Blog All Title

I think I'd mentioned a few posts back that Juliet's belly button took a while to heal. Well, it did, but it didn't.
The doc carterized it a few weeks ago, and it appeared to be better. It still had a little pink to it, which I just assumed was new skin. But this past week it once again started looking yucky. I took her in to the doc yesterday to have it checked out and she referred us to a pediatric surgeon. Thank goodness they could get us in right away -- I'm sure I would have started to worry and imagine the worst!
Her condition has a name that I can't pronounce - but basically she still has connections to her bowel and bladder. If left untreated, these connections could lead to infections. The solution is a small incision, the disconnecting and tying off of the passageways, and sewing her back up. Since she'll have to go under anesthesia for the procedure we'll wait until she's 3 mths old to have this done. (If they are under 3 mths, a night in the hospital is required) Until then, she carterized it again and applied silver nitrate to hopefully ward off any infection.
She did say that there's a slim chance that the carterization will heal it. Actually what she said was it probably wouldn't heal it and our only solution would be surgery. So . . . to me, there's a 'slim chance'! But because we serve a God who is the ultimate healer and can do the impossible when our chances are slim to none, the White family is praying that God will heal Juliet's belly button issues in the next two weeks (before we see the doc again.) I'd love it if you'd join us!
If He chooses not to heal her, I trust in Him. This is, again, a good reminder to me where I am in relation to my Lord. I love my children dearly, but they are not my idols. My life revolves around my Savior and I will not let my fears have victory over that. Whatever happens, Blessed be His Name!

Today is the first day of kindergarten for AnnaBeth and of second grade for Raegan. Our school district still does 1/2 day kindergarten (thank goodness), so AB will be home before lunch. When asked if she was excited to go to school, she said no. When asked why not, she answered, "I don't know how to read yet!" She has since been told that's why she's going to school. Funny girl.
Raegan was very ready for school-- she's even startrd setting an alarm clock at night so I won't have to wake them up in the morning. She's very responsible!
Here are the girls before heading off to school this morning.

Juliet's umbilical cord was ripped off a little early so her belly button took a while to heal. But we were finally able to give her a real bath this past week. You can see by her smiles that she enjoyed herself!

All done!

Raegan got glasses today! Her vision isn't too bad at 20/50. But hopefully this will help her not squint while watching TV and help her to see the board clearly at school. She's pretty excited about having her specs . . . we'll see how long that lasts!

I really get excited when I'm able to save money, so I have to share this. Because we went to an MD (opthalmologist instead of optometrist) we only had to pay our copay for a specialist. We don't have a vision plan on our insurance so this was totally unexpected. Also, Walmart was having a back to school sale, so kids' lenses were half off. And my darling Raegan found some plain pink frames she liked for $10, instead of the $68 ones that were "High School Musical" brand. She's my bargain shopper junior! So intead of paying around $300 like I was expecting, we spent only $75 total for her eye exam and glasses. Nothing like saving a couple hundred dollars to brighten your day. Thank you Lord for surprise blessings!

Juliet is getting really good at lifting her head while on her tummy. She's even started rolling over! Hopefully a video documenting her amazing skills will follow soon!

Aren't Sunday afternoon naps the greatest?

For Raegan's 7th Birthday party she decided she wanted a cooking party. So we (mostly she) started brainstorming. This is what we came up with . . . .

Before everyone arrived, we made chef hats out of posterboard and tissue paper. We kicked off the party by decorating aprons with fabric markers.

Next, the kids made their own pizzas. Yum!

While the pizzas were cooking we played some games, including a relay game with spaghetti.

After Rae opened her presents, the kids decorated the cakes. Don't they look. . . appetizing?!

Happy Birthday to my incredibly creative little chef!

Here is Juliet watching her "Praise Baby" video for the first time. (For those who are unfamiliar, it is very similar to the Baby Einstein videos . . . only with worship music instead. Thanks Taber for the gift!)
Juliet loved it! I was able to take a shower and get ready while Juliet had a good time praising Jesus -- as only a 5 week old can do!

After a good nap she's all smiles. She's even started laughing recently!

Her hair is a trip!

We've decided that Juliet's crazy hair looks a little rock-n-roll.

Here she is checking herself out in the mirror.

And speaking of tiny rock stars, check out this line of baby and kiddie clothes. Proceeds go to orphans in Africa.

Juliet taking a little nap on big sissy Raegan.

Juliet is now one month old! It's amazing to me how fast the time has gone. And how much she's already changing -- for example, she's now too long for her newborn and 0-3 mth old sleepers. She's also just graduated out of newborn diapers into size 1. And although she started smiling in the hospital, her smiles are now becoming responsive to us. I have tried and tried to get a good shot of her smiling -- but my durn digital camera has a long delay, making it nearly impossible! Here's one I was able to capture -- too bad the rest of the kids weren't grinning as well!

Aidan is also doing some changing. He's finally realized that since BABIES wear diapers, and he is a BIG BOY, that he no longer should be wearing diapers. And so, he's potty-training himself! I wasn't going to start the process until Juliet was a couple months old -- but the boy wanted to start wearing underwear. He pretty much has taken charge of the whole deal, running to the potty when he needs to. I'm happy to report that a week into this, Aidan has had NO poop accidents and just a handful of pee accidents (although his aim isn't so great yet!) Hurray!