Ponytails and back packs

This evening, we were playing with her hair and this is the first time I've ever gotten a ponytail to stay. It's just in with a tiny clippy, but it's still a ponytail. Well, here she is showing off her "tail" with her daddy. She was so proud of her ponytail :)
Debbie's mother-in-law got this adorable little lamb back pack, and she has fallen in love with it. If it started to slide off her shoulders, she would hold her arms up and come running to me to fix it. She ran around with it on all evening. I tried to catch this when she was bent over because the sheep was standing straight up on her back. It's still a little big, but she didn't seem to mind.
This was my favorite because she looks like she is being so prissy. I'm not sure if you can see, but she was wearing one fuzzy slipper and one sock. Can you say "Diddle Diddle Dumpling"?

Ketchup anyone?

A couple of months ago, it seemed like I couldn't get enough food in Raegan. She would eat anything you put in front of her, and usually lots of it. Now, however, we have entered a new stage. She will still eat about any fruit you put in front of her, but we are quickly running out of ideas. She still only has 4 teeth, but as I've told you before it's never slowed her down. I'm not sure if it's a texture thing or just a phase, but she will always TRY something... only to quickly spit it out of her mouth! And she could devour something one day, and gag on it the next. This is a very frustrating stage, especially since she is still so little. She will still drink her milk and eats yogurt and oatmeal though. I guess she isn't starving, but I just wish she would start eating again!!! One thing I can be sure that she will eat is french fries. I really think it's all about the ketchup though. She LOVES ketchup and here are a few pictures to prove it. Once she gets finished with actually eating her fries, she uses them as a transporter for the ketchup and just sucks it off. It's a little disturbing hearing her slurp ketchup, but I'm getting used to it :) Do you think I could classify ketchup as a vegetable?! :)

She loves the fact that she actually has enough teeth to bite through things now. You should see her with those little stick pretzels.
The infamous "cheese" face we all love!
I obviously had to wash her off after her lunch today, and I wanted you to see how long her hair is getting. I realize we aren't quite ready for a ponytail or anything, but it's definately getting longer. (and yes I put her in the sink AGAIN... it's just easier for big mama not to bend over!)

Little cheese head

Well, I've been slacking about taking Rae's picture in the "reading chair". I did it faithfully each month for the first year of her life. After attempting to get a picture of her today, I realize WHY I haven't tried for the last 3 months... SHE IS WILD :) It used to be hard to catch her at a good time when she would pay attention to you and smile. Now however, it's hard to get her to just sit still and to get her to smile without her famous "cheese" expression. Don't get me wrong, I love it when she grins and says CHEESE, but I'd also like a smile that appears somewhat natural. Easier said than done I'm afraid. Anyway, here is what I got today. Hope you get a chuckle out of them like I did!

This is my favorite. She kept trying to slide off the chair... head first of course. My little dare-devil!
Who wants to sit on your bottom when you can roll around on your belly.
An action shot.
This is the best picture I got, and she still looks pretty sneaky. I did say I wanted a natural smile from her and she is pretty sneaky these days... I guess this will do for now.

Baby Drew and a sink bath

Here are the latest pictures of baby Drew. Yes, his name is going to be Drew (still not sure if officially Andrew or just Drew) This is a profile picture of his face. He is looking to the right side of the picture. Isn't he cute... he looks just like his mama :) It still amazes me that I can see his face while he is still inside my belly!!I am 28 weeks along now, and am praying that this baby will not come anytime soon. I have been having contractions since last week, but as of Friday I hadn't started dilating yet. I started at 33 weeks with Raegan, so this is quite a bit earlier. My Dr. wanted to put me on Brethene every 4 hours for the next 9 weeks, but he informed me that it's not "proven" to help. After much praying and questioning, we decided I would keep it on hand if they get worse and try and "take it easy". Not to sure how to do that taking care of a sick 15 month old, but I'm trying!
Speaking of sick baby, Raegan has been under the weather (runny nose, sneezing, coughing, low fever, etc.) for the last couple of days, and she seems to feel her best while playing in the bath tub. Naturally as a mom you try and do everything you know to make them feel a little better. Unfortunately, it's a little harder for me to bend over and bathe her once a day, let alone 3-4 times a day. So today, we decided to try out the ever-faithful sink bath. She loves to play in the water and got a kick out of running the faucet (not so good for the water bill :) As you can see she is still small enough to fit in the sink. It made me realize just how little she still is.
This is her "all gone" expression. She has just dumped all the water out of her cup and was making sure that I knew that it was indeed all gone.
Naturally, there were lots of "Uh Oh's" while in the sink. It was just too tempting being that close to the edge!Who knew that a cool whip lid and plastic cup could be so much fun. She was hard at work trying to make this lid fit, and finally got it to balance on top. Why do we even bother to buy toys?!?! You can really see how weak her eyes are in this one. We have all had a rough couple of nights and are looking forward to some good rest. Pray that it will come soon! Getting up every few hours doesn't make a restful nights sleep nor does it qualify as "taking it easy"!

Sadly it is 8:45 and I'm going to bed.

Silly Girl

As I type, I hear Raegan in her room singing away... and she is supposed to be sleeping. She had a long day today, so we put her to bed early thinking she would drift right off to sleep. Well, 20 minutes later, I still hear her in there. Who knows what she is doing! Anyway, we went Saturday morning to our little buddies soccer game and Rae was fascinated! She loved watching the kids run around and kick the ball. She even got to kick the ball around herself after the game. So after a quick trip to Walmart, we picked up a little soccer ball for her to try out at home. She has had so much fun running around after that ball. She loses her balance (A LOT) but could seem to care less. Here are a few of her attempts.

I'm really not sure why she has started doing this, but every time she plays with this toy she climbs in the basket. She just stands there and dances while the music plays. She is a strange little thing sometimes (like her daddy :)This is her little attempt to get Barney on the TV. She has a powerful obsession with that purple dinosaur! She hasn't figured it out yet, but she is sure that if she just pushes the right buttons on the remote then Barney will come on the screen. Well, she has finally gone to sleep and I think I will head that way myself. My growing (and aching!) body is ready for some rest!

Fall farmer girl

I don't know about all you folks, but I am really looking forward to some cooler fall weather. Raegan and I enjoyed an afternoon outside with a cool brisk wind blowing in our hair and on our faces... and we loved it. She was fascinated with all the dry leaves blowing around. She is such a little studier/explorer. It's funny to watch her find something new and give it a thorough inspection. After a morning at a MOPS meeting (Mothers of Pre-schoolers), we had the whole afternoon to ourselves. We did have to eventually put on jackets and hats, but it was worth it to fill our lungs with all that clean, crisp fall air.

My sweet little farmer girl. Notice the boo-boo on her cheek. She took a dive into the carpet, and got a little carpet burn. I'm not sure what this face is. She is so silly!
One of the many leaves we inspected.
She can really run fast!Here is Raegan feeding Tucker something random she found on the ground. Sad thing is, Tucker ate it. I still don't know what it was :)

She found one lone dandelion in the yard. It was still yellow, so I'm guessing it was the last one of the year. The rest of them we blew away.
Here is the hat. The wind was getting pretty cool, so we had to try our new winter hat out for the first time this year. I was surprised, but she kept it on the whole time.
Tony is pressure washing the trim on our house so we can hopefully repaint it before the weather turns too cold. Raegan just could not figure out what he was doing, and why he was making such a mess.
Tucker just wanted you to see he is still apart of the family. He just falls a little further on the list now. Poor guy!
Casey wanted her picture on the blog too. We have such pretty dogs. And Raegan just adores them!