Riley {Six Month Update}

Half a year has passed since we welcomed our sweet Riley Rachelle into our lives.  Can you believe it?  She's officially on the downhill slide to her first birthday.  Don't talk to me about it or I'll cry.

Key words to describe Riley this month:

• Solids.  As in, eating them.  So far she's had rice cereal, sweet potatoes, an avocado, squash, bananas, and pears.  I've been able to do them all myself with the help of the blender Ryan bought several months ago which he deemed "life-changing" at the time.  It didn't get out of the box until I started making my own baby food, FYI.  She makes a face on her first bite, but she ends up eating everything most of the time.  Her favorite is the bananas, and who can blame her?
• Sitting.  She can sit up unassisted for longer and longer periods of time.  You always have to be there, because once she loses it, she just flops right over.  But we are definitely making progress.
• Mobile.  Well, thankfully we aren't fully mobile yet, but we are working on it.  Don't turn your back when she's on the ground, because she can flip over quickly several times and be across the room!  She's working hard on army crawls, and if you give her something to push her feet against, she can really scoot.  We aren't going up on our knees yet, but you can definitely tell it's coming.

When we got pregnant with Riley, there were three major goals that I had:  cloth diapering, breastfeeding/pumping exclusively (no formula), and making our own baby food.  I got vetoed pretty quickly by Mr. Lowe Down on cloth diapers, but he was very supportive of the breastfeeding and homemade baby food.  I've been very fortunate to have a friend loan me a nice pump, a supportive and understanding family and workplace, and a little bit of luck to have the breastfeeding last this long.  Tackling the homemade baby food was a little overwhelming until I bought a book recommended by my cousin, whose daughter is five months older than Riley.  Thanks to Start Fresh  and some good Googling,  I've been able to introduce our daughter to fresh, not processed or sweetened foods.  All I needed was the blender Ryan bought, the steamer, and some ice cube trays for storage.  One day when I'm a little further along, I'll write a blog all about it.  But so far, so good!

The whole sitting up thing is a lot of fun.  Sometimes she slumps over and grabs her toes, sometimes she sits up for several minutes unassisted and very proud, and sometimes she just flops over and you have to catch her.  You can tell she's just a few weeks away from being able to do it all by herself, and maybe a few weeks after than from falling forward onto her knees and taking off!  I am trying to enjoy being in charge of her mobility as long as I can be, but those days are numbered, my friends.

We have this hilarious bath time routine where I bring her into the room after her bath covered up in a towel - we have several that look like a whale, a flamingo, and a horse.  Ryan and Alli exclaim over the new animal I've brought, what will we name it, etc.  And then they lift up the hood and see it's Riley and act like she tricked them.  She bounces and smiles about it now, and I see it being a tradition for the next several years.  

She's quite the drooler these days.  That combined with her runny nose and general crankiness, and I'd say we are working on cutting a tooth soon!  I keep feeling those sweet little gums, and there's nothing yet.  But I can tell something is coming.  

You really need to enjoy the time you have with your kids while they are little.  And you also need to enjoy the time you have where you can dress them without their opinions.  Thank you, Gymboree.  Because nine years from now, it'll be green jeans and a green shirt to match.  All to look like a Turtle.

Riley celebrated her second major holiday (Thanksgiving) last month, and we are so excited to see what Christmas has in store for her.  I have a feeling I'll be pulling the wrapping paper out of her mouth over and over again.  Happy half-birthday Riley ma'am!  Your family loves you so dearly.