I just decided to make a quick update post this morning to let you know what's going on with our little family. Shawn, the girls and I are great.
Keira has (finally, hopefully) kicked the ear infections that have plagued her since around October. She went to the pediatrician on Wednesday for her 2 year check up. She weighs 25lbs and is about 37" tall. She's still quite petite! She seems to really enjoy her days at "school". She's learning a lot and it constantly amazes me how much kids soak up at this age...like little sponges. She knows several songs (Baa-Baa Black Sheep is her favorite to sing), can say her ABC's, and can count to 20 in English and 10 in Spanish. She's also become somewhat of a little "boss". She frequently tells us to do something "right now" and sometimes puts us in time out because we're "naughty". She can be a bit challenging sometimes, but overall, I'm really enjoying this stage.
Reagan will be SIX MONTHS OLD in 12 days. How on Earth did that happen? It seems like yesterday I was sitting at the Perinatal Center at SJMMC, all hooked up to non-stress test machines and waiting on her to get here. Now, she's almost half a year old. She's developing such a fun personality. She's very smiley and rarely cries, except when she's hungry or sleepy. Honestly, she's been a dream baby so far. She's been spending some time on her tummy and is getting pretty strong. She's rolling over more and more now, and the other day, she even managed to scoot a few inches. It won't be long (I think) until she's crawling. I'm in NO hurry!
Shawn has been working pretty hard. Both offices keep him pretty busy, but I think he's enjoying it. We just bought a new computer, so that makes him pretty happy, too.
I'm pretty excited because the end of the school year is quickly approaching. Our last day is May 23 (early dismissal @ 11:15) and I can hardly wait! It's been a challenging year, and I'm looking forward to spending some quality time at home with my girls.

Easter

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We had a great Easter this year! We spent Saturday at Shawn's parents' house. The girls had fun visiting with everyone! It was fun to see all of the kiddos together. They're so close in age...Keira is 2, Tyler is 18 months, Aidan is 9 months and Reagan is 5 months (today). They were all so adorable with their Easter baskets from Nana and Papa.
On Sunday we went to church with Gramma and Pop. Keira got to play in the nursery with Sara during the service. They have so much fun together! After church, we went to my folks' house for lunch. Uncle Tim and Aunt Christina even came over and blew bubbles with Keira. I'm attaching a few pics...I LOVE frilly, girlie-girl dresses!

Oh, before I forget...you can check out my MySpace page @ www.myspace.com/dihafe

Enjoying Spring

Last Sunday was so nice! Shawn and I decided to take the girls to the park to enjoy the beautiful weather. Keira loved the slide and the swing. Reagan just hung out in the stroller. It won't be long before she's on the swings, too.

Just Because

My mom pointed out the other day that I hadn't updated my blog in awhile...so, I thought I'd make a quick post.
The girls are pretty good. Keira is recovering from yet another ear infection, but aside from that she's ok. She's getting better about going to the potty...so that's cool.
Reagan is growing like a weed! She's rolled over a few times, and we've been feeding her rice cereal in the evenings. I can't believe my baby is almost 5 months old!
Anyway, here are some recent pictures...Enjoy!

Milestones

Life is changing fast for our little family! Reagan is four months old today and tomorrow Keira turns two. Someone please tell me where the time goes.

Reagan is growing so quickly. She's been trying to roll over and sit up by herself. She can lift herself about an inch or so off of the mattress if she's lying flat. If she's propped on a pillow and I give her my fingers to hold onto, she can pull herself into a complete upright position. She's also been sleeping through the night. While I am very proud of her accomplishments, it's also somewhat bittersweet. She's (most likely) our last baby and I'm not in so much of a hurry for her to grow so quickly!

Keira amazes me everyday. I'm probably very biased, but she seems so smart to me. She can sing her ABCs, count to 20 (with the exception of the number 14), sing several other songs and carry on a conversation with me in which I actually (almost) always know what she's talking about. The most recent development is that we're working on potty training. She's been going on the potty pretty frequently lately. Just today she started telling us when she needs to go potty...however we don't always make it in time. At any rate, it's a start!

Well, I guess I've bragged enough about my gifted girls (who in reality are actually probably pretty average). Thanks for reading and I'll catch you later!

Reagan's 3 month photos

I took Reagan in to have her 3 month pictures made yesterday afternoon. I had to wake her up when it was our turn, and she was NOT very happy with me! We did manage to get a few good shots, though. I hope you enjoy them!

To redeem myself for the bed-head pictures, I decided to post some cute pictures of the girls that I took the other day. Reagan has become very smiley lately! I put Keira's hair up in pigtails, much to her dislike. She was trying to slap my hand away the entire time and saying, "NO MOMMY! I don't like that!" I did it anyway. What a mean mommy!

Keira's Bed Head Pictures

Ok, here are the much-requested pictures of Keira's bedhead. Enjoy! (Someday she's going to hate me for sharing these...)

LLama song

This is quite possibly the strangest thing I've seen or heard in awhile. If you can't click on the link, I recommend copying and pasting it into your address bar. You won't be sorry!

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/llama.php


Enjoy!

New Photos!

Here are a few pictures I've taken recently. My babies are getting so big! I especially love the ones of Reagan smiling and Keira in her purple dress, tights and leopard print shoes (thanks Aunt Holly). Enjoy!

Nearing the end...

After eight weeks at home with my beautiful baby girls, my maternity leave is coming to an end. I'll be returning to work on Monday. I have such mixed emotions. We've settled into our own routine and I enjoy my days so much. It's great being the one to feed them their meals, put them down for naps and play with them during the day. However, sometimes I find my patience wearing thin and I want a bit of "me time" (of course, then I feel terribly guilty...). Being away from my girls during the day will make me appreciate them and the time that I get to spend with them. Also, I "know" the daycare center and feel comfortable that both girls will be getting excellent care.

Then there's the "work" part of going back to work. I've missed my fourth grade team of teachers and most of my other co-workers. I'm even sort of ready to see my students and to teach again. (I'm going in for a couple of hours tomorrow to get my lesson plans ready for next week.) But, I'm not looking forward to all of the extra stuff that comes with my job...particularly the HP Grant project. We're behind schedule on our mandatory work and it's been stressing me out! Hopefully once I get back to school we can pull together and get ourselves back on track. I really have so many more important things going on in my life...I don't need to worry myself sick over this project....especially with the new "flexible grouping" in math that is starting next week and standardized testing coming up soon. *SIGH*

Only 12 weeks until Spring Break! ;o)

Another Merry Christmas

I hope everyone had a merry Christmas this year. Our little family enjoyed a great Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve morning with Shawn's family at Holly and Jeff's house. Then we spent the evening at my mom and dad's house. We woke up Christmas morning and let Keira open up her gifts from Santa. She wasn't terribly interested in many of her gifts this year...she's still a bit young to understand much about Christmas. We spent the rest of the day in our pajamas, putting together toys, watching movies and just hanging out. It was pretty relaxing.

Our families were really generous with gift-giving this year. Both girls got so many nice things! I had to pack up many of their old toys to make room for the new stuff.

I cannot believe that another year is almost over. So many things happened in our lives in 2006, both sad and happy...we lost my grandma, we lost Shawn's grandpa, we gained a new nephew (Aidan) and we had another beautiful baby girl. Life is so full of ups and downs and, I'm looking forward to seeing what 2007 brings.

Ice Storm Photos

Here are some pictures of the trees that *used to be* behind our house. Shawn and his dad had to cut several of them down because they were so damaged by the ice that we had a week and a half ago. The trees looked so pretty when the sun shone on them. The pictures really don't do it justice.

Pictures of My Girls

Here are some photos that we've taken of Keira and Reagan. Hope you enjoy them!

Seventeen days later...

I took Reagan to the pediatrician for her two week check-up this morning (she's 17 days old today!). She now weighs 5lbs. 11oz. and is up to 18 1/4" long. The doctor said that everything looks fine, and she seems to be a healthy baby. For that I am extremely thankful.

Things here at home are great. The girls and I are settling into a routine since Shawn returned to work (last Monday). I have to admit, though, that I really enjoy the days that he is at home with us.

Keira is loving her baby sister. She constantly wants to hug her, kiss her and hold her. I was worried that she'd be jealous, but so far she doesn't seem to be. She is so much bigger to me now...so smart and verbal. I am very blessed to have two wonderful, darling daughters.

With Thanksgiving over, we're gearing up for Christmas. I'm looking forward to putting up the Christmas tree, although I'm wondering how I'll manage to keep Keira out of it.

I've taken lots of new photos, and I'll try to get them posted soon. The girls are growing every day!!

Reagan's Here!!!!!!

Here's the pictures of our new baby girl, Reagan Malia. Her Birthday was Friday, November 10, 2006, at 4:56 p.m. She was 5 lbs. 3.9 oz. and 18 inches long. She is very healthy and we couldn't be happier!

Update

I'm seeing the Perinatologist tomorrow morning at 10:40 am. If things look the same as yesterday, I may be having little miss Reagan earlier than expected....perhaps tomorrow?? I'll keep everyone posted with whatever we find out. Thanks for the positive thoughts.

Strangely enough, today I've been having crazy cramps, contractions, backaches and hip pain. Reagan's movements have also become smaller and more subtle. I read somewhere that baby slows down right before delivery...so who knows? Maybe she'll come on her own before we have a c/s. I'm not getting my hopes up, though. We'll just wait and see (and keep on praying).

Disappointing Appointment This Afternoon

So, I went in for my 38 week appointment this afternoon. My ultrasound was scheduled for 1:30, non-stress test at 2:00, and doctor's appointment at 2:30. They took me back for my u/s right away, and the technician took all of the measurements. Reagan is wedged in pretty tightly and is really low, so it was hard to get an accurate measurement of her head circumference. The tech did say that she's weighing in at around 5lbs. 6oz. or so, which seems kind of small, but considering how tiny Keira was, it seemed to be ok with me.

They finally called me back for my NST at about 2:30 or so. Fortunately, Lisa came with me today to entertain Keira, so they went for a walk during the rest of my appointment. Unfortunately, the rest of my appointment lasted until about 4:30. They had to keep me hooked up to the NST for about an hour because Reagan wasn't moving around very much and when she was, her heart rate wasn't accelerating much. Finally, when Dr. McB was about to fail her and send me over to the Perinatal Center, Reagan decided to cooperate. So, she ended up passing the NST.

Next it was on to my appointment to see the doctor. By this time, my blood pressure was pretty high (I wonder why...). The doctor reviewed my chart, checked my fundal height (38cm), Reagan's heart rate on the doppler (142bpm), and checked my cervix (not dilated...*sob*). Then, she helped me sit up and looked at my chart again. She said that my fluid volume looks good, which means that my placenta is still working properly. BUT, Reagan is still a bit small...in fact, according to today's estimate, she has dropped from the 40th percentile to the 25th percentile. So, she ordered me to call the Perinatal Center the first thing in the morning to schedule another ultrasound for ASAP to check her weight. If she really is measuring 5lbs. 6oz., then we'll consider doing a c-section sooner rather than later. If they find that she's bigger and today's measurement wasn't accurate, we'll stick with the original plan to do a VBAC or a c-section on my due date (11/21).

I was pretty disappointed and worried by the time I left the office. I'm so exhausted...and SO ready to meet my baby girl. But, more than anything else, I just want her to be healthy. If you get a chance, please pray that all goes well for us and that God continues to watch over us...
Thank you.

Four Week Countdown...Any Predictions??

So, I'm officially 36w pregnant today...I'm in my **NiNtH mOnTh**! I have FOUR WEEKS until my edd...and I can hardly believe it. My mom says she predicts that Reagan will be born sometime between the 5th and the 15th of November (kind of a big window there, Mom). Anyone else have any predictions?

I'm really unsure. Keira came at 37w, but only because of emergency c-section. So, I don't know what to expect with Reagan. I'm thinking somewhere around 38w...let's go with November 11. That's a Saturday, which would be really nice...and it'll be exactly 20 months after Keira was born. That would be too cool.

I guess we'll have to wait and see what this little princess has in mind. I'll keep you all posted!

Keira Smooching Her Baby Sister

Here's a fun picture that Shawn took the other night of Keira giving Reagan a kiss. I'm 35 weeks pregnant in this photo...and looking oh so lovely, I might add (note the sarcasm!).