The Princess at 7 Months

Brooke Reagan has passed the 7 month mark with flying colors. She's crawling all over the place, pulling up on anything in sight, cutting her first tooth, babbling like crazy, and eating some baby crackers. She has also thrown her wonderful sleeping habits completely out the window! The past two nights we have been up at least 4 times. We think it's a combination of being gone and out of routine for all the holiday travel, some separation anxiety, and the pain of teething. We are trying to let her cry it out but her blood curdling screams are unbearable--to us and probably to the neighbors. Also if she is in pain or afraid (she is often standing facing a wall in her crib) we don't want to leave her in that state. It's funny how you have lots of stickler ideas before you're a parent; you are going to do things this way or that way. But when you are really faced with the situation, things are a little different. There's not a black or white, wrong or right, easy answer. In the meantime, we're doing lots of praying, reading, and asking of advice on what to do. I know we will get it figured out soon, but there's always that little voice in my head that says if I give in to her now she'll be sleeping in our bed when she's 6. Haha.. anyway, advice is welcome from all you moms out there. We are looking forward to a wonderful 2008 and all the blessings God has in store for us. Happy New Year and God Bless!

Read more...

Christmas in OK

Saturday we drove to Calera, Oklahoma to spend the day with David's dad and stepmom. It's really just across the Texas border, but Oklahoma does sound dramatic after being near San Antonio just two days before. John had been working on a fabulous meal all morning that we enjoyed stuffing ourselves with very much. We headed home after exchanging gifts yet again. Brooke is extremely blessed to have so many people that love her. Here's Lake Texoma from the car window on the way home. 

Read more...

Christmas in the Braunf

Early Christmas Eve we headed to NB for Christmas with my family. I know it sounds hectic with all the travel, but we really did get some relaxation time once we got there. We are always quite pampered while visiting my parents. 

We decided to make the 8:00 pm Christmas Eve Candlelight church service. I was looking forward to it very much because I had missed it last year. Well we got there at 7:58 and the church was completely packed; we could hardly fit into the door. After a few minutes of claustrophobia we left and resolved to come back for the 11:00 service. 

To pass the time, we drove out to Santa's Ranch and saw some beautiful Christmas lights. I was glad to see biblical scenes along with Santas and reindeer. They had a giant Noah's Ark, three crosses, and a nativity scene. 

David especially liked the red, white, and blue display. Afterward, we went home and put Brooke to bed. David stayed with her while Mom, Kelly, & I enjoyed the late candlelight service that was not very crowded at all. It was beautiful. 

Christmas morning was great. Mom made a breakfast pizza that was very delicious. I said the blessing and was so glad we started the day off remembering why we were celebrating.

Brooke, David, and I got some great presents, and we enjoyed seeing everyone open gifts we had given them. Summer, Michael, Felix, & Kendra came over later in the day and we got to do it all over again with them. 

We were able to stay a couple of extra days there which was very nice. It is never easy leaving my family. We made it home at a good time and were able to spend a day at home before our next Christmas adventure...

Read more...

Christmas in MP

We enjoyed the weekend before Christmas in MP with David's family. Brooke got some great presents along with lots of love from Grandma, Aunt Diana, CJ, and Uncle Richard (Dodo). David and I didn't do too bad ourselves; one of my favorite gifts was from Diana--a charm bracelet with several pictures of my baby girl! Brooke was into the giftwrap, but since we've been back home she loves playing with all her noisy toys.

As usual we saw many relatives during our stay. In fact, someone was visiting or we were out dropping in on someone almost the entire time. Everyone was so excited to see the baby. Brooke's 2nd cousins MacKenzie, Maranda, and Chelsea just adored her. They all wanted to feed her (they actually fought over who got to feed her next) and change her diaper...just like a live baby doll. 

As it turned out, Jerid, Amanda, & KayeLeigh were also visiting that weekend, so the girls got together to chat and play one evening. They got a kick out of each other. 

Brooke was all over the place at Grandma's house. She even pulled herself up to stand on the coffee table, silly goose! Her silly side is really coming out...wonder where she gets it from!

Read more...

We have a crawler...and a climber!!!

Brooke has been making her way around the living room for some time now, but you couldn't really call it crawling. Well now, after much practice, she is officially a crawler. It just kind of evolved this week. 

Something else happened this week. Our baby turned into a monkey. Friday morning I went to get her out of her crib when to my surprise, her hands were on the top rail of the crib and she was peeking over the top of the crib. My heart jumped and I quickly informed David that we needed to lower the crib mattress. So we did and I was very relieved. This morning David went to get her out of her crib and there she was again on her knees, holding on to the vertical rails and smiling like a monkey in a cage. This evening I put her in her crib while I ran her bath water. When I came back, her hands were on the top rail and she was STANDING and peering over the top of the crib. She found it hilarious. The crib is still too tall for her to do any damage, but I have a feeling we'll be moving the mattress down again very soon. Apparently when David was a baby, he liked to jump up and down in his crib while holding on to the rail. One time he jumped right out. Hopefully our monkey will not be jumping out of her cage--I mean crib--anytime soon. 

Read more...

High School Football

Something very exciting is happening. Plano Senior High is in the Texas 5A Division 1 Semi-finals! David is their #1 scout, so he has been to Houston, Abilene, Round Rock, & San Antonio the past few weekends checking out possible opponents. It's an exciting time. Well this past weekend, he was sent to scout at the Alamodome. Brooke and I decided to tag along so we could spend the weekend with my parents in NB. Just the girls spent Saturday shopping till we dropped.

When David finished scouting in San Antonio that night, we headed straight to San Marcos to see my high school football team, the New Braunfels Unicorns, play in the 4A Semi-finals! It was really fun to be a part of the Unicorn crowd again. The game went into triple overtime--very exciting! I realized that David and I watch very few games together, so it was nice to have him next to me in the stands instead of him on the sidelines and us in the crowd. 

Sunday we went to church and celebrated Dad's birthday (which is actually tomorrow) with a breakfast at Ryan's. I didn't even know Ryan's had breakfast--very yummy. Happy Birthday Dad! I love you soooo much! 

On our way home we stopped to check out Waxahachie's Candlelight Home Tour. This was actually our second weekend in a row to attend. The homes were beautiful and I got some new decorating ideas. 

If (or should I say when) Plano makes the Finals, they will play at the Alamodome. This will give us another excuse to see my family. 

Go Wildcats!

Here are some really cute photos from this weekend w/ the fam.

Read more...