Rainy Day

It's a rainy day here, so we're staying home.  I took this as an opportunity to do a bit of blogging.

Monday Adeline had KDO, so Annabel and I hung out at home.  I was trying to catch up on some cleaning, so she spent some time in her exersaucer.

When she grew tired of that, I tried the mammaroo.  I think she's outgrown it!  She was sitting up and trying to lean out of it to get the toys on her exersaucer the whole time.

After KDO, we took Adeline to dance.  I think she looks so precious in her little dance clothes.  In this picture she's saying, "No take a picture of Adeline!"  It's impossible to get her to cooperate for pictures anymore!

Annabel has discovered that back is not always best for her.  The majority of the time I put her down, she immediately rolls on to her stomach.  Isn't a sleeping baby the most precious sight?

Wednesday we went to the library.  We had some down-time beforehand, so I experimented with Adeline's hair.  I think I kind of love this braid thing.  It keeps the hair out of her eyes all day and I think it's pretty cute.  The only downside is, where does the big bow go?  :(

And speaking of hair, the humidity has started to bring a little curl out on Annabel.  See it?  I'm thinking her hair is going to be curlier than Adeline's.

The past couple nights we've left the back door open while we cook dinner so Adeline can play and we can still see and hear her.  She is such a busy girl!

This morning we're just hanging out and enjoying each other's company....

A couple other things I want to note on here...

1. We almost started a bad habit last night.  Jon and I had already fallen asleep and about 9:45 Adeline started crying for me.  I went to check on her and she wanted to get in bed with us.  We let her for a while and we both really wanted her to sleep with us, but we knew it was best not to start that yet.  Besides, Jon gets up at 5 every day for work and I get up then to give Annabel her medicine.  I knew Adeline would not want to be up at 5 and I was afraid it'd be impossible to get her to go back to sleep after that.  After about 30 minutes of snuggling, Jon took her back to bed, but she wasn't happy about it.  I hope we haven't started a new nightly routine!
2. Adeline has her own made-up word and I'm just now starting to embrace it.  For the longest time I've been trying to correct it, but now I think it's pretty cute.  She calls most forms of media "gigats"  Songs, movies, tv, computer, phones...all "gigats."  She knows the names for them because she'll tell me the correct name when I ask her, but if she's just talking about them herself, it's always "gigats." I love it!
3. Annabel has started eating solids in the evenings.  So far she has had avocados, bananas, & sweet potatoes.  Sweet potatoes are by far her favorite!
4. Annabel sat up on her own after I placed her there for approximately 30 seconds on Tuesday, March 6.

Happy Birthday, Westin!

Our friend Westin is two years old today!  We helped him celebrate at his party on Saturday.

I love my little camera that I can just throw in my purse, but it doesn't take pictures nearly as quickly as my big one and a lot of them come out blurry.  I thought his face with the cupcake was too cute not to share, even though it is blurry.  I also loved his shirt!

Aren't these cookies perfect?

My three loves

I love this blue-eyed baby!

I love this blue-eyed toddler, too, but she is impossible to get a picture of these days!

Adeline & Elle enjoying lunch.

And parties always mean party favors!  

Happy Birthday, Westin!  Thanks for letting us celebrate with you.

Mini Vacation

We all had a bit of a vacation this past week.  Adeline vacationed in Texas with her grandparents, and Jon, Annabel, and I vacationed at home.  Hah!  It feels like somewhat of a vacation without a busy 2 year old around, anyway.

Adeline woke up in the middle of the night with fever the first night she was at her Nana's, so the next day they visited the doctor to get everything checked out.

The doctor couldn't find anything wrong, so we just assumed a little virus or 2 year molars.  She was fine by the next day.

She got to ride some little car at Wal-Mart when they went to get her some Tylenol.

She got to visit her great-grandparents a lot as well.  I know they all had a great time.

She got lots of snuggles with Nana...

And she got to throw rocks in Pappy's pond!

While I was toddler-free, I made my nieces some of these little shirts for Easter.  I have some to make my girls as well, but it may be a while before I get to those.

Adeline got to go watch her cousin Isaac's derby car race at RA's.

She was supposed to spend Wednesday and Thursday night with Big T & Tiny then they were going to bring her back to us this weekend, but T & Tiny both got sick, so things didn't go as planned.  My mom met us in Little Rock at Annabel's appointment on Thursday to bring Adeline back to us.

Poor Adeline was in the car nearly all day on Thursday.  She didn't mind too much though...

Thursday night we were all back home and I was a happy momma to have both my girls.  I snapped this cute picture of Annabel in the bathtub that night.  I love her and her crazy hair!

Although it was nice to be a 1-kid-family for a few days, I sure am glad to have Adeline back with us.  I love our chaotic, noisy, exhausting, but extremely fun life!

The Past Week

It seems like I have a bunch of random pictures I need to catch up on posting.  Last weekend my mom went on a "Walk to Emmaus" and she couldn't have her phone with her for 72 hours.  My MIL was there as well as a server, so she was able to have her phone.  I sent her pictures of the girls every day so she could print them out and give them to my mom.

Saturday night we met the Davises out for hamburgers.  Annabel and Daddy enjoyed watching some basketball while we ate.

We went on a stroller ride at the park Sunday afternoon..

Annabel discovered how to suck on her toes...

Monday was a school day and a dance day.  I got this picture of Adeline at breakfast.  She's growing up so fast!

Wednesday we stayed home and played all day.  I made an indoor spider web for Adeline to practice some fine motor skills.  First she colored the bugs...

Then she rescued them from the spider's web...

That afternoon the weather was beautiful so we played with sidewalk chalk while we waited for Daddy to get home from work.

Friday afternoon I was so excited to incorporate peanut butter into Adeline's snack.  It was a big hit!

This weekend Nana & Pappy came to visit!  We ate out lots of yummy food, played outside, went to visit the ducks at a nearby pond, and shopped.  I was bad about getting pictures, though.  The only one I got was of Annabel trying out the swing for the first time.

For my birthday back in September, I got a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse gift card.  Jon and I have not had a date night since before Annabel was born.  My parents kept the girls last night so we could go out for a nice, quiet, delicious dinner.

I got these texts from my mom while we were out..

Today was bittersweet.  My parents took Adeline home with them to Texas.  My in-laws will bring her back to us on Friday, unless she gets homesick before then.  We were so sad to see her leave for such a long time, but I know we'll get lots done and maybe even catch up on some rest this week while she's gone.  I think Annabel misses her dearly already, though.  She has been quite fussy all afternoon and that's just not like her!

My mom sent me this text while they were traveling back to Texas.

We're going to miss our big girl this week, but our little girl will get lots of attention!

God Answers Prayers

We've had a week of medical issues here at the Richey house.

Last Thursday night Annabel's heart started racing.  To our knowledge, this is the first time it has happened since the day she was born.  I happened to be out to dinner with friends celebrating Shannon's soon-to-be arriving little girl.  Jon called me in a panic, but I reminded him of the maneuvers we're supposed to do to get her heart back to a normal rate.  He did this and all was fine.  We checked on her and prayed all night that her heart wouldn't go into another fast rhythm while she was sleeping.  I called Little Rock first thing the next morning.  The doctor she normally sees was out that day, but I was able to talk with a nurse who corresponded with her doctor via email to find out what we needed to do.  I was fervently praying that they would not freak out (because this would have freaked me out even more) and that they would increase her dosage of medication rather than increase the amount of times she has to take it throughout the day.  Both prayers were answered!  The nurse told me this was very normal because babies grow so quickly and so much in the first year.  That it was just time to up her medicine and that it was nothing to worry about.  She also just changed the concentration of her medication, so we still only have to give it to her 3 times a day just like before.  I felt a sudden wash of calming over me after this that can only come from Jesus.  I knew He was looking out for us.  I know He loves Annabel even more than we do and I have a peace that all is going to be fine.  Anyway, they sent a heart monitor for her to wear for 24 hours this week to make sure the new medication dosage is doing its job.

Poor baby had to wear this big contraption for 24 hours!  However, another answered prayer.  It didn't seem to bother her at all while she slept.  The only time she got mad at it was during the day yesterday.  She has turned in to quite the roller and every time I'd put her down, she'd roll over on to her tummy then get mad that this was pushing in to her chest.  We go for her appointment in Little Rock next Thursday.  I'm hoping that since she wore the monitor this week that they won't send us home with another one again next week.

And moving on to our next baby.  If you all forgot about this, back in November we had Adeline allergy tested because she had had a couple reactions to peanut butter.  She tested positive on the skin test to a peanut allergy.  They sent us home with instructions to avoid all peanuts and tree nuts and to get a blood test to test the severity of her peanut allergy.  Well, it was December before I got around to the blood test.  A few weeks later we got the results back that she tested NEGATIVE for any peanut allergy.  Not at all what we were expecting!  I was so excited, but still very hesitant.  The allergist suggested we come in for what they call "the peanut challenge."  So we did that today.  Talk about a long, drawn out process!  They started with touching a tiny bit of it to her lips, then waiting 20 minutes.  At that point she had a few red streaks on her neck.  The allergist asked if I was ok with proceeding and I felt comfortable doing that since we were in a controlled environment with lots of doctors and nurses around.  They then gave her 1/8 tsp of peanut butter and waited 30 minutes.  By this time, all the streaks were gone and she was asking for more.  We continued this process by doubling the amount every 20-30 minutes until we got to 2 teaspoons.  She had ZERO reactions (besides the red streaks that we think might have just been her scratching from dry skin).  So we have to watch her for 24 hours and then we can start adding peanuts and tree nuts in to her diet!  Yay!  I'm so excited and I know this is a God thing.  I can't wait for my girl to experience the deliciousness of peanut butter!

Isn't it amazing that God listens to our prayers about medication dosages and peanut butter?  He loves us so much and that makes me want to shout with joy!

Annabel is 5 Months Old!

Today Annabel turned 5 months old!  Time gets faster & faster.  Slow down!

She wasn't too smiley in these pictures today because I took them right after she woke up from a 3 hour nap.  I think she was a bit still out of it.  

What is Annabel up to at 5 months?

• Sleeping with her arms out of the swaddle!  Woo Hoo!
• Sleeps 12 hours at night with me waking her at 5am for meds & a short feeding
• If she does wake in the night, she puts herself back to sleep eventually
• Takes two naps a day; morning & afternoon
• morning nap 30-45 min
• afternoon nap 2-3 hours
• Eats a solid food at supper
• has been only eating cereal 
• tried avocado tonight, but wasn't a big fan; we'll keep trying, though
• Thinks her big sister is the funniest thing ever
• Adeline lives to make her laugh.  She does stuff we tell her not to do just because it makes Annabel laugh.  I told Jon we better get used to it because they're going to be ganging up on us like that their whole lives.
• When Adeline was this age Tulip was the one that could always make her laugh.  I don't think Annabel even knows Tulip exists.
• Is grabbing any & everything she can get her hands around
• Has started grabbing her feet lately and trying to get them in her mouth as well
• Can prop-sit
• Can push up on her arms when on her stomach
• Can roll both ways
• Sometimes sleeps on her side now
• Loves to stand in your lap or in the exersaucer
• Nurses 6-7 times a day
• Wears size 2 diapers
• Wears 3-6 month clothes

Annabel, you are our beautiful little sweetheart and we love you so so much!

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