5 months old, and Happy Halloween!

I know there's probably several of you out there that are upset with me...2 weeks without a blog post is a first. And judging by the fact I'm still getting 20-30 visitors a day on this thing, there are a lot who have been hoping for an update over the past week. But rest assured, I didn't forget about you - our lives have just been pretty boring...and yet busy at the same time?

Halloween weekend was a fun one for us. Started off on Friday with some trick-or-treating at my office. We have a tradition where all the employees bring in their kids (and grandkids, etc.) to try and score some free candy from all of us, so after some begging from a few in the office we decided to go ahead and bring Riley in. Kept her in my office and didn't take her around to everyone in the building to keep from exposing her to too much, but everyone got to poke their head in and meet the little miracle they've all heard so much about. Didn't do much on Saturday (Halloween day) since she is still a little young to actually hunt for any candy - and no, we didn't really have a costume for her, just a cute jack-o-lantern onesie (see below) for her to wear. Sunday (Nov 1st) was my dad's birthday, and also our turn to take the gifts up at Church so we opted to take Riley to Resurrection for the first time and had my parents tag along to help escort us up. I didn't get a good picture of Riley in her Sunday dress, as we were rushed both before and after mass. She did really well during Church though, in fact slept through the entire thing.

After Church, we took a calculated risk and decided to bring her to my basketball game as well. There usually aren't very many people there, and she stayed in her stroller the whole time so it turned into a great opportunity to get her and Pam out of the house. She was good luck for me too, as I hit my first 4 3-pointers with my little inspiration in attendance! We ended up losing, but that's not very uncommon for us...

This week was a little less eventful - only thing to report on was her follow-up with Wesley's OT/PT department. Somewhat redundant with the PT she is receiving from Rainbows, but they worked with her a little more and gave us some more exercises to do with her to try and loosen up the stiffness in her legs and arms. They also said to increase the amount of "tummy time" and work to keep her on the back of her head more, so we bought a special head pillow (looks like a donut) to try and prevent her head from going to one side or the other while she sleeps.

The weather has been nice enough these past two weeks that Pam and Riley have taken a few walks during the day. The oxygen tank fits just perfectly underneath the stroller, so we don't have to wheel the cart around with us. So far, Riley seems to enjoy it and sleeps most the time. Its good exercise for Baxter too, since he doesn't get played with or taken on walks as much as he's used to. And judging by the weight he has gained since his last vet appointment (up to 104 lbs!), he could use a few more of these walks.

Next week, we have two more appointments with Rainbows, both PT and Speech therapy (bottling) coming out to work with her. After that, nothing until December. We are going to try and schedule her baptism for the Sunday after Thanksgiving, but haven't talked to the Church yet.

On Monday (Nov 2nd), Riley hit 5 months old. I know I say this with every milestone, but WOW! I can't believe it has been 5 months already. Also, yesterday was exactly 1 month since we finally got to bring our angel home. Looking at this blog, 63 posts so far and over 5700 visitors, it is amazing how much support has been generated by this website. I started it as a way to keep from sending out mass emails to my family, and slowly it has made its way to so many people. It has helped me keep my sanity throughout the ordeal, forced me to pay more attention and ask more questions when speaking with the medical staff, and really been a stress reliever more than anything. I hope you all have enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed typing it. I'm thinking of printing out all these posts into a book for Riley, and when she is a teenager and mouthing off we will have some leverage to remind her how much we have gone through for her, haha!

Here's a few pics from the past two weeks:

Sleeping beauty....

Happy Riley! She's starting to smile every once in awhile...hoping to see more and more of it and she grows
Riley and big brother Baxter going on their first walk together.

Riley looking festive in her Halloween outfit. Not a great pic, but she wasn't wanting to hold still for this one.

After another bath...looking so cute without the oxygen! Hopefully only another month before we can look like this all the time.

As promised, here's Riley with Baxter again. Hasn't grown a whole lot in the last month, up to a little over 12 pounds.

To view even more photos, check out these two albums on my facebook (you don't have to be a facebook member to view):
Riley Alexis Skach (photos during her hospital stay)
Riley - album #2 (photos since she came home)