We spent the day soaking up the sun and going for a swim in the back yard :) Lately, Regan has been quick to steal the sandals right off your feet if you aren't quick enough. Here she dashed off with daddy's sandals and it looked like she was preparing to going skiing!

This afternoon, Regan laid down on mommy's big round belly and said in a baby voice "awww, I want to come out" and then "that's what the baby is saying!". Mom and dad both just grinned :) We're all looking forward to baby's arrival, and we're so happy that Regan seems just as excited!

Como Town!

We spent this morning at Como Town to let Regan go on some rides (and daddy too; mommy's not allowed to go on any rides, not even the 'turtle speed' train!). Regan had a great time jumping on and off all the rides and going around and around on various cars, horses, trains, etc! She only lost it on one ride, and we can't blame her, she felt a little trapped and wasn't able to see mom or dad for much of the ride. Thankfully they let her off quickly and it didn't traumatize her enough to stop going on all the rides.

Baking with Grandma Sheri

Regan got to spend last Monday with both grandma and grandpa Friederich because of grandpa's recent surgery and time off from work. She loved hanging out and having their undivided attention all day! Grandma chased grandpa to the store (twice, he tells me!) to buy the ingredients for brownies and by the looks of it, Regan had a great time baking, stirring and probably tasting the brownies. She's such a great helper when it comes to doing things in the kitchen. She's a lot like her mommy though and would prefer to leave the mess for someone else to clean up!

Another great MN get together!

We spent this afternoon at the state fair and everyone had a great time! We ate lots of yummy food and Regan had some fun checking out all the animals. She tried all the food we tried, even the chocolate covered bacon; although she primarily ate the chocolate and then handed the bacon over when she was done. Her favorite part of the day was likely the Giant Slide, although she was pretty nervous about it at first! The second she got down she said to dad "I want to go again" and of course, we couldn't resist and had to let her go down again!

Tennis!

Regan has had a recent interest in playing around with a tennis racket :) She loves trying to hit the ball back to mom or dad, but sometimes she'd rather just try to "hide" behind the racket! She'll yell out "you can't see me!"

Bozo the clown or a pro wrestler?

So I realize this has nothing to do with Regan (well, it was her bouncy ball) but I couldn't resist putting this up! After all, he let me take the picture, he had to know I was going to post it online :) I'm not real sure who Ryan was trying to pretend to be, but after Regan's ball broke, he ripped it in half and for whatever reason, stuck it on his head to pose for a quick picture. Guess he thought we all just needed a good laugh!

Holding baby Hudson

Regan's cousin, Hudson, was baptized on Sunday afternoon! Regan was so excited to wake up from her nap and hold baby Hudson, although with all the people there, it was a miracle she snatched him up for a few seconds to hold him!

Puppy!!!

No we didn't buy a puppy, but Regan sure did have fun playing with all the puppies this weekend! Daddy's cousin's black lab had 10 puppies last month and Regan, with the help of many other kids, was brave enough to pick them up and play with them on Sunday afternoon. She was in her glory carrying around her puppy all afternoon and thanks to Grandma Sheri, we not only got some cute pictures, but neither mom nor dad had to stay outside in the heat with her while she played!

Aren't I cute?

At 2.5 years old, Regan's turned into a real toddler! Just a few stats: nearly 30 lbs and roughly 36 inches tall, she towers over other kids her age. She's still a shy girl, very cautious in new situations but incredibly outgoing when she gets comfortable. Her mouth never stops talking (where does she get that from?!) and she loves babies, puppies, dolls, helping in the kitchen, dancing, singing and playing around outside. Our new favorite is to listen to her make up song lyrics! They don't always make sense but they sure are adorable.

"Cheese in a pod"

Aunt Vicky and cousin Hunter picked some peas in a pod for us from the field this week; it's something we look forward to every year! Regan thought we were saying "cheese in a pod" and couldn't figure out what she was supposed to be doing with them. Unfortunately, she's not nearly as into them as we are, but she had fun breaking them open and putting them on the plate for us to eat!

Me and my daddy

We had a busy day today with more professional pictures. Last weekend was Regan's 2.5 year pictures and today we took maternity pictures. I think Regan preferred taking this picture with daddy on the couch over the ones at the studio!

Her personality is certainly shining through these days. She is fiercly independent which can become frustrating to all of us; and she is also incredibly shy in new situations. She's learning new things at such a high speed I told her she was a "quick study" tonight and she reminded me she wasn't a "study". We're currently working on number and shape recognition and we're making great progress thanks to the Magna Doodle. If only I could get her to show me the number two with her fingers....for whatever reason she can cross her fingers but she can't uncross them and show the number two!?

We went to Minihaha Falls again this morning because Regan's been asking to see the waterfall for quite some time. Apprently the house down the street with a waterfall/pond in the front yard wasn't sufficient. Unfortunately, now that she found out there is a park with a swing set at the Falls, we might not get to actually see the Falls anymore!

Yum-O!

Her only comment was "this corn is so yummy!"

Chuck E Cheese!

We had our annual summer visit to Chuck E Cheese this weekend! Mommy's cousin came up for a visit and as we do every year, we spent a night eating pizza and playing games at Chuck E Cheese. Regan's favorite "games" were the ones she could ride on. She could hardly eat her pizza she was so excited to get back to the "games"!

Valleyfair!!!

Our shy little girl broke out of her shell today and explored

Valleyfair to its fullest! By the end of the day, she was

jumping on and off rides like a pro. Considering she decided

to forego her nap this afternoon, we're hoping she sleeps well

tonight! Thanks to Ryan's family for coming up and spending the

day with us, Regan had so much fun going on rides with her cousin, Hunter!

We spent this weekend with some friends in Mahtowa (near Duluth) and headed down to Canal Park on Saturday night. It was freezing so we didn't spend much time outside. It was hard to get a decent picture of Regan because she was so busy pointing out the big rocks, the seagulls overhead and the lake. Mommy and daddy were busy making sure the seagulls didn't poop on our heads!

Cheese!!

Her curls really come out when it's humid!

Feeding baby

Mommy snatched this picture quickly on Friday as Regan fed her baby breakfast. It was adorable to listen to her chat with her baby, asking her if she wanted more, running back to her kitchen to fill up baby's dish with more breakfast before hurrying back to tend to her baby! What a great mommy!

Today as we prepared to put Regan's patch on her eye, she said her baby also needed a patch. Of course we had to let her put a patch on the baby too so she went to the box, picked out a patch, took off the backing and placed it right over the baby's eye! She was pretty proud and put her own patch on without so much as a whine! We may end up going through a lot of patches, but it will save everyone an argument!

In this picture, she is sitting in her big girl bed crafted just for Regan by Nana and Papa. She loves her bed and has already told everyone that the baby is going to sleep in her crib next to her in the room. I'm so proud of her for sharing instead of getting jealous that baby is going in the crib.

Daddy had a wonderful idea from our WI Dells trip and insisted Regan needed a slide (a BIG one) for her swimming pool! She absolutely loves it and is thrilled he bought the longest/tallest slide we could find!

I want to soft the buffalo!

We took Regan to the Como Zoo this morning and she so badly wanted to "soft" the buffalo (aka: pet him)! She just couldn't understand why we wouldn't let her pet him; some day she'll thank us for being so strict!

Sparklers under close supervision

Amazed at the noise she created with a "snapper"!

Watching the parade and having a Mr. Freeze!

We hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July! Regan went to a parade in the morning, swimming and a BBQ in the afternoon and ended the night with fireworks (both at home and in Edina). Her favorite part of the day was probably swimming :) Much to our surprise, she wasn't real interested in the big fireworks at night and lost interest after about 2 minutes. She thought the sparklers at home were pretty cool and her face after throwing down a few of her own snappers was priceless!

Nana and me!

Meeting baby Hudson! Regan met the newest member of the family (Ash and Jamie's baby boy) on Saturday and she was thrilled to get to hold him. We were thrilled to see her reaction of mommy holding him, which wasn't what we expected. Instead of crying for mom's attention, she was mad that she wasn't holding him :) Hopefully she'll be the same way when her sibling arrives!

Just a quick update, I'll add a picture later. We had a wonderful weekend going to softball games in Rosemount and enjoying the sunshine! We got out Regan's pool and she had a blast splashing around :)

Last week, we made an appointment to visit Regan's pediatrician to check on her eyes. Her vision seems fine, but her eye was having a tendancy to wander outward (not cross, but go the other way). He referred us to a pediatric opthamologist and we were able to get in to see him this morning. Well, her eyes are both wandering outwards but he isn't super concerned, so we're not going to be either. Apparently 10% of the population has this and since the rest of her vision is "normal", we're confident she'll be fine. It basically happens when she's 'zoning out' or occassionaly when she gets upset. We're going to attempt to have her wear a patch for a couple hours/day so if anyone has creative ideas about this, let me know! She has a good chance of it getting better or staying the same with no treatment but if it does happen to get worse, they can give her glasses or even do surgery. For now I envision her in college going "hey guys, look what I can do" and proceed to get her eye to wander out :)

WI Dells!

Despite the recent flooding, we kept our plans to spend some time in WI Dells and we are all very happy that we did! The weather was beautiful and our hotel was amazing; well, despite that when we walked into our room, there was water leaking from the ceiling all over the bathroom! A quick visit to the front desk, and we landed ourselves in a full suite with a hot tub and full kitchen; well worth the hassle.

Regan had an absolute blast playing in all of the pools and going down water slides (indoor and outdoor). It took some time, but she finally got the courage to go down a few slides on her own. We gave her a taste of "forced fun" (for any of you that know what that means) and Ryan took her down some big slides too!

A well needed break from the water, we took some time to see Deer Park and feed the deer. Regan thought this was great!! Personally, the best part for me was watching Ryan get attacked by the deer as they wanted him to feed them more and more food!

We headed to Rochester and Chatfield over the weekend where Regan had the opportunity to play with one of her buddies, Nathan (mommy's college friend's son) who is only 7 days older than she. She had a great time running through the house exploring with her new friend! Watching the two play 'beauty shop' was so cute and the picture of the two of them eating their suckers is hilarious! Regan looks like she's up to no good.

We leave Regan home with Nana for the day and this is what she feeds her-chocolate chip cookies!! Just kidding Nana, but it's a cute picture! Apparently Regan and Nana were having a cookie for dessert after lunch yesterday and Regan picked out all the chocolate chips from her cookie and made a complete mess out of her hands and face :) Thank goodness Nana put a black shirt on versus the white one!

Yummy cookies!

Regan helped mommy bake chocolate chip cookies on Friday and we all know the best part of baking is tasting the results! She loved her cookies and was so proud of what she had made :)

In a matter of hours our beautiful day turned dark, cold and wet. Here are some pictures of before and after. Immediately after it was over, we headed outside to assess the damage, and for Regan, it meant playing in the piles of hail. Aside from some minor damage to the exterior of the house and the perinnial plants, all is well. Unfortunately, the rain continued into the night and poor Regan was so scared of the thunder that she couldn't fall asleep. Despite our efforts to tell her the thunder was just an airplane flying over, she wasn't buying it. She eventually gave in while mommy rocked her and we put her in our bed to avoid a major upset in another 15 minutes.