Zoo Lights

For my birthday on Sunday night, we went to dinner at Houston's (yes, we all got hot fudge sundaes!)...after dinner, we went to Zoo Lights at the Phoenix Zoo. We got to the zoo around 7pm and Riley was already tired at that point...but she was so mesmerized by the lights, music and people that she stayed awake the entire time we were there.
Riley and Arianna shared the red wagon and Amy snuggled Siena in her wrap. Here are some pictures from our fun night...

December 14, 2008...Phoenix Zoo

THE KIDS: Riley, Arianna, Siena

Riley keep hanging over the side of the stroller and not moving...she was seriously sitting like this totally frozen for minutes

Riley enjoying the lights with her head resting on the stroller...

Riley loved the stroller and being all bundled up in her Juicy jumpsuit (thank Stephanie!) and hat/mittens (thanks Grannie Annie!)

Amy and Siena Bug

Mom and Dad

Grandma & Grandpa Rounds

Prince, Stephanie and Arianna

Riley's Palace

Riley plays hard and sleeps hard...take a peak in the room that she does both! Since we weren't in our house before Riley was born, we didn't complete this room until she was about six months old. It all worked out perfectly, becasue she didn't really need her own room until she was sleeping her in crib, which started at about six months.

Cody installed all of the paneling and baseboard, we had a company come in and design a closet that would grow with her...everything is adjustable, I painted the room in a dull rose pink and chocolate brown. Riley also has her own tree with birds, and branches as well.

Every night we rock Riley to sleep on the wicker rocker with a blanket and bottle...once we put her into her crib, she tucks her legs under her, sticks her butt in the air and snuggles with her bunnie and falls alseep without a peep (well, most of the time).

We have a light with a timer that turns on every morning at 7:oo am...Riley is learning that we will not get her out of her bed until that light turns on. This also works great on the weekends when we want to sleep in some...we just set the timer to a later time (shhh...don't tell Riley!).

Welcome to Riley's Room..."Poop Happens" quite a bit in this room so beware!

(PS I totally stole this idea from Jen...the photographer that took Riley's 6 mo pics :))





Riley's teak chair with homemade pillow (thanks Granny Annie!)

A cross that we picked up while I was 4 months pregnant after leaving Grandpa Riley's funeral in upstate New York...

Riley's favorite bunny to sleep with laying on the bedding that became the template for her room design...

Riley's both announcement framed in her closet...

We have called Riley "monkey" ever since she was in my belly...this hangs above her door...

Flowers hanging above Riley's crib...

Riley's rocking chair...

The birds hanging above her play area...we say hi to these birds evey morning and Riley loves it...she gets so excited to say hi to them and wave her hands. Now when we ask her where the birdies are, she always look up in the sky pointing for them.

Riley's closet...

Party Like a Rockstar

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Riley, Happy Birthday to you! Thank you to everyone who came and celebrated with us, we really appreciate you taking time out of your busy weekend to celebrate with Riley. She had such a blast...walking up and down the kitchen pumping her arms (aka her happy dance).

Some of Riley's friends: Casey, Arianna, Siena

Present Time! The Cardinal's cheerleader costume was her second dress change for the party...Nate Opel got it for her (too cute and she loved wearing it!).

Cupcake Time! (Riley didn't like it...she threw it to the dogs!)
Cupcakes from the Wicked Bakery on Cave Creek...strawberry, vanilla, chocolate, lemon berry, carrot cake and red velvet. Riley got to try a strawberry one.

Play Time!

Riley 's 12 Month Pictures

Riley has had an amazing first year...she has grown into this little person and it is amazing to look back and see how quickly it all happened.

One year ago today, we were waking at odd hours of the night, trying to keep the dogs from eating the oh so precious green "binkies" from the hospital, eating only "white/brown" foods to prevent crying episodes from gas, boiling bottles to keep them "sanitized" and reading every book known to man about how to raise a baby. Today we are finally sleeping through the night (still waking quite early- 6am), tying to keep the dogs from sticking their tounge in Riley's mouth, learning how different foods change the texture, color and stank of human poop (its so gross!), using the 10 second rule for anything that hits the ground to avoid cleaning, cleaning and re-cleaning baby items that are ending up in hands that have been touching the ground all day long and using sign language as our secondary language so Riley can start telling us what she wants and needs.

Riley is such a beautiful child and we are very blessed to have her as ours...she is pretty stinkin amazing!

Here we go...standing, walking, stumbling, crying...it is quite a learning process. Each and every day she gets better and better!

Halloween

Riley was...of course...a monkey for Halloween! We got this great costume at Old Navy...it was already 50% off two weeks before Halloween...mom can never pass up a great bargain! Cody was working so Riley and I joined Prince, Stephanie and Arianna (aka Fancy Nancy for the night) and walked the neighborhood. It was a beautiful night...a bit warm...there were TONS of kids out. Riley fell asleep within 10 minutes of the walk :)



The first time we put Riley in the monkey costume she was cracking up...she loved it...especially the banana in her pocket!