Who is 6 weeks old today?!

Yep, my sweet baby boy is 6 weeks old today. 6 weeks old. I can hardly believe it's been 6 weeks since he took his first breath and spit all that just-born-baby goo all over my face. Six weeks of turmoil, and highs that make me feel like my heart is going to explode from joy and lows that were lower than anything I've ever known. Six weeks of tears, soooo many tears, late nights, early mornings, restless nights sleep, no sleep, being woke up in the middle of the night with terrible news, learning medical terms you never cared to know and wish you didn't and being able to talk and speak those terms like they were everyday language to you. Six weeks of spending hours in a hospital room, by his bedside, even when he couldn't be held, just so he would feel loved.Six weeks of hoping and praying for a miracle, and feeling and seeing the results of so many others prayers EVERY DAY.

It's definitely been a ride and the ride's not over yet. Riley will be going back to Duke, and in a sense, we will start all over again. We will have to sit in the waiting room for news from another surgery. This one much more scary than the first I think. No one knows what is going on in Riley's belly right now. His intestines may have completely healed up. Some parts may have scarred down and formed strictures and have to be cut out. All of the inflammed areas may have scarred down and that would mean large areas would have to be removed. He may have this surgery and no others, or he may have multiple other surgeries. It's truly a waiting game. And to see him, he looks perfectly healthy. so to think that something really bad has happened and is just lurking under the surface of his belly skin to be discovered is SO scary.

But for today, Riley is just a happy little 6 week old baby. He has the brightest, most expressive eyes I have ever seen. And he makes some hilarious facial expressions. He loves his pacifier and his "monkey music" (music box with little monkeys that is in his crib0. If he gets really mad and cries, you better burp him or he's going to spit on you, but he rarely gets really mad. For his 6 week birthday, he got a special treat! He is allowed to take stroller rides every day now. So he got his first one tonight and he LOVED it. He was so wide-eyed the entire time and fussed when Travis stopped the stroller. It felt so good to be able to walk with him out of his room. Although we were still at the hospital, and he was still connected to IV pumps, he was free to move more than about 4 week away from his crib. We just unplugged him from the monitors (that monitors heartrate and breathing) and first we put the iv pumps on an iv pole but that was a real pain so we then took them off the pole and put them in the basket under the stroller. He loved it, we loved it.....it was a good day.



Proud big brother had to do the pushing


Heeeey, check all this out!


Minus the IV pole...pumps are down under Riley in the basket




Two sweet boys




travis thought doing the bunny ears was hilarious




Hey ya'll


Travis writes a note to Riley every visit




Give me my paci!!!!!!


yummy yummy


Me and my little peanut (all 8lbs11oz of him as of tonight)


Some hilarious pictures: