Even though it's not really home, it could be our home away from home. Since Sarah and I are celebrating our 2 year anniversary this weekend, we decided to head up to Chicago on Friday night. Mimi and Grandpa watched Reagan on Friday night and Grandma Candy and Poppa Bob had her on Saturday.
Friday night we had a great dinner at Ruth's Chris with Andy and Bridget and enjoyed a couple of drinks after dinner as well. We called it a night pretty early and got on the road mid day Saturday for a relaxing day at home After a quick trip to visit Grandma Candy to get our Reagan fix, we headed home to catch up on some movies and spend some good time together.
Sunday we headed to Great Uncle Ken and Great Aunt Vickie's house to celebrate lots of Birthdays - Great Grandma, Mimi, Mikayla, Jeff, Jenny and Kent(it was a big cake). Now, we are settling in for a nice night at home and hopfully watching the Bears win!
Our reflection in the Bean:
Before dinner with 106 ounces of beer at our table:
We're trying to post a little earlier today since tonight is the season opener for the Chicago Bears and they are playing Green Bay. Football rules are in effect, so we don't answer the phone or the door while the game is on and discussions around non football topics are limited to commercial breaks only. I know it sounds crazy, but Sarah gets kinda crazy during football season. In all seriousness, we are very loyal to the Bears but understand that life goes on (but we are kind of happy the Packer game starts after Reagan is in bed).
This week was very exciting for us, Reagan continues to walk around the house and has started using more words. The oven, stove and coffee are "HOT", flowers and breakable items are "PRETTY" and anything that falls warrants an "UH OH"!
This week Mimi came home and watched Reagan for a couple days along with Great Mimi, Great Grandpa, Great Great Mimi and Great Aunt Carol. We also went to the Labor Day Parade on Monday with our friends Joe and Lindsey and their daughter and then visited their house on Friday for a fantastic dinner. It is so cute to watch the girls play together and share their love of Mickey Mouse.
A little before nap time:
With her friend Audrey at the Labor Day Parade
The were passing out Favor Ice to the kids, so I decided to make them look like Light Sabres. The key here is I use my nerd powers for good and not evil.
This week sure did fly by. We finally moved back into our home on Tuesday evening after having our floors finished (see previous post). We were so happy to get home, especially since Reagan started having problems sleeping at night. Our poor little girl is growing so much and is developing so many skills, that she doesn't want to sleep. She gets too excited about all the fun things that life now has to offer her; laughing with mommy and daddy, trying to climb stairs, blowing kisses and the best yet....walking! We promise, she actually is walking, although catching video of her doing so is like trying to get proof of Big Foot. In fact, we have pictures of Big Foot below. Just joking. But I bet you looked.
Our weekend has been packed full of fun stuff. Jeff spent Saturday golfing with Bob and our friend Joe, while Reagan and I hung out with my mom. Today we had lunch at "the club" with Joe, Lindsey and Audrey. Audrey is Reagan's new BFF, she just doesn't know it yet. It is really cute to see the two of them together. We are meeting up with them again tomorrow morning for the Labor Day parade. I'm sure we'll get some great pics of them for our post next week!
We're ready to get back to our home. For those of you that didn't know, we have been spending this past week at the lake since our floors were getting re-done. We originally hadn't planned on having them re-stained, but the floors were worn down to the bare wood in parts so it became a necessity. After the stain and 2 coats of seal, we could not be happier. The floors are as smooth and shiny as brand new floors, with all of the character of 100 year old hardwood. We are very excited but have not been able to hook up the big computer yet so our blog is light on pictures this week.
Before:
After:
On Sunday, we had a family outing to the zoo for the first time. The first animals we visited were the goats - to which Reagan quickly made a "Baa, Baa" noise. We thought we mis-heard her but then she did it again. We were very impressed with our baby. The next animals we saw were chickens, to which Reagan said "Baa, Baa" - but she was right, there were more goats behind the chickens. So we moved on, rather impressed with our little Einstein. The next exhibit featured Sea Otters, to which Reagan vocalized "Baa, Baa" - she did this at every stop including the Leopards. We should have just called it a day after the goats and went home and enrolled her in Harvard. Her favorite was the Leopard, mostly because it was closest to the front of the cage and moving. It's hard to point out a giant turtle that doesn't move, to her it probably just looked like a rock (it actually looked like a rock to me too).
In other late breaking news, she now walks while holding one of our fingers and can manage a couple wobbly steps on her own before sitting down. A couple times I caught her grunting as she sat down, as if it were a huge task. I guess I am going to stop making noises like that when get up/down from the floor to play with her.
That's all for tonight, we should have some more pictures and videos later this week.
This week was much supposed to be quieter and more relaxed. We plan, God laughs. Our new fridge was finally delivered late in the day and it took quiet a bit to get the old one to the garage and to get the new one into the house. Everything was eventually connected and put back together by Friday night, just in time for Grandma Margie to arrive Saturday morning. We then had an appointment to get some new pictures for Reagan, but our generally smiley baby wanted nothing to do with the studio on Saturday. After 15 minutes of every stuffed animal failing to stop the tears, we headed home picture less.
Sunday was a little more normal, heading to the Great Grandparents house for a brunch to celebrate Grandma Candy's Birthday! Happy Birthday Grandma Candy!
Tonight, in addition to our Sunday night HBO shows, I will be removing all of the furniture from the living room, dining room and foyer since our hardwood floors are getting redone this week. That should make for some interesting photos.
So without professional pictures, we present the best we could muster in the backyard.
Sorry for the late Monday post, it has been one of those weeks following a vacation where we were just as busy as we were when we were out of state.
On Monday night, we celebrated Great Grandma's birthday at Grandma Candy and Poppa Bob's house. We had a great time, got some fun pictures but hated to leave early in order to get Reagan to bed. On Tuesday, Sarah and Reagan went for a walk and Grandpa Bruce surprised me by stopping by the house (we thought he was going to be out of the country!). He missed us so much that he made a quick trip home to spend some good family time with everyone, so we jumped into his truck and went to find them, really surprising them both while on their walk.
Reagan and Grandma Candy:
Reagan with Poppa Bob:
Sarah, Reagan and Great Grandpa:
Wednesday night, Reagan surprised Grandma Candy with her own new trick. Grandma was snapping her fingers to Reagan's delight, and without missing a beat, Reagan mimicked the motion with her hand and was 'clicking' with her mouth as if to say "I can do that too".
Thursday we had dinner with Grandpa at the Great Grandparents house where Reagan kept us all entertained by crawling, talking and almost walking. For the weekend's events, I attended an alumni sponsored cookout for the returning students at my Fraternity house, we went to a spectacular 1st birthday party for our friends Joe and Lindsey's daughter and then Sunday, our friends Tiffany and Justin had their son's 6th birthday. Reagan was a big fan of icing and especially Lindsey's layered jello salad.
More Goodies:
Cruising with the Pampers box:
Reagan and I at the Airport:
Reagan enjoying the pool:
One last update - we quickly decided that to match our new oven, we should get a new refrigerator. So now Sarah is excited for a new stainless steel fridge for the house, I am excited because I get a beer fridge and meat freezer for the garage - everyone wins!
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Who are we?
Sarah and Jeff
We were married September 29th, 2007. Two days before heading to Las Vegas for Sarah's birthday, we found out we were expecting a baby! On November 3rd 2008, we gave birth to a beautiful baby girl who has completed our lives and opened our hearts in ways we never knew were possible.
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