Just Do It!

Our friend Sydney got Riley this pair of Nike shoes...aren't they adorable? She also got Kaleb a blue pair so Tara and I decided to dress them in their Nike gear for church on Sunday...this little jumper is a newborn size, but it still swallows Riley up...I thought she looked cute, however, so I dressed her in it anyways!

The One Pounder

Last Sunday after church we went to eat at Cheeburger Cheeburger with friends and Jason told Derek that he would eat their one pound cheeseburger (actually 20 oz of meat) if Derek did at it too! Well no guy will turn down competition so they both downed a 20 oz cheeseburger and made it look pretty easy for that matter...Riley and I were so proud. The rang a cow bell and announced to the whole restaurant that the guys had finished their burgers and they now have their signed picture hanging on their wall of fame. This is definitely where Riley gets her appetite from. Jason managed to go fishing that afternoon when I thought the 20 oz of meat might just wipe him out...he proved me wrong!

Riley and Kaleb

Many of you know that Tara and I shared our entire pregnancy together which was a lot of fun and nice to have someone to go through it all with and now both of our babies are here. We joke that they have an arranged marriage so we are trying to start them off on the right foot! Kaleb is 10 days older than Riley! They met for the first time last Sunday and last night they had their second date. Since Jason was feeling better we were both a little stir crazy from being in the house and so we went to lunch at P.F. Changs, ran some errands, and then went and hung out at Jason's parent house. Tara called and asked if we wanted to go eat dinner with them at none other than P.F. Changs and of course we did...good thing the staff was all new because they might have thought we were crazy for eating there twice in one day, but anyone who knows us can totally see us doing this! Both babies slept all through dinner and several people asked if they were twins...no they are just dating and needed parental supervision! Here are some pics of their first meeting...

Kaleb whispering sweet nothings into Riley's ear...turning on the charm already!

New Years

Well, we rung in the New Year in style...in our pajamas on the couch! We had planned on going to a New Year's party with our small group peeps, but Jason got sick. I have known Jason for 10 years now and I can only count on one hand the times he has been sick. However, when he gets sick he really gets sick. He had a near 100 degree fever New Year's Eve and was pretty much out of it the entire week until Friday. He was taking all kinds of antibiotics round the clock and many doses of Airborne and it finally knocked the sickness out of his system. I had to keep him away from Riley as much as possible which was hard to do, but it looks like we managed to keep her from getting sick...YEAH!! So we spent most of the week in the house watching movies, sleeping, and playing Scrabble...it was good quality time together despite Jason feeling crappy.

Riley's First Couple of Weeks...

We have been busy taking care of Riley these past couple of weeks and in some ways it seems like they have flown by and in other ways it seems like they haven't. We have learned that we are definitely blessed with a good baby...we have yet to experience a moment where we could find no way to comfort her crying. I am sure we will experience that at some point, but up until now she cries only when she's hungry, getting a bath, or getting her diaper changed. I can already tell she has grown mostly in length, but we are still not fitting into the 0-3 month clothes so we have a limited wardrobe for now...she is not lacking on her overall amount of clothes however! We have been out of the house with her a lot over the past 2 weeks and she is great...she sleeps well in her carrier and in the car and anywhere for that matter so she is pretty easy going. She's been to numerous restaurants, Target several times, the mall, the hair salon (for me not for her although it looks like her first haircut could be any day now), and even to a fishing store so Dad could show her all the cool things she will need to go fishing with him!

One of the funnest things to do is to watch a sleeping baby because they make all kinds of cute faces and go through all emotions...she will occasionally belt out a loud cry in the middle of sleeping and then go right back to sleep, she will make pouty faces and her little lip will quiver, but most importantly she will smile and that is THE BEST!! I finally caught this on video with Jason's cell phone the other day...enjoy!

Feeding

Riley eats like a champ...she gets that from both of us!!! She is now eating anywhere from 3-5 ounces at a time, but she will go 3-5 hours between feedings. When she's hungry she's hungry and we are supplementing with formula so there is usually a bottle switch in the middle of her feedings and she goes into panic mode thinking that the world ran out of food.

Sleeping

She is a great sleeper too right now...she is going 3-4 hours at a time so some nights if we go to bed late we are only waking up for one feeding. We usually switch off so we have been getting pretty good sleep. It still wears on you sleeping in 3-4 hour sessions so naps are sometimes a necessity, but there's nothing better than napping with a cute little girl!

Bathing

Baths are not Riley's favorite part of the day...if you watch the video from the hospital there is audio footage to support that. She screams from the moment you put her into the bathtub until we start washing her hair...she just loves having her hair done like any girl should! She has so much hair that we have to wash it every day because everyone's hands are in it and it gets a little oily!! She is so cute after a bath it is worth all the screaming!

Doctor's Visit

We took Riley to her first pediatrician visit on Christmas Eve day and she weighed in at 7 lbs and the doc said she was perfect...so we really like him!! He also said we were doing everything right...so we really like him! She doesn't go back again until her 2 month visit, but it was really nice having a doctor tell us she was healthy and doing well. Here she is getting kisses from Daddy after being such a good little girl at the doctor's office!

Meeting the Pups

Hank and Kadie are still trying to figure out who this little thing is that invaded their house and took some of the attention away from them. Our first night at home the dogs were sleeping inside in the kitchen because it was super cold and every time Riley woke up crying they would start wimpering as well...it was so cute, but a little overwhelming to have three creatures crying at once! They like to sniff her and give her an occasional lick if given the opportunity!

Riley has found her thumb on several occasions and once her middle finger to which she went to town sucking on them...at one point she started crying and I think she actually inflicted a little pain on herself. She is also able to hold her head up really well for only being 3 weeks old...eventually her little neck gives out and her head plunges into your shoulder, but she gives it her all to keep it up and looking around.

Riley's Arrival

We recently purchased a video camera to document Riley and we have definitely put it to the test...Jason did a great job documenting her arrival into this world and her first few days and I put the clips together and edited them. The file was too big to put on the blog, but I uploaded the video on youtube and if you click the link below you can watch it there...enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKiNrGigGjs

Merry Christmas

We had a great Christmas with lots of family in town and Riley here to celebrate with us...she definitely enjoyed the candlelight Christmas Eve service as she snoozed through the entire thing.






Here are the meatball chefs preparing Nani's famous spaghetti and meatballs that we ate for Christmas Eve!!! Yummy!

SANTA CAME!!! We got an extra special present this year!!

The guys played nerf guns...they were all acting like kids!

Riley is already a guitar hero groupie!!!

She is in awe of how awesome her parents are at guitar hero!