Riley Alexis

That heart stopping moment when the nurse looks at you and smiles and says, “Ah! It’s a girl, congratulations!” I was so surprised. I knew from the beginning it was a girl but recently Alex had talked convincingly enough about how great boys were that I had accepted being a boy’s mom but NOPE. It’s a girl. And her name is Riley Alexis Ocasio. 

Riley Nicole was the name I had picked out from childhood for my daughter but when I found out, I knew Alex had said he would love to have the name Alex somehow incorporated and so Riley Alexis was the natural choice. He instantly agreed. We took a bit longer to come up with a boy’s name but Dean Alexander was special because Alex’s late nephew, Martin, had the middle name Dean and it was perfect if we had a boy. 

6.17.16 finally answered all of our what-ifs. The technician was very thorough and showed us all the different parts of our little girl, who’s healthy and on track for November! In fact, yesterday marked 20 weeks THE HALFWAY POINT. [ i’ve been pregnant for 20 weeks. unbelievable ] Riley not only is a kicker and mover but she has been listening to our krav classes – hands were up, protecting her face and she even had some elbow #1 action going on to avoid the camera (: During classes, its amusing to watch him teach kicks and feel her moving inside me. 

We had different ideas on how to announce little Riley to the world but it ended up with me contacting my friend who is also pregnant (and having a little girl!) and a fantastic photographer. Purple Paint. Water Guns. White shirts. It was a BLAST. Here are just a few from the photo shoot: 

[ yes there was glitter and purple paint EVERYWHERE ]

Life has been an incredible journey with this man and now our #lifeofdos has changed into our little family of three and we can’t be more excited! There is no one else I’d rather walk this path with or stand next to while raising our daughter. Life feels difficult with its ups and downs but standing by his side has never felt more right. Our cozy townhouse is slowly coming together and we’re looking forward to the next few years filling it with even more memories!