Video of Delaney #2

We were looking through the videos and found another cute Delaney video that we wanted to share with everyone. This was on her 16th day, and little did she know that she was going to have a sweet 16 party that night with her nurses. We came in the next day to wonderful pictures and Delaney had a bow in her hair!! These special memories are wonderful, and I'm so happy to have so many videos to be able to share with everyone who cares about her and our family.

2 month appointment!

Yesterday was a big day for Riley!

First, we had our interview with the VCU daycare and met Riley's teacher and classmates. We spent an hour and a half there and got the feel of things. He did great, but Nikki and Dennis felt the reality of putting him in childcare for the first time. It is a wonderful place, but it is hard to leave him anywhere.

After that, we got lunch at the hospital and visited Nikki's office for a few minutes to catch up and spend the time until Riley's 2 month doctor appointment!

After a long wait in the waiting room, we were brought back and the moment of truth was upon us...how much would Riley weigh. The last time we got a weight, he was 2 weeks old and weighed 8lbs 3 oz (25%) and was 21" (50%) inches long. In the last 6 weeks everyone has been asking how much he weighed and we were excited to see how much he had grown. Nikki's guess was 11 1/2 pounds and Dennis' was 11 pounds. Imagine our disbelief when the scale said 13 lbs 11 oz!!! That puts him in the 90th% for weight. He is 23 1/2" inches long, also the 90th%.

We had a good visit with the doctor who said that Riley is right on track. The only issue we have to work on is sleeping...Riley is adverse to naps and only sleeps about 11 hours a day. He will only sleep on us and wakes up or screams if we try to put him to sleep in his crib. So, we are working on that. Not much progress to date...three times today Nikki put him down to sleep and three times he screamed and ended up sleeping on mommy. But tomorrow is another day and we'll keep at it!

Riley got his 2 month shots and it was harder for Dennis and Nikki than it was on Riley. He did just fine with them. Next time when he's bigger will be a different story I'm sure!

Happy Mothers Day!

Well, today was Mother's Day again, and a little easier than last
year. I know I'm a mom to 2 beautiful children, but it is hard to be
totally happy on these special days when I can't have them both with me.
I know that you all remember Delaney and I'm so grateful for that, but
it is all negated by just hearing one time "happy first mothers day"
or "you're finally a mother". It makes me shrink inside. Those
comments are not made to make me feel bad, or to belittle Delaney's
place in our family, but it is a reminder that my family will never be
whole.
In the morning we relaxed, I opened my cards and gifts, and we watched
a movie when Riley finally decided to nap. For the second year we took
a picnic lunch out to the memorial garden to share with Delaney. Then
we spent the afternoon with Dennis' family which was very nice.
Overall much happier than last year. If only I woke up to 2 precious
children today -- that would have been perfect!

Rolling Over

Riley has become adept at rolling over, and we finally caught it on camera. Very quickly the difficulty changed from holding the camera and waiting for him to roll to getting the camera on fast enough to catch the event!!

7 Weeks old!!

Riley is already 7 weeks old!! It hit Nikki the other day that she only has one month until she returns to work. The time really has been flying by!! Riley is smiling more every day, and he has become a master at rolling from tummy to back. He now has an escape from the dreaded tummy time and he wastes no time turning over. We finally got it on video and as soon as he gives us a minute we will post the video.

We've got a few milestones coming up in the next few weeks. On the 13th we have our interveiw with the child care center and we will learn all the ins and outs of that, and meet Riley's teacher. Later that day he has his 2 month visit with the pediatrician and will get his first vaccinations (ouch!). On May 20 we are going on our first big trip, to OHIO! We are going to visit Riley's great grandparents for a day and go to a wedding before driving home and then going right to Yorktown to celebrate Nikki's birthday with the family party (her mom and dad both have may birthdays too).

We spent this past weekend down in Yorktown once again, attending a going away party for Nikki's brother Jimmy. He is a marine and is being deployed with a marine expediationary unit (on a naval ship) for 6 months. It was sad for us to say good bye and to know that Riley will be SO much bigger by the time he gets home. Even more sad, his wife will have had their son and he will be 3 months old before Jimmy gets home to meet him. So, it was definately sad to say goodbye but we will be keeping in touch as much as possible until he gets home. My mom is running a DVD drive to send to the marines so that they have something to unwind with. They are collecting new or used DVD movies or TV series. If anyone has any DVDs that they are trying to get rid of, let me know!

Smile!!

After almost a week of trying, we finally caught riley's contagious
grin on camera!! Our little guy is growing up so fast!!

What an exciting weekend!

Well this weekend was definately not run of the mill. Friday Nikki
remembered that the air conditioning needed some work and we were out
of time to get it done. We weren't expecting the weather to go from 50
to 90 in one week, so suddenly we were faced with sweltering
temperatures and a newborn without air conditioning. The air
conditioning guy came out Friday afternoon but didn't have the part
needed to fix the AC. (he told us to buy a window unit!!). So on
Saturday we went and bought a few fans and had dinner with Dennis'
parents. Our house was 87 degrees!! After a miserable night where
Nikki worried nonstop about Riley being overheated we decided to go to
Yorktown for the day on Sunday.

Nikkis grandparents were planning on coming to Richmond for Delaney's
16 month bday but we visited at their house instead. We had a nice
trip and Riley got to play in his pool for the first time which was
fun for all of us. We also got to visit with our friends Tommy and
Michelle, and their son Avery, and they met Riley for the first time.
It was so cool to see the kids together!

Now we are headed back to our hot house and hopefully the air people
will fix it first thing in the morning!!

Also this weekend, Riley finally smiled!! This is the milestone that
Nikki was been waiting for most anxiously. He first smiled for daddy
then we both saw it. We have yet to catch it on film but we will keep
trying!!

SO BIG!

Riley is such a big boy and growing by leaps and bounds. He's 5 1/2 weeks old already, we can hardly believe it. And even more unbelievable...he rolled over for the first time today!! During the day he was doing tummy time and Nikki had a blanket rolled under his arms, and he got mad and rolled onto his back. Nikki didn't think that counted since he was up on a blanket and didn't even mention it to Dennis. Tonight Dennis put him face down on his activity gym and he rolled himself completely over from stomach to back!! We got the video camera out and tried again to record the event...but all he did that time was get good and mad and wiggle out of the camera's view. We will keep trying to get it on video, because we wouldn't even believe it ourselves if we hadn't just seen it. He's growing up so fast!!

1st soccer game

Today Riley went to his first soccer game and cheered on the team that
daddy coaches. The weather was great and he slept during the first
half. After the game we are headed back to Yorktown to meet Riley's
great grandparents who drove all the way from Ohio to meet him!!
Dennis and Nikki are less sleep deprived today also because Riley
slept for a 4 hour stretch last night!

Riley's Luve

Look how cute and calm I am!!

Riley finds his thumb

After a long month of trying, Riley succeeded in getting his thumb in
his mouth!! Too bad it's really hard to keep it where he wants it!

A bump in the road

As if we didn't have enough on our plate, learning Riley's needs and trying to get into a routine, both Nikki and Dennis are feeling under the weather today. It has been brewing for a few days, but today we are both feeling pretty bad. On top of it, Riley has been extra fussy the past few days and not sleeping well. Now I wonder if he isn't feeling well also. So now we are worried about him in addition to trying to get well.

Today is Delaney's angel day, we can't believe it has been 15 months since she passed away. We went out to visit her with Riley this afternoon, but had to cut the visit short as it was cool and misty. It feels like the last 3 times we have been out there (every time we have gone since Riley was born) it has been raining. Visiting on Angel day is always extra draining emotionally, but today was even harder because there was a new little grave in the infant section. It makes us so sad whenever there is another grave, knowing that another baby passed away and that another family is going through this horrible tragedy. In the 15 months since Delaney passed away, there have been 4 new babies added to her row. I wish that there were not any more babies that needed to go there.

Hopefully we will all start to feel better soon, as Dennis has a soccer game on Saturday and we are going to Yorktown on Saturday afternoon so Riley can meet his great-grandparents who are coming from Ohio to meet him!!

Happy Birthday to Daddy!

Today is Dennis' 29th birthday!! He was able to work from home today, so we spent a quiet day at home together recouperating from our first trip to Yorktown to visit Nikki's family for Easter! Dennis had a nice day, and Riley enjoyed having Daddy home to sleep on. Dennis had to leave to go to soccer practice and we enjoyed a nice dinner together when he got home. All in all, a good way to start off the last year of the 20's!

Back to the daily routine...

Today marks day 22 for Riley...and a big milestone for our family. Today Dennis had to go back to work. It's amazing that three weeks have already sped by, we can't believe that it's already been three weeks and it's time for Dennis to return to work!! It was very hard for him to leave today, but Nikki sent him a few pictures to help him through the day. He spent the day catching up with work and co-workers, and received many wonderful gifts from his friends at work.

Meanwhile, Nikki was at home with Riley alone for the whole day for the first time. On top of being a bit anxious to be alone with a sometimes fussy Riley all day, the county turned off our water for the day to do some work. However we all made it through the day just fine and had a nice evening together. Now we just have to do it all again tomorrow...

OPENING DAY!!

Today is the first day of the baseball season! Due to some good timing
on Riley's part, it is the last day of Dennis' leave so Riley got to
watch opening day with his daddy!! Here is a picture of the two of
them. As you can see, Riley didn't find it too exciting!

Practicing a smile!

> Riley practicing his smile while sleeping! I think he'll be a lady
> killer when he grows up!!
>

Day 20

Today marks Riley's 20th day of life. This day has been difficult for us, as today Riley is the same age that Delaney was when she passed away. From this point on, Riley will be experiencing life that his big sister never had a chance to enjoy. While his experiences have been different than Delaney's since birth (no NICU, bringing him home, getting to experience newborn life at home), it is hard for us to know that tomorrow he will start his third week, a feat that we wish his older sister had been able to accomplish. We know that Delaney is looking down on us to help us through and will keep a close eye on her little brother in the days, months, and years to come.

Riley's First Tub Bath

Today marked the first day we gave Riley a bath in the tub. Previously, we had washed him on the kitchen counter on a mat waiting for his belly button to fall off. With his belly button looking good, we decided to try out the bath tub. Here is the result:

Swaddling fun

One of our challenges so far has been sleeping...Riley has decided that during the day (and sometimes at night) the only place he wants to sleep is ON mommy and daddy. That is doable during the day...but at nighttime we really want him to sleep in his bassinette so Nikki can sleep. She can't sleep if he's in the bed for worrying about him. We have been swaddling him at night to help him sleep...but he is too strong for everything we've tried so far.

He has broken out of regular recieiving blankets, the "soothing blanket" which is just an extra large, thin recieving blanket, and the "swaddle me" wrap. He is too strong and gets his arms free no matter what we do. Grandma brought another option today, called the "snug and tug" swaddle blanket, which we are going to try tonight, and Nikki caved in and bought the "woombie" which some friends have said is the only thing that works for them. We are also going to borrow the "miracle blanket" to see if that can contain him.

I think that the swaddling blanket market is a big money making racket...how is it that a 3 week old infant is strong enough to break out of all of these blankets. We are borrowing several of these wraps and still have spent almost $100 on swaddle blankets...there should be a consensus about what works so new parents don't spend all this needless money. Once we figure out the best solution...we will share it :) In the meantime...we'll keep thinking positive thoughts of Riley sleeping in his bassinette (and for longer than 2 hours at a time!)

Meeting more family

Riley has been having more alert time as he nears 3 weeks of age, and some fussy periods in which Dennis and Nikki are trying to learn to put all the skills they read about to the test to calm him down. Today Grandma and Grandpa came to visit, and Riley got to meet his Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Williams, who returned home from a winter in Flordia on Thursday! We had a very nice visit, with Riley enjoying meeting everyone and he even had a few hours of alert time. We had a nice lunch and dinner of ham and fixings that were brought up to us, and spent a very nice day together. This evening we are watching some final 4 basketball before bedtime... overall a very nice day!