The Richeys

Christening Gown

2012-02-01T14:23:00.000-06:00

My talented SIL, Juliet, made this christening gown when Adeline was a baby. I got some pictures of Annabel in it today so we can pass it back to Juliet for her little Murry.

I love the detail on the sleeves.

And here's Adeline in it...

Texas Birthday Weekend

2012-01-30T11:10:00.000-06:00

I traveled to Texas by myself with the girls this past weekend for two very important birthdays. I left on Thursday morning, so Jon stayed behind to work and finish some projects at home.

We had quite the exciting trip there. First of all it was rainy the entire way. Then, right as we were getting into the middle of nowhere mountainous area, Adeline decides to stick her foot through the door handle and open the door, going 75mph down the interstate! Thank goodness the door didn't open all the way, but I was so scared that it would until I could find a safe enough spot to pull over & close it. Then, a little bit later, I heard Adeline laughing hysterically in the backseat. I turned around to see her holding Tulip up by her collar. Poor Tulip's eyes were bulging out of her head! I had to threaten a spanking to get her to let go. Lastly, about an hour before our destination, my tire light came on. I got out to check it, but it all looked okay and Jon had me text him a picture of the tire. He said it looked fine and to go ahead. About 2 hours after being home, my dad got home from work and came in to tell me that my car was sitting on the rim! I'm so glad we made it home safely!

Friday, I took both girls shopping with my mom and grandmother. We had a nice little lunch at a local cafeteria that I just love, even though we were the youngest there by about 40 years! :)

On the way home from shopping my mom was driving and I was in the back with the girls. A diesel truck ran us completely off the road onto the shoulder of a bridge. He came from behind us so I know he saw us and my mom was honking like crazy and he just kept coming. It was absolutely terrifying. After I realized we were ok I started crying and shaking. It upset Adeline so much and she still keeps saying, "What happened, Mommy? Mommy cry. That 'train' make mommy cry."

I promise no babies were harmed in the taking of these pictures.

Friday night we ate dinner at my in-laws and we stayed the night there Friday and Saturday. Saturday morning Adeline and Karen made pancakes. Adeline went all the way upstairs by herself to get a little chair to stand on to help cook. So sweet!

Annabel is saying, "I'll tell you one thing..."

Saturday afternoon we went to sweet Lyla Faith's 1st birthday party! Everything was so cute, especially Lyla!

The precious birthday girl

Adeline just had to help open gifts!

That afternoon my two BFFs came over to visit Annabel since she had not gone to the party.

Saturday night my family went out to eat to celebrate my grandmother's birthday. It was fun, but my girls were exhausted by then and not on their best behavior. :)

We made it home safely yesterday afternoon and Adeline covered her sister in stickers she got from Lyla's party favors. Aren't big sisters fun?

Mid-January

2012-01-24T20:48:00.000-06:00

What have we been up to during the middle of January? I'll show you..

We've been doing crafts..

We've been visiting the library and holding hands with boys... (shh, don't tell Daddy)

Annabel's been learning to read (or grab)...

We've been going to church & posing for pictures...

Thank you, Tater Tot, for my dress!

We've been going to more friends' birthday parties at The Little Gym...

The precious birthday girls, Payton & Parker

(it's hard to get a picture of 2 active 2 year olds)

Adeline & Noah

We've been watching a lot of Clifford & playing with our birthday party balloons...

And little Annabel had her 4 month well-child visit yesterday.

Her stats:

Weight - 13lbs 8oz; 50%
Height - 25.75in; 90%
Head Circumference - 16.75in; 90%

She's a healthy, happy baby and for that we are so thankful!

Happy 4 Months, Annabel!

2012-01-19T14:12:00.000-06:00

Annabel Brynn is 4 months old today. I can hardly believe it! Time seems to be flying by even faster this time around.

What is Annabel doing at 4 months?

Goes to bed at 8pm every night & usually doesn't wake until around 5am which is when I give her meds & nurse her a little bit

She then goes back to sleep until 8am, so pretty much sleeping a full 12 hours.

She can now put herself to sleep as long as she's in her crib, swaddled, with sound machine & music on
If she wakes up in the middle of the night, I just re-swaddle her and she goes back to sleep
She is very strong & gets out of her swaddle frequently so we are going to try to cut that out, but I know it's going to be hard because it calms her so much.
Can roll over from stomach to back consistently
Laughs & talks all the time
Wears 3-6 months clothes

Size 2 diapers

Absolutely loves Adeline - she can be throwing a fit, but if her sister talks or sings to her, she smiles & laughs immediately
Very alert & loves to watch other kids & people
Trying very hard to roll from prone to supine & to sit up on her own - she barely needs much support in my lap to sit up
LOVES her bath - she is more active in the bathtub every night than she is any other time of day. She's about to outgrow her baby bath so she needs to sit up soon. She about wiggles herself out of it every night and it just makes Jon & I laugh each time. Nighttime is so stressful and pure chaos at our house, but watching her splash and giggle makes it much more enjoyable.
Nurses 6-7 times a day

Sometimes still takes 2 oz of pumped milk in the evenings

Tried rice cereal for the first time last night!

She seemed pretty indifferent to it. She neither loved it or hated it. I think she actually ate more than Adeline did the first time we gave it to her. It did not appear to upset her stomach any, but her diaper was stinkier than normal this morning. Welcome to the world of solids, Annabel! :)

This was from Sunday before church.

Annabel, Mommy & Daddy love you so much! We can't imagine our lives without you. You are absolutely gorgeous and so happy all the time. We think you are going to be our easy-going, friendly, silly little girl and can't wait to see how your personality develops.

And for a comparison....

Adeline

Annabel

Back in the Swing of Things

2012-01-13T14:41:00.000-06:00

This week has flown by! I can't believe it's already Friday afternoon. We started up all our activities this week so we have been busy busy and that makes time fly. Let's start at the beginning...

Monday
Adeline started back to KDO so we got an early start to our day. I'm back in a routine of working out and I usually do it during the girls' afternoon nap, but since we were going to have such a busy day I stayed up after nursing Annabel at 5 and worked out then. I hated it at the time, but it really made my morning easier. I was already completely ready by the time Adeline woke up then I was able to eat breakfast & feed Adeline before I got Annabel up. That made things much less rushed.

After we dropped off Adeline, Annabel and I came back home for her morning nap and I got some cleaning done. Then we made a rushed trip to the mall for more PJs for Adeline. I then took Annabel over to Shannon's for her nap so I could pick up Adeline and take her to her first dance class!

This is from another night when she tried on her new dance clothes.

Moms don't watch dance class, but I think it's for the best. I'm sure Adeline does better without me in there. I can't wait for her first recital in April.

I got this text from Shannon while we were at dance. Annabel enjoyed testing out Reagan's pretty bed.

When dance was over, Adeline and I took a trip to Hobby Lobby to find supplies for her "Potty Prize" box. It's still not finished, but I will post a pic when it is. She currently has a sticker chart and she gets a sticker for every time that she sits on the potty. She gets something (candy) from the prize box if she actually uses the toilet (which she still has not done) and when she completes a row of stickers.

I found these adorable sunglasses when I bought PJs, so she wore them in the car to go get Annabel. I think she looks so grown up in them!

Tuesday

Our day to stay home and do nothing. It was supposed to be raining all day, but we barely got any. However, both my girls were pretty snotty and fussy. And Annabel has been battling this red, watery, swollen eye stuff all week.

Adeline has really gotten into dressing herself and dressing up. I heard her playing in her room on Tuesday and I went in to find this. Headband, necklace, and stockings all by herself...haha!

Wednesday

We had MOPS group at church. Adeline refused to let me put a bow in her hair and insisted on wearing this headband instead. I tried it without the ponytail, but hair still kept getting in her face because she won't leave the headband alone. I finally convinced her to put in a bow & leave the headband right as we were leaving the house.

This is another fun pair of sunglasses we got.

Our MOPS discussion was on parenting and discipline. She suggested several books for us to read and I came home and put one on my kindle immediately. I am already completely humbled and astounded by it. I think every Christian parent should read it.

By Elyse Fitzpatrick & Jessica Thompson if you can't read that.

Thursday

I got no pictures, but we did have quite a day. We met Tiny and cousin Murry at Jason's Deli to eat lunch then did a little shopping at JoAnn's. It was bitter cold outside..19 degrees with a windchill of 5! We wouldn't have gotten out of the house for anyone else but Tiny. :)

Lunch went very well with Annabel in her carseat, but I had the grand idea that she needed to be out of that and in her Ergo carrier while we shopped. When I parked at JoAnn's I got out and got Annabel all strapped to me in her carrier. I turned around and started to go around the back of the car to get Adeline out of her carseat and slipped on a patch of ice! It was absolutely terrifying. Normally when I fall I find it funny, but this was awful because Annabel fell too. It all happened so quickly and I knew there was no way I was going to catch myself so I just put my hand behind Annabel's head and tried my best to keep from falling my whole weight on her. My knees took the brunt of the fall and my knuckles on the hand that was behind Annabel's head got scraped, but Annabel still managed to hit her head on the pavement. However, I don't think it was bad at all because she never got a bump and she had stopped crying by the time we got inside the store. I, however, was shaking like a leaf. It's one of those things that just keeps replaying in my mind on what I could have done differently. Today I am sore all over and my knees are pretty banged up, but other than that we're fine. It was just absolutely terrifying.

Friday

We hosted play group at our house today. It was so fun to have all our friends over to play. Once again, Adeline insisted on picking out her own bow. I can usually beat her to it by giving her the option of two and letting her pick between those, but not today. She had to have the "purple flower!"

And even though Annabel couldn't get down and play with all the big kids, she was still just as happy and smiley as ever!

As everyone's moms were getting things ready to go, all the kids were waiting patiently by the door. I thought it was too cute not to get a picture.

Afterwards while I was cleaning up, Adeline sat in this basket and called her Nana on the phone. She's growing up so fast!

The only plans we have for the weekend is to eat dinner with Shane, Juliet, Murry, and Tiny tonight. So hopefully, I'll get lots of rest in the next couple days. Just in time to do it all over again next week!

Daddy's Home!

2012-01-08T20:58:00.000-06:00

Yay! Daddy's project went well so he got to be home with us all weekend. We all thoroughly enjoyed it. Adeline got some alone time with Daddy yesterday morning when they walked to the school and played on the playground, and I got to escape to Target by myself for a little while. It was the first alone time I'd had in 11 days!

I took some giftcards Adeline got for Christmas and bought some potty training paraphernalia. I got lots and lots of panties and a little potty. I had already bought several potty training books earlier. Adeline was very excited about all her new pretty panties. She has also carried this potty around the house ever since randomly sitting on it fully clothed.

Yesterday evening we went our friend Kellen's 2nd birthday party at The Little Gym.

Shannon got some baby girl practice. :)

And Annabel finally got her thumb in her mouth.

Adeline had the best time running around like crazy and of course eating cake, and Annabel loved watching all the big kids play.

We've played with glo sticks in the bath a few times now. Jon got this fun picture of Adeline with one in her mouth last night.

We moved Annabel's crib into the guest room yesterday, so she slept her first full night in there last night. She had been sleeping on the Nap Nanny still. She wasn't so sure about lying flat and woke up twice during the night, but was able to put herself back to sleep without being nursed both times. This is how she was when I went to get her up before church this morning. So sweet!

We all enjoyed a morning at church and I of course had to snap a few pictures of my girls all dressed up beforehand.

We all took good long naps this afternoon and Daddy did our grocery shopping for the week for us. We are so blessed to have him in our lives!

Adeline had her first accident tonight. We had left her diaper off after attempting to potty for about 45 minutes when she peed her pants. She alerted us immediately with, "Uh oh! All wet." We are trying to make this a very positive experience so there was no scolding. A little while later, after I helped her get undressed and her teeth brushed before bath I told her to sit on her potty until Daddy came in to give her a bath. As Jon was handing off Annabel, Adeline shouted for us to "wook!" and there was about a teaspoon of pee in the potty. We of course made a big deal out of it and rewarded her with a pink starburst. We have plans to make a "potty prize" box to keep our candy and special prizes tomorrow.

We have had such a fun weekend, I hate to see it end...

One of Those Days

2012-01-05T14:39:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was one of those days that I just had to keep praying for patience. Like I mentioned in my last post, Adeline is cutting her two-year molars and we're going on Day #9 of Daddy working 12+ hours a day. I'm not sure if it's the teeth or what, but not only has Adeline been unusually cranky, but she's been waking up before 7 every morning. That makes for a long day with a cranky 2 year old! She threw several colossal fits yesterday.

I want to re-cap the biggest one so I can one day look back and laugh (hopefully). She's been playing really well outside in the backyard by herself lately as long as Tulip is with her. Yesterday morning she asked to go out, so I got her all bundled up (hat, socks, shoes, coat) and I took her outside so I could clean. She threw a massive fit because I wouldn't stay outside with her and it was back and forth for 5 minutes in and out. She wanted to be outside, but wanted me with her, but I was refusing to go. I finally made her stay in and unbundled her. She then lost it and begged to go back out. I told her no and put her in time-out to calm down. After she sobbed and nearly hyperventilated and woke Annabel up from her morning nap, I decided she probably needed some Motrin to help with the teeth. She climbed up in her stool at the kitchen counter to wait for the medicine and began rubbing her hands all over the wet countertops that I had just cleaned with Clorox wipes. I said, "No, don't touch that. They're yucky and will make you sick." She then proceeds to bend over and LICK the wet, cloroxed countertops! So then I had to wipe her tongue with a washcloth and wash her hands which made her throw another massive fit. I was about to start crying myself! I did a bit of research, though, and found that she should be fine from licking the Clorox counters.

She always wants to eat whatever we're eating. Even if she's eating something of her own. She had just about finished all her lunch yesterday when she started begging for mine. I told her no, not until she ate all of hers. This is the attitude I got... Not crying, just refusing to look at me.

I did manage to get a few pictures of my girls together in their matching shirts their Aunt Amber gave them, though.

And here's my sweet, almost always happy baby. She was a bit cranky herself, yesterday though.

And she's doing so well grabbing things and getting them to her mouth!

And I do have to say, by the time dinner rolled around, Adeline was happier. And I shouldn't complain about her being obsessed with food. This is what my 2 year old ate last night: broccoli & chicken casserole, black beans, & SALAD! I don't think it's anything I've done. I was just blessed to reproduce with a Richey. :)

We have hit the sleep-training pretty hard with Annabel this week. She had been doing so great and sleeping until at least 5am when it was time for meds, but has lately started waking up randomly at 2 or 3. Last night she fussed off & on from 2-4 but was able to put herself back to sleep without nursing. I'm hoping every night gets better.

We are all looking forward to Daddy hopefully being home with us this weekend. Adeline doesn't quite understand why it's been so many days that Daddy hasn't been home when she wakes up in the morning. Every day when I bring her into our bedroom she says something like, "Shh, Daddy sleeping" and I have to burst her bubble and tell her that no, Daddy is at work. Please say a prayer that his project continues to go well and they will be DONE tomorrow. We miss him!!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T18:00:00.000-06:00

Ringing in the new year has completely changed since college, but it's so much better, if you ask me! However, this year was a little sad because Jon has had to work ALL weekend. He was there over 12 hours yesterday and today, so it's basically just been the girls and me celebrating.

We did a lot of tummy time and playing on the floor. Annabel has started grabbing things, bringing them to midline, and of course trying to get them in her mouth.

She loves looking at herself in the mirror.

It's been really warm lately, so after lunch I got out the double stroller and walked up the road to a school to play on their playground. It was a whole lot windier outside than it looked and I almost didn't make it to the school. That stroller is heavy enough, but when you add strong winds pushing you in the opposite direction it makes it quite difficult. Thank goodness Jon was getting a lunch break around that time, so he came and picked us up after we played a little while so that I wouldn't have to try to walk all the way back home (all uphill).

Yesterday evening we ventured out to Wal-Mart pharmacy drive-through to pick up a prescription while it was still 2011 & free. I think several people had that same idea because it took forever! Annabel screamed the entire 20 minutes we waited in the car. Then we went across the street to CFA drive-through and Adeline screamed for "nummies" the whole time we were in line there. By the time we got back on the interstate I was about to lose my mind! I finally told Adeline to stop talking and listen to the music if she couldn't do anything but whine. It worked, and the rest of the evening was nice and relaxed. It's pretty sad when you start to feel like you can't even leave the house to go through a drive-through!

These beautiful babies were my dinner dates!

Jon got home in time to help with bath and bedtime...praise Jesus! Then it was back to work for him again at 5:30 this morning. Poor guy! We didn't sleep well at all last night because every dog in the neighborhood was freaking out over the fireworks.

On a positive note, Annabel woke up once in the middle of the night and put herself back to sleep within 5 minutes all on her own! She went on to sleep a full 12 hours last night!

This morning I was brave and took both girls to church by myself.

Adeline is cutting her two-year molars so can't keep her fingers out of her mouth.

We've spent the rest of the day relaxing and enjoying each other's company. We hope Daddy makes it home soon!

Annabel says Happy New Year!

Play Dates

2011-12-30T15:46:00.000-06:00

We've had a couple play dates at our house this week. On Wednesday Westin came over while his momma went to a doctor appointment.

After Adeline's nap, we played with her new play-doh. I love afternoons with this girl.

This is not from a play date, but I had to document this. On Thursday I was nursing Annabel and I had Clifford on TV. Adeline actually laid down to watch it. She NEVER is still this long and absolutely NEVER lays down except to go to sleep for naps and at nighttime.

Today, Cilla and Rebekah came over to play and have lunch. It is unseasonably warm today, so the girls got to enjoy some outdoor time.

My child refuses to smile or look at the camera.

It's been a fun week. We are so blessed with such sweet friends!

Christmas Vacation

2011-12-27T10:34:00.000-06:00

We went to our hometown in Texas for Christmas as usual. It was a jam-packed weekend of fun and festivities. I am one worn out momma. I think I'll be recovering all week!

We got to Texas on Thursday and spent the night with Jon's parents. My parents came over for dinner and we visited a while.

We spent Friday visiting a few others and Jon and I got our eyes checked. I'm getting bifocals! Oh my, I'm old! That night went to eat with my aunt, uncle, & cousin. Adeline calls my aunt Tater Tot. It's so cute! We stayed the night on Friday with my parents.

Saturday morning one of my BFFs and her precious daughter, Lyla came to visit and exchange gifts. This is the only picture I got!

Adeline would get right in Lyla's face & talk to her and tickle her. Lyla thought it was hilarious! We can't wait to see them again in January for Lyla's first birthday.

Then my mom and Adeline made a Happy Birthday Jesus cake. What a cute & fun tradition.

After the cake was done we all sang happy birthday to Jesus and then ate some yummy cake.

That afternoon we went back to Jon's parents' to visit his aunt Janice. Murry was there so we got a picture of the grands and their three matching granddaughters.

Murry & Annabel

We spent Christmas Eve at my grandparents', Pops & MiMi. Adeline ate everything in sight then had a blast opening all her gifts.

Nana & Annabel

The grand & great-grand kids

We spent Saturday night at my parents' and had Christmas morning at their house. Once again, Adeline LOVED opening presents.

She got lots of chapstick. See it smeared on her face? :)

Annabel watched while her sister opened her gifts for her.

Pappy with his granddaughters

For lunch we went to my other grandmother's, Ginga. And once again, opened more gifts.

2 of my Loves

Kasey & Annabel

My uncle John showing Adeline how to use the view finder.

We went from there over to some of mine & Jon's high school friends' house (they're brother & sister). This is Annabel with Emily. We were majorettes together. Her brother, Matt, is Jon's age. He has a little girl named Abigail that is Adeline's age. He and his wife are expecting a little boy in May.

Adeline & Abigail with Abigail's Nana

We celebrated Christmas night at Jon's parents' house with all his siblings. I always love being with all of them.

Jon & his mommy

And ta-da! Christmas is over! We had such a great time with all our friends and family.

Our Family Christmas

2011-12-21T14:06:00.001-06:00

We had our little family Christmas this morning and it was so much fun! Last night I let the girls open up one present each (really Adeline opened them both). They were Christmas pajamas. I like this tradition and plan to do it every year. We left out cookies for Santa and he came and left presents and filled our stockings. He ate all his cookies and even left us a note thanking us for taking such good care of Dee.

Adeline got a balance bike & Annabel got an exersaucer. Santa left stuff in all our stockings!

Adeline inspecting her stocking stuffers.

I think she likes it.

After the Santa gifts, both girls had a few presents from us to open, and Jon and I exchanged gifts as well. We try not to go overboard with gifts since they're going to be getting so much from grandparents and aunts and cousins, etc. Especially not now when they're so young and don't know better. I'm sure once they start asking for specific items, it'll be hard to control ourselves.

Adeline did not want to sit still for a picture. These crack me up!

This look makes me laugh.

Blue-eyed Beauty

Practicing on her new bike..

And of course, nothing is off-limits. She gets in here herself, but can't quite get out on her own just yet. :)

After opening presents, we had yummy blueberry pancakes for breakfast. After breakfast I was getting ready to get in the shower and it was like Adeline all of a sudden realized she never thanked Santa. She stopped what she was doing & said, "Oh, thank you, Santa." It was so sweet! Along those lines, the other night at our neighborhood party someone asked Adeline if she was ready for Christmas and her reply was, "Yes! Jesus!" It made me so happy that Jesus came to mind first when Christmas was mentioned, not toys, or Santa, or presents. We are enjoying the rest of the day at home getting everything ready to leave for Texas in the morning.

Dee & Other Christmas Happenings

2011-12-20T16:00:00.000-06:00

Santa sent one of his scout elves to our house on December 1. We named her Dee.

Introducing Dee to Annabel

After that first night Dee was off-limits and now every time Adeline talks about her she says, "not a toy."

Dee moved somewhere new every night, but I only photographed a few of her perches.

Dee got trapped in the candy jar with the last few M&Ms

Playing with the glo stick.

Hanging from the chandelier with a note about the gingerbread house she brought us to decorate.

Doing acrobatics with the tumbling Santas.

Dee even found Mommy's old Christmas piano music and set it out for us to play.

We've had a lot of fun with Dee and I expect even more fun next year!

This past Friday we just stayed home then went to eat at CFA that night. Annabel is getting lots of tummy time in these days, but she is NOT a fan.

Adeline enjoys it when her sister is easily accessible, though. :)

On Saturday we met the Davises on the square for dinner and Lights of the Ozarks. Dinner was a madhouse so we were worn out by the time the light-viewing commenced. We took one lap around the square then headed home. But not without snapping a few pictures first!

Sunday we went to church then spent the rest of the day at home being lazy and baking. My kind of day!

My girls are so cute in their matching Christmas outfits my MIL made!

These are the cookies Jon and I made for a few people and for our neighborhood party. We had so much fun with them!

Yesterday Adeline had a Christmas party at KDO.

Annabel and I ran all over town finishing up last-minute Christmas shopping and having lunch with Shannon. When we picked up Adeline, I took both girls to the doctor. Annabel had to have 2 vaccines and Adeline had to have blood drawn for her food allergies. It wasn't as terrible as I had expected. Both girls were so good about their "owies" as Adeline calls them.

Jon and I made a big, very difficult decision to give our two golden retrievers away. It's hard for me to even type, but I know it's what's best for them. We never spent enough time with them and our yard just isn't big enough for them. We found someone to take them both together. He and his wife are retired. They live in Eureka Springs on 40 acres and are letting Sunny & Hunter live in the house with them. I know they're in a better place with people who can truly give them the attention and love they deserve, but we miss them terribly. Yesterday was when the guy came to pick them up. Jon and I were both very upset about it, but we feel like we made a good decision. However, I wanted to do something fun to cheer him up, so I made him some "reinbeer."

After dinner we attended our 2nd annual neighborhood Christmas party. Annabel was extremely fussy at the beginning but soon passed out in her daddy's arms while mom and sister got to visit with friends.

This morning Annabel woke up with 100.7 temp and crying, crying, crying. Adeline and I are both feeling crummy with low-grade fevers and coughing & runny noses. I'm thinking Annabel has the same thing and it's not the vaccines causing the fever. Anyway, Jon is going to stay home with us tomorrow to help out in hopes we can all get a full recovery before we head to Texas on Thursday. He's such a good man! And since he's doing that, tonight is Christmas Eve at our house and Santa will come to visit while we're all sleeping! Yay!!

3 Months

2011-12-19T16:36:00.000-06:00

Annabel is 3 months old today! It seems like the time goes even faster with the second child than the first. I remember it seeming like it took forever to reach the magical 3 month mark when babies become less fussy and more predictable with Adeline, but these 3 months have flown by!

Annabel is such a happy baby. She really only cries if she's hungry or tired and then is usually easily and quickly calmed once the problem is taken care of. She laughs all the time, especially at her daddy. He just has to look at her and she grins from ear to ear. She has started "talking" a lot, too. I love her sweet baby goos & coos. They just warm my heart.

Our schedule is pretty much the same:

5am: meds & feeding
8am: up for the day, feeding
9am: morning nap
10:30: feeding
1pm: meds, feeding, then down for a nap
3:30/4: feeding
6:00pm: 2 ounces of pumped milk in a bottle
7: feeding
7:30: bath & meds
8pm: bedtime with a bit of nursing for calming, but use paci to get to sleep

She is doing a lot better with her daytime naps, but she's still not really consistent. Sometimes she'll sleep all the way to the next feeding, but other times she'll wake up within 45 minutes or so. Nighttime has gotten less consistent than it was a month ago. She's been on a spree of having to be woken up at 5 for meds for several nights in a row, then out of the blue she'll start waking at 2 or 3 & want to nurse. It goes back and forth so I never know when I'll have to get up when I go to sleep at night..hah!

She still sleeps in the Nap Nanny in the guest room, but we plan to try the crib again in the new year. We swaddle her, have a sound machine playing white noise, and the iPod with classical lullaby music that I play every time she goes to sleep (day or night). We usually have to go in a couple times to give the paci before she falls asleep, sometimes more than a couple, occasionally less than that.

She is still solely breastfed. We will try rice cereal at four months. She wears size 2 diapers and 3 month or 3-6 months clothes. She can't quite straighten her legs all the way out in 3 month footed outfits. She's going to be tall like her sister, I guess. :)

She absolutely loves her sister and gets so excited when Adeline talks to her. I hope they stay the best of friends forever.

I think that's about all that little miss Annabel is doing these days. She brightens our days and adds so much love and happiness to our family. We love you, Annabel Brynn!

Exhausted

2011-12-16T14:30:00.000-06:00

That's what I am! Our week has not been too eventful, but nevertheless, I'm exhausted and excited for the weekend to have Jon home with us.

Monday my girls wore their matching Christmas shirts their Tiny made for them. Adeline went to KDO and Annabel & I did some grocery shopping. Not long after we got home I got a call from the church that Adeline was running a low-grade fever so I went to get her.

I monitored her temp the rest of the day and the next morning and it never got above 99.9. Annabel had a snotty nose on Monday and Tuesday, but Adeline just had the temp and a bit of fussiness.

My MIL came to visit Monday evening and stayed until Wednesday morning so that was nice. Tuesday morning Annabel escaped from her swaddle and woke up earlier than usual.

My MIL stayed home with her while I took Adeline to gymnastics. That night, cousin Murry and her parents came over for dinner.

Wednesday morning, my MIL left to go spend a couple nights with Shane, Juliet, and Murry, and the girls and I went to visit Shannon & Westin.

That afternoon Adeline played so well by herself in her playroom. She turned on her Christmas music and played with her little nativity scene for the longest time. She was putting them all in an upside down frisbee..haha. I just wish I knew what's going on in that little head of hers.

Adeline used to nap 2-3 hours every afternoon. Then came September and her naps shrunk to about an hour or an hour and a half. Then came the past couple weeks and they shrank to about 45 minutes! I'm not sure I can handle this! So yesterday I was determined to wear her out. She woke up with a nose that was running like a faucet, but I was still determined to keep her busy. I had Jon blow up an air mattress the night before for her to jump on. She jumped on that thing all morning. Then we took a walk around the block. But the only person it wore out was Annabel (and me, but I'm always worn out).

Adeline still only slept about 45 minutes! I think the snot & the coughing had something to do with that, though. When Jon got home we decorated a gingerbread house that our elf, Dee brought us.

I think we all had just as much fun as Adeline did with it.

To add to the shortened naps, Adeline has learned how to climb in to her crib. I'm really not ready for that because it won't be long before she can climb OUT of it. She loves to play "mommy" and put her babies to bed. I caught her trying to get her baby back out of her bed last night. This picture makes me laugh every time I look at it.

The only thing keeping me sane all week was this little girl sleeping well.

But even that came to a halt last night! She woke up at 10, 2, & 6:30! She has slept a solid 12 hours except for her 5am meds & feeding since she was 6 weeks old, then the past couple weeks she's started waking at 2 or 3 randomly, but that was still the only time she'd wake up all night until 8am. Then last night she woke up those THREE times! And to top it off, she's hardly napped at all today. I don't know what the deal is, but I'm exhausted! If I wasn't breast-feeding I'd be on a constant caffeine diet.

But as much as I'd love to go check in to a hotel for three days and sleep, I love being with my girls and I wouldn't trade a thousand hours of sleep for them. Please just pray the snot stops running and the sleep comes back to our house. :)

You better not cry....

2011-12-13T14:54:00.000-06:00

You better not pout. I'm tellin' you why... Santa Claus is coming to town!

Well this song didn't work for Adeline. She is terrified of Santa.

She loved him last year...

Then on December 1 of this year, my SIL and I decided to take the kids to see Santa. This is how much Adeline loved him this year...

This picture cracks me up!

The plan was for Adeline to think that Santa was gone, but she figured it out before we could get the picture taken. Juliet and I had not planned on being in the picture, but that was the only way it was going to happen. We bought this one to give to my MIL, and to have something to laugh about in the years to come. Last year I promised myself that I was not going to be one of those moms who scar their children for life by making them sit in Santa's lap. However, once you make the effort to get them all dressed up and you get all the way to the mall with all your stuff and both your kids, it's hard to give up easily.

My mom came in town this past weekend and we decided to give it another try. We really talked it up and Adeline did much better. I still had to hold her in my lap (they cropped me out) and she cried a little bit, but not anything like the hysterical screaming she did on the first attempt.

Every time we mention Santa, Adeline either says, "Cry" or "Toys" or "Santa gone gone." It's like she knows she has to tolerate him in order to get toys, but she sure doesn't like him. :)

I think pictures with Santa are so much fun. I'm trying to come up with a way I can display them all every year.

Exciting Lives

2011-12-07T15:24:00.000-06:00

We lead exciting lives around here..haha. At least it's exciting to me. I have several pictures I wanted to document, so here goes.

This was the first time I'd seen Adeline try to color a specific thing rather than scribble on the whole page. It made me so proud!

She got a fun sticker book for her birthday where you make faces. We had a few eyes and mouths left over...

Monkey see, monkey do.. Feeding Ace his "nummies"

What's wrong with American kids these days...

Trying so hard to get that thumb in her mouth..

Tummy Time

I know it's early, but she loves sitting up, so we decided to go ahead & get the bumbo out. This baby is so pretty!

Sister time on the activity mat

Adeline has recently become obsessed with "pillows" (marshmallows). I found this fun Christmas tree activity to do. You bite the mini marshmallows in half then stick them on the tree outline..looks like snow!

She loved it, but I caught her eating all the ones off the paper as well. :)

Then we played nativity scene obstacle course. I thought it was a fun way to teach her the nativity characters.

Still trying to get that thumb...

Cheese!

Watching Charlie Brown Christmas

Cutie Patootie

I'm sure there all kinds of warnings against this. I promise she wasn't stuck!

One of these days it's going to happen!

Sister playtime in Annabel's crib this morning.

Our lives may seem mundane to you, but I promise you I am NEVER bored and I enjoy every single minute!

Our Christmas-y Weekend

2011-12-04T17:52:00.000-06:00

We've had quite a busy weekend and it's been so much fun! We started off Saturday morning with a Happy Birthday, Jesus breakfast and concert with Miss Patty Cake at our church. Adeline and I went to this while Jon and Annabel stayed home.

These three had so much fun dancing and singing.

It looks like Adeline is pushing Cilla, but I don't think she was. :)

They had to be right up front where all the action was.

Singing "Jesus Loves Me"

Then we headed home for a quick wardrobe change into something warmer and to pick up Daddy & Annabel before heading to the Christmas Train!

We met the Davises there.

Enjoying the view

Annabel slept through the whole thing.

Best Friends

Then last night we went to eat with Shane, Juliet, & Murry. I snapped this picture of Annabel before we left and she fell over right as I was taking the picture. :) This hat fit Adeline a lot better on her first Christmas. I guess 2 months makes a big difference!

Today we braved the elements and went to church, but it was quite a disaster. Adeline was hysterical when we tried to drop her off in the nursery so we took her in to church with us. I told her as we were going in that she had to be still and quiet. The quiet part was going well, but she was NOT still. After about 10 minutes, Jon tried taking her to the nursery again. This time she went without any protest because Jon took her to Westin's room where Shannon & Cody also happened to be volunteering. After the service I went to feed Annabel in the nursing room. About halfway through I could hear Adeline crying hysterically for Mommy & Daddy from across the hall and behind a closed door. I quickly ran across the hall to see what was wrong. Shannon & Cody had left to go to Sunday school and the workers had tried to move Adeline to her normal room. Needless to say, we had to just go home...no Sunday school for us. As we were walking out she pointed to the sanctuary and said, "quiet, quiet" in between sobs. She was telling me that she would be quiet just as long as she got to be with us. That just broke my heart. The rest of the day has been spent lounging around the house. It is cold, wet, and nasty outside.

We did get a cute photo of the girls before church, though. Aren't they precious in their coordinating outfits my MIL made?

And Jon took some cool pictures of the Christmas tree lights reflection on the floor...

And our finished tree...minus many more presents I need to buy/wrap!

Stay-At-Home-Mom

2011-12-02T15:20:00.000-06:00

This is a title I've been envious of since I started back to work when Adeline was 5 months old. You can't imagine the feeling of leaving your child with someone else (even if you completely trust that person), until you've had to do it. To put it as my mom did, it's like taking your heart out of your chest and walking away from it for however many hours you're at work. I have been dreading that day ever since I took off on maternity leave. As the holidays quickly approached I felt more and more a sense of dread knowing that as soon as they were over, I'd be back at work, leaving BOTH my girls with someone else, someone I hadn't even found yet. I was starting to have nightmares about it. I was starting to get emotional and sick to my stomach thinking about it. Then, miraculously, we decided as a family that I can now be a full-time Stay-At-Home-Mom!!! I want to just jump for joy and I'm smiling from ear to ear as I type this.

It wasn't an easy decision, though. I went through a range of emotions as we contemplated taking this step.

Fear: Can I really do this? Can my girls learn everything they need to know in those pre-school years from me? Am I going to lose a part of myself by not practicing as an Occupational Therapist for the next 5 years? Are we really going to be able to make ends meet during this time?
Guilt: I love my job. I feel called to do it. I've grown attached to my kids at work and their families and I think they're attached to me. Am I just deserting them? Now I will no longer be contributing financially to our family.
Anxiety: What are these next 5 years going to be like? Will I be able to get a job I love just as much when my girls get in school? Will I still be a good OT if I don't practice for 5 years?

But most of all I just feel pure, unbridled...

ELATION: The thought that I don't ever have to leave my girls with a stranger again makes tears come to my eyes and my heart race. I will always be the one taking care of them when they're sick. I will be the one giving Annabel her medicine and monitoring her heart. I will be the one teaching my girls about Jesus, manners, and everything else. Except for trips to grandmas, I will get to see these two faces every single day, all day.

Lots of prayer and these words from family & friends have made me feel even better about this decision...

Jon: We have to do what is best for our girls. We can't think about ourselves. And what is best for our girls is for you to be the one with them every day.

My Mom: They grow up so fast. Those five years will go by so quickly and you'll never be able to get them back again.

Shannon: Five years is all you have with them all to yourself, then they're gone to school or somewhere else more than they're with you for the rest of their lives.

Ashley: Nobody can or will take better care of your kids than you.

Amanda: My mom was always home with us as kids and I absolutely loved it. I am so thankful I had that time with her.

Carley: You will never regret this decision. You will never look back and think, "I really wish I would have worked while my kids were little."

These words are all so true and I'm so thankful to have such supportive friends & family. Now, Mommy duty calls....

Thanksgiving + Extra

2011-11-28T13:01:00.001-06:00

Once again, I'm way behind. I never knew my life could be so busy! Let's start where I left off last.

On Saturday, November 19, we celebrated Zach's birthday at Boingo Bounce. My mom was in town so she stayed home with Annabel while Jon and I took Adeline to the party.

As always, she had a great time with all her friends, especially Westin & Cilla!

That night we put up our Christmas tree. We let Adeline help with all the non-breakable ornaments.

For Thanksgiving we went to our hometown to celebrate with our families. We had Thanksgiving dinner at my grandmother's. Almost our whole family came in town, so we decided to get some pictures of us all together.

My 2 turkeys in the shirts I made them.

Adeline playing piano with her cousin Elizabeth.

All the great-grandkids.

Jayden, Adeline, Taylor, Annabel, Isaac, Makya, & Elizabeth

The grandkids.

Lindsey, Samantha, Amanda, Kelly, Mati, Jon, Kasey, Riki, & Brad (Dorothy not pictured)

The kids.

Tad, Dale, Audrey, Richard, John, Nadine, Jill, Debra, & Paula (Taylor not pictured)

The whole family!

Pappy with his niece & granddaughter.

On Black Friday, my mom and my BFF Amanda went shopping, but not early with all the crazies. I left both girls with my MIL, so we didn't shop long, but we still had a blast. That evening we went to visit my other BFF Amber and her sweet girl Lyla, but I was bad and didn't get any pictures!

On Saturday one of my friends from high school had a baby shower. I took both girls because my mom was going to be there to help..haha!

The best picture I got of the three of us.

Adeline ate lots of cake :)

High school besties.

That night we helped put up the tree at Jon's parents' house.

And during all that chaos, Annabel turned 2 months old and I was a terrible mom and did not take one picture of her that day or do a post. I'm sick about it and now have an alarm on my phone to go off on the 19th of every month.

Our daily schedule:

5am: meds & quick feed
8am: up for the day & feeding
10:30: feeding
1pm: meds & feeding
4pm: feeding
6:30: feeding, followed by bath, meds, & bedtime

It is very difficult to get her to sleep during the day. I think it's because we're on the go so much so it's hard to be consistent. She still sleeps swaddled in the guest room in her Nap Nanny. I'm too chicken to try putting them in the same room yet. It takes about an hour to get her to fall asleep & stay asleep at night. I nurse her in the dark until she calms down, then we take turns going in to put the pacifier in until she's all the way asleep. She sleeps with white noise & a lullaby CD that Adeline listens to at naps and bedtime as well. Annabel is such a happy baby. She smiles and laughs all the time. It amazes me how much she giggles. She loves people. She can be fussing and tired, but if you stop and talk to her then she gets so excited and grins from ear to ear. She enriches our lives so much! We love you so much, Annabel and I'm sorry for being a forgetful mom!

2 Months & 2 Years

2011-11-17T12:05:00.000-06:00

I took both girls for their well-child visits today. We had to be there by 8:30 and I was really nervous about this because we've all been sleeping until about 8 every day. I got up way early and got completely ready before I had to wake the girls up. We made it just a few minutes late!

Annabel's stats at 2 months:

Weight

11lbs 4oz - 75%

Height

23.5 inches - 90%

Head Circumference

15.75 inches - 75%

She got the DTaP & Rotavirus vaccines today, so one stick in the thigh. She screamed but only for about 10 seconds.

Adeline's stats at 2 years:

Weight

27lbs - 50%

Height

34.5 inches - 50%

I told Jon it looks like Adeline has stopped growing. She's never been that low in percentile for her height. He said maybe she won't be freakishly tall afterall..haha!

Adeline only had to get the flu mist in her nose. Yay for no pricks!

I, on the other hand, got TWO pricks...flu & DPT. Hopefully we'll all stay well at our house this winter. :)

The best shot I got of them both.

More Random Pictures

2011-11-16T20:34:00.000-06:00

I had several pictures I hadn't put on my blog yet this month and wanted to get that done before the holidays and other things we have coming up in the next few weeks.

This is from November 1. Annabel was really fussy and Adeline was bouncing off the walls, so I decided to go on a walk around the block. Annabel fell right to sleep even though the wind was blowing like crazy. I thought she looked so cute in this little hat my MIL made.

I try to come up with fun things for Adeline to do. I know she gets bored sitting at home with me all day. By the time she was done, the floor needed to be mopped, clothes needed to be washed, and Adeline needed a bath. She had a blast, though so it was all worth it.

My two girls doing tummy time together.

This red mark under Annabel's eye is from her sweet big sister knocking my phone out of my hand onto her face. Adeline wanted my phone, but didn't want me holding it so she was throwing a fit. Poor Annabel got her first black eye at 7 weeks old.

Adeline loves piling toys on top of her sister.

Annabel deep in thought.

My oldest beautiful blue-eyed baby.

Who doesn't love the feeling of a sleeping baby on your chest?

Annabel has hit a growth spurt this week I think. All of a sudden she kind of looks chunky. I love chunky babies!

My grandmother bought the girls these outfits and embellished them with the little flowers. So cute!

Yesterday we took Adeline for allergy testing. She's had slight reactions to peanut butter both times I've given it to her and I wanted to know for sure if she really was allergic to peanuts. Sure enough, she is. Adeline did really well with the testing and only cried with the initial sticks. The place was really great with kids and had a Strawberry Shortcake video playing for her and I brought lots of snacks. We have to avoid peanuts and tree nuts in hopes of her outgrowing this allergy. The less she is exposed to it, the greater her chances of outgrowing it, according to the allergist. We go yearly to re-check. We were given an epipen for emergencies, but the doctor seems to think her case is mild and can be treated with benadryl if she is ever exposed to peanuts. Adeline also showed allergies to eggs, cats, and dust mites. However, the doctor did not say she needed to avoid eating eggs. Yay!

Just a Few Pictures

2011-11-13T17:05:00.000-06:00

I have a few pictures I wanted to get on here. We haven't really been up to a lot this weekend except visiting our new cousin Murry, but we didn't get any pictures of that. It's been nice to spend time doing nothing. Jon let me take a 2 hour nap this afternoon and I feel like a new woman.

Annabel is such a smiley baby. She smiles a lot more than Adeline did at this age. But of course, when I get the camera, I can't catch one. She even laughed for the first time on November 3rd at only 6 weeks old. I thought it was just a fluke because I know it's way early for that, but we've gotten her to giggle a few more times over the weekend. I even caught a bit of it on video. Anyway, we took a few bath pictures the other night because she was smiling a lot, but as soon as I brought the camera in, she stopped.

Adeline was doing her best to make her laugh, too...

And this is my "keeping it real" photo with stuff all over my bathroom and my hair a mess (this is what it usually looks like). :)

Today we went to church and we dressed our girls in these cute matching fall outfits.

Adeline & Annabel were having a tea party before our photo shoot.

We got a smile! (& look at those blue eyes!)

I promise we don't tell Adeline to kiss her. She is constantly kissing her. She LOVES her baby sister.

My family makes me so happy!

Adeline's First Haircut

2011-11-11T10:51:00.000-06:00

Adeline got her first haircut on Wednesday. It was starting to look kinda ratty and uneven so I thought it'd be a good idea to get it trimmed. She was so still and cooperative through it all just as long as I was giving her fruit snacks. I love it and think it looks so much thicker and more manageable.

Murry Bell Richey

2011-11-10T15:48:00.000-06:00

I got a new niece yesterday! I'm so excited that Adeline and Annabel will grow up close to a cousin.

Jon's brother, Shane, and his wife Juliet gave birth to sweet little Murry Bell on November 9, 2011.

She weighed 6lbs 9oz & was 19.5in long.

I got a text from Shane yesterday morning at 5am telling me that Juliet's water had broken around 3:00 and they were at the hospital. I went about my morning just waiting for more information. Around 11 I got another text saying Juliet was going to start pushing at noon. The girls and I headed up there because I wanted to be there when she was born. However, by 1:00, still no Murry and my girls needed naps, etc so we went back home. As soon as they woke up I rushed back up there and got a text as I was leaving telling me that Murry was positioned wrong and so now they were having to do a c-section. I got there right after they took her in to the nursery. I was so glad I made it there almost in time. :)

We stood outside the nursery watching for a long time, then got to see Juliet for a few minutes before we gave them some alone time and went out to dinner. After dinner, we brought our girls home for bed. We went back as soon as we could today and I finally got to get my hands on precious little Murry.

The happy grandparents with their 3 girls.

Adeline is so excited about her new baby cousin. She can already say Murry and kept telling us today, "two babies!" and pointing at Annabel and Murry. I'm so excited for all the fun we have in store!

Happy Birthday, Adeline!

2011-11-08T21:21:00.000-06:00

Adeline officially turned 2 years old today. Our original plan was to take turns every year spending our children's birthdays with them doing whatever they wanted. I spent last year's birthday with Adeline so it was Jon's turn this year. However, since I was already off work on maternity leave, it only made sense that I spend it with her again so Jon wouldn't have to take off. I am really glad I got to spend the day with her, though.

Right after waking up (& fixing her hair).

Getting ready to start our day...

Jon met us at gymnastics and went to Adeline's class with her.

Then, Adeline, Annabel, and I met Shannon & Westin at CFA for lunch. We got there early so the kids would have the play area all to themselves. They loved it! I realized today that Westin has spent every one of Adeline's birthdays with her. He was in the womb when Shannon was at the hospital the night I had Adeline, he went to the library with us last year, and lunch today. I hope we can carry on this tradition for many years to come. :)

When we got home, we spent some time playing and coloring. Yes, outfit change from food and yuckiness on her clothes.

When she got up from her nap, I made her a special snack...cheetohs & fruit snacks.

She was so excited.

Our friends Mark, Abby, & Ava welcomed their newest addition today, Landon Michael. We went to visit them in the hospital. Landon & Adeline are now birthday buddies!

While Jon and I cooked dinner, Adeline played with her baby sister. She loves piling toys on top of her.

We cooked Adeline's favorite meal..pasta, peas, and garlic bread. Yummy!

Then she got to eat the white chocolate "2" from her birthday cake. She was super excited about this.

We had another little present for her to open after dinner. She got her big gift last weekend (the trampoline) but we wanted her to be able to open something on her birthday.

Yes, another outfit change because she stretched the neck all out in the previous shirt from taking it on & off.

It's two little dolls. One says "Big Sister" & the other says "Little Sister."

Even though it was rainy & stormy all day, we had a great time celebrating our big two-year-old. Time flies! Adeline, we love you so very much and can't wait to spend many more special birthdays with you in the years to come.

Adeline's 2nd Birthday Party

2011-11-07T10:22:00.000-06:00

We celebrated Adeline's 2nd birthday on Saturday. We chose a ladybug theme this year and I had so much fun with it.

Decorating the mantle is what I spent most of my time on. I had a flower pot for every month of the past year with my favorite picture from that month "planted" inside. I personally made all this stuff, with a little help from my wonderful hubby. :)

The cake turned out just how I wanted! It was from Shelby Lynn's.

I saw these on pinterest and my very talented MIL made them for the party.

My mom helped me prepare all the food and decorate the table. There was more than this, but I didn't get a picture.

My dad was so proud of himself for decorating the drink dispenser. :)

I tried to get some good shots of Adeline before the guests arrived, but she refused to smile or cooperate much.

We rented a bounce house so the kids would have something to do and it was a great investment. Kids and adults both enjoyed it. We also had Adeline's new trampoline outside for the kids to play on (and of course toys inside).

It was a challenge to get Adeline to come inside for cake, but I eventually talked her into it. I was so glad she didn't cry when everyone sang "happy birthday." I have always hated being sung to and would bawl and bury my face in my dad's chest every single year.

She got tons of presents and has loved playing with every single one this weekend.

Someone (my dad) tied a balloon around Tulip's collar. Poor dog!

After the party and after Adeline woke up from her nap, the bounce house was still here so we did a bit more jumping.

I can't believe it's already been two years! It has been the most exhausting, but most fun two years we've ever had! Tomorrow is her actual birthday and I'm sure I'll cry just like I did last year.

Halloweekend 2011

2011-11-01T13:08:00.000-05:00

We had a very busy weekend and we're all still recovering from it, but we had a great time. Friday night was our connection group's annual pumpkin carving competition. We ended up not actually carving any pumpkins, but we still had a great time hanging out. We put all our kids in FNO at our church (except for Annabel) we actually got to enjoy each other's company.

The girls..it was a small group this year.

Saturday we went out to Jack Wills' to order Adeline a swing set. I found this swing that I really wanted. Adeline and I both nearly fell asleep in it.

Adeline's birthday present from us also came in, so Jon spent nap-time putting it together.

Adeline LOVES to jump!

That evening we went to a friend's birthday party. Happy 3rd birthday, Kailyn!

Annabel fussed through the whole party, so we didn't stay long.

But Adeline loved playing in their sandbox.

We put Annabel to bed when we got home and Adeline got to jump some more.

Sunday we all went to church together as a family for the first time.

When Annabel finally looks, Adeline tries to escape. :)

That night our church had a big carnival. It was so much fun! Jon took Annabel home after about an hour and Adeline and I stayed up way past bedtime petting animals, eating funnel cake, & riding rides.

Petting donkeys with Westin

Holding hands with Bailey

Driving a truck with Kellen

Monday Adeline had a party at Kids' Day out. I stayed for a little bit so I could get some pictures.

When Jon got home from work, we carved a pumpkin.

She loved playing with all the goop.

She kept playing with the smile & saying, "Cookie, C"

As it started to get dark, we began trick-or-treating.

She wasn't nearly as shy as she normally is since she knew candy was involved!

It had been a long day for us all and trick-or-treating was not as fun as I had hoped. Adeline was fussy from staying up late the night before and not napping and Annabel was just ready to be in her bed. I'm glad we did it though. It'll only get more and more fun every year.

I hope you had a great Halloween, too!

Cuteness & OT

2011-10-28T15:02:00.000-05:00

We haven't done much this week, but I got a few cute pictures I wanted to share.

I have declared Thursdays "no hair or make-up day" for me. The last two Thursdays I have devoted to not leaving the house. I still wanted to dress up my girls, though. Aren't they cute in their matching outfits? (Except Adeline wouldn't smile or get her fingers out of her nose/mouth.)

Adeline got some new books while she was at Nana's and they came with some tattoos. I told her she had to wait until Daddy got home to put it on. She wanted it on her stomach. She's still a little confused as to why she can't pick it off and why it's still there today. :)

Every time I put Annabel under her play gym, Adeline wants to join her. It makes me a nervous wreck, but she's done well so far. She has started telling her baby sister "no" when she kicks her. She's not mean about it, but she does try to correct her..haha.

And, because you can take the OT out of her job, but you can't take the OT out of her, I have a couple "therapy" pictures to share.

Adeline and I did this fun fine motor/counting activity yesterday. I just wrote numbers 1-5 on flash-cards and drew the corresponding number of dots under the number. She then placed cheerios on the dots. She loved it!

We've started tummy time with Annabel. Look how well she's holding up her head! She was doing even better than this, but I waited too long to snap a picture.

I'll try not to go into too much detail, but all babies are born with primitive reflexes that help them in the first year of life. After that first year, these reflexes should be gone. We treat a lot of kids whose reflexes are still intact, which makes life difficult for them. Anyway, I snapped this picture of Annabel the other night to send to a co-worker because it is the perfect example of the ATNR. It's perfectly normal for her to still have this. I'll only worry if she still has it at age 2. :) When I texted this to my co-worker she responded with, "You're such a nerd." Maybe I am...

(When her head turns to the left, her arms automatically do this. The arms switch when the head turns to the right.)

I also want to record a few cute things Adeline has done lately that I don't want to forget.

Like all kids these days, she's very technologically savvy. She has a CD player in her playroom which she almost always can work completely on her own. However, she hasn't quite grasped the difference between a CD and a DVD. I find DVDs in the CD player and CDs in the DVD player all the time.

Today when we got home from the grocery store she asked to watch "Mouse." I told her to wait until I unloaded all the groceries. She proceeded to get the remote and fine "Mouse" herself.

As we were leaving Wal-Mart today we walked past the bathrooms. I have only taken her in there with me once about 4 months ago. As we walked past today, she pointed and said, "potty, shoo-wee Momma."

Every time Westin comes to visit he always goes straight to Rody. It's his favorite toy here. Today I told Adeline we were about to go visit Westin. She ran to her playroom, grabbed Rody, started walking toward the door and said, "go!" It made my heart happy that she's already so thoughtful and kind. Of course, we took Rody with us. :)

Her new favorite "toy" is an old syringe (a medicine doser, not needle) and empty medicine bottle. She loves giving all her babies & Tulip "meh-mehs."

She watches and remembers everything we do. After sending my dad a picture of Adeline giving her babies "meh-mehs" he replied with, "Your daughter is so smart and wants to be just like you. Isn't that the best feeling in the world?" Yes it is, but my prayer is that we always teach her and show her good, positive, Godly things.

My Heart...

2011-10-26T15:55:00.000-05:00

..is finally whole again! Jon and Adeline went to East Texas for 5 days and I felt like 2/3rds of my heart was missing. I cried nearly all day on Friday when they left. Jon went camping/hunting with his family at Squirrel Camp while Adeline spent time with the grands.

She got to color and go to a fall festival with Pappy & Nana.

Then she went to visit Daddy at Squirrel Camp with Tiny, Aunt Kiersten, and Uncle Emil.

On Saturday, Annabel and I met Aunt Juliet for lunch and some shopping. Aunt Juliet put Annabel right to sleep during lunch and she slept nearly all afternoon.

That evening we went shopping and out to dinner with Shannon. It was nice to get out of the house and my mind off being lonely.

On Sunday, Adeline wouldn't let Aunt Kiersten drop her off in the church nursery, so she spent Sunday School in my mom's class with the 3rd graders.

Annabel and I ventured out to my Sunday School class as well. It was Annabel's first trip to church. She did great. She stayed awake through it all and got a little fussy, but we made it for the whole class.

We lounged around the house that afternoon. I love sweet little baby hands..

Adeline being silly...

Monday, Annabel and I went to get my hair dyed and trimmed! She stayed awake and fussed through it all, but I was still glad to get some pampering.

Monday night, Adeline went out to Squirrel Camp again with Tiny. She got to see a snake!

Annabel didn't nap well all day and that evening was really sweaty. I think I just had her too bundled up. She's a much sweatier baby than Adeline. I still don't think I've ever seen Adeline sweat.

I sent this picture to Jon because I was a little worried. See the sweat beaded up on her face? He said she's just a Richey. :)

That night Annabel slept 7 hours straight! I felt great on Tuesday and cleaned the whole house! I think it was just a fluke, though, because last night was not so good.

Tuesday, Jon and Adeline headed back home!

They stopped in Y City for a little exercise.

My mom had sent us all a Halloween package on Monday. I saved it for Jon and Adeline to get home before we opened it. Adeline was most excited about all the stickers.

She did this to herself.

Last night Adeline was exhausted, so we bathed her early. Annabel hung out in the activity gym while Adeline was getting ready for bed. Adeline got in a bit of playtime with her baby sis before going to bed.

I was so glad to have both my sweet girls all to myself this morning. Aren't they cute in their matching Halloween jammies?

Adeline is saying "cheese" while trying to see around me to Mickey Mouse.

I snapped this pic for Aunt Amanda. Isn't this outfit adorable? Thanks, Amanda!

I'm so looking forward to this weekend. We've got lots of fun Halloween activities planned. Let's pray we all stay well so we can enjoy them all!

Another Comparison

2011-10-24T16:33:00.001-05:00

Because I think it's fun to look at their pictures, I thought you might too. :)

Adeline at 1 Month Old

Annabel at 1 Month

Adeline

Annabel

2 Under 2

2011-10-22T15:11:00.000-05:00

**I don't want it to seem like I'm complaining with anything I say in this post, I just want to document my thoughts during this season of my life. I am completely and utterly grateful for my two wonderful blessings.

That being said, having two kids under the age of two is a whole lot harder than I thought it was going to be. I always said with Adeline that being a mom was the hardest thing I've ever done. Being a mom of two is even harder. I feel like my life is absolutely chaotic and out of control, but at the same time I love every minute.

First of all, I think being a mom of an almost two-year-old is difficult in itself. For example....

(This is on every wall of the playroom.)

Then when you add in a newborn it makes life even that more difficult. I do twice as much laundry, we do twice the baths, go through twice the diapers, and worry twice as much.

Leaving the house with two kids takes an act of congress. I have to begin preparing to leave about 20 minutes before we actually walk out the door. I don't mean that I start getting myself ready and dressed, and the girls ready and dressed 20 minutes before, that's a whole 2 hours before "leaving the house" begins. I mean that I start loading the car, locking doors, putting on shoes, filling up cups, strapping in car seats about 20 minutes before. Before kids all it took was putting on my shoes and grabbing my purse as I walked out the door. I've never had to factor in time for "leaving the house" before now.

Showering and getting myself ready is a whole new ball game too. If I'm here without Jon, that now has to be done before anyone wakes up. I do not yet trust Adeline around Annabel if I can't watch her every move. So mommy's "getting ready" process has turned into what I compare to a "pit change" in a Nascar event. Meaning, how fast can I shower, get dressed, apply make-up, and fix hair so that I can sleep as late as possible but still be fully ready before the girls wake up? I have dreams of being one of those really cute, put-together moms that dresses so fashionably and always looks amazing, but those dreams are just not reality right now. I do as little as possible to look presentable right now, because my sleep is important to me, and we all know kids are unpredictable. Sometimes I'm half-way through my 30-minute routine and someone is awake and needing some attention, so there's no time for attention to detail when it comes to Mommy's appearance.

I went grocery shopping with both girls the other day. That was fun. My girls actually did really well, but it wore me out. Adeline had to sit in the cart part of the buggy since Annabel was in her car seat. Therefore, I ran out of room for groceries rather quickly and poor little Adeline was quite cramped. I imagine this would be a lot easier if your oldest was about 4 or 5 and could walk nicely beside you. Maybe next time I should wear the ergo baby carrier and Adeline can sit in her normal spot.

Planning your life around one child's schedule was hard enough, but doing that around two makes it almost impossible to leave the house. Annabel is just having to be more flexible than Adeline was at this age. She naps on the go a lot in her carrier or car seat since Adeline still goes to several activities throughout the week. Bedtime routines start around 7 and don't end until around 9. I don't want to wish away Annabel's life, but I'm ready for them to be able to take a bath together.

I used to keep my house a lot cleaner than it is right now. You've all seen my cleaning schedule. I dust, clean bathrooms, vacuum and mop weekly. Well, I used to. Now I just try to stay on top of laundry and keep toys picked up. The hardcore cleaning comes when I can squeeze it in. I feel like I've accomplished something if we're all clean and wearing clean clothes. The house can wait.

So all of that is extremely hard, but the hardest thing for me is dividing my attention. I probably think & worry about it way too much, but this one really stresses me out. I don't have siblings. I was always the center of attention and never once knew what it was like to share my parents' love or time with anyone else. I really struggle with this because I want my girls to know that same kind of love and devotion, but I feel like it's impossible with more than one child. I whole-heartedly love both my girls equally. It's amazing how you can be capable of that, but it is absolutely a reality. I just struggle with how I'm going to make sure my girls always know this. I know it's difficult right now because Adeline isn't old enough to understand. It just breaks my heart when she wants me to "sit, sit, color, Mommy, play, Mommy" and I have to tell her no because I need to feed/change/rock Annabel. It also breaks my heart when Annabel has to be rocked to sleep in the swing rather than me doing it because Adeline needs some mommy time. I know it will get easier and I'll figure it out as I go, but this is the hardest thing for me right now.

These three fill my life with sheer joy. I am so thankful to have them all. My heart overflows with love and happiness. Being a parent is so hard, but it is absolutely amazing.

Thank you, God, for this gift! And thank you for loving my family even more than I do.

1 Month

2011-10-19T15:27:00.000-05:00

Annabel is 1 month old today! Jon said it has been a long month. I think it feels that way when your nights are just as long as your days. :) It has been quite an adjustment going from one child to two, but that's a whole other post. Anyway, we are so thankful to have our precious Annabel in our lives!

When she was first born I thought she looked so much like Adeline, but now I don't really feel that way at all. I do, however, think she is absolutely beautiful, just like her big sister, but a beautiful all her own. She's not doing much other than eating, sleeping, and pooping right now. She doesn't really like to be awake much. If she is awake, it's not long before she gets fussy. I feel like we've gotten on a schedule a whole lot faster than I did with Adeline. I think that's partly because we already have a schedule with Adeline so Annabel just kind of had to adjust to that. Also, because Annabel has to take medicine every 8 hours so that in itself put us on a certain routine.

This is what our day looks like now (& these are all approximations):

1-2am: Awake for the first feeding of the night.

usually only nurses from one side & is impossible to wake enough to eat more

4-5am: Awake for the 2nd feeding

takes her medicine at this time as well

7:30-8:30: Awake, nurses, gets dressed for the day
9:00am: We are usually leaving the house around this time to go to one of big sister's activities

she'll usually nap in the car or in her carrier

11ish: Nurse again

This is where it gets difficult. She gets tired, but refuses to go to sleep so she usually fusses until her next feeding.

1-2pm: Nurse again

take medication
usually falls asleep right after eating from being so worn out from fussing since 11

4-5pm: Nurse again

usually has to be woken up to eat & is impossible to keep awake afterwards

7pm: Nurse again

try our best to keep her up while we get Adeline ready for bed & she usually gets pretty fussy

8:30: bath time & more medicine
9:00pm: Nurse again & sleep hopefully by 10pm

She is still sleeping in our room in her "Rock & Play Sleeper." I'm going to work on tweaking this nightly routine & getting her into her bed in the next few days. I'm thinking she's still going to have to nap in our room since she and Adeline will be sharing a room. I'm really nervous about that transition. It's not going as smoothly as I'd like right now, but I'm going to see what I can do.

The first month is such a blur from sleep deprivation, but I've enjoyed it. I've tried to cherish every moment because I know how fast they grow up.

We love you so much, Annabel. You are the perfect addition to our family. We look forward to many many many more months together!

Catch-Up

2011-10-16T16:54:00.000-05:00

I feel like I'm way behind, but I guess I just better get used to that feeling. It's hard enough to find time to shower, much less blog. But it's the weekend, so that means Jon is home to help, so now I have time to catch-up a bit on here.

Wednesday we were all ready to get out of the house, so we invited ourselves over for a play date with Westin. :)

Adeline really enjoys going to Westin's house and dragging out every single one of his toys.

Gran got some baby-holding time in.

My cute pig-tailed girl.

Thursday, Kalee came over to keep Adeline while Jon, Annabel, and I went to Little Rock. Adeline really enjoys pretending to be a mommy. I snapped this picture of her carrying her baby and strolling Ace down the hall when we got home.

Little Rock wore Annabel out...

Happy Daddy with two of his girls before bed...

Saturday we had two birthday parties to attend! Adeline's social calendar is busier than mine. I put my girls in their first matching outfits. So cute!

Then we went to celebrate Noah turning 2!

Adeline had a fantastic time with all her friends and playing outside all morning. She was filthy by the time we left!

That evening we attended another 2 year old birthday party for sweet Hannah at the park. It was Halloween-themed and we were supposed to wear a costume or Halloween colors. More matchy-matchy for my girls. :)

Getting a good picture of both of them is going to be difficult.

Adeline and the birthday girl...

Today Annabel and I stayed home while Adeline and Jon went to church.

When they got home I told Jon to look at Annabel's shirt. He read out loud, "Daddy's Little Pumpkin" then he said, "Aww, you sure are Daddy's little pumpkin" and kissed Annabel. Adeline watched this whole exchange, looked down at her shirt, looked at me and said, "pumpkin" while trying to take off her shirt. It was so sweet and sad all at the same time. We couldn't find a shirt with a pumpkin on it, but we put on another Halloween shirt and Daddy fussed over it and Adeline too, so she was happy. I just love my little family so much!

Bel-Bel's Heart

2011-10-13T17:52:00.000-05:00

Bel-Bel is what Adeline calls Annabel, and it's starting to catch on. Jon and I have a hard time calling her anything else. I don't want it to become a permanent nickname that everyone calls her, though. I think it's a sweet little family thing, for now.

Anyway, Annabel had her first appointment with a specialist in Little Rock at Arkansas Children's Hospital today. She had another EKG (to measure electrical firing/beats of the heart) and an Echocardiogram (it's a sonogram of the heart to look at all the structures). Then we met with the nurse practitioner to the Electrophysiologist. That is a specialist in the rhythms of the heart. I thought I'd make bullet points of what we learned today.

Annabel's EKG still shows that she has WPW. The disorder they diagnosed her with in the NICU that can cause your heart to go into a fast rhythm (SVT).
She will need to take medication for this until she is 2-3 years old when she will be old enough to tell us if her heart is racing.
She will live a normal life and this will not restrict her from any activities.
In the NICU, her echocardiogram showed that she had what the pediatrician called a "floppy tricuspid valve." This was allowing blood to go in the wrong direction. This is completely unrelated to the WPW. It is very common in babies and usually corrects itself and most people never even know they have it. The only reason we knew Annabel had it was because they did an echocardiogram to figure out why she was having the fast heart rate.

The nurse practitioner today told us that Annabel's has only a hairline opening and is not a concern of hers at all.
When she looked at the echocardiogram from today she informed us that this opening is even smaller now than it was when she was born. Praise Jesus! She believes the valve will be completely closed and functioning normally soon.

She increased her dosage of medication today since she now weighs 9.5 pounds!
Annabel will need to wear a Holter monitor for 24 hours after she has been on the new medication dosage for a couple days.

This monitor will just measure her heart rate continuously for 24 hours then I will send it back to Little Rock where they will analyze it.
She wants to make sure Annabel's heart rate isn't spiking without us knowing and to make sure the medication is working.

We will have to go to Little Rock to meet with her every 2 months for a while. She said after our December appointment, if the results from the Holter are good, then we may have to only come every 3 months.

Annabel did great through it all. She slept the entire way to and from Little Rock. She screamed bloody murder during the 30 minute echocardiogram, but I don't blame her. I wouldn't want to sit there naked and have some lady rubbing goo and a camera all over my torso. :) Overall, it was a good experience. Everyone there was so nice and informative. Jon and I left feeling very good about everything. My fears and worries are much less now knowing my girl is healthy. Walking through ACH made me realize how very thankful I am that my baby only has this.

Sisters

2011-10-10T15:12:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited about giving my girls something I never had...a sister! I have some extremely close friends, but I know the sibling relationship is different. I can't wait to watch how it evolves.

Adeline loves her baby sister so much already. Yesterday at lunch Annabel was crying, but I was trying to hurry and finish my meal before picking her up. Adeline would have none of that. She became very distraught and told me, "Momma, baby cry. Go, go, go, go hold her, Momma!"

These are from Annabel's newborn pictures. I just love them!

Do you think they look alike?

Adeline at 2 days old

Annabel at 4 days old

Adeline at 3 weeks old

Annabel at 2.5 weeks old

And I just love this little shirt. Adeline has a matching one, but she wasn't wearing it when I took this picture.

I just pray my girls always love and look out for one another.

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-09T15:36:00.000-05:00

We met some friends at a pumpkin patch yesterday morning for some fall fun. It was really neat. They had two different corn mazes (of which we did neither), a petting zoo, pony rides, a pumpkin patch, a hay ride, and other fun things for kids. Adeline enjoyed every minute. Annabel, on the other hand, did not. She pretty much screamed the whole two hours we were there.

We tried to get some cute pumpkin patch pictures, but we didn't have much luck.

The sun was really bright, it was windy, and Annabel was just not in the mood. We did, however, buy 5 pumpkins, so we are going to try and re-create some cute pumpkin pictures another day. I can't let the girls' adorable coordinating outfits go to waste! :)

I did it...

2011-10-08T15:40:00.000-05:00

I let Adeline go stay with her grandparents for 4 nights!

She stayed two nights with my parents and two with Jon's. She got to do so many fun things and see lots of family. I know she had a great time, but we missed her terribly.

We did, however, get lots of rest while she was gone. Annabel and I pretty much stayed on the couch all day every day. When Jon would get home from work we'd plop down together and watch TV all evening, something we haven't done in almost 2 years.

My mom left here Friday morning and we were officially on our own for the first time.

Mom went with us to meet Shannon & Westin for lunch at CFA, but left right after we ate. Westin & Adeline were intimidated by the bigger kids in the play area, so we decided to take them to a park. In the process of getting both my girls in the car, Adeline darted out in to the parking lot and I "lost" my keys for probably 10 minutes only to find them in the passenger seat where I'd put them. I'll get this "mom of 2" thing down eventually, but it's an adjustment. When Jon got home he asked how my day was, I replied, "Hectic, but that's just going to be life for a while." I love it and wouldn't trade it for anything!

Annabel's Second Week

2011-10-03T16:11:00.001-05:00

Annabel started off her 2nd week with a changing of the grandmas. Tiny stayed with us Tuesday-Sunday last week.

Tuesday, September 27

We just lounged around the house..

Wednesday, September 28

Adeline and Tiny went to the library while Annabel and I relaxed at home.

Adeline is fascinated with her baby sister. If Annabel makes even the slightest noise, Adeline stops whatever she's doing, gasps, looks very concerned and says, "Oh, don't cry, baby sis!"

My friend Katie from work also came to visit us that evening, but I didn't get any pics of her.

My big girl being a cutie before dinner...

Thursday, September 29

I woke up to see Adeline had gathered all her "babies in her arms. So sweet!

It was a beautiful morning, so we all headed to the park after breakfast.

Adeline and Tiny did some sidewalk art that afternoon while Shannon came to visit for a bit.

Adeline is constantly messing with Annabel, but she's so sweet. She wants to be kissing her or piling toys on her every second. I can't take my eyes off them for a minute, but I love that she loves her so much!

That evening, Aunt Kiersten and Uncle Emil came to visit from Dallas.

Annabel was pretty fussy by the time bedtime rolled around. My sweet multi-tasking hubby kept her happy long enough for me to get ready for bed.

Friday, September 30

We didn't do much during the day, that I can remember. Just some playing and relaxing.

That night we tried to go eat at PF Chang's, but the wait was 25 minutes for a table. We decided to just place a to-go order instead and we ate it outside at the promenade. It was such a beautiful evening and much better than waiting that long with a toddler and a newborn.

Saturday, October 1

Adeline and I finally took the plunge and got some Razorback shirts. I guess after 3.5 years of living here it was time..

Uncle Shane & Aunt Juliet had a baby shower for little Murry on Saturday. I sent Jon in my place because it was right during Adeline's nap and I didn't think it was a good idea to have Annabel around that many people yet. Isn't the afghan that Jon's mom made beautiful?

Big T came in town for the shower and to see his little Annabel, too.

We grilled steaks and ate dinner outside at Shane & Juliet's that evening. Once again, it was a perfect evening for outdoor dining. Annabel was pretty fussy during dinner so I put her in the carseat next to me so I could rock her while I ate. Well, Adeline took it upon herself to do the rocking. It just melted my heart to see her being such a good big sister!

That evening I packed Adeline's bags to go stay with her grandparents for 4 nights for the first time ever! The longest I've ever been away from her was for 2 nights in June when I went to a continuing education course. I bawled my eyes out the whole time I packed. I called my mom and she told me I didn't have to send her because she didn't want me to be miserable all week, but I knew I needed to. It's good for all of us and I know Adeline is having a great time.

Sunday, October 2

Adeline likes to play with the q-tips while I fix her hair in the mornings.

Jon and I both cried when we loaded her in the car with Tiny & Big T. Who am I kidding? I wasn't just crying, it was more like an ugly sobbing. I pulled it together eventually, though and Jon and I spent the rest of the morning cleaning the house from top to bottom. Cleaning has always been a form of therapy for me, and either I've rubbed off on Jon or he was just being helpful, but we got the place spotless.

Annabel snoozed the whole time...

I got lots of picture texts from our parents throughout the day. I think Adeline is having a great time.

After we finished cleaning, we plopped down on the couch and didn't move the rest of the afternoon/evening until it was time for bed. That's one thing we couldn't do with Adeline here.

Monday, October 3

Annabel is 2 weeks old today! I took her for her two-week weight check today, and boy is she growing! She now weighs 8lb 13oz, that's 12oz up from her birth weight and 1lb 2oz up from the appointment just 10 days ago! They also measured her at 21.5in long and head circumference of 14.75in. Looks like we've got another good eater at the Richey house. :)

Besides the doctor visit and driving through the bank, Annabel and I have just been napping and cuddling today. I'm enjoying every minute, but I sure do miss my big girl!

The First Week

2011-09-27T10:23:00.000-05:00

Well we have survived our first week with our new baby girl. Her birth and hospital stay were extremely stressful and emotional, but since we've been home we've just been enjoying every minute.

Thursday 9/22

Shannon and Westin came to visit, but we didn't get any pictures. When Adeline got up from her nap, I got some snuggle time in with both my girls.

That night I got some bright-eyed pictures of my little Annabel.

Friday 9/23

Annabel had her initial weight/color check at the pediatrician. She was down to 7lb 11oz, she had lost 6oz in the hospital, but the doctor wasn't worried since she had gone almost a whole day without me being able to nurse her. She assured me that Annabel is going to be a normal, healthy little girl. I spent the afternoon snuggled on the couch with my new love.

That evening my dad came in town and we took Annabel on her first walk around the block.

Adeline got very upset when she saw baby sis in her stroller.

But she was over it soon when she got to push her baby in her stroller with Daddy.

Our family of 4..

A few bedtime stretches. :)

Sleeping beauty...

Saturday 9/24

My aunt & uncle Jana & Barry came in town to meet Annabel and celebrate my birthday. I turned the big 28! Shane and Juliet came over for dinner, but I managed to not get any pictures of the celebration.

Sunday 9/25

We just spent the day lounging and relaxing.

My heart might explode from all the love I have in it for these three people...

Bright eyes.

Monday 9/26

Annabel is one week old! We took Adeline to KDO, then my mom and I ran a few errands. I spent the whole rest of the day nursing Annabel about every 1.5 hours! I think she hit her 10 day growth spurt early. I was exhausted when bedtime rolled around.

We love you, our little sweetheart. We can't imagine our lives without you!

Home Sweet Home

2011-09-21T21:45:00.000-05:00

We got to come home today! Praise Jesus! At about 1:00 Annabel's neonatologist informed us that he would be discharging us in just a couple hours. I wanted to do cartwheels or hug him or scream with excitement. Instead I just cried.

This is what we know:
Annabel has a heart condition known as Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome (WPW). It is an electrical problem of the heart. The structures of the heart are perfectly formed. It is an abnormal electrical communication from the atria to the ventricles. It occurs in .1-.3% of the population. It is also genetic. The neonatologist feels that it is what I and all the women on my mom's side of the family have as well. I've spoken with a few doctor friends and they tell me that it's the least scary heart condition a person can have. In one of their words, "If you're going to have a heart condition, this is the one you want." It is almost always controlled by medication, but there is a procedure that can be done to fix the electrical pathway. Nobody has even mentioned this procedure to me in regards to Annabel. We meet with the specialist in Little Rock on October 13th.
Specific Prayer Requests:
1) Pray for good news at the appointment. (ie, she has a very mild case & will live a normal life)
2) Pray that she can be treated with medication only & that she only has to take it for a short time.
In the meantime, Annabel is on a very low dose of medication to keep her heart from jumping into SVT. She takes this every 8 hours. The neonatologist wants us to take Adeline with us to this appointment as well. He feels that she probably has the same condition.

The high respiration rate and low oxygen saturation was due to Transient Tachypnea of the Newborn. It is completely unrelated to WPW. A lot of newborns have it, especially those born via c-section. The doctor hinted to the fact several times that he would not have even admitted Annabel to the NICU for this if it hadn't been for the episode of SVT caused by the WPW. This condition is now fully resolved in Annabel. It occurs when the fluid that is in a baby's lungs in the womb doesn't clear quickly enough after birth.

Now, let's get to the good stuff! We are home, we are home, we are home! The doctor told us repeatedly today that we should not worry. We are going home with a healthy baby. Annabel is healthy!

It was so fun dressing her in her going home outfit today, but we didn't get nearly as long of a photo shoot as we did with Adeline and I didn't have a pretty little blanket with me as a backdrop.

I think she's peeing in this picture. :)

While Adeline and my parents waited for us to get home, they took a walk and played with sidewalk chalk.

These are the things Adeline wanted Pappy to write/draw. See Ace?

We came home to this in our yard. I love it!

Adeline has surprised me with Annabel. She is so sweet and is not acting jealous at all. She likes to be right next to her and she talks to her in the sweetest voice. She wants to pet her and always says "nice, soft" when she does. It just makes my heart melt.

She even shared Ace!

Uncle Shane came to visit for a bit and he got to see his new niece for the first time.

We gave Annabel her first bath at home while Adeline watched. When Annabel started crying, Adeline was so concerned. She kept saying, "Oh, don't cry baby!"

Adeline took a bath while I nursed Annabel then I rocked them both. It was a cup runneth over moment to have both my girls in my arms all clean in their warm pjs rocking them to sleep. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lord!

Annabel Update

2011-09-20T21:29:00.000-05:00

Today has been much better. We spent the night going up to the NICU every 4 hours to feed Annabel. I got very little sleep in between because of nurses, etc checking on me. At Annabel's 8:00 feeding we were able to talk with the neonatologist. He informed us they would be turning down Annabel's flow to 1 liter and watching how she did with that until 3pm, at which point they would remove it altogether if she was doing well. He also told us he was going to disconnect her from the IV drip because he didn't feel that she really needed it and he wanted her to be hungry to breastfeed. He told me he wanted me up there no less than every 3 hours to nurse her. I decided I'd try every 2 to try and get my milk to come in. By 3:00 she was doing great and they completely took her off any flow. She has been breathing normal room air since and has maintained good stats on everything. Praise Jesus!

Her sweet face without any tubes.

She had her first poopy diaper today which is great! She is also a lot more hungry since this afternoon. Tonight she nursed pretty constantly from about 6-7:30. I know she's not getting anything that whole time, but she sure is doing a good job triggering my milk to come in. After that marathon nurse session, she passed out. She slept in mine & my mom's arms for another hour and a half before we left. In the meantime, the nurse took all her vitals and she never woke up.

Since she's not hooked up to anything but monitors, we got to dress her in her own clothes!

Tonight I plan to go up to the NICU every 4 hours to nurse her unless the nurse calls to tell me she's fussy and hungry, then I'll go sooner. Jon spent the evening with Adeline and my dad. He needed some time away and some time with his big girl. Now he's back and we're about to go up to the NICU for another feeding before we start the 4 hour night shifts.

They are still telling us we should be able to go home tomorrow no earlier than 3pm. These are the things that need to happen in order for us to be able to do that:

Her oxygen levels, respiration rate, and heart rate all need to say within normal limits (like they have all day today).
She will have another echocardiogram, chest x-ray, & EKG tomorrow. Those all need to be normal (or as good as they were yesterday).
She needs to continue to nurse well and urinate.

Please pray for these things.

We have an appointment set up with the specialist in Little Rock on October 13. Please also keep that in your prayers. We want this SVT issue to not really be a big concern or worry. That's what we're hoping to hear in Little Rock.

We are so thankful for all your thoughts, emails, and prayers. God is listening! He loves us and He loves Annabel. The doctor keeps telling us she is healthy and we are so grateful and give all the glory to God!

Annabel Brynn - Please Pray

2011-09-19T22:36:00.000-05:00

Our little sweetheart, Annabel Brynn arrived via c-section today, September 19, 2011 at 7:42am. She weighs 8lbs 1oz and is 20 inches long. She is absolutely beautiful with big rosy cheeks and a head full of dark dark hair.

Upon arrival in the nursery her vitals were all perfect. After her bath they checked again and her heart rate had spiked to 240 bpm. This is twice what it should be for a newborn. It stayed that rate for approximately 30 minutes, but then returned to normal on its own. At this point they decided they needed to do an EKG, an echocardiogram, and a chest x-ray. The EKG measures heart rhythm. This showed several abnormalities. The echocardiogram is like a sonogram of the heart. This showed no physical malformations. The chest x-ray showed her lungs to be a little wet. This is normal in a newborn, especially one born via c-section.

They decided that she could be in my room with me on a heart monitor. I was so happy about this. She was with us in my room from 11am until 4pm. Then they discussed everything with specialists in Little Rock. They then decided they could better monitor her if she stayed in the nursery and only came to me every three hours to breastfeed. She was supposed to come back to me at 6:15pm. At this point they noticed her respiratory rate went up and her oxygen saturation went down. Respiratory rate needs to be below 65, hers was a little over that. Oxygen saturation needs to be 90-100 with the higher, the better, hers was dropping as low as 85. This is when they decided she needed to go to the NICU to be more closely monitored. I am not allowed to try to breastfeed her until midnight because sometimes feeding can make a baby's respiratory rate increase which can cause them to aspirate (choke). Until then she has an IV of fluids to keep her from feeling hungry and I am pumping to keep up or ensure my milk supply.

We just got back from visiting her and she's looking great. All her vitals are right where they want them to be. She is on 2 liters of "flow." She has a tube in her nose pushing in 2 liters per minute of room air, not pure oxygen. This is a good thing because it means she is able to handle regular air right now, she's just needing a bit more help getting it in. She is also on a medication to keep her heart rate from spiking again (it happened one other time after the first, but not as high and not for as long). I will get to try breastfeeding at midnight and if she handles it well, I will get to keep doing that every three hours. She is in her own private room, so Jon and I can go anytime.

They think the fast heart rate is what they call Supra Ventricular Tachycardia. I have it, my mom has it, her sister has it, and their mom, and her sisters all have it. It has never required surgery for any of us or even hospitalization. It is just an occasional sudden increase in heart rate that could possibly be life-threatening if the heart was not able to resume normal rhythm. I have always been able to control mine with a breathing technique, except for one occasion when I needed medication to force my heart to beat regularly again. The doctors here do not feel like this is a huge worry for Annabel. They feel that most babies with this problem usually outgrow it within the first year of life and also outgrow the need for the medication within that same time period.

The respiratory rate and oxygen saturation is fairly normal in newborns. The neonatologist told me that if this had occurred in a baby without the SVT issues, he would not have taken them to the NICU. It is only because she already had the rhythm issue that they wanted to be extra careful and watch this more closely than normal.

However, it still very much worries a momma and I'm just sick that she can't be with me. I'm exhausted and will rest between feedings and/or pumping, but I wanted to get this out there so people can be praying. Please, please pray. Also, we don't really want visitors right now. We want this time to focus on our family, rest, heal, and pray. We have specific prayer requests as well.

Pray that her heart rate is controlled by the medication and doesn't require any other intervention. It needs to stay 120-160bpm.
Pray that her respiratory rate stays below 65 before, during, and after nursing so that I can begin to and continue to breastfeed her regularly.
Pray that her oxygen saturation stays 90 and above, preferably 95 and above. They will be cutting her down to 1 liter of flow in the morning. If she handles this well, then they'll try taking her off it altogether.
Pray that the gradual decrease of flow does not affect Annabel and that she can maintain her saturation above 90 on her own as they do this.
Pray that we can all go home together on Wednesday as planned.
Pray that Jon and I have peace and calming through this.
Pray that we can trust in God to give us healing and care.

She is beautiful and we are so in love. My heart is just aching for her, though.

Oh Dear!

2011-09-18T14:18:00.001-05:00

I'm not sure what has happened to my perfect sleeper, but she's gone. Since eight weeks old she has slept through the night and napped very well. Since then she has always been able to soothe herself to sleep. Something has happened this week. Praise Jesus she's still sleeping well at night, but she is REFUSING to nap! Wednesday she screamed for about 20 minutes before I went to get her. Thursday, she fell asleep for about 10 minutes, but woke herself up from coughing. I decided to take her to the doctor at this point. She'd had a runny nose for a while, and with the cough getting worse I wanted to make sure she didn't have something right before Annabel gets here. He said only allergies, but prescribed some meds anyway just in case. Friday she started crying hysterically within 10 minutes of me leaving the room. I decided to let her cry it out because I thought I had just spoiled her from the two previous days. She cried for an HOUR! At that point I just got her out of bed as if naptime was over. Saturday I had the bright idea to leave and have Jon put her down for a nap. She cried for an hour again. Today I thought I'd sit in there with her and pat her back as long as she'd lie there and not cry. It worked for about 20 minutes until she started wanting to play and talk to me. So then I got books and took them to her crib and told her it was quiet time and she could read and play with her stuffed animals until her music went off then Mommy would come get her and quiet time would be over. She's screaming hysterically again. What am I going to do?!? I NEED for her to rest, or at least play in her crib quietly for an hour. Any suggestions? I know this too shall pass, but I am stressed to the max. I have no answers or ideas.

On another note, I have a few pictures to share from the past few days.

We took her prescription to be filled on Thursday, then went to play and eat ice cream at CFA while we waited for our meds. She almost had the whole place to herself.

Friday morning she was watching me put on make-up and just had to have some for herself. Don't worry, this brush has no actual mascara on it. :)

Side note, she then went to Boingo Bounce and had a play date with Westin, so she was sufficiently worn out, but still refused the nap!

After she got up from her hour long cry-fest she was completely covered in snot & tears so I gave her bath. Then we got a package in the mail from Aunt Ashley! She loves Annabel's Super Frog and promises to take care of him until Annabel is old enough to play with him. :)

Yesterday it rained off and on all day. Jon worked out in the garage some and Adeline enjoyed pushing around her lawn mower when we had a bit of a break in the rain.

Yesterday afternoon we all went to see The Lion King in 3D! I thought it'd be a fun family outing to do as a special treat while we're still a family of three. It was a bit of a struggle, but we made it through the whole movie. Adeline ate almost a half of a medium bag of popcorn!

We go in to the hospital tomorrow to have Annabel! We are so excited and are so looking forward to having two sweet little girls.

Pre-Baby Maternity Leave

2011-09-15T14:20:00.000-05:00

So I decided to take maternity leave a week before my scheduled c-section. Work was getting extremely difficult and I wanted/needed a week with Adeline to devote lots of love and attention before her world is turned upside down. I also thought I'd get a some rest in for myself. I thought wrong. Adeline has been soooo clingy. It's like she knows Annabel is coming and is trying to soak up every last ounce of my attention before she gets here. I don't blame her, but it is wearing me out! Monday she went to Kid's Day Out at church and that's the only day I've been able to relax. I went and got a facial with a gift card Jon got me for Mother's Day. It was so nice!

When I picked Adeline up from KDO, they told me she hadn't napped. I decided I'd try to get her to sleep when we got home. It was a no-go so I let her get in our bed & watch Elmo for a little bit.

Big mistake, because she's not wanted to nap the rest of the week! Tuesday she did fine, but yesterday was AWFUL! She screamed, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, hold you, please!" for 10-15 minutes before I caved. When I went to get her I took her into our room to rock her and when she calmed down I asked if she was ready to go back to her bed. That started the hysterical crying all over again. I asked her what she wanted and she said, "rock" so I told her I'd rock her but she had to close her eyes. I thought to myself that was wishful thinking on my part, telling a 22 month old to close their eyes, but it worked! She was asleep in no time, but after 30 minutes I tried to stand up with her and she was wide awake. Now she's in bed standing up, sitting down, rolling around, but at least she's not screaming. I'm really hoping she falls asleep soon. Why is my perfect sleeper doing this right before a new baby comes? I'm going to be in for it next week!

Speaking of sleep, on Tuesday when Adeline did nap, I tried to catch a few Zzzs myself. As soon as I closed my eyes, I hear all kinds of commotion coming from the house next door that lasted about an hour. That evening, I did some snooping. First of all, the FOR SALE sign now says SOLD and this is what was being installed during my nap time:

A weirdly placed chain-link fence! Looks like a dog run to me. Oh no! Not more noisy dogs!!

And speaking of dogs, at least someone around here has been enjoying some lazy time...

Yesterday we had no plans other than my weekly doctor appointment, at which I found that I've made no progress. Anyway, Adeline and I did a little shopping at Barnes & Noble afterwards and I treated myself to a yummy pumpkin spiced latte (one of my favorite things about fall). Since I've been home this week, Adeline has not let me out of her sight. She had gotten pretty good about playing by herself for about 30 minutes at a time, but not this week. If I'm not right beside her, she comes and grabs my hand and says in the sweetest voice, "mere" or "mon" as in come here or come on. Then she pulls me in to the playroom. She then pats the floor & says, "sit, sit." We had fun having a tea party yesterday. Little girls are such a delight!

Then we got out some of the more difficult puzzles she got for her birthday last year and I made a small obstacle course. She amazed me at how well she did. I would tell her at the beginning that I wanted a sheep or whatever animal, then she would slide down the slide, crawl through the tunnel, get the puzzle piece and bring it back to the puzzle! I would say she remembered correctly about 70% of the time.

She makes me so proud!

Now comes the "Keeping it Real" part of my post. Please do not call DHS on me. Since she wouldn't nap yesterday, I decided to get some grocery shopping done before Jon got home. I do not ever strap her in to the cart. The straps are usually too big and I don't feel like messing with them. Plus I'm usually always right in front of her. So enough excuses, I'm a bad mom, I know. Anyway, we were in the baby section looking at the newborn Halloween costumes. I was having a hard time deciding what size to get, so I called my mom. In the meantime, Adeline proceeds to stand up. I tell her to sit on her bottom, she tries, but misses and falls flat on her back into the cart part of the buggy! It was absolutely terrifying! I throw my phone down so my mom is probably freaking out too because she can hear Adeline screaming and I'm not saying anything. Then a worker comes running over to ask if she's bleeding. Finally after I assess the damages and realize it's just a bruise and Adeline calms down, we continue our shopping. However, Adeline refuses to get back in the cart and my 38.5 week pregnant self can NOT carry a toddler and push a buggy throughout wal-mart, so I'm THAT mom with THAT kid that's running down the aisles almost colliding with every innocent shopper she meets. I'll be strapping her in from now on.

Then, today, she's climbing in to the little stool thing we have at our kitchen island (that was made specially for kids to be able to stand at the kitchen counter and see what's going on) and she bumped her back on the part that's designed to keep her from falling out.

The little bruise at the top is from the shopping cart incident, the knot is from the kitchen stool.

Now the knot is just a bruise and she's acting just fine.

See? She's alive and well and I promise I'm not a neglectful, abusive mom.

Last Week

2011-09-12T14:45:00.001-05:00

The past week and weekend have been quite busy at the Richey house, but still no baby Annabel. My mom had her last week of babysitting before I took off on maternity leave.

Tuesday they played and went to gymnastics...

And mom decided she needed a leotard. :)

And they cooked dinner.

Wednesday they met Westin & his Gran at Boingo Bounce...

And ate at Chick-Fil-A

And Nana decided she needed a long-sleeved leotard for Winter.

Thursday they stayed home and played and had a play date with Anita, Brendan, & his new baby sister, Emily...

Mom said Adeline was enthralled with Emily, but had a FIT when Nana tried to hold her. Uh oh!!

Friday, Adeline and I took it easy. That evening we saw Adeline & Nana on the local news for going to Boingo Bounce 2 weeks ago!

That night, Adeline went to FNO at our church and Jon and I had a little date night. We went out to eat then to Target. We bought this little box and filled it with fun toys and snacks for Adeline to have at the hospital. I want her to feel special, too!

Saturday morning Jon and Adeline went on a bike ride while I took a leisurely shower.

That evening we went to the Harrises for a Razorback watch party. We didn't watch much of the game, but we all had a great time!

When we pulled up at their house, Adeline yelled, "Ya Ya!" That's what she calls Cilla. :)

A few cute things about Adeline lately:

She has started wanting to sleep with more & more stuffed animals. She now sleeps with Ace, an elephant my cousin got her at the zoo, a kitty cat, and...

Last night she went to bed, and about 30 minutes later she was still awake. Then she started whining, which she NEVER does, so I went in to check on her. She tearfully said, "Melmo." She wanted to sleep with Elmo too..hah! So, we got Elmo and Daddy rocked her a bit more, and she was ready for bed.

The other morning she woke up, picked up Ace, and said, "Hold you, go get Momma." Then she stood up and started whining for me. So cute!

She now knows the colors blue, yellow, purple, & green.

She thinks Annabel is in her belly, too. When we ask where Annabel is she'll either pat my belly or hers, whichever is more convenient.

When we cough or sneeze she says, "bless you" and pats our backs.

I'm sure there's more, but naptime is over. I'm so glad to be home all week with my big girl!

37 Weeks - Full Term

2011-09-05T19:11:00.001-05:00

I am 37 weeks pregnant today. Annabel is considered full term and can safely come any day now!

Size of baby: Annabel is the size of a watermelon (19-22 in long & 6.5lbs) Although, at my 34 week appointment I had an ultrasound and she was measuring 2 weeks ahead. They estimated at that point that she was already 6.5lbs, so she may be about 8 by now! :)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 25lbs

Maternity Clothes: Dresses and the couple of shirts I have that are really large are the only things I'm comfortable in now.

Gender: Sweet baby girl

Movement: She's moving a lot, but I can tell she's cramped in there. I mostly get pokes & jabs.

Sleep: It just varies from night to night. I'm exhausted all the time no matter what.

What I miss: Being able to reach my feet or below my thighs.

Cravings: I hardly feel hungry anymore. My stomach doesn't have much room. I did crave a steak the other day.

Symptoms: The usual end of pregnancy symptoms: feeling huge, uncomfortable, peeing all the time, etc

Best Moment this week: Knowing that we will be holding Annabel in 2 weeks, if not sooner!

I want to add a "Worst Moment" this week..haha. I am losing my mind this time around! This is what I found about 6:00 Friday night when I was unloading the dishwasher:

It had been there since 7:00AM! Pregnancy brain is definitely a real thing!

We went on a hike this morning and we did a little photo re-enactment. I went on this same hike exactly one week before Adeline arrived.

November 1, 2009

September 5, 2011

I wonder if I'll go into labor in a week?!? I was 38 weeks pregnant in the top photo, so maybe.....