We're back!!!

Oh wow. It's been almost 5 months since I've updated this blog. Yikes. Since August 23 (my last post) SO much has happened.

1) We took a vacation to Hilton Head with Kirk's parents. Riley hated the ocean but loved the pool.

2) Kirk accepted the job as the Senior High Youth Director at Glen Ellyn Bible Church, so we packed up moved from North Carolina back to Chicagoland.

3) We moved into a townhouse in Wheaton (about 4 blocks away from my grandma!) and are still getting settled.

4) Riley started crawling at about 6 months old. She quickly became a speed demon! She was fast!

5) About 2 weeks after she started crawling, she pulled herself up to standing. That same week, she got her two bottom teeth.

6) Kirk's parents came to visit for Thanksgiving. Riley got spoiled - big time.

7) At 9 1/2 months old, Riley took her first steps. Within a few days, she was walking everywhere!

8) We celebrated Christmas with my family. Riley got spoiled - big time.


We are still working on getting settled in our new place, but are so thankful to be back in Chicago. It's so nice being near family and friends. Kirk loves his job at GEBC and has been really busy there. He has his winter retreat with the youth this upcoming weekend.

Riley and I are trying to keep busy and avoid the cabin fever that can set in during winter. Riley loves to sing, dance, blow kisses and pull all of our books and DVDs off the shelves. She is still working on eating solid foods...she gets about 10% of what we give her in her mouth, the rest is on the floor. She recently learned to blow kisses and gets on kicks where she'll go for several minutes doing nothing but blowing kisses. She also loves to sing. If you say "Riley. Sing!" she will (loudly) sing the one note she can hit. She also can't stop herself from dancing whenever she hears music. After just a few notes, she starts to shake her little butt. My favorite is when she'll do it while she's in my lap nursing!

I have been enjoying being near my good friends again (and closer to Minneapolis!) and am thankful to have my family near by. It's also so great to be back at GEBC (the church I grew up in) although it feels very "full circle" to be back there!

I'm getting back into a good routine so hopefully that will make me be better at updating this blog. And I'll start writing about things other than Riley...maybe. :o)

Sweet Home Chicago

(Please ignore my spelling errors! Spell check isn't working and I'm a terrible speller! Don't judge...i have other skills!)

We just got back from almost 2 weeks in Chicagoland. It was an almost perfect visit. The highlight was definitely my sister Stacy's wedding. It was so fun to celebrate her and Brett. I'm so excited to have Brett as my new brother-in-law. He's a perfect addition to our family! Kirk officiated the ceremony which made it extra special. The ceremony was sweet and beautiful and the reception was a great party.

We got to see so many of our friends and family over the 12 days and it was fun to introduce Riley to everyone. She was such a trooper! She was totally off her schedule and didn't get good naps. It was really sweet to see her meet her Aunts, Great Aunts and Uncles and her Grumme (we call my grandma Umme and since she's Riley's Great Umme - her name is Grumme!) for the first time.

While we were there, Riley celebrated her 3 month birthday and also began chewing on everything! We think she's starting to teeth because she's always putting her hands, clothes, blankets, etc in her mouth an drooling all over the place! She slept 7-8 hours every night we were there (unfortunately- that hasn't continued since coming back. The first night home, she slept 5 hours and last night she woke up every 2 and a half hours...punk!).

I think our stomachs are still recovering from all the food! Between my mom's cooking, my grandma's cooking and hitting all of our favorite restaurants - it was basically one big food crawl! I think we are both still full!

All in all, it was wonderful. It was a little hard to come back here. It was so nice to have so much help with Riley and be able to go out with friends and be close to family. We also have come back to 95-99 degree heat here! Kirk's busy summer of youth events is about to start and I'm trying to be ok with being alone with Riley while he's gone a lot! Especially because he's taking the youth to Logan, WV - one of my favorite places! I want to go so bad, but a 3 month old and a week of YouthWorks don't really mix.

Below are 2 pictures of our trip. More to come - assuming people email me the ones they took! We didn't take any pictures ourselves! oops!

Brett, Stacy, Me, Kirk
Carrie and Christy

@ Stacy and Brett's Rehearsal Dinner

4 generations! My mom, me, Umme and Riley!