Sarah Elizabeth

So to start thing off I am going to blog about Sarah Elizabeth and the things that have happened in her short little life.

On July 26th we blessed her. It was the most beautiful blessing I have ever heard and not because it was for my daughter but because of the things that Jeremy blessed her with. He blessed her with love, compassion, and kindness. Also to be forgiving and to put healthy thing in her body. He blessed her with a knowledge of love and with a knowledge of the impact she will have on the people around her. During the blessing he kept calling her Sarah so that is what we will call her. Jeremy calls her Sarah Elizabeth and I do sometimes as well but mainly the girls and I call her Sarah. She truly is a little princess in our family.

So our little Sarah was born on June 24th weighing in at 5 lbs even and 17 3/4 inches long. Well our petite beauty has turned into quite a robust beauty. At a 6 week check she weighed 9 lbs. 8 ounces and was already 22 1/2 inches long. She is quite the eater. She is a very good baby. For those of you who talked to me a lot during pregnancy you knew that my biggest fear was having a hard baby. Sarah Elizabeth is anything but that. She has a very sweet spirit and I am so grateful that she came to us. She has the daintiest cry I have ever heard and it really is quite pathetic. She sounds like a little lamb but a very quite little lamb. When she gets really upset then she gives it the good old cry but that isn't to often! The girls adore her and are fantastic big sisters. Speaking of sisters I met my little sister for the first time the weekend we blessed Sarah. I will make a separate post about that.

We are now getting ready for school to start and I am anxious to see if I can do a regular routine. I will start next week preparing for school and think that it may be a bit tricky but Sarah is in a bit of a good routine now that if I just get up early enough, like right after her morning feeding, I should be able to have the girls out the door on time with happy little hearts and full bellies. I am anxious for the girls to actually be learning again. The summer has made them a little slower especially since the baby came so early I didn't have a lot of time to do the reading logs, and math stuff I wanted. I have let a lot go this summer but am okay with it. In the big scheme of things the girls won't remember and more importantly I have been able to be okay with it which is a big deal. When school starts the real work will begin but at least my baby won't be so brand new!

All in all the Riley's are good and happy! We hope you are too!

Things are looking up!

A lot of people have been asking how I am doing in light of my last post. Good news, things are looking up. See I think there is a common misconception that I have this need to have my house clean for others. The reality is that i need it clean for me. I cannot function or feel productive in a messy house. It's just part of my genetic make up.

I am noticing my older girls are really starting to act out. I didn't think this would be a problem but I realized that when you add a newborn to any situation it is tough on everyone. My only concern now is making time for my older girls. It is something that I am finding hard to do. Will they survive yes but I want them to survive and succeed. Well and also I don't want to put a lot of money into a savings account just for counseling which i am pretty sure they are going to need.

I love my little family and feel so blessed to have them in my life. A newborn does make life more difficult but it also really brings a sweet spirit into a home and family. Straight from heaven they come and into our arms! I love my little girls so much and my husband, what a keeper! He has really stepped up to the plate in so many ways!

No telling how tomorrow will go since we are both still up, him painting me blogging. lol Tomorrow I meet my little sister for the first time! I am so excited!!

Back to work

So today was Jay's first day back to work. Oy vey!!! I think we had breakfast at 10, bath's by 12:30, lunch at 1 dinner at 5:30, tv dinners, and a movie for FHE. Girls fell asleep to me reading stories at 9:30. no baths just faces washed, hair brushed along with teeth, and prayer and scripture while they were sleeping.

I think I will chart my successes and overall today was a bit of a success.

Tomorrow I need to clean the house but maybe I will call a maid's service. No seriously I am thinking about doing it only with the promise that I won't clean before they come which I personally think is a high possibility.

A Tad Dramatic?

So today I told the girls to clean up their room. Usually this is a once a day project and we complete it fairly regularly. Well with the baby this has become a little harder to patrol so today I told the girls to clean up their room. They asked for help and I said, "get started and I will come check in 5 minutes. If you have made progress then I will help. If you are sitting there arguing or just reading books then I will vacuum up what I can and throw away the rest." After a warning and then finding pictures of my sealing folded up and made into 'scriptures', I grabbed a garbage bag and told the girls they better hope they can move quicker then I can. They just sat there with big looks on their faces and I tossed half a garbage bag of barbies, my little pony, and other miscellaneous toys away.

They handled it pretty well. I on the other hand feel horrible since some of the stuff was Paige's new stuff she got for her birthday. I don't think they will have such a hard time cleaning up next time.

Feeling better/different....

So the baby blues seem to be fleeting. I now have feelings of guilt as I find my patience for my children basically null and void. I think I can chalk that up to sleep deprivation though. I must say lately I have been really wishing that i had had the kids all 2 years a part. I waited after Taylor because two seemed so difficult. Three has yet to prove to be this momentous task BUT I feel as if I am not giving my girls all the attention they need and deserve both emotionally and academically. I think there have been days these last two weeks in which the girls have watched maybe 4 hours of TV. I guess i just feel bad because I had these schedules for them for the summer all ready to go and then the baby came a week after we started them and now the schedules are shot to hell. The one thing that keeps me sane is knowing that in about a month and certainly by the time school starts we will be somewhat on a normal schedule and this short period of time will HOPEFULLY have done little to damage them.

I must say the girls are everything I hoped they would be with the baby. I knew that Taylor would poke and prod her to see how she works and Paige would just tenderly love and hold her. I under estimated how difficult managing their enthusiasm would be. The baby has been kicked in the head, almost dropped, and smothered all by two little girls who just love her more then life itself. While not wanting to damage this new love in their life, I still find myself telling the girls more then I had planned to, "be careful, settle down, Taylor stop singing so loud" the best yet is, "stop touching her."

Elle is such a little lover. So far she has proved to be a really good baby and is growing rapidly. At her two week appointment she was already 6lbs. We love her and feel so complete with her in our lives.

Motherhood as always is a daunting task and experience but I really wouldn't change it for the world. I would just change myself.

Okay really must go the milk is letting down and it hurts like heck!

Baby blues--Help!!!!

Okay so I am reaching out to all of you for a little help. Since I came home from the hospital, I have been feeling really sad, happy, irritated, and an assortment of different emotions. I begin to cry for no reason and then I find a reason to be crying. (It kind of makes me feel better if I pick a reason to cry, lol.) So obviously this sounds like the baby blues but I have never had this problem after birth before. Another thing that is happening is that when I nurse the baby or pump, I get REALLY sad almost instantaneously at latching.

So here is my question, has anyone else ever gone through this and how long did it last. I am particularly interested in the sadness when latching portion. So enlighten me, help me understand how it affected you, if it affected you!

Thanks to you all!

Sarah Elizabeth Riley

Here are just a couple pics of Elizabeth. Hopefully we will put more on soon!