Weekend Recap

We had another great weekend as a family.  I seriously love Jarrod's job here and how we get to spend every weekend together.  Of course, the weekends go way too fast...so I'm really looking forward to this weekend, when Jarrod has four days off.  

Friday night, I worked an event at a country club, and Jarrod came with me to help me get set up.  Once everything was under control, he brought Gavin home, and Riley stayed with me at the event.  Rebecca, a consultant on my team, brought us home at the end of the night.  

Saturday morning we got up and looked at a few houses with our realtor.  The whole process just confuses me more every time we look because I like so many things about so many different houses.  Who knows what we'll do?  Once the kids were asleep for a nap, Jarrod headed out for a few hours of hunting and I got time to veg on the couch and relax.  

Sunday morning was our usual Sunday...breakfast together, chores around the house, read the paper, etc.  While I was getting ready for the day, I told Gavin to let me know if Riley started crying (she was playing on her playmat in the living room).  He came running in while I was blow drying my hair and said, "Riley just rolled off the mat!"  I came in to find her almost completely on her belly!  Her little arm was stuck under her, but apparently, we have a roller!  

We went to Walmart, then had a 'picnic in the car' (as Gavin called it) and ran a few more errands.  One stop was Kohl's, where I got to spend some money on me, thanks to my mother-in-law, Jackie.  :)  We stopped and talked to the realtor again, and then came home for dinner together.  Of course, the night ended like it has been ending every night for the last several weeks...me rocking Gavin in the rocking chair.  I love that part of our bedtime routine now.  

It may not seem like a special weekend, but it was...I cherish every minute that the four of us get to spend together.  I love these guys!

Pics to come later...I have a lot on my camera I have to upload.  :) 

Thankful Thursday

What I'm thankful for at this very moment...

For friends, like Emily and Amy, for offering suggestions of what else we can try with Riley and her bottle situation.

For my mom, for ordering us yet another bottle to try.

For Annisa, a member of my Tastefully Simple family, for sending us a bottle to try that worked for her little ones.

For my husband, for going with me tomorrow to set up for and work an event for Tastefully Simple.

For Rebecca, a wonderful member of my Tastefully Simple team, for coming to work the event with me tomorrow, too.  

Wordless Wednesday

A Baby and her Bottle

{Or lack thereof, I suppose...}  Most of you know that Riley hasn't successfully taken a bottle for us on a regular basis since birth.  There are days that after a looong struggle we can get her to take it, but it's more likely that she will not take it than she will.  So, of course...trying to get her to eat while I'm at a party has been a struggle.  We've tried four different bottles, different nipples, different temperatures of the milk, holding her in different positions, walking while feeding her, rocking while feeding her, sound machine on, in complete silence...  Nothing is a foolproof way to get her to take a bottle.  

So, my super sweet and resourceful friend, Amy, stepped in.  As a pediatric nurse practitioner, she offered to come over and try some tricks with Riley.  The one I was most hopeful about was 'finger feeding' her, using a feeding tube that she'd suck on while sucking on our finger.  But, what Amy found (and Amy, I know you're reading this, so feel free to correct me if I explain this wrong...) is that Riley doesn't have some of the typical reflexes that babies have.  She doesn't have that strong sucking reflex anymore, and instead of meeting whatever is touching her lip with her tongue like most babies, she retracts her tongue.  So, when something does enter her mouth, be it a pacifier, a finger, a nipple from a bottle, she doesn't like it and cries and sometimes gags.  It seems that she's taught herself how to nurse like this (rather effectively considering how she's gaining weight).  

So, what do we do?  Well, we have one more type of bottle we're going to try.  It's called an Adiri bottle, and it's meant to mimic the breast more.  Because of the shape of it, the actual nipple part is much shorter than most of the bottles, so we're hoping that might mean she's more likely to drink from it.  If that doesn't work, Amy showed us how we can cup feed Riley using a medicine cup or shot glass.  It's a tedious process, but she did drink some milk that way, so at least Jarrod would be able to get some milk in her belly if she's absolutely starving.  

I'm hoping to have some good updates over the next couple of weeks.  Fingers crossed for us, please! :) 

Someone is 30....

 Last weekend, we celebrated Jarrod's 30th birthday...something he was most definitely NOT looking forward to.  To make the weekend a little more traumatic, he also sold him truck that weekend.  But, we were still able to have a fun weekend with some visitors, Mitch and Becky, and some good family fun.  We went to dinner at Red Lobster (just for Gavin because he wanted crab legs!) and then came home to have graham cupcakes and key lime frosting.  Yum!

As part of his present, I filled a jar with 30 things I love about him...  Here are just a few.

*I love the way he kisses Riley goodbye even if she's still asleep before he goes to work.

*I love listening to him and Gavin talk to each other over the monitor.

*I love how we spend our Sunday mornings together, drinking coffee and making breakfast, watching the Today show and going through the paper.

*I love how much he loves cooking and the nights when we get to cook dinner together. 

The list goes on...

We love you, Daddy!