A catch-up!

WOW! Has it really been that long since I've written?!?! lol... Well, in the time I haven't been writting, Raegan has gotten, and recovered from her first ear infection... which led to her first 2 teeth!!! YEAH!! Both came through the gums on the same day. Her chewing and drooling hasn't stopped, but I think she may be working on her top two! She had her 6 month appt. and all is great!! She is now in the 90% for her height!! Which, of course, you know makes her Daddy VERY proud, but makes it hard for her momma to dress her in a dress that fits... they are either too short and fit in the waist, or are just right in length and are too big around... hmmm... lol.. We've taken her 6 month pictures, and they are great!! (Posted on the side.) She is just growing like a weed every day it seems. We received a TON of Hand-me-down clothes from my cousin Karen. THEY ARE AMAZING! Raegan has SO MANY clothes now that her "Pa" had to add hanging bars to her closet when they were here for Thanksgiving. I think she now officially has more clothes and shoes than her momma! Look out Dad... you're gonna have your hands full with your girls!

I am currently trying to get Christmas cards printed... Yeah, I decided to be a DIY'er and print them on my own... we'll see how long that idea lasts! It may end up being the death of me! Jym and his basketball girls are well into their season these days, and have a current record of 11-2. They are doing great! Raegan isn't quite into the basketball as she was the football, but she does enjoy it. I just think it will take a while to get used to the extra action and noise that are a little more confined to her "area."

Work is going pretty good also. I've decided that I don't necessarily like taking call all that much, but hey... it's gotta be done, and it is extra money on that check every two weeks! HA! Gotta put some kind of positive spin on it all. Hard to believe its been this long since I've written and this is all I have to "Catch-up" on... HA! Maybe the Dennis Family isn't so interesting after all! Hope this finds you all doing WONDERFUL!!

Updates...

Just posting an update here tonight. We found out that our nephew's cancer is T-Cell Lymphoma.... or Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. He has already started his chemo. It is just good to have all the test results back so he can know what he is for sure fighting. Still asking for your prayers for him.

Prayers Please!!

Well...
I am just asking for everyone's thoughts and prayers for our family in the coming months. We just found out tonight that our nephew has been diagnosed with T-Cell Leukemia. It began with what Doctors thought was just basic pneumonia. They are going to give him some powerful steroids and if that doesn't help enough, or any, they will start him on Chemo. It just breaks my heart for him... He is so young... So much life ahead of him. He is currently at Cook's Children's Hospital for his treatments.

Jym's little cousin, born at 24 weeks gestation, is also at Cook's Children's Hospital for heart surgery. When he was born, he had a small hole in his heart and the steroids they gave him to help it close up on it's own didn't help. He has to have surgery to go in and close this small hole up. This could be a risky procedure for him, seeing as how he is SO TINY.

And... Another of Jym's cousins is in San Antonio having surgery on his back. He had the first of 2 or 3 surgeries today, lasting from 8-ish this morning to around 6-ish tonight. He is expected to be fine, but with surgery matters it never hurts to have a little prayer and lots of support on your side.

I just wanted to post this to ask you all to PLEASE keep our family in your thoughts and prayers while we are all going through this trying time. Thank-you all... Hope all is great elsewhere!

New, New, New!!

Hello All...

It's been a long while since I've written... The life of a working Mom is BUSY! lol.. Well.. I started work at the Hospital in Brady last Tuesday. It is going pretty great. Other than having to leave Raegan at the babysitter. Jym and I completely lucked out and she gets to stay at the daycare at the school with Jym.. It is WONDERFUL!! It is pretty cheap... Great Sitter... and Best of All.... Raegan has her Daddy there if she needs him. And he gets to visit her during his lunch break! I LOVE IT! Raegan has a few "new" things in her life other than the daycare! As of 10.11.2008 and 10.28.2008, she said "DaDa" and "MaMa", respectively. I can't say that she says them ALL the time... but she does say 'em. I'm still not too sure she knows what they mean/that it is US or not... but like others have told me... I guess it is Possible! :) It feels great to hear her say MaMa! lol.. Another "new" thing to her is SITTING UP!!! On 11.3.2008, Raegan sat up ALL BY HERSELF for a WHOLE 30-45 seconds playing with her toys and, of course, watching TV. lol... She can now sit up for quite a while. She sat up for most of Jym's basketball scrimmage this past weekend, and she LOVES to sit up and watch Max and laugh at his barking. (Her Daddy and I don't seem to think his barking is all that funny! lol...) She's also started MANY new foods, and seems to like them all. Her favorites for the time being are Apples with Blueberries and Squash. She has been teething, or going through the "teething process" now for about 3 months. It is literally wearing me out! lol.. Momma's ready for some TEETH!! lol... Every once in a while I'll feel little spots on her gums where I think one MIGHT come through... but the next time I feel... It's GONE!! UGH! Just come in already! lol.. At least she's taking it like a trooper. She hasn't gotten all that grouchy or even "sickly" like I've been told happens. (Watch... I just jinxed us!) She still has those BIG BLUE eyes that either came from her Daddy or her Pa (My dad)... No one else has those eyes! We hope they stay... They, along with her long eyelashes, are so beautiful... We've been told numerous times by complete strangers, that we are gonna have our hands full when she is a teenager and starts dating... UGH... A whole other time I don't want to think about!! All is going pretty great in the Dennis Household... Hope all is great else where!

Happy Halloween!

Hey guys!!

Just wanted to stop in and say HAPPY HALLOWEEN to everyone. I LOVE Halloween. It is definately my favorite Holiday. Raegan, as you all know, was a bumble bee. We didn't go out trick-or-treating, seeing as how she is still pretty "little" for it. Her PaPa and PaDon came into town and her Aunt Angel and her cousin, Skyler, came over and we took pictures of the girls in their costumes and PaPa and PaDon gave them both some candy! (Momma sure is enjoying Raegan's Tootsie Rolls!!) After pictures, Raegan, Jym's parents, and I loaded up and headed off to the football game in Eden so Raegan could cheer for her Daddy!! She was a GREAT little girl... (Surprise, surprise... right?) She got a little tired, and slept for most of the first second quarter, but woke up in a great mood and watched the rest of the game... and slept the whole way home. Now she is wide awake, talking to me, waiting to see her Daddy! When we got home, I took some more pictures of her in her costume, this time with her pumpkin... and Max. We tried to get a good picture of Raegan and Max last night (My Mom and Dad bought him an ADORABLE bumble bee suit to match Raegan's!!) We got a couple of good ones, but I got an AWESOME one tonight! I guess I can add tonight to Raegan's list of "Firsts"... Sadly, her first major holiday of her lifetime is over... (or will be in 15 minutes or so....) I can't believe how fast the time FLIES by!

UT vs. OSU

Well, Our plans to attend the Annual Rochelle Fall Festival didn't quite pan out. We ended up going to the UT vs. OSU Football Game. It was SO Great. It was Raegan's first "big" event... Her First UT Football Game. She was EXCELLENT. She even took a coule of naps during the game. When she wasn't sleeping, she was actually watching the action on the field... (Or the action of the THOUSANDS of people around her!) It was literally a standing room only game. If you wanted to see the game, you had to stand up. Jym and I are just so proud of Raegan and how AMAZING she acted. I would DEFINATELY plan on taking her to another one, just maybe not at 2:30 in the afternoon. It got SO Hot. But she handled it really well. My only complaint of the day was that we had to pay $80 for her a ticket! YES! $80!! "Anything with a heartbeat" needs a ticket! I guess it is because of the new updates they have recently made to the staduim (Which are really wonderful, by the way..) So.. after picking up our tickets, Jym and I had to go find a scalper and get Raegan a ticket! Good thing is, we found one with a heart! lol.. Jym told him it was for our little girl, and he was going to give it to us for $70 (Face value for the ticket was $80.) But when he pulled out his huge wad of money... all he had were $20's and couldn't make enough change. So, Jym was nice and let him keep the extra $10 he owed us. So.. we actually got the ticket for Face Value, rather than paying the usually overpriced scalper prices! lol.. Our buddy told us she was our $80 baby! lol.. It was definately worth it though. Such a great memory for us! (And plenty of Pics for her to see when she is older!!) lol..

Now... We have to come up with a plan for Halloween night so she can actually wear her Bumble Bee suit for more than just pictures!! lol.. I bet we can ALWAYS wear it to go Trick-or-Treating at her PaPa and PaDon's house that night before the game! lol... Who knows... Momma's got to start thinking! I still think our alternative plan was great! HOOK 'EM HORNS!!

Raegan Made The News!!

I just received our "Groom News" in the mail today, and Raegan was on the FRONT PAGE!! It is a picture from the Groom vs. Hedley football game when we were visiting. She was showing support for her Favorite Tiger... Her Uncle Tyler!! I can't say that I was surprised to see it... (My Mom called me and told me to expect it!) I was, however, completely shocked when my Mom told me!

She is still completely loving her Prunes and Carrots. In fact... I am about to have to go to the store and get more prunes, as she's all but eaten them ALL!! lol... I think we've about busted the "fever"... She felt a whole lot cooler this morning when she finally woke up. I better cut this post short... Seeing as how she's currently laying in her bed, talking to her stuffed animals instead of finishing up her NAP!! lol.. I guess when you sleep until 10:20 in the morning you don't need that long of a nap! Hmm.... What can I say... The girl got her Momma's LOVE of the Sleeping Time!! lol...

More Rolls... Prunes... and SICK AGAIN!!

OK, so I posted a while back about Raegan rolling-over... Well, today she actually rolled over while laying on her blankets on the floor... And would have kept on going if Mom hadn't stopped her... (She would have rolled onto and smacked her head onto a hard cement floor... Dad's GOT to get those floors put in!!) It was so exciting... Jym and I both got to sit here and watch her go for it! She also started eating PRUNES today. She LOVES 'EM!! lol... YUCK..

We've been fighting a fever with Raegan for a couple of days. Last night her fever started out at 99.2... not too bad... We gave her some Tylenol, and 4 hours later, she woke up hungry and felt hot still. I checked it and it was 99.4. Still not so bad... But I gave her some more Tylenol. This morning... well afternoon seeing as how she slept until 11:40 (!!!!!!!!) It was up to 100.1. So I put a call into the Dr. on call and he just told me to keep up the Tylenol, since it wasn't considered a "fever" until it was 101, which I knew, I just didn't want it to get terrible before I found out what to actually do for her! So... she got more Tylenol, and 2 1/2 hours and an hour long nap later, it was finally down to 97.8. SO... Hopefully she broke it... she sure acts like she feels better now than before the nap. I'll check it again here in a little while to double check, but maybe things are turning around for her. Poor girl... she just got over her first cold a week ago, one that she suffered with for close to 2 weeks! Just pray for her that she isn't getting the FLU! The Dr. said that there have been a lot of calls in with kiddos throwing up and having severe diarrhea. UGH!!! Please don't let our little girl get that stuff!

Late Night...

Ummm.... So yeah, I remembered tonight why Marci doesn't go to "away" games with the rug-rat! And it really has NOTHING to do with her. She was AMAZING tonight. It just means that her and her Momma get to travel over an hour to get to the game.... Sit.. Cheer... Walk so Raegan can get some sleep... Try to keep her warm while I freeze my booty off... Get another coach to watch her so Jym can stand guard over the dressing room after all the boys are out so I can PEE before we leave for home... Then drive for another hour and 15-ish minutes ALL BY OURSELVES!!! It wasn't so bad during Basketball season when I could ride the bus, but that probably won't be possible this next season. Unless Jym wants to lug the carseat onto the BUS! HA!

In better news, Raegan once again proved that she is Jym's girl! She LOVES to watch football... and cheerleaders! She was in such a great mood during this game, and didn't really give me any trouble at all on the drive to or from the game. Of course, there was the 5-10 minute fit from being strapped into her seat, but when that wore off, she slept the whole way to the game, and the whole way home. And obviously, she's decided to wait for Dad to get home before going BACK to sleep! HA! She's currently rolling around on the floor, talking, and laughing at Max, waiting for her Dad... She's doesn't even LOOK tired anymore! HA! I wish all I needed to make it was her short little catnaps!

Well... Seeing as how it is almost 12:30 and the kiddo is still wide awake... I guess I'm off to see if I can get her to sleep! Wish me luck... I'll definately need it this late at night!!!

Back Home...

Well,


Raegan and I made it home safely on Sunday. It's been a week of getting back to our "normal" routine. It kind of feels odd to be completely alone (other than Raegan's company, of course!). For a week and a half I got used to people being in and out of the house all day, whether it be my brothers coming home for lunch, or my parents. I LOVE getting to visit and be with my family. I already miss them like crazy, and we won't get to see them again until Thanksgiving. I can make it a month.... Maybe.. :)


Raegan has gotten back to taking her naps regularly, or a regularly as they EVER where, now that we are back home. Jym and I are beginning to think that she is working on some little teeth. She has been a tad bit grouchier than normal and she is gnawing on her little fingers. Part of me is excited about this "Milestone", but another isn't... First of all, our little baby girl isn't such a little baby anymore... Second... This "teething" pain is going to be around for a while... Oh well, she's gotta go through it, might as well start it now.



In other news, Raegan is getting to where she LOVES her bath more than she even used to. She will splash water in the "Big Girl" tub like CRAZY! If I turn her over onto her tummy, she will start kicking her little legs and splashing water with her arms. Jym said it looks like she is "doggie paddling". It is too cute. Maybe she'll like the water better than her momma does! Yes, I HATE water!... Well... Deep water!



My all-time favorite holiday is coming up. I LOVE HALLOWEEN!! Raegan is going to be bumble-bee! She looks so adorable in her little suit. As far as she is concerned, it is just something else to chew on! lol... Next weekend we have the school's annual Fall Festival and Halloween Carnival. That will be Raegan's "Halloween" seeing as how she can't really go trick-or-treating this year. Besides, Jym has a football game on Halloween Night anyways... They have a "Spook Parade" at the Festival, which would be SO Neat to have her in... but that would mean Momma would have to be on stage too... I don't know... I'm thinking about it... If they even have an entry for kiddos her age... Who knows? I got all excited about Halloween coming up that I painted Raegan her first pumpkin... I know... carving one is more traditional... but painting one is SO much easier!! lol... It is cute... If I do say so myself! lol... My Mom got a green apple gourd for her while we were up visiting that I was going to bring home and paint Frankenstein on .... but... well, you guessed it.... It got left on Mom and Dad's porch! UGH! I swear... I'd forget my head these days, if it wasn't attached!!

Pictures from the Game Last Night...

Here are some pictures from the game last night that I didn't have uploaded to the computer at the time I was typing last night's post... They are Raegan with T.J. the Tiger, Raegan in her "Eskimo" suit, Raegan playing/talking at the tailgate party, and some of my little brother in action!

Raegan Rolled Over!!

Our little stinker rolled over not once, or even twice, but THREE times from back to tummy tonight while her Momma was on the phone with her Daddy. We have experienced the "accidental" roll-over from tummy to back when trying out "tummy time" twice already, but I didn't really count that as a "roll-over" because it was, to me, just an "I'm-pissed-at-my-momma-for-making-me-lay-here-on-my-tummy roll-over". I've recently been told that those should count for the real thing... So.. I guess Raegan first rolled-over about a month to one and a half months old. (Momma is just behind, I guess!) lol... I never thought I would be so excited about a munchkin rolling over... but when it is your own it seems so much more exciting of a feat in their little lives. I really am proud of her. She's growing too fast. It sure doesn't seem like it has already been 4 1/2 months since she made her way into this world of ours. She is truly the best thing her Daddy and I have ever done.

We went to our second Groom Football game of our visit tonight. They won again. Maybe Raegan is her Uncle Tyler's "Good Luck Charm!" lol... I got a picture of her with the Tiger. So far she hasn't developed that "kiddo" fear of the giant animals/mascot yet. Maybe with as much time as she will spend around one in her life, she won't! lol.. As far as the game went, it took the guys a while to get into the game it seemed like, but they finally pulled it out and played their game and ended with a win! Raegan really likes watching that football. She watched again tonight! It got a little colder tonight than it did last week. We had to break out her "Eskimo" suit! She was all bundled up, warm and cozy! She napped for MAYBE a quarter of the game, then woke up to watch some more! We went to the "Tail-Gate" party in the cafeteria after the game tonight also, and she was WONDERFUL. She laid on her blanket on the floor and just talked like crazy!! Loud enough that she had people walking over to see what was going on! She was a happy little girl tonight.

Then again, she is usually ALWAYS happy. She is a great baby... Great sleeper... People think it is just crazy when I tell them how well she sleeps at night. I guess it isn't normal for a 4 1/2 month old to sleep ALL night.... and well into the next morning! lol... On an average day, Raegan will sleep until 9:30 or 10:00 a.m. (After going to bed at 8:30 or 9:00 p.m.) Yes, I know, we are VERY lucky parents! We thank God every day for our WONDERFUL addition to our family. We are also NOT naive enough to think that #2, whenever that time may come, will be just as good. No one can be THAT lucky! lol... I'm sure we will have our work cut out for us... BUT... We'll worry about crossing that bridge when it gets here.

Groom Homecoming 2008

As many of you know, this last weekend was Groom's Homecoming and we (as in Raegan and Marci) got to come up for the festivities. It was the first homecoming I've gotten to come up for in several years, and the first football game I've been to in two years. (We tried to make one last year, but because of my SEVERE Morning Sickness, we arrived to the game just as Groom 45-ed their opponent and we missed it ALL!) I was so glad that Raegan got to watch her Uncle Tyler play... and yes... She did watch! She LOVES football. She's her Daddy's Girl!!