Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

I have a soft spot for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. It was what was playing on the TV last year while I was giving birth to Riley. It was so weird how calm and quiet it was during those last minutes of pushing. And the TV was on and to the right of my bed so I kept looking over to the parade and kind of used the floats as my focus point. I will never forget that.

So even though T-day is a week later this year, the day and the parade will forever remind me of getting our very own turkey, something we couldn't be more thankful for.

We have a perfect son, wonderful family, fantastic friends, are healthy, and live in a beautiful house with food on our plates. We are so blessed and grateful for all we have. :-)

A Year of Riley

I've been taking monthly pictures of Riley since he was born. It turned out to be a lot harder to keep up with than I thought it would be, but it's so fun to look back and see how he's changed over the last year. Man, that hair is out of control!! 

By the way, he's checkin' in at 24.5 lbs and 28.5" long/tall. He's starting to take some independent steps and loving it! He pushes the furniture around the whole house. He can bark when you ask what the doggie says. His other words are "mama," "dada," "ba-ba" (for bottle), "yucky," his own version of "doggie," and he's recently started saying "yellow" which is totally random. I'm sure I'm forgetting other gibberish that we call words. He's also getting the hang of the little sign language we're teaching him So cool. He's like a real, live person! 

Here's your pictorial journey of Riley's first year on the globe:

Riley is ONE!!

I can't believe our little baby bug is one. It's crazy how fast his first year flew by. We celebrated with a monkey-themed blow-out in our house. We only invited immediate family and a few friends so it wasn't out-of-control. Just a nice celebration of our monkey man's big birthday. I had a blast putting together his decorations and trying to make his birthday unique. My mom outdid herself with the cake(s). We had a big cake and the obligatory smash cake for Riley. Check out the pics of her awesomeness. The woman is talented!

Riley did great with the attention...imagine that. He was outgoing and funny and the life of his party, just as it should be. Such an amazing little boy. I'm so proud of him and all he has learned in his short little life. We are so blessed to have him in our lives! Expect another year milestone post after our doctor's visit tomorrow. I'm so anxious to see what his poundage is ranked at these days...

Here are some highlights from the big day. For more, check out my Flickr site.

I think he thought it was a pirate theme:

Banana, lemon-line, and very cherry Jelly Belly beans:

Half of the snack table with lots of monkeys and bananas:

The high chair of honor:

The big table, minus the cake:

My version of a 'forest':

Loved the huge monkey and safari balloons!

Overview of the snack table:

Amazing cake, #1:

Amazing cake, #2:

Big cake and smash cake:

Get excited, it's cake time!

And somehow, I got no pictures of actual cake eating. 

There's a video though.

He has started 'smiling' when a camera is pointed at him:

Got the year's hottest toy and is kind of freaked out by Elmo so far. Hopefully it passes because this is one funny red monster. 

Probably distracted by a crumb or something:

Totally tired and kind of ready for it all to be over:

Chilly Diversions

Uh, I mean Coldplay! So, we followed up our blast-from-the-past (with style) in Denver by coming back to OKC and heading out on a brisk Sunday evening for a night with Chris Martin and pals. Have to say, big switch from NKOTB....as if needed to be said. Very chill, very fun. I love Coldplay and I was so glad to be out on the town with my husband and friends. Ahhh, lovely end to a lovely weekend. 

The right stuff

Things have been a whirlwind 'round these parts. I finally finished a huge tourism project I've been working on since we returned from Philly and after it was complete, I hit the road for a 36-hr getaway to Denver with Jimmy, Mike, and Jimmy's sister Unity. 

Why the travel? Well, to see New Kids on the Block, no doy! We had a blast. So. much. fun. They played all of their hits and it was so cool to be surrounded by all the same people that were at that first round of concerts back in the day. With quarter-age enthusiasm to boot! Like-minded souls meeting for a little reminder of way back when. I felt like a Beatles fan with all the screaming and freaking and I can't remember the last time I enjoyed myself quite that much. It was like 7th grade all over again...but with beer. 

Here's everyone, Hangin' Tough:

No H8!

If you haven't watched this poignant clip from Keith Olbermann, please consider taking 6 minutes to do it.

Equality is an American right, people. That's what this country is all about. I hope when my son is an adult, he can read about all of this and wonder how anyone ever thought that the crap going on today was ok.

Happy Halloween!

Riley's first Halloween was very low-key, but fun! We made the rounds to all the grandparents and even squeezed in a trip to Andy and Jaimie's pad for a much-needed late-night grubfest. He's a hot-natured kid  and since it ended up being close to 80 degrees on Halloween night (hello?!), we had to undress him before we put in the car and then redress him before we showed him off. I think he was over it by night's end, but he seemed to have fun rockin' his monkey.

Here are Riley's many faces: