Thanksgiving / Reagan's Birthday Celebration

What a fun, but long day! We celebrated Thanksgiving at John's cousin Jose's house in Washington Township and had a wonderful time. I'm glad that Reagan and Jose's birthdays fell on Thanksgiving this year ... it was great to celebrate the birthdays while everyone was together and in festive holiday moods. Thanks to Doreen and Pepito for hosting Thanksgiving, as well as Reagan's birthday party!

Before we left, I tried to get a picture of the girls in their cute red & cream outfits. Debbie gave Avery this adorable sweater for her birthday ... if only I'd opened Reagan's gift from her sooner, I could have dressed Reagan in the coordinating sweater Debbie got for her too! Oh well, they still looked cute!

As you can see, getting them to both stand or sit down at the same time was impossible ... once Avery sat down, I asked Reagan to sit down too ...

Once Reagan was sitting, she was playing with her new shiny shoes, and Avery was ready to stand up again ... and notice how Avery's shoes didn't stay on long? Oh well.

By the time we got to Jose's, Avery was in dire need of a nap. Before putting her down, where I knew she would completely mess up her hair, I asked Jose to take our picture. My instructions were to just keep snapping photos, in hopes that at least ONE of them would turn out acceptable. The one above was the first one - so cute, if only Avery's hand hadn't been in her mouth!

Then Avery wouldn't stop looking at the fish tank that was to the side of us ...

Those fish were fascinating!

Almost there ... but Reagan's forced "Cheese" face isn't what I was goin' for.

I finally asked Jose to stand by the fish tank and we all turned a little to the side

And we got it! Yea, a family picture where everyone is smiling! It only took about 40 tries.

The main purpose for this photo was so that my mother could use it in her Christmas card ... she's putting together a collage on Shutterfly and asked me for a picture of the 4 of us. It's scary how difficult it is to get ONE good picture!

Avery and Reagan checking out the fish tank

Nila, Avery and Nayda

Doreen, her mother Catherine, and her sister Dawn

Marcelo, Joaquin, and Maribel

Joaquin devouring the onion dip! ~ On the drums with his grandpa

Reagan, Gabby and Catrina (Dawn's daughter, Gabby's cousin)

Jose, Doreen and their gorgeous turkey

Amanda and Maribel

Reagan had a great time playing downstairs in the basement

Just before dinner - Doreen and the turkey

The Thanksgiving Table - Just before we ate

John and his mother Nila

My honey and me!

Unfortunately, Avery only slept for 20 minutes ... when we strapped her into the high chair to eat her first Thanksgiving dinner, she was over-tired and not exactly happy. Of course, our other daughter Reagan wanted nothing to do with the food being served. So, John and I didn't really get to enjoy our Thanksgiving meal ... we were each dealing with one child or the other while everyone else was eating. The food that we did quickly eat was all delicious ~ I just wish I could have eaten more! Oh well, I'm sure next year will be better (easier!)!

After dinner, Avery went back to sleep and Reagan took up a new hobby: playing Jose's drums!

Here's some video of Reagan's Jam Session!

All day long, Reagan kept pointing to the Liter of Orange Fanta that was sitting on the counter, saying, "I want some orange drink!" We tried using it as a bargaining tool to get her to eat dinner, but it didn't work. Finally, we caved and gave her a small glass of it, only because it was her birthday :) A little orange soda once a year isn't so bad, right?

Present Time! Reagan was getting extremely tired from all the running around she was doing downstairs ... by the time we opened gifts, she was all business. She'd open one, push it aside and attack the next one - I need to teach her some manners!

Maribel gave her these dress-up items ... the ballet slippers are actually real shoes and they are simply adorable! I wish they sold them in my size.

Jesus ~ Ethan, on their way out

Jesus and Debbie ate dinner with her family, then stopped by briefly for dessert

I made the cake for Jose and Reagan, along with many cupcakes

See how excited she was when she blew out the candles? Then she was determined to take them out as fast as possible and suck the frosting off!

Jose's family gave him a Playstation 3!

We left around 9:00 PM and had to wake up Avery from her deep slumber in the Pack 'n Play. After about 5 minutes in the car, Reagan was OUT COLD. She played so hard and was SO tired! Of course, Avery was now wide awake and didn't end up going back to sleep until almost midnight! Thanksgiving ended up wreaking havoc on her schedule. Oh well. At least Reagan had a wonderful day!

Happy Birthday Reagan!

Today is Reagan's 3rd Birthday!!!

Last night, Nicole and Mia came over to give Reagan her birthday gift ... Avery helped the big girls open the present!

Reagan was thrilled to receive dress-up clothes!

Avery looked pretty cute in the bunny ears!

This morning, Reagan slept in and when she finally woke up, she started calling for us by saying, "Guuuuuyyyyssss ... Guys? I'm awake!" She's pretty funny how she addresses John and I as "Guys." She often says, "hey guys, come over here." Anyway, John was off playing football, so I ran in and sang Happy Birthday to her, then snuggled in her bed (luckily, Avery was already down for her morning nap so I had some quality one-on-one time with my birthday girl!). Jen Wilkin and her boys accompanied Dan to the football game, so she dropped off a birthday gift for Reagan. I brought this one upstairs and let her open it while still in bed. She loved the adorable stuffed animal Frog that Harry picked out for her!

Then we came downstairs when John came home and the three of us hung out while Reagan opened her gifts

Reagan was very happy to receive more dress-up clothes from her aunts Benee and Camille from Salt Lake. She was spoiled by her Nana and Grandpa with a new dress, a pink sweatsuit, the game Chutes andLadders, and some DVDs! We gave Reagan a new coat in her favorite color, of course RED! Happy Birthday Reagan!!!

2nd Annual Turkey Bowl 2008

John put together his second annual Turkey Bowl!

Here's John, his cousin Jose, and his brother Jesus at 9 AM this morning, waiting for the other guys to arrive.

Back Row: Marcelo DeLeon, Dan Wilkin, and John Mendez

Front Row: Bob Ramos, Domingo Diaz, Paul Arbadji, Jesus Mendez, and Jose Fernandez

Last year, they had 10 guys, which was perfect. This year, John wasn't sure if everyone would be interested in doing it again, so he threw it together last minute and only got 8 guys. Next year, he hopes to have 12.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

It's official - Avery's Walking

I meant to post about this 2 days ago, but I've been SO busy, I simply haven't had a second to sit down and do it. To be honest, I feel like a big slacker that I'm posting about "walking" without an accompanying video, but something is better than nothing, right?

So, Avery's been taking steps for over a month now, but she wasn't exactly interested in walking. We would stand her up, she'd take a few steps, then fall down. Once she was down, she would crawl everywhere. She knew how to stand up on her own and she would often stand up in the middle of the room, but only take a few steps, then give up.

Two days ago, on Tuesday November 25th, it was as if she woke up that day and decided she was ready to walk. As soon as she would fall down, she'd stand right back up and start walking. It was very exciting to watch her walk all over the house!

I'm sure I'll get some video of it one of these days ...

Bed Head and First Friends

Last night was a rough night for Reagan ... she took a nap during the day (only because she woke up at 6 AM and was passed out on the couch by 11:30 AM!), so she tried every stall tactic before finally going to sleep around 10:30 PM. Then she was crying at 2:30, again at 4:00, and once again at 6:00 AM. She finally slept in and I had to wake her up at 10:30 so we could go to First Friends. When I went into her room to wake her up, I couldn't believe her hair! She had a bath last night, right before going to bed, so believe it or not, she went to bed with beautiful clean hair. I often put a pony tail on top of her head at night because she moves around so much that her hair is constantly in her face. Anyway, I think this picture shows just how rough her night actually was, since she obviously tossed and turned enough to cause the biggest rat's nest I've ever seen!
Luckily, she woke up in a good mood and I tamed her hair to look pretty for River Vale First Friends. I was in charge of the craft and snack today, in honor of Reagan's upcoming birthday (Thursday, November 27th - Thanksgiving Day this year!). I kept it simple and we painted turkeys using "Dot Art"


It was a nice group of 8 little girls there today, so we did our craft and then ate bagels.

I was up until 2 AM making cupcakes (so you can imagine just how rough MY night was, since I went to bed LATE, then Reagan kept waking me up!) ... everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to Reagan and I wish I'd gotten a picture of her huge grin as she listened happily!

Well Visit x2

Yesterday was a combined well visit for Avery (1 year well visit) and Reagan (3 year well visit). I figured it would be easiest to combine them so I only had to haul them to the doctor's office once. What a huge mistake that was! Let's just say I looked like and felt like I'd aged at least a year in the hour that I was in the doctor's office.

Reagan went first and she refused to get on the scale to get weighed. This was even after we had practiced that morning on our scale at home. I was trying to coax her onto the scale with kindness and then started getting more firm as I watched the nurse getting very antsy and annoyed that it was taking so long to persuade a 3 year old onto a stupid scale. We finally got her to hop on the scale long enough to get a reading of 30 1/2 pounds!

The nurse tried to measure her height, but I have no idea how accurate it was ... she recorded it as 35 1/2 inches, which only put her in the 25th percentile for height. I just looked back at her 2 year well visit stats and it looks like she was 33 1/4 inches, in the 30th percentile. Here's hoping that her Papa's tall genes start to kick in!!

After the "big girl" scale, she said she wanted to sit on the baby scale, which read 30 pounds, 7 ounces. It's about time this girl reached 30 pounds! I couldn't believe that she was in the 50th percentile, considering that it's virtually impossible to get her to eat!

As soon as I undressed Avery, she went nuts with the paper on the table. She was long past her normal nap time and in hyper-active, over-stimulated mode! She was going crazy with the paper, rolling around in it, having a grand old time!

Then I put her on the scale and she would NOT sit still for anything! All she wanted to do was stand up and dance around! Once again, the nurse was not amused. Usually, the nursing staff is wonderful, but I think it was lunch time and she'd had a long morning ... it was impossible to get an accurate reading on the scale because Avery would not stop moving around. The nurse finally estimated her weight as 22 pounds, 10 ounces, putting her in the 75th percentile for weight. Her height was 29 inches, 45th percentile. When we were there in September for her 10 month well visit, she was 21 lbs, 2 oz and 28 inches long.

Here's some video of Avery on the scale, after the nurse left the room and we were waiting for Dr. Battista. This was after she'd calmed down a little. You'll also notice her newest sound, a cross between a grunt and a scream. It's such a lovely noise that I get to hear all day long. My friend Nicole calls this stage the "Pterodactyl Stage" and it couldn't be more appropriate ... she's constantly making these loud noises that can become rather annoying!

As we were waiting for the doctor, Reagan found my camera and started taking pictures of Avery and me ...

Then Dr. B came in and everything went downhill from there ... at first, Reagan was talking to him, telling him her name, being sweet as pie. Then he pulled out the stethescope and she went crazy! Usually, Dr. B is really patient, but I guess he wasn't in the mood to go the extra mile ... he just accepted the fact that she was going to scream and he tried to get it over with as quickly as possible. He even picked her up and put her on the table, which only made her freak out even more. If you know my daughter, you know that she's very particular about who she lets pick her up. Anyway, the exam was a horrible experience for everyone ... Reagan was screaming a very high pitched scream and I was holding Avery. Sure enough, Reagan really freaked Avery out and then she was crying too. At this point, I wish I could have grown an extra set of arms.

Dr. B then examined Avery and we discussed some of her issues ... she still has acid reflux and needs to stay on the Pepcid. The nurse came back in and measured iron levels for both of them. One little finger prick had Reagan screaming again. Lovely. And Avery didn't even cry for hers! Luckily, Avery's iron registered right at 11, so I'm happy that the iron drops have brought her iron to an acceptable level. She needs to take them for 3 more months and then she'll probably be able to stop. Avery then had 4 shots ... the last one made her cry :(

Here's Reagan watching Dora on my iPhone after her finger prick ... it was the only way I got her to stop crying and fussing.

So there you go. I learned a very valuable lesson: never take them both for well visits! Hopefully, Reagan will start cooperating better when we go to the doctor. It drives me crazy that she freaks out so badly. I guess her fears are genuine and I should take them seriously, but I'm not sure how to make it better ... I'm constantly prepping her for her appointments and she never seems nervous or scared until the minute the doctor has to touch her or come near her.

Lucky for me, I'll have another opportunity to take Reagan to the doctor next week. Since she was congested at this appointment, he couldn't give her the flu shot, so I had to make another appointment. Wish me luck for next Wednesday morning ~ should be fun!