Reagan - April 2013

One way I keep track of all the exciting things happening with Reagan and Kyleigh is by making notes on my phone.  I've decided to just summarize those notes and I'll put them on the blog each month.

• He wants hugs all the time - both giving and receiving hugs
• Very good at stringing 4-5 words together, but often leaves out the verb!
• Loves to ham it up with people, especially our Wheaton friends
• Pronounces his name as "Rea-Gone"
• Favorite phrases: "I do it," " Beep, beep, paging Reagan"
• Says the same word 3x when trying to say a sentence
• Loves to put his hands in his pockets and say "pocket"
• He's becoming quite the tattletale!  He'll come into the room and let me know what Kyleigh is doing, especially if she's getting into his stuff.
• He locks his door when I'm driving.  I often forget and when I go to open his door and find it locked, he looks up at me with the biggest grin
• When I don't understand what he's saying, I'll say "Show Me" and he just repeats "Show Me" and runs off to show me!
• Favorite Books: "Minnie Mouse Best Friends Forever Song," "Clifford the Fire House Dog," "Clifford's Hiccups," "My Big Truck Book"
• Getting really good at correctly identifying things: sun, trees, etc
• Getting him dressed in the morning is a challenge; he doesn't want to and he kicks/screams when I do it
• First lie 4/12/13 - in the car, I asked if his muffin was all gone.  He looked down at it in his lap and said, "yes"
• Gets obsessed with certain foods (usually breakfast) and has to have them.  Applesauce at snack time, yogurt and muffin at breakfast.
• When people talk to him at the store, he'll point to me and say "My mommy"
• He gets very angry when things get stuck; throws things down or hits and screams
• Really good with most colors, but red is usually pink and blue is usually purple
• Big phrase is "I don't wan to"
• Learning his ABCs and doing well, but not totally threre
• Like to throw Kyleigh's diapers away every morning
• Going through a big "MY" phase....everything is "Mine"
• He'll put himself into timeout even when he doesn't need to be there

130 Words

Disclaimer to this post: I am a little torn about writing this post because I feel like I'm bragging about Reagan.  However, that is not my heart behind this post.  The main reason I have been blogging is to keep a record of this time in my life and how our kids are growing up.  So, with that said, read on if you choose!

I have heard frequently from several people how "verbal" Reagan is for a 2 year old.  I always thought he had a large vocabulary, but thought I was just being presumptuous.  Well, after someone brought it up to me again last night, I thought I'd do a little test.  I had been wanting to do this test for the past month, but never got around to it.  Today was different.

On April 13, 2013, I wrote down every word Reagan spoke since he woke up this morning and went to bed tonight.  Let me tell you, this was an eye opening experience!  It was very time consuming, but well worth it.

Reagan uttered a whopping 130 unique words today!  I could not believe it when I sat down tonight and counted the final number.  The amazing thing is that there were several words Reagan usually says throughout the day that he did not say today.  For example, he only mentioned a few body parts and a few colors.  He also only named a few friends instead of going through his normal list.  He learned one new word today, which was chocolate (he ate a banana chocolate muffin for breakfast this morning). He learns so much and so quickly!

Selfishness

This is going to be a quick post because I'm on a tight schedule today before I leave for WA to visit Aunt Jean.  It's about selfishness...here we go!

I've always heard that becoming a parent brings out your selfish nature.  While I believed this to be true, I hadn't truly experienced this.  Sure, there have been times when I wanted something and couldn't do it because of this kids, but it never really got to me.  That is, until yesterday/this morning.

Kyleigh has had a case of the runs for the past three days.  I finally decided it was time to call the pediatrician to see how I could help this pass.  They gave me instructions and then I asked the nurse if I needed to keep Kyleigh away from other kids.  The unfortunate (but correct) answer was yes.

Enter selfishness.  I was given this news on Thursday afternoon and all I could think about what that I was going to miss my Entrusted class on Friday morning.  I was so upset...really upset...that I had to miss class.  I thought about it the rest of Thursday afternoon and evening and then thought of ways I could still get to class when I awoke on Friday morning.  I had a chip on my shoulder because I needed to stay home and let Kyleigh's system work through this bug.

I'm being really honest here.  It's difficult to face the sin in your own life and it is not very fun either.  I thank God for his forgiveness and that he was not selfish by withholding his grace from me.  Next time I'm confronted with selfishness, I'll need to depend on God's grace to humbly let go of my desires.

Little Man Turns 2!

I can't believe we just celebrated Reagan's SECOND birthday!  How is it possible our little man turned two just a few days ago?  I'm still a little in shock that I'm the mom of a 2 year old.  It is going to be very strange when I sign him into the nursery to just write 2 instead of 'x months' old.  I know, it's the little things.

We had a very long celebration of Reagan's birthday.  Grandma Jill came out to visit the weekend before his birthday.  She was here for 5 days and as it always does, the time was too short.  We decided to celebrate Reagan's birthday on Friday, 3/15 after Ryan got home from work.  I've been trying to have our family eat healthier and there is a website that offers several great, healthy dessert options.  So I went ahead and made Reagan's birthday cake.  The sweet flavor came from the bananas, but there were also chocolate chunks in the cake, too.  I made a blueberry frosting to go over it, but that wasn't as good as the actual cake.  Reagan didn't really care, he just wanted the cake!

Our only family picture from his birthday weekend

"Yay, cake!!"

After eating his cake (and asking for more multiple times), he opened his presents.  Grandma Jill and Grandpa Bruce gave him a basketball hoop and some clothes.  He absolutely loves the new hoop.  In fact, the next morning, Ryan taught Reagan how to count to three and throw the ball into the hoop.  It was adorable!  Reagan also loved playing with the "Cars" duplo set we bought him.

The following weekend we celebrated Reagan's birthday with Mimi and Papa in town.  While Reagan really enjoyed the healthy cake, I wanted to make something different.  I went through my cookbooks several times and just couldn't make the decision.  I seriously thought I would end up making a boxed cake, but I looked one more time.  I settled on a from-scratch Chocolate Covered Strawberry cake.  The only thing was the frosting had so. much. sugar.  I was very hesitant, but it was oh so worth it!  Oh my gosh, it was delicious!

Before we had the cake, Reagan opened his presents.  He received a super cool tool belt from Uncle Jeffrey (including a pager that actually beeps!) and another duplo set.  I think daddy had more fun playing with the choo choo train duplo set than Reagan.  Memories in the making!

Reagan was absolutely thrilled to eat cake for the second time in one week.  The look on his eyes says it all!

Look at the anticipation on his face!

That is one happy cake eating birthday boy!

I still can't believe my little man is 2 years old.  It seems like yesterday I was holding him for the first time.  He's brought so much laughter to my daily life and I'm excited for the year to come!

A Rough Day

March 7, 2013 is a day I would like to erase from my life book of parenting.  It was a rough day to say the very least.

It all started with an early wake up call from Kyleigh.  I don't know why (I would assume teething, but I continue to assume that incorrectly), but Kyleigh has been getting up between 5 and 5:30a on alternate mornings.  The other mornings she gets up at her normal time of 6ish.  So, this morning she decided it was an early morning and we both got out of bed as Ryan was leaving the house.  I did my normal routine of feeding her and reading my Bible.  And in fact, Reagan actually slept in until about 7:45a which is really late!  So, between 5:30a and 8:30a, the day wasn't terrible; early, but not terrible.

While Kyleigh slept, I decided to play PlayDoh with Reagan.  We hadn't pulled it out in awhile and I thought we could have some good one on one mommy time together.  We actually had a really good time; Reagan didn't eat it and he thoroughly enjoyed pulling tiny pieces apart and putting them into the container.  When I told Reagan it was time to put the PlayDoh away, he agreed without a fight.  Success!

And then it went all downhill from there......

It was nearing the time of getting Kyleigh up, so I mentioned to Reagan that we needed to change his clothes and get ready to leave.  I can't even describe the scene that followed.  Somewhere between the kicking, screaming (and waking Kyleigh up...grrr), and hitting me, I managed to get him dressed.  It was an ugly, ugly 30 minutes.  I disciplined him several times within these 30 minutes to no avail.  He wasn't phased in the least.

After finally getting him dressed and getting Kyleigh ready, we headed to Costco.  We had a fairly uneventful trip.  On our way home, however, he decided it would be really fun to kick my seat as well as kick the toys off of Kyleigh's carseat.  More discipline when we get home, I told him.  He knows not to put his feet on the seat.

I'm now thinking I just need to make it to naptime and things will get better after they both sleep.  I put them both down around 1p and they both went to sleep fairly quickly.  Great!  Around 2:15p Kyleigh starts screaming and I know it's over.  She's been having very short afternoon naps the past week and it's driving me crazy!  For once, her screams actually awoke Reagan so both of them were up and it was only 2:30p.  I knew immediately this was not going to be a good afternoon.  Cranky morning + short nap = rough afternoon....I've been there before.

Reagan was so upset when he woke up that I was actually really sad for him.  He couldn't control his crying at all.  I continued to hug/hold him for about 30 minutes and he finally calmed down a bit.  Of course, Kyleigh didn't like the fact that she wasn't being held, so she cried during this whole time too.  Now onto snack time...I ran out of crackers.  Big mistake, mom, big mistake.  I did my best to convince Reagan the snack I was going to give him would be just fine, but he still struggled through it.

Around 3:30p, I decided I needed to get out of the house again or I was going to explode.  So, I headed off to Bed, Bath, and Beyond.  Oh boy was this a disaster in the store :(  I couldn't get the buckle to work on the seat for Reagan, so I just left it unbuckled.  Reagan took that as "I'm free to stand up and wiggle all over the place."  My own fault, I know, but I just couldn't muster the energy to go back to the front of the store and get a new cart.  Silly, I know, but if you're having one of those days, you know how I felt in that moment.

When I got home around 4:15p, I knew there was only a little bit of time left before Ryan would be home and things would just get better.  I got the phone call at 4:30p from Ryan - right on time.  Except that he called to tell him he was just asked to go answer some questions the State had about assisted living and he doesn't know how long he'll be a work.  NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!  I just about lost it at that moment.  I know it wasn't Ryan's fault, but I seriously didn't know if I would make it until 7p when the kids would go down to bed.  I seriously wanted to walk out of the house; thankfully, my mind took over and I stayed put.

The next two hours were a blur.  Somewhere between Reagan throwing temper tantrums and throwing his blocks all over the house and Kyleigh screaming in her Jumperoo because she wanted to be held instead of bounce, I managed to make a delicious stir fry dinner.  Just as I was setting the meal on the table, Ryan walked through the door (6:20p) and we were able to have dinner as a family.  Reagan behaved while eating, to which I was extremely thankful.  Ryan helped me put the kids to bed and 7p never felt so good!

Now, after reading this, you might think that it wasn't that bad of a day.  Well, at the beginning of the post, I said I wanted to erase this day.  I think by the Lord's grace, I was able to mentally erase some of the other events that happened yesterday afternoon.  I know there was more disobedience, but I can't remember the circumstances.  I must say this was one of the toughest days I've had in a really long time.

Fast forward 12 hours to this morning when I woke up.  I quickly checked Facebook and saw a post from a friend about tough parenting weeks and being thankful.  Her daughter had just spent the last 4 days in the hospital and she was finally being released to go home.  After reading her post, I got chills down my back and realized that although yesterday wasn't fun, I am thankful that both of my kids are healthy and that I can be home to raise them.  Even during the difficult times.  Holly will probably never know how her post impacted me.

Random Thoughts

I know it has been awhile since I last posted.  Anyway, I just have some random thoughts I'm going to write about today.  Enjoy!

Being Content: it may sound simple, but in my life, at least, it's not so easy.  If you stop and really think about what it means to be content, I would venture to guess that you're not content all the time either.  I am finding it difficult in these winter months to be content at home.  I find myself needing to get out of the house at least once a day, and it is usually twice a day that I find myself away from home.  A few Friday's ago this whole idea of being content really hit me.  After Entrusted was over, I didn't have any errands to run and I didn't want to stop at any stores because I didn't have any money to spend either.  So, where else was I to go at 11a on a Friday morning but home.  I was not happy about this, but headed home anyway.  I had a full hour and a half before I started lunch and the kids went down for their naps.  I had no idea what I was going to do when I arrived home.  It then dawned on me that although I am home with the kids, I am not necessarily home with the kids.  Does that make sense?  We're in the same location, but not necessarily together.  Well,  on this particular Friday, I decided that all I was going to do was be with them.  I wasn't going to tend to any household business; I was just going to sit on the floor and be with them.  It was a great hour and a half!  Both kids were laughing; I was throwing Kyleigh up in the air to her squeals and delight and I was tickling Reagan until his face turned red.  It was great!  That's when I realized I don't always need to be out of the house.  In fact, I should try to be home more so I can experience this wonderful time of the kids wanting to just crawl all over me and enjoying the simplicity of life.  Now, a little side note here: this is not always easy.  I still tend to want to be out of the house, but when I am home, I'm trying to be with them more.

Reagan's Growing Up:  of course he's growing up, he grows up daily!!!  However, I was watching him play with some toys the other day and it just hit me like a ton of bricks; he is growing up!  It's the little things like when I let him walk into the store with me (instead carrying him), I don't have to bend over to hold his hand.  Or, it's the fact that I can ask him to get the burp cloth from the other room and he comes back with it.  Or, it's the fact that he can open the bathroom door and lock himself in there!  Quite simply, my little man is growing up!  It's hard to believe he'll be 2 in about 3 weeks.  Everytime I drive by Oberweis Dairy I think of the first time I went there.  It was my first week of maternity leave and I was just anxiously awaiting to meet the little person inside me.  And now, it's almost exactly 2 years later and I'm thinking how could that have been 2 years ago?  Crazy!!!!

Excited for spring: we had a small taste of spring last week and I began to crave it!!  It was a beautiful day (low 40s) and the sun was shining.  I decided to take the kids for a walk to the bank.  I was gone for about an hour, but it was so refreshing.  My whole day was brighter just because I got outside without a heavy winter coat!  Now, I must confess that as I'm typing this, we are in the middle of a Winter Storm Warning and it's been snowing heavily since 6a.  We're expected to get 5-9" from this storm.  But, it's supposed to be in the 40s again this weekend, so I can handle it.  I'm just so excited to get out and start walking again!  Spring time, Kristin is ready for you ;-)

Reagan Plays Soccer

I captured this moment on camera and thought it was so cute.  Maybe we have a future soccer player on our hands?