Twas the week of Halloween

Happy Halloween!  Boy, did we have an exciting week!  We had a great time getting ready for the Halloween celebration and when the day finally arrived, we were ready! We started our prep on Sunday by carving our pumpkin (see below).  I picked out the design, Chris was the expert carver and Riley supervised the operation - but not before posing with the pumpkins a little! 

Then, when Halloween finally arrived, we had so many themed outfits that we had to get in all in one day!  We got a onesie from an AJ client that fit Riley perfectly and Halloween bibs from Grammy and Grandy that Riley made sure to use for their intended purpose!

We got all ready for trick-or-treating and donned the costume!  How did Riley decide that he wanted to be a giraffe, you may ask?  Well, it was the only costume that came in his size.  But I think it looks pretty darn cute!

After our family photo session, we rounded up the troops and started our trick-or-treating.  Patricia, James and Simon joined us and we went around the neighborhood for about an hour.  We decided we had the best decorated house and the most adorable baby, by far!  Everyone loved opening their doors to see the cute baby and Riley got more candy than he knows what to do with.  He has been encouraging me to eat more and more candy so he can have some chocolate milk tonight.

I have to say, we had a very successful first Halloween!

Go Buckeyes!

This weekend, we went to a friends house to watch the Ohio State game.  We came wearing our school colors and cheered our team on to victory!  What a well-matched scarlet and grey family, huh?

What's for dinner?

We couldn't decide what to have for dinner the other night - and then we had an idea...  why don't we whip up some Riley Stew?  

Anyone want to come over to share?

Take your Riley to work day

It was such a beautiful day yesterday that it was a perfect day for ice cream before it starts getting too cold outside.  Riley and I harnessed up and walked over to the shul to visit Chris and bring him his snack.  The ice cream was delicious and Riley didn't want to be left out of the fun so he got a lick too!  I think he really liked it but he also reacted to how cold it was!

After Riley had his lick, it was up to Chris to finish the cone.  It was one of those dipped waffle cones with almonds on the outside (yum!) but every time Chris would lake a bite, the almonds would fall on Riley's head... so we created a kippa helmet to keep the nuts off the baby.  Riley didn't seem to mind!

After snack time, there was just 45 minutes left till the end of the day, so Riley and I stuck around so we could walk home with Chris.  As you can see, Riley was a big help in finishing up the projects that Chris needed to get done.  Maybe next time, Riley will stay awake for more of the excitement!

Photo shoot

What do you do with your day when you have hours of free time and a very cute baby?  You have a photo shoot, of course!

Riley is very photogenic (in my very humble opinion) and here are a few of today's adorable shots...

Snuggly

What could be a better way to end the weekend than with a nice warm bath?  And the best way to finish off a bath is with a snuggly warm robe.  Riley loves his bath time and always looks forward to wrapping up in his fluffy towels and robes.  This adorable robe is from Grammy and Grandy and you can tell how much he loves being wrapped up in it!

5 week check-up

This morning, we brought Riley in for his 1-ish month check up.  He did a fantastic job (ignoring the minute he screamed after his shot) and now weighs in at 10 pounds and is 22 inches!  The doctor was really happy with his progress and says that he looks perfect!

Riley usually goes to sleep around 11:30pm and sleeps through until 4am.  He has a nice long sleep chunk at night which is great for our sleep schedule too!  He doesn't like taking naps on his own in his crib during the day - I think he gets lonely - but we are working on that this week.  I found that he likes to be swaddled for his naps too.

We are making sure to have Tummy Time each day and Riley's neck is getting really strong! He even rolled from his tummy to his back both yesterday on his play mat and today at the doctors office - needless to say, she was impressed!

Weekend fun

We had a pretty lazy weekend around the house.  We had lots of snuggle time and as you can tell, Addison wants to be as close as possible!

Riley is wide awake after feedings and that is when he is the most alert and fun to play with!  He is learning where his hands are and when his pacifier falls out, he sometimes puts him hand to his mouth and tries to suck on his fingers.  He is getting closer and closer and we hope that he is able to soothe himself without a pacifier soon.

1 month celebration

Today we celebrated Riley being 1 month old!  This month has brought us so much happiness and fun and we have really just had the best time being parents to our little Riley. Each day brings us something new and exciting and we can't wait to see what new tricks Riley can do the next day.

Because this is a special occasion, we had to celebrate!  As a 1 month surprise, we decorated Riley's nursery with animal decals.  Now his crib and changing table are safari themed and we look forward to pointing out the animals and having him notice them.

And what kind of celebration would it be without cake?  We had a special chocolate 1 month old cake.  Riley didn't get to eat any, of course, but he is looking forward to chocolate milk at his 4am feeding!

Riley's first Sukkot

This weekend, Riley got to celebrate his first Sukkot. Chris was having a Sukkah Hop for young families at the shul and we were invited to join. We went to 3 sukkahs and at each one, had a part of a meal. Riley was really well behaved the whole time (mostly sleeping) and got out at each one. The rabbi blessed him at our last stop that he would have 119 more years to enjoy sukkahs. 

With each hop, Riley wiggled a little lower in his snuggly outfit and by the end of the afternoon, we had to go searching for him.  At least we know he was staying warm!

Tonight, we brought him to shul for Simchat Torah!  He was wide awake and taking in the whole experience.  Everyone came to say hi to him and when it was time to march with the Torahs, we attached a little flag to his stroller and he joined in the parade.  When it was time to sing and dance, we stood on the outside of the circle and joined in.  Chris was holding Riley and a Torah at one point, the little Torah still being much bigger than our little baby.

We have had a busy few weeks with holidays and now the next one that we can look forward to is Hanukkah!

Riley's first bottle

Yesterday, we introduced Riley to a bottle for the first time.  The doctor told us to do it this week and that babies accept a bottle from dad much more willingly than from mom at first.  So we filled up the bottle and tested it out.

Riley was a champ and not only finished the first trial ounce but asked for another.  He didn't seem to mind that we were feeding him with a bottle - didn't even seem to notice actually.

We gave him another bottle at his 2am feeding too.  Good news for me as I get to stay in bed for this one - bad news for Chris as he is now on the hook for a night time feeding!

Magic swing

This weekend, the Gift Fairy visited us and left us a magic swing!  

We put it together, set it up and let 'er rip! 

Riley loved the swing and he even likes to sleep in it!  We are going to find a way to work swing time into our afternoon schedule so both Mommy and baby can get in a good nap!

The only problem is we don't know who sent us this magic gift...  There was no gift card or packing slip and Babies 'R' Us couldn't tell us who sent it.  So if anyone has any leads, let us know who we can thank for this magic swing!