Week in Review

What a week!!  We are all adjusting to having to be out the door in the morning, dressed and ready to go, and have a full time working momma.  I know so many people do it, with more than one child too, and I give them LOTS of credit!!  We are figuring out our routine though and everyday is getting a little easier in that department.  The best part of my day though is seeing how excited sweet Reagan is to see her momma at the end of the day. :)

Driving the "Fire Truck" at the grocery store...she loves these fun carts!

Tuesday was the first day with kids at school.  Since I don't have a classroom of kids, which is just so weird to get used to, I, along with several others, was pulled to work with the kindergarteners.  They are just so cute and so sweet, but oh my, I am not cut out to ever be a kindergarten teacher I don't think!  I work with them for about 1/2 the day and then worry about doing my job.  Basically I am totally a teacher support this year with their math lessons.  I can do whatever for them to help make their life easier when it comes to their math lessons.  I am figuring things out better and better everyday...

First Day of School

August 25, 2010

Reagan really loves her kitty cat lunch box!

Reagan continues to do great with Miss Wendy.  The hardest part is that when I drop her off now she knows that means I am leaving her, so it pulls my heartstrings in 12,000 directions when I walk out and she is crying!  Ugghh!  Wendy says that it is about a minute though and she is fine...sooo hopefully that will begin improving soon.  That is the HARDEST part of my day!!

Overall things are going well...it is just a HUGE adjustment going from being a stay at home mommy to a full time working momma.  I just want to spend as much time with Reagan as I can and get home to her as quickly as possible.

We had a nice weekend...Friday night I went out with a bunch of friends from New Hope to celebrate my friend Sandy's new job much closer to her house.  It is always SO great to see everyone and even though I haven't taught there in three years, it feels like I never left!  (no picture though because my camera battery has been being weird, I don't know what the deal is, but it's driving me crazy!!)  On Saturday morning I took Reags to the park...she loves to swing!  Before we left, I said, "Reagan, do you want to go to the park and swing?"  She got all excited and moved her hips back and forth like a swing...haha!  We stayed there for awhile and then headed to the grocery store...she is very "helpful!" :)  We just hung out the rest of the afternoon and made a family trip to Wal-mart and then had some Andy's for dinner...yumm-o!!  Today we just played outside, visited the Mills, went on a nice walk, and played some more.  Overall, a very fun weekend!

snuggling with sweet Morgan

This little lady is LOVING her shades these days!

Please note all the her "pretties" around her neck!!

We are about to start week three and next weekend is Labor Day...yahoo for three day weekends!

Fun with Miss Wendy

We are SO lucky to have Miss Wendy watching Reagan, she is wonderful!  Today she sent me a few pictures from last week...poor Reagan, she isn't having any fun! :)

This is just SO Reagan!

I LOVE this picture!!

We Made It

Week one - check!  We made it through our first week of mommy going back to work and everyone did fine, well for the most part...

On Tuesday dropping Reagan off was hard because I was in a rush to not be late on the first day, not to mention having to leave her.  I just dropped her off, gave kisses, and left!  Thankfully Keith went with me and was able to stay with Reags for a few extra minutes.  I was BALLING on my way to school on Tuesday, oh my gosh, it was terrible!!  When I got to school though I had hugs waiting for me.  My friend Kelly even had a card for me, knowing how sad I was going to be!  It all was fine though and Reagan did great, well aside from taking a long nap.

You won't believe this, but when I went to turn my camera on to take Reagan's picture on her first day, it wouldn't!!  Something must be wrong with my battery because I had JUST charged it!  Anyway, these are a couple pictures of Reaggie's first day that Keith ingeniously thought to take with the video camera, sadly the quality is not so good!  Her cute new outfit and her kitty cat lunch box :)

"show us your kitty cat lunch box Reagan!"

of course we can't go without the blankie!

On Wednesday I dropped her off and again, she did great!  I didn't even cry that morning, later in the afternoon I did, but the morning was fine.  When I picked Reags up on Wednesday Miss Wendy told me she slept from 12-1:30, that's it!!  Oh lord!!  She was so sleepy when I picked her up, but when we got home she just played played played!  That night I even made a nice dinner, we ate, and played.  As I was putting Reagan down for bed, she was just about asleep, and BLAAAAHHHH!!  She threw up EVERYWHERE!!  On my gosh, seriously, we're talking inbetween MY toes!!  My poor baby!  Keith came up, helped clean up, changed Reagan, we watched TV for a little bit, then I put her back down in bed.  She was quiet for a little bit and then started fussing.  I went in to check on her and she was so restless, so I picked her up, rocked her, and then finally just put her in bed to rest for a little bit with us.  About two minutes after that she kind of coughed and I ran her into the bathroom and BLAAAAAAHHHHH!  Everywhere again!  (This time on tile though!)  Needless to say we finally calmed down and cleaned up about 10:00 and Reags just slept with us that night, which means lots of sleep for mommy ;)  Keith was able to stay home with her on Thursday, and she was fine.  We think she just was overly tired...I used to do the same thing when I was little too...poor thing inherited that from me as well!  Poor Miss Wendy, she felt so bad, but obviously, none of it was her fault!

snuggling with Daddy after throw up incident number one

So Thursday Keith and Reags had Daddy/daughter day while I sat in a meeting all day learning about what exactly my job description is.  Basically, I don't work with the kids at all, as I thought I would, I am totally a teacher support.  I am just crossing my fingers that this all goes well! :) 

Friday, YEAH, Friday...I think I wasn't as appreciative of Fridays when I was home with Reagan, so it felt great!  This is the morning Reags saw me leave out the window and I heard her crying as I left...talk about heartstrings being pulled, but 2 minutes later she was just fine.  I suggested to Wendy to wait until 1 to put Reagan down for her nap, sometimes that is just the magic time.  It worked!!  When I picked Reagan up at 4, she had just gotten up a few minutes before.  YEAH!!  I felt sooo good about that!

wearing her cute new outfit from Gigi and G-Gramps!

We've had a great weekend of grilling with the Mills, playing with Reags, swimming at the pool, running errands, and just hanging out!  Hope you all had a great weekend!

Week 2...here we come! :)

Tomorrow...

It's here, time for the first day of school tomorrow...well the first teacher workday anyway.  I can't believe it's here!!  I have gone in long spurts of tears today and also spurts of "you will be fine."

Reagan and I went to Miss Wendy's house today to drop off diapers, wipes, sippy cups, binkies...all that fun stuff!  I, of course, started crying just talking with her.  I think it's just going to take me a little bit of time to adjust to the idea of not being with Reagan all day, every day.

I know Reagan is in very good hands and she will have so much fun playing!  She has a new kitty cat lunch box that she picked out and, of course, a new "first day of school" outfit.  More to come on pictures of her first day, but for now, the mental preperation continues!

We are having a great day together today and I am just soaking up every laugh, snuggle, and kiss I can get!!

VanGogh or Picasso?

Reagan has been very interested in pens and writing lately, so while at Target yesterday I picked her up some large crayons to try.  Today she LOVED them!  She was so busy "working!"  We started on little paper, but hello mommy, there is not enough room for all of the pretty drawings, plus the highchair was getting more crayon than the paper...so the big paper took over!

Final product!

PA or Bust!

On Thursday morning Reagan and I headed to PA for the weekend to celebrate my mom's 50th birthday, which is tomorrow!  We were so excited to go home, but of course had to have a minor hiccup on our way...

Keith dropped us off at the airport Thursday morning, security was a breeze, got to our gate, loaded on the plane, we were taxing to the runway, Reagan was drinking her bottle and falling asleep, and then the plane stopped!!  The pilot came on in his very "pilot-y" voice and said, "well folks we just got word from air traffic that all flights flying through the Baltimore/Washington area are grounded due to storms.  We should hear some more news in about 45 minutes or so.  Sorry for the inconvience folks."  AHHH!  At this point I didn't panic...Reagan was WIDE awake after that and thankfully she could run up and down the aisle of the plane and was the flight's entertainment!  After 45 minutes of waiting the pilot came back on and said that it would probably be ANOTHER 45 minutes "or so" until we got another update from air traffic.  At this point, I break down and cry on the phone to Keith!  Reagan was being SOOOO good, it was just the fact that we had now been on a plane for 2 1/2 hours and we still had an hour flight to go to entertain her.  Keith told me that if I stayed calm, Reagan would too....of course I responded with, in the nicest voice I could..."if you were on this flight you would NOT be calm either!!!!"  :) 

Here is the KICKER!  After this glorious 2 1/2 hours of being on the plane and getting really hot Reagan was standing in the floor of the window seat, while I sat in the aisle seat.  She was playing with something on the seat and would VERY occassionally bump her head on the back of the seat in front of us...well the woman sitting in the window seat turns around and says to me, "i'm sorry, but that is really bothering me."  OH GOOD LORD!!!!!!!!  I have said that my good deed of the year was not getting in an all out brawl with her and slapping her across the face...I couldn't believe it!  I know how annoying it is to have a kid kicking your seat, BUT it wasn't a constant thing and good lord she is ONE and we had been on a plane for so long and she didn't shed one tear or anything!!  ANYWAY...FINALLY at about 11:00 we took off for Philadelphia and Reagan fell sound asleep in my arms during takeoff...sweet girl!

Of course there was lots of running all over the place and visiting my Grandpa and hitting up the outlets, but the main point of our trip was the cookout on Saturday for my mom.  It was really nice and we had a good time!  Bad news, my camera ran out of battery (even though I charged it before we left!) so I have NO pictures!  Love that?!

We were up and at 'em Sunday morning for our flight back to Raleigh and thankfully that was without a hitch!  My sweet hubby picked us up at the airport and had a beautiful bouquet of roses waiting for me...

I am pretty convinced that the best 50th birthday gift my mom could have recieved was getting to spend the weekend with Reagan!!  Happy (early) 50th Birthday Mom!!!  We love you! :)

Show Off

Last night we put Reagan under pressure to show off her skills to us!  She was being silly, as usual, and can usually make all these sounds a little more clearly, but you get the idea! :) 

Delicious-ness!

I have never posted a recipe on the blog before, but this one deserves to be shared!  If you are in the mood for some chocolate chip goodness, this is the recipe to try!!  Let me know what you think!

"Sakes Alive" Chocolate Fudge Bars

2 cups brown sugar (firmly packed)
1 cup butter (softened)  *I just used 1/2 cup and they turned out great!  Plus, lower fat! :)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
2 (7.4 oz) pkgs. Martha White Chocolate Chip Muffin Mix (I am obsessed with her muffin mixes, they are about $1 at the grocery store and all are sooo good, all you do is add milk!  Might I recommend the Apple Cinnamon and Honey Bran...they are our favs!!)
1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats (I just used 1 cup)
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk (I used the fat free version)
1 (12 oz) pkg chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (I opted for no nuts)

Directions:
1.  Heat oven to 350.  Coat 13 x 9 pan with cooking spray.  Beat brown sugar and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy.  Beat in vanilla and egg.
2.  Stir in muffin mix and oats.  Reserve one cup of mixture.  Pat remaining mixture into pan.
3.  Combine condensed milk and chocolate chips over low heat until chocolate is melted, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat (stir in walnuts, if used) and spread over muffin mixture to edge of pan.  Drop reserved oat mixture by teaspoons full over chocolate mixture.
4.  Bake about 35 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool completely and enjoy!

Stop and Smell The Roses...

...or the weeds!

On Saturday Reagan was a smelling machine, smelling everything and anything "leafy" she saw!

So tonight we did a bath in the water table, I mean why not?!  It's 1,000 degrees outside, so the cool water felt good I'm sure!

Dressing Up

Well I know that I have mentioned before that Reagan likes to play with necklaces, bracelets, hair bows, hats, and anything else she can "dress up" with!  One of the funniest things she does is when I'm folding laundry, she will find my underwear and put her head through them and have them around her neck....save the dirty jokes, she's 14 months old and it's cute! :)  ha!! 

Yesterday she gave me EVERY little hairbow out of her basket!!

Recently, she has also enjoyed putting on my shirts!  Of course my short sleeved, short shirts are long sleeved dresses on her, but she thinks she is pretty hot to trot! :) 

Can you tell she is watching Nick Jr. on TV?!

14 Months

Well it's August 5th and that means Reagan is FOURTEEN MONTHS old today! It seems like everyday she is doing something new...

One of my favorite new tricks of hers is "no, no." You might be wondering why this is a favorite, well because she not only with say "no, no" but shake her pointer finger along with it. Lovely right?! When she throws her cup off of her tray while she is eating, all I have to do is give her a look and she'll shake that finger and say "no, no." It's pretty cute...although I am pretty sure the whole "no" concept hasn't clicked yet!

she LOVES these cups with straws, but the straw gets pulled RIGHT out!  Looks like we needs cups with CEMENTED in straws!

yup...she loves to eat her own cereal!  so big!

Going along with talking, Reagan is saying a few words. She says up, help, mama, dada, pop, no, baby (which sounds like be-be) balloon (boon...thank you Harris Teeter!), good girl (which sounds like two hard G sounds..) and will make animal sounds! ha! She knows what a cow, pig, dog, cat, chicken, and elephant say. I love it when I'll say Reagan say mama, she'll say it, say dada, she'll say it, say dog, "foof, foof"...she'll do that for all the animals...pretty funny!

There is NO DOUBT I have a GIRLY girl on my hands and I LOVE it! Reagan LOVES to wear her pretty necklaces, brush her hair (while looking in the mirror), put on lotion with mommy in the morning, and play with her baby. Oh.my.word! She LOVES her babies! She gives them kisses, holds them, cuddles them, puts them "night, night" with burp clothes...so sweet. She has been really into REAL babies too...anytime we see one on tv or while we are out, she goes crazy. ONE DAY, not yet, she will be a wonderful big sister! :)

Reagan runs all over the place, helps clean up, loves the swimming pool, is doing better and better using a spoon to eat with, and continues to be such a wonderful girl! We just love her to pieces...I look at her and can't believe how BIG she is!!

Visitors!

This past weekend my dad and sister came down from Pennsylvania for a visit! We had SO much fun! To say Reagan loved having her Grandpa and Aunt J.J. here is an understatement.

We had some yummy bar-b-que on Friday night, relaxed on Saturday and then did a little shopping and went out to dinner, Sunday my dad and Keith played golf, Reags, Jamie, and I went to a donut shop and to the park, had a yummy dinner, Monday we shopped!!, and Tuesday they left...it went by so quickly!

watching a show with Grandpa

super model :)

J at the park!

Reagan was SO sweet on our walk, she would stop and give Aunt J every leaf she found on the path...J had quite the collection!

Loving the mulch

Keith getting a free golf lesson after their outing!  (doesn't our grass look lovely...we need rain and cooler temps please!)

The SWEETEST thing to me is how much Reagan just LOVES Jamie! It melts my heart...each night before Reagan goes to bed she loves to snuggle her blankie and lay on your shoulder (love it!) Well when I took her downstairs to say good night she was "eh eh-ing" to Jamie reaching her blankie out. I laid her blankie on J's shoulder and held Reagan on her chest. I don't know who loved that more, J or Reagan?! :)

Thank you Dad and J for a great visit!! :)