Growing up fast....

I've really been slacking off on the blogging lately.... sorry about that (to the three of you that check this!). Here's Regan earlier today talking on the phone to Gigi. She sure was telling her a story, and I don't know what it was about, but man, did that girl talk! I think Gigi enjoyed listening to her jabber.
Granny asked her what she had on her shirt (it's a WT shirt that Eric bought for her this summer and has a buffalo on it) so Regan was pointing to it!
So precious...
This past weekend Eric took the drumline to a contest down by Dallas, so Regan and I headed to Elkhart. Sarah and Kylie were there as well and believe it or not, Dad and I talked them into putting out the Christmas decorations! Regan thankfully slept through almost all of it which was nice not having to chase her around and make sure she didn't fall down the stairs while we were bringing everything up from storage.
When she woke up she was very interested in the tree and Papa's train. Aren't her rosy cheeks SO adorable!?
Every day Regan and I go outside and wait for Eric to come home. Here she is kicking her shoes and waiting patiently for Daddy.
We went and ate lunch with him last week. Regan really enjoys all the attention she gets from the other band directors!
Regan got her very first haircut last week! We took her to a place that caters toward children and she did so good! She wasn't too crazy about it at first...
But then she got interested in the movie that was showing and didn't give the hairdresser any trouble at all!!
Here's the finished product: a replica of cousin Aubrey at this age with slightly darker hair!! She wouldn't even take her eyes off the movie long enough to look at me for a picture! :)

Chicken Little and Happy Feet

This morning Regan and I headed to the pumpkin patch to take pictures with Hubson. We apparently waited one day too late because it was COLD and windy! I don't think we were outside longer than 5 minutes, so most of the pictures Regan's either talking or not looking at the camera, but I still think she makes a pretty cute Chicken Little!
Making sure the pumpkins don't blow away!

Here's a picture from last year -- I can't believe how much she's changed! Here's the only picture I got of Regan and Hubson where they both are looking at the camera... Hubson is the cutest penguin EVER -- he has so much padding in the front, I thought he would fall over!

This is last year's picture from the hay bales...After we left the pumpkin patch we went over to Papa Sammie and Gigi's. Regan had a fun time talking with them and she got a new halloween book in lieu of candy.

Regan discovered that Tooter likes goldfish, so she kept chasing her around feeding her. She was VERY excited that Tooter would lick her hand!

Hubson and nap mats

Last Wednesday Regan and I spent the morning with Hudson. We had a GREAT time and were so sad when we had to lay him down for a nap. The kiddos played well together and it was so cute to listen to them jabbering at each other.

They share so well, too. Hudson was getting a cold (hence the cutest Santa cheeks EVER) and he shared that with Regan. Then the next day Regan threw up goldfish and the day after that, Hubson threw up goldfish. So Kristen and I determined that Regan shared her "fish flu". Anyway, despite all the sickness being passed around, we can't wait for another morning with Hubson! I love this picture, mostly because of the way his thumb is hooked in his pants!!
Because of Regan's nasty cold, she and I stayed home from church yesterday. Her she is filing her teeth... it's the only decent picture I've gotten of her recently!

We are so blessed to have some of the most amazing percussion parents in the band. One of them is a fabulous seamstress and made Regan a really cute blanket embroidered with a drumset when she was born. Regan has to have a nap mat for MDO and I asked Mrs. Prater to make a cover for it. This is the amazing finished product and since Eric brought it home earlier, Regan will not stay off it! She keeps bringing all her toys on it and reading her books while laying on the pillow -- she LOVES it!!

Mrs. P also embroidered Regan's name on the bottom of the nap mat so when all the other little girls are jealous of how awesome it is, Regan can remind them that it's hers! :)

Not only that, but she even found a matching bag and embroidered her name on that too! So now I have something to carry the mat in, plus Regan has her very own overnight bag!

Pumpkin Queen

We've had a much better day today than last week! We were snapping some pictures earlier and I thought this one turned out well. I love Regan's face because it's most definitely her Miss Priss look!

A few months ago, a friend gave us some tights that she had bought for her daughter but never used before she outgrew them, so now Regan has some cool Halloween tights! She wore them to Mother's Day Out today and got lots of compliments on them and her matching hair tie (you can't really tell, but it's an orange pumpkin).

When Regan gets sleepy, she likes to play with her hair and if something is in her hair, she pulls it out. Today I put two seperate ponytails in so that she wouldn't pull them out, but this is still what she looked like when I picked her up from Mother's Day Out. I don't know why they don't just put her hair back in the ponytail... probably because it's so much fun to laugh at a little girl who looks like this!

After my last post, I took this picture. We had such a frantic day, which didn't really get any better until we went to bed, and I think Regan's face captures our feelings just perfectly!! :)

One of those days....

Well let me tell you about my day. Regan woke up at 5:30 this morning, cried for 20 minutes, I finally went in and got her calmed down, went to put her in her crib and instead lost my balance and dropped her in her crib, thereby waking her up. Finally, after she went back to sleep at 6:30, I decided to eat a bowl of cereal.

There was no milk to be found in our house. And I suddenly remembered I had one diaper left for the day, and it's a mother's day out day. So at 6:30 while Eric is in the shower, I headed out to Wal-Marts to buy diapers and milk.

I got home, ate my cereal and decided to "rest my eyes" for a few minutes before getting some laundry done before I had to wake Regan up to get her ready for MDO. Yep, I woke up at 8:20, 25 minutes before we are to be heading out the door. So I frantically got Regan dressed and fed and we head out the door only to still be the last mom and daughter to show up for MDO, 10 minutes late.

Of course it's at this point that I realize I was supposed to have a nap mat for Regan this week. Did I have one? No. Wal-Marts didn't have one when I looked and I figured, "hey, I've got a long weekend with no husband, I'll just go to one of the other stores in town and get one then". But this child is taking all of my brain cells and I completely blanked and forgot to get one. Not to worry, they have extras and although her teacher didn't say so, I know she was thinking, "yeah, we have extras for the poor children whose mother's can't get their acts together." So I leave Regan and head to my first of two houses to clean today.

All goes well there, I have 2 1/2 hours to clean the second one, no problem. Except her kitchen seemed especially dirty. So I decide to spend extra time on her kitchen and in the process, spill the mop water all over the clean dining room floor. After this extra, extra time spent on the house, it's now time for me to be picking Regan up and I'm about 20 minutes away from the church.

Again frantically, I drive to the church, ignoring all yield signs and speed limits and arrive still 10 minutes late. My poor child is sitting in the teacher's lap, having pulled her ponytails out of her hair, looking like a kid from Fraggle Rock and I just know she thought I had abandoned her. I fall over myself apologizing to her and the teachers and we leave.

I decided to go to the other Wal-Marts immediately so as not to repeat my forgetting Regan's nap mat performance. I also decide to get stuff for supper since I obviously hadn't planned ahead for my day and gotten anything ready. So we go to Wal-Marts, me in one of Eric's t-shirts and ugly maternity sweatpants which I made into capris, with my hair pulled back and no make-up. Regan is covered in the cheese and peanut butter cracker that I gave her on the way to the store and still looks like a fraggle rock kid because without water, her hair is useless. We go in, get most of what we need and are looking for one more item and who should we run into...?

That's right. The girl from my high school graduating class who was nominated "best looking". And she still looked her best. I felt someone looking at me, and I looked over and immediately recognized her. Before she could have half a chance of recognizing me, I shot around the corner and headed straight for the checkout. Without getting my ham. So now I have to go back to the store to get a ham for supper. And Eric will be home in 1 hour, and Regan still looks like a fraggle rock kid and I am still basking in my cleaning day aroma.

I knew I would have bad days when I became a mom, but for real. This has got to be the "mother" of all bad days!! So, on that note, here is a baby bump picture because if nothing else, it was taken on a day when I'd actually had a shower!

Regan's week

Regan has learned so many new actions and words this week. Here she is doing her "Oh my goodness" face. You can't really tell, but we finally got her hair in pigtails!! She looks so stinking cute and gets lots of compliments on her pigtail personality! :)

A few days ago I gave Regan a chocolate chip cookie for her snack. Thankfully I thought to strip her down to her diaper first because as you can see, she made a huge mess!! But she loved the cookie and even fussed for awhile when I told her no more. She must get that from her momma! :)

When we were in Wichita for Sarah's wedding a few weeks ago, my dad and I had to go to Walgreens to get a few things. Dad found this puppy and gave it to Regan and she held on to him the whole time we shopped, and screamed when it was time to pay for him. (I promise she doesn't cry all the time and I do put clothes on her every once in awhile! :) For some reason, mostly because he's weird, Dad came up with the name (a good, solid German name in his opinion) of Grab-n-holt for the dog. I should've named it something different once we got home because Regan loves Grabnholt and takes him everywhere with her. She's even started sleeping with him at night instead of her blankie!

Inevitably, whenever we're leaving someplace like mother's day out or sunday school, I'll ask Regan if she has Grabnholt (and yes, she knows who I'm talking about) and someone will ask me what the dog's name is so I have to relay the entire story of how weird my dad is and how the dog got its name. ("She grabbed on to him and wouldn't let go, and even in Texas they don't say hold, they say holt," according to my father). Anyway, here she is watching Elmo and playing with Grabnholt yesterday.

Eric played in a recital last night in Plainview. Regan and I went along for the ride. Here she is all propped up in her own chair, kicked back and relaxing (notice that she took her shoes off!?), waiting for the concert to start.

If any of you have seen the bud light commercial where the two guys take bottles of beer into the opera and they burst when the lady sings a high note.... that's definitely the story of my life -- and I haven't even gotten to the part where my own kids have recitals! Last night was the world premiere of a piece that Eric wrote for vibes and piano. It's a beautiful song, and he did a great job playing it!

Like I said earlier, I promise, I really do put Regan in clothes -- but Friday's are our messy days, so she usually runs around in a diaper. Today we made a red velvet cake for Daddy (there wasn't a special reason, I just wanted a cake! :) She loved licking the spoon and laughed for a long time when I had her look in the mirror!! She also had her hands in the batter for a second and then touched her belly button, so now she has a red belly button!

Surprise!

Well, I'm not sure which surprise is better.... Sarah's wedding or the fact that I'm actually updating the blog! Okay, I guess it's the wedding.... :)

"Wedding?" you ask yourself? Yes, indeed. Last weekend my sister Sarah got married to Rowdy, after about a 5 minute engagement! Rowdy planned the whole thing and Mom, Brandi and I somehow managed to keep our mouths shut and with the help of family and friends, Sarah was given a surprise wedding in a beautiful park in Halstead. It was a lot of fun but I somehow didn't seem to get a lot of pictures. Here are a few of the keepers that I did get!

Regan and Papa dancing at the reception.
The beautiful bride and her two beautiful sisters..... :)

The most awesome bridesmaid ever!

Sarah walking into the room and seeing all of her family. I love the fact that Rowdy's just holding her ring like it's no big deal... :)

And few from the week before the wedding. I can't seem to go into Regan's room without waking her up anymore, but I really wanted a picture of her sleeping so I very quietly managed to get this one a few weeks ago. She sleeps like her dad, spread out all over her crib!

Are we starting the obsessive teen dieting phase already!?

This is the phase I think I'll enjoy.... Regan learning the ropes of fashion (although with me as her mother, she'll have a lot of "what not to wear" moments and not very many "fashion hits"!) by wearing momma's shoes.

Busy... busy

I've been so bad at taking pictures lately so I don't really have a lot to post, but here are a few from the last several weeks:

Regan doing one of her favorite things: getting in the basket of toys and throwing them all out. It's actually pretty cute because she then picks them all up and puts them in the basket, then repeats the process. It keeps her entertained for quite awhile!
Regan wearing the adorable outfit that Grammy bought for her. I've been waiting for a cold day and Monday was it, so she wore her new outfit. She looked very stylish but didn't want to pose for a picture, so this is the best one I got!
Two weeks ago, Sarah, Kylie, Mom, Dad, Regan and I all headed out for a trip to Farmington, NM to see Brandi and her family. We were there the day after Kyle's 1st birthday, so we got to have a little party for him. I thought this was a good picture and it shows that the older we get, the more Brandi and I look alike (and like Mom!). I didn't get a very good picture of me and Sarah because....
... Sarah spent most of the weekend laying around on the couch. Why was she so lazy, you ask? Well, that would be because Kylie is going to be a big sister!! :) Sarah is about 7 weeks behind me and is due April 28th (one day before Mom and Dad's 31st anniversary). Mom thinks Sarah and I are in a contest to give her a heart attack since I'm due 3 days after farmer's taxes are due and Sarah's cutting it pretty close to tax day herself! :)
Here's a cute picture of Kylie and Aubrey playing so nice together....

... and one of Kyle trying to beat Regan up! :) They haven't quite figured out how to play together nicely yet. Most of the time Regan wanted to be with the big girls and Kyle just wanted to crawl around and be with Papa. But, I'm sure it won't be long before they'll be running around like best buddies. Here's the birthday boy not enjoying the hat his mom put on him!
And then very satisfied once he got his hands in the cake! He was a mess but man, he sure was cute!
The last weekend in August, Richard and Nancy came to visit. I must not have taken very many pictures while they were here but I got a good one of Nancy and Regan reading a book.


Life around here has been pretty eventful the last week or so. Since we got back from NM, Regan has had a runny nose and cough and a little fever. We called the doctor and they sent a prescription but it didn't seem to be doing the trick. Then Sunday morning Regan woke up with a 103.6 fever. So she and I stayed home from church and went to the doctor first thing Monday morning. They gave us a prescription for penicillin and sent us on our way. The cause of the fever was a sinus infection that was draining into her ears and throat. Then Tuesday, Regan woke up with a rash on her torso and her face was real splotchy looking.

To make a very long and somewhat confusing story, short, we thought she was allergic to the penicillin, did a few things different for a few days, she got better and now we're thinking the culprit may actually be the gatorade we gave her to offset the messy diapers from her medicine.

Either way, she's feeling better, I think and starting to act more like herself. The best part of all of this is that she was so tired and felt so crummy on Sunday that the entire day was spent in the chair watching week 1 of the NFL. It was great mother/daughter bonding time. She's now well learned of the rules of football and how and why the Cowboys are the greatest franchise in the history of the game.

It's my goal to take pictures more often, so hopefully the next post will be more pictures and less rambling from me, right Bill!? :)

New things every day...

I finally got her hait into pigtails!!! She looked so stinking cute.
Regan loves to read books lately. Her great-aunt Roxie bought her some counting books last week, and now she's almost always got a book in her hand, either reading to herself or wanting us to read to her (mostly so she can turn the pages before we finish the first sentence!).

She woke up with some crazy hair today! I'd had it in a ponytail, but she pulled it out after her nap. She's making her "funny" face. Her and Eric make faces at each other when we're eating supper and now anytime he says her name a certain way, she immediately makes this face. What a ham.

Pretty girl standing in front of the dishwasher to remind Daddy that Momma wants (actually, NEEDS) a new one for Christmas.

Regan was pulling out all the clothes that are too big for her the other day and she came across these Santa slippers. She looked at me and signed "please" so I put them on her and she wore them all morning. I guess she truly is a girl after my own heart... ready for Christmas already!

You think Hollywood is ready for her? :)

Regan is growing so much and learning new things every day. She pretty much talks all the time (wonder where she gets that from?). Her favorite phrases as of late are: uh-oh, Momma, hi and no. I can't wait until I can understand what she's saying because the way she laughs and points and smiles, I know she's got interesting stuff to say!

She's signing a lot lately: more, eat, drink (which looks like eat, but she says "dee", so I think she means drink) and please. Anytime we try thank you, she either plays Indian or blows us kisses.

Nana bought her a baby doll a few weeks ago, and Regan loves to give to baby loving (hugs and pats on her back) and sugars (kisses). I'm hoping this means she'll be a nice big sister. She also likes to run into our arms if we're sitting on the floor and give us big hugs and kisses. Seriously, she's the sweetest thing to ever walk on this planet.

Cute pictures

Here are a few pictures Regan's great-aunt Sherry took a few weekends ago...



Here's Regan handing a flower to GiGi. Isn't this the coolest picture ever!?