163

Last night, during our weekly Bowling League night, I am very proud to announce I bowled my highest score ever..163! I'm pretty sure I've had three game series where I didn't reach 163! Justin and I have recently...since Decemberish, joined a bowling league. Justin has been asked to join for about ten years now! We were finally at a point, where we could commit to at least one night a week of dedicated bowling time. One night a week, has turned into almost daily practice sessions for Justin. I, on the other hand, never get to practice, so needless to say, I was truly excited that I reached my "career high" as one of the members from the opposing team worded it! :)

Christmas 2010

Hello everyone! Well, it's been eight months...yes, I said eight months, since we posted last! Here is a quick run down on all our holiday celebrations the past three weeks or so...

Justin's turned the big 30 back in November! Our friend Chad cooked Justin's b-day dinner for us! Red beans and rice, fried chicken, and sweet potatoes! We had just a few friends over to celebrate his special day! We ate, drank, played games, and I had my first experience with Rock Band...let's just say, I enjoyed watching more than playing!

Thanksgiving was next on our list...we hosted Justin's parents and grandma Frances here at our home. Justin and I cooked...almost everything all by ourselves! It was quite an accomplishment! All the usual items...turkey, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, rolls, stuffing, cranberry sauce, etc. Then celebrated with my family at their home. My mom cooked another amazing meal there...again Thanksgiving regulars, but all so yummy!

Justin and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary on December 9th. We actually were home that weekend with a sick baby, but we still were able to sneak out for a dinner together after Reagan was feeling better. :)

Christmas 2010 has been one of the best since Justin and I have been married! Our first Christmas we spent in Australia while on our honeymoon...so that will always be very special! This year, though, Reagan has really been able to enjoy the decorations, the food, the presents, and all that comes with a traditional American holiday season! :) She has learned that Santa says..."HoHoHo" and she will tell you all about it! She did very well not disturbing the tree, stockings, or presents, until appropriate times! We were very impressed with that fact! She loves all the lights inside and out! It really has been fun seeing her eyes light up with some new surroundings.

We hope that everyone, too, is doing as well as we are! It has been a wonderful year...we are looking forward to all the Lord has for us in 2011!

Ladybug Reagan!

We had an amazing weekend! Reagan turned 1 this past Monday, but we weren't able to have her party until Saturday. I have a slide show of a few pictures from her actual birthday and the rest from her party! We did a whole ladybug theme! I had so much fun planning with Justin, Brandon, and Nancy. (They are Justin's brother and sister-in-law) We actually had the party at there house and it could not have been more perfect! We had so many friends and family able to make it. Reagan has been truly blessed in her first year and her party was another testament of that! We hope you enjoy the pictures! :) If you scroll over a picture in the slide show you should be able to read a caption for each picture. For those of you with facebook check out more pictures under my profile.

Reagan's First Birthday!

Justin and I can hardly believe our sweet baby girl just turned one years old yesterday! I feel like this first year has flown by. Reagan has taught me so much about myself, about Justin, and about how we are learning to develop our own little family unit!

Justin and I both had to work, but she spent the day with her Grandma and Grandpa Janssen. My parents said she had a great day playing, talking, and even taking a few more steps! We are up to four now, however she still isn't walking around full throttle yet! We went for her one year appointment yesterday afternoon. Besides getting four of her immunization shots, she was a happy camper up at Dr. Jones' office! She weighs 18.11 pounds now and is 28 inches long. Although she's one now we cant' put her in the front facing car seat until she is at least 20 pounds. Dr. Jones said it about a month we should be good to go in that area! :)

Yesterday evening, Justin and I had some friends passing through Denton, so we went out to eat with them. Reagan had her first birthday treat of a bowl of ice cream! She loved sticking her hands in there and squishing it through her fingers! It was very cute! I have video that I will post when I get home this afternoon.

All in all, we had a great day together with friends and family. We are having a ladybug themed party for her this weekend. Justin and I can hardly wait to spend another day with friends, family, and see Reagan interacting with her other little baby friends! Of course, more pictures to come soon!

Reagan's First Snow Day

Over the past 24 hours we have had the biggest snowfall since 1977! We have had about 7 inches here in Denton, Texas! Most school districts were closed yesterday and today, too. Back in December we actually had a couple inches of snow on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We were so excited to finally have a white Christmas, but we didn't actually take Reagan out in it.

Yesterday afternoon we bundled Reagan up in her warmest attire and took her out in the front yard for a few minutes. We didn't have any little boots for her so I just held her and let her touch and play with the snow. She loved it! She was flinging it off my hand and licking it with her little tongue. So CUTE! :)

It will take at least a day or two for it to totally melt away so we'll get to enjoy it for a few more days! :) Dakota and Scotty have been loving it as well!

Reagan is Nine Months!

Today is Reagan's nine month birthday! I can't believe how much she's grown not only physically but emotionally too! Her little personality is really coming out now.

She's still an easy baby and has been such a joy to us. She really is on the move. She's crawling all around, and if she knows we're behind her she just crawls faster. It's so funny!

She is also pulling up now to her feet while holding on to something. She loves any kind of music. When she hears music she starts clapping, waving her arms and kicking her feet! I'm so thankful she has Justin's musical ear.

She is also waving well too. When she sees a new person or someone comes into the room she will wave; it's precious! She waves to herself in the mirror as well as waving to herself in all the pictures we have of her around the house.

She is playing very well with both dogs, although Dakota is much more interested in her than Scotty. He is still quite reserved around her, but I think he's coming around.

We go to the pediatrician next Monday, so we will have more info concerning her weight, length, etc. Until then...

Reagan's First Christmas

I don't think I can quite explain how much I love Christmas time! I love the season, the weather, spending time with friends and family, Christmas music...I love it all! This Christmas has been the most exciting and special yet! Our family has had three very exciting Christmas' together. During our first Christmas as a married couple, Justin and I were on our honeymoon in Australia, our second was last year and I was 5 months pregnant, and this year we have Reagan! She has done exceptionally well with the tree, ornaments, and presents. For the first few days, she just explored around the presents. Then she discovered how to push some of the lighter boxes around so she could pull herself up. She would then reach for all the ornaments at the bottom of the tree. Thank goodness we didn't put any breakable where she could reach. We spent Christmas morning with Justin's family at his brother and sister-in-law's house. We had a great time together and exchanged lots of great presents. Nancy cooked an amazing Christmas dinner and we couldn't have had a better time. Then we went to my friend Gentry's house to see her and her parents on Sunday afternoon. We usually go and visit them once a week. We love them! They are pretty much family, too! :) Because my dad was flying to South Africa over Christmas we are going over to their house tomorrow night to celebrate with them. We have had an awesome year and look forward to starting this new year with our sweet little girl, family, and friends! :) We'll have more soon...

Living Nativity

We had so much fun on Thursday night at the Denton Tree Lighting Festival! For about twenty years now my parents have put on a living nativity scene in Denton. In the beginning we had it at TWU, then we moved to the mall, and now for the past 5+ years we've been at the Denton Courthouse for the Lighting Festival. Justin and I were so excited to be able to be Mary, Joseph, and have Reagan be baby Jesus this year. I love seeing all the little kids come up and say hi to baby Jesus! It was also fun to hear them say, "See ya next year!" I love that they know to look for the nativity. What an amazing witness to those who came out! Reagan did very well throughout our hour long time slot. Even though the temperature was in the l0w 40's or so, we were actually quite warm in our layers and costumes. My dad has put extra bails of hay stacked on the sides of the stable to help block the wind. It was actually much warmer in the little area we were than out where the people were walking by and standing! Reagan loved watching all the people taking pictures, come up close to her and talk to her. It was great to see friends from church and school there too. We even ran in to some friends we hadn't seen in over ten years! All in all, it was a wonderful evening!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are currently here in Deming, New Mexico, visiting with Justin's grandparents. We've had a great time with his grandma and grandpa. Thom and June, Brandon, Nancy, Kristian and Noah also all came out to spend the holiday together! Justin and I will be heading back to Denton this weekend. Reagan's first Thanksgiving was a success! :)

Our Little Ladybug!

Halloween has come and gone and I'm just now putting up Reagan's pictures! I can't get over how cute she looks in her costume! She was such a trooper on Halloween night. With Justin out of town, we started our evening off at the church for their fall carnival. We had some pictures taken of Reagan with two of her other little friends. The girls were so cute in their costumes! One was a little bumble bee and one was a pirate! How precious is that!?!?! We then went over to Justin's brother and sister-in-law's (Brandon and Nancy) to go trick or treating with Kristian and Noah. Kristian was dressed as a ladybug as well so we were able to get some very sweet pictures of the two of them together. My friend Anna, also lives in the same neighborhood as Brandon and Nancy was also out with her husband and niece. We stopped by there and her little dog was also dressed up as a ladybug! Reagan loves dogs so we put some pictures of her with little Pepper in their matching costumes. We concluded the night by stopping by Justin's parents house to show her off to them. My parents were also out of town so they missed seeing her. We just went over to their house this past week to show them her costume. :)

Tomorrow is Justin's 29th birthday! We are super excited to celebrate by going to the Mav's/Spurs game tomorrow night. It's so crazy to think about the fact that Justin and I have been together for 10 years! We have had up and downs but we are in a really good place right now! Reagan has been such a blessing and continues to teach Justin and I things about ourselves and each other. We are working on becoming a stronger family unit each day.

We will have more soon... :)

Reagan is Six Months!!!

Hello friends and family! I can't believe that I'm just now updating our blog for the first time since the end of October! Really?...two months?...I guess that's a testament to how busy our lives have been. My goal is to update at least once a week...so we'll see how it goes. Reagan is doing so many new things that I feel like I need to update everyone that often just to keep our family in the loop.

Reagan just turned six months this past Monday. She is such a precious little girl and really has begun to develop her own little personality. She has learned how to growl wand does it most often when she's frustrated! The first few times she did it, I thought "where in the world is that coming from..." Then last night when I was fighting with the vacuum cleaner cord, I growled in frustration! I stopped my self and said "OH NO!!!" she gets that from me! YIKES! Mommy will have to work on harnessing her frustration especially in front of Reagan! She is rolling all over the place...from front to back, back to front, she's even really good and balancing herself on her side, now! She has just begun to push herself up on her hands and knees. We still have seen her crawl although she is a master scooter! I don't know how she does it, but she can scoot herself anywhere she wants to go. We have been eating rice cereal and oatmeal for about a month now. She still thrusts her tongue forward to push the food out, but sooner or later we get to the bottom of the bowl, so we know she's swallowing it at some point. We also started Squash and Sweet Potatoes this past week. Now that she's doing well with those, we will begin some green veggies. I think that green beans and peas are next on our list. We added a video of her eating her squash for the first time. She's super funny with all her crazy faces. It's sure to give you a little laugh! We'll add more about Reagan next weekend. She has her little costume all ready to go. You'll have to wait to see what little critter she will be... :)

Quick Catch Up...

Hello everyone! Well it has been over a month since we last updated our blog and pictures! So much has happened in the last few weeks, but we will update you slowly so you don't have to read through a novel just to catch up. We went on our first family vacation at the beginning of August with Thom, June, Brandon, Nancy, Kristian and Noah to Sedona, Arizona. We had a blast and everything went very well. Reagan was such a trooper and did amazing while we toted her around everywhere. We hiked the Grand Canyon, did the Pink Jeep Tour, Krissy and I rode in the Bi-plane, among various other activities. We'll hopefully have pictures up soon. :)

Starting school this week was very exciting but super exhausting! I have been so busy at school and during my conference times that I haven't even really had time to worry about Reagan. Justin has been doing an amazing job of getting Reagan up and going in the morning. She is still sleeping when I leave, so I don't see her until I get home around 4:30-5:00. I have a very sweet class and am looking forward to the year! We did lose one of our Kindergarten sections, so that means that they had to split up a class amongst the five remaining kinder classes. I went from having 19 students to now having 21! We are all a little stressed about having such big classes, but we've come together and are ready to bite the bullet and start fresh on Monday! :)

Cake, Clean-Up, and Kidney Stones, oh my!

The Rana household as been quite crazy since last Saturday morning. Justin has been so wonderful watching Reagan when he's home so I can have a little "me" time. However, last weekend our sweet little Reagan decided she no longer wanted a bottle...only ME! Not good! Justin had to call me home from running errands all over town because she totally refused taking bottle! This continued all week. We tried different bottle brands, different nipples, different nipple flows...and so on. I was a bit relieved when Justin found a blog with tons of posts from other moms also stating their child had gone on "bottle strike"! As of Friday afternoon she has been taking bottles off and on so I think we're at least making progress in that area.

For the past two weeks now I've been taking cake decorating classes at Hobby Lobby. I love it! It's so much fun and gives me a little break from life on the home front with the baby. Here is a picture of the first cake I've decorated for class. We had to make the icing from scratch and frost the cake. Then in class we learned several techniques for filling in shapes, designs, writing messages, and we learned about the different types of decorating tips. Because the All-Star game was on Tuesday night I was inspired to create my hubby his very own baseball cake. :) Thursday night Justin called and told me that he and his friend Chad wanted to completely revamp the sound booth at our church. I think this was going to be a very tedious project, but encouraged to do it. Needless to say, they pulled an all-nighter working from about 8:30 Thursday night until 9:00 Friday morning. Justin slept for three hours and went back up to finish everything before our conference started at 6:00 Friday night. Everything in the sound booth looks amazing! It's super clean, organized, and getting to all the equipment is so much easier now! Good job boys!

To complete our crazy weekend, Justin started having these horrible pains in his lower back on Saturday night. Justin has a very high pain tolerance so when saw how much he was hurting I was kinda freaked out! We have a doctor friend that recommended we go to the ER to have him checked out. We were pretty sure he might have kidney stones but wanted to know. So after 5 hours at Denton Regional and a CatScan, the results showed a small stone in his left side. He's been drinking lots of water and taking it easy. The meds they gave him totally wipe him out, so he's been pretty out of it the last 24 hours. We are praying that it passes quickly! I can't imagine having to push something like that out of a small hole in the body....oh wait...yes I can! I just had a 7 pound baby! I can't really compare though seeing as how I had an epidural. I'm totally kidding and know that kidney stones are way different than having a baby :)

So that's been our past 5 days...above is a pic of the cake I made. I know it's not super detailed or anything, but I must say, I'm very proud of myself! :) Reagan also turned three months today! We didn't get to take any pics since Justin was asleep most of the day, but we'll work on it this week and have those soon! :)

Fourth of July Fun!

We had a wonderful Fourth of July holiday! It was Reagan's first and oh so perfect! We started out the morning visiting Justin's parents house. We cooked out, swam, and played our annual water polo game. We had so much fun with the Rana clan, B & N and Kristian and Noah, and our friend Chad! :) After we spent the day at Thom and June's we made a pit stop at the firework stand. As I'm sitting in the car waiting for Justin and Chad to come out, I'm observing all the other people coming out with a small bag here and a couple bags there. As Justin and Chad emerge from the door, they both are carrying a huge box on their shoulders full of fireworks, sparklers, and many other types of explosives! I just sat in the car laughing! We made our way over to my parents house about 5:00 for the annual Janssen 4th of July cookout. We had about 40 people over for food, games, fishing, and fireworks. We had a blast there as well! As night fell, the boys took all the boxes of fireworks to the backyard. My parents and their friends all set up their chairs on the back porch and the young crowd gathered down by the lake to shoot our fireworks. We had so much fun! :) One of my favorite parts of the day was seeing everyone's reaction to Reagan's precious outfit! We found this adorable onesie at Old Navy that says "Daddy's Little Sparkler." Ohhh she is so cute! :)

Cutie Pie's... a hungry father's saga

Hello everyone - this is the DAD's first post on this blog... I am announcing my presense confidently and with great anxiousness in my heart to tell you of the saga of the hungry father.

Today, my family and I (Jessica, Reagan, and myself) were out and about visiting some stores in the Southlake area. We finished up our business and were going to head home. Somehow, we ended up by Grapevine Mills mall which wasn't necessarily our intention. The baby was crying and I was trying to drive to quiet her - but then realized she was hungry. So we got off of 121 and pulled into the Bass Pro parking lot so Jessica could feed Reagan in the car (with a bottle mind you)... Reagan sucked down her feed and as I was listening to "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough" by the great Michael Jackson (RIP), I suddenly realized I was rather hungry myself.

We meandered around in the Bass Pro parking lot (which by the way is the most ridiculous way to try to get over to Grapevine Mills - it borders on impossible). Once I realized that I would not make it to Grapevine Mills via the parking lot of the ADJACENT STORE - I got out of there and intended on heading towards highway 26 to get to Grapevine Mills and find some grub for dear old dad. As we were about to turn right onto 26, I spotted a place that I knew nothing about and had not seen before - a quaint little restaurant (roadhouse actually) called Cutie Pie's. I asked my wife Jessica if she would like to try it - her response: "Sure! Sounds good!" We parked our Ford Explorer - whose air conditioning was doing quite an admirable job in the 100 degree heat - got out of the car, got the stroller geared up and headed for the front door of what was sure to be a great eating experience.

Well we got inside and THIS is what we found:

Yea - I know. Questions abound from my readers at this point. Geez, Justin. When you realized that this was a cowgirl hooters, why didn't you get your family out of there? Answer: I was in shock - and my wife was leading the charge! We sat down and I looked at her and said; "Oops."

"Oh, no. It's ok. The food looks good and the atmosphere seems ok," Jessica said.

I looked down at my 2 month old daughter.

"Wow. Those uniforms look like something I would want to wear when I'm 18," said my daughters silent eyes.

I quickly spoke silently and sternly back to her and we began to parouse the menu.

The food looked quite good. I ordered some Fried Pickles. Review: pretty good - on par with other good Fried Pickles from other restaurants. Jessica had the Brisket Sandwich and Mac and Cheese. She says that the Brisket Sandwich was a 9 out of 10. For my meal, I ordered the 2 meat plate with sweet potatoes and baked beans, all of which were VERY good. The best thing about this place (including the girls) was the Bar-B-Que sauce. Some of the best I've ever had.

Now you may be asking yourself why I'm sharing all of this with you...my point is this. We found ourselves in a place we would normally not go into (especially with our 2 month old) and we decided to stick it out and see what came of it. Turned out to be one of the best meals I have had in quite some time. And here's another tidbit of information - if you like places like Hooters, Twin Peaks, etc. - you need to try Cutie Pie's. Although the girls were dressed in attire that didn't necessarily make you think they were morally sound in all areas of life, they were some of the nicest waitresses we have had...and guys, they have $6 pitchers every day. So skip Hooters and all the others, and try Cutie Pie's...but just remember to get a babysitter!

Happy Father's Day!

The Rana's had an amazing weekend! To start things off, Reagan turned two months old on Friday! I can not believe how quickly the time has passed. I still feel like it was just yesterday that Justin and I brought her home from the hospital. Everyone knows that along with the celebration comes a trip to the pediatrician for the dreaded vaccination shots. Reagan had three different shots. She did very well and after the initial screaming she was back to her cheery self. We were so thankful that she did not have any side effects! Praise the Lord! Dr. Jones was very impressed with how well she is growing and developing. Reagan can hold her head up very well while on her tummy and has even rolled herself from her tummy to her back! She's only done it once so far, but we know she'll be doing more often in the days to come. Reagan now weighs 11 pounds and 1 ounce and is 22 1/2 inches long. She is growing perfectly!

Saturday was a very chill day around here. Justin watched Reagan for a few hours while I went out shopping for a few Father's Day gifts. Saturday evening we had our friend Chad over to watch our church's First Fruits service on the web.

Sunday was one of the most special days we've had with Reagan. Not only did we celebrate Justin's first Father's Day, but we also were able to dedicate Reagan at church. My mom and brother were there along with Justin's parents and his brother, sister-in-law and their two children. Unfortunately my dad was out of town on a trip, but he was able to watch the service through the church's webcast. Chuck, Robert and Justin all made the dedication so special and something we will always cherish and remember. We hope you all enjoy the video clip from the service.

7 weeks & 7 hours

We have made it! We have completed seven weeks with our sweet little Reagan.  Justin and I are thrilled to announce that she is now sleeping 7 hours through the night! WooHoo!  She has been doing this now consistently for about a week and a half.  We actually discovered her new sleeping talent by complete accident.  One night my alarm didn't go off for her middle of the night feeding.  I think I woke up around 5 o'clock and she was still sleeping! From that point on we have let her sleep as long as she wants during the night hours.  

We will have an exciting weekend ahead.  Reagan will turn two months on Friday! I can't believe how quickly the time has gone.  We go to the pediatrician then for our next visit and her first round of shots. Our prayer is that she gets through them with little or no side effects. We also will be dedicating her at church on Sunday, so we are hoping she is in a wonderful mood for her special day!  

Happy One Month!

Reagan has now completed her first month of life! Today begins five weeks! :)  She is doing very well and I am finally feeling adjusted!  It took a few weeks but I feel totally comfortable and confident taking her out and about all on my own.  We've gone shopping, walking, and have visited friends and family.  Yesterday, she even got to spend the afternoon with her cousins and aunt and uncle all by herself!  We will have some new pictures to post very soon.  My grandma is in town from New Jersey! She has been here for two weeks and still has one more with us!  Reagan is her very first great-grandchild!  She has loved every minute with her.  This afternoon we are going to take pictures of the four generations! What a special memory for all of us! :) 

My First Mother's Day

I had a wonderful first Mother's Day!  On Saturday we left Reagan with my mom for the afternoon.  Justin and I went out to eat lunch together then went to the Dallas Maverick's basketball game.  They are in the second round of the playoffs so the atmosphere was so exciting!  They put up a great fight, but ending up losing by one point! :(  The Nuggets shot a three pointer in the last 2 or 3 seconds!  I couldn't believe it!  My Mother's Day present was two fold...one was the basketball game the other was diamond earrings!  Justin's Mother's Day card was super sweet.  In it he wrote that he wanted to get me something special to signify the month that Reagan was born...little did he know April is the diamond month!  Lucky me ;)  On Sunday Reagan and I made our first church appearance since her birth.  We had so much fun...everyone loved seeing her!  We then went to lunch with Justin's parents and then dinner with my mom and brother to celebrate Mother's Day with them as well.  All in all, we had a great Mother's Day weekend together! 

One Week Later...

Reagan one week old!!

Proud daddy!!!

Precious little girl :)

Justin, Reagan, and I are doing so well! The Lord has truly blessed us with a very happy and peaceful baby. Reagan definitely has some lungs and isn't afraid to use them when she's thoroughly upset, but other than that she is so happy! The first several days of nursing was quite hard to get adjusted to but with a lot of patience on every one's part, we are doing so much much better! She is quite the little eater now! Reagan still has her days and nights switched, but the doctor said it will slowly get readjusted over time. (Justin and I are hoping sooner than later!) We have been so blessed this week with meals and visitors from family and friends. Justin went back to work this week but has been able to be home by mid day. He will go back to full days next week which will give Reagan and I plenty of alone time during the day. We go for our two week check up on Monday and will have more to post then!