Thanksgiving in Utah

Just before Thanksgiving we took Reagan on her first trip back to Utah. We were anxious about the flights but she did awesome and slept nearly the whole way.

 

Reagan got to meet her Grandpa Robert at the airport. He was smitten :)

The next day she met Great Grandma Bonnie 

 

and her West aunts, uncles, and cousins at A's 1st birthday party. We're sure they're gonna be BFF's :)

The next day was an epic day for my family. Not only was it Thanksgiving, it was the day my brother Tyler returned from his mission in Alabama! So fun to have that airport experience! 

Well done Elder Allan!

 

 

 

On top of that we got to go home to a yummy Thanksgiving dinner

 

 and celebrate my sister and I turning 30! 

 

Reagan got to meet her Uncle Timmy and her cute cousins.

 

She had no lack of snuggle time with her growing fan club around!

 

We blessed Reagan during this trip. She looked beautiful! 

(See the previous post for more about her blessing)

 

We went with Katie when she got her ears pieced. She was so brave!

Got to spend a lot of fun time with Ryan's family including a trip to Logan, lunch with the kids, yummy breakfast at Kneaders, and Ryan even threw me a surprise birthday pizza party where Reagan got to meet Santa.

 

 

The trip went by so quick as usual and it was one of the busiest we've taken but so good to see everyone and introduce them to Reagan! See you in the summer everyone!

Reagan's Blessing

 

We blessed our sweet baby Reagan in my parent's ward (Mountain Shadows 4th Ward) on
December 1, 2013. 

I was blessed in my grandparents ward in Springville and I always dreamed of blessing my first baby there as well but unfortunately both grandparents have passed away so it seemed fitting to bless Reagan in her grandparents ward. 

She was blessed by her Daddy and had both Grandpas, Uncle Tyler, Uncle Jeremy, Uncle Fritz, Uncle Jason, Great Uncle Mark, Bishop Benson and President Perkins joining him.
Reagan, your blessing was short and sweet and you only cried a little. Your dad blessed you that your body and mind would be healthy and grow and develop normally. That as the oldest you would be a good example to your younger siblings. And that you will reach out in love and service to those in need.

Getting this girl ready was no easy task!

Step 1: wake the sleeping baby (every bone in my body said not to and she seemed to agree)

Step 2: the onesie

Step 3: put on the much too large tights and shoes (she was thrilled)

Step 4: the slip (which apparently was pretty awful)

Step 5: the dress

 

Step 6: fluff and buff

 

The finished product!

We felt very blessed and grateful to have so many loving family members there for Reagan's special day!

Grandparents

Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins

 

 After the blessing we had a brunch back at Grammy and Grandpa's house.

 It was a great day and we are glad we could share it with our family! 

A few "outtakes" from the day include Reagan pooping through her dress (thankfully after the blessing and luncheon) and the drama surrounding Ryan's tie. Long story short, I asked him to bring his pink tie from our wedding. When we got to Utah he noticed it was stained so he took it to the dry cleaners. Well after 2 cleanings it looked worse and faded. I was not happy! He had brought a backup tie so he wore that but we figured out after the blessing that the original tie wasn't even our wedding tie! It was still in the closet at home :)

A few weeks after her blessing we took Reagan to have some professional pictures done in her dress.

So proud to be her mommy!

2 weeks to 2 months

2 weeks

We were a little late getting these pictures started so lets consider 2 weeks as newborn :)

Weight: 7 pounds 4 ounces
Height: 21 inches

*Your cord stump fell off when you were 9 days old
*You had lots of visitors in your first month of life!
*You were just a week old on your first Halloween and spent it inside hiding from trick or treaters :)

1 month

Weight: 9 pounds 2 ounces (actually her 6 week weight), 23rd %
Height: 22 1/4 inches, 64th %

*You sure love to nurse and we do it often!
*You took your first airplane ride at almost 5 weeks and met all of your family in Utah. You surprised mom and dad and did amazing on both flights. You slept and nursed almost the whole time!
*On your first Thanksgiving we welcomed Uncle Tyler home from his mission, celebrated mom and Aunt Leslie's 30th birthdays and had Thanksgiving dinner with Grammy and Grandpa Allan.
*You were blessed by your daddy on December 1st. You were 5 1/2 weeks old.
*You started purposefully smiling around 6 weeks and we love every one!
*You love to lay on your changing pad and kick and smile.

2 months

Weight: 9 pounds 10 ounces, 21st %
Height: 23 inches, 69th %

*We celebrated your first Christmas with a couch full of gifts!
*You started sleeping 5-7 hours at night around 10 weeks and through the night at 11 weeks (yay)!
*Mommy had to go back to work at 10 weeks so you started to go to sitters during the day. It broke mommy's heart to leave you :(
*You got your first nickname. Dad started calling you "smoochie" and now so does mom!
*You like to lay under your playmat and smile at the toys, especially your puppy.
*You finally outgrew your newborn size clothes and moved up to 0-3 months. You also moved up to size 1 pampers even though they are still a bit big on you.

One popular girl

We were lucky to have family who was eager to help and spend time with us and our new sweetheart. After my parents left my sister came out a day later. Reagan was almost as glad to meet her Aunt Leslie as Aunt Leslie was to meet her :) She's been waiting 10 years!

 

 

There was plenty of snuggle time to be had!

 

 

 

 

We also attempted different bath techniques while she was there. We transitioned from a counter top kitchen bath to her baby bath chair...as you can see she was just too small!

 So next we tried holding her in the tub. Still too small and slippery so back the counter we went!

 

 

Reagan joined us on the couch for her first Michigan State vs University of Michigan football game. Go Spartans!

 

The week with Aunt Leslie went by too quick and it came time to say goodbye

 

A few days after Aunt Leslie's visit Grandma Nancy (Ryan's mom) joined us. Reagan enjoyed lots of Grandma cuddle time!

 

Reagan sporting her "Fancy like my grandma" shirt

 

 

 

 Before she left, we took Grandma Nancy on an outing to Bronner's which is the biggest Christmas store in the world!

 

Reagan picked out an ornament for her Uncle Tyler who would soon be returning from his mission to Alabama

 

Our bath experiment continued to evolve. Getting Dad in the tub seemed to do the trick! I know she appears terrified in the picture but she actually loved it :)

 

How cute is this girl?!

 

Like I said, we were very lucky and blessed to have help from family for almost 3 weeks straight. So nice to have the company, the advice, the meals, the cleaning but most of all the love shown for us and Reagan. Come back soon guys!