana while Mom worked, and afterwards they walked to Y Not to get some lunch. Later on, Nana treated Riles, Mom and Dad to some yummy dinner at Chow, and then they headed home for some playtime. On Saturday Riles got some more quality time with Nana during the day while Mom went out for her friend's birthday. They walked to the park with Ski, and Riles really enjoyed the swings. Sunday it was time to say goodbye (actually, see you later - Dec 5th!) to Nana, and unfortunately the airline played their little trick again and Nana ended up hanging out at the airport much longer than she wanted to.

The following week, Riles went to the doctor for a follow-up for her ear infection, and he confirmed both ears are all clear! Thursday she met Dad for lunch and then headed to Nene and Papa's for a play date and afternoon nap while Mom did some shopping. Then that night, Riles made history as she slept from 8pm to 5:15am straight!! The next day was Thanksgiving lunch at her school, and Mom and Dad came to hang with Riley and her friends for a bit. She gave us the picture of a turkey she had made too! After lunch, Riley wanted to enjoy the beautiful weather so she went home to get Ski and they walked to the school playground. While Ski did what she does best (sunbathing!), Riles climbed up the steps and through the tunnel, went down the slide, and joined Mom on the swings. She wrapped up that week with dinner with Joey and Leah, and afterward checked out the grand illumination parade in downtown Norfolk! The weather held out pretty nicely, and Riles really enjoyed watching and clapping along with all the sights and sounds.

The following Wednesday, Mom and Dad took Riles to the indoor pool at the Y to get out of the cold and do some swimming. Riles was a natural, kicking her feet and having fun splashing Mom and Dad. It's also worth noting that since that first full night's sleep, Riles has done it 2-3 more times as well. Her top teeth are starting to come in which is probably not helping matters. Though it's not yet consistent, we are very happy to see this moving in the right direction!

 

10 Months Old

At 10 months old, our beautiful girl has developed quite the personality. She loves to clap, wave goodbye, and give high fives. She is always smiling and always has something to say, often squealing with delight when she gets excited. She can now say "Ma", and even though we haven't heard her say Dad yet, she can hardly contain her excitement when he walks through the door each night. Riley is definitely a mover now. She recently crawled up our whole flight of stairs! She crawls very fast and has gotten much steadier on her feet. One of her favorite things to do is to use someone's hands or her walker to help her take steps. She isn't comfortable standing on her own yet, but we think she is very close to both that and taking her first steps. She still thoroughly enjoys mealtimes, and has recently gotten the hang of using her new straw sippy cups, which she absolutely loves. As much as she loves eating, she also loves to share her food with Ski Ski! Speaking of sharing, she loves to pass things off to someone and then take them back - it's a really fun game. She loves being around Mom, Dad and Ski - and often protests when one of us walks away from her. When it's time to play, she loves peekaboo and hide-and-seek, and laughs hysterically when she is held upside down, spun around, or thrown in the air. She also loves "unpacking" things one by one, whether it's taking books from the shelf, pulling clothes out of the laundry basket, or picking blocks up out of a bucket. Her nap and sleep schedules have become more constant - 1 1/2 hour naps at about 10 and 2:30, bedtime at 7:30pm, waking between 6-7, with 2 overnight wakeups just to eat and go right back to sleep.