Raegan's first Christmas

Well, we all survived this Christmas! Some faired better than others... poor little Raegan ended up with an ear infection but is recuperating well. Here are just a few highlights of our MANY Christmas celebrations.

These were taken early on Christmas morning at our house before we left for Nana and Grandad's. Raegan doesn't look like she is fully awake yet. This one was taken just before we braved opening up the flood of gifts at Nana and Grandad's. We all kept saying that we wouldn't go overboard this year, but when it's a first Christmas celebration it's hard not to go nuts. Raegan decided to help her uncle Scott open his presents. She is such a good little helper. Raegan only lasted through a few presents and was ready for a nap. She really loved the little black sheep that made lots of noise. Notice all of the STACKS of presents... like I said we all went a little nuts this year!
I'm pretty sure that Ben was a little overloaded with opening gifts. We could have saved lots of money on his presents because he liked the $3 toy airplane filled with candy the very best. He was fanning himself with the airplane in this picture. Notice the orange juice "accident" all down the front of his shirt :) Boys will be boys!

You have to keep an eye on Grandad... he always sneaks and opens his presents out of turn.

So who thinks that Raegans looks like her Nana?

Here is Raegan hanging out with her great-grandma, Estelle (AKA Mom Owens) Hard to believe there are almost 93 years between these two! :) Well, more pictures to come soon

Christmas with the Ratliffs

Every year since Tony and I have been together (8 years now!!!) , we have celebrated Christmas with our good friends Sonya and Chris Ratliff. Well, for the past couple of years, our Christmas list keeps growing. Last year we added Macie to our list, and this year we have two more. Raegan and Brodie celebrated their first Christmas with us tonight. Here are some of the highlights of the night.
The evening started out with Macie passing out lots of kisses. Baby Raegan loved hers!
We then started opening gifts. Here is Sonya modeling her new VA Tech hat.
Macie helped everybody open their presents this year. She was a very good helper. Raegan, as expected, loved the paper.
This was the best family picture we could get. Not bad since it was past Raegan's bedtime. Here are all three of the babies. Poor Brodie has to put up with both of these girls. He is a trooper so far. Raegan thought that she might just take Brodie home with her, but shortly after this picture was taken, she pushed him off as though she had quickly changed her mind. We had lots of fun with our good friends tonight. We look forward to seeing if we will add anymore next year :) (I think it will be our turn again :)

Love that girl

I was checking Clara Soundara's website and got tickled at the post on Mya's frilly hair bow. Well, Clara, if you see this don't feel so bad. Raegan doesn't even have much hair yet, but I just had to buy some bows just in case I woke up one morning and she miraculously had long, lustrous red hair. I did manage to get it to hang on to her fuzz long enough to snap a picture. Doesn't she look thrilled?!
I'm not sure what Raegan and I have on our list of things to do today, but taking pictures is usually a top priority. She is currently napping, so I'm taking the chance to post some of the cutest pictures. I don't know what Raegan is thinking about here, but it reminds me of when she tried pears for the first time... we haven't tried them again either :) Notice how well she is sitting up now. She can kinda catch herself if she starts to wobble. (emphasis on kinda)
Now I generally don't do naked baby pictures, but as we were on our way to the tub the other night, Raegan caught a glimpse of our Christmas tree. She got so excited, I just couldn't resist the chance for a photo-op. So please don't tell her that I posted pictures of her little naked tail for the whole world (or at least the part of the world that checks my blog) to see . I tried to cut out as much of her little toosh as possible. Notice the drool rolling in the first one... she pours like a faucet. Maybe her first tooth is in sight! I must run and try to do a few other things before she wakes up.

A day off with Mama

We started our day off practicing sitting up. She is getting pretty good at it, but we keep the boppy there just in case we have a spill. I can't believe she is already big enough to start sitting up! This is happening very fast.

This is Raegan admiring her first REAL snow. She didn't really know what to think other than it was really bright. She really liked watching the dogs run around in it. I think she wanted to be playing in it too. Maybe next year baby!Here she is trying on her new pair of church shoes. She is very fascinated with her feet these days... especially when they have shiny new shoes on them.We spent most of the day just piled up in our pj's. I just thought this was cute, she toppled over onto my leg and just gave me this look like "I think I'll just lay here and rest for a while, okay mama" I love getting to be home with her! (it was purely an accident that our pj's matched that morning)
Snug as a bug in a rug! This was at her first nap after our morning full of fun. She likes to snuggle up to her blanky and really likes for it to cover her head. She is getting more like her daddy every day (he sleeps with a pillow over his head, but I think it's just to block out me when I'm still trying to talk to him at night :) We had lots of fun together. I just love my days off with her.

Let me explain

I'm not sure what happened with my last post, but I didn't get to finish all of my pictures. The first picture in that last post is Macie and her new baby brother Brodie Reece. He was born Dec. 1 at 7:42 a.m. and he weighed 9 lbs 8 oz!!! He was one big boy! Just look at the creases in his leg already! Everybody is home now and doing very well. Macie is very proud of Brodie. She calls him brother and for some reason everytime you ask her to say brother, she goes "Touchdown" and throws her arms straight up. I think she must know that he will probably be big enough to play football. I've heard they have a sense about things :) Who knows! Can you please just look at the size of that chin! He is a very sweet baby boy. He will be bigger than Raegan in no time. He is already wearing the same size clothes as her.

Lots of pics

My, how I have been slack about posting pictures. I guess I've been busy. I have lots of new pictures to show so hope you don't get bored looking at all of these.
I realized I didn't even show you Raegan's first Thanksgiving Day at her great Grandma Owens house. She looks a little shocked, but she had just woken up and we just threw her in the arms of two wild boys. Mom Owens was trying her best to hang on. Needless to say a few tears followed this picture.
Raegan's cousin Ben sure does love her, but I'm afraid that sometimes she doesn't feel so warm and fuzzy about him :) He just loves to give her hugs though. It's "tough love".

I got tickled at these pictures. I think that Raegan has been listening to me and her daddy say we need to drop a few pounds. She looks as though in this one she is sucking her gut in.

But in this one she is just letting it all hang out :-)

I just love these chubby naked baby pictures. More pictures to come soon. I'll try and do better!

cool chic

Raegan tried out her new sunglasses from her buddy Lucy. She doesn't seem to mind them at all. As a matter of fact, I think she kinda likes them. She says they make her look cool! :)
This is Raegan's new winter hat. She usually looks like the "flying nun" in it because I have to
keep the flaps up so they she won't chew on them. It keeps her toasty warm though.

New pics of the week

Here is Raegan's 4 month picture in the same chair we have been taking her monthly pics in. It's getting harder to take a picture of her without drool or spit-up or something all over her :)
I just love this picture because you can almost hear her cackling! She is so easy to get tickled.

These pictures are so funny. She is starting to support herself while sitting (a little bit anyway). Her look makes me think that no one was more surprised than her that she can do this!

This picture is so sweet. She had just gotten out of the tub... and that is one of her favorite places! She would shrivel up like a prune if we would let her :)

I don't know about you, but I think that Raegan looks just like my mom in this picture.

Playing with daddy

Raegan loves to get to hang out with her daddy! It's hard to believe she is getting so big. She rarely snuggles up with us anymore (unless she is sleepy). She has far to many things to do and see, so she would rather be standing up checking things out.

Carrots are way better than cereal!

This is the first time Raegan tried carrots, and she liked them a whole lot better than cereal. She would have eaten a whole lot more if I would have let her.