Bringing Riley Home

Bringing our baby girl home was so exciting! Ryan drove home and I sat in the back seat so I could stare at Riley in her car seat and gaze at my little bundle of perfection!

This is one of the beanies that Ryan's Grandma Van made for Riley. It kept her nice and warm!

When we walked in the door, this cute sign was up in our house. The girls in my family
made this for us and my mom had it all hung up to welcome our little girl home! 

 Originally I had hoped that I would have had Riley before my mom came out so that we could spend all of her time in South Bend together at our house. BUT I'm glad it worked out the way it did. I am SO grateful that my mom ended up being able to be in the hospital with me and Ryan. I really relied on her a lot and it was so incredibly comforting to have my mother with me during some of the hardest times I have experienced. She really helped me through it and I will always remember how she was there for me during that time. Even more than that though was how fun it was to have her there right after Riley was born! It was so awesome to be able to share my newborn baby with my mom within moments of her birth.

My brother Matt also flew out to see us! He is the world's greatest big brother. I mean it. THE best. He is such a good dad too and gave us some really great advice and help, including a sanitizer, a bottle, and a space heater (from my mom too) all of which we now use on a regular basis.

My mom and Matt were both so helpful! They went grocery shopping, cleaned, cooked--well my mom did the cooking :), they helped a ton with Riley, and hung out with us and kept us company. It was so great having them with us. We had a wonderful time together. We had some fun times and a lot of laughs too. I kept joking that my mom and Matt are probably two of the worst people to hang out with after having your abdomen sliced open because they always make me laugh so hard and each time I laughed it would hurt my incision so bad. But the laughter was always worth it! :)

We got home from the hospital on Monday around 2 pm and my mom and Matt had to leave early Wednesday morning. Luckily I had already had my mom around for a week but once we got home, it just felt like we had hardly any time left--it just went by so quickly. Too quickly! One night in our room, I started crying to Ryan just thinking about having to say goodbye to my family so soon. However, the next day we got a very happy surprise!

Ryan got an email deal from frontier airlines for a $39 flight to Utah! We jumped on it and booked the flight for Ryan's spring break! I was jumping up and down with excitement! This means we will be headed to Utah when Riley is about six weeks old and we will get to bless her out there and introduce her to all of our family! We were so grateful for the amazing flight deal we got! Knowing we would see our families soon made it easier to say goodbye but of course it was still so hard for me. It was just so fun and so special having them with us and our new baby girl.

Uncle Matt holding his niece for the first time!

This guy is such a good dad to his kids. Such a great example to me of parenthood.

So Riley's first bath...It did NOT go well. She screamed and cried so hard and reached out her little hands for me and I HAD to take her out of it. It broke my heart to see her scared like that. Baths are overrated anyway right? ;)

So we took her straight out of the bath and wrapped her in a blanket and just cuddled with her to calm her down. Ryan wanted a turn to cuddle her so I passed her over to him. That's when we learned a very valuable lesson....Don't cuddle a diaper-less baby! haha :) Especially on the couch! She pooped everywhere, all over Ryan and the couch! It was hilarious and I got pictures of it too :)  

So sweet, just cuddling with Daddy. This is moments before the poop fiasco :)

And a few minutes later...Ha! THIS is what happens when you don't have a diaper on your baby :) 

Even got on the couch somehow! ha! 

We couldn't stop laughing! 

While my mom was here I did a mini photo shoot. It was fun taking a few pics but I didn't have it in me to do much more than a short session. However, I'm still kicking myself that I didn't FORCE myself to take more while she was just a few days old. I did take more when she was about two weeks old but I'm mad I didn't take my nice camera out again before then and do a full photo shoot of her. Also, I'm mad at myself I didn't do this same thing while Ryan's mom and sister were here! I think the sleep deprivation/surgery stuff finally caught up to me. However, we still took LOTS of iPhone pics and we'll treasure all the photos we have! 

So sweet

My alert little baby

After my mom and Matt left, Ryan and I had Wednesday and Thursday alone with our little Riley girl. It was hard saying goodbye but I kept reminding myself that we would see them in March! I missed them immediately though.
That night and the nights before Ryan's family got into town, our ward brought us meals. We absolutely love our ward out here. They're the best! During those few days we just held our sweet baby and stared at her non-stop. No joke. We also took Riley to her first doctor's appointment.

On the way to Riley's first doctor's appointment. It was the first time I got to really dress her up. It was so fun! :)
I just thought this outfit was sooo cute on her!

She looks so tiny in her carseat!

At the doctor's office

On Friday Ryan's mom and sister Karli came out to be with us. It was so much fun to have family here again. We were so excited for them to get here and to be able to show off our adorable baby to them! They were also so so helpful! Cooking, cleaning, helping with Riley, and letting me take naps to catch up on sleep. And of course it was just so fun to spend time with them! They stayed from Friday night through Tuesday. We got lucky and even got mom Van out here on her birthday! We got to celebrate it with her and have presents and cake and ice cream. We felt so lucky to have both her and Karli with us. They were so sweet with Riley. They always wanted to hold her. I don't think Riley ever really got set down the entire time :) she was always in someone's arms. Once again it was so hard to say goodbye. I cried. Again. I just had to keep reminding myself that we get to see all of our family again really soon in March! Anyway, I have the best in-laws ever ever ever. I'm so lucky to have them!

Riley and Nana

I think Riley looks so adorable laying on Karli like this!

Such a cute picture! Look how loved and adored you are Riley!

Happy Birthday Nana!

Love this one

I love this picture! Riley looks like she's smiling :) And the roses are from Ryan's Dad for his mom's b-day but it's fun to have them in the picture of our little Riley "Rose."

Riley always puts her hands up by her face.
We thought it was so cute that she is like that in her ultrasounds too!

Ryan loves holding Riley like this. It looks like she's hugging him :)
You can find Ryan like this at least few times a day. 

She is such a good little snuggler

CanNOT get enough of this angel baby.

This little babe has brought us so much happiness and has made our life so much more meaningful. We are so incredibly grateful to have her as a part of our family!