Cookies and milk are ready to go! Merry Christmas! <3

Night night babies was the first game Reagan ever played. It makes me smile to have all my dish towels used as baby blankets.

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Santa Claus is coming to town!

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Nothing like being buried in a sea of cookie cutters.

Every morning, Liam sits on the bathroom counter to brush his teeth. He using all 4 toothbrushes. If you don't give him all of them, he keeps saying "teeth" until you do! Like I said, he is obsessed. Definitely a dental future for him!

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Food allergies

On a serious-ish note...

In April, Liam had a random bout of diarrhea and then some bloody diapers. We did some testing for viruses and then it seemed to resolve itself so we just kind of left it at a mystery. However, the doctor mentioned that formula could very well have been the cause so we switched brands. And like I said, it seemed to solve itself so we just forgot about it.

Well, at the end of October, he has another blood filled diaper. Which is, of course, the scariest thing to ever find during a diaper change. So I took him and the diaper to the doctor the next morning. The doctor tested it and confirmed it was blood (waste of time- you could clearly see it). Then said we should just "watch him" and see if it "continues". So I asked a million concerned mommy questions and got zero answers. So I left the office super irritated that no one seemed to care about what was happening with my baby. I decided to call a gi specialist myself. We had his appointment last week.

First, I loved the doctor we saw. The office was clean and the staff was very friendly. After chatting with us for a few minutes, the gi doctor said Liam is a classic case of a milk protein intolerance. He has all the symptoms (not sleeping well, slow weight gain, not maintaining his growth curve, picky eating, fussiness). So we are on a 2 week dairy free diet to see what happens.

We are on week one and it is FANTASTIC. Liam is so much happier and has been sleeping way better at night. He has been eating a ton! Which makes me even more mad at the pediatrician. Why didn't someone suggest this long ago?!?!?! My poor baby has had a belly ache that could have totally been prevented.

Now I am obsessed with the symptoms of a food allergies. Do you realize how many medical conditions (including ADD/ADHD) could actually be food allergies? This whole thing is just bringing my dormant hippie side closer to the surface...

Ketchup

If there was an award for an outdated and sucky blog- I would totally win! Between working, mommyhood, household duties... I guess something had to suffer. I suppose my blog is a good choice (although my laundry is pretty bad too!). I haven't posted in so long that I don't even know where I should begin...

- Tonight, while eating dinner, Reagan said "Daddy you are the best for making me these noodles." She is way too sweet and I just want to eat her up.

- Liam is a climber. A constant climber. He decided to start climbing the day after he turned one. Seriously, the next morning he climbed onto our kids table for the first time. Now, his favorite is to get on the kitchen chairs and then onto the table. You can not turn your back for a moment!

- Reagan is loving preschool and is supposed the "kindest and most caring kid in her class". Makes a mommy proud. But it also makes me wonder, have they ever met the 'real' Reaggie?!?

- Liam's vocabulary grows more every day. As of right now, he clearly says: teeth, cheese, kitty, Boone, GeeGee (Reagan), mom, dad, hi, stop, hot... I think there is more...

- Reagan loves to find things that match. We will be driving and she will say "That car matches my house." and other totally random combinations. But she is always right! Her little mind amazes me.

- Liam is OBSESSED with brushing his teeth. Seriously. OBSESSED. He brushes them at least 3 times a day and would carry his toothbrush everywhere. His favorite is to sit on the counter with the water running. He will put his brush under the faucet, brush his teeth, then spit. It is adorable. I think he is going to be a dentist.

Everyday I make the impossible wish that I wasn't so busy. I just wish life would slow down and I could have more hours in the day. Of course, that will never happen and time will only continue to speed by. So for now, I am just trying to enjoy every moment with my perfect little babies.

Awesome game... dump the dog food then lay in it! The joys of a toddler!

Here is one for the baby book... Reagan and gram were drawing with sidewalk chalk this evening. Gram drew a person. Reagan got the purple chalk and said "don't worry gram, I'll draw the weiner."

The transition to preschool is... less than perfect. Reagan was so excited and the first 2 days were great. Since then, its been a little more challenging. She cries when I leave to go to work. She is getting better and doesn't cry while she is there but is still nervous during the drop off. I know it will get easier but until then we both have teary mornings!

I know she loves preschool though. We play 'cdc' all the time. She is the teacher and I am 'honey'. She reads to me, puts me to nap, and reassures me that my mommy will pick me up later.

11 months old!

Well, I guess its time to admit that Liam is not going to stay a baby forever. I was hoping he would just take his time growing up and stay my little baby boy. But I suppose that was just wishful thinking. As you can see, our little Leemy-Steamy is quickly transitioning to toddlerhood.

At 11 months:

- Liam walks everywhere. Each day he gets better and better. He is barely crawling anymore and when he falls he just gets back up to keep walking.

- Liam is obsessed with Mao cat. Aside from mama and dad, kitty is the word he says most often. He usually says " hiii keeey keeey". He loves to cuddle and pet Mao. And Mao is dumb enough to let him!

- Liam is tall! He has been in the 90th percentile all along. When he is sitting by Reagan, they really don't seem that different size wise. He is definitely going to be bigger than her before we know it.

- Liam loves to splash. He goes crazy in the bath tub and will splash in any water he sees.

- Liam loves to share drinks with you. He always wants to try whats it your cup. There are two problems: he blows raspberries on your glass and sticks his hand into it. But of course, we share anyway.

- Liam can't wait to be bigger and to play with Gee-Gee (he calls Reagan gee-gee). He loves to play with her but she gets so frustrated with him. He just doesn't quite understand the rules to tea party yet!

enjoying the outdoors

I love the weather at the end of summer. The days are still hot but the evenings are perfect. Perfect for playing outside with the family.


My twin boys! Liam is the perfect combination of Nic and Max. haha. ;)
Boone has to be wherever the action is. Of course, he wouldn't stop licking them as I tried to take a picture.

No more crawling for this boy! He is walking, everywhere and all the time. He really needs some shoes.

Daddy was pulling Reagan down the driveway in the car and then catching her at the bottom. Very fun.

Rainbow!

Perfect image on my last day as a stay at home mommy!

This week's happenings

I figured I should try to find my blogging groove again. So I thought I would share the happenings of the past week...

Reagan has had hives on and off since last Sunday. I took her to the doctor and the cause remains a mystery. So we are giving her a few different allergy medicines to help control and elimate them. If they don't go away, we have to schedule an appointment with an allergist.

Liam has been walking more and more. He likes to carry something with him, which slows him down a little. Liam has also discovered his love for chocolate chip cookies! No shock with that one!

Our keeey-keeey Mao had a special emergency trip to the vet because of an infected bite wound. He has a shaved chest now with 2 marble sized holes on his neck. He is taking meds to clear up the infection. The best part, the vet said that when he's outside flies could lay eggs in the wounds. Sweet. If maggots come out of my cat I will seriously freak out.

Liam's 10 months old!

Liam is rapidly approaching his first birthday. Everyday I wonder how he got so big so fast. I guess its true that time flies when you're having fun!

Some Liam notes:

- He started WALKING this week! He takes a few steps at a time (I think the most is 5). Once he falls, he just crawls to get where he is going. He can just stand up anywhere so I am sure he will be walking more and more each day.

- He loves blueberries, peaches, and strawberries.

- He is super noisy!

- He loves to take a bath. When you take him into the bathroom at bathtime he starts squealing. He can climb into the tub himself now and often gets in just to check things out!

- He loves Boone and Mao. He can say Boone (boooo) and kitty (keeeey). They both get climbed on a lot!

- He has decided that he hates to go for a walk. We can never make it around the neighborhood without him screaming. Which usually means I carry him and push an empty stroller. Annoying.

Our fuzzy new friend

I thought you would be interested in meeting our newest family member. This is our pet caterpillar. His name is Larva and he eats clover. He lives in a peanut butter jar and likes to watch what Reagan is doing. He is soft and tickly. He will turn into a magic butterfly.

Sprinkler!!

Reagan got a sprinkler for her birthday. I think the pictures can speak for themselves...

How 'bout lunch?!

What would you like the chef to prepare for you?! She makes a delicious soup...

She is saying "my mouse is under my hat to help me cook." Yeah, we have seen Ratatouille a few times!

9 months

At 9 months Liam...

- says mama, dada, neenee, nini, and booooone (emphasis on the ooo)

- loves all electronics and anything with buttons, wheels, or lights

- is a HUGE momma's boy. Seriously.

- lets go while standing on his own

- really wants to stand without pulling up onto something but just can't quite figure out how.

- gets upset when Reagan takes something he was playing with or yells at him

- still thinks bottles are more of a toy than a food vessel
- doesn't sleep through the night

- thinks hose water is too cold

We're home!

We are home in our new house and couldn't be happier!

3 yr stats

Our little girl is apparently not so little! We had her 3 year well check today. Her stats:
Height: 39 inches (90th percentile!!!)
Weight: 32 lbs (75th percentile)
We thought she had long legs but geez, she is tall!! She definitely got that trait from her daddy. She had a wonderful check-up and is a happy, healthy, perfect little lady.

THREE!!!!

I can not believe that I am posting (a few days late) that Reagan is THREE! My little girl is definitely growing up way too fast. She has grown into quite a princess.

At three years old, Reagan:

-Is excellent at expressing herself. She talks all the time and says really complex things. I am always surprised by what she has to say!
- Is a huge evasdropper! haha. You can not talk about anything in front of her. The car is the worst. She is in the back watching her movie, but she still hears (and repeats) everything you say.
- Remembers everything!
- Loves princesses, ballerinas, Max & Ruby, coloring, playdough, helping around the house, playing outside...
- Is a great sister, most of the time.
- Has a TEMPER. If she is hungry, tired, hot... watch out!
- Is a great sleeper.
- Is potty trained and very rarely has an accident.
- Asks "where my going today?" every morning.

A few pics of the birthday girl...

Its happening...

The big move is really happening! We are supposed to close on/before July 8th. Nic thinks we will close next Friday! We didn't sell our Kent house. Instead, we decided to rent it. I am still not sure how I feel about my new status as a landlord, but I am hoping it will work out alright. Our tenants signed a 1 year lease, so we are hoping that will buy us some time to decide what to do. And hopefully we won't lose 10s of thousands of dollars in the process!

When we had our new house inspected, the radon levels were high. So we had to have a mitigation system installed. Thankfully the seller paid for all of that. It was installed on Friday so I spent the whole day wandering around our new house and imagining calling it our home!

I took some interior pictures (before my camera batteries died) that I thought I would share with you.

Here is the foyer area. Looking at the pic, to the left is library and to the right is the dining room. There is a closet and 1/2 bath. Then it opens into the living room.

Dining room

This room is technically a library/den. We are going to use it as a toy room. I am going to get bins for all the toys on the bottom shelves and then use the high shelves for books. I think this is the room I am most excited for!

Here is part of the living room. The hallway you can see is where the kids bedrooms are. There is a full bath, linen closet, and another entrance to the toy room.

Other part of the living room.

The living room opens up to the kitchen. A REAL kitchen! A dishwasher, cupboard space, counters... wow! I guess I am excited for this too! As you can see, we have an island and a eating area. You can't see the sliding glass doors that open onto the awesome deck. But they are there.

A crappy pic of the master bath. Sorry, photography is not one of my skills. We have a garden tub with separate shower.

Master bedroom

Our walk-in closet! I looks like so much space. Give me a week, I'll fill it up! ;)

Obviously this is not everything, like I said, my camera batteries died. So you will have to imagine the kids bedrooms, laundry room, garage, etc. And sorry there are no exterior pictures! If you look at an older post, you can see the front of the house. As you can tell from the photos, nothing is painted! I am viewing it as a blank canvas and excited that we get to personalize it ourselves. Of course, it will take time and energy but it will be worth it! We have almost 2 acres of land that will be perfect for the dog, a garden, and playland of the babes.

I am so excited but still in awe that its actually happening. We were eating popsicles on the porch last week. Reagan said "I'm not going to live here anymore". It brought tears to my eyes! I have called Kent home for nearly a decade, it feels strange to leave. I am so ready for a new house, but I guess part of me will always be attached to this one. I am glad I will still be working in Kent because I am not ready to give it up entirely.

Nic has been bringing wine boxes home for packing... our garage looks like we robbed a liquor store! We have tons of packing to do! That is what I should be doing...

Hiiii!

Nothing like a sink bath with Grammar.

And check out my teeth... number 4 starting poking through last week!

The "festibul"

The summer would not be complete without a trip to the St. Clements "festibul" to get a sausage sandwich... for daddy at least, the sausage is too spicy for the rest of us! Aside from the band that was way too loud, we had a wonderful time!

Grandma D and Liam watching Reagan play some games.

Daddy and Reagan golfing.

When you caught a fish, you got a prize. It was really hard! I ended up picking up the hook and cheating. We would have been there all night!

I love the concentration on their faces.

Reagan showing off her wrist band to ride the rides. The big slide was a huge hit! You know the one, you climb all the stairs and ride down super fast on a potato sack. I was definitely more afraid than Reagan was, heights are not really my thing. And we did the 'round and round' a few times. I will not be letting her (or Liam) ride any actual carnival rides. Sorry kids, I am one of those mothers! I watched a news story about the number of deaths and serious injuries caused by children's rides. And seriously, have you looked at the people operating them?! They don't appear to be extremely concerned with safety (or hygiene for that matter).

Reagan won coins from playing the games. She used her coins to shop at a little store. She got a little foldable fan... which was ripped by the time we got home! Fun while it lasted I suppose.