Snow!

This has been a record-breaking snowstorm for Roanoke. We measured 14 inches on our front step. Who knows how long it will be around for, the highs this week are mid to upper 30's, getting down low at night. We should be getting more on Christmas Eve too! The main roads are cleared but our neighborhood hasn't been touched yet.

Our church was supposed to have our Christmas Program tonight, 2 tomorrow morning and again tomorrow night. Tonight and the early one tomorrow has been cancelled. Hopefully the other 2 performances can go on as planned! And hopefully all involved can get out of their neighborhoods!

Dustin was having a great time playing with Zoe in all the snow. The poor dog had a hard time figuring out how to find a place to relieve herself though!

"My ball has to be around here somewhere!"

Zoe made a path around the yard that she kept running around.

She had to prance to be able to make it around the yard.

It was time for Rachel's nap!

I don't think she understood why we were just standing outside in the cold!

I don't think the mail will run for a few days!

Dustin had to back his car up a little and the outline of the bumper stayed formed. (We didn't think about the weight of the snow on the awning and it's starting to pull down some. Dustin got most of the snow off now, but we were a little nervous about it falling on his car. The neighbor's did fall off, thankfully no damage to any vehicles or anything.

We are very thankful that no tree limbs have fallen.

The cars are under there somewhere. Dustin had already cleaned off the cars and the driveway once yesterday. Didn't do too much good!

More to come

This week has been just a little crazy! I had a doctor's appointment on Thursday and he said that everything looks good and Dustin no longer has to clean/pack the incision area! We are both happy about that! I'm feeling a lot better.

Today was the last day of school before Christmas break and they were calling for snow to start around noon. Schools dismissed 2 hours early (as if it wasn't crazy enough before then!) It started snowing at 2:15 and we are snowed in! Zoe is loving it. We'll take pictures/video tomorrow and post them!

Update

Where do I begin? I just had a doctor's appointment on Thursday with the surgeon. He said that Dustin was doing a great job cleaning and repacking my incision. I asked him how many more times we had to go through that... he just smiled at me and patted my shoulder-ugg. I hope it continues to heal quickly. It is not hurting me as bad now, it just feels weird as when he packs the gauze in.
After a lot of phone calls and persistence I got the lab results back from my regular doctor. Turns out I did have MRSA, but have been on antibiotics for long enough where I can go back to work on Monday. Don't worry, everyone else here is fine and has not been affected.

2 Months

What a cutie!

We had a little photo shoot for Rachel in her Christmas dress for her 2 month photo. She wasn't cooperating as much with her smiles that night, but she is still just as cute! No, she is not sitting up by herself. I am propping her up from behind while Dustin and his mom are jumping around and acting crazy trying to get her to smile!

Her 2 month check up went very well. The doctor is pleased with her weight gain and says she is looking great! The poor little thing had to have 2 shots though! She was not happy-neither was Mommy.

Here are her latest stats:

Weight: 9 lb 1 oz 13%

Head: 15 in 33%

Height: 21.5 in 21%

Complications

This has been an interesting week to say the least. (I apologize if this is too much information for anyone.) I came down with an infection from nursing last week. I was on antibiotics but it still turned into an abcess. Monday afternoon it began to drain-for a long time. I went to the doctor Tuesday morning and she sent me to a surgical clinic. The surgeon was talking to me asking questions, when all of the sudden he told the nurse to get out some needles... what? He ended up lancing and draining the rest of the abcess. Then he packed it with gauze. Supposedly he had numbed me before doing this-I can't imagine what it would have felt like if he hadn't!
I'm so glad that Dustin took half of the day off work when he heard I was going to see a surgeon so he was with me. Of course that meant that the doctor could show him how to clean and re-pack my wound. He is doing a great job and is really careful when he changes everything, but it's still no fun for me!
Tomorrow (Thursday) I have a follow-up appointment so hopefully I'll be released and we won't have to do this anymore.

The best kind of babysitter

Since I had to go back to work last week, we enlisted the help of the grandmas to come and watch Rachel for a week each.

Mom Nieter stayed after Thanksgiving and had a great time with her. She has started the brainwashing already-they went shopping with a stop at Chick-fil-a!

Mom McCollum is here this week and she has definitely been a help with all of us. (I'll explain that in another post)

It's Christmastime!

Rachel saw her first snow this past Saturday! It wasn't much, but she liked watching it. We weren't able to get out in it because it was a really wet snow that was mixed with rain and sleet. Next time we'll get out to build a snowman though!

Wow!

Rachel was excited to hang the first ornament on the tree this year. It was our family ornament with all of our names on it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great time for Thanksgiving this year. We decided not to travel, so everyone came to us! It was a crowd, but we all had a great time. Our neighbors were gracious and let us borrow a room so we didn't have to have anyone camp out in the back yard!

Here are just a few of the many pictures that were taken throughout the weekend.

Rachel in her "1st Thanksgiving" outfit looking as cute as ever!

Blake wanted to help Rachel feel better when she cried. He put her lovey on her and gave her a pacifier to help settle her down. He'll be a great big brother one day!

Here's Rachel with her great-great grandma Roberts! She was so excited to meet her.

Getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner. I don't know why Zoe stayed in the kitchen so much that day!

Grandma Roberts let Blake borrow her walker. He was content for the longest time just getting pushed around the house!

Poppy and Mimi with the grandkids. It was not the easiest task trying to get both kids content and awake at the same time!

Papa and Grandma McCollum getting in some time with Rachel.

Baby it's Cold Outside!

It's getting a little cold outside, so we're bundling Rachel up! We got this great cover for the car seat- it really keeps the cold out! There is even a flap that will cover her face if we need it- it comes in handy in the rain and I'm sure in the snow too. We just had to remember to hook the paci to the cover. It would be gone for a while if she spit it out in this thing!

Friends and Family

This is a hodge-podge of pictures from the last couple of weeks.

Last week Dustin had a conference to go to so I was a single mommy for a few days and nights. To help me make it through, Rachel and I invited some friends over for her first ladies night! I didn't get pictures of everyone who came- oops! Next time I will!

Rachel was excited to meet "Aunt" Heather. We went to high school together and she now lives in Lynchburg so we are able to get together every once in a while and catch up. Heather had been sick on and off for the past few weeks so she had not met Rachel yet.

Here are Rachel and Amanda just hangin out. Rachel decided to show her most feminine side for ladies night and completely blew out of her diaper. Even Mommy had to change clothes after that one! (So glad I had been holding her and not anyone else right at that moment!)

Maybe it's just us, but we can see a resemblance here between the cousins!

This is Rachels idea of tummy time. It was too much work to try to lift her head so she just went to sleep!

Great-Grandpa Nieter and Rachel taking a little nap Sunday after church.

Rachel Photos

For the past 2 nights we've been trying to take some photos of Rachel. She wasn't too excited about them, so I had to hold her. There are a lot more, but these were some of our favorites. As soon as the rest are fixed up a little, we'll post them!

More Great-Grandparents!

Grandma and Grandpa Nieter couldn't wait to get their hands on Rachel either! They came down from Northern Indiana for the weekend to meet their first great-grandaughter. Dad Nieter wanted to come over too so we could have the four generations of Nieter's together, but he has been sick this past week and decided not to bring the germs over here. We wish he could've made it and hope he feels better soon.

They look happy and excited to see Rachel in person finally!

Here are just the ladies again.

1 month checkup

So Rachel's 1 month was scheduled a few days late for some reason.
Here is a break-down of her statistics:
She is now 21 inches- 41 percentile
Her head is 14 inches- 16 percentile
She weighs 7lb 9 oz- 11 percentile

The doctor is not too concerned with her weight gain. He said that she is probably just evening herself out and getting to where her personal weight gain will be. He said she will probably not be one of the "above 50 percentile" kids. Either way, he wants to see her again in 2 weeks for a weight check to make sure she doesn't go below 5%.

She is doing very well, even though she has just recently gotten her days and nights mixed up. Midnight till 4am sounds like a great time of bonding to her, while I would much rather have that time starting at 7am! Because of that, Dustin and I are a little tired but doing great!

1 month!

I can't believe Rachel is already 1 month old! She is doing so well. She tricked us the first couple weeks with sleeping for long stretches at night... she's not making it quite as long now, but it is rarely less than 3 hours between wake-ups.

She is following rattles and people now with her eyes. She does smile some, though not consistently at people. She is growing and is in between sizes now. Newborn outfits still fit, but the one piece outfits with feet are getting too small- her legs can't stretch out in them! Some 0-3 fit, but those one piece outfits swallow her and her legs somehow end up in the same pant leg within 10 minutes of dressing her!

She has her 1 month check-up at the end of the week, so hopefully the doctor is happy with her growth. I'll keep you updated!

More Family Time

Dustin's brother, Benji, and his girlfriend, Katie, came to visit and meet Rachel on Monday. We loved having them here and had a really nice visit.

Katie has just finished her degree in physical therapy and just spent the last couple months working in pediatrics. Rachel loved her!

Uncle Benji was great with her too and so excited to meet his little niece.

Great-Grandparents

This weekend was a great treat. My mom's parents came in to town to see Rachel. Mom decided that she needed to be here to have four generations all together so she surprised Nana and Grandpa and was holding Rachel when they showed up!

Rachel meeting Nana and Great-Grandpa DeLaughter for the first time.

Four generations!

Just the ladies!

What is this in my hair?

So safe in Great-Grandpa's hands

Rachel loved hearing Great-Grandpa sing- she was so intrigued!

Happy Halloween

Rachel's first Halloween was pretty eventful... she ate, slept and that's pretty much it! She was able to put on her little flower costume and visit some neighbors and other friends too.

Here she is looking just a little too cute!

Zoe is doing really well with Rachel. She lays down by her and goes right to her when she starts crying.

Her little outfit says "So cute it's scarry" I agree! She still curls up when she sleeps. Of course I do find her sometimes with her hands behind her head- just relaxing!

Update: We went to the doctor's office on Friday again because they weren't really happy with her weight gain from the week before. So they weighed her again and she is almost back up to her birth weight- she's at 7lb 1.9 oz. So we're really excited!