Two months

It is really hard for me to believe, but Reagan is two months old today. Seriously. In my mind she is still a newborn. It is a good thing I have this blog so I can go back and see what the boys were doing at this age so I could figure out what I should be doing with her...besides letting her sleep all day long!
She had her well-child visit today.
Here is the one stat I found out:
Weight: 9lbs even (25th percentile)
Height: I don't know. She is in the 50th(ish) percentile for height...whatever that height is.
Head circumference: no clue.

For some reason this Dr. doesn't share all the specifics and I forget to ask.
She survived her 3 shots and is now recovering by taking a nice little nap. She was not happy that they poked her and let us all know about it. She cried more than the boys did but it was more of a mad cry...like that was rude.

She is healthy and finally over her ear infection. Thank goodness. She still gets a little stuffed up but nothing the bulb syringe aka nose sucker can't handle. She is starting to be awake for longer periods of time. She smiles at us and we're starting to introduce toys to her. The boys had fun getting out all their old toys and trying to get her to play with them on Sunday afternoon. She was more interested in watching what they were doing than playing. The boys sure had fun with the toys though.

Maybe when she wakes up we'll get a picture to mark the day.

Christmas wreath

I saw this wreath and wanted to give it a try.

I bought a color coordinated variety pack of bulbs at Wal-mart.

There are a few holes and things I would do differently, but not too bad for winging it with Brent's help yesterday!

Brotherly love

Corbin continues to love being very near Bridger...especially if Bridger is napping or has recently woken up from a nap.

Putting up Christmas

We got all of our Christmas put up. We began last Wednesday and finished last night. The boys are so excited for all that is Christmas.

This is the first day when we had most of the boxes out and ready to put the tree up. We decided to just get lights on it and then wait until we were in the mood for ornaments!

Finished!
The boys had so much fun putting the ornaments on.
The glass bulbs needed to go above Corbin's head. We decided after we saw him batting one of the bulbs like a punching bag. Nice.

Thanksgiving

We had a nice, low-key Thanksgiving. It was strange for me this year to not have anywhere to travel to. It was our year to be with Brent's family for Thanksgiving and we went to his Grandma and Grandpa Welling's house for the big meal. We were joking as we walked over there (yes, they live that close and it was that nice outside) that our song for the day could be "through the alley and around the block to Grandmothers house we go". I think they said there were about 65-70 people there for the meal. Crazy if you ask me. I finally came to the conclusion that this is their tradition and who am I to try to change it? So we will continue to enjoy Thanksgiving every other year in close quarters with those we love! The food was yummy as always. Do you think I got the camera out? Nope. It was in the bag though...the thought right?

Thursday night we were plotting our early morning sale at Wal-Mart plan when Brent's uncle called to inform us that the stuff that was on the "all day" sale would be available at midnight (because the store was staying open all night). So we put the boys to bed at Susan's and headed to Wal-Mart at about 9:45pm. We then stood in line until midnight for the items we wanted, purchased them, and headed home. Luckily we didn't need anything at the 5AM sale so we got to sleep in (Brent's sister Julie and some others stayed until 5 AM. Yup, 8 hours in Wal-Mart. They are die-hards). I'm glad we got the heads up from Gary or we would have been out of luck on many items. Thank you Wal-Mart in Evanston for not being very organized with your sale. You helped us out a ton!
Still no pictures.





Friday afternoon we decided to do something fun while Steven and his boys were still in town. Bowling it was. We learned that kids need either a) bumpers or b) a shorter game to stay entertained the whole time. It was fun and they loved it when they hit some pins; so did I for that matter! Lets just say we aren't expert bowlers! Brent had to go back to work that night so he left us half way through. We finished the night out with McDonalds (or mic-a-donald's as Bridger calls it) and the kids playing at Susan's.

Saturday the kids and I headed to Mtn. View to visit my parents for a couple of hours while Brent slept. Dad got the lights on the house up and we thought really hard about decorating. Thought being the key word.

It was a fun weekend and we look forward to the Christmas season!

Three in one

Last night Brent and I did something that probably very rarely happens in the church. Monday night a counselor in the bishopric called to see if we could meet with the Bishop the next night. Sure, no problem. Then we realized our temple recommends needed renewed and called to see if we could do that at the same time. They didn't have a problem with that. When we arrived at the church they said, well, since you're here, we're just going to do your tithing settlement too! Sweet. We knocked out 3 potential meetings with the bishop in one visit. I like it when things are efficient like that. I'll let you know what the original meeting was about at a later date...like Sunday.

* So my new calling is 2nd counselor in the Primary presidency. Just wanted to make sure no one opposed before I shared it with you.

Big girl clothes

I'm happy to announce that Reagan has moved on from her newborn clothes into the 0-3 month size. Her wardrobe isn't nearly as limited now as it once was!
Ok, so maybe the 0-3 month is still a little big, but I was sick of her newborn stuff so I moved on to bigger and better sizes.

Happy Birthday Grandpa

Saturday we got together to celebrate my dad's birthday. Its always fun to see everyone. We missed Blaine and Angie and kids and Andrea (and Jerame).

We ordered Chinese food. The order was perfect! If you're familiar with the Hunan Garden in Evanston then you know what a huge deal that is, for an order the size we had.

Grandpa requested pumpkin pie for his dessert of choice. All the kids had fun placing the candles and then blowing them out. Corbin's effort was the best because his bink stayed in the whole time he was blowing.

After eating dessert the kids and Grandpa cut out sugar cookies. I think Dad ended up doing most of the work after these two little munchkins lost interest.

Reagan was pretty content to just take it all in. Here she is showing off her newly acquired smiling skills. So cute.

Bridger and Ashlee had fun playing together (they are 3 weeks apart). They were laughing so hard as they pushed each other on this little bus.

It was a fun night. Thanks, Dad, for having a birthday.
We're glad you're our dad and grandpa.
We love you!

Christmas lights

Brent took advantage of the nicer weather and put up some Christmas lights. He spent about 3 long hours on the tall ladder and the roof only to discover that they blew a fuse every time we plugged them in. He is still trying to figure out the perfect way to get them to work.
Corbin was napping and Reagan was banished to the swing while I tried to help (who are we kidding, I was no help at all. I just stood and watched...and ran to Wal-mart when we ran out of lights, or broke them).
Bridger was a good helper. He had fun taking the "bad" part off of the light holders and sorting the "good" parts and "bad" parts into piles. The bad parts were just an extra part that snaps off and gets in the way.
So we're half way there. We still need to put our yard decorations up.

In other news:
Yesterday was a fun day. Brent and I dropped the boys off at his mom's house and headed to Utah. I had a postpartum appointment and then it was shopping, shopping, shopping. We tried to knock out a big chunk of our Christmas shopping without the boys around. It worked. Reagan was a little trooper and barely made a peep all day long.
After we were shopped out we headed to my good friend Melissa Cox's wedding reception. It was beautiful. She was beautiful. We are so excited for her and Isaac. She couldn't have found a better guy to marry. So that was fun.
We headed home, dropped off the loot, picked the boys up, and headed home. Brent went straight to bed and I got the kids in bed and then headed off myself. It didn't last long. Reagan has been so congested the past few weeks and the past two nights have been horrible. She can barely sleep because it is so hard for her to breathe. I got her into the doctor and discovered that she has an ear infection. Awesome. Nothing makes you feel like a great parent like two kids with ear infections (I took Corbin in on Monday with the same result). Hopefully with the antibiotic they'll get feeling better and we'll all be happier around here.
Now I'm off to finish cleaning our house that looks like a cyclone hit it. Wish me luck!!

What we've been up to the past week

Relaxing

Doing a little work around the house

Experimenting with different "canvases"

The floor and computer desk seem to be his favorite.

Making Christmas lists

you know Santa will be her in just a few short weeks

Enjoying the nice weather.

learning the fine art of throwing snowballs

Building a snowman

Making snow angels

Movie night

Sunday night Brent thought it would be fun to let the boys eat some popcorn, watch a movie, and then hopefully crash on the front room floor. He went 2 for 3. They ate the popcorn, watched the entire movie, and never did crash! I finally put Corbin in his bed at about 11:00 and I guess Bridger did crash about 11:30 or so (I went to bed when Reagan finally fell asleep). They had fun and loved having their blankets and pillows to watch the movie.

Working

With Grandpa.
Corbin taking his turn helping my dad spread the gravel in the drive way.

Saying goodbye

Grandma and Grandpa Hamblin moved to the Boise area on Saturday. We went to my mom and dad's to see them one last time before they left and took some pictures. The boys love Great-Grandma and Grandpa and have a special bond with them because of the time they spent in Evanston last winter. My favorite part of the night was Grandpa asking to hold Reagan and then her just snuggling up to him and going to sleep. He was so happy that she was so content with him. It was cute.
Corbin wasn't too interested in sitting still for any sort of picture, but at least we tried. I want them to know that even though they may not remember their great-grandparents one day, they did know them. We're sad that they are so far away now, but it is by far the best possible situation for them.


PS. Don't mind that I don't have any make-up on...it was one of those kinds of days.

Life is rough

When you're 3!
Bridger's nap taking position of choice.

One month old

Its hard to believe that our little missy is one month old (as of Sunday). These pictures are from Thursday when she was 4 weeks old.

I feel like I'm finally getting back into the swing of every day life. She is sleeping for about 4-5 hours at a time during the night which is really nice. I have let myself sleep in until the boys wake me up every morning so I am feeling pretty well rested, as well, these days. I can't complain.

For the first little while I felt like I was barely keeping my head above water and just surviving. Luckily we're starting to move beyond that point! I thought for sure I was prepared for a newborn because it didn't feel like it had been that long since Corbin was a baby. I think that is what totally threw me off. I didn't realize how good I had it with Corbin. Not that Reagan is bad, she just isn't quite the napper/sleeper/content to lay there baby that Corbin was. It took some adjusting of my attitude before I was ok with that. I finally came to the conclusion that 6wks-3 months of my life isn't that big of a sacrifice to make sure that she is taken care of and well adjusted. Since I decided this life has been much better.

We sure love our little sister. The boys have so much fun playing with her and making sure that she is happy. When she starts crying Bridger will say "Mom, hers is crying and I don't like that sound". She is starting to respond to us a little bit and almost smiles (she smiles {and even laughs} in her sleep all the time, its cute) when we talk to her.

Photoshop...

...is a beautiful thing!

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

I used some PW Actions to transform these pictures. I love them (the actions and pictures).