Dear Fall.

Dear Fall,
We have been waiting for you for a little over 8 months now. Josh and I have been excited to sleep with the windows raised. It will also be more pleasant to walk to down town with Teagan with the weather being the perfect temperatures that you seem to bring. The biggest thing we have been waiting to do with you is to introduce you to our Little Bear. Our Teagan. She has been anxiously awaiting the chance to play in the golden crisp leaves that have already begun to fall in the yards. And as much as we will play with and watch her she is sure to manage a sneak taste of those golden crisps. Like sand on the beach maybe we'll let her taste just one. She also can't wait to go camping with her boyfriend Miles David! Supervised and in separate tents of course! She is also excited about strolling along the fairgrounds and smelling all things fair like. Another special thing we, as a family, are excited for is Teagan's dedication at church. This is when Josh & I along with family and friends and our church family basically give Teagan's life to the Lord. We promise to raise her and teach her and love her and be examples of good Christian people to her the rest of her life. We promise to give her the right tools to grow and become an amazing Christian woman. Her Grandma even made her a special dress for the occasion! I am also especially excited for a day of fun family photos with a mister Jonathan O'Brien! Oh the ideas I have for that day...
So, Fall, welcome back. It's so good to see you again. This time take off your boots and stay a while, will ya?

Love,
The Reid Family

Conversations with my husband.

You know you've married your best friend when you can catch each other's sarcasm over a text message:

"So, what did you decide about the fair?" -Josh
"I really want to go." -Me
"What do we do with Teagan?" -Josh
"Leave her in the car." -Me
"Okay." -Josh

Remind me what sleep is again? Please?

Yeah...we had a few nights of almost uninterrupted sleep. I think we got played. By our 8 month old. The night before last she was off the chain. She wasn't hungry. It wasn't her diaper. Bless her heart I don't even think she realized she was awake. There were still no teeth in sight (I'll get to this later). I just don't know what is going on. We have toyed with the idea of getting some sort of noise making contraption but then we get a few nights of half way decent sleep. We don't really want to get something that she needs to help her sleep so we don't have to worry about the lack of sleep if we happen to forget it when we travel. I think sleep deprivation is the new black for the Reid household.

Date night!

Last night we went out with Jeana & Seth & Miles Heavner. As most of you know, Miles David, is Teagan's boyfriend. They happen to have been born 2 months and a day a part so we try to celebrate their "birthdays" every month. We went to Buffalo Wild Wings (where Teagan goes crazy because they have a million TVs on and she doesn't get to watch TV at home). The last time the babies were at BWWs they looked like this:





Now they look like this:

*don't forget to enter in the Urban Munchkin give away!!! Details in a previous post!!*

Fall Resolutions

I've never been a big resolution maker. I've always been the one that makes the general resolutions. Lose weight. Eat healthier. Read a certain book. Blah blah. I've decided to make a few fall resolutions that I will attempt to get done before the new year and then we'll see how that effects my New Year's resolutions.

1) Send "snail mail" birthday cards and keep up with it.

*I used to be that person that sent cards just because or when it was somebody's birthday or anniversary or whatever. Since I've been married and especially since having a baby I've let that fall by the wayside and I really miss being the card person I used to be*

2) Take more pictures of Teagan and I.

*Josh always complains that I'm either the one behind the camera or I just make sure I'm not in the picture. I tell him it's because I'm not happy with my post baby body and I would just rather not have to face it. Truth is, I'm going to regret the fact that I'm not in pictures with Teagan and so I'm to suck it up and say Cheese!

3) Dress up more often or stop wearing blue jeans and a tee so often.

*I work in a job where if I "dress up" it almost looks to my clients like I'm "uppity" and then I'm not as affective in my teaching as I could be. I also know that if I dress like a college student every day then I might not be as respected as I could me. It's been difficult for me to find that fine medium. Also, I've just gotten lazy when I'm at home and out and about. This has to change. I'm tired of this fashion slump.

4) Take some "Mommy time".

*Even if this means taking my 15 minute shower and not listening for the monitor and trusting Josh to get it. Or going to a girls outting without Teagan (which is SO weird for me). Or getting in a run a night or two a week. I've got to have some me time.

5) Start back cooking more.

*I'd gotten back into the habit of cooking more at home. Fresh food. Fresh ingredients. Yummy dinners. We've slowly gotten back into the lets just pick something up or call something in or go out with so & so. This is okay occasionally but it's gotten to be habit forming. It's showing on our budget and my waistline (yes, mine and not Josh's because he has the metabolism of a 6 year old marathon runner).

6) finish some projects.

*I have a few project ideas that are really good but I've never given myself time to do them. I plan on starting on Teagan's room, starting the old t-shirt project, the pillow covers for the living room and the chalkboard paint project soon. I plan on finishing them by Thanksgiving.

I'm not going to overload myself with tasks. There are plenty more things I would love to get done but I don't want to stress about them. I want them to be fun for me. So, I will leisurely complete them and I'll let you know when I do. 1st on the list: grocery shop!!

What are some of your fall resolutions?

*don't forget about the Urban Munckin give away!!*

Teagan's Urban Munchkin onesie!

Teagan loves her Urban Munchkin onesie!

We have hair!! Kind of.

Urban Munchkin give away!

About a month ago I was looking at the online goodies that the Zulily webstie was offering and stumbled across an adorable green longsleeved onesie that said "Grow". Of course I instantly clicked on it to find out who sold it along with any other little tidbit I could. Comes to find out it's made by MOM's!! These two ladies were basically fed up with the "good for you" clothes being so boring and drab and fashionably unfriendly. They decided they would come up with a line that was colorful and organinc and good for our little ones! Plus a portion of their profits go to charities focusing on children! What an incredible company! For more of their story go to their website at Urban Munchkin.

After purchasing and receiving the grow onesie I sent a big "i love you and your product" e-mail. Their product is indcredible. The material is so soft that I toted the onesie around in my pocketbook for a good week just letting people feel the fabric and see the cuteness! Teagan loves the onesie because of it's bright colors and the softness of the fabric. They e-mailed me back saying they would love to do a give away for my readers! They are generous enough to give away the Love Long Sleeve Tee from their Mandala collection!

*picture from Urban Munchkin website*

There are several ways to enter so here are your choices. After the initial entry you get extra credit (aka extra entries) for the others!

Main Entry:
Comment with your favorite "baby/kid-friendly" help the planet idea.

Extra Credit (you have to comment and let me know you did these so I can make sure your EC gets counted):
1) "follow" Teagan Tales
2) follow Urban Munchkin on Facebook
3) follow Urban Munchkin on Twitter
4) vote for Teagan Tales & comment that you did (see the brown box that says Top Baby Blogs? click it for me, please) *I'm counting on your honesty here guys*
5) follow me on Twitter

It's as simple as that! The give away will be open until October 1st. On October 1st I will do the random drawing and let you know who the lucky winner is!!

Never have I ever...

Won a blogger award! Until today! My blogger friend, Kerry, over at Nesting with Nial bestowed this honor upon me! I'm very thankful and super excited!





This is kind of like a "pay it forward" award. Once you win it you pass it on to other blogs you read on a regular basis OR those you've just discovered, loved and want to share with others!


Bloggers, to accept this award, follow these steps:

1. Post the award on your blog with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.
2. Pay it forward to 15 other bloggers that you have newly discovered.
3. Contact those blog owners and let them know they've been chosen.

Here are my 15!
1) Moments & Impressions
2) Stories from Beyond My Ute
3) Mom's Little Running Buddy
4) Tie a Little Ribbon
5) All About Ava
6) Tales of the Wife
7) Life in the Midwest
8) The Indie Tot
9) Nobble Nuggets
10) The Gentrys
11) Puppy Dog Tails and Lady Bug Hugs
12) Two Schnauzers and Some Hope
13) Dairy Wives have Nice Calves
14) The Broome's
15) 365 Roland Family Project

I hope you all enjoy reading these blogs as much as I do!

Happy Thursday!
Rici

Wordless Wednesday

9 years ago today.

I don't remember much from high school. I'm the friend that sits there and gets excited when my friends are talking about old times because I have such an awful memory that I don't remember 80% of it.
Where I was when the terror struck our nation is something I don't think I'll ever forget. I remember where I was when we found out. I remember clinging to one of my best friends while we sat Indian style on the floor staring up at the TVs wanting to look away but not being able to. I remember being scared. I remember being too scared to cry but letting my eyes tear up just a little. I remember feeling completely violated and unsafe. My America had been attacked like I'd never thought it could. There were so many thoughts rushing through my head. Thoughts that a high school student shouldn't have to think. We were all scared. Even the teachers.
Today I wonder how I would react. My first instinct would be to race to Teagan wherever she would be. I could probably make it to daycare in under 3 minutes. Then I would check on my husband and family and friends. Or I would at least try. I don't even know that I would leave the daycare to go home right away because I know Josh would end up stuck in the traffic chaos of 485 & 77. I would probably sit there clinging to Teagan as she tried to squirm out of my arms to grab a toy because she wouldn't understand why Mommy was freaking out. I still think I would feel that fear. I know I would cry this time. I'm sure I would be thinking similar thoughts to those in high school.
I can only hope Teagan will never have to deal with something this tragic in her lifetime but I'm sure she will and unfortunately it will probably be worse. I wonder about the day when she comes home and asks "Mommy, where were you on September 11th?". What will I say? How will I tell her? I pray at that moment God will give me the words to say and allow me to be just emotional enough that I show the affect it had on me but not enough that I overdo it.
Today, I will hug her a little tighter and kiss her even more and just be with her and Josh. Today I will remember those who lost their lives. Today I will pray for those who were left behind. Today I will recall the camaraderie of that day. Today I will remember to never forget.

Outgrowing the PJs AND the clothes....

FINALLY! My sweet baby girl has done it. She has graduated (for the most part) out of her 3 month clothes...4 1/2 months after her 3 month b'day. Last night I had to throw something together for her to wear to bed because she'd outgrown all of her 3 mth sleepers and was still too small for the 6 mth sleepers...here is what Little Bear wore to bed last night...don't judge. I did what I could. haha.





Plus this morning a dress she wore maybe two weeks ago that fit her perfectly and hit below the knees now shows her bloomers when she stands up...that picture later!

"Joom"

I recently came across Joom while reading The Shop Bug and fell in love with a majority of the items on the website! I just thought I'd share. I'd copy some of her graphics on here but I don't want to take without asking so I figured I'd just share the link!! I cannot wait to see what Josh thinks about some of the things I've picked out...he'll probably say "Just one, Rici. Just one".

Twenty Five Design

I came across the Etsy site Twenty Five Design a few weeks ago. I am an avid headband/hat/scarf in the hair person because since Teagan has gained the ability to grab handfulls of hair it's just easier to have a ponytail then lose handfulls of hair at a time. Trust me I don't need to lose anymore hair. Thanks to that lovely postnatal hair loss thing I'm losing more then enough. The designer of Twenty Five Design is incredible! She makes the most unique and really cute headbands. Also, she is a quick shipper! I literally got the headband days after I placed the order.
Here is a picture of Teagan with the headband...yeah, she can't wait until she gets to wear it!

Sleep is for the birds...not little bears.

The sleep fairy has not been visiting the Reid house for months now. We had no idea what was going on. We still don't. We have about 2 nights a week where we all get a good nights sleep and then there are the other 5 that we are up and down and up and down. When we went for Teagan's 6 month checkup we were told that she had started teething..well, it's over a month later and there are no signs of teeth anywhere. I've stopped assuming teething is the primary culprit. The new assumption is that she has her daddy's energy and she just gets tired of sleeping and wants to wake up and cuddle. This would be a little easier if Daddy AND Mommy didn't have a job. Sadly, we both work from 8-5 monday through friday and also require a certain amount of sleep. Hopefully this is just a three month long phase and it will be over once month 8 comes around...here's hoping.

Post from Teagan

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Love,
Teagan

Yummy baby food.

*picture taken from Ella's kitchen website*


Typically I'm a baby food maker. I would rather make Teagan's baby food because I can actually see and know exactly what goes in her little system if I do it myself. Sometimes there are days where we're running low or I feel like she is eating the same old thing over and over again. Occasionally I'll use an organic Gerber fruit or veggie but trying to find the organic is like pulling teeth from a fish.
When Jeana, Miles, Teagan and I went to Babies-R-Us a month or so ago I came across Ella's Kitchen and instantly fell in love. Everything is organic. Right down to the lemon juice they use to preserve the food! The first one we (yes, we) tried was the Carrots, Apples and Parsnips. Parsnips? Really? You betcha! It was so good! Teagan has also had the Apples and Bananas and the Peaches and Bananas. She has gobbled them all up without any hesitation and I haven't minded a small taste every now and then either!

Also, the concept behind the company is really awesome. Just a dad trying to make good and healthy food for his kiddos!

Don't play with your food....

Or do.

Sweet breaths...

Dearest Teagan,

I check on you at least a dozen times between 8-10:30 at night. Every time I come in there to check on you I lay my hand on your back or on your chest (depending on how you're sleeping) to check and make sure you are still breathing. Every time I place my hand on you I feel a sweet deep breath. It's almost as if you're breathing for me to let me know you're okay. Please continue to do this because it will be a very long time before I don't check on you a dozen times a night.

Love Forever & Always,
Mommy

You know you're a parent when...

We had a "you're a Mommy now" moment this morning. I was brushing my teeth and sat Teagan in the floor and gave her two of my water cups (I always have a water cup at night but it never fails that I forget to bring them downstairs). One blue cup and one green cup. She played with them and while she did her wheels started turning. You could see the look of determination on her face. Then, the blue cup went into the green cup. Teagan stacked a blue cup inside a green cup and I went crazy for her! It was so exciting to see her do what adults don't even think about doing. She did it with determination and it was an amazing thing.