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:

A Happy Trip to Houston

Last week, Kolbe, Reagan, my mom, and I all flew down to The Woodlands for a very special meeting. Kolbe is now almost a year and half old and he had yet to meet my grandmother (my Dad's mom)! All great-grandchildren need to meet their great grandma! Several weeks ago my parents and I began orchestrating this trip, and although it had a few hitches, it really was a wonderful experience. My mom flew up here to Lubbock so she could fly down and help me with the boys on the plane. (No, I was not brave enough to fly with a 17 month old and a 2 month old by myself...) Despite my mom getting to Lubbock on Monday instead of Sunday because of full flights and the four of us arriving in Houston on Tuesday night instead of Tuesday morning because of doctors appointments due to a bad lupus flare in my wrists, we all arrived happy and healthy around 10pm on Tuesday! Grandma and my Aunt Cathy had arrived Monday morning from Birmingham and were waiting for us. We had a wonderful visit with them! Grandma was smitten with the two boys and loved getting to cuddle Reagan. Kolbe, the wild man, offered up a few high fives and posed for some pictures but wasn't big on the cuddling...just the showing off!

Grandma and Kathy had to leave on Thursday morning, but Kolbe, Reagan and I stayed until Saturday morning for a few more days with Pinkie and Pa. Kolbe had a blast exploring some of the fun activities around The Woodlands. He especially loved the water spouts in the middle of Market Street. Overall, we had a FANTASTIC time and were so blessed to finally bring together the boys with their other great-grandma! She and my Aunt Kathy will be moving to Washington DC to live with my Aunt Debbie soon, so this trip couldn't have come at a better time! Now we're back home and recuperating and preparing for the big Hefferly family trip to the beach in just a few short weeks!

Four Generations! Grandma, Dad, me, and Kolbe and Reagan

Aunt Kathy and Reagan

"Pa" swinging Kolbe through the water spout as it shot up!

Kolbe was fascinated at how the water just shot up out of nowhere.

He proceeded to find an old water bottle and use it to try and catch water and then pour it on himself. Such a boy!

Happy Easter 2009!

Well, I certainly didn't get the pictures up the day after Easter or anything, but better late than never! We had a wonderful Easter this year with our two little boys! We went to Good Friday service on Friday night after Mark got home from Midland. That little adventure probably wasn't the best idea. The service started at 7:00 pm; Kolbe is used to going to bed around 8:00! So needless to say, he definitely wasn't on his best behavior. Good thing Reagan was the perfect little angel!

On Saturday, we had fun dying Easter eggs and making homemade macaroni and cheese. Kolbe loves to help cook! I let him help me once and now he wants to help EVERY time! Definitely makes cooking "interesting."

On Sunday, Kolbe decided to make things complicated by waking up at 5:45am. (His normal wake up time is around 8:00am.) Usually we can get him back to sleep, but not this time! He was wide awake and ready to party. By the time we went to 11:00am mass, Kolb was already getting tired. Luckily, that turned out to be a good thing. He mainly just wanted to sit with mom and dad and drink his milk. We didn't have to take him out of mass at all! (that rare for Kolbe...) However, the car ride home from mass was a nightmare! He was totally pooped, but the Easter celebration at Grandma's (Miss Lora) was due to begin at 1:00pm. We rushed over there anyway and Kolbe managed to find his second wind. He was so excited to see everyone, especially his cousins Caleb and Adan. He was a total trooper and didn't pout or fuss once! Of course, Little Reagan just slept, ate, and looked around throughout the entire thing. He's such a laid back baby! We got to partake in a wonderful feast of all kinds of different food and of course, had fun Easter baskets and eggs for the kiddos. Kolbe's basket even had a fun pair of Sponge Bob pajamas in it from Granny that he just LOVES! (Who wouldn't love a pair of neon yellow pajamas with a big face on the front!?!)

We had hoped to go over to Ben and Erin's for a second Easter celebration around 5:00pm, but around 4:15 when we were preparing to leave Miss Lora's, Kolbe finally crashed. Being awake for nearly 11 hours is a lot for a 17 month old! So unfortunately, we never made it over to Ben and Erin's and missed out on what I'm guessing was a ton of great food based on the goodies Dave brought home to me. (not to mention the good company too!) Of course, Kolbe woke up shortly there after and was a total grouch until I finally got him to go to bed for real around 9:45 pm. Oh, the joys of parenting! Still, we had a wonderful Easter and really loved getting to spend it with such a wonderful family. Plus, it's so exciting to see Kolbe growing up and starting to figure out what Easter is all about! And didn't they just look ADORABLE in their little outfits that Pinkie sent them!

Spring Break '09!

Tomorrow is officially the last day of our wonderful spring break 2009. No, we didn't travel to some exotic location, and we certainly didn't struggle through another surgery for Kolbe like last spring break. We simply spent it as our little family in our little house in little ol' Lubbock just enjoying the little things together. Mark was off from school for the week and spent the entire time with us! (Really! He didn't pick up a school book once, even though he might regret that come Monday!) Here's a few pictures of the excitement that occurred:

Mark's mom has just finished building a beautiful new house. We were able to go over a few times this week to "help out" (code phrase for probably being more of a hindrance than anything else...) This picture is of Mark and her in her gorgeous new kitchen! (Laura=jealous) Miss Lora is so deserving of this beautiful new home and we're so happy for her!

My new favorite picture!...Should probably be titled "Mama's Got Her Hands Full"...literally.

Looks like Grandma's are full too!

Over spring break, we had several "spring cleaning" goals, the biggest of which were to clean out our shed in the back yard, clean our our garage, and attempt to start getting our grass in kid-friendly order for the summer. Kolbe LOVED helping Mark out with all things outdoors. Daddy finally let him hold the hose on his own! Doesn't he look so excited!?!

Too bad no one told him that if he waters the same spot for a long period of time, it will create a big puddle...a puddle that will look so enticing to walk through...and even more enticing to sit in...but not nearly as enjoyable as it led on to be!!!

Such a classic shot! Love it!

Today we met up with Mandi and Shelby at the park to play on the playground and feed the ducks. I'm sure you can guess what Kolbe's favorite part was...the ducks, of course! He was totally fascinated!

Why just swing when you can swing and work on your cast as well???

Mr. Handsome climbing a tree. (He thought it was pretty cool until he got distracted by a ladybug...)

Mr. Reagaroo doing what the rest of world would love to do for all of spring break too!

Reagan's Baptism

Our sweet little one, Reagan Mark, was baptized last weekend on March 7th (his original due date!). We were blessed to have my brother, Mike, and sister-in-law, Casey, in town. They will serve as Reagan's godparents throughout his journey in life as a Christian and a Catholic. We were also happy to be joined by plenty of other family members to celebrate the sacrament with us.

Reagan was a champ! He was a little bit fussy, but surprisingly quieted down when Fr. Jim O'Connor poured the water over his head! He definitely filled out the baptismal outfit much better than Kolbe did. (He's up to 8 1/2 pounds now!) Before we left for the church, Mark got Kolbe dressed while I was nursing Reagan and happened upon a bag full of my brothers' clip on ties from when they were little. Even though it was way too big, he clipped one on Kolbe shirt and sent him out to me. When he came waltzing into the family room, I literally was brought to tears by how cute he looked! Part of me was laughing at the "adorable-ness" of his little outfit and the other part just couldn't believe my baby had grown up so much! He's turning into such a little boy!

After the baptism, we went to Popo's house for lunch and then later celebrated with Mark's parents by having a delicious steak dinner. It was certainly a wonderful and special day for our little guy! Praise God for the gift of baptism!

Reagan with his parents, godparents and big bro

Reagan Mark with his godparents, Mike and Casey Hefferly

Reagan's baptism by water!

Such a beautiful new Catholic!

Is he not the cutest big brother you've ever seen!?! (ok, maybe just the cutest little 15 month old period!)