The Leavitt Family

wow, I suck.

2012-01-02T21:06:00.000-08:00

Have I really not posted since June? Sorry to those of you who read this silly blog (if there are any of you left out there). Here's a picture dump to make up for it.

playing at the park in the summer

bouncy houses & slides

new baby cousins

Lacy, Jake and Asher Range

build a bear on vacation in sedona

popsicles

entertaining herself (yes, I was watching Tori & Dean. so ashamed.)

Adam & Kya getting engaged at Zoolights

baby Asher, now 5 months

happy new year!

hopefully I'll get back to my blogging self soon.

chit chatting

2011-06-23T11:30:00.000-07:00

Big E

2011-06-23T11:07:00.000-07:00

Elisabeth turned 1 on the 11th. We had a great party with our friends since both of our families were out of town.

Birthday Girl

Opening presents

mmmmm....cake

We had a Very Hungry Caterpillar theme. We ate all the foods that the caterpillar eats in the book and I made this cute cake.

E's 1 year stats:

Height: 29"
Weight: 18 lbs 8 oz

Things she loves: her big sister, eating, baths, swinging, puppies and kitties, playing on the piano and getting into mommy's purse.
Things she hates: fruit with skin, getting her nails clipped and being held.

Elisabeth just started taking steps a few days ago and we're all excited about that. We are definitely ready for walking! She's a super happy baby, loves to be around people and is always smiling. We love her!! Happy Birthday, Beast!

awkward

2011-04-12T22:07:00.000-07:00

just had a super awkward experience involving a husband who's been gone for 2 weeks, a locked bedroom door and a nosy 3 year old. nuff said.

timing

2011-04-07T23:28:00.000-07:00

Just when I'm sure that I was impregnated by the devil and am currently raising his 3 year old, she does some something cute. Her safety must have really been in jeopardy because this is pretty dang sweet stuff. Enjoy!

my body tells me no...

2011-04-07T23:05:00.000-07:00

This is my new favorite workout song. It's a great song, nice tempo for my Wii Fit step and it has a great anthem for fat fatties like me working out.

"My body tells me no. But I won't quit, cause I want more."

My body is definitely screaming no. And it would be really easy to give in. I workout alone in my house where no one is watching. I'm not reporting my weight status to anyone. But I do want more. Well, technically less. Less me. But more in the self confidence, more Sunday mornings with clothes that fit, more energy and overall happiness. I love this song and I know I love it when people post songs that inspire them. So, here you go bloggy bloggers, have fun.

Children's Museum

2011-04-02T22:39:00.001-07:00

For my birthday we decided to finally try out the Children's Museum in Olympia with Nonna, Lael and the best cousins ever, Gabby and Livia. Seriously LOVE this place! Why had I never visited before? We could have been there for hours. No offense, Tacoma Children's Museum, but you totally suck compared to Olympia. We'll probably have Reagan's birthday party there in the fall. I am in love. So, get ready for picture overload of about 1/8 of the awesome stuff we did.

Elisabeth playing in the kitchen.

Sister picture

Driving the ambulance. They even have a hospital next door where you can heal your sick babies. Reagan loved it. Her baby had "the fever". Hopefully not Bieber related.

E again in the kitchen pulling down boxes from the shelves. Baby heaven!

E eating some mussels and steaks in the butcher shop.

Reagan playing in the sandbox after a little dressup. That smile is the "stop making me smile for pictures, I'm playing" smile.

Remember those metal pokey things where you could imprint your hand on? They have a huge wall of plastic pokey things which are perfect for baby faces. E loved it!

E's face

E hanging out in a boat.

And yet another forced picture interupting playing time.

Playing blocks.

Quick nap

Shortest giraffe ever.

Umm, yeah.... good thing she's cute.

After nap, playing in the baby zone.

I love these eyebrows. And that's it. There's so much to do here. We'll definitely be back soon.

Just because

2011-03-08T22:10:00.001-08:00

auction

2011-02-19T15:30:00.001-08:00

Remember these?

and these?

one set of 8 pairs of socks and two sets of 10 blocks made by me plus a bunch of other cool items are up for auction to benefit a little 8 month old baby who is having major brain surgery due to seizures she's had since birth. All proceeds will go to her parents to help out their family. Baby Kinley is the same age as Elisabeth and I couldn't imagine the heartache they're going through. Go to Facebook page "We Love Kinley" and view pictures of auction items under "Auction for Kinley Williamson". They're also accepting monetary donations. The auction is open until February 28th. If you'd like to auction an item or service contact me or Shannon Banks on Facebook. I'd love to be able to help out this sweet family!

Florida snippet

2011-01-18T18:44:00.000-08:00

I don't have all the photos we took on our trip downloaded to my computer yet, but here are some taken with my phone. We had so much fun!

sisters

waiting in line for teacups with her new Pasqual

Reagan riding her favorite ride. Teacups!

Awesome face painting.

Lacy and my mom got some face painting too. Lacy got a lightening bolt scar and my mom got Professor McGonagall glasses.

Reagan and Pooh.

We have a few more cameras with pictures on them which I will hopefully get soon. We had a fun trip with all of our family!

later...

2011-01-05T15:33:00.000-08:00

we're going to be spending a few days here:

with these guys:

doing way too much of this:

and having a blast. Loads and loads of pictures are coming your way. If I remember to take them. :)

New Year

2011-01-01T08:52:00.001-08:00

I'm not usually one for New Years resolutions but here are a few things that NEED to be done:

1. Blog more. I'm sure no one really cares about that one but I'm thinking my kids will love it when they're older and can have a digital record of them growing up.

2.Take more pictures. Refer to #1. Not very interesting record without some awesome pictures.

3. Lose some freaking weight! No more excuses. No drastic goals. No guilt. Just do it.

4. Learn to knit. Improve my sewing. Start Elisabeth's scrapbook and update Reagan's. You know, crafty stuff.

That's enough for now. Maybe if I can start on these goals, I can add some more on another first. April. My birthday. My last year of the 20s. hmmm......

Christmas

2010-12-31T11:28:00.000-08:00

Christmas. Yes, we did participate. No, we don't have pictures to prove it. We had a blast spending time with family especially cousins who love dress up as much as Reagan does. We look forward to a little Range cousin this summer. :) Can I say that? Pretend you didn't just read that, I think it's ok but I'm not sure.

Now we prepare for our trip to Florida. I think we're all more excited about this trip than we were about Christmas. Don't get me wrong, we love Christmas and the whole season but it's a little hectic and draining and I think we're all ready for some relaxation and some sun. We're spending 10 days in Orlando so we'll hit up Disneyworld and Universal. So excited about Harry Potter!!! Not so excited about flying with 2 kiddos. Yes, I'll have Jared, my parents and Jared's parents but whenever kids on a plane make any noise it's always the mom's fault. Bring it on, scowlers!!

We'll definitely take pictures of our trip but for now here's the 1 Christmasy picture I have from this year. It's at our ward Christmas party with Santa.

Sitting

2010-12-31T11:22:00.001-08:00

Elisabeth learned a new trick over Christmas. Woot!!

Christmas Program and Santy Claus

2010-12-16T20:55:00.001-08:00

These pictures are from Reagan's preschool Christmas program. So, usually, as told by her teacher, she's in dress-up clothes the whole class time. Her awesome teacher, Ms.Robin, had to buy more dress-up clothes because the ones she had were too big for our little pipsqueak. Can I just say we LOVE Ms.Robin? Anywho, here we are on the big day, the Christmas program where Reagan will get to dress up as Mary and carry the baby Jesus. And what happens? She doesn't want to dress up. WHAT?!? Really? So, instead of Mary, she was the star. Or carried the star. No dressing up. She was still a pretty cute star holder.

This Santa picture was from my parents wards Christmas party. Reagan did awesome this year. Last year she was all pumped to see Santa in line but once it was our turn she chickened out. So, I ended up sitting on Santa's lap (sorry, Bro.Childs) with Reagan sitting on mine. This year she hopped right up and whispered what she wanted (more Strawberry Shortcake stuff. Crap, it looks like I have more shopping to do) and posed with her sister who was WAY more interested in her BF Reagan than Santa.

We have our ward party in a few days so we'll have some more cute pictures soon.

Happy Birthday!!

2010-10-18T12:25:00.000-07:00

It's Reagan's 3rd birthday. I have a 3 year old. Weird. We had a little party last night and here are a few pictures.

Teapot. Her signature pose.

Rea and mommy

Auntie Lael and Rea

Cousin Livia

Katie

The Belle cake

We were all really worried about the candles. Belle is quite flammable, you know.

A picture from today with her favorite present. A camera. A REAL camera. I'm sure I'll be posting a few of her genius shots soon as she's already taken a photo of everything she owns.

And what's a birthday post without a few baby pics.

Happy Birthday, my sweet girl!!

Amen

2010-10-18T12:08:00.000-07:00

Ahh, prayer time. The part of our nightly routine where Reagan jumps and wiggles like she has squirrels in her pants. Super hard to keep the spirit when you want to murder your kid. So, I thought of this help that has worked wonderfully. We call it our prayer board.

First, we thought of things we're thankful for and things we are asking for. The red writing is thankful and the green writing is need/bless. Then, I let her color them all in.

Next, I made a poster board with our opening and closing sentences and 5 spaces for each color. I attached velcro to the cards and spaces and made pockets to hold the extras. Did I mention that I had the cards laminated? Well, I did.

Voila! She loves picking out her cards for the day and it's really helped settle her down and say good prayers all by herself.

It's in the air...

2010-10-01T17:09:00.000-07:00

I love fall. I love it because it means cute holiday decorations, yummy baking and tons of time with the family. We got a good start today with our holiday crafts and Reagan and I managed to get some cute stuff done this morning while E slept. We made....

Cute ghosts made from the girls tootsies. The smaller ones were made later from E's cute little fat feet which made way better ghosts than Reagan's freaky high arched feet. And I don't think you can tell from the picture but our ghosts have white sparkles on them because if your doing crafts with Reagan, something MUST be sparkly.

A family of pumpkins. I wish I knew how to rotate pics on here. Grr....

Some spiders made from Reagan's fingers. She drew the faces. Next year if we do these I'll let her cut. If I let her cut this year, these poor little spiders would have no legs.

I even got out my Halloween wreath

my fall garland

and my little pumpkins and yummy smelling candles

I love the fall.

Trips

2010-10-01T16:35:00.000-07:00

The end of August brought our first road trip as a family of four. It went very well. Reagan's always been good in the car and this trip was especially good thanks to her new Nintendo DS games and backpack full of movies. Elisabeth decided to go through a growth spurt and slept all day and then slept all night. Nice. September 1st was my dad's moms (Nanny) 80th birthday party in Vegas. It was held at a cousins house and was a blast! It was casino themed and there were so many people there, it couldn't have been more fun. Unfortunately with all the fun having, no one took pictures. It was great to see so many family members especially Robert, Nanny's husband who had a stroke and passed away a few weeks after the party.

After Vegas, we drove to southern Utah to visit my grandma and Jared's grandpa who live about 45 min apart. Seeing my grandma was great. She's had some health problems these last few years and previous visits had been a realization that she's getting older and we might not have her too much longer. This visit was a definite turn around. She's more active than I've seen her in years and she seemed to be much happier. Jared's grandpa (Melco) is insane! At 90+, he still is going strong. Runs his ranch, works at the temple 5 days a week and lives on his own. I want to be him when I'm that old. He loved seeing Reagan and meeting Elisabeth for the first time. Family is super important to him so it was nice to have him meet some of his posterity. Elisabeth's middle name is Paige after Melco's middle name Page. We did get a few pics although they're mostly the last 20 minutes we were there but they're very cute.

She played this horse game so many times!

Tuckered out. Love those rolls!!

Grandpa Melco and Elisabeth

Aunt Lyne and Reagan

Reagan and Grandpa Melco

Jared, E and Grandpa

The Leavitts

Cute pic of the girlies

Good times with the family

What a fun trip!!

Oh and I got to see a college buddy of mine, Becca when we were driving back home. I think she gave birth to her baby a day or two after we saw her. Crazy!

We did see some of Jared's mission buddies and their families but if I haven't proved this already, we suck at remembering to take pictures. So thank you to the Larsons, Lewis's and Ellis's for letting us visit and crash at your houses!!

Yum

2010-08-21T12:55:00.001-07:00

I've been making baby food. A lot of baby food. I never did this with Reagan. I think I was overwhelmed with the new parent feeling and making baby food would have been another thing on my plate. But I've decided to make my own food for Elisabeth for a few reasons.

1. The cost savings. Holy cow! I didn't realize how little it actually took to make my own food. I think I'm averaging about 8 cents a serving. I pay 50-75 cents a serving when I buy prepackaged foods. Wow.

2. The product. I know with baby food, especially stage 1 foods, the FDA is pretty strict on regulating what goes into the food. But how awesome is it to pick the freshest, most delicious peaches and give them to my baby? It's way awesome. And I can mix my own in season fruits and veggies. For example, my yummy plum/banana mixture I made or my fall veggie mix I plan on making in a few months.

3. The waste. I'm a big recycler and try to do my part for the environment. I'm not crazy granola (hello, I drive an Expedition!) but I try to do good when I can. For making my own food, I buy food in bulk, freeze in ice trays and then seal the frozen cubes in vacuum bags. I purchased the ziploc hand pump set for 3.99 and a bunch of quart size baggies. The baggies say not to reuse them but I don't see why not. Probably a ploy by Ziploc to get more of my money. The bags are perfectly reusable! Just wash them out! So, my total waste for this project is the packaging the food comes in, if any. That's cool.

4. It's fun. I've thoroughly enjoyed making all this food. It's fun coming up with flavor combos and I can't wait until Elisabeth is older and can eat more variety. Oh, the possibilities!

So far I've made green beans, peas, carrots, peaches, plums, bananas, mango and I've frozen up some avocado slices. The hardest part is waiting for the ice trays to freeze so I can make more food. The website I used was wholesomebabyfood.com. I really like this site, it tells you how to cook the foods and has different recipes. Yummy!

New

2010-08-18T14:30:00.000-07:00

Reagan got her first haircut today. It's been looking a little scraggly at the ends and we'd never cut it, so we decided it was time. And by "we", I mean me and my mom. She was going to give it a little trim but we opted for a real salon professional and I'm so glad we did. Myra is awesome and was so good with Reagan. It turned out adorable and Reagan loves it. Here's the trip to the salon:

The before shots

The "cape"

The first cut

The wash

Being so good at staying still

and cue the cuteness!!!

Buh bye swing

2010-08-09T15:43:00.000-07:00

With Elisabeth being colicky her first few weeks of life, we found the only way she'd sleep was swaddled, in her swing with white noise playing. Now that she's starting to be a normal happy baby we are making the transition to her crib. Oh, and the fact that we'll be on vacation in 3 weeks and won't have the luxury of a swing. She's awesome. She's in her crib for her daytime naps and most of the night. She still needs a little help getting to sleep around 7 or 8 pm, so she gets to swing but we're definately making good progress.

Elisabeth is almost 2 months old already which is crazy and very welcomed. She was a rough little stinker for awhile so we're all happy that she's growing out of her fussy stage. She loves her bouncer and her activity mat. She ADORES her big sister! Reagan can always make her smile. Not that she's at all stingy with the grins. She has the cutest toothless smile! Unfortunately, she is suffering a little from second child syndrome and I don't have as many pictures of her as I did of Reagan at this age but I will be making a conscious effort to take more. And not just with my phone.

Here's one of the little champ sleeping away in her crib.

And one of Reagan too. You can see the remnants of her first black eye caused when you sit on the dog and she stands up really quick and you get whacked in the face with a dog tooth.

July 4th

2010-07-19T12:06:00.000-07:00

We had a great 4th of July. Once again we made the long trek across the street to our neighbors who through an awesome party every year. Jared was on shift so it was just me and the girls. I was a little nervous but we were only across the street from our house if I needed to bolt. They had lots of yummy food, games for the kiddos and tons of fireworks. Elisabeth slept pretty much the whole time. It was a little chilly so she was bundled up and snuggled the whole time, hence, no pictures of the babe. But, plently of cute ones of Reagan who loves parties especially ones where she gets to eat chips, cupcakes and rootbeer for dinner and watch a pretty cool fireworks show until 11pm. Sorry these pictures are small, they were taken on my phone and I'm not smart enough to figure out how to make them bigger on the computer.

Reagan was pretty excited to have her very own cup with her nap on it.

Playing with Tad

Pinata

Sparklers

Prime fireworks watching spot. Complete with heated seats and earwarmers! Thanks Chad!

Birth Story

2010-06-25T16:32:00.001-07:00

Disclaimer** this is probably way more info than anyone wants or needs to know but I want it written down somewhere before I forget.

I was due on Monday June 14th. I went in to my weekly checkup on Tuesday the 8th in which my dr told me I was 1 cm dilated but my cervix was still really thick and far back. He didn't want to induce me for another week, so he had me schedule an appt and said he'd be surprised not to see me at my appt the next week. He did strip my membranes though just to see if that would get things started. Ouch! I hadn't had that done with Reagan, not a good feeling. 2 days passed and I hadn't had any affects from the membrane stripping- no blood, no contractions, so we didn't think anything would happen. About 3:00 pm I noticed that I was losing my mucus plug but this didn't really mean much since you can lose it weeks before delivery. Jared had dive class that night and about 20 minutes before he left I had a contraction at 5:40pm. He got all excited but it was my first real contraction so I wasn't too sure it was really real or just wishful thinking. I sent him to dive class and he sent our friend Sarah over who is a massage goddess with some weird oil that's supposed to soften the cervix. We did the oil a few times and Sarah left. I had another contraction about 8:40 which got me a little more excited. Jared came home about 10:00 and I had had 3 real contractions by then. After we went to bed they started coming about every hour and getting stronger. At 2:00 am they started getting about 20 minutes apart and getting quite uncomfortable. I walked around the dark house for an hour and a half until they were about 5 minutes apart. I called L&D and they told me to take a bath and if the contractions got worse or stayed the same to come on in. I woke J up and told him that I was in labor and would be taking a bath. My nice relaxing bath lasted about 10 minutes because I started having really painful contractions about 2-3 min apart. Freaking out commences. I worry that I've waited too long and I'm going to not get to the hospital on time. We call the hospital and tell them we're on our way and call Lance, Jared's dad, to come over and stay with Reagan. This was about 4:00 am, I think? Still having contractions about 3 min apart and silently in my head freaking out about the strength that these contractions are getting. We hop in the car and head to the hospital. Jared uses the "my wife is in labor" excuse and runs red lights and speeds through town to the freeway. By now, I couldn't care less- just get me there. We valet park *awesome* and sign in and head on up to L&D.

Luckily for us it was a quiet morning in the hospital so we got checked in and hooked up pretty quickly. I was checked and was 5 cm dilated and ready for my epidural. Props to all those ladies who go natural, but I am not that brave and I'm kind of a wimp. The anesthesiologist (sp?) was with someone so we waited for him. And waited. And waited. And freaked out a little more with my contractions getting stronger and me getting wimpier. Before the epi, they checked me again and I was at 7 cm. The drug dude (easier than trying to spell that word again) finally got there and hooked me up. He was way worse than the awesome lady I had with Reagan. Now I know why some people are afraid of needles in the spine, they can hurt. He said that I would be "real comfortable" which kinda made me nervous. How much are you drugging me?? I did get pretty comfie to where I wasn't feel much of anything. Napped a bit and called all the parents to get to the hospital soon. And then I stalled. I stayed at 7 cm for a few hours and my dr decided to give me a little something to get me started again. By the time he was all prepped and ready to administer he checked me and I was suddenly at a 10 and ready to go.

Only problem was I was still "real comfortable" and felt absolutely no need to push. This was way different than with Reagan where the epi had worn off a bit by labor time and I HAD to push. This was about 11:00 am. So, I pushed and pushed. I thought it would go a little quicker being my 2nd but apparently I wasn't pushing hard enough. Stupid drug dude!! My nurse was awesome though and helped me push harder and even said that if I kept pushing that hard, the baby would be out by noon. That was so cool because I was using the clock as my focal point and noon was only about 30 min away. I could do this. So, I pushed through the non pain and had Elisabeth at 12:04 pm. It was so weird pushing and not feeling much. They even had me wait through some contractions to let them build and I was able to do it. I remember with Reagan that there was no way I could not push when contractions hit.

Jared got to deliver once again. He delivered Reagan so our dr was really comfortable with him doing it again. J did AWESOME and I had zero tears and didn't need an episiotomy. After the baby came out our dr just let him keep going. He massaged the placenta out and got to kind of play with it. Its actually really interesting. Me, being in very little pain actually got to pay attention this time to what happens after baby.

The whole experience was great, except for the epi being too high- I would've liked to feel a little but we got a sweet baby girl out of it. We named her Elisabeth after my middle name and a bunch of Elizabeths on my moms side and Paige after Jared's grandpa's middle name Page. She's super cute and is so tiny- you really do forget how little they are when they come out. She had a little jaundice but fought it on her own and we didn't have to do the light bed again. She's been a pretty good baby and we're loving her like crazy.

Here's some more recent pics of our little jelly bean!!

Baby!!

2010-06-14T19:22:00.000-07:00

Elisabeth Paige Leavitt

born: June 11th

weight: 7lbs 6oz

height: 19.5in

We had a great labor and delivery that I'll post about some other time. But here's a cute picture for everyone to enjoy!! Definately more to follow.

Baby Blocks

2010-04-29T19:14:00.001-07:00

I found this cute and easy craft at makingitfun.blogspot.com and the results were great. I was bored and looking at some baby craft blogs and was checking out the shoes on this one but they seemed a little intimidating so I tried out the blocks instead. She has tons of stuff I really want to try but my limited sewing skills always make me wimp out. I made 4 blocks in a few hours, obviously getting quicker with more experience. You can't tell how cute these blocks are from the picture. There are 4 tags on each block but you could always add more. I also stuffed the crap out of them because I thought they looked cuter with a little more plump. I made mine 5x5 because 4x4 seemed a little small. I thought the directions seemed a little confusing but I figured it out and now they kinda make sense. I loved making them because I used up a bunch of cute scrap pieces that didn't really have anywhere else to go and I had all the supplies handy. *Note: I did NOT use the bells. Not only did I not have any on hand, who really needs another baby toy that makes noise??

If you have any fun baby/toddler/easy sewing craft sites to recommend I would love it!

Books

2010-04-02T16:04:00.001-07:00

So, we are looking for some good recommendations for some new books to be added to Reagan's and future babies collections. Just wondering what are some of your favorite books? I posted this on Facebook too so let the lists commence!

I guess I should post a few of our favorites:

The Seven Silly Eaters
How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight
Any Mercer Mayer books
Any Laura Numeroff books

Thanks!!

finish line ahead woot woot

2010-03-27T16:39:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know I still have a few months to go, but we are getting close to meeting this little kiddo. I have less than 12 weeks, less than 80 days and it's getting pretty cozy here in my womb so I am feeling that the end is soon and am so grateful. My first pregnancy was wonderful. Very little discomfort, lots of free time for naps and not a whole lot of heavy lifting. Prenancies with a 2 year old are a little different. Now that Reagan is in a big girl bed there are virtually no naps unless she's exhausted and happens to give in to one. She's also decided to be much more clingy. I'm guessing she's starting to realize that she'll no longer be the only kid and is trying to get in as much mommy time as she can. While this is so cute and sweet when we snuggle on the bed reading books, it is not so cute and sweet when she refuses to walk and wants me to carry her. She's not too heavy but still, you have legs- use them. Insomnia has started to creep back into my nights. I realize this is preparing me for nights with a newborn, but come on, it's baby number 2. I don't need reminding about how crazy those first few months are. Let's just sleep, mkay? Ok, enough venting. I'm sleepy, sore and just ready to be done. Blah, blah, blah. Can I tell you about my awesome kid?

Reagan's transition to big girl bed has been absolutely flawless. Seriously, this kid is crazy. Our first night, she got out of bed a bunch of times and I was prepared to have this be the norm for awhile. Well, she hasn't gotten out of bed at night since. She hasn't once asked for a bink or ni nite. She's never been caught playing with toys when she should be sleeping. She goes down willingly every night and gets up at a decent hour every morning. I love her! She has been so good at this, I'm baffled. I'm hoping that her being so cool doesn't mean that I'll have a little terror on my hands with the next one, but could I really be so lucky to get 2 great kids? I guess we'll find out in a few months. I'm so grateful to have such an obedient child. It makes life a little great when I can just have fun and don't have to worry about disciplining her all day. Don't get me wrong, she does get into her share of trouble but she's really all about making me happy and doing what's right. I hope that lasts forever!

hooray, spring

2010-03-24T17:02:00.000-07:00

Today's bath consisted of,

a little of this:

a whole lot of this:

some scrubbing with one of these:

and a pretty strong temptation to throw in a splash of this:

and I couldn't be happier!
I love days like the beautiful one we had today where Reagan was literally outside all day. By bathtime she was the grimiest, stinkiest, sweatiest, sandiest, chalkiest, squashed with her bare feet buggiest kid and I love it. We will be sleeping good tonight!

Big Girl

2010-03-17T18:16:00.001-07:00

Someone slept in one of these bad boys for the first time last night...

And the results were awesome...

We'd been hyping up the big girl bed for about a week before she tried it out. We bought new sheets, blankies and a heart pillow she picked out for herself. *Side note: I loved that she picked out the on sale heart pillow instead of the twice as much Tinkerbell pillow. Fellow bargain shopper in the works??* We explained also that big girls beds are no place for binkies or ni nites. I have no problem with her loving her ni nite and sleeping with it until college. Our dear friend Gena crocheted it for her and it is soft and beautiful. The problem is the last few weeks she has been sticking her fingers in her ni nite and twirling them until she wakes up screaming her head off because the blanket is stuck on her now purple finger. So, sorry ni nite, you have to go hang out in the closet for awhile.

Yesterday, we went and picked up the bed, set it up and got everything all pretty. She was so excited! Daddy was off teaching a dive class for the night so it was me versus the 2 year old who is sleeping for the first time with no bink, no ni nite, in a brand new bed that she has no problem getting out of. Thanks, daddy. ;) We ate dinner and did our usual bedtime routine. We snuggled in the new bed under the new covers and read books for almost an hour trying to wind down from the new bed high. Finally, 8:00 rolled around and it was time for sleeping. We kissed and hugged and said goodnight. I closed the door and went to go watch some silly girl show that Jared has no interest in. About 10 minutes later I hear a thump, pitter patter and as I get up, a running back down the hall to her room. I've watched Supernanny enough to know that she was trying to get me to play a game with her so I silently took her back to her room and put her in bed. I would love to say that this was all it took but we did this about 10 times the next hour. I remained calm and just put her in bed everytime, Jo would be proud. 9:00 rolled around and Jared called to check in. I hadn't heard from her in awhile so I peeked in and found this...

Success!!!!

She slept in her big girl bed without a peep, without a middle of the night cry for a bink or ni nite. It was crazy! I was planning on being up half the night but she was a rock star. We did have to move her from the edge of the bed a few times but a newly installed bed rail should do the trick tonight. She did get up a little too early, about 6:00, but it's hard to be mad when she gets up early to climb into bed and tell me all about how excited she is to sleep in her new bed and how much she loves it. We'll see how tonight goes. Wow, this is a ridiculously long post, but I love this kiddo and am so proud of my big kid!!

Forts are awesome

2010-02-09T16:20:00.000-08:00

We built a fort today in Reagan's room and after her spending about an hour in there, by herself, reading books to her animals and playing, I'm wondering why we didn't do this sooner. She's been having a blast in it and I must admit, I had fun in the fort too.

Baby #2 is doing great. Did I mention she's a she? Well, she is. Lots of kicking, punching and overall wigglyness which is fun. Reagan is very excited about a baby sister although we are anticpitating different feelings once she's here. We'll see. I'm just about 5 months along and will probably post a ticker countdown soon. Right now, it still seems forever away and I'm afraid a ticker pointing out just how many days are left (125 today) will make me go bananas. I know that I'll get closer and it'll seem like I could use another few months but right now we just want her here.

Where's Daddy?

2010-01-06T10:36:00.000-08:00

Occasionally when Jared is on shift I let Reagan sleep in my bed. She's a major chase you around the bed all night snuggler, so this doesn't happen too often. I did let her the other night though because she had been missing her daddy pretty badly all day and needed something special. The whole night we were sleeping she kept waking up and asking for daddy. I kept telling her that daddy was still at work, he'd be home in the morning. The last time I heard her ask for daddy and I reassured her that he would be home when the sun came up, I heard the tell-tale thump of her sliding out of my bed. I waited to make sure she wasn't going to walk around the house since it was pitch black and didn't hear the pitter patter, so I went back to sleep figuring she'c crawl back into bed when she realized she couldn't see. I woke up in the morning and scanned the bed for a little morning snuggling from Rea, but she was nowhere to be found. I went out to the living room where Jared was and asked if he had seen Reagan, which he hadn't. Slight panic as we started saying her name throughout the house until we got back to our room, where we found this...

I guess she didn't make it too far in her searching for daddy quest. Too cute!

In the buff

2009-12-19T09:17:00.000-08:00

So, Reagan's latest thing is stripping. Not stripping during the day when I'm watching her, stripping after I put her down for bed. And not just her jammies, diaper too. You can see the problem this presents to a non-potty trained child. Well, not really a problem to the child but to her mom who does the laundry. So now we sleep in backwards jammies where she can't reach the zipper. Looks a little like she rides the short bus, but problem solved. For now.

Woopsie

2009-11-23T18:16:00.000-08:00

With all the baby hoopla, I forgot to post Reagan's 2 year old stats and stuff last month. Here they are for those of you who care:

Height: 34 1/2 inches
Weight: 23.2 pounds

Still a runt, but we love her. She loves dress up, tea parties, Disney princess movies, painted fingernails and toenails (which always have to coordinate), gym at the YMCA, swim class, coloring, grandma's new puppy and playing with her nusery buddies.
Reagan is a joy to have around, she's always making us giggle with all the crazy things she comes up with. She loves to learn and we are currently working on the "teens" in our counting. She loves learning Spanish words and is starting to use some of them in conversation.
We are both excited and nervous to bring another baby home to her, she can be a little possesive, but I'm sure it will all work out.

Ahhh, human again

2009-11-23T18:08:00.000-08:00

I'm finally back to feeling like myself again so, let's announce. We are expecting our next baby! I've been hestitating telling people because my paranoid self thought that since we waited for what seemed like forever to be blessed with this one, that it would be taken away. I know, I'm a weirdo. But, as we see the gleaming light of 2nd trimester, I feel a little less worried. We are due mid June which I am excited about. With Reagan being born in October, summer was not so much fun around here with no AC so I'm happy that I won't be sweating like a pig all summer long. Yay babies!!

New Moon

2009-11-19T19:43:00.000-08:00

We are in the theater right now for a Twilight and New Moon double feature and I'm pretty sure this will be better than the last movie we saw. Just a hunch. ;)

The Box

2009-11-12T20:27:00.000-08:00

Dearest moviegoers, friends and random strangers who read this blog. I feel it is my duty to warn you about the worst movie ever!! Jared and I wasted 20 bucks tonight seeing this movie and feel ripped off. I think we would feel the same even if the movie were free. Ripped off of 2 hours of our lives. The movie was plotless, confusing in the not fun way and overall completely devoid of any entertainment. To quote my friend Wendy who was unfortunate enough to see this movie too "...save your cash on something more worthwhile, like a root canal." Horrible!!

a childs prayer

2009-11-05T15:48:00.001-08:00

So, it was Reagan's turn to say the prayer the other night and it went a little something like this,

"Dear Father, thanks this day, love mommy, daddy, Koda (our dog), Harry Potter, Tinkerbell, hats..." the rest of the prayer was filled with items she saw around her room while saying the prayer. It was so funny. I'm so glad that Harry Potter ranks so high on her love list!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

2009-10-18T13:56:00.001-07:00

Yay, Reagan is 2! It's kind of insane but we'll go with it. Love you peanut!

First day home

Loving her duck

Last years birthday

Oh, summer

2009-09-23T08:38:00.000-07:00

I know I've been MIA these past 2 months, so here is a picture feast for you! We've had a great summer, mostly hanging in the pool, playing at the park, going to the zoo, remodeling the house and a fun family reunion in South Dakota. All the pictures are from the reunion.

Most of the troop

We took a train ride to this cute little westerny town mostly visited by bikers (Sturgis is nearby). Very interesting folk.

Reagan and her 2nd cousin?? Chase riding the horse.

They were histerically laughing the whole time, it was so funny.

Home base for the reunion. Loved the 4 wheelers!! All of the cute pics with Reagan on them are currently residing in my parents camera which, when finally freed, will make it to the blog.

The hiking group

Just a cute one of the peanut

Rea and Grandma at Little Big Horn

Jake, Adam and Reagan at Devils Tower, this crazy mountain in the middle of nothing

Me and my bros, Jake and Adam

Junk in da trunk

Me and my dad at this cool waterfall

Rea and Jake taking a break during our bike ride

Reagan and Mommy

The biking group

Jared stayed home from the reunion to do some major remodeling and because he went hunting the week after we got back, thats why he's missing from all the pictures. We are glad to all be back under the same roof now!

YUM

2009-07-25T18:10:00.000-07:00

We love summer. We love popsicles. We love a 12 pack of twin pops from Fred Meyer for 88 cents.

p.s. We have been up to a lot lately and I promise to get some good pictures up soon!

YIKES

2009-06-25T16:20:00.000-07:00

So, I guess we are officially potty training. I've been thinking about it for awhile, even buying Reagan her own potty a few months ago. I wanted her to get used to the potty before we made her use it. She's loved it and anytime Jared or I go into the bathroom, she follows and sits on her potty. I've been hestitating though because she's so young and I wasn't sure I was ready but there's something quite nice about the thought of no diapers for awhile. So, last night we thought we'd try it for real and she sat on the potty, we read some books and it happened! She was super excited and we tried to make a big deal about it so that she'd know how good it is to use the potty. She even got to celebrate with 2 M&Ms. She's gone twice already today and now it seems that she gets M&Ms everytime she goes, whatever works.
If any of you have any tips for potty training, I would love to hear them!! Yay, Reagan!!

SWIMMING!!

2009-06-05T09:48:00.000-07:00

Reagan is a swimmer!! My dad bought this awesome life jacket and she is doing so well in it. This was her first time swimming independently. She LOVES swimming and if we're not in the pool, she's asking to go in the pool. Please ignore me and my mom's high squeaky voices, we really can't help it.

18 Months already

2009-05-01T16:51:00.000-07:00

Reagan had her 18 month checkup yesterday and is doing great. She's even getting better with getting shots. Lollipops are the best!!

Stats:
weight: 21 lbs 4 ozs 9th %
height: 33 in 82nd % (where she gets this, I have no clue!)

She loves reading books, playing outside at the park, eating bewwies (berries), watching veggie tales movies, coloring, putting pretties in her hair, nursery at church and saying prayers. She's very cute with the prayer saying. She'll say "pway" and fold her arms and bow her head but still keep her eyes open to make sure we're doing it too. I'm glad some of the good things we're trying to teach her are catching on!!

i love birthdays!!

2009-04-02T17:10:00.000-07:00

Some sweet gifts for my birthday! Thanks guys!!

except I got the cooler sing along dvd, yay

the best book

now, i have no excuse

Butterflies

2009-03-13T17:01:00.000-07:00

Reagan did the cutest craft today at playgroup. They made these adorable little butterflies that were super easy. You take a coffee filter and decorate it with marker. Then you spray it down with water and let it dry. Then you gather in the middle, secure it with a clothespin and decorate it with puff balls, pipe cleaner and googly eyes. Reagan loved it!!

We didn't make it to the pipe cleaner antennae part, we were too busy trying to pull off the googly eyes. She eventually left them alone and was flying her butterfly all over the room.

Sorry, dude

2009-03-04T18:51:00.001-08:00

Here's the situation. Reagan has a cute wicker toy chest that holds all of her stuffed animals. She's really good about putting her animals away when I ask her to except for one. For some reason she hates the hockey player M&M. I will go into her room when she's not there and put him in the toy chest and the next time I go in, he's out. I don't know what he did to cause this hatred, but it must've been pretty bad.

OREOS

2009-03-04T18:46:00.001-08:00

Great Wolf Lodge

2009-02-26T10:54:00.000-08:00

For our anniversary we wanted to go somewhere local but it's hard to find a fun vacation spot in Washington in February. So, Jared decided we should try out the Great Wolf Lodge that we'd heard really good things about. Well, we couldn't go to a fun waterpark without taking the peanut, so our romantic getaway turned into a family trip, which turned out to be way fun anyway. It's only an hour from our house and all indoors so that worked out great. Reagan LOVED the water! We took a trip to Disneyworld last August and she loved the waterpark there so she was a pro at Great Wolf. It's kinda pricey, but we went Tuesday through Thursday which costs a lot less than weekends. They have some restuarants, arcades, spas (even one for little girls) and they have this game where you get a wand and a list of things to collect and you walk around the whole hotel pointing your wand at interactive tvs collecting objects. It looked fun for the older kids. Here are some fun pictures! Might I add that the lifejacket was Reagan's idea. She saw all the overprotected kids wearing them and had to join. I'm not that crazy to have my kid strap on a lifejacket in 6 inches of water when I'm there right next to them.

Hanging out in the room. It's really cute and decorated all cabiny. Yes, that's a word.

One of her favorite things to do, climb up and down the stairs with absolutely NO help from mom and dad. She wouldn't let us help her, it was very cute in a yikes she's going to be fiercely independent kinda way.

These cute sea-doo's that squirted out water were a favorite too

Master of the slide

Waiting for the wave pool to open

They had this huge bucket that would dump a bunch of water every few minutes that she was completely amazed by. After 3 days, it was still just as cool.

The bucket.

The family after a long day.

Overall, very fun trip. I think we'll wait to go again until Reagan's at least 42 inches tall, most of the waterslides require that height even for lap riding. I would recommend this place for families with kiddos probably 5-13. It seems like it's made more for that age.

5 years!!

2009-02-14T16:51:00.000-08:00

Holy moly, it's been 5 whole years since I married this cutie. CRAZY!!!

Giddy Up!!

2009-02-09T18:55:00.001-08:00

more peeps

2009-01-30T13:15:00.000-08:00

So, I still have 2 openings for the pay it forward thing. Maybe. Rachael were you in on it or were you talking about our knitting get together? Anywho, sign up!!!

Pay It Forward

2009-01-14T16:47:00.000-08:00

This is a cute little idea I got from Heather. The first 3 people to respond to this post will get some cute homemade thing from yours truly if you promise to do the same on your blog. Fun, huh? Make sure you leave me your address if you are far away. Have fun!!

Oh yeah, Christmas

2009-01-07T09:40:00.000-08:00

It occurs to me that I haven't posted any Christmas pictures. I don't have a whole lot but here are some cute ones.

The coolest gift! An easel from Grandma that Reagan can use with crayons, chalk and eventually paints. Look at those awesome fine motor skills!!

Playing at Grandma and Bapa's house in the snow!

The Leavitt Family picture. I didn't get my Christmas cards out (again!) so this will have to do!!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!!

Snow!!

2008-12-21T20:31:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted. I've been being crazy cooking lady this whole month (see my other blog for some good recipes) and have just been busy. We all got the cold/ sinus infection thing that's going around and spent a few weeks in bed watching cartoons but we're all better now and excited for Christmas. We even got some snow this year. It's been snowing here and there for a few weeks now but we finally have some good stuff to go play in. Reagan had a blast outside running around in the snow in her frog boots. We took a few pictures, not a whole lot because it was freezing!

Toys

2008-11-24T16:55:00.000-08:00

Our new toy:

Reagan's new toy:

Hooray for huge, sturdy boxes that keep her entertained!

Eewww...

2008-11-06T08:42:00.000-08:00

Reagan's latest hobby. Lovely.

Halloween

2008-11-01T13:29:00.000-07:00

Last night we went to my parents ward Trunk-or-Treat party. I had never been to one before and it was really fun. We decided to go there because they were doing a chili cookoff and had games for the kiddos. Reagan was a cute little spider. We had fun eating chili dogs, playing games and running around the parking lot getting candy. Really, she didn't care much about the candy. She was too interested in everyone's car decorations. When we got to a car with lights, she'd go "Ooooo" and stare at them. Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

She thought she was pretty cool in her costume!

She had a blast running around the gym with the other kids.

In Grandma's car. Her car turned out really good. It was dark by the time everyone was out Trunk-or-Treating so the lights looked really cool.

Finally...

2008-10-29T11:07:00.000-07:00

Birthday Pictures!!!

Good Morning Birthday Girl!! Here she is with crazy bedhead and her favorite elephant slippers.

Not the most flattering picture of peanut, but the best picture of the onesie I made for her big day.

First stop, Build-A-Bear. She LOVES her bunny!

Followed by a pretzel

Then to Grandma and Bapa's house for a party. She's so funny with anything that resembles a purse. She's such a girlie girl.

The best present of the day, a card that plays "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun". Thanks Aunt Jeni and Uncle Troy!!

Her cake, she is a Veggie Tales junkie! She got her own smaller cake, but we had to get this one too for the plastic Bob, Larry and Junior!

Don't let the picture fool you. She wasn't that interested in getting down and dirty with her cake, so mommy had to help a little. She thought it was funny

Being silly

Bath time!!!

This one's for Uncle Adam. Her first xylophone!

That's it. Thanks to everyone who came out to her party and made it such a fun day for Reagan!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PEANUT!!!

2008-10-18T09:17:00.000-07:00

Getting crafty

2008-10-17T22:57:00.000-07:00

So, I've decided to open up a new blog for all my crafting, scrapbooking, sewing, decorating projects. I'll try to get more stuff up soon but things have been a little crazy. The site is mymaggiemagoo.blogspot.com. Please feel free to leave comments and suggestions, I would love your input!

I promise I will get some new pictures up of Reagan after this weekend. She'll be 1 tomorrow so we'll have tons of new pics to share! Have a great weekend!!

We did the Puyallup. Twice.

2008-09-14T20:20:00.000-07:00

Reagan is now a Puyallup Fair veteran. For those of you outside Washington, the Puyallup Fair is a huge fair that comes around once a year, twice if you count the Spring Fair but that one isn't as cool. It's been a great tradition in my family and I was happy to get Reagan started on her love affair with the Fair. We went last Monday with my parents and brother, Jake and then again on Thursday with Jake and Lauren and Megan, the girls I used to nanny. Both times were great but it was extra fun now that Lauren and Megan were tall enough to ride some "scary for them" rides. I thought we were going to have a reinactment of the fair scene from Sandlot but the girls did great. They had free face painting which isn't even face painting anymore, it's airbrushing. That worked out for us since it took about 2 seconds for them to airbrush a star on Reagan's face. Here are some cute pictures!!

Reagan and grandpa with a chicken at the Fair. She loved this guy!! She kept pointing at him and giggling when he came near.

Petting a sheep

Reagan and Uncle Jake

Megan

Lauren

I've also been feeling a little crafty and have been working on several projects. Here is the first completed one. I made these super cute blocks for peanut. They were so easy! I bought some plain hollow blocks from the craft store (hollow is key here, no denting the wood floors when they're chucked across the room). Next I painted them and cut out some cute paper squares and glued them to all sides of the blocks. Then I Mod Podged it all and let them dry overnight. Reagan loves them and so do I. I'm a little jealous that I made something so cute and I don't get to play with them. Someone's very possesive of her new blocks. They look huge in this picture but they're small hand size. I'm going to try doing the same thing but with pictures, I'll let you know how that goes!!

Has it really been a month?

2008-08-21T22:11:00.001-07:00

I can't believe I haven't posted in almost a month. Sorry friends!! I will make this post extra long. We just got back from a trip to Florida. It was a dive/Disney World/ summer trip with my family trip. First of all, to those of you wanting to travel to Florida in the near future, August is NOT the time to go! It was so hot and muggy, we were sweating buckets the second we stepped out the door. YUCK!! Disney World was pretty fun. Jared the Disney freak has been wanting to go to Disney World for 32 years. I don't think he was that impressed. Probably because despite the horrid weather it was still packed. It was fun watching Reagan check everything out though. She loved the fireworks show. Everytime a really loud firework would go off she would do this weird screech, almost like she was in pain, but she was just excited. People kept looking at us like we were biting off her toes or something. It was freaking hilarious!! Diving ended up being just my mom and Jared. On the plane ride over I got a little tickle in my throat that turned into a screaming sinus pressure thing by the next morning. I was super bummed. They got to go to the Atlantic coast and dive in the warm water. They also got to dive at Epcot at the Nemo exhibit. That one was awesome because we got to watch and Reagan kept screaming "daddy" when she saw him. She also screamed "daddy" when she saw this other guy that kinda looked like Jared, but we won't let him know that part. Reagan loved the water parks and even did a few baby water slides all by herself in the tube. I'll get some of those pictures up as soon as I buy them. Disney has this cool thing where professionals wander around taking pictures of you and you can buy them online later.
Reagan did wonderful with all the traveling and crazy schedule. She's getting to be such a big kid. She's now walking pretty well and is figuring out how to say new words. It seems like a different word every day. The favorite word is "ball" which applies to actual balls, balloons, the big Epcot ball and anything ball shaped in general. She's also saying mama, daddy, puppy, baby, hi, bye-bye, nana (banana), ni-ni (bedtime- I do realize that's not actually a word, but it does have a meaning). We can tell that she knows a lot of words although she can't say them yet. It's weird to have her being such a big kid and transitioning from baby.
So, with it being freakishly hot, our minds were not thinking straight and we have zero pictures in Disney. I took some the first day we were there at the condo when Reagan was eating cherries. It's pretty cute so I'll post that picture.
This is the reason why we strip down to our diaper before anything the stains:

Reagan has a new hairstyle. I love it. Jared hates it. I win.

Clorox Bleach Pen

2008-07-25T13:11:00.001-07:00

Can I just say that I LOVE the bleach pen? It is the best thing to happen to Reagan's wardrobe. It works so well on her white shirts that I thought were ruined. It's my new favorite thing!

Mariner's Game

2008-07-23T16:02:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, Reagan got to go to her first baseball game with me and Grandpa. She had a blast and loved all the noises and all the people. I was a little worried because she hadn't napped and the game started at 1:00 which is right in the middle of naptime so I figured she'd last a few innings before screaming her head off. She was wonderful, though! She lasted the whole 4 hour game and didn't fuss at all. She had her first taste of Mariner garlic fries and some Dippin Dots. Grandpa bought her a cool hat that she kept on almost the whole game. She met the Mariner Moose who was way cooler and more interesting farther away than when it was our turn for a picture. It was a great game with great weather and we had so much fun!!

Reagan & Grandpa

Me, Reagan & Grandpa

Reagan lasted about 10 minutes walking to the car after the game before falling asleep. Poor kid!!

9 Months!!

2008-07-18T21:10:00.001-07:00

I can't believe I have a 9 month old baby. That's just crazy. Reagan is growing like crazy, not as much as some babies, but growing. Here are some updates on our little peanut. Things she loves: string cheese, playing with Dakota, her pink & white soft blankie, dancing, watching Jeopardy, having daddy sing "I'm just a little black rain cloud", pointing her finger and playing with balloons at Nonna and Papa's house. Things she hates: getting cleaned up after making messes, waiting for food, getting licked to death by Dakota and scary swimming floaty toys. She's probably about 17? pounds and a lot of inches. She's such a happy baby and is a fun little person to have around. She crawls around the house at lightning speed with her goofy style- left knee and right foot. Hey, whatever works. She really wants to walk and we're expecting that she'll figure it out in the next few weeks. I wish I could post a happy 9 month old baby picture, but Reagan has been teething and she finally popped out 2 teeth today and another one is on its way. The 2 that came out today were the top 2 to the side of her front teeth. She looks like a baby vampire. Viva la Cullen!!! So, the only decent picture we could get today was her eating some cold mandarin oranges, another favorite. Enjoy!!

Dakota

2008-07-01T13:33:00.000-07:00

We have a wonderful dog, Koda. She is sweet, gentle, playful and great with Reagan. She has 2 not so great qualities:
1. She is smart. Too smart.
2. She gets bored. Very bored.
Add these 2 qualities together and you get Trouble. With a capital T that rhymes with P that stands for pool. As in, our neighbors pool. You see, Koda gets bored in the backyard and no matter how valiant our efforts, always manages to find a way out. Lat summer, she enjoyed going to our neighbors house with a pool. I assume they have a pool because over the summer we collected pool noodles, several Nerf floaty pool toys and even 2 boat buoys. She also stole balls, dolls, garbage and we even found a few cat collars. So, the other day while Reagan was napping I let Koda outside to go potty. Immediately she saw a cat on the fence and booked towards it. I knew she was gone. This stupid cat is the most common cause for Dakota's jailbreaks. Usually I would go out and drive to the next block over and find Koda wandering the streets but with Reagan napping I couldn't. So, I was waiting at home for a call from someone saying they found a ferocious German Shepherd that they've tied up in their yard. Dakota is the sweetest dog ever but still has the mean look of a police attack dog. No one called and Jared couldn't find her when he went looking for her after work. We ended up going to Auburn to eat dinner with my parents and when we came home there was Dakota sitting by the front door waiting for us. She's so smart! Now I know that I can not worry about her getting lost forever when she escapes. I thought I'd post some of her cute puppy pictures from 2 years ago when we first brought her home. I love our dog!

This picture has horrible quality but it's too funny. Dakota would sleep just inside Reagan's room when we first brought her home and "guard" her. How cute!!

Waves & Watermelon

2008-06-27T17:44:00.000-07:00

Sorry there's been no new posts in awhile. I've not been feeling very posty lately but I'm back. We've been on a few more trips since the last post but it seems like I haven't had the camera for any of them. Our latest trip was a rafting trip with the youth. Jared is a Boy Scout leader and they invited (reluctantly) the young women along on the trip. They needed some YW leaders so I went. Reagan stayed over at Grandma and Grandpa's house which was such a nice little break. We went up just outside Leavenworth and rafted down the Wenatchee. The river was awesome but super cold. They had snow and ice a few days before we went so we all had to wear wetsuits and splash guard jackets to keep warm. Our boat was great because somehow (???) we ended up with all adults. Not that we don't have great youth in our ward, but holy cow... we're we really that obnoxious when we were their age? Jared and I were even able to spend some quality time together in Leavenworth before we went home. I love Leavenworth. It's this cute little bavarian town with all these shops and they pipe out German music through the streets. It's very Disney-esque. We had a nice walk through the town, eating pretzels and fudge and looking at all the trinkets. It was really just nice to spend some time alone with my husband where we could talk. We don't get that a lot and I'm so grateful for that time we had.
Also, summer has FINALLY arrived here in Washington! It's been so nice and we're even busting out the pool at my parents house soon. I'm exctied to take Reagan swimming since she's loved it the few times she's already been. We're even wearing shorts and sandals!! Here's some cute pics of Reagan eating watermelon. It's so messy but she loves it. We also get to enjoy a nice cool bathtub in the sink afterward.

Home Sweet Home

2008-06-13T16:59:00.000-07:00

Enough with vacation already!! It's always great to go on vacation, but it feels so good to be home and back in our normal routine. Reagan is a pretty good baby but when she's forced to nap in hotels, eat in the car and play strapped in her carseat she gets a little grumpy. The trip to Utah was fun though. We got to see some friends (yay, Becca!!), some family and some nice weather. Reagan busted out the short shorts and showed off her rolls to the world. Why is that cute on her but not so much cute on me?? My mom took most of the pics with her camera though so here are a few with mine. I'll post some more later.

She fell asleep while we were driving but held on tight to her cookies. Cuteness!

Playing at Great-Grandma's house. Love those chunker legs!

Neah Bay

2008-05-23T09:38:00.000-07:00

We're back for just long enough to post a blog and then we're on vacation again. Well, Reagan and I at least. Neah Bay was awesome. Thanks to some scorching heat in the South it was actually quite pleasant this year. We enough got sunburns!! Everyone but Reagan. She was long sleeves, hats and sunblock all the way. We had fun diving and spearfishing and hanging out with our friends. The first night of the trip was CRAZY!! We got to camp Thursday night and noticed the waves were unusually high. By 1:00 am the waves were crashing so high they broke the dock and boats were drifting off to sea. The coast guard and fire department had to come into camp, it was so weird. They fixed the dock over the next few days and everything returned to normal. It was strange sleeping in your tent and hearing tsunami waves with no storm. We heard rumors that a minor earthquake in CA caused the freak waves but we never found out for sure. Other highlights of the trip were Reagan's first time camping. She did awesome even though she had to spend some time in her pack and play. She put the time to good use though and learned how to crawl!! She's a crawling fool now! It's pretty hilarious how she does it though. Her right leg stays completely straight so she crawls with her left knee and right foot. Weird kid. She's pretty excited for herself though. She also figured out how to get back up to sitting postition from crawling position. This is huge! So many times during the day she gets herself stuck in crawling position and I have to come rescue her. Hooray for Reagan!! She's so smart. Here's a few pictures from the trip.

The theme of the trip: Trying to keep Reagan's hat on her head, thanks Bonnie!

Playing in the sand

Tastes pretty good

Jared and an ugly Lingcod

Getting ready for a dock dive with my mom

Hello Canada!!

everyone loves a nudist

2008-04-29T21:54:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since we had some good nekkid shots! I love that you can see a little bruise on her chest from too much mommy tickle time. Ouch! Her little giggle is too cute, though! We absolutely LOVE the bath seat from Nonna and Papa. Bath time is the best.

Updates

2008-04-25T15:46:00.000-07:00

Wow, Reagan is 6 months old already. So, I know most people say that time really flies by fast when you have a baby but most of the time I disagree. I feel like we've had her forever. That was until I realized that I have a 6 month old. That's half a year for those of you who aren't so good at math. Reagan is still the perfect baby. She's so sweet and funny. She now weighs 14 lbs. 7 oz. and is 26 inches long. She actually caught up a little with the rest of the 6 month olds out there. She's doing really well at sitting up by herself and is quickly working her way to crawling. When she's on her hands and knees she does the getting ready to crawl shift. I was excited about all the other milestones until this one. This one can wait awhile. She's so stubborn and independent that I'm afraid once she's going, I'll never have a hold of her again. Yikes!! Here are some of Reagan's favorite things: Bathtime (still, but even more fun in the bath seat that Nonna bought her), peas (baby bird is so cute!!), going on walks at the dog park in her front pack, pulling Grandpa's beard, making clicking noises with her tongue, chewing on spoons at church (seriously, people probably think we're super poor because we only have spoons for our baby to play with. It's what she likes people!!), family bed in the mornings and pulling off her hat 2 seconds after mommy puts it on. There's plenty more but those are the top things right now. The family is getting ready for our annual trip to Neah Bay which we're super excited for. I'm not pregnant this year so I'll get to dive and spear some fishies!! YAY!! So, today we went to the dive shop because I'm having problems with my dry suit. We tried some new things and to test them, I had to lay on the floor on my back and fill my suit completely up with air. I looked ridiculous! I'm lying on the floor, arms and legs sticking out, face red and I can't vent my suit by myself. I looked like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man or the kid on the Christmas Story and what do my husband and the kind, sensitive dive shop owners do?? Take pictures, of course!! I finally managed to vent some air and gave a good verbal lashing. Ok, no verbal lashing because I want to still be friends with the dive guys but in my head they sure got it. It was a pretty funny picture anyway. Here are some cute pictures of Reagan that Troy took the other day. They are so good and he managed to get a shot of her new teeth.

Rocking the fauxhawk

Teeth!!!

Potter Puppet Pals in The Mysterious Ticking Noise

2008-04-14T22:21:00.001-07:00

Heather posted this silly video a few weeks ago and I find myself going to her site and watching it when I need a little giggle, so I'm just posting it to mine. Enjoy!!

Sleepover

2008-04-03T13:58:00.000-07:00

Reagan and I went to our friends house yesterday for a sleepover. Breta's husband Ben works with Jared and they were both on shift so we had a mommy's day with our little ones. Breta's 2 oldest were at grandma's house so we got to spend some time with Reagan and Walker who's 6 weeks younger than Reagan. We had so much fun gossiping about our silly husbands and hanging out with the kiddos. Reagan even got her first taste of construction work when she played with some "boy toys". She was very fascinated by all of Walker's hair. He has tons!! She kept grabbing at it and trying to pull it out. I think someone's a little jealous.

Spring Is Here!!

2008-03-31T08:45:00.000-07:00

Ok, not really. It's been snowing all week and freezing cold but the best sign of spring is starting today. Baseball Season!! I love it. It gives you hope that summer is just a few games away. Go Mariners!!

Best Friends!!!

2008-03-27T16:03:00.000-07:00

It took 5 months, but Dakota and Reagan are now best friends. Since we brought Reagan home, Dakota hasn't been too interested in her. If anything she's been a little afraid of Reagan. Not anymore! She's been guarding Reagan and playing with her. It's so funny! When Reagan is in her jumper Dakota will lay at her feet and try to get them. Dakota loves playing with feet and she's super gentle with Reagan. The friendship goes both ways too. Reagan loves looking and grabbing at Dakota, which the dog doesn't seem to mind. Dakota is the first thing Reagan looks for when she gets up in the morning. She is always there keeping guard by her door. Dakota is also a very handy face cleaner and Reagan loves it! The dog gets as excited as Reagan does when it's time to eat. They're so cute!! I love them!!

I think I'll sit now

2008-03-24T13:30:00.000-07:00

Reagan decided she would start sitting by herself now. She's such a funny baby. She'll just decide to do something one day and do it. She did the same thing with rolling over. One night I put her on her tummy and without ever trying to before, rolled over. A few days ago I thought I'd sit her down and see what happens. She just sat there. And sat there. And sat there. She sat unaccompanied for about 10 minutes before she fell forward. What the heck!! She had never tried sitting before and now she's a pro. Both of these pictures look like she's falling over but she's not, they were just the cutest ones I got. Oh, here's an update on the tooth. You can see it now! I would post a picture but try getting a shot of the inside of a 5 month old's mouth.

Someone's getting a tooth

2008-03-21T22:11:00.000-07:00

Reagan has been a total whiner for the last week and we couldn't quite figure out why. We had our suspicions- cold, growing pains (yeah right) or a new toother coming in. Turns out it's a tooth! Tonight while she was trying to bite my finger off I felt a sharp little something in her mouth. It's pretty exciting although kinda sad that she's growing up and becoming a big kid. Ok, not quite a big kid, but definately heading there. She's even moving out of her 0-3 month clothes. It's about time on that one though, she's 5 months old!! She's really long but is a skinny minny in the waist. Her 3 month old pants are still pretty loose and are only staying up because of her diaper-produced ghetto booty. It's not even a real ghetto booty. I don't have any new pictures so I'm posting one of her at her baby blessing. She was blessed on March 1st and the dress she's wearing was lovingly made by her grandma.

Lifesaver

2008-03-11T10:37:00.000-07:00

We love the jumper!! Reagan's been getting tired of being a baby when I'm doing housework. I usually throw her in the bouncer or lay her on a blanket on the floor. She's been throwing fits the last few times I've tried which is super frustrating so we got out the jumper. Holy cow!! This kid is meant to jump. If she's not eating or sleeping she's in the jumper, going crazy. It's hilarious and it lets me get some work done. Hooray!! Hopefully this lasts.

Still a runt

2008-02-26T11:35:00.000-08:00

Reagan had her 4 month checkup yesterday and she's still puny. She weighed 12 lbs. 10 ozs. (10%) and was 24.5 inches long (45%). I thought she was going to weigh a lot more since she was over 12 pounds at the end of January. She only gained 7 ounces this month. She'd probably be a lot heavier if she wasn't such a bulimic. I swear, this kid can't keep anything down! We fed her some rice cereal last night and it went pretty well once she got used to it. She was more interested in looking at the shiny silver handle on the spoon than the actual food, but what do you do? She actually kept the cereal down much better than formula. We'll see how it goes again tonight. Her doctor said she's super smart and learning really quickly. She's already learning how to trust people she loves and be wary of people she doesn't know. She's very alert and loves to play. She's getting really strong and likes to be sitting or standing (with mom's help, of course). She did get shots which suck, but she handled it pretty well. I did too, much better than last time. Here's some cute pics of her eating cereal.

Just because it's been awhile...

2008-02-21T19:53:00.001-08:00

We're officially rolling!!

2008-02-13T09:10:00.000-08:00

Last night Reagan decided she was bored on her tummy and started to roll! I've been worried because she's hated tummy time and hasn't shown the slightest interest in rolling. Lael, Kim and I were working at the doctor's office and I put her on her tummy and within 10 minutes of trying, she did it!! It was so exciting. She's done it a few times this morning so it's for real. Yay!! Oh, by the way, I've made it so that anyone can comment on the blog, not just blogsters, so go ahead and leave us a message!

2008-02-12T10:30:00.000-08:00

Reagan found her tongue the other day. She kept sticking it out all day long. It was hilarious!!

2008-01-30T22:47:00.001-08:00

What happens when mommy sleeps in...

Reagan and daddy enjoying a little xbox

2008-01-21T16:21:00.000-08:00

We're back from our first road trip with the baby. We had a lot of fun and it was great to get to show off Reagan to our friends and family far away. First we stayed in Utah where we attended the funeral of Kristy, a good friend of Jared's who was killed. Although a horrible situation, it was good for Jared to see some old friends he had lost touch with. We stayed with the Lewis family who are awesome. Poor Steff is on bed rest with her 3rd child and we come and crash. Thanks guys!! It was fun to see her adorable kids and we can't wait to see them again. Then we headed down to Southern Utah to see my grandma and Jared's grandpa. We attended church in the Veyo ward with grandpa and loved it. They are so warm and kind and just laughed at my silly baby crying all through sacrament meeting. Then off to Vegas! We once again crashed at some good friends house, the Larsens. It was fun to visit them, especially since they have a baby boy a few weeks younger than Reagan. It was great until Jared decided to get kidney stones and we spent the night in the Boulder City emergency room. Not fun. Jared had a few days of recovery and felt better enough to head to Disneyland. This was Reagan's first Disney trip and I think we were more excited than she was. In fact, I know we were, she slept half the time. She loved It's A Small World and the Winnie the Pooh ride. Not a big fan of Pirates, not enough bright colors and flashing lights. She managed to stay awake one night for the parade which she enjoyed in the Snugli with a warm bottle and a cool hat. So, we're finally home!! It's good to be back and we're excited to take the next trip in March for grandpa's birthday. If we missed any of you we'd love to come see you! Here are pics from our vacation.

The Lewis Family

Reagan and great-grandpa (dad's side)

Reagan and great-grandma (mom's side)

Reagan and Nanny (mom's side)

Aroha Larsen (for some reason we didn't take any other pics at their house)

Getting ready for the parade at Disneyland

Chilling in her shades

Swimming!!

2008-01-10T00:36:00.000-08:00

Reagan found her toes while waiting to get into the bathtub.

2008-01-03T22:36:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!!!

We're a little late but that's how it is with a new baby. It's been awhile so I thought I'd give an update on our little Reagan. She had her 2 month checkup a week ago and was a whopping 10 lbs. 1 oz. and 23 inches long. Right now she's very into playing her duck, eating her hands and taking long luxurious baths at grandma and grandpa's house. She's sleeping about 9 hours a night now which her parents greatly appreciate. She's very talkative and will talk to anyone, even ducks. She loves to smile and giggle and drool. She's been doing crunches in preparation for sitting up and lots of tummy time. In general, being the cutest baby ever!!!

Sucking on her fist, one of her favorite hobbies

Tummy time with Grandma

Being a nudist after her bath (like it's her choice)

2007-12-19T14:16:00.000-08:00

These pictures are from my mom's house. We were hanging out on the bed when Reagan got hungry and started to fuss. My mom was playing with her and her duck (see previous post for how much she loves her duck) when Reagan grabbed the duck and shoved the beak in her mouth. You can't get the full sense of how funny this was by pictures but Reagan was seriously nursing this poor duck's beak. The last picture is all the drool she had when we took the duck away. Crazy kid!!

2007-12-08T12:06:00.000-08:00

I wanted to wait until I was sure it wasn't a fluke, but it's happened the last 4 nights in a row so it's official. Reagan is sleeping through the night!! Not the whole night, but at least 6 hours which is fabulous. She even slept through the night when we stayed the night at my mom's and at a friends when Jared was on shift. I hope me writing this doesn't jinx it. Here are some cute pics of her smiling.

2007-11-28T22:49:00.000-08:00

Today was a great day!!! Reagan is smiling! Real smiles, not just tooting smiles. Our friend Troy was looking at her today and said that she smiled at him, but I didn't believe she did a real smile at him. Then at my mom's house she was playing with Reagan and said that she was smiling at her. I went over and she totally was!! We got her to smile a bunch and we had to have Jared see her smile so I took her over to the station and he got to make her smile. It's so awesome to see her smiling for real now. We'll try to get a picture and put it up soon.

2007-11-26T17:32:00.001-08:00

Ah, Thanksgiving. Usually a time of relaxing with the family, eating a bunch of food and taking a long afternoon nap. Oh, I wish. Now, I knew I wouldn't be doing the nap part but I thought the first two would be accomplished. Reagan stayed up all night Wednesday night screaming her head off for no reason. There really was a reason, but her parents were too stupid to figure it out. So, Thursday came along and we went up to my parents house without Jared because he was on shift. I figured since she had been up all night she would sleep all through Thanksgiving and be pleasant. I was wrong. She continued the previous night's screaming until we noticed that her poor little mouth was covered in white blotches and spots. Thrush!! How lovely. We had her checked for thrush before but it was just formula on her tongue. But, we had been told the warning signs and thrush is what she definately had. So, I called Jared at the station who called his mother who works for Reagan's doctor. He had already left for his vacation but there was an OTC medicine that we could use to calm the thrush. By the time I got the name of this medicine, dinner had just been laid out and everyone sat down to eat, about 3:00. In tears, because my baby was crying with tears, I set out to find this medicine on Thanksgiving, an hour before every store in Auburn closed. My dad saw that I was an inch from losing it, so he went with me. Long story short, no one had it and we listened to poor Reagan cry the rest of the night while eating cold leftovers. Luckily we were able to get a prescription the next morning and she's almost over her thrush. There's so much drama when you have your own kid!! I hope everyone had a better Thanksgiving then we did. I took a few pictures of Reagan at my parents on Thanksgiving, fully planning on taking more, but this is all we got around to. They are of Reagan sleeping (she did sleep a little in the morning) in her new pack-n-play. Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

2007-11-18T20:40:00.000-08:00

Reagan in her glider

Smiles!!

Reagan and Stewart

Reagan is one month old today!!!

2007-11-15T17:57:00.000-08:00

Reagan loves her baths. I wish I could bathe her more because it puts her in such a good mood and it's a great way to keep her awake during the day so she doesn't stay up all night. If it didn't dry out her smooth skin, we would take baths all day. Thanks Machelle for the great bath seat by the way!! The other day after drying her hair she aquired a cute little mohawk. Since she has the perfect little round face, this combination made her look just like Jack Jack from The Incredibles. I had to take a few pictures of my superhero baby.

2007-11-09T14:39:00.001-08:00

Ok, I still don't have the posting pictures thing down quite perfectly yet, but at least there are some up there. I'm sure I'll get it someday. Things have been great around here. Reagan is 3 weeks and 1 day old. I can't believe how fast it's going by already. She had an appointment last Tuesday and she weighed in at 8 pounds 7 ounces. This doesn't sound like much but she was weighed the Friday prior and was only 7 pounds 15 ounces. She gained about 2 ounces a day! She's such a little porker.She's getting into somewhat of a routine which is very nice. Jared and I even got to have a date last night. My parents watched the baby while we went up to Seattle and had dinner and then went to see Into The Woods. Dinner was fun, it was really weird to be away from the baby. It was so nice to get to spend some time with my cute husband though. I don't think we've spent 2 minutes alone together since she's been born. The play was good, although I remember liking it a lot more than I did last night. The first half was fabulously entertaining. Little Red, the Princes were awesome. Then the second half was such a let down. I don't remember it being so depressing. Anyway, it was a good date night overall, very much needed.

2007-11-09T14:29:00.001-08:00

Reagan's new swing. Thanks Grandma!!

Bundled up and ready to go outside.

Definately Jared's kid.

Oh, my little Asian baby.

Snuggling with mom.

First day home.

Yay, I can finally post some pics!! Here are some random pics of Reagan since she's been home from the hospital.

2007-11-01T21:16:00.000-07:00

So, I finally have some time to update our little blog! The fact that I'm sitting here, writing on the computer is a miracle, by the way. Jared is on shift tonight and she's usually up all night when he's gone. Just for fun she likes to be perfect when daddy is home and make him think that mommy is insane when she tells him that the baby was up all night. But, tonight she is sleeping and hasn't made a peep. Hooray!! Reagan was born 2 weeks ago on October 18th and is wonderful. We love her so much!! The doctor was going to induce me that day but the night before I started having contractions and by the time we were at the hospital for our scheduled induction, I was already 2 cm dilated! It was really nice because Jared was worried about the meds they were going to use to induce and since she was coming on her own, I didn't have to use them. So, Reagan is the cutest baby ever. I know parents must always think that of their own babies, but she really is. I think she was made extra cute because she has the loudest shriek. If there's not a booby in her mouth within 5 seconds of waking up, you better watch out. She's been pretty good about sleeping. She'll have really good nights where she'll let us sleep for 3-4 hours in between feedings and then she has nights where she wants to stay up and party. Granted, the nights where she wants to party are not bad shrieking nights, she just wants to be up and looking around for hours. Reagan is gaining tons of weight. When she was born she was jaundiced and ended up losing about 13% of her body weight. She had to have light therapy at home and was on formula supplements. She is now super healthy and eats like a moose. All she does is eat and sleep, so I'm sure she's back up to her birth weight and then some. Girl's getting some booty! We're still confined to the house most days. We've been out for a doctor appointment and to my parents house for a few hours. I can't wait until I feel comfortable enough to take her out more. The whole being caught somewhere public with a screaming baby is a little intimidating for me, so we're taking it slow. Plus, it's been freezing outside lately so I'm in no hurry. Since Reagan does nothing other than eat and sleep, I have nothing else to report. Jared and I are doing really well and loving being parents. Everyday we look at her and are amazed that we created this perfect child. Ok, I was going to post some pictures, but it won't let me right now. I'll get some up soon or you can check them out on myspace.

2007-08-21T15:12:00.000-07:00

Are we there yet???

So, tomorrow I'm officially 31 weeks pregnant!! That means we're now in single digit countdown until little Reagan arrives, I'm so excited!!! It's been really crazy these last few months. Time has just flown by. Maybe it's going by so fast because we're so not ready yet. Jared and my brother Jake did the sheet rock in the baby room yesterday and Jared was going to do the first round of mud and tape today. We'll see if that got done when I get home from work today. Hopefully I'll be able to paint this weekend!! I'm definately going to recruit some help though. Last Saturday Jared was on shift and it was rainy so I spent all day inside cleaning and organizing and moving way too much furniture. Sunday was not good. I could barely sit in church my body hurt so bad. And I was really swollen that day which isn't fun either. So, lessen learned- no moving couches. Today is nice and cold so the swelling has left and I feel back to normal. I shouldn't be complaining, I've had a really easy pregnancy so far and haven't had any problems. I hope I don't make up for it with a hard labor. In 9 weeks!!! Wahoo!!! So, Jake's wedding didn't happen. His little fiance has some family problems happening right now so she called it off. I'm not sure if it's off off or just postponed off. I guess we'll see. So, Jake is just bumming around the house, trying to get a job and helping Jared. We love the helping Jared part. I'm sure he'll be fine, he seems to be dealing with it pretty well. Well, that's it. 9 weeks!!!

2007-08-02T08:39:00.000-07:00

HELLO!!!

It's been awhile since I've written so I thought I'd give you all the update. Yes, I'm talking to the 2 people who actually read this. Things are going really well here. We're still getting ready for our little baby to come. Jared has been remodeling the house starting in her room and we're almost done, with her room. It's usually freakin freezing in winter in my house so hopefully the new windows and insulation will help us. If not, I'm already stocked up on warm snuggly outfits and tons of blankets for the baby. I'm still working right now. I'm for sure stopping the bookkeeping job at the end of this month and the nanny job sometime in September. I'm looking forward to having some time for myself before the baby comes. I'm sure I'll need it. It is Jared's baby we're talking about. I'm still feeling pretty good. I'm getting a lot bigger which is getting a little awkward. Turning over in bed is a huge deal. I feel like a beached whale, it's not a pretty site. Poor Jared. The beached whale with her thousand pillows in bed, trying to turn over in the middle of the night is, I'm sure, disturbing him. Oh well, pretty soon it will be the baby waking him up in the middle of the night. We've been trying to take some vacations this summer and have gone camping a few times. It's been really nice to hang out with our friends. All the times we've gone camping, we've gone to diving sites so Jared has got to go diving a lot more often. He really likes it and has bought all this new equipment and is planning on dragging me under once the baby comes and I get certified. I've done one pool dive and liked it, so I'm hoping I like real diving. That's pretty much it in my life. My little brother Jake is getting married in 8 days!!! Crazy!!! He's getting married to his cute little Sharla in Texas next Friday. Hooray!!! I'm hoping that once I get some pictures, I can figure out how to post them. Wish me luck!!!

2007-06-05T13:55:00.000-07:00

I don't ride the short bus, I swear!!!

Okay, so I'm super lame and didn't know how to post a new blog without responding to my old one. I'm a dip!!! Now that I'm not a dip anymore, I will post a new blog!!! So, since it's been forever since I last posted, we have a lot of catching up to do. First off, I'm actually pregnant with a real baby! We are expecting our first little girl on October 24th. We're so excited to be having a baby. For those of you who know me, you'll know that I've wanted a baby pretty much forever, so it was hard to have to wait such a long time to start trying (3 years! Holy cow, in Mormon world that's like 20 years!!) and then having to try for 8 months with no success. So, I feel really blessed that we are able to add on to our little family. Jared is really excited too. At first he was deathly afraid of having babies but got used to the idea. Then, we found out we were having a girl. Jared was thrust back into "babies are scary" mode and has spent a little time there. We're making some progress as we get used to our tough little guy being a tough little girl. I'm sure he'll be great with her. Our niece Gabby loves him and he's really good with her. Except for scary flying lessons. We are still in our little house and are starting to do some remodeling. We refinanced, so now we have some money to spend. We're starting with insulating the house and putting in new windows. Jared is ripping off all the interior walls to put in the insulation and will put up new walls without hideous, circa 1970's wall texture on it. We're getting ready for the summer. I'm trying to convince Jared that we need a pool but he just tells me I can go to my moms. Well, fine then my little hubby. I will see you in the fall when I come home. It's flipping hot at our house!! And I'm sure that our neighbors won't appreciate a fat, pregnant lady prancing through the sprikler. Alright, this is a really long blog, so I'm going to stop. Later.

2006-10-19T10:44:00.000-07:00

So, my little friend Becca had a blog so I had to have one too because she is the coolest. Ummmm...... so, nothing spectacular is really going on in my life. Jared and I are just living in University Place Washington. We bought our house a couple years ago and are loving it most days. I work for 2 families doing the nanny thing and part time at a mortgage company doing the bookkeeping thing. Jared is a firefighter for Boeing and has a construction company with another firefighter buddy. We have the cutest dog in the world, Dakota. She's a german shepherd/ husky mix and she's 5 months old. She's too smart and likes to cause trouble and make her mommy mad, but she's just too cute to stay mad at. We're trying to make a real baby but haven't had any luck yet.We haven't been trying that long though. We're going to Disneyland in 12 days and I'm so excited for vacation. We might head to Vegas and see some friends. That's really everything in my world.