Inspired

Clearly, despite my degree in English, I struggled with balancing the chores of a working mom and the task of recording the on-goings of our family. Since we've recently expanded our family, I thought that this might be an ideal time to find a little inspiration and bring everyone up to speed.

In the past year, Reagan has done AMAZING things by this parent's standards. She went from

small wobbly steps in December to running (sometimes in a 50-yard dash style across parking lots!!)

this past spring. She moved into the Toddler room at daycare and seems to be ruling the roost.

Lots of "leadership" with the other children, dancing and artwork is a typical day for Miss Reagan.

She's taken an active interest in picking out her own clothes (We hear, "Reagan do it" most of our

mornings) and has a keen interest in shoes. Thankfully, we've stayed one size behind Ashley Berry,

so we are the lucky recipients of adorable hand-me-downs that keep her stylin' every day of the

week. She still loves hotdogs and mac & cheese and has found a new love of ice cream. Last week

we tried chocolate milk, which was a big hit. Interests include football (which applies to all sports

events), the Gophers (which applies to all sports teams), riding bikes, wagon rides, stickers and trains.

Elmo has been bumped from his top dog spot, replaced by Cookie Monster.

February marked Reagan's 2nd birthday. We had family and friends out to our home in Deerfield

to celebrate at her Hungry Caterpillar party. We ate our way through the contents of the

Caterpillar's meals and finished off with cupcakes and cake from Sweet Mandy B's. To mark her

big girl status, we moved her into her big girl room and and big girl bed. She loves her room

and her newfound freedom to get out of bed whenever she wants. We started having to take

away her babies to encourage her to stay in bed. A few weeks into this, we went upstairs to

put her back in bed to see her door fly open and all of her babies fly out of her room, so she

could, in her words, "Take away so Reagan get out of bed". It's amazing how the mind of a two

year old works.

In March, we welcomed Jackson (Jack) Henry Chappell into the world and Reagan took her

place as big sister. Jack has proven to be an extremely easy, laid-back baby. We're still working

on correcting Day-Night confusion but other than that, we have been blessed with a good-natured

second child. He quickly overcame jaundice and eats like a line backer. At two weeks, he'd gained

over one pound, topping out at just over nine pounds. We're quickly approaching 6 month sized

clothes and retired the newborn clothes almost immediately.

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Last weekend the Berry Family came down for a visit. The kids enjoyed hours of playing together

and skipping naps. We had a great time catching up with Scott and Megan and began talking

about Adult Spring Break 2012. I think Jake is ready for Jack to get big so that he has someone

to play with too! Wings, crowns and high heels dominated the afternoon and everyone enjoyed

dancing with Mickey Mouse.