Dance Party

The realities of parenthood are so often askew from what you could ever imagine before becoming a parent--good and bad. This morning, I realized (in the moment!) that Ridley and I were living one of those imagined scenarios together. Probably because I have so many fond memories of dancing around in the living room with my mom as a kid, I have always imagined being a mom and dancing around the living room with my hypothetical daughter. Dancing is just a fun shared experience, isn't it?

This morning, as Madonna played in our living room, I held Ridley and we both bopped up and down, smiled and laughed. I'm not sure exactly why this morning in particular felt so special. Ridley and I listen to music and dance together almost on a daily basis. Maybe it's because she's really starting to enjoy the music, enjoy dancing and "sings" along. Maybe it's because we were listening to Madonna (my childhood dancing music!). But it's nice to share something with Ridley and make memories together.

Trunk or Treat!

For Ridley's second Halloween, we went to the nearby church's annual "Trunk or Treat" event. They park cars in a semi-circle and decorate their trunks. The kids then trick or treat by each trunk. It was a lot of fun! And some of the trunks were really decked out! There was a Wizard of Oz theme, an airplane theme, and even a Mario Bros. theme. Ridley really liked the Wizard of Oz trunk b/c there were two dogs: one dressed as Dorothy and one (who looked like Toto) dressed as Scarecrow!

The event had bouncies, music and plenty of kids running around in great costumes. Once Ridley grabbed a hold of her goodie bucket, she didn't let go! Here she is enjoying herself.

Play with Pumpkins

The fall chill really hit us this morning! I had to turn on the heat inside the house and Ridley got to wear her "Happy Halloween" long sleeve shirt (she got this for her birthday from the Skinner Family!). We had plans to go to the pumpkin patch in the afternoon. But before lunch, Ridley was ready to get outside and feel the chill.

The whole family was playing in the living room when Ridley got up, walked over to me and grabbed my hand. She walked me over to Phil and with her other hand grabbed his hand. She then led us both to the back door and pointed outside! It was adorable. We went outside and played in the backyard as Kacy and Sadie continued their attempts to catch another squirrel (yes ANOTHER squirrel--they're working on number 4).

When we got to the pumpkin patch this afternoon, Ridley had a ball. She picked out a few mini pumpkins, played with the big blow up scarecrow and rode around in the wagon.

Happy Halloween!

Teaching the Teacher

While playing with all our new toys from the birthday party (thanks everyone!) Ridley showed me that she's paying attention to me. We were singing "patty cake" and Ridley grabbed my hands and showed me how to patty cake (as I had done for her a few times)! Since I laughed so much about this, it's become her new favorite activity. She'll smile and laugh and grab my hands making me do another round of "patty cake."
One of her new books about Curious George visiting the zoo is filled with "touch me" textures (a a patch of a penguin's wing that is actual fur, a section of a rhino that is actual leather, etc). While reading it, we landed on the page with the giraffe. Ridley was missing the soft fur of the giraffe, so I took her hand and showed her. From then on, (and we have read this book a zillion times just yesterday) every time we get the the giraffe page, Ridley takes my hand and shows me the soft texture of the giraffe.
Amazing. This kid is amazing, right?

Sugar and Spice

Ridley's first birthday was great! We held it at Hugh McRae Park here in Wilmington and the weather was great (a little windy, but otherwise perfect). Aunt Tammi came over to the house early to help entertain and watch Ridley while Phil and I set up for the party. I had spent a lot of time prior to Saturday prepping for the day and Phil took care of packing everything up and taking it over to the picnic shelter. Unfortunately, the banner that I had made was all tangled when Phil went to hang it up. Poor man spent over an hour trying to detangle it! He ended up having to cut it up and retape it! But it turned out great. Just a little snag.
Then Grandma Pam and Aunt Taylor came to help set up and by 3:27pm (Ridley's EXACT birthday and time the party started) everything was set up and looked great.


Ridley arrived shortly after with Aunt Tammi in her cute color coordinated outfit. She had such a good time running around with all her friends and getting dirty. And wow, did she get dirty! It was a great time and a great celebration of Ridley.




For prosperity's sake, I'll repeat my facebook status on Ridley's birthday: "Happy Birthday, Ridley! Flip my whole life upside down why don'tcha?! Pinch-your-cheeks love ya!! Celebrating you and your 1 year old awesomeness and our feat of getting through the first year. ::love::"
And of course the post-party status: "Birthday party, year one: check. Clean-up?...tomorrow. Feet propped up on the couch after getting lil' one to bed: check! Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate and those of you who sent your love!"

Almost a Year and Walking Better Every Day

(Video taken a few days ago).

Today Phil and I brought Ridley along with us to a friend's wedding. I was originally going to get a babysitter, but after not being able to find one, we decided to bring her with us instead of not attending. I was nervous about it, but she did really well. The wedding was outside in their backyard overlooking the sound. Ridley loved seeing all the people, listening to the music and being able to show off her walking skills. I think she gained speed after tonight! She saw a dog at one point and really went running after it while yelling, "D'oh! D'oh!" [Translation: "Dog! Dog!"]

I hope she has that much fun at her birthday party. It's only 2 weeks away!

A New Way to Apply Diaper Cream

One day a couple of weeks ago, I walked into Ridley's nursery to find Phil applying some diaper cream during a diaper change. His method had me in stitches on the floor. He squeezed the tube directly onto her little butt and then squeezed her butt checks together repeatedly to spread the cream around.

I dropped to the floor laughing. Ridley didn't know what was going on and Phil insisted it wasn't that funny. He claimed he didn't want to touch her because the diaper rash was so bad he didn't want to hurt her. That may well be true, but it didn't make it any less funny to me (her diaper rash has since gone away).

Walking Around

Here's a video of Ridley walking around the kitchen. I took this about a week ago. She's getting a little more steady and can walk pretty long distances now. And she really is into everything!

On Her Feet!

Ridley took a few steps by herself today!!! She only gets to 3 or 4 steps before she starts to loose her balance, but it's very exciting! For Ridley too! She gets very excited and laughs while clapping her hands. Our excitement rubs off, I'm sure, but I also think she's really having fun learning to walk on her own. It won't be much longer now and she'll be Miss Independent.
Phil and I have recorded her walking a little back and forth between the two of us. I'll post it soon!

Familyfest!

This past month has been filled with family! What could be better? Aunt Christy and Cousin Titus came on their annual visit from CO for three weeks! We had fun on the beach and in the pool. Towards the end of their trip, we traveled to N. Wilkesboro to visit more family. AND THEN, after returning, our cousins Jessica, Amanda, Sydney and Alyssa came to visit the following weekend.

Ridley LOVED all the attention and commotion. She followed all the bigger kids around and learned all about cuddle-puddles!
Ridley is still learning to walk. She will sometimes walk while only holding on to one of my hands, but most of the time she wants the reassurance of both hands while she cruises. Her vocabulary has increased over the past month to: "bye-bye, dada, hey, hi, dog (sounds more like "d'oh"), duck ("d'uh") and NO!" Notice any important word missing from the list? haha She's not yet interested in saying "mama." Of course I'm usually always around and respond to "uh, uh uh!" so why bother with formalities?

I'm very excited for her first birthday party and I'm already brainstorming ideas for the day. Since her birthday falls on a Saturday, we get to celebrate on the day! I think I may even set the start of the party to 3:27pm.

Learning to Walk and Talk

A few weeks ago, Ridley started saying "Bah-bah-bah-bah!" with every "bye-bye" wave. I thought it was cute, but wasn't sure if I could count it as her first word. Then, one morning last week I was bringing her into our bed with her bottle, as I do in the mornings before we start our day, and as soon as she saw Phil she exclaimed, "Dah-dah-dah-dah!!" After a few days of consistent "Dah-dah"s around Phil, I'm finally willing to admit that she has said her first word. It could just be her new sound she's trying out, but she seems to know that it means her Daddy. And every time I say "Ma-ma! Ma-ma," to her, she looks at Phil and screams, "Dah-dah! Dah-dah-dah-dah!"

She is also getting very stable at standing and pulling up to a stand. She cruises around on the furniture and she tries very hard to climb out of the tub every night. If we had stairs, she'd be climbing them for sure! She loves to grab my hands and "walk" me around the house.

Here's a picture of Ridley and her grandma doing just that at our yard sale last weekend.

Tubes

Ridley was seen by an ENT this morning. A total of four ear infections (three in one month!) brought us to the appointment. As it turns out and as we suspected, she needs to have tubes inserted into her ears. The fluid just simply isn't draining. Phil had to have tubes when he was a young child and his family has a history of ear problems.
I hoped that we wouldn't have to go to this extreme, but I know for sure that it is the best thing for Ridley. The poor thing has had a ton of fluid in her ears for well over a month now. Hopefully we can schedule the procedure ASAP.
The ENT doctor said that many children make big jumps in speech after having tubes for the simple reason that they can finally hear! Ridley can hear now, but everything sounds muffled to her. There isn't any long term damage so far, and we definitely want to keep it that way.

First Rule of Fight Club is...

She has teeth, and she knows how to use them! Watch out!

No worries, she isn't really biting. She just looks fierce in this photo, showing off her two bottom teeth.

Happy 4th of July!

What do you get when you drag your tired husband off the couch from his nap to force a family photo on July 4th?




Hope everyone had a great 4th of July! This was the first 4th that Phil and I have EVER spent together not working. At least one of us has always worked or we've worked together on the 4th. This was the first time we've ever spent it together doing nothing, enjoying the day (in 10 years!). We spent it being lazy, and it was wonderful.



"Come on, Mom. It's Independence Day and I'm still not allowed to play in the dog bowls?!"

Crab Walking on the Shore

Summer time, and the livin's easy.

Here's a video of Phil and his girls hitting the beach, doing some crab walking, and taking in the water.

The Lastof the Kitchen Sink Pictures

Phil and I gave Ridley her bath in the kitchen sink as long as we could. For one, it saved my back by standing instead of crouching down. For two, Ridley looked so stinkin' cute in it! But last week we realized it was time to graduate to the tub. The second picture explains why...






She's on the move!

But as it turns out, Ridley is just as cute in her new tub as her old one. Go figure.

Our Little Turtle

Ridley isn't really crawling...but she's scooting! She gets around the entire house by laying on her tummy, pushing forward on her toes and pulling forward with her arms. She's been doing this for about a month now, and she really gets around quite well this way. She looks like a little turtle. Funny, considering there are "ridley" turtles. She's got her first nickname!

Yesterday though, she was in just a diaper and found that scooting without a shirt on when you have hardwood floors isn't a good idea! Since then she's been using her knees a little before she drops down again and scoots to her destination (which is normally the dog bowls).

Turtle got her first tooth a couple weeks ago (lower front right) and the second seems to be closely following (lower front left)! She loves finger foods now, with a sippy cup: Cheerios, baby puffs, mandarin oranges, cheese, hardboiled egg yolk...she likes it all.

Love her. <3

Happy Father's Day to Philip and all the other Daddies out there. Phil spent his low key, with his girls.