Monday, November 29, 2010

a few suggestions

Okay, normally I like to separate the business-y stuff from the personal stuff, but I feel like this could easily be beneficial for just about anybody to get a chance to look at (especially you fellas!). So I share with you...


{photos courtesy TomKat Studio}

The Holiday Gift Guide is chock full of awesome ideas for any person that might be on your shopping list and I know that I could always use a few extra ideas to help me with that every growing list.

And Keith, if you happen to be reading this, please feel free to focus on the cupcake lovers, budding photographers, and girls who love to entertain pages. Those might be especially beautiful and especially loaded with very helpful hints. :)

Sunday, November 28, 2010

lucky number seven


Seven years ago today I was lucky enough to marry my best friend. I have to say that I truly thank God everyday for this amazing blessing he has bestowed upon me. I would be completely lying if I wrote that our life together is always sunshine and rainbows; it's not. But I know that we will always work at putting God first and continuously work on making our partnership better.

Love you forever and always and always and forever.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

thankful

With today being Thanksgiving (and with Keith having today off to help wrangle the kiddos), I want to take a moment to be thankful and count my blessings. Like I said in a previous post, last week was rough. Incredibly rough. I'm still trying to remember everything that happened because I think I started to block it all out as a survival mechanism. More on that to come.

But these past few days have been a complete 180. We're back to our typical routine including playtime at the gym, regular nap times, smiley and happy babies, and enjoying each other. Its times like these when I just watch Luke and Reagan play with each other and I'm reminded of how truly lucky I am.

I can't help but smile when I think of all of the good in my life. I have a wonderfully supportive husband who I get to celebrate an anniversary with this weekend. I have two healthy, well-adjusted children that I get to spend everyday with. I have an an amazing support system of family and friends who are my biggest cheerleaders and always there to pick me up when I fall.


I am forever grateful.

Friday, November 19, 2010

thinking happy thoughts

This week has not been my favorite by a long shot. A disgusting sickness swept through our home this week and we are still trying to get things back to even a semi-healthy state. There is much to write about this and pictures to prove our *super-fun* week, but for now a few gems that have gotten me through the week.

When I wanted to rip my hair out from the screaming or take the hottest shower imaginable to disinfect myself from the constant stream of snot that I dealt with, I remembered and reminisced of these times.


I know that I am extremely partial, but don't Keith and I make some of the cutest babies?

Oh, the happier times. We'll be back there soon.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

phrases

I know everybody has things their kids say that catch them completely off guard and are absolutely hilarious. Luke is no exception. Here are some of the random and funny things we've heard come out of his skinny body lately without any prompting:

"Watch and learn Ma."
"Rock and Roll over."
"Sister cyute, Yuke see-ee." (Sister's cute, Luke's silly)

I guess he also takes after me in a way with his various facial expressions and gestures that he makes. Some of these next ones are 10x more hilarious in person when you can see that adorable face or his goofy movements. I'll try to explain them the best I can and hope you get the picture. :)

"_____ is nnnnuuuuummmmm." (said while rubbing his belly in a huge circle)
"Is cooooolllld." (said while shivering)
"Yuke see-ee." (very much like the earlier phrase, but for this one he stops mid playtime and does a creepy laugh to the ceiling after he says it)

I know he's just a typical 2 and a half year old ham, but he manages to surprise me everyday with the new and crazy things he comes up with. Never a dull moment in our house with Luke the Toddler running around!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

upgrade


Reagan was upgraded to her new, fancy BIG girl car seat this week. It's actually the exact version that Luke has, just a different color. The kids have been thoroughly enjoying this new change. They "talk" to each other and laugh back and forth. It warms my heart as their momma to hear them intereacting in a positive way while I'm trying to focus on the road...not stare at my amazingly adorable kids in the back seat. Who does that? ;)

Reagan has her fairly typical dead-pan face about it for the picture, but can you tell how excited Luke is?

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

scary sweet

Warning: You will see a scary amount of pictures of some super cute kids. Read on at your own risk!


Halloween was an interesting event in our home this year. Since before I had any children, I knew that I'd like for their costumes to coordinate. Not necessarily matching, but they obviously went together. I also had it in my head that I wanted to make their costumes as well. There are some super fabulous store-bought costumes out there, but I just didn't want to go that route this year.

I struggled for nearly a month trying to come up with a great idea that I could manage to create on my own that also wouldn't cause my poor children to pass out form heat exhaustion. I made that mistake Luke's first Halloween with his fleece monkey costume. Poor kid sweat like I'd never seen him sweat before. I debated super hero costumes because of Luke's love of the Incredible, but I couldn't think of a way to make that without tights or long sleeves. Every good superhero costume has both of those. My next thought was tree and flower, but the construction of that seemed a tad too ambitious for me. After reading Parents magazine, I finally settled on cookie and milk.

I spent some quality time at Joann's picking out fabric and a few afternoons measuring, cutting, sewing, and hot gluing their costumes together. Reagan's cookie costume could probably pass for a fruit pizza too, but I was happy with the way hers turned out. Simple, easy, and cute. Luke's, on the other hand, was not what I had envisioned. I'll spare you the ugly details and I'm fairly certain there will be no pictures of it found anywhere on this blog. After scrambling at the last minute (like 5:30pm on Halloween), Keith and I decided he'd be a chef instead. I'd made his apron, so I felt like I'd accomplished that part of my initial goal and because he looked like he worked in a kitchen and could have made a cookie, the other part of my goal was reached as well. The best part was that Luke looked way more happy to be a chef instead of the milk anyways.

It's tradition for us to visit Andi on Halloween. She's worked on every Halloween since Luke was born, so we go visit her to help brighten her day. Luke was in his milk costume here, so there will be no pictures of him visiting her. Sorry Andi.


Tom and Gail stopped by to visit and brought the kids some Halloween treats. They were so sweet to do that
  and both kids adore their gifts.

 

I have to admit, Halloween is not my favorite holiday, but we had a great time this year spending it with some wonderful people. Any holiday that involves people you love, is a great one.

nine and some


I know that I always say it, but I am constantly amazed at how life seems to fly by. Reagan is now nine months old (really nine and a half...like I said in a previous post, life happens) and she is as adorable, crazy, cute, and princess as ever. She's reached some pretty big milestones this month and she's getting big fast.

Reagan went for her nine month check-up and at that time, she measured 29.5in. long (96%), measured 17.2in. head circumference (42%), and weighed in at 17lbs. 11oz. (28%). Yeah, she's a skinny thing, but her doctor isn't concerned yet. He's attributing it to the fact that she is now way more mobile than she was previously. She's just our sweet string bean.

Reagan has gotten a chance to try more foods this month and has found a new obsession: puffs. That girl will grunt feverishly until you pour some on her tray and then she'll moan the entire time she crams them by the fistful into her mouth. The whole process really cracks us up. She stills downs her food in record time compared to Luke and isn't shy about demanding more if she's still hungry.


Our silly girl loves to stick her tongue out. I have seriously so many pictures with the girl's tongue hanging out of her mouth. We weren't sure the cause or the reasoning behind it, but we had an inkling that it might be due to teeth. Up until yesterday, she still had none. Reagan was still our little toothless wonder, but after yesterday's afternoon nap, we can longer call her that! She has only one tiny tooth that barely has popped its way through her gum, but we will take what we can get!


I love dressing my girl up and accessorizing her. I was so excited when I found out that I was having a girl this time and actually missed the first bow making class that I'd signed up because I was in labor too early. They were nice enough to let me reschedule, so my mom and I sat there through the class as I was suffering through some pretty intense contractions a few weeks later. I swear Reagan has more bows and flowers than she'll probably ever wear, but I have this crazy need to keep making more. My only issue now is that Reagan loves to rip her headbands off and her hair isn't thick enough yet to anchor a clip on its own. Have no fear though, I will not be deterred and I will keep trying to convince her that she really does need to wear them.



Reagan really has gotten way more mobile over the past month. She still prefers to army crawl everywhere and--dang!--girl is fast! She could actually crawl if she put her mind to it, but I think she likes speed instead of style. She's also started pulling herself up on the edges of the furniture. It is so freakin' adorable how excited she gets when she pulls herself up near Luke. You can tell she is just genuinely happy to be near him (or his toys)...that is until he starts trying to play with her. Luke still hasn't realized his own strength...



Reagan has become a much more happy baby over the past few months. There is definitely more smiling and laughing coming from her tiny body which, if I'm being completely honest, is SO much more fun than the constant princess-behavior that she exhibited the first six-ish months of her life. Don't get me wrong, she can still whip out a piercing scream like its nobody's business, but they are more few and far between. But, happy or sad, screaming or smiling, she's my princess and I love her. All of her.

punkin luv


Do you happen to remember when I posted about our adventure into growing our own pumpkins and watermelons? If not, see this post. Keith and I were super excited to see the results of our dedication over the course of the past few months and I'm sad to say that we were very disappointed with the outcome. We ended up with this one mini pumpkin out of all the blossoms and pumpkin babies that sprouted. And don't even get Keith started about the watermelons. Maybe if I have the heart, I'll post pictures of how that turned out, but fair warning, it isn't pretty.

I had this grand idea of taking the kiddos to a pumpkin patch this year to get pictures and pick out a pumpkin to carve. Luke's  never carved a pumpkin and I was excited for this to be the year. Well...time and life happened and all of a sudden it was Halloween day and we had yet to go. Keith harvested our lone pumpkin from the backyard Halloween morning and I figured we could carve that baby; sure its small, but size doesn't always matter, right?

I ran a few errands after these pictures and by the time I returned, Luke had thrown the pumpkin and it had cracked in half. So much for that carving experience this year.


Here Mom. Take the picture already.