Happy Birthday Sweet Baby!

It has been one whole year today!!! Happy Birthday my sweet baby boy! Every minute of every day I thank God that you are my son! You have been the most amazing gift that I have ever received in my life. You are such a blessing to your daddy and I and you will never know how much we love you! Happy 1st Birthday Peyton!

With all of my love,
Mommy

I sit here...by Daddy

I sit here SAD because my little baby is turning one tomorrow. I longed to have a child of my own and was so Blessed last year to have Peyton enter my life, but i am not sure i want to give up my baby as he enters the next stage.

I sit here HAPPY that my son is growing up into such a wonderful boy. I feel like I have done everything I can to give him what he needs to grow over the past year. I am happy to carry forward all of the memories of the past year. I am excited to start the next chapter with Peyton.

I sit here IN AWE of the many Blessings that have been bestowed upon me over the past two years. A couple years ago I was at a low in my life and the news came along that I would have a child. From the low in my life to the high in my life from a single phone call. And now I have a son who loves me, looks at me with his blue eyes and melts my heart, makes me so proud, but through all of this I never take any of it for granted. I am in awe of my wife and the amazing role that she plays in his life. I look at Peyton and I see the amazing traits of Amy. I am simply in awe of the amazing blessings in my life.

As I move forward, I carry with me emotions that I have never felt, I carry with me memories that I could have never imagined, I carry with me a sense of peace and happiness that comes over me just thinking about all of my Blessings, I carry with me an amazing year and tomorrow this amazing year will roll over into the next year. May it be filled with the Health, Happiness and Love that made the first year so amazing.

Peyton--I love you and thank you for such a wonderful first year. You are a dream-come-true and I am so Blessed to call you my son. In 30 years when you are my age and every year in between and beyond, I want to remind you how special you are to me. I will always be here for you and will Love you out loud. Thank you Peyton for all that you have given me. I love you son.

My Parts

Today we will discuss the parts that make me...
I have the following:
Ten Fingers
Ten Toes on Two big feet (size 5)
Two Blue Eyes
One Nose
Two Ears
Two Dimples
A head full of hair that started out brown as a newborn and is now beginning to show curls and turn blonde
Eight Teeth and Dr. Karp says my molars are starting to come in
One Leroy that, if I am out of my diaper, is surely in my hand being stretched in one direction or another
One cute little tushy
One adorable little face
All of these parts create one Peyton.

What am I up to?

Mommy and Daddy wanted to document my accomplishments over the first year of my life.
The first list will be words that I have learned.
I can say these words:

"Mama"--this was my first word. I said it for the first time the day after Thanksgiving on my way to visit my family in North Carolina. Nobody is really sure if i knew what i was saying, but we will count it.

"Dada"--this was my second word and for a while it was my favorite, but now I don't use it that often.

"Dog"--this is my favorite word. I love to yell "Dog" until i see Bailee. If someone mentions Bailee's name, I will start with the repetitive "Dog" chant.

"Ball"--Daddy hopes that my love for the word Ball means that i will be a future Tar Hell athlete.

"This"--I have just started saying "This". I will hand you something and say "This".

"Piece"--I quickly learned this word a couple weeks ago as Daddy was breaking off some snacks for me and asking me if i wanted a piece. I would respond "Piece".

"Pop Pop"--I actually whisper this just like my cousin Cole did when he was little like me.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the next list...

The Countdown Is Here

In less than a week, I will be celebrating my 1st birthday. Can you believe it has been a year? My Mommy and Daddy can't, but they are so excited about the celebration week. In honor of my first birthday, Mommy asked Daddy to help post each day leading up to the Big Day so join me as I welcome back Daddy to the blog.
As you will see below, Mimi's dog, Sassy, is excited about my birthday too and gave me a big Birthday kiss.

Happy Mommy's Day

With Daddy's help, I wrote my wonderful Mommy this letter for Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day Mommy...I love you more than you will ever know.

"Last Mother’s Day I was anxious to meet the Mommy that took such great care of me for 9 months and who went through so much for me. Little did I know how much my love for you would blossom over the next year. You are an amazing mother and I am so Blessed to call you my Mommy.

Even at my worst, you never get angry.
The touch of your hands calm me,
The sound of your voice soothes me,
Your loving eyes mesmerize me.

I thank you for everything you do. If I need you, you are there. When I need to be held tightly, you know just how to do it. When I begin to fall, you are there to catch me. When I look over at you, you look back and fill my soul with a peace created with your Love.

I knew this love from the first time I saw your beautiful face on May 15th. You tried so hard to conceive me and pushed so hard to meet me and when we met face-to-face, you held me tight and I discovered Love...a love that will never falter, a love that grows stronger and stronger. Thank you Mommy for being there for me and giving so much to me. You give me strength, hope, and wisdom, but most of all you give me Love.

So on this Mother’s Day,
I celebrate my Mommy.
I celebrate your beauty,
I celebrate your warmth,
I celebrate your strength,
I celebrate your sacrifices,
I celebrate your Love,
I celebrate you.

I love you Mommy.
Happy Mother’s Day.

Love always,
Peyton Kyle Riley"

Mommy turned 30!

Wow...can you believe that my Mommy turned 30 last week? She ended up having celebrations for a week. She could not believe it! The first one was in NC...another reason we headed that way last weekend. We had such a good time. The weather was beautiful and so we decided to grill out with everyone. We even had a yummy Birthday cake from Ketchie Creek (one of Mommy's favs) to celebrate with.

Mommy posing with the cake before we cut into it!


Then we of course celebrated Mommy on her actual birthday which was April 22! She also shares her birthday with a few others near and dear...Carlee (cousin) and Grace (my buddy)! We just spent the day having lunch with Daddy and then Mommy and I did some shopping that afternoon before Daddy came home! When he got home though, he surprised us with another birthday cake! We went out for dinner to our very favorite restaurant...No Frill Grill and had such a nice casual dinner!

And then the big one, which Mommy had absolutely no idea about. Daddy had been planning for weeks and he and Nana pulled it all together. Mommy and Daddy were supposed to be going to have dinner at Bonefish Grill on Friday night. Mommy was ready and had come to terms with leaving me with my Nana and Pop Pop for the evening. So, off we went to surprise my mommy! We arrived at Nana and PopPop's house on Friday night. We went in just like normal, but all of a sudden Mommy went upstairs first and everyone yelled "SURPRISE!"


Daddy kept me behind for a few minutes so that I would not get scared...I get a little upset when there are lots of loud noises...




Daddy had pulled it off...Mommy had no idea and still does not know how he did it, but it was a success. It was a night filled with family, old friends (Amy Sue) and yummy food!


We had Moe's for dinner and for those of you who don't know, we love Mexican food around here! Here are some of the decorations ...




And the gang to help us party!!!

This is one of Mommy's favorite pics of me...Lovin the blue eyes and the semi curly hair!!! I am such a big boy!

We saved the best for last...the BIRTHDAY CAKE! This is from Patti Cakes out of Moyock...she is incredible with her designs and the flavor is unbelieveable. This is who is doing my Birthday cake...Can you guys believe I will be one year old in two weeks...Where has the year gone???



Oh well, Happy Birthday Mommy! We hope that you had a great time at all of your birthday celebrations! We love you!!!