Marriage Proposal

Regan and I went down to our neighbor's house today to play, and before we left Regan got a marriage proposal. Her little friend Christian told me that when he gets bigger he is going to marry Regan. So cute! I have posted a picture of him from Halloween last year. He is the one in the woody costume. Although he might have some competition from the other little boy pictured, Spencer, because the last time he saw Regan he squeezed her shoulders and said "You are so pretty Regan."

Just Good News

We took Addison to the doctor today and her white blood cell count was down and she had gained an ounce. We don't go back again for a week. Yay!

Good News and Bad News

We went to the doctor today, and Addison gained three ounces. Huge relief! But she has an ear infection and a slightly elevated white blood cell count. She is more prone to ear infections due to her cleft pallet. Since she was not running a fever, they gave her a shot of antibiotics and we have to go back tomorrow. They talked of admitting her, so I guess if her white blood cell count doesn't come down by tomorrow they will admit her. I call Addison my little trouble maker.

Bath Time

Well, we didn't get a picture of Addison's first bath. Didn't even occur to us. Poor second children. I guess by the third child they just don't even get a picture to document. She, of course, did not enjoy the bath. And her big sister was a little to much help, but we all survived. I don't remember Regan minding her bath, but that was a long time ago. I know that Addison will learn to love bath's just like her big sister.

Christmas

We had a really nice low key Christmas. It was nice to have Regan home to get all of her Santa and to be able to play with it. We let her play with her Santa presents for a while, and then we opened our wrapped gifts. Regan liked opening presents. She didn't really care who they were for. It's so nice when they are young and innocent. I think she liked all of her presents, but she played with her doodle pro and bitty baby the most. It was really surprising to me, because she is not really into babies. She is much more into stuffed animals. But she didn't pay much attention to the TMX Elmo (who is hilarious, by the way). She was very into changing her babies diapers and feeding her, though. She really wanted to play with the play doh create a center, but at our house play doh is an outside toy and today was not a day to go outside.

Sisterly Love

Church

We took Regan to church this morning for the first time since our nephew, Reid's christening. Addison stayed home with my mom. I have to say, Regan did really well. She was pretty good about whispering, and she really liked the music. She did keep saying "What are you guys saying, Mommy." But for a two year old, I figured as long as she was whispering the majority of the time we were doing well. We don't take her very often, because in the past she has been distracting for us and for people around us. Since she is not keen on strangers, the nursery is not an option for her. Of course, we pick one of the worst days weather wise to go. It was really cold and rainy and we got there early and I was thinking it was going to be a disaster with Regan and part of me wanted to tell Matt we should just go get coffee. But I thought, well we will try it and if it doesn't work out we can sit close to the door and make a speedy exit. Matt and I were really glad that we braved it. With all that is going on, we can use all the spirituality that we can get. And it was an added bonus that our child was well behaved.

Weight Loss

We took Addison to the pediatrician to get weighed yesterday, and she had lost an ounce. This is since Monday. I immediately started crying. Obviously, all of this is very stressful and my hormones are not helping. The doctor didn't seem that concerned, though. He said everything else with her looks good. He is giving her until Tuesday to gain some more weight. If she loses again, I think they will admit her to figure out what is wrong. In the mean time we are doing everything we can to get her to gain weight. We have (with the pediatrician's okay) started putting two packets of human milk fortifier in her bottle. This is especially frustrating, because she is eating more and we were convinced that she had gained. Now she is eating even more. Matt says that if she hasn't gained by Tuesday he wants them to admit her, because something is obviously wrong. One of the worst parts is I am not even looking forward to Christmas. I just want Tuesday to get here and for my baby to have gained weight.

Back to Work

Matt goes back to work tomorrow, so we will be down a pair of hands. He is only working tomorrow and Friday and then not again until the new year. I think we will be okay. I know Regan likes having him home, so I am interested to see how she does tomorrow with him not here. I am really starting to get the hang of this whole pumping and bottle feeding thing. It remains to be seen how it will be with just me and the girls, but all I can do is try. My main concern right now is there is a huge outbreak of RSV this year. Very scary!

Our refrigerator is broken, again! This is the third time in a little over two years. I was on the phone for a long time today with Maytag arguing with them over paying for service, because the warranty has expired. I had to call someone to come out, because Conn's Appliance (where we bought it) uses Sears service and Sears wouldn't come out because it was a "cash call." The parts are still under warranty, just not the labor. I just don't think that a refrigerator should break once in two years, much less three. So, I called someone and payed $65 for them to tell me that it is not an easy fix....at least $500...and that he couldn't fix it because he can't warranty parts and he would void the warranty if he fixed it. So, now I have to call someone tomorrow that can warranty the parts. It is still freezing, it is just not consistently cold throughout....so, for example, our ice cream is soft. So far, it was keeping my stored milk frozen....but the guy said he wouldn't trust it. If I lost all of that milk it might just send me over the edge, so I called my neighbor and she is keeping it for me until I can get it fixed. Thank goodness for good neighbors is all I can say!

Christmas Dresses

Regan had her Christmas Party at school today, and wore her Christmas dress. Quite possibly the only time she will wear it. I normally would have put her in tights, but it is 80 degrees outside and I didn't want her to pass out from heat stroke. I guess fashion before comfort doesn't apply when you are 2 1/2. Addison is wearing Regan's Christmas dress, which is actually a 6 month but the neck size is the same as a newborn so I put it on her. I think she looks cute. : ) Gotta love those bishop collars.

Aunt Carla and Dick stopped by on their way home from Dallas to see the girls. We exchanged Christmas Presents and had a nice visit. It was short as they had to get back on the road, but it was really nice to see them.

Matt's Christmas party was tonight. It was nice to have a night out, and a really nice party. Everyone was impressed that I was there, but I really feel fine. A few pounds heavier than normal, but fine. I think we are getting adjusted to the pumping and bottle feeding, and Addison is gaining weight. So, we are all doing really well all around. It is nice to have Matt and my mom here to help me. I worry about when I am by myself with the girls. I know there will be an adjustment period, I just wonder how long it will last.

Home

We are home from the hospital. It is nice to be home, but I can already see that life is going to be a lot more chaotic. At least for a little while.

Addison is having some issues that we are having to deal with. She was born with a cleft pallet, which is making it harder for her to nurse. They wanted to supplement her with formula from the beginning, but I was against it. So we came up with a compromise of nursing her and if she wasn't able to nurse then I would pump and we would give it through a surrenge. That worked well for a few days. She was latching on well and they were happy with her progress. I was happy, because she was doing so much better than Regan did at that age. Well, then my milk came in. She and I had a challenging day of trying to figure out what would work for us as far as latching on. Just when I felt like we had gotten it figured out, the doctor came and said she had lost to much weight and wanted to again supplement her with formula. I again resisted. So, now the new plan is for me to nurse her for a short amount of time and then pump the rest. The doctor wants her to get two oz. of breast milk every three hours, and we are adding a human milk fortifier that they give to preemies to give it some added calories. The only way to ensure that she gets two oz. every three hours is through a bottle. It is a little challenging, but I think once we get in the routine of it we will be okay and worth the effort. At least I hope so.

The other issue is Addison failed her hearing test. We have been told not to worry, yet. Apparently it is very common in c-section babies to have a lot of fluid in their ears and fail. We go back in two - three weeks to have it checked again. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers that all goes well.

On the upside we have a new beautiful little girl. Regan seems excited to be a big sister and eager to help. When we were taking the picture of her holding Addison, she was very much the proud big sister. She told Addison to "look at Daddy." The cleft pallet is very mild, and can be fixed with one surgery once Addison is about six months old. It isn't visible unless you look in her mouth. Also, Regan never took a bottle once she was three months old (which was stressful for me) and now we don't have that concern with this one. : )

Christmas with Sue

We opened Sue's Christmas Presents tonight. Regan was very excited about her own presents as well as Addison's presents. Her favorite present, of course, was a new Elmo. She also thought that we should go ahead and take Addison's baby Elmo out of the box. I think she wanted to adopt it as her own. I convinced her that we should leave it in the box at least until Addison comes home from the hospital. Poor Addison better like baby dolls, because she doesn't have a chance with the stuffed animals around here.

Lot's of Stuff

I went to pick Regan up on Thursday at noon, and they asked me to leave her there all day. They had gotten her to lay down on her mat, and they wanted to see if they could get her to nap. Of course, she didn't. They said she cried a little bit, and they tried putting a video on for her but she wants to talk about everything that is going on in the video. She has a very loud voice. So, they said to leave her all day this week...but I don't think I am. I know they are trying to help me, but I prefer that Regan take a nap in her bed. She is a pill to deal with around 4pm until bedtime if she doesn't have a nap. Not to mention, I don't rest if she is at school until 2:30. I run around doing things until I pick her up. If she is home to nap, then I rest when she rests.

On Saturday we went to a friend's house from playgroup. We got to see some of our friend's who's mommy has gone back to work. This will probably be our last playgroup activity until after the baby comes. That evening we went over to the Meche's to exchange Christmas present. We enjoyed visiting with them and Regan enjoyed playing with the kids. We don't get together as much as we would like, so it's nice when we are able to.

Matt's mom is coming today and my mom is coming on Tuesday evening in preparation for the baby. We are so thankful that they will be here to help us. I am a little frightened of having two, and it will be nice to have extra hands.

Not a baby anymore

Last night we met our playgroup friend that has moved to Abita Springs for dinner at Chik fi let. We are lucky enough to have one that is a restaurant, and not inside a mall. Anyway, they have a play area but it mostly consists of this set of platforms that you climb up and then you climb across some netting and slide down a big slide. I really wish I would have brought my camera to give you an idea. Regan has always been to little to play on it and usually sticks close to me in the play area. A lot of times there are bigger kids and it can get crowded, and she doesn't do crowds. The most she will usually do is play in this little house they have, and climb up to the second platform. Well, last night she wanted to get to the third platform, but couldn't. For some reason it is just a little taller than all of the other ones. Well, one of the mom's boosted her up to the third platform and away she goes. She climbed up the rest of the way, climbed across and slid down the slide. I couldn't believe it!! I was so worried she was going to get stuck up there and I wouldn't be able to get her down. Luckily one of the mom's with us had her 12 year old son with us and if worse came to worse he could have gotten her down. After that she went over and over and didn't want to leave. I had to boost her to the third platform all but one time, but I couldn't believe she wasn't scared to climb to the top, across and slide down. My little baby is getting so big!!!

Potty

Regan tee-teed on the potty for the first time today. She has not wanted to sit on the potty at all, but today I convinced her. She sat on it probably 5 times before she actually went. I think she is physically ready, because she can control it and she knows when she needs to go. However, I don't think she is really ready because she still doesn't really want to do it. With the new baby coming, I am not going to force the issue. I am glad that at least she now knows she can do it. Once the baby comes and we have made that adjustment, we will really start trying. Until then we are just going to try to continue to encourage her.

This weekend we went to New Orleans for my semi-annual tea with my Mandeville friends. It was a nice weekend, but a little exhausting. We went out to dinner on Friday, and Meredith baby-sat. Saturday was my tea and Regan decided that she didn't want to nap. She did pretty well on Saturday. We met Meredith for coffee that evening and Regan was behaved. However, on Sunday it caught up to her. Quinn came over, and they love and fight like sisters. Well, Regan had a meltdown that never seemed to end over a fight. Once it did end Quinn asked her if she was crazy and Regan told her no, I just a little cold.

Miracle of Miracle's

Regan sat on Santa's lap and didn't cry. She even smiled. We went to see Santa Clause with one of her friend's from Kindermusic, and that helped a lot. I didn't think she was going to go for it. While we were in line she had a look on her face like she was scared to death, while her friend was waving and talking to Santa. Emma Claire, her friend, went first and even kissed Santa. I'm sure that helped Regan be brave. Nothing like a little peer pressure. Also, the photographer had a duck....and Regan loves duck's. We had lunch in the mall and then let the girls ride in one of the cars. Regan always wants to, and I never let her. But I thought since Emma Claire wanted to, and she was so brave to sit on Santa's lap that she deserved an extra treat. The funny thing is Regan is a head taller than Emma Claire, but Emma Claire is actually a week older than Regan. The photographer asked if they were sister's. I guess because they had on similar dresses. Emma's was made by her mom's grandmother, and Regan's was made by my godmother for her godmother. It is not Regan's "official" Christmas dress, but this may end up being our Christmas Card.

Park

We went to the park today with playgroup. Regan slid down the "big slide" by herself for the first time. At first I was catching her and then she said "Mommy, I don't want to catch you." Translation "Mommy, don't catch me." I wasn't going to argue with that. She had a lot of fun playing with her friends, and feeding the ducks. If you can believe it, they actually request to swing in the baby swings together. It looks uncomfortable to me, but it does help in regards to fewer kids getting left out.

In other news....She had a good day at school yesterday. She had a good day the Thursday before we left for Thanksgiving, but we were worried that the Thanksgiving holiday would set her back. They that she has made friends with one of the little girls, and that has helped a lot. Hopefully we are on the upswing.....

Thanksgiving

Regan and I left last Monday for New Orleans. Granny (Matt's mom) watched Regan while I did some Christmas Shopping. On Tuesday Georgina and I went to the Jewelry Show to do some more shopping. Mimi (Georgina's mom) and Granny watched our children for us. Quinn showed up dressed exactly like Regan with no planning. I think the kids wore the grandmother's out, but it is always nice to do child free shopping. So, we really appreciate it.

Matt came to New Orleans on Tuesday after work and we headed for Florida Wednesday morning. Regan now thinks that Pop and Lil's house is Florida. It was a little challenging with Regan in that there was lots of stuff for her to touch and she didn't sleep very well at the hotel. She also didn't really care for the hotel, but I think it is because we only slept there. She did, however, enjoy feeding the ducks and looking for frogs (figurines that the other residents had outside of their apartments) She particularly liked a pair of pelican's that one gentlemen had outside of his aparment. They were just the right size for Elmo to "ride." I convinced her that she was to big to ride them, but she was so loud in her delight of the pelican's that the gentleman that lived there actually came out to talk to us. It was nice spending time with my family. Unfortunately we don't get to see them often with us living so far from each other. We are hoping to see them again for Christmas and for my grandfather's 80th birthday party, but we will have to see how the arrival of Addison goes.

We headed home on Friday. It was Matt and I's five year anniversary (or as he says....five long years...joking, of course....I think) and Pop and Lil took us all out to lunch to celebrate before we left. Aunt Carla drove over from Ft. Walton. We were really glad to have a little time with her before we left for home. Although, I think Regan was disappointed that Uncle Dick couldn't join us. When I told her we were going to lunch with Aunt Carla she said "and who else?" Uncle Dick always plays with her Elmo, and a friend of Elmo's is a friend of Regan's.

Oil Field Chili Cookoff and ADS

Today we went to look at the second school that we are considering sending Regan to next year. I think we will apply to both, and see what happens. Both schools have things that we like. Episcopal School of Acadiana lower school, ESA, seems to have a really good academic program and philosophy. The lower school is new and housed in one of the Episcopal Churches here and trailors, so the facilities are not great. But I was very impressed with their philosophy and the high school has been around for a long time and has an excellent reputation. At that school Regan would go five days a week. Today we looked at Ascension Day School, ADS. It has been around for a while and has a good reputation. It used to be the feeder school for ESA high school until ESA started their own lower school. Now ADS is building it's own high school. They seem to have a good program also, but it seems that ESA is more focused on academics while ADS is more focused on a well rounded education. At ADS we would have the option of sending her two, three or five days a week next year. Who knew picking a pre-school could be so hard?

We also went to the Oil Field Chili Cookoff today. I brought my camera, but didn't think to bring my camera until we had already left. I love chili, so this was right up my alley. We went last year, but we were leaving for New Orleans that day so we felt rushed. It was nice to go this year and feel relaxed and enjoy tasting different chili's.

Kindermusic

We had music class today instead of Friday, because the teacher has to have surgery this Friday. Regan has really come out of her shell this semester. We first started these classes when she was 18mos and she would participate, but she was still very shy. She has gone from that to now she does everything and she is one of the only kids that answer's the questions. And she answers them loud and proud as she naturally has a loud voice (can be both good and bad). Today the teacher asked if Regan was the only one who knew the answer's, because a lot of times she is the only one that answers....but it's not always the right answer. One of the questions that the teacher asked today was when she was hitting two cups together she asked what it sounded like. The answer was supposed to be a galloping horse or a horse. But Regan answered just as loud and proud as she could be with "cups." Leave it to Matt and I's child to answer with the literal answer.

Zoo and Birthday Party

This weekend has been a busy weekend, and it is only Saturday. We went to New Orleans for our final pre-Addison haircut and for a birthday party. Our haircut's were on Friday and Matt's mom kept Regan for us. Regan loves to go to "Dranny's." Saturday morning we went to the zoo and lunch with the Phil Manning's and then headed to the birthday party afterwards. Regan and Quinn enjoyed the zoo, of course. Apparently, Phil and Georgina have told Quinn that the Spider Monkey's are her cousin's. This is probably because our children are born with really long fingers and toes. Well, when we got to the Spider Monkey's Quinn said to them..."Hi cousin's. I have another cousin I want you to meet. Her name is Regan." They were glad to meet Regan, I am sure.

Regan had a really good time at the birthday party. So much so that it was hard to get her to leave. They had a spacewalk and a swing set, so Regan was in heaven. She also really enjoys playing with the girls. She didn't sleep on the ride home, but she was good...which is all that really matters. All I can say is, thank goodness for portable dvd player's.

Tomorrow we are going to an open house for one of the school's that we are interested in sending Regan to for pre-k. We still haven't decided if she will go next year or the following year, but it doesn't hurt to check it out.

Sleeping

Sometimes I wonder if we should ask Elmo what his intentions are with our daughter. : ) This is how Regan sleeps every night. She has so many other stuffed animals in her bed, I sometimes wonder how there is room for her. Sometimes I have to weed out the ones that I think she won't notice missing. However, they always get back to her bed eventually.

In other news...she is no longer allowed to take Elmo to school. I guess having him to hang onto was inhibiting her from bonding with the other kids. Ever since we stopped letting him go to school she has been improving. So, hopefully that trend will continue. Keep your fingers crossed!

Today we went to an inhome Playgroup. It was really nice and relaxing. Regan enjoyed playing with other kids toys, and I enjoyed talking to the other mom's.

Painting

We were supposed to get her two year old pictures (yes, we are running a little behind) done today and go to a kindermusic field trip at The Little Paintbrush. Well, the pictures took longer than I thought and we didn't make it to the field trip. But I made the mistake of telling Regan that we were going to paint after her pictures, and being that she never forgets a thing we ended up painting in the back yard after her nap. I heard her telling Elmo in her bed that she needed to paint with Mommy and Emma Claire. Emma Claire is one of our friends from music classes.

Regan doing a jigsaw puzzle

Regan loves her puzzles. It is amazing how fast they change and learn! We had a good weekend this weekend. Saturday was lowkey, but on Sunday we went to the park with some friends from playgroup that we never see anymore. One has moved away and the other's mommy has gone back to work. It was good to hang out with them for a little while.

Halloween

Regan had a really good halloween. Some of our friends from playgroup came over and had pizza and went trick or treating with us. Regan was much better at saying thank you (with prompting) than she was at saying trick or treat. She got a lot of candy, that will disappear soon. And I thought she looked really cute, if I do say so myself. I was impressed that she kept her crown on the whole night.

Our internet is still not fixed, but I was finally able to upload the pictures.

Sugar Test

Well, I passed the sugar test but apparently the pregnancy has made me anemic. That might explain why I feel so tired all of the time. And I thought it was from chasing after a toddler all day. : )

Sesame Street Live and the Pumpkin Patch

Regan seems to be doing a lot better. We had a little scare with the skin around her mouth turning blue, but the doctor determined that it was not due to lack of oxygen and must be a vascular thing. We haven't noticed it in the past couple of days, so who knows what it could have been.

We had tickets to take Regan to Sesame Street Live on Saturday, and the doctor told us that Regan was recovered enough to go. She still has a cough, but other than that seems to be doing fine.

She loved Sesame Street Live. It was the cutest thing. She was very excited to see Elmo, of course. She kept waving to him and saying "hi Elmo." The tickets were well worth the money, especially after the week that we have had. The only complaint that I had was that they brought in this whole bunch of Elmo baloons during intermission. Well, of course Regan wanted one. Up until this point we were able to avoid the merchandise area. Well, we go to get one....me thinking they better not be $3......$8 later we had an Elmo balloon. I have never felt so ripped off in my life. Other than that, it was a great time.

After a failed nap attempt, we went to the pumpkin patch. A little bit of a mistake, because the ground was wet and muddy. Yuck! Regan enjoyed it, though. She kept saying we were at the farm. Which is funny to me, because we were in town and she calls every pumpkin a pumpkin patch. But when we are actually at a pumpkin patch she calls it a farm. I guess the farm animals threw her off. They didn't have any small pumpkins, and she insisted on carrying the pumpkin. Even though it was way to heavy for her. She finally let Matt carry her while she carried the pumpkin, and he was able to help her with it.

Croup Update

Well, it looks like we are over the worst of it. We went to the doctor and he said that she sounds much better. He wants us to continue the breathing treatments through Sunday, but only three times a day. Thank goodness. Getting up every four hours is not fun. She does have a double ear infection now, and we have to give her antibiotics for four days. But I will gladly take that over chest x-rays and blood work. We don't have to go back to the doctor for a check up, and I take that as a good sign. He said she would be okay to go to Sesame Street Live this Saturday and that she is okay to go back to school on her next scheduled day, which is Tuesday. Thanks everyone for all of your support. It helps a lot to know that other people care about your child's well being.

Croup

Regan has croup. She had a cough for a couple of days that started on Thursday. I thought it was just due to the change in weather as it always effects me. On Saturday afternoon she had a 102 fever and was having coughing fits. She also sounded weezy and threw up a couple of times. Sunday wasn't much better. She seemed better this morning, but I called to make a doctor's appointment to get her checked out. So, now we have to give her a steroid and do breathing treatments every four hours while continuing to give her cough medicine and treat her fever's as needed. I gave her the first breathing treatment at the office, and it was not fun. I had to hold down her arms while holding the mask to her face. Not to mention it is a battle to give her medicine as it is. I take her back on Wednesday, and if she is not better they are going to do chest x-rays and blood work. They also said that if she continues to be weezy everytime she has a cold that it may be the beginnings of asthma. Please keep us in your prayers.

Matt's first trip away

Matt had to go out of town for a conference. It is his first night away since Regan was born, but I think we survived. He will be back tomorrow. Yay! It was made easier by my neighbor's little boy. We watched him while his mommy went to a running class. This particular neighbor and I switch off babysitting for things like going to the gym and doctor appointments. She is from here and has family here, so I have definitely needed her more than she has needed me. So, I was more than happy to babysit for her tonight.