An Image I'll Never Forget

Yesterday afternoon, I was sitting in my office, chatting with a co-worker on the phone. I happened to look out my window to see a family sitting outside my window having lunch. Unfortunately this family looked like maybe they were struggling financially and the concept of family may not be first in their minds. The looked pretty dirty, unkempt, and were smoking the entire time with there three young kids (ages 2-5 maybe) present. (Please don't mistake me. I'm not judgmental about smoking. I just don't think you should smoke around children.)

As I was chatting away with my co-worker I looked out just in time to watch the father pull back his left hand and slap one of the little boys hard across the face. I had just witnessed a father hitting his son. All of sudden my heart felt empty, hopeless. What on earth could cause a parent to slap their child so violently, while looking them in the eyes, and in public. It made me physically ill and I was having a hard time getting a grip.

I didn't know what to do or how to react. I had to end my conversation with my co-worker because I couldn't get past it. My choices for action consisted of 1) Do nothing; 2) Ask security to talk to them, but in reality, they were doing nothing wrong; or 3) Go talk to them myself and tell them what I witnessed. I so wanted to choose 3 but what would it do but possibly put myself in danger. The father was scary looking. I didn't want to put myself in a risky situation. And security couldn't do anything. They weren't breaking any rules. In the end I decided to do nothing. I just packed up my bag and went home to hold my baby girl.

The rest of the evening I was very melancholy. I don't think I've ever held Riley so tight. Today, sitting in the office, looking out my window, I can't shake yesterday's image from my head. I know I'll move past it but I just keep second guessing myself. Is there anything I could have done differently? Could I have made a difference? A small part of my heart is broken for that little boy. I can't even imagine how his life must be.

Because this hasn't been my usual, cheery, happy, everything is great post, I'll at least leave you with a picture of me and the princess. You may also notice I've cut my hair OFF and dyed it brown. BIG change! I'm getting it used to it but I miss my long, highlighted hair. I've also included a picture of me and the princess from the day we brought her home.

Happy 3 Month Birthday Riley!

Riley is 3 months today! And yes, we even sang Happy Birthday to her this morning!

I can't believe our baby girl is three months old. Wow! It's hard to believe that a year ago this month we were in the middle of our IVF cycle. Now, a year later, we have a 3 months old little miracle. What a blessing!

Little Miss is getting so big. This weekend I packed up her newborn clothes and sent them off to someone else to use. She's now solidly wearing her 3 month clothes, some 0-3, and is almost ready for 3-6.

At 3 months Miss Riley...

• is drinking from a 3 month nipple (demands it if we slip a 1 in there)
• has found her hands and is sucking on her hands like crazy
• loves to sit and stand, still with help of course
• rolls from her stomach to her back, both ways, especially when you're trying to do tummy time
• holds her head up on her own, though it still gets a little wobbly when she's tired
• blows lots of spit bubbles
• imitates certain hand gestures like waving and pointing her index finger (for those that think I'm crazy Twins and Two Moms can verify)
• squeals, and yells, when she's happy or mad (no giggling but she's so close)
• has lots of smiles for everyone
• loves watching the Baby Channel (though we try to limit this, but it sure helps when laundry needs to be done or bottles need to be sterilized)

There are some things we're working on.

• She still favors her right side because of the Hygroma and her surgery. She's going to Physical Therapy and we have lots of exercises and stretches we do with her every day. She's slowly doing better. She can move her head to the left, but she favors looking to her right, especially when she's tired. We also make sure when she's in her bassinet, crib, swing, chair, etc. that she has to look to the left to look at us, her toys, etc.
• She still has a flat spot on the right side of the back of her head from laying on the Hygroma as she was growing in the womb. Because of this we try to always hold her towards the left, feed her to the left, and she is now sleeping on her left side. We're hoping to correct it without her having to wear a reshaping helmet.
• Her right ear sticks out and is slightly larger than her left due to being folded in half all those months in the womb. We tape it down, or have her wear headbands, around the house to help. She sees her Plastic Surgeon again at six months. At that time he'll decide if he wants to tack her ear back and fix her scar in the front. Her scar looks fantastic and is hardly noticeable except for one little place in the front. He told us after the surgery that they may have to fix this after six months.
• Little Miss sometimes has issues with bowel movements. She can go more than week without a BM. Right now she's on day seven. She's got a little bit of stinky gas, ok, maybe a lot, and gets a little fussy when trying to pass gas. We HATE her having gas pains and being constipated so any experience on this one is appreciated. Her pediatrician did tell us to start giving her apple or pear juice everyday. This helped for awhile but for some reason she's on another dry spell.

We took her for her three month pictures on Friday but she was pretty grumpy, because she needs to poop, and wouldn't really smile. So, as soon as she goes we'll take her back for pictures.

Until then here are some of my favorite pictures from Riley's third month of life.

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