Reagan Two Months

RICHLAND, WASH. -- Little Raegan hit the two month mark in September, so I'm a little bit behind in these updates. Raegan was given her baby blessing in church the weekend of Labor Day. We had a lot of people who came to town to help celebrate: Grandma and Grandpa Reeve, Grandma and Grandpa Candrian, Rob and Lorena and their cute kids, and my cousin Camea and Clayton and their family came over for the blessing as well.

I wish I (or someone) would have taken notes on what was said during her blessing, but it was such a beautiful blessing from Isaac. One of the things that stood out to me (and was mentioned by numerous people at church that day) was that Raegan would be a defender of the weak. I envisioned her standing up for Britta as older children and being her big sister's biggest fan, friend, and advocate. I know we have this sweet girl in our family for a reason. Her smiles, pleasant, easy-going personality, and joy she's brought into our lives confirms that.

TWO MONTH STATS: 

• 12 lbs. 5 oz. (71.5%)  

• 24.5" (98%)

• 16.1" HC (97%) 

EATING: Every few hours when she's awake. 

SLEEPING: At night she'll sleep for 8-10 hour stretches usually. Her naps are usually ridiculously long or cat naps throughout the day until she crashes at night.  


WEARING: Three month clothes


INTERESTING TIDBITS: She gives the best smiles to anyone who comes to look at her or talk to her. She started babbling a lot more and it's so cute to hear her coo's. We moved her upstairs to her new room and she sleeps so well up there! 

Her hair is everyone's favorite and EVERYBODY who sees her comments on it. It's just so wild and sticks out everywhere. She likes to stick her arms out with her hands in fists and give the air little punches. It's one of my favorite things. 

Raegan One Month Old

RICHLAND, WASH. -- We've survived an entire month with four kids! Whew! What a crazy month it has been. We've had visitors nearly a month straight. Isaac's parents came to be with our kids when Raegan was born, then Isaac was home for a week from work, then my mom came, then a few days later Brittany and her kids came. We loved every second of it, but boy was it a busy, exhausting month! We sure love this little girl! 

ONE MONTH STATS: 

• 10 lbs. 14 oz. (85%)  

• 23.5" (>99%)

• 15.16" HC (93%) 

EATING: Every few hours, more when she's awake for long stretches. 

SLEEPING: Usually takes an epic long nap in the mornings and is a cat napper in the afternoons and evenings until she crashes around 8 or 9 p.m. for the night. She has slept up to 8 hours at a time but generally wakes up once or twice in the night.   

WEARING: 3 Months and a handful of newborn sized things. 

INTERESTING TIDBITS: Isaac and I have noticed she cries more than our other babies did (at least we think so... maybe our memories are fuzzy?) at this age. That being said, she really doesn't cry that much. Just the usual... tired, hungry, wet, etc. But our babies have all been SO good that they really were never that fussy. Somehow we lucked out in that department.

This past week, the week of her blessing at church, her poor little face broke out in baby acne. I'm not talking about a little breakout. We are talking a massive, horrendous breakout. All over her face, behind her ears, her chest, back... it's so sad. None of my other babies ever got acne, so this hasn't been a pleasant (at least not pleasant looking) experience.  

Paige picked out this unicorn dress for her baby sister. It was glittery and I swear, weeks later, she still has glitter all over her head that won't come off. 

Marin loves to hold Raegan 24-7

Paige loves to snuggle Raegan in the mornings

Meeting Grandpa Candrian for the first time

Chatting with Grandma Candrian

Paige Turns FOUR

RICHLAND, WASH. -- Paige has been "waiting a long time" to turn four! She says she feels bigger, older and taller. That's what a whole year will do to you! 

My make-believe, goofball, mischievous, princess loving, unicorn obsessed, baby girl is growing way too fast. We celebrated by going to get pedicures, having a friend over for a treasure hunt, and eating a Little Mermaid/Under the Sea cake. 

FOUR YEAR STATS: 

• 36 lbs. (60%)  

• 3'4.5" (68%) 

EATING: She's such a good eater. She'll pick an apple, peach or orange over a cookie any day. It's quite remarkable. 

SLEEPING: Wonders of worlds different than her previous year of life than when she woke up numerous times every night. She rarely wakes up in the middle of the night, though she's woken up much more frequently (maybe once or twice a week?) since Raegan was born.


WEARING: 4T. 


INTERESTING TIDBITS: She started preschool this school year and LOVES it. When we arrived on the first day we were pretty early, so I told her we had to wait for a few minutes. She was not happy about this news and very adamantly said, "But I want to go inside NOW and see my teachers!" She did not want to wait! She has four other little girls in her class who are in our ward, so that made it really easy for her to not be nervous.

The day before school started, I asked her if she was scared about anything for preschool and she quietly (and dramatically) said, "I'm scared no one will like me."  No idea where she came up with that idea. I wasn't aware four year olds had this worry in life. ha ha (she probably heard it on a show or something?). Oh sweet Paige.

She continues to be the biggest goofball and doesn't like to be serious for too long before cracking a joke, bugging somebody or acting funny.  

She still has an attachment to her gray blanket, affectionately (and simply) called her gray blankie.

She comes across as very shy but loves to play with her friends and go to friends' houses more than anything.

She and Marin are crazy competitive and know how to push each other's buttons like no other. They are also each other's best playmates and can entertain each other for hours playing dolls and make believe. Marin starting Kindergarten has been a little rough for this reason. Paige doesn't know what to do by herself some days. She likes to declare "I"m boooored!" But she's becoming good buddies with Britta and is incredibly good at including her when she plays. She also likes to do little chores for me when my hands are full with Raegan. I don't know what I'd do without my little Paigey Paige! 

SAY HELLO TO RAEGAN!

RICHLAND, WASH. -- I guess it's safe to say my children take after me and are always running late-- because not one of them has arrived on time into this crazy world. Our newest addition followed suit. At numerous doctor and ultrasound appointments, I was told baby number four would likely be my biggest baby yet. And they were right.

Raegan Candrian Reeve 

 Wednesday, July 24, 2019 

8:09 p.m. 

9 pounds 10 ounces, 23 inches long

Here's the story of her birth...

After nearly a week past our due date, the staff at Kadlec Medial Center kindly scheduled me for an induction. Isaac and I arrived to the hospital at 6 a.m. Wednesday morning. By 8 a.m. my induction had begun and we were off to a slow moving start with our crotchety nurse reminding us every chance she got that being "advanced maternal age" was not a real reason to be induced and that we shouldn't have been scheduled already. She sure made us feel welcome! Thankfully our night nurse, whose name I wish I remembered, was the most amazing nurse we've ever had.  

After several hours of erratic contractions, the doctor (Dr. Mulholland) broke my water to speed things up. Soon thereafter, the contractions picked up steam and got incredibly painful. So, I asked for the much beloved epidural. I'd had three incredibly awesome ones with my previous births that killed all horrible pain without a hitch. God bless the person who invented the epidural! I was starting to think how lucky I was that my epidurals had always worked wonders, when just before 8 p.m. I started feeling incredible pressure-- indicating that the baby wanted out ASAP. I'd experienced this pressure, to an extent, with my other babies, so I knew just what it meant. I called the nurse, who called the doctor and told him to return from his dinner break STAT! Ten minutes later, the doctor was in the room and it was game time. 

Now... unlike my previous births, the pressure usually didn't bother me, because, like I said, those epidurals worked amazingly. This one, however, started to feel alarmingly different. Suddenly the pressure I was feeling turned into enormous pressure and then irritatingly uncomfortable pain. As soon as they told me to start pushing, the pain increased and the pressure was the most enormous, uncomfortable, horrendous pain I'd ever experienced. I couldn't push this baby out fast enough! Suddenly, all those awful stories I'd heard about people's epidurals not working, were coming true for me! I was so thrown off and mind-boggled by all of it. It was so unexpected and completely caught me off guard. As I started pushing, I kept looking up to Isaac (who was standing to the left of me) and grabbing at him-- wanting him to grab the baby out and make my pain go away! Isaac later told me he knew something was wrong by the look of absolute terror on my face. The pain was immense and I was SO mad my epidural stopped working right at the time it was supposed to work the best! 

Anyway, that awful pressure turned into a fiery pain that was beyond anything I'd ever felt. The nurse told me to wait for the next contraction to start pushing, but you couldn't have had me wait to push if you paid me a billion bucks. I told her I would not be waiting, but I was going to keep pushing because I wanted this experience over NOW.  So, I pushed a few good more pushes and out sweet baby Raegan came. I think I pushed for less than ten minutes-- which was far less than any of my other babies. Normally my doctors had me laying down to push, but this doctor left me sitting straight up, so I was able to see my sweet little baby as soon as she was in the doctor's arms. It made me tear up to see the most beautiful little girl with a dark head full of hair, and boy was she chubby! It was an emotional experience. Such a beautiful, big, healthy baby girl.   

Unfortunately, I hemorrhaged, and lost a ton of blood. They had to give me a shot and a pill to slow down the bleeding. I lost a sixth of my body's blood and shivered uncontrollably for hours afterward. 

It's amazing to me the miracle that babies are when they arrive healthy and strong into the world. I was a little nervous after having Britta that something would be amiss with Raegan. But we are grateful all is well. Our other girls are smitten with her, and I was so nervous we'd have a rough go with Britta. But she is Raegan's biggest fan. Life is good.   

BRITTA: 18 Months Old

RICHLAND, WASH. --  Sweet Britta is taking on lots of personality and trying to hard to figure out how to move around these days. Though she doesn't walk, the girl can cruise confidently. Her physical therapist made her a set of parallel bars out of PVC pipes, and she can walk up and down them over and over again. She wants so badly to stand and walk. Her little feet are just too weak still to support her. But she's trying, and that's the important part. 

Since she doesn't walk, and doesn't have much hair (poor kid), she seems more like a baby then she really is, I think. She is old enough now to go to nursery at church, so Isaac has been taking her the past month. Even though she can't really defend herself in there and will get plowed by some of the bigger kids, we felt like it was important for her to go in on time since mentally she is just fine. It's important for her to socialize with kids her own age and try to figure it all out. But we aren't quite comfortable leaving her in there by herself yet.  

Eighteen Month Old Stats:

• 33 inches tall (82%)

• 18.9 HC (88%)

• 23 lbs. (53%)

Sleeping: Goes to bed at 7 and wakes up around 8 or so. Has a nap around 12:30 or 1 and sleeps for at least 2 hours generally, often three hours.
  
Wearing: 12-18 or 18-24 month clothes. Sometimes to match her big sisters, she wears a 2T, though it's pretty baggy. 
  
Interesting Tidbits: Her favorite person lately is Paige. When she wakes up in the mornings, Britta will immediately say, "Pay?" She wants to know where Paige is. And if Isaac leaves the room she will immediately inquire, "Dada?" She wants to know where everyone goes and what they're doing. She doesn't say Marin very often and it makes Marin sad. Marin is super motherly to her and always wants to carry her around and help her. 

Our favorite thing we like to do with Britta lately is let her ride her little bike. She has this cute little red ladybug bike that we bought for Marin (and Marin and Paige both hardly ever used) when she was Britta's age, that she can cruise around in like nobody's business. It's almost like it's her little wheelchair. She can maneuver the thing really well, but if she ever gets stuck she'll screech, "STUUUUUUH!" She wheels that thing all around the kitchen and all over the downstairs and loooooves it. She will often go so fast that she works up a sweat riding it. 

She tries to say almost everything, but it's generally just the first syllable or consonant of any word that comes out, though her vocabulary is expanding pretty good and she's getting slightly more understandable. 

Britta loves to laugh and be goofy with her sisters. But if she's tired or not in the mood, she likes to belt out a good screech and push away people who get too into her zone. 

She's also super territorial and if anyone besides her climbs into my lap, she gets jealous and tries to push them out. So this next month with a new little sister on the way should be an interesting one.    

The poor girl has had a chronic runny nose for nearly a year now. We've taken her to specialists and tried numerous things, but to no avail. Allergies and enlarged adenoids are suspect, but allergy meds don't seem to do a thing. So every time we go outside (which is her favorite place), her eyes immediately water and her nose grows increasingly runnier. Hopefully we'll be able to figure out the culprit one day. 

We sure love this little girl! 

Britta's ladybug bike. 

Her sisters love to play with her. And she loves the attention.

She doesn't love sitting in her highchair and instead likes to stand on a chair to eat with everyone.

We took her to her first baseball game in Seattle earlier this month. She did pretty good.

At a family reunion in Midway this week. She didn't love riding the carousel.

While everyone cruised down the Alpine Slide, Britta fell asleep in Grandpa Candrian's lap.

Loooooves the swings. Especially when other kids push her.

She loves being outside and climbing around everything at parks. 

I think she mostly enjoyed being loved on by cousins this week.