As I'm sure most of you have heard by now, we're expecting baby number 3 in March of next year! We've been doing a lot of things around the house to get it and our family ready for the new addition. One thing Reagan has been really insistent about is that the baby needs things like she and Adam have; room, bed, etc.
One of the things I am most excited about getting for this new baby is an amber necklace. Both Reagan and Adam wear them and love them, and so do I! I have always loved the look of amber, and have worn amber jewelry myself for years, but had never heard about it's health benefits. I heard some about it from a fellow mom, and decided to try it. Even if it didn't work, they'd be beautiful, right? But I was so impressed. My daughter was cutting her toddler molars at the time, and my son was just starting to teethe. For my son, the change was almost immediate, and he went through the entire teething process without any complaints, not even wanting cold teethers. My daughter has had a little bit of a rough time with it, and we were constantly supplying her, so it was a completely different and wonderful experience. Instead of spending weeks with a crabby baby who was in pain, we got to spend so much more joyful time with him. And within a week my daughter was far less whiny, and had a much more even temperament. It had been that because of that background pain, the littlest thing would set off a huge meltdown no matter how rested she was. It was like having a completely different child, like having my own child back! I was so impressed that when my mother was struggling with shingles I got a Baltic amber bracelet for her to help with the pain. I am really looking forward to getting an amber necklace for this new baby so that we can help him or her through the teething process, and so that we can all enjoy that wonderful time of growth and discovery together so much more!
If you're interested in trying Baltic amber as well, make sure you check out Inspired by Finn, the wonderful shop where I have gotten all of our Baltic amber!
Friday, August 21, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Weekend in Photos
The photos are out of order, but, here goes:
Monday: kids lap boards are finally complete!
Saturday night- going to the local dirt track to watch the races for Father's Day. It was the first time either kid had been to a race, and my first time to a dirt track! Reagan got to meet one of the drivers in victory land, and she had a blast!
Saturday fun in the bounce house at the YMCA gymnastics fundraiser. Adam's first bounce house fun!
Reagan showing off her stuff in the tot demonstration at the YMCA gymnastics fundraiser.
Saturday- Reagan proudly shows off the cake she decorated for Father's Day. Her first cake decorating experience!
Monday: kids lap boards are finally complete!
Saturday night- going to the local dirt track to watch the races for Father's Day. It was the first time either kid had been to a race, and my first time to a dirt track! Reagan got to meet one of the drivers in victory land, and she had a blast!
Saturday fun in the bounce house at the YMCA gymnastics fundraiser. Adam's first bounce house fun!
Reagan showing off her stuff in the tot demonstration at the YMCA gymnastics fundraiser.
Saturday- Reagan proudly shows off the cake she decorated for Father's Day. Her first cake decorating experience!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Bowling and Camping
On Monday morning we went bowling for the first time with some friends! Reagan loved it, and it definitely won't be the last time we go! Reagan scored an 86 even, and was so proud! Though Adam kept resetting the pins at the end of the game.
After bowling we headed off to set up our things for camping. The campsite was still very full, but we managed to get the same site we used last time we went. We really wanted the one across the road from it though.. so when those people left the next day, we picked up and moved. Now we had a campsite with a view of the lake!
Campsite the first night:
Campsite the second night:
Reagan with the crow feather she found on our hike.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Soccer Bows
Just had to share the new soccer bows I made for Reagan. There will be more to come! :-D
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Bedtime
Tonight instead of just putting Adam in bad, and saying goodnight, Reagan and I stayed in his room and read a book with him before leaving him. He lay quietly and seemed to really enjoy it. He even helped turn the pages. I think it may be time to read with him at bedtime. Yay! Then Reagan asked if she could read some more, which was fine of course, since we've been reading Madagascar with her a little every night, and there's no way he's waiting through all that. But tonight she asked for me to reread the latest letter form her pen pal instead. It was so adorable. She held his picture and looked at it the whole time I read. :-)
Monday, June 8, 2009
Has it been a whole month?!?
Has it really been a month since I last update this?!?
How about just some photo highlights of the last month then?
We went to Out of Africa where we fed Kibo the giraffe, rode John Henry the camel, and fed Liberty the tiger.
Reagan was a huge helper creating and planting out new vegetable garden.. in her stocking feet no less.
We took a family hick at Bull Pen where the kids got to river swim for the first time!
We went to the Highland Games where both kids won 2nd place in the caber toss!
How about just some photo highlights of the last month then?
We went to Out of Africa where we fed Kibo the giraffe, rode John Henry the camel, and fed Liberty the tiger.
Reagan was a huge helper creating and planting out new vegetable garden.. in her stocking feet no less.
We took a family hick at Bull Pen where the kids got to river swim for the first time!
We went to the Highland Games where both kids won 2nd place in the caber toss!
Friday, May 8, 2009
I Got My Jeep!
I've always dreamed of having a jeep, and I finally have one... though it's not at all what I expected!
Power Wheels is a BIG thing where we live, but they're SO expensive we didn't think we'd be getting one for the kids for awhile.. if ever. Then we were in Goodwill yesterday and there it was.. a 2 seater Power Wheels Jeep.. with 3 batteries, and a charger... for $40!!! It needed a little work, but we went for it!
Here is our kids new Power Wheels Jeep before:
You can't really tell in the picture, but Reagan and I did a LOT of cleaning on it after. It has had 2 blown out wheels, and is missing a hood pin, the key (which doesn't serve any real purpose as far as function,) and the Barbie Tunes radio. We don;t really care about the radio.. it only plays special Barbie songs anyway. We got a lot on ebay for $4 that includes a set of hood pins, a key, and a gas cap. The biggest problem.. those wheels... But I have a local mom friend who is into Power Wheels modification and she just happened to have a Barbie Jeep she was planning to sell the wheels off of (she's repainting it and it won't be Barbie, so she didn't want purple wheels.) She stopped by last night and we bought them right off her Jeep.. really she brought the whole thing and removed them here. It was a great learning experience to see her do it, and made it SO much easier to do the change out on ours! She also had a ton of great information to share and tips on setting ours up. Thanks to her, we're going to be checking if the batteries with this one are on a recall that was done. If they are we can get them replaced, so that's cool.
Since there is no sun fading, and virtually no decal wear on this, we're planning to leave it pink for now. But the plan is to paint it up black in a year or 2. That way we can reasonably keep all the blue, green, and purple trim, but it won;t be too super girly for Adam. And of course we'll re decal it using plain Jeep decals. Not super looking forward to that project, but it should be fun anyway. lol
Today Reagan and I (pretty much all me.. she just likes watching) did our work on the vehicle. I took out the seat out to retrieve the middle portion of the seat belt. This also gave me access to the gears which were crusted with mud. We removed all four wheels and hosed down both the old and "new" ones. 2 of the original wheels are completely shot (read HUGE holes in them as you can see by the picture,) but 2 are okay, and we'll reserve them as spares. Removing the wheels allowed us to remove the rear axle and take the gears out for better access. We thoroughly cleaned the outside of the gear casings, but found them to still be very well sealed.. so we left them that way. This way we don't have to mess with greasing them up properly again. We cleaned the gear box area and in the battery compartment of the Jeep while we had everything out. With everything completely cleaned, it was time to reassemble! Seat belt reinstalled. New wheels affixed. Seat replaced. Now we did a quick test, and the original fasteners aren't really meant to be removed and put back, so some of them weren't the most cooperative. So for now we're parking the Jeep while we wait to find out from my friend what she uses as a replacement fastener. (She showed us last night.)
In the mean time.. here is our reassembled Jeep!
Power Wheels is a BIG thing where we live, but they're SO expensive we didn't think we'd be getting one for the kids for awhile.. if ever. Then we were in Goodwill yesterday and there it was.. a 2 seater Power Wheels Jeep.. with 3 batteries, and a charger... for $40!!! It needed a little work, but we went for it!
Here is our kids new Power Wheels Jeep before:
You can't really tell in the picture, but Reagan and I did a LOT of cleaning on it after. It has had 2 blown out wheels, and is missing a hood pin, the key (which doesn't serve any real purpose as far as function,) and the Barbie Tunes radio. We don;t really care about the radio.. it only plays special Barbie songs anyway. We got a lot on ebay for $4 that includes a set of hood pins, a key, and a gas cap. The biggest problem.. those wheels... But I have a local mom friend who is into Power Wheels modification and she just happened to have a Barbie Jeep she was planning to sell the wheels off of (she's repainting it and it won't be Barbie, so she didn't want purple wheels.) She stopped by last night and we bought them right off her Jeep.. really she brought the whole thing and removed them here. It was a great learning experience to see her do it, and made it SO much easier to do the change out on ours! She also had a ton of great information to share and tips on setting ours up. Thanks to her, we're going to be checking if the batteries with this one are on a recall that was done. If they are we can get them replaced, so that's cool.
Since there is no sun fading, and virtually no decal wear on this, we're planning to leave it pink for now. But the plan is to paint it up black in a year or 2. That way we can reasonably keep all the blue, green, and purple trim, but it won;t be too super girly for Adam. And of course we'll re decal it using plain Jeep decals. Not super looking forward to that project, but it should be fun anyway. lol
Today Reagan and I (pretty much all me.. she just likes watching) did our work on the vehicle. I took out the seat out to retrieve the middle portion of the seat belt. This also gave me access to the gears which were crusted with mud. We removed all four wheels and hosed down both the old and "new" ones. 2 of the original wheels are completely shot (read HUGE holes in them as you can see by the picture,) but 2 are okay, and we'll reserve them as spares. Removing the wheels allowed us to remove the rear axle and take the gears out for better access. We thoroughly cleaned the outside of the gear casings, but found them to still be very well sealed.. so we left them that way. This way we don't have to mess with greasing them up properly again. We cleaned the gear box area and in the battery compartment of the Jeep while we had everything out. With everything completely cleaned, it was time to reassemble! Seat belt reinstalled. New wheels affixed. Seat replaced. Now we did a quick test, and the original fasteners aren't really meant to be removed and put back, so some of them weren't the most cooperative. So for now we're parking the Jeep while we wait to find out from my friend what she uses as a replacement fastener. (She showed us last night.)
In the mean time.. here is our reassembled Jeep!
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Sun- Cinco
On Sunday we decided to take a trip to the Phoenix Zoo! We usually don't pose for the photos they take at these places, but decided what the heck! And then we ended up getting it. lol We tried having family portraits done recently but Reagan just would NOT cooperate.. so having a picture of all of us that was pretty good was kind of important to us. OF course Adam isn't smiling really (he had just managed to get some sunscreen in his eye) but at least he's looking at the camera!
The kids loved the zoo. Looking at all the animals was a lot of fun, as was the Little People zoo, petting zoo, and fountains! This is one of my favorite pictures of Reagan from the fountains. Adam liked walking in the water, but didn't like being sprayed with it very much. lol
To end the day we went on the carousel.. Adam's first time!
On Monday we just did chores around the house for the most part. Reagan asked to make a Mother's Day card for me. But ended up just scribbling all over a piece of paper. I was a little thankful actually, because it feels kind of weird to be making your own card like that. lol Or well being such a big part of helping to make it. In the evening we got out our bikes and went for a family bike ride around our neighborhood. Reagan pedaled herself the whole way! We found a grassy little field and a small park that we had never know were just 2-3 blocks away!
Tuesday was Cinco (I won't go into the actual history of this.. but we don't really celebrate it lol). Anyway.. we did have gymnastics class, then went to Subway after, and did our grocery shopping. We also got Reagan a new booster seat for the car that should work a little better for her. She has recently progressed past the size of the harness, and the seat belt just wasn't working well for her with the configuration of her current seat. She loves the new seat, and is really excited to try it out! When we got home we set up the kids pool for the summer and let them splash around in it. They had a lot of fun, though Adam refused to actually get in. In the evening we again went for a bike ride around the neighborhood. It's such nice family time, good exercise, and so relaxing!
The kids loved the zoo. Looking at all the animals was a lot of fun, as was the Little People zoo, petting zoo, and fountains! This is one of my favorite pictures of Reagan from the fountains. Adam liked walking in the water, but didn't like being sprayed with it very much. lol
To end the day we went on the carousel.. Adam's first time!
On Monday we just did chores around the house for the most part. Reagan asked to make a Mother's Day card for me. But ended up just scribbling all over a piece of paper. I was a little thankful actually, because it feels kind of weird to be making your own card like that. lol Or well being such a big part of helping to make it. In the evening we got out our bikes and went for a family bike ride around our neighborhood. Reagan pedaled herself the whole way! We found a grassy little field and a small park that we had never know were just 2-3 blocks away!
Tuesday was Cinco (I won't go into the actual history of this.. but we don't really celebrate it lol). Anyway.. we did have gymnastics class, then went to Subway after, and did our grocery shopping. We also got Reagan a new booster seat for the car that should work a little better for her. She has recently progressed past the size of the harness, and the seat belt just wasn't working well for her with the configuration of her current seat. She loves the new seat, and is really excited to try it out! When we got home we set up the kids pool for the summer and let them splash around in it. They had a lot of fun, though Adam refused to actually get in. In the evening we again went for a bike ride around the neighborhood. It's such nice family time, good exercise, and so relaxing!
Friday, April 17, 2009
Reagan was on TV! :-)
Our Friday started early! The kids love watching the Sunny Side Up show on PBS Kids Sprout in the mornings. This weeks theme was music. You can send in messages to the live show on their website, so we sent in this picture of Reagan
with a note to Chicka: "Dear Chicka, I love playing piano with my Oma." And they showed it on TV! Reagan thought it was so cool to see her picture on TV!
with a note to Chicka: "Dear Chicka, I love playing piano with my Oma." And they showed it on TV! Reagan thought it was so cool to see her picture on TV!
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Hiking
Thursday has become our hike day! The past couple weeks we have been going out to take a Thursday hike, and have been enjoying it very much. It;s so nice to get out from the house, and to take such a nice and sceneic walk around our area!
Our first week we went on the Iron King Trail, and did a 6 mile hike.
Week 2, we chose to go to Lynx Lake and hiked the paved trail there for about 2 miles. Even though it was a shorter hike, the trail has much more ups and downs and is more strenuous. We finished off our hike with a picnic lunch and some duck feeding!
Our first week we went on the Iron King Trail, and did a 6 mile hike.
Week 2, we chose to go to Lynx Lake and hiked the paved trail there for about 2 miles. Even though it was a shorter hike, the trail has much more ups and downs and is more strenuous. We finished off our hike with a picnic lunch and some duck feeding!
We'd like to continue with this, but would prefer to do Lynx Lake, and other similar trails on Wednesdays when parking in those parks is free. The only problem is that we are trying to switch Reagan's gymnastics to Wednesdays so that when Adam can start in 2 short months, their classes can be on the same day, at the same time. I think trying to do gymnastics AND hike on the same day would be a little much!
Friday, March 20, 2009
Feb/March 09 Update
I know I haven't updated anything in a very long time. Things have just been so busy for us.
Adam just got his 7th tooth, and boy does he love to use those.. eating everything in sight. I think he's finally started to grow again.. he's been wearing the same size since he was 9 months old! But he has gone up 2 shoes sizes now!! He LOVES his stuffed animals, enjoys playing with cars, and playing My Little Ponies with his sister. One of his favorite things to do is to play kitchen though, and he really enjoys "making" food and bringing it to you for you to pretend to eat. He talks a lot when he wants to, but usually waits until he can say full sentences about things; "All done." "I'm a boy" "I'm a big boy." "I love you." Etc. He has finally started using individual works for things he doesn't have sentences for though as his vocabulary is booming. We brought the potty in from the garage for him at Reagan's insistence, and although he hasn't gone on it he will sit on it sometimes and pee in his diaper while sitting there. It's just for fun for now, but it seems like he's getting the idea. :-)
Regan has been growing in so many ways. She has also gone up in shoe sizes, but still has small feet for her age. She seems to learn new things every minute! Just the other day she asked daddy of when she's older she could have an Ibex as a pet. She still has a huge interest in animals and play Animal Junction with her brother all the time.. they love pretending to be the Kratt brothers. She has also developed more writing and drawing skills... I will have to get something of hers scanned in. Other favorite activities are puppet shows (she's taught her brother how to put them on even), and dressing up. She has also decided that it is her mission to potty train her brother. lol Oh, and she wants to wear her pink cowboy boots ALL the time.
Reagan is still in gymnastics, and Adam can't wait to start (just 2 more months!)! This week we took a trip to the wild animal park with the kids and they had a wonderful time. Reagan got to feed the giraffes, we enjoyed an interactive tiger show, and got to see many new exhibits they've added since last year, including lemurs. Both kids really enjoyed it. Another recent activity that the kids really enjoyed was a trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We stayed a couple days and the kids had a lot fun fun baking cookies, owing bubbles, watching movies, and playing with their grandparent's dog, and Adam learned to do stairs. While the kids were having fun Rob and I cleaned all our stuff our of our storage unit there, and even had time to sneak off on our own for a couple hours. The kids also got kilts to celebrate their Irish/ Scotch heritage, and are very excited about them. We decided not to go to our favorite local pub for St. Patrick's Day because of the crowds, but are thinking will attend the upcoming Tartan Day celebration. Even though the kids have Stuart tartan kilts, and their clan, as Reagan ill proudly tell you, is the Mac Naughtons. We've also been taking some hikes with the kids. It's good for all of us, and a great way to relax and enjoy some family time. :-)
Reagan at Gymnastics, St. Patrick's Day
Grandma and Grandpa's House
Feeding the Giraffe
Some Kilt Pictures
Adam just got his 7th tooth, and boy does he love to use those.. eating everything in sight. I think he's finally started to grow again.. he's been wearing the same size since he was 9 months old! But he has gone up 2 shoes sizes now!! He LOVES his stuffed animals, enjoys playing with cars, and playing My Little Ponies with his sister. One of his favorite things to do is to play kitchen though, and he really enjoys "making" food and bringing it to you for you to pretend to eat. He talks a lot when he wants to, but usually waits until he can say full sentences about things; "All done." "I'm a boy" "I'm a big boy." "I love you." Etc. He has finally started using individual works for things he doesn't have sentences for though as his vocabulary is booming. We brought the potty in from the garage for him at Reagan's insistence, and although he hasn't gone on it he will sit on it sometimes and pee in his diaper while sitting there. It's just for fun for now, but it seems like he's getting the idea. :-)
Regan has been growing in so many ways. She has also gone up in shoe sizes, but still has small feet for her age. She seems to learn new things every minute! Just the other day she asked daddy of when she's older she could have an Ibex as a pet. She still has a huge interest in animals and play Animal Junction with her brother all the time.. they love pretending to be the Kratt brothers. She has also developed more writing and drawing skills... I will have to get something of hers scanned in. Other favorite activities are puppet shows (she's taught her brother how to put them on even), and dressing up. She has also decided that it is her mission to potty train her brother. lol Oh, and she wants to wear her pink cowboy boots ALL the time.
Reagan is still in gymnastics, and Adam can't wait to start (just 2 more months!)! This week we took a trip to the wild animal park with the kids and they had a wonderful time. Reagan got to feed the giraffes, we enjoyed an interactive tiger show, and got to see many new exhibits they've added since last year, including lemurs. Both kids really enjoyed it. Another recent activity that the kids really enjoyed was a trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We stayed a couple days and the kids had a lot fun fun baking cookies, owing bubbles, watching movies, and playing with their grandparent's dog, and Adam learned to do stairs. While the kids were having fun Rob and I cleaned all our stuff our of our storage unit there, and even had time to sneak off on our own for a couple hours. The kids also got kilts to celebrate their Irish/ Scotch heritage, and are very excited about them. We decided not to go to our favorite local pub for St. Patrick's Day because of the crowds, but are thinking will attend the upcoming Tartan Day celebration. Even though the kids have Stuart tartan kilts, and their clan, as Reagan ill proudly tell you, is the Mac Naughtons. We've also been taking some hikes with the kids. It's good for all of us, and a great way to relax and enjoy some family time. :-)
Reagan at Gymnastics, St. Patrick's Day
Grandma and Grandpa's House
Feeding the Giraffe
Some Kilt Pictures
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Snow Day
Yesterday we had a lot of wintery mix durin the day. A little snow mixed with freezing rain. Not the best of weather days. But in the afternoon it got a little colder and the snow started to really come. This morning we woke up to a blanket of snow on the back yard. The kids decided to stay home form their usual activities for the day so that they could play outside in the snow while it lasted. Of course playing quickly descended into screaming when they found out how cold their hands got when they buried them in the snow. It was fun while it lasted, but turned into quite a frustrating experience.
I took a bunch of pictures, but for some reason my newly back from service laptop will now not read any of my USB ports and of course the built SD card reader is not working either. I am so pissed about that! I was just without the computer for 5 weeks while it was being repaired and it comes back with a new problem. And if I hae to send it in again.. not only will I be without it for another 5 weeks... I have to pay the shipping charges to ship it back to them!!! I don't really have any other choice though I guess. UGH! I guess I better contact them and get it sent back to them again as quickly as I can so I can have a chance of getting it back before April! Oh so... all that was to explain why the only picture I have is this one:
Which I took with my cell phone and them emailed to myself. It's Reagan's penguin snowman. She's been asking if we could make a snowman for days! lol
Dealing with Death
Dealing with death can be a tough thing with little kids. It can be tough for any of us honestly. In fact, I think it IS tough for all of us... some just don;t want anyone, even themselves to know that. Recently we have been discussing this with Reagan because her pet fish passed away. It's amazing how well she can understand that he was sick and was just not going to get better. She wanted to put him in the toilet herself, and flushed him on her own. And since then she has wanted to talk about it more. A very good sign. A couple of days after Blue died, she asked to get a new fish, and we did. Unfortunately last time I checked, the new fish didn't look like it was doing too well. I'm not sure how that one would go. But Reagan has talked to us about death, and that everything dies. And she's talked about how Blue wasn't moving any more. At one point though she told us, that she wished that she could make Blue happy now. So we think that she is ready to go into the religious side of death as well. She loves her little Bible, and seems to understand the basic stories, so we think she would get it. Daddy had to go away fro work though, so we didn't have time to talk to her about that yet. It doesn't seem to be bothering her, bt we plan to talk to her about it when he gets back from the business trip.
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