Hello Family & Friends!!!

At one day old Samantha had a chance to meet several family and friends. Over the last 24 hours she got to spend time with all of her immediate family as well as some people that will make up a very important part of her life. The day started with us have a lovely morning with just the three of us. However around 11:30 the doors began revolving with visitor after visitor....and although she does not have everyone's name down pat yet she knows there are alot friends and family out there and we talked tonight about several of the others that she has not met yet. Some pretty cool highlights for the day was getting to spend a little one on one time with her great grandparents as well as meeting all of her 1st cousins...although she did mention that she feels a little out numbered. If all goes well tonight, she will be leaving the hospital tomorrow around 11:00 to head home to meet Abigail Grace.

Happy Birthday Samantha!!!

On Saturday, March 7, 2009 at 4:57pm Samantha Harper Riley was born. She has made me one proud dad and I could not be more proud of the job that Paige did...during the entire pregnancy period but especially during the birth of Samantha. Samantha is beautiful...it turned out to be true that she gets her good looks from her mom. She weighed in at 7 lbs and 3 ozs and was a total of 20.5 inches long. Paige's mom was also in the delivery room and a key asset to the birth of Samantha. We will have 48 hours in the hospital and then we can take Samantha home to meet Abigail, as well as show her all of the cool stuff her dad has been playing with for the last nine months. Happy Birthday Samantha!!!

34 Week parents-to-be photos!!!!

We woke up this morning and headed over to the studios of Zilkoski & Keenan....otherwise known as Rae and Chad's. Paige wanted to get a couple of photos of her belly before Samantha gets here. We had alot of fun doing it, I can't wait to see the bill from Chad. The 34 weeks have flown by but we sure are excited that Samantha is almost here.

Samantha's Charlotte Shower

This past Saturday we had a shower at Rachel's house to celebrate Samantha. What a great time! The food was wonderful and everyone enjoyed the beautiful "Special Delivery" cake. All the girls shared their favorite pieces of advice -- all written down, of course, so we can be sure to remember when we're feeling overwhelmed in a few months! We received some amazing presents --- can't wait for Samantha to get here soon, so we can start using them (although not too soon, as she stills needs more cooking in this oven!) It was great seeing our out-of-town friends --the boys (and babies) enjoyed some 'male-bonding' with Wes at our house. A very special thank-you to Mom and Rachel for making this such a wonderful celebration!

Take 2

Late yesterday afternoon we got to go the hospital to do our 2nd set of 3d and 4d photos. During one point of her photo session Samantha actually put her hand on the side of her face and gave us a look that if I had to guess what she was saying it would have been "if you would just wait about 82 more days I will be here and all this guessing stuff will not be needed". She had fun with it, she yawned, she stuck her tounge out at us, she smiled, she played peek-a-boo, and she finally came to the realization that there is always going to be a camera around her. Here are a couple of the shots, you can click on them to make them larger.

Roxboro Baby Shower

Samantha had her first baby shower yesterday. Alot of time and effort went into making sure everything was just perfect. If yesterday was any indication of the future for Samantha there is a good chance she is going to end up spoiled rotten. My sister who is expecting on January 6th was able it to make it to the shower (40 miles away from her hospital) which was a very special treat. Special thanks to my Mom, Grandma, and Michelle for all of the effort that went into it and a thanks to everyone that was able to make it to the shower. Samantha is going to love all of her presents. Mom, everything was beautiful and I enjoyed the cake so much I am having a piece this morning for breakfast. Approximately 87 more days......