our {blessed} life

The Girl is Two

2012-01-28T21:14:00.001-07:00

It seems like it was yesterday that our sweet girl was born. She came out just as sassy as she'd been when I was pregnant and hasn't let it stop her one bit since then.

We've experienced lots of smiles...

...lots and lots of scream filled moments.

The girl is still obsessed with her food. And Luke's food. And everyone else's food.

In fact, she's gone from being in the 20th percentile for her weight at her first birthday to being 28 lbs. and in the 80th percentile at her 2 year check. She's also half an inch shy of being 3 feet tall, which puts her in the 90th percentile for her height.

Each day she surpirses us with new and hilarious things that she does and says, and while on the topic of her speech, it has been improving by leaps and bounds the past few months. The girl who had to have her speech evaluated is now right on track with her speech development. Reagan is attempting new words every day and becoming more fluent with the words that she already uses.

I am more in love with this little ball of spitfire than I ever thought possible. Sometimes I take a moment to thank God for blessing us with such a wonderful, beautiful daughter.

Reagan: Momma and Daddy wish you the happiest of birthdays and we are so eternally grateful to have you in our lives. We love you baby girl!

Reagan's Birthday Party

2012-01-28T08:44:00.001-07:00

It's taken me a solid week to recover, but I'm here today sharing the full details of my Reagan's Secret Garden Birthday Party! The moment I saw the Secret Garden collection from Sandi Henderson, it was party at first sight.

I'll warn you now: there are an obscene amount of pictures in this post, but there were so many fun aspects and details, that I just couldn't leave anything out. Seriously. I hope you enjoy everything as much as I did!

I have to start with the second most gorgeous part of the entire party {with my daughter being the obvious first}:

Isn't this cake absolutely fantastic? The ever-amazing Breanna from Sugar Dreams Cakes & Things knocked this beauty out of the park. In keeping with the garden theme, I utilized an overturned galvanized bucket wrapped with burlap and lace trim as a pedestal to help the cake stand out even more.

The dessert table was filled with lots of yummy goodness! Some of my favorites were the Party Oreos that I made {Oreos dipped in candy melts and sprinkles}...

...these sweet mini lemon raspberry cupcakes courtesy of Sugar Dreams...

...the scrumptious red velvet cake pops from Sugar Dreams...

...and floral sugar cookies that I squeaked out last-minute.

My sweet girl was so excited for her party. I spent lots of
~~crying~~ quality time the week prior to the party designing, cutting, sewing, altering, pinning, and swearing to make her party dress. It turned out about 87% like I had originally imagined, so I consider that a success for my first dress attempt!

I love how her birthday banner turned out and it was pretty simple to put together; that alone makes it a winner in my book! I cut the burlap flags by hand and used by ever-trusty Silhouette to cut the circles and letters out. Using pop up glue spots for the letters and hot glue for everything else, this went together really easily.

I kept the centerpieces of the tables fairly simple. Using tissue poms, glass vases that I already had on hand, and die cuts that coordinated with the theme, I had a great conversation piece that didn't break my bank.

Tissue poms and die-cut shapes also graced the chandeliers.

I have a confession: I did not use printables for this party. Gasp! The only thing I printed out for this shin-dig was the paper to make flags for the straws.

Not only did I use mason jars to hold the straws, but they were also used for the art table that was set up for the kids during the party. The mason jars were wrapped with burlap and tied with fabric from the Secret Garden collection.

The art station was a huge hit with the kidlets. I found tree and flower cardboard cutouts months ago on clearance at Michael's {yes, I did plan this party for a solid 6 months} and knew they would be a great fit. Using art supplies from the local dollar store, the kids went to town making their little masterpieces.

No one walked away empty-handed from the party. I took flower seeds and wrapped them with burlap and fabric and tied it off with colored raffia. Easy-peasy and something that can be used to remember my baby girl.

By the end of the party, the girl of honor was pooped and momma was too. I am so lucky to be able to celebrate my kidlets this way and honestly, I am just so lucky to have these sweet babies.

casas de gingerbread

2012-01-09T18:03:00.002-07:00

And I'm pretty certain that's the spanish translation for gingerbread too.

As I've been dealing with one medical appointment/surgery/procedure after another, Andi and Andrew have been so sweet to take the kids on more than one ocassion. The kids are even more excited about it than I am; I think they secretly like them more than me.

Andi knows what a picture fanatic I am and has made sure to take pictures of them each time. I love that even though I wasn't with my kids, I still get to see what kinds of fun they were having without me.

Andrew already has the whole parent thing down: hold the kid by the shirt. Nice.

Thanks A Team for being awesome!

because they're mine

2012-01-08T21:05:00.000-07:00

Because they're mine I try harder, work harder, pray harder, laugh harder.

Because they're mine I view family differently, love differently.

Because they're mine I have more fight, more drive, more spirit than I had ever thought imaginable.

Because they're mine I look forward to each new day and treasure every hour, every second that I get to spend with them.

Because they're mine I smile for no reason, I hug without asking, I make promises I have every intention of keeping.

Because they're mine.

for the record

2012-01-07T20:47:00.000-07:00

I made Luke make me a big promise tonight: he'll always give me hugs and snuggle me. I specifically asked that he remembers this when he's a teenager and he responded with a giggly yes. See, Luke asks both Keith and I multiple times a day to snuggle and it's such a sweet request; how can we ever say no?

I know he'll never recall this conversation years from now, but at least I'll have written record of his undying love for me when he was three years old.

A giggly yes is an iron clad agreement of promises in my book.

guess who's coming...

2012-01-06T21:43:00.000-07:00

Christmas with kids is seriously one of the best things ever. Ev-er. The way they are on their {almost} best behavior for the month leading up to the big day, the way their eyes sparkle at the mere mention of Santa, and the lack of sleep the night before the Big Day.
Santa was nice enough to bring a Cars bike with matching helmet for Luke and dress up clothes and shoes for our resident princess, Miss Reagan. We've kept with the tradition of having our families over to watch the kidlets open their gifts and to exchange the gifts we've gotten for each other. We finish up the morning with a big, yummy breakfast and while the kids play with all of their new toys, my dad passes out on the couch.

punkins

2012-01-06T21:02:00.001-07:00

I have a mild obsession with all things pumpkin and I love that the kids are old enough now to enjoy picking pumpkins. Plus, a pumpkin patch always make for a great photo opportunity. Here are some of my favorite pictures from "The Patch" this year.

done and fun

2012-01-03T22:48:00.000-07:00

The shots are done. Well, at least the first of up to three possible rounds of shots. I survived. I was once again a solid 30 years younger than any other patient in the surgery center. The recovery the day of the shots is not on my high priority "Let's Do That Again!" list. Ick.
Thankfully, I have two ridiculously cute and crazy kidlets who never cease to keep me on my toes. Here are some of the gems I've heard/experienced this week:

Luke enjoys singing along with Adele, although he's rewritten some of her lyrics. Rumor Has It has now become MooMoo Has It and it's futile to try to convince him that he's not singing it correctly.

On the subject of singing, Luke also loves to make up his own songs too. As we were baking cookies today, he began to sing a song about how we were making cookies for Daddy, not for Santa, because Santa is too full from all of our cookies he ate before.

Reagan went from absolutely no words at 18 months to talking more than we can keep up with now. Her favorite words: mine, yucky, momma, cookie, and EAT. And yes, eat is pronounced just like that. EAT.

Food cannot be left out where Reagan can sniff it out or climb to reach it. If she even hears you mention a word that involves food of any kind, she come running as fast as her little legs can carry her. Luke has left some food from a meal or a snack on occasion and has come back later to eat it and found that it's gone. Two guesses where it ended up...

Reagan is convinced that she's ready to use the big girl potty. She gets super excited, convinces me to take off her pants and diaper, and then all she does is pass gas. That's it. She refuses to do anything else in there. Her day will come soon enough.

poked and prodded

2011-12-28T21:52:00.000-07:00

Things have been spotty here on the blog and I am truly sorry for that. On top of the Sweet Rose blog, two crazy toddlers, a lovely husband, the holidays, and all of my photography commitments, I've been dealing with mystery pains of my own that have lead me through quite the medical journey in search of some answers.

My first stop on my magical mystery medical tour was my gyn doctor. We thought that I had all the symptoms of endometriosis, but the only way to be sure was to do a diagnostic laparascopy. That's a fancy term for "We-need-to-open-you-up-to-see-for-sure." While I was under general anesthesia, I was the lucky recipient of my belly button being opened up and an additional three incisions in my lower abdomen. My abdomen was puffed up and after taking a sneaky peek around the inside of my girl parts, it was determined that the cause of my pain wasn't endometriosis; it wasn't gyn related at all.

Off to the next doctor: a gasteroenterologist (aka tummy and poo doctor). Can I just say that I was the youngest person in that waiting room by a solid 30 years minus the caretakers that accompanied their respective patients to the appointment? And I loved the surprised look on the doctor's face when he walked in and realized I was not a retired-Catherine, but a young-mother-Catherine. I gather he doesn't get that much. After discussing my symptoms, he was pretty positive that my pain wasn't GI-related, but he wanted to do a colonoscopy to rule anything out. Yep, colonoscopy. Hideous, horrible, awful colonoscopy. I did it, I survived, I never want another one of those. No GI problems were found, but he did recommend seeing a spine surgeon.

Spine surgeon it is. When your doctor comes in and basically tells you that your situation is a conundrum, hope is a tricky thing to come by. He's a very nice guy and totally committed to helping me, but in that moment, I was ready to just deal with the pain for the remainder of my life. Who needs to be able to pick up their kids anyway?

Yes, this is my spine. I had to have an MRI done to determine if there was any nerve damage and today was result day. As it turns out, I have a bulge in my disk between my L-4 and L-5 vertebrae and it's pinching nerves.

I'm guessing this is the picture that has the evidence, but this is my completely un-medical opinion.

Lucky me, I get to go have an injection similar to an epidural poked into my back tomorrow morning in hopes of un-inflaming the conflicted area. I'm just praying that it works and that I finally have some sort of relief.

I'll just have to wait and see...

inspection

2011-11-09T20:47:00.001-07:00

As much fun as we had this morning snuggling and playing with puzzles, we had an equal amount of fun playing in the back yard this afternoon. Our winter grass has grown in thick and lush and with a balmy 75 degrees as the temperature, we couldn't not spend some time outside.

Luke couldn't help but check out every.single.thing. for fear that something would get him. Reagan spent the time inspecting Luke and all of his craziness. Luke even tried to get her to go through tunnels and ride toys that he wasn't sure of first.

And can I just ask something? How many places do you know of where you can find water spots on a plant like this? Not many, I'd say...

chill

2011-11-09T13:33:00.001-07:00

These past few mornings have had a definite chill to them. Phoenix finally made the lovely transition from summer to winter. Yeah -- it seems as if we forgot the Fall memo this year. Such is life in the good ol' desert.

I decided this morning, as we were snuggled under blankets to keep the chill at bay, that we needed to make today a chill day of our own, complete with jammies until noon, dressing up like cowboys, and taking time to not make any plans.

The kids have taken quite well to the lack of plans and have really enjoyed each other's company today, or at least more than usual.

(I didn't say they were 100% friendly to each other. Come on! I have two toddlers! Do you see Reagan's Grabby-Hand-of-Death?)

Paige Joanalynn

2011-11-07T07:00:00.000-07:00

This past week has been a very rough one for my family. On Wednesday, my cousin's newborn daughter passed away due to complications from birth. We've banded together as a family to support them and help as much as possible, but how much can you really do to help a tragedy like this?

I decided to make a remembrance board and I wanted to share it on the day sweet Paige is put to rest. Please keep Paige, her grieving parents, and the rest of our family in your prayers today.

Now as I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
But should I die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.
Amen

carved

2011-11-06T23:22:00.000-07:00

We waited until the day before Halloween to carve pumpkins this year. It was just too hot to do it any earlier. And if I'm being 100% honest, this is the first time Keith and I have been brave enough to carve pumpkins with them, so we put it off until we couldn't any longer.

Luke, as I totally expected, wanted no part in sticking his hands inside the pumpkin and was more than happy to let Keith handle all of that.

Reagan, on the other hand and true to form herself, wanted no part in anyone helping her in any way. She was bound and determined to complete her pumpkin solo.

Luke was happy with his happy pumpkin.

After some relaxing, Reagan spent some time inspecting her pumpkin. Poor Reagan's pumpkin. I had initially attempted a witch hat, but that failed miserably, so she ended up with a very "special" pumpkin.

All done and ready for Halloween!

par-tay

2011-10-30T20:36:00.003-07:00

Since my dad, my brother, and my brother-in-law's birthdays all fall within a week of each other and they are the week prior to Halloween, my sister decided to throw them a joint costume birthday party this year. We all had an awesome time, awesome food, and awesome company. Thanks Beth for hosting!

Our little witch, Reagan

Spooky bat, Luke

Me with two of the three birthday boys: Randy (the goofball in the back) and my dad

After all of the medical issues poor Randy has had this year, he always manages to keep a positive attitude. I guess you really do have to have a positive attitude to pull off the costume he chose. He said its from Rocky Horror Picture Show, but since I've never seen that, I can't verify.

Me and my prince charming (we went as Prince William and Kate Middleton)

See? I even made a sweet replica ring from tin foil and a large faux blue rhinestone. It's quality, I tell ya.

My sweet little family

And we were lucky enough to finish the night with Reagan in true form. Lucky us!

three rocks

2011-10-20T22:28:00.001-07:00

This kid never ceases to amaze me or make me laugh. He can come up with the most crazy ideas and turn everyday phrases into the most hilarious parts of my day.

Instead of everything being a "good idea," it's now a "big idea." He was so excited on Monday when he had a "big idea" that Daddy should come home and watch his Packers.

It's also funny to me when he gets sad because he has to wait for Daddy to get home after naps and that he has to wait almost an entire week until his Packers come back.

He knows and can use the words disgusting and ridiculous completely accurately, but he says them missing important vowels and consonants. It's hard to take a kid seriously when he says something is digussing or ridiulus.

He loves his sister, but still manages to terrorize her to no end. He'll give her anything she wants when she's mid-tantrum, although 57% of her tantrums are caused by him taking something that she had in the first place.

I love this kid.

vent, apology, solution

2011-10-04T10:04:00.002-07:00

And no, they may not come in that order.

Sometimes I feel bad for this poor little blog and anyone who takes the time to read it. When things are going well with the family and we're having fun and enjoying each other, I don't really stop to write about that; it essentially gets shelved to be blogged about when I have a few spare minutes. When it's a rough day or things are especially rough, this is one of the first places I turn to and I'm sorry about that.

Writing helps me express my feelings and get out all of the crazy that's in my head. Often when I'm stressed or overwhelmed with the amount of things I need to get done, I'll write out a list so that all those things are out of my head and on paper. The same theory and practice applies here: when the kids are driving me up a wall and into a padded room somewhere, I blog about it and then I'm not so stressed anymore. The words I have cooped up are out and so is the animosity.

I love my children with all of my heart, but as any mother can attest, sometimes they may just be too pushy, too cranky, too sassy, or just plain awful.

I really can't fault Reagan too much. Thinking that she'd be able to handle a small bit of cheese, I made spinach and cheese ravioli for dinner last night and she gobbled her two right up. She was then up at 9:30, 11:00, 12:00, 2:15, and 3:30 screaming. It brought back all of the horrible memories of how she'd be in pain before we determined she had a serious lactose-intolerance. We ended up snuggling and sleeping on our couch together, or as much as I could sleep. That girl moves in her sleep: kicks, turns, punches.

Both Reagan and I are now in straight Zombie form today. She's screaming more, just because she can. She's getting into things that she knows she shouldn't get into and I had to attempt to Reagan-proof the house before I went to the bathroom. She still managed to spill an entire glass of water all over herself and the floor in that time.

So, I've resigned myself that today just might result in an epic Battle of the Wills. And that Reagan will probably emerge victorious.

Now for the solution: I'm going to bake. Deep down, my thighs are telling me that drowning my sorrows and looking for reward in food, especially the delicious calorie-laden kind I'm dreaming of, is not healthy. But honestly, every screech, whine, or tantrum I experience today makes me want the food a little bit more and care about the calories a little bit less.

I fairly certain that pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are on the menu today.

Take that, thighs.

this and that

2011-10-01T20:27:00.001-07:00

Every time I come back from an extended vacation from this lovely blog, I know that I always make excuses for my absence, give reasons why I just couldn't get to it. Not this time; you don't need to hear all that again.

All that matters is that I'm back. I have no guarantees for how long this blogging streak will last, but I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts and I hope you do too.

1. This kid. Seriously. Wednesday evening he went with Keith to pick up dinner. They made a stop at Kohl's on the way there to pick up a pair of work shorts for Keith. Luke ran away from Keith, tripped, and landed forehead-first into the corner of one of the wood displays. After a lovely trip to the Emergency Room with him, his forehead is adequately glued back together for the time being.

2. Reagan has been holding out on us. She's had only one word that she says with certainty and consistency in her short little life: poop. It's not one of my proudest momma moments, but a word is a word. Keith and I finally had her evaluated for speech impairments this past Monday. The conclusion is that although she has a delay, she doesn't currently qualify for services.

And then yesterday happened. She said thank you. Like, well enough that we could understand her. And then today she said please unprompted. She then said trash and dada and mama and an-ee (Andi) and balloon. Where did the girl go who refused to speak any words for the first 20 months of her life with the exception of poop?

3. As if the forehead situation isn't much of a clue already, Luke is all boy. The kid can throw a perfect football spiral and can also kick with amazing force and accuracy. His favorite thing to do with Keith is wrestle and Luke's already asking to go fishing with Keith sometime soon. He'll read about pirates and dinosaurs for hours on end and likes to roar at new people he meets as if he's some kind of alpha lion. Don't mess with his pack.

4. Sass. She is all sass and the bigger and older she gets, the more sassy she gets. Watch out for Reagan because I'm convinced that she may take over the world. She's figured out how to get what she wants when she wants it, but she also makes you think that it was your idea in the first place when it really wasn't. Luke is wrapped around her cute little crooked pinky and is at her beck and call when she starts crying.

These kids are crazy, ornery, stubborn, chaotic and I love them to pieces. I wouldn't change them for anything.

Well, except maybe Reagan's screaming. I might just change that.

remember

2011-09-11T16:58:00.002-07:00

I shared this on the Sweet Rose Studio blog today, but I wanted to share it here too.

I remember being woken by my dad at 6:45 in the morning, telling me I had to come see the TV. At that point, only one tower of the World Trade Center had been hit. At that point, we figured it was just a random tragedy that our country was dealing with.

And then the second plane hit.

And then the Pentagon got hit.

And then it was a stark realization that our country was under attack.

When something with such gravity strikes you and begins to affect your life and your perception of what you've known your whole life, at least for me, I started to remember the littlest details and feelings of that fateful day.

I remember not wanting to go to my classes at the local community college that day partially in fear and partially because I wanted to watch the coverage on TV.

I remember the few days following September 11, when the skies above me were empty for the first time in my life.

I remember aching for those families that lost loved ones that day and holding the ones I cared for most a little tighter.

I remember our nation bonding and coming together in out collective time of need. More American Flags were flying, people were more generous, we felt more unity than ever before.

September 11, 2001 robbed The United States of America of a good part of our innocence; we no longer looked at the world through rose-colored glasses. At the same time, what terrorists did to cause our great country harm only ended up making us stronger in the long run, as most hurtful things do.

Today and everyday, I remember; I can never forget.

bring it.

2011-09-07T10:39:00.000-07:00

The way I figure, I can look at today one of two ways: I can face it head on and take it like a champ or I can huddle in a dark corner and pray the kids make it through in one piece.

Today, I strive to be SuperMomma.

Those pesky blisters that are covering the soles of Luke's feet and popping up on his hands and in his mouth? They don't scare me.

The incessant glob of green goo oozing from Reagan's nose? It doesn't phase me a bit.

The screaming and whining and tantrum throwing? Just a minor bump in the road.

So to anything else that they may throw (or sneeze) my way, I say:

Watch out. You don't know who you're messing with today.

I will take. you. down.

huh.

2011-08-29T12:56:00.000-07:00

Typically, you have either good days or bad days. You can usually lump 99% of the days in any given year into that category. Every so often though, you get one of those what-the-crap-just-happened type of days. Today is one of those days.

Today started off as any other day does and both kids got their normal amount of sleep. Nothing this morning was out of the ordinary with the exception of Luke starting his new preschool, but that didn't affect nap times or snacks. School went fabulously and Luke had a great time.

And then I made my first mistake.

Driving home, I spotted a yellow Mustang with black stripes. Thinking I would do something nice for Luke, I pointed it out and commented how there was a Bumblebee car (please tell me you've seen Transformers and understand the reference...). Of course, my crazy kid understand and knows the difference between a Mustang and a Charger (which Bumblebee really is) and came unglued. He though he missed Bumblebee and began shouting and screaming and crying very loudly that we needed to find a Bumblebee car. We got home without seeing the much anticipated Bumblebee car and his mood worsened.

And by worsened, I mean he got louder.

He ran off to find solace in his beloved blanket and when he couldn't find it, panic ensued. He ran like a madman all over the house screaming, "Blanket! Where are you?", sobbing his poor eyes in the process. Eventually blanket was found and a semblance of peace settled over the house.

And then I made my second mistake.

I made lunch. And not the desired lunch served in the desired way. I typically make whatever and they eat whatever I serve, but today just didn't work out like that. After making at least 15 trips back and forth between the fridge and the pantry and the kids seats, I finally got to sit and take my first bite of lunch. Reagan was having it and launched her own full-scale tantrum.

Turns out the girl wanted to eat her lunch on a plate while sitting in my lap, not in her seat at the table. This made my lunch consumption not the easiest, but I managed. At this point, I didn't want to do or say anything that might set my two little munchkins into another freak out.

And then I made my third mistake.

I took off Reagan's bib when she was finished eating. How is it that something as little as her bib being removed caused such a screaming match? Wow. I quickly put the bib in question back on her and she happily played with her bib still attached until it was nap time.

I am by no means having a bad day; people are suffering and recovering from far worse ailments and situations than I am. I am blessed to have two healthy kids that I love dearly.

But know that I am sitting here shaking my head, trying to figure out what the heck just happened.

word from the wise

2011-08-22T17:40:00.000-07:00

In case you ever mistakenly use the forbidden F word around Reagan (the F word being Food) and need to learn how to stop the incessant screeching and pounding on the pantry doors and searching for any morsel of extra food, the only word we've found to stop the crazy is the S word (Shoes).

Best of luck.

And don't let the cute fool you.

a rough patch

2011-08-12T13:46:00.000-07:00

Every time I sit down to write something, or even begin to think about what to write, everything changes.

I've almost become scared to blog about anything having to do with Reagan because a.) I don't want to jinx a good thing we've got going, or b.) I am completely miserable because she is completely miserable. We haven't done anything major, haven't gone anywhere, or done anything really worth blogging about other than the fact that I've slept on her floor on more than one occasion to stop her 3am crying fits. We have our daily routine that we like to follow and we're just passing the days until the weather finally begins to cool off and we can go to the park and run errands without feeling we are melting.

For now, we play in the water in the backyard.

We work on piggy tails.

And we work on being a little more fearless.

untitled

2011-07-20T22:05:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it is just to ridiculously hot to attempt going outside in the afternoon, but for the sake of grilling dinner, you just have to brave the onslaught of heat and make it work. The kids have decided it's a requirement for them to be outside any and all times that Keith goes out, so I tagged along this particular time with camera in hand.

Usually it's Reagan that lets me take pictures of her, but on this day she wanted nothing to do with the camera and since Luke was content rolling around in the grass playing with his cars, poor kid became the main target of the paparazzi.

I love how carefree he is in these pictures. Luke takes after my nervousness and anxiety about, oh, everything, so I love when I get to capture him completely relaxed and at peace. Reagan, being the polar opposite of Luke, is full of sass and spice. She was happy to show off how strong she's getting...

...waving adios...

...and telling me how old she is.

Luke just told me to be quiet.

The last picture cracks me up. Oh, he is his father's son. Love it.

i'm a big girl now

2011-07-19T22:57:00.000-07:00

Well, as of Thursday, Reagan will be 18 months old, the same age Luke was when we transitioned him into a toddler bed. At the time, I was almost six months pregnant with Reagan so his transition was born out of necessity.

Luke did surprisingly well at the time, so Keith is convinced Reagan will do equally as well.

He is so confident, in fact, that he convinced me to switch up Reagan's crib at the same age. Luke was happy to help with the tools and I was begrudgingly ready with the camera. See, for some reason, I had no desire to switch it. There is a very real chance that Miss Reagan could be our last baby and I'm having a hard time coming to grips with not having a "baby" anymore.

She seems to like it so far. It's hard to not want to give this sweet girl everything that she wants when she grins up at me like that.

I guess its time to come to grips with the fact that no matter how hard I fight it, my babies will keep getting older. Is it weird that I completely understand where the lady from 19 Kids and Counting is coming from--sort of?

my sunshine

2011-07-07T13:27:00.000-07:00

When I was little, I distinctly remember my dad singing "You Are My Sunshine" to me and that is one of my most favorite and treasured memories with him. After Reagan came along, I decided that I needed to implement something that was just for Luke and I, something that would always remind him how much I do treasure him.

Each night (and sometimes even more during the day), Luke asks for "Baby Luke." All this basically consists of is me cradling and rocking him and softly singing that same "You Are My Sunshine" to him. It's become a special time for the two of us and I dread the day he's too big for my to hold him like "Baby Luke." For now, I'll snuggle him and love him away and hope that he knows he is my sunshine.

You are my sunshine

My only sunshine

You make me happy

Everyday

You'll never know dear

How much I love you

Please don't take

My sunshine

Away

bink breakdown

2011-07-05T23:35:00.000-07:00

So.

The debinkification process has encountered some bumps in our journey. We're still holding strong with bink at sleep times only, but every now and then, Reagan wants absolutely nothing to do with the new plan. This happened to be one of those days.

She knows right where the binks are hidden and makes a beeline straight for them when she feels the need arise. Which was *really* often at first.

This particular tantrum lasted a solid twenty minutes. There was screaming, crying, runny noses, thrashing, head shaking, running from me, and scaring the crap out of Luke. Keith and I made the mistake of commenting when Luke was about Reagan's age that we had never heard him scream.

Reagan has more than made up for that.

Luckily things are going better. She now waves bye-bye to her bink each morning and after nap time and as soon as I say "Night-night," she runs as fast as her chubby legs will carry her to get it. Much better.

memorial day 2011

2011-06-12T22:20:00.000-07:00

So I know it's already been a few weeks since Memorial Day, but Keith and I had such a good, low-key time with the kids that I couldn't go without posting. I'll just prepare you ahead of time: there will be a lot of pictures and not a lot of words.

Reagan is in love with the tutu that her Aunt Beth made for her. She still asks (aka grunts) to wear it on an almost daily basis.

We started the afternoon with some drawing on the sidewalk.

The lovely folks who live behind us seems to enjoy shooting bee bees (sp?) into our yard so Luke spent some time hunting for them.

I love these two goofy kids.

Luke loves to convince Keith to race him and it tends to be a tight race. Luke is fast! Reagan and I love to be the cheerleaders.

Reagan was so enthralled with watching the birds fly overhead. I think she was secretly disappointed that they didn't wave back.

One of the sprinklers in the grass was acting up and Luke and Reagan were more than happy to help out.

Like I said earlier, we didn't do anything special, didn't attend any party, but just got to spend some quality time together.

our very own disney princess

2011-06-12T21:15:00.000-07:00

This was written while we were still at Disney. I wanted to make sure that Reagan knows years from now that this is what she did.

Last night we thought it would be fabulous for Luke to get a chance to see the fireworks show at Disney. He’s never really had the chance to see any fireworks before, not even the Independence Day ones. He’s just never been old enough. Our only hiccup to our plan was Reagan. She’d take such good naps in her stroller already that we thought it wouldn’t be an issue, and you know what? She was such a trooper through the fireworks. She really never even flinched through the entire show. I was so panicked about the whole thing and it worked out perfectly.

Until she woke up on our walk back out to our shuttle to the hotel. She had enough rest to be awake and perky, but when it came time to actually go to sleep for real, things went wrong. Very wrong. Screaming, kicking, wailing Reagan reared her ugly head until 2am. She wasn’t hungry. She wasn’t thirsty. She didn’t want to be held. She didn’t want to be on her own. She was over tired, worn out, over stimulated Reagan.

So now I sit here in the hotel room with her the next night as she sleeps peacefully in her pack and play while Luke and Keith enjoy the fireworks show at California Adventures. I think this will be the best solution for everyone.

in living color

2011-05-26T11:37:00.000-07:00

If you have a toddler and subscribe to the Disney Channel, you'll know exactly what I'm about to talk about: Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

Luke is completely obsessed. He wakes up asking about Jake and Captain Hook and continues to ask about them throughout the day. He's even started to memorize some of the songs associated with the show. First, I present to you one of the theme songs:

And now for one of the songs you see at the end of an episode. We have become big fans of Sharkey and Bones (the two dudes that sing each time).

I've tried teaching Luke his ABC's, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and all the other normal songs that a toddler would know and he refuses to repeat them or sing with me, yet he has managed to teach himself the songs from a cartoon. Does this seem wrong to you too?

debinkification

2011-05-25T21:40:00.001-07:00

Yep. That's the technical term for what we are embarking on over in these parts.

Reagan is still not talking nearly as much as she should be, so our next step is to try to limit her bink usage to naps and night times only. Of course, this seriously hinders her coping mechanism to deal with all of Luke's craziness. When she's being tackled, squeezed, pushed, pinched, and generally tortured, that bink helps her take all of it like a champ and we hardly hear a peep out of her. Most times you even hear a muffled laugh out the side of her bink because she finds it hilarious. I just wish she felt the same when the bink wasn't there.

So, now that we've gotten potty training 98% under our belts, this is the next mountain we get to climb. Fingers crossed and binks out.

behind

2011-05-21T22:00:00.000-07:00

Life has this funny way of sneaking up on you, sucking you in, and overwhelming you with the intensity of it. Or maybe it's just me. Either way you look at it, things have been like a roller coaster around here lately.

My other little blog, Sweet Rose Studio, has really started to take off. I have had more photo shoots and more amazing opportunities find me through my other slice of the Internet that I am in constant awe of what is happening. I mean, how many people's job involves baking a cake and writing about it?

Today I had the chance to photograph my first really intense staged shoot. It started as this sweet little idea that hatched in my head when I saw a pink spray-painted chandelier and now it's this:

The image that has been stuck in my brain for the past three months came to life today and I honestly loved every second of it.

My two sweet babies are growing by leaps and bounds right now. This is a good and a bad thing. Reagan still isn't saying too many words; she prefers the grunting and screaming method of getting her point across, so I've started teaching her the two basic signs that will really help all of us: more and all done. See, Reagan's entire life basically revolves around food, so the more we can help her communicate, the better.

Luke suffered through his first bout with a stomach bug this week and my track record of not having to deal with vomit came to a screeching end. It was so sad as he stood there in the bathroom, shaking like a leaf after it had happened, because the poor kid had no idea what had happened. And I stood there shaking like a leaf, trying not to lose it myself. I'm happy to report that we are both alive, so I'd consider it a success. And now for my newest Worst Mom of the Year moment: I took a picture of my baby hanging his head over the potty waiting for more to happen. Don't worry, I have absolutely no plans to share it here or anywhere for that matter, but I wanted proof down the road that I can survive those kind of situations.

With every storm cloud though, there's a silver lining. I get to spend each day with these two:

And I get to fall asleep next to and share my life with my wonderfully supportive husband. Life is good.

disney: parks, people, and randomness

2011-05-13T10:35:00.000-07:00

Now that day 2 of our Disney Adventure has come to a close, I feel like I was able to take in a whole lot more of the experience today. We weren’t rushing from ride to ride today and I took the time to notice random things. It’ll be easier to list them, rather than continue as I am.

1. Neither kid enjoys a ride that includes more than a few seconds of darkness and Luke doesn’t like anything remotely scary. We found out the very hard way. Did you know that Pirates of the Caribbean becomes the Longest. Ride. Ever. when you have children that start screaming the second you go down that first incline less than 10 seconds into the ride? Oh, and the Finding Nemo Submarine Adventure was definitely an adventure. Reagan seemed so excited when we got on the boat, watching the bubbles and fish. When things went dark and got even remotely creepy, I prayed for the end of that dang ride. The only solution we’ve found so far to help out our cause is food. Stuff Reagan full of food and she remains silent for the amount of time it takes for her to consume whatever snack you’ve shoved in there. We now travel on any ride with an insane amount of whales (the cheap version of Goldfish; they taste better).

2. I will never knock anyone that puts a leash on their kid. After watching two different moms run frantically around shouting their poor kid’s name today in a brief 15 minute period, I completely get it. Both kids were found pretty quickly and after the moms recovered from being absolute basket cases, I wonder if they felt the same too.

3. I can’t figure out why there are so many Australians here. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Disney. I could easily go there each year for vacation, but to travel half way around the world to get here? That is some serious Disney dedication.

4. Teenagers without any parents around move at a snail’s pace and have no qualms about blocking any and all families from getting quickly to their next destination.

5. We have had to cart Luke’s potty seat around with us. It travels safely in a Wal-Mart plastic bag and Keith and Luke head off to the men’s room when the time calls for it. I love that Luke is potty trained; no accidents yet here (knock on wood), but I can’t wait to not have that baseball potty trek around with us.

6. My kids love an impromptu dance party. After finishing our dinner in Tomorrow Land, we, along with a few other families, started dancing along to the music playing over the loud speaker. Luke and Reagan both had ear to ear grins as they got their boogey on. Both kids made a break for the stage that was roped off and I can’t help but think maybe one or both might make a career of it someday. Keith would be happiest if I said it was going to be Reagan. She seems to have the personality for it anyways.

7. Disney Junior is even more exciting to Luke in person than it is on television, which is saying a lot for the kid. I thought he might have a heart attack when the Jake the Pirate and Captain Hook came out. And when the gold doubloons rained from the ceiling? He had the biggest smile I might have ever seen spread across his sweet face.

And some other randoms just for fun...

Luke was so excited to get to take pictures with Mater and McQueen.

And Luke definitely takes after his momma. Not a huge fan of roller coasters, but love the spinning rides. We {heart} the teacups!

first dip

2011-05-07T20:36:00.000-07:00

The weather here in Phoenix has taken a turn for the warm, not quite hot, so we've taken advantage of it with our fabulous Wal-Mart plastic play pool. This was Reagan's first real go at the pool and she loved every second of it. Luke wasn't so sure at first; he was actually kind of mad that Reagan got him wet. He got over that after the first few minutes and then they had a great time together.

I see many more of the experiences in our near future...

how we do...

2011-05-03T22:23:00.000-07:00

This is how we use water guns given as birthday gifts.

And yes, this is without water.

take me out to the ball game

2011-04-27T21:09:00.000-07:00

Treeland has Spring Training season tickets for the Cubs, so Keith was able to take Luke to his first baseball game this year. I wasn't able to go (someone had to watch Reagan and Heaven knows there was no way she'd last through the game), so I sent my boys off with the camera and prayed for some decent pictures. Here are some of my favorites:

Jeanne and Holly got to go too. Lucky ducks.

A little old lady sitting in front of them gave Luke a real baseball, not the soft version we have at home. He was so excited to show me his new treasure when he got home.

This is how close the seats are to the field. They really are fabulous seats.

Luke got his hands on the camera at one point and took some of his own pictures. Maybe he'll follow in his Momma's footsteps...

And the game is done. I'm sad that I didn't get to experience this with Luke, but I am so happy that he had such a great time. Maybe next year I'll get to go too. Fingers crossed.

easter?

2011-04-24T23:24:00.000-07:00

My babies need to know the truth: Keith and I kind of suck at being the Easter Bunny. In fact, Luke and Reagan really have no clue that the Easter Bunny even exists. It was sad today when people asked them what the big guy brought them and Luke just looked at them with this confused stare. I will readily admit that I dropped the ball with Easter this year. Between Disney, Luke's birthday, helping to host an engagement party, Reagan's teeth, and Luke's asthma among other things, I just didn't get to it.

Sure, they both had Easter baskets this morning that they were more than happy to tear through. With the exception of a new small wooden train set in Luke's basket, each basket was filled with things I found around the house at 11pm last night that they didn't know that we had. The plastic eggs were found at the bottom of a basket of toys and neither one noticed that they were mismatched or filled with marshmallows instead of the typical Easter candy. Reagan was lucky enough to be gifted a box of sidewalk chalk that I found buried in the back of our pantry on the top shelf that I'd bought for Luke before princess was even a thought in our minds. And to cap it off, I didn't take any pictures.

And after all that, you know what?

They still had a great time. They didn't know the difference between slightly stale puffs of sugar and jellybeans (sugar is sugar, right?). We still got to attend Mass and celebrate the true reason we observe this holiday. We were able to spend time with family and enjoy each others' company.

In 20 years, Luke and Reagan won't care how much we spent or what they got. What matters most to me today was the experience and they still had an awesome. So even though Easter wasn't exactly what we'd hoped and planned, it was just what we needed.

i hate teeth

2011-04-22T23:25:00.000-07:00

Yep, you read that right.

Teeth suck. I know its some rite of passage that every kid get to go through, but really, six teeth all at once?

I'm over it. Reagan's over it. Luke's probably sick and tired of hearing all of her screams from the room next to him.

And you know what the kicker is? When she wakes up sobbing and wailing and I go into comfort her, she wants nothing to do with. I set her back down and she melts down even more. By the time I finally convince her nearly an hour later to go to sleep and try to set her in her crib, she magically pops back up and the cycle begins to repeat itself.

Ridiculous.

I really wish at this moment that she was like Renesmee' from Twilight, born with a full set of chompers. Oh how grand that would be.

disney: parks and pictures

2011-04-21T21:40:00.000-07:00

Our first day at the park didn’t disappoint. We rode rides, waited in lines, met with characters, did a little shopping and ended up getting the requisite ear hats, ate some food, and enjoyed our time. There were a lot of people at the park; many more than Keith or I had originally anticipated, but we didn’t have to wait too long in any line. If it was long, we moved on to another ride or attraction where the wait wasn’t nearly as bad.

Luke’s favorite ride of the morning has to be the “baby train.” He is currently obsessed with all things train, so this was at the top of his list. The rest of the day can really be told best in pictures; enjoy!

We did learn that our precious babies do NOT enjoy any ride that is dark. At all. Too bad we figured that out 10 seconds into Pirates of the That ended up a complete disaster of epic proportions.

The rockets in Tomorrowland were a great solution and perked them up quickly!

Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!

disney: the arrival

2011-04-19T22:44:00.000-07:00

Luke is slightly obsessed with all things Disney, so Keith and I thought that for our family vacation and for his birthday this year, we could take him and Reagan to Disneyland. Really, I wanted to go and this was a marvelous excuse to get Keith to finally agree.

With fears of horrific traffic in our future, we set our early so we wouldn’t have to deal with it. As it turns out there was hardly any to deal with anyways, so we were lucky. The kidlets did remarkably well and we had only a few minor distractions along the way.

Before we even made it out of the Phoenix Metro area, we had heard, “DAD! Mack Truck right there!” 23 times. Seriously. We counted. With Luke fresh off of potty training, we were really worried that our ride would be accident after accident and a complete disaster. Luke was a champ; when he needed to go, he let us know. Of course when he did tell us, he needed to go in the middle of nowhere so Keith had to take him in the bushes to do his business.

I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time. Luke has a special bond with his baseball potty and has a difficult time doing his business without it. Going poo in a random plastic crate that Keith found on the side of the road just wasn’t working for him, but it was dang cute to watch. We headed down the road a while further until we reached Love’s, the truck stop mecca. I watched as Luke and Keith headed off to the bathroom, baseball potty in hand. Reagan and I had a few moments for an impromptu photo shoot and Luke was finally able to go and we headed right on our way.

We’re now sitting in our hotel as Luke and Reagan are taking naps. Or Luke is taking a nap and Reagan is sliding all over the pack and play wasting time and refusing to nap. At least she’s quiet for the most part. Keith and I are praying this last, because this is what we currently look like:

Speaking of hotel, I feel like there are a few points that need to be said about it:

1. It is absolutely gorgeous. I’d really expect nothing less from a Hyatt Regency, but this is by far the nicest hotel I’ve stayed at. Ever.

2. This is the only hotel I’ve ever stayed at that has a valet and a doorman and a bell hop. Amazing.

3. I’m fairly certain we are a solid 20 years younger than any other parent in this building.

4. This is the kind of hotel that has a pseudo-blanket placed at the end of the bed; I refer to it lovingly as the bed scarf. There is no real purpose to it other than to look pretty. I never knew that hotel had anything other than weirdly uncomfortable polyester bedspreads.

5. I feel really out of place. I kept apologizing to the door man for the state of our luggage and the quantity. And yes, it is the same luggage that I bought with one of my first paychecks at my first job when I was 17. (Side note: Who buys luggage when they’re 17? Me apparently.)

I am so incredibly excited to take Disneyland tomorrow and I can’t wait to see his face when he sees everything for the first time. Fingers crossed he doesn’t freak out when the characters come near him.

Fast forward three hours later…

Reagan has upped her game tonight. For the first time and certainly not the last, I had “that kid.” You know, the screaming, thrashing, snarling toddler that everyone cringes at and thinks to themselves, “Why don’t her parents do anything about that?” or “What is wrong with her?” In typical Reagan fashion, she refused to sleep this afternoon which was our main culprit for the hideous outburst. Do you know what finally calmed her down? Food...or empty coffee cups. Oh that girl…

We spent some time walking around Downtown Disney tonight and if Luke’s reaction is any indication to what tomorrow will be like, we should be in for an awesome time tomorrow.

little man luke

2011-04-17T21:48:00.000-07:00

Friday was our little man’s birthday and I am having a tough time wrapping my head around the idea that he is three already. I feel like he’s been such a huge part of our family for so long, but that these past three years have flown by. It seems like it was just yesterday that I was being induced and that he was refusing to come out. I remember how tiny he was laying on my chest, looking to me for comfort after what he just went through.

I remember his first smile, his first tooth, his first steps, his first trip to the hospital, and now, his first trip to Disneyland. I am so happy to be his momma.

Happy birthday my sweet Luke.

flashback

2011-04-02T22:57:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when I'm having a day that is harder than expected or when I need a good reminder of how truly blessed I am, I go back and look at old pictures. Sure I'm a sucker for pictures in the first place; I'm a photographer, right? But there is just something so calming and refreshing about looking back on moments passed, remembering the story or emotion of that single moment in time my camera caught.

Today was rough and today I needed those reminders.

Just like the widely used phrase says: Keep calm and carry on.

curses

2011-04-02T10:29:00.000-07:00

You know, it occurred to me yesterday as I was typing those fateful "sleeping through the night" words that I might later come to regret such a bold statement. And I do. I solemnly vow to never comment on Reagan's positive sleep status ever again. Cross my heart.

I'm fairly certain that our poor little miss is cutting some new teeth. Aside from the fabulous night of sleep, we've got a super runny nose, a serious lack of appetite, and all-around general crankiness. When you factor in Luke's incessant need to squeeze, push, taunt, and pinch Reagan, our outlook over here isn't looking so great for the day.

Apparently our calm, peaceful phase of life was coming to a close yesterday and although I wasn't aware at the time, yesterday's post seemed a fitting adios to a purely enjoyable space of time. But with all good things, there will be some not-so-good and hopefully this phase will pass quickly.

Fingers crossed.

life

2011-04-01T11:03:00.000-07:00

Sigh.

I love life. I really do.

I love all of the small, precious moments. I love all of the holy-crap-fall-out-of-your-seat big moments. I love the inspirational moments and the learning moments. I love the still, quiet, peaceful moments. Lately, my life has been filled with crazy busy moments and that's okay with me.

Life is filled with many varied stages and steps that we get to walk through. The first part of this year was admittedly really hard for me. I was constantly surrounded with turmoil and medical issues for people that I love most and trying to keep a positive spin on everything when you're just trying to keep your head above water can be a daunting and difficult task. I felt at times like the life was being sucked out of me. From Randy's seizures and resulting coma to Reagan's lactose and tummy issues to all of the sickness that a typical winter can bring, life was getting really hard.

Since the weather has changed, life is perking up. As we move onto spring (or really summer for those of us in Arizona), all aspects of life are starting to make a change for the better. I feel like my life is moving past the trying phase it was just in and I've only got eyes looking at the present and future. Randy is still on the road to recovery and still has hurdles to cross, but he's awake and laughing and not currently strapped to a hospital bed. Reagan has adjusted well to her new lactose-free diet and is even celebrating by smiling and sleeping through the night. My fledgling little business is taking off and keeping me more busy than I would have ever thought possible.

I'm loving life and this phase I'm in right now. I know that just as seasons change, so will this stage, but I am bound and determined to soak up every single positive second of right now.

Sigh.

it's a potty!

2011-03-22T22:57:00.000-07:00

Ready or not, Luke has begun the potty training process.

Keith and I have been trying to wait until he told us he was ready, but with that day not appearing to come any time soon, we had to take matters into our own hands. If I'm being completely honest about our motives, we leave for Disneyland soon and neither Keith nor I have any desire to change Luke's diapers in the park. I mean, where would we even change him? On that plastic shelf e that folds down in a stall? Umm, he'd either snap that thing clean off the wall or his legs would probably dangle long enough to graze the ground. Do we change him out in some spare stretch of grass somewhere? I think we might get more than one crazy stare from passersby. And the size of his poo recently is ginormous. I really don't want to have to deal with that anymore and Keith doesn't want to either.

After encouragement from our friend Paula, we decided to dive head first into the potty training experience. Luke has actually done much better than we had initially anticipated. He's pretty much got the "pee pee" aspect down, we just need to have the same amount of success with poo.

So, in the spirit of fair warning, if you come to our home in the near future, you might see that adorable booty running around our house pants-less. You might see us doing a very animated potty dance celebrating Luke's pee progress (and fingers crossed poo progress too). Luke, myself, or really any piece of furniture might be covered in reward stickers. We are definitely shooting for a positive experience with positive rewards.

I just wish he would positively poop on the potty. A momma can dream...

Soobie Monsters

2011-03-22T22:23:00.000-07:00

Luke and Reagan are seriously obsessed with the "soobie" (fruit smoothies) from Costco. Luke even asks to go to Costco now just so he can get a "soobie." I just think its super adorable how he says it and how excited he gets for them.

Now that Luke is talking more, its only increased the hilarious things that he thinks up. Here are some of the randoms that have come out of Luke's mouth recently:

In reference to Reagan's crying: Chill baby, chill.
Not to be confused with "soobie," but Luke has to have his daily dose of "soovie." That's movie, for all of you who may not speak the difficult-to-decipher language of toddler.

I really should start writing these down as I hear them because I'm, of course, drawing a complete blank now that I've sat down to write this. But don't you worry, it's never a dull moment, I tell you.

pajamas and piggie tails and peek-a-boo

2011-03-09T23:05:00.001-07:00

A lovely blanket of sickness has seemed to hover over the Waltemeyer household these past few weeks and on one particular day, we were between my stomach bug and Reagan's impending ear infection. I decided that we needed a low-key, relaxed type of day; that's also code for stay-in-our-jammies-all-morning, in case you weren't aware.

Reagan has been doing much better with her almond milk. She loves the stuff, but we still can't giver her more than a half cup or so a day otherwise we're right back to not-goodness.

Reagan's hair has grown very quickly now that she's actually able to eat and keep nutrients from her food. This seemed like a great day to attempt piggy tails in her hair for the first time. Ummm, hello cuteness! I really thought that I wasn't going to like the piggy tails on the top of her head, but I was wrong. I think I really do love them.

It was an absolutely beautiful day outside so we went to run and play and blow bubbles. That was until Luke panicked when he spotted a grasshopper and a fly.

Luke is ridiculously fast. I can hardly get him to slow down long enough for me to get him in my viewfinder, let alone take a picture of him. He does like to come full speed at Reagan and she's learned to brace herself. There is even a solid chance she could aspire to become a teacher someday with that sweet stink eye she's got going on.

I love having proof that they do actually love each other. These moments may be fleeting, but I love them still the same.

We ended our simple day with a sweet game of family peek-a-boo.

Sometimes after a rough patch, its days like these that help me to remember why I love my life so much. Simple, sweet, special.

life's little moments

2011-02-19T20:29:00.001-07:00

It'll be easy to look back years from now and remember all of the "big" moments in Luke and Reagan's lives: vacations, all of their firsts, birthdays. But it's moments like the ones that happened tonight that are equally, if not more important than those "big" memories.

Reagan was asleep and when Luke began screaming and crying for one of his thousands of toys, he woke her up. In my attempt to get her back to sleep, I went into rock her.

She snuggled close to me.

She started to dance along to her music while laying in my arms.

She hummed along too, adding her own piece of musical genius.

She started clapping.
She sat up, pointed to her crib, and then leaned into me some more.

She softly stroked the silky satin edge of her blanket.

She was content laying in my arms, being my girl, as I played gently with her hair, being her momma.

{Of course, she's now screaming in her room again, but I have to take what I can get. :) }

mark...get set...

2011-02-16T15:54:00.000-07:00

Each day when Keith gets home from work now, Luke lines up his dump truck and the ride-on toy that Reagan received from my parents for her birthday so that they can race. It is seriously one of the cutest things I've seen in a long time. Luke shouts out, "Mark! Get Set! Go!" and they take off. Reagan gets this big old goofy grin on her face and she alternates between laughing and doing this deep breathing thing. Luke shouts things that we don't understand 100% yet and tries to always win by cutting Reagan and Keith off.

The one thing we learned during some of our first nights of racing is that Reagan does NOT like to ride with Luke. I don't blame her. Luke invades her personal space on a fairly regular basis; why should we encourage him to do it more?

be mine, valentine

2011-02-16T15:48:00.000-07:00

I had all kinds of grand things planned to do with the kids on Valentine's Day: crafts, special meals, lots of hugs and kisses. Unfortunately, with losing Rosco the day earlier, most of those things didn't happen. I did make an attempt at getting some pictures of my beautiful babies on the day that celebrates love. Please note that I said attempt.

Individual pictures of Luke and Reagan can out just fine in my opinion, but they are just not at an age where they want to sit still, not hurt each other, smile, and look at their crazy momma all at the same time. It would have been an absolute miracle if that had occurred. But like I tell my photography clients, it may not be the perfect picture to you now, but in 20 years when you look back on it, you'll be glad you have those personalities captured on film. Or at least that's what I keep thinking will happen. :)

And the winner for best group shot of the day is...

They do love each other. And I love that they love each other.

I hope everyone had a magical and lovely Valentine's Day; I know we did.

Rosco

2011-02-16T15:41:00.001-07:00

On Sunday we had to put our sweet dog, Rosco.

Poor guy had been fighting various health issues since he was born. He had to have surgery on both of his knees before his first birthday to fix a defect in each one. He's had ear problems, eye problems, skin problems, and most recently, kidney problems. In fact, when we took him to the vet in December, we found out his kidney's were failing. Keith and I were just trying to get poor Rosco to last through Christmas. We consider it something near a miracle that he was able to last this long.

Over the weekend, his health took a sharp turn for the worse. He stopped eating all together and couldn't even keep any liquids down. He'd dropped nearly half of his body weight and just looked plain miserable. In my heart, I think it wasn't fair for us to make him hold on any longer when he obviously was in pain and suffering.

I'd like this opportunity to make the rest of this post a celebration of Rosco's life; a way to catalog and keep all of those great, treasured memories here and present for us. Thanks for listening (or reading) as I might ramble along.

In his younger days, Rosco was obsessed with his pig. That pig was his pride and joy. He'd carry it around and make it oink at all hours of the day. He'd snuggle with it and sleep right next to it. He also liked to nibble on it too which created an issue as the pig would not stay together too long with all of his nibbling. Rosco went through a great many pigs in his day, but he loved each and every one of them.

Rosco was our first baby. He was with us before Luke or Reagan came along. When I was pregnant with Luke, Keith even made the attempt at practicing how to hold a baby with Rosco. And Rosco didn't mind a bit. He ate up all the extra attention and love time.

Once the kids did get here, they loved Rosco just as much as we did. Granted, Luke was quite a bit more rough with him than Reagan was, but both of them loved him. A lot. They each liked to pet him and give him hugs and he was so great just to lay there and take it. He never growled, snapped at, or bit either of them. If he got tired of being smothered, he'd get up, walk away, and find a good hiding spot.

When I was teaching, I would tell my students stories about Rosco. One of their favorites was the stories about how many tennis balls Rosco could fit in his mouth at one time. His standing record was four at one time and he could get them all in independently without our help. Pretty tricky dog. The kids also loved to hear about his crazy run. Rosco would bolt through his dog door from outside and tear around the house like his rear was on fire. It was seriously one of the funniest things I think I've ever seen.

Rosco was an absolute joy to have around our home. As much as I may have complained about how he was always underfoot or how much he smelled or how much he shed, I would love to have him back with all those undesirable qualities in a heartbeat. We still have his food and water bowls out because we aren't quite sure what to do with them yet. As Keith and I were laying in bed last night, talking about Rosco, we both realized that we both went to refill his water bowl yesterday evening out of habit. And it was sad this morning as we came home from the gym and I realized he wouldn't be greeting us at the door anymore.

But he's in a better place. And that's the best place for him now.

We love you Rosco.

mr. fix-it

2011-02-05T23:14:00.000-07:00

Luke loves to "help" fix all kinds of things around the house with his tools. He hasn't quite figured out 100% the accurate uses for each tool, but he has a great time trying. For instance, when he uses his screwdriver, he turns it like he's supposed to, but he'll do that on an area with no screw in sight.

I've even found Luke sitting on a couch, hugging his tools. Not doing anything else with them, just hugging them. He is just too cute.

woody boots

2011-02-05T23:09:00.000-07:00

Every Wednesday Keith's parents and sister come over for dinner and for some reason, Don's shoes have become a topic of conversation on more than one occasion. This past Wednesday he showed up wearing cowboy boots for the first time and Luke went crazy for Tata's "Woody Boots." It wasn't long before Luke had convinced Don to take his boots off so Luke could have a turn wearing them.

Yee haw!

Luke started to purposely fall down so that he would get a reaction out of us.

Somehow Luke even managed to get Don to become his horse at one point. As they were riding around, Luke spotted the dog's leash and demanded that we give it to him so that he could have "the rope." He automatically wrapped it around poor Don's neck just like a bridle and continued to ride him around. I think maybe Luke's seen Toy Story one too many times.

Luke eventually figured out that he had "Woody boots" and the coordinating rope, so he needed to complete the ensemble with "Woody hat." Luke can run ridiculously fast and this time was no exception. He made it down to the play room and back in record time. Please note that he is completely cross eyed in this picture because he couldn't take his eyes off his "Woody hat."

Howdy! Howdy! Howdy!

year of the chair

2011-02-02T22:47:00.000-07:00

2 days

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months didn't happen...

11 months

12 months

one year

2011-02-02T22:44:00.001-07:00

My dear, sweet Reagan is now one year old.

A full 12 months have passed since she joined us in this world. I can't say that I have enjoyed every.single.second this past year, but I would not give back this time with her for anything. She is my precious girl and I love every little piece of her: her new "stink face," her excited giggle, her deep give-me-more-food grunt, her chubby pointing fingers, her sassy looks.

Reagan has smiled and laughed more in the this last month than I think I've heard or seen from her the previous 11 months combined. She loves to play peek-a-boo and she thinks its hilarious when you try to chase her. Reagan has also started to bob back and forth when she hears music and will hold her hand up to her mouth when asked to blow kisses.

She has a cheeseball grin when she gets really excited. You can see her bitty bottom two teeth and usually a whole mess of drool will come out at the same time. I'd like to think the drool can be attributed to teething and not some sweet reaction that could be potentially embarrassing to her as she gets older. Speaking of teeth, Reagan now has four top teeth and two bottom ones, although I really am quite sure there have to be more poking through soon.

And we can't forget the stink face. When she gets irritated or even when she smiles sometimes, Reagan "stink face."

At her one year check, Reagan weighed in at 20.04 lbs (36%) and was just over 30 inces tall (86%). She continues to be one tall, lean girl...but I have a feeling her percentile for her weight might be jumping up rather quickly considering the amount of food she is now eating.

Reagan still isn't walking. Well, she isn't walking all of the time and when it does happen, it is totally on her own time. I'll watch her take 5-10 steps independently while we're in the playroom, but she absolutely refuses to walk if you try to help her or you try to trick her into it. And when she sees Luke heading her direction, she falls on purpose now so he doesn't get the chance to push her over.

For all the drama we've experienced over the course of the past few months with Reagan and her tummy issues, this month was remarkably better, especially since I stopped nursing. Meal time has taken on a life of its own at this point; the girl puts away way more food than Luke does. Breakfast is a great example. Some days I can convince Luke to eat something, anything and I usually offer him a laundry list of options praying that something piques his interest enough to eat. This morning he wanted a Pop-Tart and that single Pop-Tart took him nearly 30 minutes to eat. In that same amount of time, Reagan will eat a waffle and a cereal bar and an entire banana and a large handful of Cheerios before I have to cut her off. The girl is a maniac now where food is concerned!

Reagan still possess that insane amount of drama in her tiny body, but it doesn't always look like this now:

Most days I see this:

She is just full of wide-eyed wonder, curiosity, and amazement. Just the same way I feel every time I look at her, my daughter.

par-tay: the people

2011-02-02T22:09:00.000-07:00

Reagan is one super lucky girl to have so many amazing people, friends and family alike, who were able to celebrate her first birthday with us.

Gail and Reagan

Haha (Holly), Keith, and Nonna

Grandma Rosenkrans and Nanny

The Original Trio: Ashlyn, Gabrielle, and Luke

All born within 22 days of each other. Those were a crazy three weeks!

And now we have the Daring Duo: Reagan and Logan

Born 5 days apart!

Reagan loved all of her birthday gifts after the fact, but it was kind of tricky to keep her still long enough to get them opened.

Baby Sarah from Nonna and Aunt Holly

Reagan was absolutely in love with this card at her party and still loves to listen to it and dance to the music almost two weeks later.

She's such a big girl on her new toy!

My partner in crime, Andi. There is absolutely no way I would have been able to get as much together before the party as I did without her help. She is amazing as always!

The NAU girls. I love that even 10 years later, we still love to get together and hang out!

Donn, Holly, and Jeanne had their own little after party at our house after everyone else left. Man, they are a funny bunch! Luke even tried to get in on the action...

par-tay: the details

2011-01-31T11:16:00.002-07:00

In being completely honest and in the spirit of full disclosure, I'm crazy. When the pictures from Reagan's party didn't quite turn out the way I had hoped (never realized how much I don't like flash on a camera now), I re-staged her birthday the way I had pictured in my head so that I could get the pictures and memories I had originally hoped for. I had all of these grand decor plans for her party, but Regan in true princess form refused to take an afternoon nap the day of to let Andi and I set up the party, so many of the things I had wanted to do didn't get done. Such is life with a one-year-old.

I took the opportunity to recreate her party as best as I could to show all of the details that I thought were important. Let me also say one more important factor to this party: I had to throw a party that included dinner for approximately 50 people for $100 or less. Many of the things that I would have ordered or had someone else do I had to figure out myself. This was a DIY affair all the way. I definitely think I need to give credit to those who inspired me; as someone once said, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." The TomKat Studio definitely inspired all of the party printables; had I been working with a bigger budget, I would have ordered from her in a heartbeat. It would have saved me hours of staring at my computer screen! Also, The Polka Dot Market has so many adorable party products (for boys and girls!) that I would have loved to get, but I had to settle for my Tar-jay napkins. Picky Palate had this amazing recipe that I was dying to try out and Reagan's party was the perfect opportunity.

We served a simple dinner of sub sandwiches and chips, but I definitely was way more excited about all of the desserts. The dessert table included cupcakes with pearly sprinkles, white and pink chocolate dipped pretzels knots and sticks, yummy cake made by Andrea, and the previously mentioned brownie covered Oreos. I had an entire bag of tiara-shaped sugar cookies to put out with frosting and sprinkles, but that was one of the first things that was put on the back burner in the midst of Reagan's no-nap afternoon. The idea was that each kid (and adult too...let's be honest; the grown-ups like to get creative too!) would get to frost and decorate their own cookie. Instead my husband was able to take a bag full of sugar cookies to the guys he worked with the Monday after.

I really do love how Reagan's party turned out. Is it sad that I've already got the wheels turning in my head for her second birthday? I told you--I'm crazy.

bathing beauty

2011-01-31T10:47:00.000-07:00

It seems like a miracle to me that Reagan is finally enjoying bath time. Instead of an insane screaming baby, I now have a happy, splashing pre-toddler. I love it!

delayed

2011-01-24T23:14:00.000-07:00

Although no one out there is probably sitting on the edge of their seat waiting for Reagan's first birthday posts (let's be honest, there will be more than one), I wanted to get this out there so that someday when Reagan looks back at this blog book, she doesn't think that I forgot her birthday or simply put off writing about it. I'm already three days late posting and I didn't want to let this slide any longer.

In all honesty, I'm sick. Really sick. I think the crazy amounts of stress from the past month finally caught up with me and my body couldn't defend itself anymore. Between the holidays, Randy's hospital stay, Reagan's poo issues, ending my time breastfeeding, Luke's sickness this past week, Reagan's birthday and party, and just being a mom and wife, I just don't think I could handle one more thing.

So my dear Regan, when I am feeling a smidge better, I promise I will write all about how much this first year of your life has meant to your dad and I, how fabulous your party was, and how much I look forward to the years to come.

Until then, happy birthday my sweet princess. Momma and Daddy love you.

a little bit trashy

2011-01-22T23:40:00.000-07:00

It was about time that Keith started the white trash routine with Reagan. I really was hoping he'd let her pass through life without having to experience this, but being Keith, Reagan wasn't so lucky. So I present to you, my princess, Miss Reagan Rose straight out of AJ.

kisses

2011-01-22T23:25:00.000-07:00

I love these babies and their sweet kiss-y cheeks. Love.

how the tables have turned

2011-01-13T11:42:00.001-07:00

Over the course of the past week (really since I stopped nursing Reagan), the kids have completely switched places in the 'easy' category.

Reagan is now solely on table food and devours whatever we put in front of her. Yesterday morning Luke had yogurt and a handful of blueberries for breakfast and it took him nearly 45 minutes to eat that much. Reagan on the other hand downed her breakfast in less than 30 minutes. You'd think that a nearly-one-year-old would eat considerably less than a nearly-three-year-old, especially one that is as giant as Luke. If you assumed that, you would be sorely mistaken. Our princess downed the same yogurt and blueberries as Luke, but also ate an entire cereal bar, a handful of Cheerios, and a handful of puffs. The best part was that Reagan fed everything to herself. I still had to feed Luke some of his breakfast so that he'd finish.

Sleep in our house has also become quite different. Luke puts up a valiant effort every night to delay his bedtime and then proceeds to play in his room or beg for us to come in for the next hour or so after that. Last night he even woke up at 1:30 in the morning crying. When I went in there he asked for me to lay down next to him. I did for a little bit, but as soon as I left he started crying again, which now woke up Miss Reagan. We had a crazy time until around 3am when I finally got them both to sleep.

Completely reverse of her norm, Reagan has been a champ in the sleep department. She has slept from 7:30pm until between 6 and 7 each morning. She might cry every now and then, but she's able to put herself back to sleep which is a very welcome change from what we were used to. She's even happier during the day and has maintained the two hour naps that she took before. I really think that her horrible sleep habits can be attributed to the lactose intolerance.

I know this comes with the mom-territory, but I'm curious to find out if they will ever both be lumped into the 'easy' category. Like, at the same time. Man, that would be so great.

misc.

2011-01-11T20:44:00.000-07:00

A few random thoughts that don't necessarily make a whole blog post, but added together, make for a nice random mix of stuff.

1. Although there are so many positives to breastfeeding, I've found one more of the few things I hate about it. Late night feedings and that first painful month have nothing on the pain of quitting cold turkey. Ouch to the tenth degree. I'll spare you the gory details, but its safe to say this past week has been hard. Literally.

2. I wish the doctors had some clue as to why Randy is having such a tough time. Its really difficult to know where to go from here without knowing why he's even there in the first place.

3. My baby is growing up way too fast. She's going to be a year old in 10 days. Crazy!

4. It really felt good to be back in the gym again today. I missed working out and feeling that burn when you're pushed hard.

5. I appreciate my Highlander more than I ever thought possible after today. I had to get both kids into the Focus today and man...that sucked. Bending down and strapping Reagan into the infant car seat without the base while Luke is wreaking havoc in the car was just a little more than I could handle on a daily basis.

slow going

2011-01-09T21:58:00.000-07:00

But at least its going.

Randy continues to move through the phases typical of someone coming out of a coma. These parts of his recovery are particularly hard on my parents. I won't go into specific details to respect their privacy, but it has had its ups and downs the past few days. I can share that my mom and dad were very excited today when Randy gave them both kisses on their cheeks. I was even lucky enough to get one tonight when I was with him!

Randy is scheduled for another MRI tomorrow, so hopefully we get more of an idea of what caused his seizures in the first place. The doctors still don't know why this has all happened and I find it hard to know what the outlook or prognosis is and where to go from here. If you don't know what part is broke, how do you fix it?

We just keep putting our faith in God and trust in his doctors hoping for the best.

fighter

2011-01-06T22:07:00.000-07:00

“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths.

When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger

You know, for as sweet and docile as my brother is, he has certainly proved to be quite the fighter over the past few days. He managed to flutter his eyes open a few times today and they actually had to restrain him to the bed because he kept trying to sit up. Now, he seriously dislikes being stuck to the bed and from what I've been told, he's constantly moving and thrashing his legs around. He apparently even tried to kick my mom a time or two. That's my boy!

Reagan has had the fight in her too. She loves to fight when that bottle comes anywhere near her and I really can't blame her for it. Other than the bottle though, she has made a miraculous turn around in the past 48 hours. I'm just amazed at how much better she's been eating and pooping. It's almost like the past month or so never even happened. It was so nice tonight as I was shopping for food for her to not buy bananas or yogurt. She can still eat both of those, but after solely consuming those foods for over a month, I purposely avoided them because I could. I think her and I both needed a break and a change of pace in her food options.

I'd also like to think that I might be able to consider myself a fighter. I know I've said it before and I'll more than likely say it again: this week has sucked. Sucked. It has literally been one of the most difficult that I can remember, but with that being said, I've tried to maintain a positive outlook as best I can. In Randy's case, I like to focus on each day's small success rather than dwell on the set backs or lack of big progress. As for Reagan, I'm already starting to physically hurt less and the emotional aspect of the abrupt end to our nursing time together is healing too. I look so forward to her bedtime where I now rock her to sleep and I cherish the extra time we get to play together during the day.

recovery

2011-01-05T21:20:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to lie: yesterday was tough. With the reality settling in of Randy's condition and dealing with Reagan's prognosis and how to help her, I was really overwhelmed yesterday. Poor Keith had to bear the brunt of my breakdown. I really appreciate him letting me let it out. I needed to unbottle all of the emotions I had kept contained.

And you know what? I feel better. A lot better.

I realized during that time that all of what's happening isn't about me. I need to be strong and think about what's best for Randy and Reagan. Randy still hasn't woken up, but the test results show that he hasn't gotten worse. His motions have improved a lot since yesterday as well. Instead of the jerky movements from yesterday, he's starting to be more fluid. He'll turn his head when you say something that seems to interest him and he'll pull away when you try to do something that irritates him. And Reagan has done a complete 180 in the past 36 hours. Since the last time I nursed her, Reagan has had multiple regular poops. She also eaten more and been less fussy. As much as I'm sad to be done with nursing, especially in a cold turkey fashion, I am a hundred times more happy that she's feeling better.

I know we've still got a long road ahead of us, but the future seems to be a little more bright today.

wearing out

2011-01-04T22:35:00.000-07:00

I think the shock of the past few days is starting to wear off and I'm feeling like the hard reality of what has transpired is really starting to hit me. I've really tried to remain positive, keep the brave face, but its getting harder and harder to be like that. Between Randy's current situation and Reagan, I feel like I'm unraveling. The lack of sleep and such great concern for those that I love most is starting to take its toll.

My brother is making improvements, but he's still in a coma. A coma. It just didn't seem real until today. His whole body is swollen and puffy because his kidneys can't process the fluids being pumped into his body quickly enough. My poor sweet brother is in a coma. That sentence just seems to keep repeating in my head and its finally now starting to stick.

Tonight after returning from the hospital, I held a screaming Reagan who was obviously hungry, but I wasn't able to give her what she wanted. As I struggled to feed her a bottle, which she absolutely refuses, she kept turning in to eat what she is used to and finds comfort in. My chest was literally aching, and as I sat there crying along with her, I felt like I was failing my poor daughter.

Its probably the serious lack of sleep talking, but I could use some serious brightness at the end of this tunnel I seem to be stuck in this week.

it's all my fault

2011-01-04T14:16:00.000-07:00

Remember the post dedicated to Reagan and her poo problems? Well, the results came back today. And her problem is my fault. It turns out that Reagan's poor body isn't able to process lactose right now. That's not to say that she is for-sure lactose-intolerant; time will tell for that. But for right now, her body is lacking the enzyme to process lactose.

Sure, most may say that's not a big deal. Sure, for most it's not. But when my solution to her whole poo issue was to nurse her more to make sure that she was getting enough calories, then it becomes a big deal. I learned today that the only real source of lactose in Reagan's diet currently is breast milk, so the six times a day I was nursing her was just hurting her six times a day. The solution? I have to stop nursing her and start her on a special lactose-free formula. Her pediatrician recommended pumping and storing the milk in case there was the chance I could use it later but with her being so close to a year old, I'm taking this as my cue to bow out of nursing gracefully.

I really have a lot of crazy emotions about this right now. I feel absolutely horrible for hurting her for the past month. I know I didn't do it intentionally and I shouldn't blame myself; my head understands that. But my heart aches for my poor girl. Every time she was in pain, what I considered hunger pains, I was hurting her and now that hurts me. I'm also really sad about being done with nursing. Sometimes it was really rough: all of the late night feedings, the times when I was super sore, the times when I felt like I couldn't go anywhere because I had to feed her. Now that I'm abruptly done, I miss the good times: the times when it was just her and I, the times when she would smile at me with her big milky grin, the times when she would fall asleep while nursing and just snuggle into me.

The hardest part is now realizing she really isn't my peanut baby anymore. With Reagan turning one in a few weeks, she really is turning into a little toddler. This is just one more part of her infant life that I have to let go of and I really don't feel like I'm ready for it yet. I feel like I'm having to let go of her baby time without getting the chance to say a proper good-bye. I know this sounds absolutely crazy. I get that. But I'm going to miss that special bond with my girl and I don't feel ready to let it go yet.

Such is life.

the full story

2011-01-04T13:49:00.000-07:00

The past few days have been some of the most difficult that I can remember. After church Sunday morning while shopping at Wal-mart, I got the phone call from my dad. I automatically knew something was wrong because my dad never uses his cell phone on the weekends. He hates the thing. And when I answered the phone, his voice was soft and shaky, not his usual tone.

At 6:30am, my dad had gotten up to let their dog, Tex out to go to the bathroom. He heard a strange noise coming from my brother Randy's room. He went to inspect thinking he would find Randy's TV on, but instead he found Randy in the middle of a giant seizure. Randy's whole body was convulsing and he was spitting foam from his mouth. He wasn't conscious and was making soft grunting noises. My parents immediately called 911 and he was rushed to the nearest hospital. He was in that same seizure state for over three hours. He was still like that when my dad called me.

It took the medical staff another two hours to get him stable enough to transport to a hospital that was better equipped to handle his situation. My dad called again when he was on his way driving to the next hospital. He was trying to get to the hospital before my mom arrived with Randy in the ambulance. The last time I heard my dad so upset was when his own father passed away when I was seven. I rushed down to the hospital to be with him. It was absolutely heartbreaking. I don't think I could've understood his pain before becoming a mother. You never want to see your child hurt in any way, shape, or form and would gladly trade places with them in an instant. I have to say, I would've gladly traded places with my dad at that moment to take away his pain.

After a short while, Randy and my mom arrived at the hospital. My mom came and updated us on his situation and then took my dad back with her to see him. Eventually I was able to go back there with them to be with him. I knew his situation was bad, but I was not mentally prepared for how I saw him. Randy was now in a medically-induced coma. He was still constantly shaking, having minor seizures. The ventilator he was on was breathing for him and he had tubes draining the contents of his lungs, stomach, and bladder. There were large bruises up and down his arms where various IV's had been attempted to no avail. While I was there, the medical staff finally had to put in a central line (an IV in his neck) to draw blood and administer medicines and fluids. He was placed on a cooling mat to bring own his fever. Between 6:30am and about 1:30pm, he had already had a CT scan, an EKG (to test his heart), and an EEG (to test his brain waves), not to mention the various blood tests. Yesterday he even got an MRI.

This whole situation is absolutely heartbreaking. Randy is seriously one of the absolute sweetest and most caring people that I have ever had the chance to meet, and I'm not saying that because he's my brother. He's been dealt a rough set of medical circumstances over the course of his short life and its so hard to see him have to face another hurdle like this one.

We have seen improvements though. After the MRI yesterday, he was taken off the medicine that was inducing the coma and today he'll wiggle his toes a little if you ask him to. My mom says you can tell he's struggling to do it, but he's trying nonetheless. He's also being given the opportunity to breathe on his own. I consider each of these developments small miracles in his recovery. Sunday morning we weren't sure if he was going to survive and now he's showing signs of coming back to us.

I truly and whole-heartedly believe that God was watching over him through all of this. Our Uncle Fr. Jack was able to come give him the Anointing of the Sick on Sunday when he was still fighting the seizures. Through the power of our families and Facebook, there are people all over the world praying for his recovery. We have had many people stop by to give well-wishes and my cousin Kelly even brought my parents snacks and water yesterday. I am so truly appreciative of the out-pouring of kindness shown and I know that my parents feel the same.

To Randy: Keep fighting buddy. We love you more than you know and I'm not ready to lose my baby brother. Keep fighting. Please.

hut, hut, hike

2010-12-31T11:02:00.001-07:00

My cousin, Dru, was on the Campo Verde High School football team this year. Granted, they weren't too smart and didn't play him hardly at all during the season (he would have been awesome!), but we wanted to go show our support anyways. Luke is obsessed with football, so we thought this would a fun family outing. Reagan held still long enough for pictures. Luke was way too in to the game and his cousin Killian to even bother with looking in my direction.

Our sad attempts at a family picture. We really need to remember that you can't put the kids next to each other in pictures...and that Keith needs to keep his eyes open.

I'm glad that Luke had such a good time watching the football game. I can't wait until he gets a little older and starts to understand more of what's going on...or even plays!

go cards!

2010-12-31T10:40:00.000-07:00

I feel like I had to say that considering the tickets we had were given to us for free. I can't really be angry at them for wasting my money when it wasn't my money that was wasted in the first place, right? This was the first time that I had been to the University of Phoenix Stadium (side note: ridiculous name) and its actually a beautiful stadium. I was really surprised and the ginormousness of it though. It is huge!

Keith had warned me on the way to the game that professional football crowds are much different compared to the college football crowds that I am accustomed to. I wasn't sure what he meant until we got there. Boy, are people different! We watched two different guys get removed by security multiple times. How do you get removed multiple times? I mean, they let you come back after the first time? And I'd never seen people fight with other people that are rooting for the same team. Talk about passionate about the game. Geez. You're here for the SAME team guys!

The Cards have had a rough year and they are really missing Kurt Warner. It wasn't really surprising to me that we lost this game, but it was something fun that I Keith and I were able to experience together. Thanks Keith for sticking it out and dodging fights with me!

birthday dinner

2010-12-31T10:17:00.000-07:00

I'm going to play catch up today and try to get in as many posts that I skipped over this year before the new year rings in. Sorry these will be so random and all over the place!

As a way to celebrate my mom's birthday in November and to thank my parents for the fact that they gave us the Cardinal's tickets and that they watched the kids for us while we went to said Cardinal's game, Keith and I attempted to take them out to dinner. Things didn't go quite according to plan, but once we were settled, it all worked out for the best.

Luke refused to leave the house without his "Manny Construction Job" hat. If you haven't seen Handy Manny's Big Construction Job, Luke would say you're missing out.

Reagan cooperated for the most part. We haven't taken her to a restaurant since our trip to Sea World in June. I was nervous about how she would handle a restaurant environment, but she took it like a champ

top 10 of 10

2010-12-31T09:48:00.000-07:00

It is absolutely crazy to me that this is the last day of 2010. As a way to commemorate, I'd like to create a list of my top 10 favorite moments of 2010. We have had such an amazing year full of wonderful memories that although it will be difficult to narrow it down to just 10, but I'm going to try.

10. Being able to help photograph Luke and Andrea surprising their parents with Luke coming home was an honor. The look of sheer joy and amazement on Tom and Gail's faces is something I will cherish forever.

9. Although the Cardinals game was more of an "experience" than either Keith or I had bargained for, it was so nice to get to go do something together. Alone. Without kids. Since Luke and Reagan have arrived in our lives, we do like to spend most of our free time with them, but it is nice every once in awhile to remember that we were a couple first.

Check out this girl's extensions. She paid too much. I actually felt bad for her. She also had fake eyelashes, a bad fake tan, a load of make up, and some other fake body parts...if you know what I mean. I can only imagine what her self esteem must be like.

8. Joining Lifetime Fitness has been something that I've been able to do not only for myself, but for the kids as well. They are becoming much more social and more accustomed to not being around me 24/7. And I'm not going to lie. It's nice to feel like I'm at least making the attempt to get somewhere near my pre-baby body.

7. Getting the phone call that Andi and Andrew were engaged. Granted, the days following until they returned from Mexico were some of the absolute hardest days because I sooo wanted to start wedding planning with her, but that moment on my way to the gym when she called to tell me was priceless.

6. We were able to take Luke to his first movie in a real movie theater. Luke is obsessed with Toy Story, so when we went to see Toy Story 3, he was on his absolute best behavior. I think the dark also helped our cause because I think he might have been too afraid to move around too much.

5. Keith and I were blessed to welcome a niece, Miss Parker, and another nephew, Mr. Matthew.

4. Luke's first time meeting Reagan was more than I could have ever hoped for. He just kept repeating "Hi Baby!" over and over and you could tell he loved his baby sister already.

3. December 22, 2010: The first and only time that Reagan has managed to sleep a consecutive 12 hours like she's supposed to. And to be fair this was nearly my favorite moment of 2010, but since it only happened once, it gets the #3 spot.

2. Our family vacation to San Diego. It was our first real attempt at a vacation as a family of four, our first time to a theme park with the kids, our first time to a zoo, our first time to a restaurant with just the four of us. We also got to watch three fabulous ladies finish the Rock and Roll half marathon there. That trip was just an all-around happy momma moment for me.

1. The birth of our daughter, Reagan Rose. It was a genuinely enjoyable labor and delivery and we were given the most perfect baby. Reagan's birth is far and away our best memory of 2010.

Honorable Mention: I do have to add in Kirk and Brittany's wedding to this mix of memories. Their wedding was so much fun. The photo booth, great friends, and the little spat over Keith's inappropriate dancing behavior with a much older woman and her significant other definitely made for an unforgettable night.

Here's hoping that 2011 will be just as fabulous as 2010 was!

poo problems

2010-12-28T21:24:00.000-07:00

I'm just going to warn you up front: if you don't want to read about poo, don't read this. If you really couldn't care less about what Reagan and I are currently facing, don't read this. And if you are squeamish, I wouldn't read this either. It's just too bad that I'm the squeamish one...

Reagan's diarrhea situation doesn't seem to be improving at all. Poor girl had wicked poo for two weeks before the doctor told us to put her on the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast/carbs + yogurt). Since that time, she's really only eaten bananas, yogurt, and a load of cookies because she basically refuses anything else on the BRAT diet. She'll readily gobble down other baby foods that she had no issue with before, but it a move we've learned not to make. Those other foods caused Keith and my mom to have to scrub Reagan and clean her sheets and clothing on Christmas morning. Not good.

Now two weeks in to this adjusted diet and seeing no real progress in her tummy situation, I contacted her pediatrician today. They were concerned enough to have me bring her in today. Her heart and lungs sound fine. Her eyes, ears, and mouth look good. Her behavior isn't anything out of the ordinary; like I told the doctor, she is her normal "princess" self. He suggested getting a stool sample. Sounds simple right? Not so much.

So I walk into the lab place and when I request the kit, the girl literally laughs out loud when I explain that this is for my 11 month old daughter. She hands me a Target-sized plastic bag filled with vials and slides and instructions and plastic gloves. What the heck am I going to be doing with rubber gloves?!? Turns out that I have to collect Reagan's poo over the course of the next three days. They need two room-temperature vials of poo from the first two days in addition to the slide smears on both of those days. On the third day I have to fill four vials in addition to the two smears: three room-temperature and one refrigerated.

Really. Really? I'm having her checked due to diarrhea. How am I supposed to get enough poo to accomplish this task? Luckily her poo this afternoon wasn't watery like it had been in the past few weeks. Still completely disgusting, but manageable for the poo recovery. I really felt like some mad scientist today extracting "stool samples" from Reagan's diaper. When I signed on to this whole Mom business, this isn't quite what I had in mind. And how gross is it that I'm going to have to store her poo in our refrigerator? Yuck.

To end on a positive note, I would like to give myself a small pat on the back for not gagging too much through this whole ordeal. I consider it a success that Reagan hasn't been vomited on by now. And she has taken all this like a champ. She has been patient when I need to take a breather and is always there smiling back at me. That smile makes every second of this disgustingness worth it.

you tell me...

2010-12-27T22:56:00.000-07:00

So its no secret that Luke doesn't really resemble me. His genetic make-up may be half mine, but his looks basically all derive from his father and I'm completely okay with that. When we found out that our second baby was going to be a girl, I was secretly wishing and hoping that Reagan might get more of my looks. I've always had this crazy notion that I would have this dark, curly-haired baby girl with big brown eyes running around. These are pictures of me from 10months to 12 months old.

I have to love the pictures of my dad before he became our hairless wonder.

And now some recent pictures of Reagan. What do you think?

christmas night

2010-12-26T17:24:00.000-07:00

We wanted to end our Christmas day doing something with just our little family, so we decided to take the kids on a walk around the neighborhood to look at the lights. They both get such a kick out of looking at the lights and sitting in the wagon. There is one house around the corner from us that has their lights cued up to music. This is them watching and Luke "listening."

I wanted to get a good picture of them together in front of lights. This gets to be very tricky at night. The first picture is with the flash so you can see their faces. The second is without and they are blurry. Oh well, at least I tried.

I love the kids and our little family. We had an amazing day celebrating Jesus' birth and I feel so blessed that I get to spend such a joyous day with them.

christmas day

2010-12-26T17:01:00.001-07:00

On Christmas morning, we woke the kids up at 8am to see what Santa had brought. We've started the tradition since the kids have been born that we invite our families over Christmas morning to open gifts with us and then we share a yummy breakfast. This year did not disappoint. It may be chaos on Christmas morning, but we love the we get to share the joy of the holiday with our families. In the afternoon, we headed over to my cousin Kate's home for our traditional family get-together.

The phone is for you.

Just before the family showed up, we hear this crazy knocking on our door and ringing of our doorbell. Andi and Andrew had stopped by to see us on Christmas! I was so excited they came by because they're heading out to visit Andrew's family in Wisconsin, so we won't get a chance to see them for the next few days. Reagan sat still for the picture, but Luke couldn't be bothered. He was showing them all the goodness of the new kitchen and play food.

The phone is still for you.

Get it open Daddy! Faster!

Reagan loves a baby...

...but not opening more gifts. She's done and this is three gifts in.

Keith was obviously not super thrilled to be putting Reagan's stroller together.

Reagan is super excited to walk along with her stroller though. She gets so happy as she's pushing it along.

Pop Pop (while he's still awake) and Luke

Parker get s a turn.

Aunt Beth and Reagan (please notice the now-sleeping Pop Pop. He snores loud!)

A little sibling love.

christmas eve

2010-12-25T21:47:00.001-07:00

***Disclaimer: I took an obscene amount of photos over the course of Christmas and Christmas Eve. Because I'd like to post about the past two days before sometime next year, I'm not going to edit them to what I normally would. I apologize in advance!***

Our Christmas Eve started at a packed Christmas Mass. I love a good full Mass (especially when we're able to get seats!), especially when it means we get to celebrate the birth of our Savior! From there we headed over to my grandparent's house for our traditional Christmas Even dinner and presents. I've been going there on Christmas Eve for as long as I can remember and I feel so blessed that I'm now able to share that with my own little family.

little cousins: Luke and Killian

big cousins: Ricci and Randy

Pretty Park-Park

Reagan and Grandma-Grandma

Okay...funny story about the cheesecake. I never liked cheesecake growing up; despised it, in fact. And then I got pregnant with Luke and now I'm slightly obsessed with the stuff. My grandparents' friend Judy has made this cheesecake in the past, but I was bummed last year when it didn't make its appearance at dinner. Its been a joke in our family now about how I was upset Judy didn't make the cheesecake. When we showed up last night, my first stop was to casually check to see if the cheesecake was on the dessert table. It wasn't and I wasn't going to say anything about it. Who was I to bring up the cheesecake two years in a row?

After dinner was finished and cleaned up and I was getting ready to put my camera away, Judy pulls out THE cheesecake. I was so excited that I took a picture (actually a took a few more than 1, but I'm only posting 1). It was as good as ever and there is even an extra piece that is sitting in my refrigerator calling my name right now.

The Waltemeyer Family

Christmas 2010

seeing santa

2010-12-25T20:33:00.000-07:00

Keith and I are slacker parents. Until this year, Luke had never gone to sit on Santa's lap. Horrible, I know. For his first Christmas, I didn't want to traumatize him with the whole process. By last year, I felt bad we hadn't gone the previous year, so we made a day of taking him. Or tried to at least. Reagan tried to make her early entrance a few days before our planned outing, so last year's attempt was a no-go as well. And now this year. After researching the mall Santa and realizing that they charge $16.99 for ONE 5x7, Keith and I decided that wasn't quite the direction we wanted to go. We made a trip to Bass Pro Shop to get a free picture with Santa there, but with line being almost two hours long, we weren't about to make it there.

Lucky for us, Andi and Big Luke wanted to have me take pictures of them with a Santa as a gift for their parents. Andrew was the lucky one who got to dress up as Santa. It actually worked out well. No lines, no crazy screaming kids, and a Santa that they were familiar with.

And just for fun: Luke's strong face.

to you and yours

2010-12-24T21:50:00.000-07:00

I wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a very Merry and Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year.

(If we would have sent out Christmas cards, this is what they would have looked like. Enjoy!)

a double dose: 10 and 11

2010-12-22T21:48:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how life can just speed right by with two kids and the holiday season. By the time I realized that Reagan's ten month post had been skipped, it was almost time to write out her eleven month post. My solution? I'll just combine the two into one giant post. Okay?

Here's Reagan's required chair picture for 11 months:

Sad side note: There is no 10 month picture. Horrible mother, I know. When I went to take the picture, the strap of my camera caught on the knob of the changing table as I was walking away carrying Reagan. As it caught and pulled me back, I had the choice to either drop Reagan or the camera. Luckily, I chose Reagan and she was safe. Not so luckily, the lens on my camera broke in two separate pieces. I was devastated, crying my eyes out, and totally forgot to go back and take the picture.

If we thought Reagan had a budding personality before, it has just blossomed over the past two months. She still has this hilarious laugh that sounds almost like a machine gun. Reagan is a firecracker who knows how to get her way and knows exactly what she wants. She can pull a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde on you so fast it'll make your head spin. Reagan will be smiling and screaming and back to smiling again in no time flat. She isn't afraid of much and has even gotten better being around people she's never met before.

Reagan is now a master crawler. She can get around like no body's business and pulls up onto everything. It almost seems like she's running around the edges of the couch now. She'll stand independently, but still hasn't taken any steps...and I am absolutely okay with that. The longer it takes for her to walk, the better. ;) When she gets really excited, she'll even start to clap for herself now. So cute.

I've always considered Reagan a Momma's girl; really she basically refused Keith for the first six-ish months of her life. That is no more. As soon as she hears Keith walk through the door, she books it to find him. And if we're in the playroom, she gets very angry that she can't get to him fast enough. I know you're surprised (snort), but Reagan does not possess the ability to have a lot of patience.

Reagan has really become interested in toys; Luke's toys more specifically. She has already figured out how to push cars around and I swear she she's trying to make the engine sounds as she's doing it sometimes. For some reason, Reagan loves playing with socks and unless her shoes are on, her socks are typically taken right off. She thinks its so silly when I put her socks on her hands. Reagan also has quite the affinity for stuffed animals. She loves to cuddle and snuggle with them whether she's trying to nap or just out and about playing around.

Reagan's blanket is now the fifth member of our family. My sister made both Luke and Reagan their baby blankets and they both love to sleep with them. I thought Luke was super attached to his, but Reagan has brought the attachment to a whole new level. Reagan won't even go to the gym without it. She likes to have it with her when she's nursing, when she's playing, when we're going out. I don't necessarily always give it to her during all of those times, but she really does do remarkably better for an extended amount of time when she has it. Her favorite part of the blanket has to be the silky binding that lines it. She will rub that part to high heaven and even like to rub it on her face when she's especially frustrated.

I think we've finally found a cup that we can call a winner. Reagan is no good with a straw and she also doesn't like the hard spout found on most cups. This one seems to have satisfied all of her criteria for a cup: soft spout, handles, and no straw to be found. Its really funny to watch her drink out of it though. She'll grip one handle and toss her head all the way back to drink out of it.

Remember Reagan's fight she had with our tile floor? Here is the aftermath (Look at the right side of her forehead). It actually doesn't look nearly as bad in the picture as it did in person. It ended up being a bump about the size of a quarter and pretty purple.

I love this crazy, sassy, sweet, silly, loveable girl and I am so glad to call her mine.