Riley wakes up...

This past Saturday was a very eventful day for Riley. We noticed his first social smile and it was to his Daddy. And overall Saturday morning he just seemed to be more energetic and reactive. He really enjoyed using his tummy time mat (shout out to all of my friends at work who got him this fabulous item). And we all really enjoyed watching him play. As he played he was also rocking out with his fabulous Pink Floyd CD that Catie and Ben gave him.

This picture is of Riley talking to Daddy...

http://rockabyebabymusic.com/

This website has a list of other albums if Pink FLoyd is not your thing, and I personally enjoy the break from "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and Baby Mozart.

Baby Recognition Sunday

This past Sunday was Baby Recognition Sunday at our church. So of course all of Riley's grandparents made the trip to Montgomery, along with my grandfather (Pocky) and his wife Betty. Riley got all dressed up in his day gown that Momma made. All of the babies born in the church during 2008 processed into the church and were announced and given a Bible. It was a lovely ceremony. Before we went into the church we were in the fellowship hall with all of the other parents and children and we had a chance to visit with some of our friends who had babies this year. It was so funny to be in a room full of other young couples...(and couples that we used to run into at Bud's) and to have the main topics of conversation be weight, feedings, and sleeping schedules. If you had asked me a year ago if I could have imagined where I'd be today...I never would have imagined I'd be here. But I could not be more blessed to be right here right now. As I write this my precious little man is sleeping away next to me. And lucky for me he is a good sleeper and can sleep through all the kisses I lean over and give him.

1st Real Bath

The above slide show is of pictures from Riley's first submerged bath. Both the hospital and our pediatrician recommend only sponge bathing until the cord has completely fallen off, and despite my minor home surgery last week, Riley's cord did not come off completely until he was five weeks old. So we finally broke out his bathtub today. At first he was skeptical and the first few pictures look as if he is about to get very upset, but then after he got in the water he began to calm down. He never cracked a smile, but he did relax a bit, and we did survive without any crying!

Biliwhat??

Riley was perfectly healthy when he was born, but the bilirubin levels went up before we left the hospital, and so he was a little bit jaundice. For those of you had noted his dark skin...it was probably the jaundice, though now that he is healthy he does still seem to have a bit of an olive tint.

The doctor told us his levels were up the day we checked out but they were not too high so we just set up an appointment for two days later on Wednesday. When they tested Riley's blood his level was 19 and at 25 they put newborns back in the hospital so the doctor prescribed home light therapy. The home health nurse came that night and hooked Riley up to the light machine. We went back to the doctor that Friday and his level was down some, but he was given all A's by the doctor as everything else was going well and he was back up to his birth weight, when just 2 days before he had only weighed 6 lbs. 14 oz...the boy can eat. I wonder where he gets that? Here you can see a suntanned gloworm.

The light therapy was easy to do, but it was really sad to have to go to the machine to hold Riley and nurse him. One night I told Michael and my mom that I was nursing in the living room because "I wanted a soft baby". It was just sad to see him all strapped in. And on top of that they tell you not to look at the light...what I just had a baby 4 days ago and you are telling me not to look at the light which is eminating from this most precious being? REALLY?

Hopefully none of us will have any consequences from looking at the light!

They must have wanted this.

Above is my cousin Caroline (known to Riley as Aunt Coo Coo, because she is really more like a sister), then a sleeping Daddy with my sister (known to Riley as Aunt Izzy) posing for a picture, then of course we have Elizabeth and Blair. And they must have wanted me to post them on the blog or they would not have posed for them secretly while Riley and I were feeding. These were the night before New Years while we were all in Seaside together.

Burping is a challenge!

Below you will see the three different methods we use to try to burp. Burping would seem like a very simple task...but Riley hates it! As soon as he does it he gets a very upset face for a minute and then he realizes that he feels better. Same goes when the gas comes out the other end. I keep telling him that later on down the road he will be so proud and tickled when he makes these noises. Good news..."Baby 411" says that by 3 months we will have this task down.

Riley's 1st Bottle

Today Riley was not only trested to a spa treatment, he also recieved his first bottle. Four weeks into this world and he had not yet had a bottle. I told Holland this and she was astonished. She said she had been bottle feeding for a while, so she gave me lots of helpful advice and we decided to try it. Michael and my Dad were off running errands and obviously up to no good (after all there last trip out and about resulted in my parents becoming owners of a golf cart) so my mom had the honors of feeding him his first bottle, and then Michael had the pleasure on Sunday. We are trying to do atleast one bottle feeding a day so he will be ready to feed when I go back to work. Since Sunday, Mrs. Godwin and Mary have also had the pleasure.