Michael, Brittany, Rylie, Reagan & Aiden

New Pics

2010-04-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

Here is a random post of pictures!! Don't have time to arrange & put captions on them, but I bet you guys can figure it out!! These were also posted on Facebook, so some of you may have seen them before:

Included are Aiden's Room, Emily & Hannah's Skate Party (Poodle Skirts), & our first trip to Putt-Putt

The skating rink had little "skate trainers". The girls loved them because they didn't need any help!! They were pretty cool.

Even Big Daddy dressed up for the party!! What a sport!!

More Aiden Pics & Snow Day Pics

2010-02-11T16:55:00.000-08:00

Aiden Update

We went to the doctor this past Wednesday and Aiden weighed 8lb 12 oz!! That was up almost a pound from his check-up the week before. After leaving the hospital he lost almost a pound and got down to 7lb 9oz!! He had slowly gone up, but that was by far is biggest gain. After having one nurse try to encourage me to supplement with formula, it was good to see that he was doing just fine with me just deciding to nurse and not supplement. He is doing good and is a really good baby. He sleeps well and the only times we hear him cry are when he is hungry & when his diaper is getting changed. Here are some pictures from this week:

Snow Day Pictures!!

We took advantage of the snow day and took the girls to go see Alvin & the Chipmunks. It was a cute show and the girls had fun. After that we came home and the girls and Michael played in the snow.

They each made a snow angel for themselves. In the picture below they were trying to catch snow flakes on their tongues!

The next two pictures are just a few I took from outside our house.

Here are pictures of the girls making snow angels.

Our snow ball would not of been complete without a snowball fight!! I'm not sure who had more fun, the girls or Mike!! After the girl's hands got too cold they just started kicking snow on Mike!

This last picture is probably my favorite!! I think you can really see the joy on Rylie's face. Normally it is Rylie who complains first when they are playing outside, but not today. She stayed outside way longer then Reagan and didn't want to come in!!

The girls ended their snow day by watching Snow White. Reagan said we just had to watch Snow White because it was snowing and snow was part of her name!! Thought it was very cute. You just never know what is going to come out of her mouth!!

Hospital Pictures

2010-01-30T15:23:00.000-08:00

Here are his hospital pictures, I wasn't able to get the link to work. Aiden sleep the what felt like the whole time at the hospital, the photo lady tried for like 10 minutes to get him to open his eyes, but he just wouldn't!! He could cry and as soon as she would leave him alone he would go back to sleep. His hasn't been quite that good at home, but he hasn't been too bad. My milk hasn't come in yet, and I think he is getting a little bit more hungry. He is only going about 2 hours inbetween, before he was going 4. Hopefully once my milk comes in he'll go back and give me more time inbetween.

He is definately a momma's boy already too, and I love it!! He doesn't want Mike to hold him at all. The girls would calm down if Mike held them, but not Aiden. Aiden's screaming just gets worse if Mike has him. I'm sure in a day or two I'll wish Mike could hold & help a little bit more, but for right now I am enjoying my boy, and I am in love!!

This one is my favorite!!

Aiden James!!

2010-01-29T07:12:00.001-08:00

I was induced at 5:30 AM Wednesday morning and Aiden was born at 7:30 PM that night. He weighed in at 8 lbs 8 oz (10 days early!!) and was 20 1/4 inches long. Aiden throughout this pregnancy has given me a run for my money, and the labor & delivery was no different!! Just a warning, I will not be graphic, but if you don't want to hear another labor story, then just scroll down to the pics!!

I got an epidural and about 5 minutes later my blood pressure dropped to 50/29. I felt like I could not breath, it was pretty scary. The nurse was still in the room monitoring me, since this is a side effect. I was given medicine and in about 10 minutes my blood pressure was up to about 85/55, where it stayed until after he was born. I was a 2 when I went it and at 3PM I had made it to a 4 :( The girls took 17-18 hours, so I wasn't too surprised, just disappointment. At 5:30 I started to feel pressure and I has ready to push. It took 1 1/2 of pushing!! I only pushed for 20-30 minutes with both of the girls, so I was really shocked. My body never developed a good contraction rhythm, so the doctor said my body wasn't naturally helping as much and that is why it took so long.

Here are some pictures from when he was born. I know they aren't great, but I'll post more later. The hospital will take pictures here in a little bit so I post that link as well.

Here are all my sisters and Aiden. Heath is hiding in the background! Brook is expecting, she is about 8 weeks, so it won't be long and I'll get to be on the other side of this picture.

Here is Rylie, is was so good with Aiden. Don't know why I am surprised, but she was so little when Reagan was born, I wasn't really sure what to expect.

Here is Reagan. She is really excited about Aiden, and has been for a while, but as soon as he moves, cries or does anything, she is ready for someone to come and take him. She has this look on her face because she doesn't want to hold him anymore and we said we needed a picture first!!

Thank you everyone who prayed for us that day, we definitely needed and felted lifted up!!

Jesus Likes to Color

2010-01-26T06:43:00.000-08:00

Did you know that Jesus like to color?? I bet you are wondering if you missed a lesson in Children's Church, I was when Reagan informed of this fact. I asked her how she knew that, and she said it was from her Favorite Song, "We Fall Down", and then she sang it for me:

We fall down, we lay our "crayons" at the feet of Jesus

She said see, He wants us to share our crayons with him because sharing is nice and he wants to be able to color with us. Thought it was too funny not to share real quick! Hope everyone is having a good week!!

Quick Update

2010-01-25T10:55:00.001-08:00

My doctor set a date to induce me on Wednesday morning if Aiden doesn't decide to come in the next two days!! I am really excited to finally get to meet and hold him!!

I'll try to log-on and at least post his info if not pictures soon!

Just Dance

2009-12-29T18:37:00.000-08:00

Brook got a Wii game, Just Dance for Christmas and she brought it to my mom's for everyone to play. The girls loved it!! They loved the game so much that is what they decided to spend their Christmas money from Granny on. I got some cute video of them playing, here you go!

This is "Who let the Dogs out", which is Rylie's favorite. She thinks it is funny because there is a dog on the screen showing you how to dance.

Here is video of the girls shaking it to "Hot & Cold":

I will try and post some Christmas pictures later this week. We have finally started working on Aiden's room this week. The carpet came out. Unfortunately Michael has to level the concrete before we can lay the floor, so that will slow us down a little. We have never done that before, so hopefully it goes well!! It was on the schedule for today, but the concrete can't be cold and it was freezing today! Just like real a contractor, he has been on the job 1 day and already behind schedule. His room will most likely not be done before he gets here, but he'll spend some time in our room so I am not real worried about a timeline at this point. Michael just got finished with the girl's room about a month ago and it looks great. I'll try and post pictures, maybe with the Christmas ones.

I am 34 1/2 weeks and to say that I am ready would be an understatement!! This has been the hardest pregnancy of the three by far, and even though I know it will be my last, I am ready for the end. I had morning (AKA all day & night) sickness until 26 weeks, and then it came back about 2 weeks ago!! My next appointment is next Wednesday, the 6th and I am a praying that my Dr will be opening to discussing setting a date to be induced. At a sonogram a few weeks ago they said that Aiden would be between 9.5-10 pounds if I carried full-term. My dr was already thinking about inducing about a week earlier because of how big the girls were, but I am hoping for even sooner!! I will keep everyone posted with a date, but with the girls he didn't set a date until just a few days before. Michael's best friend Cody is stationed in Fort Hood, and if we can give him notice then his family can make the short drive up for the birth. They have been at the hospital with both of the girls, so I really hope they can make it for this one too. I cool thing about this pregnancy is how much he moves!! He is constantly on the move. He doesn't kick that much, just a night, but all through out the day I can feel him tossing and turning. The girls were never this active, so I guess it is giving me a little preview of the difference between boys & girls!!

Christmas Card

2009-12-17T19:21:00.001-08:00

I know that I should probably be patient and let you guys receive your Christmas card in the mail, but since I am not patient, here you go!! I'm late like usually anyways, so why make you wait to enjoy the picture for my tardiness?? I'm going to trya nd mail out cards next week, so you will probably receive them after Christmas, but I hope you enjoy!! A friend set up the design for me, check out her blog: http://www.tennisondesigns.blogspot.com/

More pictures!!!

2009-12-08T19:34:00.000-08:00

3 posts in 3 days - crazy I know!! It was a long time coming, so I hope you enjoy all the new pictures.

Here are some more pictures, just some fun ones from the last month or so. A few halloween pictures:

We were digging out Christmas decorations and came across the girls old halloween customes. Here is Michael in the DeeDee Doodle wig:

Here was Rylie's reaction when he came out. Rylie thought he was so funny, Reagan just cried!!

The girls have been really excited about every part of Christmas this year. It has been really fun. Here they are decorating the tree:

Here is a little bit of the decorations from outside. The girls are very excited each night for it to get dark & turn the outside lights on.

Here are just a few pictures of Reagan being Reagan!!

Reagan loves this hat and wants to wear it all the time!! She had me put in on because she had just gotten out of the shower & her hair was cold!!

This picture is just for you Robyn!!! Rylie has been talking about going to see Santa since her birthday! She said now that she was 4 she didn't have to be scared anymore and she wanted to sit in his lap. I was not sure if that was going to be the case or not, and she really surprised me!! She just walked right up and sat in his lap and started talking to him. It was really fun to watch. She told Santa what she wanted then was ready for her pictures. Reagan was a different story. It doesn't look like it in the picture, but she was crying. As soon as we were done I handed her to Michael and he took her away so Rylie could finish talking with Santa. We actually did this before Thanksgiving, so with no line we didn't feel rushed.

Group Pictures!!

2009-12-08T07:10:00.000-08:00

My sisters and I had a hard time getting together to have our group picture taken for my mom, so we just took them at my house. A friend of mine helped me edited the pictures a little too, take red eye out, crop, etc. She also sets up Christmas cards, invites and other stuff, check out her blog: http://www.tennisondesigns.blogspot.com.

Here are our results!!:

Back Row:
Caden (5-Bethany's), Emily (2nd Grade-Brandi's), Brock (1st Grade-Brandi's), Rylie (4-Brittany's)
Front Row:
Addie (3-Bethany's), Tristyn (3-Brook's), Hannah (5-Brandi's), Reagan (3-Brittany's)

Thought circle circle would be cute. Turned out really good except for Rylie, she was tired and didn't like laying down. Although you can't see Caden's eyes, I love his smile!!!

Here is Tristyn (Brook's)

Here are Rylie & Reagan (Brittany's)

This is Emily, Brock & Hannah (Brandi's)

Here is Caden & Addie (Bethany's)

Hopefully more pictures to come!! I know I still have Halloween & a few other random pictures. I take my last final tonight (YEAH!!!!), so hopefully in the next day or two you'll have more.

If you haven't seen the last post, I posted the girl's new pictures, keep scrolling!!

New Pictures - Finally

2009-12-07T20:00:00.000-08:00

We went to Sears tonight and had pictures taken. It was sort of Bday pictures & Christmas pictures. We didn't really like any of the Christmas pictures, but we got one cute one. Funny, it is the one with no faces!! I finally found my camera cord, so I'm going to post Halloween & other pictures after this. Hope you enjoy!!!

Best View!!!

2009-11-13T10:27:00.000-08:00

Right now I am working and I have the best view, my 2 little girls playing on the playground!! I know that I haven't posted in a while, we have had a lot going on - Rylie's B-day, my B-day, Reagan's B-day, Halloween and that doesn't even include my school!!

I was blessed about a month ago with a great job opportunity, and I took it. I am now working at First Presbyterian Church of FW as the Assistant Business Administrator and I LOVE IT!!! The best part, the girls get to come to work with me. They get to attend the childcare center for FREE and the Day School at 1/2 price. When Aiden is born, I'll be able to bring him as well and be able to go down and nurse him at least 1-2 times through out the day. I won't be able to make every feeding, but even if I make it down once a day, it will be awesome. Michael and I have been praying since we found out daycare for 3 was $500 a week for God to provide for us so that I could work. He is self-employed and I carry the insurance for the family so I didn't feel staying home was an option. It makes me wonder why I even doubt His provision. He went so far above my wildest expectations when this job was put in my path.

I have 2 group projects and 2 big papers due in December, but I promise to try and post pictures soon. I know it has been a while and I have already received emails wondering where the B-day & Halloween pictures are.

Happy Friday the 13th!!

Happy Birthday Rylie!!

2009-09-21T19:48:00.000-07:00

Rylie turned 4 today, and I can't believe it!!! It seems like just yesterday she was born. Here are a few pictures:
This was Rylie just after she was born. She was not breathing and had to be tubed in the room. Luckily she recovered quickly and we were able to bring her home in just 1 short week. Atleast it seems short looking back.

Here is Mike and Rylie and her Saturday home getting ready to watch her first Nebraska game.

Wasn't she a cute baby???

Here is Rylie on her 2nd birthday with her favorite guy:

The next few pictures were taken within a few months after her 2nd birthday:

I had to work so Rylie had to go to school, but she aws actually really looking forward to it. She brought cupcakes to the class and her teacher really made her feel special today. He hung a banner up in the room and told the class they were not allowed to call her Rylie, they had to call her birthday girl (which she inforced at home!!). She also got to be the line leader all day, come on, does life get any better then that!!! Rylie picked Chick-fil-a for dinner and then Mike had set up a scavenger hunt for her at home sending her all over the house to find all sorts of new bubble toys.

Her birthday party is Friday and I'll post pictures. Bethany's best friend and our family hair dresser, Katie Petty, has graciously volunteered to come over and help us give all the girls a princess make-over!! They will get hair up-do's, make-up and nails painted. It will hopefully be just as much fun as the Sweet & Sassy party Rylie went too earlier this year, but without all the expense. Rylie hasn't stopped talking about that party, but I just couldn't have justify spending that much on a party, but I also didn't want her to miss out on something fun.

Party pictures will post soon!!

Maybe just a little excited!!

2009-09-19T06:38:00.001-07:00

My family just might be a little excited about another boy!! We haven't had a boy since Caden, and he turned 5 this summer!! Brook came over that same night we found out and brought clothes she had gone out and bought that afternoon. Since then she has bought more clothes. She said they were summer and on clearance and she just couldn't pass them up!! My mom went out that weekend and bought his bedding from Babies R Us!! There are pictures below. You couldn't buy the bumper pads, dust ruffle and a few other things seperately, so she just bought the set. My mom is still making a quilt, I couldnt' imgine not having one! For those who know my girls, you know they can't sleep with out their GiGi quilts. I'm excited to go pick out fabric and to see the finished product.

Of course, we will have some Nebraska in the room. I didn't want it to be just Nebraska, but that is why we went with the sports theme, so it would look good to put a few Husker things in. We are even going to order Nebraska fabric and have it in is quilt. I bought some newborn nebraska shirts. Hopefully they are small enough, because I would love for that to be what Aiden is wearing in his hospital picture!!

I know my family would of loved another girl, but it has been really fun to see everyone so excited for us to have a boy!! Hopefully more pictures to come soon of the girls. I have been really busy since school started back.

It's a . . .

2009-09-09T19:33:00.000-07:00

We had our sonogram today and everything was good. The baby measured perfectly at 18W 4D and everything checked out. Here is a picture of the babies face:

And . . .

It's a boy!!

The girls were really excited. From the start they have said they wanted a brother. Reagan has been more insisted then Rylie. It was funny because I thought it would of been the other way around. This weekend as we were talking about the appointment Reagan told me it could be a boy or a kitty cat!! I tried to explain that those weren't the options and that God would pick for us, but she didn't want to hear anything about that.

The name will be Aiden James, or AJ. We have had that name picked out since I was pregnant with Rylie, and we are excited to finally get to use it! I guess that I can keep the blue blog for now!!

Reagan Singing & Silly Pictures

2009-08-07T06:46:00.000-07:00

Here is a video of Reagan sing Take me out the Ball Game!! It is her favorite song right now.

Reagan is so silly!! She is still also really flexible still. She can completely fold in half and sleep basically in her own lap. Here is a picture of Reagan using her foot as a phone!! This is her favorite game to play, especially in the car.

Here is how Reagan wipes her tears away when she is crying...I did mention she is silly, right??

I don't know if I need to say it again... but she is just crazy. Sometimes she reminds me of Bethany.

Rylie isn't normally as silly as Reagan, but she loosens up every now and again and joins Reagan. Bless her heart she is too much like her momma!! Rylie & Reagan are completely opposites, and a lot like Bethany and I. I just hope they don't have to wait until they are both older to get along. They play so good right now and I hope it stays that way.

Old Woodland West Together

2009-08-06T17:44:00.000-07:00

We got together with the Watts, the Biggs, the Wilson, and the Crowders this past Saturday. We had a blast. There were a bunch of water activities set up in the Watt's back yard and the kids played all day.

Here is a picture of Reagan and Emily (Shelly's Daughter).

Here is Reagan enjoying Tiffany's ice cream dessert. Brandi took this picture because she thought it was funny how Reagan was sitting. She has always sat like that!

Here is Rylie having fun in the little pool. She is my careful one, so she didn't play on the bigger water toys!!

Here is Emily (Shelly's), Brady (Shelly's) and Cole-yellow shirt (Kim & Bruce).

Here is Emily (Brandi's) coming down the on the big slide. I wish I had taken a picture of the whole thing. It had 2 slides, stairs to climb up and wading pool at the bottom.

Broken camera & Sonogram

2009-07-23T16:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I know that I promised pictures, but our camera broke shortly after we got back from our trip. We don't have a card adaptor, so I can't pull the pictures off. Hopefully soon we'll have a new camera and I can post some pictures.

We had our first sonogram last week. You couldn't see much, I was only about 10 1/2 weeks. The baby wouldn't move either, he was curled up in a ball and was just moving his arms. I'm not sure how much you can see in the picture below. The baby's face is turned slightly towards the camera, you can see a little bit of the shadow of the eye socket. His arms and legs are underlength him. I know that I am saying "He", maybe it is just wishful thinking on my part, but that is just what comes out. Michael is convienced it is a girl, so he corrects me everytime and says she! We have about 6-8 weeks until we'll know for sure, so I guess we have a little bit more time to disagree on the issue.

Everything looked good at my first appointment & sonogram. The heartbeat was nice & strong and the baby already is measuring 2 days early. I guess the fact that I have lost 10 lbs hasn't hurt him at all!! I am surprised the baby wasn't small as sick as I have been. I'll be 12 weeks on Saturday so I am hoping that part is just about done. I was induced with Reagan 7 days early and she was 8.5 lbs, & Rylie 4 days early at 8.5 lbs so Dr Weigman expects this baby to be just as big.

Surprise!!

2009-06-13T12:09:00.000-07:00

Michael and I received a BIG surprise last week. I found out that I was pregnant again!! We had been talking about maybe having one more, in about a year, once I was done with school. We are starting to get over the shock and the reality of 3 kids is starting to sink in . . . and scary us a little!!

We leave on Wednesday to go out of town to South Carolina to see Cody graduate from Basic and we are really excited to have the weekend kid-free, thanks to NaNa and PoPo coming down from Kansas to watch the girls. I am also taking 1 class this summer, it started 2 weeks ago. It required 5 books!!! That is a lot of reading to do in just 8 weeks. By week 1 I was already way behind.

I'll hopefully have a little bit of time after we get back to post new pictures of the girls. They have enjoyed the summer so far. We have gone to the Zoo, the park and to Grammers to play on the lake. The girls surprised me with how much the enjoyed the water, last year they were scared.

Sorry for the random blog, we've had a busy summer already and it has just began!!

Cody to Army & Easter

2009-04-22T18:28:00.000-07:00

Michael's closet friend, Cody, enlisted in the army and shipped out to boot camp 2 weeks ago. We have been so close to the Roche family for a long time. They have a 5 year old daughter & a 3 year old son. Our families have been friends since before we had kids. We have celebrated every birthday & holiday together for a long time!! For right now we still get to enjoy his wife and 2 kids, but by the end of the year he will be done with all his training and he will find out where his first posting will be.

He asked for a picture of the girls to take with him, and this is what we gave him:

Easter was fun this year. The girls had parties & hunts at school, so they were really excited. All they learned about at school was the Easter bunny and other fun things. Michael talked to them about the real reason we celebrate Easter. When I got home from school, Rylie couldn't wait to tell me what she learned. She told me that we celebrate Easter because Jesus can stop dying on the cross. I thought it was so cute!!

Here is a picture of almost the whole family that morning:
Reagan's favorite thing in her Easter basket was the pencils (I think the least expensive too! She doesn't' even want me to sharpen them either, she just likes to hold them.)

The girls asked me to take this picture. I thought that was funny because I always ask them to pose that way:

I wasn't able to get any good pictures of the girls looking for eggs. They didn't stay in one place long enough! We had 8 kids running around my house living room & kitchen, and it was crowded! It was wet & rainy outside so we were forced to stay inside:

I wrote on my last blog about Reagan's attitude, and on Easter she displayed it BIG TIME!!!! Reagan is normally so sweet and funny, but every now and then horns come out of no where. She asked for juice after lunch and I filled up the cup about half way, which is normal for her. She asked for more and I told her that if she finished that I would give her more. She was not happy with that answer so she dumped the cup of juice on the floor!!! I couldn't believe it. After a spanking and going to time out for about 5 minutes she had to clean it up. This picture does not due the situation justice. She is still crying hysterically as she is mopping up all the juice. Once I calmed down and looked back, it was actually really quick funny. Good thing she is sweet & funny most of the time, otherwise I think I might go crazy!! I hope one day she figures out that I am more stubborn then she is, and soon.

New Pictures

2009-04-04T20:00:00.000-07:00

I know it has been a while since I have posted, but things are going well. We are staying busy with work and school and I am loving working for a CPA firm again. My first semester back is almost done, and then I'll have a few weeks off until summer starts!! If everything goes as plan, then I'll be done in May of 2010!! Just 3 more semesters ... then grad school. Oh well, one at a time.

Here are some recent pictures of the girls, guess where we were head?? The zoo!! I am sure everyone is surprised.

Don't they look like they love each other?? This weekend they have gotten along really good. They had been fighting quite a bit, so it was a nice change.

Side note: It may not look like it in this picture, but Reagan has finally started growing a little bit!! She actually has outgrown her pants from this winter (18months!!). This is the first season that she has outgrown her clothes before the seasons changed. Since Rylie is so tall, they have never really looked a year apart, but maybe Reagan will catch up. She was sick 2 weeks ago, and at the doctor she weighed 26 pounds!!

Here is Reagan being silly:

And Reagan showing me her mad face. Unfortunately, we see this face a lot. Reagan has enough attitude for 10 kids!! My mom says that is exactly how I was, but I don't think I started as early as Reagan. She is a lot of fun, but she can be quite the handful.

My friend Robyn was in town this weekend from Tennessee. We have known each other since 6th grade softball season, and it is always good when she is able to come down to visit.

We actually go to church with her Brother and his family, and so we all went together. Below is the four older kids:

Cora, Rylie, Reagan and Cole.

Here is Logan, Robyn's son. He is 16 months old.

Potty Training & A 3 Year Old Witness

2009-02-01T18:21:00.000-08:00

Reagan is about 90% potty trained!! It started taking off about 4 weeks ago. She did really good for about 1 week at home so I bought pull-ups for school (She had been asking for them for a while!!). During that week so only had 1 accident a day in her pull-ups, so her teacher said she was ready for panties! Reagan was really excited. She had been wearing panties at home, but I didn't think she was ready for them at school!! She has had them one for 2 weeks now at school and she does really good. Most days she doesn't have any accidents. All last week she only had 2 accidents. One while they were outside playing and the other at nap time. I am ok with accidents at those times. At home she does pretty good about stopping and going to the bathroom, but sometimes while she is playing she forgets and I have to remind her. The past week was the first week that she would stop and only potty a few drops in her panties and then finish in the potty. That has been nice because we aren't having to change pants!! She is scared of the big potty, so if we go in public she has to wear a pull up.

As I am writing this blog, Reagan was playing with Michael and just peed on his lap!! How funny, I don't think I'll mention what I am blogging about, he might not think it is as funny as I do!! Did I mention she is just about 90%?? Maybe tickling isn't such a good idea for right now!!

About 1 1/2 years ago I made a decision not to let the girls listen to regular music, and just christian music. It was hard for me at first to give up the music that I liked to listen too, but I didn't want the girls to hear some of the things I was hearing! The girls love their "bible songs" and ask for the as soon as we get in the car. Rylie has really asked some really good questions from songs that she has heard. She has asked if God really does have the whole world in his hands?, Does she have the joy of Jesus in her heart? and a few others. About a month ago, she heard a song that said Jesus was on the cross and she asked me about that. At first, she would get upset when I said that Jesus died on the cross. She would tell me that she didn't want to talk about it. You could tell that she was very upset. Finally she was ok with talking about it and I tried to explain that he died on the cross for her so she didn't have too and that was the reason that we love Jesus. I tried to explain it as best as I could to a 3 year old. She then started asking if Jesus died for Reagan, Daddy, Mommy and so on. I told her Jesus died for everyone.

This past Thursday we went over to Bethany's house, my sister. When we were leaving her bible song came on that talked about Jesus on the cross. She asked if Jesus died for Aunt Bethany, Caden and Addie. I told her yes. She got really excited and ask me if she could call Aunt Bethany to tell her because she might not know. I'll be honest, my first reaction was to say no, that Aunt Bethany already knows. Then I realized, she is excited and wants to tell someone and I didn't want to change that. I let her call and tell Aunt Bethany her exciting news. It made me realize that I should have the same excited that Rylie has at 3!! There are a lot of adults, myself included, that are hestitate to witness and share this exciting news that we all know. I hope that Rylie continues to learn and grow in Christ and that I can continue to learn and be amazed by her!!

Christmas and New House (FINALLY!!!)

2009-01-03T12:26:00.000-08:00

We finally closed on our house!! YEAH!!! It has been a long time coming. We have ran into many, many problems since we own Bark Busters. Most lenders have put tighter restrictions anyways, but it seem liked we were really having to jump through hoops. One lender told us that if the business address and the personal address were the same that we weren't allowed to claim any of that income!! We also were having to go back about 6 months and print out every deposit that we made to make sure nobody was gifting us money. The list could go on and on. We finally gave up on that. We found a house at a really, really good price that the owner was really to owner finance, and not charge us a high interest rate. It is only about 60 seconds from my parents. It is 2500 sq ft, 4 bedrooms, 2 1/5 baths. It has everything we needed and more. We have an over sized two car garage with TONS of cabinets and a lot of attic space to store all the things we have managed to accumulate. The master is over sized, so it fits all our furniture and we have nice bathroom with 2 big closets. Sorry no pictures, I left the camera in Kansas!! One of my favorite rooms is our guest bedroom. Since both Mike's mom and dad live out of town, we are hoping they will be able to come down and see the girls more often now that we have a place for them to stay.

We empty our two storage sheds on Friday and Saturday before Christmas and then left that following Sunday to go to Kansas. We came back home on Saturday. The girls really enjoyed getting to spend a week with PoPo and NaNa (Mike's Dad). They were spoiled and received a ton of Christmas presents. One of Reagan's favorite is a little stuffed Mickey Mouse she got from Traci. I don't think she has put him down!! She has added him to her collection of animals that she thinks she just needs to sleep with. I think she is up to about 6-7!!

I received a ton of new Fiesta Ware pieces from both my parents and Mike's. I am pumped!! I know have a formal dining room to put my hutch to display everything. Know I can really start collecting things.

Michael's parents are going to come down in the next couple of weeks to see the house so I will hopefully be able to post pictures of our house and Christmas then!!

Forgot 1 thing!

2008-12-09T13:52:00.000-08:00

I forgot to mention 1 thing! For those who don't know, I have put my notice in at Kinko's. I will be going back to work for PSK on January 5th. I am really excited. I am also going to go back to school. I had my appointment with my academic advisor yesterday and I learned that I only have 9 more classes left!! I was hoping it was between 10-12, but I really couldn't remember. I am so excited I can't hardly stand it!! I know it will be busy next semester, but it will be worth it when I am done.

Dr Appointments and Sunday

2008-12-09T13:35:00.000-08:00

The girls had their 2 and 3 year old check up last Friday. They were healthy and everything was good. Rylie didn't have to get any shots and Reagan only had 1 due. Thankgoodness!! The real reason I am writing about this because of how they ranked on the charts. It is just really funny to me.

Rylie - 65% in Height
85% in Weight
She is eating like a horse, so we think those will even out in the next couple of weeks. She is normally pretty even and right at 85% in height too.

Reagan - 50% in Weight
10% in Height!!
After the dr saw that, she asked me, is she short or did we measure wrong? It was really funny. We have been wondering if Reagan was short or not. It is kind of hard to tell because Rylie is so tall. The girls are only a year apart, but they don't look it!! You would think I would be lucky enough for Reagan to be able to wear Rylie's clothes from the year before, but no!! The clothes are too big!! Reagan is in 2T pants. Rylie wore 18 months at a year and 3T at 2 years. Oh well, I think to dress them the same anyways.

We had a really busy day on Sunday. We did Reagan's baby dedication that morning. I know, she isn't a baby!! The last church we were at only did them once a year and we were out of town!! We started visiting churches about 3-4 months ago looking for a more active sunday school class. We found that class at First Baptist Mansfield. We know a few of the couples from the church I grew up in and one of the couples is Robyn's younger brother. Wierd how things work out sometimes! Anyways, so we were late, but it is important to us to take the moment to dedicate ourselves to raise Reagan in a godly manner. We didn't bring a camera, but hopefully I can find someone who did and post a picture!! She did really good. I was proud!

That afternoon we went to a baby shower for Tiffany (use to be Watts). She is due in January. It was really good to see her and her sisters and mom again. It had been a little while. I took Rylie with me. She wanted to go to the baby party with all the other girls! Shelly's little girl Emily was there. She turns 4 in January so they had a lot of fun. Rylie and Emily actually ended up showing up in the same dress, it was really funny!! Here is a picture:

Pictures

2008-12-01T18:49:00.000-08:00

We went to Sears on Sunday night to get the girls pictures taken. They turned out pretty good I think. We had a rocky start, Reagan didn't want to have any pictures taken. Rylie on the other hand, after we left said she wants to have her picture taken every day!!

We bought all CD and the rights to the picture, but know I can't get them to load to the sears website to send you a link, so I just uploaded them all here. Hope you enjoy!!

Now, I hope that nobody thinks we are mean for the next two pictures, but Reagan is a mess!! I think the pictures are evidence enough!! Rylie is my rule follower and well, Reagan, isn't!! She is ornery, but comes by it honestly. Something about those 2nd born I guess.

Disney on Ice!!

2008-12-01T05:08:00.000-08:00

Our girls love Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and anything that has to do with Princesses. We took them to Disney on Ice this past Saturday and they loved it! Rylie was really into show and loved the whole thing. Reagan loved parts of, but didn't get into it quite as much as Rylie. We told the girls we were going to Mickey's clubhouse and they were talking about it for days before.

When we got there (30 minutes early!!) Reagan kept saying, Mickey where are you?, Donald where are you? and through the list. We had a chance to buy tickets before they went on sale, and so we were able to get front row seats on the ice. I was a little worried that it might scare the girls, but they did great. At the end Reagan even got to give Baloo (From jungle book) and one of the Monkeys a high five. She talked about that rest of the night. Cinderella blew Rylie a kiss as she was riding by in the carriage. I thought Rylie was going to pass out. Her jaw dropped and she tried to blow a kiss back, but she just froze!!

The one thing we didn't realize was the it was featuring The Incredibles. Friday night they came on NBC and we happened to watch - good thing!!

Here are a few pictures. It was pretty dark during a lot of the show, so not all my pictures turned out great.

This is Mickey and Minnie in Jail, the were captured during part of the show.

Then they were put into lazer jails. This was right in front of us. I didn't zoom in at all during this shot. Reagan didn't watch take her eyes off of Mickey until he was out. I couldn't figure out if she was just in ahh or worried.

Fronone came later to help them out. The girls liked him because a lot of smoke and stuff followed. He to me tooked the most like his character on the movie.

And finally the are free!!

Here is Donald. I am not zoomed in on this one either!! It was really funny, at the beginning they introduced all the characters. Reagan turned to me and asked, where is Daisy?? I just laughed. With all the excited and everything else going on, she noticed Daisy wasn't there. I told her she might be sick.

Rylie is already asking to go back. A different Disney on Ice featuring Little Mermaid and Cars comes in March. Tickets go on sale in February and we hope we can that show too.

Our Anniversary

2008-11-28T05:18:00.001-08:00

Our anniversary was this past Wednesday, 3 years. My parents have date night every Wednesday and they like to go out to a place called Southern Junction. It has buy one get one steak dinners and country dancing with live music. The girls have seen them leave and have been asking to go, so we decided to go for our anniversary. The girls were so excited, the talked about it for 2 days. Rylie even spent some time practicing!! They had a blast. At first they were a little nervous, but once they took that first spin on the dance floor, we couldn't keep them off. Michael and I had blast watching them enjoy themselves so much. Here are a few pictures.

Here is Rylie and Michael before we left. She is really into giving "big kisses" right now.

Here is our little family. Reagan was being silly, and I love Ryie's face trying to figure out what shhe was doing!!

The girsl LOVED dancing with GiGi and Big Daddy. Everytime they would sit down, the girls would go over and ask them to dance again.

When we got tired of dancing with them, they finally decided they could just dance by themselves. I think Rylie's face shows how much fun they had. They were both smiling the whole time.

I know this picture is dark, but this is how my parents were dancing with the girls. My dad was holding most of Reagan in one arm and then my mom's arms were underneath helping too. They wouldn't take them around the dance floor a couple of times before they put them down. I am sure my dad's arms a little sore!!

Santa picture already!!

2008-11-24T05:28:00.001-08:00

Yes, I know that it is really, really early for a Santa picture, but Rylie was willing, so I wasn't going to wait. Rylie saw the Little People Princess Castle in the Toys R Us magazine at my mom's house and said she wanted it for Christmas. That was in the middle of October. She still hasn't stopped talking about it. My mom has gotten it for her already. When she saw Santa I told her that she could go and ask him for something, like the Princess Castle, and he would try and make sure she got it on Christmas. She was excited and all but ran to get in line. We only had to wait maybe 5 minutes.

Reagan was not so excited. She kept trying to look over her shoulder, I guess to make sure Santa was going to get her!! Afterwards, he gave them a color book and again asked Reagan if she wanted anything for Christmas. She said a puppy. There happened to be a picture of a dog in the color book and when he showed her she started talking to him. She still didn't want him to hold her, but it was fun to see her open up and talk to him. She has been carrying that book around everywhere this weekend and telling anyone who wants to listen that Santa gave it to her!!

Rylie

2008-11-24T05:21:00.000-08:00

Rylie has pretty much always been a big talker. Since she has learned to start expressing herself, she hasn't slowed down!! I can't help but tell you about the other day.

We went to a family dinner at CiCi's Pizza 2 Friday's ago. Michael couldn't go, he was working. His week had been busy, so he didn't get to see the girls much. The girls had a blast, as always with all their cousins. They got to play the candy game (the one that lets them have a turn until the win). Before I put the girls down for a nap the next day, I told them to go straight to sleep because Daddy was going to home when they woke up and we could go do something fun afterwards. Rylie told me that she wanted to take Daddy to the pizza place so he could have fun too. She want Mommy and Reagan to go too, but not GiGi or Big Daddy or anyone else. She said she didn't want anyone to talk to her daddy but her!! I couldn't help but smile. She didn't know how to say that she had missed her daddy and didn't want to share that time. I thought it was really cute and wanted to share.

Halloween and Birthday Party

2008-11-05T09:51:00.001-08:00

I was really excited about Halloween this year. Last year we hosted a fall carnival for Reagan's birthday, so we didn't trick-or-treat. This was going to be there 1st year. All the kids met at my parents house and we actually managed to get a picture. I am going to try and list them out left to right:
Back row:
Caden, Brock, GiGi, Big Daddy, Emily, Hannah, Addie
Front Fow:
Reagan, Tristyn, Rylie
I let the girls pick out their customes and they both picked out minnie mouse. We didn't know until later that Tristyn picked that out too! They were amazed to walk out and see they were the same. It was really cute.

This next picture may not seem like a big deal to most of you, but if you really know Rylie you know how timid and quiet she is, escpecially with new things. It only took one house of getting candy for her to get the hang of it!! She was running up and knocking on doors and yelling, trick or treat. Reagan was right in the middle trying to keep up with Caden and Rylie. We had to carry her inbetween houses because she couldn't walk as fast.

Reagan got a balloon at our church carnival. She had so much fun playing with it on the way home. She was yelling and making different animals noises and it sounded so funny. She had Michael and I laughing most of the way home.

Here are the youngest girls watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse at 10PM!! My girls normally go to bed at 8PM but they were still wound up to much.

REAGAN'S BDAY PARTY PICTURES!!!

Reagan's party wasn't until 6pm so we went to the zoo to kill some time. I wasn't going to post anymore zoo pictures, but I got a really cute one of the girls. Reagan never lets me fix her hair. She looks so big in a ponytail!! She doesn't have a lot of hair on top, but has a lot in the back.

We had Reagan's bday party at Mcdonalds. Just with invited our immediate family and 3 other really close friends, we had 18 kids and about 16 adults. Since we are still with my parents and they are remodeling, we didn't have room. The kids had a blast. Reagan is almost always smiling, but at her party she was running around laugh and giggling. She really had a blast. All day she kept saying, "it's my party day, it's my party day". She has been waiting for her day since Rylie's party.

We didn't get a lot of good pictures, she didn't stand still long enough!! She only ate about 3 fries and 2 bites of chicken. She McDonalds we went to is really cool. It doesn't have any tunnels, just stairs so it made it really easy for the small ones. Everyone had fun. We were the only ones there so it was nice.

Reagan has talked about her McDonald cake all week. The funny thing is she doesn't like cake!! She won't eat cake, cupcakes or cookies. She enjoyed the idea of it and that everyone was singing to her though.

Her favorite present was the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse set. You can't see it in this picture, but she was beside herself with excited. It was a big box, but some how she managed to hug it and carry it around. My parents left first and took the presents. We stayed to let the girls play a little more, but when Reagan noticed her mickey mouse was gone, she started asking to go home. We set it up for her when we got home and she loved it!! It is always neat to watch them really get into something.

She also liked her barbie that she got. I was really surprised. As soon as she opened it she held it up and said, look, my barbie. I didn't know she knew what a barbie was. She has 2 of the disney princess ones, but she has always called them a princess. She loves the brush the hair.

Here is just Daddy and girls being silly. She got so tickled that Daddy looked like Mickey Mouse. Only if they would stay that easy to entertain for a while!!

If you can't tell from all the posts, the girls love the disney princess and mickey mouse. At the end of the month we are going to Disney on Ice. We got to buy tickets before they went on sell because we shop a lot of the disney store. We have front row tickets and I can't wait. I think they are going to love it!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY REAGAN!!!

2008-10-30T06:48:00.000-07:00

Reagan is two today!!! She is really excited. For the past week we have been asking, who's birthday is next? She raises her hands and says, mine!! You ask her how she is and she says three, laughs and then says two. We are still working on that.

Reagan is my firecracker baby. She is soooooo stuborn it is going to kill me. She is generally a happy, happy girl, but if you ruin her plans she gets mad quick!! My mom is always amazed at how mad she get so quick, but, she can get happy just as fast. She has grown up so much faster then Rylie it has amazed me. She sat up at 4 months, crawled around 6, and walked around 11 months. She started talking around 9-10 months and by 18 months was in full sentences.

She LOVES to sing. We have several "bible songs", as the girls call them, in the car. Some of her favorites to sing are, This little light of mine, Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, B-I-B-L-E, Father Abraham, and Who did shallow Jonah. She knows all the words the chorus and is getting better on the verus. She has learned a ton more songs at school. Her favorite school songs are Where is thumbkin and Old McDonald.

I know every parent thinks there are kids are the best, so thanks for listening to me brag on my baby on her birthday!!

Here are some pictures of Reagan. Hope you enjoy the walk down memory lane.

Reagan at 19 weeks:

Me at 25 weeks:

Reagan around 3 months:

Reagan around 5 months:

Christmas of 2007

In April 2008

In October 2008

Petting Zoo

2008-10-21T09:04:00.000-07:00

We went to the petting zoo with a good friend of ours, the Liz and Sean. The have a daughter, Makenna, that is 3 and another little girl, Kaylan that is 16 months.

Here they all are, starting left to right: Reagan, Rylie, Makenna, Kaylan!! Aren't the cute?

Here is a picture of all of us girls!! We wouldn't know what to do if any of us had a boy!!

Reagan milked a cow at the petting zoo!!! I couldn't believe it. She was a little nervous at first, but the lady was really patient.

Here they are in the pumpkin patch. They each got to pick out a pumpkin. Reagan is still carrying hers around!! They loved this part. They also went through a maze. I was surprised how well the girls did.

Here is Rylie and Makenna. They are really starting to enjoy each others company. We started having play dates about once a week when they were just 3-4 months old. Know it is less then that, but they are old enough to play together. I hope they stay good friends for long time!!!

(Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to rotate the picture!!)

Trip to the Zoo

2008-10-21T08:32:00.000-07:00

We have season passes to the ft worth zoo (in case you are wondering why we have some post with zoo pictures!!) We also have fun and try to go once or twice a month.

Reagan LOVES alligators!! I am not sure why, but she loves to read about them and talks about them a lot. This is the first time we have seen the alligator this close and she loved it. His nose was right up against the glass. It was really cool.

Rylie is normally really timid, so for her to feed the birds was a really big deal. This is the first time that I had even been able to get her to go into the bird cage. You can tell she is not 100%, but she was so proud of herself afterwards. She talked about it for days. You can see Reagan in the corner or the picture covering her head. A couple of birds flew by and hit her a little so it freaked her out. She is normally my brave one!!

Rylie has gotten into wearing handbands, so of course, Reagan has too. Reagan will not let me put them on her, she does it all my herself. Being Zoo members we can get an all day pass on the train for $4 for all of us. We we also have to make a couple of rides. The girls love it.
For some reason the wanted to set on all the little animals and take a picture. I have like 3-4 of these. It was funny. They kept posing and say, take a picture of us, take a picture.

Mine & Rylie's Bday

2008-10-21T08:15:00.000-07:00

Rylie's birthday was last month, she is 3!!! We didn't really get a lot of good pictures, but here she is with her cake. She had a lot of fun. We had a princess bday party. She decorated a crown, a wand and played a few games.

My birthday was the 9th, I turned 26 :( It was a little sad for me, it is my last year in my mid-twenties and it made me feel really old for some reason!! Michael and I went out the night before. The girls helped me bake and ice my cake. We had a lot of fun.

Quick Update

2008-09-24T14:06:00.000-07:00

I know it has been FOREVER since I have posted anything. I find it is hard to find even 20 minutes when I can sit down!! Our summer was pretty boring, we didn't take any big trips. In April we drive to Austin for the weekend and we to the drive thru zoo and in July we went to my sister's in ok for a few days.

For about 2 months now I have been M-F 9-5. It is hard because I don't get the see the girls as much, but I final get to see Michael!! We were really missing each other. In August we enrolled the girls in a private preschool. They are both loving it!!! They come on everyday with new things they have learned. It has amazed me how much Reagan has learned. Since she is just almost 2, I didn't except her class to do as much. They are learning shapes, colors and the Alphabet just like Rylie is. The first week they talked about circles. All weekend long the girls were drawing circles, and saying, "round and round, round and round". It was really cute.

Here are a few random pictures:

Me and the girls on our trip in April. We also went on a glass bottom boat ride. It was a blast.

This is Mike and the girls in February when we went to go see his parents in February. They got the princess costumes for Christmas. They love the put them on a play!!!

This is just the girls being silly for the camera!! They love to pose!! This was taken in April too.

These two pictures were taken during Breakfast before their first day of School!!!

Brook, my baby sister, got married in St Thomas in August!!! She married a wonderful man named Heath. Here are a couple of pictures from their wedding. We were very sad to have to miss it. Brook has been a single mom now for a little over two years. Heath loves Tristyn very much and we are sooo excited to have him in our family!!!

The last bit of news is that WE ARE FINALLY MOVING!!!! We have needed more space for a while now and we finally found a house. We are moving to Mansfield next week. We close on our house on Friday and on our new house next Tuesday. We are staying with my parents over the weekend. We are moving from 1400 sq ft to 3000 sq ft and we are very excited!!! Since Michael works from home he needs a little space to work and talk on the phone and not have to girls playing (loudly) in the background. I will post pictures and more information hopefully next week once we get moved in!!

Do I need to say one more time how excited we are!!!! We have looked for a house for over a year so we fill that it has been a long time coming.

Update on my babies!!

2008-04-16T18:45:00.000-07:00

It is has been a week since our the girls had the tubes put in. First of all, Cooks Children's Hospital was AWESOME!!! The girls couldn't have anything to eat or drink after midnight the night before and I was worried about them being thirsty and hungry the next morning. Cooks has the check-in & waiting area set-up perfect. The girls only asked for something to drink twice. I was shocked.

If you know my girls (or me!!), you would know that they don't do well with change. They can get freaked out pretty easy and they don't like strangers. The nurses were great. The girls didn't care about the gowns, bracelets or anything else - not even leaving Mike and I. From other trips to arlington memorial, I couldn't even imagine how well everything went.

Afterwards is a completely different story. A lot of my friends have told me that their kids were back to normal after a long nap at home - not my babies. They cried from the minute they woke up and didn't stop for almost three days!! Finally I called the dr and asked if this was normally or if I should be worried. I told me that the girls a lot more fluid in their ears then is normally and having the clean all that out was causing all the extra pain. Basically they were just really, really sore. After about 4-5 days they were back to there normal activities and doing great.

Reagan was estimated to have lost 65-75% of her hearing and Rylie was estimated at 50-60%. The dr couldn't believe how well they were talking. Neither one is completely clear, but they both have huge vocabularies. Reagan can say well over 65 words and is even putting 2 & 3 together. It is amazing what having an older sister is teaching her!! Lately her saying has been, "by myself" while pushing my hands away!!! I can already tell a difference in how the girls are starting to completely finish words. It is excited to see a noticeable change so quickly. I am excited to see how good they will be talking in just a few more weeks.

We go for a follow-up visit on wednesday, but I think he will say everything looks good. Thanks for the prayers - I was one nervous mommy!!!

Prayer Requests!!!

2008-04-08T18:08:00.000-07:00

Please lift up my Friend
A very dear friend on mine, Charity lost her Uncle Ron today. He was a very important role model in her life and they were very close. Her oldest son was also very close with him and is only in 1st or 2nd grade. Her uncle was married and had two girls, one who graduated high school in the last couple of years and one who is either a junior or senior in high school. I knew him and know that he was saved. Please keep his family prayers as they go through the next few weeks.

Please lift up my babies
Both of my girls are having minor out patient surgery to have tubes put in their ears first thing in the morning. They have battled with ear infections, colds and sinus infections since they were about 4-6 months old. Hopefully this will finally give them some relief. In the process we also found out that they both have lost quite a bit of hearing due to fluids in the ear. Please pray for a successful surgery and that we will see the benefits!! I have been told by several other parents that this is a minor, no big deal thing, but it just doesn't feel like it when it is my babies they will be putting under!!!

Thank you for your prayers!!

Few Random Pictures :)

2008-01-21T01:20:00.000-08:00

WHEN DID THEY GET SO BIG?!?!?!?

I have been wondering this week where my babies went!! They are getting so big and I am excited and a little sad at the same time. Reagan is already asking to use the potty. She loves to go over and sit down after Rylie gets done. Rylie had a bladder infection so we had to pull out the baby potty to get her to use it again. Reagan is almost 15 months and that is right at the same age that Rylie ask to go for the first time. Rylie was potty trained at 21 months so I can only hope Reagan is that easy!!!

I know I can be crazy, but I took a picture of Rylie's DoodlePro drawing a few days ago - she drew a boat and it has a flag and everything!! She is always asking me to draw things for her and I draw a simple boat as a half circle with a little flag. I was so blown away by her I couldn't help myself. Earlier this month she drew a smiley face with 1 line coming down (body?leg?) and said it was PoPo (Mike's Dad). She then scribbled all over it and said "PoPo broke". He fell in Oct and broke is hip and she still thinks he is broke. It was really funny.

Here are the girls eating bananas. I started to cut Reagan's up and she yelled at me No!! I just looked at her and she held her hand up in the air. She ate almost the whole thing like Rylie does. I wanted to cry!! She won't even let me cut her food up anymore. She will throw it on the floor if you cut hers & not Rylie's up. She looks at her plate and then at Rylie's to make sure it is the same!!! How fast they learn and how fast they want to be like everyone else. She was so proud of herself too. She would take a bite and then just look around and smile.

Here they are playing with their little leaps abc fridge set. They set their for over 20 minutes and actually took turns trying to stick letters in and pushing the song button. I was so impressed.

I am going to miss my babies!! It is sad to think that we are already done with that phase in their lives. It was just over a year ago that I felt like I had been pregnant for YEARS and now I have a 2 year old and a toddler, what happend?!?!?

Christmas Update & Pictures

2008-01-21T00:51:00.000-08:00

Better late then never, right?!?!

I am not sure what I was thinking getting just Rylie the Disney Princess Bedding (from the prev post). It was the only thing we bought at Christmas that we didn't buy two of and we ended up going on Dec 26th to buy a 2nd one!!! As soon as we opened it up & put in on Rylie's bed they both started getting excited - Reagan just as much as Rylie. Reagan started laughing and ran over and kissed the princesses on the bed. I felt like the worse mother ever!! Now the both have matching beds. Mike & I keep telling each other it might of been easier to have twins!! We are buying two of everything anyways. Rylie even gets upset if they are not wearing the same things - down to the shoes. They are a complete mess, but quite a cute one!!

We had the best Christmas. We went around to see Christmas lights 3-4 times. Both girls were really excited and loved to go. One of the state parks out here sets up big displays in their campgrounds in Dec and that was our favorite. They have a light-show and santa with a few rides and we went twice and had a blast both times. Here are a few pictures:

This is what you drive thru at the end - my fav part!!

This is the girls watching the light show; 20 minutes and they loved every minute

Just a few scenes we saw as we drove thru. Really cute!!

Here are pictures from Christmas morning:

These are the big things the girls got, a princess fold out coach/bed & baby high chair

They love the coaches!! It was Mike's idea and I didn't think we would use them as much as we do, good idea baby!! They love to feed their babies and themselves. We have fun feed and taking care of our many babies!!

Here is Reagan opening presents (I am not sure what she is smiling at, we had to fight her to open her presents!!)

Sorry, didn't realize it was flipped!! Here is Rylie in her disney princess dress-up clothes, HUGE HIT!!!! She loves to be a princess and has fun we play dress-up. You can see in the bottom of the picture is a disney princess baby doll. She sleeps with that doll know too!! We got her dress to match her dolls and that was so cool to her. I think it really made her feel like a princess.

New Beds!!

2007-12-23T21:10:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't posted in a while. Work and school have been really busy!! This is our busy time of the year at work and for some reason I thought this would be the perfect time to go back to school!! I have to be quick but I was really excited about one of the girls' christmas gifts so I had to post a picture:

We got both of the girls new beds!! We are ready to move Reagan to a bed and we have tested it out and she does good. I am really excited because we need more space for toys and between the two beds we get 4 more drawers, YEAH!!!! We also bought Rylie new bed sheets & stuff. It is Disney Princess. She is really into them right now. We decided to pass Rylies on to Reagan. It isn't even a year old and Reagan won't know. We hated to do that but we decided when she gets Rylie's age we will let her pick it out. This is actually what Rylie asked Santa for. She saw it set-up in sears and when we passed by freak out!! It was really cute. She asked for and I told her not today. Then she said, "Santa?" with raised eyes. I told Mike and he said not until we moved (hopefully soon!!). He surprised today and said lets go shopping for new beds. I can't wait until she sees it!!!! Here is a picture of the bedding from Target:

Long Weekend!!

2007-11-05T02:36:00.000-08:00

Both of our babies were sick this weekend!!! The caught a stomach bug that was going around. Reagan had it first and we had to take her to the emergency room on Thursday night. We went about 12 hours without a wet diaper and I was worried she was getting dehydrated. They were able to give her medicine that allowed her to drink enough that she didn't have to get an IV. She was real congested so they did a chest XRay that came back fine. We were only there 2 hours.

Rylie was next and we took her to the ER on Saturday night. She had not gone to the bathroom in about 12 hours. I was hoping we took her early enough that she wouldn't have to get an IV, but that wasn't the case. Her heart rate was 190 and they said it was because she was really dehydrated that it was so high and so they admitted her. Unfortunately she had to get IV fluids. She cried for about 5 minutes after they stuck her. When the anti-nausea medicine kicked in her spirits improved and she ate 12 crackers!! She hadn't had anything to eat & drink in almost 24 hours so I was really excited. 5 hours later we left!!!

They are both happy & healthy now. Hopefully we are done and it won't keep passing back & forth. If I can ever remember to brink my flash drive with all my pictures to work, I will post pictures. Hopefully next Thursday I'll remember!!!

Little update

2007-10-28T00:49:00.000-07:00

Reagan will be one on Tuesday and it is hard to believe. It seems like just a few months ago we brought her home from the hospital. She is walking really good and now she chooses to walk more then crawl. She gets frustrated because Rylie is so much faster, but I don't think it will take long until she can catch up.

Wednesday night is Reagan's Bday party, and we hope to see everyone there!!! I know it is Wednesday & Halloween, but it should be fun if you can make it. I have a carnival theme going, and I have purchased around 5 games to set-up. We will have pizza, nachos, temp tattoos & of course cake!! Reagan is allergic to milk & eggs (Makes it a little hard to find cake recipe) among other things, so I am not 100% sure how good the cake will be, but I did find a recipe online that got several good reviews. In theory I would of made a test cake, but I am not sure when I thought I would have the time. I have been so busy the last few days just trying to get everything ready. I don't think she will know the difference, but we might!!!

Reagan woke-up from a nightmare last night kicking & screaming "mine, mine, no, no" I was at work so Mike got up with her. I thought it was funny to think she was having dream that someone (RYLIE!!) was taking her toy, but apparently at 2 o'clock in the morning it isn't that funny.

Rylie is talking up a storm. We can actually hold small conversations with her now. It is pretty cool. I little more in sight on just exactly what goes on it that brain of theirs.

Hopefully I'll be able to post pictures of Reagan's bday next weekend at work. They have changed a lot since the last pictures I put up. I also have a few from Rylie's bday too.

Reagan Update!!

2007-10-18T14:15:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't posted in a while. For those who don't know, I have started working 3rd shift. I work Thur-Sun nights from 10pm - 8am. The schedule works out great for us. We don't have to put girls in daycare, and I don't think I could do that!!! We have a girl from church that comes a few nights a week to sit with the girls when they get up from their naps so I can keep sleeping.

REAGAN STARTED WALKING TODAY!!!!!!!! I am really pumped. She has been trying sooooo hard to keep up with Rylie. For about 6 weeks she has been able to stand up without holding on to anything and take about 4-5 steps, but then she would sit down. Not fall down, but get scared and sit down. Today she took 12-15 steps. She fell down, caught up and took another 15 steps!! I was really excited because Mike just happened to be home for lunch she he got to see. Rylie & Reagan play really well together, but I think Rylie will enjoy it even more once they are both on two feet!!

I am going to go lay down before I have to go to work. I was just so excited I want to share!!!

Hopefully post pictures soon!!!

Side note:
For those who don't know, Mike's mom is moving to Texas. She graduated with her master's degree in Counseling in May. She wants to be a social worker/counselor to teens. She had no ties to KS, so we talked her into moving down to be closer to her only grand babies!! Mike flies out Sat to help her drive back on Sunday. She will be staying with us for a few months until she gets a job & house of her own. We are really excited to have her be more apart of Rylie's and Reagan's life. Pray for safety as they drive down.

Funny stories

2007-08-01T13:17:00.000-07:00

Rylie & Reagan play really well together. They have been making me laugh a lot lately, so I thought I would share a few stories.

Rylie loves to pretend. She will crawl on the floor and bark and tell me she is a dog. This morning she was crawling around and bring me all of her toys by carrying them in her mouth!! She also loves to pretend to be mommy. She will go get my shoes and say I mommy. It is really cute - most of the time. Last week she gave Reagan a spanking. I told her to stop and only mommy & daddy could do that. She went and put my shoes on and said I mommy and gave her a spanking!!! She is smart, you have to give her that.

Rylie is still doing really good on potty training. Even in the bath she will tell me if she has to go. After I had both girls undressed for the bath, Reagan was crawling around. Rylie stuck her finger in Reagan's bottom and said, no poo poo in the bath sissy. It was so funny!!!

Hope you enjoyed the stories!!

POTTY TRAINING!!!

2007-07-29T20:28:00.000-07:00

Rylie started potty training last Tuesday and is doing great!! I wanted to wait until after her 2nd birthday, but she started asking to wear panties. By Thursday she had it down. As long as we stay at home, we don't have any accidents, and for the most part she will let me know if she needs to go. Only every now and then do I need to ask her if she needs to go. She has a little bit more trouble if we are away from home. She doesn't like to use the big potty so it is a little harder. We went to church this morning and then out to eat. We were gone from the house for over 5 hours and we only had one accident at church. While we were out to eat Rylie let us know twice that she needed to go potty. I am so proud of my big girl!!! So far it was a lot easier then I ever thought, which probably means Reagan will be a big pain!!!

When we do leave the house, Rylie does where a pull-up. She still thinks they are panties so she doesn't like to potty in them. She cries if you put a diaper on her. She doesn't like it at all anymore.

This past week Reagan cut her 2nd tooth. She also started walking around holding on to furniture. She pulled up the week before. She is getting so big, I can't hardly stand it!! She will be 9 months old on the 30th. Only three more months until her first birthday!!! Where does the time go?!?!?!

I have been really busy, but I will try to post more pictures soon.

More firsts for Reagan

2007-06-18T14:41:00.001-07:00

Reagan is almost 8 months and she is changing so much right now. In my last post on Saturday I forgot to tell you she clapped. It is so cute to watch because she her hands don't always touch!!

Today she said mama and crawled over to me!!! It was wonderful! Rylie said dada first, but not Reagan. Michael was home for a little while this afternoon so he got to witness the whole thing!! It would of been enough for her to say mama, but the fact that she said it on her way over to me was just the icing on the cake.

1st trip to Chuck E Cheese

2007-06-16T15:17:00.000-07:00

And we will be back!!! I had so much fun with the girls. Yesterday we went with Bethany & Brook and we really enjoyed it.

Rylie loves Barney!! She doesn't like the whole show, just the part with music. She has learned fast and hands me the remote when the music starts so I can skip to the next song!! This was a little toddler ride that went up & down. Rylie can be a little cautious, so I was really surpised when she liked it.

She must of been feeling brave, because this isn't like her either!!

We have a lot of road work by our house, so she is really enjoying tractors (that is what we call any kind of work vehicle because I don't know what else to call them!!) She was running around yelling tractor when she saw this. She really liked that there was room for Reagan. They rode 4 times!!

She actually rode this big kid ride with no help!! She did really good and laughed while it was moving.

She loved Skee Ball, we played 3-4 times. She would throw it as far as she could, and when it would come back down, I would throw it up for points.

Sorry so many posts at once. It should be a little summary of the past few months. Hope you enjoy all the pictures!!!

Some firsts for Reagan!!!

2007-06-16T15:04:00.001-07:00

Reagan has had some firsts over the past week & I just wanted to update everybody. Last Friday she cut her first tooth!!! It was a long time coming, but it finally broke the skin. She has three more on the way. Hopefully they come through faster then the first one!!

On Saturday, a cute little boy was waving to Reagan. Just as I was about to tell him that she can't wave, she waved!!! Ever since then she has been a waving machine. She waves at everybody, but she looks at the hands, she just wants to make sure it is waving!!

As you can see in the picture below, in May she had her first busted nose!! She fell out of a lawn chair at Aunt Bethany's house (nobody give her a hard time, she already felt bad enough). Bethany was holding Reagan while the other big kids were playing. Addie got stung by a bee, so she put Reagan in the chair to get her. Reagan crawled out the front of the chair!! We took her to the dr just be on the safe side, but she was fine. Just a few cuts.

As you can see, her nose cleared up fine. Reagan in also crawling!! Well, sort of. Our house is all tile & hard wood floors. She crawls with one leg up and one leg down. The leg that is down just slides on the floor. If you put her on carpet, she doesn't move & she gets really, really mad!! She is still a little slow, but I bet in a week I won't be able to keep up!! She started her crawl/slide the past Thursday!!

Here are some cute pictures of just Reagan!!

This is how she crawls. You can see the back leg that slides. If you try & help her and move it, she lays flat on her tummy & cries!!

Zoo, zoo & more zoo

2007-06-16T14:51:00.000-07:00

This spring we bought passes to the zoo. They have been great!!! You only have to go 3 times to pay for them, and we have probably gone 10 times. In March & April we went almost every week. Now it is a little to hot, but we still try to go in the mornings for a little bit. That is the good thing about the passes. I don't have to worry about what we see & trying to make it worth it. If something really catches Rylie's attention, we might stay at the animal's cage for 20-25 minutes.

Here they are. This pictures was taken in March, and as you can see, it was a little bit cool.

We played in the sand one time we went. As you can see, Reagan doesn't care about getting dirty, see loves it. Rylie on the other hand is a different story!! She is pouting because I made her sit in the dirt to take a picture. As soon as I was done we stood up and ask me to help her clean!!!

Her favorite spot is by the flamingos. This is how she stands the whole time we are there. It is the first thing you come to in the fort worth zoo so we see it on the way in & out. We spend at least 15 minutes and she crys when we have to leave.

As you can see, there are a ton for her to look at!!! They will walk right up to the cage. She loves it. She sees them in the water & she thinks they are taking a bath!!

The bear was the other favorite. When we first walked up, the bear was standing on its back legs, waving his arms and growling. It was quite a show. Of course I was to distracted to take a picture. When he layed down, Rylie was yelling at him to stand up. Everyone around got a kick out of it.

We just went this last week with Mike. I left my digital camera at home, so as soon as I get copies of the pictures on a CD I will post those. Rylie always loves it when her daddy can join us!!

Tool Box

2007-06-16T13:27:00.000-07:00

At a home and Garden Show this Spring, we got a kit from Home Depot to put together a tool box. Mike has been fixing up a lot of things around the house so Rylie has been really into tools. She had a blast helping him & playing afterwards. She had Mike go get his tool box and they played for a little while. We bought a little tool set at Wal-Mart and she has had fun.

Love Pictures

2007-06-16T13:15:00.000-07:00

Rylie is the best big sister. Right now Rylie calls Reagan sister. One of the first words out of her mouth in the mornings is Sister. Everytime we get ready to leave the house she always asks me, Sister bye, bye too? She loves to hold her, which is hard right now since Reagan is trying to crawl. Here are a few pictures of them together:

Rylie likes to do whatever Reagan is doing, and Reagan loves watching Rylie so it works out really good.

Here is Reagan watching Rylie play.

When I said she wanted to do everything Reagan does, I meant it. Reagan had just got out and Rylie asked to get in. She played for about 10 minutes and loved it. For almost 2 months all Rylie wanted to eat was baby food. She is over that now, but if you offer her baby food, she won't turn you down!!

Little Late, but here are Easter Pictures

2007-06-16T13:07:00.000-07:00

It was hard to get a good picture of both of them together. Rylie had fun going though both of the Easter baskets!!

For dessert Bethany and I made each of kids a little egg shaped cake. We helped them decorate it and then they got to eat it. I am not sure which one they enjoyed more. I think this will have to be a new tradition for us. It was much less messy then coloring eggs.

Rylie did really good looking for eggs.

Some she needed help with, but not bad for her 2nd Easter.

Here she is looking at all her prizes!!

Hello

2007-04-15T14:06:00.000-07:00

Reagan is growing so much!! On Friday, she sat up on the floor by herself for over 15 minutes. She has been getting better & better. She can even catch herself most of the time when she starts to fall. If Rylie walks by real fast or makes a loud noise, Reagan will try to look quick and she can't quite keep her balance doing that yet. It won't be but another week and I will be able to walk away from while she is sitting up. Rylie didn't do that until after she was 6 months old, and Reagan is only 5 months!!!! Reagan is still a little on the small side. We went to the doctor last week, and she only weighed 12lbs. She was 8 1/2 at birth. She has only gained 3 1/2 lbs. She is kind of short too. Rylie's old clothes are all way to long on her.

Rylie is changing a lot too. She adds a ton of words into her vocabulary every week. One of her newest words is brrr. If you ask her if she is cold, she says brrr, and brings her arms into her chest!! I tried to put shorts on her last week, and she said, no mama, brrr. It was to cute. With the cute comes the ugly too. She is starting to test us a little. Sometimes when I ask her to do something she will cross her arms and look at me!!! She is only 18 months. I can't believe how natural it is for us to be sinners. Having children will surely teach you that!! Over all though, she hasn't hit the terrible twos full swing, but I think we are working our way there. She gets a little bit more independent and stubborn every week.

I took lots of picture on Easter and over the past week. When I have time over the coming weeks, I will post them for you to see.

Day out with Thomas the Train!!!!

2007-04-01T15:27:00.000-07:00

Thomas the Train takes tours around the US and was in Grapevine this past weekend. They hook Thomas up to the front of one of the vintage trains, and he pulls us on a 25 minute ride.

Here is a picture of the inside of the train. It was really neat.

Reagan enjoyed the trip a little more then I thought. She looked out the window almost the whole time.

Here is Rylie enjoying the trip too!!

You might not be able to see, but it is raining. Mike was so sweet to take her out there so I could get this picture!!

Here is another picture of Thomas.

The day was a lot of fun, even in the rain. They had a lot of things for the kids to do. Not all of it was open the day we went because of the rain. We would like to take the girls next year, we think they will have a lot of fun, and maybe Rylie will even realize she is on a train!!.

There was a little boy about 2 years old that sat in front of us. As soon as we got off of the Thomas, he said, Dad look, it is Thomas, Can we ride? I couldn't help but laugh because both of us had spend the time & money and our kids didn't even know what was going on!! Oh well, we have the pictures to show them!!!

2007-04-01T15:22:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures from through out the day. Wayne & Irma Lee just happen to be coming in town that day, so they got to spend the day with us as well.

It was a little rainy, so Irma Lee was trying to keep her dry!!

2007-04-01T15:15:00.000-07:00

The picture is hard to see, but underneath a tent they had a bunch of train tracks set-up for the kids to play with.

Bob the Builder was there too!! Rylie doesn't know how he is, but she is really into tools right now too. We took both of there pictures with him.

They were giving them temp tattoos. Rylie looked really cute. They gave her one on her face and then one on her hand so she could see them.

Rylie's a Big Helper

2007-04-01T15:03:00.000-07:00

Rylie is such a big helper & great big sister I thought I would take a minute to brag on her!! I took pictures of her one day trying to catch everything she does to help out.

First, she loves to put dirty dishes away in the sink. She cleans up after Reagan, throwing all of her bottles in the sink. She will also clean up all of her stuff. You have to be careful of what you leave around, she knows what goes in the sink, but since she can't quite reach, she throws them in. I just know one of these days one of my dishes is going to get broke!!!

She also loves to unload the dishwasher. She unloads everything but the silverware. She picks up dishes with both hands and walks it over to you to be in the cabinet.

She has learned the next one from Mike!! After we unload the dishwashers, a little bit of water is left on the floor. Without anyone asking her, she will go over and get a towel and clean it up!!! I don't always remember to do this, but she does.

If Rylie hears Reagan crying, she likes to help. When we first brought her home, if she cried, Rylie's whole world would stop until Reagan stopped crying. She wouldn't eat, play or do anything until she knew Reagan was okay. Know, she knows how to give Reagan her pacifer when she cries. She is normally really gently too. If Reagan is in the swing, she will stop the swing, give her the pacifer, and then push it to get it started again. She also likes to give her the blanket but most of the time it ends up over her face. You really have to watch her with that one!!

2007-03-19T16:54:00.000-07:00

I was looking back at old post. Here is a picture of Rylie in the exersaucer. This is from last December. This is about the same age as Reagan is in here picture. I am just not sure if the look as much alike as everyone says - maybe it was all the hair Rylie had. Maybe it is just me!!

Rylie's Picture: (3 months old)

Reagan' Picture:(4 months old)

2007-03-19T16:40:00.000-07:00

Here is Rylie playing with Reagan in another crazy hair style. She is not still enough for me to get them even, so I stopped trying. We have fun with it.

We made our 1st, and I am sure not last, trip to the ER yesterday. Rylie & Reagan caught a stomach bug at the end of last week, and it hit Rylie pretty hard. She got a little low on fluids and we had to take her in for IV fluids. Everyone is fine and hopefully we are almost to the end. Both of their spirits were a lot better today.

Here is a picture of them playing today. Rylie loves for Reagan to sit beside her in the chair.

She doesn't want to take the hospital gown off. I guess she really likes it. She is wanting to outside and play and doesn't understand why she can't.

Here is Reagan in the exersaucer. She really likes it. She can only spin one way. She just goes round & round.

Rylie didn't like missing the picture so she had to get in the middle of the action. She likes to play with the toys while Reagan is in and Reagan loves to watch her-when she isn't looking at the camera flash!!

We were going to go Wed and get pictures taken of the girls. When every the both get over this bug we will go and I will post the link to view their pictures.

2007-03-19T16:31:00.000-07:00

Rylie is in a toddler bed now. Here is a picture when we were putting her new bedding on. She was so proud of her new "big bed". That is what she trys to say. She likes being able to crawl in when it is time to go to bed.

Rylie likes to take care of her babies and animals. She went and collected the stuffed animals to feed and then set-up show and made them a meal!! It was really cute. She did all of this with no help.

Here is Reagan. She spits up soooo much!!! She always smells like spit-up too. Here is a picture of her right after her bath, she doesn't even have a diaper on yet. Look - there is spit-up in the pictures!!!! She always has a rash on her neck as well. We can't keep her neck dry with all the spit up and her double chin rubs and gives her a little rash. It looks painful, but it doesn't seem to bother her. It just takes a couple a days with meds to clear up.

Here is Rylie with some crazy hair. She loves to have me fix her hair, but she isn't still long enough for me to really fix it. She is posing for the camera.

Quick Update

2007-03-14T22:00:00.000-07:00

I know it has been a long time since we have posted, so here is a quick update on our family. Hopefully I will have a chance to post new pictures next week.

Rylie is almost 18 months and is doing great. Monday we took her pacifer away. Actually, we made her throw it away. So far she has done good. Tonight before bed was the first time she has asked for it. She cried for a little over an hour and is now sound asleep. She is doing really good so far and will hopefully keep it up. Believe it or not she is already asking about going potty. I wasn't going to even try and potty train her until she could say the word potty, and she learned how last week. We have bought her a little potty but haven't started working on it yet. I am not planning on pushing the issue, but will let her use it right now as she is interested. So far we have done a lot of sitting, but no potty. She is loving playing though. We have also moved her into a toddler bed. She loves it!!! She is likes being able to climb up and put herself to bed. She has only fallen out once in the two weeks she has had it.

Now for Reagan. She is 4 months old and is getting so big!!! For the first few months she wasn't putting on much weight and they were watching her. They figured out she was allergic to diary. They had me move her to soy formula and she sprouted over night. In a weeks time she moved from 0-3 being big all the way into 3-6 fitting really good!!! She loves to play. She can reach up grab toys that are hanging above her. She can roll from her tummy to back and loves being on the floor. That is pretty much all she does.

Mike and I have been really busy. We started a new company in January that I primary run. It is a window fashions company. I have been selling custom window treatments and so far it has been really busy. This weekend we have our third home show of the year. They are long weekends, but they have been getting us good business. With this business and the other company Mike mainly runs PLUS two young kids, we are running all the time. We are both adjusting and finding a good routine. For more info on the new company, check out our website:
http://Hoskinson.v2k.com

Bethany (my sister) watches the kids 3 days a week for me and that has been great. I love dropping them off where they love to be. Rylie looks forward to going over and playing with her cousin Caden. He will be 3 in June. They manage to get into a lot of trouble together. Bethany has nicknamed them the sheriff & deputy!! Caden is teaching Rylie a lot of things - mostly good:)

Sorry for the long post. Hopefully this has gotten you caught up on our family. I will try and post pictures next week.

Went to go see Santa today!!

2006-12-22T13:20:00.000-08:00

We went to go see santa today and the girls did good. Rylie was scared on him, but I knew that was coming. I finally got her to stand in front of him, but she wasn't very happy about that. I couldn't get Reagan to look at the camera, but nobody was crying, so I thought it went well!!! Rylie has become very shy. I was really surpised she stood by Santa long enough to get her picture taken. We had to wait in line for almost 1 1/2 hours and we even got there early!!! Rylie was good the whole time and even walked with me in line for about 45 minutes.

Bath Time

2006-12-22T13:00:00.000-08:00

We gave Reagan her first bath in her tub last night. We had been just using the sink because it was easier. Both girls had a great time. Reagan didn't scream and cry like Rylie did. I guess having company makes it more fun. Her are a few pictures:

Rylie is very helpful with Reagan, her she is trying to help me wash her:

I can't say she loved the bath, but atleast she didn't scream!!

Reagan was in a much better mood out of the bath. I put her in her robe while Rylie finished playing. The robe has goldfish on it. It was a gift I received at Rylie's baby shower from my good friend Liz. Babies look sooo cute in robes, I think every baby should have one!!!

Rylie's 1 Year Pictures

2006-10-19T11:57:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to her one year pictures. It was interesting having them done. This was the first time that she has been able to walk away. It was very frustrating, but worth every minute!!!

https://www.searsphotos.com/?shareid=S204683407lKC5Y7U2QV4

I still have pictures from her b-day and I am having issues getting them to upload. Hopefully I will get it figured out a load soon.

Birthday Morning

2006-09-22T09:38:00.000-07:00

After breakfast, we decided to let her open one of her presents from us. We are saving the rest until Saturday. She did really good at ripping all the paper off.

Here she is dancing. She was getting a little side tracked, so I reached in and hit the button that played music. I thought it would make her rip the paper faster, but instead we had to stop and listen to the whole song and dance.

Finally, we get most of the paper off and she can see what she got.

It is a set of frig magnets that will say the sound that each letter makes. It also sings the ABC song. She really has had fun with it, but she hasn't quite figured it all out. Sometimes she has a hard time putting the magnet in the right way. She loves to take the magnets on and off the frig though.

Early Birthday Presents

2006-09-22T08:15:00.000-07:00

Mike's mom and dad sent Rylie her birthday presents earlier this week.

Here are the the picture's from when she opened Wayne's gifts:

He sent her some blocks, a book and two big stuffed animals. As soon as the opened the book, she brought it to me and sat in my lap for me to read it to her. This picture was taken later when Michael got home. She wanted to show-off her new book.
Rylie loves blocks. She stacks them up and knocks them down all day long.

Here is Rylie opening JoAnne's gifts:

She was really excited to get to pull everything out of the box. And of course, the box is the best part of a gift at this age.
The Nebraska blanket she sent was so soft. Rylie keep running her hands across the top.

She also sent her a little Nebraska cheerleading uniform. Here she is trying to figure out how to get the skirt off the hanger. We will have it on this Saturday night when they play!!! She needed a nebraska outfit, she didn't have one that fit.

Park With Dad

2006-09-21T12:24:00.000-07:00

Since Rylie has started walking, we walk down to the park almost everyday. She loves it. Some things are just more fun with dad though. She loves it when he can come with us. Here are a few pictures from one day last week when he came.

Leave it to dad to make her go down the slide by herself. I just couldn't bring myself to let go of her hand. Now she can climb up the stairs, crawl over to the slide, sit down and slide all by herself!!!

Here is a close up after the both went down the big winding slide. Her hair was sticking straight out all over her head!! It was really cute.

A brick wall seperates the big play area from the small one, and she loves to play with the big kids, she just can't figure out how to get over.

She is going to be a dare devil!!! Mike was swinging her so high and she was just laughing the whole time!!!

Halloween Costume

2006-09-21T11:57:00.000-07:00

I found the cutest halloween costume last week!!! She is going to be a witch. My mom says she is the good witch from Wizard of Oz, but I guess we will have to see what kind of mood she is in that night. My mom thinks it is mean that I put her in a witch outfit, but that is what I was for halloween when I was three, so I am not sure what that says about me!!!

She has a wand that matches too!! Her is her scary face:

The costume comes with a hat, but I am not sure we will ever get her to keep it on.

Less then 5 weeks!!!!

2006-09-19T20:51:00.000-07:00

At my visit last Thursday, my dr said that Reagan would easily be 9 1/2 pounds if I carried full-term!!!! He does not want that to happen. He sat a date to induce me on October 23 if I haven't had her yet. I was so excited!!! That means that I only have like 33 more days!!! I know that it will come faster then I know it.

Rylie turns 1 on Thursday and we are having her party on Saturday. I will try to post pictures soon after her party. I am sure that it will be fun. We have 25 adults and 10 kids planning on being there (and I just invited family!!!!).

More Pictures

2006-09-11T19:35:00.000-07:00

She is such a daddy's girl!!!! Mike went outside to mow this weekend and she cried for 10 minutes. She didn't stop pointing to the door until I opened the blinds so she could watch him. She watched him almost the whole time he worked on the front yard.

She keeps pointing and saying dada and then turning around to look at me. She was getting mad that I wouldn't take her outside. I am sure she would of been a lot of help to Mike!!

She loves ketchup just like her mommy!!! This was the first time I let her feed herself ketchup. Normally she will just hand her food to me to dip in ketchup. She actually did really good until her hamburger was all gone. After that she just starting picking up the ketchup by itself and sucking it off her fingers. She made a mess, but nothing a bath wouldn't clean up!!!

Chunky Monkey Jr!!!!

2006-09-07T13:17:00.000-07:00

We were not able to get any pictures from our 3D Sonogram!!! Reagan was too big so we could not see anything. We ended up having to wait for a little while before our appointment so they did a short normal sonogram for free. Here is what we learned:
-Postive it is a girl
-Only one (I had been teasing Mike, it was so much fun!!)
-A ton of hear on her head, just like Rylie
-She is a chunk!!!!

Apparently I grow really big babies. Rylie was born 1 week early at 8lb 7oz which put her over the 60% for weight. Reagan measured 10 days bigger then she should. She was in the 56%. She weighed 4lb 6oz. I am only 32 weeks, and her weight is the same as Trystin's was when she was born at 35 weeks!!! Hopefully this will reinforce my dr's thinking and he will induce me early - I am ready!!!!!

2006-09-05T13:25:00.000-07:00

Rylie is almost one, just 2 weeks until her 1st birthday. I can't believe it. I know it has been a while since I posted any pictures, so here are a few.

These are from the 4th of July. We spent the day at a friend's house and Rylie had fun playing with the other kids.

Mike bought a new ceiling fan for our room (YEAH!!!!) and Rylie was "helping" him put it up.

Over the past week Rylie has really been trying to walk. She can, but just doesn't really want to. Here she is standing and having a drink. She has really good balance, just a little scared. On Wed Aug 30th she took about 10 steps together. Before that she had just taken about 3. Yesterday she was walking a lot more on her own, not just cause we were making her. She is slow so if she sees something she really wants, she drops down and crawls for it.

This picture was just taken today. She feel asleep while she was having lunch. Right before this she was actually still eating with her eyes closed. Needless to say, she had as much food in her lap as she ate when I took her out. She must of been really tired, she never even woke-up when I cleaned her face and hands or put her in bed!! It was really cute.

Believe it or not, Rylie cut her two top molars 2 weeks ago. They normally come in around 18 months, but she just couldn't wait. Her bottom 2 molars are trying to come in now and she has been a handful. These back teeth have been the toughest so far. Mike has even sleep on the couch one night because Rylie wouldn't sleep anywhere but with me. I am not sure who got more sleep, if I even moved her a little bit she would wake-up and crawl back on me. Hopefully she gets these last 2 teeth in before Reagan is born.

At my last doctors visit, my dr was not really happy with how big Reagan was measuring. Rylie weighed 8 1/2 pounds and she was a week early. He is worried about how big Reagan will be if I carry full term. He won't say until it gets closer, but he is thinking he might induce me 1 or 2 weeks early. That means I could only have 6-7 weeks left!!! YEAH!!!!!! We are having a 3-D sonogram tomorrow. Hopefully we will get some good pictures and I will post them. I am very excited to see how they compare to Rylie's 3D sonogram.

We have 8 teeth!!!!

2006-07-12T12:26:00.000-07:00

Thank goodness her tooth FINALLY came through!!!! It was almost 3 weeks of no sleep, but we do have a tooth to show for it. No hopefully we get a little brake before the back teeth start coming in. We have sleep 2 nights now without having to get up with her, and I have to say I feel refreshed.

Because I can't keep her away any longer, here is a message from Rylie:
mb yu gtr fyj78654yukuj,mjhgyhujkij bv jbjhhg KJHG2 ZB

If you can translate, let me know!!

Update

2006-06-30T12:31:00.000-07:00

Everything is good in our house. We had Rylie's 9 month pictures taken today, and I will post the link as soon as I get it. She got a clean bill of health at her doctor's appointment lats week, and she did not need any shots!!! We do have to take her to get her blood drawn though. She was 29 inches long (90%) and 18lb 4oz (45%). We are still trying to figure out how she is sooo long. My dad is really tall, I guess it just skipped a generation. Rylie has been really cranky lately, her tooth is almost through. Hopefully it will come through soon and we can all go back to getting a good nights rest.

Rylie is only 9 months, but if she could talk I am just sure she would tell you she is three. About 2 weeks, she stopped letting me feed her. She wanted nothing to do with baby food anymore, since of course, she is not a baby!!! She has started feeding herself and it is going really good. She makes quite a mess, but she is getting better. She will eat anything!!! Her favorites so far are oranges, peaches and bananas. She eats veg. good, but only if she doesn't see you getting the fruit ready. Her are some pictures of her eating:

She thinks she needs a fork even though she can't use it. If I put food on it, she can use it. When I don't do that for her, she puts a bite in her mouth and then the empty fork!! It is really cute. Since she as started feeding herself, we have had to move bath time from the morning to night. She is way to messing to put in bed at night without one!!

Here she is playing with Big Daddy on father's day.

Believe it or not, she is loving bath time. She will stay in there as long as I let her. She crawls in there during the day and trys to climb in. I am going to be in trouble once she is actually able to get it!

She has learned that she can pull her toys basket over and take EVERYTHING OUT!!! I can't keep a clean house anymore. She already strolls toys all over the kitchen and living room. I don't even want to think about what kind of mess we will have in a year when both girls are crawling around!!!

Pictures of Tristyn Joy

2006-06-15T20:14:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures of Tristyn Joy, Brook's little girl. She was born 5 weeks early on May 28th. She stayed a 1 1/2 weeks in NICU but she is home now. She did have to come home on a breathing monitor. When she goes into a deep sleep, she would sometimes stop breathing, or her heart rate would drop to low. This is common in premature babies and she should not have this forever. She was 18 inches 4lb 7oz when she was born. After she was born, they were able to tell that Brook's high blood pressure was effecting her more then they thought. They could see more stress signs on the baby. It didn't look like she was under stress because all of Brook's signs were good. Tristyn did not grow much the last bit when Brook was in the hospital as a result. They do not think she would of made it through a natural delivery either. God was good and gave her dr the wisdom to know this and we are all thankful!!!!

Tristyn came home from the hospital at 4lb 9oz and this week was already up to 5lb!! Brook has to wake her up every 3 hours to feed her. She is tired but is doing a great job. Here are a few pictures. Length wise premature outfits fit her, but not anywhere else!! She is beautful.

1st Carousel Ride

2006-06-15T20:02:00.000-07:00

The mountain zoo had a carousel ride, and we just had to ride it :) Rylie had fun before the ride started, but has the ride continued, it was less and less fun. She liked to watch the other horses go up and down, and look for her daddy when we came back around.

She was waving to Mike and saw it out of the corner of her eye and started watching herself wave. It was really cute and we finally caught it on camera.

She was holding on before the ride started, but let go as soon as it started moving.

Here is a good shot of her just watching the horse beside us move up and down.

You can see Reagan just a little!!

That is the last of our vacation pictures. I finally got them posted, and I hope you enjoy!!

Mountain Zoo

2006-06-15T19:43:00.000-07:00

We went to a mountain zoo that was close to the hotel. Mike only had the conference 1/2 day on Friday so we went that afternoon. It was Rylie's 1st trip and it went good. It was a little disappointing. It was like any other zoo except since it was in the mountains we had to walk up and down hills!!! We had fun though, just a little bit tired afterward.

Mike feed animals all over the zoo. We didn't see any signs that said not to, but I think that might be an unspoken rule of the zoo. All the animals liked Rylie's snack food though!!

Baby gorilla- I think 4-6 months old. The have to put all the other gorillas away and the worker comes out for a few hours each afternoon.

Mike and Rylie being silly. We didn't make it by the bear cages, so we had to stop when we saw the staue.

Here is the baby kangaroo we saw, just 8 months old, the same as Rylie. She had 3 different babies. The stay in the little homemade bags instead of with the mom. For one reason or another they could not be together. One of the moms would not feed her little one.

2006-06-15T08:59:00.000-07:00

Here is the view from our hotel room. It was really, really beautiful. The weather was great also. It would take until noon for it to reach 75.

There was a nice golf course I could of played if I was not pregnant!! Oh well, maybe next year.

Play time with Dad. For some reason she thinks he is soooo much more fun then me!!! He had to work during the day and some at night, so we didn't get to play too much, made she made good use of the time he was free.

Swimming on Vacation

2006-06-14T19:52:00.000-07:00

Finally here are a few vacation pictures.

She is smiling because I haven't put sunscreen on yet. She hated it!!! Advice for those of you with babies-don't buy the spray sunscreen. It is quick, but very, very cold. I don't even like putting it on me. We bought normal sunscreen and had a lot less crying, but still crying.

She loved her little float. She would sit back and relax on the headrest and just float. She is holding a little hippo that is made for the bath-it tells you if the water is too hot. It is her favorite bath toy and she won't swim without it. She stayed in the pool for 2 hours. I swam for about an hour of it. It was a great way for us to exercise together.

Now it is time to get in the bath and get cleaned up. She wasn't too excited about getting put back in water, but she got over it pretty quick. She loves to take a bubble baths. She thinks it is fun to try and find her toys under the bubbles. It is one big game of peek-a-boo.

After we got dressed, she was still ready to play!!! I thought she would go straight to bed after being outside all day, but not her!! She is playing in the end table at the hotel. She put toys up and pulled the out all week. She finally figured out how to climb in.

She finally crashes and sleeps most of the night. We got up a few times, but she cut her 7th tooth this night. She holds on to the quilt my mom made-she doesn't go anywhere without. She won't sleep without it either.

Rylie loves the Park

2006-06-14T19:36:00.000-07:00

Rylie loves to go the park. We have been several times, and her favorite thing to do is the swing (probably because that is about all she can do right now!!!) She thinks it is so much fun and she laughs almost the whole time. Here are some pictures:

Now that she can crawl, she likes the tunnels as well. She was a little scared at first, but she thought it was fun after a couple of trys. She crawls through and then sits up and claps for herself. It is really cute!!

Reagan's Room

2006-06-13T12:10:00.000-07:00

We have looked and looked and finally found the perfect fabric for Reagan's room!!! My mom makes all the bedding and curtains. Even though I won't have a boy, I am still going to be able to have a sports room!!! The fabric is really cute and I can't wait to decorate. It will be a little while before I get to do so though. We are not moving until next year, so Reagan won't have her own room until then. That gives me plenty of time to hunt and find the perfect pieces to go in her room.

It's a ...

2006-06-07T17:57:00.000-07:00

It's a GIRL!!!! We had our sonogram this afternoon and found out we are having another girl!! Her name will be Reagan and she got a clean bill of health. She measured right at 19 weeks, which I will be tomorrow.

Her is Reagan's face!!!

Rylie loves to give "love pats" to my belly and say hi!!!

And here is a shot of just my belly - inspired by my good friend Lesli who is due about 1 week ahead of me!!

Rylie cut her seventh tooth right before we left to come home, and the eighth is right behind. She loved the water and zoo and I have cute pictures of both and will hopefuuly have a liitle time to post those this week.

We are having fun!!!

2006-06-01T09:21:00.000-07:00

We are here in Colorado and are having fun. They do have wireless internet, but I left the connection cord at home so I can't post any pictures!!! Everything is beautiful and I can't wait until you can see any pictures. Rylie did really good on the trip down here, but she was really ready to get out of her seat. Rylie is loving all the attention she is getting from everyone.

She was also learned a couple of new tricks. She has starting waving hi to everyone she sees. She won't wave bye, that is a very sad word in our house, because it beens daddy is leaving. She crawls over to the door and crys dada when he leaves-it just brakes my heart. Her other new trick is clapping!! When she claps, she actuallys brings her hands together!!! Before she missed or didn't quite let them touch.

We should be home by Monday or Tuesday, so look for pictures after that!!!

Brook had her baby!!!

2006-05-29T18:32:00.000-07:00

Brook had her baby on Sunday at 8:37 in the morning. Her water broke around 5, but Trysten's heart rate was not looking good so they ended up having to take her. She was born 5 weeks early. Everything looks really good, she is breathing on her own. She was getting to tired while she was eating, so she is going to have to spend some time in the NICU. Hopefully just a week or two, but not sure yet. She was 4lbs 7oz and 17 inches long!! She is beautiful, and you will have to take my work on that. I did see her and even get to hold her, but I left my camera in the car!!! I will try to get a picture emailed to me and I will post it soon.

We are about to leave for Mike's conference in Colorado. We are traveling at night to hopefully make it easier with Rylie. It is about 12 hours!!! He has meetings on Tue-Fri and we will probably be headed home on Saturday. Hopefully they have wireless internet and I can post some pictures while we are there.

Rylie starting pulling up on Sunday!!! (She is only 8 months!!!!) It is so much fun, but a little sad to see how big she has getting. She has not quite figured out the sitting back down thing though. We have had a couple of tumbles!!!

Addison Maye "Addy" is here!!!

2006-05-16T19:24:00.000-07:00

Addison was born at 12:48 PM today. Bethany's water was broke at 8:00 am (fill free to hate her, we all do!!!). She was only in labor for 4 hours, and only had to push for 30 minutes-3 sets of contractions. Everything went smoothly. Mom and baby are doing great, here are some pictures.

She weighed 6lb 12 oz and was 18 1/2 in. Can you believe how little she is?? Bethany carried her full term too!!! This first picture was taken about 30 minutes after she was born.

Here is the proud new Mom!!! Yes she has make-up on - I already told you to hate her!!! :)

Her is Brook. She is still in the hospital on bed rest. She will be 34 weeks on Saturday. She had a sonogram yesterday, and her little girl already weighs 4 1/2 pounds. I guess Brook and I are the ones that grow the big babies!! She is allowed one 15 minute wheelchair ride a day, and she used it to see her new niece born just down the hall.

Here I am. I finally got to get my hands and her!! She is beautiful!!

She's crawling!!!!

2006-05-15T14:53:00.000-07:00

Rylie crawled for the first time yesterday!! It was a wonderful mother's day present. It is so cute. She crawls on one knee and one foot. I have tried to take a picture but she just sits up. She is still teething believe it or not!! She has 6 teeth already and 7 & 8 are almost through. I can't wait until she is done. She is sleeping pretty good most nights, but is a handful during the day.

Bethany will be induced at 7 on Tuesday morning!!! We are really excited. Addision is on her way!!!

Her are some other recent pictures:

Her she is "helping" me put together her new toy box.

She won't go to sleep without the quilt my mom made. She moves so much we never know how we will find ger when we go in. Most of the time she sleeps with her bottom up in the air.

She was trying so hard to move, but nothing happened. She wanted to crawl so bad, but she was a little nervous to really get moving.

Here she is with her cousin Caden taking a bath at GiGi's house.

She loves to sit and get ready with me in the morning. She will just stare at me as I fix my hair and put on make-up. She is going to be trouble!!!!

Babies on the way!!!!

2006-05-09T09:18:00.000-07:00

Bethany has two weeks left until she is due, but she is really hoping she is early. She is having a little girl and is naming her Addison (not sure on the spelling). Her blood pressure has been up a little and so she is only working part-time.

Brook's due date was suppose to be July 1st, but her doctor will be surprised if she doesn't have the baby in May. She is also having a little girl and her name is going to be Tristyn. Brook had to go the hospital last Friday and will be there until she has the baby. Her blood pressure is up also and she has protein in her urine, which is effecting her kidneys a little bit. The doctor said she is a diaster waiting to happening, and they have no idea how long she can wait. She has had two steriod shots to develop the baby's lungs. She had a sonogram on Monday. Everything looked good and the baby already weighs 4 pounds!!! Keep Brook in your prayers. She has 7 1/2 weeks until her due date, and will hopefully be in the hospital another 4 weeks or so. She can't have the lights on or the TV a lot. That causes her pressure to go up and gives her a big headache. She is a little encouraged because she is 2 1/2 weeks farther then Brandi was when she had Hannah (She turned 2 last month!!!!). I will keep you posted on when my nieces make their big entrance!!

More Teeth!!!!!

2006-04-21T08:47:00.000-07:00

I think Rylie is trying to set a record. Two days ago she cut her 5th tooth and the 6th one is just a few days away!! That will be 4 teeth in 3 weeks. She is seven months and will soon have 6 teeth. Hopefully she will get all her teething done early so I won't have two teething at one time. With the babies only being 13 months apart, I can only hope!! When she is feeling better and taking good naps I will get on a post our Easter pictures. She loved hunting for eggs-with dad's help. This week her easter basket and eggs have been her favorite toys.

Quick Update

2006-04-07T08:44:00.000-07:00

Rylie cut her 3rd tooth on 4/5/6, and she is working on her forth. In just a few days she will have two on the top and two on the bottom!!!! She will really be able to go after that food. Rylie was an early teether, cutting her first two teeth at four months. She has been really good with these teeth. She is still sleeping pretty good at night, but just wants a little more TLC during the day.

We just went for her 6 month check-up. We were a little late because she was running a fever off and on with of her teeth coming in. She weighed 16lb (50th percentile) and was 27.5 in long (95th percentile!!!!). She still has not doubled her weight from birth yet, which was 8lb 7oz. The doctor gave her a clean bill of health. She was also impressed that she could sit up very well on her own and reach out and play with toys. She is trying to crawl, but just not quite there. From the sitting position, she will get on all fours and bounce, but she won't move her arms and legs. Hopefully in the next few weeks she will figure it out. She throws all her toys out of her reach and then gets mad when she can't figure out how to get them back.

Easter Bunny

2006-04-03T12:22:00.000-07:00

We took Rylie last week to see the Easter Bunny. As you can see, she loved it!!! We also had her 6 month pictures done the same day. You can see those at: https://www.searsphotos.com/?shareid=S204024942l8RMTU94JF7

Finally some more pictures!!!

2006-04-01T07:36:00.000-08:00

Here is Rylie staying up late on New Years Eve. She is trying to help her Daddy win.

She almost made it!! She fell asleep at 11:40 - just 20 more minutes!!!

Here we are over at GiGi's house scrapebooking. One of our favorite things to do.

Yeah!!!! This was taken on Jan 13-she can finally hold her own cup!!!!!!

This was taken on V-day. She is sitting with her cousin Caden.

Went to go see Santa!!!

2005-12-21T16:50:00.000-08:00

We went to go see Santa this week, and we only had to wait 20 mintues!!! She didn't cry and actually smiled in a couple of pictures, but her hands were in the way. You can't see, but her shirt says I love Santa.

Christmas came early for Rylie!!!

2005-12-13T09:19:00.000-08:00

Rylie is a good baby, but she is awake all the time!!! She will be up for 2-5 hours at a time during the day and gets bored. We gave her this Christmas present early and she loves it. I love it because she will sit in it for 30 minutes to an hour and I can get some things done - like this blog!!! She is already tall enough to stand up and bounce a little bit. We have to put a blanket in front of her though because she gets tired to easy and can't quite hold herself up.

Pictures

2005-12-13T09:07:00.000-08:00

She finally mastered holding on to a rattle and bringing it to her mouth. She just had to hit herself in the head a few times to figure it out!!!

She loves to sit in her jumper - she was there for over an hour. The toy in front of her lights up, plays music and spins around. This was a gift from my granny and Aunt Candy, thanks!!!

More Pictures

2005-12-13T08:55:00.000-08:00

Rylie's first visit to the park, and it was hot. It was 90 degrees this Saturday in December, a record high, and by Thursday morning it would be 15 degrees, a record low. Crazy Texas weather!!!!

Resting with Dad after a long day out.

Isn't she cute??!!?!?

I'm sure she will hate me for this later - but she rolled over!!!!! I guess she didn't want to take a bath after all!!!

She loves to sit and watch TV with all the big kids.

more pics

2005-12-06T18:50:00.000-08:00

Rylie's 1st Saturday home from the hospital she was watching a Nebraska game with dad. Her shirt says "This is my first Nebraska t-shirt" and she is wrapped in her Nebraska blanket!!!

This is Rylie in her car seat, she just loves talking to her little friends. I am not sure when she will realize that they don't talk back!!!!

Here she is playing in her little gym - that is a big smile on her face, not a cry. The star above her lights up and plays music and she loves it.

What a dad, he put her right to sleep!!!

This is Rylie with my parents, Gi-Gi and Big Daddy on their 27th wedding anniversary.

A few pictures

2005-12-06T18:17:00.000-08:00

I have just starting blogging, but here are a few pictures to catch you up on Rylie!!!

Rylie was born on September 21, 2005 at 10:06 pm. I was induced that morning at 5:30!!! When she was born her cord was wrapped around her neck and she was not breathing. The NICU team was waiting in the room and put a tube down her throat. The picture was taken just a few minutes after she was born, while she was still in the room with me.

This picture was taken the next morning. She had pulled out a totally of 13 IV's while there and that left her hands and feet bruised. She is a little stubborn, and I just don't know who she gets that from!!!!

That afternoon they were able to take her breathing tube out and she was breathing on her own!!!

On the 25th she was moved into a smaller bed with no machines and only 1 IV!!! We were finally able to put her first outfit own.

We brought Rylie home from the hospital after 7 days in the NICU. This is a picture with my mom (Gi-Gi) and Rylie's cousin Caden (Bethany's little boy). By the way, Bethany is expecting her second!! Yeah!! Hopefully she will have a girl this time.