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!