Best Day for Raygan-Elise!

So anyone who is around Raygan-Elise for extended periods of time knows that she isn't the happiest baby. She get very upset at things, cries a lot, and tends to get overstimulated easily. We went to Elmo a few weeks back, and she wasn't happy to be on Sesame Street. So I was a bit concerned when Anna offered to give me her 3rd ticket she had to Playhouse Disney in Tupelo. But I decided to take Raygan-Elise and see how it went. She was wonderful! I had her in her "wrap/sling" the whole time of the show and she sat, she smiled and laughed. She leaned back and hugged me! She ate the cotton candy Anna bought during intermission (instead of throwing it and fussing like at Elmo). It was amazing! Then, we went to mall and she was playful and fun. Laughing, smiling, and being silly. Anna even said that she was a pleasure to be around. We still aren't sure what happened and at times during the day I was grinning and happy from ear to ear and other times I wondered if it was "the quiet before the storm". But it was great! I teared up at the end of the day because it was so fun. I'm not sure if she was just in a really really good mood or if she was on a sugar rush from the cotton candy and sweet tea but I'll take it either way! THANKS Anna for invited us! We really enjoyed it!! I'll post pics when I get them from Anna!

Zoo Trip- August 30th

We took another family zoo trip on August 30th. This time we were joined by Anna, John Aedon, and Brian. Reese's favorite part was the birds again. He will be sad when that exhibit leaves. He likes to try and beat his goal of how many birds he can get on his stick. Raygan-Elise didn't point as much on this trip, but she had fun! John Aedon enjoyed seeing all the animals also. Here are some pics of our fun outing!

September, 2009

Raygan-Elise: Well, 16 months have come and gone. We went this past week for our 15 month old doctor check-up/shots (a little late). They weighed her fully dressed with shoes and wet diaper- :) oops - on a manual scale and she weighed 21 lbs. So, I weighed her on Shaun Leigh's great digital scale and she actually weighs 20 lbs. and is 30 inches long. Her doctor started her on Singulair to help allergies and is sending her for a speech/lang. eval. since she hasn't started saying the real word mama (she babbles a lot!!) or dada or any other words. She does babble- bububububu, babababa, bybybybyb, and mamamama. She also points. She understands the words- highchair, diaper, and shoes, and her new trick is to throw her diaper in the garbage! This month we bought her a new car seat and turned her facing forward. She now loves watching DVD's in the car! Daycare is getting better. She has even had 3 days where she didn't cry when I left. We love her new teacher-Mrs. Deborah! Mrs. Deborah calls her her little princess!! Too funny b/c she didn't know we call Raygan-Elise our princess baby! Deborah says Raygan-Elise doesn't really like other children touching her, being near her, bothering her etc. Some days Deborah says she tells the other toddlers-"Stay away from her, stay away from her..." She says our princess is getting much better, but does cry more than anyone else in the room. Boy, do we believe that!! Raygan-Elise tends to get upset and cry over everything! Deborah says that RE tends to like everyone else to help her or do it for her. She won't walk down hall unless someone is holding her hand, and she won't get herself out of her snack chair. She has also learned how to throw a great fit! She falls to her bottom, then flings backwards and over, and kicks her very little feet! She still loves to eat! And has 4 top middle teeth, 4 bottom middle teeth and all 4 molars! New this month is her love of scribbling. She will pick up pens, pencils and crayons and loves to "write". They have been doing this at daycare, and I can tell! We took her, John Aedon, and one of Anna's friend & child to see Elmo. She watch a little, fussed a little, got mad a little, and smiled a little! But John Aedon loved it!

Reese: 2nd grade is going great! He was very excited to "test" into the Spotlight program (Desoto County Gifted program). His Spotlight teacher said he is one smart little boy, and he had a high IQ. We are very proud of him. He is definitely an interesting child! During my 1st wk back at school, Hammie called me to tell me Reese had a question. His ?- can I wash my clothes in your bathroom?...in your sink. I decided to say yes thinking it would keep him occupied. He was so excited to tell me it worked and now he wanted to wash all his clothes in my bathroom because, "Momma, there is more than one way to wash clothes." Last night he gave me a 2 min. lesson on how to use saxon phonics to code a sentence. Then, he said, "I wrote you a sentence and left it on couch. I'll check it tom and see if you get it right!" This morning he said that I didn't do good! Brian and I have also been enjoying his weekly "story with holes" where we try to figure out the situation. We haven't gotten one right yet. Football is going good and keeps us very busy with 3 practices a week or 2 practices and 1 game. I think sometimes we have 4 but I'm not sure. Brian takes him to almost all of them! Reese loves it and has played more than we originally were told he would. He is on the Cowboys, and so far we have 1 win and 1 lose. He has gotten into his AW phase. When I ask him to do something, he says AW!! We are quickly trying to correct this habit! He has lost 2 bottom middle teeth and has his first loose top tooth! Should come out in the next month.

Of course I think my children are adorable and great, but now other people are noticing too! :) A friend was at the doctor's office and flipping through a OB magazine when she recognized 2 kids in an ad for Olive Branch Old Towne. Those kids were Reese and Raygan-Elise with Santa in Old Towne last Christmas! And then, I took them to JCPenny's to finally have some brother/sister pics done and they love one of the pics and wanted to use it as sample. So of course, I signed the release. When we went back to pick up our pics a few days ago, their picture was out on the display table! How Awesome! I'm such a proud momma! I'll download these pics soon and will be sending them out this weekend!

Build-a-bear fun!

Make a Smilebox photobook

August 1st- Build a bear was running a great special in the month of August so we took Raygan-Elise to get her first build-a-bear and Reese to get possibly his last. I believe this was his fourth but I'd have to ask him to be sure. His first was when he was 2, and it was so he would throw away his bottle. We did his whole build-a-bear then told him out in the mall that if he wanted his (he picked a tabby cat) that he had to throw away his bottle. And right there he threw it in trash. Now of course when we got back to car he cried for it but we just kept giving him the cat.

Reese choose a blue piece bear which he dressed as a TN Titans Football player and named him- Tackle. Reese is loving football and has his first game tomorrow night. He was very excited about the whole process, but did get a little embarrassed during the whole "put your heart in the bear" part where you have to rub it and kiss it.

Raygan-Elise picked a tie-dyed bear. (Even though Mommy kept pushing for the soft adorable lamb...she wasn't having it!) Reese helped pick out Hello Kitty PJ's and slippers for her and we named her Princess Baby II! Most of the time Raygan-Elise really just wanted to play with the mini-versions of the animals, especially the tabby cat, which is the one Reese has in the big version. We kept showing her the big animals, and she kept going to the little ones. John Aedon came and visited a few weeks later, and we went with him to do his build-a-bear. She again Loved the little animals, so I gave in and was going to buy the little kitty until...She started loving on the new little bitty version of the lamb! I was so excited so we bought the mini-lamb. She is so cute carrying it around. Although her pink poodle we bought for $3 at a consignment sale(she would carry it everywhere. On the daycare cam, it is always with her!), then lost...then had to go buy a replacement is still her favorite!!

Louisville Day Trip

Pics-- Nothing's better than Mamaw hugs and kisses

July 18th--Visiting Louisville is always a fun time for the children. Reese feels right at home there and enjoys it so much. They enjoy eating at the Lake and visiting. This trip's big attraction was looking at Aunt Joan wonderful back yard. It is beautiful with many fruit trees. During our day trip, we went to eat at the lake for lunch (Reese loves the buffet) and we all agree Raygan-Elise is not as good as Reese was at that age in a restaurant. We tried to feed the ducks but they must not have been hungry because they would not come by us but we did get to feed some fish. We bought Raygan-Elise an adorable pair of shoes(pink squeaky shoes with white polka dots). We went to visit Mamaw Myres (we had to take the squeakies out of Raygan-Elise's new shoes!), visited at Aunt Joan's, and had a delicious supper including fried pickles...yum, yum! We can't wait to go back to visit!

ZOO and Ducks

We enjoyed to new first with Raygan-Elise this summer.

July 6th--First, we took her on her first zoo trip. We went with the Long family! We met the Longs when we first moved here. Abby and Reese were the same age and both in my class for 2 years. Then, they were in K together and now 2nd. Gerry called and invited us to join her family and of course we did!! It was a fun trip. Raygan-Elise pointed all day long. Her little finger just pointed away. Pointing is her new trick of the month. (In fact, you can take her in the hall and give her two choices of places to go, and she will point to where she wants to go) She isn't saying anything and stuck to her paci, but she pointed! :) Reese's favorite spot was the bird exhibit which we almost didn't go into but was talked into by another friend we ran into- Michelle, Zoe's mom. Reese counted how many birds he caught the whole time. Raygan-Elise even love the birds, although she really wanted to touch one! We even walked to the farm so we could take a picture of Raygan-Elise in the egg! We have the same picture of Reese on his first zoo trip (with Stephen and Noelle). I need to find it and put them in a frame together! Although I think Raygan-Elise was much older on her first zoo trip. I'll have to look back and see.

July 13th--Next, Reese had his first football meeting at the city park and then we took both of them to feed the ducks. Reese enjoyed running around the whole lake at the city park (its pretty big) because just minutes earlier his football coach said they should practice running...so he did! Raygan-Elise was much more interested in feeding herself the bread. She was trying to pick it up until finally we just gave her some to eat. That was her favorite part! Next we walk to the playground area for a bit. Raygan-Elise enjoyed the swing, and Reese "enjoyed" being jealous of Raygan-Elise!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Sprinkler Park Fun- June 26, 2009

My goal is to catch up on blogging!!

We spent most of summer at the YMCA pool! Reese loves it and Raygan-Elise LOVES it. It is about the best way I could make her happy during the day. I also think that it really helped her learn how to walk due to the weightlessness of the water as she was moving if that makes sense. She also really enjoyed swimming. Dad says he's never seen anything like it. Her little legs just look exactly like a frog under water. You can put her in those $1 swim rings (not the ones for babies, just a plain old swim ring) and she will hold on over the top of the ring and swim around to you. Hilarious!! She also wasn't scared of going under. We played "jump" off the side everyday during adult swim. She is a water baby and now the only thing people comment on is her tan! She's got a good one!! Reese enjoyed swimming to the bottom of the pool this year and of course making friends with everyone. Each day he had a new friend. He isn't shy and will just walk up to the kids and ask them to play. He had a blast and he especially loved the snow-cone truck that is stationed there! Sour snow-cones were all the rage with him!

We made it to the sprinkler park once this summer. We went with John Aedon, Stacey, Vince, and Valerie. It was a fun afternoon. Raygan-Elise was unsure about things touching her feet as usual (the ground is rubber and peeling in certain areas and sticks to your feet). You can see her doing this in one of the above pictures. She hates for things to touch her feet and LOVES shoes!