New year, new baby, new blog

Since I've been feeling a little guilty about the name of our website being 3 Roops when we are now 4 Roops, I've decided to change the name of our blog. You will still be able to log onto this blog and just click the link below to get to the new site. A new year, a new baby and a new look for our blog.
http://roopgroup.blogspot.com/

Getting cuter

Well, we are all adjusting to our new life with a new baby in the house. Granted it's only been a couple of days that we have all been home, but so far everyone seems to be settling in pretty well. Getting up at night to nurse hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be this time. I guess being VERY uncomfortable during the last little bit of pregnancy and having a snotty nose toddler who whines occasionally in the middle of the night helped prepare me. As for how Drew is doing... we had to get his bilirubin levels (for jaundice) checked again today, and thankfully they hadn't gone up much at all. ( from 12 to 13) Hopefully they have peaked and will begin to drop. We have to go Wednesday to get them checked again and hopefully they will be getting better each day. Isn't he just adorable!!!!! He is so tiny!!
He loves to snugle. Can you believe all that hair?!
This is the first time Raegan "held" Drew. Since his arrival, she has been even more attached to her beloved paci. It always concerns her when Drew isn't sucking on his. She
This picture cracks me up. Raegan doesn't look very thrilled, but she was so tired and was rubbing and playing with his hair just like her blankie. She was actually being easy with him! We weren't sure that she knew how to be easy :) We'll see how she does when she finally realizes that this baby is here to stay.

DREW IS HERE!!!

Well, we are officially a family of four now! Drew Douglas arrived Dec 26 at 11:25 p.m. He weighed in at 6 lbs 6 1/2 oz. and was 20 1/4 in long. He was 3 weeks early and had a few breathing problems in the beginning (mild sleep apnea) but has finally figured out that he has to breath on his own now. The pediatrician who checked him today said he looked great! Our regular pediatrician is coming in tomorrow to check him and make sure he looks okay. This first picture was taken on Christmas morning. Our last family picture with Drew still in the belly. (and boy what a belly!!) This was my favorite picture of him with his eyes open.
You can see how much hair he has. I can't really tell you what color it is. It's lots of colors... brown, blond, and maybe a little red.
This was just after I delivered him and the nurse had cleaned him up a little. I, on the other hand, had not yet been cleaned up as you can see. I'd show you his first pictures, but they are a little graphic and I don't want to gross anybody out :)
This is him at home getting a little time in the sun. He was a little yellow (close to jaundice) so they recommended some "sunbathing" in a window. Isn't he a cutie!!!
Here he is snuggling with his mama before we got to come home.

A little TLC from his daddy.
His big sister finally got to meet him. She really didn't think he was more than a baby doll. She was pointing out his eyes, nose and paci.
I just thought this was cute of her.
She was feeding mama ice chips. Where was she when I was in labor?! :)
This is our first family picture with all four of us.
I love the look on her face in this one. It's like she's thinking "what is that thing and why does he get a paci?"
She was hinting that if the baby had a paci, maybe she needed one too.
This was right before we were coming home. Doesn't he look handsome?
Just before we finally got to come home! Three nights in a hospital makes anyone thrilled to come home.
I don't know if she just likes his hair, but all she wanted to do tonight was rub his little head.
Sweet baby grins!
This must be his discouraged look... he knew his wild big sister was coming to rub his head some more :)

Christmas times a comin!

With Christmas approaching, we have been filling our days spending time with family and friends. Since before we had children, we have been doing a gift exchange with the Ratliffs. Naturally, it's gotten bigger each year with the addition of each child. Drew decided to stay put in the comforts of his mama's belly for this year's wild gift exchange. Here are a few pictures of the event. We had a blast!!!

This was the best we could do for a family picture. Notice our daughter isn't wearing any pants... don't ask!

Here is the Ratliff bunch. Their kids were much more cooperative :) (Chris, Brodie, Sonya and Macie)
Here is a pudgy version of myself :) and my best bud Sonya. It almost took a fork-lift to get me out of the floor. Ha Ha.
This was my favorite picture of the night! These two girls absolutely love each other. It is so sweet to see them play and chase and giggle.
We tried to get a picture of all of them. As you can see, Brodie wasn't into taking a picture. Macie on the other hand was completely ignoring the fact that her brother was breaking down and kept her cheese face on. Raegan was a little more concerned about Brodie. I'm not sure what was under that table, but it had everyones attention. They were all after something.

Macie wanted to dress Raegan up like a ballerina. Raegan was more that happy to oblige. She cracks me up with carrying a purse. She just holds her little arm like a little old lady :)Here is a picture of some of the mess we had. I think the boys said they had 2 giant bags and 3 regular bags of trash to take out. We all got LOTS of stuff. Brodie loves to "get" Raegan. He just pounces her whenever he gets around her. Here was my attempt to get Raegan's picture in front of our Christmas tree. She wasn't very interested in smiling.

As you can see, we are still enjoying riding in the box-car. I'm not sure why she is wearing Tony's toboggan, but she loves her hats. I guess she thought it was a new one for her. This is why all of my gifts look a little worse for wear this year. Raegan likes to dance on them and climb on them. I think she uses them as a makeshift stage. I hope I'm not raising an actress. She is pretty dramatic these days :)

Boxcar riding

It's funny the things you will do to entertain a toddler who has been sick AGAIN and cooped up in the house for too long! Since this is her second round of bronchitis in 3 weeks, we are making sure we keep her out of the cold air for a while. This is troubling to her, because she loves to go outside, even if we just run across the street to check the mail. Anyway, I thought I'd give this video thing another try and I did much better this time. The quality is not so great because I again just took it with my digital camera, not my camcorder. I'm working on it though. Hey, at least you don't have to watch this one sideways. Don't make fun of Raegan's outfit either. We had to change her because she dumped water all over herself. There was a basket full of clothes waiting to be put away in her room, so I told her to go get me a shirt first and then some pants. She brought the right one each time, only they didn't match. Hey, I can't be too picky now can I?! To translate a little, when she is getting out of the box/car she saw her blankie which she calls "buppa". And she is saying "Back, back, back" over and over because she wants back in to ride yet again! By the way, this was not her first ride :)

Decorating the tree

Well, I'm still pregnant.... VERY PREGNANT! I'm dilated to 3 now, and there have been a couple of time that I thought the baby was coming, but not just yet. I'm almost 36 weeks now, so Drew can come just about any time! YIPPY. I still can't believe that I'm about the be the mother of TWO children.

Anyway, we finally got our Christmas tree up and decorated. Raegan was fascinated with the lights, and if you watched the video from the last post you can see how much holiday spirit she has :) Now normally, I'm in charge of decorating the tree. This year however, due to my growing belly and aching body, I had to turn over my duties. Dad and Tony were in charge of the lights, Mom was in charge of the bow and I just handed everyone the ornaments and let them put them on. Raegan watched them put on the lights, but she has yet another bronchial infection so she had to turn in early. She just didn't feel up to partying all night. I can't wait to see her reaction to the tree tomorrow. This was before she retired. I loved it because it looks like she is singing carols.

Here she is asking Grandad if he needs any help with the lights.
She just looks sweet in this one.
She had to come and admire the tree with all the lights on before heading off to bed.

And here is daddy trying to untangle the lights. Notice the look of frustration :)

Here we are with the finished product. Unfortunately, Raegan was fast asleep and missed all the ornaments. I'm sure she will check them out tomorrow. We tried to keep the ones she could play with on the bottom.
Here are a few random pictures from the other night. I never expected to be potty training at 17 months, but for the last week she has been telling me when she needs to pee-pee and poo-poo. The crazy thing was that she always did. She would get so excited so I've just kinda gone with it. I'm sure we still have a long way to go, but I've only had to clean a few dirty diapers this week. Everything else has made it to the toilet. I didn't know they even made pull-ups in her size. I tried getting her a little potty, but she prefers to do it like the grown ups on the big potty. Doesn't she look adorable. Even with her potty on top, she still can almost fall in :) She's so tiny :)
No, this is not a flashback from her first birthday. Tony's dad was over the other night and it was his birthday. I had made him a cake, and decided to make Rae some little cupcakes. She wasn't very neat with it, and really only liked the icing (naturally). She almost looks upset that I took this first picture. It's like she knows that I'm going to use this to embarrass her one day. She sure did like that cupcake though :)

First try at video

So here is my first attempt at a video. As you can see, it's sideways... only because I don't know how to turn it around. I just took this with my digital camera tonight while we were decorating our tree, and I didn't even think about holding it sideways. I'll try to do better next time. I think you can get the point. We were listening to Christmas music and she was getting down! She loves to dance. Anyway, just thought I'd try it out. Looks like it will be pretty easy if I can just take the video the right way. Hope no one gets a crick in there neck from watching this :)

Growing baby and birthdays

I just had to show off our beautiful baby girl. Her eyes are so pretty in this picture!! I know she is ours, but she sure is pretty :)Here is just a little update on our baby boy. First of all, we have officially decided on a name.... Drew Douglas. Tony was intent on using just Drew instead of Andrew (since that is what we have been calling him anyway), and Douglas is his middle name. Now granted, it's not on the birth certificate yet, but so far that is the final name. As for how he is doing, he is growing like a weed!! I went for my weekly appointment today, and they told me he weighed about 5 lbs 12 oz. That's about the size of a 36 week baby (and I'm only 34 weeks!), so he is a big boy! He was a little camera shy today, but he tried to get a picture anyway. His little hand is covering his face, but at least you can see his chubby little cheeks and lips. This picture was taken Sunday at Tony's Christmas party. I was worn out by this time, so I look a little worse for wear, but at least you can see my big ole belly!
This is just a funny shot from this week. Raegan, Tony and I have all had bronchial infections, so we were feeling a little under the weather. She just decided to lay in the floor and rest a little while watching Barney. She thinks she is big stuff!! As hard as it is for me to believe, Sonya's little Brodie has turned ONE!!! This was about the best picture I could get of him. He was far to busy eating his cake to look at me and smile. I just wish you could see his sparkly blue eyes! He is the spitting image of his daddy... kinda scary :)
And here is Raegan's best friend Macie. This is her ever famous picture face these days. Won't her Mommy be proud this made the internet :)