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!

Day 13

We can't believe that tomorrow little Riley will be 2 weeks old!! We wanted to post an update on how he's doing. We layed low for the first few days, with limited visitors as we all tried to keep our energy up. On Thursday, we took Riley to visit Delaney for her 15 month birthday.

On Friday he had his 2 week doctor appointment. At his first doctor's appointment (on 3/19) he was 6 lbs 14 oz and on 3/20 he was 7 lbs 1 oz. We really focused on waking Riley up every 2 hours to eat, which was very hard for us but the results were worth it. Riley weighed in at 8 lbs 3 oz at his 2 week appointment!! As he passed his birth weight we are allowed to let him sleep at night and wake up when he is hungry. On Friday night we slept for 4 hours at a time, what a difference that made!! The pediatrician said that everything is looking great, and we will go back at 2 months to start all the immunizations.

Saturday was a day full of family visits, as Riley met his Uncle Michael and Aunt Christine, and later had visits from Uncle Chris, Aunt Amanda, and Mema.

Today Riley made his first outing to a store, as we ran to target to get a few things that we needed. He did pretty well for the most part, with just one episode of crying. In the afternoon his belly button fell off, so we look forward to starting REAL baths in the next few days. Chris and Ashley brought us a wonderful dinner and visited for a while, and we spent the evening relaxing.

We have one more week before Dennis has to go back to work, and so this week we hope to start taking walks and getting Riley used to getting out and doing things. Hopefully it will have the side effect of making him stay awake more d uring the day and sleep even better at night!!

Thanks to everyone for all of the thoughts, prayers, and visits!!

Riley wide awake

Riley wide awake and proud of himself after wetting all over the changing table.

Pictures...

We have been very remiss in posting pictures of our new little man, in all of the chaos it took some time to get pictures uploaded. Here are a few pictures to get started with :)

Family Visitation, Round 1

Being the new addition to the family, it was only a matter of time before more members of the family made the trip up to Richmond to meet little Riley. He had spent another long night feeding every two hours or so, and he was ready to meet some more people to bestow hugs, kisses, and "he's so cute" phrases. Saturday marked the first visits for Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Shannan (and Riley's cousin-to-be), Great-Aunts Tracy and Toni, and Second Cousins Sebastian, Corey, and Caitlin. Before they arrived, Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Jenna arrived to spend the day as well. Riley was passed around amongst the three of them, knowing that time with Riley would be precious with more people on their way. Next to arrive was Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Shannan. Riley finished his morning snack and was soon in Uncle Jimmy's arms. This was especially meaningful for us. It was very hard for both of us that Delaney never had a chance to meet Uncle Jimmy in person. Getting pictures of Riley and Jimmy meant a lot, as well as seeing a Marine about to be deployed oversees to protect our country with such uncertainty and hesitation with holding a newborn. Aunt Shannan was next to hold him, and Riley had his first interaction with his new aunt, as well as the little cousin growing inside of her. Nicknamed Atreyu right now, this cousin will be the closest family member in age to Riley. When everyone else arrived, Riley did a wonderful job, albeit asleep, getting passed around the room so that everyone had a chance to hold him. We received some wonderful gifts from the family, and the visit went off very well.

We spent the rest of the day with Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Jenna, and the long day was wearing on Riley. He struggled to sleep and wanted to eat a lot for the rest of the day. Ultimately, after dinner and after saying goodbye to his grandparents and AJ, he fell asleep on Dennis watching a movie. We hope he had some good dreams of today with the family, because tomorrow is going to be more of the same considering that Dennis' family was planning to visit.

First Day of Spring

The calendar says today is the first day of spring, but it was the coolest day so far in the short life of Riley Carter. This was an issue when we were preparing our second visit to the pediatrician's office for a 9:30am appointment. We got Riley bundled up in a very cute warm outfit and set forth to meet his very own pediatrician.

Over the course of the night before, the three of us worked together to get the best feedings possible. We woke Riley up every two hours on time, and we were tough on him to get the most out of his feedings. At 2am, we could not have been more excited to see a poopy diaper, a first since his first day. (It's things like this that let you know you are a parent.)

At yesterday's appointment, they had told us to bring Riley hungry so that a lactation consultant could see us to ensure that breastfeeding was going well and to answer any questions we had. The schedule we started the previous night had us feeding him every odd hour, so we last fed him at 7am. We skipped the 9am feeding, and that proved to be a tough thing for little Riley. It was not until 10am when we were able to get into a room, and he was extremely hungry. We met with a nurse who answered a lot of our questions and really helped with positioning and his latch. After this, we met with our pediatrician, and he went over a few things with us. The most important thing they did was weigh Riley, and he gained a whole 3 ounces since yesterday. The pediatrician said that babies should gain about an ounce a day during this stretch, and anything in excess is a plus. We were very happy to hear this news, and the appointment as a whole was a big success and relieved a lot of stress on Nikki.

For the rest of the day, we adhered to our feeding schedule of every two hours and just relaxed. We gave Riley his first at-home bath, and we discovered the main difference between little girls and little boys when it comes to changing diapers. Lesson learned.