It's been too long!

Finally figured out my username and password! Sakes alive! Might start blogging again.....Thanks Whitney!!!!!

July 2009

July has been a fun-filled month for the Mauro's (when mommy isn't working). Riley got to visit her Aunt Josie and Uncle Mike in Philadelphia, PA early July. Can I just say, everyone needs a vacation from taking vacation! We were always on the go. We went to the Philadelphia Zoo, which is by far one of the best Zoo's I have been to. We also went to the Please Touch Museum. Riley's favorite room was the Alice in Wonderland room, and she really enjoyed shopping in the grocery store. She wasn't a very good shopping cart driver. She nearly knocked a woman down! The Mutter Museum was very interesting, but not a good choice for a 17 month old. On our way back to SC, we stopped in Maryland to visit Riley's Great Aunt. We went to the National Zoo (we're all abotu zoos huh?). While at the zoo, we met up with one of PJ's old pals from Dreher HS, along with his wife and 2 daughters. On the 4th of July we went to a park and Riley got to ride the train and the carousel. Like I said, a very busy vacation!

Riley tried swimming in a big pool for the first time yesterday. We went to our friend's Steve and Laura's house. Beautiful pool!! I know where I would be everyday the rest of the summer! Riley was a good sport about the pool UNTIL mommy had to try and dunk her. Not a good thing to do. She was done for the rest of the day. The only other time she got in the water was when she fell in by the steps trying to grab a cup. Mommy rescued her, while daddy was drinking a cold one. She might have nightmares about this. I hope this hasn't scarred her for life!! She was so pooped she fell asleep as soon as she was in her car seat.

Until next time....

Summer Fun

I know I have been a total slacker in keeping up with the blog. Riley is 16 months today. So hard to believe! She is getting into everything. She is running everywhere. She loves to play with Bella (dog). She played in her new swimming pool for the first time yesterday. I thought she would be scared to get into the water, but she got right in (head first). She has already been sent home from daycare, for biting 3 times in one day. That has been a hard thing to break. She went go a whole month without biting. We were so proud, but then she bit 2 children in her class. I guess reinforcement is key! She knows the majority of her body parts and loves the "If you're happy and you know it" song. It's been a fun time, but hard as well, especially teething. I am ready for that to stop! Hopefully, I won't take 1 1/2 months to update the blog. Pictures to come.

Riley has her first full strawberry a couple of weeks ago. It was the cutest thing I had ever seen. Despite the look on her face after her first bite, she kept on munching! She has also sort-of mastred the art of walking...like Frankenstein! (Will try and upload pics later. Not working right now).

Riley's 1st B-day

Riley turned 1 on February 8th. I can't believe it! When I think back to how I was a year ago...let's just say I have come a long way! Riley had a great birthday. Lots of family and friends. All in all everything went well. Sad to say, he was not a big fan of her cake! Here are some pics of her big day.

We're back!

So, I am terrible! I have gone a whole 3 months without updating Riley's pictures or letting you know what she is up to in her 13th month of life. She is trying to walk. She is cruising like a mad woman, but will only take 1-2 steps unassisted before she falls to her knees. She is actually a very fast crawler (so we have been told at daycare), and she can climb the entire flight of stairs in our house! We have a little dare devil on our hands. She has said a few words: dog, ba (bottle), be (bella), dada, mama, and she even said papa when her granddaddy Mauro was in town for a visit. She has officially been added to the will! We have seen our first snow fall and made our first trip through Atlanta. She is eating anything we give her, even pesto and eggplant. Her favs are chicken nuggest, fish sticks, and green beans. Here are a few pics of her from LaGrange, where she met my best childhood friend's little boy, Harper. AND her acting silly!

One Month Older

Better late than never, right? The last few weeks with Riley have been non-stop. During the week of Thanksgiving she started eating veges on her own, learned to pull herself up and is crawling like a fiend! We are definitely getting a work out with her now. She also turned 10 months old yesterday. I cannot believe she is almost 1!

Last week was not a good week for the Mauro household. We all got a nasty stomach bug! It breaks your heart watching your 9 month old vomit. It has to be one of the saddest things I have ever seen. We managed to make it to Portrait Innovations on Friday to have her Christmas pictures done. I always seem to forget I can set up how I want some of the pictures done. I just seem to go along with the photographers at PI like I have no say. But they are fast and cheaper than going to a very nice studio, and with Christmas around the corner, I had to get my cards done! Here are a few pictures of Riley from PI (not to be confused with Pawley's Island!).

Halloween and Random stuff

Riley had her first Halloween. She was the cutest pumpkin I had ever seen. At the time she was pretty sick with an ear infection, but we braved the weather and went to the Wade Hampton game. We lasted until about half time. Here is Riley pre-pumpkin and as a pumpkin.

Riley celebrated her 9 month birthday by watching Clemson lose to Florida State. You would never know she was upset. She played all night! She has the cutest Clemson/Carolina outfit that my lil sis Nancy gave her. Even the guys thought she was cute! I love her new Clemson bow. I am addicted to http://www.mybowdaciousdesigns.com/. You can custom make the bow you want or Rachel (owner) will create a style for you. Oh, back to the game....we have also realized Riley loves to flirt, especially with older guys. We're in trouble!

We had a fun time at G.G.'s last night. Riley got to meet her Great Aunt Darlene, whom PJ affectionately refers to as Aunt Din-Dean. I guess Darlene is hard to say when your a kid. She had the best time! She especially loved the hat Aunt Din-Dean got her!

Pumpkin Fun!

Riley made her first trip to the pumpkin patch today! She loved seeing all of the pumpkins. I was more excited about dressing her up and putting that big bow in her hair!

Riley is trying desperately to crawl. PJ does a good job of putting her pacifier a few feet away from her to make her crawl for it. Alas, she still can't seem to figure out how to move her little legs. She does do a really good job of rolling and as PJ says, breast stroke, her way to what she is trying to get to. It's so cute to watch.

The Spinx RunFest was yesterday. I completed 13.1 miles in 2 hrs and 42 mins. The funny thing was the marathon winner passed my friends and I as we were entering the Drive baseball stadium to finish. So, he technically beat us by 13.1 miles and 2 minutes! It was very grueling for me. I am glad I didn't, but I cannot say with confidence I would ever do it again or even attempt a marathon. As I crossed the finish line I thought about all those folks running the marathon! I was ready to stop. My ankles and thighs are paying for it today, but I did it, and that is all that matters!

Fun Times

Last weekend was "Girls Weekend". So much fun! It was great getting away, no husband, no baby, no dogs, really no responsibility except to have fun. And boy, did we! The last time we had a girls weekend was in 2005, so this vacation was much needed by all of us. It's always fun to meet up and reminisce about things from those good old high school days! Here is our updated 2008 picture.

I am not doing a great job with keeping up with my blog. Could it possibly be because I have a facebook account and 3 e-mail accounts to manage, oh AND a child. Probably! I am still training for the half marathon. October 25th is just around the corner, and I can't wait! I have come to realize, I am not the best trainee. As in, training myself. It was all I could do to muster the strength to run 9 miles last night. This business of not losing weight when training is NOT for me. I have been training for 8 weeks, and have lost a total of 4 pounds people!!! I know, I know, muscle weighs more than fat, yada, yada, yada. I think I will stick to smaller runs, like 5k's and 10k's. More power to those of you who like to go the distance. I have come to accept that I like to run short distances.

Riley's cousin Hannah, Aunt Amy, and Uncle Scott came for a visit over the weekend. It was so fun to see the girls play with one another. It's so hard to believe my baby girl is 8 months. I see changes in her every single day. I am so blessed. We ventured downtown Greenville for the St. Francis Fall for Greenville Festival. It was great! Lots of people out and about, and some really good bands. Of course we had brunch, again, at the Blue Ridge Brewing Company. I feel like I only go for the mimosas! Oh, and the grits! What's wrong with that??

I start my 8 day work week in the ER. I am really nervous about it. I don't know why I am psyching myself out about it. I just have to remember, I can only do what I can do. If I don't know something, call someone!

Here are the latest pictures of Riley. I must say the Tiger picture is my favorite, even though the Clemson Tiger football team needs therapy.

Grr!

Ready for Fall

The end of week 6 in training for the half marathon was hard. It took all I had to run the 10 miler I had yesterday. It was a lot harder than last Sunday, probably because I worked beforehand. I am just tired!! It took 2 hrs 9 min, which was 6 min better than last week. This Sunday will be doubly hard because I will be at the beach with my girlfriends for a much needed vacation! I was sad to get home after Riley had already gone to bed. I had not seen her all day.....BUT she did start to cry, and cry, and CRY. She cried for an hour. Poor tummy! We finally had her laughing at 9:00! 1 1/2 hrs after her bedtime. It always make me feel so helpless when I can't calm her down immediately. Anyway, I am off tomorrow. Riley will be heading to daycare as I head to the Gaffney outlets. Ah! I can't wait :)

Here are some updated pics of the little girl. Daddy just had to put her in gamecock apparel. I was not home! Her Uncle Jeff came to see her, and she is wearing the top of her pumpkin costume for Halloween.

The Latest...

Running 10 miles is hard!! I ran 10 miles last night with two of my friends from work, who actually got me into this mess! It took us 2 hrs 15 minutes. 2 hrs of that we ran. I am pretty proud of myself. I did not think this was something I could do. Needless to say, I am in some pain today. I was only able to do 3 out of 4 this morning. So tired!

Riley is getting another tooth. There is something new everyday. Her Nana has been watching her while I have been on the dreaded 2nd shift schedule. So, better go. Time to get ready for work! Only 3 more days of this!

So Big!

Riley turned 7 months this week. It's so hard to believe how big she has gotten. She has a tooth coming in finally! You can't see it yet, but you can feel the ridges starting to poke through. She has also learned how to shake her head no. I am sure she doesn't know what it means, yet, but she will certainly get used to it as she gets older. Lord help us! She went to her first football game last week. To my surprise, she handled the noise very well. We ended up leaving at half time which was around 9pm. That was a late night for her since she usually goes to bed around 7:30. She also got to see her cousin Hannah last weekend at G.G.'s house. I missed it because I had to work (what's new??). It's so hard to believe Hannah is 9 months! Time sure has flown by.

Running update - I am now running more than half of my miles. Saturday is 8! My proudest day was this past Wednesday I ran 5 miles. It took me 70 minutes, and I ran 50 of those. I am determined to cross the finish line!

Here are a few pics of Riley over the past couple of weeks.

Such a cute fanny!

She loves to take baths now!

Go Generals!

Hannah and Riley at G.G.'s house.

Hannah and Riley

Riley with her moo moo shoes from Malachi.

Go Tigers! These are the overalls Lee gave Riley. So cute!!

Girl's Day!

Today I elected to keep Riley home with me on my day off. She had a very rough couple of hours early last night. I keep hoping a tooth is going to pop through that bottom gum, but she is still the toothless one. Her cries were more like screams, and nothing I did (i.e. Mylicon, teething tablets, Baby Orajel, Tylenol) would soothe her. She eventually fell asleep after crying for probably 2 hours. Poor baby! Today we have had a fun girl's day. We went to see her daddy at school. She met a lot of teachers and students. How awkward to walk back into high school again? You could just feel all the eyes staring at you. Glad I am not in high school anymore!

I have been keeping up with my 1/2 marathon training. My longest day has been 5 miles thus far. Last night I did 4 (per the training schedule), and I ran 2 of those miles at once. I was amazed. My legs are paying for it today! Here are a few updated pics of Riley with her cousin Bess. Food update - we are battling pears now, which I think she likes more than peaches. She also got to watch her first Clemson game this past weekend. Sorry it was a loss, but nonetheless, she looked cute in her outfit! Now, if only we could get a bow to stay pinned to her hair :)

Apples and Beer

This week marked Riley's first encounter with fruit. Let me tell you she was NOT a big fan of apples. She practically gagged every time. So, I thought I would try bananas. Again, I received the yuck face. I wish I had two more hands so I could take a picture of that face! Strike 1. The next day we tried fruit again. She liked it much better since I added the apples to her cereal. Not as strong. Success!

Riley has also learned that Blue Moon just might be one of the best beers on the planet. She tried to drink her Grandpa Jones' beer. Too bad she has to wait 20 1/2 more years!

Half-marathon is in 9 more weeks. I am up to 4 miles...running and walking. More like walking. I just want to cross the finish line!