Potty Training

Yes...it is time. I have heard all the nightmare stories from others making me wish that Reagan would wear diapers the rest of her life, but I finally heard the dreaded words the other day, "Mommy, potty." Sometimes it is "Lisa, potty" since she likes to call me Lisa more than mommy, but that is a whole other challenge.

Anyway...so I take her diaper off and try to put her on the big girl potty and she starts to cry. Great...this is not going to be easy I can see. She gets up and then puts the seat down on the big girl potty and sits on that and starts yelling "potty, mama, potty." Doesn't really work so well with the seat cover on the potty, but why dampen her enthusiasm.

I think enthusiasm is an understatement when describing her "obsession" with the potty. She has to go whenever the big kids go at daycare. Then when she gets home from daycare, the first thing she does is run for the potty. Then when we are in the bathroom, she has to "go" too.

Since the big potty is not working, we go and buy her a potty her own size. Of course, you cannot buy just a regular potty these days - they have all these features. There are 3-in-1 potties, boys potties, potties with games, musical ones, etc. So we pick out the one that plays music when you go - it actually plays different songs when you going #1 and #2 (ridiculous). I am not sure how it knows which is which and I am not really sure I want to know what went into that technology. It also makes me once again ask the question, how did I ever make it without a musical potty? It goes along with the same question I have about car DVD players, booster seats until age 7, no real food for the first year, etc.

Anyway...so Reagan likes to sit on that now, still with the top down. We have not had any success in actually going, which is good since she has the lid down and I would have quite a mess to clean up if she actually went, but she is really excited about her potty. I guess that is the first step. She is still pretty young from what everyone tells me, but if she is interested, who am I to argue? It sure will be nice when I do not have to pay $35 for a thing of diapers.

Tennis At 92

I know this has nothing to do with Reagan, but I thought it was pretty cool and wanted to share. I played tennis today with a lady who is 92 years old (she turns 93 in September). Her name is Marmie Ankeny and she can still hit the ball pretty good. It was so much fun just to see her out there playing and loving what she was doing. I hope to be alive at 92, let alone hitting the tennis ball.

If you would like read more about this great lady, including that she still drives (a Jaguar no less), click on this link: www.northern.usta.com/news/fullstory.sps?inewsid=465954&iNewsCat=

Reagan is good. Nothing new to report. Grandma Vicki and Grandpa Rick are coming on Saturday for 11 days while mom and dad go to the US Open. Should be fun for everyone.

Gotta "go, go, go"

Reagan's Mom

Brady's Lady

Fairy Godmother (Jen) also brought Reagan a Brady Quinn Cleveland Browns jersey. She is officially a Brady's Lady, although I think she gained permanent status when she was named after him. Here she is in her new jersey!

And, just in case you have not seen it, here is Reagan (and Andrew too) with her namesake.

The Great Minnesota Get Together

Reagan's fairy godmother, Jen, came to visit this weekend from Chicago so we could all go to the "Great Minnesota Get-Together" along with 100,000 of our closest friends. It was a great weather day as it was about 75 degrees, sunny and breezy so that was a good start to the day.

We arrived about 10 a.m. and the first thing we did was go to the Miracle of Birth barn where we saw a baby calf being born. Reagan wasn't to into that, but Jen and I thought it was pretty cool. I got teary eyed when the little girl made her way into the world. I thought I would be over that once I had my own baby, but the feelings were even stronger as I was remembering Reagan being born. Weird.

We then had our brush with fame as we ran into Al Franken of Saturday Night Live fame. He is running on the democratic ticket for Minnesota state senator in 2008 so he was there meeting and greeting people. Here are Jen and I with him.

We had been there almost 45 minutes and had not had anything to eat so we made our way to the horticulture center for a cider popsicle (Andrew's favorite treat). Then it was onto the good stuff - cheese curds. I love them and Reagan did too. She is really into dipping things into ketchup so these were perfect. By the end of the day we had eaten corned beef and cabbage on a stick, wild rice hamburgers, pronto pups, sno cones, strawberry shortcake, corn on the cob and then the best part of the day...Sweet Martha's Cookies. If you have never had Sweet Martha's Cookies, they are the best chocolate chip cookies housed right next to the all you can drink milk stand. Reagan doesn't really like sweets so we gave her a little taste of the cookie. The next thing I hear is "Cookie, mama, Cookie." After about 5 cookies and a glass of milk, this is what Reagan looked like.

She also rode the giant slide for the second year in a row and the gondola. She loved both of them, crying after the slide was over and relaxed for a nap once the gondola stopped. She also visited the pigs, cows and horses - she had one pig trying to eat her stroller. It was a full day, but she had a great time. She cannot wait until next year when she can have even more "cookies, mama."

Go Irish!

I wanted to show everyone what Grandma Vicki made for Reagan the other day. These are so cool. I keep telling her that she could probably sell them for $50 a pair at Notre Dame. She says that they are too much work, but money talks... ha! Andrew says it would be a great fundraiser for the Reagan Mushett Notre Dame College Fund. Orders are being taken today!

Busy, Busy

It has been a busy couple of days for Reagan's mom - thus the lack of writing. I had my tennis tournament this past weekend. We were so close but lost the deciding match 4-1, including me losing in a third-set tiebreaker 10-8. It was a bummer, but I had a lot of fun playing. Now it is on to fall season.

Reagan is good. She went to another big girl party on Friday for my work - this time with better results. She ran around and danced for everyone the whole night - just like her mom used to do in her prime.

This is a photo of Reagan in the rocking chair her Grandma Vicki painted for her and her mom's old baby blanket. Still not going well in getting rid of the pacifier. She is doing well at school without it, but not at home. It has been a very trying time for us. Any suggestions, please feel free to share.

She went back to school on Monday after a week off, but you would have never known she had been away. As soon as she walked in the door, she ran around and high fived all of the kids and said "Hi Lana." That makes me feel good that she likes it there so much. One new thing at daycare is that Alana is bringing in a teacher once a week to work with the kids on such things as Spanish, music, and reading. I think that is great and I look forward to Reagan coming home and saying "Yo hablo espanol"

We have a big weekend coming up as Reagan's godmother is coming to Minneapolis to visit. Jen is a lawyer in Chicago and we see her often which is nice. She was a friend of Andrew's when he was at Notre Dame. She is coming for the 'great Minnesota get together' - the State Fair. If you have never been to the State Fair in Minnesota, it is a site to see. It is the second largest fair in the U.S. (Texas of course is the biggest). I am sure we will have plenty of photos from the weekend so tune in for that.

That is all the news. Reagan has discovered cartoons and videos and the minute she gets in the car or gets home, she must have us turn them on. We had to go buy more movies today since we were sick of watching Alice in Wonderland and Aladdin. We tried to get her to watch Rudy but she only likes the band scenes (she has a thing for the Victory March - what a surprise!).

This last photo is of Reagan at the Minnesota Lynx WNBA game on Sunday. She loves those games, although she needed her coffee for this one (don't worry...it is water Grandma Vicki). She knows exactly when to clap and cheer and she has made quite a few friends at the games this year.

That is about all for now.

Gotta 'go, go, go,"
Reagan's mom

The Bridge Tragedy

On Saturday Grandma Kate, Aunt Alison, Reagan and I went to pay our respects to the victims of the Bridge tragedy here in Minneapolis. Words really cannot describe how horrific the bridge looks or the fact that only 13 people have lost their lives or are missing. It is truly amazing that so many people survived. Here is a photo of the north end of the bridge just to get an idea. God Bless all the families who lost loved ones in the disaster.

Time to "go, go, go"

Reagan's mom

Reagan's First Big Girl Party

Since Andrew was in San Francisco, I thought I would be brave and take Reagan to this charity fundraiser for the Pine Tree Apple Tennis Classic which rasies money for children's cancer research last Friday night.

She is dressed up and looks so cute - such a big girl. Everyone is cooing over her, and of course not knowing the food situation, she came parading in with her Burger King Kids Meal and a smile.

We find a seat with our good friends Tony and Ronda and things are going great. Reagan is having a great time playing with Tony and running around the table. We look at all the auction items and she bids on a kids basket full of toys (which she won of course). So things are going very well...for now

Well, by the end of my night (about 7:15 p.m. - only 45 minutes after we arrived), this is how Reagan looked. She passed out under the table! And of course we were sitting right by the buffet line so everyone saw her. With all of the wine glasses and beer bottles on my table, I am sure people were comparing me to Britney Spears in the awful parent contest. Anyway...a lasting memory from Reagan's first big girl party.

I'm So Pretty

Hi everyone...Here are two new photos that I took of Reagan yesterday. She is wearing her "trashy halter top" outfit as her dad calls it, but since he is in San Francisco...what he doesn't know won't hurt him (unless he is reading this of course). I would rather have her wearing it at age 1 than age 13!

Reagan decided yesterday that she likes ice cream and brownies. Normally she does not eat anything with sugar (she is a salt girl like her mom), but Auntie Crystal made these awesome homemade ice cream sandwiches and Reagan loved them. It was funny to see her digging in with her "big girl" spoon for another bite. This went on for about 20 minutes, but her sugar high was short lived as she fell asleep on the 5-minute car ride home.

We have a big weekend as Grandma Kate and Aunt Alison are coming to visit tomorrow and then take care of Reagan while her daycare provider is on vacation next week. That will be special for her and nice for mom and dad. Mom has her big tennis tournament next weekend so that will enable her to practice a little more than normal.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Gotta "go, go, go".
Reagan's mom

Figuring This Whole Thing Out

Thanks to the help of Auntie Crystal, I am finally figuring out how this blogging thing works and how to upload photos.

Reagan must be entering the "Terrible Twos" a bit early as last night we had our first ever horrible restuarant experience. I am so sorry Julie.... Anyway, nothing I could do made Reagan happy and by the end all she did was sit on the floor and cry. After about 45 minutes, I had to leave. I guess it is the age, but the little diva was making it known that she was not happy. She has a tendency now to throw her pacifier when she does not get her way, as well as her sippy cup, her silverware, her crayons and whatever else is in front of her. I hope this stage passes quickly because my perfect angel doesn't seem so perfect anymore. Any advice for me would be welcomed!

We also found out that Reagan's Uncle Brett cut his foot surfing yesterday. He is OK, but she hopes he gets better soon!

She also hopes daddy gets back from his trip soon too. Last night, he was on the speaker phone and Reagan just sat in front of the refridgerator and cried the whole time he talked to her. Then the first thing she said this morning was "Where's Daddy?"

Time to "go, go, go."
Reagan's mom

Awesome!

Lisa and blogging...seems like a natural fit since I like to talk and write so much. I have always shyed away from these new and scary technologies, but as everyone keeps asking me how Reagan is, I thought maybe I would try it and you could share in the joy I have every day with the little diva.

Reagan is 21 months now and is quickly becoming a little girl. She is "so pretty" as she likes to tell me and loves clothes and shoes (her favorite shoes are her "pretty shoes" - her pink crocs) like her mom. She also talks a lot (like her mom) with her favorite words being hockey, awesome, color, grapes and coke (everything is Coke to her so she must have some Texas roots in her somewhere). She loves to play with her puppy (she calls him Buddy or puppy) and tries to get him to lick her face all the time. She also likes to be outside and to "go, go, go." She loves her daycare and all her friends and she can count to 10, although I think everyone asks her to count all the time because she immediately says "no" when you start to count. She also loves the water, whether it is "scrub, scrub time" or drinking "wa wa" out of the fountain. She doesn't drink the water, she puts her hands in it and then pretends she is washing her face to cool down. She also likes to read...if I don't ever have to read "Wheels on the Bus", "Itsy Bitsy Spider" or "I've Been Working On The Railroad/Eyes of Texas" (depending on if mom or dad is reading it) ever again, it would be OK. She still naps twice a day so that is nice!

Her Grandma Kate and Aunt Alison are coming this weekend which should be fun for them. Her dad is in San Francisco for the next four days so we will see how the "Daddy's Girl" handles it. We will also see how daddy handles it since he has never been gone from her for this long.

OK...well, I have killed enough time in the office and it is now time to go. We will see how long I keep up with this. I hope you enjoy it and I will try and upload photos as much as possible.

Time to "go, go, go."
Reagan's mom