On to the New Year

Hard to believe that it's 2011 and that there's so much on the horizon this year. After spending a nice Christmas at home, we headed out on a long road trip to SC. It was great to see friends and family and I'm so glad we made the trek. Riley was a trooper and we are just so blessed to have such a flexible child. I hope that number two takes it as easy on us as she has.
Riley has her 18-month checkup in about a week, so it will be interesting to see how much she's grown since her 1-year visit, and what the doctor has to say about her development. One thing I know for sure is that she has some impressive verbal skills. We had a pizza play date last night with two of her friends, another little girl, who is fairly talkative, and a little boy who didn't say anything. I've heard that the boys start talking later, but given her vocabulary and ability to repeat back just about any word these days, I think she'll be putting real sentences together soon. She loves to go through picture books, especially about animals, and point out their names and sounds. She also loves to run around the house and play in crazy ways with her "dada." Things I would never think of to do, like break dancing and spinning in circles while lying on the floor. I guess that's what Dad's are for. We are practicing how to "be gentle" with baby using the cradle and baby doll that came back from SC (thank you Deb). We still have some work to do, but the instinct is there, and Bauer has survived her love so far, so I think we'll be okay.
The job of parenting is still full of wonderful surprises, challenges and laughter, and is by far the most important thing I've ever applied myself to. Just last night, TJ woke me up at 2:30 when he came to bed by saying, "I think Riley puked in her crib." Sure enough, I walked in, gagged, and found her asleep with the pizza from dinner covering her hair, jammies, giraffe, crib, sheets and floor. We woke her up for a middle of the night bath, cleaned up the mess, gave her water and a saltine, had a little dance party (at her request) and then she went right back to bed. It could have been such a nightmare if she was feeling worse or wouldn't settle back down. She just amazes me and I feel so lucky and thankful for her special little personality. Anyhow, below are a few recent pictures. Enjoy and Happy New Year to all.