4 Month Milestones

As I sat filling out my 2011 Calendar tonight, I got to August and took a deep sigh as I wrote in "Riley's First Birthday" on the 24th. As far as I think we are away from that day, it already haunts me. We are already 1/3 of the way there.

Height: 24-1/2" (50th percentile)
Weight: 14 pounds, 8 ounces (75th percentile)

Sleeping Patterns: She goes down between 8:30-9:00 and sleeps until right around 7:30 am. She sleeps (on average) 11 hours. Her waking hour really depends on what time she goes to sleep. Her naps have changed a bit in the last month, with her morning nap being the long one now. Usually, she is awake for 2-3 hours in the morning and then will go down for a nap that averages about 3 hours. Her afternoon nap is only about an hour.

Places Traveled: It's been a pretty calm month, rightfully so, since the Holidays were upon us. We did manage to make it up to Lake Wales one weekend, which was a TON of fun!

Accomplishments:
Most exciting for Mommy, Riley had her ears pierced at her 4-month well check with her Pediatrician. I was SUPER nervous about doing it, but I'm glad it's over with. I wanted to do it young enough that she wouldn't remember it and so that she was still young enough that she wouldn't tug on her ears. I love them and both Daddy and I think she looks SO pretty with her new earrings.
Riley had a bottle or 2 over the last month. I am trying to get her more and more used to bottle feeding, so that I can leave her during feeding time. She is starting to take it better and better with each bottle. She's still a little stinker for me, and usually won't take it from me unless she's starving!
Riley is now very controlled with her head and can sit up with assistance. Soon enough, I will go get Tyler's jumper out of storage and add it to the plethora of toys that these kids have. She really loves to sit in her Bumbo and play with toys on the play tray.
Riley had her first real Jeep adventure during this month. We went to Lake Wales mid-December. That Saturday we went for a ride that lasted almost the whole day. As I suspected she would, she did great!
She has almost perfected picking toys up and playing with them. She especially loves her Spider (which Mommy calls "Spidey").
Proving to be quite the teether, she drools constantly. I'm still protesting the bib, only because I think it ruins the outfit. Now that she can pick up and hold toys, they ALL go in her mouth. When there is no toy in reach, her fist does the trick. Drool, drool everywhere!
Riley had her first visit with Santa during this month and we actually visited 2 different Santas. The first one was at Christmas on Las Olas and the second was at Bass Pro Shops. Riley did great both times, as she is too young to know the differece this year. Next year will be a whole different song and dance.
Probably the most heart breaking (for Mommy) of all her milestones this month, was moving her into her crib. She's been sleeping through the night since 7 weeks old, so it was time. It doesn't get any easier with the second child. The first night was a sleepless night for me and I still go in and check on her from time to time.

Foods: Breastfed. My sister watched her for a few hours last week and while there, she did have 1 bottle of formula. I was so happy to hear that she did well with it. I think she is outgrowing the reflux, as most babies do by the time they are 6 months. I think over the next month, we are going to test the waters with oatmeal.


Riley's Big Girl Bed
Pretty Girl with her new earrings!
Happy, Healthy and Growing! You can check out photos by clicking the link on the top right of the blog. And so it goes...

3 Month Milestones

3-Months-Old, YES FOLKS, 3-Months-Old. One quarter of her first year of life has already passed us by.

Height: Not sure, no appt this month
Weight: Not sure, no appt this month

Sleeping Patterns: She goes to bed between 9-9:30PM and wakes between 6:00-7:00AM. She's a good little sleeper. In the morning, she's up for about 2 hours and then goes down for a nap which usually lasts about an hour. She takes a nap in the afternoon that is usually about 3-4 hours long and then another cat nap right around dinner time.

Places Traveled: With this GO,GO,GO lifestyle that we lead, there hasn't been much downtime, which results in lots of traveling. Over the last month, Riley has been to Lake Wales, Palatka and Sebring. It's a good thing that her relationship with her car seat is getting better, because it makes for more peaceful travel.

Accomplishments: First and foremost, Riley's newest cousin, Raegan, was born on October 28. Riley and Tyler both got to go into the Labor & Delivery room as soon as she was born, to meet their new cousin.
Riley started belly laughing on October 27, when she was just over 2 months old. She still only does it for Daddy, and I am trying my best to capture some on video. It is to most incredible sound.
Riley is a drool-bug and it's just about time to add the bib to her ensemble. It's evident that she is definitely teething. At any given moment, she will try to shove her entire fist into her mouth and chew on it.
Riley went to her first concert on November 6, at the Davie Rodeo Arena. We went to see Gretchen Wilson. Riley sat tentatively in her stroller for most of the concert.
We attended Birthday Parties for second-cousin Abbie, Friend Brayden and Aunt Leah.
Riley got to experience her first Hunter Family Vacation, that we take annually in November. This year we went to Palatka, Sebring / Lake Placid and Lake Wales. While in Palatka, we attended Cousin Jessica's Baby Shower. We had such a great time visiting! We then packed up and headed South to visit Riley's Great-Grandparents in Lake Placid for Thanksgiving. We stayed there for a day and then finished the week off in Lake Wales. It was much needed R&R for the whole Hunter Family.
Riley has also discovered her hands and has become very fond of them. She has also started reaching for and grabbing onto toys. Her activity gym that she lays under is a big hit for her.
Also amongst her new discoveries, is her voice. I call her a little bird. She does love to talk back to you when you talk to her and can become quite the gabby one once you get her going.
Riley is NOT a binky baby and won't even entertain the idea for Mommy. She will occasionally take it for others, but it only lasts for a few minutes.

Foods: Breastfed. I try to give her a bottle of breast milk every now and again so that she gets more familiar with it. She has had 6 bottles in her lifetime, and does better with each one. I gave her a little bit of formula last week (to test her reflux) and she did great, which leads me to believe that she is growing out of it already.

Happy, Healthy and Growing! You can check out photos by clicking the link on the top right of the blog. And so it goes...

Simply Spook-tacular 1st Halloween!

In receipt of a friends Annual Halloween Party invite, I knew it was time to get on the ball. Especially, since the invite had the words "Kids Welcome" in bold letters at the top. This year, I didn't have much spare time to come up with an original, hand-made costume, that would suit our new Family of 4, so I got to Googling. And, that's where it began.

I decorated the house, as I usually do, only this year it took a little more time [in between feedings]. With the decorations up, I told David it was time to take the kids to the Pumpkin Patch, for Riley's first Pumpkin Patch (PP) experience. We went to the PP that we have been going to for the past 2 years now, which was the first PP for Tyler, as well. Tyler picked out all of our Pumpkins and we got a ton of pictures of Riley, Riley & Tyler and our Family of 4. Of course, I opted for a pink Halloween outfit for this event and even made Riley a spider clip for her headband! I'm obsessed with accessories! Head to toe, Riley's always decked out.


After realizing that Riley had 5 Halloween outfits, I was quick to dress her in 1 each day, for the week leading up to Halloween. Of course, every outfit had a matching headband and everywhere we went that week, heads were turning at Riley and her Halloween attire. I also decided to do a little photo shoot at home on one of those days. As I was looking at the photos that I took, I realized that this wasn't the first time that I had seen this chubby-cheeked, huge, infectious grin that was staring at me. So, I went back to Tyler's First Halloween pictures, when he was almost the exact same age, and did some comparison. Tell me what you think!!!!! I can't believe how much alike they look. Incredible! This is Tyler!




We took one last trip to a different PP by our house on Saturday, Halloween Eve. Tyler decided that we needed 4 more pumpkins to add to our collection, for a total of 6 pumpkins this year! Thankfully, David only wanted to carve 2 of them. That was a lot less mess for me!




Soon, it was time to get ready for the Halloween Party. Trying to incorporate all of us into a themed costume, I ended up going with the Flinstones. David was Fred, I was Wilma, Riley was Pebbles and Tyler was Bam-Bam, even though he's a Rubble. I ended up having to make Riley's head-piece since the wig that came with hers was HUGE on her, but it worked out better that way. I think the wig would have been too much for both her and I. The party was a great time, as always, and there were quite a few kids there for Tyler to play with. Ms. Pebbles took a short little nap in her swing, but was awake for most of the party. She did eventually fall asleep, for the night, around 9:30 in her sling and we headed home around 11:30. It was nice to get out and spend time with good friends.



Halloween Day was spent carving the pumpkins and getting ready for Trick-or-Treat with cousin Maddie. Aunt Stef bought Riley a cute little bumble bee onesie, so I decided to dress her in that for Halloween. If I were going to have worn my costume, I would have put her back in her Pebbles costume, but I knew I was going to wear my sling to carry Riley, so the bumble bee was easier and more comfortable for her. David, being the big kid at heart that he is, dressed as Fred and wore that Trick-or-Treating with Tyler and Maddie. My little bumble bee fell fast asleep about 10 minutes into our adventure. We had a great time, but had to cut it short as the rain set in on us.






Also, we were blessed with the birth of Riley's new cousin, Raegan Marie, on October 28th, so Mimi & Pop-pop (my Parents) had all 4 of their grandchildren in attendance for this Halloween! Next year will be SO MUCH FUN!!!!!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW ALL THE PICTURES FROM HALLOWEEN

And so it goes...

2 Month Milestones

And, yet another month has passed us by like the blink of an eye. It seems like just yesterday we were getting ready to go into the OR and deliver our new baby girl, and now she is already 2 months old!

Height: 23" (75th percentile for her age)
Weight: 12 lbs 5 oz. (90th percentile for her age. Holy Moly, Mommy's Milk Must Be Good! She's, again, gained over 2lbs in 1 month!) I knew the nickname Chunky Monkey was appropriate! The Pediatrician said that this is great gain and she is on the right track. They like to see babies gain between 4 & 5 pounds by 2 months. She's gained 4-1/2 lbs, so she's right on track for average gain.

Sleeping Patterns: SHE SLEEPS THROUGH THE NIGHT ALREADY!!!! YIPEEEE! She started sleeping through the night (and when I say that, I mean from about 10pm until about 6am) when she was 7 weeks old. She always was a good sleeper, and now it's even better.

Places Traveled: This girl has been everywhere! This month we went to Lake Wales three times. She did great every time! We attended Keegan's First Birthday Party, and she slept almost the entire party. We've been to the park by our house numerous times and she loves it. She's an outside baby and gets completely relaxed the moment you step outdoors. Mommy took her to the mall for the first time last week. We did our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch and let Big Brother pick out the Hunter Family pumpkins. Mommy dressed her up in her *Pink* Halloween outfit for that trip.

Accomplishments: She had her first Jeep and Rhino rides in Lake Wales and fell asleep during both. She is going to be a die hard off road girl, just like her brother. She is a smiling machine and has the giant, ear to ear smile, just like her brother has. She's on the verge of laughing and I can't wait to hear that sound and capture it on camera! She lost almost all of her hair, except for the hair at her neckline, and it has grown in much lighter and less. Maybe she is going to have light hair like Mommy did! She sleeps through the night, as you read above. Not such a friendly accomplishment, but she's received her first round of vaccinations, 3 shots and 1 oral, which ripped Mommy's heart right out. She cried for 2 minutes, but after some Mommy-lovin', things were better. My heart ached for some time after. Probably the biggest accomplishment, for Mommy & Riley, was her diagnosis with Reflux. Right around the 5 week mark I noticed Riley to be very squirmy, uncomfortable, wet burps followed by a horrible face, and not wanting to be laid down anywhere. With that, came the endless crying, unless I was holding her up on my shoulder. At first, I thought it was something that I was eating that was irritating her. After talking with a good friend and doing some research on what foods to avoid while nursing, I completely changed my diet. We saw some improvement, but not a ton. So, I made an appointment with the Pediatrician. After explaining her symptoms, and my findings from my research, he did agree that it could be Silent Reflux. [My first sign should have been when I ate lasagna when she was only 2weeks old, and she vomited 2 feedings back up the next day. I just thought it was red sauce itself and I stayed away from it.] Anyway, with Silent Reflux, the baby does not actually spit up, it comes up the esophagus and goes back down. Doc put her on a small dose of medication 3x daily and it has worked wonders. She's a completely different baby, back to her happy little self, which makes for a happy Mommy & Daddy! I couldn't imagine to have indigestion 24/7 with no relief. It's common in babies and they generally outgrow it by 6months. If not by then, they most all outgrow it by 12months. Just another example of how every baby is completely different. I could eat 10 bowls of red sauce with Tyler and he wouldn't even blink. Last, but certainly not least, our Family Tree grew another branch as we welcomed Hailey Grantham, Riley's second-cousin, to the world on October 22nd! Welcome, Hailey and CONGRATULATIONS Rhonda, Chris and Big Sister, Abigail! Now, we await the arrival of cousin Raegan, TOMORROW!!!!!

Foods: Exclusively breastfed.

Happy, Healthy and Growing, here are some photos from the past 4 weeks! And so it goes...

Hear Yea, Hear Yea

Proudly announcing the birth of our baby girl, Riley Paige!
Her Birth Announcements hit the mail last week. If I missed you, I am terribly sorry, and this copy's for you!

front
back

And, thanks to "Grandma Doe" pulling a few strings at the Sun-Sentinel, we were able to have a color Birth Announcement in last Sunday's paper, just as we did with Tyler! Thank you! We are so blessed to have 5 living generations! I think most people saw it and cut it out, but here's your copy if you missed it!



YOU CAN CLICK ON ANY OF THE IMAGES ABOVE TO ENLARGE THEM FOR READING PURPOSES!

And so it goes...

1 Month Milestones

Undeniably, unbelievable! One month has already elapsed since we welcomed our perfect little girl into this world. We are happy to report that we are all doing fantastic and have just about adjusted to this new life!

1-WEEK CHECKUP
Height: 20"
Weight: 7 lbs 15 oz.

2-WEEK CHECKUP
Height: 20-1/2" (50th percentile for her age)
Weight: 8 lbs 12 oz. (50th percentile for her age)

ONE MONTH CHECKUP
Height: 21" (50th percentile for her age)
Weight: 9 lbs 15 oz. (70th percentile for her age. Holy Moly, Mommy's Milk Must Be Good! She's gained over 2lbs in 1 month!)
My little porker! Her Ped. is very pleased with her weight gain and development.

Sleeping Patterns: She sleeps from about 9-9:30pm until around 2:30 or 3am. Then back to sleep until about 7am. No complaints!

Places Traveled: Where hasn't she gone??? We're busy little bees! Her first outing was to Target, of all places, when she was 6 days old. She has also been to Publix, the Post Office, BJ's Wholesale, Wal-mart, to different family member's homes to visit, out to dinner to numerous places, and most excitingly, we are taking her for her first visit to Lake Wales tomorrow! She is going to love it, I just know it!

Accomplishments: She lost her cord stub on her 2 week birthday, so she got her first "real" bath then. She smiles a lot! Mostly for Daddy. She must like the manly voice. She attended her first photo shoot and did SO GOOD! She's found her fists and seems to be very fond of them. She has just about mastered her head control and loves belly time! 98% of her sleeping is done on her belly. She went in her swing for the first time, and liked it OK. She'll only stay in it for a few minutes without "yelling". She managed to remind me of the lovely pooping machines that breastfed babies are! As I was burping her one day, she managed to poop all over herself, me and the glider. I'm sure the look on my face was priceless, as I didn't know what to do first. I took a picture (below) to show David because I knew he wouldn't believe me! She soiled at least one outfit and one blanket a day, so I moved her up to size 1 diapers, hoping that since they were bigger, they would hold more poop. So far so good. The tabs might overlap when you put the darn things on her (they're big!) but, the poop stays in!!! Also, I've had to start packing up some of the Newborn size clothes, since some things were getting too short and I couldn't snap them! SO SAD!
The blowout!
Foods: Exclusively nursing.

Here are a few photos of our first month! And so it goes...
Week 1
Week 2 - In the Swing
Week 3 - First Real Bath
Week 4 - Morning Smiles for Daddy


FOR MORE PHOTOS, CLICK ON THE LINK IN THE ABOVE, RIGHT COLUMN, UNDER RILEY'S JOURNEY CAPTURED ON FILM.

All About Documentation

I had this book made of Riley's Birth. It's our "quick view" of her big day, making it very convenient for us to re-live the day over and over again. After all, we're all well aware of how fast the days go...

Click here to view this photo book larger

ENJOY! And so it goes...

Introducing.................Riley Paige!

After nearly 9 months of anticipation, we are proud to welcome our daughter, Riley Paige Hunter, into this big world!

Our (repeat) c-section was scheduled for August 24, 2010 at 12:30. I had to be at the hospital at 10:00am. When we got to Labor & Delivery, Triage was FULL! Of course, I freaked out since private rooms at Plantation General Hospital are on a first come, first serve basis. I thought we would never get one with so many women in labor / delivering that day. The good part about it was that I got to be prepped and wait in a private laboring room, which was nice. 12:30 came and went.....but we were finally given green light to go to the OR around 12:50. I grabbed my IV stand and off we walked to the OR, where I would receive my spinal injection and surgery would begin. Up until that point, the only part of my surgery that I was anxious about was the spinal injection. I remembered the pressure that I felt when the spinal was administered with Tyler. So, not being a fan of needles, I was not excited about this part. Well, the good Lord was on my side that day, in more ways than one, of course. My anesthesiologist was completing her residency at the hospital and I was her "guinea pig". I thought "Oh Joy" when she introduced herself and disclosed this information. BUT, I think that because she was trying to do everything perfect in front of her colleagues, I didn't feel a thing. In fact, when she said "all done, you can lay back now", I thought, "HUH???" Just then my legs started to go numb, and that was the end of that. My Mom and David were in the room this time to witness the whole thing. My doctor let David photograph almost the entire birth, with the exception of the incision. We got some pretty incredible pictures. Some are a little gory, but the memories are fantastic! CLICK HERE TO SEE RILEY'S "BIRTHDAY" ALBUM. When I finally got to see her, my first reaction was how tiny she was. We had a running bet on what she would weigh and my guess was 8.10. David said 7lbs and my Mom said 8.6. We were all wrong! She weighed 7lbs 11oz and was 20inches long, born at 1:20pm. After being looked over by the doctors, who gave her an Apgar score of 9.9, she was cleaned and brought to me for my first hello and kiss. That is a moment that I will never forget! Not for either of my children!

Daddy and Riley then went down to the nursery and my Mom stayed with me while they stitched me up and took me into recovery. I finally made it to my room (YES, WE GOT A PRIVATE ROOM, PHEW!!!) and they brought her in around 4:30pm where I finally got to hold my baby girl for the first time! And, of course, Big Brother Tyler had to meet her, too!

We [all] fell in love with her instantaneously! She took to nursing on the first attempt and did such a great job that my milk actually came in before I left the hospital. That was a superb accomplishment for me, since it was a 1-week struggle with Tyler before he got the hang of it. My recovery was so easy that my doctor actually wanted to discharge me a day early because I was doing so well, but we decided to stay the extra day so that Riley could get all the monitoring she needed and we could soak up a little more of the pampered lifestyle! Tyler also stayed in the hospital with us so that he could witness everything and share in the memories! He did so well. All of the nurses complimented us on how good of a child he was. We had our very own "slumber party" going on in our room!

Riley is now 2-1/2 weeks old and she's amazing. She's a great baby and we couldn't have asked for a more perfect blessing! More updates to come! And so it goes...

Our first family of 4 photo! Of course, there was so much going on that we didn't get one where we're all paying attention. But, it's still perfect in my book!