Happy New Year!

Ryan put it best when he looked at Sidney today and told her "we all better be sleeping at midnight"! That about sums up what we'll be doing on New Year's! Have a safe one!

R-E-G-A-N

As we continue to work with Regan on spelling her name (I know, she's not even 3 yet) she got this fun train at Christmas that we hope will help her. It's actually the whole alphabet which is a pretty long train to drag around our tiny house!

Thanks Grandma Sheri and Hunter!

The girls had an absolute wonderful time these last 3 days playing with Grandma Sheri and Hunter while mommy and daddy went to work. Regan loved having her own "personal assistant" aka Hunter! No one, not even Grandma, could do anything for her! Hunter even had to take Regan to the bathroom; (un)lucky girl!

A sign there has been too many presents...

Santa finally paid a visit last night while we were sleeping. Unfortunately, Regan was pretty much "presented out" and woke up this morning, took one look at the presents under the tree to acknowledge Santa had been here, and then polietly asked to watch cartoons!! After about an hour she was ready to see what was in those packages; lucky for us it was enough time to get some Caribou coffee first :) Sidney was more excited this time than Regan, but we finally opened everything and now it's time to play!

Merry Christmas!

We spent Christmas in New Ulm with family and had a wonderful time. The girls got way too many toys and clothes! They were very appreciative of them; Regan loves her new remote control tonka tractor (thanks Papa!) and Sidney's favorite is definately the bear kicking gym (thanks Grandparents Friederich!). When Regan first started opening her presents, she was so excited she could hardley stand still; she even accidently opened uncle Jon's present! Opps (sorry about that). Once we were 1/2 way through, she had enough and we had to beg her to open the rest; she just wanted to play with what she had.

My First Haircut

Regan had her very first haircut on Friday. I cried my eyes out and it didn't help when Ashley said "there goes the hair she was born with"! I survived and she did such a good job sitting nicely for aunt Vicky. She was definately a little nervous and asked to hold mom's hand, but by the end, she let go of mom's hand on her own and sat just like a big girl! It certainly helped to have Hunter making silly faces for her; we all got a good laugh!

Merry Christmas!

Picture this song being sung by a sweet two year old (aka Regan)

We wish you a Merry Christmas
We wish you a Merry Christmas
We wish you a Merry Christmas
And a happy to you!

Over and over we've tried to teach her the real words to the song but she insists she is right, so now we all sing it that way.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Go Vikes!

Regan's turn to show off her new hat (and scarf). She looks so in style wearing her snug little hat around the house with her blond curls coming out the bottom :)

Sidney got a new hat today and mom wanted to try it on. The timing of this picture was perfect; Sidney was taking a breath in between cries. She wasn't a big fan of her hat tonight.

This is what life is like in our house these days! We attempt to get a cute picture and Regan acts silly at the same time that Sidney gives us a big smile!

PICTURES!

A friend of mine has started her own photography business (http://www.createdbymephotography.com/) and asked to take pictures of the girls for her website. We were so excited to see the results and share them with everyone! The pictures are adorable!

3 months old

Sidney turned 3 months old today! Unfortunately, that meant it was also my first day back to work. With the support of wonderful friends, family and co-workers, I made it through the day. It helped tremendously to know that the girls were safe at home with daddy, plus he even brought them to work for lunch so I got to feed Sidney! I came home and they were all in one piece and both their happy selves so I guess we're going to be alright with my return to work. If only there was a way to work from home.

Oh yea, and dad made it through his day in one piece too; he was VERY worried he wouldn't be able to handle two kids! Although he did leave shortly after I got home and headed downtown (not that he needed a drink, but Oasis is in town).

More stories

We're figuring out how to manage storytime with two kids. Both girls are very interested in reading books, although unfortunately, Regan has graduated into longer books with more words and real pages whereas Sidney prefers shorter books. Once she starts grabbing the pages, those real ones are going to rip.

Regan decided to use Sidney's swing for her groceries this afternoon. She was pushing them around in her shopping cart (after going shopping of course) and suddenly decided they would be better off in Sidney's swing! So much for putting Sidney in there.

Giggles

Sidney gets the giggles these days and they are so cute. We caught this video after she ate and had the hiccups. Those hiccups make her giggles even cuter!

Toes

My friend is starting a photography business and asked to take pictures of Sidney for her website. She gave me a tease by sending me this picture; I can't wait to see the other ones!

Handfuls of fun!

Don't they look so cute! Tonight we went for dinner and the couple at the table next to us was remembering their days with little kids. They had to laugh at the sight of us, me holding Sidney and Ryan entertaining and holding Regan all while trying to finish our meals! We laughed at them because they told us their nerves as their kids are now driving. I think I prefer this stage over the teenage years :)

Dress up

Regan is really getting into this dress up play. She adores her high heels, hats and "make up". If you look closely, you can see her wonderful job of applying lip gloss. Good thing we caught her before she tried wiping her finger on the couch.

Parade of Lights

Friday night was the perfect night to take Regan to the Parade of Lights in New Ulm. The weather was perfect and Grandma Jan and Papa were more than excited to babysit Sidney for an hour. Regan was mesmerized by all the lights and kept saying "next time I'm going to ride on that one". Daddy said maybe we can convince aunt Vicky to have a float in next year's parade advertising her salon, Regan sure hopes so!

Happy Thanksgiving

Hoping everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We were blessed with lots of fun, food and time with family :)

Happy Birthday Grandma Jan!

Grandma Jan came up this weekend to hang out with me and the girls while daddy went to the ACDC concert. It was Grandma Jan's birthday too so Regan helped open presents (and told her what was in it before she opened it) and baked a yummy angel food cake! The best part about angel food cake is that we can like the batter off the mixer and not have to worry about eating raw eggs; as you can see, Regan was in her glory!

A day in the life of an elf

We took the girls to the Macy's 8th floor display today! Although there was a 30 minute wait just to get in, Regan paitently waited her turn and enjoyed every minute of it :) Ryan said it best when he looked at Regan's face and how happy she was and said "it's worth it for her".

Sidney of course fell asleep.

I'm not so sure about this guy named Santa

We took the girls to see Santa tonight and Regan was pretty fearful. We tried all the tricks we could think of but this is as close as she'd get to him. At least she's not screaming and crying! She knew exactly what she wanted to tell him to bring: a computer and some clothes, and maybe some toys!

Shots :(

This is a pretty cute smile for someone who just got shots. Sidney had her 2 month shots today, all 3 of them, and then another vaccine by mouth. She was so upset during and after the shots, but you wouldn't know it anymore! We even went to see Santa (pictures to come). She's a healthy girl according to the doctor, at 11 lbs 8 oz and 23.5 inches long, she falls in the 85th and 95th percentiles!

The girls

Poor daddy, he's so outnumbered!

Meatloaf and bathtime!

Daddy and Regan made a meatloaf tonight (I wonder why mom doesn't make this?!) and then afterwards it was time for Regan's bath. Blue water!!! My cousin stopped by today to meet Sidney and brought Regan tablets for the bathtub along with crayons for the tub walls! It sure was a fun bath tonight :)

"Doubles"

Ryan has been calling Sidney "doubles" for a while now and this picture shows why....her big double chin! But isn't it cute?! We have a similar picture of Regan that he's asked me to track down and put side by side.

Gotta wear shades!

...and a hat :) That hat continues to be Regan's favorite dress up accessory these days. Today she added her oversized 'in-style' shades while playing (in the house). She's got quite the imagination!

I'm a big girl too

Sidney has been practicing sitting up and she really likes the view of her world that way. We think she really likes watching whatever Regan is doing....we will soon have double the trouble!

Sidney's getting so big and has such a personality. I'm knocking on wood as I write this, but 4 out of the last 5 nights she has slept through the night! It's been wonderful :)

This morning I caught Regan watching TV wearing her dress up hat and just had to grab a picture (keep in mind it's not even 7am!). She got this hat 10 months ago and wouldn't put it on until this morning, we never could figure out why not. It sure was adorable to see her wearing it this morning :)

Richfield Centennial Baby

Last night, Sidney was recognized at a Richfield City Council meeting for being one of the "Centennial Babies". As you can see, she got a cute sticker (on her leg) as well as a piggy bank and some other goodies. Unfortunately, as we were walking out the door, Regan tripped and fell all the way down the stairs to the basement. Thankfully it's Minnesota and she was wearing her big puffy winter jacket and she more or less rolled down the stairs not hitting her head and no injuries. She even held onto a toy in her hand the whole way down. Mom and dad were scared out of their minds, but she promised she didn't get hurt at all. Whew. We're considering locking the stair gate again so we don't have that problem anymore.