Girls Night Out - 31/365

Tonight was girls night out! Jennifer and I have birthday's that are only three days apart and every year we try to do a family dinner to celebrate together. Well, with us being away, we got a little delayed in our dinner. We decided to celebrate tonight but as it turned out, all our husbands were doing other things. Therefore, we decided to go without them and have a little girls night out. We had a great night with good food and VERY good wine...LOL!

 Love my favorite girls! We are the photo of the day!

Oh, and ya me for completing the first full month of this project! 11 more to go! Thank you to those of you that take the time to acknowledge this blog with your sweet comments or your "likes". They keep me motivated and make me smile, each one means A LOT! :) ♥

Juvenile Delinquent- 30/365

It seems we may be raising a juvenile delinquent. Today, my mom, Reagan and I were out running some errands for Reagan's birthday party. We were standing in line at JoAnn Fabrics and on the end caps by the register, they have all kinds of candy. Reagan kept saying "Reaga want yummy yummies." Which means, M&M's. I told her "No, we're going to lunch. You can't have yummy yummies for lunch". We got up to the check out with Reagan still sitting in the buggy. The cashier was ringing up all our stuff while we all just small talked. I happened to look over and Reagan had a bag of M&M's in her hands, that she got open somehow, and had chocolate all over her face. This all happened in a matter of 30 seconds, NO LIE! It was totally amazing! I gasped and said "Reagan! Oh my God! How did you do that!? You're just like a little thief!" The cashier got a big kick out of it and rang up the "theft" so we didn't get tackled at the door...LOL! I was too in shock to get a picture at the moment so we "staged" a little jail bird. Here is the photo of the day....

Lazy Laptop Day - 29/365

I had a nice relaxing day with my laptop. My mom took Reagan so that I could start weeding through the 2907 pictures I took in Disneyland. That's right, 2907... and it wasn't enough. There are still things I think of and I say, "Damn, I didn't get to take a picture of that" or "I wish I would have taken a picture of that." Gives me a reason to go back though. I also have a terrible time hitting the delete button on any picture, even blurry ones, I know it's a necessity though. 

Sorting pictures also takes me forever because I use Lightroom to organize all my pictures. All pictures get numerous tags so that I can find a specific picture easily. It's A TON of work! Especially on a trip this big but down the road I can just type for example "Reagan, Mickey" and every picture I have of Reagan with Mickey Mouse will come up. YAY! I only managed to get through to the 4th day of our trip. Whew!

 I actually toggled back and forth between archiving pictures and also searching for stuff for Reagan's upcoming birthday party. All in all, it was a much needed day on the couch with my laptop and old school Beverley Hills 90210 episodes...LOL! 

I guess I'm the photo of the day...thanks, tripod!

Cough Medicine - 28/365

On our last day in Disneyland Reagan started to get a little bit of a runny nose and by Saturday she had a pretty bad cough. She wasn't running a fever and was a trooper during travel day. Sunday she was pretty lethargic and her cough was a bit worse but still no fever. So I said if she wasn't any better this morning I would call the doctor.

Knock on wood, Reagan has been a healthy baby and has only had a fever ONCE in her two years of life. She's only had very minor colds and never even acted sick where I even thought to call the doctor, so this was kinda worrisome.  

Well today, she woke up about the same so I decided to give them a call. I talked to a nurse and described her symptoms. She said the doctor may want to see her but they were pretty swamped with all the nasty bugs going around. I said, "Well that's the thing, with no fever, I don't really want to bring her in and expose her to all the other nasty stuff if this is something he thinks we can ride out." She said she would talk to the doctor and give me a call back. She called me back in an hour and thankfully, he called in some cough syrup and we didn't have to go to the germy doctor! We're just supposed to keep an eye on her and if she isn't improving by Wednesday or gets a fever we have to bring her in. Fingers crossed! Today's picture is of Reagan's first ever prescription medicine. Feel better, baby girl! ♥

Happy Birthday, Andrew! - 27/365

Today we spent the day trying to figure out what time it was. We all slept in till nearly 10:00am! Unheard of in this house! Reagan also started coughing pretty bad, too. We all just took it easy and spent most of the day in our pajamas. We were all supposed to head up to Matt and Nikki's in Amherst to celebrate our little nephew's 8th birthday. Being that Reagan was sick, we decided not to spread the "love", so Jim and Reagan stayed behind for the party. My mom and I headed up to celebrate and had a wonderful time at the Angry Birds party! It was so great to see everyone and spend time together! Family time is always great! 

 Happy Birthday, sweet Andrew! We love you and are so proud of the wonderful young man you are becoming! Andrew is the photo of the day!

Fly the Friendly Skies - 26/365

This morning we woke up at 5:00am California time to head back to frigid Ohio. We all got ready and met the car downstairs. We arrived at LAX and security was a nightmare as usual. We had to wait outside on a covered bridge and the lady assisting the lines separated Jim and Reagan from my mom, dad and I. At first, we thought it was nice because then Reagan wasn't outside in the chilly air at 6:00am, but then, she sent Jim through security without us! He had bags, the stroller and baby but he made it through perfectly! We get to the gate to settle in and wait for boarding. We then find out our plane was delayed for an hour for REPAIRS...NICE. We had a layover in Houston that was only an hour so we immediately thought we would miss our connector. The desk clerk said if we missed our connector we would be stuck in Houston for FOUR hours and not get into Cleveland till midnight! YIKES! Thankfully, all went well and we made our connector. The flights were fabulous and we enjoyed a gorgeous sunset from the air! That is the photo of the day.

Last Day at Disneyland - 25/365

Today we are spending our last day at Disneyland. We had such an amazing time exploring this place. We are so familiar with Florida we thought this place might feel completely different. From the second we got here it felt oddly familiar but had so much new things to explore, too! We fell in love with Walt's first park and California Adventure. We know that this place will become a regular in our Disney trip rotation. I think today's picture fits the last day theme and I know the words are true!

Waiting for World of Color - 24/365

Today was a another fabulous day at Disneyland. It started off with a bit of rain. We all bought ponchos and an extra for the stroller and by the time we all got suited up and took the monorail over to the park, it was done! YAY! We spent the morning at Disneyland, checking out Toontown and meeting characters. We went back for our afternoon rest and then had dinner at Wine Country Trattoria, which was delicious! After dinner we rode a few rides and then headed over to the waiting area to watch World of Color. What an absolutely STUNNING show it is! The water and colors are absolutely jaw dropping. 

While we were waiting for the show, I was testing my camera settings and practicing my long exposures. I managed to capture the fun wheel in full color with a stunning California Screaming in the back using a 30 second exposure! 

That is the photo of the day!

Disney Jammies! - 23/365

Today's picture is of the whole crew in our Disney jammies. Raymond and Jennifer got everyone Disney pajamas for Christmas before our big family January 2012 Disney trip. We hoped to all wear them in Florida and get a nice family picture together in them, but time and schedules never let that happen. We decided for this trip we would make it happen, even if we didn't have the rest of the crew! What a perfect place to honor them! Here is the picture of the day! 

I held this picture back because we had post cards made for some family members and were waiting for them to arrive! LOL!

Hello Ariel! - 22/365

Today we spent the morning at Disneyland Park. We did a lot of the Fantasy Land rides for Reagan, which she loved. The lines were non-existent so we really got to see a lot of stuff. Even the lines for the bigger rides were slow, so we hopped right on Space Mountain! Space Mountain in California puts Florida to shame! It's awesome! The effects are better, the cars are better, the music is better....it's just BETTER! We loved it!

When lunch time rolled around we headed over to California Adventure to have lunch at Ariel's Grotto, which is a princess character lunch. We got all checked in and headed downstairs to get seated. While your waiting for your table, Ariel greets you and you get to have your picture taken. Reagan has been great with all the characters, not really afraid, but shy. She will walk up to them and hug them but never says too much. This time, we went around the corner, she dropped my hand and RAN full speed over to Ariel! It was totally ADORABLE! Ariel and everyone else got a big kick out of it! Reagan and Ariel is today's picture of the day! :)

Happy Birthday! - 21/365

Today was my birthday! We started the day at Goofy's Kitchen for a character breakfast. It was a wonderful buffet and lots of characters! We saw Rafiki, Baloo, Snow White, Mulan, Chip and Dale, and of course Goofy! Reagan loved seeing all the characters but was a little intimidated around Rafiki. She hooked her little arms around my neck and would not let go, poor thing. We were all having a great time, when all of a sudden all the wait staff came over with a cupcake and buttons and broke out into Happy Birthday! It was hilarious and a little embarrassing, too! Today's picture is of my special cupcake and buttons....

The rest of the day we spent bumming around Hollywood and checking out the Walk of Fame. We even bumped into Jimmy Kimmel filming a man on the street interview. It was so neat to see him in person! We finished up in Hollywood and hit the beach in Santa Monica for awhile! Reagan loved the beach, but the water was FREEZING! She kept telling Jim to get in the water. She would say "Dada, get in water! Go ahead!" It was too funny! All in all, it was a fabulous way to spend a birthday!

First Height Requirement! - 20/365

We started the day at California Adventure to check out the new Cars Land. We had Morning Magic Hour, so we got in before the general public, which was REALLY nice! We entered and went straight for Radiator Springs Racers and got a baby swap pass. Nana, Papa, Mary Jane and Chloe went first so we decided to take Reagan on a few rides before they got done. We headed straight to Luigi's Flying Tires and hopped in line. We noticed as we went a few steps that we had passed a height requirement pole and immediately got bummed. We got back out of line and were getting ready to gather a new plan when we decided to just plop her down and see, sure enough, she was tall enough!! Woohoo! We got back in line and she LOVED her first ride at California Adventure! That moment is our photo of the day...

Disneyland Day - 19/365

Today, we finally arrived at Disneyland after about 10 months of anticipation. It's everything we thought, but so much better. Everything is so close together, it's wonderful! 

 We started off the day perfect, buzzed right through security at the airport with NO lines! It was nice not to feel rushed with the HUGE amount of stuff we carry on with the baby. Flight was relatively smooth just a few bumps here and there. Reagan COULD NOT have been better! I got her the CARES airplane system it's basically a seat belt that hooks to the airplane seat belt and mimics, car-seat belts. She is fabulous in the car, so I hoped that would keep her from climbing all over. She sat in her seat with no problems, for 4.5 hours. It. Was. WONDERFUL! She watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and played games on the iPad the whole time! YAY!

 We landed in California and our car and driver was already waiting for us, bags came right off and in about 40 minutes we were there! Our room wasn't ready so we grabbed our swimsuits from the bag and hit Tangaroa Terrace for lunch. Reagan slept through that...LOL! FABULOUS burgers! 

When she got up, we hit the pool since it was in the mid 70's!! They have a wonderful splash pad with water slides so we spent most of the afternoon there. She LOVED the baby slide and was doing it by herself with no hand holding by the end of the afternoon! She went on that slide about 200 times. There is two lanes so one person would go with her and she would take the other lane. She always had to be on the left side standing at the top. Everytime she got to the bottom she would pick someone else to go. "Dada try!" "Mama Try!" "Nana try!" It was a great afternoon! 

Finally, our room was ready so we went up to get situated and got cleaned up for dinner! We had a fabulous dinner at Steakhouse 55, then took a walk down to the entrance of the parks. Can't wait to hit Disneyland park tomorrow. 

Today's picture is Reagan on her favorite slide!

Vacation before Vacation - 18/365

Tonight we stayed in Cleveland before we head out to California to visit Disneyland! Our flight leaves at 8:20am, so we had to be at the airport by 6:00am, YIKES! We stayed at a Marriott that was only two miles from the airport and took a shuttle over in the morning. We had a really nice dinner at the hotel restaurant. It was called Amp 150, pretty good kick-off dinner! Reagan loved sitting on the "couch" as she called it. We had a huge half circle booth so she just loved that everyone was sitting together.
Great stay, but ready to head to "The Land!"

Bye Bye, Bottles - 17/365

Today is a bittersweet day, we finally packed away Reagan's bottles and are bottle free.

 It's sad because our little girl is growing up, but it's fabulous to have some counter space back...lol. We were only using them first thing in the morning and right before bed time, anytime other than that, she was using a sippy cup with a straw. We let her keep using the bottle because we loved the cuddle time at night during story time and in the morning during Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. It was nice to have her recline back on us and cuddle while drinking. Her other sippy cups wouldn't allow that. I finally took the time to check out Babies R Us and found a sippy that is bottle like but
isn't...LOL! She can still recline but bottles are bye bye! She was starting to bite through all the nipples anyway. We were down to two...LOL!

 Bye Bye, bottles...Hello, big girl!

Brinkley, RUN! - 16/365

Today was a traditional "Puppy Crazy" night at the Cvetkovic house.

Most evenings we have to have a "run" around the house. A lot of times it's just around and around the island in the kitchen....Reagan will shout, "Mama, run!" then you have to chase her. She makes you go a few times then it's, "Dada, run!" Well tonight, Brinkley took over. They ran circles around the playroom for a good 10 minutes! I was exhausted just watching. The giggles and screeches were hilarious! 

They really gave me some good practice shooting fast subjects...LOL. The picture isn't as sharp as I like them but it's improved.

  I love my "puppy crazy" life!

Hi, mama! Sock go? - 15/365

This morning when I went in to get Reagan from her crib, she had one sock on her hand and the other one was "missing". I opened the door and she said "Hi, mama! Sock go?!" I searched the crib and found it. I said, "let's put them back on your feet." She quickly replied "NO, on hands!" Who am I to judge, so I left the ones on her hands and got her a new pair from the drawer. She left all four socks on their various locations through her morning milk and playtime.
 Today's picture is of her kicked back, enjoying some milk, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and her socks on her hands...LOL! Everyday is an adventure...LOVE HER!

Draw a Pink Cat Cat - 14/365

Today my mom, Reagan and I had lunch at LaRocca's in Poland. We got our usual tossed salad and wedding soup, while Reagan had mac n cheese. 

I always have a baggie of crayons for Reagan to use while we wait for our food, she loves to color on the back of place mats. Today she INSISTED on me drawing a cat in EVERY COLOR we had. She would grab a color and say "Ma, draw a pink cat cat", so I would draw a pink cat. I would set the crayon down and she would pick up a new one and say "Ma, draw a blue cat cat", so I would draw a blue one. I drew A LOT of cats...LOL! She is just too funny, she was LOVING it!

 Although, I can't take credit for the sad cat, that was all Nana! LOL! 

Here is our masterpiece of a place mat as the photo of the day!

Fresh Air - 13/365

For the second day in a row it has been unseasonably warm here in Ohio. Today's temperature got up to nearly 70 degrees, it was wonderful! We even opened the windows and screen doors to let the fresh air in. I love having the windows open....it just makes you feel good! 

Bailey took full advantage of the open windows today. He never gets to go outside so he absolutely loves it. He perched on the window sill most of the day and even took a "bath" while enjoying it. 

He is my photo of the day....

Doggie Car Wash - 12/365

Today in Ohio it hit nearly 60 degrees in JANUARY! WOW! 

It was an absolutely gorgeous day that was crying out for some outdoor fun! Jim, Reagan, Brinkley and I decided to hit the 3 mile trail in Mill Creek Park. It was a lovely stroll and the park was PACKED! The ground had not completely dried yet, so Brinkley's underside was black by the time we were done. Our only option was to take him to Come Stay and Play's doggie PetSpaw! We call it the doggie car wash because it has dials just like the manual car wash places. It's so funny! Today's picture is Brinkley ready for his bath...

On the Fritz - 11/365

Today, every free second that I had, went into trying to rescue picture files from an older external hard drive. I knew that it was older and I knew that it was getting to be time to clear it off and send it on it's way...but it was always "I'll get to it". We'll today "I got to it" and it was a frustrating nightmare. Most files seem to be saveable and thankfully I had some of them already backed up on discs, but transferring WAS SO SLOW and a few here and there had become corrupt. I know better than this and every photography blog, book and magazine preaches, "if you don't have your files in three places, you don't have them." Well it turns out, that could be true! I have recently signed up for Smugmug and I have been pretty good at backing up there but all my older files are very susceptible to damage. I think I have saved the majority of them and thankfully most pictures of my precious baby girl are safe. I have to admit, that going back four or five years was fun today when things were going well. I cherish all those memories and appreciate being able to look back and be right in that moment. It makes all the picture taking worth while.

 I leave you with my friends the computer and infamous hard drive.

 BACK UP your files, too!

Reagan's FIRST Haircut - 10/365

Today was a milestone moment for Reagan...she got her FIRST haircut! 

Mommy had an appointment at 9:00 to get spruced up so Nana brought her to Casal's around 11:00. Daddy even popped in to witness the moment.

 She started off with the typical stress reliever, which is a scalp, neck and hand massage. We then moved over to the shampoo bowl, she got sudsed up and then got her mini facial. That's just a warm towel on her face with some lotion to follow. Finally, we moved over to the stylist chair. Maggie was so wonderful with her and Reagan sat perfectly still and just chatted away! She ended up getting about an inch cut off which really helped her curls bounce back! All in all, I think she had a great time and even got a cherry sucker for good behavior.
Our little girl is getting too big!

Goodbye Arthur - 9/365

Today we had to say goodbye to a good friend. The sun decided that it was time to take our snow friend, Arthur away. When I went to run some errands this afternoon, I noticed his face and buttons had fallen to the ground and his hat was tattered. 

Arthur was a great snowman and watched over our yard day and night. I have to say, since Arthur had been around, no one had driven in our yard! LOL! 

Arthur came into our lives on December 29th, 2012 after the December 26th snow storm. Reagan loved to go outside and visit him and always waved when we pulled into the driveway. 

He will be missed...

Here is Arthur pre-sunstroke - 12/29/2012

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie - 8/365

Ever since Brinkley was a baby he has had this habit of falling asleep with a toy in his mouth. It can be a ball, stuffed toy, rope, bone...it doesn't matter, he WILL fall asleep with it in his mouth. After nearly five years of him being a part of our family, it donned on me that I shockingly, have never taken a picture of it. This is why I am LOVING this project. It helps you see all the small moments that you may overlook. 

Anyway, this afternoon right on cue I put Reagan down for her nap, Brinkley got up in his spot, which is a blanketed area on the couch, and got ready for his afternoon snooze. Which leads me to today's photo of the day....Sweet dreams buddy!

Old McDonald Had a Farm - 7/365

Lately Reagan's favorite song is Old McDonald had a Farm. She sings it constantly. Everywhere we go and everything we do ends up in a chorus of it. The best is her version though.... 

Ole McDonal had farm, Eeeeee, i, oh, 

on farm had cow, moo moo here, moo moo here, moo moo here, 

Ole McDonal had farm.

 She only says E,I,O...she never extends it to...E,I,E,I,O...LOL! It is the cutest thing!

 I have tried NUMEROUS times to get it on video and she just clams up. Hopefully, someday soon, I can catch this version before she gets it "right"! 

Picture of the day is her, her Little People Farm and spelled out is our 

favorite part of HER song...E,I,O