Just hangin' around town

This weekend we hung out close to home. During the day on Saturday, Raegan and I went to the neighborhood pool for a little while. She still doesn't love the water. She's pretty-much OK with me unless I try to put her into a float. She really prefers playing next to the pool but not actually in the water.



Doesn't she look cute in her matching outfit?!




Later on Saturday, we met Hannah's parents at the Original Chick-fil-A Dwarf House in Hapeville for dinner and then a concert on the Lawn at the old Hapeville High School. Avalon was in concert.





Raegan enjoyed dancing with Hannah.




She also enjoyed watching all the other kids play and keeping the stroller from rolling away.


Her biggest excitement came when she saw a dog on the other side of the fence. She looked at Hannah and said "Dawdee!" "Dawdee!" "Oooh....Oooh....Oooh". That's how she says doggie and how she imitates our dogs barking. She was so excited...




...in fact she took off after the dog. Pointing and doing her version of barking. It was pretty funny!




Hannah ran after her (while I just took pictures). On their way back, Raegan noticed another "dawdee" in the lap of a guy sitting enjoying the concert. Raegan doesn't usually warm-up to strangers very quickly... but she has no problem if they're holding a dog. I was zooming in and taking this shot from a distance. Raegan really loves dogs!



After the excitement of the dogs was over, she decided to push the stroller around to keep herself entertained. This reminds me of a picture of me and my brother from when we were little.





Then it was time to call it an evening (since it was way past Raegan's bedtime). I think Raegan really enjoyed the day.

Sullivan's Island

Every year our friends Ashley and Todd invite us to go to Sullivan's Island with them and other couples (the last couple years have been us, them and the McCants). It's always a lot of fun. For some reason... looking back, there is always some kind of trouble that we seem to cause... whether it has been bringing our dogs, or our having a fussy 4 month old with acid reflux. Well this year our story tops any before it... (it's long so you can skip down if you have already heard this)

We were playing on the beach. I was playing Bocci Ball with Todd and Hannah was with the girls (and Raegan) closer to the water. They had beach chairs and a beach umbrella. The wind was gusting pretty good. I noticed something going on while I was counting off that both of my shots were the closest to the que in Bocci Ball. Hannah was running toward me holding her arm. I said are you OK and she said "No... I have a hole in my arm... I need to go to the hospital!". What happened as my back was turned is that the wind lifted the umbrella and launched it like a spear into Hannah's right arm. It apparantly stuck and Hannah pulled it out. Hannah gets weak when she sees her own blood. But this was really bad and it wasn't just blood... it was the inside of her arm exposed! The McCants said they'd take care of Raegan so I helped Hannah up to the beach house so we could get her to the urgent care. A couple times Hannah became less responsive and came down to her knees as I was trying to get her to the house. But she was really strong and decisive through all of this. We managed to get clothes on her (not just a bathing suit) and then got her to a great Urgent Care facility. Within 30 minutes, her arm was stitched-up and we had Coke and popcorn that they gave us while they did the sewing. I got to watch them work on her. The doctor pulled-up an artery and noted that it's good it missed that. I could see muscle, ligaments and all kind of stuff in the hole in Hannah's arm. They put 2 internal and 8 external stitches in her arm.

She is OK now... but her arm seems to be getting more and more bruised looking. I would post a picture... but some people would probably rather not see that. But I do have a picture of the culprit. Be careful if you're on a windy beach and you see this...


...on to the less dramatic parts of the trip...

Raegan got to hangout with her friend Aidan.



Here is a slide-show of Raegan playing on the beach (and mud puddles). She liked to chase the birds. (click the play button on the slideshow). Below the slide show are just some random shots of Hannah and Raegan.







On the last morning, I took Raegan for a morning stroll on the beach. It was nice and she seemed to like it. The house in the background of the bottom picture is the house we got to stay in. It was really nice.

At the Lake again...

At the end of July, we went back out to the Lake to see my Granny. Raegan has only met her once before this. Granny really couldn't get a chance to have Raegan in her lap because Bristo kept hogging her lap. Granny is not really a dog lover.



You've seen plenty of pictures of Raegan at the Lake before on this blog. Some of the latest things she enjoys at the Lake are...

Cheese puffs. Dad really enjoyed giving Raegan these Cheese puffs. And obviously, Raegan really liked them. (especially since they were messy).




...she loves playing in this drawer of plastic containers and such...


We discovered she is much happier on the boat wearing this life jacket we bought her. It's not nearly as puffy as the other one so I think it must be more comfortable.




Raegan and Luci keep watch together on the front of the boat...


And Raegan tells Hannah how much she loves the Lake while the sun sets.

Raegan Walks

Raegan walks... (turn on your sound)

...yes... she's dramatic sometimes... well she has actually been walking for a while now. Just not very well- and she would still crawl if she wanted to get somewhere fast. In the past week or so, she has really begun walking better to the point that I think walking is her preference now!

The Water Table

Our neighbors kept telling us about this water table their son Drew loves to play with. Raegan finally got to go over to play with Drew on this table. It's a simple concept... but kids really do love it. And that means parents really love it! (Raegan is the one with my light complexion and topless)

The 4th of July at the Lake

We went to Lake Martin for the 4th of July weekend. My brother and his family as well as my parents were there.



Here is a shot of the whole family...





Hannah, Raegan & I needed a family shot. This will have to do for now!





Below is Thomas, Raegan & Ava. Doesn't it look like they love picture time?!











Raegan helped me drive the boat. She gets tired of that bulky life jacket pretty quickly! So only short boat rides with her for a while!





Sometimes Raegan turns on the attitude for the camera...

...but this is the real Raegan.




Ava still likes to show Raegan how to kiss...


Below is a slideshow of Raegan being cute with Papa's hat...

Raegan's Social Life

I just thought I would show a couple of pictures from Raegan's social life.



This is her friend Aidan. He's a little older than Raegan so I think she is fascinated with him and his wisdom! He also has the wagon that inspired the wagon that Raegan now has. They seem to have fun together!





He pulled-up in his fancy car and offered Raegan a ride (he pushed her around in it).







This is Drew. Remember him? He was born 10 days before Raegan and lives across the street. They become kind of shy around each other. But I think they still like each other and have many days of playing ahead!




These are some of Raegan's classmates (Cole and Alana). Raegan's teachers told me one day that Raegan and Cole were hugging and kissing each other. I'm gonna have to keep my eye on Cole!

Our new camera...

We usually blog about Raegan. But since we mentioned before how we got a new camera, I had to share this. Below is a picture of our new camera...




...what happened is that the other day after getting home from work, I [Tony] couldn't find the camera. Then I remembered I took it into daycare to try to catch Raegan doing something cute. So I called the daycare and they couldn't find it. Then I remembered that when I was driving away from the daycare I heard a bump-bump-bump. At the time, I thought Raegan threw something in the backseat. But as I was thinking back I remembered I sat the camera on top of the car while I put Raegan in her seat. So I rushed back down to Chick-fil-A to see if I could find it on the side of the road. I found the case but the camera was not in it. The case looked like it had been run over. The next day, Brent from work helped me look again on the side of the road. He found the remains (above). So I guess it got run over pretty good. We couldn't find any other parts... not even the memory card. That really bothered me because there were pictures I had not transfered. Anyway... to shorten this story, my Director made a suggestion and Hannah made good follow-through. It turns out that since we bought the camera with our American Express card in the past 90 days... they'll credit our card for the amount we paid for the camera. They cover my carelessness! So we have now bought a new camera (though a little cheaper than the one I allowed to get run over). Sorry for the long story... but since our whole blog is centered around Raegan and capturing her life on pictures and videos... I had to mention our camera drama.

Raegan's New Wagon

Raegan got a new wagon! She seems to like this way better than a stroller...


This wagon is cool because the canopy is removable and it has flip-up seats. It has 2 seats to accommodate Raegan and a friend - although neighbor Drew didn't really want to ride with Raegan the first go around. Raegan is demonstrating below how the seats work.

Raegan also likes how much leg room she has now. She can prop her feet all kinds of ways.

Raegan and Luci

Raegan and our dogs, Luci & Bristo have really been interacting more lately. I think they're all friends. Raegan even helps Luci check for food in her teeth.

We always thought that Luci may be a problem with Raegan because Luci is such a fiesty dog. She loves swimming at the Lake and standing on the edge of the seats on the boat while in motion. She loves chasing down lizards and chipmunks (and sometimes catches them). She barks at bigger dogs. She usually shows Bristo that she is the dominant dog. This video shows that Luci is willing to be submissive to Raegan... no matter how rough Raegan is with her. (Though I feel a little bad for Luci here, I'm impressed with Raegan's wrestling skills... and how she taunts her in the middle of the action! Raegan is just trying to get a decent hug!)