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.

No mine!!

I'm not sure why this word mine bothers me so much but it's the most annoying word that comes out my daughters mouth. NO MINE!!

It started around 18 months and I'm not sure where she picked it up but she said it constantly even when it didn't make any sense. She would sit in her high chair and repeat it over and over. I thought she had turrets syndrome for a bit :) I then realized she was saying it just to get a reaction out of me. Go figure a toddler trying to get a reaction from their mom!

Once I didn't let it bother me, she stopped saying it. I was thrilled not to hear those words anymore!!

 

Well it's starting again and this time it's only worse and she knows exactly what she's saying.

Now that Reagan is starting to use things she used, such as her highchair, Ashlee is not a happy camper about it! Even though she hasn't sat it her highchair for months and never really enjoyed it anyways. If I use a bowl for Reagan Ash yells no mine, or toys Reagan is starting to take interest in that were once Ashlee's, she again yells no mine, sometimes I don't think she can stop herself from saying it. 

 I'm sure it's a phase but I really hate those two words and I can't wait for the phase to be over.

I got this idea from a friend of mine....I bought a jar and every time she says those two words she has to put money from her piggy bank into this jar, and when we go an entire day with out saying it she gets her money back. We'll see how it goes, I just started it so not much to report yet :)

4 months old

My how time does fly, our little Reagan is already 4 months old

4 month stats

weight - 17 lbs 2 oz 90th %

height - 26.18 inches 95th %

head - 17.52 97th %

It's such a good feeling when you leave the Dr.s and they tell you everything with your little one is perfect.Even though she's on the larger side her growth curve is great and developmentally she is right where she needs to be.

She's rolling over both ways, can grab onto objects, stand up with help of course, laugh, smile, Koo and just loves to grab her feet and put them in her mouth.

She's such a happy baby and smiles at everyone!! We are so fortunate to have another easy baby :) How she'll be in her later years...well I can only hope she's just as good :)

Her sleeping is our only issue, where Ashlee was well sleeping through the night by now, Reagan likes to get up more often. She doesn't always want to eat but just maybe be comforted...who knows!! We put her down at 7pm and she usually wakes up twice before she's up for the morning.

We have done so much traveling this month and she's been awesome, such a little trooper!! We went to Kansas City for Easter so that was her first plane ride and she did great, just slept the entire time. It's definitely harder traveling with both Kiddo's but by our last flight I think we got it down!!

We had a great time visiting family for Easter!  Ash and Ray got to meet their 2 new cousins. Cali which is 2 months older than Ray and Kailer who is 3 weeks younger.

Ray and Cali

Ray and Kailer

It was so fun to see Ashlee get excited about Easter and hunt for her eggs. She took it so seriously and ate way too much candy :) It's nice to see her run around and have fun with her cousins, unfortunately we don't have much family in Arizona.

Reagan got to meet her great grandma for the first time which was a very special moment!! She can't wait to go back to KC and see her again, especially when she can enjoy all the jelly bellies she has for the kiddo's :)

After Kansas City we flew to Denver to check things out as a possible potential for a city we may want to live in.Southwest announced that it will be our next base towards the end of the year,so we just wanted to check things out a bit.

A few days ago we went to Yuma for the night to see my brother off to Afghanistan...a very emotional day!! I'm so glad we were able to see him off and wish him well.

I forgot to mention we took Reagan got another camping trip under her belt!! Nothing to exciting but we ended up going to Yuma to spend time with my brother!! The kids both did well and had fun.

Summer is on it's way... already in the 90's here!! I'm not looking forward to being cooped up in the house with 2 kiddo's all summer, I'm hoping to go on several camping trips this summer up in the mountains, and maybe a trip to California!! I'm trying to decide if we should take Ashlee to Disneyland this year or wait until next year!! We booked our trip to Hawaii in October, I'm sooooo excited!!! Reagan will be a lot more work assuming she will be mobile by then, but who cares it's Hawaii and I'm not passing this trip up :)

Ashlee is the most amazing big sister!! She loves to entertain her sister and play with her...in just a few months Reagan will be on the floor playing with her and then I"m sure a few months after that Ashlee will be freaking out because Ray wants to play with her toys :)