Hockey games!

Regan got up close to the TV to watch the college hockey games with dad last month......ok, so maybe she was more interested in the book she slid next to the TV and could no longer reach! But it was a cute picture and the timing was perfect; just getting into the 3rd period (obviously!). By the way, the no clothes has to do with the fact that she has yet to let me get her dressed completely after a bath before rolling away and running out the door. I pick my battles, and that just isn't one of them!

First trip to the Zoo!

We took Regan to the Como Zoo last weekend and she had a great time :) Each time we pointed out an animal, her face would light up when her eyes finally came across what we were pointing at. It was the most adorable thing! Her favorite animal was the polar bear (I think they were the easiest for her to see) and they moved around a lot which she loved. The monkeys were the hardest for her to see, they were all sleeping in trees and I think she thought we were nuts pointing at a tree saying "monkey".

Spring has sprung!!

With two robins in the front yard and 60+F temps, I think it's official: spring has arrived :) Now let's hope it sticks around. We were finally able to put together Regan's birthday gift and she just LOVES it!! She had so much fun going down the slide and stands so proud in the small tower. She also seemed to enjoy watching the older girls (neighbors) play basketball on daddy's b-ball hoop!

Mama's big helper

She loves this thing! Everytime, for the past 5 or 6 months, that I have pulled out the swiffer, Regan starts laughing. Lately she will chase me around the hardwood floors giggling at this crazy looking thing. Today she finally got her chance to play around with it and she had the time of her life, laughing all the while she pushed it! Someday, we're going to have to remind her how much she liked to help mom clean when she was little!

Ouch....again

Another accident at daycare resulted in a banged up nose this week. The story has it that the kids were playing in the driveway and Regan's push toy managed to get too far in front of her. Her short legs couldn't keep up and, although it was apparently in slow motion, she fell down to her knees, then onto her nose. I suppose the snowpants she was wearing contributed to the difficulty she had keeping up with her toy on wheels. A few tears later and it was all over. It's just hard to look at right now, and we got a lot of looks in the grocery store last night. What next!?

Hello, it's for you

She learns quickly! Regan will walk around, saying 'hi' and then some jibberish that only she can understand. She's definately got an imagination!

Pardon the bedhead, she had just woke up and squirmed away from the brush.

Orange or Ball ?

Depends who you are asking! Regan insisted this was her 'ball' yesterday after dinner and kept dropping it on the floor; not sure which lucky parent will get to eat it. Thankfully it wasn't an apple!

13 months old!

Regan is now 13 months old and surprising us everyday. Here's a re-cap of the last month or so. She's an 'on-the-go' baby, never wanting to stop. She often ends up running around the house in just her diaper and onsie after bathtime because that's all mom can manage to get on her before she squirms away. We weighed her last night and she's not quite 22 lbs, same as she was last month.....see, she really is moving a lot! She's finally trying new foods and is almost, but not quite, as picky as her mom! She eats meatloaf, green beans, sausage, any fruit and an array of other foods. Unfortunately, milk isn't something she's interested in and she continues to push it away, no matter what color sippy cup it's in! We've even tried chocolate milk, that doesn't seem to work either. I'm trying not to worry about it. She also loves to be held, mostly by mom, which has turned into a slight problem as it caused mom's shoulder/chest wall muscles to give way last week. Felt like a heart attack, thankfully it's just muscle, but she could care less and still fusses to be held constantly. O well, just one of the joys of parenthood! Last night we discovered her 3rd molar had come through, obviously this one wasn't as bad as the first two (we actually slept through the night every night this week). She's talking up a storm with lots of jibberish and can say the words : hi, hot, duck, ball, mmm (in reference to food!), yea, Ben, mom and dad. Both grandma's swear she says grandma too...the jury is still out on that one!

Goodnight Elephant

Regan's new favorite spot is her rocking chair tucked next to the fireplace. She loves to climb into it and rock (or try to rock). Mostly she will just purposely slide out, only to want to get back in! She's always on the move. I'm realizing it was much easier to take pictures of her before she started moving so much, especially walking. Now we have a hard time getting her to sit still long enough to change a diaper, let alone pause to smile for the camera!

Mastering the spoon-not quite yet

Wrong end, but right concept! Guess we'll need to keep trying :) She's got the right idea ~ doesn't that face look determined!

It truly is easier to wipe the pudding off the end of the spoon and stick a finger in your mouth.

Weekend of driving....

We managed to add up over 300 miles this past weekend :( Friday we drove from home to New Ulm and back again; Saturday from home to St. Cloud and back again, and Sunday from home to Mahtowa and back again! Thanks to a few sing-along CD's from Regan's great-aunt Cheryl, the time passed fairly quickly (at least she was happy!). Poor kid refused to be locked into pretty much anything today, especially her carseat. She almost threw a fit when it was time to get into her high chair at breakfast! Needless to say we're not planning anything next weekend.

Molars?!

Yep, that's right, Regan has not one, but two molars coming in!! And it's obvious that was the reason for an awful night. For those of you that hadn't heard, last night was horrible for those of us that like sleeping. Regan couldn't fall asleep and she finally managed to take about a 20 minute nap in mom's arms from 10-10:20pm. It was a disaster from then on. Finally around 2:30am, everyone fell asleep...probably from pure exhaustion. Poor girl was probably in misery from teeth coming in and she just couldn't tell us. So we tried everything, from rocking, to singing to Orajel to Tylenol. Now that we can see the two little buggers (aka: molars) we're assuming the latter two were the ticket to sleep.
So in preparation for the teeth to make their way further out of her gums, we loaded her up on Orajel and Tylenol BEFORE we laid her down tonight! Neither of us could handle a repeat of last night!
Lesson learned: teeth have a mind of their own and will come in whenever they feel like it, even at midnight.

Bring on the snow

I would actually prefer warmer weather, but Regan is happy with the snow! We headed outside to attempt to play in the snow today...has anyone tried to walk around in 2 feet of snow drifts and pull a sled? At one point, Regan was tipped almost onto her side and happy as could be! Opps. We opted for a sled ride on the snow covered street instead, just seemed safer.

Just another day

Although mom and dad wore windpants and sweatshirts, Regan was dressed in her new pretty red dress (poor girl outgrows her clothes faster than she can wear them!). Unfortunately she refused to wear the black shoes that go along with the dress and simply pulled them off each time they were put on. She's already telling her mom what her taste in clothing is going to be!

TV time with grandpa Leo

Regan and grandpa Leo had fun last night watching tv together. Ok, so Regan only lasted 30 seconds, but it was long enough to get a cute picture of the two sharing a laugh!

Drink from a straw

Regan learned how to drink from a straw tonight at Bennigan's! It was a big accomplishment, something we have been working on for a few months! Grandpa Arnie, mom and dad probably looked like fools as we cheered when Regan finally figured it out! Now we're going to try to put milk in the cup and see if she'll drink milk that way! I have my doubts.

I love cake!!

So it's quite obvious, Regan loved her birthday cake! She was able to dive right into an entire cake and loved every minute of it. I think the best was the whole audience she had cheering her on with every movement her hand made!

Regan's First Birthday Party!

Regan had a great time at her first birthday party! She loved all the presents, decorations and especially the cake! HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY!

Ravioli and cupcakes!

We've had some yummy dinners and desserts lately in celebration of Regan's birthday! The ravioli picture is for Uncle Shane...because we all know how much he loves to make a mess. Let's just say by the time we were done, the kitchen looked like WWIII had just occured!

Birthday with ChuckECheese!

Mom and dad took Regan to ChuckECheese for her first birthday! She loved dancing with ChuckE, but wasn't a big fan sitting next to him!

FIRST BIRTHDAY!

She finally let mom take a good picture, and even though her shirt was a little bunched up, it was good enough! I wasn't about to fight her to smile again :) I guess we have to start taking these pictures in a different room, away from her CD player!

Happy FIRST Birthday to our little sweetheart!

We plan to celebrate by taking her out for dinner tonight (umm, I guess mom and dad get to decide where we're going this year!). We made cupcakes for daycare this morning and will let her dive into one tonight when we get home...provided she's not already covered with frosting from eating her special treat at daycare! We can't believe the first year has flown by so quickly.

This morning I woke up at 5:30am (for those of you that don't know, that's when my water broke 1 year ago) and had to wake dad up to show him what time it was. Oblivious to everything, he couldn't figure out why I just woke him up. It finally dawned on him around 7am this morning! She's been everything and more to us and we are so happy to have her in our lives!

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!

Mom made a big mistake this morning when she turned off the music so we could get ready for daycare. Boy did Regan let her have it! It didn't last long, but she sure let's everyone know when she's not happy!

More dancing, less pictures please

As mom attemepted to take first birthday pictures this morning, all Regan would do was dance, and there wasn't even any music playing!! In an effort to satisfy her need to dance, the music was turned on, but it didn't seem to help. And all hell broke lose when the music was turned off (see the next picture)!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Regan celebrated her first Valentine's day by exchanging Valentine's at daycare! She came home with some cute Valentine's, a bag of goodies and this balloon, which she fell in love with!

Runaway baby!

As much as Regan loves her bath time, she also loves to be chased! As mom was getting her ready for her bath, she took off down the hall and into the bedroom! She thought it was pretty funny when she saw the camera flash and had to turn around to show off that pretty smile!

Dancing Queen

Regan absolutely loves to dance! It's so cute to watch her shake her booty and move her hands up and down. She understands where the music comes from so she now walks over to the CD player and starts dancing when she wants the music to play! We just have to laugh as she waddles around shaking her little tush or swaying back and forth. She loves to be held and dance around the room too; good thing mom knows a thing or two about dancing!

Ready for summer

So we have the shades, now we just need the warm weather and sunshine! Actually, Regan was having so much fun pulling dad's glasses off his face, we decided to give her some of her own to play with! She looks like a mean teacher with her crinkled nose, or as Ryan would say "some old bity".

I can walk!

Regan is proudly able to walk wherever her little feet can take her and enjoys every minute of it! She's mastered walking over various thresholds and has even figured out how to move her feet to turn around and look behind her without falling down. She still falls often enough though, she's now working to improve her balance!

One Year Old!

Well, not quite, but she had her 12 month check-up today and here are the results with a comparison to birth...
Birth: 6 lbs 13 oz
19 1/2 inches long
32 cm head circ.

1 year: 21 lbs 12 3/4 oz
30 1/2 inches long
47 cm head circ.

It's amazing to think she's tripled her birth weight and grown over 10 inches in just one year! She's walking like crazy these days and keeping mom and dad very busy (see the picture below). We've moved off baby food and formula and onto whole milk and table food. We're recognizing more and more of what she is trying to say, and we think "ba" is her sound for ball and "du" for duck. She uses sign language to get some of her needs met (more and water) and that helps a lot during meal times. Getting her to sit still long enough to eat or have her diaper changed remains one of the biggest challenges!

What in the world?

Yes, you're seeing this right, she got into the drawer of fun items! Mom finally got tired of saying "no" so the lesser of two evils (cleaning supplies or tampons) was, as you can see, tampons. The box made so much noise when she shook it and then suddenly they started flying out the top, she was entertained for a long time!

Playtime!

Mom and Regan hung out last night while dad ventured out into the cold with a friend. Regan decided she was going to make the most of her play-time with mom and it looked as though she had dug through every basket of toys! This pose was too cute to pass up, she absolutely loves books and is often content "reading" them to herself. Here she had pulled out a whole basket of books and individually went through each one, laying it down on her lap when she was done! The best part, after all that work, she looked up at mom with a whine because she realized she was stuck under a pile of books!