Playtime!

Riley is loving to play now! She is starting to play with toys and laughs at us! She loves her activity mat. There is a mirror that hangs from the bar that she loves to look at and stare at herself. (not our kid! lol) It is funny sometimes she hits the little hanging toys with her hands or feet and then looks around wondering how that happend. Then she starts whaling her arms and legs around trying to figure out how to do it again haha! She sometimes gets so frustrated when she wants to do it again and can't figure it out. You'll figure it out soon Riley!




After playing with Riley...her and her daddy passed out! They were pooped out!

Bath Time!

Riley loves her bath! We can always get smiles out of her in the bath tub. The bath tub has a little hammock in it for infants. Watching her lay in the hammock is sooo funny because she lays in the hammock with 1 leg out splashing the water. She also loves to squirm all the way down to have her face as close the water and if you not watching she sticks her little tongue out trying to lick the water.



Her favorite part of the bath is at the very end when we rinse her down with the shower head. She loves the sprinkling water on her body and splashing up on her face. But then it is all over as soon as it is time to dry her off. I think she gets mad at us and wants her to be back in the water. SPOILED!

each moment

I can't believe Riley has been around for 2 1/2 months. It seems like she has been here forever but yet everyday is such a new day and I stop to think how fast time flies. I am taking in each moment of my time off with Riley. We try to do as much as we can and make the most of everyday. It is great spending time with her. I didn't think I would like staying home all the time but it is like a LONG summer vacation. We keep busy and have fun everyday. It is funny that I was telling a friend what we did today and taking a shower was one of the highlights of the day. haha! Do you understand what an accomplishment that is to a new mom?!? But don't get me wrong we do have "real" fun too! We have made a lot of new friends. We go walking everywhere during this nice weather. Riley and I have a blast together! Although it is really funny that Ryan and my dinner conversations now somehow always end up talking about Riley's poop. Things have changed. But it really is great that now the little things really do get us so excited.





I like that the little things amuse us now. It reminds us not take life so seriously. Life is too short to take seriously. We should have more conversations about Riley's poop... or be able to laugh as anything, hey Riley laughs at the little noises we make for her monkey blanket. Riley can just sit there and explore the room with her eyes...she enjoys just sitting there (sometimes). We should be able to smile when passing gas. Enjoy life. Discover new things. Take in each new moment. Staying home with Riley is making me look at each day differently... or is it the lack of sleep that is making me this way?!?

soo Strong!

I only have a min. to post 1 quick photo (more to come soon) because I have to get ready, edit part of Ryan's BEST (which is being sent in this week!!! yeah!!!) and then go to our playgroup...that is just this morning we have a busy afternoon too!! So here is a quick photo of Riley.

Isn't she getting soooo strong! I don't know, yesterday she went to baby Yoga (we won't talk that but thanks Jimmy for help on the way there) and then to visit her Daddy's class. When we came home and were playing and Riley kept her head up for sooo long! (long enough to run and get the camera and take a bunch of photos) Go Riley!

p.s. Did you see Riley and her Grampy in the paper? As soon as it is online I will show you the famous girl!

My First Communion

My First Communion for Miss Juliana and my first time back to work after the baby for me. This little princess celebrated her first Communion with all her friends and family around her on the first weekend in May. Congrats!

More photos of My First Communion.

Yoga Baby

Instead of Yoga Baby this looks more like SUPER Circus Baby! Such Balance!

Go Maggie Go!!!

Meet Riley's new friend... Maggie.


Maggie was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) on 10/27/07. She turned 3 on 12/27. She is currently in the Delayed Intensification Phase of treatment. She will complete treatment on January 23, 2010!! Go Maggie Go!!!


These photos are my Mother's Day gift to my friend Mickie! I'm not good with words here... so just click the slide show and let Maggie's smile say it all.

Check out their site... The Rutledge Family and keep them in your prayers! You can also support Maggie's Relay for Life Team, Go Maggie Go!!! online. We are thinking about you Maggie!

Happy Mother's Day

The 4 generations! How special is that?!? My 1st Mother's Day I was able to spend it with the 4 generations of Casagrande/Mingolello women!






It's Sunday so of course we had to go down to Bridgeport for some of Grammy's maccaroni...YUM! These are the traditions we hope to carry on. All of us... me, my mother and Grammy used to have Sunday maccaroni when we grew up... now we are going to share the gravy with Riley. (We go to Gram's most Sundays and Ryan asked me if maccaroni is the only thing my Gram knows how to make. I guess I am going to have to bring him on another day of the week to try some of her other specialties because Sundays... it's maccaroni!)





AHHH!!! I am a MOM!! It was crazy waking up this morning to being wished Happy Mother's Day! I am used to being the one to call and with my mom a Happy Mother's Day. I was woken up this morning to HAPPY RILEY and we finally broke out the video camera to capture her morning cooing (thanks Ed for the pressure last night!). Then Ryan... I mean Riley gave me my 1st Mother's Day gift... a beautiful bracelet from Chics and Stones. It was designed with Riley's initials and birthstone. Love it! This was a very nice 1st Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day to all the other mothers and soon to be mothers out there! Enjoy!

Good Luck and Happy Mother's Day

We celebrated Mother's Day a little early with Ryan's mom because his brother Chip left for the Army and we wanted to make sure he was there to celebrate it with her. Good Luck Chip! and Happy Mother's Day Cindi!

Busy Week

Saturday and Sunday I had 2 photo shoots! (the photos coming soon!) Ryan got to hang out with Riley... maybe he will post about the fun they had. We can't forget shopping with TiTi. She got the light colored sneakers after a long debate between the shoes! haha! We made fun of TiTi a little too much after that crazy shopping trip to Bob's. But we were ok after our YUMMY dinner at her house!

Monday we had Baby Yoga! Riley loves Baby Yoga! We are busy trying to get back in shape. In the afternoon we went walking with Lily and Jenn. We are not going to listen to everyone say 9months on 9months off. Monday was also Riley's first Cinco de Mayo! We made Mexican for her... and learned that Riley and green peppers....NO FUN! What a night!


Tuesday after lunch with Grampy we went to our Mommy Group. Then...Riley went to meet all of her friends at Rockwell School! The kids were so excited to meet her! Lucky for them she was clean and no Dirty Diaper Duty!!! (When I was teaching I would tease the kids that they were going to have to be on Dirty Diaper Duty! haha!) Afterwards we walked with the Brady! Tuesday night was Uncle Chip's last night before he goes to the Army. We had dinner with the Ragans and celebrated Grandma Ragan's Mother's Day and birthday! BUSY DAY!

Wednesday we went to visit Marci and David. She loves her cousin David! It is crazy what a difference a few months is when you are their age. Afterwards we went to visit GG (Grammy Gail) and her K Kids at Head O' Meadow. Riley loves all the attention.

Thursday Riley got to play with her friend Kaelyn down in Norwalk. Kaelyn is going to be a great big sister! She was so good with little Riley! :) Riley had dinner with her GG and Grampy... oh yeah don't forget about the Brady!!

Riley is a good girl and loves keeping busy. :)

Play Group

We hosted our 1st PLAY GROUP yesterday!!! We had 8 Mommies and 9 Babies over in our house...our little house! It was great. Everyone had a great time. It's funny thinking about little infants having a play group... what do they do? Shhhh... don't tell anyone but I think the play group is really to for the Mommies to play!


Everyone arriving... 9 car seats, 9 diaper bags, 9 Babies and 8 Mommies take up a lot of room!


Keri and Sophia


Melissa and Will


Jodi and Sydney and Olivia


Sheri and Taylor


Emma and Evie


Jenn and Lily


Amy and Noah


"Playing" HAHA!


Riley was pooped out after all her friends left!

Family Photos

Happy 2 month Bday!!

Riley is 2 months old!!
I can't believe it! Its crazy how much has changed in 2 months.

* She was born at 6.6 and now weighs 9.12... BIG GIRL!
* We used to spend weekend nights OUT... now pizza night at our house with a few friends ROCKS!
* Traveling with one bag for a weekend road trip....now we travel with a car load for a day trip, lets not talk about what we brought on our long weekend to Maine.
* Dinner conversation are now about Riley's poop...did she go today? how much?
* Laundry used to be done every week (if that)... now EVERYDAY!!
* Getting up to leave for school at 8am was hard... now we are excited to see her 4am smiles!
* We used to be able to leave the house in a few mins. but now we need to plan to leave the house at least an hour before.
* We used to not be able to just sit... now sitting and staring at Riley is one of our favorite activities.
* Making her smile and make little noises can bring the biggest smile to our day.

Only 2 months...life has changed!




The Green Door