Bath Time

Bath time has become one of our favorite times with Riley. Now that we have our method down, she loves being in the warm water and we love watching her coo. This pic is just after we were finished with bath time (we don't let her run around in just a diaper as a normal practice). She looks like such a big girl here!

Unlike Mia and Crawford, my little Riley has almost no hair. As I was "washing her hair" the other night, she looked at me with furrowed eye brows like "What are you doing? Patronizing me and acting like your washing hair that isn't really there?!" It was SUCH a cute moment.

New best Friends

My new best friends: Lanolin and my Snugli.

The Lanolin for obvious reasons. Nursing has become quite literally a pain. The next time I go to the dentist, they're gonna ask me why I've been grinding my teeth.

Riley has become pretty fussy in the last few days. It could be that she hasn't had much luck pooping on a regular basis. Or it could be that she's a baby and is going to cry... a lot. Today I discovered the snugli used in conjunction with the vacuum cleaner works wonders. But as I am typing this, I am learning that she will only stay asleep while the vacuum cleaner is on. She's back at her crying game... Will write more when I get this all figured out. Surely there is a trick to get her to stop crying, I just haven't found it yet.

Why God invented the kiss

I've always thought that kisses were for telling people how much you love them without saying a word. This still is true, but I don't think this is why God created the kiss. I think He created the kiss as a way to gobble your baby up without harming her.
Look at my little supermodel. She's a natural. :)

Babywise

So I've heard wonderful things about this "Babywise" book. Everyone I've talked to that's done it has raved about the results and how their baby was sleeping through the night at record times. So I've read it and started the strategies to get Riley on a schedule and hopefully sleeping through the night by the time she's 8 weeks old (which seems like an eternity from our tiny little number of week 2~ mommy needs her beauty rest).

My problem with this book is letting Riley "cry it out". We' ve tried this twice and we've learned that letting her cry it out means she is not going to nap during that feed/wake/sleep cycle. I realize it's important to keep them on a schedule, but at what cost? She needs that nap, regardless of how she falls asleep.

So I've talked to a couple of friends about their strategies and theories. If you have a strategy of theory, please share, I'm all ears.

Proud daddy

Woody has been the cutest thing about Riley. I have never seen a daddy so proud of his little girl. The night she was born, he spent several hours taking pictures, downloading them onto the computer, sending emails of them, and creating slide shows of them. He asked the nurse how to swaddle. He is better than I am at it now. It's very possible that he has changed more diapers than I have. Not to worry, that will change when school starts back.

He is always right there with me when I am nursing, even though there isn't much he can do. But he's still there for moral support, something I have found to be very needed right now. I told him last night that I feel like we have our own secret club. Because only he and I know what we go through every night with our precious one. Her birth has brought us so close together, something I didn't know could be done since we are already like peas and carrots.

Riley Grace Woody

True to my form, I have been neglecting my blog... but for very good reason.

On December 17th at 9:37pm, Riley was born. She weighed 6 pounds and 15 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long. As you can see, she is absolutely gorgeous. Her birth was rather fast, I went from 3 1/2 centimeters at 6:00pm to complete at 8:20. I was probably complete before that time, but I was only checked twice. Nice.

They didn't check me before giving me an epidural. Apparently I was complete when they administered it because it didn't take effect. Refund please. Oh well, hind sight is 20/20. So I pretty much feel like a mega rock star for delivering her the way I did. I only pushed for 22 minutes, thank God because that HURT.

Speaking of thanking God, we have sent up many thanks for Riley. When she was born, the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck. Dr. Cole was very calm about it and took care of it immediately. I didn't think twice about it once she started crying, until the next day. Riley was having trouble regulating her body temp, which is the baby equivalent of a fever. And her white blood cell count was extremely high (50,000 when it should have been 10,000). They wanted to start an IV immediately and start administering antibiotics (did I spell that right?). Because of that, they took her to the NICU. Can you say scary? Not only am I a new mommy and afraid I've done something wrong, I'm also hyped up on hormones and everything else that comes along with giving birth, so I comprehended about 50% of what the nurses and doctors were telling me. Mom works at Arkansas Children's Hospital and I've heard some stories from that unit.

I tried to stay strong, then I thought, "What am I doing? I don't need to be strong right now. I'm the mommy. If anyone should be upset, it's me!!" So I let the flood gates open and started crying and praying. Then we started sending texts and emails asking for prayers. It was amazing how quickly I felt the prayers start working. All of a sudden, a wave of calm and peace fell over me. I knew God was in control and everything was going to be fine. I was still able to hold her and nurse her which brought me so much comfort, because seeing her in the little plastic box on her way up to NICU was the worst feeling I've ever experienced. Riley responded very quickly to the antibiotics and her white cell count dropped over half way in 24 hours. She was released from there in 48 hours and we were discharged the following day. Praise the Lord.

More posts to follow. Those might not be as long. :)

3 weeks and counting

It's official. I am uncomfortable and stretched to the limit. I have 3 weeks left, but I'm not sure she's going to wait that long. Everything is becoming difficult; sleeping, eating, moving, sitting. You know what I am talking about.

On another note, Woody and I had some pictures taken the day before Thanksgiving. If you get bored, or want to laugh at how swollen I am, check out this website. http://www.cinemikephoto.com/
What was I thinking, having pictures taken at this stage in the game?