Merry Christmas from the Wheatons

Merry Christmas! Well the morning went off without a hitch. Raegan slept in until almost 7 am and Gavin stirred around 6:30. We think he was more excited then his older sister. Then we found out he left his mom and dad a little present in his diaper. So nice of him to think of others!

Raegan staggered into the living room and stared at the tree with the presents and all kinds of goodies beneath it. We asked her if Santa came she replied with a resounding no. Once the fog cleared from he head she dove right towards the presents saying "Are these all mine...? Yes, these are my presents".

Both kids enjoyed their gifts as Nanna and Pappa stopped by to see them open gifts and have some pancakes. By far Raegan's favorite gift his her digital camera. (see her artwork in "Our Photos) This camera is designed for tots and virtually indestructible. She won't put it down but seems to a natural knack for taking photos (gets that from her dad's DNA).

Heading to Nanna and Papa Wheaton's house today for dinner otherwise we are spending the day catching up on some rest and relaxation (e.g. cleaning up all the wrapping paper...).

Merry Christmas to all!

Flu Claims Another...

As I slept peacefully last night I was a awakened by a clatter at about 1 am. Santa? No. Raegan? No. Cara? No. It was Molly sprinting into the bathroom as if her hair was on fire. Moments later the obligatory sounds waves of a stomach in distress came flowing from the bathroom. So now the flu has taken out yet another member of the Wheaton homestead.

Raegan seems to have recovered this morning. Gavin is doing well so they both went to daycare. God willing they survive the day there without incident. Gavin has 'the runs' and went through an outfit yesterday and went through one this morning just as I was putting him in his car seat. Nasty!

Between Gavin's teething Sunday night; Raegan's puking Monday night and now Molly Tuesday night, I am running on little sleep and a lot of double-shot Lattes from Starbucks.

House of Vomit

Yes, the rumors are true, we are living in the house of vomit.

Poor Raegan got the flu last Tuesday. She threw up at daycare and came home with a horrible fever. That lasted through the night. Luckily the vomiting stopped and only the fever remained. Bob and I decided to keep her home on Wednesday. Since this is the busy time of year for both of us, we split the day. I worked in the morning and he worked in the afternoon. We had a Wheaton family Christmas dinner planned but Raegan and I had to miss it because the last thing any of us want is a sick child at Christmas. Her fever finally broke about 9:00 that night and we were in the clear! She was back to herself on Thursday morning and excited to go back to daycare.

Last night, Bob was snoring so he was sleeping in the basement. Raegan came into our room, which is not unusual. What is usual is putting her right back in her room. Since Bob wasn't there and I was tired, I just threw her in bed with me and we both went back to sleep. About 20 minutes later, she threw up - yes, all over our bed! I got her cleaned up and out in the living room onto a bed of towels and a bowl. This time, she has no fever, just keeps throwing up and is really listless. The second time she threw up was worse! but not out of her mouth. Yes, the poor child really does not feel good! I am already on my second load of "sick" laundry today. Once again, Bob and I are splitting the day. He went to work this morning and I am home with Raegan trying to disinfect the house before I go in this afternoon.

While I was watching her in the wee hours of the morning, I remember someone at work talking about a service that UM offers called Kids Kare at Home. This is for when a child or a daycare provider is sick. They will send either a child care provider or nurse, depending on how sick the child is, to our house at a discounted rate so that both parents can go to work. WONDERFUL!! Except that we are not registered! I called and registered us for next year but hopefully we will never have to use it.

Gavin is 9 months

I took Gavin for his 9 month appointment on Friday - I just can't believe he is so old already! He weighs 18 lbs, 4 oz (25%) and is 29" (75%). He eats SO MUCH that I am really surprised that he didn't weigh more. His check up went well.

He has 5 teeth and is working on more (we were up until 4:15 a.m. last night). I'm hoping they will pop through soon.

His only word is mama, but not for lack of trying! We are all working with him to say dada. All except Raegan that is, who is trying to teach him Raegy!

He crawls like a flash, pulls himself up and is working on walking along furniture. I pulled out a push/walker thing but he doesn't have that figured out yet.

I am just in awe of how sweet he is!

The Greatest Show on Earth!

Raegan experienced the "Greatest Show on Earth" this weekend! Our friends, Myke, Dee& Nathan, had extra tickets to the circus and invited us to go. I made the HUGE mistake of telling Raegan about this a couple of days before we went. Every morning she wanted to go to the circus with Nathan. The day finally came and Raegan was up at 5:30 am ready to go! The good thing was that I got all of our laundry done before Dee picked us up at 8:30.

We took the kids to breakfast at McDonald's before heading to the Palace. Raegan did not want to go to breakfast because she thought that meant she didn't get to go to the circus. Once we got that figured out, she was fine with eating.

After breakfast, we headed to the Palace. We had to stand in line for a while, and Raegan was a maniac! She was dancing around, yelling "look at the ponies" at the flags they had decorating the place. I had to keep telling her to stay by us so we didn't lose her.

Once we were inside, we were able to go onto the floor for some pre-circus activities. The kids were able to try on the costumes, ride the motorcycles & barrel horses, watch the elephants and other acts. I thought that Raegan would freak out by all of this stuff. Boy was I wrong - she LOVED it!! Throughout the whole show she danced in the aisle! I guess the cotton candy and marshmallows I let her have could have played a role in it but since she was spending the night with her Nana and Papa, I let her indulge. She really had a good time and now I can't wait to take her back!

She crashed on the way home!

Major Update!

Ok, I am finally going to update the website! Hopefully there will be enough that Uncle Mike will have a couple of days of reading material and pictures.

Please scroll down to catch up with the Wheaton's over the last month!

Gavin's first ear infection

You may be wondering why in the world I am celebrating Gavin's first ear infection, but when Raegan was this age, we had already had at least three!

Daycare told me on Thursday that he had been tugging on his right ear and they thought he had an infection. I didn't think a whole lot of it since he does tug on his ears a lot (I mean there is a LOT to tug on!). On Friday, he woke up with crusty eyes - YUCK! Throughout Friday the goop kept coming fast and furious. It was also a neon yellow! I probably should have taken him to the doctor on Friday, but I figured he just had a cold. When he woke up this morning, he wasn't any better, so I made an appointment for later this morning. Lo and behold, he has a BACTERIAL eye and ear infection! Not only did he hold off on his ear infections for 8 1/2 months, but he has to go and get a doozy of an infection!

I'm hoping he will feel better soon!

Mamamamamama!

Gavin's first word is Mama!!! Of course we have not been able to catch it on tape yet, but as soon as we do I'll post it here. He said it for Bob long before he said it for me, but he does know what it means now! He will look at me with sad eyes and say "mama, mama, mama" and then lay his head down. It just melts my heart and I pick him up instantly!

The other words in his vocabulary are "BBBBBBBBBBBBBB" like a motor boat, "AAAAAAHHHHHHH" Raegan taught him that and they will scream at each other for an hour! Last night, Bob finally had to put a stop to it and make Raegan move onto a different toy!

Halloween at the Wheatons!

Halloween couldn't have come soon enough. I think Raegan was really ready to rebel and just wear her princess dress whenever she wanted! Nana had surgery earlier in the week, so Beth, Mike and I took the kids to see her so that she could see them all dressed up. Of course it was pretty much impossible to get a good picture of the three of them.

We had dinner at our house, but really it was just pretty much chaos! Before Bob could even get in the door, Raegan was screaming "Daddy's home! Let's go trick or treating!!" The neighbors were coming over to take pictures of the kids, and kids were already ringing the bell for candy! We had Mike, Beth, Caden and Great-Grandpa Dennis over to witness all of this. We're really hoping they will come over again!

Raegan did get to go trick-or-treating with us, but really wanted to go with her little friend Krista. When she did go with her, we didn't see them for a long time! We had bought candy for about 100 kids, went through all of that and had to dig into our mini-bags of popcorn!

Over all, it was a good night!

Halloween in the Village

Our friends, the Kaspereks and Randalls, invited us to go to Greenfield Village's Halloween event. Raegan loved this because she was able to wear her princess dress and hang out with Nathan. Definitely two of her favorite things to do. The weather wasn't bad, just a little misty but I think that added to all of the awesome decorations they had. There were a TON of lit, carved jack-o-lanterns lighting a path. Raegan ditched Bob, Gavin and I and hung out with Nathan and Myke. Every so often they would have these little "treat" stations for the kids. Raegan's favorite had to be a tie between the apple and the ghost beanie baby.

Mini-vacation up north

Bob has been traveling a lot the last couple of months. One of the conferences he attended was in Traverse City so we decided to make it a little family outing and take the kids up there. It was perfect color season!

We drove up late Wednesday morning and surprisingly, the trip went really well! I do attribute this to our new dual-screen DVD player. (Gavin does not watch this yet!!) Once we made it to the resort and got settled in, we took a walk around. We found the pool and of course Raegan wanted to head right in there! We had a bite to eat in one of the restaurants and went back to the condo to try to get the kids in bed on time.

On Thursday, we took Bob to the conference and went back to hang out in the condo. When Bob had a break, we ran back up to the main building and Raegan and I went swimming. She had a ball and did not want to leave the pool. We went back to the condo for a quick nap and dinner. We had made a reservation at the resort day care so that Bob and I could attend the McKenna party that night. It was really nice to get away and have some fun.

Friday, I took the kids shopping while Bob went to the last of his meetings. Then he took Raegan swimming and we all had a relaxing night.

Saturday morning, we packed the car and decided it was too nice to just jump in the car and drive home. We went downtown Traverse City, had lunch and shopped a little bit. Then we took the kids to the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes. Raegan thought that was great! She was singing the Wiggles song "Rollin' down the sand hillls" the whole time. Then we went into downtown Glen Arbor for a while.

The drive home was pretty uneventful, thankfully!

Caden's Here!!!

And a week old, but you all know that I am not the most timely person when it comes to updating our website.
Caden Michael
10-8-07
6:18 pm
7 lbs 8 oz
20 1/2 inches

Beth ended up with a c-section but seems to be doing really well now, despite the lack of sleep! Caden is just the most beautiful little guy! I took Raegan and Gavin down to meet him on Saturday. Raegan wanted to wake him up and hold him. Gavin had no idea what was going on, but I guess I didn't expect much from him. It will be great that he and Caden are so close in age.

Anyway, just wanted to let everyone know that Bob and I are an Aunt & Uncle!!

One, two, three

. like a bird I sing.

Raegan was walking around the house singing this not too long ago. Being a Tim McGraw fan, I instantly knew the song. She asks to listen to it everyday and has now almost mastered the whole song! Yesterday, I found out that the kids at daycare sing this to the cd while the older ones are in school.

She is just so cute singing it! I'll have to get Bob to capture this on video before she stops singing. Guess we'll have to enter her on American Idol: Toddler edition!

On the move . . .

Gavin has finally figured out the whole crawling thing! Our little baby is growing up so fast!

He mastered the art of sitting not too long ago. Then it was going into a sitting position from laying on his belly or back. Now this!

Although it's not a fast, graceful crawl yet, he is on all fours and can move when he wants to. If you put Cara's pink ball in front of Gavin, he is OFF!

I feel like an IDIOT!!

Gavin woke up crabby Saturday morning. When I was feeding him his cereal, I noticed a big white spot on his tongue. When I tried to touch it, he grabbed my hands and pulled them away. I couldn't scrape it with my finger. I had originally thought it was spit up. I kind of let it go, but then after I put him down for his nap it really started to bother me.

I ended up calling the peds office and they think it is thrush. They don't have any appointments left today so told me to "treat" it over the weekend and bring him in on Monday. They said that since he is a generally healthy baby, not to worry about it.

Ok, fast forward to Monday. I took Gavin to the doctor for his "thrush." The doctor examined him and guess what - HE BIT HIS TONGUE!!! She said the white spot was the dead skin before it fell off. Now I feel like a complete tool, but in my defense, I called the pedi office on Saturday, told them what his tongue looked like and THEY said it sounded like thrush. AAAHHH!!! How embarrassing!!!!

Gavin - 7 months old!

Unreal! Saturday we celebrated Gavin's 7 month birthday! We didn't do much but Raegan did sing Happy Birthday and asked for cake all day long!

Here's an update on what our little booger is up to! He now sits up by himself and can even get to that position from laying on his belly! He doesn't crawl per se, but rolls and lunges. He is definitely getting better at getting what he wants. He now has 3 teeth with two more ready to cut any day now. I have to insert here that Raegan didn't cut her first tooth until she was 7 1/2 months old! He is getting better at holding his own bottle, but is really good at throwing it on the floor when he is done! He is eating a lot of baby food and adult food, but he will let you know if he doesn't like something! The face he makes is precious! Next time I give him his turkey & brocolli dinner, I'll be sure to have the camera close by.

One of Gavin's new favorites is pulling hair. He has really been working at grabbing things and hair is one of his favorites. If Raegan is playing with him, I'll hear a scream and "Gavin, let go!!!" We just need to work on his different grasps so he can start feeding himself things like banana pieces and Gerber puffs!

Raegan is potty trained!!!!

I didn't want to post this sooner and jinx myself, but it's true - Raegan is potty trained! She has had a couple of accidents, but otherwise she is doing great! She can make it through her naps and overnight completely dry! We still put pull-ups on her overnight, but I think if everything keeps going well, I will not buy anymore and just use these until they are gone. You may ask why I don't save them for Gavin, but they have Dora the Explorer and Disney Princesses on them! I don't think Gavin would really appreciate that!

I do know that I posted that she was potty trained before, but now she even poops in the potty! This was a really big deal. She was terrified of pooping in the potty so we ended up bribing her with ice cream. Now that it is a regular occurance, she doesn't get ice cream every time, but I am still a softy at times. Bob is definitely the more strict parent. She also has an attachement to our toilet, so there is no dumping of the potty chair and then rinsing and disinfecting. YAY!!

Catch up around the household

It has been so long since I've updated that I thought I would try to get everyone caught up. Here is the latest in the Wheaton household!

1) After a year, our house is finally OFF OF THE MARKET!! In celebration of this, we redecorated Raegan's bedroom to reflect her inner princess! She loves it! (more pics to come later)

2) Bob is now in his busy travel season so he won't be around much. In case you are looking for him, here is the latest schedule:

September 18-20: Boyne Highlands
October 10-13: Syracuse
October 18-20: Traverse City (the kids and I will be going to celebrate my b-day)

October 24-25: Syracuse (tentative)
November 15-17: Syracuse
November 28-30: Chicago

December 7-9: Syracuse (I'll be going with him for their holiday party)

3) We are still waiting on our new little nephew. Caden Michael Wheaton is due on October 11 and we can't wait!!!

4) We went to Kasperek's annual Pumpkin Fest party and then enjoyed the parade of lights. Here's a picture of the "Babies in a Bucket"

I think that's all for now! Hope everyone is doing well!!

We're finally all grown up . . .

At least we feel that way! Bob and I took the plunge and actually bought a "real" bedroom set! All of our married life, we have had a mattress and box spring on a frame and dressers that we put together ourselves. We knew that we needed a new mattress, so when we saw a good sale, we thought what the heck - let's at least go look! Well, 2 1/2 hours later (thank God we have good kids) we walked out of the furniture store with a king mattress/box spring set and a beautiful oak bedroom set! I'm sure that our sales rep was pretty happy that day. It's been an adjustment to actually have room in the bed without bumping into each other!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOB!!!

Today is Bob's birthday!! Unfortunately it won't be that exciting as he had to work. His mom and dad are having us, his grandpa and his sister-in-law over for dinner, cake and presents so that will be fun! Raegan sang happy birthday to him this morning and gave him a cd. Gavin and I are going to give him his gifts tonight. I'll post pics tomorrow!

(Yes, I know that it's later than "tomorrow")

Gavin is 6 months old

Wow! Can you believe he has been around for 1/2 a year already? He had his pictures taken at Sears and did such a good job! As soon as we were done and getting ready to choose the pictures to order, Gavin slammed his face into the table, cut his lip and his upper gum. :( Poor little guy! Add this on to the shots that he had the day before and he had a pretty rough couple of days.

16 lbs. 4 oz.

26 1/2 inches

Anyway, onto his update! He now has two teeth, on the bottom, and is working on a couple of top teeth. He likes to talk - bbbbrrrrr noises, cooing and screeching! He seems to be very entertained by and laugh at his sister on a daily basis. He can get up on his hands and knees, but hasn't figured out how to move yet (thank God!). He likes to pet our cat, Max, when he gets close enough. He is almost sitting up, but is still pretty tipsy. He has been holding his own bottle for a while, but now likes to grab the spoon when you are feeding him. It sure makes for a messy meal! Since he has grown beyond 26 inches, he is now in his big boy carseat. This is a little difficult since he isn't sitting up that great in a shopping cart, but I know it will get better.

I'm sure he is doing so much more that I can't even remember at the moment, but you get the idea. He is a happy, healthy six month old boy! :)

It's POTTY time! :)

Although I thought this day would never come, Raegan is potty trained! Pretty much anyway. On Monday she woke up not feeling well. Since Bob works from home on Mondays, he decided she should stay with him. Not long after I left with Gavin, Raegan told Bob she had to go potty. She went!!!! Of course she got her treat of Dora fruit snacks, then called, Mommy to tell me the exciting news and then went on playing. A while later, she told her daddy she had to go again - and she DID! Ever since then she has been really good at telling us when she needs to go. We have even walked in on her a couple of times that we didn't know she was going potty. So far, the only time that she has not made it to the potty was when she was sleeping. I am just so proud of her!

A Wiggly good time!!

Raegan has always been a pretty big fan of the Wiggles. In fact, she is a Wiggly fan club member! About 3 months ago, Bob found out that the Wiggles would be coming to the Palace for their Chasing the Rainbow concert. Since Raegan is a fan club member, we were able to pre-purchase our tickets. Bob being the great Daddy that he is, was on the computer the day of the pre-sale to get us the best possible tickets, row 9, section A right on the floor in front of the stage. We decided not to tell Raegan about this because we didn’t want to listen to “When am I going to the Wiggles???” for three months.

Well, yesterday was the concert! Daycare accidentally slipped and told her that we were taking her. After a LONG drive from our house to the Palace we were really hoping that she wouldn’t freak out and cry when she saw them. She LOVED it! After we grabbed a bite to eat and found our chairs, she started looking around at all of the other kids and then said “I want a hat,” so off I go to get one. She wore this hat for the whole concert! She never keeps anything on her head! A couple of the Wiggly dancers came out to give some safety tips (they also did them in Spanish, Bob and I were trying to figure out when this became a necessary function in our society) and she was ready! She seemed a little confused when the Wiggles first came on stage and kept watching them on the giant screens next to the stage. She was so used to only seeing them on TV! After about 20 minutes, she really got into it. By the end, she was dancing, singing, laughing and talking to the Wiggles. Before they sang Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, they had everyone turn on their cell phone and hold it in the air to simulate stars. Raegan got a kick out of this and was very good at not making a call while holding it!

Bob and I are really glad that we decided to take her on this little “date.” She may not remember it, but we sure will. We had an amazing time hanging out with her and watching her have so much fun!

Our trip to North Dakota . . .

Bob flew to Syracuse on Monday and was meeting up with us at the airport on Wednesday to fly to see my family in North Dakota. I was quite the site when we got to the airport! The good thing was that my father-in-law could only laugh at me and not take a picture! I had Gavin in Snugli on my front, Raegan’s car seat on as a backpack, and Raegan in the stroller with the diaper bag hanging over the handles. They were nice enough to open a security line just for me to make my life a little easier. I didn’t have to take Gavin off, but Raegan had to go through the metal detector by herself. The TSA agent was using her blinking Dora the Explorer shoes as a bribe to get her to walk through by herself. Once she did get through, she wanted to run back to the other side to hang on my leg! We eventually did make it through and to the gate to wait for Bob. After that it was a pretty uneventful flight and drive to my parent’s house. Raegan immediately fell in love with my parent’s cat, Pudge, and followed him around pretty much the whole trip. Our sister-in-law, Nikki, came in to see us and invited Bob to help into another pasture in the morning. Not something that us city folk get to do very often!
Although he was not very prepared (no jeans or boots), Bob did chase cows with Harstads (my brother’s in-laws), first on 4-wheeler and then on horse. He was pretty tired after that so while he napped, my parents and I took the kids swimming. Raegan was pretty scared in the pool at first but by the end of the week, she was an old pro! My grandparents came over to see us again on Thursday, but they didn’t seem too concerned to find Bob and I quickly. In fact, I’m not sure we even got a hello!
On Friday, we all went swimming again. We are big fans of the Simpson’s and it was opening day for the movie, so Bob and I went to opening in Minot. This was the first movie we had been to in a long time, I know we haven’t been to one since Gavin was born. While we were gone, Raegan rode a horse for the first time! Her papa always said she was a North Dakota girl – now we have proof! Mark, who’s in med school, was able to get out of his afternoon clinic and come home a little early. We all went out to Palermo and then out to Harstads for a while. I guess we are all getting old because we were home and in bed early!
Mark & bob went to lake to go boating. Mom and I ran some errands and then stopped into Kat’s Kreations (a scrapbooking store). She always has the cutest stuff. She happened to be having a drawing for a shopping spree. All you had to do was spend $25, I could do that easily, so I signed up! The only catch was you had to be present to win. I went out to my sister-in-laws house and convinced her to back to the drawing with me. Lo and behold, I WON!!! It was a 45 second shopping spree. I was pretty amazed at what you can grab that quickly! Bob and Mark drove by and saw that Nikki and I were there. They walked in as I was running through the store and everyone was cheering me on. They weren’t quite sure what to think, Bob was just shaking his head. That evening, we went to my brother’s in-laws, Kevin & Sandy, 25th anniversary party that night. Raegan got to ride 4-wheeler and LOVED it when her dad went fast!
Gavin cut first his first tooth! We were driving to Medora, a western town, when I felt his gums and got a little scratch! Go little man! It was so hot in Medora, 105 degrees! Raegan got so crabby that my parents took her back to the hotel for a nap so she could make it through dinner and the musical later that night. We met all of my aunts on my dad’s side for a pitchfork fondue. That steak was the best I’ve had in a long time! I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t more interactive. After dinner we went to the outdoor amphitheatre for the musical and it was great! Raegan even got to participate in the dancing, although she wouldn’t go on stage without me (after a day outside in 105 degree weather, I was really pretty too!)
The next day, we drove through the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We saw a lot of buffalo. There was a herd very close to the road. Raegan was pretty scared of them at first and then wanted to get out and pet them! It was a long day with most of it spent in the car and the kids did great! Gavin did get sick while we were driving through the park, but I think it was a combination of the heat, driving on curvy roads and eating in his car seat while he was facing backwards!
We had to come home today so we finished packing in the morning and drove to Minot. Before we got on the plane, we took kids to zoo. After Raegan wanted to pet the buffalo the day before, I was a little confused when she told me she was scared of the turtle that was in a cage! Once again, the kids were very good on the flight. Although we had a tight connection in Minneapolis (34 min) we made it! We finally got to our house around 11:00 pm and had both of the kids in bed around midnight. The alarm is going to be going off a little too early for me, but I guess we have to get back into our routine sometime!

5 Months Old (only 5 days late!)

It is so hard to believe that our little man is five months old! He is growing up so fast! It is really hard for me to remember what Raegan was doing at that age. I did pull out one of her photo albums to see what she was up to. She was definitely smaller than Gavin. He is starting to "scootch" now. Sometimes he will do an army-type crawl and other times he will put his head down and butt up and push himself. The whole sitting up thing does not seem to interest him yet so we will have to work on that yet. He is really grabbing at things now too. His favorite seems to be Raegan's hair! Since he has an interest in holding things, Bob and I are working on getting him to hold his own bottle. He is doing ok, but pulls the bottle down and then can't get it back up. We finally got the whole food thing figured out too! He is on a formula that works better with his belly, loves his cereal, has gone through all of the vegetables and is just starting fruit. Bob is much better at feeding Gavin his non-bottle food. I was feeding him last night and he ended up with sweet potatoes EVERYWHERE from the top of his head to all over my white tank top. I was really surprised there wasn't more food on the walls!

We are all getting ready for a vacation to ND so there won't be posts or pics for a while!

Out of the mouths of babes!

This morning I took the kids to daycare. This is news because Bob usually does this. As we were driving, Raegan kept pulling at her hair making a horrible face. After a couple of minutes of this I asked her what was wrong. She told me

"My hair is really, really gross. Don't touch it, Mommy!"

Nothing more was brought up about her hair, but can this be happening already? She's only two! She is not supposed to be so concerned about her hair!!

Good-bye Grandma Dennis

Sadly, we had to say good-bye to Bob's Grandma Dennis on Friday. She passed away after a fight with cancer. She was a great lady and it was really hard to say good-bye. In April 2005, she was so happy to finally have another girl in the family! We were fortunate enough that Grandma passed her cute, crooked smile on to Raegan.

Grandma will be missed very much, but we are all happy that she is done battling this disease and is at peace.

We miss you Grandma!

Toddler Flu . . .

Yuck! Raegan got a fever last night so we gave her Tylenol and put her to bed. We didn't think anything else about it. Bob and I got up this morning and got ready like normal. He went in and got Raegan. When I gave her a kiss, she felt REALLY warm. I went and got the thermometer while he took her pajamas off. The thermometer said 105.1!!!! Oh, my GOD!!! So, we tried to get her to take some more tylenol and of course, she wanted nothing to do with it. After much "mom" anxiety, I called the ask a nurse through our pediatrician's office. She said NOT to give her a shower, just get her to take her Tylenol. I was thinking "You tell a two year old she HAS to do something!" After I hung up, Raegan threw up! I was thining "Great! She has the flu!" Now, both Bob and I had things going on at work that we really had to attend to. I know, it's Friday and I am supposed to be off! Today is our annual employee picnic, which I am in charge of. Bob has an important meeting in Holland, about 3 1/2 hours away. So, I took Gavin (aka Mr. Smiley) to daycare and went to work at my normal time. He could stay home until 10:00, so I came home about 9:45 to tag him out. I called my mother-in-law to let her know what was going on and she said she would stop by. It was so sweet! She brought Raegan a get well balloon and a Dora balloon! While she was here, Raegan threw up again! Carol left and I just her down for a nap. I hope that all is well with her. I feel so bad! I wish I could be sick for her!

Cereal

Since Gavin is now four months old, it was time to start cereal. He did start with the rice cereal and didn't seem to care for it too much. Yesterday I started him on oatmeal and boy did he like it! I was feeding him while Raegan was taking a nap so it was nice and peaceful. Gavin just couldn't get enough of the cearal - BUT he doesn't quite have the swallowing thing down yet. By the time we were done with his little tiny bit of cereal, we both needed a bath!!

4 Months Old

Gavin was officially 4 months old on Friday, but he just went to the doctor today.

14 lbs, 5 oz
26 inches

He is a big and growing boy! Officially he has outgrown his infant car seat, BUT since he can't sit up yet, we're going to keep him in it. That way when I go to the store, I have somewhere to keep him. He's hitting and exceeding all milestones - coos and talks, grabs objects, laughs & smiles, etc. . . He does still have some acid reflux issues so we have switched his medication to Prevacid. It's nice in that he only takes it once a day, but it is not FDA approved for babies because noone is willing to sign their baby up for a clinical trial. We are giving it six days (number of free samples we got) to see if it works any better for him.

Other than that, he is just a sweet baby who gets more kisses than he can handle! (mostly from his big sister)

Happy Father's Day

Bob's first father's day as a father of 2 started out great! First of all, we were up north, but even better - Gavin slept through the night! When both kids were up, they crawled in bed with us and gave Bob his gifts. He did get his Magellan Maestro GPS navigation system early so he could play with it on our way up north but the kids did get him a book and bookmark. We're hoping that the bookmark is Raegan proof as she is famous for taking your bookmark out and handing it to you (just ask my parents!). We took Bob and Carol out to breakfast at Nana's Kitchen, stopped at the park to play for a while (Nana and Raegy had some problems on the swing!) and then back to the cabin to clean up for the drive home. Again, a present to Bob - both kids slept until the last 1/2 hour of the drive home. Everyone was in a great mood until bedtime. What a WONDERFUL weekend!

Grandpa's night out!

Last night, Bob and his brother Mike took their dad and grandpa to the Tiger's game - who knew that they would be watching history!! Just to give some background, Bob's grandma is currently losing a battle with cancer. Luckily she is able to be at home and have hospice come in. However, their grandpa can get a little stressed out at times. Bob and Mike thought it would be nice to get him out to a game, especially since he is a HUGE tiger's fan! This is the game that happened to work best for everyone! Lucky them!!! :)

Anyway, they all met at our house and took off for downtown. It was a beautiful night and they all had a ball!



The girls; Bob's mom, aunt Laura, aunt Linda, Raegan and I (Gavin too of course!)all went down to his grandparents house to hang out with Grandma. There were spoiled babies, a sack of sliders and pedicures galore! Raegan kept us all entertained, like usual! She also made out because aunt Linda bought her a couple of Dora dolls and uncle Glenn sent her a cute kitten necklace!

Playing with Nathan

Raegan LOVES to go to our friends, Myke & Dee's, because they have a son, Nathan, who is 6 1/2 months younger than her. They always have a ball together, but seem to have the most fun swimming!



We were over for a bbq on Sunday and the kids were able to swim, play with the dogs, get a ride behind the 4 wheeler and just be 2 year olds! One of their last treats was a ride behind the 4-wheeler on a wagon. Let's just say that we're not sure what the dad's were thinking - they both came back smelling like gas! Needless to say, they both ended up in the bath.



Can't wait to get them together more! We are really hoping that Myke & Dee will provide Gavin a little friend to play with as well :)

Rollin', rollin', rollin . . . .

Gavin is now rolling! He has been rolling front to back for a while, but tonight while we were eating dinner he rolled over from back to front. He really grunted and struggled, but with all of the rolls and weight that he has to move, I guess that is to be expected! :) He goes for his four month check up on Monday, June 18 so I will update you again then.

Like mother, like daugher . . .

Let me start off by saying that Raegan is fine! I on the other hand had about five years scared off of my life!

Yes, Raegan has inherited her gracefullness from her mother. This morning I was ironing downstairs and Raegan was playing upstairs. She decided to come down to see me and I heard her counting her way down the stairs when all of a sudden I heard THUMP, THUMP, THUMP. I screamed "Oh my God!!!!!" so loud that Bob thought for sure he would see a large pool of blood. Raegan had fallen and came down the last half of the stairs on her back, head first. Let me just tell you that I was SOOOOO upset!!!! Of course, she was crying. I was asking her to tell me where it hurt. Bob was able to get both of us calmed down enough taht we could take Raegan's clothes off to survey the damage. She had a little scrap on the top part of her spine, some bruising on her back and a tiny knot on her head. After about 10 minutes, she was fine! Because we were still a little nervous, we would only let her sleep for 15 minutes at a time. She was really tired by bedtime! Much to our relief she is fine except for a little bruising. She does tell me to be carful when I go down the stairs - it's pretty cute!

Memorial Day Up North

Last fall, Bob's parents decided it was time to buy a "cottage" up north. They ended up with a beautiful three bedroom, two bathroom house on two acres! For memorial day, we decided that we would all go up there to relax. Our trip did not start out very relaxing at all!

Thursday night, we got everything packed and loaded into the Mountaineer. Bob ran across the street to drop off the mailbox keys and I got in and started the truck. Well, the radio, windows, a/c, etc. decided not to work. No problem, I just shut it off and restarted thinking this would reset everything. I did this three times and nothing was working. At this point, Bob started getting nervous. He came to our driveway and asked me what was going on. After filling him in, he started tinkering with it. After about 20 minutes, he decided to drive it around the block to see if they would come back on. Nope! At this point I had Gavin out of the car because he was getting fussy. We went over the the neighbor's house to chat with them until Bob got back. Well, nothing was working yet! Bob and our neighbor started working again. After getting Raegan out of the car and waiting yet another 45 minutes, the guys finally discovered it was one lousy, burned out 15 amp fuse! We pulled one out of the car, stopped at Auto Zone to buy the variety pack in case anything else happened and finally pulled out of town one hour and 15 minutes later than we planned! The rest of the journey up north was very uneventful.

Bob's parents made it up on Friday afternoon. We went into town to the local bar for pizza and then home for a bonfire in the back yard. Saturday was our 6th wedding anniversary - I can't believe it! :) We went into Mount Pleasant for dinner at Mountain Town Station and to buy Gavin a long sleeved shirt (it was colder than I thought!). Bob and Carol kept the kids and I'm sure they were very spoiled! When we got home, Raegan was in bed, but the rest of us had some ice cream to celebrate.

Sunday was the big day for their association! A pig roast and luau! We met some of Carol's family down at the activity center for dinner. There were two little girls for Raegan to play with - Liliana & Eva. They all had a blast together! After dinner, we took the girls to play in the park and then into the shelter to listen to the band. This part of the evening was even more hillbilly than events in North Dakota! The girls danced to the band while we all laughed! It was quite funny.

Monday we all got up and got ready to go home. It was a great relaxing time and I can't wait to get back up there this summer. However, right now Bob and I are planning a trip to North Dakota for late July.

Eastern Market Flower Day

Today seemed like such a nice morning so we decided to pack the kids up and take them to the annual Eastern Market Flower Day. Once we got down there and finally found a parking spot, the weather decided not to cooperate anymore. It felt like it dropped 10 degrees! Luckily we had brought a jacket for Raegan and two blankets for Gavin. We walked around with all of the other crazy people in the cold. At least we weren't in shorts! We stopped for some lunch and sat in the parking lot while Raegan entertained everyone around us by doing the Cha Cha! Then when we couldn't take the cold anymore we decided it was time for Raegan to pick out her own flowers so we could go home (and I could put on a sweatshirt and have a cup of HOT coffee!) Turns out she was wiped out and ready to go home too. It ended up being such a great day, it is now going to be a Wheaton family tradition! Next year Gavin should be able to participate a little more and not sleep the whole time we are there.

Gavin is 3 months old!

I can't believe that our little man is three months old already! It seems like just yesterday that I was still pregnant and eating peanut m&m's by the pound! How time flies. Gavin is growing like a weed. He rolled from his stomach to his back, although there has not yet been a repeat performance. He is also having little conversations with Raegan. Wish I knew what they were saying! I'm sure it is something like "Our mommy is sooooo cool!", "Yeah, I guess our daddy is alright too!" Other than that we don't have many milestones to report! He's just getting cuter by the minute.

New family website

Now that there are two little munchkins in the Wheaton family, we decided to move to a more familly friendly website. A couple of our friends also use this service and I really like it, so I hope you do too!

I am now back at work :( Although it was hard to come back, it would have been harder for me to give up my amazing UM benefits. I will be working Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 7:30 am - 4:00 pm. It will be great to have 4 day weekends every week! Especially since Mom & Dad W. have the place up north.

The kids did great at daycare. Raegan never stopped going, so it was no big deal for her. But Gavin is now one of Auntie's kids! He gave them a little hassle with his bottles (he much prefers the boob!) but hopefully that will get better. Other than that he had a great time watching all of the other kids and taking in all of the noise!

Bob is now working from home on Mondays. The kids and I love it because we get to have breakfast and lunch with him. He is also "home" early since his commute is only 9 steps long!

Hope you all enjoy the new blog!