Riley's first Christmas

Compliments of our move from South Dakota, we brought the area's first White Christmas in many years. Christmas Eve started off with rain and sleet, making travel conditions treacherous. We decided to brave the elements to attend an evening candlelight service at a local Methodist Church. It was a community effort involving pastors and congregation members from six local churches. It was tranquil and lovely. Riley wore Christmas outfit number one, prompting two recurring comments: 1) "AWWWWWW!" and 2)"I wish they made outfits like that in adult sizes."

Christmas morning, we awoke to a nice dusting of snow and lots of presents for Riley under the tree. Santa must have had a harried a delivery night because along with the cookies and carrots (for the reindeer), he also pilfered some Tylenol and left the bottle next to the empty treat plate. Watching a six-month-old "open" presents involves quickly realizing that the true joy is in the bows (yummy blue bow) and wrapping paper, not the gifts. (Adorable raspberry hat was one of the best surprises under the tree -- a gift from old neighbors in Rapid City).

We had plans to host dinner for 10 at our house Christmas afternoon, and for a while it looked like we might be celebrating alone because of the slippery road conditions. The backup plan to tackle the 27 lbs of turkey defrosting in the fridge involved seating Bauer at the dinner table to see how much he could polish off in a quasi-civilized manner. Luckily, the ongoing flurries made for slow travel, as opposed to no travel, and all of our guests arrived; thus thwarting Bauer's chances to hone his fine dining etiquette skills. It was a wonderful evening with friends, family and food, and after the last guests departed late into the night, TJ and I stayed up covering leftovers, washing dishes, rearranging the furniture and eating more dessert. It was 3 a.m. before I finally hit the hay. Note to self: Riley does not care if Mom stays up until 3 a.m.
Next day.
Train wreck.
But overall, a holiday filled with lots of nice memories of a first Christmas with the greatest gift I've ever received.

My first and last trip to ALDI

If you've never actually been in, ALDI is that store you've driven by a dozen times with the logo that makes you think it's some other kind of store than it actually is. In my mind, I've always imagined it a knock off brand shoe store, like Payless, since it sounds so much like Aldo, a mall shoe store. After learning that Uncle Bob patronizes the local ALDI in Pittsburgh, and describes it as a "strange assortment of things, some of which are fantastic and some of which are crap...but the coffee is worth it"...I was intrigued and decided to investigate.
When we arrived, I left Riley in the car with TJ and started to head inside. I saw the train of carts outside and an older woman walking from the parking lot to return her cart. I made eye contact with her and smiled. I waited for her to do the same. You know, the socially accepted standard norms of the parking lot cart exchange. She faintly smiled back, but kept moving purposefully toward the chain of carts. I decided to take a more obvious approach. I said, "I'll take that in for you," and reached out for the cart. Still, she seemed oddly determined to return the cart all the way to the cart corral. Well, at this point, I figured I'd made all the routine pleasantries and it was simply time to grab the cart. When I took possession, her expression changed and she said: "Are you going to give me my quarter?" Oh, okay, so that was it. She wanted to have a little exchange and attempt to make a joke. Old people are so cute. So I feigned a hearty "Ha, Ha, Ha" to make her feel good and let her know I got the joke. You know..."Sure lady, here's your quarter for the valet service from the parking lot to my hands." Then, I promptly walked away. Imagine my surprise, when three steps into the store I notice a little silver circle the size of a quarter sticking out of a funny contraption attached to the cart. Holy crap. She really meant "Are you going to give me my quarter!"
I started to turn around when the lady behind me belted out a no nonsense "SKEWS ME" to clarify the fact that if I kept her from her off brand products one second longer she was going to hurt me. Mortified that I'd stolen coin from a sweet old lady who really wanted her twenty five cents back, I thanked heavens that at least Riley was still in the car. The only thing worse than stealing money from a helpless old lady is doing it with your child as an accomplice. Okay, well actually the only thing worse than stealing from an old lady is doing so, then paying for your hummus, cottage cheese and dog treats, then accidentally almost walking out of the store with a canister of Pringles wedged in the side of the cart -- prompting the cashier to point it out and say "WAIT...are those yours...I can see I'll have to keep my eye on you." Get me out of this store now. Pay for Pringles, smile at patrons behind you in line who are annoyed that you must now conduct a second transaction, leave ALDI and never, ever return.

a snooze for the soul

Most mornings, Riley's "routine" (it's fun to pretend that we have a routine), includes a morning bottle, a mid-morning snack of the pureed variety, and an early lunch bottle. At some point after the snack or early lunch, I plop her down for a little nap. It's usually my first opportunity to get some things done without interruption and I always know, by 8 a.m., what I plan to do with that little bit of luxury time. Yesterday was cleaning, today I was scheduled for a run on the treadmill. As she devoured her early lunch bottle today, she fell asleep in my arms. This happens quite a bit when she's "on the boom" (no surprise aviation analogies abound in this household), but she usually wakes up as soon as you try to take the bottle away from her mouth. Today though, she was out. Cold. Thinking about my good fortune...that I could attempt getting her settled down sans swaddle and binky...I got up slowly and started walking toward the nursery. But once I got to the edge of the crib, I didn't want to put her down. So, I just started rocking her and staring at her beautiful face. I made my way over to the rocking chair and very slowly reclined it and shut my eyes, knowingly forfeiting my free time. She only slept for about 20 minutes and she was up again just as I started to doze off, but it was well worth it. There is an entire lifetime to cross menial things off daily lists. Time with my baby, as a baby, is precious.

A runaway big black nose leads to big black nose rescue

On Wednesday afternoon, TJ brought home another big black nose. When he said, "guess who's in the yard," I figured it was Henry, the neighbor's golden retriever. Good guess, as Henry has made himself completely at home in our yard and house since we moved in, but wrong. It was a large, very mixed mix breed big black nose TJ found in the middle of the road on his way home from work. He had no id tags, only part of a chain hanging from his collar as if he had somehow ripped loose from a stake in the ground. After my standard "someone's probably missing him" and TJ's retort "not if they treat him like that," we started the process of locating the Warrensburg Animal Shelter. Arriving was an exercise in perspective. As volunteers at the Rapid City humane society, we thought of endless improvements the staff there should be making. By comparison, the Warrensburg facility makes Rapid City's look like a pampered pooch kennel. Turns out that the runaway was chipped and the staff was able to reach his owners who said they'd be in to pick him up. Of course, we masochistically decided to walk through the kennel area to take a look at all the poor pups in the clink. Two full sized Great Pyreneese caught our attention primarily because we knew from our volunteer time that very large breed dogs typically aren't adopted out of shelters because of their size. When we got home, TJ found a Great Pyr rescue society in MO, but they couldn't help since they were full. However, they referred him to another group in CO. After a few conversations, a rescue plan was in effect. TJ would take the dogs to a kennel near Kansas City that would give the CO group a break on boarding until they could send their van to pick them up. Riley and I stayed home since the pooches took up most of the car space. TJ said that the dogs were filthy and stinky with terrible dirt clots and matted hair and seemed very happy to be out of their small cages. At the kennel, they weighed them both and noted that the "big guy" clocked in at 83 pounds and should weigh closer to 120. There's no doubt these two are headed in a much better direction now. About 3 hours of pick up and travel time, some gas money, and a stinky car ride helped save two lives. Pretty good trade off.

Daugahyde -- (n.) vinyl canine nose coating (courtesy of the RTL dictionary)

One thing that hasn't changed over the past 5+ months is the overwhelming presence of the big black nose in Riley's life. Where Bauer's cold, wet nose was once an uninvited black blur followed by a slurpy kiss, it's now a source of constant entertainment and enjoyment. The best encounters begin right after meal time, when Bauer decides to help himself to the leftovers on the edge of Riley's mouth and chin. She always lovingly cooperates and often opens her mouth to share the bounty to a greater extent. She then reaches out to explore his long whiskers and soft fur and practice the grabbing and pulling skills that will create an entirely new dynamic in their relationship once she starts crawling. She finds the entire exchange hilarious and very few things elicit shrieks of excitement and belly laughs of the same magnitude as her puppy dog. If she turns out to be the first CDC reported case of canine to human kennel cough, so be it.

Fast Forward Five Months

For all of my best intentions, I haven't been able to keep up with the blog during the past few crazy months. So, I will have to summarize...
Let's see, since my first posting, I went back to work with Riley in tow, packed up our home in SD and found nice renters to take care of it, traveled across the plains, Midwest and east coast with Riley and Bauer in tow, returned to SD to pick up TJ after deployment, moved to our new assignment, traveled for Thanksgiving and settled into a new home. It's been a tumultuous few months to say the least. As I sit here typing, Riley is sitting up in her Bumbo chair, whacking away on her laptop computer and making great grunting, breathing and "bluuuu, blaaah, blaaah noises." She's changed so much in the first six months of life that I just can't stand it. At every stage, I want her to stop growing and stay exactly like she is. It's funny how I can already "miss" the old days, but I do already feel a longing for the times when she would get a nice full belly and fall asleep over my shoulder in the rocking chair. Sure there are plenty of new moments and memories to make each day, but the fact is, I'm acutely aware that when I wasn't looking, my newborn became my infant. Soon, my infant will become my toddler, and so the process continues in a frighteningly warp speed manner. It's a daily reminder that life is short and every second counts. She challenges me to live in the moment and not where I want to be a day, month, or year from now. Potent stuff these little creatures teach without saying a word.

One month of mommyhood

It's hard to believe I've been a mommy for a month. Even though my days are filled to the brim with feedings and spit up and diapers, it's still somewhat surreal. Here's this little creature I'm responsible for 24 hours a day and part of me still can't believe she's mine. And yet, at the same time, some of the thoughts I have while I'm holding her...about her first steps, her first ski trip, her wedding...are palpable. At one month, I can attest to the fact that the following cliches are spot on: 1) the time flies by and 2) you don't really know your true capacity to love until you become a parent.