Reed's 5 Months

Eh, almost 6, but me being on time with updating here is barely normal these days.  But at anyrate, Mr Reed is 5 months old now (12/4/12) and growing more and more and ever so quickly.  I don't know if we just don't remember everything that we went through with Camdyn (thankfully I have this blog to keep as reminders) but we feel like things are happening at a much faster rate.  Reed is sitting up now unsupported which he started at late 4 months.  He loves it too and is just a happy camper if you plop him down and let him sit and play with some toys.  It is great when you put him down and Camdyn comes up net to him and they "play" together.  I love watching them :)  After his 4 month appointment we started him on rice cereal and he LOVED it.  Then he had his oatmeal and then veggies, and then fruits.  He now has some food with each meal of the day, either the rice oatmeal or cereal in the morning, a fruit puree for lunch, and a vegetable one for dinner.  He just loves food.  It is crazy to watch him and he definitely prefers that over any bottles, though of course he is still getting those in between.

One thing I can't remember if I mentioned before in prior blogs was that we found Reed to be tongue-tied.  It's actually a pretty acute case but still there.  While he hasn't had any trouble eating or gaining weight (last weight was 16 lbs 8 oz on Tuesday) there is always that risk that he could have speech problems down the road if it isn't fixed.  We had brought this up at one of his first checkups and we were told that there was a chance it could fix itself.  It hadn't at his 4 month appointment so we made an appointment with a pediatric ENT.  He gave us the option to proceed however we wanted.  The catch was that because of his age now they will have to sedate him so they can do the procedure as it can be too dangerous with his activity to try and do it in the office.  So that part of it sucks.  The earlier that we can do this the better his recovery and lack of remembering it....so we are scheduled for the 31st of this month.  It is about a 5 minute procedure, he will have a couple stitches but shouldn't be in pain.  So of course as mom, I am worried about my little guy but glad that we can get this fully taken care of and move forward.

As for Camdyn she is herself :)  Her vocabulary continues to amaze us with what she picks up and is able to say.  She is a great big sister.  Right now she is obsessed with Frosty the Snowman, I think we have watched that movie EVERY night since it did its annual viewing on TV.  Thankfully we own it.  She loves seeing the Christmas lights when we go out and on the tree. Her age is so much fun right now and she is just amazing!  I could seriously just keep on talking about the kids- they are so great!

As for Ben and me, nothing too much to report.  Work is work.  I am getting some interest in my photography and had another booking this past weekend and have another one coming up soon for friends.  Still loving it and have many plans to continue it.

We hope that everyone is doing well!  I am including some pictures of Reed at 5 months.

Talk to you soon!

Love always,
Ben, Gabrielle, Camdyn, and Reed

Camdyn's Two!

It feels slightly unreal to think that our baby girl is now two!  She continues to grow so fast and just amazes us everyday!  Last weekend we had her birthday party and she had such a great time- we thank everyone who came out for it (even with our last minute venue change due to weather) and for all her amazing gifts (we are still trying to make room for it all!).

I also want to mention that the Sunday after her party we had Reed's Baptism.  Another great event with wonderful family and friends!  Again thank you all.

Camdyn went to her 2 year appointment today and did great.  She is a very healthy two year old!  She is measuring at 36 inches in height which is in the 95th percentile and weighs 29 lbs which is the 85th percentile- so she is a big girl! She managed to avoid shots today due to the span of time since her last Hep A shot but we will be taking care of that in about 2 weeks.

Reed is doing great as well, he will be going to his 4 month check up soon.  He has just learned to roll over, LOVES to laugh and smile, and is starting to sit up very well.  He is also a BIG boy, a few weeks ago he had to go to the pediatrician (he had a reaction to the hay from the Pumpkin Patch) and was weighing in at almost 15 lbs!

We also took the kids trick or treating on Halloween and Camdyn loved it.  We weren't quite sure how she was going to react but she had such a great time and kept wanting to go to more houses until she finally tired out and was ready to go home.

All is well in the Rivera household, we really can't complain.  They have been really busy but we are loving each day.  As usual, here are some pictures from all the recent happenings for you to enjoy!

Talk to you all soon!

Love,
Ben, Gabrielle, Camdyn, and Reed

Camdyn and one of her favorites Mickey- though up close she's not too sure how she feels.

Picking out pumpkins at the local patch

Reed's happy even when his sister decides to fill up his seat with pumpkins.

Forgot one on the top of his head!

Reed hanging out at his sister's party

Elmo cake- Camdyn loved it!

Waiting for my cake!

Proud grandparents at Reed's Baptism

Proud parents and Godparents 

Maybe a little too much sugar from the party filled weekend?

AbbyCadabby or Camdyn??

What are you guys doing to me now?

Reed's Halloween costume- doesn't get much cuter than this!

Ready for some trick or treating!!!

NC Family Vacation

We just got back from a great trip to NC as a family and to visit with family.  It was wonderful!!  I have posted two blog entries on the photography blog.  Please feel free to go over there and check it out.  We hope you enjoy them :)

Love,
Ben, Gabrielle, Camdyn, and Reed

Reed's 2 months pictures

I just posted them on the photography blog- a little late but hey not as bad as it could be!  Feel free to check them out at: http://gefamilyphotography.blogspot.com/

We hope all is well with everyone.

Love,
Ben, Gabrielle, Camdyn, and Reed

Reed's 1 Month Appointment

We went to Reed's 1 month check up on Monday ( a little past his 1 month mark- he is already 6 weeks today!!).  He is doing great!  The Dr is especially happy with his weight- he is now at 10 lbs 14 oz.  Our little man gained over 10 oz in just a little over a week  He is already around the weight that Camdyn was at 2 months!  We have a healthy one for sure though.  Height is about the same, he has only really grown about 1.5 inches since birth and his head also continues to be large :)  We go back for his 2 month appointment at about 9 weeks for him due to the holiday week.  

I think that the adjustment of having two now is just going to continue to happen, but we are definitely managing and enjoying it.  I am especially trying to enjoy the last few weeks of being home with both kids that I can.  I have 2 more maternity leave weeks left and then I am going to take about 1-3 weeks off using vacation.  I have really enjoyed being home with them though.  

I am going to put a couple pictures of Reed's 1 month on here for you guys and a couple others.  Please see the photography website for more recent entries and lots of pictures there!

Hope everyone is doing well.

Love,

Ben, Gabrielle, Camdyn, and Reed

Adjusting to being 4...

I still have to pinch myself at times when we are at the dinner table or head out in the car to go somewhere or even when we go out to eat and it's really noticeable now that we are 4, no longer 3.  While it is a small change number wise it definitely doesn't seem as simple when we get to it, however, even with that being said, I would NEVER change it.  I absolutely love having two.  It's almost like we had been missing something and never knew it.  Camdyn has been an amazing big sister already to Reed and you can just see her immediate love for him.  It is just the sweetest thing.  She loves to hold him and gives him a lot of kisses throughout the day and always has to be in his room when he needs changing.  It has just been so natural for her and I love seeing it.

Reed is doing great- his weight gain is incredible (should be he eats ALL the time!!) and he is just growing growing!  We will already be at one month next week!  I am feeling really good and will be going back to the Dr on Wednesday, I am hoping that he will give me the green light to be able to lift things again, it will definitely help and be nice to feel a little more freedom.  Right now, without that ability there isn't much I can do alone.  Fingers crossed I have some extra good news on Wednesday.  Good thing too is I have at least another 4.5 weeks left of maternity leave of work covering it and then will most likely take about 2-3 additional weeks of vacation after and I am enjoying each day I get to be home with both kids.  

Well, since my last post there have been a couple additional blog posts with pictures on the photography blog- including a new one tonight.  Please head over there and take a look!

We hope this finds you each well. 

Love -

Ben, Gabrielle, Camdyn, and Reed

Welcome Reed!

After a very long, tiring, painful, and stressful labor process that ended in a c-section our baby boy arrived on July 4th at 10:40 PM.  He weighed 7 lbs 11.8 ounces and was 21 inches long.  He is just perfect and we couldn't be happier that he is here and we are now officially a family of four.

I will try and keep our story brief of his arrival as it was not only a long day but a long story :)  We went to the hospital the morning of  July 4th as we had discussed with my doctor the day before.  I wasn't going to go if I still didn't have contractions or pain but sure enough I did.  I didn't sleep well at all the night before.  The contractions were painful and coming fairly close together.  I finally woke up at 5 am and couldn't get back to sleep and they were timing about 3-5 minutes apart.  So we went in.  They hooked us up and my contractions were showing at about 2-5 minutes apart, however, I still had made absolutely no progress and Reed's head was still pretty high.  They called my doctor and he fought against the nurses to keep me in and start some sort of induction.  So we were finally admitted.  We moved to L&D and got a room, they had me walk some, started an IV, and pitocin.  It was a slow process.  I held off on an epidural for a while so that I could move around and try and help the labor progress.  My progress continued to be slow- so my doctor ordered that they would break my water.  Holy pain!  It would have been nice to have the epidural prior to that.  It was extremely painful between that and then little did I know that they put the baby monitors on Reed to get more accurate readings as the ones on my belly were moving all over too much and his readings were becoming skewed.  Immediately after all that was set up, I got my epidural- it is heaven.  My progress started to speed up a bit but we were still slow.  We tried a million different positions to sit me to try and help get Reed lowered, as that was the main concern at this point.  We started moving along and it was really looking like I was going to be able to give birth to Reed without a c-section.  We started pushing and that lasted for almost 2 hours and we were getting nowhere, he still wasn't dropping.  The epidural had been turned off and I was in agony.  Not only did I have the pain of each contraction but Reed's heart-rate was dropping.  To even add to the issues, the Dr checked and believed that Reed wasn't facing in a desirable position.  This could cause issues with dropping if he has a larger head and could mean no matter how long I push he could never descend right.  Ben and I knew it was time for us to make our call and opted to go ahead and do the c-section now before anything worse happened to either of us.  The Dr and nurses immediately went into surgery mode.  It was honestly the longest and most painful 30-45 minutes that I have ever been through.  But then we were in the OR and it was going to be a matter of moments before we would meet our little one.  We are so happy that we made the decision we did at the time we did.  Not only was his heart-rate dropping but it turns out that his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck and was also pinching with each push.  While it wasn't the route that we wanted to go, we tried, and we did what was right for our family.  I also must commend my amazing husband for his support- he stepped up and saw more than either of us ever thought.  He was almost a nurse's aide with everything he did and I truly appreciate him- I don't think that I would have made it through everything without him.  With that said, I also thank my mom.  She was a wonderful help as well making sure that Camdyn got to bed and being in the room with us helping when and where she could.  After the OR I was in recovery for a while.  Then we were in our room and starting our recovery and bonding with the new addition.  We were released to go home on Saturday so we have now had 2 full days at home.  We are adjusting pretty well, but we know we have more ahead of us.  

So I guess I lied and that was a lot longer than I had originally planned.  Even though we went through everything we did, we couldn't be happier.  We are so blessed and happy for our family.  We are enjoying every moment and Camdyn is such a great big sister!  She is adapted very well to the new addition and has been a great big help.  I must even brag for a second on her but tonight was her first time peeing on the toilet- maybe this is a sign that the two are going to be competing against each other down the road.  

So if you made it through all of this I thank you.  We wanted to update everyone.  If you would like to see any pictures, I have posted them all on my photography blog.  

We hope this finds you all well!

Love always,

Ben, Gabrielle, Camdyn, and Reed