We went for a bowling night with our church which was fun! We actually bowl quite a bit compared to the average family I think. In fact, Jeremiah has been probably once a month with a couple of friends as well! He's got his own bowling ball and shoes now, if that tells you anything!
This was from another night bowling!
Later in March my parents came into town for a ski trip! My dad joined us one of the ski days while my mom watched Riley and then the other day just Jeremiah and I went skiing and both my parents hung out with her. We love a mid-week ski trip to avoid crowds and better yet, staying up in the mountains to avoid the drive! Riley's bottom two teeth started breaking through that week too. Sleep was... Rough, but those teeth are pretty darn cute! But in addition to her teeth, she was very congested and it wasn't getting better despite our best efforts. A week later, when I was at work, Jeremiah decided since it wasn't getting better that we should take her in to the doctor. Well, her oxygen wasn't reading well so they recommended he take her to emergency. Imagine getting that call while at work! Luckily she was still in good spirits, but they confirmed her oxygen was low (in the 80s) and that she had RSV. They suctioned her nose at the hospital which helped a lot, but wanted to watch her through a nap because that is often when oxygen dips and sure enough it did drop, so we had to take her home on oxygen... Luckily we did not have to stay overnight, and there is a Children's Hospital campus just five minutes from us, and as I said, Riley handled it like a champ! Oh, and we only ended up being on oxygen for a handful of days!
I mean... So sad but so stinkin' cute!!
We had a fun weekend visit from our friends Mel & Mason in April. Riley was reunited with her buddy, Bandit, we made it out for a hike, and made it out for dinner!
The weekend after, my sister had to come out to Denver for work so she decided to bring all four kids along and my parents flew up to help with the kids while she was doing work things. It ended being a great little family weekend! We all took Monday off too for a little more quality time. We went to the park, went on the Hammond's candies tour, went to Chuck E Cheese, and had lots of time just hanging around our house! It was a full house, that's for sure, but we loved it!
Riley's cousin, Reid, who is just shy of a year older than her... but much bigger!
My sister and I ran in training for a half marathon!
This was the following weekend when I completed a half marathon around my neighborhood! Heather was running a formal one, but I decided to join in support just from a distance!
The weekend after, now into May, we drove down to CO Springs where we spent the morning with Jeremiah's great aunt and uncle before heading on to our friends Lexy and Jared's house. We had a great morning with Ralph and Jan who were loving seeing how much Riley had grown since November! At Lexy and Jared's house we had a nice lunch before driving over to the Broadmoor hotel where we wandered around the grounds and the nearby neighborhood. It is a beautiful, historic hotel if you ever happen to find yourself in the Springs! That night we left Riley with Lexy and Jared while Jeremiah and I went to dinner and then comedian Nate Bargatze's show! He was hilarious! We've never been to a comedy show, but we both have really liked his Netflix specials and we had a blast! Riley was in great hands with Lexy and Jared so that helped!
Here she is with Jared
We celebrated Riley's "baby dedication" at church! It happened to land on Mother's Day which Jeremiah made a very special day for me with breakfast in bed and he and Riley picked me up a drink from Starbucks and then the dedication at church was a really nice celebration as well!
Starting Memorial Day I had three weeks off of work! Can't remember if I've explained on the blog before, but CO has a new FAMLI leave policy that went into effect Jan 1, 2024, however we started paying into it Jan 1, 2023, so there was this special exception for babies born in 2023 where we had until their first birthday to use an additional 12 weeks, either all at once or intermittently. I elected to use it intermittently and this was my first long stretch. I also used a day here or there if Riley was sick which was super handy to not have to tap into PTO. Because if there is anything I have learned it is that daycare will cause a loooot of sickness and/or send her home for barely being sick... Exhibit A, she was once sent home for "clear diarrhea"?? Anyway, back to my time off! We kicked it off by traveling to NW Arkansas. Why AR you might ask? Good friends of ours from here, moved there, so we wanted to visit them and their two girls! Their littlest was only about 2 months so we spent a lot of the weekend just lounging at their house, but also made it out for some nice walks, and to a really cool museum! Oh, we also endured a tornado! It was actually quite scary for the town, though their house ended up completely fine. We had to get up in the middle of the night and huddle in their laundry room. It was quite the sight, 4 adults, 3 kids, and a large dog, but we were very grateful to be safe and everyone managed to go back to sleep after, no problem. All in all, we loved the quality time with Chris, Emily, Grace, and Miriam! Then we were at home for about a week over which time, Jeremiah and I did our first date night out with a neighbor, teenage babysitter! We stayed close by for dinner and a movie, but it was a success! Our babysitter came recommended by another neighbor and the babysitter's mom is a NICU nurse and only a few doors up, so that was extra comforting! She is very responsible and always makes our space look more organized than we left it! She's pretty quiet, so I sometimes wish I could ask Riley how things went, but she always is happy and healthy the day after, so we can't complain!
Miriam, Grace, Riley
Riley loooved this swing and ever since we've been taking her to the park in our neighborhood for the swing and she loves it so much every time!
After a fun week at home with some great bonus Riley time, we flew out to AZ for a week! Riley got to see a lot of family she hadn't seen in a long time, and got to meet her new best friend, Theo for the first time! Our friends Tommy and Emily had their baby Theodore back in February and we finally got to meet him at 3 months old! We got some cute matching onesie photos and also managed to briefly get both kids napping at the same time so we could play a game free of distraction! With family we got pool time, puppy time, cousin wrestle time, and lots of trying new foods! We always love our trips to AZ!
This was back at home in our community rec center pool, which she also has been growing more and more fond of.
Daycare photos!
Don't mind Riley's hand in Theo's face!
The shirts say "Besties, Second Generation"
Our final little plan for my stretch of time off was our first camping trip with Riley! We obviously like camping enough that we wanted to try it out with Riley this year and it was a success! So much so that we went twice! But this particular trip we stayed only about an hour from home in case we needed to bail. We got a new tent for this season that is a 4-person, which comfortably fit both of our sleeping bags and then the pack'n'play for Riley to sleep in. We also were fortunate to have really nice weather that didn't get too uncomfortably cold overnight. We went on a couple of hikes, had some delicious camp meals, lounged in our hammock, and just enjoyed the quality rest time together!
An extremely rare documentation of me breastfeeding! I just barely made it to 11 months of breastfeeding and fully weaned. Starting at 7 months I had to supplement 1 bottle a day with formula because I tried and tried but had such a hard time keeping up with her needs. Very proud of this accomplishment though as it was a rough start!
I was back to work, but only for a couple of weeks before taking another few days off for a trip to Rochester! It had been too long (always is) since our last visit, so we were excited to get back there to see a lot of family, including immediate family flying in from AZ and driving up from NYC! Riley got to meet many of my cousins, aunts, uncles, and my grandma! It was special to introduce her to my Grandma Warren at 94 years old. She has some crazy number of great grandkids now... Somewhere around 20 I think? And that is with many of her grandkids who still have not had kids! Anyway, it was primarily a trip for spending quality family time. We had a baby shower for my sister, Emily, due Sept 23rd (the day before Riley's 1st birthday)! We of course went to Wegman's, Bill Gray's & Abbott's. Always have to hit some of the favorite food spots!
Jeremiah's cousin, Troy, actually was living in Rochester for the summer for a law internship! It was funny to be seeing both sides of our family on this trip!
We were back home for 4th of July because I had to work, but still had a nice little cul-de-sac potluck with our neighbors.
In mid-July we did our 2nd camping trip which was another success! Further out than our first one, this time just of Lake Granby, so we had really nice views. We did another couple of hikes as well and Riley really does a great job in the hiking backpack! The rocking usually gets her to fall asleep too. It's definitely an added challenge for whichever of us is carrying her, especially with any elevation!
The following weekend (can you tell we had a busy summer??) we drove out to Kansas for a quick weekend! Riley got to meet more family and see Jeremiah's grandparents again! As most of our trips are these days with Riley, it was very low key, mostly just enjoying time together, but we made it for a nice dinner out, to the zoo and a wildlife museum, and Jeremiah went golfing with his uncle while I went with his aunt to a cute little park and a drive around town.
Then the last weekend of July, was out final trip for a little while, this one to AZ again! Well, I flew to AZ and Jeremiah actually came to the airport at the same time as us, but he flew out to Cork, Ireland for work! I will touch more on that in a minute, but Jeremiah was thankfully there to help me through security and then we went our separate ways and I embarked on my first solo flight with Riley! She slept for a good chunk of it which was really nice. And strangers were nice and helped me with carrying the gate-checked stroller and carseat so it worked out fine! The primary purpose of this trip was the AZ baby shower for my sister, Emily! We had it at the Mulberry clubhouse and it turned out beautiful! It was really fun to be able to celebrate her both in Rochester and here. She deserves all the excitement and celebration! Riley and I stayed with my brother and his family this time since my sister Heather and her family were at my parents house initially. We went in the pool, Riley got some great quality time with her cousins Paisley, Parker, and Preston, and then made sure to get some time in with Jeremiah's family as well! My brother flew back with us to Denver for a quick work trip so that was handy to have his extra set of hands again through security and on the plane! Oh, and eating on his company's dime for dinner that night!
All the grandkids including the yet-to-be-born baby from Emily!
So as I said, Jeremiah flew to Ireland for work. He went a little bit early to enjoy some tourist time there and since we weren't going to be home anyway, figured that was a good opportunity. He met up with a couple of local coworkers who showed him around town, took him to the beach, and they played a game called "hurling". He also did a bus tour around the "Ring of Kerry" to see the gorgeous Irish countryside! Then of course, he actually had to do some work, but in the evenings got to enjoy some local pubs with coworkers too!
A carriage ride through part of Killarney National Park. The guide, Patrick, was this charming old man who kept laughing at his own jokes, it was very endearing, haha.
Unfortunately the Ring of Kerry bus tour was the only gray day while Jeremiah was there... but the views were gorgeous nevertheless!
Everything was so lush and green... the moss and warped trees felt like something out of a fairy tale!
Unfortunately right after my brother left and I was solo parenting without Jeremiah I was back at work and got a call halfway through the day from daycare that Riley was sick and needed to be picked up. She had a fever, but it was low grade and she was her happy self, so that wasn't too bad. I just stayed home with her for a day and a half. I went back to work and my stomach started feeling really off. Well, I got some sort of stomach sickness that was terrible for about 24 hours. I made it through our evening and nighttime routine somehow, dropped her off at daycare the next day and stayed home to recover a bit. It was quite rough! But Jeremiah got home late Friday night and we spent the weekend recovering and just enjoying no plans! This was the first weekend in August, and August we had no travel plans so it was a great kick-off to a slower month!
Jeremiah and I did another really fun date night, this one a sort of "progressive dinner" in LoHi (an area in Denver just NW of downtown) to some of our favorite spots. That weekend we also drove up to Erie, CO to celebrate our friends Jess and Josh's baby shower. They actually live in AZ but have family here in CO so that was fun to be able to go to together! We also got together in Golden with some friends from our old small group that we hadn't seen in a very long time which was really nice!
Now it is somehow September and I am in the midst of my last couple of weeks of FAMLI leave! We are enjoying this first week at home and then going to spend the next week in AZ. We are especially excited because my sister Emily and brother-in-law Bobby who I mentioned above were due Sept 23rd had their baby 3 weeks early, on September 4th! Our newest nephew Liam Charles Peck and we cannot wait to meet him! Riley has very briefly met a couple of other babies, but not really interacted with any babies this young so I will be curious to see what she does, if anything! Honestly, I'm guessing she will mostly just ignore him, but we shall see! We are so excited to meet him and see how they are doing, and then of course spend time with the rest of our family and celebrate Riley's birthday! It's going to be a great trip.
Baby Liam!! Such a cute baby!
I am hoping to make time for a first birthday blog update with more details of some of our favorite parts of our Riley June in her first year of life, so stay tuned. That is also an excuse to post so many of the other photos I had to say no to for this post since it was already so long.
The best daddy and a rare, sad Riley.
Football is back!
Jeremiah is very excited for the return of football, though it won't be quite as easy to have a lazy Sunday on the couch as it was with a newborn...
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