Riley & Pollard's First Playdate

Okay so maybe it was more of a playdate for Lindsey and Allison, but Pollard and Riley were very good sports as we posed them in the chair and took their pictures over and over again. Riley was checking Pollard out because it was the first time he had been that close to and aware of another baby his size. He couldn't stop looking at Pollard's hands. And Lindsey and I were having so much fun watching them in that chair...I can only imagine that had Lindsey and I known each other when we were six years old we would have shared similar joy over our Barbie dolls.

Riley's 1st Date

Okay so it wasn't really a date, but Tracy and I put Avery and Riley together for a photo op and I snuck his arm around Avery! Tracy and I were absolutely tickled but Riley and Avery did not really seem to notice each other at all.

Pics for Daddy while he is at work...

Stuff we love...

So when I started decorating Riley's nursery I was very particular about the esthetics and ELizabeth and I had a plan to make a mobile that was a beautiful piece of art...the project never quite made it to fruition. But last month when we went to Pensacola my Mom had put a mobile on her crib and it is amazing. Riley loves it and I mean LOVES it. So my esthetics are out the window and this fabulous Fisher Price product is attached to our crib. When it is on Riley watches it and gets really active kicking and talking (coo, gurgle, grunt). It has a projection that plays and three different songs. When he is 5 months old and we have to remove the mobile the projection will play on the ceiling.

I also must recommend Baby OxiClean, which one of our Brewton friends, Meredith, recommended to us. And she is absolutly right it is a must have. Even the easiest baby is going to have a leaky diaper or a bad spit up now and then, and sometimes washing stuff just isn't enough. Right now I have 3 things soaking in the laundry room.

The Soothie pacifier is the best thing ever! Riley was not interested in the other pacifiers at the hospital but give him a Soothie and he is soooo happy...which means everyone else is soooo happy. It is also the brand recommended by Baby 411. I dread taking it away from him.

The final thing that we love is the oh so versatile Boppy. We use it to nurse and we used it in the hospital for family members when they were holding the baby, and as you can see Riley loves to just hang out in it.

A day in the life of Riley

First things first: Breakfast! It really is the very first thing, I roll out of bed and get Riley and he has breakfast while I wake up. Lately he has been waking up and just hanging out in his bassinet (which is about 8 inches from me). He has not been waking up and crying for food like he used to do. He has also been sleeping about 9 hours or so. The first time he went that long was in Brewton and it had his Grandmother Etta quite worried. She did not want to disturb us but she was getting worried since it was 9 am and he had been waking up at 6 am. She was actually thinking to herself that their was nothing that could have injured both Riley and I...no gas or carbon monoxide...when she finally came upstairs we were just getting up, but we completly understood her concern. I need to calm down and start letting Riley sleep in his own room, but his bassinet, (that my mother redid for him) is beautiful and so portable so why not have him sleep right next to me, since he is now such a sound sleeper. I think if he were in the next room I would just be too nervous. Maybe by the time he is 4 months old I will feel better. This is all because I read sometyhing that said that the highest risk for SIDS is between months 2 and 4! And though I realize that it only effects 0.05 % it still makes me feel better to have him in the room with me. And though I sound like a nervous and overly cautious person, please give me some credit that I sleep through the night and do not turn my flashlight on his bassinet as many times a nioght like I used too!

Then after breakfast we have some tummy time on Mommy. Riley does not use his arms in tummy time but he pushes those feet up and occasionally I give him a little leverage with my hands which gives him a boost. Then when he is tired of that we go to the tummy time matand he gets to kicking while I get some breakfast and watch him. He typically lays on his back on his tummy time mat because it is so interesting to look up and check everything out. When he starts to get fussy we head for the rocking chair with a book, and then after that he usually sits swaddled in the boppy for a nap while I get some things done sitting next to him. Unfortunatly I do not get a nap in because Riley is more of a cat napper and he will sleep for 15-30 minutes and then he is awake again.

When his Dad comes home for lunch RIley either sits on the tummy time mat and plays with Michael or he sits in the Boppy next to him while Michael eats lunch. Then in the afternoon we go for a walk, which usually results in Riley taking a nap the whole time. And then when we get back he returns to his cat napping schedule until Michael comes home and they have more play time.

Handmade Gifts

So here are two more lovely handmade gifts that Riley recieved. Aren't these shows adorable!! Mrs. Saloom painted them for us. We will have to snap a picture of Riley wearing them. And here below you can see the beautiful "rag" quilt that Mrs. Bullock/Aunt Bebe made. She wrote the nicest note to go along with it. It is super soft and I think I might just be enjoying it until Riley is old enough to.

Celebrate Pensacola

I know I usually use this blog to brag about Riley, but today I would like to brag on my parents and all the hard work that they and countless others have invested in Celebrate Pensacola. Now my Mom will give all the credit to my Dad, who is Co-Chairman of the non-profit, Celebrate Pensacola, but she as his sidekick has been helping out when she was not consumed with Riley. And while Riley and I were visiting Brewton this week we took a small 1 day trip over to Pensacola to dine with royalty, and experience first hand the fruits of my parents' labor.

This year Pensacola is celebrating it's 450th anniversary, which commemorates the founding of America's first European settlement by Spanish explorer Don Tristan de Luna in August 1559. The first settlement being Pensacola. And how do you celebrate 450 years of Pensacola history...well you invite the King and Queen of Spain to come over and hang out...(ok I am sure that they extended a much more formal invitation), and the royal household accepted. His and Her Majesty arrived in Pensacola on Wednesday evening and on Thursday visited Ft. George where they laid a wreath, then they visited the TT Wentworth where they viewed Spanish artifacts and spoke to the public (somewhere between 2000-3000 people were watching) and then they attended a lunch for 450 people (who paid $250 a plate to dine with royalty).

I attended the luncheon, thanks to the kind invitation from my parents, and it was fantastic. I was seated 10 feet away from their Majesties and I enjoyed an incredible meal. My parents were seated at the head table with the King and Queen, and my father was introducing the govenor, senators and congressmen to make their toasts, as well as his Majesty, Juan Carlos. Daddy did a fabulous job, and Momma looked calm even though she wasn't. She was just relieved not to be sitting next to the King as the original seating chart, dictated by Navy protocol, had arranged. I know that my parents are relieved that things went smoothly. It took several years of work, visits to the Consul General in Miami, a meeting with both Florida senators and our Congressmen, as well as the Spanish Ambassador to the United States. And then 39 days before the King and Queen arrived, Celebrate Pensacola was told they had accepted. You can imagine that the last 39 days have been quite a ride. Efforts were made by many, but I have to say quite proudly that without my father's determination I do not think that things would have happened as they did. And as a friend pointed out to me today, Celebrate Pensacola's efforts have helped to instill a true since of community and pride in Pensacola's citizens. It was a great week to be a Pensacolian...says this Montgomerian.

Here is a picture from the luncheon while the US officials toasted to their Magesties. You will note that there are no jewels, medallions...or crowns! Can you believe I get to be in the same room as royalty and no crown?

One more note on this lovely event...I think it went better than their trip to Miami which followed. There Mario Batali was MC, and he droped an f-bomb not once but twice, and then Florida's govenor (who was on better behavior in Pensacola) got up and left before the royal couple, leaving the Queen sitting by herself. Not that I am at all surprised that our Southern hospitality outdid Miami's.