P & J Ragain

random things

2008-12-01T21:28:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of pictures from Halloween that we pulled off of my parents camera... as promised, the angry chicken.

Here is Will not hating tummy time!

More Thanksgiving

2008-11-28T10:35:00.001-08:00

Will saying hello to cousin Chloe

Mom and Dad, the King and Queen of the table

Sneaking a smooch... under supervision.

Phillip and Duckie

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-11-28T08:58:00.000-08:00

We had Thanksgiving at my parents house this year. We had a great time. Much was eaten. We had the best turkey in history thanks to my aunt Connie and Phillip. This was Will's first Thanksgiving!! He is 4 months old now! Still not too keen on tummy time and refuses to roll over, but the boy likes to talk.

Phillip carving the bird

He just likes the glass, we promise

Oh that post Thanksgiving nap. Will is already wearing his snowman jammies

Happy Fall from Will

2008-11-11T09:09:00.001-08:00

Update-a-palooza

2008-11-11T08:33:00.001-08:00

Okay. Here is a whirlwind update because I know you really just want to get to the pictures, so here goes...

We are great. Phillip has been making our backyard fabulous! We now have a pond... crazy! Sadly, I don't have any pictures of that yet, but they will come soon.
Jen is in full force back at work. Will now goes to school (the nursery) 3-4 days a week (just for a few hours though... he is just a little guy after all).

This week we moved our little roommate upstairs to his own room. He wakes up a couple times at night but usually falls right back to sleep. I love listening to him in the morning through the monitor. He has been waking up happy and just talks to himself for about 5 minutes before yelling for us. This morning I could hear Django going up to check on him, it was pretty cute. Okay, enough of my rambling, on with the show!

At the pumpkin patch with Kayla and Luke... so loving the pumpkin patch.

An improvement

On our way to the Heights with the Masons!

Hanging out with Dad

Uncle Bobby's going away lunch. Remember to keep the Robbins family in your prayers as Capt. Bobby Robbins leaves to serve our country again.

I'm kind of a big deal.

Not a happy chicken. Will was also a chicken for Halloween, for about 3 minutes. My parents caught a pic on their camera, but we don't have it yet. We were too busy tending to the angry chicken to get a picture on our own camera.

Random pics from Duckie and Grandpa's house

2008-10-20T13:00:00.000-07:00

I know I know I know

2008-10-20T10:36:00.000-07:00

It has been a month since I have updated the blog. Don't give up on me! I promise lots of update pictures soon!

Pretty much the cutest thing

2008-09-12T08:49:00.000-07:00

This is Will's newest trick. It makes us melt like budd-ah

Grandparents Day

2008-09-12T08:41:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday Will got to meet his Gi gi. Here are a couple of pics.

One Happy Morning

2008-09-12T08:34:00.001-07:00

Foodie Day

2008-09-12T08:06:00.000-07:00

Well during my "stay at home mom days" I became addicted to the Food Network. Now usually my TV addictions bring about moans from my husband, but this latest addiction seems to have a different effect. I cook now! Since we have been married, Phillip has been trying to get me to go on culinary adventures with him but I just wasn't into cooking. I like the sipping wine and hanging out in the kitchen part, but had no interest in making a rue or chopping onions or... handing raw chicken yuck! But now that I am a mom I have this carnal desire to take care of my family. I can't handle clothes hanging out in the dryer, I can't let the bed stay unmade and now I can't stay out of my cook books.

My last weekend off Phillip and I decided to go on a foodie date. We packed up Will, went to Deitrichs on Montrose (I know I spelled Deitrichs wrong but I don't feel like looking it up) with our September issues of Bon Appetit and picked out a meal. From there we went to Central Market (Disneyworld for foodies) and picked up our stuff.

Before heading home we stopped at Onion Creek, our new favorite hide out in the Heights. We came home, went to work on our fabulous meal... until Will embarked on some mad cluster feeding! So Phillip made his part of the meal and we ended up eating at 10:00 or so! I made my part the next night. Our kitchen date was so much fun. I am looking forward to spending lots of time in the kitchen with my guys!

Class of '98

2008-09-08T10:55:00.000-07:00

Alright so I am just curious. Who is planning on going to the reunion?

Crossed over to the dark side

2008-08-26T20:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I have been having those post-partum, what they heck happened to my body and will it ever come back feelings that everyone gets. In an effort to attack my woes I joined the gym and am trying to get myself addicted to working out, got a couple of pairs of pants that don't have elastic in them, and this... my latest attempt to keep the groans at bay, I ditched my highlights and went a little crazy. I was wanting to go darker for the fall, but didn't feel like waiting around for October. It looks really dark in the pic, it is more of an espresso brown with a few dark goldish highlights. Pretty wild for me!

Video

2008-08-26T20:40:00.000-07:00

We have realized that we need to be better at recording video of Will. This was taken on his one month birthday!

I promise Django hasn't made a habit of sitting on our son's head.

One Month!

2008-08-26T20:21:00.001-07:00

Last Friday we had our 4 week check up. Will weighed in at 7 lbs 13 oz and was 21.5 in. We think he is huge! I have been enjoying these past couple of weeks of being a stay at home mom. I have been cooking a lot! I haven't cooked in forever, but I have really enjoyed it lately.

Here are some random pics from this past week.

All ready for bed in my sleep sack.

Tummy Time

One of Will's ladies, little Miss Hazel

Oh just one more

2008-08-18T16:03:00.000-07:00

This is another picture of Will hanging out with Uncle Nathan. I think his striped socks are pretty great. He is growing so fast. I can't believe how much he has changed in 3 1/2 weeks! I don't know about this whole "growing" business.

Three weeks and counting

2008-08-18T15:23:00.000-07:00

Will was 3 weeks old last Thursday. We decided that he is mature enough to start dating (chaperoned of course). He and I met Kim and Grae at Starbucks, but I am afraid Will found us girls boring.

Here are some pics from Uncle Nathan's visit. I am pretty sure Nathan approved of our little guy and Will approved right back.

Oh and of course we did what everyone else has been doing lately. Here is a shot of all of the Ragain men watching the Olympics.

This is just a random picture of Will in some of my favorite jammies.

We have been home all day today after a long weekend of being out and about. Will and I rested and Phillip "worked" from home... well he really did, but I caught this cute nap moment.

The many faces of Will Ragain

2008-08-13T12:40:00.000-07:00

I lovingly call this one the Monkey face... now that I look at it here, I am not sure why I call it that... I think I just imagine him making monkey noises.

A smile

The Little Philosopher face

Ah, and the newest face and his current fav. The binkie face.

2008-08-03T13:31:00.000-07:00

Well our first week home flew by! Will was a bit jaundice so between trips to the hospital to get his poor heel pricked and getting ready for my cousin Chelsea's wedding last weekend the time just slipped away. Today (Sunday) is the first day since we have been home that we haven't had to be somewhere at a certain time. We did manage to spend a few mornings on the porch last week, sort of the calm before the storm of each day. We are looking forward to this week. We have a whole lot of nothing planned and couldn't be happier.

Wilson Dale Ragain

2008-07-27T14:10:00.000-07:00

Well here he is, the much anticipated addition to our little family. He arrived on Thursday July 24th at 1:57 PM weighing in at 6 lbs 4 oz and is 20 inches long. I will go into the "story" some other time, but I wanted to put up a few pictures of our little man. The amazing Kim McKown visited shortly after Will arrived and captured some his first moments.

Oh and about his name. Wilson is Phillip's mom's maiden name. Dale comes from Phillip's dad's side. Junior Dale Ragain was Phillip's grandfather and the name has been passed down to every first born Ragain boy. Will is going to be the 4th generation Dale Ragain... we thought that was important. We will catch all my family's side on the next go round.

Ho hum

2008-07-18T06:16:00.000-07:00

I went to the Dr. on Wed and things are progressing and what not, but we are still waiting. Today is actually my due date, but I am not holding my breath. If nothing happens this week I have an appointment to be induced on Thursday the 24th.

In the mean time I have been doing A LOT of walking, which is tough when you live in Houston in July. I am so jealous of Shelley and her November North Carolina walking last year! I have been confined to the mall and other shopping centers. I think I could do inventory for Target just off of the top of my head. Yesterday I walked at the mall for 2 hours and my feet have never hurt so badly in my life! On the way home I snuck off to a nail salon and got a pedi, but I think the sweet Vietnamese woman who took care of me was not as brutish with my feet as I would have liked, but Phillip was not as delicate with them last night. I was going to walk this morning, but my dogs are still barkin'. So now Phillip, Django and I are hanging out on our front porch drinking some joe and trying to think about other things to make the time pass.

I thought maybe blue tootsies would bring me luck, maybe Phillip was thinking the same with his blue shirt and coffee mug. Go team Ragain.

Our front porch (complete with burnt up ferns. They are still hanging on, we haven't given up hope!)

Another Overdue Update

2008-07-14T18:05:00.000-07:00

I feel like I am always apologizing for taking so long to update the blog! We are still waiting for Will to get here. I am due on Friday... we will see what happens. We have tried to keep busy this summer and have enjoyed the last few weeks we have as a duo. Phillip has finished a lot of work on the house (including Will's room). He has been tackling the yard (and fire ants). A few weeks ago we went to King's Orchard to pick black and blueberries. We both decided that the previously underestimated blueberry has climbed ranks and now holds the position of "best berry." We have had a couple more baby showers and are now FULLY equipped. My bags are packed, the car seat bases are in both cars, all of the little things have been laundered, folded and put away and now we just wait. Here are a few pics of the past few weeks.

Django helped us test out the carrier (Don't freak, dog fur is supposed to be good for preventing allergies, besides we will use the lint roller before we put Will in it).

Some berry picking fun. Phillip made an amazing blackberry sorbet! So good!

Still waiting.

Will's room (we are still lacking some pictures and things to put on the walls, but other than that it is just there waiting for him to arrive).

So now that it is 4:10 AM

2008-05-28T02:10:00.000-07:00

Phillip and I just got a new bed! We are so excited! It is mondo sized which is wonderful. I was pumped about diving into it tonight, which I did. But now here I am (I have been here since 3:00). Why? Well the lovely pesto sauce that I had earlier tonight at Black Walnut cafe has gifted me with heartburn... thank you pregnancy. So I have been updating our blog. Phillip and Django are still enjoying the new bed. Here is a picture I took earlier this evening of my sleepy guys.

Staycation

2008-05-26T19:29:00.000-07:00

Phillip and I just got back from our last trip as non-parent folk. We went to this amazing wonderland called Houston. We never really go to Houston, which is silly really, so we decided that needed to change.

On Friday headed downtown to take Will to his first baseball game (but not before Phillip put in some quality time at the flying saucer tasting local IPAs). It was a really great game. I have to admit that I broke the no Nitrates rule and ate a hot dog, but hey it wasn't a foot long, and my doc said that the occasional preservative was no biggie.

We stayed at the Inn at the Ballpark and are now and forever spoiled by the convenience of walking across the street to go home for the night. It is a great hotel and yes, we swiped all of the Aveda goodies from the room!

We spent Saturday morning at the zoo. Phillip and I were members of the Memphis zoo when we lived there and have missed it terribly. We had a great time ooing and ahhing with all of the other kids there. Here are a couple of pictures of the baby giraffes.

The monkeys were great, but their area was also home to thousands of nesting birds... which lead to the inevidible... but it was Phillip who became their target, not me (um we don't have a picture of the poo, just me pointing at all of the nests.)

Here are some other fun zoo pictures. My favorite is the one that Phillip took of me resting by the trash can (no I am not leaning against the trash can, that would be gross). It was so hot and flipflops are not the best things for a prego woman to wear, so I learned.

bug vision

We had lunch in the Heights at Onion Creek, a really neat place with lots of character. I loved the place. Phillip was ready to pack up and move into the neighborhood. We stayed at Hotel Derek in the galleria area, which was very posh with that cool minimalist flair. We ate a great dinner at the Backstreet cafe.

We were supposed to go to Kemah (I don't really know how that is spelled and I am too tired to look it up) on Sunday but we woke up to rain. We caught breakfast at the Buffalo grill and then headed to Katy Mills mall to watch a movie (I know, seems random). I was pretty delighted to see this new ad for HSM the movie and I couldn't miss the opportunity to get my picture snapped with Troy, Gabriella, and the gang! (It is a long running joke... too long).

We cheered through Indiana Jones then ate a late lunch at the Rainforest cafe, which we think Will appreciated. We are trying to check out places that we think he will like, you know get a jump start on this whole "mom and dad" thing.

We had lots of fun on our "staycation," I highly recommend the city of Houston to anyone looking to make a weekend getaway!

A night at Market Street

2008-05-26T19:22:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday Phillip and I met the McKowns and the Hills at Market Street to hang out and listen to the band. We had a blast and the music was really good. We were sad to find out that it was going to be the last of the concert series. Next year we will have to be more on top of things. It kind of felt like being in Branson though, meaning that I don't think we were quite old enough to join the seasoned crowd that littered the lawn. Oh well. The only pictures we have of the night are of Casey demonstrating his Yoga moves. Well, there was one other picture of the group, but it isn't so flattering, and since I am writing this blog, I get to decide what pictures make the cut and what pictures don't, so without further ado, I present Casey McKown, Yoga King.

Surprise

2008-05-15T09:51:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I had a surprise shower given by some folks at church. Thanks Eric and Sheryl for putting this together! And thanks Planet56 families, your generosity is astounding. Unfortunately Phillip couldn't make it! He was on a plane to Colorado for work! He was bummed to miss the festivities. Of course he was in on it the whole time... sneaky guy.

Here are a couple of pics.

Surprise! (yea, I cried like a dork)

Cute decorations (very blue of course).

Crazy Interns!

Uncle John and the mondo bump.

The big brother

2008-05-03T17:47:00.000-07:00

Well, whenever I read other people's blogs it seems there always comes a point when people like to post "remember when" sorts of things. Like whenever anniversaries roll around people post pictures from the wedding or honeymoons, you know, things like that. Well whenever Spring rolls around I can't help but flash back to the day when we brought home our first child four years ago (well, technically not our first child. Our first child would have been a chia pet, then we moved onto 3 fish. One of the fish ate the other two so we had sort of a love/ hate relationship with him. When we moved back to TX from Memphis we willed him to our friend Jen, who called us one day to let us know that Bart (Black Bart the pirate... the fish) had somehow blown up while she was out of town, we weren't too upset seeing that Bart was in fact evil).

But really, the first addition to our family of two was Django the gypsy (also known as Django Carl, the middle name that we all seem to share) Ragain, our beloved Wesite guy. I feel we owe Django a little something since his quiet little world is about to be rocked, so here is a little history of our favorite little guy.

The Man

2008-04-09T17:51:00.000-07:00

Take a look at this great man...

So here is what a day in the life of Phillip Ragain looks like:

He got up to the sound of the coffee grinder, worked, went to the store to get stuff for dinner, came home and marinated a roast, went to work on the floors, and is now cooking dinner. Yea I know... Right now he is sitting here (has no idea what I am writing about) talking about how next (well not right this minute) he wants to get to work on the landscaping. Sometimes I don't think he is a real person... but whatever he is, I am grateful and completely smitten.

Behold! Our beautiful home!

Updates Galore

2008-04-08T16:04:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I have been a bad blogger. Here is an update, with pictures of what we Ragains have been up to. First note worthy thing was St. Pattys day at the O'Ragains. This was the second annual St. Patrick's day dinner. We all drank green beverages... mine less exciting and had a wonderful feast, luckily no one was pinched.

Easter was nice. Phillip and I actually got to go to church together, which happens pretty much never with me teaching every Sunday.

A couple of weeks ago we had a party at our house which was funny because all of the carpet was ripped up (more on this in a minute). Not the best time to host a party, but that is the great thing about good friends, they don't really care if your house is a wreck, they just want to hang out. Here is a trio of bumps for your viewing pleasure (belonging to Kim, Vanessa and yours truly).

So about that carpet. Phillip has been busy working on our house. We (well, he) repainted the kitchen, living room, music room and entry way and tiled our powder bath. We also (he also) ripped out all of the carpet downstairs to make way for our wood floors, which he and his dad have started to install. They finished everything except for the kitchen. We are so excited (really we this time)! Our house is finally starting to look the way we envisioned it!

We aren't the only ones who are nesting. Some finches have moved into our hanging ferns on the front porch. We noticed some chirping the other day and found these little ones! I think there are three of them.

I will add more pictures of the outside of our house as things begin to bloom, but here is a shot of Phillip and his mom planting the vineyard.

Finally, here is an updated bump picture. I am getting to that fun part where I wake up a lot in the middle of the night to try and find a more comfy position. I now know why people have King sized beds... Sadly we are not those people, and between me, Phillip, the body pillow and occasional dog, the bed is shrinking quickly!

So, I think that brings us up to date. Hopefully we (he) will get to work on the nursery soon, July just seems SO far away!

The little man

2008-03-13T07:17:00.000-07:00

Okay, here are the ultrasound pictures I promised. You can see him punching me in the second one... nice huh? I told him "go to your womb!" No? too much? Hey Phillip made that joke up, don't blame me.

Wiggle Worm

2008-03-11T08:21:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday we had another ultrasound. We found out that he is still a boy (sigh of relief) and that he has all of his parts (again... sigh of relief). He weighs almost a pound, and to us his nose looks like Phillip's... but maybe all ultrasound noses look that way.
The most interesting thing we found out though, was that this guy is crazy! He was all over the place! We saw him stretch out and push his belly up, at one point he stood on his head, and most alarming (well to me at least) he made a fist and punched me in the uterus! The pictures are at home, but I will have Phillip scan them so I can add them later. They are not nearly as scary as the last one. I think we could have stayed there all day and watched him squirm! Well, until the tech said, "Oh, I see your bladder is getting really full." Then I too realized that my state of wonder was rapidly being replaced with the urge to find a potty.

I see you

2008-03-08T15:22:00.001-08:00

So here is one of our ultrasound pictures from Feb 14th (the day we found out Will was... well Will and not Eliza).

When we first saw it we thought 'oh wow' and 'how cool,' the normal things newbies think. Well we got to the car and had another look and kind of got freaked out. I mean, I am sure he will be a very sweet boy... but the picture is actually kinda spooky! Like a Chucky doll! Is that bad for parents to say? I think he must have known we were spying on him.

craving

2008-02-21T14:32:00.000-08:00

So I am an addict. I cannot get enough sour candy, gum, fruit... Sour is my thing. Some of my friends predicted that I was having a boy because of this new passion for sour. So does this mean that boys aren't sweet? Yikes. I have been throwing back cry-babies and sour patch kids like you wouldn't believe. I picked out all of the small blueberries and avoided the plump soft ones. I even ate a lemon the other day... A LEMON! I think the enamel on my teeth is melting away, but I can't stop! My tongue is burning as I write this because of all of the sour gum I just ate. Crazy cravings! I am spiraling out of control!

Will Ragain

2008-02-19T07:54:00.000-08:00

So now we know that this thing swimming inside of me is a boy! We are beyond thrilled (well, I think I would have said the same thing if we had pink news instead of blue) So here are some belly pictures. They are taken in Will's room. While Kim and I were cruising, Phillip started getting his room ready (well, we didn't know that it was "his" at the time). So far only one wall is painted, but now that we know to expect a little man, we can finish it.

Babymoon

2008-02-19T07:25:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago my dear friend Kim and I went on a cruise! See our husbands sent us away on what we like to call a babymoon (Kim is due in May).

The trip was hilarious! We did some of the best people watching you can imagine! Some highlights were: (besides the normal snorkeling, sunbathing, food and frozen drinks...well non-alcoholic frozen drinks that is).

-We almost saw a fight between a drunk 30 something girl and and 80+ year old woman in a wheel chair.

-Our neighbors brawled nightly. I think they started the trip as a couple, but I am not sure it ended well.

-Our dining table situation was entirely interesting! We sat with the most odd group of friends. Two gay guys (not a couple) and a woman. They worked together for a company that puts theme cruises together. One of the guys was such a diva! We were highly entertained!

All in all it was an amazingly fun adventure! I think we just laughed the whole time!

Long Overdue

2008-02-12T08:55:00.001-08:00

Well, our first post since our Spain adventure! Where do I begin? I guess I can't write everything because... really who would want to read all of that? So I will stick to the highlights.

Last June we closed on a house. We couldn't be happier.

Phillip is consulting.

Jen is playing with 5th and 6th graders.

Django is learning new tricks. He can now speak and whisper.

Phillip and Jen are accepting their impending parent-dom (due July 25th).

So... I think that gives you a basic idea of what is going on. I promise pictures soon and more tids and bits of our always interesting life.