Pics from the last couple of weeks...

trying out Sophie's boppy

sweet baby

trying hard to lift head and smile
Loving my zebra clothes
Big sister Madalyn trying to feed Sophie a bottle
Baby acne stinks!

Showing off my "I love Daddy" clothes along with a bow
Looking cute with the Sophie pacifier even though she prefers her MAM pacifier
sleepy baby
Our shower after Mark redid the tile and textured the walls...you don't even want to know what it looked like before!

The new carpet in the living room
Sophie yawning
We love this outfit sent to us from our great friends far away!
We have been dying to wear it and it finally fits!

One step forward and another one back...

Sophie is feeling much better! We are rarely doing the breathing treatments anymore ( about once a day), same with the Robitussin. We just have to make sure that she doesn't take a step backward.

On the other hand, Loraly has a yucky cough, and a fever. Mark called the doctor this morning and asked if he would just call in a prescription antibiotic because of how many times we have been to see him in the last few weeks.

AND HE DID! We love our doctor!

Poor little Sophie's hospital/ doctor timeline:

born December 2, stayed in hospital until December 4

doctor's visit to check weight- December 5

2 week check up- December 17

Madalyn and Sophie sick doctors appointment- December 28

Admitted to hospital- December 29 through December 31

RSV doctors check- January 3

THAT IS A TOTAL OF 10 DAYS either at the hospital or doctors office in her short lifetime! CRAZY!

An unwanted Hospital Stay.

(this picture was taken today, Sophie's face is broken out and a little swollen. I just thought her little foot hanging out of her gown was precious!)

(this picture was taken Christmas day when she really started feeling lousy)

Sophie ended up having to be admitted into the hospital late Saturday night. She started running a fever and wheezing. We called the doctor and told him what was going on and his response was to get to the ER immediately! Not what you want to hear with a 3 week 6 day old baby!

We were in the ER for approximately 4 hours! until they finally got her a room. They diagnosed her with RSV and being dehydrated. She has been vomiting on and off from the drainage which she is still doing here and there. We pray that she doesn't get dehydrated again from this. She received some fluid, got a very unwanted I.V. (because of the dehydration), breathing treatments every 4 hours (which we are now having to continue here at home), received Robitussin every 4 hours (which is also being done at home), and from all this she now has a bad diaper rash and a yucky rash on her face! I would rather her have these rashes any day than RSV again! The doctor at the hospital said that it is most likely that she will get it again sometime in the next 2 years :(

She is feeling much better now. We are going back to the doctor tomorrow to get her checked out and see where we are in this healing process. Wish her luck!

Our life is upside down!

Right now life is very hectic!

Mark is staying at our house because we are getting the carpet and tile replaced. So far it is looking awesome!

He hasn't slept or ate basically in about 2 1/2 days! He just wants to get it done and make sure it looks perfect! I made him eat supper last night and he took a 5 hour nap and then went back to work! He is going to need a week off just to rest after all this.

On the other hand, Madalyn has a yucky head cold and a sinus infection. Antibiotics--yes!

Sophie is on the verge of being put in the hospital! I know--scary! She may or may not have RSV. She is so sick! She can't sleep, eat, rest, relax, or anything---just miserable! Of course, I am not sleeping either because I watch her all night to make sure she is still breathing. If anything changes, doesn't get better, or she isn't producing urine, we are supposed to head straight to the emergency room! I don't like being so scared for my child's life! Watching her every movement wondering when and if we should be at the hospital...

Please say a special prayer that she doesn't have RSV, that she isn't sick enough or get sick enough to be hospitalized, and most of all that she gets better!

Madalyn is missing Paul this Christmas...

We were driving home from Mark's parents tonight and Madalyn noticed two little stars all alone in the sky. She always points out the first star in the sky and says it is Jesus' star and ALWAYS makes a wish on it. She then noticed the other little one beside it and said it was Paul's star. She started doing that the very day he passed away.

So she started talking about how we celebrate Christmas and why we celebrate it and how VERY lucky Paul was to get to be in Heaven with Jesus on his birthday and celebrate with him. She talked about how great it was that Paul gets to be in Heaven for Christmas and how wonderful it was that he doesn't EVER have to hurt EVER again!

This last couple of weeks, since Sophie was sick, has really made Madalyn start thinking... I walked into her room one night to tell her goodnight and she was really quiet. I asked what was wrong and she told me that she was praying because she was scared that since Sophie was sick that she would die and go to Heaven like Paul and she didn't want that to happen.

So the other day we were exchanging gifts with Paul's family and they gave her the most precious gift of all. Leigh had went to the website shutterfly.com and had a book made--basically it was the story of Paul and Madalyn from almost 5 years ago until he died. AWESOME! She loves it and looks at it constantly! Thanks Saxons! I love watching Leigh and Terrill with Madalyn--they treat her as if one of their own, and as if she has a part of Paul with her and they can feel his presence through her.

The book could not have come at a better time for Madalyn because she is the mad stage of grieving, which isn't the easiest stage to get through...pray for Madalyn to get through this stage and especially pray hard for the Saxon family to cherish Paul's memory throughout the holiday season!

Merry Christmas Paul!

Madalyn loves you very much and misses you dearly!

Merry Christmas to all!

This is the Christmas card I sent out this year.

Outside of the card:

Opening on top:

wording: "Christmas came a little early at our house!

A gift of love from GOd above

Is just what we were dreaming of

Tiny fingers and tiny toes

A little girl with ribbons and bows!"

Opening on bottom:

It is so fun to have a Christmas baby!

I want to make a list of my top 5 favorite Christmas songs:

1. Silent Night

2. Joy to the World

3. Hark the Herald Angels Sing

4. Santa Baby

5. I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

Sophie is 3 weeks old (yesterday) and OH, SO HAPPY!

She is such a great baby! Happy, and content, all the time!
We took her to church for the first time yesterday. She, of course, was wonderful! She slept through the entire thing--of course we were late because getting 3 kids ready, yourself, and making your husband hurry is not easy!
She had her first bottle Saturday given to her by my brother whom she also met for the first time Saturday. They said she did great with the bottle. I had to do a little last minute shopping with my dad so they enjoyed the girls for a couple of hours.
Mark is in the process still of redoing our bathroom. He is tiling the bathtub walls as we speak...