Happy Mother's Day!

It was this time last year (May 11th, the day after Mother's Day), that Pam's water unexpectedly broke at 24 weeks and this whirlwind adventure took off.  It's hard to believe it has been that long, and yet at the same time it does feel like it was forever ago.  We have been through so much over the past 12 months.  Although it's not something we wished for or would want to go through again, I am forever grateful to have someone as great as Pam to have had by my side throughout this.  She is an amazingly strong person, and has proven to be a wonderful mother to Riley.  Happy Mother's Day to Pam and all the other Mothers out there who don't always get the recognition they deserve.

We spent a weekend in Manhattan with my family, attending the KSU Open House and celebrating birthdays (Nikki, Eric, Landon, and Makena's are all within a month of each other).  We didn't end up making it to K-State's Spring Football Game, but had a blast hanging out at Nikki's instead.  We also got to spend some time with Pam's family a few times in April, as her brother John was home from Korea for a few weeks.  They took a trip to Botanica and had a nice photo shoot with Riley, Benjamin, and the rest of the family.

These past few days have been a little more hectic around here.  I had my knee surgery on Friday and have been laid up on the couch since then.  I know this isn't how Pam was wanting to spend her first official Mother's Day, waiting on me hand and foot, and for that I am even more grateful.  I've done my best to help watch Riley while she gets other tasks done, but unfortunately I can't help with much. 

Tonight my family will be coming over to celebrate Mother's Day.  We will get to break in the new BBQ grill, but I guess I'll have to let someone else do the cooking.  Pam's mom and sister have been out of town, so will have to celebrate with them later. 

Riley is really growing up lately.  She is a super-happy baby and loves to smile and laugh - especially at Baxter.  She is sitting up on her own very well, and has even started army crawling!  We are holding out hope she'll get a real crawl or two in before her birthday at the end of the month.  She is eating much better now, and loves to "gum" on cookies, carrots, and anything else we give her.  We have been working on waving "bye-bye" and clapping to "patty-cake" as well.  She seems to be getting the hang of it, and usually gets a giggle or two in when we play.  We should find out in the next few weeks if we can discontinue the night-time oxygen and unplug the monitor.  We will probably have to do another sleep study first, which should get scheduled sometime soon.  Her weight is holding steady at about 14lb 6oz.  Even though she is eating much better, she is also a lot more active and therefore burning more calories.  We will likely have to switch her to formula soon since Pam's milk supply is depleting from this new pregnancy.  Those hundreds of bottles of milk in the deep-freeze are surprisingly disappearing pretty fast.

With her birthday coming up in just a few weeks, we are working to finalize the plans for her party.  Looks like we'll have it Saturday, May 29th from 2pm-4pm, followed by our annual "Skach-a-Palooza" summer bash.  Everyone is welcome to attend, so please contact Pam if you can make it.

Here are a few photos from the past few weeks.  Again, click on the links to the right to see many more pictures.