John carved a pumpkin last night, and we got some pretty cute pictures of Reagan during that experience:
( Happy Halloween! )

I bought some Reeses Peanut Butter Cups to hand out, but they're all mine now because we didn't have any takers (yay for me!). I didn't even make Reagan a costume, but it worked out because John had to work late last night and her whole routine for the day was messed up so I wouldn't have wanted to take her anywhere, anyway.
It was a pretty uneventful Halloween, basically. We just stayed in (except for poor John, who had work to do).

OH and I forgot to make the "announcement post", but everyone reading this probably already knows anyway: we're having a girl!

Click to zoom:


I don't remember if I posted my last semi-decent belly pic. Here's me at 18ish weeks (last week):


My new due date is March 19 (it was originally March 28th). Her name is still pending. John and I can't seem to come to an agreement - he wants the more traditional names, and I lean more towards the unconventional (but not too crazy) ones. We'll figure something out soon, hopefully!

Reagan has been having more tantrums lately, but it seems to be a kind of growth spurt. She slept until noon yesterday, I had to actually go wake her up. Crazy! She went to bed at her regular time, too. She did fuss some at 7 AM, but she usually does just for a minute or two and then goes back to sleep until 8 or 8:30, so I left her. I woke up at 10 (also crazy), showered, and still not a peep. I decided to leave her in there because I had a lot of work to catch up on due to sleeping in so late. I finally went to get her at 12, because she was making me nervous!
It's like she just doesn't know how to communicate and it is frustrating her. She has these times where she will just throw herself down on the floor and cry and cry, and I ignore it for awhile until it kind of dies down, if she's upset about something I'm doing or not doing right by her. Then I pick her up and let her just wail into my shoulder. I don't know if that's the "right" thing to do, but it's pretty cute. She'll just grip my neck and and cry her eyes out, then kind of stand up like "Ok, I just needed to get that out." haha.

She's 18 months old today. I'm too lazy to do a full "aw look how she's grown" post, so I hope this will do. A year and a half old already!

This time last year:


I guess that's all for now!
♥

REAGAN IS DRINKING OUT OF A SIPPY CUP!

THIS IS FREAKING AWESOME.

I mean really drinking, not a few sucks and then pushing it away, or biting, or anything. She has had almost half a cup of apple juice (very much diluted with water), throughout the day.

This is SUCH a relief to me. Now I don't have to stress about her not getting enough fluids while I work, or having to solely rely on me for that, period. I don't want to wean her yet, but it's nice having an alternative to me (it will mostly be helpful when we introduce cow's milk in a month or so). I'm not going to be giving her tons of juice though, of course.

Anyway. I'm really excited. Also, John and I worked together and cleaned up alot in this condo. What a relief.

I have some hilarious pics of Reagan trying to drink out of the sippy while laying sideways on the floor (like she does with me, nursing). Funny stuff.

( Click here for Easter pics...nothing fancy, but loaded with cute )

Happy Easter, everyone!

We're not big on celebrating Valentine's Day. It's not that we're rebelling against the "big corporations", or whatever. We're just lazy, really. Plus, I know it's cliche, but we don't really need a day like this to express our feelings for each other. We usually do most of that kind of thing on birthdays, anniversaries, things like that.

STILL, I don't like to just ignore it. I did pick up a cute little thing for him (we agreed that if we could afford it, we would buy the stuffed animal that no one else would want, for each other. haha!), plus the original movie "Alfie", and some blueberry poptarts (his favorite).

( A picture timeline... )

I love his smile, I love his laugh. I love the way he baby talks me, the way he loves to cuddle with me in bed. I love the way he enjoys spending time with me, and how excited and childish he gets when playing with Reagan. I love how he talks about her with such pride, and how happy he is to spend time with her. I love him for his thoughtfulness, his ambition, his love for me, his love for his family. I appreciate him for everything he does for us, for working hard to provide a nice life for us, and to go even beyond that and work to provide a stable and secure lifestyle for our children and grandchildren.
I love how sentimental he is about everything, how he saves basically anything that can be considered sentimental (by his standards).
I could go on and on. I love the way he "stepped up to the plate" when we found out I was pregnant, how he took the reins and we became a real family. I love how he transitioned into the husband and father role, and though it was hard for him (just as it was/is for me to transition to wife/mother), how he really put alot of effort into it.
I LOVE HIM. I want to be with him for the rest of my life. I want to grow old and gray, and cuddle with him on an old porch swing when we're old and crusty. I want to watch our children and grandchildren grow up, with him. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with this man.

♥ ♥ ♥