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.

Mother's Day

I hope all the Mommas out there had a great Mother's Day. I certainly did! For one, Philip is back home now, and Ridley and I couldn't be happier. We threw him a surprise Graduation party (he earned his Computer Engineering degree this past December and got to walk across the stage on Friday). Here are a couple of Ridley and Daddy pictures!



My first Mother's Day was also Ridley's 7 month birthday. To celebrate, she decided she'd nap like she just didn't care, with her booty up high in the air (thanks for that, Christy!). Here's a picture:

I couldn't have asked for a better Mother's Day. I started it with sleeping in while Philip took care of Ridley in the AM, followed by a professional massage! Ah! And to top it off, Phil got me a necklace with Ridley's birthstone in it as a present. See why I get so bummed when he goes away?!

Loving the Down Time

Ridley and I have been enjoying my time off very much! The only thing that would make it better is if Phil were home. Not much longer!
We played with our Yoga Moms' group twice this week at the local park. Ridley loves the swings and she loves socializing. She may just be a social butterfly. As soon as we sat down with the other moms and babies at the park, Ridley started screaming in excitement and happiness. She then started curling her toes, shaking her hands and shrugging her shoulders in excitement. She couldn't hold it in! She smiled at everyone and really just enjoyed being with other people.
She reacted much the same way when we went to Baby Musik in the middle of the week. Like most babies, she loves music. She enjoyed herself for most of the class, but it was very close to her nap time, so she started to get fussy towards the end. Thankfully, it was only a half hour.
On Thursday, we went to Mommy and Me Yoga. Before we got started Ridley loosened herself up with a BM. Ha! We had a diaper change in the middle of the room on our yoga mat. After that, Ridley enjoyed the other babies, playing with the mat and rolling around with Mommy, but she didn't enjoy the baby massage time. She wanted to be moving and exploring as much as she could. I guess I have more of a cardio baby.
Yesterday, we tried out the jogging stroller purchased on Craig's List a while ago. Ridley seemed relaxed in it, which is good considering I'll hopefully be using it quite a bit.
And today was the cherry on top of Mommy and Me activities. We went to the pool with our Yoga Moms' Group. We're all doing a self taught (lessons downloaded from a website) baby swim class together. Today's lesson was simply to get the babies comfortable with the pool. Ridley LOVED it. She loved splashing around in the water and she loved the company. I'll have that girl swimming in no time!
Per the usual, pictures to follow...

Maude the Cephalopod

Grams got Ridley a pretty stuffed octopus that matches her room. Here's Ridley enjoying it on the floor. Grams came up with the name Maude the Cephalopod, and we think it fits perfectly.

Ridley Rocking

Ridley is rocking out! She's been doing this for a couple of weeks now, and is getting better at it every day!

Happy Easter!

Ridley and I celebrated Easter with family minus the most important family member of ours: Philip/Daddy. He's still away on work business. But he's coming home very soon, less than two weeks, so we're really looking forward to it!
I have finished the job that was taking up so much of my time. I'm not really sure how I got through it honestly, but some how, some way I did. Oh yeah! I did it with the help of family and friends! Thanks, guys!!! I was working 13 hour days in a demanding job. I loved it, but it was also VERY stressful. I felt guilty for being away from Ridley so much. And it was just simply hard to cope single mom style. I have SO much respect for single mothers! And my family and friends came through for me and really helped in watching Ridley and letting the dogs out and just reminding me that I was working for Ridley and it was only going to be four weeks.
And I did get through it. Now I'm able to spend more time with Ridley and I'm loving it. This is such a great age!! She's 6 1/2 months now and she's becoming so active! She's pushing up on all fours and rocking back and forth. She is so ready to crawl!
Here are pictures of Ridley enjoying Easter/her 1st cousin Joseph's birthday on Friday.
Loads of more photos/videos to follow.