Category — Status Updates

This is the first time in the past 7 years that we had trick or treaters!  Well, kind of.  We had one boy who came to the front door.  Then the back door where he took more candy and proceeded to ask for a “donation for his school”.  Dan asked him how and the boy replied “you know, like just give me five or ten dollars.”  To which Dan replied, “Maybe next time.”

Reily’s Halloween outfit lasted about three hours before he sprinkled all over it while Dan changed his diaper.  This is starting to be a little suspicious that he pees when his diaper comes off.  My favorite part is that this outfit is actually 6-9 months (Yes, he is only 2 months this week!) and check out how well these pants fit his waist, but not in length

(Updated 10.4 9am – The header image at the top of the page changes. I’ve created 6 different collages; the site has been designed to randomly chose one of those images. Therefore, continue to refresh your page and you’ll eventually get to see all 6 different images!)

As you can probably tell, I’m in the process of updating our site. With so many changes in our life, we felt it was time to update to a cleaner design and removing the creepy ‘floating ovaries’ that appeared once the pregnancy countdown widget rolled over past the due date!

This update will probably take me through the weekend as I continue to tweak, rollback, tweak, reinstall, backup, and then finally settle for a design on Sunday evening! It looks as though the comments feature has been fixed – which represents a double-edge sword with some of the company that I keep!

We are looking to add a photo page, create more relevant categories, and some other really neat features that I half-heartedly learn how to install yet not fully understand how to incorporate it! This is all in an attempt to simplify our posting process and allow for a more regular posting schedule…which is incredibly important given that our life seems to be gaining steam again instead of slowing down! We’ve rested for about a week and after running out of ‘House’ and ‘Monk’ reruns, we felt we needed to get going again!

So thanks for your patience and I’ll let you know when the final design is complete; as well as all the features that exist and how to use them! We’ll also be doing some recaps on things that we haven’t really announced either!

Enjoy the weekend-

Dan, Christine, & Reily

It’s been a very busy two weeks for Reily!  He adjusted well to being home and wasn’t phased by the change in environment.  The drive home from the hospital was probably the most nerve wrecking 10 min in Dan’s life, but Reily was oblivious to the danger.  He has made it clear that as long as he is fed every 2-3 hours and we change his diaper each time, he is happy.  I am starting to get used to the short sleep intervals and gettng better at taking naps during the day

After the c-section, I had some recuperating to do.  I had so much fluid in me from the 4 days of an IV drip, I could no longer see my knees or my ankles.  This was probably the low point for me, but fortunately, went away after a few days at home.

Dan was so wonderful to pick up all the housework, laundry and meals so that I could rest as much as possible.  He also has started a calistenics routine with Reily!

G-ma and Grand Poobah (Rhonda & Rich) visited that first weekend.  They got to enjoy a very sleepy Reily who would wake periodically to smile or let us know he needed changed.

On Reily’s first birthday (1 week old), he went to his first trip to Starbucks and farmer’s market!  He definitely liked being outdoors in Daddy’s carrier.

Reily also went to the Doctor’s for the first check-up.  Most babies loose weight and then take up to two weeks to get back to their birth weight.  Not our chunky monkey!  He has already gained just under a pound!  He now weighs 9lbs 4.8 oz and doesn’t need to go back to the doctors for two months.  So just to make it memorable, he peed on Dan and the nurse…twice

Grandma and Grandpa Marsh also came to visit Reily this past week.  It was their first trip to California!  We enjoyed walks outside and another trip to Starbucks!

It’s amazing how much Reily has grown and changed over the last two weeks.  He already seems so much older than he is.  He’s pretty good about holding up his own head, lifting up on his arms, shows an interest in us reading him books and sucking his thumb.  We can’t wait to see what he’ll do next!

Dan and I are also celebrating our 5 year anniversary today by relaxing at home and enjoying our best gift ever, Reily!

Our family is finally back home and attempting to settle into our new routines; otherwise known as listening to Reily tell us what he needs and doing our best to accomodate at every moment. So far, he has allowed Mom to get about 4 hours of sleep a night and many hours of bonding over feedings and diaper changes

So very many things have changed over the last week, yet so many have remained the same. Even though Dan may feel like his new role as a father is foreign, he is really just rising to the opportunity to demonstrate the person he has always been: thoughtful, sincere, altruistic, supportive and strong. He has been my rock for the last week and I am eternally grateful.

Just having Reily around has allowed me to find a new inner strength as a mother. I have always loved children, but having one of your own changes the game a bit…ok, a lot! The emotional well has no bottom and just waking up each morning has a completely different purpose. He is definitely center of our world.

The love and support that we have received from excited family and friends has been overwhelming and I can not thank you all enough! We look forward to having you meet our little man as soon as possible, but until then, we will continue to post updates….probably until he graduates from high school.

I think it was my suggestion to do a final load of laundry before we go for another walk that got Dan’s attention. We thought for sure that last night was going to be our little guy’s big introduction to the world. We timed over 67 contractions ranging from 3:30 min to 8 min over the course of 6 hours, making initial phone calls and text messages to the grandparents to be, letting them know we thought the arrival was imminent…only to continue to watch the contractions vary in length and slowly taper off. Finally, finding absolutely nothing interesting on TV, we went to sleep last night around 2am.

I was able to sleep through the night and have continued to have some contractions today, but again, they are all over the place in timing and intensity. We have a doctor visit at 9am tomorrow, but we’re still hoping that our little guy will be here in time for the UCLA game tonight!