This place has gone to the birds

"Come!!! see da Birds!!! my Birds!" This is what all the visitors hear from Cameron as soon as they walk in. A pair of doves built a nest in the flower box outside of Cameron's room. Jeff gave her a step stool and taught her how to scare away the mommy bird so she could see the babies. They hatched this week and it was amazing to see how big they got in a matter of days. She wants to see them every morning when she gets up, and as soon as she comes home (the poor Mommy bird).

In the backyard, its not only us who are enjoying the new landscaping. The fountain is a big hit with the neighborhood birds. We get the song birds and the humming birds whenever Jeff turns it on. Its nice to sit back there and watch them fly in and Cameron enjoys the visits too.

The backyard is very peaceful. Cameron is enjoying it tremendously. She had Hannah over for a play date and they played with the water table and painted. Cameron now likes to paint on her easel. Today she picked out orange and yellow and painted us a nice and bright picture. When we asked her if it was a sunny picture she said "Yes!"



The funniest thing that happened this week was Uncle Tim teaching Cameron to juggle. She was playing legos with Uncle Turtle when Tim started to juggle the legos. She was very interested so he decided to teach her to juggle. She was having a great time and it was so funny I had to get it on video. You are going to love the video.

Riley is a little more awake now. He is starting to get baby acne but fortunately we took him to get his portraits done before he really broke out (will be posted soon). When I say he is more awake its really relative. He still sleeping most of the day and I've started to take naps with him. I think he is a very good influence on me.

and What about PJ?

For those of you wondering about PJ.... PJ got a two week vacation while Riley was being born. He stayed at Ellie's house while we adjusted to having the new baby home. He, of course enjoyed his time there. They go to the park twice a day every day and thats a lot more playtime than he was getting at the end of the pregnancy.

When he got home, he realized the new baby was here. He really paid no attention to Riley. I think he realized what had happened and was just really mellow while at home. At daycare on the other hand was a different story. He was going to A Dog's Life once a week and each time we picked him up, we got an "incident" report. The counselors referred us to a dog behaviorist to uncover why PJ was "acting out." Although the "incidents" didn't sound like PJ even with the new baby at home we couldn't rule it out (most reports were PJ antagonizing other dogs).

We decided to stop taking PJ to daycare after an actual fight broke out between him and two other dogs. According to the report, the fight was not caused by anything PJ did. This was really the last straw. PJ has never had serious problems at other daycares so we believe the problem is most likely the group size. PJ has stayed mellow at home and doesn't complain too much even though his walks are short and we don't have as much one-on-one time with him.

He has been much more interested in Cameron lately and even lets her dress him up. She likes to put hats on him and he plays along. I've also caught him going into her room at night just to check on her, but he does it only when he thinks I'm not looking. I've been trying to bring him on afternoon walks now that I'm getting back to my old self, but its still slow going. I think he knows we still love him.

How is Riley?

Everyone wants to know about Riley! Okay, Okay, sorry for the delay. He had his first doctor's visit with Dr. Lee this week (2-week checkup) and his stats are:

Weight: 9lb. 1 oz (50%)
Length: 20.5 (40%)

Head Circumference: 37cm (45%)

He sleeps a lot. At night he is sleeping 5-6 hours, which is awesome! He is sleeping in our room so feeding him is quick, but he has to burp. He burps like a man and its a must or he gets fussy. This means one of us actually has to really wake up after a feeding, but I've been giving this duty to Jeff, because I really need my rest ;-)

In regards to his likes and dislikes....

He likes Cameron and she likes him. We've really not had any problems with Cameron except a few times first thing in the morning. She sometimes wakes up at the same time as Riley and I have to feed him. She gets upset because this is usually Mommy time for her and will cry and try to push Riley away. Luckily he eats quick and I can give her the attention she needs.

He likes Daddy. Riley likes to be warm and so snuggling with Daddy causes him to go right to sleep. So when he does get upset and isn't hungry he goes to Daddy because this will put him right out.

He does not like baths. I'm not giving up hope though, Cameron did not like her first bath either. I think this goes back to him wanting to be really warm, I think he likes his baths to be warmer than that little temperature gauge says, but right now we are playing it safe.

And he does not like tummy time. He can lift his head and we are encouraging him to do this but its not going well. He gets on his tummy and in about a minute he starts to fuss. He gets so mad. Cameron has tried to be encouraging and tells him "its okay" and although he likes her, he is yet trusting her on this topic.

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

Daddy got to share his birthday with Father's day. We woke up early and made him a special breakfast of French Toast. Cameron got to have syrup which is usually not allowed. She enjoyed it but the bacon was even better. We had breakfast outside, enjoying the new patio.

This week Cameron got to experience giving the presents. She actually enjoyed that very much and liked to see Daddy get happy. For his birthday he got new shorts (yes he has more than 1 pair) and a gift card for the new IPhone that is coming out next month, (he really wanted that). He also got a wagon for his electric scooter. Cameron is really looking forward to sharing that with Daddy.

Cameron got to enjoy a Daddy day at the pool. Daddy usually watches but since Mommy was taking care of Riley and recovering from surgery, Daddy got to experience how much fun it is to play in the water with her. Cameron repeatedly wanted to go to the deep end of the pool. Once she was in the shallow she would point to the deep and end and say, "Daddy! Go!"

Riley is a very sleepy baby. He sleeps most of the time and is still a little yellow. He seemed to enjoy Daddy's birthday and the time spent outside. He even went to the pool but quickly got bored and went to sleep. Mommy is very appreciative of Riley letting her get some rest.

Happy Birthday Cameron!!

For Cameron's birthday we had a BBQ with our friends and family. Cameron was very excited to have everyone over and shared her water table with Hannah. She had so many presents she could barely contain herself. It was bigger than Christmas.

She now has a great understanding of presents. When we told her it was time to open presents she squealed "Presents!!!" and ran into the house. I was surprised that she understood what that really meant but I guess after the baby shower she knew it was good stuff.

Everyone was so generous and she had so much fun with everything. She played dress up and rode her new trike and inchworm. She loved her helmet or "Hat!!" as she called it and her pink radio from daddy. She makes us read all her new books and listen to the cds. It was a great day and we were happy that Riley's arrival did not take anything away from it.

Happy Birthday Riley!!!

I thought the second time around was going to be so much easier. The C-section was scheduled and I'd gone through it all before. I was sure we would have the baby by ten and I would be ready for lunch by noon. We got to the hospital at 8am and went right into to pre-op. We were very relaxed, got my IV, read through all the paperwork, and caught up on all my email. Then I went into the operating room where everything changed. As soon as I got the anesthesia things got hard. My allergies were bad so I had a cough, but when the meds kicked in I could no longer cough which freaked me out. I started to panic and they had to calm me down. The meds completely kicked and the surgery started.

Unlike last time I was completely aware of what was going on. It was weird listening to the conversations of the doctors (discussing vacation and wine) as they were cutting into my abdomen. Riley was born at 10:03 and he was a screamer. He screamed the entire time he was in the room and I heard him screaming down the hall as they took him to the nursery. Jeff says he screamed until they finished the bath and put him in the warmer. I went into post-op and being fully awake this time was a mistake, it was very rough.

Dr Medina, and the El Camino staff was really great. Dr Medina had given up his Sunday morning to deliver Riley because we wanted his b-day to be on the first (making it exactly 1 week before Cameron's which was exactly 1 week before Jeff's) so that everyone could have their own b-day week.

Riley had to spend a lot of time in the nursery for observation because his respiratory rate was very high due to fluid in his lungs. Cameron came to the hospital in the afternoon with her grandmothers and went to see him through the nursery window. She got very upset when she didn't see him so a nurse brought him to the window. She really liked that he had a hat. When Riley finally came to the room, she would sit close to him and look, but refused to touch him.

Over the next few days she got more comfortable with him and she got to hold him. She liked his nose and toes the best. Riley's respiratory rate improved slowly but we found that he also had fluid in his stomach and they had to drain it. He next became jaundiced but it wasn't bad enough to requite the light.
We finally went home after 4 days. We were all tired, especially Jeff who went back and forth shuttling Cameron to school and the hospital. Recovery was much harder for me this time, but. I'm glad to be going home. Riley is a good sleeper so I'm hoping this lasts.