Weekend Fun

Last night was date night! We ventured out with the other twerds(as Justin likes to call us twilighters) to see New Moon. I know, some of you love, some of you hate. It really does seem to be an either or kind of deal with the whole Twilight thing. I, of course, am on the love side. :) I thought this movie was better than the one for Twilight. The movies don't live up to the books, but what movie ever does? Books are always better. I really believe it's because of all of the little deatails that make the book special. You miss them in the movie version because there's just not enough time to pack it all in (unless you want to sit in a theatre for 6 hours, no thank you).

Today we had lunch with the Tate's. They are some of our friends from the MSOP days. They were driving near us on their way from Texas to Athens, Alabama and made a pit stop so we could visit. It was really great to see more friends from school and their kids are getting sooooo big! By the way, in case you didn't know Christy also has a blog...you can find it here.

As promised here is the video of Reagan laughing at Justin. This was the first time Justin heard her laugh and the first time she ever laughed this much. I tell her all the time that she is too cute for her own good!

Teething Baby = Stressed Mommy

Well, I thought it was coming and I was right. I have no doubts now that Reagan is teething. I can't tell where it's coming in yet, but one's coming. The other day I mentioned in another post that she was chewing on things and drooling. She'd also been fussing more. Well tonight she cried non-stop for a couple of hours or so and you could tell she was in pain. We were trying teething rings and tylenol and nothing seemed to be working. I got on facebook and asked for advice. Someone mentioned teething tablets. Justin went in search but, as usual, if you need something that automatically means our walmart will be out of it. Instead he came home with teething gel, orajel, and orajel nighttime. :) I gave her some of the teething gel and she calmed down pretty quickly. Boy was I glad! It was really stressing me out that she was in pain and I couldn't do anything to help. I know it's probably going to get worse, but we found something that works for now at least! She actually was in a rather good mood after the gel kicked in. I got a great video of Justin making her laugh! It was so sweet and it was also the first time he's heard her really laugh like that. I'll have to get it on here soon. At the moment she is sound asleep so I'm going to head to bed myself so I can be well rested for whatever tomorrow brings! Justin and I are going out to eat and to see New Moon! A couple of the college kids from church (who are engaged to be married) are going to babysit. I can't decide if she should be good or give them a good look at what being a parent is like so they can be extra sure they can handle it before they become parents! :)

3 Months Old

My baby is 3 months old!

She is getting so big!

She loves her daddy! :)

Look at that Alfalfa hair! What a face!

She doesn't quite have the hang of it yet, but will very soon!

She's getting better at pushing up, but still doesn't care for tummy time.

She is amazing. She is learning new things everyday. She is reaching out for toys now! I feel so blessed to be the mother of such a sweet and silly little girl!

Visits, Wreaths, and Toe Touches, Oh My!

Thursday we had a visit from some good friends that we haven't seen since we left Memphis. Kyle and Kellee Gilpin (and, yes, Kyle is the son of THE Eddie Gilpin ;) ) came to Demopolis while they were in Tuscaloosa visiting family. We went out to eat and hung out for a while. It was so good to see them! I miss having all my "preacher wife" friends near me! I really think they are the only ones that completely understand what my life is like because they are living it too. I hope we get to see them again soon!

Over the past week I have been working on Christmas wreaths for my front doors. I finally got them done. This was my first attempt at bows and I thought they turned out pretty well. My mom taught me how to make them when she was down last weekend. She is really good at making them.

This week Reagan also learned a new trick! She found her feet! It seems like she's learning something new every day. She's also been chewing on stuff a lot. A toy, my hand, it doesn't matter, whatever's in front of her is going to get chewed on! :) She's also started drooling. Does this mean the teething is coming soon? I don't look forward to that!

Here is my sweet girl in one of her outfits from my Gran Gran. We took this some time after church services today. She's such a happy baby! Unless she's tired then it's a whole other story...not even three months yet and already fighting sleep!

I love this sweet face!

Dr. Seuss is Funny Stuff

Yesterday Reagan and I were laying in the floor. I was getting ready to read One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss. I held the book up above us and turned to the first page. All of a sudden I heard this laughing next to me! She was looking at the book and laughing at it! She's given little "ha ha" laughs before, but this was several in a row. It was the cutest thing I've ever heard. It absolutely melted my heart. Unfortunately, Daddy was at work so he didn't get to hear it. I tried to call him to let him hear, but by the time he was on the phone she stopped. I hope he gets to hear her do it soon. I can't wait until she gives us an even bigger laugh and the day she cackles I will probably cry!

Here she is trying to figure out the fish on her gym.

We had a lot of rain Monday night and Tuesday from Ida pushing in. This is what happens to our basement when there is this much rain in a short period of time.

Everything we keep in there has to be in plastic totes. Even then some things still get a mildew on them. We've been moving anything small enough to fit through the opening to the attic up there to keep it from getting ruined. Fortunately, one side of the basement doesn't have standing water. That's the side we keep all of our stuff on. Hope those of you in Ida's path were able to stay dry!

Date Night!

We had another wonderful weekend of visitors this past weekend. My mom and aunt came to visit. Saturday night Mom and Patti babysat so Justin and I could have our first date night since Reagan arrived. We went to Meridian and ate sushi. The restaurant was called Sake Sushi and was pretty good. I love sushi. We only get the stuff that's cooked. I'm not brave enough for the raw stuff. Smoked salmon is the closest to raw that I will get. We also walked around some stores. We got Reagan some shoes and I got a pair too! I LOVE heels but haven't worn them much in months because I was all big and pregnant and even more clumsy than usual. My doctor actually banned heels while I was pregnant. :( So I was very excited to get a new pair. I got them at Ross for only $15. Whoo hoo! They are the tallest heels I've ever owned and that's saying something because I've been known to wear some pretty tall ones!

Thank you Mom (and Patti) for babysitting so we could have a night out!

Body After Baby Update

I'm now halfway through my eight week challenge to myself to get in better shape so I thought it was time to give everyone an update. If you missed the first post about it you can read it here. My original goal was to lose ten pounds. I don't know that it's gonna happen. I haven't really lost more than a couple of pounds but I have added muscle and I know that muscle weighs more than fat. If I don't hit the pound goal it will be alright as long as I feel better and can fit into some more clothes.
Lately I've been doing mostly yoga and this week got back on the weights. I have to change it up a lot because I get bored easily, especially if I'm not seeing quick results. I have definitely toned up! My arms look much better and my legs are starting to thin out more. You can actually see a little bit of muscle again! Yay! :) I know that Justin and I are the only ones that see my thighs, but aren't we the most important ones? If nothing else it does help my self esteem, which makes all the difference in the world. So far in my hips I have gone down 1 1/2 inches and in my waist I've gone down 3 inches!
I'm getting close to being able to fit into another pair of jeans. Right now I can only fit into one pair of non-maternity jeans so I am more than ready for another pair. Everything is definitely feeling much tighter and looking smaller and more toned so I know I'm on the right track. I'm drinking more water and trying to eat smaller portions. I'm also trying to be conscious of saturated fat levels in the groceries I buy. So far, so good!

My Old Self

I was one of those girls who thought having a baby would be easy. Don't get me wrong, I knew they could give you a hard time. I'd worked in pre-schools with every age group so I knew it could be challenging, but I thought I was prepared...I was WRONG. I had no idea how hard it would be. When you work with children you always get to send them home at the end of the day. You also don't have to wake up in the middle of the night with them. You don't have an emotional roller coaster running wild in your head and hormones that are making you seem like you have Bipolar Disorder. I had a much harder time than I thought I would. I went through all kinds of emotions. Extremely happy, extremely sad, angry, tired, so full of love, annoyed, frustrated, lonely, blessed, pressure. There was good and bad, but overall, I felt more bad. I don't think I was a very pleasant person to be around. I didn't want to admit that all this was going on either. I felt ashamed that I was having such a hard time and that it wasn't the picture of perfection. BUT...all is (mostly) well now. Of course there are good days and bad days...that's life. But I'm feeling more like my old self again. Justin even said I was back earlier tonight. I'm feeling much better and my emotions are much more in check than they were before. I love my baby girl sooo much and that was never in question. It is worth it all to have that precious baby in my life. Don't expect me to actually talk about this because it's something I don't think I can discuss. Writing is better for me with things like this. Just something I wanted to get off my chest and put out there for other new moms to see so that they know they are not alone in this. Now, on to a much more fun topic...

Reagan is doing so great! She is sleeping through the night! She goes to sleep around 10 or so and doesn't wake up until around 8. I know, I'm so lucky that she does and, believe me, I count my blessings on that one! I'm not so much the morning person and don't wake up well in the middle of the night. She usually stirs around 6 but if you give her the paci she will doze back off. We play the paci in and out game every 30 minutes or so and then around 8 she wakes up for good and is ready to eat. She's still adjusting some from the time change, but it hasn't thrown her off too bad. Also, she is really holding her head up well now!

She still gets wobbly but is getting so good at it. She also officially has a lovey.

It's a little silky that we got at the shower the ladies from church gave us. She loves that blanket. If you lay it on her she grabs tight and keeps a grip on it. She's very into holding on to something at all times right now. Halloween was fun!

Here's Reagan in most of her first Halloween stuff. I couldn't get a good one because she wouldn't quit watching the Vols game. That is not an exaggeration. She was literally staring at the tv and refusing to smile or cooperate. :) We finally got a new picture of the three of us!

That's all for now. Time to go read and go to bed. Hope all is well in your world!