Binkys, A Birthday, Dressing Up and a Shower!

Anson loves his Binkys. Aaron made him this binky necklace a few weeks ago, and he wore it everywhere until the necklace came undone and he lost the binkys one by one. In any case, Anson loves his Binkys. What can I say more?



Aaron turned the big 31 on January 31. You'll just get to see a picture of him and the kids by his birthday door. Aaron's family has a fun tradition to decorate the door of the birthday person to start out their birthday with a bang. You just tape some wrapping paper to the door, tape on some of their favorite things (we usually raid the dollar store), put a box of their favorite cereal and snack on the ground by the door, and voila! A happy birthday person with a Happy Birthday door! I love the tradition- try it out! (There were other things on the ground that don't show up in the picture - they were too big for the door!)



My mom has some dress up clothes for the kids to play with at her house, and Rebecca runs to put on the white fluffy dress as soon as we get there. Her cousin Alana loves to wear the same dress, so she knows she has to have it on already if Alana comes over while she is there. Otherwise, Alana will run for it as soon as she gets there! The other day we found a pirate outfit for Anson to wear so he can dress up as well. Apparently my mom has had it for a while, but we didn't know about it- and I think she forgot. The kids are wearing hats that used to be in the Easter Pageant, but that are now retired. My mom helps sew the costumes, so she gets the hook-ups!



Despite Katie being born on the day of the original baby shower, the show went on anyway- on Saturday. Rebecca came to help unwrap the presents and eat the wonderful goodies (thanks Andrea and Amanda!). It was fun to have the baby there and for everyone to see her already. Katie is all set with new outfits, dresses, a pair of jelly sandals, blankets, a port-a-crib, and toys. Thank you to everyone that came! (Remember that this picture was taken about 48 hours after I gave birth. Don't look at the tummy!)

Introducing Kathryn Reagan!

Kathryn Reagan (Katie) was born on Thursday, February 7, 2008 at 12:35 PM. She weighed 7 lbs. 13 oz. and was 20 in. long. She came somewhat unexpectedly as my ultrasound due date was February 14 and I was expecting her 2 days after that since both Rebecca and Anson were 2 days late. She actually was born on her due date before we changed the date because of the ultrasound though! Notice her freckle/birthmark on her right eye brow. We'll definitely be able to tell which pictures are hers until her eye brow grows in bigger and darker!

For anyone interested in the details of labor and delivery (and for my own personal records), here is the story. I woke up at 1:30 AM with somewhat mild and regular contractions. I layed in bed for a while, then decided to get up and pack the bag for the kids in case we ended up going to the hospital. I had already packed my bag, so I got back in bed and waited for a while longer before deciding to wake Aaron up. By then it was around 2:15 AM and I asked him if we should go to the hospital. I didn't really want to go because my friends were having a Baby Shower for me that night and I also wanted the kids to sleep as long as possible. I should also mention that we hadn't gone to bed the night before until 11:30, so we were both really tired. Aaron said we shouldn't go because it was way to early (the date, not the time). We timed the contractions and they were 3-4 minutes apart. We got up and got everything ready to go- I even started the dishwasher. We left the house a little before 3:30 AM and arrived at the hospital at 4:00 AM. Grandma Margaret met us at the hospital to take the kids to her house (thanks for coming so early!).

I was at a 4 when we got to the hospital (I was a 6 with the other two!) so I walked around for a while. The next time they checked I was a 5, so the nurse called the Dr. He told me that it was not advisable for me to walk around anymore, but I didn't see any reason for that so I signed a medical waiver that if anything happened to the baby while I was walking he wouldn't be liable. I walked a while longer and was admitted to the labor and delivery unit around 6:30 AM. I was now at a 6 so I got an IV and an epidural.

The Dr. broke my water around 8:00AM, and Aaron and I slept for a while. My right leg got a huge dose of the epidural while I was sleeping, so I turned to the other side which I could feel pretty well (you're not supposed to feel it!). It didn't really help so the anesthesiologist (did I spell that right?) put an extra dose in. I definately couldn't feel or move my legs after that! Here are a couple of pictures of me before the baby was born.

To Be Continued...

Vote for Mitt Romney!

I have been trying to think of what I can do to help Mitt Romney win on Super Tuesday, so I decided to let eveyone in the blogging world (I'm sure everyone in the blogging world reads my posts) know that they should vote for Mitt!



Anyone that is a true conservative cannot vote for John McCain because he is just a wolf in sheep's clothing. Getting together with Edward Kennedy on an immigration package? Come on. How conservative could that possibly be? He calls it stepping across the aisle. I call it being who he is - a liberal! And campaign finance reform? What genius thought up that little piece of legislation? Can we say taking away our first amendment rights? Not being able to mention a candidate's name during the last few days and months before an election can hardly be called freedom of speech.

And John McCain is so insufferably arrogant and egotistical! During the last debate, he must have said "I'm proud" at least 25 times. He has been gathering endorsements from everyone he possibly can - not that I blame him for that because it does seem to hold a lot of sway with people, but can't people figure out that an endorsement is a deal made with John McCain and the other party with the intent of having a political or other favor granted in the future? John McCain is going to be owing quite a few favors after this election. There are endorsement deals made. It is not a free thing. Other candidates do this too of course, but John McCain is shopping right now and is falling over himself with glee that he has so many endorsments. He also thinks he is untouchable because of his war experience. I am grateful that he served our country and it is too bad that he was a POW, but enough already! Its not like it didn't happen to other people too. It was so many years ago, and he is a different person than he was back then. He really hasn't had any real leadership position since then where he was actually leading anything. Legislating is definately not leading.



Mitt Romney on the other hand, has been really leading organizations and government during his whole career. He is eloquent and handles himself like a President should. His temperament is in direct contrast to John McCain's anger management problems and whole persona. I think that Mitt is able to get our country out of the economic problems we face, that he will clear out a lot of the bureaucracy that tangles up our government now, and that he will deal with the war on terror in a way that will keep the United States safe. He does not underestimate that threat. He will appoint Supreme Court Judges that will protect the Constitution and listen to the advice of his advisors but make decisions himself. I think it is time to do what the Founding Fathers intended the American people to do when they go to vote. Vote for the good man. The one that will do the right thing. I hope everyone will join me in voting for Mitt Romney tomorrow (I actually already voted by mail in ballot, but you get the idea).

Lets All Be Sick At the Same Time!

I have had a nasty cold for the last 2 weeks. I'm definately getting tired of it. It keeps flaring up and then just settling back into my throat. I woke up this morning with a bad cold AGAIN! Why won't it just go away completely? Luckily I was able to get two naps today and felt so much better after the second one. But this is the second time I've missed church because of this blasted cold. Enough already!

On another note, after I woke up from my first nap this morning, Aaron told me that Rebecca's eye was swollen and puffy again. In September, Rebecca had gotten an infection next to her eye. She had just gotten over a Staph infection in her neck (which she had surgically drained of pus in the hospital) and had been on antibiotics for 20 days. So then we had to put her on a different kind of antibiotics for her eye for another 10 days.
So I had Rebecca come show me her eye this morning, and sure enough, her eyelid over the same eye as before was starting to get puffy and swollen. We thought about waiting to take her to the Dr. tomorrow, but decided we needed to make sure it didn't get any bigger - the eye is a delicate thing! Aaron took her to urgent care (while I took my second nap) and the Dr. prescribed another antibiotic for the next 10 days. He said it was good that we caught it early and also that it was not contagious at all. That is good news as I don't need the whole family with eye infections a week and a half before a new baby is due! Apparently Rebecca has a sty or something like that in her eye. I really don't know anything about stys (or even if that is how you spell it as I have never heard of it). We are supposed to go see the Dr. next week after we stop antibiotics so the Dr. can check her and we'll talk about the sty then. Maybe we can get rid of it so we don't continue to have this problem!