Cyclocross Season! (is almost over)

Finally got a chance to do a cyclocross race this year. The first race of the season took place on the two weeks after Riley was born, and the last race is the weekend before Christmas. At the start of 2006, I had this big plan to compete in all the races and go for overall points classification. That was before we knew. Even many months after we found out, I still thought I could do most of the races, I thought I would just miss the first few races.
Well, taking care of a newborn is not only extremely time consuming, it is also the most fun I've ever had. I may be gaining weight due to lack of exercise, but at least I'm enjoying it!

Here are a few picks of the race. It was out in Livermore on the 16th of December at the fairgrounds.I was doing quite well, moving up through the pack on each lap until my derailluer jammed. I had to stop and flip the bike for repairs. Though it only took me about 30-40 seconds, it was long enough for me to watch the field ride away. I was able to catch back on and pass a few people, but there weren't enough laps. The first picture is of me just getting past the guy in blue who hit the burm and nearly flipped head over. The other side of that burm is the arena, which is filled with liquified mud about 8 inches deep!


Right after the arena, we ran up the bleacher stairs. I'm the one just to the left of the pole in the middle of the picture. That was a tough run up after the third time....

Next race, maybe next season.

Here we are, in our vests trying to keep warm while surfing the net. Got to get her started right away so I have someone to fix my computer in the future! 

Well Riley had her two month appointment today. She is now 12 pounds and 8 ounces which puts her in the 90th percentile and is now 23 inches 7/8 long which is in the 95th percentile. I don't think the percentile thing really matters but she is growing like a weed and a good eater! Her head circumference (sp?) is 39 centimeters which is only in the 50th percentile which I thought was funny as Gilligans are always talking about their big Irish heads but she was in the 25th percentile at birth in this arena so she is growing.

The poor thing got 5 vaccines and seemed to look at Mommy and Daddy with a look of betrayal when she got the shots. Mom held her all day and when Dad got home he took a turn holding and consoling her. She is doing well but that is a lot of stuff going in her little body for one day. When she cries it is the cry she had at the doctor's office which she doesn't usually have in everyday life. Heartbreaking. Luckily she is mostly trying to sleep it off in between feedings.

We have many more photos that need to be uploaded from cameras etc. Will update the log as we are able.

Hope everyone had a good thanksgiving day.

Love,

Colleen

Riley's First Overnight

This past week has seen a number of changes. Riley has started to really show recognition, smiling when she sees us, cooing when we talk to her, and asking for a beer in the evening. OK, not really asking for beer, she likes milk....

The smiles are incredible, and come at the right time. Just when you are about to loose your mind for lack of sleep, she hits you with a smile, and all is right with the world.

She is now six weeks old, and fitting nicely into the 3-6 month old jumpers. She seems so much bigger now. Even just three weeks ago, she still felt like an infant, but no more.

This weekend, we took her for her first overnight trip to see Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Peter in Sonoma, and unlike Laney, she didn't freak out and sleep under the bed. In fact, she was perfect, and enjoyed it thoroughly.

Happy Halloween!

Riley went out for her first Trick or Treat experience today.
Unfortunately, it was to the doctors, so no treats! She dressed up as a little pumkin and was very good.

Now, for the stats:
Height = 22 1/8 inches --> 80th %
Weight = 9lbs 15 ounces --> 75th %
Head circumfrence = 37.2cm --> 50th %

So, she is growing very well, about 3lbs in the first month, and 1/2 inch in height. Obviously, her weight and head have changed the most percent wise. We certainly feel the difference in her weight.





Riley also had some visitors this weekend. Great Aunt Claire, Grandma Joan, and Great Grandpa Ward. She was very excited to see them all.

Growing

It's hard to imagine, but I can see Riley grow. Today, she is 17 (days), and everything about her is bigger, from her feet to her hands to her whole body. She is 8lbs, 15 ounces.

Ch ch ch changes.

Riley is just 11 days old now, and she is starting to change dramatically. Gone are the days where she just ate, peed, pooped, slept over and over again. Now she is interested in things. We started to notice the other day that she would stare at us or light objects intently for a few minutes. Now, she is staying awake longer after feeding. She squirms in our arms and looks all over the place, eyes wide open. Yesterday, she decided she wanted me to hold her a certain way so she could look over my shoulder, if I hold her too low, she cries, when I lift her up, she happily watches what ever is behind me. She seems to also enjoy going outside and looking at my garden. I think she approves ;)
When you look into her eyes, they are so much clearer than just a few days ago. I think they are even bluer, too.
She is also getting better at holding her head up, though it still bobbles around quite a bit.
The best part, though, is her range of expressions. They are getting more complex, and maybe even reflect some emotions.
Wow, quite simply amazing what a little baby can do in less than 2 weeks of life.

Update,
She has gained over a pound since birth. We weighed her today at about 8 lbs, 2 ounces.

A Night of Pure Bliss!

I read yesterday that colic is "Quite simply an absolute nightmare for parents and babies alike, colic is likely to be the first major test of your parenting skills.". The "major test" part really rang true, however, since yesterday afternoon, it has been a different story. Riley has been very content, and interested in the world. She barely cried, and only when being changed or hungry. Last night we all slept great, only getting up three times, then going right back to sleep.
The past 24 hours more than made up for a little colic.

Now that she is all happy again, we have some time to take pictures (more to come).

Here are a couple of retrospective pictures of Riley and her Aunties (Christina and Heather):

And a family shot (this is our first family photo, taken a few minutes after birth).

A Night of Colic Hell

After staying up until 2 am this morning trying to console the inconsolable, I have spent the morning scouring the net to better understand what colic is and what the "cure" is.

Riley started to get fussy around dinner time last night. We were unable to get her to sleep after feeding several times in a row, which probably made her tired and agitated. We figured she had gas (you could hear and feel it), and it was disturbing her, so we tried repeatedly to burp her and comfort her. The only thing that seemed to work was feeding, however, she can only eat so much, and she needs to sleep in between, but she didn't. As the hours progressed, she cried harder and louder, and we began to worry. We took her temp, it was normal. She seemed to pee and poo normally. There was no sign that she was sick or injured. We talked to her, sang to her, held her, moved her around, massaged her, etc... nothing seemed to help. The only thing we could do was to feed her, then hold her while she cried through to the next feeding.
After many hours of this, she finally fell asleep in my arms in the bed around 2am. I didn't want to disturb her, so I let her sleep in between us, which she did for the next ~3.5 hours.
Unfortunately, we have a full sized bed, so I had my head off the edge most of that time, and ended up with a very sore neck this morning.
So, this morning, I started to research colic.
What did I find?
Babies are inconsolable when having colic.
Try holding and talking/singing to them.
Massage them, swing them, hold them.
They eat, pee, and poo normally.
It usually goes away by morning.
Some foods may affect or cause the colic.
Essentially, I didn't find anything to fix it, just confirms it.
Bummer.

Some new pictures

Here's a picture of Riley at 5 days old. Her color is starting to look normal. When she was born, she was purple from head to toe. The purple when away pretty quickly, but her skin was still reddish. Over the next few days, her she turned jaundiced. After the fourth day, the jaundice went away and her skin started to peel and the "stork bites" showed up. Now, not so much.

I thought I'd show a couple of pictures of Colleen just three days before Riley was born:Can you believe this? From the side, she is obviously pregnant, but from the front, you can hardly tell. Then, three days later, mom is giving her a big hug!

And finally, A BIG thank you!
Grandma Sharon was gracious enough to take a "vacation" and stay with us for the first week. What a tremendous help she has been. Food magically appears when we are hungry and clean cloths are always filling the drawers and closet.

Oct 4th, What's Going On??

Miscilanious Ramblings in the middle of the night
OK, it is now 2am, and we were just up two hours ago for feeding, and now she wants to eat again? Well, babies are nocturnal and we aren't - yet. Actually, she is quite good about doing the normal feeding and pooping/peeing on a regular schedule. The part that we are working on now, is teaching her to sleep more at night than the day.

Feeding and diaper changing means undressing and dressing, sometimes complete changing. Dressing a baby is not an easy thing. Pulling shirts over their heads and then sticking their arms through the little sleaves takes coordination on both the dressie's and dresser's part. Right now, niether of us have any coordination there. I can vaguely remember being dressed, and not liking it.

Yesterday was a big day for her. We took two drives, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. She seems to take well to driving around. I've had friends who've used driving to consol their babies, or to help them go to sleep. I wouldn't mind doing that, but I suspect that my driving would have the opposite effect. I can hear it now, "drive faster daddy, drive faster!".

The first drive was to a lactation specialist. This was very helpful. The specialist gave us a one-on-one, and after having nurse after nurse give us different tips and observations, having a consitant and reasuring conversation made the experience pleasurable for everyone involved.

After lunch, we went back out to Riley's first doctor visit. Just a first newborn checkup by the pediatrician. More poking and proding. The policy of this office is to promote the idea of a well child rather than a sick child. I guess this is to help make the doctors visit more pleasant. In fact, it wasn't too bad. The report was good. Riley has a bit of jaundice, but that is normal, and we got her first percentile scores. Here we go with keeping scores....
Height = 20.5 inches --> 75th percentile
Weight = 6lbs 10ounces --> 20th percentile
Head Circumfrence = 34.1cm -->25th percentile (why is this in cm and not inches?)
So, what does this mean?
"She will be tall and thin without too big of an ego, I guess."

Oh, I hear a burp, time to go back to sleep!

First Pictures of Riley

Well, Riley is now just a day old, and she is already a pro at feeding, pooping, peeing, and crying. Boy they sure do grow up fast!
Here are some of the first pictures of her.

Here she is, less than a minute old.







First time alone.









Riley with Grandma and her proud and happy mom.









Riley with Grandpa

Riley Morgan Dahlstrom

Was born on this day, September 30th, 2006, at 11:41am to very elated parents.
She is 7 lbs and 21 inches.
Pictures will follow!

First Comments

Thought I'd put up a blog for our extended family to watch from afar the changes in our family. Yes, I'm talking about the birth of our daughter.
This is something Colleen and I have been wanting for some time, and now, with our new'ish house in Oakland, with a big yard, steady jobs, lots of friends near by, everything has fallen into place, and just like that, she was pregnant.
Come late September, we will have a new birthday to celebrate.
More on that as it happens....