HESS

 10 month old Riley

Today is Valentine's Day.

Even though today is all about loving someone....

I just want to say how much I love this boy.

Every time I come across someone who is expecting, I can't even being to tell them how quickly and how fast their lives will change.

I heard over and over again the usual things... 

but until it comes you don't understand.

Having this sweet boy has changed my life. The older he gets the more I fall in love with him.

Each day there are more and more characteristics I see in him that show how much he is like me and his dad and the things he gets from his grandparents.

He lights up my day.

Working gets hard sometimes. I work full time and then some.. then I do hair almost everyday I am off.

I'm not going to lie sometimes it gets hard. I'm so grateful that my rotation at work has worked out for us.

There's only one week out of the month that really is hard for me. After that week it gets back to the feeling that this job works great for me.
I went out with some moms from my ward and when I asked one of them what they did, she told me that she was a stay at home mom. She said it as if she was a little embarrassed. But you know, I kind of envied her. Staying home with these little angels is the greatest and job and I know my time will come. 

But back to Riley

 He is 10 months old and running everywhere! 

He recently realized that he can play with Wicket.

He loves drinking from his sippy cup.

One bottle in the evening.

He is not a picky eater at all.

This kid LOVES books! Jake and I have made several trips to the store just to pick up more books.

He will play with them in his room forever. Just sit on the floor flipping through them. I know its because we read to him each night and act really interested and point to the pictures. Its cute that he's got the hang of them being so interesting.

He loves shutting doors. He's so smart (or has smashed his fingers a few times) but he knows just when to slide his fingers around the door before it shuts. He shuts himself in his room, I go in there to do something and he instantly stops whatever he's doing and marches to the door to quickly shut it like, "MOM! Keep it closed!" There has even been a time where I heard a door slam and I searched the whole house.... he was in the laundry room just sitting in the dark quietly while I searched everywhere. He's so funny.

We had to get a bathmat for the bottom of the tub. He started getting so crazy in there. Not even for just standing but sliding everywhere. He'd get so hyper. That's why we love him.

Its starting to warm up and I can't wait! Swimming and sunshine is not something Riley got to do last year.

He's gotten to be the biggest cheeser. Not just in pictures but in general. 

We love it. 

The faces don't stop.

No more helmet for this boy either. I wish I had a picture of his head before. 

But this is the finished product. :)

It looks more round when his hair is shorter. But we were pretty happy with the improvement and that's all the doctor needed to hear. He even said it will round out a little on its own as he gets into his first year.