Baby Face….You’ve got the sweetest little baby face!

Reagan Mark is almost 4 months old (on Wednesday)! He now weighs 14 pounds and is every bit as much of an action man as Kolbe was at this age. He loves to stand at all times and is starting to make good eye contact and take notice of everything around him. He loves to smile and “talk” with his cute little “goo goo” noises. He’s making every effort to roll over and has made it from stomach to back several times.

Because of his cheesy mama, he’s managed to pick up a sweet little nickname…Rudy. After he was born I’d call him Little Reagaroo, or Reagaroody, or Reagarooni and it’s just gradually made is way to Rudy. Somehow, in his cutest moments, it just seems to fit him! He is such a cuddle bug and SO laid back! I’m really not kidding when I say that he usually only cries when he needs to nurse or is ready to fall asleep. Even then, it’s more of a distressed “Uh, uh, uh” instead of a cry! Mark and I were talking about how with Kolbe’s babyhood, we’ve always had very specific things to pray for…that he could eat more than 2 ounces, that his next surgery would go well, that he’d gain weight, that he could figure out how to suck, etc… with Reagan, it’s so nice to be able to just pray that he continues to be healthy and continues to grow in God’s image!

Jumpin' Jungle!

There’s a really cool place here in Lubbock called Jumpin’ Jungle that my cousin, Mandi introduced me to. Jumpin’ Jungle is a huge gymnasium that is completely filled with giant inflatables for kids to jump on! On Wednesday mornings from 10-12, the entire gym is reserved for kiddos under the age of 6. Since Mandi is nearing the end of her pregnancy and is unable to climb some of the bigger jumpers, we decided to wait until Mark was able to come with us to take Kolbe and Shelby for some fun (parent supervision definitely required!). The first time Kolbe went he was a little bit apprehensive of the “jumping sensation,” but this time, he was all over it! Both of the kiddos had a blast! And Mark and I definitely went home exhausted and sore as well! We can’t wait to go back next week with Pinkie! (or maybe it’s just me that can’t wait to see my mom trying to climb up all the jumpers with Kolbe!)

Oh Yeah! The birds!

I totally forgot to include some pictures of the birds! Kolbe was totally fascinated with them. Of course, while you're down on the beach, they hoard around you hoping you'll have some scrap of food for them. But the coolest part was seeing the birds from our balcony. We were on the 10th floor and they'd come right up to our balcony and eat scraps of bread we would toss to them. Kolbe LOVED it! See pic and video below!

Awesome pic taken from Mark's new iPhone!

Beach Babies!

Well, it has definitely been a long time since I did a blog post, but I swear I have a good excuse! We decided to switch to a different internet provider and had to turn our existing service off before they couldn’t even schedule the install of the new service. Sure enough, they weren’t able to come out and install it for two weeks so we’ve been without internet for a while.

Having no internet hasn’t been too bad, because we have certainly been very busy! We took an AWESOME vacation to South Padre Island with my parents near the end of May. After hearing several people say that all Texas beaches are horrible, we were pleasantly surprised at how wonderful South Padre was! Being completely honest, the waves there were far better than the ones we were used to in Pensacola, where we have been many times before. I was a little bit worried about how travelling and vacationing would be with the two babies but it ended up being the best case scenario! No big problems! We were fortunate to have Andy and Abby flying with us both down to Padre as well as back to Lubbock so we had several extra hands on board.

Kolbe LOVED the beach! The first day he was a little bit cautious about walking in the stand and getting in the water, but he quickly warmed up to it. The only thing he has yet to figure out it the whole concept of closing his eyes and mouth when the waves come! A few good salt water waves did him in, but he was quick to get right back out there. He really loved the pool at the condo as well. Unfortunately, the water in the pool was FREEZING (though he seemed not to care) so he didn’t get to do as much pool swimming as he would have liked to because no one was willing to spend too much time in there with him!

Other than enjoying lots of time on the beach, we got to try out several fun restaurants including one called the Big Donkey. Hmm. One morning we all got to go parasailing as well. It was a blast! The view of the ocean was just beautiful! We also had fun hanging out at the condo eating, watching movies, playing board games and just spending lots of time together. Of course it wouldn’t have been a Hefferly Family vacation without some sort of visit to a historical location so we stopped at a Mexican/American battle site as well. Lovely. Really.

We had SO much fun on our vacation and are so thankful to Pinkie and Pa for such a wonderful trip! Enjoy the pics below!

Reagan's first dip in the ocean!

Day one- the kiddos checking out the ocean with Aunt Abby

Sweet Speedo (swim diaper)

Now that guy is ready for some serious beach action!

Poor Reagan...he looks like he's not too happy about this whole situation.

The three-months-post-baby part of me is glad this pic turned out kind of dark!

Reagan kicked back, relaxed, putting his toes in the sand...life's hard, little guy!

Yeah! We love the pool!

The boat was Kolbe's favorite!

Uncle Dave making a sand Kolbe!

Sand toys, sand toys, sand toys!

Senor Pa!

Kolbe on the "Big Donkey" in the lobby of The Big Donkey

Pa and Kolbs on a sunset walk

A rare moment alone...

on our way to parasailing!

Mark was a lot more excited than I was because I had been before...he loved it! It was so much fun to go together too!

Yep, that's us!

The girls in our matching jammie pants!

While we were there, we got to celebrate Reagan's 100 days! As a tradition, my mom presented him with his Happy 100 Days card...adorned with 100 stickers or words to celebrate his life. What a fantastic 100 days!

We ate a WONDERFUL dinner at a way too expensive seafood restaurant called Amberjacks.

I love my mom!

That's the look of a kid who has had some serious fun!

Now that's what I call a sunrise!

Kolbe loves Reagan, Reagan loves Mr. Fishy

Baby Reagan is growing more and more every day. We had him weighed last week when he turned 12 weeks old (a few days shy of being 3 months), and he weighed exactly 12 pounds! When we left the hospital, he weighed 5 pounds and 4 ounces so he's definitely more than doubled that. Reagan is a joy to have in our house! He is SUCH a good baby! ... very laid back, very cuddly, very happy! (which makes for a happy Mama!)

Kolbe continues to fall more and more in love with his little brother too. He is very protective of him! When Reagan cries, he makes every effort to comfort him...even if the "efforts" result in more crying! He likes to show him toys and read him books and really only gets a little jealous when Reagan is nursing because that's when he's not allowed to touch Reagan and Mama can't play either. Reagan is starting to respond more to Kolbe now too. I know it won't be long before they're rolling around on the floor wrestling together and bringing all kinds of chaos to our house!

I took these two little pictures of them the other day. Reagan loves to hang out in his swing while we're eating so he can be a part of the scene, and Kolbe always loves to go over and give him kisses and hugs. He adores Reagan! While Reagan loves to get kisses from his big brother, he loves to look most affectionately at Mr. Fishy, one of the little fishes that floats around on the mobile. At 13 weeks old, he's starting to become more and more observant of the world around him. We love watching these boys grow!

Kolbe's First Picasso

It's amazing how much fun a $3.99 box of finger paints can be! A few days ago, we picked up a box at Hobby Lobby and this afternoon, Kolbe got his first chance to try them out. He LOVED it! I'm sure to him they were way better than boring old crayons! Heck, anything where it's actually ok to make a mess is a dream come true for Kolbe! His finger paints will definitely provide for lots of fun in the hot summer afternoons to come!

Checking out each of the colors...in his "smock" aka: one of Uncle Dave's old shirts

Thank God for paper towels, vinyl table cloths, soap, ........

The first of many beauties to adorn our fridge!

Adventures in the Big Boy Bed

Little Kolbe is growing up right before our eyes! A few weeks ago, after several weeks of Kolbe waking up MULTIPLE times throughout the night, we decided to remove the front gate from Kolbe's crib. Since day one, Kolbe has been majorly against any kind of confinement. The older he got, the more he hated the idea of being stuck in his crib. Since his speech is still a little lacking and he can't really communicate with us that well, his speech therapist suggested that we give a big boy bed a trial run even though he's only 17 months old. Typically I don't think I would have tried this on my own this early, but she said that since his motor development is so far advanced for most kids his age, there wasn't really any reason to worry about him getting hurt. Of course, being the worried mom that I am, I had pillows covering every possible thing he might hurt himself on and woke up like 10 times that night to check on him!

To make a long story short, moving to the big boy bed has made ALL the difference in the world! Kolbe is so excited to get in his bed every night and proudly shows it off to any guests who come to visit. And best of all, he has slept through the night every night since we started! (minus a few screaming tirades in his sleep due to a really ugly molar that's been coming in...) AND he manages to stay in the bed! (or at least mainly in the bed...see picture below!) Honestly, when we go check on him, he's always sleeping soundly! Below are the before and after pictures from the first night: