Wordless Thursday

A Year

How do you measure a year?

Can a year be measured in bounces?

In sh-sh-shhhing a sweet newborn boy?

Can a year be measured in rocking?  Or swings?

Sleepy yawns, eye rubs, or startle reflexes?

Bottles washed?  Ounces drank?

First sweet smiles?

Or is it measured in sibling kisses and proud smiles?

 

Do you measure a year in miles spent in Baby Bjorns?

Or the tightness of a swaddling blanket?

The volume of a sound machine?

Or the moments when your baby looks you in the eye?

Is it measured in ounces and pounds?

Inches?

Or the minutes spent in tummy time?

Can you measure a year in baby giggles?

Do you measure a year in sleepless hours at night?

Or cuddles of a heavy sleepy head on your chest?

Do you measure a year in rolls to your back or rolls to your front?

In packages of baby food?

In green veggies eaten?  In green diapers changed?

Can you measure a year in smiles?

In hours spent crawling?

Peek-A-Boos said?

In helpful big sisters?

Can you measure a year in silly dances your daddy makes you do?

In bath water and shampoo?

How about with puffs and Cheerios falling from high chairs?

In baby rolls of fat? 

I measure a year in objects used to pull up on.

In splashes at bath time.  In balls thrown and caught.

I measure it steps taken around the couch.

And books read.

A year can be measured in clapping, didn't you know?

In Cheerios, always in Cheerios.

The cuddles too, for they are endless.

Hair "gel" and faux hawks.

Time can be measured in "ooh!'s"

In waves at friends.

And can it be measured in the first step?  

Or the multitudes of miles to come thereafter?

Can you measure a year in tickles?

In giggles?

In cries?

Can it be measured in waffles eaten?

My year can be measured in love.  

In sweet baby smiles, in the love of siblings and the pride of a big sister.

In goofy facial expressions.  I measure my year in looks given to Dustin that say, "aren't we so lucky?"

I measure a year in my sweet blue-eyed baby boy's happiness.

Always with happiness.

Happy Birthday, River Monster!

Big Riv: Day 5

From Reese:
River is: my biggie biggie
Special
A cowboy
Splashing like crazy in the bath tub
My best friend
Like a star
Hims always smiling
Booga booga- him like that all the time
He's one
Likes cupcakes
He dumps water all over the place
He gobbles up chicken nuggets
Kicks his legs
Takes a nap
He's my brother and a chicken, mama

Her birthday wish for him is a new fish tank.

So Happy Birthday, Riv!
Love, Your Biggest Fan
Reese

River: Day 4!

River is a sweet and loving soul. He's always been the kid who will rest his head on my shoulder or give hugs. He gestures to be held and is always happy to be held and cuddled. He just loves snugly, lovey time.

Tonight at dinner he kept feeding me and he would smile and laugh because he was so proud of his good deeds. He loves to be sweet on his parents.

He also loves his extended family. When he sees baby Kenna he nearly leaps from my arms out of excitement. He thinks she's the cutest, bestest ever. So do I. Sometimes his love is a little rough, I think Kenna would like to run the other way, but his intentions are kind-hearted even if they're a little scary in actuality.

He also loves his friends. We saw Spencer last weekend and River pointed and gave me his trademark, "ooh!" We went over and he leaned in for a hug. Seriously. It was the cutest thing. Two cute baby boys hugging before they ever know it's not manly to hug. River even went back in for a second one.

Finally River loves -more than anything- his big sister. They hug and kiss a lot. He thinks it's wildly hilarious to give her "pat-pats." They're more like smack-smacks but he means well.

So, day 4, I choose to recognize my cuddly baby. His sweet, heartfelt demeanor and his joy at trying to show love to others. Hope you remember to cuddle your mommy when you're 17 Buddy!

Wordless Wednesday: Bath Time

More photos!

1. Self portrait
2. Something I love. (I opted for something silly since Reese and River pretty much dominate all other pictures)
3. Something from my closet.

River's Birthday Week Day 2

Today was Dustin's turn for an idea. And he decided his favorite thing is River's facial expressions. He looks so silly and funny sometimes and we just crack up at him. If only there was a window to his thoughts.

Tonight at dinner he was dying to grab ahold of our edamame. Since he turns up his nose at anything green we were shocked. But we let him eat as much as he wanted. Whenever he ran out he would look around like, what the heck you guys?! Where's the good stuff? It was absolutely adorable.

Next up was bath time. When it was time to get dressed he laid on our bed naked and rolled around for ten minutes before we could get ahold of him. He'd look at us and you could almost hear him say, ha ha come and get me! Nothing cuter than an ornery, naked baby rolling around playing keep away!

So Day 2: hilarious faces by the River Monster. We love 'em, Riv, hope they never grow out of ya!

River's Birthday Week: Day 1

I went back to look at my posts from Reese's first birthday week and remembered I posted a picture and a thing I love most about her each day.  I teared up a little reading about those precious baby days with her.  Thinking about her being the same age as River is now seems so crazy.  Especially because they have so many similarities, but mostly, they're completely different.

So in honor of River's last week of being a baby, I'm going to post about things I love most for him too.

Day 1:  His giggle.

As I got ready this morning I could hear Dustin and River playing as he got dressed.  Dustin was thumping the bed trying to get River to come closwer and River was cackling as he crawled away.  The sweet sound of his giggle filled the house and we were all smiling at it.  He laughs all the time.  He's extremely ticklish, especially his neck and feet so we can get him going pretty quick.  Reese loves to play peek a boo or other games just to get him laughing.  No one can get him going like she can!  His laugh makes us all happy and it reminds us that life is good.

Photo a Day!

Sun and a front door. Both were old pictures but they still worked great!

Button

Apparently the kids don't have one of these today. Yikes!

Wordless Wednesday

Monday and Tuesday Photo Challenge

Monday was "a stranger" and Tuesday is "10 am." I loosely interpreted Monday because I feel weird about taking pictures of random people. And the picture of River was like a stranger to me because he's been so much bigger for so long. And 10:00 is our reading time.

Besties

These two have wrestled and giggled all weekend. Reese thinks River is the cutest boy ever and River thinks Reese is hilarious. They're the best of friends, ask Reese she will tell ya, Riv is her favorite!

Finally Friday

I meant to put these up on Wednesday but time got away from me. So finally here they are!!

#febphotoaday

I decided to take a photo challenge. I've been pretty slack about taking interesting pictures lately. River is impossible to pose, Reese is going through this hair phase right now that is not great and the four walls we live in are pretty uninteresting in the dead of winter. I need a challenge to spark up my creativity level so I am trying one of the challenges from Instagram just to see how I measure up.

So I'll post my pictures here to my blog too to help get me back in the habit of sharing and posting and let's see if that will help me get out of my rut! Feel free to critique my interpretation of the challenge guidelines or really whatever you want. I read all the comments and really appreciate them.