Home At Last and Sweet Dreams!

Ryan flew back from Montana and got back home on Monday afternoon. Just in time to get home, shower, and see Riley when she got back from PT! She was happy to see Daddy and hungry too!



Mommy was happy also! 8 days without her hubby is too long!

This week has been pretty good for us. Great-Granna watched Riley and took her to PT on Monday. Riley slept nearly 6.5 hours and went 7.5 hours inbetween feedings that night! I was shocked, and glad to get so much sleep, she really needed it!! It must've been Daddy's welcome home present!

Ryan stayed busy all day Tuesday. He watched Riley for me while I went in for a checkup. After I left for work, he mowed the lawn, left for Perry, dropped off my dorm fridge (so I can keep my food & milk at work) and checked on the cows. He came home, fixed fried ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, and corn for me. I was feeding Riley, so he fixed me a plate. Then afterwards, cleaned everything up and loaded the dishwasher!! I sure have a good husband!!! :-) What would I do without him?!

Still, the BIGGEST story of the week is yet to be told!

DRUMROLL PLEASE..............

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RILEY IS SLEEPING THROUGH

THE NIGHT!

Yes! August 26th will go down in the baby book as the first full night of sleep for Riley! She woke up about 10 till 5, just before my alarm was set to ring. Now, if that wasn't amazing enough, she outdid herself the very next night, because the next morning, my ALARM woke me up!! We couldn't believe it, she has such good timing too, right when Mommy goes back to work! Sure makes things a lot easier to handle, for all of us!

This weekend we're having a party at our house... a roofing party that is! We are FINALLY getting a new roof! Lots of friends and family are going to help... which is MUCH APPRECIATED! :-) Will post later with updates and pics!

Lake Day!

Since Mommy got off work early and took a little nap to catch up on sleep, we headed to Kaw City on Friday night to visit Grandma and Grandpa Kilian.

We didn't do too much Friday night. I ate supper when I got there, gave Riley a bath, and then she acted tired, so we put her down for a nap before bedtime. Riley didn't seem to mind sleeping in the camper with the loud air conditioner too much!

Grandma and Grandpa played with her during tummy time a little. She is getting much stronger! Finally able to lift her head and hold it up on her own!

On Saturday, we made our first debut in a swimsuit! Though the first one we tried on didn't fit!!

Good thing we had two to choose from!

We didn't get near any water, but we sure had fun sitting in the porch swing with Grandma and Great-Granna!

Back to Work...

My dreaded first day back to work since I had Riley was on Friday. Here's a recap of the night before and how it went the first day...

I had fed her the night before one last time around 10 PM to "top her off" and hope for the best. She woke up about 1:30 AM - hungry. And again at 3:30 AM - hungry. By the time she was asleep again, it was only 30 minutes or so till my alarm would go off, so I just got up anyway.

I "got ready for the prom" in 30 minutes. Then loaded up the car with the her stretching instructions, a "Riley Cheat Sheet" that I made for Tammy, extra bottles, and most importantly, her milk!

It's 5 AM now. Going to wake Riley up to eat again, then try to get out the door as soon as possible. But, Riley doesn't want to wake up. I ate some cereal with soy milk *YUM* to pass the time. I was hungry anyway. Afterwards, I finally am able to wake her up to eat. She takes her sweet time... no big deal. We leave right about 6 AM. Perfect.

I dropped her off at Tammy's with 15 minutes to spare to get to work. Then comes the part I've been dreading... the goodbye! I told Tammy I had to leave fast, otherwise I'll be staying there with her all day! I gave Riley some kisses and then headed for the door...

My day was good. Archived emails, listened to phone messages, learned what I would be working on next, and of course, updated my desktop with a picture of Riley! After catching up on all DW news, my boss, Ed, said "let's call it a day." Sounded good to me... it was only noon!!

So, I went to Tammy's to pick up Riley. She's just content as ever. Even ate on her same schedule... every 3 hours. Just perfect. Tammy worked with her on her stretches, positioned her head with the pillows while she slept, gave her tummy time... Made me feel a lot better about leaving her with someone who will take the time to work with her!

I think it will all work out if I can just get her to bed early enough and get me some zzzzz's!

Riley is 2 Months Old!

Our little pumpkin turned 2 months old today! We had our two month checkup today also. She weighed 10 lbs, 15.4 oz and was 22 1/4 in long! (Gained almost 2 lbs and grew 1 in) She is growing like a weed, has really filled out with chubby cheeks and the Michelin Man legs!! I've had to change out her closet and dresser already because she has outgrown so many of her clothes. She is already wearing her 3 month old outfits!

Here is her birthday pic- I was going to take her out of her carseat, but she wanted to smile and talk and was so happy, that I decided to take her pic while she was strapped in!

She is such a good baby. Even got 2 shots today and only let out a scream or two and that was all! No crying here! Thank goodness because Mommy hates to see her little one cry!

She has changed so much this last month. She likes to smile and talk to you, ride air-bicycles, lift her head and play find the pacifier during tummy time, and thank goodness that her neck and head movement is getting better and better every day. One thing Ryan and I have really noticed is how much she likes watching ceiling fans. She would lay on our bed and just stare at the fan forever if we'd let her! Ha! She is sleeping better at night too... She set a record just last Tuesday night- 6.5 hours!! :-)

All in all she is a very happy, healthy baby! Mommy is going to miss spending so much time with her when she goes to work tomorrow! And Tammy is sure in for a treat!

Sightseeing

Ryan has stayed in South Dakota the last two days. Yesterday, his boss told them "they were on their own for the day," so they did a little sightseeing! He even went to Mount Rushmore. Here is a pic he took with his Blackberry.


At the base of the mountain, there was a museum that displayed some of the original tools used, among other interesting things. They were lucky enough to meet the last remaining worker who was there for a book signing. Ryan said he didn't buy the guy's book, but thought the 15 minutes he spent talking to him was the highlight of the day!

The other attraction they went to was a statue that is being carved out of a mountain of Crazy Horse. It isn't finished yet, but the picture below shows how much is done currently, and what it will look like when it is all finished. (http://cache.eb.com/new-multimedia/bigimages/crazyh002.jpg)

Obviously, they have a way's to go! Ryan said this attraction cost twice as much as Mount Rushmore, just to see something half-finished! Needless to say, he wasn't really impressed.

I guess the weather there is just beautiful. High in the mid to upper-70's, light winds! The daytime high is our nightime low here in Oklahoma! Not fair! I'm glad he gets a break from the 90 to 100 degree weather though!

They leave today and head for Montana. About 300 more miles to go! Then it's back to work until Sunday!

Montana Bound

Ryan left for Montana this morning. Riley and I woke up early (6 AM) to get in little Daddytime this morning before he left around 7:30. They are going to drive down there first, then they will be flying back and forth every Monday. Here is a pic of the truck and trailer that he'll be driving up there.

Riley and I are really going to miss not seeing him as often. He's going to be gone every other weekend now. But when he's back, he'll be here for 6 days instead of just 3.

We sure had a fun weekend, going for a ride in the jogging stroller, picking out roof shingles, going to McLoud, and playing at home. Daddy sure likes to tickle Riley... she just scrunches up her nose at him and lets out a big sigh! Ha!

The jogging stroller works great. You can push it with just one hand, and it is so lightweight! It obviously is a good ride too, Riley slept the whole time!

Riley is still getting better on moving her neck... here's another pick of her holding her head to the side all on her own!

And, just to throw in a pic from today- Riley's having fun (or not so much!) trying to get the pacifier back in her mouth, a game she plays quite often!

We miss you Daddy!

Torticollis

We discovered the knot (muscular fibrosis) on Riley's neck at about 3 weeks old (see pic below). She was diagnosed with torticollis at her one month old pediatrician appt.

Apparently, due to overcrowding in my belly while I was still pregnant with her, her head was positioned to one side, and the sternocleidomastoid muscle on the side was then underdeveloped, making it weak. Then, during delivery, her head was forced to straighten out, pulling and tearing this weak muscle in her neck. The next few weeks since her birthday, the muscle fibers in her neck attempted to repair the torn muscle, but resulted in a knot, constricting her facial range of motion to her left side.

So, Mom and Dad have been taking Riley to PT twice a week, working with Riley on her neck stretches, and positioning her head while she sleeps, plays, sits...

Barely able to hold her face straight at first, she's now sleeping and holding her head straight forward on her own, and now we're working on holding her face to the right side. The following pic was taken last week. :-)

At her appt. last Friday, we realized that the muscle fibers in her neck are actually becoming more oval-shaped, which is good. That means we're stretching it out!

Mom and Dad are very happy to see her progress. Surgery has been brought up a few times, as well as a cranial helmet if her condition doesn't improve... and we'd can't imagine putting her through that!

Riley's First Truck Ride!

Riley had her first trip in daddy's pickup today. Ryan was online and found a wheat truck that seemed to be a good "resale" opportunity. So we rounded up Riley's baby necessities, moved the car seat to Dad's pickup (ughh!), and headed out to McLoud, OK to check it out. Ready or not, here we come!

One thing we keep discovering is that we should've bought larger vehicles. Krissy needs an SUV, and Ryan needs an extended cab pickup. Our current wheels were just fine to start out with, but now with all the baby stuff, it gets pretty crowded, whether we're going to Grandma's or just to Walmart! Unfortunately, we're going to have to stick with what we've got for now!

Back to Riley... she seemed to like sitting between Mommy and Daddy the whole time, with both her hands holding Mom and Dad's fingers at times. She even ate on the road, with no problems!

When we got to the place selling the wheat truck, Ryan got out and talked with the farmer, drove the truck around a while, and decided it wasn't for him. No biggie, mom and daughter were happy to have a change of scenery for a while!