Riley: months 4-8

I have been terrible at keeping up with Riley's milestones. Our lives have been so dang busy.

1) Riley started rolling from back to tummy during her fourth month.

2) Riley was on breastmilk until 6 months thanks to generous donors and then started transitioning onto goats milk. She was fully on goats milk starting at 7.5 months.

3) At 7 months Riley started getting up on her hands and knees, rocking, and rolling from her stomach to her back on accident. She also started being able to sit on her own and preferred standing up in a walker or rolling around on the floor.

4) Rileys sleep has been inconsistent. There are some nights where she will sleep 11 hours straight, some nights where she wakes up once and other nights where she wakes up multiple times.

5) At four months grandma norman started watching both girls during the day and aunt Kim went back to work.

6) At about 7 months Riley really started getting interested in solids more so than bottles.

7) Riley has been in general a very happy and expressive baby.

8) Riley got her first ear infection and we didn't know because she was still acting calm.

9) Riley went swimming a lot and mostly wasn't phased too much to be in the water one way or another.

10) Riley loves putting everything in her mouth and chewing on her fists. She still doesn't have any teeth.

The girls on Easter.

The girls on the 4th of July.

Charli loves reading to Riley.

Getting an x ray on her hips since she was breech for so long.

Life Updates

I don't get a lot of time to blog with 2 kids under 2 but I like to when I get a chance because I've always enjoyed looking back. Life goes by so fast and with kids it is even faster so I often forget what life was like even a few months prior. That is another lesson I have learned with kids.. that nothing is a permanent state. They are growing and shifting so quickly that I can't get stuck on any routine for too long before it no longer works.

Life is going pretty decently. Charli's 2nd birthday is in a couple of weeks and we are going to have it at Jungle Jims with just a few family members. My mom and I are going to make her a Minnie Mouse cake and I bought her an adorable Minnie Mouse dress to wear that day. It should be a fun and relaxing birthday party so I look forward to that.

I go back to work the day after her birthday party and on her actual birthday. I am sad to lose my time with my girls but I am definitely ready to go back into the adult word and start working hard on my career goals. I have been at Nelson for 6 years but I may not be there much longer. I want to stay long term but unfortunately I am starting to feel like the companies priorities are on their profits and not their employees. A lot of the family friendly benefits are going away and I never get more than a basic 3% raise which doesn't really even cover the increase in cost of living year to year. I am waiting for my annual review in March but I have a feeling I know how it will go. I won't leave unless it's for the right opportunity but I can't help feeling that I could be doing so much more for my family so that Kyle can focus on goals that actually make him happy as well. He has been working at Nelson the last year and a half and they haven't really taken care of him at all either. He works hard and is productive but he doesn't play the politics well unfortunately. I feel like he would honestly be better if he was his own boss anyway. We are hoping he can get his real estate license and start looking at investing... assuming I can get a better job of course.

Charli is growing up so much and is a super fun and happy toddler. She is also an absolute challenge and is definitely testing boundaries but we are hoping that with firm and consistent rules that she will grow into a well behaved child. It's a hard balance because I want her to always communicate with me and to not hide from me but it's also important that I raise her to be a good person and to not be entitled. Parenting is so much harder than it looks sometimes...

Riley is also doing well but she is struggling with her weight gain and has also been sick. I am feeding her the same (if not better) than I fed Charli but she appears to just have different genetics and to just be on the smaller side. I think that it is okay but my PTSD from Charli not gaining is coming back so I worry. Just want her to be healthy. Otherwise she is meeting her milestones and is super happy and calm. It has been easier for me to connect to her and I think it's just because I've been down this road before and I know how short this difficult stage is. Charli I think was a bit of a shock so it took me awhile to gain some confidence.

Kyle and I are doing well but I definitely miss my husband.  A new baby takes away some of that one on one time for awhile. I feel like we have both been good at supporting each other through this stage though. He has also been sick for a couple of weeks so that has been rough. I really love my husband though, I honestly couldn't imagine life without him. I really feel like I found the perfect person to share this life with. We are also strongly leaning towards Riley being our last kid. We are really excited for our girls to get older and to start going on family trips and doing more active activities. We love our kids but it is a huge sacrifice to start over each time. I feel at peace and like our family is complete.

Anyway, most of my days consistent of feeding, changing, keeping a toddler out of danger, and putting a baby to sleep in a consistent rotation so it was nice to find a few minutes to update this blog. I was also able to get a work out in which is super nice. I can't wait to get back into a strict routine with diet and exercise but my main focus right now is my mental health and taking it easy.

Riley's 3rd Month

1) Her weight gain slowed down which concerned mom a lot.. 2) Riley got sick for the first time with a cough that would cause her to throw up. this was also scary to mom and dad. even when she was sick, she had a smiley demeanor and was super happy and chatty. 3) Riley slept about the same (usually one 5-6 hour stretch and then up every 3 hours after that). Once and awhile she liked to pull all nighters with daddy. 4) Riley liked laying out and kicking her legs and talking. 5) Riley enjoyed talking and smiling with Charli. 6) Riley started sleeping 8-9 hours in her own crib. 7) Riley went back on breastmilk only with the help of donor milk. 8) Riley discovered her tongue. 

Riley's 2nd Month

1) Riley struggled a bit more with gas, but definitely still happy the majority of the time.

2) Celebrated our first Christmas with Riley. Riley got to meet my cousins and aunt and uncle. She got a lot of clothes that she hadn't quite grown into yet.

3) Started intentionally smiling a lot more and interacting. Could definitely tell that sometimes she was just bored and wanted to see new things.

4) Riley is sleeping 5 hour stretches at night still. Did occasionally sleep 6 hours and also had nights where she was up half the night.

5) Started practicing with bottles.

6) Riley had an ultrasound on her hips since she was a breech baby. It was inconclusive at 2 months.

7) Riley had her first blow out.

8) She loved her bouncer.

9) Riley started wearing 0-3 month clothes and size 1 diapers.

10) At her two month appointment she was on the growth curve at 9 lbs 3 oz (15th percentile) and 20.9 inches (9th percentile). Her doctor said if she was only a month that she would be closer to 25th percentile for weight and 40th for height.