We're back! And Reagan is almost 9 months!!!!

After several months, we're back! It's been a busy fall, traveling back to MN for Gopher football at "The Vault" (aka TCF Stadium), fall visitors and a long weekend in Cancun. Reagan is growing by leaps and bounds and is now topping out at almost 20 lbs. She is eating lots of different foods and we are anticipating adding finger foods to her diet. She is standing and pulling herself up and is busy cruising around all of the furniture. Much to the dismay of Sammie, Reagan is a speed demon in crawling mode. Sammie's favorite time of day is when Reagan goes to bed...just like the old days...

In October, Robin, mom and I took a long weekend trip to Cancun to relax in the sun, drink fruity cocktail drinks and enjoyed some relaxing, RESTFUL night's sleep. The weather was great, the food plentiful and the drinks perfect. While Reagan was missed, I believe the phrase is "Absence makes the heart grow fonder"...

During one of our trips to MN, Reagan went to the Minnesota Zoo with Nani and Aunt Robin. Though the animals were some what interesting to her, she did enjoy her time with Nani and Robin. The trip tuckered her out though!

Finally, Reagan enjoyed her first Halloween, dressing as a Sock Monkey. We breathed a sigh of relief when we put her into her costume, as we were a little fearful that she might not fit into it at the rate that she was growing. Though a little wary at first, she soon found it easy to cruise around waving her tail around.

6 month birthday & first Door County trip

The past few weeks have been very busy for our little Reagan Roo. Two weeks ago we headed up to Door County for our annual Chappell-Samuels family vacation. This year, in addition to both sets of Grandparents and the aunts, Great Grandma Phyllis and Kate's boyfriend, Eric rounded out the crew. We headed up a day early so that we could stay at a hotel with a swimming pool and took Reagan swimming for the first time. Though a little apprehensive at first, she decided that it was a great time (just as long as mommy or daddy was there to cling to). It's amazing to see her learning cause and effect first hand, as she splashes in the water and then giggles in delight.

This year we stayed in Fish Creek at the Whistling Swan Hotel. It is a darling little bed and breakfast that has truly amazing food. We'd highly recommend it to anyone...who doesn't have a 6 month old child. I believe that the word that describes their action as we hauled in our own refrigerator is "cringe". We've already started scouting out houses to rent next year and continue to dream about purchasing a vacation home up there. Perhaps by the time we get to retirement! Reagan loved Door County but had a hard time getting her necessary naps in, as she was continually worried that she was missing something great. That lead to one very tired baby, who seems to fall asleep whenever she was still as seen by the evidence below...

The following week, Reagan went to her first week of daycare. So far she is the only infant in the room and eating up the one on one attention. I hope she does well when she has to start sharing attention. I guess it is a good trial run to see if another sibling (aka competition) will take! :) She has been swimming in the little pool, reads lots of books and played with playdough today.

This past weekend, we traveled up to Franklin, WI for a family picnic with Steve's extended family. Steve's cousin Mark and his family were back from school year in Australia and his other cousin Brian was off to an Engineering conference in Barcelona. We got to visit with all of the family and introduce Reagan to everyone. Again, little miss Reagan decided she was so over naps until we hit the car for the ride home.

Sunday we headed downtown to the Loop to meet an old co-worker of Steve's at Gage for brunch. We had a simply delicious meal and enjoyed catching up with Laura. Afterwards, we strolled down by the lake and played in the water feature at Grant Park. Reagan cooled her feet in the water with mommy.

Here are a couple more pictures from our Door County trip:

Aunt Robin and a happy Reagan

Reagan and Nani (making her walk)

Reagan and her Nani

One of Reagan's favorite activities...flying

Reagan's first airplane ride

We've just arrived back from a whirlwind trip to Minnesota for the baptism of Reagan's godparents' second child, Jacob and a psuedo-surprise 30th birthday party for Chris Chapp.  The trip was Reagan's first plane ride and she was a champ on the plane.  The flight there was the most turbulent flight either Steve or myself had ever flown but Reagan didn't even bat an eye, as she slept through take-off and most of the flight.  She showed her true colors when she awoke though, as she would chatter and wave her arms and then look at the poor man sitting beside me trying to work, to see if he was looking at her.  When he continued to work and not look at her, she would raise the volume of her chatter and look at him again.  By the end of the flight she was not only shouting at him but also reaching out and touching his arm to get his attention.  

MSP was a nightmare coming home this morning though, with thousands of children sprawled all over the ticketing/check in areas in town for an international youth soccer tournament.  We barely made it through security and were amongst the last people on the plane after waiting behind the 10 year old boys checking their 3 foot tall Sponge Bob Square Pants toy.  After the crazy weekend of events, Reagan slept the whole flight and it now currently asleep in her very own crib.  

Super Nanny

We're a week and a half into Robin's summer stint as Super Nanny! She's putting Reagan through the development ringer, with the newest activity called "side sitting". It looks kind of like she is leaning to one side and is apparently the precursor to crawling. Reagan is getting close to rolling over and is enjoying sitting time in her bumbo chair. She has the most infectious laugh and continues to beam from ear to ear. She loves to "fly over her Daddy's head" and still thinks Mommy and her ponytail are pretty hilarious.

Reagan sitting in her Bumbo...look at that smile!

We took her to her 4 month check up on Monday and she weighs in at 15 pounds (75th percentile) and 24.5" long. I believe that they also measured her head but I can't recall the details on that one! She made it through another round of immunizations, though she spit back most of the medicine that they tried to give orally. Though shots were definitely no fun, she was a trooper. The biggest news that we got at the check up was the green light for solid food. I had to giggle to myself when the Dr. mentioned that if Reagan didn't take to the rice cereal that we could try a different kind. In my head I was thinking, "Not take to rice? Not a problem, it's in her genetic make up to love the rice!". Tomorrow is the big day, as Steve was traveling all week in Louisville.

Reagan flying with Daddy

New Digs...and new creatures...

We're settling into our new home and have officially moved the last box from the Condo in Logan Square to the 'Burbs in Deerfield.  My dad spent a  good portion of a week working out in the yard (ask him about his 'Day Laborer' tee shirt) providing some TLC to our much neglected yard and meeting all of the neighbors.  I think when he comes back in a couple of weeks I'll have him introduce us!  

We're slowly getting the rooms in a livable state, in order of importance...Reagan's room and our room were first, followed by the kitchen and bathrooms.  All of the other ones will have to wait. We received an ENORMOUS family sofa from Crate and Barrel and are enjoying watching TV from it. Much to Steve's delight, the extra large sofa dwarfs the current TV so next on our shopping list is a TV to rival the seating.  

We've had some visitors for Cubs games; Lynch flew out for the Cubs v. Dodgers and Micah, Jason and Ken came out for a rooftop Twins v. Cubs.  

Reagan is getting to be SUCH a big girl!  She's cracking up all of the time and she thinks her mommy is SO funny.  Robin is one day into the summer nanny job and is already working her hard--sitting in her bumbo chair, playing in the exer-saucer and rolling over many times.  I think she's done with her growth spurt and trying to hold her bottle all by herself.  With the amount of drool coming out of her and the way she enthusiastically attacks the teethers, it seems imminent that teeth are in our near future.    She's turned out to be quite the chatterbox, yakking it up with anyone and everyone who will listen, including her Gophers hanging above her crib.  She taken to yelling when she's finished eating.

Minnesota visit (belated!) and a new home for Reagan

After a short hiatus from blogging due to an unfortunate lapse in memory (a.k.a. leaving our computer at my parents' house in Apple Valley), we're back!

We made a week long visit to Minnesota to accomplish many things:

1. Instill in Reagan a love for all things Minnesotan; between the mobile and the trip, I think it's working (here she is staring at her Gopher mobile)
   
   
2. Celebrate Steve's birthday with about 75 of his closest friends
3. Introduce Reagan to all of the other Alpha Chi Legacies (pictured below; Me & Reagan, Steph & her Reagan, Heather & Lizzie and Emily & Tyler)
4. Let Reagan meet her Godparents, Megan and Scott Berry
5. Spend some QT with my Goddaughter, Ashley Berry (Ashley Berry hamming it up for the camera)
6. Have Reagan baptized at the church we were married in

Thank you to all of the people who stopped by Steve's birthday party to visit and meet our little one!  We had an awesome time and miss you all very much!

It seems like ages ago, so I'll just post some pictures and move onto the MOVE...

On Wednesday we packed the entire contents of our condo in the city and made the big move to the 'Burbs to our new home in Deerfield.  We filled a moving truck to capacity (they literally had to leave the back doors ajar and tape our stuff in to make it fit!) and headed out the house.  With the new place just minutes from my office, I am thoroughly looking forward to gaining nearly 3 hours of my life back each day due to a MUCH shorter commute!  

Steve's parents were amazing and made several 1.5 hour+ trips to Deerfield to pick up and/or watch Reagan while we worked on getting our home in a livable state.  Reagan's room was first, followed by our room.  Everything else will have to happen later!  My dad also came out to add some much needed TLC to our yard, as it was in definite need of help after many months of neglect.  Already it looks like a completely different yard.  The neighborhood is extremely friendly and everyone has stopped by to welcome up and wish us luck.

We'll post pictures, as soon as we can locate a camera!

Aunt Robin comes for spring break

For Robin's spring break, she decided to forgo the bikini and tequila poppers and come to Chicago to visit her favorite niece (ok, her only niece).  It's been so nice having a trained professional here to show us all sorts of new games to play with Reagan, as she was getting tired playing "Who is that baby in the mirror".  Robin is thoroughly working Reagan through tummy time and got all of the new toys out to show her.  In addition, Robin helped Reagan discover her feet, which was quite exciting!  Our favorite game so far has been putting the little stacking plush flowers on her wrists, Edward Forty-Hands style (and by our, I mean Robin and I, getting a good laugh at it!).

This week Reagan has also become quite the little talker, trading her little baby grunts for coos and gurgles.  She now spends most of her awake time vocalizing how exciting her world is through her new sounds.

It's been a busy week--since Robin is here, we've ventured out quite a bit more than usual. We've been quite amused watching people trying to determine which one of us is the mommy as we push Reagan around.  Today the weather turned warmer and mild so we walked around Old Orchard Mall, an outdoor mall near us and Reagan was the best little shopper.  I think she must take after her mommy!