Teething...Not My Favorite Week.

Ryan was out of town this week for the Salesforce World Tour. He was in Houston presenting at a session. I am so proud of him for all of his hard work and what a great job he is doing!

Ry giving his presentation at the Salesforce conference.

My hottie business man. Looking goooooood. Am I right?

Something fun about Ryan going to Houston is that that is where David and Jen Paul live. We LOVE the Pauls. Ryan has known them almost his whole life! He had a great presentation for work and then afterwards he was able to spend some time with the Paul's. He said seeing Maddie was so fun because she was so excited to see him that he felt like he was her favorite uncle or something. It was also fun for him to see Taylor because she and Riley are only one day apart. I wish they could grow up playing together. Ry also got to tour their gorgeous new home (I am still drooling over the pictures of it!). Ry always loves spending time with the Paul's and the great conversations he has with them. We wish we lived closer!



I am so happy to have Ryan back home now.  I miss him so much when he is gone. It always makes me remember how much I love him and appreciate all he does for our family. He really is my bestest bestest friend in the world and I count down the minutes until he comes home whenever he is away.

While Ryan was gone I was having a pretty tough week. Of course Ryan was gone right when Riley started teething. It's just funny how things happen that way right? Man. Teething time is not a fun time. I had no idea what a toll it would take on Riley and I. Thankfully, Riley didn't get teeth until 10 months! I consider ourselves very lucky.

Riley is usually the HAPPIEST person ever. She is always so smiley and active. It's been sad to see that this week she is just not herself. She's been extra sensitive and gets her feelings hurt a lot more easily. She will randomly BURST into tears multiple times a day and I constantly need to be holding her. It's like I can't even set her down to go to the bathroom or she will scream and cry. And whenever she wakes up she will have tears all over her face from the pain and a very full and constantly runny nose.

:(

Night time has been the worst! Poor girl. (And poor me! haha I will allow myself some self-pity). The last two nights I got about three hours of sleep. And the night before that I got maybe five. I think I could handle it a lot better if I were sleeping well before all of this happened, but Riley hasn't been sleeping through the night since we moved to California. To spell it out, I haven't really had a good night's sleep for almost five months. I was so lucky that Riley slept through the night from 3-6 months. Those months were absolute heaven!! It's amazing how sleep (or lack thereof) can directly affect your mood and personality.

On Thursday morning my Mom called and I broke down and started balling to her. Sometimes you just have to let it out.

I feel homesick. Sometimes I can't help but think that if only we lived closer to family, then on days like today I could go to my moms and she would watch Riley and let me take a nap or have a break. And my mom could comfort me. I know my mother-in-law and sisters and sisters-in-law would totally help as well whenever I needed them. Family is just so wonderful to have around and I truly miss having them close by--even just for the emotional support. It's hard being so far away from all of them.

Don't get me wrong, we love it here in Walnut Creek and we've made lots of friends but nothing can replace family. This week between Ryan being out of town, doing YW in excellence (which I was in charge of with another leader), Riley's not sleeping, teething, tears, and fussiness, and just missing home...well it was just a hard week for me. When Ryan came home, it was the best feeling ever. I am so grateful to have him as my partner in life and don't know what I would do without him. He is the greatest support in every way. He gives his all for our family and I love him so much for that and a million other reasons.

On the bright side, one great thing about Riley teething is that she has been extra cuddly. It can be annoying when I'm trying to get something done, or go to the bathroom or a dozen other things, haha but it can also be the sweetest, most lovable thing in the world. I decided to just surrender my day on Thursday and we pretty much snuggled the whole day and watched animated sing along videos on you-tube (that are now super stuck in my head). I loved holding and snuggling my baby girl and kept thinking how lucky I was that I get to stay at home with her and take care of her. It would break my heart to have to go to work and leave her in someone else's care when she's having such a hard time. I love being home to give her the comfort she needs.

Even if I have to be her exhausted mom right now, I am just grateful that I get to be her mom at all. I'm so grateful for my little family.

Up with my sad baby at 2 in the a.m. But loving the cuddles.

Riley would NOT sleep so I put a Christmas movie on and watched her reach for the ornaments on the tree. She's such a cutie.

What do you know? Here we are, back on the couch again. haha

And once again. STILL on the couch for snuggles. I swear I didn't get anything done this week except hold my baby. Riley just wanted her mama for comfort all week and I'm so grateful I could be here for her.
Also, side note: I just noticed--what's funny is the progression of these pictures...I look more and more tired in each one! haha 

Riley at 10 Months

Riley is 10 months old! When did this happen? I can hardly believe that in two short months she will be a year old! How is my baby growing so quickly? Here are some 10 month updates:

• Riley's first tooth is starting to break through on the bottom, but barely visible still. I don't think the real teething has hit yet because she's still pretty happy and not too slobbery. So happy we fended off teeth until 10 months. Hallelujah! One of my mom-fears was nursing a baby with a mouth full of teeth! Ouch.
• Riley is NOT sleeping through the night and hasn't been consistently sleeping through the night since we moved to CA. Mom and Dad are excited for Riley to get back to sleeping through the night! Feel free to make that happen any day now baby girl.
• She's still a great napper and takes two long naps per day.
• Riley gives the best Beethoven-style slobbery kisses.
• She has perfected the wave and is always waving at not only people, but inanimate objects as well. :) My favorite is when I'm nursing her and she will stop eating and come off just to wave at me and then go back to eating. Sometimes she'll do that five or more times during a nursing session. It's pretty adorable. She LOVES waving and does it at the most random times. It is so cute. 
• She's figured out one of her new fave toys--unrolling the toilet paper from the roll. She also loves to get into any drawer or cupboard she can and make messes.
• Makes noises that sound like Mmmmmumm mmmmmma and da da but we aren't sure if she's deliberately saying ma ma and da da or just babbling. It's probably just Ryan and I and our wishful thinking. 
• Riley can walk with assistance but will not let go of our hands. If we try to let go (even when she is just standing) she will squat down to the floor.
• Riley loves bath time and will even stand at the bath tub throughout the day, hoping we will get the hint and give her a bath!
• Riley is afraid of loud noises. She's scared of the vacuum, still scared of the blender (but less scared than she used to be), and also scared of the blow dryer! haha 
• She loves loves loves to be outside!
• Riley has the happiest little personality and brings us so much joy!

And just to keep it real. NO--she is not happy all the time. In fact, she was in a pretty bad mood for a lot of these pictures and we had to go home pretty quick! haha. Nap time calls. For the most part though, she is a very easy going and happy person.

We love you Riley Rosie.

Stop This Train

A couple of weeks ago I was driving in the car and I was listening to this John Mayer song called "Stop This Train." It is such a pretty song. You can hear the song here. Listen to the words. It's about how life goes by so quickly and sometimes we wish we could pause life or even go back in time to simpler days.

As I was listening to this song, I looked in my rear-view mirror and could see Riley being so sweet and cute. She was looking out the window with her wide blue eyes. She had pulled her little gold shoe off (like she always does) and was chewing on it--gazing out the window with a curious face. I just kept thinking how much I love her. Being her mom has been the most special thing I could ever imagine. 

In that moment, I was so filled with love and gratitude that I teared up. I felt so thankful for my life right now and for my little family. I wished that I could--as the song says, "stop this train." I wished I could pause life. I love being a mom so much and I love Riley's fun personality and sweet disposition. Sometimes I just wish things could stay this way forever. However, there's no way to "stop this train." And I know I shouldn't wish for it. I know life will have its ups and downs, good times and bad. And that is all part of our journey. It's how we learn and grow and become something more.

"Life is like an old time rail journey…delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride." 

I'm so grateful for the ride I've been given so far. 

November

We LOVE the weather in the fall out here! It's been so nice! Riley and I go to the swings a lot. 

When we got back to CA we did another little b-day celebration for Ryan. We had Ry open his presents and had a little family party with just the three of us. 

Ha! NOT a cute picture of me! But my hair is FINALLY growing back! YAY! I lost so so so so so much hair after I had Riley. Seriously my pillow and our wood floor would constantly be covered in hair. It was crazy. I seriously think Ryan was scared I would go bald haha. These baby hairs are sticking out all over my head! They aren't cute but it's good to see that my hair is coming back!

I took these pictures to capture Riley's amazing hair in the mornings. She has the best bed head!

Riley can stand up now! The first day it happened, I was giving her a bath and I turned my back for a few seconds and when I turned back around she was standing up like this! She's getting so big!

Riley is using anything and everything to help her stand up. She loves standing. 

It took me 3 years...but I discovered that my husband can make an amazing omelet!

Riley loves when we read stories. We read everyday. I had to go out and get more books because I was getting sick of the same books over and over and over. haha

All ready to go out to lunch with some friends.

The messes are starting!! haha Riley is getting into EVERYTHING! She loves pulling all of her wet wipes out, unrolling the toilet paper, unfolding the folded laundry, and of course pulling anything and everything out of the cupboards/dishwasher/drawers etc. 

We put up our Christmas tree! We put it up mid November which is the earliest we have ever put up our Christmas stuff but I just couldn't resist putting them up this year. I have been so excited for Christmas!

Riley loves the Christmas decor too. She thinks it tastes pretty good ;) 

Riley will eat anything! She loves all food.

Out to dinner at Olive Garden. Riley is a little bit of a pain to go out to dinner with! haha she just grunts and grunts until we give her more and more food. 

Riley is starting to like her baby jumper! She also really likes jumping up and down in her crib.

Riley LOVES when Daddy comes home!

Seriously how cute is this? I think it's Riley's favorite time of day when Daddy comes home. 

I'm kicking myself that we didn't take more pictures! But we had a wonderful Thanksgiving over at Ross and Lacie Hillsheim's house. They were such great hosts. 

The day after Thanksgiving we went on a family hike up in Moraga. 

The hike was really fun and so pretty!

Riley LOVED it! As you can tell. She loves being outside!

This little gal LOVES being outside! She was gleefully babbling and giggling the whole time!

Ry and I decided to go to the Notre Dame vs. Stanford game. Before the game we got to go see the DeAgostini's house (J.R. is going to Stanford for his MBA). It was fun to see them! And Scarlet was so cute and friendly. She LOVED Riley!

Walking over to the game. We were excited for the game since it was kind of a pain in the butt to get there! We ended up driving around for an hour just looking for parking!! We finally found available parking but it was $30 cash only! And of course we didn't have cash haha so we ended up just risking a ticket and parking in "permit parking only." Luckily we didn't get a ticket though! We will call it the luck of the Irish ;) 

Stanford stadium

I love these fun little outings with my family. 

Riley was SO perfect during the game! We were so lucky! She even ended up sleeping during the last quarter. We couldn't believe she could sleep with all the noise and cheering going on. ND ended up ahead by one point with only 30 seconds left in the game so we totally thought we had won! Unfortunately, with 6 seconds left, Stanford made a field goal and took it. Ryan was so depressed!  

Riley girl is getting VERY busy during church nowdays. haha
PS look at that ponytail! I LOVE doing her hair.
She doesn't love when I do her hair but she's just got so much of it and it's so fun to play with!

See? She keeps us so busy during church! 

Rockin' the pigtails.

Riley likes to play in the basket once in a while. This picture of her is so cute!

We had a happy November and are excited for December and the official Christmas season!