Weekend Fun and Birthdays

So, we ventured up to Hudson with Cate for the second time this past weekend, and had much less stuff to bring up. It's amazing how much room a stroller takes up. Cate did really well. She was all smiles and giggles for everyone that came over to see her, for the most part. And she got to see her aunt Catherine at a track meet. We celebrated Mel's birthday up in Hudson with some burgers and Italian sausages and some birthday cake. Then we came home and celebrated Mel's birthday with my parents last night at Toot's with a birthday cake made by me and Cate. (Cate was actually sleeping, but she was with me in spirit.) We had to capture another shot that was reminiscent of Mel's mother with her at about the same age. Overall, it was a fun weekend, and a good stress reliever for me before the chaos that will be the flying pig. God blessed me with a house full of girls!

- Papa E

Run Mom and Dad, Run!

This week was Melody's first week back at work and things went pretty smoothly...but they sure were busy. We both continued to lose weight through Weight Watchers and enjoyed another new episode of The Office. On Friday we had a cookout with two other couples we met through a small group at Crossroads. It was the first night we put Cate down for the night at someone else's house and then took her home around 11 that night. She stayed asleep until it was time for her to eat at 5am. Go Cate!

On Saturday we went to the Baby Expo downtown, which was a lot of fun. Babies R Us provided wonderful nursing stations with gliders and baby changing stations with wipes, diapers, sanitizer, and more. Then it was off to the Rat Race where Cate hung out in her stroller (below) with Eric's parents while Melody ran the 5K and Eric ran the 10K. Eric finished the 10K in about an hour and 10 minutes. It took Melody just under 40 to run the 5k...not bad considering she's not even 3 months post partum yet.

Here we are at the finish! Knowing Cate was at the finish line was a huge motivator to keep going.
Next weekend we're heading up to Hudson (and taking Friday off) to watch Mel's sister, Catherine, run in her track invitational and to show Cate off to a few more people.

~Eric and Melody

Busy Busy Busy

I apologize to all of our faithful readers. I went back to work this week, so you might have to go a little longer in between posts (at least until summer break). Thankfully, the weather cooperated during my last little bit of time home with Cate. We were able to spend some time at the zoo and sitting outside on the front porch. She has so many cute spring and summer clothes, and I was excited to get her into a few of her outfits this week.
This romper was a present from Jane when I was newly pregnant. :-) I love the "I pulled an all-nighter" on the front, but thankfully Cate doesn't pull any of those.

Going back to work actually wasn't too bad. Of course it's hard to leave her. But I have to keep thinking of the benefits of continuing to work. We can save more for retirement and her college, provide more opportunities for her, and she gets to spend time with family (my grandmother is watching her until school is out) and will learn how to socialize with other kids (she'll be at a sitter with 3 or 4 other kids next school year). And teaching really provides a great schedule...I'm home by 3 (and she doesn't even go to a sitter until 9) and have weekends, summers, and breaks off. It was nice to be back at work after 9 weeks off. The timing is nice too since summer is only 7 weeks away.

Besides mom going back to work this week, Cate had some other things that kept her busy. She had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday too. We're up to 11 pounds, 8 ounces and are 23.5 inches long! Cate had to get shots though. Eric and I are both thankful that she is a good, easy, mellow baby. She was smiling and laughing at the doctor's until they stuck those needles in her thighs. I have never heard her cry so hard...it was awful. I cried right along with her seeing her like that as I held her little hands. It was the first time she actually blinked out tears and had them roll down her face. At least she won't remember it. I hope.

She recovered well though and on Friday she got to meet her grandfather Riggs (Eric's dad) for the first time. He is in the process of moving from Texas to New York and stopped in Cincinnati to visit with us. Here they are:Also, with the on-again/off-again warm weather we've been having, Cate is getting to wear some more of what my mom calls "keepsake clothes". She saved all of the special dresses I wore as a baby- dresses that were handmade by grandmother or really expensive and unique). I was a spring baby though, so Cate is a couple of months older than I was when I wore them and is quickly outgrowing them. But here is a picture of her in a dress and mommy wearing the same one almost 26 years ago.
And finally, for those of you that haven't seen Cate in awhile, I'll leave you with a video of her taken tonight. She's awesome at holding her head up, as you can see. (Remember, if you're reading this post from Facebook, you have to go to our blog site at http://growingupriggs.blogspot.com in order to watch the video.)



~Melody :-)

PS...

The long white gown Cate is wearing in the family pictures is the first of many family traditions we are introducing to Cate. I grew up in a church where new babies were christened (baptized) and my grandmother made the gown as a christening gown. My brother, sister, and I all wore it and on the tucks at the bottom of the gown, each of our names, birthdates, and baptism dates are embroidered. Our current church does dedications instead of infant baptism. But Cate still wore the gown and looked adorable. You can kind of see my name embroidered below.
And here I am wearing it as an infant (pictured with my grandma, mom, dad, and grandpa- grandparents are my dad's parents).Cate's name is now embroidered on the tuck next to my name. When my brother and sister have children of their own, their kids' names will be embroidered on their tuck. Cool huh? My mom also brought down a ton of dresses I wore when I was little (most of them also handmade by my grandmother). We'll post pictures of those as she wears them. And I have to be a bragging wife and say that Eric's song that he wrote for Cate and played in church for her today was fabulous. We videotaped her dedication, but haven't checked the tape yet to see how it turned out. But if you can't hear him singing, we'll have a repeat performance here at home and we'll try to get it up soon so those of you who couldn't be with us today can here it.

~Melody :-)

Dedication

So, after two months, we invited the whole clan to our little church and had a small prayer and showing of support to dedicate our daughter to be raised in a Christian home. It was great to have all of our family around us (In all, I think we had 18 people surrounding Cate for her prayer). I can't believe how much influence she already has on the lives of our family and friends and how the very nature of being a family has been a witness already to our friends, coworkers, and others. God is truly amazing. I know that we will have hard times in this journey of parenting, but God has a reason and purpose for it all. And our prayer is that Cate finds that grace in God one day. Here are a few pictures from the day. And by the way, because of all the family being around, she has slept so soundly the last couple of nights. :)

Here we are getting ready for church this morning. Cate has started to be a little more cooperative with the camera and smiling when she should.

Her cake from the post-dedication festivities.

The White/Shook Clan.

. . . And the Riggs/Smith Clan

And Finally Cate in her post-festivities clothes getting ready for our walk to the Library. And for those of you that don't get the reference on the shirt, two people who are Miami Alums and marry are nicknamed Miami Mergers, so she is the result of one incredible merge. Enjoy the beautiful weather.

- Papa E.

Happy Two Months Cate!

It's hard to believe our precious little girl is 2 months old! Time certainly flies. Cate is growing and changing every day and we are loving every minute, loving every smile, loving every cute little noise, loving her more and more each day. Being a parent really is having your heart living and breathing outside of you in another little person.
It's definitely a big weekend for Cate. Our family is all in town since we're having her dedicated at church tomorrow (more on that in a later entry). But here is a picture of her pre-bath tonight as she gets ready for tomorrow. :-)

She loves taking a bath and she loves being naked...she just doesn't like the transition from naked on the changing table to the bath in the kitchen. Clearly it concerns her a little ;-) (and it doesn't help when you've got a camera stuck in your face).

~Eric and Melody