11 months!

Riley is 11 months old now, and I can't believe that he will be a year old so soon. He is a joy to be around and every day he is learning new skills. He is running around the house at will, and he's starting to sign back to us. He is transitioning to regular milk and using a sippy cup instead of a bottle. We are still having battles at dinner time but the rest of the day he eats well and he's growing quickly.

Riley has had many new friends join him in the world this month. We are so happy to welcome Eden, Connor, and Bryson to the world! Their parents are so excited to have them here and we can't wait to meet each one of them!

Here is a picture of Riley's stylish bathtime hair. It's getting SO long but we are waiting until his first birthday for a haircut.

Today we took advantage of the somewhat warm weather and we went swinging at the playground. He enjoyed the time outside for about 10 minutes until the cold air got to us.

TEETH!!!

Well, Riley's second front tooth decided to peek through, and we are very happy because he is starting to sleep better again! We have our happy Riley back, and he is walking all around the house. It's amazing how quickly he went from stuttering steps to walking like a pro, all around without falling!! We are unfortunately planning on being snowed in again this weekend...although we are still holding out hope that the weather won't be too bad. We're supposed to go to northern VA for a weekend of friends but we're playing it by ear. Here are a few pictures of the LAST snowstorm!!

Tooth!!

Well Riley left school early due to being inconsolable. He hung out
with Nikki at work for awhile until Dennis got off work to bring him
home. After a short nap Riley was much happier and Dennis solved the
mystery...riley's front tooth finally popped through!!! I'll try to
get a pic but here is one of us taking a walk with his new trike,
enjoying the nice weather!!

Sign from Little D

This is a late post, because I wanted to tell the story to Delaney's grandparents before I posted...and then time got away from me.

Delaney sent us a sign to wish us a Merry Christmas and to let us know that she's OK. As you may remember, we spent the days leading up to Christmas in Yorktown. After the Christmas eve celebration, we came home and got ready for Christmas Day. Then I went to bed while Dennis finished up a few things. I got in bed and was saying my prayers, and asking God to tell Delaney how much we love and miss her, when Dennis came back into the room. I asked him what he was doing, and he was putting something away. But what got his attention was that Delaney's christmas tree, which is in our bedroom, was on. It is on a timer, and comes on a dusk (around 5) and stays on for 4 hours and goes off around 9. It was 1230 AM on Christmas Day and the tree just turned on all by itself. It was the perfect Christmas greeting from Delaney, and made us both so happy.

We just wanted to share Delaney's Christmas greetings with all of you!

Angel Day #2

January 15th is here again. This date is so complex for me. It is always a sad time as I wish that Delaney was still here with us. I can only imagine the trouble she would be getting into as a terrible two, and all the fun that we would have together. I try to remind myself to be thankful, for the unexpected gift of three weeks together. The doctors told us that Delaney would probably not be born alive, or she would probably die within hours of being born. But our little fighter stuck around for 20 days. They weren't all easy, fun days, but she fought to stay with us, to show us her personality and courage. And by doing that she touched so many lives. Not just the few immediate family members who had a chance to meet her, but many others who heard her story and have been touched. And so, we remember Delaney every day, but January 15th is especially difficult.

In honor of Delaney's angel day, Dennis and I took off of work. We sent Riley to school for a half day. We went to see the neighborhood we hope to move to, and looked at the house we want to build. We plotted out where Delaney's garden will go at the new house. Then when we went to visit Delaney, and there was the green awning over her area and a new little baby grave right next to hers. As if we weren't having a hard enough time with this date, to have such a stark reminder of what it felt and looked like two years ago. And my heart breaks to know that another family is going through the same tragedy that we have lived through. So, we came home, and hugged each other, and watched the video we made for Delaney. My sister Jenna is coming up to spend the evening, and we'll go get Riley from school, and go visit Delaney again. With Jenna and Riley around, hopefully the evening won't be TOO quiet. When it gets too quiet is when we start to relive those horrible moments, so we'll try to stay a bit distracted this evening.

So thank you to EVERYONE who remembers Delaney with us, it means the world to us! We love you all and thank you for being a part of our lives!

BIG steps!

Well, Riley shocked us all yesterday and walked halfway across his room. All evening I was trying to "encourage" him to walk using little snacks, and he would take 3-4 steps and then lunge for me. So when we went upstairs to get ready for a bath, he was playing by the window with some stuffed animals, and I was across the room by his closet. I turned on the tickle me elmo, and he turned and looked, and then walked halfway to us like it was nothing. It was the first time that he's initiated walking without us encouraging him, and the first time he had chose walking over crawling when he was trying to get somewhere. I guess we're really in trouble now...

Rough start to '10

Well the end of 09 and the start of 10 were not the best in the Carter household. Riley got a nasty stomach bug from daycare and was sick wednesday and thursday... and then Dennis and I rang in the new year thursday night and friday with the same bug. Then starting on Sunday Riley got sick with RSV, which was also going around day care. He stayed home Monday and Tuesday, and Tuesday night was breathing too fast and so we made our first (and hopefully last) trip to the ER to get evaluated. Riley had RSV and an ear infection, but luckily improved and we were able to go home that night. Wednesday and Thursday Riley started to improve, and he was well enough today to return to school. Hopefully we got our share of illness out of the way for awhile!

Here is a video of Riley playing with his basketball hoop last night, the first time happy Riley made an appearance in about a week!

Delaney's 2nd Birthday

The 26th of December was Delaney's 2nd birthday! We can't believe that our little girl is two years old already. We had a family gathering for Delaney's birthday, complete with the now annual tradition of singing (continuing the Williams family tradition, as poorly as possible) Happy Birthday at the memorial garden. It didn't rain this year, although it was pretty muddy, and we were so happy that so many family members could celebrate with us.

This year we asked all the family members to write messages to Delaney on some balloons, and we sent them up to her with our birthday messages on them. It was very exciting to think of her getting all those love notes from her family.

Now we enter the twenty day period of the year that is even more emotionally laden than any other part. Each day holds special memories for us, and they are still some of the best days of our life. Dennis and I remember Delaney EVERY day, but during this time we remember specific events of our time together, both good and bad. As the 15th of January approaches, the memories get more somber, and Dennis and I have planned to stay home together on 1/15, as we will probably do every year. It is a day to reflect on the good days, and remember our sweet girl. We thank you all for your support and mostly for remembering Delaney!!!

Christmas with the Carter/Mickle family

Christmas day Santa visited our house! He left lots of fun toys for Riley and we spent the morning opening presents and playing. Riley's big gifts from Santa were a musical table and a tricycle!!

After we opened presents, we went to Mema and Papa's house to open MORE presents and have some fun with family. We had a great time there and Riley took home even more stuff!!!

Part two of the Carter/Mickle christmas was celebrated on the 27th, when Michael and Christine came into town to visit. More family fun ensued...Christmas was a very long, very fun affair for the Carter family this year!!

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!

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