Christmas

Sorry for the long abscence. We'll start with where we left off with the last post, and I'll catch up over the next few days.

Well, we had a wonderful christmas and Riley loved all of the people around, and toys, and paper, and good food. He was a little disappointed when the holidays were over and he was back to just us...He missed all the attention. We had a very eventful holiday. We were in Yorktown for the week leading up to Christmas, where we went to Christmas town (see previous post), hung out with family at bass pro shop (among other places),

took santa pictures at Yankee Candle with Jax,

attended a baby shower brunch for Brooke and baby Eden,

and spent Christmas eve with Nikki's family before driving back to Richmond.

There are tons of pictures posted on Facebook...but here are a few also! Stay tuned for the rest...later. Bedtime!

Home for the holidays

We were planning on spending the week before christmas in Yorktown with Nikki's family, and we had to leave even earlier than originally planned due to the snow storm. We left Richmond with snow falling heavily and made it home to Yorktown safely. We were going to leave Saturday, but we left on Friday and avoided a foot of snow! We have been having a nice time visiting with family, and we went to Christmas Town on Sunday. Tomorrow Riley gets to see Santa! Many pictures to follow...here are the ones that have been uploaded so far

In honor of Delaney

Delaney's second birthday is December 26th. In honor of her birthday, Dennis and I decided that every year for Christmas we would pick an angel that is the age she would be and buy presents for that child, so that another child can have a happy Christmas. We thought that we would invite others to do the same, if you have the urge, find an angel tree and buy a gift for a two year old little girl (or boy) in Delaney's honor. We love to know that people remember her, and we think this would be a wonderful way to honor her at this time of year.

8 month pictures!

We took Riley for his 8 month pictures/christmas pictures! He did a great job, and was happy and laughing the whole time. Unfortunately, that led to us buying many more pictures than anticipated!! We got the CD with the images, so here are a few of our favorites!!

Homecoming!!!

Jimmy came home from his deployment on Wednesday, and Dennis and I took the day off to drive to North Carolina to welcome him home and see the reunion with Shannan and the first meeting with his son Jax. It was a LONG day of travel (4 hours each way) but it was completely worth it to see Jimmy and get to give him a hug and see him with Jax! Here are a few pictures of the reunion!

Happy Halloween!!

Well Riley was a lion for halloween, and he didn't love the mane or the fact that it was 70 degrees and he was wearing a fur costume! But he was a good sport and was very well behaved as we drove him around Richmond to visit family and friends. Attached are a few pictures of the day.

What a difference a week makes!

WOW! Last time we posted, Riley could move forward haltingly, for a short distance. Now he's on the move!! He can crawl all over the place, including through rooms to get to what he wants. The next hurdle is being able to sit up and play with the toy when he finally gets to his destination!!

We had a JMU reunion day today and had a great time visiting with friends. Riley and his friend Avery had a good time playing, and Riley was very jealous of Avery's ability to walk. I'm sure that will be soon in coming...help me!

Movement!

Riley finally got some forward momentum going yesterday...and (no surprise) food was the big motivator. I'm sure in the coming days he'll become a crawling champion.

Happy birthday part 2

Birthday wishes from Riley! That's more like it!!

Happy birthday Jimmy!!

Tomorrow is nikkis brothers birthday and he is deployed, so were using
our blog to send him birthday wishes!! Here is our family wishing
Jimmy a happy birthday!

last group

more pictures

pictures

update

Wow...it's been a month since we posted last! Well we have a few updates and there will be several posts worth of pictures, as Jimmy is back on the ship and this is the best way to share pictures of the family with him. Riley had a few flare ups of his skin condition (eczema) but it's under control (at least for now). He gets 1-2 baths per day, lots of greasy lotion, and "wet pajamas". The pediatrician told us to put riley in a pair of damp (warm) pajamas, then put another pair on top so he doesn't get cold. This has made the biggest change we think. He's also turned 6 months old! That means FOOD. Alright, I'll admit that we didn't last until 6 months like I swore we would...we caved about a week early. Riley likes food OK but looks at us like "this crap isn't what I see you eating!". He hates rice cereal but is doing OK with the veggies so far. This weekend we went to visit Nikki's parents, her grandparents had come down from Ohio to meet Jax and so we went for a visit. Dennis and Nikki left Riley with the family and went to celebrate our friend Kendra and Rob's wedding. It was a great time and everyone enjoyed getting to bond with Riley. So we'll start the pictures now... Tomorrow is Riley's 6 month well baby visit so we'll update again after that with his stats!

Jax Welcome Party! More pictures! Last Group!