Busy times!

Wow! It has been awhile since I have written...we have had a busy past couple of days I guess. : )

Cody was off on Good Friday, and we ended up making the most of it. We started off the day taking our usual 8:30-10:00 nap, then took River over to my parents' house for a surprise visit. This was his third time to go to Granny and G-pa's house. We sat around and visited for awhile, then we met Cody's parent's for lunch at Jersey Mike's. We sat outside in the sun, which was fantastic...I even got a little sun on my shoulders and face! Good 'ole Vitamin D! After that, we took River home, fed him, played and then put him down for his 2:45 nap. Well then Austin called Cody and said he and Emily were taking their 3 dogs out to Greenbriar, which is Austin's family's lake house behind Lindsey Park. That is a really special place and we love going there. I hadn't been in a long time, and since it was such a nice afternoon, we just couldn't resist. This was probably a selfish thing for us to do, but we woke poor River up from his deep sleep, and put him in his carseat and took him out to Greenbriar about 3:15...he did NOT like being woke up after only sleeping 30 minutes. Poor guy. Once we got out to the lake (we took Mattie, too), we went down to the docks and lounged around, visiting with Emily and Austin. River was a bit fussy off and on, but I think he had a good time. We put down the big picnic blanket we got from Babies R Us as a shower gift and relaxed. Soon it was 4:30, which is River's feeding time...I had thought we would be home by that time, so I couldn't believe it when Cody came up to me and told me it was time for River to eat!! I had never fed him away from home before! However, it went just fine and now I am glad that his first time to eat away from home was there...pretty special memory! We left the lake about 5:30 and decided to go out to dinner after that, so we met up with Cody's parents again! We ate at Jucy's; yummy! Then, we left there about 6:50...right in the middle of River's fussy time. He was great at the restaurant but we knew he would get fussy if we just went home and tried to play with him, so instead, as soon as we got home, we plopped him in his stroller and walked around the neighborhood for 30 minutes, until 7:30, which is when he eats again! Whew!!! It was a long and tiring and wonderful day, one of which all three (four, if you count Mattie) were all exhausted from! Needless to say, we payed for it that night, when we were trying to get the babe to sleep for his 8:45-10:45 nap. Usually we rock Riv for a few minutes at this time and he gets settled down pretty easily. However, this time, he cried for a good 30 minutes before calming down! He had been way overstimulated...but, what a great day it was! We decided not to do that again until he was a bit older, but I am glad we did make the most of his rare day off. : )

Easter Sunday was a fun day with the fam. We spent the late morning/early afternoon at my sister and bro-n-law's house. My 2 1/2 yr. old nephew Ian loves getting to spend time with River. Ian is such a hoot and is always entertaining to watch. He is talking up a storm and you never know what he is going to say! He loved getting to sit on the couch and hold River. River took his first "official" nap that afternoon at her house (the kind were I actually went and laid him down in the back room...) and he did great! He slept the entire time! After lunch and feeding River, we went over to Cody's parent's house for the afternoon. Cody's brother Matt and his wife Sarah came in town from Austin with their 15 month old son Felix, and this was our first time to visit with them since River was 3 days old. Felix LOVED getting to be with River...he kept on going over to hug him and love on him...so sweet! River went down for his 3:00 nap and again slept the whole time! What a precious Easter gift for his parents...b/c I was worried all week about him not doing well being gone all day...Felix hunted Easter eggs outside and we had a very good Easter dinner- homemade fried chicken with peas, mashed potatoes and rolls....yummm!! I took River home that night at 8:15 and he went to sleep really easily for his last evening nap! It was a great ending to a fun Easter!!

Let's see...he has been cooing and talking more than ever this past week...even some "coo yells" that are pretty loud and expressive and reallllyy cute!! : ) He also finally found his thumb!! Easter night I was rocking him to sleep and I looked down, thinking he was again sucking on his fist like he has been a lot for the past few weeks. Anyways, he was sucking on his right thumb! And he has been doing it a lot the past two days since. So cute! :)