Moana Birthday Party

As I mentioned in my last post about all that Reaghan loves at 3 years of age, she L O V E S Moana.

Have you seen it? Reaghan was hooked after the first time she watched it and I actually enjoy it too. Which if you know me isn't that surprising because I love me some Disney movies. We listen to the songs on repeat pretty regularly and are actually headed to our local Zoo tomorrow evening because they are showing Moana on their outside screen! SO of course Reaghan's birthday had to have a Moana theme.

Do you do themed birthdays? We've kept Reaghan's parties family only up to this point, and probably will until she's 5 or so, but we still enjoy having a little theme to go along with it. Someone was selling some pretty intense Moana decorations on our facebook yard sale site (complete with a boat made out of pallets that had a sail!) that were super adorable but I realized that would be going overboard a bit. We did buy some Moana balloons, plates and napkins and then just used some dollar tree table cloths and streamers and a bouquet of carnations from the grocery store. A friend made some killer cupcakes and I had fun creating a super easy Moana cake. (That looked better than it tasted... thank goodness for the baker friends cupcakes!) I think its fun to see Reaghan excited about the decorations that we put up for her birthday. I love that it makes her day special and memorable. She is still enjoying her Moana balloons almost 2 weeks later so it was worth the money spent. : )

Our 3 year old excited for her party! 

See Reaghan Grow! {3 years}

How is this girl 3 years old?!

Our Reaghan Eileen had her birthday last weekend! We had a fun, family "Moana" party {that I'll share in a different post} on her birthday and she loved it. We had been marking off the days on her calendar that led up to her birthday and it was cute to see the anticipation building in her little mind.

Nothing makes me more sentimental than thinking about my first born growing up. Gahhh, it gets me every time. Google photos made a video today that put together all the videos we've taken of Reaghan since her second birthday until now and I couldn't believe how much she's grown. I was proud of myself for watching the whole video without crying, I could feel the tears coming on but I held them at bay!

Here are some stats on our big girl in her 3rd year, some of the milestones she reached this past year, some of her favorite things and some things that make her unique:

See Lilly Grow! {7 Months}

The 3rd of the month has come and gone and with it another month of Lilly growing and learning and loving life. We spent her 7 month birthday shopping together at the new Premium Outlets together as a family. She does a lot of things that we will definitely hold over her head when she's older ;) but she brings so much joy to our family. We love watching her personality develop and seeing a baby reach milestones and discover new things never gets old!

Size

No official stats this month but I don't think she's grown a ton sine last month. She's still fitting in most of the same clothes. 6 months and 6-9 months. A few 9 month things seem to be a little long for her. She's definitely got some rolls on her though!

Health

This sweet baby has been in good health for most of her sweet life so far. I am so grateful.

Feeding

This girl L.O.V.E.'s to eat. She eats anything I am willing to give her. She's eating a variety of baby foods. Mashed avocado, mashed banana's and apple sauce are a couple of her favorites. She's tasted peanut butter a few times with out reactions. She loves to "chew" on baby teething wafers and graham crackers. She can't quite figure out how to pick up the little puff snacks and get it in to her mouth but she's working on it. She's also working on her technique for using a sippy cup. She's figured out how to suck out of a baby food pouch and a straw. If she see's anyone eating anything, she wants to try it! She doesn't even make sour faces when tasting pickles or lemons. I admit I'm a little more relaxed about letting her taste things like cake and ice cream than I was with Reaghan. Not that I'm letting her eat it every day, but a taste here and there isn't going to hurt her.

Sleeping

She's had an awful sleep regression this last month. She waked up every night sometime around 3-4am and cries and cries until I feed her. Currently the plan is let her fuss for 10 minutes, go in pat her back and give her her paci and walk out. Unfortunately this cycle can go on for over an hour and I usually end up feeding her because once she's fed she goes right back to sleep and even sleeps in past 8. Soooo I'm conflicted on whether to teach her that she can make it through the night without eating or give in and feed her for the sake of sleep but thereby perpetuating her wanting to eat at night. *sigh* Sometimes she doesn't nap in the morning... which is a little bit challenging because I can't put her down before 1:30 so she sleeps for Mark while I'm at work. If she doesn't nap by a certain time in the a.m. I can't put her down at all until 1:30 and she can get pretty fussy when that happens. Her afternoon naps are always long though, 2 hours minimum.

Likes

She likes to play with all of big sissy's toys. She likes to be tickled and loves peek-a-boo. She likes to watch "baby bum" on youtube. She loves bath time. She loves people and loves to smile. She has the most adorable expressions. She loves to touch people's faces. Loves to grab for anything and everything thats within her reach. Likes to watch Piper run around.

Dislikes

She doesn't like to sit still. She doesn't like to fall asleep if there is a lot going on because she's a little socialite. She doesn't like to be told no, like when she keeps trying to climb out of her tub seat and I make her sit still! 

Milestones
She's been working on crawling for the last several weeks and finally put it together on Labor Day! She'll also roll herself around to get where she wants to go. She can go from her belly to sitting all on her own. She responds to her name. She is finally riding quietly in the car now that I put her car seat in the middle close to Reaghan, she actually falls asleep now! She isn't babbling any real words or sounds yet. She basically just likes to shriek and squeal.

Sibling Love
Reaghan is not a fan when Lilly tries to get her puzzles or put her toys in her mouth. She likes to decide what toys Lilly can play with. She is a big help to me when I ask her to "keep Lilly company" while I do a quick chore. One day this month we were out back playing and I had put Lilly in the swing,.. I walked away to get something and a few moments later heard laughing, I turned around to see Reaghan pushing Lilly in the swing and they were giggling to each other. It was precious.

Special Events/Outings
She napped through a solar eclipse! Came to see sissy at VBS a couple nights and also stayed home and bonded with daddy on other nights, She no longer screams for him while I'm in the shower or at work. haha We went to Grammies first MACU volleyball game and Aunt Sara's first volleyball game of her senior year. Lilly loved both and was very vocal for both. She visited the Zoo for the first time and was a content little baby in the stroller.

Dance Class

We are entering uncharted territory this fall with Reaghan...

We've signed her up for dance class! We are entering into the world of organized activities with our kids. The world where you have to get them to a certain place every week, buy them certain items to participate in said activity and cheer them on as they grow and learn. All summer we were talking about signing her up for something this fall and we were trying to decide between soccer and dance. She loves to run and kick the ball (a girl after her mama's own heart!) but soccer meant games every Saturday... usually early games... SO we totally made a selfish decision and chose dance instead! haha We figure we have YEARS ahead of us of getting up early on Saturday mornings for sporting events so why not postpone it at least another year? Lucky for us, Reaghan is also really into wearing tutu's, twirling around, and doing anything that makes her feel like a princess. (This part of her is definitely not after her mama, but I'm completely on board with loving and promoting all princess activities in this house.)

Choosing dance worked out for us in the end because my sister in law also wanted to sign her little girl up for dance so now Reaghan will be taking taking ballet and tap with her cousin Brooklyn every Thursday night.

Their studio had an open house last week so we took the girls to meet their teacher and get fitted for their ballet and tap shoes.

A couple days before I had found adorable leotards and dance shirts on sale at Old Navy so of course I had to get them for her. (Also those sandals were on sale for $5! I wish I had a pair.)

Unfortunately at the open house I learned that they can only wear black leotards and pink tights to class, but they can wear any kind of tutu or skirt over it. *face palm* so I returned all of the leotards back to Old Navy. First lesson of putting your children in organized activities - don't buy anything until you know for sure what the need! haha

Reaghan has a very timid personality so I'm eager to see how she does and I think this will be a good opportunity for her to grow. She'll be in the class by herself while I sit in the waiting area and she doesn't have much experience with that since she stays home with me. I think having Brooklyn there with her will help her be less nervous.

On the way home from the open house we stopped and got ourselves a little end of summer treat.

Reaghan experienced m&m blizzards for the first time this year and she loves them!

Classes officially start on September 14th so I'll let you know how it goes!