It's getting harder and harder to get good pictures. They're moving too fast these days! Riley is almost walking independently. Emerson is as sweet as ever. We're just trying to keep up with life; and while its demanding, we're having a great time doing it! And I don't know why, when I upload pictures from my phone this way, they appear to be such poor quality.

Summer '12

Finally found time to upload photos from my real camera too! The house is coming along slowly but surely. It definitely keeps us busy, but we are all happy and well. Will write more soon! Enjoy the pics

Mobile uploads from July

I actually created this in July but it wouldn't let me upload it for some reason!  So these are just photos from my phone from the month of July.

Just testing Blogger from my phone

Well, it's been about a month since we moved to the new house and we almost have everything where it goes.  We still have some painting and tile to do inside and we've barely begun on the outside, but we're getting there!  Emerson loves the new back yard.  The neighbor behind us called Scott to the fence one day and said "Your son has so much fun back here!".  She said they'll sit on their screened in porch and listen to him laugh for hours.  The neighbors have been so nice, 3 of them have even brought us fresh fruit and veggies from their gardens.  Poor Ri has been battling ear infections for nearly the last two months...hoping for tubes sooner rather than later.  Their criteria for medical necessity seems a little over the top and results in a lot of unnecessary suffering. Fortunately antibiotic #4 seems to be working...crossing our fingers! Because we have been so busy, this slideshow is 100% mobile uploads.

April and May 2012

2 years and 3 months/ 4 months

Life is just moving right along.  The new house is really starting to come together.  Just a couple more weeks and we'll be moving in. We rented our house to the first couple who looked at it. They will be moving in on June 1st!  Still lots to do, but the house will be livable and a work in progress.  The boys are so much fun.  Riley has turned into a sweet, giggly, and very cuddly little guy. He still has his inconsolable moments, but they are happening far less frequently. Emerson is such a sharp kid, he just amazes me every day. He's so good natured and incredibly sensitive.  We aren't having any luck with potty training yet...I have bribed him with chocolate, gummy bears, cheese-its, ice cream...you name it, he won't do it.  But tonight, while he knew I was stuck on the couch with a half sleeping Riley who was finishing his bottle, Emerson was running around naked after his bath and came in with an ornery smile. He said "I pooped in the play room".  I looked at him sternly and said "We do not poop in the playroom...did you really poop in the playroom???" and he laaaughed and said "Mommy, you clean up the poop in the play room".  I continued to grill him about why he thought it was ok to poop in the play room, trying to keep him in the living room so he wouldn't go play with it. But he disappeared down the hall. "Emerson, do NOT touch the poop!" I yelled after him.  Then he comes running back in, still butt naked mind you, just laughing and beyond pleased with himself..."Mommy, I stepped in the poop! Mommy, you have to clean up the poop!".  "Don't move an inch!" I said, as he gleefully pranced around.  I cut Riley off an ounce shy of finishing and put him in bed, scooped Emerson up, and immediately looked at his feet.  No poop. I put him down and asked him to show me the poop...he led me to the play room.  NO POOP! The little toot :)

Up to Easter

2 years/ 3 months

Riley is now 3 months old!  He's a pretty happy guy now for the most part, but it takes quite a bit of work to keep him that way.  He still dislikes the car most of the time.  He is sleeping through the night most nights though...at least 7-8 hours...so that has been wonderful!  He's quite a bit bigger than Emerson was.  At his 2 month check up he was in the 75th percentile for weight and head circumference, the 50th for length.  Emerson is still being a great big brother. He's just the sweetest happiest kid I have ever met. And so smart!  We got the house by the way! We hope to be done with renovations by the end of April. Busy Busy...

Catching up

Here are lots of pictures to make up for the long absence from the blog!  Everything is going really well.   Riley gets more pleasant every day.  He still would prefer to be held constantly, but I can talk him into entertaining himself for short periods of time here and there.  He has started cooing and smiling at his stuffed animals.  Probably the most noteworthy event is that we bought another house right around the corner from ours, only much larger, and we should be closing in the next few weeks.  We only have to remodel both bathrooms and the kitchen, build a laundry room, refinish the flooring, and repaint every wall...oh and replace the garage doors and the roof among many other things...yes, we have our hands full!  Making life as complicated as possible is what we do best :). We are excited though.  We needed more space soo badly and it should be a fun project.  We hope to find renters for the house we're in now. I return to work 3 weeks from today and they are currently in the process of transitioning all of the nurses to work from home so if all goes well my first day back will be at home!  I couldn't be happier...the commute from Norman to OKC and back everyday during peak rush hour is enough to make someone go crazy after a few years.  Riley has his two month check up on Friday and I will update you then!

Update!

Ok, I think I successfully fixed the slide show on the previous post.  Please let me know if it is still showing old pictures.  We are still hanging in there.  Riley is proving to be a bit more of a challenge than Emerson was, but we're still going to keep him :).  He is a sweetheart, but he cries a lot.  He cries when he yawns, he cries when he sneezes, he cries when you put him down, he cries when you don't hold him in the appropriate position, he cries in the car...I think you get the point.  I did have a breakthrough today when he accepted a paci for the first time and kept it for nearly 20 minutes of peaceful silence before dozing off!  It will be such a relief when he finally develops a social smile in a few weeks to reassure me that he doesn't hate life entirely. He also still doesn't sleep for more than 3 hours at a time max.  Is that a breast milk thing?  I had to start Emerson on formula at 2 weeks and he was sleeping through the night by 2 months.  I plan to breastfeed Riley until about 2 months and then I will slowly transition him to formula before I go back to work at the 12 week mark.  There's no way I can pump enough when I spend 11 hours a day away from him during a work week.  Anywho...he's grown into a big healthy boy!  At his two week check up he had gained over a pound since leaving the hospital which is about twice the rate they consider to be adequate.  He had also grown over an inch. Now he is wearing 3 month size clothes already!

Emerson seems huge all of the sudden!  He is doing really well and has adjusted to this new family dynamic better than we ever expected.  He does not seem to harbor any jealousy towards Riley.  He is talking up a storm.  Scott has really enjoyed getting to spend so much extra time with him.  They have been building ramps inside and outside for his monster truck and cars and he has also been spending a lot of time on his new bicycle.

Welcome Riley Scott!

Sorry it's been so long!  As you know, a lot has been going on.  We made it through Thanksgiving and then welcomed Riley Scott Merrick to the family on Dec 14th at 10:30 am after about 3 hours of labor (and thank goodness because my epidural was almost completely ineffective on the left side!).  He weighed in at 7 lbs 13 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long.  Emerson has been such a great big brother. Aside from being a little more sensitive, he seems mostly unaffected by it. He loves to give Riley big slobbery kisses on his head.  My mom has been here to help for most of the first two weeks which has been wonderful. I have not had a chance to upload Christmas pictures yet, but it was great! Those will be coming soon along with an update after Riley's two week check up which is scheduled tomorrow.  Hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday and please have a safe New Year!

Halloween 2011

The dog door and more

Today Emerson learned what the dog door can really do for him. He has always enjoyed playing with it and sticking objects through it, or just his head out of it, but we never had to worry about him actually using it. So, early this morning he was playing in the laundry room brushing Bodie with a paint brush...the usual :)...I didn't notice how quiet it had gotten until I heard a faint "A, B, C, D....". I look out the back window and there he is, half way across the yard in nothing but a short sleeved T-shirt, sweats, and socks...50 degrees outside, dewy dirt and grass up to his ankles, heading right for the slide and singing all the way.  I opened the door right as he was situating himself on the platform for his descent.  I was trying my hardest not to look as amused as I was when I hollered "What on earth do you think you're doing?", but apparently I wasn't very convincing.  He grinned from ear to ear and proudly exclaimed "Emerson outside!". We haven't been able to keep him inside all day.  He got up from his afternoon nap on the couch and barely acknowledged me...right out the dog door.  We got home from the grocery store and he walked straight inside...and right out the dog door.  Needless to say, we're going to have to do something about the dog door. :)

Baby Merrick is still doing well. They continue to say that he feels like a pretty petite little guy, but nothing outside of normal.  We'll probably schedule an induction for December 14th which means we have just about 7 and 1/2 weeks to go!  Still no name and now nowhere for him to sleep as has Emerson decided to take up residence in the crib again (he had been doing well in the toddler bed for over a month and then just changed his mind), but for some reason we're really not that worried about it.  I'm sure we'll pull something off at the last minute.

Link to 20 month blog photos

https://picasaweb.google.com/Caitlin.Merrick/20Months27Weeks?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCImzxeDu3YCMYg&feat=directlink

20 months/24-28 weeks

Here are lots of pictures!  I'll write soon!

19 months/23 weeks

Everyone is happy and healthy!  Emerson is really starting to push his limits to see what he can get away with, but he still seems pretty easy.  I haven't had to leave a public place because of his behavior...yet :).  Actually, he's really on his best behavior in public.  There are people to say 'Hi" to and the scenery changes so he's perfectly content.  He starts trying to push our buttons when he's stuck inside because of the sweltering heat and bored to death. He's using 2 and 3 word sentences, but a lot of it is something only his mother would understand right now.  He did something the other day that gave us a good laugh.  He picked up the TV remote and held it to his ear and said "Hel-Lo"...he really puts emphasis on the "Lo" almost like he's getting a diva attitude with whoever is calling... he made some gibberish noises, then turned and looked at me and said "It's YaYa" so matter-of-fact-ly like, who else would it be Mom??  Then he turned his head away again, there was some more gibberish into the remote, then turned back to me and said "And CiCi".  

We had a follow up ultrasound today because they weren't able to adequately assess baby Merrick's stomach the first time, but everything looked perfect this time.  I put a hilarious ultrasound picture in the slide show. It's a frontal view of his face and that is his mouth wide open and almost smiling...he looks like a mardi gras mask or a little old cartoon man. He's just a little smaller than Emerson was in the womb and seems to be staying that way.  He was actually measuring for a due date of Dec 19th today, instead of the 17th, but that is not a big enough difference for them to change the actual due date.  He's still right on track. Emerson's due date was moved a whole week closer because of his initial size and then he kept measuring a little larger by a day or two as it progressed. Momma was eating too much and not exercising lol.  I'm happy to say I have only gained 10lbs so far this time, woohoo!

For those having trouble...

Some blog visitors have reported being unable to see the slide show/link to Picasa Web Albums in the previous post with Emerson's 17-18 month photos.  If you encounter this problem, try clicking the link below.

https://picasaweb.google.com/Caitlin.Merrick/1718Months?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCLuG2c2QqInTngE&feat=directlink

Emerson is 18 months!

Emerson had his 18 month check up last week.  He is still on the same growth curve and a very healthy boy. I am always worried that he's getting too skinny, maybe because I see so many images of chubby babies as the norm, but the Dr. said he's just right and doesn't need to be any chubbier. He has a vocabulary of over 60 words, not including animal sounds/impressions :) and the Dr. said he is definitely ahead of the game verbally.  He made sure to point out that just because he is verbally advanced doesn't mean he will potty train any sooner or more easily hehe.  We do have a potty for him and we try to have conversations about it every chance we get, but we probably won't really start trying until he's closer to two.  Which means I'll have a newborn to feed and Scott will have to be the potty trainer hehe. These photos cover a several month span, but I made sure to keep them in chronological order.  Gosh he changes so much in such a short period of time! :(

19 weeks 2 days- It's a boy!

     We had our routine ultrasound today and everything looked great.  He's a mover!  I haven't felt him move as much as I did with Emerson and they said it is likely due to where he implanted- the placenta on the anterior portion of the uterus and the baby generally staying behind it.  I feel really well.  Aside from needing a little more sleep and being moody when I don't eat frequently enough I barely feel pregnant at all.  I have gained 7lbs and a 5-10lb weight gain is ideal for this gestation so I am on track to gain the recommended amount of weight this time...so far :).   We are still thinking about names...