One Month and Counting!

We did it!  Ryen is one month old (well actually at this time, she is 5 weeks old) and we are so happy!  It has been a busy month with this little one...and very reminiscent of Avery's start in this world.  As I mentioned previously, Ryen has been on nutramigen formula and zantac twice a day.  However, we are not seeing many improvements.  After a number of calls to the doctor and adding rice to her bottles to help thicken them up, and hopefully stay down, our pediatrician has referred us to a GI specialist at the Childrens' Hospital of Illinois in Peoria and has written us a prescription for Previcid.  So, we are going to begin the new medication sometime in the next couple days and then next Friday are off to Peoria to have some things checked out.  We are feeling pretty hopeful that the new medication will work after talking to many friends and our doctor.

Besides that, Ryen is loving her big sister!  Avery is very silly with her and it is really sweet to watch her "take care of" her any chance she can get.  Anytime Ryen looks at Avery, she says, "She likes me mommy, she likes her big sister!"  I can't lie, it makes my heart melt a little each time.  Also, as the weeks go by, Ryen looks more and more like Avery and Dave and less and less like me.  Figures, right?  For example, below is Avery and Ryen's 1 month picture.  Avery on the left, Ryen on the right...

They have the same scrawny arms and legs and that same silly bird face!

As I said above, Avery loves Ryen and Ryen loves Avery.  I hope that lasts for quite some time!

Auntie Robyn came to visit for a night and I only got one picture the entire time.  Thankfully, this picture basically sums up her entire visit.  :)

This past Sunday, the girls and I attended a bridal shower of one of my former cheerleaders.  I can't believe they are that old to begin with, but Avery is going to be the flower girl in her wedding.  Jessa is one of babysitters and Avery just loves her.  I know Ryen will too.

Also, for those that don't know, Ryen was named after Dave's best friend and our best man at our wedding, Ryan.  Ryan and his wife are really important people to us and we couldn't be more excited or proud to have named our daughter after him.  She seems to really like him too!

Finally, I have been trying really hard to capture one of those random smiles- even though I think she purposefully smiles when she hears my voice.  Here is the best I can do for now!

I Get By With a Little Help From My Parents....

Thank goodness for family!  My mom and dad came and spent all of last week with us and made our lives so much easier for that short time!  Ryen is proving to be a challenging baby...much like Avery was.  Between the reflux, milk allergy, needing to be held all the time, and gas issues, we are exhausted!  Now, we are beginning to think that she might be colicky too.  We have to just keep telling ourselves that this will pass... for some reason, at 4am, that doesn't make us feel better!  :)  Now, back to the help- my parents cleaned, cooked, held Ryen, played with Avery, let us get some sleep (most important!).  We loved having them here and are counting down the days, or is it hours, until they return.

We made sure to keep busy while they were here especially since the weather was beautiful!  We went to the dairy farm to see the cows...

We went to the park and ran into Avery's best friend, Clara,

and then to the zoo and rode the carousal.

And since the weather was always nice, we made sure to eat outside as much as we could!

Grandma and Grandpa got in lots of snuggle time with both girls while they were here too!  

Grandma also brought a spring craft to do with Avery,

and Papa brought his dancing shoes!

On Saturday morning grandma and grandpa kept Ryen so Dave and Avery and I could have day out together.  After donuts and chocolate milk, we stopped at the Home Depot for their kids workshop.  The first Saturday of the month, there is a free workshop for the kids and this month, they were building bird houses!  It was so much fun!  Yep, that is Avery with a hammer by herself and Daddy's finger!

After my mom and dad left and the tears were wiped away, everyone got a little nap.  Once we were up though, it was time to party!  This is Dave playing the puppy guitar, while Avery holds Ryen's hand and dances!  It was adorable!

It is hard to believe that Ryen is already 4 weeks old today!  While these first few weeks have been difficult at times, we are realizing just how quickly it goes.  If Ryen goes down the same path as Avery did, she will be sleeping through the night in her own room in about 4 weeks... my fingers are crossed!  

Happy Easter!

It is a little hard to believe that Ryen will be three weeks old tomorrow!  Slowly, we are making some progress and we are enjoying every little victory we can.  Here's what's going on with her now.  At her 2 week checkup, she weighed in at 7lbs 7 oz- that was up 9 oz from the week before!  (I think it took Avery about a month and a half to get that big!)  She is healthy as can be.  We have already put Ryen on medication for reflux and it turns out she has a milk protein sensitivity.  Avery had the same things so we were familiar with the symptoms and able to get her some help as soon as possible.  Because of milk protein issue, she is now on special formula to help her process it a bit easier.  We have seen some improvements but it can take up to two weeks for any major improvements to show.  We can't wait for that to happen.

Ryen is sleeping a lot of the day, and thanks to the reflux medication, she can do this laying down on her own.  She sleeps in 2-3 hour chunks all day and night.  The last few nights, Dave and I have actually managed to get about 8 hours of sleep....divided up of course.  Although, I think we are slowly adjusting to it.  My mom and dad will be here tomorrow through Sunday so we are looking forward to our last week of help...and some extra sleep.

Avery has also adjusted really well and is going back to the pre-Ryen version of Avery.  She has been a big help and loves being around her sister.

She loves holding her...

She loves feeding her...

She loves playing her music...(I love that Ryen looks like she is singing!)

She loves snuggle time with her Daddy and sister...

She loves holding in the pacifier.  She really thinks it's funny when Ryen chews on her finger!

And of course, she loves just cuddling up with her.

The weather this past week has been from one extreme to the other.  First, we had a huge snow storm so Avery got to build a snowman.

Then, it turned much nicer and we took Ryen out for her first walk.  Thanks to her Aunt Jamie, she was nice and warm with her new hat!

 There was just enough snow left to have a snowball fight!

This past Sunday we celebrated Easter with our little family and then Dave's parents joined us for dinner.  First, we took Avery to a giant egg hunt on Saturday at the local minor league baseball field...along with 4,500 other people!  She had so much fun!

All ready to go on the field

Check out what I got!  She kept saying, "I won, I won!"

That night we decorated Easter eggs...

 ...and then Avery threw up and needed a bath and a whole mess to be cleaned up.  But then she was ready to get back to decorating.  We are hoping it was just something she ate because she is back to herself today!

The next morning, the Easter bunny had come to visit!  There were so many eggs to find!

And then there was the Easter basket full of chalk, stickers, playdough, a kite and a brand new little sock monkey!

An attempt at a family picture... :)

Overall, we are doing well.  It has been quite the adjustment that is for sure.  We are looking forward to the weeks ahead when things begin to become more routine and the hours of sleep increase for everyone!  Although this one looks like she is doing ok in the sleep department!

We also had pictures done of the girls together with our favorite photographer Bridget!  Here is the link to the blog...

http://imaginatephotography.com/2013/03/29/newborn-baby-girl-ryen-newborn-photography-bloomington-il/

And then to see and/or order prints, here is the link to that as well.  You will need to enter your email and create a password.  Then the password for the proofs is Ryen-1

http://imaginatephotography.com/proofs

Welcome Miss Ryen!

She is finally here!  Ryen Harper was born on Tuesday, March 12 at 9:51am.  She weighed in at a "whopping" 6lbs 13 oz and was 20 inches long.  Ryen came into the world quite calmly, only letting our a couple cries before snuggling up with mama.  But how about the story from the beginning...

I had woken up shortly after midnight on the 12th with some really bad contractions.  At 1:00, I had woken up Dave telling him but we didn't leave for the hospital until 2:45.  They kept coming and going, but once they were pretty consistent and strong, off we went.  Thankfully, my mom and Ashley were here to take care of Avery.  After they had admitted us and finished all the checking in, it was about 4:30am.  The contractions kept coming and going and we tried to get some sleep.  Finally at 8:30am, I was dilated to 5cm and the pain was enough for me and I got my epidural.  My nurse had told us to get some sleep and she would be back in at 9:15 to check in on me.  At 9:15, she came back and joyfully told us that in 45 minutes I had gone from 5cm to 10cm and it was time to push!  Thank goodness I had gotten the epidural when I did....although I am not sure it fully kicked in since I could still feel the bottom of my legs!  They called the doctor and she told us to do some test pushes.  After 4 pushes, they told me I had to stop otherwise Ryen was going to be born without my doctor.  Once she arrived, all it took was 2 pushes and she was here!  As I said above, she came out without a sound, then 2 little cries and she was all done.  We got to snuggle her for quite some time before she was taken off to be cleaned and weighed.  She is just perfect!!

And now what you really want...the pictures!

And then of course, big sister Avery got to come and see her just a couple hours later.  I had missed Avery so much and couldn't wait to see her.  Here she is just hours after Ryen was born.

She climbed right up and wanted to see her.  She kept saying "Hi Baby Ryen, I'm Avery your sister".

And then of course there were kisses....

Avery is really unsure of her crying.  She always thinks she is crying because she is mad at her and keeps telling her "Baby Ryen, stop it!"

Avery held her for a few seconds and then Ryen let out a cry.  Avery said, "Mommy, you can have her back" and then ran and hid on the couch.

The next day she came back was a bit better.  The hospital has an entire play area, so she liked going there.  Then she thought she should read some books to her sister.

Day 2 was especially good because she got to eat some of Baby Ryen's birthday cake!

She had a rough time while we were in the hospital and just kept telling us "You are my best friend, please don't leave again" and "I miss my mommy, when will she be home?" seriously, ripping at my heart strings.  Luckily Dave went home each night and did her bedtime and then returned to the hospital to stay with us.  I was so excited to get home to see her and then to see how she would react to having Ryen home too.

On Day 1 of being home, we were anxious to see how things would go.  It was just the 4 of us, so I think that helped.  And....all 4 of us napped for a couple hours, at the same time!  I am calling that a success!  

We also survived night one at home!  Avery got 11 hours of sleep, mom and Ryen got 8 hours (all broken up) and Daddy got somewhere around 6 hours.  I am also calling that a success.  Also successful, Avery never woke up to any of Ryen's crying or us up and moving all night.

It is amazing how much easier things seem the second time around.  I don't think either of us are as anxious this time around and we just feel more comfortable.  Avery is coming around to her and most of the time just goes about her own business.  

We are so happy with our complete little family of 4 and so in love with our new little girl.  We look forward to everyone meeting her at some point!  Thanks to all who have called, texted, offered to bring food, those that have already brought food and all other well wishes!