Welcome Riley Marie!

On the morning of October 12th Ben and I headed to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda at a ripe 6AM - while Parker and Ma Pat slept a bit more at home. We were told to arrive at 7AM to expect a 9AM delivery - as things often go in the military, that was not exactly what happened...
As it turns out we had about 3 hours in the prep room to chat and try to decide what to name our little bundle of joy. To Ma Pat's horror we actually had not chosen a name. We had narrowed it down quite a bit, but in the prep room we finally decided that our little one would be named Riley. (Side note: we brought the name up with our good friends Andrea and Travis earlier that week, and while they liked the name I was told strongly - by Travis especially - that my spelling of Ryleigh was unacceptable and must be simpler...Ben agreed) We still had no middle name. We were so lucky with Parker since Kenneth is from both Uncle KC and Uncle Jim, but no such luck with girl names. And so Ben asked if Marie would be nice - since then she would share Mommy's middle name - and Riley Marie sounded just right.
At about 11:15 I was brought back to the OR to be prepped for surgery - Ben was able to join me as soon as they were ready to begin.
Riley Marie was born at 12:12PM on October 12, 2012 - so it turns out that the 3 hour wait was worth it to have such a cool birth time. She was 8lbs 1oz and 19inches long.

From Fall 2012

With Mommy post-surgery in the recovery room...

From Fall 2012

Right before her first bath.

From Fall 2012

First photo with Daddy.