More newborn pics

Here are a few more newborn pics I took of Zoe. She already looks so different. She is growing like a weed!

Introducing Zoe Mae!

I know it has been forever since I updated this blog....pretty sad that the last post was announcing "It's a girl!" & now I am announcing "Zoe is here!" Sorry about that :)

Anyway, we are very excited to announce the arrival of Zoe Mae Quigley. She made an early appearance on 10/23/09, one day shy of 38 weeks. She weighed in at 5lb 9oz & was 18.25" long. Labor was fast & easy. I woke up the morning of her birth with some slightly painful contractions, but didn't pay too much attention since I had a regular OB checkup that morning. The doctor came in & checked my progress since they were more painful than my normal braxton hicks. She looked up & said "You are 5cm!" She didn't say anything else for a minute, so I am thinking she is just going to send us home & we just wait for my water to break. She had other plans though. The next thing out of her mouth was "OK, I'm going to go get your paperwork ready." I responded with "What paperwork?" "Ummm, you are going to the hospital to have your baby!" Then came the tears. I just was not expecting it I guess. Luckily, we were allowed to go home & pack up & leave Riley with my dad before we headed out. She told me not to waste time though since Zoe was so low in the birth canal already. We got home, packed, showered (again) & headed out. Last time leaving the house as a family of 3!

We got checked in to the hospital sometime around 1pm & got settled into the room a little after. When they checked me about 2pm I was already 7cm & still wasn't feeling much pain. They decided to get my epidural going by about 3 just so I didn't miss my window of opportunity. When the nurse came back at 3:30 to finish up her questions, she told me she would be back to check my progress around 4pm. I told her I was feeling some pressure, so she decided to check me before she left. Good thing, since I was already fully dilated! She went to get the doctor & a few nurses came in to help get things ready. Once the doctor arrived, I started pushing. On the first push she was already crowning! 2 pushes later, Zoe Mae Quigley came into this world screaming. I was sitting propped up enough that I could see her coming out. It was amazing. It all happened so fast, it was surreal. She was perfectly pink & healthy. The doctor & nurses were amazed at how fast & easy the delivery was. Before I even left the delivery room, I was announcing we were definitely having another :) Michelle Duggar better watch out!

After a sleepless stay in the hospital the first night due to our proximity to the nurses station, we were released 24 hours after her birth. I was ready to go home & be with Riley & just be in my own bed. Riley was WAYYYYYYY excited to see her new baby sister. If she didn't get to hold her, a meltdown followed. We all survived the first night home & woke up the next day a family of 4!

Life, while chaotic, is going pretty good. I feel completely normal & had a breeze of a recovery. I even took Riley to Target 2 days after delivering Zoe. Zoe pretty much does nothing but sleep & eat & sleep some more. She is only waking once a night to eat & sometimes I am the one waking her to make sure she is getting enough! How lucky right? Riley is adjusting as good as can be expected. She has her moments, sometimes a lot of them, but she loves her baby sister. Actually, the main things causing her fits are when she can't hold the baby that very second. She just loves kissing her & holding her. I am doing everything I can to make sure she knows I love her & I really try to make sure I find enough one on one time with Riley. Luckily, Zoe doesn't mind nursing while I play dollhouse with Riley! Eddie is doing surprisingly well for someone living in a house full of estrogen. I don't know what I would do without him.

So here we go, moving forward as a family of 4. I feel like the luckiest wife/mom in the world! I will be posting more pictures soon, so stay tuned. I promise it won't be another 6 months before I update again! Naptime is over...off to get my girls :)

Riley is going to have a......

2d Profile shot:

Arms up high, just like Riley

2 perfect feet

No more pictures please!

BABY SISTER!!

We are so excited that Riley is going to have a little sister to play with/torture. We have already decided on a name...drumroll please......Zoe. We think we have chosen the middle name, but the jury is still out. The ultrasound on 6/18 went great. Zoe is measuring right on track & is as healthy as can be. I am feeling great & still running 5 days a week just like I did with Riley. I plan on keeping that up until I deliver too.

Besides that, we just got back from a week & a half vacation. We flew up to PA to visit some of Eddie's family. Riley had a great time hiking on Hawk Mountain with her Uncle Tim & Aunt Marian. She also got to see her Great Grandma Audrey & a bunch of other family members. A few days later, we headed to Delaware to see Eddie's friend from California, Mark. We also got to catch up with some of his friends from college. It was a lot of fun. At the end of the trip, we headed to MD to visit my sister & mom. We did a lot of shopping & Riley loved riding on the metro a.k.a. Choo Choo Train. Her favorite part was the cats. She could not get enough of them. The cats were probably so happy when she left :)

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July!

Swimming pics

I took these yesterday. What a little fish :)

Today I tried working on having Riley swim back to the wall when she jumps off the side just like she would need to do if she fell in by herself. She did it right away! This is day 2 of working on swimming & she can swim across the pool & jump & swim to the side. We are so proud of her! It is amazing what they can learn. Way to go Riley!!

Riley "talking"

Here is a clip of Riley talking jibberish. I hope someone can understand what she is saying!

I have to brag a little. I just started working with Riley to try & get her to swim on her own on Sunday. One day later & she is swimming all by herself across the entire shallow end!! I am so proud of her. Michael Phelps doesn't have anything on Riley!

A few photos of the bean!

 
Gotta love the alien baby shot! Last week I had an OB appointment for the NT scan. They take a few measurements on the ultrasound machine to screen for Down Syndrome & a few other complications. The tech needed 3 measurements, but the little one decided to only cooperate for one. A trouble maker already! Luckily, I get to go back on Friday for the scan again. I don't mind at all...the more I get to see the baby moving around in there, the better. Time is going by pretty fast. I cannot believe I am about to start the second trimester! So far, it has been pretty easy. Like my pregnancy with Riley, I have been lucky enough to keep the contents of my stomach where they belong...not in the toilet. I feel pretty good most days, with occasional fatigue but I bet I can chalk that up to having a 2 year old. Lately, I have been getting a sour stomach in the afternoon, but it is manageable. No real cravings yet besides some forbidden sangria, but I love soft pretzels with cheese, fruit, and last night at 11pm I wanted McDonald's breakfast SOOOOO bad. I fought the urge :) 

Riley is doing great. Learning new things every day. She loves swimming, playing with her baby, dirt, and painting/crafts. 

That's about all for now. Hopefully, I will get some good ultrasound pics on Friday!

She has a great arm :)

Some people would love for their kids to follow in their athletic footsteps I am sure. Kind of like passing the torch along I guess. To be honest, a little part of me would rather Riley find a different sport to play besides softball like I did for most of my life. Once I hit middle school, my poor dad spent hours at the softball fields either coaching my team, shuttling my teammates who's parents were too busy to & from practices, or cheering for me in the stands....maybe yelling depending on the game ;) My sister was the bat girl & honorary member of the team. At one point I was on the Little League All Star team, my middle school team, and a travel ball team all at once! On certain nights I was at 3 practices. Crazy. We spent pretty much every weekend at tournaments from March-August. By college, I was completely burned out & ended up deciding to take up wakeboarding instead of college softball. While my dad was probably a little disappointed in my decision at the time, understandably, it worked out well since I went on to win 2 world titles.  

Thinking about spending another 15 years at softball fields makes me cringe a little, but bottom line, you do it for your kids because you love them more than anything! I always joked....let's get Riley into swimming. I love the water...so does she. Plus, my dad was a swimmer in college. A built-in coach right here! She loves the water & has no problem diving under. But.........it looks like she might take up softball too. She loves her pink glove Uncle Kenny got her & man, can she throw! My dad even made a comment to me after babysitting her one day. "You know Riley has a great arm?" he said. "Yeah, Dad, I know." "I mean, it is really good...like she even has great aim!!" I just laughed. At least fall swimming season in high school won't conflict with spring softball season here in Florida right? Hahhahahaha!

Riley is 2 & some exciting news!

It has been forever since I have updated this blog. I guess life has been pretty crazy lately. It is very hard to believe that we actually have a 2 year old now. She is getting so big. It is amazing to watch all the new things she learns every single day. 

Riley had a great 2nd birthday party. We did a luau theme & she had a blast playing with her friends. We were also very excited to have my sister Ali & step-sister Alesia here for a week. They got here just in time for the birthday party & we spent the next week enjoying the weather & malls! 

We also had a nice birthday surprise for Riley....she is going to be a big sister!!! We are thrilled to be expecting another baby. We had a rough start in the beginning, after losing a baby in January at about 5 weeks. Luckily, I got pregnant right away & we found out in late February another is on the way. I am about 8 weeks now. We got to see the heartbeat last week & my estimated due date is November 7th. So far, I am feeling pretty good. I get tired here & there, but like my pregnancy with Riley, I have not had any sickness. I am hungry ALL.THE.TIME! I hope to continue exercising just like I did with Riley. I have no choice I guess....chasing a 2 year old around will keep me moving :)

That's it for now. As soon as I can get the ultrasound pics scanned in I will post them! 

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope you all have a great Valentine's Day!

Best Santa picture EVER!

I know Christmas is long gone by now, but I finally got around to scanning Riley's picture from her visit with Santa. I was hoping she would do ok this past Christmas. You always see young kids screaming & probably thinking "Who is this strange hairy man and why does his breath smell like whisky & tuna?" I know you are probably thinking to yourself "Why does a 2 year old know what whisky smells like?" Whatever. Just stay with me on this one. After the kid starts screaming you always see the parents dancing around like idiots trying to get the poor kid to smile. All that really ends up happening is the parents end up giving eachother the silent treatment the rest of the day because neither did a good job at properly entertaining the crying child. Happy Holidays right? So I went to the santa picture booth with an open mind & had very low expectations of Riley. She seemed great before we got up there, saying "HO HO HO!" while waiting for her turn. As soon as I placed her on Santa's lap, she freaked. Instead of the usual crazy parent dance I decided to sit with her. They snapped 3 pics of her crying & that was that. 

We waited for the prints to come up & got to choose between 3 poses. The last one was actually not that bad. She wasn't smiling like she just saw a chocolate bar in her hands, but she didn't look all that upset. Then I saw it. The PERFECT picture. No, it wasn't a beautiful, angelic portrait with Jolly Ol' Saint Nick, but it was perfect to me. She had the most god-awful scowl on her face....like someone had pooped in her cheerios that morning. I loved it. It was my punkin! So enjoy this late holiday picture.....Merry Belated Christmas :)

Brrrr

We have got some crazy weather going on right now! Last week we had lows in the 30's & today it is 70-something & sunny. Now they are calling for possible snow flurries on Tuesday night...yes you read that right...SNOW...in FLORIDA!! I'll believe it when I see it. I better go throw on the bathing suit now while it's warm :)