A Trip Up North

We went on our first big outing with Riley to the Bay Area for his Red Egg and Ginger Party. We went up for the whole week so that Ben could do some work at Stanford. We woke up on Saturday, fed Riley, and packed up the car for the 5 1/2 trip. Riley did so well in the car and slept for the entire ride except for a short break to eat and get his diaper changed. We spent the week relaxing at my parent's house and Riley got spoiled by everyone.

Then finally it was Saturday and Riley's big party day was here! My sisters, cousin, and I went to the party store and the restaurant early that day to set up the room. When we got back to the house we dressed Riley in his party outfit and then headed to the restaurant. As soon as we stepped into the restaurant Riley fell dead asleep and didn't wake up until the very end of his party - 2 1/2 hours later!! After the party at the restaurant we headed back to my parent's house for a little after-party. Riley was awake for part of that and went happily to person-to-person for a little one-on-one time!

We had a fantastic time and hope that everyone enjoyed themselves as much as we did. We want to thank everyone for taking time and traveling to come to the party. Also, thank you for all the gifts and red envelopes. You guys spoiled him!!!

Laughing and talking with grandma and Auntie Jamie

Story time with daddy. No Dr. Seuss for Riley!!!

A visit with Scott and Matteo. Scott was nice enough to drive Ben home from Stanford and he brought along Matteo to visit with Riley.

Hanging out in the living room just looking too cute!!

The car ride home. Stopping for a pit stop.

There are too many pictures from Riley's party to upload thanks to our wonderful paparrazi photographer- Auntie Cindy - so here is the link to the pictures.

More Riley Pictures........

Happy Halloween!!

An Update

Here's a little of what we have been up to since our last blog......

Riley had his 3 month checkup a few weeks ago and weighed in at 8 pounds 15.5 ounces and 21 inches long. The doctor said that he is gaining weight and growing and will soon be catching up to where he is supposed to be!! Ben and I still can't believe how much he has grown in the 3 months since he has been born.

I chopped off my hair!! My hair grew (both in length and fullness) like crazy during the pregnancy and it was getting out of hand. Riley was constantly getting his fingers caught in it and my hair was just in the way. So, I went to my hairdresser told her to do what she wanted and wahla I now have short hair!! I kept my hair so that I could donate it for a wig for a cancer patient. Now it takes no time at all for me to wash my hair and for it to dry.......I love it!!

Ben went to the NIH in Washington, DC for 2 days to give a talk. This is the first of many trips in the future now that he has started his job hunt.

Other than that we are pretty boring. We're not really doing much. Just sitting around and watching Riley grow!

Look Who Turned Zero.....

Today was Riley's expected due date and we decided to celebrate reaching the zero mark and "full term" status. His aunties and cousins were in town and came to celebrate his day with him. We went on a picnic and played on the slide before coming back to have cake. After everyone left, Riley pooped out. Here are some pics of his day!!

The Trouble with Vaccinations

Riley turned 2 months this past Sunday and it was time for his first round of vaccinations. Ben and I were dreading this day since we knew how painful the shots were going to be and that babies tend to get fuzzy and feverish after their shots and we weren't sure how he was going to react. Man, were we in for a shock......

Bright and early on Tuesday we bundled Riley up for his trip to the pediatrician. He was happy and took a great nap on the ride over. They weighed and measured him - he is 6 pounds 9 ounces and 18 1/4 inches long. He got his 2 month check up and everything looked great. Then it was time for his shots. Typically a full term baby will get their shots when they turn 2 months and even though Riley was still technically -12 days old he had to get his shots. He got 3 shots and 1 oral vaccination. He cried but recovered pretty quickly. We left and went home and he was doing well until that afternoon when he became incredibly tired and listless. The doctor had warned us that he might become fuzzy or really tired. He was so tired however that we were having a really hard time getting him to eat anything. We would be able to get him awake for a short period of time and get a little milk in him but then he would fall completely asleep again. The next morning we still couldn't get him to eat so we called the pediatrician. We ended up having to take him to the ER to get checked out.

When we got to the ER the nurse weighed him and told us that he was 5 pounds 6 ounces and that freaked us out since he was 6 pounds 9 ounces the day before -- we couldn't understand how he could have possibly lost over a pound in 24 hours (they ended up weighing him again later and he really weighed 6 pounds 8 ounces - there must have been something wrong with that initial scale). After that the doctor came in and checked Riley out. The plan was to put him on an IV and rehydrate him and do some bloodwork. And the worst part of the plan........they were going to have to do a spinal tap on him to make sure he didn't have bacterial meningitis since the symptoms he had could indicate that disease. At that point it took 4 nurses and 4 tries before they could get the IV into Riley. Once they started his IV it was time for his spinal tap. Ben couldn't watch so he left the room. I thought watching him get his vaccines was bad but that was nothing compared to watching him get his spinal tap and being worried that the doctor was going to miss and have something bad happen to him. Not to mention he was crying uncontrollably and I couldn't even do anything to comfort him. In the end, all the labs came back normal. However, since Riley is a preemie and his apnea was kicking in because of his reaction to the vaccines we ended up admitting him to the hospital overnight to make sure everything was okay. Ben and I spent a sleepless night at the hospital getting up every couple of hours to feed him and being woken up constantly by the alarm of his monitors. We're home now and Riley is pretty much back to normal. He's back to being alert and eating normally again. The past two days are definitely not an experience that Ben and I would ever like to go through again and we are hoping that the next vaccination go around will not be this eventful!

Here is Riley prior to going to the pediatrician and today after coming back from the hospital.....

Then and Now....

It's amazing how much Riley has changed since being born.

5 days old versus 58 days old

Riley's diaper then and Riley's diaper now