13 pounds and some yummy peas

I know its been a whole two weeks since I posted, but not a lot has happened.  I went on my "guy's weekend" to Omaha last week with a few friends.  Pam and Riley had a good time without me but were glad to see me when I came home.  This week, Pam went to see Dr. Nichols on Monday and despite our argument against it, he wants us to continue to see Dr. Riva.  He is having Pam bring Riley by once a week for a weight check though, and last week she tipped the scales at 13lbs 2oz!  Sure makes Dr. Riva's scale look even more inaccurate.  She'll get checked again tomorrow and we hope to see more gain.  I think she is looking more "chunky" again after thinning out a bit the last few months so thats a good sign.  Nothing much said from Rainbows, other than "she's doing great."  So I guess no news is good news there. 

She has been "eating" a little bit of rice cereal by spoon the past few weeks, but Pam is now hitting her hard with solids.  This week was "peas" week, and next week will be "sweet potatoes".  She takes them pretty well, doesn't eat a whole lot but is able to get them down.  Before long she'll be snarfing down steaks like her old man!

This weekend we were out and about again.  Had Pam's mom babysit Saturday afternoon while we went and played a little winter softball, and then my mom watched Riley in the evening while we checked out Wichita's new downtown arena for the inaugural Wichita Thunder hockey game there - quite impressive!  Today we took Riley over to my parent's house all day while we helped them clean, organize, and pack stuff up.  They are putting their house up for sale and needed the kickstart to make the house look good.

Next weekend will be an exciting one for us.  Thursday after work the 4 of us (Pam, me, Riley, and Baxter) are all heading up to Manhattan.  I needed to go up there for work on Friday anyways, so thought it would be a good time to take Riley on her first road trip (and Baxter's too).  We'll stay up there through Saturday afternoon/evening after watching Makena's first basketball game (and the KU/K-State basketball game, of course).

New photos from the past two weeks:
Riley checking herself out in the mirror on her playmat.

Showing off her messy face after eating peas.

Early Groundhog Day

Dr. Riva must have seen the groundhog, because she sentenced us to at least 4 more weeks of dragging this oxygen tank around.  We disagreed with her on a few things, particularly Riley's weight since that seems to be the hang-up.  Their scale didn't match up with Dr. Nichol's scale or our scale at home and claimed she was closer to 12lbs than the 12lb 12oz that we got last week at Dr. Nichols.  Not only that but her claim that she isn't gaining enough weight is comparing her to a what a 7 month old should be, but all of her development has and should be tracked on an adjusted scale, which means she should be looked at as a 4 month old.  She also contradicted some other things that Dr. Nichols had told us and tried to make some changes to her feedings.  We called Dr. Nichols and he told us to leave the feedings alone and asked us to come in Monday to discuss it since he is her primary care physician and its his job to make those decisions.  I'm hoping he'll be able to recommend a different pulmonary doctor since we aren't too happy with Dr. Riva so far.  She is very impersonal and so far has reminded me a lot of our first interactions with Dr. Hsiao in her impersonal "bedside manner".

Other than that, not a whole lot of new news.  Rainbows came out last week and has said Riley's development is right on track.  Her head and neck movement are great, she is sitting up really well, and has started to take the rice cereal better.

This weekend we took advantage of our family's generous free baby sitting and got out of the house a little bit without a baby in tow- went to a Wichita State basketball game and got some errands ran, and then took Riley to the Blessed Sacrament CYO Spaghetti Dinner.  It's an annual event that I helped participate in back in the day.  It was great to see a few old friends there, show off Riley, and eat some good Italian food.

This next weekend I'm back to my "part-time father" routine as I head to Omaha for our annual "guy's weekend".  A few friends and I make the trip to watch Wichita State play at Creighton every year.  Hopefully Pam will be able to get away soon too so I don't feel bad always leaving.  It will be tough to leave them for just a few days, but after the long days I've had at work it is a much needed break.

Riley's been a really happy baby lately and with Pam home all day every day, she's been a bit of a shutterbug.  Check the facebook "winter photos" link to the right to see more, but here's a few of the best:

Happy New Year!

Riley rang in her first new year in style...by sleeping right through it.  She actually was awake at midnight, but slept most of the rest of the night, before and after midnight.  We had a handful of people over to help celebrate, played some games, and put away a few bottles of champagne.  Maybe staying up and playing Wii til 4:45am wasn't the brightest idea though, haha.  I have to go back to work tomorrow; it's been nice staying home the past week with Pam and Riley, but alas I have to find a way to put food on the table since we're starting the new year as a 1-income family. 

This week, Rainbows will be back out for the first time in awhile.  Hopefully they can help with the latest issues - Riley can't stand being laid back while feeding, and has been crying uncontrollably a lot.  She has had a pretty runny nose lately too, so we've had her sleeping in the swing instead of her basinet to keep her more inclined, otherwise she wakes up coughing on the drainage a lot.  We think she might have an ear infection, but Dr. Nichols didn't seem too concerned last week - then again it has gotten worse since we saw him, so Pam plans on calling him in the morning.  Riley is also scheduled to get this month's RSV shot this week.

Other than feeding times, she's been pretty good lately.  Loves to sit up and look around, so we've been propping her up on the couch, recliner, etc.  She's smiling more and more, and when we lay her on her playmat she is getting better at rolling back and forth from her side to her back.  Haven't rolled all the way over yet, but getting close.  Been trying to do more "tummy time" too - her neck is getting stronger and she can hold that position a lot longer than before.

Here's a few of her sitting up like a big girl...