Reagan

Reagan, my oldest little love. She meets the need for vivaciousness and feisty-ness in our family. In fact, I don't know that we have room for another family member quite as spicy as her! I admire so much about Reagan. She is bold and confident. She is assertive and intelligent. When I look at her, I see someone with qualities that will serve her so well throughout her entire life. I am so grateful for that! I have no doubt in my mind that her confidence and sense of who she is will come in handy one day! In Reagan's mind, they world is hers and everyone else is just living in it. I don't mean that in the sense that she is selfish, but she truly lives in her own wonderful and imaginative world. She takes life head-on and is never afraid to hide her excitement about learning something new, or meeting a new friend.

Reagan is in the midst of her first year of preschool, and she is loving it. She is an incredibly social little girl, and is most definitely the class clown. She loves to be around other kids, and considers even the older kids at school her very closest friends. She will come home with stories about who she made laugh that day, or what kind of dancing she did during snack time. Although I am certain that her outbursts of fun and creativity are not in the preschool schedule, her teachers are kind and patient with her, and are always telling me how fun she is. They also tell me how tired I must be. And they'd be right!

Reagan has a real knack for anything involving singing, dancing, and music. She has a great sense of rhythm and wonderful control over her body. I am sometimes surprised at how graceful she can move. We have looked into enrolling her in some kind of dance class. Ballet has come up as an option - I just don't want anything we sign her up for to stifle her in any way. I know that ballet is very structured - not that she doesn't need structure, but I think I am looking for more of a place where she is free to explore different kinds of movement. I know that she would eat it up, and it would be a healthy outlet for all that creativity.

Watching Reagan, you'd think she was in the middle of a musical or play at any given time. She sings most of her responses to me, and they are almost always accompanied by either a very beautiful or hilariously provocative dance move. This girl keeps us entertained and on our toes. There is NEVER a dull moment with Miss Reagan!

Reagan has the most beautiful naturally wavy/curly hair, big blue eyes, and fair skin. She used to be fairly tall for her age, but is currently one of the most petite in her class (which is exactly how I was). Her love for the Disney princesses is unwavering, but she also enjoys getting into any really good book with fierce, assertive characters she can relate to. She loves sports, painting, and building things. She is such a special little girl. Although she definitely challenges me, I also never have any doubt that she loves me. She is very loving and chooses her words carefully when expressing her feelings to others. Today she told me: "I love the way that you are as my mom". I love it too.

*Side note, just because I want to have this written down somewhere, for posterity's sake:

Reagan has MANY imaginary friends - most of them siblings. She has an imaginary older brother named Harlee'e (think Hawaiian). He is 16 years old, and apparently lives close, but not with us. She also has two sisters named Hymia and Mia. I am uncertain of their ages, but I get the feeling they are younger sisters. Then she has a friend named Ixing Wallentodder (I could not make this stuff up). Lately, she has also been singing about the "Rooda Hodda" (which I get the feeling is some kind of tribe) and "King Mabooda" (King of the Rooda Hodda? Maybe). I honestly do not know where any of these people or names come from, but it makes life pretty interesting around these parts. She often tells her teachers at church and school about her 16 year old brother, which creates a need for some awkward conversations and lots of clarification. No, I did not have a baby boy when I was 10, thank you very much! She is an intensely creative girl.

Ember

Ember is our family's little sweetie-pie. At 22 months, she still qualifies as the baby of our household. I've succeeded in embracing all of her "baby-ness" until recently. Her vocabulary has suddenly shot through the roof and this has brought about all sorts of independence. Suddenly, she is asking us questions: "Daddy funny?" "Reagan sad?" "Sissy dance?", saying prayers, and cracking jokes:

Ember: "Knock, knock."

- "Who's there?"

Ember: "Knock, knock."

- "Knock, knock, who?"

Ember: "Knock, knock, YOU!"

She is still the peacemaker of the family, though, and would do anything to make us happy. She doesn't like to see others hurt or upset, and often offers them things that are important to her to remedy the situation: blanky, drink, doll, etc. She adores Reagan in every possible way and her life goal to follow her sister around and mimic everything she is doing. She is the most affectionate of our children, always freely giving hugs and kisses. This makes her waking up all night not as bad as it could be, when she tells me "Mommy, yuv yoo" and squeezes me tight when I come to her rescue. She knows how to soften me up, that's for sure.

At almost two, she is still nursing. I have mixed feelings about this, but almost all of them are good ones. She calls nursing "ding". It is impossible for me to say no to her. It is the last bit of "baby" left in her, and I am more than happy to oblige to her one vice and consistent source of comfort. It will be gone soon enough and I am sure I will miss it.

Ember is also painfully shy and buries her head into my shoulder following eye contact with pretty much anyone. What a stark contrast this is to her older sister! It is so fun having two girls, because I am constantly in awe of how different they are. If I tell Ember "no", she melts into a puddle of tears. Anyone who has spent five minutes with Reagan knows that she is the exact opposite. Ember also cries if I sing any soft or pretty song to her. I promise I am not that bad! Sometimes I forget, and will start to sing a primary song to the girls, and Ember just loses it. First her lip will quiver, and then you will literally hear the heartbreak in her sobs. As sad as this is, it is also pretty funny. We have tried our hardest to pinpoint exactly why she does this, and the closest thing we've come up with is that she associates it with sleeping. She loves to sleep, but I think has very set ideas in her head about when it is supposed to happen. I have no idea if Ember's shyness or sensitivity will stick with her, or if it just a phase she is going through, but she is so darn cute either way.

Ember loves babies, Elmo, and of course, anything princess-related. She loves to dance and has a signature "gallop" that she does when she's really feeling the music. She loves food, and will eat anything we put on her plate, from vegetables dipped in hummus, to seafood, to yogurt, to cereal. Ember also has this thick head of blonde hair. We don't really know where this came from, but it is definitely different than her sister's hair. She has the sweetest, most genuine smile, and has squinty, happy blue eyes.

We love our Sissy-Goo. She brings peace, love, and joy into our home.

Jason & I

J-Bone

Jason is still working at the same company, and really likes it. It is a solid company. We have great benefits. He is learning a lot. We feel blessed. They are moving to a different part of Seattle next summer/fall, and so we are stuck with the decision of where to move to avoid a killer commute. We are hoping to find something North of Seattle that is: 1) A house, with a yard 2) Affordable. Don't laugh at the qualifications. The chances may be slim, but we are working on it.

I don’t say it enough, but I truly am grateful to Jason for providing so well for us. He works so hard at what he does and displays integrity through it all. Last week during Seattle’ s “snowmageddon”, he was only able to actually go into work one day because the road conditions were so bad and the busses were running hours late. The great part about it, however, was that he could work from home and get just as much (if not more) done. I might be old-school, but I still think it’s cool that he can do that, and we were definitely grateful that he was still able to work. The girls’ favorite time of day is when he walks in the door from work. They always maul him before he even has a chance to set his stuff down. Reagan’s world becomes whole again when Daddy comes home. Anytime anything is broken or she is sad, she says that she just wants Daddy to be home. Daddy can fix anything. Plus, I really really like him. Bonus!

Me

I am in the midst of my second quarter back at school since starting up again. Last quarter was difficult. There’s not much else to say about it. I got through it, however, and now don’t have to take any more math for the rest of college. I have gained my footing a little more this quarter and am actually enjoying it. It is still a lot of work. Most days, I don’t even get on a computer or look at my homework until after the girls are in bed, so this means many late, late nights for me. But, I am finally back in a writing class and feel a total sense of renewal and inspiration for why it is that I am doing this. I love to write. That is what I want to do. My love for writing dates back all the way to 4^th grade in Mrs. Palm’s class at North Bellingham Elementary. That’s when I fell in love. When I write, I feel this total sense of freedom. No inhibitions. I am learning a lot and improving and I am so excited about it. When I am consistently writing on a daily basis, I feel a greater sense of appreciation and presence in my daily life. I feel alive. It’s a really, really wonderful feeling.

Other than that, I am just enjoying spending time with my girls. They are the reason for everything that I do. They challenge me on a daily basis and most days it is hard, but if I keep a good perspective throughout the day, I am amazed that this is my life. They are the sweetest part of my world, and I can’t even put into words how much they mean to me.

Update

My blog entries shouldn't ALWAYS be updates. Kind of pathetic. I have good intentions with this blog. I think it's important to keep a record SOMEWHERE of what happens in our day-to-day-lives. I have little ways of doing that here and there - places where I jot down funny things that happen to us, or stuff the girls do and say. But it is not as in-depth as I would like it to be. I'm not going to attempt to play catch up with all of the events that have happened between my last post and now. Lots of holidays, etc. But I need to start somewhere. Here's a peek at daily life.

Fresh air is the answer to most of the problems we encounter daily. No matter the weather, the girls love being outside. Although we don't currently have a yard, we are surrounded by the most beautiful, mature trees that are daily reminders of the changing seasons and the immaculate beauty of God's green earth.

Reagan and I read Charlotte's Web together this past summer/fall. She was enthralled by it. After reading it, she insisted on wearing her "farm overalls" and was "Fern" more than she was "Reagan" on any given day. She was thrilled at the pumpkin patch when we got to explore the barn and see all the animals. Again, you can see her nervous-excited look. She literally didn't know what to do with herself. It was so cute. She still occasionally requests that I sing the Charlotte's Web song (from the movie) and rock her in the rocking chair before bed at night.

Our growing girls. Reagan is making her typical "nervous-excited" face.

Reagan upon seeing the Disney Princesses LIVE for the very first time. Enough said.

I never tire of watching Jason be a dad to our girls. They love him so much and have a special bond with him that is so different than their relationship with me. He is a loving, attentive, affectionate daddy who loves to make them laugh. We joke about his rule: When all else fails, tickle them. But it works, so it's no joke. Whenever I text him during the day to vent about not knowing what to do about something to do with the girls, he always texts back: Did you try tickling them?

Ever since the girls started bathing together (which was as soon as Ember could sit up - about 5/6 months), bath time is our favorite time of day. The girls love to eat popsicles, bubbles, the water (which we call "bum water" - gross) and splash each other. They bring all sorts of weird toys into the bath. Here is Ember eating bubbles with a giant bouncy ball behind her. I just like having them in a confined space for more than 30 seconds and it doesn't help that they smell so Baby-Magic fresh afterwards.

The girls and I LOVE our local library. I am convinced Federal Way has one of the best children's libraries in the Northwest. I need to take pictures next time we are there. It is totally modern - looks like Ikea on steroids. All sorts of fun stuff for the kids to play and do. They love to go there and put on puppet shows. Reagan is always making a friend at the library. And of course, story time is always a favorite. Here are the girls before Pajama Story Time. I don't know what we'd do without the library.

It is rare that I get a picture with Reagan and I both in it together, for a couple of reasons. #1 - Reagan literally does not sit still for more than a few seconds a day and #2 - I'm the mom; no one takes pictures of the mom. I'll take what I can get.

Some summer snapshots

The beach was our sanctuary this summer.

We became fast friends with the ice cream man.

Reagan loves to throw up gang signs.

We pranced in the big Seattle fountain in our undies...some of us.

We danced at the Experience Music Project in Seattle.

Reagan's first experience riding a camel (with Tiana).

So, this one time...

- We moved.

- We unpacked.

- We played in the sunshine.

- We got stuck in traffic.

- We swam.

- We camped.

- We fished.

- We explored Seattle.

- We visited family.

- Family visited us.

- We went to the zoo.

- We made new friends.

- We missed old friends.

- We laughed.

- We cried.

- We prayed.

- We worked.

- We danced.

- We pretended we were grown up.

- We went to the park...lots.

- We went back to college.

- We started preschool.

- We got stressed.

- We worked it out.

- We got new callings.

- We went to Florida.

- We met some princesses.

- We melted in the Florida heat.

- We came back to rain.

- We went to the library.

- We got in trouble for checking out too many books.

- We got our coats and boots out of storage.

- We listened to conference.

- We pumpkin patched.

- We tickled.

- We hugged.

- We kissed.

- We learned lessons.

...and that brings us to now.

We are definitely starting to feel settled into our little life here, although my heart still occasionally aches for Bellingham. Not the destination, per se, but for those that I love that live there. Moving brings change. Change bring discomfort. Discomfort brings tears and open hearts. Open hearts bring learning and growing closer together. Which brings joy, and love. All good things.

It's true, I started school up again. It wasn't an easy decision, but one that felt right at this time in our lives. I knew it would be hard. It has been hard. No surprises there! But, it's been good. I like a good challenge. I also really like supportive husbands.

Jason is a champ - working hard. Every day. And liking it! He is learning a lot. Earning an honest living for his family. We love him! It just feels good to have him back. I am not sharing him with as many things as I was before we moved. I'm all for sharing, but I am enjoying being selfish for now. The girls ask for him all day long and it is like Christmas morning when he finally comes home every evening...EVERY evening! We are spoiled. Lots of hugs and kisses and tickles and laughing abound.

We are healthy and happy.

These next few months will be a whirlwind as well. I will be travelling every month through December. Baby showers. Wedding. Christmas. All happy things! Life really is beautiful.

Hopefully I'll be able to find some time to update occasionally. I like keeping our friends and family up to date on what is going on in our lives. Privatizing has made things interesting. I am not as motivated anymore to write because I think we lost a lot of readers when we went private. Oh well. I'll figure something out. I hope I can get caught up for the most part within the next few days. I have lots of fun pictures to share. Talk to you soon, dear readers.

A little bite of summer

Summer 2011 has proven to be quite busy, but fun nonetheless. Scroll down and enjoy posts of some of the most recent Wilson Pratt Wilson family life events. There are a million other things that I should be doing right now, what with packing our life up and taking root someplace new in less than a week, but since I had fallen behind on blogging, I really wanted to get "caught up" before the big move, if only for journaling purposes. This summer means a lot of changes for our little family, but they are all welcome, good changes. We are grateful.