Praying for Your Children

I found a great article in Charles Stanley's In Touch magazine about praying for your children beyond the "Lord, keep her safe" prayer. It's such a privilege to pray for our little ones, to help shape them and mold them in to God's image. Here are the ten suggestions:

1. Godly wisdom.
2. For character.
3. For a spirit of excellence.
4. For humility.
5. For a desire to know God.
6. For direction.
7. For favor.
8. For discernment.
9. For the right friends/spouse.
10. For respect toward authority.

A Few Pictures

Peyton with her friend Gabriel. They were enjoying some crackers together.

Raegan is getting so big!

Day at the Spa

Last Christmas, Arnold bought be a three hour package to the spa. We went to South Carolina to celebrate Christmas, came back after New Year's, and then I found out I was pregnant. So I didn't want to go to the spa then. I have been saving my gift certificate until after Raegan's birth and finally got to use it this past Saturday! What did it include? An hour massage, a facial, shampoo and hair cut, and a manicure and pedicure. It was pure heaven! I had never been to the spa before and had only had a pedicure once in my life. I know why movie stars are so spoiled. I could really get used to it! It was nice just to have a little "me" time. And to top it off, I stopped at Starbucks on my way home and got a peppermint hot chocolate...my favorite! What a great day!

Sleeping Through the Night

Raegan is two months old and she's still getting up two times a night to nurse. I'd like to hear how old your child was when he/she started sleeping through the night and how you got them to sleep through the night.

Two Months

Here's the Post I wrote yesterday and forgot to publish:

My baby is two months old! I really can't believe that two months have gone by since I rushed to the hospital in the rain to have little Raegan. She is so sweet (I just can't say that enough!). In fact, a lot of times, we forget she's around because she's so quiet! She's a very gassy baby(she must get this from her daddy...haha), but other than that, she only cries when she's hungry. She coos a lot and smiles and gets excited when she's knows it's time to eat, though she's not a big eater. She loves being swaddled, and I know that after she eats her breakfast in the morning, stays up for about an hour and then starts whimpering, she wants to be swaddled and put down in her bassinet so that she can take a nap. Raegan has started to follow us with her eyes. I think she has started watching Peyton some, as she flits about the room. I love my little baby!

And for some other news...we found a place to live! Hallelujah! A three bedroom townhouse in Metairie. Great price, great location, clean and nice. Our move-in date is December 1st if you would like to help! :)

Mealtime Experience

Yesterday I made a recipe with potatoes. After I spent all this time making them and using a lot of ingredients, I opened the flour package again. That is when I realized that the flour I used in the recipe had bugs in it. Then I went to make okra and wanted to use some cornmeal. My cornmeal also had bugs in it. Then Peyton broke one of my plates after I gave her the plate to set the table with (what was I thinking???). Then I went to make brownies and I was out of oil. Do you ever have mealtime experiences like this?

Sleep Laughing?

I have been known to sleep walk/talk. Now there are two types of sleep walking/talking. There's the kind that you have no recollection of and the kind where you're semi-conscious, but you still don't know what you're doing. I'll give you some examples.
When I was twelve, we went to Gatlinburg, TN on vacation. One night at the hotel, I got out of bed, unlocked the deadbolt, and started heading out the door. Except I didn't undo the chain at the top, so I was trying to jerk the door open and the chain was stopping me. This of course woke my parents up, and they told me to get back in bed. If not for that chain, I would probably have been roadkill. I have absolutely no recollection of this incident.
One time when I was in high school, I jerked the blinds down in my room in the middle of the night, which fell with a thud on top of my alarm clock and broke it. I remember pulling at them, and I remember them falling, but I had no idea why I was doing this. After they fell I got back in bed and went right back to sleep.
Numerous times in high school, I would get up at 2 am or so and start getting ready for school. I would even look at the alarm clock (the same broken one, which still worked somehow) and read that it said 2 am, but I was not fully awake so I thought it was time to get up. I remember taking a shower once or twice. Then I would get back to my room (now fully awake) and realize that it was 2 in the morning.
These are a few examples, there's numerous times I've said crazy stuff in my sleep.
The other night though, I did something really weird that I don't believe I've ever done before. I woke up in the middle of the night laughing. The thing that I was laughing at, and I will not tell you because it's so stupid and embarrassing, was totally nonsense because I remembered what it was the next morning. But in the middle of the night, I thought it was true, and I laughed for probably five minutes. What's so weird about all this is that I was laughing and I remember laughing but I wasn't conscious enough to realize that the thing I was laughing at wasn't true. But I was conscious enough to think, "Oh I need to be quiet or I might wake the baby." Weird. Isn't it crazy the things you can do in your sleep?

Things I Love...

Things I love about my 2 year old...

1. She is not(as is common) ashamed to throw a tantrum anywhere in public. You gotta love this. :)
2. My two year old stuffed a pack of sweetarts down my pants for some reason a minute ago.
3. She will wave and say hello to anyone, but when the maintenance man came in our apartment this morning she was terrified of him. Why do kids not like strange men? Guess it's a good thing!
4. She will poop anywhere, anytime. During a nap, while visiting my office. Gotta love this too. :)
5. She can be so sweet sometimes!
6. She will have the most serious conversation with you sometimes (and you have no idea what she's saying).
7. She LOVES the outdoors. Going outside is one of the highlights of her day. I love her innocence and simplicity.
8. She is very grumpy after she gets up from her afternoon nap. And I do mean grumpy for like an hour.
9. The girl loves books, and I love it!
10. She is not a picky eater. My girl loves to EAT!

And this is an added bonus: She's just so darn cute!

Happy 2nd Birthday Peyton!

Yesterday we celebrated Peyton's birthday. I can't believe two years have gone by! She had a great party...hamburgers, carrot cake, and lots of nice presents. We didn't go anywhere or have anyone over, but just celebrated with our family. It was a special day.
Happy 2nd Birthday Peyton!

Peyton with her new puppy dog Scout and her new Playdoh.

Raegan thought our party was BORING.

Craig's List

As I wrote in an earlier post, we've been really searching for an apartment or house to rent. We've been looking on Craig's List, but haven't really had any luck so far. Arnold has looked at several that are either too small or in a bad location. We both looked at one yesterday that was very old and was on a very narrow street. You know it's a bad sign when you pull up, parallel park on the street, and a Lowe's truck almost hits your car. Well, we really had to move the van so that the Lowe's truck wouldn't hit us. Today we got a scam email from a property we had contacted. We've had several people who just haven't returned our phone calls. It's very frustrating. If a house is nice, it's way too much money. Sometimes it's a nice house for a good price but in a bad location. We'll keep on searching. I can't imagine what it would be like to look for a house to buy!

Two Posts in One Day!

The Monkey Room was great(see post below). Peyton had a blast, AND as a bonus she took an extra long nap. I love staying at home with my kids because you get to do fun stuff like this during the day! I wish I had some pictures from the Monkey Room, but I forgot my camera. It was basically a large room with indoor play equipment, but really cool indoor play equipment....slides, bridges, nets...lots of other kids too. I decided I couldn't be so TOTALLY paranoid about someone in my family catching the swine flu. We just need to be careful when going out and always wash our hands.

Peyton has been doing a lot of two year old sneaky things lately. The other day while I was taking a shower, I knew she was up to something. Normally she either stays in the bathroom with me or pops her head in there about 80 times. This time she was nowhere to be found. After I got out of the shower, I opened her door (which she had closed) and found her sitting in her bed with her container of wipes and a tube of Desitin diaper rash cream she was spreading on her legs like it was lotion.

And now for a cute picture of daddy and Raegan...It's so great to have him back!

Coming up with a title is hard

I've been a slacker lately when it comes to writing blogs. Maybe it's because the days go by so quick when you're at home!
Today we're planning on going to the "Monkey Room" with a friend and her little girl. The Monkey Room is for kids, and I have no idea what it is. But I'm sure Peyton will have a fabulous time. Yesterday we went to the park and played. We had a great time there. And then last night we went all went to Sonic and ate in the car. Peyton loves this whole concept. Of course, she just loves to eat in general. I've never seen a child eat like she does.
Arnold and I have started looking for a place to rent. In the next month or so, we've got to begin moving. How hard is it to find a nice, affordable, clean, safe place to rent in New Orleans? It's obviously pretty hard. The places we like are probably more than some people's house payment and car payment combined. The Lord knows our needs though!

A Few Pictures

Peyton has discovered that you can pull up a chair, climb up on the chair, and reach anything you want. SO, she's started "helping" me in the kitchen. We made cookies tonight.


Raegan is getting bigger. She's such a sweet little baby.


Here is a picture of Arnold with four copies of his dissertation about to hand them in!