When in doubt........ Post Pics

As promised. Nothing big this week. But we did end up getting some pretty cute pics.

we didn't get kicked out of any churches this week. In fact, one lady at Asbury, who always sits in front of us, asked me why I took Riley out when he started talking. She said, "He wasn't bothering anyone." Her husband always says, "I think that's just how babies say 'Amen'."

Without further ado....

One of his new favorite toys is my old cell phone. I don't think it can hurt him so we just let him have it.




He's really starting to fill out his carseat even though it is supposed to hold up to 25 lbs. I can't wait till he can face forward, especially in the Jeep, but they're not supposed to do that until they're a year old. (which he will be by the next time that the weather gets nice enough to drive the Jeep.)




He is finally big enough to wear his "I Love Boudin," shirt, which is yet another projection of our opinions onto him. (but hey, when your opinions are as good as ours, why not force them on someone helpless)





Now he just needs to learn that Anna's shoe doesn't taste as good as boudin.




Here's the daily crew just hanging out.





Saturday he sported his Cajuns winter cap, which ended up being very useful because it was cold on the porch at Johnson's. I've got a matching one that I wish I'da brought.






After that we headed over to the Rok Haus, where Uncle Eli was helping to put on a climbing competition for kids. At first Riley had the sense enough to stay off of the wall, but eventually he broke down and showed us some moves. Check out that 2 finger grip. Now that's strength.





This weekend actually ended up being ok despite the fact that Friday evening we implemented "Cry It Out" as opposed to the old plans of "Rock You Completely To Sleep" and "Grab You Everytime You Wake Up."
It went about as well as you can expect it to, and was nowhere near as bad as Paul and Liz's experience, which Paul described as "the worst night of my life."

Despite our cruelly making him learn to be an independent sleeper, Riley has maintained his cheeseball, doofus personality, as evidenced by these goofy smiles. (we think he's starting to develop a camera face)





As a reward for being such a good boy, he got to try grapes and starfruit in addition to the usual cantaloupe in his feed bag thingy. (which is awesome)




and finally, entirely unrelated to Riley, but dealing with our first "child," Jimmy wanted to sun himself today, but was too much of a wuss to lay on the cold concrete, so he parked himself on a garbage can lid that had blown down. We can only hope that Riley is as resourceful as him.



We expect another slow week around here, but I'm sure I'll post anyway.

Expelled

What we thought would be a fairly boring week ended up being pretty exciting.

Tuesday was election day and Riley's first chance to sport his "Born Libertarian" onesie. Despite his support, it was not a good day for libertarian-ish ideals (except in Massachusetts). Oh well. Is it ever?



Instead of watching the election results, Riley opted to get his first haircut in our driveway by our neighbor, Miss Jeanne (a professional stylist). He needed a little trim around the ears and a little evening out in the back.




Once he's a little more calm, he's off to to see Maurice and his clippers. That'll be the fourth generation of Wallace boys that Mo will have cut.


Fast forward to Saturday and the annual Heartwalk, where, as usual, Aunt Sherie rounded up a team in memory of her daughter, Cousin Cassie. This year Joan had onesies made for the babies to match the adult shirts. Cassie's Team had 4 babies (Riley, Caroline, Gabe and Whitney)






Riley went along for the ride with Whitney, daughter of our high school classmate, Emily, who happened to be in town.(they live in Japan).




About halfway through, Riley decided it would be more interesting to be carried by my Dad than pushed by his own Mommy.




A short while later, Whitney also decided that carrying was the way to go, and Joan was left pushing an empty double stroller.



Saturday was also the last UL home game that we'll be making this year (the real last one is on a Wednesday).

The weather was great and Riley discovered that he is much more interested in watching flags than in getting handshakes and high-fives from the football players.





He tried to be a big boy and take part in the adult conversations, but found out he would rather just play "pat a cake"





He also got to make new friends by meeting Ms. Amanda's family (very nice people), and getting reacquainted with Eli D (now 14 months old).





Eli was very well behaved and didn't seem to mind all of the harassment from the two babies.



The game was a bust for the Cajuns, but Ms. Amanda and the softball team were presented at halftime, recognizing their terrific success last year. They'll be getting their Sunbelt Conference Champion rings in soon. Then she'll be able to put the smackdown on my brother if he gets out of hand.



Riley also started "crawling" this week. He's not yet up on all fours, but he pulls himself around to get to what he wants. Since crawling doesn't really show well in still shots, I'll just pepper you with some cute pics.

with his Godmother, Lesley




With his Poppy



Chillin' in the tub



and doing his best John Popper impression (with a cell phone)



From henceforth, I write this post very carefully.
I've written passages about poo, and I've made snide comments about politicians and the medical establishment, but now I'm going to tiptoe into religion.(kinda sorta)

Sunday, Riley got us kicked out of a building, and, of all places, it was a church.
Even worse, it was not because of his behavior, but because of his mere existence.
Let me frame the scene for you.

On Sunday morning, someone who is virtually a family member was being baptized in a local church. To be nice, I'll change the name and just call it Cardinal-Direction Waterbody Denomination Church, or EBBC.
We headed on over to EBBC on information that the baptism would be just before the start of the service. Because Riley went straight from the crib to the carseat, our plan was to go for the baptism then slide out to change him and figure out what we would do from there.

So, we walk into the sanctuary/studio and past a few greeters. Halfway to the seats we get to a woman we'll call Ms. Bad-Perm McClown-Makeup, or Ms. BM (pun entirely intended).
She asks if we need directions to the preschool. We explain that we'll be keeping Riley with us.
She responds that this is an adults only service. That's fine, I respect those wishes, but of course there can be minor temporary exceptions, right?
We explain that it won't be an issue, we'll only be staying in the main room for the baptism, then we'll slide out when the rest of the service starts.
Ms. BM lets us know that she's not going to be able to let us do that, and reiterates that this is adults only, and that our only two options are to leave him in the pre-school or go to the family room.
We again explained that were there specifically for a baptism that we were told would be occurring at the start of the service, and the baby would be gone before the service really started.
Ms. BM was having no part of it.
Obviously, the mindless drone was not gifted with much common sense, or human emotion.
At that point I calmly(much to my surprise) handed her the program/flier that I had been warmly greeted with and we turned around and left, missing the event that we had arrived for. ( I missed a great Mitch Hedberg opportunity there, but I figured the wisest use of my vocal cords at that point was, for safety sake, non-use.)

I fully respect, though I don't favor, the idea of an adult only sanctuary. When Riley makes even the slightest noise at Asbury, I step out with him (even though they're cool with a reasonable amount of noise.) But if you expect me to go dump my kid off in a nursery with absolute strangers or watch the baptism of a close family friend from a tv instead of allowing my well behaved child into the sanctuary for 10 minutes, after which we would leave when the service starts, then you................


Ok, enough of that story. I figure no one can get mad at me for retelling the facts, but I should avoid editorializing. Hopefully my readers are such a sophisticated lot that they will see the bottom line without me typing it out.


On a lighter note, and giving us some "good people" street cred, Riley is giving away food.
Ok, it's unintentional on his part, but still.

Joan is churning out much more than Riley is chugging down. You can freeze milk, but only for 3 months. We've gotten to the point of throwing stuff away.

Fortunately, in a few places around the country, folks have established "milk banks" where women are able to donate excess food which is given to poor and/or sick babies. Joan has hooked up with a milk bank out of Austin that provides to Louisiana and Texas. (so we know the kids have access to good music)
They pay all of the shipping and provide all of the materials needed, Joan just provides the milk.
Its a pretty cool concept, even if it does seem kinda creepy at first.
Hopefully, they'll be able to take advantage of the fact that Joan's milk is dairy free (isn't that a paradox?) and get it to a baby that has an allergy similar to Riley's.


Unless he starts walking, the next week should be slow, assuming, of course, that we don't get kicked out of any other churches, or other purportedly family friendly establishments.
That shouldn't be a problem because I know a few people that really like Riley at our church.

How could you not like this goofy mug?

Lack of content

Another Sunday night, which means time for another post.

No real storyline or monumental events this week, so i think I'll go with the random thoughts format, in vaguely chronological order with interspersed visual representations. (in my head that sounded like placing an order at some fancy restaurant for overeducated nerds.)

Early in the week, the responsible parent (guess who) went through all of his clothes to pack away the outgrown things and pull down some stuff that should fit now.

I know all parents have gone through this, but it is amazing to see how tiny his premie clothes were, and how small some things look now that swallowed him at first.
That was good for about 30 seconds of reminiscing, then we looked at the stuff he can wear now.
Thanks again to Shane, he was finally able to wear his (probably)inappropriate, yet (definitely) funny, pirate onesie.



Friday, of course, was Halloween.
We did not participate, because we do not want to raise him to glorify pagan celebrations of evil and darkness.

Ok, that's totally not true. We were just too lazy to find him a costume and we had better things to do, like go grocery shopping, given that he won't remember the night and doesn't even have opposable teeth to be able to eat anything that's not pureed.

We did put him in a little knit hat though, and, coincidentally, I think it made him look like a baby version of The Edge (U2's guitarist). So we'll just say that for his first Halloween he was the guitarist for an over-hyped, outdated and presently irrelevant Irish rock band. (its a good thing Virginia doesn't read this or she'd kill me, especially since I used her daughter to help illustrate such heresy)






Saturday was UL homecoming and a day of tailgating with the crew. The Cajuns won and Tyrell Fenroy (namesake of the Tyrell Towel, seen below)became only the 7th player in college football history to have 4 consecutive 1,000 yard rushing seasons.






Again, Riley was unsuccessful at napping in the playpen, but did acquire some nice face-prints while napping on Mommy in the Bjorn.




Before the game, everyone was also able to catch a little of the Thuderbirds performance at the airshow. Don't believe me, here's scientific proof.




Sunday was all about hanging out at home and catching up on some cleaning/maintenance.
We seared up some steaks for lunch, and while the Egg was billowing its smoky 800+ degree goodness (try doing that on your puny gas grill), Riley scurried around the patio and ran right out of his shoes.






On a final pic note, why is it that in many pics, my kid tends to look like some drunken frat boy?



Nothing too major on our calendar this week, but I guess nationally it is a somewhat important week.

Everyone gets to go to the polls and decide whether they want someone in office who will enact stupid policies while telling you he won't enact stupid policies, or someone who will enact stupid policies in living up to his promise to enact stupid policies. Doesn't that just get you excited about the future?
Here's a couple of quotes that I like to ease you into election day

"No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session." – Mark Twain (1866)

"When the government's boot is on your throat, whether it is a left boot or a right boot is of no consequence." – Gary Lloyd

Chill

There was a chill in the air this week. Chill could also be used to describe our calendar this week. Nothing huge going on. Lots of hanging out.

Early in the week, he cut his second bottom tooth with little fanfare.
He seems quite proud of his new chompers and has been flashing them alot.




He's becoming much more aware of, and interactive with, his daytime pals, Gabe and Anna.





Having sitting up as part of his positional repertoire is proving to be quite convenient and broadens the horizons of playtime.






On Thursday evening we headed out to Rhythms on the River to catch two bands that he has been listening to since birth, The Figs and the Bluerunners (who played with their full, 5 man, rockin' lineup)




We really want to catch a couple more of the bands this season, but it'll all depend on his nap schedule, because he didn't do too well this week.

He did look pretty good though, in his first cold weather outfit.




So, to bring him back down to Earth and keep his ego in check, I made him sit in a box for a while, which he liked.




Friday was father/son day since Daddy was technically unemployed (start the new job on Monday).

He started off the day by dressing to match his dog (black and gold).




He then met all of my old pals at Briney & Foret before heading over to Rabalais, Hanna and Hebert to see all of mommy's buddies and share lunch with her for her birthday.

Friday evening, Paul, Liz and Caroline came in for a birthday dinner. No shots of the kids together because they would never be still at the same time.

Riley, was looking like a rock star in his new skeleton hoodie. It's my new favorite outfit for him.



On Saturday morning, my whole immediate family, including dogs, went out to the Nature Station for some fresh air and a nice woodland stroll.

Canines present were Stitch (Jake's pug), Ozzie (parents' Boston Terrier), Titus (Eli's Alaskan Eskimo Dog) and, of course. Jimmy (our mutt)






We topped everything off with a great lunch at Johnson's.
The only regret I have in changing jobs is that I will be too far away to go there for lunch most of the time. ( Admittedly, life's not bad when that's the worst that is weighing on your mind)




After all of the adventuring, Riley was completely wiped out and nowhere near being in a good enough mood to wait through the line that we met when we tried to go "early vote."



Nothing major on the calendar for next week except that Saturday is UL Homecoming, so he'll have a full day.

In closing here's a few cute pics.

One highlighting his eyes (with his ever present drool goatee)



One of his mop top



and finally, one of him with his new best friend, his MP3 player.
I'm a firm believer in early exposure to good music. While the chipmunks and other kids music has merit, we've got him on a path to good adult tastes by stocking his player with the likes of The Weary Boys, Richard Revue, Mario Matteoli, The Figs, Bluerunners, Willie Nelson, Red Stick Ramblers, Charlie Pride, Woodsboss, Lost Bayou Ramblers, and Roddy Romero.(Soon we'll be ordering a fake ID to get him into the Blue Moon, McLovin style)





Disclaimer- Now that I'm starting a new job, hopefully I'll pick up a few new readers. I don't want to scare anyone off with my sarcasm and/or dry attempts at humor. So, to clarify in advance, I am not actually mean to my kid. I do not make him sit in a cardboard box to punish him for being too cute. We use waterboarding for that. :)

Pack it up, Pack it in....

...Let me begin.

It was a good week 'round here. Full to the brim with adventures for the little guy.
Sorry if I don't have anything too witty to say, I'll mostly let the pictures tell the stories.

He's really taken to sitting up unassisted this week and only falls when he's reaching for something. It's good because now he can sit around to play with Anna and Jimmy and you can sit him in his crib so that he can watch you while you do things around his room.



(oh, and he's far more of a naturalist than either of us)

Friday evening we took advantage of the cool weather and headed out to Downtown Alive to catch Dire Wood, a local rock act fronted by Joan's cousin, J Burton.





Even after Mommy and Daddy ate some Johnson's, we were able to make it home in time for him to still be in a good mood.




Saturday was a big day of tailgating and the Cajuns taking on Arkansas State. Riley actually made it through the whole game, which is a good thing because the Cajuns won it in the last minute of play. Like the Saints game, he sported his earplugs which allowed him to nap in the middle of a noisy stadium, yet still allowed him to wooo any ovary laden being within a 5 yard radius.




Before the game, he tried unsuccessfully to take a little nap,



and instead hung out with friends he doesn't get to see often like Funcle James




Miss Amanda



and Miss Traci




Sunday, things didn't slow down. After church we went to Outback for my mom's 50th birthday, where Riley got to try out his newly developed back muscles in his first high chair sitting.



After the meal, we headed over to the Pumpkin Patch for a photo session. Unfortunately, by that time he was dead-tired and entirely unwilling to smile or cooperate. But we did get a few good pics.

with Nonnie



with Poppy



with Miss Amanda and Uncle Eli/Cousin Mose (for you Office fans)



with Uncle Jake



With Jake, Eli, and Amanda



With some random chicks.



And with lots of pumpkins







(that last one looks all sad and lonely, quite the opposite of his life)

After the Pumpkin Patch, we headed down south of Erath (where just 6 weeks ago there was a few feet of Gulf water) to see Joan's Mom's family and to celebrate Joan's grandmother's 80th birthday. He got to see their pond, see some cows and even see a horse up close.



even with all of the cool sights though, he just wanted to be cuddled by mommy and frustrate her by not going to sleep.





Now hopefully all of that activity will make him want to sleep all night. He's only got 4 days to think of a birthday present for his Mommy's last birthday before she turns 30.


on a side note, this will be my last week at my current firm and, starting next Monday, I'll be employed directly by State Farm in their local legal office. I'm excited. I'll be driving 15-25 minutes less a day, and I think I'll be much happier.

Thanks for the hits.

Flying Colors

As usual, we tested our luck this week, and, for the most part, he passed with flying colors.

Early in the week, he cut his first tooth, which we have discovered does not photograph well. The neighboring tooth is on its way through too, and hopefully its arrival will be as uneventful as the first.
He's also gotten pretty good a sitting up on his own (but he's not good enough for the wood floors yet.)



Thursday, he had his six month pediatrician visit. He tipped the scales at 15 lbs 4 oz, after not having a smelly diaper for 4 days, so you've got to think that is a little heavy. Still, that only puts him at the 10% weightwise.

The measuring tape has him at 26 inches which is the 25% for a six month old.
He also got three shots, and, despite screaming for a few minutes, did not have any ill effects the following day, like we had been warned from some other parents.

The doc's office also told us that now would be a good time to put him in an exersaucer to develop his physical skills, but that we should never use a walker with wheels because he could hurt himself.



On a side note, this week he has gained much more control over his deathtrap walker with wheels (which he really likes) and has taken to following a ball around the room, not realizing that once he catches it, there's no way to pick it up.



Friday, we took it easy, knowing that we had a full weekend ahead of us.

Saturday morning, he had his first experience with the wonderfully speedy service in the Sears auto department (read with sarcasm). You can see how hypnotized he was by the prompt attention.



The sluggishness helped though when we went back later to pick the car up and he was able to squeeze in a healthy nap while Mommy waited in line.




Later, we met my parents and brother, Jake, at Johnson's Boucaniere for a hearty outdoor lunch on their newly constructed (and still being constructed) wrap-around porch.
You just can't beat that place in my book.
The adults like the food, the atmosphere and the staff.
Riley loves being outside and hamming it up for Ms Claire, Ms Lori and the staff inside.






Nothing tops off a good meal like good music, so we headed down to Girard Park to catch the Red Stick Ramblers' set at Festival Acadiens.





It was sunny, so he sported his hat and sunglasses, which really seemed to amaze people. Sort of a baby "Fear and Loathing" look, without all of the hard drugs.






Sunday was the big test... his first 2 hour car trip and Saints game.
He woke up early and cheery, ready to hit the road.




Once we got to NO, he donned his Saints gear and hung out with his godmother, Lesley.





Pregame, he was in a good mood, but not really in the mood to look at a camera.






Since we've worked so hard at cultivating his good taste in music, we were sure to protect his ears with baby earplugs and a nice hat to keep them in.





He didn't try to take them out at all. They must have worked because he didn't even flinch in the cacophonous Dome. He even napped through most of the first quarter.




Plus, about half of the people that walked by commented on how cute he was. Some even took pics of him. (He's already got paparazzi.)





And the Black & Gold's 34-3 whooping of the Raiders put him in a good postgame mood (or maybe he was just happy to get a clean diaper.)




Overall he was never really fussy until about 20 minutes before we got home. That is amazing to us because, between traffic and a stop over in BR, he was fine until we had been away from home for over 11 hours. I'm proud of him.

I think that just about covers this week. The next week should be pretty calm.

Thanks for reading.

First in Class

It's been another pretty good week around these parts. Riley has really packed in the adventures in the last seven days, and has done really well with all of them.

Friday night, he headed out to his first Lafayette High Band Show, which some people call a football game. The Lions were taking on their rival, Acadiana. The parking situation was ridiculous. We arrived to see what was, at least, a 30 minute line for tickets. After we paid a kid near the front of the line to buy our tickets, we got into the stands and found out it was so packed you could barely move around. Fortunately, the band has a little area where parents and alumni sit, so we were able to separate ourselves from the commoners.



Lafayette got whooped, but the band did really well. Riley also did well, staying up until after 10 pm, with very little fussing. He was too busy flirting with all of the high school girls to get tired.

Never again though will I go to an LHS/AHS game. The crowd that it attracted was horrible. Nothing but wanna-be thugs, of all races, making fools of themselves and being obnoxious. The police had their hands full, especially with the packs of idiots who though it would be a good idea to just hang out in the middle of the road, blocking traffic.
It was a good way to get a little boost in the energy to devote to being a good parent, so that your kids don't turn out like the wastes that we saw Friday night.

On a happier note though, we did a 5k for the children's museum on Saturday morning and Riley finished first place in the under one year category. After the race he treated us to our first seriously disgusting diaper breach of the solid food era. It really took 15 minutes and a whole pack of wipes to get him clean. I can't shake the memories. Fortunately, no pics.

But the events surrounding the race did get me wondering about some things. In other parts of the country, do people get up on a Saturday morning, run three miles and then, at 8:45 am, stand around eating heavy bowls of rice/sausage/chicken, drinking locally brewed beer (and root beer), eating pralines and listening to a live band?
If they don't, they need to move here, 'cause we sure do.

Saturday evening we skipped out on our 10 year class reunion and, instead, ate with our parents outside at the Filling Station, further taking advantage of the great weather. Not much of a story to tell about the meal but we did get some pretty cool pics.

When we first arrived, he was teetering on the edge of sleep.




Once he saw his waiting grandparents though, he got his second wind.





He's smart enough to know that a certain someone was going to let him try to drink ice from a big people cup.



As we were waiting for the check, he started to fade.



And by the time we got home, at about 8:15, he was fully spent.




Sunday morning he woke up a good bit earlier than Mommy wanted him to, so we packed up the stroller and headed off on an early morning father-son trek.



We walked over to River Ranch and strolled around for over two hours.




The highlight for him was getting to stare, intently, at all of the various fountains scattered throughout the "village." (my highlight was smelling the food at Another Broken Egg)





By the time we headed home, we were facing directly into the sun, but he was fully protected by a shade we picked up at Babies r Us, made by Kidoppatamus. I highly recommend it. (now that we've learned how to install it properly.) He was able to fall asleep during the last leg of the trip, despite the direct sun shot.





Once we got home, despite the huge seatbelt imprint on his face, he was all cheery and ready to play with Mommy.




On a more random note, you can almost feel a tooth coming out on the bottom, so we're looking forward to that popping out soon.
Hopefully teeth will help to keep some of his spit in his mouth, while he watches Mommy get ready in the morning, or lounges around with Jimmy.





Next week he goes to his first Saints game, which will also be his first road trip over an hour. That will be a test.

Blue Skies for Blue Eyes.

It's been awhile, but this time comes twice a year. After months of misery, we had our first week of beautiful weather.
No rain, low humidity, semi-low temps. You couldn't help but to want to be outdoors. All of the restaurants with outdoor seating have been packed at lunch. The feeling is in the air.

Fortunately, our boy LOVES the outdoors, and we were really able to maximize our opportunity.

Nice fall weather means Downtown Alive in Lafayette. After being canceled three weeks in a row due to weather, the show finally went forward this week. It's always good to get out and see that many people you know, but the music was way too loud and there were way too many people. Riley had fun nonetheless and made lots of new friends.



Saturday morning, we headed out to the nature station to get some walking in and to get Jimmy some free run time. Riley was joined by Granny Lynn, Nonnie, Poppie and their dog Ozzie.
Jimmy and Ozzie were living the good dog life and the adults were able to stare at a beautiful baby in a beautiful setting. I highly recommend treks out there while the weather is good. Surprisingly, the trails were in good shape despite the recent storms, and the mosquitoes were not an issue (and if you know me, you know that mosquitoes and chiggers will travel for miles, upwind and uphill, to feast on me)

After our adventure we headed over to Johnson's Boucaniere (big surprise, huh?) where we were able to enjoy a wonderful lunch on their newly expanded porch. Great food, great people, great setting. It was a very ennjoyable lunch treat.

One bad thing about having such a good time though is that you forget to take pictures. Oh well. Believe me anyway.

Saturday evening, still wanting to enjoy the outdoors we met Joan's parents at Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner on their patio. Mr. Cool spent most of his time trying to show us (unsuccessfully) that he can drink out of a cup.








Sunday was the baptism of Riley's second Cousin Eli. As loyal readers know, Eli is big and, despite being 8 weeks younger than Riley, has handed up many clothes. He presently weights four pounds more than Riley.

To be funny, Joan dressed Riley (6 months old) in the outfit that Eli (now four months old) wore home from the hospital. Riley didn't mind us laughing at his size though, as long as we let him sleep and make cool imprints on his face.



That's about it for this week. We had such a good time that there aren't many pics to share. Solid food is going well, his stomach is getting better and he's consistently rolling in both directions as a means to get to what he wants. He's a handful, but worth it.