0 Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all our lovely family!

We're enjoying a great day together, watching the Macy's parade. Turkey is in the oven and some awesome food to make and bake later.

Some great football games to watch today too!

We hope all our family is having a great day and enjoying family and friends. We're so thankful to have such amazing people in our lives.

Happy Thanksgiving!

NEXT - Happy Thanksgiving!

0 Riley–3,4,5 month comparison

Thought I’d compare the last 3 months of pictures, even if he’s not smiling!

Such a cutie!

Here are some from today!

NEXT - Riley–3,4,5 month comparison

0 Videos of Riley–5 months old

Riley is getting so big! Here are a couple of videos I took today.
He’s a pro at rolling over. He’s been doing it for about 3-4 weeks now. He rolls from back to tummy. He’s okay for a few minutes but quickly gets frustrated and starts to fuss. We’ll turn him back over to his back but he rolls right back over to this tummy within minutes (if not seconds!).
He LOVES bath time. Always kicking and slapping the water. I love the tub I picked out for him. We’ve been using it since he was about a month old. We’ll get tons of use out of it, even though it’s quite big and bulky.
His next doctors appointment is on the 31st (Halloween!). His last check up went great. He weighted in at 16 lbs. 5 oz. and 25 inches long.
He’s started to eat some rice cereal. I give him a little when I’m making dinner each night. He’s always watching me eat dinner so I thought I’d offer it to him and see how things went. He didn’t spit it out so we’ll keep going with it for now.
He’s doing great that’s for sure!
Here are his monthly pictures and those videos!

He wouldn’t smile while sitting in the 4 month picture. He was a happy baby during the 5 month pictures though!

Riley rolling over

To see Riley's bathtime video follow the link, didn't want it posted on here. This video is unlisted on YouTube.

NEXT - Videos of Riley–5 months old

0 Toothless Madi!

Madison lost her second front tooth today!

NEXT - Toothless Madi!

0 Riley - 3 months

Here's Riley at 3 months old! He was not in the mood for picture taking in the first picture.

He's doing very well. He had a snotty nose this past weekend and week
but it seems to be going away now.

He's really growing up. He's following faces and locking in much
quicker now. He's grabbing hold of toys, smiling a ton and has started
laughing. He talks up a storm too!

I'm sure there's more to tell but I can't think of anything else.

Hugs from us all!

NEXT - Riley - 3 months

0 1st Week Work and Daycare Update

What a week!

It's refreshing to be back in a strict routine. I managed to get to work 5 minutes early on Friday as opposed to 25 minutes late on Monday. Success!

I had a decent week at work. I was mostly busy so that helped me not worry about Riley and Madi at daycare. I did call in Monday afternoon to check on Riley though. Just to make sure he was taking the bottle and he was!

Riley had a superb week. He mostly slept. He's a great sleeper. He took all but one bottle but only because he wanted to go back to sleep instead of drink. He comes home smelling like the daycare and for some reason it really bothers me. Needless to say he's been getting a bath just about every night.

Madison had a good week too. She went to Pen Mar Park on Monday, Northside Pool on Wednesday, and the Antietam Dairy on Thursday. Next week is full of fun too! Unfortunately she's also been having an attitude problem and giving me such a hard time in the mornings. She'll be going to bed this week at 8:00 pm instead of 9:00 pm.

I'm excited about the weekend even though it's full of things to do. Sunday afternoon is my 10 year High School reunion picnic and today Patrick is taking Madi to go see Cars 2 with Kevin, Lori, and Lucas then we'll be doing some yard work.

A couple of recent pictures:

Here's a new video  of Riley! The other videos are at the bottom of our home page.

NEXT - 1st Week Work and Daycare Update

0 Back to work and daycare!

Well it's officially that time: back to work.

I've been home since April 13th, delivered Riley on April 25th and will be returning to work on June 20th. Riley will be 8 weeks old!

I'm so grateful to the time I've had to stay at home getting ready for his birth and now the 8 weeks of watching him grow. I'm sad to have to leave him with strangers, even if it is at a very nice daycare.

The tasks we'll all have to overcome this week seem monstrous at the moment.

Me: Leaving my baby boy and little girl! Pumping! Working! Driving! Waking up (and staying up) early! (with NO coffee)
Riley: No mama for a whole day! Bottles?!!? (he still isn't taking one!) New people and a new place.
Madison: Making new friends and meeting new teachers.

The reward of picking them both up on Monday is going to be phenomenal. Only to have to turn around and do it again on Tuesday.

Riley is really going to have a terrible time if he doesn't buckle down and accept a bottle. I've been trying most of this past week getting him to take the ones I bought (Breastflow -- good for switching back and forth between breast and bottle) but I'm thinking I should have started a lot sooner or maybe I need to buy a different brand. He acts like the nipple is too firm. I'm going to look at different brands today to see if he'll accept something different.

I just hope he accepts one on Monday!

Madison is super excited about going to Noah's Ark. I have no doubt that this transition will go smoothly for her. She has a field trip the very first day! She gets to go to the pool every Wednesday and even a trip to the Antietam Dairy this Thursday!

Riley has his 2 month check up this coming week as well. I'm excited to see how much he's weighting now. He's such a big boy!

He'd been having fits every night for the past few weeks. Right around 7-8 pm he'd get super fussy and eventually vomits all over me. I've stopped drinking coffee this week and so far it seems to have helped. He hasn't vomited for the past 3 days. I was getting headaches w/o the coffee but that seems to have stopped just today. I miss drinking it so I may grab some decaf while at the store today.

Wish us luck for this week! We'll need it!
Until next week....

NEXT - Back to work and daycare!

3 Riley’s Birth Story

12:17 a.m., April 25, 2011

7 lbs. 9.3 oz.

21 1/4 inches long

Riley Shane made his appearance just minutes after Easter Day. My water broke around 11:30 am on Easter, April 24, but we had a whole day’s worth of awesome to attend to and I wasn’t having contractions, nor was I Strep B positive so we went about our day. 

Some people, mainly women that have had children before (mother-in-law Kim) thought I was crazy for not going to the hospital ASAP but I knew I wasn’t progressing and from my first birth knew it would be at least 6 hours before anything major happened and that it was safe to just hang out with family and friends before heading to the hospital.

So, on to my sister’s Easter Egg Hunt we went. Madison had some fun, we had a few bites of food, well hubby and Madi did, I was holding out for dinner with hubby’s dad’s family. :) We left there and I was comfortable, dripping a bit but comfortable. We dropped Madison off with hubby’s mom because we knew we’d proceed to the hospital from the dinner.

The dinner was great. I told myself to not eat too much because I knew I’d probably get sick at some point of the labor, and I did, but it wasn’t terrible.

We arrived at the hospital at about 5:00 pm. I was given Pitocin because I wasn’t contracting and they start to get worried if you’re not in labor within 6 hours of your water breaking. At about 9:00 pm I was in some pretty bad pain and they started to get me ready for my epidural. I requested some IV drugs to hold me over until the epidural was given. Stadol is my new friend.

I have no idea what time the epidural was actually given. I remember being so hot right before it was given and sweating profusely, so much so that the EKG pads wouldn’t stick to my chest and spray adhesive was used on those as well as the sticky tape that holds the epidural in place. The epidural was amazing. It worked so well that I couldn’t feel my entire right leg. I couldn’t move it to save my life. I had to ask several times during pushing for them to adjust it, the nurse was holding that leg and would put it down during contractions in the stirrup things but I could feel it wasn’t in there right. Any who, I only pushed through 4 contractions and Riley was born at 12:17 am on April 25, 2011. He weighted 7 lbs. 9.3 oz. and was 21 1/4 inches long. He cried so much when they were doing all they do to newborns I felt so bad for him!

It was such a great experience compared to my first labor and delivery. It’s amazing how much kind nurses, awesome doctors, and amazing drugs will do to make a situation so much better that you’d actually think about doing it all again. Only not really. ;)

Without further ado here are some of my favorite pictures. Please feel free to see the rest of Riley’s pictures in his Facebook album. And I just took this video a few minutes ago. He’s been doing a lot of grunting and throat clearing, or something, yesterday and today so I tried to capture the moment but instead I got him getting the hick ups, which he hates. Enjoy!

 

Riley Shane–1 Week Old

NEXT - Riley’s Birth Story

1 comments Week 29 Update

Nothing new to report other than some new clothes and his nursery almost being done!

My glucose results were perfect if you were wondering and the last ultrasound came back with nothing to worry about. The fluid is fine.

Baby Stuff

I told you last week that I ordered some things from Old Navy, well they came! I ordered 3 sizes of the middle outfit because I LOVE it!

We also picked up his furniture and spent all day Saturday putting it together. I LOVE it. I can’t wait to buy some accessories to finish off his room. We have a few final touches to do: install closet doors, paint touch ups, paint the mural, install new ceiling fan/light combo, install new blinds, buy a soft rug for the middle of the floor and paint the door white. (Click image for larger picture.)

Kitty Cookie Monster approves. We’ve caught her sleeping in the crib several times already. The other cats have been checking this out too.

I’m 30 weeks pregnant today. I’m hoping to delivery the week of April 11th, but not the 14th cause that’s my birthday and I want him to have his own special day; so about 6-7 weeks to go! I’m so ready for him too!

When do you think I’ll deliver?

NEXT - Week 29 Update

0 Week 28 Update

Just a quick update!

Yesterday was my 3 hour glucose tolerance test. I was 2 points above the maximum results of my 1 hour test so they ordered the 3 hour test. Initially I refused to do it because I remembered how awful it was when I was pregnant with Madison, only to pass the test with no issues. But after my last doctor's appointment they convinced me to do it. And, alas, it sucked again.

On the 7th I had some contractions that scared me so I went to the Chambersburg Hospital to be monitored. All is well, the contractions weren’t regular but were pretty painful, which they shouldn’t be if they are just practice ones. They did a protein test that’s good for two weeks that came back negative, so apparently I will not go into labor for the next two weeks, which is awesome because it’s entirely too early for him to come out!

My hips continue to give me issues. I’m definitely waddling and moving around in bed or not  sitting completely flat hurts. I did get a belly support band that helps a little but I can’t wear it too long.

Baby Stuff

I took a trip to Target and got a few frog themed items. I’m afraid that the things I see available for purchase now will disappear before people buy us anything for him. So, yeah, I’ve spent quite a bit on some clothes. Just last night I ordered a lot from Old Navy because, I <3 Old Navy, and they have some adorable frog outfits! Here’s what I got at Target:

See? Too cute! I’ll be sure to post the Old Navy purchases next week.

You can see our current baby registries. We have one on Amazon as well as Target. Both are pretty much the same but Amazon has some other items because they have the Universal Wish list option, where you can put items from any website on your list. I like that feature. Plus Amazon is usually cheaper than Target.

 

We also picked up his changing table from JCPenney yesterday but haven’t put it together yet. We were supposed to take home his dresser too, but it arrived damaged so we asked them to ship it back and try again. They were really great to work with and gave us 10% off the replacement dresser. I wasn’t there to see the damage, I was busy taking a 3 hour Glucose Tolerance Test, which sucked and ruined my day. I planned to paint his room but I had NO energy to speak of after I got home from the test. So, we’ll be trying to paint his room today. :)

ETA:

We got the walls painted and after dinner I hung up the valances! Here’s what it looks like so far:

NEXT - Week 28 Update

0 27 Week Ultrasound!

We had our follow up ultrasound appointment today. We’ll know how the amniotic fluid is doing when they call or at our next appointment, which is February 10th.

Here are the pictures! Or you can see them on Facebook (no account needed).

We’ll be starting to paint and decorate Rylie’s room soon. We just finished Madison’s room last weekend and still have a few more minor things to add: paint her door, hang closet doors, and install the closet light.

We’re supposed to get a decent amount of snow and even a layer of freezing rain tonight and tomorrow morning. Hope everyone is well!

NEXT - 27 Week Ultrasound!