As the summer comes to an end

My baby girl is 9 months old....WOW!!! Where does the time go? Is it that she's the 2nd child so things just seem to fly by cause I'm soooooo busy I often forget what day of the week it is :)

Reagan's 9 month well check went great!!

9 month stats
weight - 21 lbs  90th %
height - 28.50 in 85th %

Reagan is crawling all over the place and has been doing so since 8 months. She pulls herself up on anything she can, even if it's a toy she will place her hands on it and put her butt up in the air. She slowly cruises the furniture and stood by herself for the first time.

She is so independent and will crawl into the playroom and play for hours only to crawl in when she's hungry or tired.

Ray got her 2 bottom teeth in at once about 2 weeks ago and just today the Dr found one of her top teeth coming in, which now explains her protesting sleep and only wanting to nurse to sleep. That kid can fall back on her head on the tile floor and get up and do it all over again without shedding a tear, but this teething thing is not for her. I've always heard that teething is the most painful thing for them to go thru.

Ashlee started back to pre school and is doing great!! She goes 2 days a week for 3 hours.

We took the girls to Disneyland for the first time on September 6th. We had no idea what to expect so we didn't go in with high expectations.

Those girls totally surprised us, they were awesome and had such a good time.To be honest I think I was more excited than they were, it's so amazing to see your child so happy and so excited about something, Reagan is happy just as long as she's being stimulated in some kind of way.

Ash's first ride was Peter Pan and she wasn't too sure about it!! I don't think she was too sure about any of the rides except for It's a small world, she loved that ride. The park wasn't busy at all so we were able to do most of the kid rides. Our final ride for the day was Pirates of the Carribiean and yes I knew deep down Ash wouldn't like the ride but I was being selfish and really wanted to go on it so I made her go, of course she didn't hesitate cause she had no idea about the big drop and all the drunk pirates shooting stuff, needless to say she was a little tramatized but got over it pretty fast

She had no interst in getting to close to any of the characters except she did finally go up to minnie mouse eventually and only because she idolizes her :) Reagan on the other hand thought they were the greatest thing since food. She literally laughed at them, it was pretty cute!!

Ash was so spoiled and got to eat ice cream, share a churro with mommy get her face painted and of course pick out a few souvenirs, I know there was some more junk food in there but I don't recall it at the moment

The best part of the day is making it through the day with no meltdowns, everyone remained happy for the entire day and why wouldn't we when we were at the happiest place on earth :)

Best part of the day was Ashlee falling asleep sitting staight up in the shuttle bus on the way to our car in the parking lot. That was one tired kiddo!!

Shortly after our Disney trip we took a trip to visit our friends who recently moved to Orlando!! We spent a few days there and had a blast!!

Reagan got to play at the beach for the first time and just loved it, Ash on the other hand was perfectly content with building sand castles  far away from the water!!

The summer in Phoenix has been miserable and every year it seems to last longer and longer!! Even though we're in the fall season it's still been over 100 degree's here. We are all looking forward to getting to spend some time outdoors...hopefully soon!!!

A recipe worth trying

BBQ Chicken Lasagna

Ingredients
8 oz Lasagna noodles
2 TBSP olive oil
2 lbs ground chicken breast
2 TBSP  chili powder
1/2 cup chopped red onion
15 oz can of black beans
18 oz bottle of bbq sauce
1 1/2 cup frozen corn
3 cups shredded cheese
sliced green onions

Directions
1. cook pasta according to directions....Pre heat oven to 425
2. In large pan over medium high heat add oil, chicken, chili powder and red onion. cook until chicken is brown.
3. Add bbq sauce, beans and corn. Season with salt and pepper and cook for about 5 minutes
4. Assemble noodles in a sprayed 9*13 casserole dish. Coat bottom with bbq sauce and layer with noodles, chicken mixture, and cheese, continue with 2 more layers and finish with a hefty amt of cheese
5. Bake covered for 30 minutes and uncovered for an additional 5
6. Garnish with green onions

I serverd it with a ceasar salad and garlic bread

It was so yummy!!!!!

Wow our baby is 3

July has been a very busy month for us....Reagan enjoyed her very first 4th of July firework show, she turned 7 months, we went camping, Reagan got to see the ocean for the first time and biggest event of July was our 1st born baby turned 3 years old.

The beginning of the month we were ending our camping trip we took in Williams AZ with some friends. We had a wonderful time and both kids were absolutely amazing!! I think they were both born to camp. Reagan loves the outdoors and sleeps so well :) 

We usually camp and head north for the 4th of July so we can see fireworks when it's not 115 degrees outside. This year we enjoyed a whopping 90 degrees and rain, in fact they were talking about canceling fireworks from the rain. It never rains in AZ so that would've been a total bummer.

The show went on and we spent the evening at the Goodyear Ballpark with some friends eating, and hanging out on our blankets listening to music watching our kids run around like maniacs.

Reagan really enjoyed her first firework show and watched very intensely the entire time!!

My first flight with both kids was a lot of work....at the time I thought it was horrible and I never wanted to do it again...but now that I look back it wasn't that bad. Both girls were great!!!

We got to LA early in the Am and waited 3 hours for Jake to get in. I got a little nap out of Reagan and just hung out with the Ash.

When Jake arrived we took a trolly to the beach and walked around for a few hours. We went on the pier, walked in the sand and let Ray put her little feet in the water for the first time!!!

We went to happy hour at our favorite place....we took Ashlee there when she was 8 weeks old before we went to Hawaii. The best part was Ashlee fell asleep in my lap during happy hour and stayed asleep until we got back to our hotel. Then during dinner Ray fell asleep....we got to enjoy happy hour with on kid and then again at dinner :)  

Our month came to an end with our baby girl turning 3!!! We decided not to have a big party for her, we decided to make it more close and personal this year. 

Our day started off with a trip to IHOP for some pancakes and not just any pancake...we went all out with chocolate and whip cream. I don't let her have much sugar so this was a big deal for her. She wanted to have her best buddy Landon to join her, so Andi, Madi and Landon came along.

The breakfast ended with a birthday chocolate Sunday and all this before 10am. Knowing the consequence's I will pay later for a child whose had way to much sugar, I just looked the other way :) It's her day and it only comes once a year!!!

We had a really hard time getting Ashlee to give up her pacifier or a sigh as she called it. I never had the heart to take it away when it was her best friend at night when she went to bed...or maybe pure laziness on my part, who knows!!  

I just chose to take it away when she turned 3, so at least in my opinion she was old enough to understand why she couldn't have it anymore.

We took her to build a bear several months prior and told her when she turns 3 she can have a new bear and he will take all her sighs (pacifiers) away. She asked everyday about her new bear and told everyone he was going to take her sighs when she turns 3.

So on her birthday we did just that....went to build a bear let her pick out her stuft  animal.

she picked out hello kitty and walked over to the lady with her 4 pacifiers in a zip-lock bag. 

I think she was having a little anxiety about the whole thing so she wanted Landon to have his bear stuft first.

When it was her turn she handed over her pacifiers one by one until she got to the last one....she looked at it then no kidding sucked on it 3 times and handed it over to the lady. Everyone who saw it started laughing...who knows what was going thru her little head, all I care is that she handed it over and to this very day has never asked to have it again!! I'm so glad I waited because it was a very good experience for all of us.

She does ask to feel them in her kitty before bed but we were expecting to come in her room one morning and have the bear ripped open :)

That evening we had our good friends Amber, Jeremy and their new baby Taylor over for a BBQ. 

Grandpa made a Minnie mouse cake, needless to say we were all very impressed. It was his very first attempt at making a cake and he did a super job. I didn't even want to cut into it.

Ashlee opened some gifts and we all had a wonderful evening and really good day!! 

My princess deserves the best!!!

Ashlee's 3 year stats

42 inches

32 lbs

she had a great check up and is right wear she needs to be developmentally

Happy 1/2 birthday to me!!!

I can't believe my baby is 6 months old already!! 

6 month stats

weight - 19 lbs 4 oz  95th %

Height - 26.9 inches 90th%

Head - 17.9 inches 99th%

Reagan is growing like a weed....she is a big happy baby :)

She had her well check today and all is perfect!!

She's sitting up all by herself and has been doing so since 5 1/2 months. She's a very determined little girl and is going 90 mph all day long.

The pediatrician's last words to me before we left was " she's going to be your feisty one " and my answer was "yes she sure will be, she already is"

She has no interest in food what so ever. I'm still breast feeding and that's all she seems to want!! I'm not complaining by any means, I just have a feeling she's going to be my picky one.

Her sleeping is good but not great, she's an awesome napper but not a great night sleeper. I still get up with her a few times a night. So different from her sister who slept all night long since 5 weeks old.

Summer is definatley here in Arizona and it's getting hot!!! It's so hard to find things to do with 2 kids. My mom's group keeps us all sane and social :) Otherwise we'd be cooped up indoors all day long. We bought a membership to the children's museum and try and go once a week. It's one of Ashlee's favorite places to go.

Ashlee's been loving the pool lately since we got her arm floaties and she can swim by herself. She's really growing up fast too. She loves to play dress up and play with her doll house. She has the most amazing imagination. She's a wonderful big sister and a huge help to me. I call her my little go getter.

We have a camping trip planned at the end of the month in Flagstaff with some friends, we are really looking forward to that. 

We are desperately looking for a new rental as our lease is up August 1st and we really need a bigger home, we are busting out of this one :) It served it's purpose for the year, but time to move on!!

Jake's busy working on the airplane and I'm busy working at home for now. My maternity leave ends July 3, and it saddens me to think about going back to work.