oh did I not mention?

1. I have the cutest son known to mankind:

(if you are my husband, in our family, or follow me on twitter you have probably already seen these since they are all from my phone)

Rivers first plane ride

talking on skype to his dad while we were in Texas. precious

2. its fall here and its beautiful. River visited his first pumpkin patch and already has great taste picking out just the white pumpkins.

3. freeland is taking a shelf exam today. Actually he is taking TWO shelf exams today. It will be nice to have those out of the way. Then monday he starts an ortho rotation.

4. my bestie & her hubby are coming in town tomorrow. exciting much?

5. as of today I only have 6 days of work left.

true story. big step. so I apologize for the lack of posting. Im trying to finish that up and end well.

shine

the cry of my heart in so many different ways

Rivers 6 month birthday

As you know while we were in Texas, River celebrated his 6 month birthday.

It happened to fall on Saturday when part of our family was coming over to my Mom's house so we could all see each other & they could meet River.

So we turned it into a little party at the last minute. And Freeland surprised us and ran out and got a cake. (with a "0" candle too!)

Obviously it was just an excuse for us to enjoy since River cant eat it. (and it just so happened to by my favorite cake! Cookies & Cream Ice Cream Cake) But it was fun!

So here are the pictures from Rivers 6 month birthday party:









Im pretty sure on his first birthday he is going to do just fine digging into his cake!



My Aunt is always (always always always) buying sweet gifts for River. She spoils him well.. and really blesses us a lot! So it turned out she came with lots of cute gifts for River to open. Which worked out great with our impromptu party so here is river "opening his gifts":







this toy was a HUGE hit especially while he was teething.. he chewed it ALL THE TIME! I was so thankful!

On another note we cleaned out River's closet this weekend with the clothes that no longer fit & made room for all the new clothes he has been given. Seriously the kid has an entire closet full of new options! Wouldnt that be nice to get a new wardrobe every 3 months!?

I started going through pictures of River with all the family. I love them! Hopefully I can post them soon!

6 months later

This is way late. River turned 6 months on the 2nd. Here it is the 15th. But better late than never?

While we were in Texas we left River with my mom so we could make it down to San Antonio for our friends wedding. This means I was apart from River for exactly 24 hours. It was sad. But he was fine. Somehow he made it without me! (ha) Anyway, point of my story was that while we were away my mom snuck River out to have pictures taken of him to surprise us. (rebel babysitter) so those are the pictures Im using in this post since technically it was his "6 month photos". I apologize because they are scanned so they arent great quality.



6 months. All the sudden he is a little boy and no longer seems like a baby. Things are starting to change quicker than ever. He surprises us with something new everyday. And his personality is definitely coming out.

At his 6 month appointment he was 16.4oz (28%) and 26.7 inches long (65%). His head was 17(35%) if any one was curious? But the doctor said he is doing great. And clearly Im acing this motherhood thing. (she didnt say that to me even though she does tell Camille all the time that she is!!!!)

Here are all the things that stand out from the last month. At 5 1/2 months Rivers 2 front bottom teeth popped out! And then all the sudden he started sitting up! He is starting to reach for us to pick him up which melts my heart. He no longer wants to sit still and if there is anything in front of him he wants to grab at it. I love watching him figure out new things every day! And he laughs and smiles all the time and Ive never heard anything sweeter than his laugh. He eats like a champ. (even though he still refuses rice cereal) he loves his veggies and fruits. He "talks" all the time. Just this last week he started saying "mamamamamam mama ma ma mama" so that basically means I WON! (kidding)



He sleeps well. I wont go into his schedule out of fear that the second I write it down he will change. (kidding again) but most days he sleeps well. However, I still have him in that #@$)#^@* swaddle. Technically a woombie.. not a swaddle. But in T minus 15 days we are getting rid of it. (its bout time)

At 6 months he made his first (of many) trips to Texas and was finally able to meet the rest of his family who has patiently been waiting. It was the perfect age to take him I think. He LOVED the attention. And it was hilarious to me to watch him eat it all up since Ive never seen him in that situation before.

Also Im even more thankful for our little zoo than ever before. They are starting to serve as constant entertainment for our little guy. He is always looking for them and trying to reach to grab whichever one is around. He "talks" to them if they are in the room.. and I have a feeling once he is crawling they arent going to know what to do!



Note: that picture cracks me up. River is still a daddy's boy. His personality comes out the most when he is around and I dont think anyone can get him to laugh and squeal the way Freeland can. I love it.

home. sweet. home

we are all finally back in one place & that place happens to be our home in Erie, PA. (where the weather is Amazing & the leaves are changing! I Love it!)

It feels good to be home. In our own bed. Our baby in his bed. And our stinky dogs next to us.

Even though it was SO sad to leave our family & friends back in Texas. We had the best time and Im pretty sure River will never be the same again (spoiled much!)

Today he practically cried every time I left his side. I think he got a little too used to constant attention. Ive never seen him love being the center of attention so much. (wonder where he got that from. dont answer because Im really not sure if I meant myself or his dad when I said that) Seriously, it was adorable to see him light up around everyone at home. He was such a little ham for everyone who looked his way! I loved it.

And I think traveling is good for first time parents. It forced me to be flexible (some people might say Im a little up tight when my son doesnt sleep .. but they are lying) 

oh and I used up our entire memory card on our camera so I definitely have a gazillion bazillion pictures to share. stay tuned.

flying by the seat of our pants

Phew! Freeland said the other day "lets live our life & sleep later" .. well Im pretty sure thats what we are doing this trip. (and Im also pretty sure he was just joking because if you know Freeland .. he loves his sleep.. well dont we all love our sleep?)

We have been back & forth & back again visiting everyone we can squeeze in between working & sleeping. Its been a whirlwind but its been worth it. Im thankful for all the people River has been able to meet during such a short time. Our friends & family have been so sweet to pretty much drop everything going on in their lives and make time for us.

Ive tried to take as many pictures as possible but I feel like I still dont have enough. I just want River to have a picture with everyone. (in the back of my mind I keep thinking - these will be in his wedding slide show one day so he needs a picture with everyone! strange I know because Im never letting him get married and leave me. just kidding)

Freeland is at home doing his peds rotation. Missing us like crazy.

Oh and the flight went great with River. He barely slept but was still content the entire time. Praying the flight home goes just as well.

Oh Oh - annnnd... both teeth are now in. Can I just say I have LOVED every stage so far of having a baby except the teething stage. The little demanding personality that came out of that boy + the trouble he had sleeping was exhausting at moments. But I think we have made it out alive.. of course until the top ones start coming in! ;)

OH and one last thing - my son is officially 6 months old now. (we celebrated with ice cream cake. he just watched us eat it but Im pretty sure he knew we were celebrating him still!)