happy half-birthday, cupcake

I just can.not.even.believe.it. I know I say it all the time, but seriously, didn't I just come home from the hospital? Didn't I just return to work after maternity leave? The saying is true: the days drag on but the months/years fly by. It really puts into perspective how much I should be relishing in the little daily moments of life as Ri is rapidly changing. We have officially boxed up all of our NB-3m clothing and are in daily outfits of jeggings, sandals and halter tops. I yearned for the day she would be old enough and big enough to wear these and now I am sad that we are not able to just wear our jammies 24/7 and get away with it.
Rilynn has been the BEST child the past 6 months. Seriously, I know there are plenty of other super easy kids out there but I am so thankful that up until now, I can say I have had one of them. Who knows what the future holds, but so far she has been the happiest little thing. She isn't as chill as some of my friends' babies, but just as friggin' happy.

Cupcake is the nickname Ri's wonderful nanny (although I don't like calling her a "nanny" because I consider her more like a dear friend or family member) gave her when we first started with her back at the end of January. She said it was because she just wants to eat her up. So, the nickname has stuck and I am pretty happy with it. I mean, who doesn't love cupcakes?!

She is busy busy busy and could quite possibly be running as soon as she can stand up & keep her balance. She gets quite pissed off as soon as she is on her tummy and can't figure out how to get her flailing legs to move her forward into a crawl. So she just lies there, grunting, whining and kicking like mad. She then gets super pissed if she is on her back and can't get herself onto her tummy. Actually, she has done it a few times and will even sleep on her side some, but I am pretty sure she has learned that someone else can do it for her if she acts pathetic enough.

Ri weighed in at 14.1 pounds and 25.5 inches long at her 6mth doctor's appointment. I am five foot on a good day. Doc said that right now she is on the scale to be 5'3 when she is older. It really freaked me out to think of her as an adult, and taller than me.

She is a fabulous sleeper and doesn't seem too sensitive to sleep. She usually sleeps from 8:30/9:00 PM- 6:45 AM  with 3 naps during the day. We do have our occasional regression whether it is due to congestion, teething, wonder week, etc. but they are few and far between.

Ri is eating a bit more. We are close to finishing our 8 oz bottles at every feeding and are now also eating solids 2x a day. She has done really well with the solids and the spoon. As far as veggies go, sweet potatoes with some cinnamon seem to be her favorite, and Ella's Kitchen Strawberries and Apples have been a huge hit in the fruit department.

Our favorite game is still hide-under-the-blankie-and-giggle. She will now try to play this with anything- her shirt, burp cloth, bib, diaper.
She loves her exersaucer and has started grabbing at things so she can sling them around and then throw them on the floor.

She loves her feet

Trying to pick up one of the eggs from her Aunt Jess

 We are officially past the ooo's and coo's and are now babbling and squealing.

We have had teething symptoms for two months now but I think we are officially about to see some sprouts. At least I hope so! She has not been "talking" much the past few days, the drool now resembles that of a Saint Bernard and not only has she been difficult with naps but for two mornings this week, we have woken up at 4:30 for no apparent reason and has had some awful diapers that have left her poor little bum blistered and makes me hurt to look at it. She uses her finger as a teether and sometimes I look at her and I would swear the chick is chewing gum. WTH? We actually saw her doing it last night as she watched us eat dinner so I am thinking we might be imitating? So funny.

She is still obsessed with Copper but is now trying to grab at his face when he licks her and will then get ahold of his fur.

She is getting better at sitting up on her own every day. We are so close to being there but not quite confident in it yet. I have started letting her sit for a minute or so in her bathtub with me holding her upright instead of her lying on the infant incline. She loves it. Its like a whole new world to be able to see her toys floating in the water.

She definitely has Daddy's lips!!

Hanging out at GiGi's

We still don't have much any hair.

And does it at all come as a shock that I am now considering cupcakes as the theme of her first birthday?!

easter 2013

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend! Ours was exhausting, busy and wonderful.

I finished my gold-leaf Easter eggs (you can find the tutorial here), and they turned out fabulous. Seriously, you can't mess these up. I will definitely do them again one year.

Gold-leaf Easter eggs

I bought some el cheapo plastic Easter eggs at Target last week and we have been having LOTS of Easter-inspired play over the weekend. Baby Ri has thoroughly enjoyed throwing them around, seeing the array of colors and listening to them clink and clank around in a basket. We filled some with different materials to make a range of rattle noises (think pasta, rice, etc.), and we are now playing with them in the bathtub for a bit. In the future, I plan to use them to make a busy bag for alphabet matching. For more ideas on using all of those eggies, check out this post.

Easter Sunday I got up bright and early to make sure we were all dressed and in our Sunday best for church. Catholic mass on Easter Sunday somewhat resembles a stampede of animals trying to get to one watering hole. With a 5 month old in tow, I was determined to be ahead of the herd and in my seat well in advance. My anxiety over such things don't play. Therefore, Ri was the only one to get breakfast and the Easter baskets had to wait until lunch.

Ri was great at church until time for communion so we hung out in the foyer.

 Ri's custom Easter dress turned out adorbs. Seriously, I didn't want her to ever take it off. The bonnet was my favorite part. Hubs said she looked like a pilgrim. I told him I was taking that as a compliment. Unfortunately, the weather was not as favorable as one would hope for Easter. It was thundering when we were in church and then it rained until late afternoon. So even though the sun came out a bit later, the grass was too wet to get pics of Ri in her attire.

Some of my family came to our house for Easter lunch. Ri decided to take her only nap of the day at that point, so we got a quick glimpse of our Easter basket and she was ready to peace out. 

My Easter pilgrim checking out her digs. Easter goodies

with my mom and siser

We then hung out and everyone watched Hangover II on tv (I know, we all joked about what a wholesome family movie it is to watch together on Easter). I snapped pictures of Copper playing with his new toy, a.k.a one-of-Ri's-he-decided-to-steal-out-of-her-basket-while-she-was-sleeping. 

We then all loaded up and went to the in-laws for the big Catholic Easter gathering. It was loud, bustling, and full of food. Ri racked up yet again with more Easter goodies and decided there was too much going on to nap again for the day. 

I will be back tomorrow- Ri Baby's half-birthday is here! Tear.