Baby Ryder James

Here are a few photos from the last week of our little Ryder James.  Enjoy!



Mom is tired, but happy to finally be in labor!

Just born!

"Never cried before.  Thought I would give it a good try...."

A much needed nap.

Proud Dad!

A big yawn...

The kids love holding Ryder!

New baby brother.

Grandma and Grandpa were on hand to help watch the kids -thanks!

We only have one new baby, so we'll have to pretend  there are two.



Ryder James

The Riggall clan welcomes our newest addition, baby Ryder James Riggall!  Born on Sunday September 4th at 10:02 am, both he and mommy are doing well.

We started counting contractions at 2 am on Sunday morning and decided to head to the hospital around 4:00.  Thankfully, Mary's Aunt Janet was willing to get the middle-of-night phone call and graciously headed to our house to spend the rest of the night and be available when the kids woke up.  Thanks, Aunt Janet!

We also gave Jeremy's parents a call in the middle of the night to give them an update on the situation as they were willing to come down and spend a few days with the kids while we were at the hospital.  Since they were woken up around 3 am, they couldn't go back to sleep and where almost ready to hit the road when we called around 4 am to let them know we were defintely heading out.  They arrived somewhere around 7 am to relieve Aunt Janet.

Now, back to us: we rushed to the hospital around 4 am as Mary was having contractions about every 2.5 minutes.  Almost hit a deer on the way there. That was fun.  When we arrived they sent us straight up and and got us checked in and situated.  It was probably still a few hours until Mary was able to get an epidural, at which time we settled down to snooze the best that we could.  Mary was progressing gradually, which was OK as it gave us a chance to rest and re-situate ourselves for the next adventure.

Somewhere around 9 am they gave Mary a little bit of petossin (sp?), which helps make the contractions more forceful.  By 9:45, she was pushing and 15 minutes later, baby Ryder joined us!  We are both relieved that he is here with us now as we both were anxious to hold him in our arms.  Thank the Lord that he is strong and healthy!

Ryder was born at a hefty 9 lbs, 1 oz (how did little Mary do it?) and wasted no time in adding on more pounds: he latched on and started nursing right away, as if he has been doing it his whole life!!  Ironically, he has been doing it his whole life.  Hmmm.

Anyways, we are now in day 2 and everyone is fine!  We head home tomorrow to start our life together as a family of five!

Our Baby Boy

Now at 21 weeks, and with so many possibilities ahead of us, all I can say is, what a journey it has been! Yes, this third pregnancy has been a little more difficult than the last two, as most women find, but we are still thrilled, to say the least to welcome our baby boy. My pregnancy, though exhausting, has been a healthy one thus far, and we are so grateful to our Lord for being with each of us Riggalls in our own special way. Jaron and Abigail are thrilled to have a little brother and are already picking out (somewhat serious) names for our little guy. Abbie continues to say, "I wanna see it" or "You pop, Mommy?" Oh boy, is she in for a surprise once I reach 38+ weeks? I'm not exactly looking forward to the August heat combined with carrying a large belly with me, but if my mother could manage having her FIFTH child in the middle of August, I'm pretty sure I will make it.

10 weeks

12 weeks

13 weeks

14 weeks

19 weeks

Foot - 19 weeks

20 weeks

21 weeks

Jaron's 4th Birthday

Jaron turned 4 years old on March 15th! The week of Jaron's birthday, the kids and I decided to spend the week in NY at my parent's house, mostly for change of scenery for all of us. My mom was heading up from VA from visitng her parent's, Mom-mom and Pop-pop, so she stopped in at our house on the way through. We drove up together in my car on Tuesday, the 15th (J's b-day) and stayed until Sunday afternoon. Jeremy then joined us on Friday night for the weekend (since he had to work during the week), driving Mom’s car that she left at our house. We made last minute plans to celebrate Jaron’s birthday for the evening before we left for NY. It all came together quite nicely. Jeremy’s parent’s called long before we had plans for a party and asked if they could stop in on the 14th on their way home from the airport to wish Jaron a happy birthday. We figured since my mom would also be here (driving up from VA) and my dad was planning to come down that weekend anyway to visit my Great Aunt Eleanor (who is ill), we would plan a little party for our soon-to-be 4 year old boy the night before we headed up for NY for a week. My sister Tiffany also made the trip from Harrisburg with her baby Annabelle, my Aunt Janet came, a couple that we know from church came, and of course the Simrak’s came (my sister Geniene and her family). Even with 17 people packed into our tiny house, we wished our other family could have been there to celebrate with us at the same time. All in all, it was a great party and Jaron had a blast! Here are pictures to prove it!
First, I want add how much this little 4 year old boy has meant to Jeremy and I. He's so curious about life and soaks up information we never expect him to get. We love you so much, Jaron!

Jaron asked specifically for me to make him a turtle cake. His favorite color is green and being so close to St. Patrick's day, I thought it was an appropriate request. 

Papa & Nana with their newest grandaughter, Annabelle

Tiffany & Jeremy with Annabelle

Present time!

An ettempt to get a shot of the cousins (Abbie, Jaron, Eli & Gabe)

 Annabelle joins them. Are you feeling the love in this picture?

Three generations of Gregson girls (Angela missing from this photo)

 

Abigail

At almost 2 1/2, our Abbie has grown by leaps and bounds. She seems to be on track physically with her age. She has surprised us with how well she can talk for 2 1/2 (compared to when her brother started to talk). She speaks quite clearly and we can almost always understand what she's saying. She eats just about anything depending on her mood (as it is with most girls). We're talking a salad, a meat sandwich, red sauce, broccoli, peas, corn, etc.
This little girl will MAKE YOU LAUGH! She is so funny. Once she's completely comfortable with her surroundings and the people around her, you will notice how her personality is so dynamic and has so much pep. Every day I'm laughing about some expression she's made, or comment, or her just acting silly. It's so fascinating to think what her interests will be as she gets older.
Ever since Abbie was born, she has given us surprise after surprise, and even though we are past the rough patches of her health (Lord willing), she continues to give us a different kind of surprise after surprise. There is no doubt that God has big plans for this little girl. We are so thankful for her life in ours.

Abbie loves hats.

 She loves babies, especially her new little cousin, Annabelle.

 She found Mommy's lipstick.

Posing as a grad student. Who knows? She loves books!

She loves her purse that Nana got her.

 Unfortunately, Abbie is still on the nebulizer, for her second year now. The good news is that it seems to be seasonal. We're hoping when the weather warms up, she will be off it completely. We're praying she will grow out of her tendencies to wheeze and it won't turn into asthma.

 More baby Annabelle.

 Abbie enjoys dressing up. She's all girl.

 But most of all, she loves her big brother. She will follow him around anywhere, anytime.