I love you with everything I have

Dear Riley,

I love you so much I can't even express it with words. And no matter what happens in our lives that will always be true! You are my son and the most important thing in the world to me. I will do anything to keep you safe and happy. I love you Riley David.

I love you, Mommy

Sweet Guy

Dear Riley,

I have been so busy I haven't been able to write. You are taking a nap right now and that is why I have time now. We have been spending as much time together as we can during the day because we miss each other so much. I really miss being with you all the time but things change and I just can't do that right now. So we spend most of the day cuddling or building towers with your blocks or playing with cars. I love it! My job isn't a bad job and it isn't too hard to do, I just can't be happy with it because it takes me away from you. Everyone tells me I will get use to being away from you. But I don't think that will happen and even though it hurts when I have to say goodbye I don't ever want to get use to leaving you. I do love coming home to you afterwards though, you just want to hold on to me as long as you can and its amazing! You have been talking a lot more lately. Yesterday you drank your milk really slowly and when you finally finished it you brought it to me. So I said, "Oh do you want more milk?" And you looked at me like I was crazy with your head cocked to the side and said, "Noooo...juice!" So cute! I'm really glad I was here to witness it :-) You are such a good boy. You like to share and you help me pick up your toys and when you find something you're not suppose to have you bring it to Mommy or Daddy. Its so funny how you watch what we do and copy us. Now when you watch Bubble Guppies when the episode ends you run over and grab the remote and try to start a new one. Or if I have the remote you look up at me as soon as its over and you watch me until I start a new one or put something else on. When you and Daddy drop me off at work I always get a high five from you and you wave and say bye bye and love you. I don't know if that makes it easier or harder to leave. All I know is I love you more than anything and I think you feel the same way about me :-) And I really hope you feel that way still when you get older. Well I have to get ready for work now. And then I'm going to cuddle you until I have to go.

I love you, Mommy

Love, love, love!

Dear Riley,

Hey buddy! I love you so much! You have been growing up so fast, learning new things every day! I'm sad that there are things I am missing out on now but hopefully your Daddy will start taking pictures for me. The other night you helped Daddy take the trash out. You carried your empty diaper box all the way out to the trash cans and tried to put it in but Daddy had to help you :-) Yesterday you learned to say "love love love!" I've been trying to get you to say as many times as I can haha. Today you were eating cheese and crackers and you pulled the crackers apart and used the naked side to scrape off the cheese from the other cracker and then you just ate the cheese out of them and not the crackers! Yesterday was my day off and you cuddled me so much! When I got home the night before you wanted me as soon as I got inside so I just sat down right inside the door and you came and hugged me and sat on my lap for about 10 minutes. Then yesterday you would take turns cuddling me and playing in your room. You were in your room talking so I had to go peek at you and you were sitting in the middle of the floor with a book and you were "reading" it out loud :-) Then you saw me so I couldn't go get my camera in time. So we cuddled some more and then you went back into your room and started talking again. So I peeked again and this time you were talking on the phone. You are so adorable! Every time I go anywhere now, computer, kitchen, bathroom, etc., you follow me and just stand next to me until I come back to the living room and sit down then you climb into my lap. I love it! We recently got new (to us) couches from Daddy's cousin Sarah. You have been taking the cushions off the couches so you can sit on the inside part. I don't know why but you love doing it haha.

Okay bud, that top part was written yesterday before I went to work, with the intention of finishing it when I got home from work. But I ended up having to work late and didn't get home till almost 11. So I am finishing it now. I was suppose to get off work at 8 but we got busy and you and Daddy came to get me but I couldn't leave. You started crying because you wanted me but I couldn't hold you. I felt terrible! So you guys went home and I had to get a ride from someone else. Last night was the first time I wasn't home to give you a hug and kiss goodnight :-( It made me so sad. But you woke up at 6:30 this morning (two hours earlier than normal) and you were so happy to see me. I was tired but I didn't care because I got to hug you :-) When Daddy left for work this morning you were laying down and you bent your head back to look at him upside down and waved and said bye. It was so cute so he came back in and gave you a kiss goodbye. We love you so much. I couldn't imagine our lives without you. They would be missing something amazing that's for sure.

I love you, Mommy

Mr. Independent

Dear Riley,

Hey sweetie! Oh my gosh I haven't even been working that many hours but I've been going in every day and I miss you so freaking much! You miss me too. You cry when I kiss you goodbye and when I get home again you sit in my lap for 20 minutes, which is a long time for you haha. I do love that part. You don't want to let me go :-)   You are getting more independent every day. You don't want me to help put your shoes on anymore. You hate when I try to help you eat. And now you want to be the one to brush your teeth even though you kinda miss your teeth completely when you brush them haha. And you don't like to be put to bed anymore. You only want to go to sleep if its your idea. Daddy told me that after you guys took me to work today you didn't want to take a nap. So he let you watch Bubble Guppies for a little while and halfway through the show you passed out on the couch :-) I wish I could have seen that. I told him he is going to have to start taking pictures of cute things like that when I am working. I hate missing out on a minute of it. I got a really cute video of you yesterday. I was sneezing again and I kept blowing my nose in between sneezes. You came over and wanted a piece so I gave you a little square of it and you held it up to your face and blew...with your mouth haha. It was so cute and funny. I got some tips tonight at work so I had Daddy get you some bananas! We have started calling them pajamas because of the bananas in pajamas song. We can't say banana in front of you because you will start saying nana over and over and expect to get one haha. We went outside for a little bit tonight because its finally cooling off again and you love playing outside. A neighbor was walking his dog and you tried to walk in the street to go see it so he brought her over to us so you could pet her. She was very sweet and soft so of course you loved her. You started crying when they had to go and kept pointing after them saying doggy doggy! I felt terrible! I wish we could get you a dog. Hopefully one day soon we will be able to. You love little dogs so much :-) But for now we'll just have to go visit Grandma and Grandpa so you can play with their doggies.

This is you last night when I got home from work haha.

You are such a happy baby, I hope that stays with you throughout your life. And I will do anything I can to keep it that way.

I love you, Mommy

Missing You

Dear Riley,

The past few days have been a little crazy. I got a call from Pizza Hut asking if I was still interested in a job with them. We definitely need the money so even though I hated the thought of not being with you all the time anymore I knew I needed to take the opportunity. Jobs are hard to come by at the moment. So I went in for an interview yesterday and then had orientation that night and started the job today. I only worked for 3 1/2 hours but it killed me be away from you. I couldn't wait until you and Daddy came to pick me up. I also went shopping for work clothes with Grandma Trina. And you really needed a nap so you had to stay home with Uncle Jacob watching you (you said Jacob and spider today!) until Daddy got off work. So I also missed out on a couple hours of spending time with you. But you slept the whole time so I wouldn't have seen you anyway. So now I am home with you and you are sitting on my lap while I type this. You haven't left my side for a second which makes me happy. You missed me too! This morning when I was doing the dishes you were vacuuming in the kitchen with me and I kept sneezing. So you took off into the living room and grabbed the tissues and brought them to me. You handed them to me and just went back to your vacuuming. You're so smart! You knew exactly what I needed :-) Okay now that I told you whats been happening I need to get off here and cuddle you while I can.

I love you, Mommy

Hot!

Dear Riley,

Well I guess it is fitting that you learned how to say hot and ice this week. The temperature outside right now is 109 degrees with a heat index of 114 degrees. It is hot! And we are going through lots of ice. I feel terrible because you keep putting on your shoes and going to the door because you want to go outside. But when we do go outside when we need to we start sweating instantly and its hard to breathe so I can't let you play outside :-( I'm sorry. But I swear as soon as it gets back into the low 90s again we will go out to play. And we will play outside all through autumn. You also learned how to say more and again. Its funny because it makes me realize which words I say to you the most. Also when we are getting you dressed after your baths you have started pointing to your "area" and say pee pee! It is so funny! And any time we say teeth you run to the bathroom saying "Teefs! Teefs!", then we have go brush your teeth or you get mad haha. You really are adorable! You like to pretend to wash people and put lotion on them and rub it in. You scratch your Daddy's back for him. You recognize the nickelodeon logo when I scroll through our recorded tv shows and you know that means its bubble guppies. So when you see it you jump up an down and say "Bub bub bubble! Bub bub bubble!" I could go on and on but you want me to play golf with you so I better go.

I love you, Mommy

Nana, nana, nana!

Dear Riley,

We had a pretty good weekend. Friday night your Great Grandma Karen and my cousin Joseph stopped by. And then your Grandpa George and Grandma Trina came over too. They also brought Uncle Jacob. You were very entertaining being your usual adorable self. We gave Grandma and Grandpa a picture you colored for them and Uncle Jacob said he wanted one too. He is going to college soon and he wants to put one up in his dorm room. Grandpa gave you his old cell phone and a charger so that you could have a phone that lights up. You have barely put it down since :-)

You while watching Bubble Guppies on Friday.

This is us on Friday.

You and Daddy Saturday morning.

On Saturday I didn't feel very well so I took a little nap. When I woke up I found you and Daddy laying on the floor under your covers watching tv. It was so cute I had to take pictures. And you guys didn't even notice when I did! After you and Daddy finished your movie we went to Great Grandma Karen's house to do laundry. While we were there you splashed around in the puddles that her sprinkler made, screaming and squealing with each jump. We stayed for a while and you played in with the doggies like you always do. You don't know how to say their names yet so you just call them all Dog :-) When we got home from there you took a nice long nap, you get cranky if you don't get enough sleep. After your nap we chased each other around for a little bit, growling at each other. Then you ran down the hallway and knocked over a box fan that was in our doorway and you looked up and said "Oops." It was so funny, I didn't even know you knew how to say that word, let alone use it right. You've also started saying "whoa" when you fall or slip. You are so adorable! 

Today we went to the grocery store to get some fruits and veggies. When we got there the first thing we picked up were bananas. As soon as you saw them you started pointing and saying, "Nana! Nana! Nana!". I said when we get home you can have a nana but that didn't stop you. You said nana over and over until we ran into my friend Kat. We talked to her for a minute and you even gave her a hug. Then we checked out and as soon as you saw the bananas again you started saying nana all over again. The people that checked us out thought it was so cute! Then as we left the store you looked back over my shoulder and said "Bye." and waved goodbye to everyone. Then when we got home and put the groceries away you saw the bananas again and ran over and held your hands out saying nana again. So we gave you a banana and you said nana after every bite! Then when you were done you wanted another one! Then later when you needed a diaper change, you climbed on Daddy's lap and he will do anything to get out of changing a diaper. So he said, "Not it!" just like he always does when he should be changing you. So I said not it too. Then you piped up and said not it too. Yet another thing that you have learned from your parents haha. And just so you know, Daddy did change you that time :-) Right now it is almost your bedtime and you went in your room and grabbed all 3 of your blankies out of your crib and brought them into the living room. Then you laid them out on the floor and snuggled. You look so cuddly, I think I need to get of the computer and go snuggle too.

I love you, Mommy