What's your name?

Did you have a nickname growing up? I had one. Sometimes I still get called that from time to time. If you know it, well, you know it, but we'll go on now. My kids all have nicknames. I guess its a part of our culture. Edana is "Addy" most of the time(I'm aware it doesn't make sense but that's what we call her.) Aidan is A.J., and Declan is Dec. I remember calling dad to tell him I was having a boy. He asked the name and then asked, "what will we call him for short?" Rileigh has acquired a nickname. She has become Caity to me, RiRi to the kids. Anyway, while my kids have these nicknames they also have another set of nicknames. The ones reserved especially for Uncle Shawn. All of his nieces and nephews have names. As my brothers have gotten bigger he doesn't use them as much, but Garrett was Eeyore for a long time! Aidan is A.J. to Shawn. (I think his is the only one everyone else gets away with using) Above is Egon and Beep. Dec's middle name is Eghan so of course Shawn thought Ghost Busters. At one point I had to explain to Edana the Declan's name wasn't Egon but Eghan. And Brayden couldn't be left out. Apparently Shawn had planned to call him BP, but everyone else did too. He came up with Beep.Then there is Edana. Known to Uncle Shawn as Ed. She even refers to herself as Ed to him. Tonight she brought home a cat from school. I asked her its name and she told me her name is Delilah, but her nickname is Sally. It amused me mostly because Shelly and I were just talking about Shawn's names for the kids last night. Apparently, Ed has her uncles knack for nicknaming things!

One (Busy) Month

From her first trip to church to her first two holidays, and LOTS of visitors in between, Rileigh Cait has had a very eventful first month. This was her first church day. (Don't worry Uncle Shawn, if you see this, I just left the headband in long enough for pictures! My sister's baby holding my baby. I really thought I took more pictures of everyone holding her, but I guess I rely a little too much on Shelly to take the pictures when she is there. As I said before. I didn't do a very good job taking pictures. Grandpa, Uncle David, and Krystal and her three kids came to visit the Saturday before Easter. We don't visit them like we should. When Grandma was still alive, we were up there at least once a month. If not, she'd be calling me wanting to know when we were coming. This time of the year is hard. I really wish our schedule and budget allowed for more traveling, especially to Tulsa. Josh and Andrea came by too, but I didn't take their pictures either... Aunt Shelly and Declan playing around. Uncle Jason gave the boys haircuts for me. I love Dec's hair buzzed short...others don't necessarily agree, but I think its soo cute. He looks really white with his sunburned cheeks! Oh! Jason's baby holding my baby. She looks awfully sweet doesn't she. She is, but she's got a mischievous side too. I told her to do something one day and she looked at me and said, "I not your momma." I tried not to laugh the first time, but I did make her go to time after the third time she said. She looks so much like Alex did at that age. I wish the other kids could have been her too.

My adopted family came by on Monday of Spring Break...St. Patrick's Day! You can't tell really well in the pictures, but Jeff dressed her in a green onsie and a green and pink bib. In the green shirt is Sarah, one of my very best friends! Her sister Hannah is in the purple. She lives is K.C., so we got a special visit! They are triplets. The other sister looks identical to Sarah. Sarah has taken on the role of adopted aunt. We are almost family (my cousin is married to her aunt.) Rileigh's other holiday was Easter. While it didn't mean getting to eat yummy Irish food, it did mean getting to spend some fun time with the family on Sat. hunting Eggs. Shelly and Shawna posted some fun pictures from that day. When I posted before, I mentioned that Dec didn't pay much attention to Rileigh. That has changed! He tries to climb all over her now, even when she is on my lap. Its so cute when he climbs up beside her and say "hi, sissy." or "hi, rileigh." And she really do seem to grin at him a lot! Yesterday, he figured out he could climb up on the couch and our bed with her. Today, I put the pack and play in the living room...like we needed more furniture in there. He couldn't get in, so he kept trying to push her around. I pushed it up against Mom's couch, but he eventually figured out he could get to her that way. I caught him just before he started to climb in with her. I don't know how I'll keep him off of her. This is how I spend the majority of my day. If you don't believe me, you can look at my house and tell! Its a mess!

Mommy update-I went to the doctor Wednesday. He released me to normal activity, as if I've been taking it easy, and I have lost 6lbs under my pre-pregnancy weight. No where near my goal weight, but I have major plans!

I guess that is our first month with Rileigh. Maybe sometime during her second month she'll decide to sleep for more than 3 hours at a time! That would be wonderful!

Full House

I didn't figure I'd get to blog much this week. We have a house full this week. My brother and his youngest came and my sisters two oldest are spendingspring break here. It should be a crazy week. 12 people sleeping here all week. Its not everyday the family gets to visit. It makes me wish everyone else could be here. Yes, I question our sanity at times, and it makes me REALLY wish the other house was finished. Our plans this week: A friend is coming to spend the day (and hold Rileigh) We have pictures at Wal-mart tomorrow (dressy ones) Mom and Dad are closing on their house tomorrow too! Wed we have to go to get WIC (no fun there!) Friday we're having fun pictures taken at Edana's school Sat we have an Egg hunt! We should have lots of fun! And tons of pictures!

Regression, Tantrums, and Fun

With each new change whether good or bad, adjustment must come. My kids tend to struggle with change. I don't know why. Sometimes I wonder if we are too routine about things, then we'll have a really crazy week and I'll realize that is not the case. In any case, this week has been a major adjustment week. Dec is handling things great...he just ignores Rileigh until she cries. He's starting to acknowledge her more. He wants so bad to pick her up and play with her like a doll. It scares me to death! I love the third picture here. She had her big foot sticking out of her gown. She is so tiny with such big feet!Oh, and he's decided take up art as a new hobby. He actually holds his crayon or pencil very well. You just can't tell it in the picture because he decided to throw it. He's got a great arm too. Jeff's thinking jump shot, I'm think pitcher...only because i don't think he'll be tall enough for quarterback.

Aidan seems to be having the roughest time. He doesn't quite know where he fits. He's not the oldest...Edana will be sure to tell you that, but he is when Edana is at school. He does love his new sister though. He's so attentive.Oh...there's a temper tantrum. I'm so not a sympathetic mom. You throw a tantrum; I'll take your picture and tell your little brother you've decided to be a baby. Yep, and my husband is the one with a master in psychology. Too bad it didn't rub off on his wife!This is Aidan's favorite place to play. I've thought about rearranging when mom and dad move and putting a window seat there. He spends a huge portion of his day just like that...wearing nothing but his underwear, playing with superheroes in the window.You've got to admit, he's awfully cute! He's really proud of the fact that he's heard us talking about how much Rileigh Cait looks like him, too.Edana doesn't do change well at all. She really doesn't like giving up her "time with momma." She's having fun having a sister, but she's glad she's got some brothers that can actually play with her.

Mom and Dad have been adjusting as well. Mostly to not getting enough sleep and figuring out how long it really takes us to get around and go somewhere...Yes, Mom and Shelly, it takes even longer now! I did however have to make a trip into town by myself for the first time. It wasn't horrible, but it made me realize I HAVE to get a tandem stroller. I forgot how handy that was with a 15mo old and a newborn. I went all over the place with Edana and Aidan in theirs.

All loaded up and ready to go. At least the day I went was the warmest day we had this week. I could have had to go when it was snowing. (I did have to pick Edana up when it was snowing, but that's not as bad as multiple stops in town!) All in all, its been fun! I guess we'll just have to see what next week brings...maybe a clean house. Now that would be an accomplishment!Goodnight for now! The clock says 10:30 but I know its really 11:30 too bad she doesn't have that figured out yet! Have a good week!

Our Baby Story

Rileigh Cait Ford: Born Feb.25, 2008. Weight: 7lbs Height:19 3/4 inches Head:12cm Chest:13cm My tiny little baby girl with a head full of black hair! She looks like a little indian baby now, but we'll see. Dec did too, but he's the blondest of all my kids now. I'd really like to see her keep her hair and dark skin. You can also see her on the web nursery I may be bias, but I find her very beautiful!!!The order of the first five pictures tells it all. It went just like that.Nurse came. I waited. Dr. Hix broke my water. I wasn't smiling anymore. Rileigh Cait was here!

We arrived at the hospital a little before 5:30am. It took them awhile to get anything going. Then the nurse forgot to pass on info during shift change, so it was about 8:30 before they actually got things going. Dr Hix came in at nine, but he couldn't break my water because of Rileigh's position. He left to do a "procedure" and came back at 11:00 to finally be able to break my water. I really expected things to go like before. After about an hour, I decided, if it was going to be a while, I might as well have an epidural. She got me all ready and checked and I was an 8. No point in getting one if I was that far along...I thought. Then I changed my mind again in about 15 minutes. She left to go get things going for the epidural and I about came up out of the bed. Its amazing that they call that "pressure" All I knew was I needed to push and the only medical person in the room was my sister. She calmly paged for the nurse, but when they didn't hear her, I wasn't so calm. By the time the nurse got in there I was a little paniced. I knew I wasn't supposed to push, but my body didn't want to listen at all. She yelled for the back up doctor, and poor Dr.Gorman came running down the hall with his intern. That intern may chose a different profession after what he witnessed. Dr. Groman was trying to get his scrubs on over his dress clothes while telling the nurse to stay there and be ready to catch. I pushed once. Literally. As soon as he got over to us and they said I could push when I was ready, there she was! I asked him afterward if I only pushed once and he kinda laughed. He said that I pushed once and she came out from her waist up, so he helped her the rest of the way out. I was just glad they let me push! Oh and the intern, he never moved from his spot in the corner. I guess Rileigh just wanted to enter our little world with some flare! She did that for sure.

Visitors

We had a lot of visitors come to welcome Rileigh Cait into the world! It was so nice to be able to share our bundle of joy with our friends and family. We love you all! Shelly, my mom and jeff's mom Helen Jeff was able to change her first diaper! That was such a blessing. He really wasn't sure he'd be able to do much more than hold her, but he can! Praise God!!

Brandon actually held the baby! He was a natural. Pamela managed to get a picture with Rileigh's eyes open! Becky came too All of the kids came after naptime to see there new sister. They loved her of course! Brayden wasn't too sure what his Granny was holding, but he knew it wasn't him.Mike and Sarah came and stayed for a while. They were so excited, I can't wait to see how they react when its their turn to have one.Angie stopped by after work out. She thought some others were coming too, but "lost" them along the way. My cousin, Elesha, stopped by the next morning with her kids. Isaac was so sweet. He had picked out a teddy bear and matching outfit for her. Its a good thing he is sweet because, he'll be the only boy with two little sisters to deal with.Kristen came by after that. She had Zane Micheal with her. He is so adoreable. He just "talked" to Kristen. I would ask Kristen a question and he'd say no. He wasn't too sure about the baby, but he let her hold it anyway.

We had a few other visitors that managed to avoid Jeff and the camera. It really was nice for everyone to come see us and thank you all for the thoughtful gifts.