Playground Fun

We have been super busy packing lately, but we have taken plenty of breaks to have some fun. Including going to a near by playground behind our neighborhood. The boys had a blast. Eli loved running around to all the different playground equipment and he especially loved climbing up and down the stairs all by himself. There wasn't much for Jude to do since he didn't like the swings and the ground was too hot and rough to crawl on but he still had fun. I let him crawl up the stairs and when he got to the top I would pick him up. He would start to throw a fit until he realized that he got to do it again! :-)

Eli liked the "soccer ball" :-)

Climbing up

Going down

Jude on the stairs

Eli on the tractor

Both boys liked to bounce on the teeter totter

Eli got to try the big boy swing for the first time

Sweet baby Jude

Eli had a blast

We are Moving Back Home!!!!

It is officially official, we are moving back to Indiana in 2 weeks!!!!! I am beyond excited!!! Mike found out a few months ago that there was a new PhD program in Indiana and there was a possibility that he would be able to transfer. We weren't sure if it would work out because it is a brand new program and he is already 1 year into it here in Iowa but he went ahead and applied and had an interview. We found out probably 6 weeks ago that he was initially accepted but there were a few forms that needed to be filled out and an official letter had to come from the University of Iowa and then everything had to be approved by the head of the school of Medicine in Indiana. That brings us to today, we finally received the final acceptance letter and it is official that we are MOVING HOME!!!!!!

I have enjoyed our time here in Iowa but I am so thrilled to be moving closer to our family and friends. I am so glad the boys will get to spend more time with their cousins and we won't have to miss birthday parties and family get togethers anymore.

Now we just need to get busy and pack up everything in the next 2 weeks. I am so excited I think I could pack our entire house tonight!!!!!

This is how I feel!!!!!!

Fun With Papaw

My dad had to pick up a new trailer for his trucking business out here in Iowa so it was the perfect time for a weekend visit. Eli was so excited to see his Papaw, and he was even more excited when he saw that Papaw drove his big semi to see us. Eli loves loves loves to have visitors. He followed Papaw around and copied everything he did. It was so cute. Dad showed Eli some pictures of his corvette on his phone and for the rest of the weekend Eli would pretend to show us pictures of corvettes on his little phone. :-) It was such a wonderful visit!

The boys and their Papaw

Eli loved the semi

Sitting in the semi

Looking out the back windowPapaw and the boys
Eli and Papaw out on the porch

He had to sit just like Papaw (crossed ankles)He even had to put his drink next to Papaw'sJude wanted to be outside with Papaw too

Unfortunately the weekend ended on a sour note. The boys were crawling around playing together and having fun when Eli decided to push Jude. Jude fell into the bottom frame of the sliding glass door and got a not so nice bonk. We are really trying to work with Eli on being gentle. He can play so rough sometimes and he doesn't realize that he can hurt Jude. Jude cried for a few minutes but then he was fine and wanted to play again. He has a straight line bruise and a little bump on his forehead. This all happened about 20 minutes before bedtime so Eli had to sit on the couch for the rest of the night. Normally he would have had to go in timeout, but I was more concerned with calming Jude down and making sure he was ok so Eli just lost playing privileges. When Mike came out to help with bedtime (he was working on some school stuff) Eli told him that he was in trouble for pushing Jude and making him fall down. He understands what he did, but he couldn't tell us why he did it.

Poor Jude

Two Handsome Boys

Eli's hair seems to grow so fast. I am so glad we decided to cut his hair ourselves instead of spending money on getting his hair cut. Mike does a great job cutting it and Eli loves to get his hair cut because he knows that he gets a bubble bath right after. Mike would like to get his hands on Jude's hair but I don't think he is quite ready for a hair cut, or maybe it is me that isn't ready. I really don't think he needs on yet. I said we could trim the hairs over his ears but I didn't want to cut the front yet. We might have tried trimming his hair last night but Jude has been a little monster lately with these new teeth coming in so we decided to wait on that.

Before

After

He doesn't need a hair cut

Jude's new tooth

Summer Fun!

We have been having lots of fun this summer. I have added a few more kids to my daycare for the summer and it is keeping me busy. I don't have all of the kids everyday, but when they are all here I have 7 kids (including Jude and Eli). It can be crazy at times but for the most part it isn't too bad. Eli is having a blast with his friends. I have been watching 2 4 year olds, a 2 year old, an 18 month old, a 14 month old, and Eli and Jude. It really works out great. The 2 4 year old girls play great together, Eli plays great with the other 2 year old boy and that just leaves the 3 little ones. Lunch is definitely busy with 7 kids. Eli has had to move to a big boy chair and sit on his knees because I need the 3 booster seats for the little kids. He doesn't mind at all and I just make sure we aren't having anything too messy on those days. I definitely look forward to nap time. Out of the 7 kids I only have one that doesn't nap and she does great just resting on the couch and watching a movie each day. I have 2 hours of quiet each day, and I need it! I only have the summer kids for one more week and then it will settle back down for awhile. It has made for a busy summer, but Eli loves having friends to play with and it is so much fun to see him with his friends. He is also learning so much from from the older girls. It is so much fun to watch him learn and grow and I would do anything I needed to do to be able to stay home with my boys!

The Gang

Eli, Addyson and Jude, Jack, Abbie, Addison, and Andy

Lunch Time

The 4 year old girls

The 2 year olds

Playing outside

Running

My favorites of the kids I watch :-)

Jude is 11 Months Old

Sweet Baby Jude is only 1 month away from his first birthday! I can't believe that he is almost 1 already. He is really growing up fast. In the last month he has really started moving. He crawls all over the place now and can move fast when he wants to. He likes for me to chase him and he just laughs and laughs. He is also getting really good at pulling up to stand. He absolutely loves to pull up to his knees to play with toys and he just looks so cute while he is doing it. There has also been some not so pleasant changes. Now that he knows how to crawl he will not stay still for diaper changes at all. It is all out war sometimes. He rolls from side to side, he arches his back, he kicks his legs so hard that I have bruises on my legs, and he screams so loud. It isn't fun. I have learned that I need to have some sort of distraction for him like his blanket, some sort of toy, or puffs. These have been very helpful. Tonight Jude learned a not so good thing. He can now pull himself to standing in the bath tub. This scares me. Right now he is still sitting in his baby bath seat and I like that because it is so much easier to bath the boys together, but if he keeps standing in it he won't be able to use it anymore. I am sure we will figure out some way to do baths with the boys. There have been so many changes over this past month, but my absolute favorite is seeing the boys together. I love that they actually play together. It makes me so happy!

Jude Michael at 11 months

Jude loves to play on his knees

Jude still loves to play with his toy cars. It is so cute. He crawls across the floor with them saying vroom vroom, I love it!

Standing in the bathtub

Brothers

Best Friends

My 27th Birthday

I got to spend my birthday with my 3 favorite boys! We had planned on going out to dinner, but since Jude is working on 4 teeth he was not in the best mood this evening so we opted on take out instead. I said as long as I didn't have to cook I was fine with it. :-) After dinner Jude perked up a bit and he and Eli just played and played and played! It was so much fun to watch them play and laugh together. Of course we had to remind Eli to be careful several times but they had so much fun together.

Me and My boys!

Brothers and Best Friends

A Big Day For The Reger Boys

Today was a big day for both boys!

Jude has been teething like crazy lately. His gums have been red and sore for what seems like a month now and finally today one has broken through!!! Hopefully this will give him some relief, but I am not counting on it. He has 3 more top teeth on there way. He has had his 2 bottom teeth since 7 months and now all of sudden he has 4 coming in. I can tell they have been bothering him but he has at least been sleeping pretty well. Hopefully he can get these 4 in quickly!

Eli is a super busy and on the go little boy. He hasn't really shown much interest in potty training. I ask him quite often if he wants to try to go potty and he always says no so I don't usually push it. Yesterday he surprised us and said that he wanted to try when we asked him and he went!!! He got to put a sticker on his sticker chart and pick a little prize out of the prize box. He was very excited about getting to pick a prize so we brought it up several times today. He actually sat on his potty and tried 3 different times throughout the day with no luck. We asked him tonight if he wanted to try and he said yes. He was on the potty for about 10 minutes and all of sudden said "I pooped" and he sure had!!! He had gone potty a few times on the potty, but this was the very first time he has ever gone poop on the potty. Since this was his very first time going poop he got an extra special surprise. Eli is starting to get into super heroes and always talks about Flash. We had gotten this guy a few weeks ago and were holding onto it for a special occasion and tonight was the perfect night! We are so proud of him!

Watch Out American Idol

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Wonderful Holiday Weekend

This weekend was absolutely wonderful! My mom came Friday night and was able to stay through Monday. We had so much fun with her. The boys absolutely adore her and it is so great to see the way Eli's eyes light up around her, I love it!

Waiting for Grandma on Friday night

Saturday consisted of taking Eli to see Toy Story 3, swimming, and lots of playing with Grandma! Both of the boys had fun with Grandma but Eli didn't really want to share Grandma too much.

Reading with Grandma

Eli had to show Grandma how much he loves swimming

he also learned a new way to go down the slide

Grandma sure knows how to make Jude laugh

On Sunday Mike and I were able to go to church and the boys stayed with grandma. It is very rare that Mike and I are out without the boys. We had wanted to go to the parade in a neighboring town but it was calling for rain right around the time the parade was supposed to start. We kept waiting and watching the weather and ended up not going to the parade and of course it didn't rain, grrr. After the boys woke up from there nap we went and checked out a 4th of July festival at a very nice park. There was a Carnival and lots of food booths so we walked around and then let Eli play on the park for a little bit. He had a blast!

Walking through the park

Jude going down the slide (he wasn't very expressive while we were out that day)

Eli going down the slide

He loved it

Peaking through the tunnel

Going down the slide with Daddy!!

Riding the bouncy horse

Jude on the bouncy horse

Jude and Grandma at the park

After we got home from the festival we had plenty of more playing to do. Eli was so adorable with Mike. The both had hats on and Eli had to wear his hat just like his daddy. The both had it on forwards and then Eli would make them both turn them backwards and then forwards again and then backwards again for quite some time. He loves his daddy so much and he really looks up to him, it is adorable to watch.

Just like Daddy

Jude wanted to be like Daddy too, wearing daddy's hat