He's One!

Our littlest... Our youngest... Our precious baby boy, born 5 weeks early one year ago today...

Turns O.N.E!

It's so hard to believe he's already one. Yet it feels like he's been part of our lives forever.

The day after he was born he smiled. A true smile. We nicknamed him smiley Riley. And he has lived up to his nickname ever since. He is pure Joy. Pure happiness. He is just as laid back as his three siblings. But Riley totally fits the mold of youngest of the family. He is most happiest watching, observing and interacting with the big kids... And he goes with the flow. He's never been on a schedule and that is totally fine with him. If he's tired, he'll fall asleep. If he's hungry, he'll eat. It doesn't really matter where we are... he's just as happy to do his normal routine anywhere.

Yet he has his moments when he's just not willing to go with the flow. Especially if he isn't feeling very good or if he is really really tired.  He is 100% Mommy's boy. If he is tired, Mommy is the person he wants the most. If Mommy is not in the room... he is fine for the most part. But if Mommy enters the room... then look out! It's all over... NO one else will do. Mommy is his weak link. Although, he is slowly becoming quite the Daddy's boy recently, since he has started to wean from falling asleep while nursing.

He is the worst sleeper of our four kiddos. He didn't/ doesn't nap the same way as his big sisters or big brother did. He only takes one long nap lasting 2-3 hours or two 1-1.5 hour naps a day. He was only sleeping 8-9 hours at night, but has recently worked up to sleeping 11-12 hours at night. This is more of the norm for our kiddos... and probably something we took for granted with our first three before Riley was born. Never the less we know how fortunate we are to have him sleep at all! We know this isn't always the case for all babies. :)

He loves to eat! He wasn't really interested in big food until he turned 6 months. We waited and waited for him to show interest... but his only interest for the first 6 months was to nurse. He still prefers to nurse often... but has since moved on to loving food too! He's a great eater and there isn't much that he doesn't like. His favorites are bananas, zucchini, potatoes, fried rice, white cheddar cheetos and most recently chocolate... thanks to the Easter Bunny! :) 

He's about 27lbs and about 32 inches tall. He hasn't quite mastered walking yet... but he's SO close. His mind is WAY ahead of his body. He gets a little flustered because he wants to do so much but his body isn't quite reacting yet. But he loves his walker and cruises around the house getting into as much as he can as quickly as he can! It's quite a sight to see... he keeps us on our toes... he's at the fun age of getting into EVERYTHING along with putting EVERYTHING into his mouth. Ha! He can definitely be a stinker! But one flash of that smiley Riley smile and it melts our hearts immediately. 

Needless to say... our littlest has us all wrapped around his little ONE year old finger!

We adore him so much. He rounds out our family perfectly. Just when we thought we were blessed enough... he came into our lives and we can not imagine life with out him. 

Happy Birthday Rye Rye!

We love you, little Monkey Boo! :)