Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Stress brought on by Blessings?

So the "Holidays" can be so stressful, the meals, the travel, the cleaning, the packing, the long lines, crowded parking lots, you get my jist... most of the time I work near downtown, an area heavily populated with homeless people.  One day while in a hurry to get from one place to another I noticed a man sleeping on the pavement at the corner of the street and, I was jealous.  Yes, I know you think I'm crazy now, but this guy didn't seem to have a care in the world, while I had a to-do list a hundred miles long just scrolling through my brain, causing painful headaches and unwanted stress.  Ahhh I thought to myself to just layout on the sun-warmed concrete and take a nap in the middle of the day.  No need to worry about holding up a sign for money, or what people would think of me sleeping outside on the ground, or what project needed to be done, or what time I needed to pick up the baby from daycare, or what gifts I had left to buy, it sounded wonderful.

Then I got to thinking, why should I be jealous of this seemingly homeless man? I have so many blessings to be thankful for!  What if being blessed causes stress? Could that be possible?  I've thought about this a lot and think its true in many cases:

Blessing: Challenging career with one of the top 4 Big Accounting firms in the US.
Stress: Pressure from work to work long hours, manage staff, communicate to execs, stay organized and on top of multiple jobs and in touch with multiple clients.  Nightmares about not meeting deadlines or something going wrong. 


Blessing:

Stress:  Am I doing everything right? Is she learning everything she needs to know? Should I put her in gymnastic or dance classes? Is she in the right daycare? Who is going to pick her up/drop her off today? Is she going to wean or potty train soon? Did I pay the daycare? etc....

Blessing:




Stress: Is he truly as happy as he seems? What does he expect from me? What time is he going to get off work? What would he like for dinner? Is he ever going to fix that? Does he think I work too much? Does he know how much I love him? What could I do to make his day better?

Blessing: Nice/newish car to drive

Stress: Why is gas so expensive? Did Raegan spill milk in here again?

Blessing: Lots of family who love us dearly.
Stress: Traveling to Texas can get expensive.  I hate packing.  Why does Raegan ask me where "gigi" is 300 times a day?

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Christmas 2010

For Christmas this year we made chocolate chip cookies and left them out for Santa on the night of the 23rd.  Santa had to come to our house a night before everyone else, since he knew we were going to be in Texas Christmas morning.  Raegan didn't mind ; )
Thursday morning the three of us got up early (not any different than our normal routine) and opened stockings and our gifts to each other.  Raegan got a pair of black boots, Elmo house slippers, a striped beanie, an Elmo toothbrush, Thomas the Train toothpaste, and two shirts.  She also got to open one of her presents from Grammee and Papa Smith which was a table and 4 chairs for her playroom.

After all the excitement from opening presents, we finished packing and headed towards Texas.  On the way Philip wanted to stop and get a drink and we decided it would be faster to go through the McDonalds drive thru rather than walking into a convenience store.  Anytime we go to McDonalds (usually only go to the one inside of the grocery store) Raegan gets apple dippers.  This time we ordered some for her and when I handed them back to her she flapped her arms indicating to me she wanted chicken not apples.  Crazy girl it was like 9 in the morning, I assured her that she could have chicken later that day. 

The drive to Texas went pretty well, until we got in Dallas,which is when the rain really picked up the water wasn't draining off the roads.  We saw 4 wrecks within just a couple miles and our SUV kept hydroplaning as well.  I was terrified and just sat in the front passenger seat with my eyes closed and kept reminding Philip to slow down.  When we finally got out of the rain, we stopped for lunch at the Chick-fil-A in Forney, TX.  We let Raegan play for a little while (since she had been such a good backseat passenger for the past 3 hours) and ate lunch.  By the time we left Chick-fil-A, the rain storm had caught back up to us :( but luckily my speedy husband had it beat again within about 30 minutes so the remaining drive to Tyler wasn't so bad.

As soon as we got to Tyler, we went straight to Philip's grandmother's house.  We usually only get to see her once a year.  Here's a picture of her and Raegan.

Using Shutterfly we made her a 2011 desk calendar.

We spent Christmas Eve at the Fritcher's (Philip's family's friends).  Sarah just had a little girl, Addison, earlier that week that we all got to ooh and aah over.  She was only 6 1/2 lbs., which was too tiny for me to hold.  Raegan was nearly 9lbs. when she was born, so Addison looked like a little doll to me.  So precious and such a good baby, she slept nearly the whole time! I don't remember Raegan's first days/weeks being like that!?!

We stayed at Philip's parent's house and woke up to lots of presents and stocking stuffers Christmas morning! Cindy made homemade donuts with powdered sugar on them.  Raegan spent the majority of the day playing in her new Cozy Coupe Car its red and yellow and was a handy me down toy from cousin, Brooklyn.  It's just like new and she loves it!  I haven't actually heard her call it a car yet though, she usually calls it "choo choo" she's on a train kick lately... any large/loud car, dump truck, tractor, etc... must be a "choo choo."

We also visited Philip's aunt's house, where Raegan got to play with her cousins.  She is the youngest right now, but Scarlett is only 6 months older than Raegan, and Brooklyn is 6 months older than Scarlett. My are we going to be in trouble when they are teenagers!  Here's a picture of the them coloring.

Sunday evening Philip drove me and Raegan to the airport and we flew to Midland.  The plane wasn't full so Raegan got to sit in her own seat, much calmer and drier (that's another story) than on the two flights back to OKC when the wiggly little thing had to sit in my lap. 

Raegan and I spent 4 days and 4 nights at my parent's house.  Side note: prior to us visiting my parents every man older than say 40 (or younger is balding or graying) was called "papa" this included Papa Ron and Santa Clause of course.  So it was no surprise to me that my father would too get the name, "papa," from Raegan.  What shocked me though was Tuesday morning when we woke up, Raegan asked me "where's papa?" I said, "he's at work." Then she said, "where's gigi?" I was like hmm that's weird I think she just said "gigi," I was like let's go see nana, the name my mother had decided she would like to be called prior to Raegan's birth and the name which appears on nearly every gift/sentiment I have given my mother since Raegan's birth.  Later that morning I heard Raegan say, "gigi" and point to my mom again.  I told my mom that I thought Raegan was calling her, "gigi," she looked surprised as well, but said that would be fine.  The rest of the trip it was certain that Raegan had named my mother "gigi," ever since we've been home Raegan is constantly asking me, "where's Gigi," which I always reply "in Texas." 

While we were in Midland I got to curb my mexican food cravings at Jumburrito, La Bodega, and Rosas.  I was super bummed that Oscars was closed the entire time I was there : ( I sure do miss that place, if I was really really wealthy I would pay them large sums of money to open one up, heck I'd even figure out a way for my HOA to donate a piece of land for them to put it on!  Then I would truly enjoy living in Oklahoma!

My mom took that whole week off and together her, Raegan, and I went shopping at the mall, HEB, and the Health Food store, had breakfast with the Patterson's and Brown's, and visited the museum of the Southwest.  I also took advantage of the free babysitters (aka grandparents) and went and worked out with my sister and went to dinner with an old (as in since toddlers) friend of mine, Shannon.

Here are a couple of pictures from our Midland trip:


Friday, December 24, 2010

12-24-2010 21 months old!

Two of Raegan's loves together in Sports Illustrated, reading and football.  

Philip asked if I took this to show proof that she eats... no that wasn't my intent, I just can't resist a messy spaghetti face!  Foods Raegan loves: avocados, bananas, dried cranberries, apples, applesauce, and cheez-its.

Raegan is getting better at putting words she knows together to make phrases like:
"Where'd dada go"
"Hi mama"
"no no dog"
"you not a baby"
"my boots"
"I want Elmo"

She hasn't told us "I love you" yet, but when we tell her she will give us a big kiss to let us know she loves us too!
Raegan also loves playing 'I Hear Ewe' on our iphones, which she just calls "apple."

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Raegan's First Haircut 12-19-2010

After church today we decided to take Raegan to Snip-Its to get her first hair cut.  Snip-Its is just for kids and the fun decorations and nice people made Raegan feel right at ease.


Raegan loved this little scissor character, she even gave it a kiss!

 They gave us this key card and after her haircut Raegan got to put it a machine which then gave her a "prize" (something in a little container, looked like a fake tattoo, we haven't opened it yet).


 Happy girl eating a snack while getting her first haircut. 
 Not sure what this face was about, but she looks a little concerned...
 The back of her hair was getting really long!





Finished product, a cute little bob : ) 

Sunday, December 5, 2010

update

So I know its been awhile since I've posted, its the Holiday season where we have so many people to see and things to do that I rarely find/make time to write all about it.  But we just got home from church and Philip and Raegan are taking a nap and I'm finally making time to sit down and reflect/write.

So for Thanksgiving,  my family who normally goes to Kansas to see my mom's side of the family, decided to stay in Midland since 3 of my siblings were going to be there too.  Philip's busiest day of the year is usually the day after Thanksgiving, i.e. "Black Friday," which this year meant his store opened at 5AM and he needed to be there before that Friday morning.  So we spent Thanksgiving in Tulsa with my Great Aunt Jackie, Great Uncle Terry, their children, and their grandchildren.  Jackie is my mom's aunt and Terry was our pastor at our wedding.  It was great to spend time with family, enjoy great food, and relax.  Raegan and her 2nd cousin-once-removed, Whitten, got to play together.  He has big blue eyes and chubby cheeks; he reminds me of a cabbage patch doll I used to have; just adorable!  I'm so thankful for so many things such as:
  • my husband/ best friend who loves me unconditionally and supports me in so many ways
  • my precious baby girl who gives me great, big, squeeze me tight, hugs like she never wants to let go
  • my family who is always there for me 
  • my friends that inspire and encourage me
  • our home, that although is not often clean, is safe and warm and already decorated for Christmas
  • our careers that give us flexibility and financial security
I think its really important to remember to be thankful year round.  God has blessed us with more than we will ever deserve and that is why I start every prayer I pray by telling Him "thank you."  Many times that's all my prayer will be for, just to tell Him "thank you" for the many things He provides.  

As we enter this Christmas season, my goal is for it not to be centered around materialism.  Its so hard for us when we get emails with enticing coupons, work in a mall filled with goodies, and see advertising everywhere we look.  Raegan likes our great big Christmas tree and the "balls" (i.e. ornaments) decorating it and she likes "papa" (i.e. Santa) too.  I want her to enjoy Christmas, but I also hope that it will give us an opportunity to teach her about Jesus. 

Well the dynamic duo just woke up, so I have to get back to my wife/mommy duties.  Hope you all are having a great weekend!

20 months old!

Today Raegan is 20 months old.  Aahhh that is too close to 24 months (2 years) that sounds so old... where did the time go. 

You have become quite the little chatter box.  You tell everyone you see "HI" in a loud voice and get excited when you get a response back from them and if they ignore you, then you just get louder with "HI, HHIII, HHHIIII!"  You can repeat words well, like yesterday in the car when you pointed to the Penske moving truck next to us and said "what's that?" and I said "truck" and you repeated it back to me, "truck." You love learning new things, recently you've learned how to say turtle, gobble, gobble, wow, uhh uhh, huh?, choo choo, winnie the pooh, I help my momma, that's my dada, where's dada, boots, dirty diaper, yuck, hmm... that's all I can think of right now, but you seem to learn new words ALL the time.

You are definitely testing us everyday to see what you can get away with and what you'll get in trouble for.  The main things you test us the most on are putting on your pajamas, sitting in your carseat and highchair without a fight, and climbing on the dishwasher. We usually give you the count to 3 warning, which works about 25% of the time.  Sometimes you get sent to timeout for about a minute, most of the time this works well and you come out and give me a hug and do whatever it was I needed you to do (i.e. sit in your high chair) right away.  Sometimes you get a little spanking, never hard but it gets your attention.  Disciplining you is very hard, but we know its the right thing to do and its what's best for you, so that you grow up learning right from wrong.  Just remember we love you so much!

Last night you changed your own diaper... no seriously, your dad had just changed you about five minutes before you took off your own diaper, said "yuck" and took it to the trash, then you grabbed a new diaper and laid it out and laid down on it and waited for me to come stick the side tabs together for you.  Your dad checked and sure enough the one you took off was wet.  We wish you liked your potty.  Your daycare teacher, Robby, told me that every time after you "go" in your diaper you point at it and say "eww."  She said she always knows when to change you.  We're all hoping you learn to tell us before hand soon.  ; )

Friday, November 19, 2010

2010 Christmas Card

Faith Hope Love Religious
Unique party invitations and greeting cards by Shutterfly.
View the entire collection of cards.

Family photos!

First real set of good family photos!  The last ones we tried to take didn't turn out so well, but that's a different story... anyways, we have over 200 photos from the shoot, I'll just share a couple of my favorites!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Bonfire date!


Our church hosted a bonfire and hayride evening for adults in small groups that we went to.  Above are a couple of pictures from the evening.  Iron Starr BBQ catered the event and we even roasted marshmallows and made smores!  The sticks were too short for how hot the fire was though, I felt like my eyebrows were going to burn off!  There was a live band playing and I even was able to talk Philip into two-stepping with me for approximately 45 seconds, lol! Not many other people were dancing and he was embarrassed... Anyways, it was good to get away and have some couple time out in the country!

Monday, November 15, 2010

BOWS!

"Bow" is one of Raegan's favorite words, on the rare occasions that we get in the car without one, she will pat her had and say "bow" "bow" as in Mom you forgot my bow how dare you, I can't go to school without one! = )
http://www.fiveblessedbows.com/Gallery.htm

Click on link above for great bows for your little girl!  The ladies who run this business are SO nice.

Family Time

Sunday we went and had lunch in Bricktown at Zios and then took a to-go box of bread and sat and fed the ducks on the riverwalk.  Raegan had so much fun throwing the bread in the river for the ducks.  The bread never made it very far so the ducks had to come really close to her to get the bread and sometimes she would squeal out of excitement and they'd get scared and swim away.  Philip and I were both super worried about her jumping in the river, but lucky she was smart enough not to!
It was a wonderful way to spend the day as a family!

OU vs. Tech 11-13-2010

Since Chick-fil-A is a sponsor of the Big 12 and we are lucky, Philip won 2 tickets to the OU vs. Tech game, but since he had to sell CFA sandwiches during the game and because he's a sweetie, he gave them to me! (sorry I know that was a run-on sentence) I was fortunate enough to find a sitter for Raegan (well technically it was my neighbor's sitter and we shared).  I invited my friend Sarah to the game.  Our seats were on the goal line of the South endzone and her husband bought a ticket from a donor on the 50 yard line.  So we sat in our seats until the end of the 3rd quarter and then moved to the ones in the pic below...


Our view for the first 3 quarters of the game...
Sarah and I with Boomer!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

19 month update

Just realized I didn't share a post about Raegan's 19 month update. Raegan turned 19 months old on October 24th...

Some new words:
outside
two
ten
help
apple sauce
thank you
papa

This past month marked the first time Raegan lied to me...  She's pretty good at telling me when she is going or when she needs her diaper changed (that was the cleanest way I could word that)... anyways, she was sitting in her highchair eating yogurt and I could tell she needed her diaper changed, I asked her a couple of different ways and each time she'd pause and then tell me "uhhh, uhhh" not a no, but definitely not a yes.  Philip says it won't be the last time she lies to me... I hope she and I can have an open relationship and be able to trust each other.  I've had lots of friends who often lied to their parents about what they were doing or who they were with, but I usually felt comfortable telling my parents everything, sometimes I probably shared too much ; )

I've visited Raegan's class a couple times recently and sat in there with her for awhile.  She plays so well with her friends in class.  Its so amazing to see 8 little people interacting together and talking to each other in their own little language.  They play house and the girls carry around babies; they pull their own chairs up to the table when its time to eat and sit around the table eating and laughing together as if they were at a dinner party and when they are done eating they pick up their plate and carry it to the trash and then use their napkin to clean the spot at the table where they were sitting. 

Raegan can throw a ball pretty well and is working on learning how to kick it.  When she hurts herself she usually doesn't cry just comes to me with her head sticking forward or hand out (or whatever body part she hurt) and says "muah" which means "mommy kiss it."

She used to loves Gerber yogurt melts and would stick five of them in her mouth at a time, but the other day after church while we were in the car I offered them to her and she said "no, thats for babies" I looked at Philip and was like "did you just hear that!"  Yep we both heard it, she hasn't touched or asked for any more since...

Here's a pic of our little wild woman!

Friday, November 12, 2010

Get out there and volunteer!

I believe I have been blessed beyond measure and one thing that helps me to remember that and keep a grounded perspective is volunteering.  It makes me feel good -- that's not why I volunteer but definitely a nice benefit. Earlier this week while I was reading to 1st and 2nd graders at Positive Tomorrows, a school here in OKC for homeless children, a little girl held her arms out real big and said, "I want a hug." So of course I gave the precious little one a big hug, probably the most meaningful work I did all day!
 
Some places/organizations I have volunteered at/for are:
Midland Memorial Hospital
Midland Police Department
Midland Teen Court
Southwest Children's Museum
Keep Midland Beautiful
City of Midland Aquatics
Fellowship Community Church
United Way
March of Dimes
Talitha Koum
Steppin' Out
Highland Baptist Church
Positive Tomorrows
Junior Achievement
Journey Church
Meadow Run HOA

You can search for places to volunteer using google or you may want to check out this website:
http://www.volunteermatch.org/

You won't regret it!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Pictures of OKC downtown from helicopter

Just some pics I took while Philip and I were flying in the OKC Police Helicopter above the city Friday afternoon...

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Babies

Raegan has an obsession with babies, or as she says "bebes." Raegan wakes up in the middle of the night screaming for her "bebe," she carries them around with her, puts them nightnight, feeds them cheerios, rocks them in her bouncer, and pushes them down her slide.  (such a good little mommy she is)
(PS- the contact solution bottle is one Raegan confiscated from my bathroom counter and decided to use as a baby bottle)

In other news, it is finally cold enough to wear warm fuzzy coats, adorable striped baby legs, and boots!
yea!

Oh and Philip and I are taking a helicopter ride tomorrow! Pics to come!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

A day off

I took today off, dropped Raegan off at daycare, ran a couple errands and did some laundry then went to get a mani and pedi at the Ihloff Salon (wanted a massage but they currently dont have a massage therpist and are looking for one)... anyways, I love this Aveda Salon and the scents, cucumber ice water, and great people there; however, everytime I go it gives me a great excuse to go to Francesca's http://www.francescascollections.com/home.do which is right next door.  Francesa's is such a cute store, These may be two of my FAVORITE places, how convenient for me that they are right next door to each other ; )

Baylor Bowlcoming!

Friday 10-22-2010

This past weekend we celebrated Baylor Homecoming in Waco.  Since the forecast showed it would be raining we decided to reschedule our family photo shoot and head down to Waco Friday morning instead of Saturday as originally planned.  Friday night we got to Waco around 4 and stopped by Robinson Tower to say "hi" to some of my former co-workers.  Lots of people were already gone since it was late Friday afternoon on homecoming weekend, but it was still good to see some people.  Lots of new faces, but it didn't look like much else had changed since I worked there ~4 years ago.  After that we found our hotel and as we booked it on the phone without even looking online to see pictures, etc... we were pleasantly surprised at how nice it was.  They had chocolate chip cookies waiting on us and the place was decked out in green and gold!


We quickly checked in, ate our cookies, and changed into our swimsuits to enjoy the heated indoor pool and hottub for a little while.  After swimming, which Raegan loved, we showered and got ready for dinner.  We ate dinner with the Roye's (Jake Roye is the Chick-fil-A Operator in Waco that Philip used to work for).  We ate at El Tamitactios; Raegan made a new friend, Shelby.  She is in 2nd grade and when she tried to pick up Raegan for a picture they tumbled over! Luckily no one was hurt; they just both laughed about it. =) 


After dinner we headed to campus for the Business School Alumni reception.  We got to see our former professors and show off Miss Raegan who was peacefully sleeping in her stroller (thank goodness).  From there we headed out to tour the Student Union Building (SUB) for the homecoming tour and then passed by "our swing," a couple of other memorable places on campus, the huge stage, farriswheels, and funnelcake stand to find a seat and watch the fireworks and bonfire.
After the bonfire, we headed over and grabbed some frozen coffee from Common Grounds before heading back to the hotel.

Saturday 10-23-2010

We got up early, ate breakfast, checked out of our hotel (after saying hi to Casey who was working at the front desk (he used to work at CFA with Philip), and headed to the Spirit Shop to get some new Baylor gear!  We were their first customers of the day, we changed into our new clothes in the car and went and got THE BEST parking spot to watch the parade from.  The back of our SUV was facing 4th street, so when it was sprinkling and windy before the parade started we just sat in the back of the car with the back door up, worked out perfect.  Raegan enjoyed the parade, but enjoyed the dogs that people brought with them to the parade more.  She ate 3 suckers that morning and we brought home a sack full of candy (and Halloween is this next weekend)! After the parade we went to Rosa's for lunch, mmmm how I have missed that place.  I got my favorite Combination Nachos! I could eat those EVERY day! After a delicious lunch at Rosa's we headed over and got an awesome parking spot right across from HEB, we found some friends at a couple of different tailgates to say hi to and cheered at the "March of the Bears" (a first for us as it is a new tradition at Baylor this year to cheer for the team as they arrive at the stadium and get off of buses).  We found the kiddie area and let Raegan play in one of the bouncies for a lil while. She loved flying in the air as the big kids (3-8 year olds) jumped around.  All the other parents and children were pointing at her and saying things like, "look at the little baby."  Raegan must not have heard them, she doesn't seem to realize she is younger than them, she begged to go through the inflatable obstacle course, which is for older kids/adults, but I wouldn't let her because I was afraid she'd get stuck in there and I'd have to crawl in to get her. 

We found our seats and watched the bears play 3 downs, and then the refs decided to delay the game "30 minutes" because lighting was spotted 6 miles away.  Although it had been sprinkling off and on all day, it wasn't raining at that time and the crowd was mad about the "30 minute" delay.  The football teams and band left the field/stands and the announcer asked the fans to multiple times, until it no longer became a suggestion, but a warning.  The lines to go down under the stands were long, but once it started raining pretty hard, we got out of our seats and tried to find a place under the stands.  Raegan was sleeping across my arms and her 'dead weight' felt like at least 50 lbs for the 2 hours I ended up holding her like that... a hail storm and possibly tornado blew through and we all got rained on and the delay ended up being at least 2 hours.  When we got back in the stands it would sprinkle periodically and then the sun came out, and then a cold front blew through, which caused the ~70 degree temps to drop almost instantly.  I walked out to our car and got our jackets and Raegan a pair of dry clothes to change into.  The rest of the game was great, except for a few borderline/horrible calls (like the first down signal being excessive celebration, please!).  So Baylor won the game against Kansas State and for the first time in like 15 years is bowl elegible! So the students rushed the field and we stayed and watched the whole ordeal and to sing 'That Good Ol' Baylor Line' with everyone.  We headed up to Hillsboro after the game, grabbed some dinner, and passed out in our hotel, right after I asked Philip if we could sleep in, in the morning.

Sunday 10-24-2010
Philip woke me up and the first thing I did was look over at the clock.  Eight o'clock ok I guess that counts as sleeping in, I thought.  My sweet husband had already gotten up and gone downstairs and brought up breakfast for us; such a good man!  We took our time coming home on Sunday and even stopped at a nice mall in FortWorth, as well as a Dairy Queen, yum!  Philip loves their dipped cones.

Sorry this post is so overdue, Blogger has been giving me trouble uploading pics and videos... I'll try to add more sometime (if I remember ; )