Baby Stellan

Please keep Baby Stellan and his family in your thoughts and prayers. You can check out his story at the following blog link: http://www.mycharmingkids.net/ He has an amazing back story that you can read there but basically he was diagnosed with a heart condition called SVT before he was born. The doctors didn't think he would make it even to his due date but at delivery he was incredibly an apparently healthy baby. That is until a week ago when his heart went back into SVT. He is a very sick baby now and needs lots of prayers so his heart comes back into a normal heart rhythm soon. I am so very thankful for my two healthy children, I can't imagine what Stellan's parents are going through.

Miss Kennedy - 4 Mon

I meant to post these pictures after the duck ones but I forgot. Kennedy is so cute though I couldn't help but go ahead and post them anyway, even if they are out of order, which does bug me a little...

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Serious Contemplation

Lounging

Silly Smile

Grandpa Lips

Another Attempt at a Sisters Picture

I'm not giving up on getting a great picture of my girls together! While packing I discovered a snowman outfit I never put Kennedy in this winter. Since it's a little nippy around here this week I put it on her yesterday. Reagan saw it and was excited about "Frosty." That said I dug out Reagan's Frosty dress which happenned to be the same colors (complete coincidence - believe me if I'd realized I'd had this outfit I would have been taking pictures before this :). Anyhoo... silly me I thought I might get lucky and get Reagan to agree to some sister/Frosty pictures. lol :)

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What a sweet baby!

Nothing like a good book!

Kennedy truly enjoys watching Reagan

After Reagan refused to sit with Kennedy and threw a fit (I should have included those pictures but decided to have mercy on my screaming 2 year old) it occurred to me to just tell her I was handing her Kennedy. What do you know she sat on the couch and willing took her for a few shots anyway. My camera just isn't quick enough and I'm not smart enough yet to anticipate the exact moments Reagan and Kennedy are both going to smile and look at the camera. It's definitely a steep learning curve here...

So, I'm not entirely merciful. Here's Reagan completely done with the photo taking session. lol :)

Watch Me Grow - Kennedy - 4 Mon

In the last couple of weeks Tim and I agree Kennedy has fully transitioned from newborn to baby. She seems to have hit a growth spurt and simply looks so big to us all of a sudden! Besides that she has become quite the talker. She has the sweetest baby voice and carries on and on and on. She truly cracks us up. :) I don't think we're going to have to worry about Reagan not letting Kennedy get a word in edge wise. Between Reagan and Kennedy, however, any future children we may have will never have the opportunity to speak. lol :) Kennedy has also become extremely aware of her surroundings and frequently reaches for toys. She's getting quite good at hanging onto toys although she doesn't have very good control of where things go once she's got them. As a result she frequently bonks herself in the head - all part and parcel to the learning procees, right? :) Besides holding and chewing on toys Kennedy loves to chew on her fingers as well as fists. I keep thinking she must be teething she chews on them so much, but so far I don't see any firm evidence of it. Kennedy is so super sweet when she wakes up. She has the biggest grin and is simply delighted to see us. Even when Kennedy's just stirring during a nap if she happens to open her eyes as we're popping her pacifier back in she provides a huge smile before drifting back to sleep. It is one of the most endearing traits she has. She is such a sweet sweet baby! :) Speaking of sleeping Kennedy is doing really well. I have been so blessed that she has been taking an afternoon nap that coincides with Reagan's nearly from the beginning. She is also sleeping well at night. I'll probably jinx myself by writing this, but she has slept for 8+ hrs before needing to be fed the last two nights. Let's hope she keeps that up!!! :) While she is super smiley and giggled for Great Aunt Jolene the beginning of February I have had no luck in getting her to laugh for me. In the last week, however, both Tim and Grammy have been successful in getting Kennedy to laugh numerous times. I know my time is coming and in the meantime I'm enjoying every minute with this precious baby!

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Our little hill billy - in overalls and barefeet :)

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4 Mon - March 2009

3 Mon - February 2009 1 Week - November 2009

Haydn

When I went to take Kennedy's 4 month "Duck" picture Haydn was already on the bed snuggled up with the duck. I took a quick cute picture and then shooed poor Haydn off the bed while Kennedy still had plenty of smiles. :)

Yesterday I went to check on Reagan during her nap and found her all snuggled up to Haydn. Aren't they precious???

I accidentally woke Reagan up during my photo shoot. I figured that might happen but decided it was worth it and the bonus was getting a few cute pics of her awake with Haydn too! :)

"Loving" Haydn

We've been trying to teach Reagan to let the cats smell her hand first before she pets them. I'm not sure Haydn is entirely appreciative of our efforts...

While Reagan is obviously loving her time with Haydn I think he may have preferred her asleep. lol :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day from the Lueker girls!!!

Reagan discovered this CD case a couple of days ago and has determined it's her computer. She likes to "play" and "type" on her "puter." :)
Happy baby! :)

Kennedy has really been getting into her bouncer lately.

Reagan has been getting really good at helping to entertain Kennedy in the last week or so. Even though Kennedy is obviously not capable of truly playing with Reagan I think Reagan is finding her more interesting now that she can reach for, hold and watch different toys.

Can you believe with all these shades of green bows I didn't have one that would match Reagan's sweater this morning? My poor girls have such a hard life! It's obviously time to get more bows!!! lol :)

Coloring

Before I explain these pictures I've been meaning to mention that anyone should be able to comment again. I guess I accidentally changed the settings so not everyone could post but now I've corrected that so everyone should be able to comment. Just click on the comment button and type away. :)

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Reagan has enjoyed playing with color wonder markers and paints as well as your typical crayons and coloring books for quite a while. As with most toys her interest goes up and down over time. She surprised me yesterday by starting what I would truly consider coloring. Don't get me wrong I realize she has a long way to go before she's filling out all the spaces and staying in the lines but I think some light bulb went on yesterday and now instead of scribbling she is really working at coloring. She talks about what she's coloring and goes very slowing working on the eye, nose, hand, etc. She has literally spent hours coloring over the course of the last two days.

I'm not trying to say this is amazing artwork but I think for 22 1/2 months the fact that you can see she made an effort to color the cloud pink, Zoe's nose red, her knee pads orange, her roller skates purple, etc is pretty good. I have no idea if this is typical for this age or not it just surprised me because it was such a complete departure from what Reagan had been doing. I mean it was literally an over night difference in the time, effort, and coordination in this activity.

On a funnier note, it appears that Reagan's favorite thing to color is any given character's nose. There are many pages on which the nose(s) are the only thing colored. Go figure! lol :)

Montante Girls

On Wednesday afternoon the Montante Girls came to play. We had a great time and here are a few pics from our afternoon. Come back soon! :)

As you can see the girls were quite interested in Kennedy after she woke up from her nap. Reagan as usual didn't care much one way or the other. lol :) She did finally decide to pay some attention to Kennedy but I think it had more to do with wondering why Audrey and Olivia weren't playing with her anymore than having a sincere interest in Kennedy. lol :)

Package from Aunt Arla

We recently received a package from Aunt Arla. Reagan's favorite were the letter cheese crackers (which we had to open immidiately) and Mommy and Daddy's favorite were the cheese curds. Yummy! Thank you Aunt Arla!

mie n yu

Four years ago for Valentines we discovered a wonderful restaurant in Georgetown by the name of mie n yu with some of our best friends Kim and Nathan Obert. Since then we have gone back once with Mom and Dad and once with my cousin Dan and his wife Dorothy. All three experiences have been wonderful! The menu and experience are very eclectic. Each room is decorated differently and is quite unique (if you ever visit you must ask for a tour as it is an important part of the experience). There is one particular space called the "Birdcage" and it is for reservations only as your meal is prepared especially for you by the executive chef - we actually coordinated with the manager and chef prior to our dining experience so the menu was custom and tailor made to meet our tastes and preferances. Since our first visit I knew this was something I wanted to do before we left DC. Last weekend we enjoyed the most amazing dinner of our lives with the Oberts in the Birdcage at mie n yu. I wish I had thought to take a picture of some of the food but needless to say it was incredible!

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Our menu for the evening - I couldn't decide if the Braised Pork, Shrimp and Cabbage Organic Egg Omelet or the Seared Sea Scallops in a Japanese Style Curry were my favorite. Tim says the the latter but it was all amazing! Kim and Nathan outside mie n yu (the orange building in the background) before dinner

Kim and Anna

Tim and Anna The four of us sitting down to dinner - when we arrived the manager of mie n yu came and greeted us by name and then personally took us to the Birdcage. Our waiter was unbelievable! Besides the wine pairings which were planned for our meal he introduced us to something called Ice Wine. If you've never tried it, you should because it was wonderful and unique too. It was kind of cool being treated like VIPs for an evening.

Nathan and Kim in the Birdcage

Tim and Anna in the Birdcage

Another group shot

Kim and Anna

We had such a wonderful evening and I'm so glad we have such incredible friends to share it with! It would not have been the same without you and you will definitely be one of the things we miss most about DC!

Fun at the Park

Yesterday afternoon the weather was beautiful and Ms. Mo'mina called to tell us they were at the park near our house. We packed up quick and took a walk to the park to enjoy the weather. Thanks so much for calling and inviting us out!

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Playing ball

Reagan loves to climb

I know the color isn't great on this picture but that smile is so cute!

Snacktime

Teddy Grahams make a great playground companion! lol :)

Wild and crazy Reagan

Swinging from the bar is one of Reagan's new tricks on the playground the other is using the ladders instead of the steps but I seem to have left that picture out. :)