We have been having a blast here this past few weeks here in Inlet, New York. Last trip here a year ago River was quite the eating, pooping and sleeping blob (who got an incredible amount of attention!) and now he is crawling up the stairs so that we can chase him, eating buffalo wings (and everything else!) getting in the water, and screaming like last year because it is so cold, going on new boat(s) with an annoying life preserver which really seems to piss him off, and again, getting an incredible amount of attention!

pure fun.

13 months of watching you grow, “give kisses to the baby” (and “…the mama”, sometimes), play “where’s River?” over and over again, grunt, go “uh, uh, uh” when you want food, from pointing with your wrist to pointing with your finger, go from not noticing Inu to chasing him around the room saying “Dogum!” with much excitement, watching you not even be able to sit up to pulling yourself up and walking a good 10 steps (and then realizing that crawling is MUCH faster!) playing with toys and finding that you love interactive books and music toys best, of getting loved by all your family members, of travel to Colorado, Hawaii, New York and being the best baby traveler I’ve ever met, of going from breastfeeding to solid food with difficulties along the way that we got through together with patience and love, of staying home with your mama the first 6 months of life and then heading to daycare where you made lots of friends to having your mom and dad pull you out of daycare again for the summer (such will be your life!), and most of all, it’s been 13 months of fun and happiness and love that all of us have been given by your sweet, laid back and upbeat personality. We are so lucky to have you in our lives, I love you with all my heart babe! Thank you for being the most amazing person that I have ever met!

Whew! It’s been a crazy month!

River has been traveling the world (well, hawaii and colorado at least) played with grandparents, and turned one! I can’t believe that my little baby has transitioned into toddlerhood. It’s gone by so fast!

So River enjoyed Hawaii with mommy at first, then she left for China and he stayed with daddy for another week. They enjoyed going to beaches and playing with Matt, who took to scuba diving quite well I hear! When the vaca to hawaii ended, River and Kyle set flight for colorado to begin the grandparent visit! He played in Fort Collins for a few days and then headed to the second carson home in wyoming where he had a blast with all his toys and went on hikes!

Mommy came home on the 28th and was so excited to see her little boy! The spent the night in Fort Collins with the Carson’s before heading to the Laughery’s for a week. While at the Laughery’s River was practicing words that he had slowly been learning (”duck” we decided was the first, and most frequent!) and seeing friends (and meeting ones like Jalene’s new baby, Gavin) and enjoying a good, and short ball game. He was so cute during the game, but the words that tell the story best are my dad’s. He wrote an email shortly after we returned and I am going to post it into this blog- hope you don’t mind dad! You’re just so good with words, and they really express your love for your grandbaby!

Written by Ron Laughery, July 7th 2008:

“I got an opportunity this past week to take River to his first baseball game. So, on Tuesday, July 1st, Erin, Kyle, Beth, Colin, Mary Beth, River and I went to see the San Diego Padres play the Colorado Rockies at Coors field. It was a wonderful night for baseball, being a little cloudy and the temperatures in the 70s for most of the game. It was a good game with the Rockies winning 4-0 and breaking an eight game losing streak (and starting a five game winning streak) with Aaron Cook pitching a complete game shutout in a record time of 1 hour and 58 minutes.

But that wasn’t why it was so special…

River, as it turns out, is quite a baseball fan. I’m pretty sure he hasn’t figured out all of the intricacies of the game (though someone born on July 4th may have come specially pre-wired for understanding America’s pastime), but he certainly knew that what was going on out there on the field was worth paying attention to. He sat on my lap for most of the game and watched more than most almost-one-year-olds would as I talked him through the game. He certainly understood when exciting things happened because that’s when everybody cheered and stood up and we clapped and made noise! He also made friends with everyone around us, and I mean everybody. All in all, there were about 15 people cheering with him and giving him high-fives before the game was over.

And, almost as though this game was made for him, he had just learned his first word a few days before, and that word was “duck.” Now, the word duck never seemed like all that much of a baseball term to me. But, that night, the announcer’s decided that the phrase they would use every time the Rockies had runners on base (and the picture they showed on the scoreboard) was “Ducks on the Pond.” Needless to say, this generated lots of excitement and repeated shouting of the word “duck” by our little baseball fan and his Pap.

Life has given all of us precious moments that are as sweet as anything we could ever hope for. To be sure, I had many of these moments with my kids and look forward to many more. But, some of my earliest and fondest memories as a child were of going to baseball games with Pap and Dad. So, to have this opportunity to pass this tradition down a few generations to River was a joy as sweet as any I’ve ever had or could ever hope for. Take that boy to a ball game sometime and you’ll see what I mean…”

So it was quite an eventful week only to be ended with River’s birthday party. He was so much fun that day and seemed incredibly happy! During the day we took some fun pictures of River naked on his new wooden bike, got some ladybugs for his birthday from pap, along with many wonderful toys, clothes and books from family and friends- but most of all was getting lots of attention and love, just like everyone should on their birthday… especially their first. Grammy and Pap put on a wonderful birthday party for River with so many friends and almost all of his family. (Missing Colin and Beth of course!) Red, white and blue was all around, with the only thing missing, fireworks (since River was very asleep at that time!) Maybe next year babe….

So now we are back in Minnesota enjoying laying low, taking swimming lessons, cleaning the house and picking strawberries. Today River gets to have a “second” birthday party with all of his Minnesota friends at the local pool which he is very excited about. (So much so he is currently having a hard time taking his nap So on goes summer. Such a treat for mommy and daddy to spend so much time with their baby. We feel so lucky.

See pictures below of the last month…

So we’ve been in Hawaii for a week and having a great time! River has enjoyed his swimming and playing time with Camden, Mija and Nikko, even though his ear infection (I think?) has returned. He is not as happy as he usually is and I’ve started him on another round of antibiotics. Ick. I think it came from the cold that both he and I got on the plane over.

Thankfully Kyle arrived yesterday. He was thrilled to see River and RIver was thrilled to see him. When we got back to the condo we went straight to the pool and joined Matt in a little water play time. We decided to stay in last night and relax since the night before we went to River’s 3rd luau (Yes, 3rd! Before he is even 1 year old!) So he got some good sleep. Hopefully this kicks whatever it is that is bugging my little guy….

I just had to write and let you know the most recent cute thing River did- Last night we went to our friends, Ben and Lindsay’s house for dinner. They have a small half pipe in their backyard and so Kyle got his old skateboarding skills out of the closet and had a ball seeing what he could still do.  After a little while RIver and I went outside to watch him and saw him do some fun tricks, and then saw him fall. When he  fell River freaked!  As soon as Kyle was on the ground River let out a cry like he was in so much pain! It was so cute how worried he was about his daddy! This happened the rest of the night, so soon I just had to bring River inside so he would stop freaking out.

I think he’s got a little Telaak in him (my mom’s family)-  since they can be a bunch of worriers- this said with so much love!!!

What a fun and exciting weekend!

Kyle, River and I flew into Colorado Friday evening to get to Boulder for an engagement party for River’s Uncle Colin and Aunt Beth.

We had a great time together, and River - not surprisingly - stayed up for quite sometime to enjoy the party- He’s my party boy!

The next day we walked around Boulder and enjoyed Pearl Street, the Creek Festival, Farmers market and the Bolder Boulder Expo. During that time we found some “killer tulips” - or at least that i what River must of thought because they were bigger than him and he got totally freaked out by them!

(Although you can’t tell that by this picture!)

We then got to visit Aunt Katie up in her new mountain home in Evergreen- mommy was very jealous!

Sunday we went to church and River was very good- when Pastor Mark told the congregation to pray for people in their hearts or out loud- River loudly exclaimed, “Mama!” Although he had no idea what he was doing it was mighty cute, and made his mama feel pretty good.

After church we went and had a great breakfast, and we realized how incredibly tired River was because he fell asleep in my arms. That NEVER happens anymore!

On Monday we woke up bright and early to enjoy Memorial Day and the Bolder Boulder. It was River and Kyle’s first Bolder Boulder and I think they both had a lot of fun!

After just starting the 10K walk with River on our back, Kyle, River and I got stopped by a 9 news reporter. They asked us if we could do an interview, so we spent a little of our Bolder Boulder time getting interviewed on TV! Some of the actual interview is on the link below- just click on the video link on the left…

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=92465

It was a cold day, but we still had a wonderful time walking with Grammy and family! Pap ran ahead but we met up with him at the end with Colin and Beth. River and I were happy to be there that day to say happy Anniversary to Grammy and Pap since they have been married for 35 years! What an exciting day!

Although we had a great time with the Laughery family, River did wish that Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Dave could have joined him in the Bolder Boulder as well… hopefully next year!

Well, the last few days, well, weeks actually, River has become black and blue. I honestly feel like a bad mother, but I know that this is just one step towards independence. He’s getting really good at “speed crawling” and walking around various objects. He pulls up on everything taller than himself which makes for a constant stream of falls. Everyday he’s got a new bump or scrape somewhere on his body…

Otherwise River is talking up a storm. He says mama quite often, especially at dinner time which makes me think that he is saying “more more”. He is also finally staying up pretty consistently past 7pm which has been a nice treat. We like having our baby around! He is slowly going through all the frozen breastmilk that I have stored with a little bit of foumula here and there, but is eating a ton of solid food. His favorite room right now is the kitchen, especially when the dog food is on the floor. His favorite game is taking all the dog food and putting it into Inu’s water dish, then proceed to splash out all of the water, and food, that is in there. He has become quite a little personality!

I knew it had to come to a close someday, and that day sadly came yesterday.

I NEVER thought I would be this sad over getting my body back, but here I am wondering if I had made the right decision on doing it this week, that day, that morning.

We had been on the “once a day” thing for the last couple of weeks. I stopped being able to let down easily in the afternoon so River kept getting angry every time I put him to the breast at that time. In the early morning was great though, he and I being both half asleep he could suckle until I finally give him the nourishment that he needs and  we would have special cuddle time in the wee hours. I loved that time.

So yesterday morning came along and it was so wonderful. It look awhile for me to let down but River didn’t mind so we had a long time to cuddle. He ate both sides fully and then went back to sleep in my arms- it was perfect. Just like I want to remember it.

So with that I made the decision to stop. It had to come soon because I am going to China in less than a month and Colorado in a week and a half (and I’d rather not lug around more “milk” weight during the Boulder Bolder) so I knew it had to be soon. I’m going to miss it more than I ever imagined, but am forever grateful for all the wonders that my body created- a baby and all of his food for such a long time. 10 1/2 months- I can live with that.

So this morning I woke River up and gave him a bottle of formula. Funny that with nursing he is so comfortable that be basically sleeps the whole way through. But today when he was done with the bottle he was awake and wanting to play. Humph. So I guess that our early morning sessions of cuddling are done - nursing being the source of relaxation and closeness. We will find other cuddly times I’m sure of it, but I’ll never forget that bond we have because of this time we had together.

Love ya babe- thanks for being such a patient, loving and amazing baby. I’m so lucky.

What a great day.

Waking up to a wonderful breakfast made by my my dear husband, and having my baby sleep in till 8:30 (we DID keep him up until 9pm) helped the day start off great. It was a great first new mommy’s day! We hung around while Kyle worked outside and I did my paper and River crawled all over me. This evening we enjoyed mothers day dinner at Chino Latino in Minneapolis… I couldn’t ask for anything more!

River is 10 months old today! It’s hard to imagine that he was in my arms as a newborn baby 10 months ago this very second. People say that time passes faster once you have children- boy are they right!

Well, lately we have been enjoying the world of technology! We discovered ichat and have been having fun talking to family long distance. This past thursday was pretty fun because grandma pat, grandpa dick, aunt barbie and debbie were all at my parents house. When doing ichat there was a point where everyone was singing itsy bitsy spider. Pretty amusing. 

Otherwise Grandma Sandy is in town again to take care of River when I am off at class. River and her have been having fun playing, shopping and napping! So nice to have some family around! (Even if for just a short while!)