Last Pool Party!

Nikki's grandparents have a house with a pool that is usually the gathering place for the family. They decided that it was time to move into a senior community so they wouldn't have so much yardwork and such to contend with. Today was the big day when the move-out was completed. It was pretty emotional for everyone, as their house has been the site for 2 weddings, our rehearsal dinner, Delaney's baby shower, and many many easter egg hunts and christmas eve gatherings. We drove down to Yorktown on Sunday to enjoy one last afternoon at the pool with Riley. Here are a few pics, we had a great time!! We will of course have many more great memories at their new house, which we look forward to!

4 month update

Well yesterday was Riley's 4 month birthday. To celebrate, he was sent home from daycare with too many poops. He was fine though so Nikki and Riley got to spend the afternoon together. Today was Riley's 4 month checkup with the pediatrician. He weighs 16 lbs 13 oz and is 25 inches long. That puts him at the 90% for weight and 75% for height. We asked the pediatrician if we needed to worry and he said that breastfed babies gain weight quickly but then even out around 6-9 months of age. We are going to continue with just milk for now, since they recommend starting food at 6 months. Other than that, we need to work on sleeping. Riley should be sleeping 14-16 hours daily and he averages about 11...so we need to work on that. We are going to start working on putting Riley down to bed awake instead of letting him nurse to sleep. Hopefully he will start to cut back on his middle of the night wakenings soon! Well, Riley is fussy from his shots so we better go tend to him!

A few more

Pictures of Riley - week 16!

Here are a few pictures from week 16. Riley is getting bigger and learning new things all the time. Tomorrow he will be 4 months old...crazy! On Friday we have our 4 month checkup - so we will post how Riley does with the shots and how much he's grown!

Fireworks!!

Well Riley stayed up past bedtime to watch fireworks for the 4th of July, and he didn't seem too impressed, but he didn't cry either so we'll take that as a victory. He has a cold and so is much fussier than normal. Hopefully he'll start to feel better soon! Here are a few pictures of Riley at fireworks!

Resting up for the fun!!

Happy 4th of July!!!

Today is the 4th of July, celebration of our independence!! And who do we have to thank for our continued freedom but the men and women of the military. We want to take this opportunity to thank all of the military personnel for their service, but especially Riley's Uncle Jimmy. Jimmy is a corporal in the Marine Corps and he is deployed for his second tour of duty right now. This deployment is especially difficult on us all as his wife Shannan is expecting their first child and will deliver while Jimmy is gone. Jax will be 3 months old before Jimmy gets home, and that is just another sacrifice that these brave men and women make to protect our freedom!

Today we are having a small cookout and then will try to go see some fireworks for Riley's first fourth. He has a cold (as does Nikki) so we hope that he will be up for staying up a little late to watch the action. Here are a few pictures of Riley that we have taken recently!

Pool Party!!

This weekend we went for a short visit to Yorktown for Nikki's sister-in-law's baby shower. Nikki and Riley had a good time at the shower with friends and family, and then in the evening we went with Grandma, Grandpa, and AJ to the pool. Riley went swimming for the first time and he did GREAT! We were a little worried that he would cry because the water was too cold, but he loved it. He stayed in and played for about 45 minutes and then got out and dried off. We can't wait to go back in a few weeks!! Here is a short clip of Riley enjoying the pool!

Delaney's 18 month birthday

18 months ago our lives changed forever. Definately for the better. Delaney Hope Carter, our daughter and angel, was born on December 26th, 2007. She impressed everyone who met her (and many people who didn't get that opportunity) with her strength and courage. She went through more in her short life than many people ever have to deal with. Each moment spent with her is etched into our memory, and she has a very special place in our family and our hearts.

Delaney's days were marked with great highs and horrible lows. We learned quickly that being a parent was more than just loving this little person that we had made, but doing whatever we could do to protect her. I think that the hardest thing about losing her is that we couldn't fix what was wrong. As parents you think you can fix whatever is wrong and protect your child from the bad things that happen in life. We learned much too quickly that it isn't always that easy.

We try to focus on the wonderful memories, the happy pictures and videos, the little things that most people take for granted. We love to talk about Delaney and share stories about her life and her courage, but understand that it may make some people uncomfortable or think that talking about Delaney will make us sad. There is something inherently wrong with a baby dying. But that is part of our daily life and nothing will ever change that.

We spent the day remembering our angel (like we do every day). We took Riley to visit Delaney and sang happy birthday like we do every month. Then we went to dinner and then came home and relaxed. I can't believe that it has been 18 months since Delaney was born... she would be a little person with a strong personality (which she showed us in the brief time she was here), who would be rapidly approaching the terrible twos. We would gladly face each challenge, but are left instead to treasure the days that we had and to thank Delaney for being so brave as to fight to let us love her and get to know her for those 20 amazing days.

Settling in

Well, as you can tell time is much more scarce now that Nikki is back at work. It's been 2 1/2 weeks and we are settling into the new routine. Nikki wakes Riley up to eat at 6 before leaving for work, and then he goes back to sleep (most days). Dennis has morning duty, getting Riley ready and entertaining him while trying to get ready for work. Then he drops Riley at daycare and stays to play for a while. Off to work for Dennis and Riley gets a day of love from Cherise and Aunt Ronda. Nikki has pickup duty, and then takes Riley home for playtime, evening nap, and then Dennis gets home! That is the best part of the day, when we're all together as a family. We eat a quick dinner and play with Riley until 7:30 when we go upstairs for some naked time, bath, feeding, and bed. Then Nikki attempts to stay up at least a little bit longer to spend some time with Dennis before an admittedly early bedtime. Riley is still getting up in the middle of the night one time (knock on wood) and hopefully that will be phased out soon! He seems to be doing very well at daycare. We can't believe that he is 3 months old already!! We got professional pictures done and will post them soon!

1st day of school picture

Here is the picture Dennis sent at drop off time!

Back to work

Well, Thursday was the day that Nikki had to go back to work and Riley started day care. He is going to daycare at the hospital so he's close to both Nikki and Dennis during the day. Nikki and Riley visited twice in the week before starting there to get used to the place and all the other babies. Dennis had drop off duty and he admitted that it was harder than he anticipated to leave him there and go to work. Luckily he was able to come visit during lunch that first day and found Riley sleeping. He made things easier for Nikki by sending her pictures of Riley at the daycare center. Nikki was able to get off around 3:30 and made it in time for his afternoon feeding. He did OK with the bottle there, they warm it well and he seems to like that better. Nikki kept anticipating a page to say that she needed to come feed her starving baby but that never happened thankfully.

Friday was a little bit easier, and Riley took a 3 hour nap! He hasn't ever done that before, but I guess all that playing with his new friends wore him out. Nikki got off a few minutes early and went to feed Riley before they left to start their weekend. Nikki is very glad that she decided to go back to work a few days early so it was a short week, becuase she was very tired after just those two days at work. Now we have enjoyed a relaxing weekend and are ready for a full week of work and daycare. I'll attach a picture from his first day of daycare.

Making Delaney's Footprint

We had the opportunity to make a mold of Delaney's footprint on the day she passed away. One of her Angels had bought us a footprint kit and helped us to make a footprint of her right foot with her lucky toe. It is one of our treasured memories and the footprint is hanging on the wall in the nursery next to Riley's. Below is a picture of the two footprints side by side...I can't believe how much bigger Riley's is!! (they were both taken on day 20...)

The dreaded bottle

Well, Nikki's worst fear has come to pass... Riley hates the bottle. We started introducing it when he was about 3 weeks old to try to avoid this. He never loved it, but he took the bottle OK from anyone but Nikki. Over the past few weeks, we have not used the bottle as often (maybe only once or twice a week) because of our schedules and the fact that Nikki (and Riley) prefer breastfeeding to the bottle. When we were in Ohio was the first time that Riley refused the bottle, and was very hungry when we got home from the wedding. After that, we tried the bottle on Monday and again yesterday without success. Eventually we give up and feed Riley when he gets frantic.

However, Nikki is starting to panic because she is going back to work on Thursday. That will be hard enough without having to worry that Riley is starving while she's gone. He will be only a few blocks away, but work at the hospital is usually too hectic to be leaving every few hours to feed him. We are in for a long week as we try to convince him that the bottle gives him the same milk and he needs to use it from time to time. If anyone has any suggestions please let us know!!!

Trip to OHIO!

Well over Memorial day weekend we had a big trip planned. We left on Thursday evening at 7pm and drove up to Uncle Michael and Aunt Christine's house to feed Riley and have a quick visit. We drove about another hour and stayed the night in a hotel in Hagerston Maryland. It was Riley's first hotel stay and he did very well. It was a late night but he slept well. We got up and on the road by 9am to continue to trip to Nikki's grandparents house. We arrived there about 2pm after a few stops for Riley to eat and stretch. He did very well in the car, sleeping for the most part. We had a very nice visit there, visiting with family and relaxing. We stayed overnight and left midmorning for Beechwood Ohio for the wedding.

We checked into the hotel and left Aunt Jenna with Riley while we went to the wedding. We came home and Riley did not like that bottle so was ready to eat! We stayed overnight and left early in the morning and drove the WHOLE way home to Richmond. Riley did a great job, only being slightly fussy when he woke. We had a quick visit in Richmond to visit with some of Dennis' family and then we continued on to Yorktown. Monday was Nikki's birthday and there was a joint Beil birthday party planned for the day - celebrating Nikki's mom and dad's birthdays along with hers. After a nice celebration we returned home to Richmond and began the unpacking process... It was a fun trip and Riley did great!

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!