Staying Busy

We are keeping pretty busy here at the West house. Brody has 2 days of school this week before Thanksgiving Break. He is really enjoying school, and his teacher has nothing but good things to say about him. Yay! Raegan is becoming quite the sassy, independent little girl. She is learning lots from her older brother (yes, both good and bad).

Brody had a busy weekend. On Friday night, he went with his cousin Aerial to Chuck E Cheese. My brother and sister-in-law met us there and spent the night with both kids. We picked up Brody late that night. He wanted to spend the night, but his habit lately has been to wake up at 3am wanting to come home! So, we decided he isn't ready to try the spend-the-night thing for awhile. 3am wake up calls and driving in to Lexington is for the birds!

Saturday, Brody had a playdate with his little friend Asher. They met at swim lessons this summer, and then were in soccer together this fall. They get along really well, and this is our 2nd time getting them together to play. I'm glad he's making friends here and getting a social life.

Sunday, we took the kids to a garden club here in Paris for pictures. I dressed them in their Christmas clothes, and brought the camera. With Raegan, it's no telling what kind of pictures you will get. It's hard to take a picture of a constant moving target, and then get Brody in the same picture smiling and ready. But, I managed to get a couple of nice ones, after MANY not-so-nice ones!

We're looking forward to spending time with both of our families this Thanksgiving. We will be at my parents' house for dinner in the early day, and come back to Paris for the West's Thanksgiving dinner. Too much food will be eaten, I'm sure. I will have to run longer/harder this week. Although today, I'm not feeling so well. I really need to head to the Y to get my running in....I just don't feel up to it. My stomach is grumbling and groaning. I hope my kids don't get this yucky stomach bug.....

Happy Thanksgiving!

True Beauty

I just had to share this picture of my little girl. I think she is just so beautiful! Love you Angel Bug!!

Raegan's 15 month old stats:

24 pounds 60th percentile

31.75 inches 75th percentile

She's growing just perfectly!

Happy Halloween!

Jack-o-Lanterns!

We carved pumpkins with Brody last week. We chose to do it during Raegan's nap. Was that mean? She wouldn't get much out of it. She did get to pose for pictures when it was done!

Brody enjoyed it, but would not touch the pumpkin's insides or seeds! He was very grossed out by the whole thing, even cried when I asked him to touch it. I roasted the seeds in the oven, so yummy! They are really good, just melt butter and add worcheshire (don't know if I spelled that correctly) and salt. So good! I finished off the seeds that night, after Brody and Ryan had their fill of them.

All in all, a great time! We got some cute pictures, of course. It's now a week later, and I had to throw the pumpkins away already. They rotted out. I guess the warm weather wasn't ideal. We probably carved them a week too early. I bought a new pumpkin today and we'll give it another go so we can have a jack-o-lantern for Trick-or-Treat night!

The kids go trick-or-treating in Paris on Sunday, October 31st. Raegan will be a black kitty cat. I had her try on her costume last week to make sure it fit and everything was ok. She loved it! I was worried that the hat would bother her. But, she loved looking at herself in the mirror. She acted so proud! Brody is going to be Spiderman, of course! It will be a great night.

Happy Halloween!!

Peek A Boo!

This was taken before we put all the kitchen chairs in the closet until Raegan gets out of her climbing phase. Last week, Raegan was climbing on the chairs and was making her way up to the table. I didn't make it over to her fast enough, and she fell down and hit her head on the hardwood floors. She was crying and holding her breath. I picked her up and was blowing in her face and sprinkled water on her to get her to take a breath. She finally got one little gasp in before, to my HORROR, she passed out in my arms. She was out for about 5 seconds before she came to. I quickly called Ryan at the office, and he said to bring her there. So, I got the kids in the van and sped all the way to the office. Everything was fine, just a bump on her head. She was back to her normal self in an hour or so.

It was the scariest thing I have witnessed as a parent. I hope to never see it happen again. I really can't even describe what it felt like to hold my baby and watch her pass out in my arms. Ryan did this same thing when he was a little kid, so she must get it honestly. His mom said he outgrew the "holding breath and passing out"phase by the time he was about 3. I pray this phase ends soon. Now, when she gets mad or hurt and starts to cry, I can't help but to panic and scoop her up immediately and hope she doesn't hold her breath.

The joys of motherhood.......

Pumpkin Patch '10

Our family visited Bi-Water Farm yesterday to do the annual Pumpkin Patch activities. I was excited to take Raegan, since this year she would really enjoy it. Last year, she came along with us, but snoozed the whole time in the stroller. We had never been to Bi-Water (in Georgetown), but it was pretty nice. The train and putt-putt were not operating, so we might have to make a return trip this weekend.....

We had a great time. Raegan enjoyed roaming around the farm and looking at all of the "balls" or pumpkins as we would all call them. She liked exchanging "baa" sounds with the goats, which was pretty funny. Brody had a great time as well. He needed a fun day, and he really enjoyed himself. The slides and "scary" houses were his favorite. He really liked the hayride too. Raegan wasn't that thrilled with sitting still during the ride.

After our visit to the farm, we ate dinner at Fazoli's and headed home. It was a nice night out for our little family of 4! Here are some pictures, of course.

Park Day

We went to the park this week on a really nice day. The days of Raegan being content to sit in the stroller and watch Brody play are GONE! She wants out and wants to run and climb and play. Today was her first real time to play on the park equipment. She loved it! Brody had to go to the bathroom, so we had to all walk over to the porta-potties (lovely), and she threw a big fit because she was not ready to leave. My baby girl is gone, and I now have a toddler. It makes me so sad to think her baby days are in the past. But, she is such a smart, strong-willed, (why are my kids so strong-willed and stubborn?? blame Daddy) pretty little girl. We are so happy she is who she is. Here are some pictures of our day. I had to use my phone, I forgot to take my camera. So the pictures aren't the greatest quality.

The above picture is something Raegan will do a few times a day. It looks like a yoga move! She bends over and looks behind her in between her legs. She just starts laughing while she does it. I finally got it on camera! Silly little girl!!

Here is a video of the kids walking together: