Hoppin' Down the Bunny Trail

As promised, video of Ridley and the wind-up bouncy bunny. 

Birthdays, Buddies, Bunnies and Baths

Last Thursday was my birthday - my golden birthday. (Which means if you pull out your calendar you'll know exactly how old I am. Not that I care :) ) Ridley, Josh and I had dinner with my dad and step-mom at Granite City Brewery. We had a good time, and Josh and I got home in time to watch The Office and 30 Rock, which have become the only shows we actually watch when they're broadcast on TV. Lovely birthday, wonderful family - thanks you guys. (And thanks to Sarah, who brought mini-ice cream cakes to work!)

We spent Saturday afternoon over at my friend Annmarie's house. Her son, Conrad, is 11 months old, so Ridley got to see a little buddy. Conrad is super adorable and he and Ridley have very similar personalities. 

Sunday evening we went to Josh's parents' house, and his mom took out this little wind-up hopping bunny for Ridley. He had so much fun watching it hop back and forth across the table. I have a video of it which I'll post once I get it loaded onto the computer. 

This evening Ridley played in the bathtub for the first time. There's been a couple times he's kind of tested out the idea of lifting feet in and ou of the water, or pushing his feet against the tub walls. But tonight he just had a blast kicking his legs and spalshing water everywhere. He made big spashes and little spashes. He got water all over himself and all over me and just kept on spashing! So cute!

Happy Playful Guy

Ridley is just a happy, playful little guy these days. He's still working on getting his first tooth in, so we get a little bit of teething-related fussiness, but most of the time he's just happy and sweet as can be!

Highlights From the Rest of Ridley's Week

Wednesday

On Wednesday, Ridley, Josh, and Grandpa Steve all went to Amery, WI to visit Ridley's Great-Grandma. He was charming and delightful. I think he and Great-Grandma are both looking forward to seeing each other again at Easter. 

Friday

On Friday we went out to dinner with Auntie Stacey and all the other bridesmaids for her wedding. It was great to meet Scott's sister, and to see Andrea and Katie again!

Saturday

On Saturday, Ridley and I went shopping with "cousin" Stephanie (Josh's cousin Brett's wife). She was looking for a dress to wear to a wedding, and we were looking for baby clothes on sale. She found a really cute black and purple dress, and I found some cute Carter's clothes that were 50 percent off at Macy's. Success!

Then Saturday evening, Ridley stayed home and played with Grandpa Jeff while Josh and I went to the WCHA Final Five hockey game. We had sixth row seats,  and it was really fun. 

Sunday

Then on Sunday, Ridley tried to steal my coffee!

Grandma Kathy Visits!

Last weekend my mom came out from Milwaukee to visit and see Ridley Dexter. The last time she'd seen him was New Year's Eve, so he'd grown a lot both physically and developmentally since then. 

Grandma Kathy got here on Sunday evening and we all headed over to my aunt Nettie's house for dinner with cousins Nick, Caitie and Inez as well. Inez (15 months old) founf Ridley's bellybutton and thought it was great fun to poke. He didn't care, of course. Such a mellow little guy.....

Ridley's teething was pretty active while my mom was here, and she brought him a little toy duck that quacks when you squeeze it. He LOVES to chew on its nose. 

Ridley and I were able to spend time with my mom both Monday and Tuesday evening. Monday we went out for dinner and hung out for a little while at Michael's. Then Tuesday I took a half day from work, so we grabbed some lunch then took Ridley to Como Conservatory. He slept the whole time we were there, but we had a good time. It was good to have some time to just visit with my mom. 

After all the excitement, Ridley was just a sleepy little boy.

I Hate Mornings

But when one of the first things I see is this smile, they don't seem
so bad.

The Iceman Go-eth

Could it be that spring is finally come to Minnesota? Most of our snow
has melted, Josh played his first game of frisbee golf of the season
yesterday, and it appears the Ridley-bunnies have come out to play....

Rice-a-Ridley

This evening Ridley tried rice cereal for the first time. We captured his first "bite" on video. 

He wasn't a fan. 

While he did enjoy chewing on the spoon, he didn't seem quite ready to embrace the notion of eating off it. He also didn't seem to want to swallow much of what he ate, but preferred to spit it back out all over his face and bib (we put on the bib after the mess you see in the video... whoops. 

So it will probably be several days or a week before we try to give him any more rice cereal. There's certainly no rush. 

Just Another SIlly Day

Ridley has fun in his highchair!

Highchairs

"Highchairs" 

a story by Ridley

Yesterday morning after I woke up from my nap mommy said, "Ridley, Grandpa Jeff and Nana are coming to see you and take you to the baby store." I was so excited!!

When we got to the Babies R Us store mommy and Nana went to look at highchairs. I thought they were boring, so Grandpa Jeff and I went to look at toys! We saw a tool bench that had singing and dancing tools! It was so cool!!! Then Grandpa Jeff let me pick out a toy. This is a picture of me with my toy. Tweak was very curious about it too. 

Mommy and Nana found a good highchair for me, and Grandpa Jeff thought it was a silly color. After we were done at the baby store, we went to the camera store so Nana could get a new camera to take cute pictures of me and Goldie and Willy and Lola. Those are her pets. Then we went to a restaurant so mommy, Grandpa Jeff and Nana could have lunch. 

I was so tired after such a busy, exciting day, so I took a good little nap. 

Then later in the evening, mommy put together my highchair! I sat in it while she ate dinner and I liked it. Here are a couple pictures of me in my new highchair. 

Mommy left the box from the highchair sitting on the floor in the kitchen, and when she went to move it she found something funny in it:

I had such a fun day that I didn't want it to end! I decided I wanted to stay up until midnight. I had lots of fun even though mommy and daddy kept saying, "Ridley it is time to go to sleep now." But I just wanted to stay up and giggle!!

I did finally go to sleep though and that was the end of my day!

Four Months!

Ridley had his four month doctor's appointment today! He was 25 and 1/4 inches tall and weighed 15 pounds 4 ounces. That puts him in the 60th percentile for height and the 55th for weight. At his two month check he was in the 25th percentile for both, so he's really grown a lot!

He was declared perfectly healthy, and his pediatrician has advised us to start watching for signs he is ready to start eating some solid foods. Pictures of a rice cereal covered Ridley face may be coming soon! He had four vaccines today - one oral and three in his little legs. Poor guy :( He handled it well though. 

Minnesota weather is planying with us and letting us think spring is on its way. We're enjoying the idea of it for now :)

I'm looking forward to summer. It will be so nice to have Ridley be able to play outside, especially since he'll be learning to crawl at that point. And he has a lot of cute summer outfits I'm anxious to get him into! We plan to spend a lot of time at Como Park, Zoo and Conservatory.  Feel free to join us.