When she was little

(Heads up: This is a long one! It's a compilation of things from the past few months.)

Robby is constantly saying that time seems to have passed very slowly over the past few months. While I agree, I somehow simultaneously agree with the statement that I hear at least once a day from other parents, that “they grow so fast!” It’s incredible how many changes and patterns an infant can go through in such a short period. I constantly find myself referring to things she used to do by saying “Well when she was little she would...” I mean there’s no doubt from looking at her long legs and Robby’s family that I’m sure she’ll quickly become the replacement for my stools and ladders around the house, but obviously she's still tiny!

Anyways, here are some of things to remember from when she was so little:

When she was little, like two weeks old little, we quickly realized that she quite possibly had nearly one hundred facial expressions. Most of them came out during two specific times. One, when she was waking up. Each expression was like its own warm ray of sunshine lighting up my day (cheesy, but it’s the best way to describe it). And the second time she pleasantly contorted her little face, scrunch by scrunch of the skin of her tiny eyebrows and lips and nose were when she was working out a little something, or more accurately a big something, in her pants.

When she was little...

...she had the most aggressive, frequent hiccups

...she sneezed in sets of three

...she was commented on of how much she looks like Robby

...we called her "squeaks," because she’d always squeak as she’d wake up in her crib; more recently, she wakes up talking happily

...had (still has) the most amazing bald spot on the back of her head from rubbing her head while curiously looking around

...I'd call her lovebug because I thought her face looked like a little bug (that's the face that looked like a bug to me, just below)

...she didn’t like tummy time

...she learned how she’d get barreled (in waves) one day by practicing pigdog stances with daddy when her knees would give out while standing

...she would work out with us, punching her arms and kicking her legs as we did this ridiculous video workout called Insanity

...I had the luxury of reading a lot to her while she nursed - my favorite was "Four Seasons in Rome"

When she was little, like three weeks old, we learned about the new pace our lives has taken when Robby took me “shopping” for my birthday. Don’t read that last sentence and think Robby is the kind of gift-giver that he just takes me shopping. This year, he understandably just didn’t have the time. I just have to say, he is the best gift giver - always surprising me with the most perfect gift that half the time I would have never even thought of on my own. From the parking lot to the second store, we stopped to feed Riley twice and change her three times. She also embarrassed Robby with her adult like gas in Anthropologie, because you just don’t tell strangers “I swear, that was my three week old daughter.” It may sound overwhelming, but it’s actually very peaceful to relinquish the control you thought you had over your life.

When she was little, during that first month, either we were lost in enamourment (I think I just made that word up), or she was just a fairly

easy newborn. Either way, due to the love and support in the way of groceries and dinners brought to us, and the sweetness of our little girl, it kind of felt like we were on the kind of vacation, that due to weather or transportation or something we couldn’t leave. We would have a little happy hour in our backyard, taking turns holding her, while enjoying the September weather. Not gonna' lie though, after a while of this luxury, we had to find ways to not go crazy over the cyclical waiting game that comes with a newborn: Waiting for Riley to cry because she is hungry. Waiting for her to stop being fussy (luckily that wasn’t too regular). Waiting for the next diaper to change. Waiting for the next round of fascinating facial expressions to be enamored by.

Now that she’s just so big, like a whole 12 pounds we’re talking...

...she always looses her sock on her right foot first

...has a terribly adorable, sad pouty face

...definitely has the cutest stretch in the whole world as she raises and straightens both her arms, with her hands in tight fists as she yawns

...loves TV; will find even the smallest TV, no matter where it is if it exists in a room

...likes to watch her “horsies” (our prior-to-having-a-baby, well-behaved, Rottweilers) while she goes on walks on daddy-day care days with them

...seems to like water (baths) and being outdoors, like mommy

...loves sucking on everything, especially her fingers and fists

...scream/talks (happily) with a really high pitch, it's very girly and very funny

...loves her jumperoo that she got for Christmas

Just a couple of other things to remember...

...we love spending our mornings on Skype with Wafa in Italy

...we love spending our afternoons with our friends from prenatal yoga

...Ri went to her first Triathlon in her first couple of weeks of being around. Go grandpa!

...we hung out with her twin cousins at Balboa Park

...loves sleeping in with mommy once the sun comes up

...has such fair skin!

...went on her first road trip to AZ and her first boat ride

...and of course had her first Christmas

Last but not least, the generosity and love over my entire pregnancy and the first few months have been unreal. Including, but not limited to:

...My dear work family at Scripps threw me a shower in which the gifts literally filled my living room, and that’s not including the 2-3 gifts that I left every shift with in my last trimester.

...Our friends the Walkers that generously brought us dinner and then shot a few unbelievable pics of her on our living room chair and resting in the top drawer of her dresser, that mommy indecisively painted three different colors. Mind you, that does not mean three times. It means three colors. There was sanding, priming, multiple coats involved. The pain of perfectionism.

...And then there’s Tia Holly...where can I begin? One time when Ri was 2 weeks old, Holly stopped by on her scooter. After being here for a while, she called her husband, Tio Jose and said “I’m leaving in a couple minutes,” and over an hour later was still absorbed in holding Riley. We told Holly she could come by anytime. If she believed us she might actually be sleeping in our guest room. We love Tia Holly.

...And my unbelievably generous sister, Aunt (or Thia in greek) Adrianne. She has literally saved me thousands of dollars in all of things she has supplied us with.

...And Ri's grandparents who can't ever get enough of her

...And And And...there are so many loving people in our lives! It's incredible.

I am definitely the luckiest girl to have seen and experienced all that I have so far with Robby as simply Two. And now that we are Three, I couldn’t be any more content.