Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Okay, so not trains, but we did travel by planes and automobiles on our trip to Texas last week!

My cousin Emma was getting married and I was in the wedding so my mom, sister, Reaghan and I traveled down to Texas for a few days to celebrate with family. It was Reaghan's first plane trip so I was a little nervous about how she would do, but I shouldn't have been! She didn't have any issues with ear pain, played contentedly in our laps, and didn't have a single meltdown the entire time. I had been praying for this trip for the last several weeks and I'm just so thankful that everything went well.

We spent the first couple of days in a little town called Lindale, where Emma lives and spent time hanging out with family, getting ready for the wedding and throwing Emma a fun bachelorette party!

We took this picture to send to Mark the night of the party because it was his birthday. We were so sad to be missing his birthday and we're thankful he was home working hard so we could go on this trip.

Emma's sister Olivia set up a super cute photo booth background with props. We also had an ice cream bar, played games and you know, gave wedding night presents and advice. ; )

Reaghan got to meet my cousin Jake's baby, Ada Iris. They are only 10 days apart!

On Thursday we traveled from Lindale to Denton, where Emma and Lloyd were getting married. Emma prepared these adorable welcome bags for everyone staying at the hotel! 

My mom was such a blessing! Erin and I were so busy with wedding stuff that she spent most of the time taking care of Reaghan for me. The trip wouldn't have been possible (or it would've been really hard!) if she hadn't of come. I didn't have anything to worry about either, because Reaghan just adores her grammy!

Emma got married at a beautiful venue in Denton, the place was gorgeous as is and they added the perfect centerpieces with wildflowers and lace and candles. This was taken before the decorations were added, but it was pinterest perfect.

Reaghan and I together in the bridal suite.

My cousin Tim's little guy Colton was the ring bearer!

This is how Reaghan enjoyed the ceremony. It was pretty dang hot out in the Texas sun, even at 5pm, but she hung in there pretty well with my mama during most of the service. 

The Bride and Groom - officially Mr. & Mrs.!!

Here we are at the Reception with my grandma. Her name is Iris Eileen and both of these little girls are named after her. Ada Iris on the left and Reaghan Eileen on the right. : )

The picture quality is awful but the content is adorable! Reaghan and Colton getting their dance on all night long! They were party animals, and adorably cute ones at that. 

The next morning we had a big family breakfast at Cracker Barrel to say goodbye to everyone. Here is my grandma with her great grands that were there at the wedding. We are grateful she's been so involved in our lives and continues to love on the 4th generation. Legacy is a beautiful thing people - especially when your legacy is people.

Our trip home started out great - Reaghan was awesome on the airplane and in the airport during our layovers.

We were happy to be on our way home!

Crawling on the airport floor in New Orleans was definitely not the cleanest thing I've ever done. But when a 2 hour layover turns into 3 1/2 hours - well your 9 month old needs to get some energy out. 

Taking Selfies of our tired selves after the layover - ready for our last leg to Atlanta where we were supposed to stay on the plane and let more people on and then continue on to Richmond...

Unfortunately that wasn't what happened. 

Our wonderful trip to Texas ended with us waiting around in the Atlanta airport until 1:30am only to find out our plane was cancelled and there wasn't another flight out until TUESDAY at 10pm. I'm not kidding. We then went to get our bags so we could find another way home, only to find out that the airline was going to send our bags on to their destinations in the morning and wouldn't release them to us even though we were in the same airport as our bags at that moment. There were a few hundred angry people stranded in the airport without bags and no flights going out from any airline until at least 5 am. I did coax one employee to go find Reaghan's carseat so we could rent a car to drive home, thankfully they did that for me because they really didn't want to.

We ended up leaving the airport in a rental car at 3am to drive up to Richmond to get our bags the next day. We finally got there at 2pm, where Mark and Erin's husband Adam came and picked us up to drive us home. We were very sad to spend most of Father's day in a car traveling and not with Mark. It's not exactly how I had hoped to celebrate my man on his first Father's day.

But you know what I'm super thankful for???

My precious girl. 

She was a trooper. During that whole debacle at the airport - from 9:30pm until we got in the car at 3:30am - she didn't have a single meltdown. Maybe a fuss here or there, but she truly brought smiles to every face that she met and kept a little bit of joy in our hearts during the whole situation! And then she slept most of the car ride home. I couldn't have asked for anything more from her!

Our Texas trip was full of sweet memories and we are looking forward to our next trip in July! We'll be heading North this time to Ohio and we'll be road tripping it for sure! It takes longer, but at least we'll have more control over our travel time ; ) 

See Reaghan Grow! {9 Months}

Reaghan turned 9 months old on her daddy's birthday on the 17th! We were gone in Texas so I'm just now getting a chance to write down all of the things she did and learned this last month. It seems like every day is something new! I can't believe she is getting so big; she feels less and less like a little baby. I am starting to think about her 1st birthday and just can't believe that its almost that time!

• At her 9 month appointment she weighed in at 16lbs, 15oz and 26.75 inches - she is in the 25th percentile for height and weight, so she is a little tiny thing.
• She has returned to sleeping through the night - thank goodness! She sleeps about 10-11 hours, going to bed around 8:30-9 and waking up anywhere between 6-7.
• If she is up past her bedtime she tends to get super giggly! Everyone says she comes alive at night! 
• She's learned how to wave, play games like peekaboo, blow kisses, and pull things off of her head. She brings her hands together like she wants to clap, but can't quite figure it out.
• We took our first family vacation to the OBX and had a blast. She didn't sleep well in her pack n play at night, but otherwise stayed on a great schedule and took good naps and played really well with her cousin Brooklyn. It was also the first time that BB and TomTom and Aunt Ann babysat her so Mark and I could have a date night while were there.
• She got her first rash that started the last couple of days we were at the beach. It started out with a fever and an upset stomach and then appeared all over her trunk. When we called the Drs they didn't want us to come in, they said it was just a viral rash that was nothing to worry about since it didn't occur at the same time as her fever. She was back to normal in a couple of days.
• She's learned how to hold her own sippy cup to drink from it - she LOVES water!
• She's eating with her fingers - puffs, cut up fruits, and soft cookies/wafers. She's always interested in whatever someone else is eating so we've been giving her more and more little bits of whatever we are having.
• She's making new sounds every day - our favorites are when she goes "ooh-ooh" or makes a fake laugh. Her Aunt Erin is convinced she says "nin-nin" when she see's her. :)
• She can go from her belly to sitting all on her own! She tries to quadruped crawl but scooting on her belly is just easier for her, so she does that instead. haha We are having to keep an extra close eye on her because she can move around so much faster than we think!
• She has an inability to actually suck on a paci, but she'll hold her paci in her mouth with her hand to keep it in place when she's trying to calm down from throwing a fit or when she's trying to fall asleep.
• She has been super clingy, wants to see and touch mommy if I'm in the room with her but she'll do okay if she can't see me at all, which makes it easier to leave her to go to work or on a date night.
• She's started to climb on me if I'm laying on the floor with her, so I know pulling herself up will be right around the corner! (She actually just learned to do this, but its going to go under a 9-10 month milestone!)
• Her hair is getting thicker and has almost a reddish tint to the brown color. I can almost put a clip bow in it!
• We are still waiting on teeth to show up! It's hard to try new foods when no teeth are there to help chew!
• I got shingles on my chest and had to stop breastfeeding for a week. Thankfully I had a few days worth of milk in the freezer, but I did have to supplement with formula for a few feedings before returning to nursing. This broke my heart, as I could tell she wasn't happy with having the bottle all of the time. She missed the connection and closeness that comes with nursing, I'm so glad I had a mild case so we only had to deal with not nursing for about a week! (Also thankful she didn't get the chicken pox since she was exposed to my rash before I knew what it was!)
• She took her first plane ride to Texas just days before turning 9 months old and she did fantastic. Many people commented on how well she did and she made sure to share a smile with almost everyone.
• She is learning sign language to help her communicate with us without screaming/whining. So far she has mastered the "please" sign! Watching her learn gives me so much joy! 

Saying "please!"

Cookie Butter

Remember when I told you that Mark and I went to Trader Joe's after our anniversary dinner?

So.... I found something there that I had no idea even existed and I wish I had been eating it my whole life. You've probably heard of it because apparently its Trader Joe's most famous product. Our waitress at the Melting Pot was the one that suggested I try it out after she found out that was our after dinner plans. At first I thought I would just humor her and see what she was talking about, but now I want to go back and give her a hug and possibly a bigger tip.*



Can you guess what it is?

You guys. All it took was one taste. I am head over heals for this stuff. I seriously cannot get enough. I am trying to think of everything I can to dip in it or spread it on. I've even resorted to just licking it off the spoon. When I went grocery shopping on Sunday, I bought food specifically for eating with this cookie butter. I don't know what it is about it! Apparently it tastes just like Biscoff - but I've never had that either!!! I'm beginning to worry that there is a whole world of deliciousness that I'm missing out on. 

I bought a jar and also these -

My mouth is watering just thinking about them! I bought myself a box when we first went and ate them all in 2 days. (Eating half of the box Tuesday night and the next half Wednesday morning counts as 2 days right?) I seriously went back to Trader Joe's that Saturday and bough FOUR MORE BOXES of these cookies. I'm not even kidding. I did leave 1 box for each of my sisters that were house/dog sitting for me as part of my Thank You to them, but I took the other 2 on vacation to share reluctantly gladly with family. 

So why am I just posting this now? Because my jar of cookie butter is almost gone and I'm realizing how deep my addiction is running. I'm contemplating driving the 35 minutes out to Trader Joe's just for some more of this stuff. but I might try Biscoff first and see how that compares. (Though nothing can compare to the cookie butter sandwich cookies.)

And while writing this post, I realized I haven't even searched Pinterest yet for actual recipes involving cookie butter! Why am I so slow on the learning curve with this stuff?! So, I just hopped over to good ol' Pinterest and not surprisingly, theres a ton of stuff. I pinned this one. So now I basically have to go buy more of something to try some of these recipes. Check them out at Something Swanky. My mouth is watering just thinking about them.

Have you tried this stuff before? Do you absolutely love it? Mark says he's not a big fan - which means I can't even talk to him when he speaks nonsense like that. 

*We actually do try to tip wait staff pretty well - so don't get me wrong, we took care of her - I just mean she might deserve like a 50% tip for her, well, tip.*

Love it or Leave it: Baby Items Months 6-8

When I made the list for baby items of 4-6 months, I made a comment at the end of that post that I couldn't wait to make a new list of baby items as Reaghan continued to grow, but you know what? It turns out that as baby's grow - the less baby items you actually need! Haha duh, right? So there are a few specific things that we've definitely found helpful, but most things are just general (like baby spoons and sippy cups) that aren't really list worthy. SO you'll find this list a lot shorter than the previous ones!

LOVE IT

Food Gear
For food on the go I've found a couple of things to be helpful - these little bowls with lids that secure shut and food pouches. I can portion out some oatmeal into the bowl and then just add water wherever we are going and I can squirt food from the pouch right onto a spoon or right into her mouth! It makes less mess and less dirty dishes to carry around in her diaper bag.

Cart/Highchair Cover 
This by far is my favorite thing right now. I just keep it in the car to be able to pull out any time we run into a store or a restaurant. Its not that I'm a huge germophobe here, though it is nice to know Reaghan isn't touching what hundreds of other people touch, I just love the way it makes her look more secure in the cart or highchair. I especially love the taggie one we have that's pictured below because I can hook some toys or her paci clip on the taggies to keep things from falling on the floor.

Umbrella Stroller

We love our travel system stroller and our BoB jogging stroller, but when we went on vacation we only had enough space in the SUV for one. We chose the BoB so I could jogging in the mornings with Reaghan, but we knew we weren't going to be able to take that into shops or the outlet malls. So while we were in the OBX we stopped at a baby consignment store and scored this small umbrella stroller that happened to be brand new in the box! We love having something super light and easy to travel with.

Baby Gates

Now that Reaghan's mobile, its nice to have some baby gates to keep her in one area if necessary. We used them at the beach a lot because it was a three level condo and we didn't want her falling down the stairs. I've used them some at home, but honestly, this girl is turning into such a mama's girl that she wants to make sure she can see me at all times. Which means she doesn't try to venture into other rooms while she's playing. I know we'll use them more and more as she becomes a quicker crawler and eventually starts walking. We just have the simple wood ones pictured below.

Toys

Reaghan has few different favorite toys these days, and mostly her favorite things include regular household items like cups or remotes, but the 2 stand out toys that always capture her attention are her wooden puzzle and her lights and sound Vtech racer. Its ridiculously cute to watch her grab the little wheel with both hands and turn it back and forth. And the puzzle, well, she mostly just bangs the pieces together. ; )

LEAVE IT

Mesh Food Bags 

I got these at a baby shower and have been looking forward to breaking them out and using them because I know so many people that love them! Plus, they just look like a fun, clever way for babies to eat food! But I cannot get Reaghan to get the hang of these things. I think it's a texture thing with the mesh, but whatever it, she is not a fan.

We're still use several pieces of gear from my previous lists, but some things are becoming less and less necessary, which is nice, especially when going out of the house. While new things are becoming essential to have! (like my cart cover!) And now that we are getting into the summer months, I know my 8-10 month list will be mostly seasonal as I'm already searching for a perfect pool float!