Spaghetti Betty

Our little munchkin didn't earn the nickname Spaghetti Betty for nothing. Ever since her first experience with the Italian cuisine, Riley has been hooked.  Whenever "ghetti," as she lovingly calls it, or pizza is on the menu, we have one very happy little girl. The pleas for "morn" are incessant, and it's difficult to get her to eat anything else on the table, especially one of the other foods is green (apparently eating veggies while pregnant does not make your child enjoy broccoli and green beans like the pregnancy books suggest).

Throughout Riley's short life, pizza and spaghetti have provided more than nutrition a full belly.  They've given us many photo taking opportunities; today's lunch was no different. Here are a few shots of our messy eater. 

Disclaimer: Riley usually doesn't walk around without a shirt on. However, when you're wearing clothes that need to be passed down to younger cousins, one must take various measures to preserve their stain-free state. Regardless of the size of the bib, our messy girl manages to get sauce somewhere.  

Brown Family Update

Hi there. Remember me? I'm the one who's supposed to be keeping people updated with what's going on with our family. The reality? I've become a total slacker when it comes to blogging. What made me want to get the ball rolling again? That would be reading all the posts from when I was pregnant with Riley. There weren't a ton, but it was enough to help jog my memory on some things that I'd forgotten. It's nice to be able to look back and see what was going on at different points in our lives. I will do better.  

For those of you who don't know us "for real," life is wonderful. Riley is 19 months old and keeps us laughing and quite busy. She's talking all the time, running all around, and quite attached to three measuring "pucks" from her play kitchen (weird, right??).  

In July, we found out that baby # 2 is on the way. I'm currently 20 weeks and 3 days pregnant. On Wednesday we found out the gender; Riley helped us make the "big" announcement. About 30 pictures and 20 minutes later, this is the best we came up with (just glad it's a horse and not one of the cups in the picture):

Riley doesn't quite understand the whole baby concept yet (as evidenced by the fact that she thinks there's baby in her belly), but she does love little ones. We're hoping she's very excited when the time comes and one is actually living in our house. David and I absolutely can't wait for little Caroline Elizabeth to join our family. 

I'm feeling great! In the beginning, I wasn't able to sleep very well. Since that passed, I've been feeling normal. If it weren't for my growing stomach and the pokes and jabs I'm getting from the inside, I wouldn't feel pregnant at all. I'm doing a lot more this time around to stay in good shape. I never quite lost all my baby weight from Riley, so I started a little bit behind this time. My goal is to weigh the same when I give birth to Caroline as I did when I give birth to Riley. Now probably wouldn't be a good time to admit that I'm probably going to the fair today, would it? Greasy french fries and powdered sugar covered funnel cakes are totally going to be calling my name. Hopefully the apple I just ate for breakfast will help balance everything out.  

And now, so you can see how we're doing, here are a few recent pictures. Unfortunately, the last good one of all of us is from Riley's birthday.  

Photo Ramblings and Vacation Notes

We had a wonderful time on our trip to KY and AL.  We were able to visit with nieces and nephews (and other family members, but we all know the kiddos are the important ones), hear some fantastic teaching on the KJV, make new friends, and enjoy some quality family time.  Enjoy these photos from our trip and be on the look-out for the over due 11 month update.  My baby is going to be 1 in 10 days.  I'm not ready for that.  

Photo Ramblings

Riley Grace: Ten Month Update & Photos

In a nutshell, ten months equals into everything. Into everything but unbelievably fun. The interaction is fantastic. She's gone from a little bundle that doesn't move to a baby who crawls all over you, does things to make you laugh, and talks to you (doesn't matter that you have absolutely no idea what she's saying).  

We are blessed with such a good baby!  Unless she's trying to be forced to go with someone else (namely, my brother or the nursery workers at church), she's a happy camper.  She loves to play, eat, and sleep.  

Here's what's been going on with Riley:

... a second tooth

... her first cold and first sick visit to the doctor :(

... trying to stand up on her own

... saying mama (to me, to her baby, to David... everyone is Mama)

... loving her baby doll.  She thinks that thing is the best thing ever

... sticking random things in any open drawer or basket (I find puzzle pieces in my dresser drawers, Little 

    people in my dirty clothes baskets, etc.)

... growling

... cackling when she thinks something is funny

... modeling the hats mommy makes to sell on Etsy

... sleeping 12-13 hours at night.  She goes to bed around 7:30 or 8 and wakes up around 8:30

I can't believe that in a few short weeks my baby is going to be one.  I'm definitely not ready for it.

Oh, and for the record, she does not always have something on her head...  just take a look at the last picture!! 

modeling :)

two teeth... a little crooked but very adorable

coughing :(

playing on her "gym" from the Harvills

playing with Mommy

with Angelo and Gavin, friends from Australia 

working with Daddy

How to Entertain a Baby...

...so you can fold clothes.

Items necessary:

magnetic animals from your fridge farm

colander, rubbermaid container, spoon, and spatula

baby doll

one clean pair of socks

The result? 30-40 minutes of play and neatly folded laundry.  Usually, she unfolds the clothes as I'm getting them folded.  

Owl Hat Update

A friend from church gave me the pattern for this owl hat.  Riley's room has an owl theme, and that's what we're planning on for Riley's first birthday.  I made my first one last night and I love how it turned out! Riley's napping, so the final product hasn't been tried on yet, but I know it'll look even better on... if it fits okay.  It's looking a little bit smaller than I thought it would.

Well, the hat fits Riley just fine.  I love the way it looks on her.  The only problem is the way I hid the orange yarn from the nose, you can see it when the hat is on... I'm going to have to fix that today. 

December 2010 Pictures and Review

December was a month full of activities including birthdays, our fourth anniversary, and two trips.  Our first trip was to Lebanon, VA with some of the teenagers from church.  We visited Spring City Baptist Church and worked in their publishing room putting together John/Romans booklets in Burmese and English.  I think we were able to complete about 10,000 portions of scripture.  The people there are so sweet; it was such a blessing to spend time with them.  

After that, we had two whirlwind days doing laundry and headed for AL to visit David's family.  Riley absolutely loved playing with her cousins.  The other kiddos seemed to love that she was able to interact with them this time.  It snowed while we were there.  In the years that I've been visiting AL, I've never seen it snow, let alone leave inches on the ground for several days.  David and I were able to build a snowman and have a snowball fight, and Riley enjoyed feeling the snow and watching us have fun.

Riley has learned many new tricks recently.  She's crawling all over the place, plays very well independently, and LOVES to eat table food.  This child would eat all day if we'd let her.  She finally cut her first tooth (thankfully that wasn't as terrible as I've heard it can be).  Riley's new favorite toy is a baby doll that Auntie Sarah and Uncle Jared gave her.  She giggles and laughs at it when she sees it.   

I can't believe 2010 has already come to a close.  This past year was definitely the quickest of my life.  Bible Conference is right around the corner.  This year's marks ten years since David and I met.  

We hope your 2011 is the best year ever and that you and your family are able to bring more glory to God than you did in 2010.

Thanksgiving, 8 Month Update, etc.

I hope each and every one of you had a very happy Thanksgiving (to God) Day!  We definitely did.  Everything is so special this year since it's Riley's first.  We started the day with breakfast at IHOP (that, we've decided, is going to be a Brown family tradition), headed home to cook and play with Riley, and then went to my aunt and uncle's for our Thanksgiving dinner.  There were about 30 of us including grandparents, cousins, and spouses/dates.  It's really nice (i.e., not stressful) because not everyone has to cook the whole meal; we split things up.  My mom makes sweet potato casseroles and green beans, I make mashed potatoes and a dessert, and each family brings a couple things so no one has to cook for days before hand (I'm sure Martha and Kirk do the most).  I'm always interested to see what edible "craft" my cousin has made with her kids.  This year it was a turkey similar to this one.  It was very cute.  I can't wait until Riley's old enough to enjoy activities like that.

Sometime between my last post and Thanksgiving, Riley turned 8 months old.  It makes me feel sad and excited all at the same time.  She's doing so many fun things.  Waving, saying bye-bye, crawling, etc.  She laughs and waves at random strangers, kisses herself in mirrors, and loves playing with her toys (especially this little stuffed banana that came in a "grocery" set).  She screeches when she sees David across a room and starts laughing and reaching for him, she has learned the "I drop it, the adult picks it up" game, and she eats like whatever she's getting might be her very last meal.  She's getting very good about responding to no.  If she really wants to do what you've asked her not to, she starts crying because she knows we're not going to let her do it.  All in all, just like every other stage, this is our favorite.  

We've also been updating our house.  We've been up late many nights during the past two weeks painting, tiling, etc.  I'm excited to show pictures of our kitchen, but I'm going to wait until it's finished.  The picture to the left shows the paint choices.  I will tell you that we ended up going with "Inch Worm" (top) and it looks great!  We've painted our bathroom a chocolate brown (I know, I know... drastic) which looks really nice against the white counters, white shower curtain, etc.  It was definitely a big change from our pale green, but David and I both love the way it turned out and how it coordinates with our bedroom (which is blue and brown).  We wondered if Riley would notice the differences, but so far, she seems totally unfazed by the new paint colors and other changes.  

Photo Ramblings

Not a Clothes Girl

Riey HATES trying on clothes.  As I mentioned in my last update, we're leaving for the mountains Sunday night.  I'm not expecting freezing cold weather, but I'm definitely hoping that it's a little bit cooler than it is here.  If that's the case, She's going to at least need some long sleeved shirts that fit.  Because she's such a peanut, the clothes we anticipated fitting at 7 months aren't going to.  We've been seeing what we can exchange for smaller sizes and trying to fill in some gaps in her wardrobe.  Consequently, we've had to try some stuff on (at home... I'm not brave enough to experience multiple outfit changes in the store) to see what fits and what doesn't.  She HATES it.  If I've got her, she tries to go to David to get away from it.  If David's got her, she tries to see if Mommy will save her.  It's pitiful.  You'd think we were ripping her toenails out (almost said teeth but she doesn't have any of those yet).  I'm sure this will change with age.  Not too many 15 year old girls hate trying on clothes.

I'm Watching You...

 

         This weekend, I found myself thinking about just how much being a parent has changed my life.  Of course there are the obvious ways:  less sleep (in the beginning, not now), more joy, less time to think about myself (definitely a good thing).  But there are less conspicuous ways, too.  For instance, I can no longer passively watch people deal with their kids.  When I see a “situation” arise, I’m immediately attentive (hopefully not in a rude way).  I want to see how the parents react, how the child responds to their actions, etc.  I want to see what works and what doesn’t so (even though I know it’s different for each child sometimes), hopefully, I can avoid some mistakes and go right to the correct response when we get to that stage in Riley’s life.  I can’t just think about the rapture anymore.  I have to wonder what would happen to Riley if the rapture took place before she gets saved.  It goes on and on. 

Since I was a kid, I’ve enjoyed reading the Elsie Dinsmore series by Martha Finley.  They were written in the 1800s and one thing that has always intrigued me is seeing how things were back then.  The lingo, the wealthy men spending much of their time at home with their families, and other differences between then and now definitely piqued my interest.  Now, I read to see how the parents dealt with children.  The author portrays several different types of parents throughout the series:  indulgent, strict, compassionate, etc.  The differences among the children are pronounced. 

Of course we know that our actions are constantly molding the future of our children.  I always knew that in my head, but I thought that the chronic thinking about my actions forming Riley’s life and heart wouldn’t start until we were down the road of parenting a bit.  Wrong.  We’re constantly discussing what we should do, how we should respond to certain situations.  I know it’s only going to get “worse” as Riley gets older. 

          So yes, moms, I’m watching you.  I’m doing my best to do it with the right heart and not a critical one.  When I see a response that doesn’t seem quite biblical or “right” to me, I’m doing my best to avoid the “I would never do that!” train of thought and stick to praying that I, as well as the mother that I’m observing, would make the right decisions in the future.  Being a mother is the biggest, most important thing I’ve ever done and I’m nervous.  I need God’s help and I need the examples of good mothers:  mothers like mine. 

Riley's 6 Month Photos

with Papa & Eebee

it's great being 6 months old

Enjoying the outdoors

standing holding with just one hand

6 Month Update

I can't believe it's time for another month's Riley update.  It's the most monumental one yet: 6 months.  I know I ask this every month; I can't help it.  How is it that our sweet Riley Grace is 6 months old?  Can she really be halfway to one?  David and I were just talking today about all the changes that are going to come between now and her first birthday, March 23 of next year.  Crawling, first words, etc.  I don't think we're ready.  I know we're not ready.  In spite of that fact, unless the Lord returns, it's going to keep on going.  Fast.

Enough of that.  Here are some of our girl's favorites:

*Giggling and smiling

*The page in her 100 words book with babies on it

*Her ladybug toy

*Black plastic spoons from the kitchen

*Pears & bananas

And here's what she's been up to since last month's update:

*Army crawling to Mommy, Daddy, and toys

*Sitting up without toppling over

*Making “Indian” noises when you pat her mouth

*Reaching for complete strangers

As for the 6 month pictures, those are on tomorrow's agenda.  

Quick Update & Photos

I told a friend not too long ago that when Riley takes good naps, I have lots of blog posts.  Thinking about it, that's really not entirely true.  I used to sit by her crib to help her stay asleep through the transitions between sleep cycles... if I didn't, she wouldn't have taken a good nap.  Now that she, thankfully, has been getting through those cycles herself, I haven't had to be in her room and I've been able to get lots of other things done during her naps!  What a blessing that has been.  It has, though, meant many fewer blog posts. 

Since I last posted, we've been quite busy.  We went to Alabama for the holiday weekend and we've had things going on at church with the young people.  

Here are some pictures of what's been going on in our lives lately.

Riley & Chloe

playing on the slide @ Grandmommy's house

meeting Bro. Joel Logan

with Grandmommy & Chloe

playing with her toys on the way home

the Junior Girls with their artwork