5 months

So it's official, our little man is now 5 months old! Where is this time going? He is just the sweetest baby, and he is getting so big so fast. He weighs about 16 1/2 lbs already (Raegan only weighed 18 lbs at 1 year old!) I tried to get a cute picture of him today, but he was tired so he wasn't in the mood to smile a lot. He still looks pretty stinking cute though :) This is just so typical Drew. He is just so laid back, and as long as he's got some fingers or a thumb to chew/suck on he is good to go. Doesn't he look so big.

Ponytails and Pears

Yesterday was a wonderful vacation day! We spent the majority of the day at home cleaning, playing outside, mowing the yard, playing outside some more, fertilizing the yard, playing some more... you get the picture. The children napped simultaneously for 2 1/2 hours as well!!! Tony and I actually got to spend some quality time together, just the two of us. That hasn't happened in a long time. We had beautiful weather and ended the day with a trip to Nana and Grandad's for some yummy BBQ ribs and shrimp.

Today, we were afraid it would be rainy all day, but thankfully we were able to enjoy an overcast but warm day (which is a little better for our fair skinned children) Here is Raegan enjoying her new playhouse. This was one of our latest bargains. Our friend Lisa had a neighborhood yardsale, and her neighbor was selling this playhouse for $35. It has been a favorite of Raegan's and all her little buddies who come and play.Notice her ponytail on top of her head. I must say, Raegan had "ponytail envy" on Sunday. A little girl, Tannith, in our nursery had a ponytail on top of her head and this morning when fixing Raegan's hair, she insisted her ponytail be "Up Here" like Tannith's. She did look pretty cute. :) Batter up! She can actually hit the ball very well. She makes her daddy so proud :)
Our other yardsale bargain was this Little Tikes Climbing toy. We paid $10 for this thing which costs $80 brand new. What a deal!!!

And Drew is being adventurous these days as well. He got to try pears for the first time today. This is the first food besides rice cereal, he has had. Here were the results. I mixed it with some rice cereal first to warm him up to it. He seems to be saying, "Not TOO bad"
Here he is trying the pears all by itself. I loved this expression. He shivered at the taste, but opened his mouth right back up. I just mixed a little in his cereal after this. It looked to painful to give it straight.
As you can see, even a few spoons of sour pears won't make this sweet fella upset. He is such a sweet baby. And for the last two weeks, he has been sleeping 10 or 11 hours straight at night!!! What a wonderful present for this momma! Sanity seems to be creeping its way back into this house :)

Visit with Mom-O

After church today, we visited with my grandmother, or as Raegan calls her "Mom-O". It's hard to believe that my grandmother is 94 years old, and still gets around as well as she does. She had a big dinner fixed when we arrived (though she does let her daughters help a little now). Here she is snuggling with Drew. And yes, Drew is going to be a thumb sucker Drew definitely took up with Mom-O, and she seemed to love it!
After dinner, we headed to the cemetery where my grandfather is buried. Here we are just posing with Mom-O... she sure doesn't look 94!!! Mom-O and Raegan were the only smart ones who wore hats. Doesn't she look cute in her sunhat.
We always go up on Memorial Day and put new flowers up on my granddads grave. Well, this year we had extra help. Mom and I had already arranged these flower, but as you can see Raegan didn't think it was finished.

She worked very hard making sure that everything looked just right. Check out the concentration with that tongue stuck out.
Not sure why she thought a random stick would look nice in it :)
Raegan is a Daddy's girl, and here she is snuggled up to him just before we left. I loved this picture!
She is waving bye to the camera.

Just goofing off

WHAT did we do to survive the winter months??? For the last week it has been cold and rainy here, which means little time can be spent outside.... and that can make for very long days! Now that the weather is finally clearing up and warming up, both kids and Tony are sick. Raegan is getting over an ear infection, but still has a runny nose apparently due to allergies. Drew has an upper respiratory infection, and Tony has a sinus and upper respiratory infection.

Unfortunately, taking picture hasn't been at the top of my list this week, but I did try to get a picture of the kids together. We were really just goofing off, but here is what I came up with. I couldn't believe how much Raegan and Drew look alike in this first picture. I'm not sure if it's there expressions or what, but I never really thought they looked that much alike until now. I tried to get them on their bellies, but Raegan seems to have better things to do than sit still and smile at the camera.
Who can resist a chance to give little brother a kiss.
Raegan says "Forget pictures, I'm outta here!" Drew say, "I'll just sit here and look cute, since that's what I do best."
She still loves to play with his hair.
Check out that mohawk. He has more hair now that Raegan had at 18 months! (and more rolls too :)

Isn't he just the cutest little fellow you ever saw?

Always something

Why is it there is always something to do. I'm sitting here, waiting for my much missed husband to return from his trip away (that was supposed to be over 4 hours ago, but thanks to a plane malfunction was delayed) and I keep thinking of a million things to do. Unload and load the dishwasher again, fold the laundry again, pick up the living room again... but instead I'm sitting here listening to Bob Marley and reminiscing my honeymoon. He always takes me straight back to St. Lucia! My kids are in bed, and it's Sunday and I'm supposed to rest. So here I am resting and posting. Nothing else!

This weekend was a whirlwind. I decided that since Tony would be gone for a couple of days, I needed something to do as well. I dropped Drew off at Nana's and Raegan and I, along with some other friends, loaded up and took a little overnight trip. We visited Bryson City NC and rode "The Little Engine" train and visited the train museum. Then we drove to Pigeon Forge to stay the night, and woke the next morning to go to the Knoxville Zoo. Here is the cute little train. Raegan loved riding the train, especially when it tooted its little whistle. I don't know if you can see the clown in the picture, but that's why Raegan is not in the picture. She (like her mother) apparently has a fear of clowns. They are so creepy!
Here are all the excited kids just before we rode away. (Paul, Luke, Brodie, Macie and Raegan)
Here are the best buds Macie and Raegan.

My camera ended up dying while we were at the zoo, so Sonya took more pics for me. I did manage to get a couple of cute pics. Here are the girls again.
THIS was the highlight of the trip! We got to ride a camel! I couldn't believe that she not only rode it, but she cried when we had to get off. We went to see the elephants next (which is her favorite animal) and she wanted to ride them too. Unfortunately, that was not an option.
Here she is checking out the butterflies in the pond.
Yep, I decided to leave my little "animal" in a cage at the Zoo. She would make a pretty cute exhibit don't you think!
Now, as I've said before we can't seem to travel without someone (usually Raegan) getting sick. So after she woke puffy eyed and snotty nosed we ended our trip with a stop by the Urgent Care at our Peds' office. She had a severe ear infection and what seemed to be an allergy attack. We are a little more rested after a night spent at home, and hopefully her antibiotics will kick in soon. Drew had a fun time at Nana's too. He loved getting ALL of Nana and Grandad's attention and hugs and kisses.

Two babies

Here lately, Raegan has been having a few regression issues. I'm not sure why all this suddenly started, but hopefully it won't last long. She hasn't had a paci for about 3 months now, but just the other day she came in with Drew's paci in her mouth. She had been doing very well with using the potty, but suddenly every time I change Drew's diaper, she declares that it is Raegan's turn to change her diaper and doesn't want to use the potty. And I found her in Drew's little swing just today. What a sight! I guess she is still kind of a baby herself. I don't have pictures of our episode last night, but I'll give you a quick recap. Drew has been spitting up a lot here lately, so his ped recommended adding rice to my milk and see if it helps. (No I don't really have time to pump all day, so we don't do this often) Anyway, half way through I stop to burp him. Raegan is sitting very quietly beside me, so that should have been my first clue she was into something:) I look over just in time to see her take a drink of Drew's bottle, start gagging, and then begin vomiting all over me, herself, Drew and the couch. Tony came home to a huge mess last night and no dinner. Not one of our best days, but at least we survived and we did manage to get the smell out of the couch. (Let me know if you'd like to know how to take care of that.) Today was a new day and we did manage to get outdoors and enjoy some sunshine. Here is the little man enjoying the great outdoors. He looks so big now!

His new favorite thing... getting his toes. He can almost get them to his mouth.
Silly girl cheesing for the camera.
Hopefully, tomorrow will not have too many surprises around the corner :)

They really do love each other!

I've been told that you will never get as much joy as when you see your children play and interact with each other. I got to see this the other day, and I must admit I puffed up like any proud mother would (that is until Raegan started yanking Drew's hand out of his sleeve) Drew was absolutely rolling laughing at Raegan, and didn't seem to mind the rough play. Silly me was taking pictures when I should have been videoing, but I did manage to get a little of his laughter on video. It's a little rough since it was taken with my camera and not my video camera, but you get the main idea.


Here are some of the pictures I got of him laughing at her. They had lots of fun with this little game of Where is Drew's hand?

Makes you giggle just looking at it.
I tried to get them both to lay here and take a picture. Raegan wasn't in the mood to sit still, but Drew was very cooperative.
These were about the best I could do.
I always love Drew's expressions. His eyes just get so big when you pull out the camera.
Raegan modeling just the hood of her raincoat. She kept saying, "My jacket go?" Not only was she wearing the hood without the jacket, but she wore it for about 10 minutes and brushed her teeth the whole time. She IS my daughter and is just as obsessed about her teeth as I am. This picture tells alot about our days here at the Roop household :) By the end of the day we are all crazy and the house is a wreck!
We just love the many faces of our little man Drew. He is practicing blowing spit bubbles (which he does ALOT!)
And of course, that precious little grin.

Playdates

Yesterday, the kids (4 legged ones included) and I headed up to the Ratliff's house for a little play date. Lisa and Ryan also joined us and I'm pretty sure they all had a blast. I didn't pull out the camera until the end of the day, but here are just a few shots. I just sat Drew in this toddler swing to see if he would like it, and after about 20 seconds on it... he fell asleep. I couldn't leave him here in the sun and had to wake him up just to get him out, but I'm thinking that he really liked it. He looked so precious!
Raegan and Macie decided to swing with Drew too.
Here is Ryan taking a turn on the "horse"
I just had to get a shot of this little tantrum of Raegan. She was very upset that Drew was in the swing and was telling him to "Share".
She finally got her turn after a little scolding from her mama, and here is Macie pushing her. Don't you love Macie's shades!

Raegan was taking off in this little car. She would have given Fred Flintstone a run for his money :)
Here are all our dogs taking a break from the sun.
Brodie didn't seem to care that this car was pink.
This was just this morning. Drew has always loved to suck on his fingers, but just recently he has been sucking his thumb as well. He really prefers his fingers to the paci. Doesn't he just look sweet.