Merry Christmas! ... sort of...

Well, I can tell you that this Christmas was comparable to last Christmas, because Kevin and I didn't get much sleep at all...again.

No, the basement didn't flood (thank God!).

Christmas Eve morning Regan woke up with a fever.  Mild at first, so we tried to keep her in her routine, and off to Kevin's parents we went.  She was a good sport about opening gifts and playing with wrapping paper, but you could tell she was not herself.

Later that night her temperature spiked to 103.9!  She was so miserable all night, and no one slept very well at all.  Kevin and I were worried about what was causing the fever (teething?), so we were constantly checking on her, rocking her, giving her Tylenol...  The next morning her temperature was moving in the right direction, so we opened gifts from Santa, and had some breakfast with the Grandparents.

Regan even managed to play for a little while, so we figured she was on the mend from a 24hr bug.  Crisis (somewhat) averted.  Aside from the lack of sleep, we all felt well enough to go over to the Teach's for Christmas dinner and festivities.

By the end of the night we were all beat, and when we got home we got another surprise...Regan's fever had returned with full force!

Back to the regimen of pharmaceuticals and remades; we all got a little more sleep this night.  Maybe we were in the clear?

Alas, Saturday morning, though Regan seemed to be acting fine, her fever had not subsided.  Not having any other symptoms, we just decided to lay low for the day and let her sleep it off.  Which seemed to work because by the end of the day her fever was gone!  Finally we would have a peaceful night of sleep!

::Enter Tooth Fairy::

Just when our problems with the fever were over, Regan was still restless throughout the night because her gums were in pain.  More Tylenol, more rocking, less sleep.

This morning: no fever, gums still painful, and she had a red rash all over her abdomen and back.

Finally we have our diagnosis (well, diagnoses): Roseola (6th's Disease) AND Teething.

While we are happy to know that the cause of the fever is a very common virus for kids her age to have, it doesn't make us feel any better that she had to experience it during her first Christmas, while trying to pop out her first teeth!  Can't a kid catch a break?!

Hopefully she sleeps through the night to night, and gets those teeth out quick so we can have a happy smiley baby who will be in a good mood to play with all of her new toys!

Here's hoping NEXT Christmas will be better (knock on wood!)

9 Months Old!

I will post about the Christmas excitement soon!

Thank You Talisha!

Yesterday my Dad came over with a gift for Regan.  One of the techs in the Pharmacy made Regan a beautiful Cinderella Princess blanket!  Thank-you Talisha for the beautiful gift!  Regan loves to play with the fringe on the border, and it even says "Princess Regan" on the back!  Here are a few pictures:

Here are a few more pictures taken over the last few weeks.

Let It Snow

Yesterday was Regan's first snow storm!

It was snowing and blowing all day long, until Dad made it home from work.  Then we all went outside to "play" in the snow.

First we got all dressed up, nice and warm.  Regan couldn't really move in her bunting.

So she sat in the snow, and fell down in the snow...Regan was un-enthused and confused.

After we came in, Regan sat and watched Dad snow-blow the driveway.  She had a blast watching daddy and the snow flying everywhere.  She was waving her arms and clapping her hands, banging up against the window!

We don't need any more snow, so we all hope it will stay away for awhile.

New Talents!

This week Regan has blossomed with new talent!

A little after Thanksgiving she started to say "mom-mom", which got better and better, until it was a full fledged "mama". Here is a video I got of her saying it the other day. She won't do it if she knows she is being filmed, so I had to position the camera, then go about my business (I was ironing at the time).


A few days ago while we were doing belly time on the floor, she started lifting her butt in the air like so:

I though for sure that forward movement was soon to come, but instead she has taught herself to scoot backwards, and winds up with her lugs stuck under the couch.

Then, just tonight while she was playing she started clapping! Without any prompting from anyone, just started clapping and smiling, all proud of herself.

More to come!

Turkey Day

Better late then never...here are some pictures from Regan's first Thanksgiving.  I had to steal these from my cousin because I was a slacker and didn't take many pictures.  So I only have pictures from my Aunts house, and none of the Kerl house.  

I promise to do better at Christmas.

So basically Thanksgiving went like this: 

-Arrive at __insert relative's name here__'s House

-Hand over baby

-Eat and Drink

-Announce that it's time for us to go to __insert another relative's name here__'s House

-Get baby back and pack up the car

-Repeat

This is the new game, we like to call it "pass the bean"

Regan was in charge of pulling names out of a basket for the Christmas Gift Exchange

Regan playing with her cups

Rosa wanted to play with Regan's cups too!

Incidentally Thanksgiving coincided with a milestone birthday for Grandma Gannon, Uncle Mark made a special pie for the occasion

We all had a great time.  I will post more this weekend.  Regan has learned to say "mama" and "mom"...i'm still trying to get a video of it, and when I do I will post it.  Also, she "crawled" backwards today while she was playing on her tummy.  She went so far, she got her legs shoved underneath the couch.  Hopefully forward movement isn't far behind.

8 Months Old!

Regan is eight months old today!  Where has this time gone?

Getting her to sit still by myself proved to be quite a feat today when I tried to take her picture.  She kept insiting on turning around to rip her sign down off the couch.

What mommy?  You don't want me to do....this!

You don't want me to do...this!?

O.K...I'll be good now

This month, Regan still struggles with crawling.  She is just too rolly polly for her to lift her belly off the ground.  The hands and feet move, we just have to get the middle to cooperate too.  She does manage to rotate herself in a circle on the floor.

Last week, on a nice day, Regan and I visited the Botanical Gardens to walk around and check out the plants.  Here are a few pics:

She's such a big girl now

Here she's looking at the model train they have set up for the holidays

Here is a pretty orchid from the "orchid house"

They had big ceiling fans in there...she was mesmerized

Afterwards we went to go visit Grandpa

More to come this week...pictures of the Turkey Day festivities and Grandma Virginia's Birthday!

Week 33

This week Regan has been an angel.  We think she knows Christmas is coming soon, because she has been on her very best behavior lately, being a smiley happy baby all of the time.  Grandma and Grandpa Kerl were here to babysit on Friday night, and Regan didn't cry once!

Here are some pictures from this past week:

She is practicing her crawling skills (or lack there of)

Bubble bath time!

Grandma Gannon busted out Mommy's old piano, and Regan gave us a concert

Here's Regan and Daddy, reading on the couch

Regan wanted to show off her shirt too... it says "I Make My Daddy Smile"

In other news; I am happy to report that Cheri and Mark had their baby late Friday night, and contrary to my prognostication, IT'S A GIRL!  Cassandra Rose was born at 11:15pm November 13th, weighing 7 pounds 14 ounces.  Everyone is doing great, and we are so happy to have another new baby in our circle.

Thank Heaven for Regan

Last night Regan was Baptized at St. John Vianney Church.  She wore a grown purchased by her Great Great Grandmother, for all of her great-grandchildren to wear.  Now Regan is the 9th baby to wear it (including myself and Colin) and the first great-great grandchild to wear it.  She did really well through the whole ceremony, and I think she wanted to dive into the baptismal fountain.  Here are some pics:

Regan and Mommy

Aunt Steph and her niece Mara, with Regan and Mommy

Cousin Derek thought Regan looked very pretty in her "Wedding Dress"

(He's 5...white dress + church = wedding dress)

Godmother Beth with Dad, Mom and Regan

"Hey look, is it bath time!?"

The Moment of Truth

Pretty Girl posing in her dress...she kept wanting to turn around and grab the flowers

The Cake - I ordered it last week from Wegmans.  Kevin went to pick it up and they forgot to make it...so they whipped this one up for us.

Erin and Regan perfecting their Vaudeville routine