Riley Scooting Around and Frozen Dead Guy Days

Riley decided to get a little mobile tonight. How do you get your baby to scoot on the floor? Entice him with an electrical cord like every good parent would. Well, I tried toys, but of course they are of no interest. Here's a short video (now that we have a computer to download our video to). Expect to see a lot more video now that I am getting around to seeing the past 7 months of video we have taken.

This past weekend was the annual Frozen Dead Guy Days in Nederland. Yes, that's the celebration of a frozen dead guy that the family has cryogenically frozen so they can bring him back to life (Oh man, good luck with that!). We wanted to go see the dead guy, but they were charging $25 - ha ha. We went up for our first Colorado festival with our friend Krista. We got to see the Hearse Parade, coffin races, the largest rice krispy treats ever and of course Rocky Mountain Oysters. Here is a video of ALL of us trying it.

Melvin and Riley FINALLY meet!

James, Kristy and Melvin (brother and fam) came to visit a couple weeks ago. It was so great to get to see James and Kristy since I haven't seen them since before we went to Prague. And of course, the best part, we FINALLY got to meet Melvin in person. I have been fortunate to video chat with him, but not to squeeze and spoil him like a proper Aunt should! What a cutie and he knows sign language! I would tickle him and he would sign for "more", I about died! He could sign "please" and "thank you" and way more that I can't remember. Brian and James got to go skiing on Saturday, while Kristy and I caught up and played "let's take turns putting a kid down for a nap". Melvin and Riley got to take swimming lessons together and we all went out for Brian's birthday. I think me turning 30 this year won't be so bad since Brian is 32 and now a well-established 30-something man.

I was hoping Melvin would help Riley figure out the whole crawling thing, but it was a dud. Actually, after seeing a 15 month-old boy, I think I would like Riley to stay immobile for A LOT longer. Man, those toddlers can move and grab! Poor Elliot and Oliver had to eat while Melvin was sleeping because he loved to try and 'help' with their bowls. We are also really looking forward to the cousins being best friends since they are only 9 months apart!

James and Melvin hanging out celebrating Brian's BIG 32

Brian's best pose for the camera

Aunt Kristy giving Riley some lovin' and Riley giving his signature weirdo pose

The women minority, now the boys have the edge

Update

Well, I keep meaning to post some new pictures and video and haven't gotten around to it. So I will just type a quick update until I get around to the extras this weekend. Riley has officially got a pediatrician that we will be seeing more than once now that we are settled in one place for at least a year or two. I knew he was skinny, but it's always funny to get it confirmed by a professional. Riley is 29 inches (97%) and 16 lbs 11 oz (21%). That's right people, the tall and skinny has manifested at 6 months of age. Actually, I noticed it back in December when we weighed him at the Health Dept. I am now officially surrounded at home by guys who can eat whatever they want and not gain any weight. Awesome!

Oh yeah, and I am officially employed! Woo-hoo! I got a job as a Scientist for a start-up company in Boulder called InDevR. I am working on an instrument called a Virus Counter, that they designed and just launched this month. It's great so far and it's really nice to work in a small company. Now, if I can just get my science talk back and get rid of the baby talk I did for 6 months. Brian is still trucking along as a post-doc at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

I got an iMac and will finally get to view and edit all of our videos of Riley that we haven't gotten to see because our old laptops couldn't even process the HD video. So that is my project for the weekend - 6 months of video to go through. I have a feeling I might not get to all of it.

Riley 1st Christmas

Wow, I uploaded these pictures and forgot to post them on the blog. Here it is February and I am posting Riley's 1st Christmas....bad mom. Laura and Dad came up for a week for Christmas. Dad got us Beatles' Rock Band and we jammed like the Partridge Family.

Santa Riley giving/eating Grandpa's gift.

Santa Riley ripping some paper. I was hoping for the crazy laughing baby like on youtube, but he was more interested in getting it into his mouth like a normal baby.

Oliver and Dad reuniting together on the couch (they are trying to act like they didn't miss each other). Oliver got to spend about 3 months with Dad while we were coming back from Prague and driving to Little Rock and they bonded. Bonded in fact so much I now have a cat who WANTS our attention!

Aunt Laura playing with Santa Riley.....SO cute!

Riley visiting Santa for the 1st time at the Bass Pro Shop.

Rocky Mountain National Park

My Dad and Sister, Laura, came to visit for Christmas. We went one day to the Rocky Mountain National Park and tried to do a driving tour. Turns out a major portion of the park is closed from October to June due to dangerous driving conditions. Well, we still got to see some pretty amazing mountains at about a 2 mile elevation. It's only about an hour drive, and once we got to Estes Park there were Elk on the side of the road. We were wondering why people were just pulled over on the side of the road or stopped in the middle of the road at some places.

When do you notice that you are 2 miles above sea level? When you try to climb up some rocks to get a great shot with the mountains in the distance.

We end with a "My 2 Dads" shot. Riley decided to start up the screaming while in the car seat again while my Dad and Sister were in town. After the hour long ride in the back seat to and from the park Laura and I needed a break and switched places with Dad and Brian after dinner. Isn't it cute seeing the men in the back seat with the baby for a change? :)

Christmas Card Outtakes

I had this great idea for a Christmas card (I know, I know, this is kinda a late post) and got lucky that it worked out as funny as I thought it would. I was worried I would have to make the reindeer costumes but I got lucky and found them at Target, exactly 2 left. The final card was done at Sam's and they don't let you save the image, but we did one for ourselves at the end with the same picture. The cats were great sports for letting us torture them and didn't get too upset with Riley yanking on their reigns. Ho, Ho, Ho, here are some outtakes from our camera:

A little vacay in Little Rock to see some old friends and get ready for Thanksgiving. First, Laura threw Riley and me a baby shower. Then we hit up Seth's birthday party, and had some Thanksgiving fun. We were able to have a nice size Thanksgiving because Brian's parents came to spend the holiday with us and then help us move out to Boulder, CO.

Thank you Target for carrying some sweet baby urban clothes. It's hard to see but Riley is trying to show you his t-shirt labeling him as a Pink Floyd fan just like his Daddy. His cousin Melvin donated a sweet hat and some baby Vans to make his outfit complete. While he didn't act too happy during the shower we sure appreciated seeing everyone and all the awesome gifts.

Then we headed out to celebrate Seth's 30th Birthday that same night. Riley really appreciated the mustache theme that Gazell thought of. He looks like a baby Daniel Day Lewis during Gangs of New York. Turns out Riley might be a night party person since he behaved much better at this party.

Hanging out with Grandma on Thanksgiving and sporting his fall themed outfit and bib.

Whew! All that partying and Thanksgiving holiday activities really tired out Riley and Aunt Laura. Now, onto Colorado!