A few more pictures

These are obviously from when we were still in the hospital. We have been home since Friday afternoon and things are going pretty well. My (Sara's) blood pressure is up but hopefully it will go down with the prescription she got todday. Emily arrived last night to help, and we are so grateful! Baby Jaina (pronounced Jay-nah; a few people have asked) is doing well and eating very well. Jeremy is trying to get some studying in for several tests today and tomorrow. We are keeping busy!

New Baby!!

Sara and I are pleased to welcome little Jaina Marie to our family. She came today december 12th at about 5:20. She is 6lbs 12 ounces and 17 inches long. She is beautiful and we love her.

She's Here!

Baby Jaina Marie
6lbs 12 ounces
19.5''
Born at 5:20 pm
12/12/07

Jeremy :-/

Jeremy :-/

The Blog Gets Even Better

Sara and I just figured out that I can post on the blog too!! Now it truly is the Reilly and Co. blog.

This is our car like two days ago when I got out of school.

A real post

So I thought I should probably actually update my blog, instead of posting little surveys... As you can see from these pictures, it's starting to get quite cold here!

Yes, that is my coat that actually fits me in my real life. It took me safely (and mostly warmly) through BYU, and I'm glad to have it, even if it only buttons in one place currently...

We had quite the ice storm (though not a big one, from what I hear) Saturday, and all the tree branches were coated in clear ice by that evening. (As well as our car) Lots of roads and freeways were closed, and it took Jeremy like 20 minutes to defrost and scrape (and hack at) our windshield enough to drive to the Institute Christmas party. It was a little crazy...The high today is supposed to be 33 degrees, and the warmest it's supposed to feel is 25... It's going to be a very different winter for us, especially with two little ones.
Reilly is doing well. He's over 14 months old now and learning new things every day. He has no idea what's in store for him sometime in the next month. It's hard, because though he's growing up, he still seems like a baby in a lot of ways. I know he'll adjust without too much trouble, but I still feel sad that I won't be able to give him so much attention soon.
I am almost 37 weeks pregnant, and everything still looks good. Since I never actually went into labor with Reilly, I'm a little nervous about how all of that works, and I'm just praying I won't go late! I'm looking forward to my sister Emily coming on the 16th; it will be so nice to have some extra help and company.

High School Times (random fun post)

1. Who were your best friends? Cindy, Loni, Athena, Heather, and Jennifer.

2. What sports did you play? Oh, you don't want to see me try sports...

3. What kind of car did you drive? A '98 Chevy Cavalier (I continued to drive it until last January!)

4. On a Friday night what were you doing? At a football game (sometimes in the band) or lip synching or driving to Safford, or watching a movie, or sitting around with some of us saying "let's DO something..."

5. Were you a party animal? Nope.

6. Were you considered a flirt? Another nope.

7. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? I was in band soph and sr years, and in a choir (Pima didn't really have a real choir...or any kind of orchestra, for that matter) my senior year.

8. What happened to number 8?

9. Did you ever get suspended/expelled? No. I might have had detention once? That might have been junior high.

10. Can you still sing the fight song? I don't think anyone actually knew the words... I can sing the melody. (It's the Notre Dame fight song)

11. Who was your favorite teacher? I'm not sure. Mr. Henson until he left. Probably Mr. Arave (history) or Mrs. Moody (business and F.B.L.A.) I think.

12. Where did you sit during lunch? Either in the cafeteria or (mostly later) at one of our houses...

13. Name the school's full name. Pima High School.

14. School mascot? a Roughrider

15. School colors? Blue and Gold

16. Rival high school? We always thought it was Thatcher, but Jeremy doesn't seem to think they cared one way or the other about us... sigh.

17. Did you go to Prom? Yes.

18. If you could go back and do it again, would you? It was fun to have less responsibility and more free time, but definitely not. Now college....

19. What do you remember most about graduation? Um, it was fun? I remember worrying about the slide show working, and hoping my speech wouldn't be too stupid, and staying up all the night that night. We had a good time. All 42 of us...

20. Where did you go Senior Skip Day? Actually I missed the memo on that one because no one could decide until like the day of... Athena went to Fry Mesa. Heather and I went to school... Boring, I know.

21. Favorite memory? I'm not sure. Trips for different activities were usually cool, Spring Flings were fun, FBLA Nationals in Orlando, FL was cool, the crazy studying we did for Arave's tests, just hanging out being silly with my friends, our graduation party

22. Were you in any clubs? FBLA, NHS, Student Council (2 years), Knowledge Bowl (freshman year), I think that's it?

23. Have you gained some weight since then? Um, mostly lost, but gained and lost a lot (and repeated) in the last 2 years... (the whole pregnancy thing does that to you...)

24. Who was your Senior prom date? Bruce Bryce. It was fun.

25. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? I hope so, if I can get there and if it happens!

26. Who will re-post this after you? I have no idea. None of my high school friends have blogs...

27. Who was your high school sweetheart? Missing in action, I guess...

28. Do you still talk to people from high school? Yes, all of my friends. Occasionally other people when I still lived in Arizona...

29. Did you win prom king or queen? :) Uh, no.

30. Where did you work in high school? I never had a job. My dad discouraged it, and since I didn't have too expensive of tastes, I didn't need to. I worked here and there babysitting for my parents and cleaning model homes to get some spending money.

31. What were your grades?

A's. Sometimes people thought we were crazy, but I still don't regret working hard and learning now to study and do well.

32. What was your dress style? Um, some strange version of what everyone else was wearing 2 years before? ;-)

33. What year did you graduate? 2000

Get to Know Me Holiday Edition

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Hot Chocolate

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
He sets them out on individual couches or chairs

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
Usually colored - not the tiny ones either

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
No

5. When do you put your decorations up?
Usually put up house lights Thanksgiving day and tree sometime in December. This year has been very different...

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Mashed potatoes?

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child:
Big family parties at our house each year

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
Not sure. By the time I was 6.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Yes, and sometimes for a few nights before!

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
Usually colored lights, garland, and meaningful ornaments. This year has been different.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
Love it! But I don't have to go out in it much, either, so... (and I'm from AZ)

12. Can you ice skate?
Never tried, but I doubt it, based on my last roller-blading escapade

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
Possibly the horse I sort of got (I paid for some of him, but was surprised Christmas morning)

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Family. I love the lights and music.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
Maybe homemade caramels

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Big family party at my parents. Which I'll miss this year.

17. What tops your tree?
Usually a star. Nothing this year. Though there is currently a polar bear up there...

18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving?
Definitely giving

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
O Holy Night, I think

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?
Yum! I love peppermint. None of that strawberry/blueberry/otherberry junk...

We sort of already did Christmas, at least part of it. If anyone wants to see pictures, you can go here.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=29496&l=338a9&id=525931074

Busy Weeks

I haven't updated for a while because things have been too crazy around here! My mom came to visit on October 13th and stayed for about a week. It was so fun (and helpful!) to have her here and Reilly loved it. It was hard for us to send her back home, but I know they were missing her too at that point. :) One of the coolest things that we got to do during that week was that Jeremy and I went to Nauvoo, all by ourselves. My mom and Reilly just played all day while we were gone...




As you can see from the above photo, it's definitely Autumn here, and I love the changing colors! It is getting cooler, too, which I don't mind, but it's hard when the wind is cold and blowing.

We mostly enjoyed Halloween. We had a big double-ward Trunk-or-Treat (see pictures below) that Reilly actually did pretty well at. It was pretty cold though, and there was an almost misty rain. Whether it had anything to do with that or not, Reilly woke up the next day with a fever, and continued to run one (low-grade) for 3 days. He continued to be cranky and cried/whined almost non-stop it seemed for another several days. It was NOT any fun. All I can figure at this point is that it was connected to teething, but I just don't know. I'm just glad he's back to his mostly-happy self at this point.

Towards the end of that period, two of my friends from college, Karen and Naomi came to visit. That was really fun too, and I'm glad Reilly wasn't grumpy their whole visit, and we even got to leave he and Jeremy home one day and visit Nauvoo, which was really fun. I'll try to post some pictures of their visit at some point, but I didn't take that many, so we'll see if any turn out. :)

At this point we are just jumping into Jeremy's second trimester. I am 32 weeks along and starting to get really uncomfortable toward the end of most days. Otherwise we are doing fine, and Reilly keeps us busy and entertained. I'm really looking forward to the holiday season now!

Early Halloween festivities

So my computer is driving me crazy. About a week and a half ago, it decided that half of the hard drive was failing, and that I should back up immediately. So I worked like crazy to move everything over to the new external drive that Jeremy went out and got very late one evening, and now I sit here and wait. Sometimes it works like nothing every happened, and sometimes it completely spazzes out and can't find any of the graphics it needs to open any programs. I'm glad it's still working some, (especially since we finally got the internet connected to it) but the waiting and wondering is killing me. I guess I should just be glad it's lasting for now, since we don't get our next student loan check for a few weeks.
Today was interesting. Reilly ended up having to have a bath very shortly after he woke up, which seemed to have put him in a grumpy mood. I tried to get him to take just one nap today instead of two. He's not quite ready for that, I decided. There was a Halloween party at Palmer today, and Reilly was an elephant. He did rather well, considering his attitude today, and how he was probably tired. I'm married to the coolest guy in the world. I didn't feel very good by the time we got home and he made me lie down and wouldn't let me off the couch for an hour and a half while he basically cleaned up the whole downstairs (kitchen and living room). This included cleaning out the fridge, which I've been putting off, cause there were some SCARY things in there needing to be thrown away. Then he went to open lab (he has a practical tomorrow, followed by finals all of next week) and I put Reilly down, and here I am. I need to finish this and get to bed...
(Here he is in his nice little zip-up elephant costume that we got for like $1.25. I'm working on another one, but this one's so easy, he might wear it for one or two other Halloween experiences...)

One Year Down, So Many to Go

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

So my "baby" is officially a toddler. Last Thursday Reilly turned 1 and we had a rather large party for such a little boy. It started out as a slight disaster, because everything kind of crashed at once at the beginning, but the rest of it was nice. He got a lot of fun presents, and enjoyed his cake. (Though clean-up wasn't the most fun in the world...) I can't believe he's this old - he's walking around so much, and learns new things almost every day, it seems.
Jeremy's parents were here all last week, and his mom really helped by making all the food for his party. He enjoyed having his grandparents here a lot. I'm looking forward to my mom coming to visit in about a week and a half.
Yesterday Jeremy skipped all his afternoon classes and we went to the Nauvoo temple instead. It was a 7.5 hour trip, and all we did was initiatory, but it was still nice to go. Reilly behaved himself as well as he can in such situations, and even slept in the car some on the way back. Quite amazing. :)
I'll be 28 weeks pregnant on Friday... pretty crazy. I'm way excited for the holiday season and all the visits we have coming, and cooler weather, and Jeremy's long break in a few weeks. That's all for now!

Milestones

Okay, first, let's see if this video will work... It's from almost a month ago, but it's the most current digital camera video that's on this computer...

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Now for a quick entry.
I can't believe Reilly is almost a year old. This last Sunday he climbed up several stairs for the first and time and also took his first steps. I weighed him at my OB abbt and he weighs 25 lbs even. Definitely hoping starting walking and the weaning off formula soon helps him slim down. :) He amazes us daily (when he's not driving us crazy as he continues to cut his top two teeth). Right now he's jabbering away behind me as he looks at one of his picture books. It's impressive how many things he can get into in a short time.
We are doing well. I am almost "6 months" pregnant and Jeremy only has 5 weeks left in his first trimester. His parents are coming this weekend, and next Thursday (while they're here) we'll have Reilly's first birthday party. There are about 14 little kids and their parents that are invitd, and that's just the families right around us or that we interact with several times a week. It's a bit crazy... Better go, Reilly is feeling neglected. :)

Something about me

Well, I usually write about Reilly, but all I'm going to say is that I'm glad he is a different child today than he was yesterday. I wasn't sure we were going to make it through yesterday at times, but he seems back to normal for now, and I'm enjoying it thoroughly!

So, something I took from someone else's blog:

Favorite Food: Right now? Panda Express. Mostly because I can't GET it. Usually it's more like some kind of Italian. Fettucini Alfredo (when it's good) is a definite favorite.

Favorite Month: December. I love love love the Christmas season, breaks from school and work, and the cold. Snow is a big plus, and this year is even more exciting, since we're hoping to have our baby then, and we'll see most of our family right around then.

Favorite Movie: Baby Einstein's "Neighborhood Animals." I am more excited about its existence than I am about most movies... :) I'm really not sure. There are too many I like, and at the same time, I don't have much time for movies these days. For now I'm going to say "family videos." Can that count?

Favorite Sport: To play or watch? I have really enjoyed soccer since I had a class in it at BYU, but I prefer watching horse racing or sometimes football.

Favorite Season: Winter. See "favorite month."

Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Butter Pecan, especially if it's Ben & Jerry's.

Favorite Time of Day: Reilly's naptimes.

Last Car Ride: Yesterday afternoon when Jeremy, Reilly, and I went to check out the mall in Moline. And Reilly fell asleep. In the car. No, I'm not kidding.

Last Movie Seen in a Theater: The latest Harry Potter.

Last Phone Call: Jeremy, at the end of his lunch period.

Last CD Played: Actual CD? Not an mp3 mix? I think it might have been The Runaway Bride soundtrack...

Have You Ever Been on TV: Not that I know of...

Thing You're Wearing: Maternity clothes. Yuck. At the same time, I'm rather grateful that they exist...

Thing You've Done Today: Peacefully got Reilly down for his name, changed, dressed, fed, entertained, chased, etc. said child. Talking to Jeremy, edited some "friends" videos for DVD, folded some laundry, picked up the basement more, got the mail, mailed (a little late, whoops) our rent check, spent some time on the internet...

Thing You Can Hear Right Now: Aforementioned Baby Einstein video, Reilly's comments on it, the a/c

Thing You Can't Live Without: Time for myself and my projects. I know I can, but it's not the best kind of living...

Thing You Do When You're Bored: Doesn't happen much... Call someone on the phone, I guess.

Coke or Pepsi: Gross. Not a soda person, but when I do drink it, it's not a cola.

Hot or Cold: Definitely cold.

What Do You Want To Do Before You Die? A lot, I hope. I would love to go white-water rafting someday.

Back to the Future

So now that all you nonexistant people are up to speed...

We are doing very well here in Iowa. It's hard to be so far from family and friends, but we're looking forward to quite a few of them visiting soon. There are a bunch of nice LDS couples that live in our same townhouse complex, and we enjoy socializing with them, but it's so different than being home... Jeremy is halfway through his first trimester at Palmer College of Chiropractic, and enjoying himself, though it keeps him very busy. I haven't been sick much pretty much since we got here, which has been fabulous. I feel like a small whale, but other than that am doing fine. I have been working hard to try to keep our house going, catch up on lots of video editing and scrapbooking, and keep track of Reilly. Reilly is growing rapidly, and just turned 11 months. I can't believe he'll be the "big" brother in 4 short months... That will be an adventure. He army crawls and furniture walks everywhere, but we're hoping for some real walking soon, as I can't carry his 24 lb-chunkiness around AND a new baby...
He loves to eat, (obviously) loves to watch all our neighbor kids playing, and loves looking at books. He will sit for 20 minutes and turn the pages of one or two books. It's fabulous. He doesn't have quite that patience when we're actually reading to him, but you can't have everything. :)

Whoops

Meant to include these: Reilly's 10-month pictures. :)

Picture Backlog

Yes, I realize that I haven't written in here since...oh, about the time we found out Reilly was going to be a "big" brother and I subsequently got rather sick. I've been feeling better for about two months now, but we moved and I sort of forgot about this blog. That is probably because I hadn't told anyone it existed. So here's a few pictures to catch you up on us... (newest to oldest)

Here are several of Reilly here in Iowa (9 and 10 months mostly)


















Here is Reilly having his first biter biscuit at about 8 months. He hasn't had too many of those since...
















Here is my dad, Jeremy, and Reilly at Jeremy's second EA graduation back in May.











Here's one taken in late April, just after we found out I was pregnant.









Sorry the layout isn't very beautiful. My html skills are very rusty!

Saturdays are fabulous

It's been a little while since I wrote... Things are going well for us. Reilly is a great big (literally - the kid weighs 18.5 lbs these days!) 6 months old and some days we just can't believe it. He caught a cold last night (only his second so far - we've been pretty blessed in that regard) and I was up and down with him from 11:30 to 3:30. He then slept until 6:30 thankfully and Jeremy took him at 7 while I slept three more hours. It was a pretty rough night. At least it was Saturday and we've been able to just be here and get a few things done and I could sleep in and stuff. He's been feeling better this afternoon, whether from the Tylenol or just "afternoon." I might try to give him some baby cold medicine this evening to see if it helps him breathe at all. Jeremy and I went out to eat and then walked around the "Tri-county fair" last night for a bit while his mom watched Reilly. There really wasn't much there. Sigh. The little boy is awake from his nap. A little early, I think. That's frustrating. Oh well, better go get him. :)

Things are looking up

It's been a little while. Sorry. (Not that anyone reads this) Things are pretty good. We got a much nicer tax return than I had hoped for or expected, so now we can afford to move, as well as maybe go to Disneyland for a few days. Jeremy and I really need to get away, though I know it will be really hard to leave Reilly, even with his grandmas... We also ordered Reilly a Britax Marathon, which is supposed to be a really good, if expensive, car seat. It was hot last week, but my wonderful husband worked like for two days getting our cooler working, and it's amazing. It even SMELLS good. And right now it's not hot; it's cool and rainy. Reilly is approaching 6 months and has made a habit of "sleeping through the night" the last 3 or 4 nights. He goes to be sometime between 9:30 and 10:30 and wakes up between 6:30 and 7:30 mostly. I'm a fan. Some combination of a new formula (that seems a little easier on his tummy), new swaddlers (with fresh, strong velcro) and starting cereal. Actually, he started on applesauce first, because he actually seemed open to eating it (unlike the rice cereal). I have since found he doesn't really like appleasauce, per se, but LOVES baby oatmeal. I like it too, because it really does smell like oatmeal, instead of the weird, formula-mixed, nasty-smelling rice cereal. :) Jeremy has been home all day today and he's taken Reilly at least half the day, if not more. I have wasted too much of that time on Facebook and stuff, but it's still been nice.

I have also been trying to be happier and more positive. It has been really good for me. Hopefully I can get out of this weird slump that has attached itself to me basically since I got pregnant and was so sick all the time. I want to feel and act like myself! Pretty pleased with life for now...

Doctor's appointment

Well, we finally made it to the doctor to get Reilly's 4-month check up and shots, now that he's just over 5 months. We've had it scheduled several times, but it kept falling through, etc. He weighs 16 lbs even (that's 2 lbs more than 2 weeks ago!) and is 26 inches long. (42nd and 59th? percentiles) He was a trooper for his shots, and now that they're over hopefully I can stop worrying about it. I've been sick to my stomach some the last few days, and I hope it's just hunger and worry about his upcoming appointment. Of course my especially inventive mind keeps saying, "what if you're pregnant?" That should not be possible, and I don't know if any of us (me, Jeremy, or Reilly) would live through it. I don't think that's really the case, but it's a scary thought anyway. Last night was terrible and I didn't get much sleep. Reilly's been taking really long naps today to make up for HIS lack of sleep, as well as the schock of his shots, I imagine. Jeremy's been amazing all day and helped me sleep in a little this morning. He was able to restore the pictures I somehow lost that I had just deleted from our camera, and he is currently doing the dishes and cleaning the family room. I don't deserve him...

Can I just be done with today?

It's really not that bad, but I didn't get quite enough sleep last night (much more my fault than Reilly's for once) and Reilly is so cranky and grumpy today. And the wind is howling outside, rattling the foil on my bedroom windows and trying to get into Reilly's room through the cooler and every crack. Maybe that's part of what's making him upset. My mom has mentioned her babies seemed more restless when it was so windy. I wonder if Iowa is windy like this? I think it is sometimes - it's really flat there, right? I feel a little sick to my stomach and not sure if it's because I'm hungry or something else... I finished putting Heather's wedding onto a DVD, so that's nice. Now I just have to make a cover and label for it. I haven't accomplished much else today except I -did- exercise. I'm really trying to be good. I'm wrestling with whether I should make the cookies I was going to make yesterday. I know Jeremy would really enjoy them, but will I be able to eat just one or two? Hmm. Reilly is sitting on my lap and totally enthralled with the two-handed typing process. :) That's fun; usually I hold him with one hand and one-hand it. Somehow I know this isn't going to last that long though. Reilly gets his shots tomorrow. NOT exciting. He's already having such a hard time with teething and drainage, but I can't put them off AGAIN. He turned 5 months old yesterday. I can't believe it! He is getting so fat... I hope he starts growing out again sometime soon...

Sick of coughing

So we've all been fighting colds for several weeks now, and Jeremy came home from tour as a bass instead of a tenor, :) but I am really not feeling well. I coughed myself to sleep last night and then Reilly woke up every 1.5 to 2 hours, which is unusual for him. He'll usually sleep at least 3 to 4 hours at a stretch - sometimes 5-6+. Very tired today. Jeremy and Reilly are at church. I should be sleeping but can't face it. Maybe I'll go shower in a few minutes. I've been video editing and coughing, mostly. Jeremy has been really helpful, and even got up with Reilly this morning. I was nice and let him sleep in until 11:30 yesterday, too, though, so... Still, he's wonderful.

I love my mom(s)

I am really going to miss all this family support when we move to Iowa. My mom just came and picked up Reilly and she's going to keep him for a few hours. He'll get better attention and I can do the dishes and maybe even sleep? I'm really tired but sleep doesn't sound appealing with my scratchy throat. Then this evening I think Jeremy's mom is going to watch him for a few hours so Jeremy and I can do something together. :) Tired, but blessed.

Thoughts on 4 hours of sleep.

No, thank you. I thought I was mostly beyond sleep-deprivation now that Reilly is almost 5 months old. Speaking of him, I decided to title this blog after my baby boy because usually it seems like that's all I do or think about (other than video editing whenever I get a chance.) I'm not complaining, really, that's just life right now.

Anyway. Jeremy is gone on choir tour and I always stay up too late when he's gone. So I got in bed at midnight (1.5 hours after the last time Reilly needed to be rocked back to sleep) but couldn't go to sleep until 1. Then Reilly woke up at almost 5, and had to be totally changed cause he had leaked. Poor little guy was cooing brokenly (because of the drainage we're both suffering from) by the time I was done, which meant he was very awake. Sigh. Someone invent a better diaper! It took a while to nurse him and get him back to sleep - about 30 minutes. After that I tried and tried, but couldn't get to sleep. Between my drainage, the train, and (after a while) knowing Reilly could wake up at any moment, it just didn't happen. I finally stopped trying because I was going crazy. So here I am. Almost 8 o'clock but having slept only 4 hours. When am I going to sleep?

In happier news, I have lost 2.5 lbs in the last 2 weeks. It's nothing amazing, but a lot better than gaining or staying the same. Gonna keep working on it, just not too intensely. I'm too tired to be intense about anything.