Reagan is 7 Months Old!

Reagan is 7 months old today, and with this special day also came her first tooth. Her right bottom tooth is just starting to pop through, and as uncomfortable as she must be, she hasn't been too fussy or abnormal. In addition to her first tooth, she also has a little bit of a black eye from bumping into her exersauser while trying to pull up for the hundredth time that day. It must look worse than it is because she only cried for a brief second and then went right back to pulling up. I just hope it is gone by next week for Andrew and Niki's wedding :) She is actually going to be in the wedding and will be pulled down the isle in a wagon along with Niki's 9 month old nephew, Keagan. We will be flying home next week and I am pretty nervous because this will be her first time flying now that she is so mobile. She doesn't sit still for a second, so it will be interesting to see how she does on my lap for an hour and a half. But it will definitely be worth it for us to see our family and for them to see Reagan. Lately she has been enjoying spending time playing in her highchair. Play sessions usually consist of her throwing all of her toys on the floor and me picking them up for her to do it again. She doesn't stay in there for too long because again, she hates to be contained! She has been going to bed pretty regularly at 7pm and as sad as it is to admit, I am never far behind!

Reagan's first trip to the park

Reagan and I went to the park today with our friends Kim and Lincoln. Reagan loves the swings! She would giggle every time I would push her. She just loves the wind in her hair. The weather is so beautiful here in NC this time of year, so we spend as much time as we can outside. Reagan has been such a sweet, happy baby lately! She is just a joy to be around. Her diet now consists of sweet potatoes, squash, sweet peas, apples, bananas, avocado, and beans. She seems to like everything she has tried. As soon as she swallows a bite, she opens her little mouth like a birdy for more. It is so cute :) And because she is so mobile and also FEARLESS she has had several spills that I haven't been able to prevent (as can be seen in the picture of her with the big black and blue bruise on her head- needless to say, we now have a down comforter covering our coffee table to prevent that from happening again). But she is very tough, and always gets back up to do it again.

Look at those Biceps!

Reagan is now pulling up on everything! As you can see, she still isn't too sturdy, but Mom is never far in order to catch her when she falls. But she is so persistant. No matter how many times she topples over, she always gets back up and tries to grab whatever she can from the top of the coffee table (usually the phone, remote, camera- all the things that I used to put up there because she couldn't get to them). She also loves her walker that she uses to stroll around the kitchen. She has just discovered that she can open up the kitchen drawers when she is in the walker and that there are many new and different objects right there at her fingertips. It is so fun to watch her discover and explore. In her little eyes, everything is so fascinating!

Little Miss Social

Here are some random shots from all of Reagan's playgroups and social gatherings. She is currently pulling herself up on anything she can get her hands on. She loves to pull up on the coffee table and grab everything off of it. She is still pretty wobbly though, so I am constantly following her around to support and catch her. She has taken a few good tumbles, be she it pretty tough!

Reagan's 6 Month Doctors Appointment

Reagan had her 6 month well baby doctors apt. on the 11th. She weighed 16 pounds 2 ounces and was 27 inches long. This the 50% for weight and the 90% for height. So I guess she is going to take after Steve in that respect. Unfortunately, at the time, she had a runny nose and we thought it might be a cold so we had to come back a week later to get her shots. This is her third round of vaccines, and the first that she has had any kind of reaction to. She was very lethargic all evening, and when I went to give her her squash for dinner, she fell sound asleep in her little chair while she was eating! At that point I knew she wasn't herself because this is the baby that won't go to sleep for anything. Plus, she has her daddy's appetite and eating is usually always first priority. She was also very affectionate and cuddly when usually she is too busy for such things. She woke up in the night with a fever and was still very sleepy the next day, but after that she was back to her old active self :) The good news is, she is set for shots until one year.....but I guess at this rate, that will be here before we know it!

We have also recently added veggies to Reagan's diet. She has had both squash and sweet potatoes now and seems to like both. I made two big batches in the food processor. I don't know how long I will keep making the food from scratch as it can be very time consuming, but for now, it is doable.

Steve and I went out last night probably for the first time since Reagan was born. Breanna, our babysitter, came over, did the whole bed time routine and got Reagan to sleep with no problem at all. It was so nice to know she was sleeping safe and sound so we could enjoy our dinner and a movie.

What a wonderful six months it has been!

Reagan's Busy Social Schedule

Although Reagan is just 6 months old, she already has a very full social calander. Every Monday we have Kindermusik where she learns about music and interacts with five other babies. Every Tuesday we go to a program called "Lap Learners" at the local library where the librarian reads and sings to a big group of babies and afterwords the babies have playtime (usually consisting of lots of chewing on the literature). Wednesdays we go to a baby class at "Romp n Roll". This is an awesome learning/play center where she plays with developmentally appropriate toys and interacts with six different babies. On Thursdays, we have the local playgroup that I started. There are 10 mommies and babies who attend regularly and we just alternate whos house it is at. All of the babies are between 5 and 7 months, and with the exception of Reagan, they are all boys. Needless to say, Reagan is quite a hit, and she is also the only one who is crawling, so it is very funny to watch her make her rounds and interact with all her little boyfriends. On Fridays we have swim lessons. I signed her up for a Mommy and Me group lesson, but because we were the only ones to sign up, we have a private lesson. The first one was last week and Reagan had a blast! The instructor brought all kinds of water toys so she immediately started kicking her legs and splashing with her arms to get the toys. When the instructor saw this, he said she had already accomplished everything the class was supposed to teach. She also went under water several times and it didn't bother her at all. We may just have the next Michael Phelps on our hands :)
So, after a very busy and fun filled week, the weekends are Reagan's down time. She enjoys playing in the exersauser and rain forest jumper and watching football and UFC with Dad. She is such a little ball of energy. Some days I really wonder if I will be able to keep up. But I have found (thru another mom in the playgroup) a great babysitter who comes over twice a week for a few hours so I can get some running done and go to the gym. It was hard at first, but Reagan really seems to like her now. Usually if someone else is holding her and she sees me she will push away from them and toward me, but when I came home yesterday, Brianna was holding her and she didn't want to come to me at all. I was sad in a way, but I was also very glad that she is happy with Brianna!
We are also trying to get her used to the day care at the gym and at church. There have been several times when we have come to pick her up after a workout or church service respectively and her eyes are all red and her cheeks are streaked with tears, but she is getting a lot better, and I'm trying to tell myself that it is good for her to be away from Mom a little bit. I am taking the AFAA Group Fitness Instructor exam next week in order to get certified to teach aerobics at a few local gyms. I'm really excited about it, and I think it will be nice to do something part time. But I will have to be sure that it fits into Reagan's social schedule, because I don't want her to have to miss out on any of her activities :)

And the Baby Proofing Begins!

As of August 31st, Reagan is crawling. She has been so close for several weeks now, but just the other night, I set her down to get her bath ready, and when I looked down she was slowly making her way toward me. It was so cute to see that she finally figured out how to pick up one arm and balance on the other. She is still pretty shaky, but every day she gets a little more confident. My first reaction was pure excitement as I watched her accomplish something I'd seen her try so hard to figure out, but now, I'm a little sad as it serves as a clear indication of just how fast she is growing up. I know this is just one of many many more milestones to come, but a part of me just wants to keep her at this stage forever. She has also learned to make raspberries with her lips and it is so funny. It just cracks her up! Her favorite time to do it is when I am feeding her her rice cereal, so she essentially spits it all over me! She finds that hilarious as well! What a girl!