Buffalo From A Different Perspective

Last week, Ryleigh made her return to Buffalo, NY...this time, experiencing it in a whole new way.  From the outside.  : ) Mommy and Ryleigh visited Uncle Jason and Aunt Bekah to help them fix up and and get ready to move into their new house!

Ryleigh and I flew down to Charlotte on Saturday night where we met up with Yaya and Poppi and we all continued on the Buffalo.  It was nice having extra hands available because our little girl is a fidgety one!!  Once we got to Buffalo we had a couple of days before Uncle Jason and Aunt Bekah closed on their house, so we got to relax and show off all the new things we have learned since the last time we saw eachother (which was in April when we all spent a week together in California).  Great Grandma and Grandpa Elliott also made the trip to Buffalo so we got to enjoy spending time with them as well!!  They haven't seen Ryleigh since Christmas, so the change was quite shocking for them.  

Monday morning Uncle Jason and Aunt Bekah closed on their house and we all got to head over and take the tour.  Poppi and Great-Grandpa got to work instantly, tearing up carpet and making plans.  The rest of the week Poppi and Mommy had lots of fun decorating and making changes to Uncle Jason and Aunt Bekah's new house while Ryleigh spent lots of time with her Yaya.  

We really enjoyed being able to crawl all over Uncle Jason and Aunt Bekah in the morning and watch Poppi drive the car from the backseat.  But we sure were glad to get home and see Daddy and Lucy : )

Waiting patiently at the Greensboro airport to board our plane

Yaya immediately scooped me up when she spotted us at the Charlotte airport

giving Poppi a snuggle at the Charlotte airport too!

Playing with Uncle Jason first thing in the morning.  Big thanks to Aunt Bekah for borrowing lots of toys from a friend for us to play with!!

soooooo exhausted, but Poppi knew just the right thing to do to put me in the zone

spending time with Great Grandma and Grandpa Elliott

deep discussion with Poppi

Lucky for Great-Grandma, Ryleigh is still a little cuddlebug

being silly on our way to see Uncle Jason & Aunt Bekah's new house

Uncle Jason, Aunt Bekah and their new house

the swings never get old

Yaya insisted we go down the twirly slide

Uncle Jason and Aunt Bekah's hot tub felt more like a pool

enjoying some relaxing "spa time"

what? how did Mommy get me away from Yaya?

playing with toys at Uncle Jason's while everyone worked

hammin' it up

play session with Yaya

"Yaya, get me some puffs!"

Poopy face

enjoying puffs

showing off my clapping skills

Before we arrived in Buffalo Ryleigh had just started clapping her hands, well actually clapping her fists.  When she started doing it, we would say "YEEEAAAAHH!" and start clapping with her, so eventualy she associated clapping with "YEEAAAHH!"  so leave it to Yaya to teach her that it's called clapping.  By the end of the trip, she was clapping on demand with open hands : )

mmm celery

Aunt Bekah painting her red living room walls

Mommy getting the kitchen done

Kitchen Before

Kitchen After (Mommy refinished the cabinets, but the doors weren't ready to go back on.  Also, Uncle Jason and Aunt Bekah are going to refinish the countertop and paint the sink white...it's going to look like a brand new space!  Props to Aunt Bekah for hanging that light too!)

our "work room"

Poppi working hard on the bathroom that Mommy decided to gut while he was at Home Depot on day one

Bathroom Before (so you can undersatnd why Mommy felt the need to gut it and redo it)

Bathroom After...Poppi did a great job installing everything Mommy picked out!

Uncle Jason and Aunt Bekah making it feel like "home"

trying to mimic kissing sounds

of course, Yaya had to teach Ryleigh to say "Yaya"

cuddling with Yaya...we had to get up soooo early to be at the airport

Yaya and Poppi getting in their last snuggles

Happy Father's Day

Since Ryleigh and Mommy are leaving tonight for Buffalo, we celebrated Father's Day one day early.  We took Daddy to the pool so he could splash around with Ryleigh in the water.  His two favorite things, water and Ryleigh : )  We then had a little picnic lunch that Mommy made.  Steak sandwiches, a replica of one of Daddy's favorite salads, fruit and a delicious brownie.  Daddy spent the rest of the day cuddling with his little baby before she hops on a plane and takes off for the week. 

We love our Daddy...if you can't tell from these pictures....

walking in the water with Dada

I know it's sideways, but apparently that's how I taped it : /

wrapped up in towels after our swim

Mommy & Daddy's yummy lunch

Nothing like a Daddy cuddle

Ryleigh is Eight Months!!!!!!!!

Ryleigh at eight months (6-15-2011)

Eight Months.  Yikes.  I thought last month was full of new and exciting things...and then this month came along.  I didn't realize how quickly Ryleigh was going to morph into such a little person once she became mobile.  Now she's roaming around the house, picking and choosing what she wants to do and where she wants to go.  It is so much fun just watching her make choices and discover all the new things she can do.  And to watch her little face light up when she accomplishes something just melts my heart!  It is such a bittersweet time...but then again, won't every moment of her life feel like this?

This past month started out with a visit from Gammy who spent a week with us.  We did lots of fun things while she was here, like going to the zoo and swinging on the swings.  You can read about all the fun we had and see all the pictures and videos from Gammy's visit HERE.

We then celebrated Memorial Day by going to the pool and taking our first swim.  We had lots of fun playing in the water.  You can read about how we spent our Memorial Day and see the pictures of videos of all the fun HERE.

The rest of the month we spent hanging around the house learning lots of new tricks.  She started this month out just being able to sit and army crawl around.  She quickly learned how to go from being on her tummy, to twisting to one side and pushing up to a sitting position with her arms.  Mommy was sooooo excited when she first saw her do it!  It took her a couple of days to perfect it, but now she can get from tummy to bottom in one swift movement.  Ryleigh then started going up onto all fours, so we thought she would start crawling around on her hands and knees soon.  We were wrong.  She likes to prop herself up on all fours, but as soon as she wants to go anywhere, poof, it's back down on her tummy and off she scoots.  But she can get up on all fours and she rocks around while she's there.  Once she started going on all fours, she began pulling herself up on her knees using the furniture or her toy box or your legs or anything she could get her hands on really.  And then not long after that she was able to go onto her knees using nothing!  In this last week or so she has started pulling herself up to a standing position using the furniture, so it shouldn't be long until she starts walking around it!!

This past month she has also started (or at least we think she has started) to say "Dada" and "Mama".  Obviously she makes all kinds of sounds so it is hard to tell if she really is referring to us on purpose, but as soon as she sees her Daddy so immediately starts with the "Dada".  And she when she is fussy and tired she starts saying "Nana" (which I like to think is Mama).  But I know she will be talking soon enough and when she does we aren't going to be able to keep her quiet, so for now, I'll enjoy the babbling : )

We're still getting used to a mobile baby and it is still a surprise when we go into her room in the morning to get her and there she is, sitting on her bottom or standing up holding onto the side of her crib.  But babies grow up and that's what our little Ryleigh is doing.  And she's doing it wonderfully : ) 

peek-a-boo

American Idol with Daddy

 morning cartoons with our sippy cup

first time trying out the swings

terrorizing Lucy

playing on Mommy & Daddy's bed

meet your new Mack Trucks executive

"the couch ate my bottom half!!"

chasing Lucy around



First time in the swimming pool

with Lucy on her 2nd birthday

 

Lucy is still trying to decide if she likes or dislikes a mobile baby

Mac 'n cheese face! 

House wandering

eating puffs all by myself

Caught!

playing with Daddy in the clean towels while Mommy tries to fold them

Lucy gets a little excited when Ryleigh starts to make high pitched sounds

Mommy snapped this picture to document Ryleigh's first time pulling herself up on the furniture.  Daddy later informed her that she has done this numerous times before : /

This video is further proof of Ryleigh's love of the band Journey. Or her love of Meredith Viera.

starting the morning by getting into my toy box

being silly

Mid-day destruction

it's amazing that an 8 month old can have 2 full boxes of out grown clothes

This is what Mommy & Daddy deal with during car rides

Riding in her new big girl car seat

swings!!

Ryleigh is starting to think Lucy's bed is her very own floor pillow