Did you know you could do this?

I had read on someone's blog that you could do this, so I thought I would give it a try. We got our hospital bill for Raegan's birth this past week. I called the hospital and asked them if I paid in full, would I be eligible for a discount. They looked me up, said "yes a 25% discount", and instantly knocked $205 dollars off my bill! Praise the Lord! I didn't know you could do this!

How do you stop a toddler from messing with her baby sister? Peyton is CONSTANTLY wanting to mess with Raegan....stuff her passy in her mouth, wake her up, touch her, pick her up. It drives me crazy! I especially don't like it when she wakes her up! I never thought Peyton would give a care about her baby sister. In fact, I thought Peyton would probably just ignore her. Not the case!

Well, this is it...the last day of dissertation! I know Arnold is SO ready. He's been working really hard.

Gross

I should have known Peyton was doing something because she was so quiet. She was in her high chair after we had eaten lunch. I look over and her tray was filled with milk. I wondered if her sippy cup was leaking. Then she showed me what she was doing...taking a drink of milk, spitting it back out into her bowl, then dumping it on her tray and playing in it. It was everywhere. Gross.

This Past Week...

Some things going on in our household...

Arnold is wrapping up his dissertation! Only five more days until it's due. I can't wait til it's over!!!

I had a birthday this past week. Arnold made it very special...a good cake, a present wrapped in Christmas paper..haha! My birthday cake had three princesses on it...he said one for each of his girls...awww!

Peyton just spilled half a box of macaroni noodles all over my floor, the baby is crying, and I'm trying to fix supper! AHHH!!!

Raegan is starting to coo and smile back at you. It's so precious!

Peyton had some type of allergic reaction to something that bit her yesterday. Her leg is very swollen and red. What kind of creatures do we have here in south Louisiana??!!

Me and the girls made our Saturday trip to Sonic(it's the only place you can go and eat and not get out of your car) and got jr. candy icecream Sundays. Only a $1. You can't beat that...especially the opportunity to get out of the house! It's our second Saturday in a row. And Peyton becomes giddy when we mention icecream. It is defintely one of her favorites.

Can I just say again that I cannot WAIT until Arnold hands in that dissertation?!!

One Month

Raegan is a month old today! I find that hard to believe. The time has flown. She has filled out a little more and is getting prettier and prettier each day. She now weighs 7 lbs. 14 oz. The last few nights she has slept better, which I am so grateful for! But we love her so much and can't wait to watch her grow.

Reading

I took this picture last night after Peyton had fallen asleep in her bed. She loves bringing her books to bed with her. This is how I found her when I went in to check on her.

This Past Week

As I learn to adjust to two children, I am finding that the days are flying by and that I don't have enough time in the day for everything! But here are a few things that we've been doing this week...

Raegan has been learning to sleep a little better at night. Praise the Lord!
We went to the doctor this week for her reflux and she is now on Zantac, which she HATES. How do you get a three week old to not spit out all of her medicine? But I did taste it, and it is VERY nasty. She's now up to 7 lbs. 5 oz., which is what Peyton weighed when she was born.

We've tried to go and play outside some this week, but it is raining in New Orleans non stop. Rain Rain, Go Away!

Peyton is sick, which is a real bummer. How do you keep a sick two year old away from a newborn? She's always trying to get up in her face, sneezing on her, etc. I don't know what to do here. I think Peyton probably picked up a germ from the doctor's office the other day. I'm trying not to worry but it's hard.

I successfully was able to take a shower almost every day this week! How did I do it? By wheeling the bassinet into the bathroom with a sleeping baby inside. Of course Peyton was in there too, peaking in the curtain and getting soaking wet. But at least it was a shower!

Arnold is still steadily working on his paper. I have started proofreading it again for mistakes, though finding the time to do this is rare. Keep praying for us!

A Few Loves

Here's a picture of Raegan and some of her sea creature friends.




And here are a few things the girls like doing these days...

Peyton loves....

turning off the hot water heater when we're apparently not watching. It makes for a nice shower.

rifling through the trash.

spitting in her hands and then rubbing them together. Yuck. Two year olds
do some odd things. :)

watching Finding Nemo. Thank you Janna for leaving us that movie.

trying to shove the pacifier in Raegan's mouth.

playing with her daddy.

Raegan loves....

sleeping in the daytime.

being held in the middle of the night. :)

Reflux

Raegan is two weeks old now, and it's been a hard two weeks. My kids seem to all be "blessed" with reflux. This means lots of bibs, lots of spit up on everything, lots of fussiness, and pain, and needing to hold them upright after they eat (supposedly for thirty minutes....and even at 2 in the morning or they will cry). Last night, I had a breakdown. You see Arnold has less than a month to finish his dissertation, so while he's been steadily working on it, I have been staying up with the baby at night. In two weeks, I have hardly had two hours of sleep put together. My mom would get up with her in the mornings while she was here, but at this point Raegan was still nursing every two hours. It's always an hour of sleep here an hour there. So last night, Arnold watched the baby the entire night and it was heaven. Of course I still had to nurse her every three hours, but I am very grateful for the much needed sleep. I understand why sleep deprivation is a form of torture.
So if you can think about it, say a prayer for our family...That Arnold would get this dissertation finished (due Oct. 1), and that our little angel would sleep.

On Our Own

My mom and aunt Jane left today to head back to South Carolina, so now we are officially on our own! We have had a guest(s) at our house since May, so now it is just our little family of four. It's going to be interesting. But now on to my mom and aunt...you have never in your life witnessed two women before clean a house like these two. Baseboards, windows, dusting, sweeping, mopping, scrubbing, washing, straightening up, cooking, getting the baby at 4 in the morning so that I could get some rest, buying groceries for me twice. There's nothing these two didn't do. I am so thankful to them for driving ten hours to help us out. What a blessing! I'm really going to miss them.

Baby Comparison

Can you tell the difference?

The first baby is Raegan, the second Peyton.