2 Months Old!!!

Holy Guacamole!!! Riley is 2 months old!?! When did THAT happen?! Good grief! He had his 2-month check-up on Thursday Feb 25th where we learned that he was 9 pounds 15 ounces and 22 3/4" long! Wow!! I think it's safe to say that now, a week later, he's over 10 pounds! Craziness! He also got his first round of vaccines... I decided that after doing my research, that I trust our doctor and that I think that the MMR is the controversial vaccine, and that isn't given till he is 1 year old, so I'm going to follow the very conservative Kaiser vaccine schedule. Riley did great. He screamed bloody-murder when she poked him, but he recovered nicely. He and I (I felt like such a traitor!) sat in the waiting room at the doctor's office for a while until he was fully calmed and ready to go back in his seat... then he really didn't have much in the way of "side effects", no fever or blotching or vomiting, but he did have even looser stool than usual (I didn't think that even possible! HA!), and he was a teeny bit fussier, but all in all, he was awesome.

Here he is on his 2-month-birthday... Feb 27th...


Anyways, then on Friday his Uncles arrived to make his acquaintance!!! Tim & Sean flew in for a full weekend "layover" on their way out to ski in Utah, and it was awesome! They really enjoyed meeting their nephew, and he them. So cute. Here he is hangin' with his uncles...



And then this week, Daddy bought him some new friends... here he is holding court with his new prehistoric buddies, just letting them know who's boss here...


I'm going to post a bunch of new photos to our shutterfly page today, too, I'll update this link as soon as I do... http://ryanandalli.shutterfly.com

Best to all!
Love,
The Willies

On our own, and Back to work...

Well, it's been a heck of a week, that's for sure. My mom arrived on Riley's birthday and stayed at their condo here in Littleton helping us for 7 wonderful weeks, but the time had come, and she left this past Saturday... that was hard enough... I cried. But add on top of that, that my maternity leave was up and it was time for me to start easing back into work, and BAM! Quite a week we had here! Plenty of adjustments... but we're doing really well with it all, or so I think! Sure, we might have laundry to fold and put away, and other laundry to do, and dishes scattered about, but as the poem goes, "babies don't keep", right? So alas, some things are more important than others... ;)

Riley is on a pretty regular self-regulated schedule these days... he eats on average every 3 hours or so, during the day, and keeps that through the night, with some exceptions. We enjoy the longer exceptions overnight, that's for sure! At his 1 month appointment he was 8 pounds and 21 1/2" long, so we're anxious to see where he's at next week at his 2 month appointment! He seems SO HUGE to us, but we know he's still just a little guy, the size of some newborns!

When he is awake, he's very alert, it's SO fun to watch him take everything in... Daddy likes to read him books, and he'll look at the pages with interest and curiousity, it's very cute. I think he's working on his smile... he likes to coo and make big wide mouthed faces that I can only imagine are on their way to being grins! It's very fun to watch.

Here are a couple of pictures that I took with my cell, so they are a bit grainy, but I haven't been good about using my real camera, while I'm overly snap-happy with my blackberry, so these'll have to do!

This first one is a good look at Riley when he's hungry and unhappy... Breaks my heart when he's so sad! And the second one is one that Ryan and I find hilarious... he's in his crib for a nap, with Billy-the-goat... Riley isn't quite sure WHAT to make of Billy... so he just continues to suck on his soother and stare at the goat. HA! He didn't cry though, so he and the goat are warming up to one another... heh heh... And the last picture is a peaceful one of our little man snoozing in the swing. <3




Love to all,
the Williams

Lonnnnnng Over-due!

Many MANY apologies to all of you that are continuously checking for updates on our little family! I am not very good at anything but snuggling with Riley these days, but I'm VERY good at that! :) So very sorry for falling off the face of the earth... now that maternity leave is coming to an end and we'll have to spend more time on the computer and less time snuggling, perhaps I can be better about updating blogs, picture sites and keeping up with emails.

So we are doing wonderfully. Despite Ryan's horrific work schedule, we are really enjoying our new little family. Ryan enjoys his snuggles with Riley as soon as he gets home from work, be it at 6pm, 9pm, or midnight. We adjust Riles' schedule however needed to ensure Daddy gets his Riley-time. :) Riley is such a perfect little blessing. Sure sure, he's a baby, so he cries and he has his fussy times, but USUALLY (knock on wood!) he has a reason! Usually we can run through the "checklist" and come across some form of neglegence on our part and realize "oops, sorry Riley!" and we can remedy his malfunction. :) Very rarely he gets fussy without reason... diaper dry? check., tummy full? check., burped? check., slept recently? check. At which point we instill "The 5 S's" and he usually calms down with some good shushhh'ing. ;)

We are even getting out these days, almost daily! We try for one outing per day, max, just so he doesn't get overtired (and so mommy doesn't get overtired either). Our outings usually consist of errands/shopping, lunches or dinners, or even nice long walks around the Ranch in our pimp new jogging stroller!!!

I really struggle with putting him down (no, not like an old dog, like, literally letting go and putting him in the swing or crib for a nap)... that's my biggest fault. I just like to hold and cuddle with him and don't like putting him down and letting him just be on his own. "They" tell me that I can't spoil him the first 3 months of his life, so I may as well spoil myself and enjoy his warm little body while he can't be spoiled, because after that, we have to really start working on schedules and such. In fact, I'm due to go back to work on Feb 15th, part time, and will have to start putting him down and letting him nap alone and all that jazz then, so really only another full week of full-time cuddles. So don't judge me as I ignore the world and just focus on my beautiful little boy for one more week. :)

Anyways, so that's where we're at in the Life of Riley these days... My mom is still here and my dad and Nana fly in tomorrow to spend the last week of my mom's visit here with us as well (well, not WITH us, they'll be at their condo, of course). So we are all really excited to have Riley's Granda back, and for him to meet his Great baNana. :)

In other Williams Family news... Ryan's dad is doing well! He finished chemo the Monday before Christmas and then just had his surgery (removed his bladder, prostate and lymphnodes and reconstructed the bladder with intestines) on Monday and he's doing wonderfully. He's spending this week at the hospital and then will either be released to go home, or released into Megan & Mike's "custody" for a little bit. Either way, he'll be happy to get out of there! No one likes an extended stay at THAT "resort".

Well, do you feel more caught up? If you're on facebook, my mom is good about updating Riley pictures on there, so search for her (Mary Kelley Edwards). If not, I'll try to post more pictures to Shutterfly soon! And in the meantime, here are a few cuties to tide you over...
Best to everyone~
Love,
The Williams

Introducing Riley Randolph Williams!!!

Our bundle has arrived! Today, Jan 2nd, is our due date, but we've been a family for almost a week! At 1:01am tonight, it will be a week. That's right, our adorable little man joined us on Sunday, December 27th at 1:01am. He was 6 pounds 10.8 ounces and 19 inches long. We named him Riley Randolph and he's absolutely perfect.

We are truly blessed, he is a wonderful little boy, healthy and happy. He shows his love for his mumma and daddy by allowing us hours of sleep at stretches of 3-4 hours at a time at night! What a man!

Our birth story began on Saturday the 26th at around 8:15am when my water broke... we called the Kaiser hotline and were told to make our way to St Joseph's Hospital within the next 2 hours and that they'd be waiting for us. We had aleady packed the car with the major necessities, so we took our time, stayed calm, called family, and took our time driving in the snow down town to the hospital. We arrived at around 10 and after confirming it was my water that broke and that I was in labor, they admitted us and we went on up to Labor & Delivery (known as 'The Baby Place') at around noon. My labor was manageable for the first few hours, and I was determined to go sans epidural... I used the birthing ball, the spa tub and walked and walked and walked, but 10 hours in I was only just entering "transition" at 7cm, and knew I had a long way to go, not to mention, I was not getting any downtime between my contractions, which was really unmanageable for me, and was stressing the baby (his heartrate kept dropping). So at around 7pm I decided to kick my "flexible birth plan" into high gear and get the epidural, and never looked back... what a difference. I think had I not gotten the epidural I would have been far more exhausted and pushing would have been a lot more difficult. Instead, though I could still feel all my contractions, I was not under anywhere's near as much physical stress, so Riley was not as distressed either. I developed a fever at around 10pm and the doctors decided that because my water had broken more than 12 hours prior, that the fever was probably due to a possible uterine infection, so they decided to give me a full dose of antibiotics before allowing me to push. The antibiotics dripped from 11-12 or so and then I was fully dilated by just after midnight, the antibiotics were done, so time to push. I won't lie, I was terrified. I started to cry because I was so scared of childbirth, but once we got going I realized that I could do it, and did do it! 50 minutes after starting, we were delivering. What an unbelievable experience. Riley had the umbilical cord wrapped around him, so he was very unresponsive when he was born, his APGAR score was a 1 initially (SCARY!!!), he was completely purple. Ryan looked terrified but kept me looking at him so I didn't see. However, as soon as Riley was free of the cord, he pinked right up and his scores were 8 and then 9. Phew!!! He was a gorgeous little man right from the womb. Just gorgeous.

Ryan was an UNBELIEVABLE support. He was SO amazing. I couldn't ask for a better more supportive husband and best friend. What a wonderful experience all things considered.

We are truly in love with our little Riley and can't wait to share him with our friends and family.

So, without further ado, introducing Our Riley...




love,
The Williams FAMILY :)

38 Weeks and Counting!

Well, okay, so we're just shy of the 38 week mark... but today was our 38 week OB appointment! It was our last appointment with our RN Joan, and from now on we'll be seeing Dr. Gibson at each appointment. Our next appointment is next Wednesday, Dec 23rd, and then our 40 week appt is scheduled for the following Wednesday, the 30th!

Anyways, so today all my vitals looked good (whewee, not talking about weight at all, let's pretend that's not even something they check)... and so did Baby Willi's. His heart rate is still up in the 140s at 148bpm, and he seems to be growing like a champ. My belly is measuring right on track at 38cm. He's still head-down, so hopefully he's getting ready to start making his descent!

So far, no movement in that direction though... I am still only 50% effaced and am not dilated at all. The pelvic station is -4, meaning he's still floating. I thought he had dropped, but it doesn't seem that he has, he's still sitting up pretty high right now. (The pelvic stations go from -5 to +5, and the positive stations are when the head is crowning.) So we wait!

My guess is that this little fella will come late... what's your guess? :)

It wasn't me!!!

I promise! The baby that was born in the skies above Denver, CO late last week was not ours! Ours is still safely inside the womb. Phew! Most of you knew that we got the go-ahead from the doctor to head to Vegas for the weekend this past weekend, despite my being 36 weeks along. We had our doctor's note in hand and were off! We heard about the baby born mid-air and plenty of folks were wondering if that was us, but no, thankfully, it was not. :)

We had a wonderful trip to Vegas and back with no incidents. It was great to take one last trip without a little bebe to juggle. We enjoyed time just the two of us and time with the softball team. And despite it not being the most relaxing of places to visit (go! go! go!) we were able to take time off our feet to rest and catch up on some sleep (despite late nights, we slept late and caught up on zz's that way). We saw all the sights along The Strip, in addition to getting out to see the Hoover Dam!

Our little belly-dweller did great. Good boy! :)

Our next appointment is next Thursday (12/17 at 37 weeks 5 days), so I'll post more updates after that! Just wanted to make sure you all knew that we made it back safe and sound without any complications or mid-air special deliveries!

Here I am at the Hoover Dam!

*Alli & Ryan

Itza Boy!

Wow! What a trip to the doctor we had yesterday! It was wonderful! All my vitals are good, as are those of the little belly-dweller... my weight is okay and my belly measurement is right on track at 36cm. Dr. Gibson did an ultrasound to check on the baby's position and on the fluid levels and while she was looking around, she asked if we wanted to know the gender and of course we said "YES!"... so she said the fluid levels were great and the baby is head-down and slightly engaged (I'm 50% effaced), and that it's a HE! We have a baby BOY on the way! Very exciting. And no, we're not going to tell you the names we're thinking of... some things just need to remain super special between me and the hubs and there has to be at least SOME surprise, right?

Here is a picture of the proof... there's our little man's "junk":

and here's a picture of his cute little face:

For more pictures, check out the shutterfly page as usual! I'm trying to keep it up to date!

We also got the go-ahead from Dr. Gibson yesterday that we can go to Vegas this weekend. Ryan has a softball tournament Saturday and Sunday, so he would be going regardless, but whether I joined him was up in the air. I got the thumbs-up, so I get to go! Yay! We fly out tomorrow afternoon and return Monday night. Should be a nice little "babymoon" getaway. Can't wait! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and post them upon return.

love,
alli, ryan and baby BOY willi