She remembers everything!

We had a lovely day today. Reagan played with Abby in the morning and Sam in the afternoon. We also took a trip over to the library. Our library has a great children's section and I anticipate that we will be spending tons of time there in the upcoming weeks.

I have been working on encouraging Reagan to walk down the stairs on her own lately. She has been able to do so for months but lately has taken to "needing" me to take her. I don't want to carry her anymore mainly because it isn't exactly safe for all individuals involved. She fights me, of course. On Tuesday, she boldly stated "Hold Me!" My reply was, "Hold you?! No, I will not hold you! I am tired!" She followed me down the stairs and we continued on with our day. Move forward one day and we were walking down the stairs together again. Reagan stopped halfway down, smiled and said, "Hold you?! No, I will not hold you! I am tired!" How in the world does a 2 year old quote me directly, an entire day later? She also had us in hysterics over the weekend. I was complaining to Ben that my back was hurting. Reagan bends over, grabs her lower back, starts shuffling across the floor saying, "my back hurts!" What will she say tomorrow?

The Terrible Two's...

With every developmental milestone, changes present challenges! Since Sunday, Reagan has hit us over the head with the "terrible twos". This statement is almost literal. She has just been CRAZY! Temper tantrums, sleeping troubles, hitting, kicking, whining, licking and biting. Ugh. She does still manage to throw in a cute comment here or there. But, on the most part, she is truly testing our patience. Yesterday she was almost put in "timeout" by the ladies at the YMCA. Reagan is one of their favorite kids and typically can do no wrong in their eyes. Unfortunately, she completely throttled some poor unsuspecting little boy. When I picked her up, she merely walked by the little guy and he started crying. Regarding Baby Herdrich #2 they said, "that poor little baby!" Yikes. As Reagan's mother, I believe she will be a great big sister. It'll take some serious adjustments but I don't think it will be THAT bad. Wishful thinking?
For the first night in 3 weeks, she finally slept through the night without crying for me to come and lay with her. She has been throwing fits because Ben and I will not sleep in bed with her. We just don't do that. What I have had to do, in order to keep the peace in the wee hours of the night, is sit on a chair in her room until she falls asleep. This move is ridiculous to me BUT we have to get some sleep, somehow. Thankfully, today she woke with a full nights rest and I was fully anticipating a change in her daytime behaviors and attitudes. Not so much! She has been so naughty - mean even! By 9:30, she has already sat in timeout 3 times! She is currently having quiet playtime (and is actually being quiet and playing nicely). She will be taking an early nap today. It takes me an hour to get her down for her nap these days and then she sleeps for about an hour. Quite the time investment for an equal return but those 60 min. of shuteye are a complete necessity!
On a positive note, she has said some really cute things lately. We drove past a cemetery yesterday and she said, "Look Mommy, castles!" Headstones being referred to as castles is quite refreshing! She loves to dance and sing - and is doing so right now. When she was scarfing down a bowl of ice cream the other night, Ben told her she was a mess (it was all over her face!). She replied, "PIG!" Too cute! Her two most popular phrases this week are "I NEED it!" and "I LOVE it!". She convinces herself that she NEEDS everything! I guess she gets that from me. I am off for a fun few hours of play before nap time!

Reagan's favorite birthday present!

Reagan received a brand new friend for her birthday (sort of)! How cool is that? Our friends and next door neighbors welcomed their 2nd son on the 20th - one short day after Reagan's b-day. He arrived 2 weeks early but was very healthy. Reagan loves babies and was overjoyed to be able to hold little Will. Will's big brother Sam came over to play with Reagan yesterday. They both got new cash registers so they were operating the Sycamore Supermarket. It was so cute...they were both very serious about their business. These two are finally starting to play nicely together. Just in time for baby. They only had a few altercations throughout the day and that was WITHOUT a nap on Reagan's part. Sleeping issues with Reagan? Yep. Don't get me started. Baby Will comes home tomorrow!

Reagan is 2! We cannot believe that she is 2 already. While the terrible twos have already brought challenges, we are certainly having fun with her. She is such a little chatterbox and really a blast to be with. We laugh and laugh at the things she says. Her party was today. The weather was cool and beautiful. Sam, Sam & Lucy, Connor, Christopher and Luke made it over to celebrate. Reagan's pal Abby was sick. :-( It was great fun to have everyone together, playing, eating, laughing and eating some more! Reagan really enjoys being the center of attention. She enjoys opening gifts but really doesn't like to share. Old toys, new toys, or even toys that are not hers...she just doesn't seem to want to share. She is a normal 2 year old little girl then! We shall keep working on it. Sharing or not, she really loves her friends. She is now good at apologizing and "hugging it out". She loves to show affection towards her friends. We love that about our girl! Reagan fell asleep during story time tonight. This is a true rarity lately. She was zonked out after a wonderful day of being the Princess Ladybug.

My parents were here last week, hence the lack of blogging. We enjoyed our time with them. We went to the orchard, zoo and ran many errands. We also did tons of organizing and preparing for the baby. It made me feel so good to get the house cleared out a bit. I suppose you could call it "nesting". 3 months to go! It feels wonderful to have a room for Reagan and one now ready to be prepared for the baby. We are making room for the new little one!

Back to the normal swing of things tomorrow. Halloween is soon. Our friends are having their 2nd baby in just over a week. Gram Pam is coming shortly after. Many things to look forward to in the coming weeks! Enjoy the week ahead.

We are back from Wisconsin. The trip was GREAT! Ben and Quinn's surprise party ended up being an actual surprise party - even though there were ample opportunities for them to catch on. We arrived a bit late but the party lasted into the wee hours of the morning. Our late arrival was probably a blessing! The big travelers for the event would have been Damien and Cooper from DC and Jana, Todd and Brayden from MN. Ben was so excited to have them around for the weekend. Saturday continued to be a fantastic day. The WI/Ohio State game was really great. Well, the tailgate was great anyway. The "mommies" aka Jana and Leah went back to the hotel room with the kids while the others went to the game. That was PERFECT for us because we got to have some quality sister time. Pam and Gary took Reagan for the evening and that was a great help. We attempted to spend some time with Nic & Molly but Reagan had a meltdown and we were forced to leave. Molly and I agreed that Reagan's crazy actions in the Union served as great birth control for any students who were contemplating inappropriate relations! :-) Reagan wouldn't even eat Babcock Blue Moon ice cream! That is simply sick and wrong! We spent a bit of time back in West Bend but then hopped a plane to head back home. Reagan is certainly becoming a frequent flyer. She even takes on her own carry-on these days. She rolls her Abby Cadabby backpack around the airport. It really is too cute.

We are back in the swing of things here in PA. We have had 2 play dates the past 2 days, both with Sam and Lucy. We are going to the orchards with Reagan's other "boyfriend" Sam tomorrow or Friday.

I am off to the doctor for another visit tomorrow. The baby is moving around a ton more. He/she is now starting to wake me up with kicks. Perhaps the baby is hinting that it may be time to start talking about names...he/she is getting stronger each day and getting ready to get out!

Mom and Dad will be here Sunday as Ben is off to San Fran for the week.

Have a great week! LBR