Hello 2013!

New Year's Eve this year was a very low-key night with our girls, which is just what we wanted.  Somewhere along the way- after buying a house, getting married, and having kids- we got old.  We loved the idea of avoiding the really crowded bars and restaurants, as well as driving, and instead opted for a fire-burning, Lego-building, card-playing, steak-and-shrimp-eating, wine-drinking night at home. If we're not invited to dance the night away at a New Year's Eve wedding (we have attended an awesome two!), then we'd prefer a night just like we had. 

Someone forgot to pick up the New Year's Eve crowns and horns- we improvised

The LEGO camper

Guess who had more fun building...

The "sleeping kids" portion of the night

Happy New Year's Day!

I LOVE to find her in her room reading books to her babies and animals

First time out in the snow this year!

 

Testing out the snowmobiles for the first time this Winter

Rylie's first ride!

Daddy asked her if she wanted one...she said yes.
Mommy says maybe when you're 16...

The Month of December

 

The month of December was a busy one for us.  My mom came to stay with us on Nov. 30th for the weekend.  We went to my company holiday part at the Milwaukee Public Museum that Friday night while my mom stayed with the girls.  The following day we did some Christmas shopping and put up our Christmas tree and on Sunday went to Sophie's 3rd birthday party.  We also celebrated Grr Mom's birthday with dinner at Palmer House.

Testing the outside lights

Hanging ornaments

Rylie's Little People Nativity matched up with Mommy's

 

Multi-tasking at dinner- the only kind he does

 

The girls awoke to all kinds of goodies from St. Nick on the morning of December 6th.  They both left their boots out the night before- Rylie chose her cowboy boots. Rylie was such a good big sister- she immediately showed Reagan what St. Nick had brought for her- a new rattle and a book. She was so excited for her. And then of course when she saw her candy canes, LEGO, and books of her own, she was equally excited. 

The following weekend, we went to the 3rd annual holiday party at Stonefire pizza for employees of United Heartland and their kids. We eat lots of pizza, Santa pays a visit, and then play games the rest of the night.  This year, Rylie was not crazy about Santa.  She talked about him all the time, but didn't want to see him.  She was also afraid of the Elf.  We didn't even have to do the Elf on the Shelf- we just had to threaten it when she wasn't behaving.  She did NOT want to see that Elf come.   And it's even funnier now that Christmas has passed.  When she knows she's not listening and we are scolding her, she asks "Does the Elf have to come?". 

Checking out Carter's gift

I'm not moving any closer!

Showing me Reagan's gift

We celebrated with the Wille side the Saturday before Christmas as it was our year to be in La Crosse on the actual holiday.  We spent the day playing with the kids, had a nice dinner and exchanged gifts with each other.  Everyone is way too generous!

 

 

We stayed over night and the next morning headed out to La Crosse.  We made our annual visit to Rose Jewelers on Christmas Eve day for some holiday "cheer" after they closed the store...and I made a little "wish list" for my hubby.  Rylie had a great time playing with Maxx.  He even gave her a diamond- one of those nice big display diamonds :-)  We drove through the Rotary Lights in Riverside park.  I believe they're up to over 2 million lights on display now.  And finally went home to have our traditional meal of prime rib and crab legs. 

 

Rylie woke the next morning to Santa having delivered all kinds of presents to Gamma and Papa's house.  We opened our stockings in the morning, went over to Grandma La Vonne's for brunch and a gift exchange with cousins and finally back to the house for presents where we were spoiled yet again.  I was off work until January 2, so we stayed in La Crosse for another day to spend time with mom and dad and let the girls play.  Unfortunately I had to do a bit of work, as did Dan, so it wasn't a complete break for us, but was still nice to be out of the office.

 

 

 

 

This year was tough for me. I felt very unprepared for Christmas and don't feel like I really had the chance to enjoy it.  I was so unbelievable busy at work (I'm still playing catch up) that I worked quite a few Saturday and late nights during the week too.  It was all I could do to get the girls fed, to bed, and slightly pick up my house before I crashed myself.  We did have the tree up and I was lucky to get my Nativity up a couple weeks before Christmas.  I got my village houses out, but that's as far as they made it.  I didn't get all of the gifts I had planned on either.  It was just an unorganized year for me- even though I started early!  But it was great being home with the girls and being off work for and extended period of time after all of the late days and Saturdays.

7 Months Old

My 7 month old babers is a moving one!  She was tracking fairly close to Rylie as far as hitting all of the first year "milestones".  She rolled both ways around the same time, started solids around the same time, and started to sit up as well around the same time.  She is now sitting up very well, but has completely robbed me of that cherished time where you can set your baby down with a toy, run to the kitchen to grab something, and she'll still be where you left her when you get back.  This is not the case!  Reagan is on the move already.   She gets on all fours and rocks back and forth.  She started doing this around the time that she started sitting up, only now spins in circles, pulls herself forward, and gets to exactly where she wants to go and grabs whatever it is she wants to reach.  We have had discussions over and over with Rylie about keeping little pieces away- especially her Legos.  Rylie gave me about 3 1/2 months of sitting before she crawled.  We've also moved into 2nd foods with Reagan.  I have a feeling she'll be on to real food and walking before she's one.  We shall see. She drools like crazy and gnaws on everything, but no signs of any toofers yet. 

Reagan still doesn't sleep great since we've created our little monster that wants to be with us.  She has been doing better the past couple of weeks as we aren't as sleep deprived from work and are consciously trying to keep her in her crib.  We even had another night that she slept all the way through, but of course her sister didn't.  If only they would coordinate their efforts in this area. But she is still one of the most laid back and happy babies.  As I have said before, she has a smile for just about anyone that will talk to her.  She is a sweet sweet baby. She loves her sister and still cracks up at Rylie.  And Rylie loves her too...she tells her all the time.  It's fun to watch her teaching her little "Reag-a-boo" things or showing her how something works.  Or if she catches her doing something she shouldn't she says "No, no, no Reagan, we don't do that!"  She reads books to her and sings to her too.

I'm not sure what she weighs at the moment, but she's my little chunker.  She's got rolls on her thighs and chubby little cheeks and I love it!  Here are her 7 month pictures: