Saint Riley

One of Riley's sleeping positions!
Her first time to really show an interest in solids- as you can see she loved the carrots!
Gotta love to see such big smiles after eating- she definitely got that from daddy! ;-)

This week has been a huge step for our Riley Gurlz!!! She finally ate a full serving of her solid for the first time ever! Hooray- this makes mom and dad happier than you can realize!!! Now we hope to see her continue to show more interest in her solids as she phases into that being her primary food soon. Riley is the master sitter now and rarely topples over. She also has started getting up a little on all fours and rocking just a little bit. We have also transitioned to one nap for the last couple days, so since she's still just turning eight months we'll see if that is a phase or change. She truly is one of a kind- and is just mesmerized by all of the action around her. When she sleeps she still prefers the face plant with the butt up in the air the majority of the time, but somehow she frequently ends up with her little legs stuck out of the crib (as seen in picture). You can just tell she just can't wait to be on her own two feet as that is her favorite way to be- standing, although she doesn't stand for long as she LOVES to jump, jump, jump. As you can see she has her two bottom teach in, but is drooling like crazy so were expecting some more teeth to pop up any day!

Happy 2nd Birthday Avery!!!

Avery listening to her Happy Birthday song and blowing out her candle! Hooray that we accomplished this with no tears and the birthday hat! ;-)
Typical Avery- loving her books! We found her on the outskirts of the party with a pile of books and she even recruited her buddy Abby to read with her! Too cute how they all play together now!
All the kiddos at the birthday party- Sammi, Sydney, Brady, Avery, Abbie, Riley, and Lindey! Man they've all grown in a year! Plus Lulu, Grandma and Papa's puppy joined the party too!
Papa and Oma with the birthday girl!
Avery opening up some presents with mommy at her High School Musical Birthday party.
Avery actually smiling for the camera!!!! Thanks Papa for getting us a good picture! ;-)
The girls in their new jammies from Oma and Papa.
The whole Herron Clan at the beautiful Key Largo house we rented!
Steve taking Avery down her first water slide- she was a bit timid after getting some water in her face! ;-)
Riley and Jaxon playing together!
Riley floating in her water toy!

It's official- we've been surviving this parenting gig for two years now! It's hard to believe that Avery is already "two" (as that is one of her favorite things to tell everyone, that she is "two"), man time has flown by. She is in the phase that she will repeat everything you say, so we've got to watch ourselves. This weekend Steve's dad, Bill, who likes to call me "Lil Chels" called me that and next thing we know Avery who was playing blocks (her favorite thing to do these days) isn't phased from playing but repeats it right away "Lil Chels"! So funny how they're like sponges. I was overjoyed that our photograph fearing girl, Avery, finally took her first pictures for her two year pictures without crying through the whole thing for the first time in at least nine months! She absolutely loves being a big sister, playing with her little sister and helping with her.

Riley has been just getting bigger and bigger and blowing us away with her personality. She is now sitting all by herself and loves to play whatever her big sis is playing. Riley is so strong that it blows us away with how she can move her body around and jump like crazy in her jumperoo (perhaps she's going to follow in her Uncle Casey and Oma's footsteps and be the next highjumper in the family). She absolutely adores Avery and it shows with how she watches her and grins like crazy anytime Avery gives her any attention. Riley is definitely going to be a daddy's girl too, as she lights up anytime Daddy is around.

We were blessed to have an amazing winter getaway vacation with the Herron family, Steve's parents, as well as his brother Gregg, wife Nicole, and my adorable nephew Jaxon. We enjoyed a week in Key Largo with some awesome 80 degree weather and an awesome vacation house on the water. We had a blast!