Pier Jumping

Not only do my kids like to fish, I am beginning to think that they are turning into fish!  

You may remember from last year, that Reagan loves the game of pier jumping.  She must have jumped off the end of the pier over 50 times the other night just as the sun was starting to set, and I think that she would have done it 50 more times if Daddy hadn't started to get tired from treading water the entire time.  Of course, Mommy screaming that she had just seen a jelly fish in the waterway probably didn't help matters much either!  

  

Even Myers jumped in on the fun for his first official dip in the warm waters of the Atlantic!  He was instantly in love with this gigantic new bathtub to splash around in.  

Needless to say, I've got two little beach bums on my hands!

"Here, Fishy Fishy"

Both of my kids have turned into little fishers! 

Myers went fishing for the first time ever, and he absolutely loved it from the very first moment.  It's obvious even in pictures that he is having tons of fun. He's so curious and excited by the process, and he is simply AMAZED when Daddy reels in the line and there is a fish on his hook!

Reagan decided that this is the summer that she turns into a pro. She's caught more fish off of the pier than the rest of all of us combined I think!  We used to joke and say that it was something about her purple fishing rod, but this year she is catching them left and right no matter what pole she uses.  Everyday, without fail, she heads out onto the end of the pier to see what her catch of the day will be.  And everyday, she succeeds!

She's one tough and determined little fishing lady!  Can't you tell?

I'm BACK! Or at least I plan to be...

Don't fall out of your chairs!  Yes, you are seeing correctly... I'm finally making a new post after over a 6 months hiatus from this blog!

I have been debating on how to make my return to the bloggy world... should I back-track to create and date posts from 6 months ago, or should I just pick up with current time and start anew?  I finally decided to back-date the posts because there has just been TOO much going on to skip right over it!  How could I not go back and post about Reagan starting Kindergarten, Myers turning one, Myers starting to walk, and of course all of our holiday activities like Halloween and Christmas!?!?

So, even though today is really January 23, 2012, this post and my next few posts will be posted as if it is still July of 2011!  Thankfully, I had already created a few "draft" posts from back in July and August, so it shouldn't be too hard to catch up on the long ago months.  And thankfully, even though I haven't been blogging, I've done a great job of taking pictures and keeping the kid's calendars up to date so that I can refer back to them!

Give me some time, but I hope to back up to date and posting on current life within the next couple of weeks!

STAY TUNED!

Summertime Sprinkler Fun

What could be more fun than running though the sprinkler on a hot summer day?  Why, running through the sprinkler on a hot summer day AT THE BEACH of course!

Declaration Dash

We are AT THE BEACH! We left the June-uary temps of Canada the day after Reagan finished with preschool to head back to our favorite place in the world... the family beach house at Sunset Harbor in North Carolina where the sun seems to be always shining!  We arrived early in the morning on June 29th after flying through the night.  Thankfully both children slept on the plane... Myers slept better on the plane than he does at home.  Maybe we just need to be international jet-setters all the time!

After a few days of adjusting to the jet lag, time change, heat and humidity, it was time to head to Wilmington, NC for the Declaration Dash race.  Reagan ran in this same 2K race last year with her Daddy and her Pops.  This year, she decided that she wanted me to run the 2K with her so her Daddy could run the 10K race by himself.

Ryan trained for his race... I, on the other hand, decided to just suck it up and run the day of the race with no training at all.  Reagan probably wishes that I had put forth a little more effort because I'm pretty sure that I slowed her down tremendously while we were running.  I even asked her to slow down a couple of times early on.  She only stopped to walk one time... at the water station right at the midway point.

Once we had made the turn to return to the Start/Finish line, I told Reagan to feel free to run ahead and to leave me if she thought that I was going too slow.  She stayed with me for a short while longer, but once she realized that the Finish line was in sight, she took off sprinting on her own and left me in her dust!

 

The crowd went wild cheering once they saw her coming.  She, of course, was eating it up and running faster and faster!

After the race, the only thing left to do was to cool off with a fresh fruit smoothie and a slice of watermelon.  Oh, and of course she had to tease mommy for getting beat by a 5 year old!  I was just relieved to have finished the race and to still be able to stand on my own after it was over since it had been more than 18 months since I had done ANY form of running!

She finished the 2K with at a time of 12:58, and she placed second in her age group.  She was the youngest runner in the entire race, thus also the youngest runner in her age group of over a dozen 5-8 year olds.  All of the children that participated received a medal and an opportunity to stand on the podium!

Ryan finished the 10K with a time of 42:49!  That's a pace of 6:54 per mile!  Way to go, honey!  I think he's got the running bug now and I'm going to need to find a few races for him to run in once we get back home!  And who knows, maybe I'll get back into the running groove myself...

Graduation Day

The day before Reagan's preschool graduation, as I was ironing her favorite dress for her to wear, she was humming a song that I couldn't quite place.  Every once in a while, I would hear a note or two strung together that I knew I knew from somewhere, but then she would go on and hum a little more and I would be clueless once again.  I finally asked her what she was humming, and she told me that it was the song that would be playing the next day when she walked into the auditorium while she wore her graduation hat.  Of course!  Pomp and Circumstance!  And of course, I had to fight back the tears as I realized that my little girl was suddenly all grown up!

All of the kids in her preschool class had been working hard to learn their parts for a series of short plays that they performed for us on Graduation Day.  Reagan was the littlest billy goat from the fable The Three Billy Goats Gruff.  She was the cutest littlest billy goat I had ever seen!

After the plays were completed, it was time for graduation.  Just as Reagan had informed me the day before, they all marched into the auditorium to Pomp and Circumstance wearing their graduation caps.  Just as I had expected, I was quite choked up!

Teachers Bev and Anne presented each child with their diploma and shared with all of the parents what each child wants to be when they grow up.  It was no surprise to us to hear that Reagan wants to be a veterinarian!

I'm not sure who was the most proud of the diplomas... the kids or the parents!

The kids ended the day with a farewell to preschool song:

Kindergarten here we come!
Kindergarten here we come!
So long preschool, it's been fun!
Kindergarten here we come!

Reagan is now counting down the sleeps until summer is over and the first day of kindergarten arrives.  Me, I'm trying to hold on to the last lingering moments of my pre-kindergarten girl as long as I can!

7 Month Old Chatterbox

Myers is SEVEN MONTHS OLD today!

He has always been a very vocal baby, but lately he has been chatting up a storm. Of course, everything is still in his own little jibberish language, but it is adorable to listen to even without having a clue of what he is saying.

He has also turned into a little lover boy!  He loves to cuddle and snuggle, and has recently started to truly reach out to be picked up, to be held, and to give hugs.  And he is a FLIRT!  One second he'll pour on the charm, all smiles and laughing, then he'll turn his head and play coy and shy.  It's adorable, and I eat it up every single time.

You probably remember from this post that we had to lower the crib and remove the bassinet from the playpen since he has started pulling himself up whenever he can reach onto something. He is such an active little boy! He still isn't officially crawling, but he can get where he wants to go by either rolling, scooting, or sliding across the floor.

Two more teeth have FINALLY popped through... his top two front and center teeth are now gleaming, giving him a total of 4 teeth!  His top teeth have been giving him a horrible time, so we are very relieved to finally have them completely in.

Speaking of a horrible time, Myers has been sick for over 3 weeks now.  At first we (we meaning me and our family physician) just thought that it was from teething; then we thought maybe it was allergies; then we decided it was a mild cold;  then we were worried that he possibly had pneumonia.  Thankfully the chest x-rays came back with no signs of pneumonia, so we began the process of treating him for croup and bronchitis with a sinus infection.  Three days later we discovered that he had an ear infection in BOTH ears.  Antibiotics were added to the regimen, and I'm hoping that the end is in sight!

Needless to say,  Myers' sleeping habits have NOT improved from waking up every 1-2 hours during all of his teething and illnesses.  Truth be told, his sleeping habits have gotten even worse!  I'm still holding out hope that once he is completely well, and now that he has finished with this current round of teething, that maybe just maybe, he and I both will be able to get a full night's sleep!  Hopefully I will be able to report that fabulous accomplishment in a post with all of his 8 month updates!

Sick, Sick, Sick and Sick

That describes my family right now.  Every last one of us is sick, and it sucks!

Ryan started with a nasty cough on my birthday... that was over a month ago on May 4th, and he is still coughing today!  Thankfully, we think that his "cold" is almost over.  Our family physician warned us that this cough/cold that is going around lasts for over a month, so at least we know that Ryan is par for the course!

Myers started coughing on May 27th, and he has progressively gotten worse since then.  Our doctor ordered a chest x-ray for him just a couple of days ago to rule out pneumonia, and thankfully it came back negative.  So we are currently treating Myers for croup/bronchitis.  He is doing GREAT with the breathing masks/nebulizer treatments, so that makes the healing process at least a little easier on Mommy!  We had purchased a nebulizer for Reagan back during her early days with RSV... that little machine has definitely been put to good use over the last few years!  The hardest part for Myers, and it really ended up not being that bad at all, was getting him to take the concentrated steroid syrup.  Getting a 6 month old baby to "chug" down 80 mls/3 ounces of medicine all at once is no easy task.  But with Reagan and Ryan dancing around in the background to keep him distracted, drop by drop he drank it all in about 25 minutes time. 

Reagan and I started coughing on May 29th.  The medicines and inhalers have at least prevented she and I from becoming too terribly sick, although you wouldn't believe me if you heard us coughing.  I swear our neighbors must think that our house is infected with tuberculosis or something!

The main problem with Reagan's health right now is her ears.  She is battling recurrent severe ear infections... she had just gotten over an ear infection in her right ear when it suddenly came back stronger than ever, accompanied by a matching infection in her left ear.  

These ear infections are only making our current worry of partial hearing loss for Reagan that much worse.  Our family doctor has confirmed that she has significant scar tissue damage on her right ear drum, and that the scar tissue is probably the cause of her hearing loss.  At first we just thought that she had "selective" hearing like most 5 year olds, and we were constantly telling her that she needed to listen more.  When we realized that she was actually missing entire sentences that we were saying, we discovered that we had a HEARING problem on our hands... not a LISTENING problem.  Once Ryan and I sat down together and really started analyzing the situation, we realized that it had been going on for quite some time and had been progressively getting worse.  Her hearing issues have also started to take a toll on her speech, to the point that people who aren't around her on a daily basis to "know her language" can't always understand anymore.   We have an appointment with an audiologist on August 15th to decide what our next steps need to be, so for now we wait and hope for no more ear infections!  (August 15th is considered an urgent appointment time... otherwise we would have to wait until November or December to see the audiologist.  Government Health Care isn't always the greatest...)

The good news about all of this... Apparently, stress combined with lack of sleep mixed in with a nasty cough is the latest diet trend!  I had just about decided that I was not going to lose the last 6 pounds of baby weight without doing some form of serious exercise.  No need to worry... I have finally broken the barrier and now only have 1 pound left of "Myers weight" to lose.  So, once we are all healthy, hopefully I will be able to do that serious exercising to lose 15 extra pounds as well!

I Think It's Time...

I think it's time to lower the crib and remove the bassinet from the playpen!  What do you think?

6 Months of Myers

This post can be alternately titled any of the following...

"One Long Post"

"Yes, I Have A Son"

"No, I Haven't Forgotten About My Son"

"Second Child Syndrome"

"A Long Time Coming"

"Bad Mommy"

"Myers, Myers, and More Myers"

"It's Been Awhile"

"Baby Brain"

"A Whole Lot of Updates"

"Baby Overload"

This blog originally started off as a blog about Reagan.  Then it kind-of transformed into my blog about Reagan and everything else in my life.  So naturally that would include Myers.  And I have mentioned him and added a few pictures of him here and there to many of my posts.  But I haven't done a true Myers update since he was ONE MONTH OLD!  Yes, one of the alternate titles was "Bad Mommy"  and I think maybe I should have gone with that one instead of "6 Months of Myers!"

Oh well, better late than never right?!  Just be prepared for a WHOLE LOT of Myers in this post to get us all caught back up to date with our little man!  Thankfully, I have been taking lots of pictures and writing little notes in his baby calendar everyday so that I can easily keep track of what he's been up to.  Without that, I'd be lost... I can barely seem to remember my own name these days much less how old he was at each little milestone!

So, we last left off with Myers at one month old.  If you can't remember all the details from that far back, click here!  And here's a quick photo reminder so you can easily see how much he has grown by the end of this post!

Not long after he turned one month old, his horrible diaper rash FINALLY cleared up.  We moved him out of the bassinet in our bedroom and into his crib in the nursery when he was 6 weeks old.   He loves his crib, and it wasn't long after we moved him into his own room that he started sleeping for 6-8 hour stretches at night.  (If only he would still do that now...)  By the time he was two months old, he was a pro at sleeping!

2 Months Old...

At his 2 Month check-up, he weighed 12 pounds and 7 ounces, and he was 24 inches long.

As you can tell from the photo collage above, this is when his amazing little personality started to develop.  He was/is ALWAYS smiling!  During this second month, he became very vocal.  He started laughing out loud and squealing LOTS.  You may even remember this video of him "chatting" with his Daddy.

He also became extremely active... spinning around 180 degrees in his crib while he was sleeping, and he rolled over for the first time going from his tummy to his back.  He discovered his hands this month, and he found them to be fascinating little objects to play with and stare at.  He started using those little hands for grasping and playing with his toys as well.  He also started playing in his exersaucer for extended periods of time.

3 Months Old...

At 3 Months, he weighed 13 pounds and 13 ounces, and he was 26 inches long.

He rolled over for the first time from his back to his tummy a few days after he turned three months old.   Whereas the previous month he was playing with his hands, this month he was playing with his feet!

The main focus of this month seemed to be his mouth... from the drool coming out of it, to the cereal going into it!  Ryan and I quickly learned that we were just going to have to get used to the fact that we were going to be constantly drooled on.  From his Sophie the Giraffe teething toy, to frozen teething rings, to his own little fists, there seemed to always need to be something for his gums to be rubbing on.

I started feeding him cereal at 15 weeks old, and he really loved it from the very first time.  He eagerly ate it once a day, everyday, for 2 weeks, but then I decided to go back to only nursing him because he seemed to be very fussy and gassy from it.

4 Months Old...

At his 4 Month check-up, he weighed 15 pounds and 2 ounces and he was 26.5 inches long.

He stared propping himself up on his elbows the day he turned 4 months old, and you can tell from the pictures above that I loved taking pictures of him doing it!  You can also tell from the video above that he was really trying hard to talk at this point too.   Everything still came out as squeaks and squeals, but he was certainly able to communicate the fact that he was/is a VERY happy baby.

He started jumping in his jumperoo this month, and loved it from the very first bounce.  It is actually still one of his favorite toys!  Speaking of toys, he started really playing with all of his toys this month.  He was no longer just batting at his toys, but actually pushing buttons, picking them up, and playing with them all. 

I re-started cereal feeding towards the end of this month, and he was very happy for me to re-introduce it into his diet!

Now for the bad news... 4 months old is when he decided that he no longer liked his car seat, and he no longer slept well at night.    He would (and still does) start crying and fussing for any car ride longer than 20 minutes, and he went back (and still continues now) to only sleeping for 2-3 hour stretches at night.  

5 Months Old...

We didn't have to go to the doctor for a 5 month check-up, so I don't have any weight or height stats.

My handsome little boy said "mama" for the first time the day after he turned 5 months old!  Exactly one week later he said "dada."  Now I know that he has no clue what he is saying, but that doesn't change the fact that we love hearing him say it just the same! 

I added several new foods to his diet this month... all foods that I roasted and pureed myself for him.  Yep, I'm making my own baby food this time around.   I started him off with bananas, and by the end of this month he had also had avocados, carrots, peas, sweet potatoes, squash, and blueberries. 

If the picture collage above wasn't prove enough, let me just tell you that he is one happy baby!  During his 5th month, he smiled all the time, he loved to stick out his tongue, he would blow bubbles at us, and he started giving us great big open-mouth kisses.  He still does all of those things!

Half way through the 5th month, he flipped/crawled out of his Bumbo seat.  Thankfully, Ryan was right there beside him to catch him or else he either would have ended up in a plate full of chili or he would have rolled right off the dining room table.  Yes, he was the centerpiece for dinner that evening!  This must have just been his way of telling us that he was soon not going to need the Bumbo seat anymore... exactly one week later he was sitting up like a big boy all by himself.   He started doing this on Mother's Day!

His other big accomplishment (as if everything else wasn't enough) for this month was that he got his FIRST TOOTH!  His front left tooth on the bottom came through, and boy did it give him a fit in the process.  The teething process continues as more teeth are on the way...

6 Months Old...

At his 6 month check-up he weighed 17 pounds and 2 ounces and he was 28.35 inches long. 

His second tooth came through a couple of days after he turned 6 months old.  He now has 2 pearly whites on the bottom, and I can see signs of his top two teeth coming soon.   One of his favorite things to do these days is to show off his teeth and stick out his tongue!

His other favorite thing to do is to show off how well he can sit by himself now.  He no longer wants to lay in his playpen or lay on his playmat... he wants to be sitting!

He can now get up on all four's and rock like he is ready to crawl, and I have a feeling that I will be reporting this accomplishment sooner rather than later.

As you can tell from all the most recent pictures, he is still a very happy baby by day, but he's not sleeping well at night.  He now averages only 1-2 hours of sleep per spell, which is starting to take a toll on me to say the least.  I guess I should just be thankful that when he does wake up at the end of each spell, I can usually get him back to sleep within 15-20 minutes. 

So there you have it!  Six months of pure cuteness, all jammed packed into one blog post.  Hopefully I'll stay on top of the updates from now on if my poor sleep-deprived brain can remember to do so!

Pops & Momsey

We were finally able to convince my parents to leave sunny Florida to come back up to what they refer to as the "Frozen North" for a visit.  They spend their winters in Florida in their motor home, and they were quite content to stay in the 90 degree temps for a little while longer.  But a phone call from Reagan begging them to come visit, and a few pictures of Myers in an email from me got them motivated to leave the sunshine to come back to the rain even though we are having what has been reported to be the "coldest and wettest Spring in over 50 years!"

We did our best to keep them warm... there were many long soaks in the hot tub.  Myers even joined in on the fun for his first hot tub dip....

Reagan made them exercise/play enough to almost break a sweat...

We drank hot tea at a tea party...

We let them have endless amounts of warm and cozy snuggles...

And we let them feel the heat of the intense pressure of watching the Canucks in playoff hockey!  As you can see, Myers is already "one of the boys" when it comes to hockey...

They were here with us to celebrate a bundle of occasions... Reagan's birthday, Easter, Reagan's gym meet, my birthday, and Mother's Day.  But of course they know that there need not be any special occasion for us to want to have them come for a visit.  Just having them here makes it a special occasion for us!

Mother's Day Extravaganza

I can honestly say that this Mother's Day was the BEST MOTHER'S DAY EVER! Of course, something tells me that I will say that year after year... but so far this one takes the cake!

The Friday before Mother's Day, Reagan's preschool hosted a tea for all of the moms.  Since my parents were here visiting with us, we got prior approval for Momsey to come join us as well.

When my mom and I arrived at the school, we were escorted into the classroom by Reagan.  Each child brought their mother into the room one by one and told us where to take a seat.  All of the moms (and Momsey) were then pampered with a FABULOUS pedicure.  First, Reagan washed our feet.  Then she gave us a fantastic foot massage with some sweet smelling lotion, and then finished off the pampering with a spritz of perfume.   All of the moms were a bit relieved to know that this pedicure did NOT include any polish!

Then the real fun began.  Reagan's teachers instructed us on how to play a little game called "The Mom Connection" much like the old TV show "The Love Connection."  Each child had previously given the answer to a question, and the teachers wrote down those amazing answers.  The kids were split into groups of five, and each group received a different question.  Some kids were asked how old their moms are... the answers ranged from "7" to "50 or something."  Another group was asked what their moms do best... those answers included everything from "giving hugs" to "working on the computer."  Hmmm... I bet that computer mommy is a blogger!  One group was asked what mommy's favorite tv show is... those answers were actually pretty acurate!  Reagan's group was asked "Where was your mommy born?"  The answers from her group were hilarious!  One kid said that his mommy was never born, that she has just always been big, but she used to live in England!  Reagan's answer was priceless... "My mommy was born in the place with the stars and stripes on the flag!"  I wrote down South Carolina for my answer, so even though it wasn't a perfect match, it was the PERFECT ANSWER!

After the game, Teacher Anne read us all a super sweet story that I have read myself many times before.  For some reason, hearing it read to us all in that setting, with Reagan curled up in my lap, I couldn't stop myself from becoming a blubbering mess!  You've probably heard it before... "Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch.  It's the super sweet story of a young woman holding her newborn son and softly singing to him:

I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.

The story continues throughout the stages of the little boy's childhood until he becomes a man.  There is one part of the story that is, let's be honest here, just a little bit creepy.  After the man moves out on his own, the mother would drive across town in the middle of the night and climb through his bedroom window to still sing the song to him.   Ummm, no.  That is weird on all kinds of levels!  Munsch could have just left that part out of the story if you ask me.

Anyway, I wasn't the only one that got choked up listening to the story.  Even Teacher Anne had to take a moment to catch her voice and wipe her eyes by the end of the book.

Once we had all recomposed ourselves, the children escorted us into another room for tea and cake.  It was a lovely little service, and it was obvious that the kids had put A LOT of work into decorating and making everything special for the moms.

After we had finished our tea, the kids serenaded us with a super sweet song and then presented us each with a gift...

The quote on Reagan's picture frame says "My mommy loves me with all of her heart.  I love her as much as the whole wide world!"

Seriously, the entire afternoon was adorable, loving, sweet, and perfect!  It was like a gigantic overloaded mommy love-fest!

For Mother's Day Sunday, Reagan and Myers presented me with a beautiful necklace that I had been wanting ever since Myers was born.  If you haven't ever heard of Lisa Leonard and her amazing original hand-stamped designs, you really need to go check her out.  Go ahead and click on her name, but be sure to come back to finish reading here too!

Myers gave me an extra surprise that day as well... he started sitting ALL BY HIMSELF!  I will always remember that he reached that milestone on Mother's Day!

Reagan and Myers helped me to create the perfect picture to give to Momsey, Great-Gran, and Grandma to make their Mother's Day special as well.   I was extremely happy to get such a great shot of both of them actually looking at the camera AND with smiles on both of their faces... that in itself was like another gift to me! 

So, like I said at the very beginning, this was the best Mother's Day ever.  I was pampered with love and affection from my children, AND I got to share the day with my own Mom too.  It just doesn't get any better than that!

PS... We decided to play the "Connection" game at home later the same night as the Mother's Day so that Ryan and Pops could see how cute the answers could be.  I took Reagan into another room and asked her all four of the questions that were asked of the kids at preschool, and I had her give me an answer to each question for Momsey, Pops, and her Daddy.  The best answer of all... "What does Pops do best?"  Her answer... "Go to the bathroom!"  Hmmmm, someone spends a lot of time reading in his office!

Happy Birthday To Me

You know you are spoiled when you get not just one, but TWO cakes for your birthday!  Seriously, the bakery that we use is so amazing that I just couldn't decide between the white chocolate strawberry mouse cake or the tiramisu, so I got both.

I was also spoiled with presents.  My parents gave me some new Lululemon cropped pants, and Reagan added to my Lululemon headband collection.  If you haven't ever heard of this brand of athletic wear, you seriously don't know what you are missing.

I introduced my mom to this wonderful clothing line, and she now loves their stuff just as much as I do.  In return, she introduced me to the line of jeans called Not Your Daughter's Jeans.

Ryan gave me two pairs of these amazing jeans for my birthday.  Ladies, trust me when I tell you that modern technology mixed in with your clothes can work miracles.  Both Lululemon and Not Your Daughter's Jeans have mastered the art of lifting and tucking in all the right places!  Click either of the logos above to find out more for yourself...

When I modeled my new clothes for Ryan, he declared them to be "False Advertising" because he knows things don't look the same without the magic pants!  Now if that doesn't make you want to run out and buy a pair of your own, I don't know what will.

The best present of all was when Reagan decided to make up a song on the spot and sing it to me while rocking out with her Barbie guitar.  I was sitting there with tears running down my face as she sang about how much she loves me... all the way to outer space, and how I am the best mom ever.  No amount of money in the world can buy a gift like that!