Riley-head the bobble-head

Another week down at home at things are still going great. I'm not kidding when I say she really is an easy baby! Of course everyone keeps reminding me that it will surely change at some point. This week she has been sleeping great at night, going around 7 hours almost every night. Really makes it easy on both of us, allowing us to get good sleep. During the day she is awake about half the time, and usually does pretty good just looking around, staring at different things (the ceiling fan and the painting on our wall, mostly). Her nickname has become "Riley-head the bobble-head" because of her wobbly neck as she is trying to hold her head up and look around. She's getting real good at it, but can only hold if for seconds before flopping over. She gets fussy every once in awhile, which seems that she already has us trained to answer her whimpers by picking her up and giving the pacifier, which she really loves. Bottling is still hit and miss, sometimes she does great and others she really fights and fusses. Her cries are slowly getting louder, as her vocal cords catch up to where they should be at this age, but still pretty hoarse.

Rainbows United came to see Riley this week. For those of you that aren't familiar with them, they are a non-profit organization, mostly funded by government grants and donations from the United Way. We were set up with them from the beginning so they can help follow her developmental progress once she came home. On Wednesday, one lady came by to do paperwork and on Thursday they sent a speech therapist (who also handles bottling), a physical/occupational therapist, and another PT student. After observing her for a little while, they said they would like to continue seeing her on a regular basis, here in our home. She is doing great, but does have some stiffness in her legs and some other slight physical development issues that they will help her work through. As time goes on, they will do other tests to make sure mental development stays on track too. If need be, we'll be set up with them through 3 years old, free of charge.

We took a huge step tonight, and left her with my parents while we got to go out to dinner - a first for us since she came home. Since she has been so easy to take care of, and most of our concerns of any major issues happening have been calmed, we figured now was a good time to try it...plus I was REALLY craving some Red Robin burgers, fries, and milkshake all week!

Next week we're going to try a few more things...might take her to my office on Friday for family trick-or-treating in the afternoon. Don't really want to get her around lots of people (and therefore germs), but figure if we do take her, we can stick her in my office and people can poke their head in...don't need lots of people too close or any kids, but I know tons of people are wanting to see her. Jury's still out on whether we will do it or not though. Then on Sunday, we are scheduled to take the gifts up at Church. I've been going to church alone on Sundays, while Pam stays home with Riley, but we might use this as our trial to see how she does in Church so we can have her baptized next month. Again, we really don't want to get her around a lot of people, but we can sit in the back corner where not a lot of people sit so shouldn't have as many worries.

Sorry, don't have any new pictures to post. Only took a few this week, but none that were any good. Will try and get some up by next weekend, will have to get a few of Riley in her Halloween outfit! Thank you again to all who have continued to follow Riley's progress and send their kindness in so many ways.