Five Days and some change

Last Sunday morning Lance left for a conference in Dallas and came home on Friday afternoon. I was a little worried about how the week would go with out him. As much as I love being home all day, I look forward to those couple of hours where he is home to help and play with Reese. But I decided up front to be positive about this time away. I knew I could handle two extra hours a day while he was gone and it was only for five days and some change. And we made it!! I printed out a picture of Reese and Daddy for her to play with for the week because he was afraid she would forget who he was. Every day she mentioned him. And did not forget who he was. I got to watch some "chick flicks" and finish a book while he was gone. I also got to take up the whole entire bed and sheets and not worry about bothering him. As nice as that was, I would much rather have him in the bed with me!!

Friday afternoon, Lance's uncle and cousin flew in town to stay with us while they were in town for the Alabama v. Clemson game. They arrived and Reese was excited to see them...especially Claire who loves on her so much! About ten mintues later Daddy walked in and Reese was so excited! She was standing by the door waiting on him when she heard the garage. I was super excited to have him home too!! Friday night Lance's family came over to visit. We cooked out, played, and talked. Saturday they went to the game and Lance's friend, Justin, came in town from Nashville. Needless to say we have had a full house this weekend! I am so excited Lance is off work tomorrow so we can play and visit!

Reese watching Daddy and her cousin throw the baseball in the backyard


Reese with Claire's Alabama pom-poms


Reese "hanging out" with Daddy. She is so silly!


Me and my sweet baby...I am so blessed!!

Silly head

Reese thinks it is so funny to put things on her head. I suppose that is my fault because when we are playing I will put her toys on my head to see if she notices. Which she always does...nothing gets past her. She will immediately take the toy off of my head and laugh (because I am the funniest person she knows). So now she always wants to put her toys on her head. And it doesn't stop at the toys. Now we have moved on to food. I think I started something I am going to regret. If you see Reese after breakfast, it is pretty fair to assume she has syrup or eggs or some other food in her hair. I promise I wash her hair every night after she does this but if you don't see her right after bathtime then you are missing out on some clean hair!! Today we went to lunch with Adrienne (which was great by the way) and Reese decided to style her hair with syrup before we went. It is the new gel. Tonight we had B4D (breakfast for dinner) and she added eggs to the syrup mix. Needless to say her hair was greasy, shiny, and crusty after dinner. Yum! Maybe I am not feeding her enough and she is saving some for later.

In this picture you can really tell how long her hair is getting. I don't know what to do with it. It hangs in her eyes and most of the time she won't keep a bow or ponytail in her hair. I am constantly brushing her hair out of her eyes. And don't suggest cutting it because that is NOT going to happen for a long time!!


Doesn't she look like such a big girl in this picture from today? I tried to hide the syrup with a bow.

A Ravioli Mess

Reese had Ravioli for dinner last night. She was such a mess when she was done. Her hair had ravioli, yogurt, and syrup in it by bath time. Messy girl!



During bath time I gave Reese an ice pop. For some reason when she would bite down on it she would laugh hysterically...like belly laughing. I still don't know what prompted it!! I wish I had had my camera with us!!

Hopefully the rain with go away today! We have been cooped up in the house ALL week. I wish there was an indoor playground somewhere nearby.

Tote

For Juliette's birthday I decided I would make her a cute little tote. It was a lot of fun making. I hope she has fun with it!! I used it as a gift bag and put her birthday presents in it.

Kisses for Daddy

Eventful

Yesterday morning I woke up and was hot. I look at the thermostat and it says it is much hotter than it should be!! I feel air blowing out of the vents so I call Lance to tell him what is going on. After talking to him I go outside to check the unit and notice that the fan is not spinning. Great! So I call the HVAC guy who is wonderful. He was out here within two hours. Preparing myself to spend a couple hundred dollars to get the AC fixed, he comes to me and says that the breaker was just tripped. He turned it back on and said we were good to go. I was HAPPY to write him an $85 check for the service call and he was on his way. We had a really bad storm Sunday night that must have tripped it! Now I know what to check for next time...before I spend the money!!

And the storms just keep on coming! Early this morning I woke up to the sound of a lot of rain. I think it has been raining for seven hours straight! Around eight this morning I hear the rain hitting the windows sideways and then shortly after that the sirens started going off. Luckily the really bad weather was not in this part of the county!! I was really hoping to get out of the house some today but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. Hopefully we are not stuck int he house all week...we might go crazy!

Yesterday Reese was playing with her halloween bucket like it was a purse. She had it looped over her arm and was walking around. So cute!


This morning we were reading books. In the book that my cousin, Brooke, gave to Reese she put her picture inside of it. Reese kept pointing at the picture so I told her that it was Brooke. I asked her if she could say that...check it out.

Tickle, Tickle

I caught Reese on video the other day talking in the car. When I tickle her I say, "Tickle, Tickle, Tickle." So she has picked up on this and now she says, "Gickle, Gickle, Gickle". So cute!!!

Weekend Wrap-up

We had a fun-filled, busy weekend. Friday afternoon Reese and I headed out to my parents house. We stopped at Chick-fil-A for lunch which was Reese's first time having lunch there. It was fun to see her experience this. I don't think she ate much because she was so busy looking at everyone else and pointing at the cows that were decorating the walls. That evening Lance and I had a short date-night. We left Reese with her Aunt Becky and Granddaddy. We ate at PF Chang's, walked around the mall to work off our yummy food, and then packed it back on with some Marble Slab. Yum!! Reese had a lot of fun with her Aunt Becky, Granddaddy, and Gigi. Yes, we have decided on a name for my mom. It took us a while to do this. Gigi was thrown around before Reese was born with many other grandmother names but my mom couldn't decide if that is what she wanted to be called. So we tried Nana for a little while but Reese decided to say Gigi this weekend so that is what we are going with now. Personally I liked it from the beginning and thought it fit my mom...but she had to try it on for size I think. We spent the night at their house that evening so we could get up early and head to Juliette's 1st birthday party. She is the daughter of a friend of mine going all the way back to middle school. They live about an hour north of my parents so it made our trip much easier! Saturday evening my grandparents had a party. There had to be over 100 people there to celebrate their 15th wedding anniversary and my grandma Peggy's birthday. Reese started getting a little cranky from her full day so we wrapped it up early and headed home. Today was a normal Sunday for the most part...church and Dave. Reese was great for Lissa and I am so, so happy about that!!

Reese listening to her "iPod"


Juliette, the birthday girl, and Reese...doesn't she look thrilled??


Five generations...my dad, me, Reese, Evelyn, and Peggy


Cousins!!

Reese wanted to wear her light up shoes today so I pulled some socks out of her drawer to put them on her...luckily we didn't leave the house looking so stylish.


Reese being silly for Lissa with a messy face. She is laughing pretty hard in this picture. She was so funny when I got home tonight. Usually she won't let me put her down once we get home but she was being her silly self tonight. Lissa was sitting on the floor laughing at something and as she laughed she slapped her hand on ground. Reese watched her and then did the exact same thing. So we kept doing different laughs and different things when we laughed and she copied each one. It was hilarious. I will have to see if I can catch her on tape being a copy cat.

This stage has been so much fun. It is great to watch her little personality shine through. She is learning new things daily. She is repeating tons of words and actions. She is going to be a chatterbox in no time!!

Double Fisting

Shoes

Reese loves her shoes. This morning she did not want to put clothes on...but she wanted to put her shoes on. So silly!


Oh yeah...and this little girl is 13 months old today. Yes, I am still counting in months for now! Here she is with yogurt all over her face after trying to feed herself again!

SHS Class of 98

This weekend I had my 10 year high school reunion. I can not believe ten years has gone by so fast! My honey's sister (and her boys) kept Reese entertained for the evening for us. She was great for them and we are glad to have been able to go out and enjoy the night with out worrying about Reese. We, of course, left during Reese's afternoon nap so we had a couple of hours to kill before meeting up with some friends. We went to a mexican restaurant and had a mini date night. Thirty-three dollars later we had both had one drink and nothing to eat. Oh well, the company was nice. After that we headed over to Davis's house (an old friend from high school) to get our evening started. There were seven of us from our class and their spouses that met up and we had a great time for two hours before we headed to the reunion. There were tons of people at the reunion and it was fun to catch up with them. It was pretty loud so conversations were kept short and sweet. The same conversations were had over and over..."What are you doing now?"..."Do you have any kids?"..."It was good to see you again!", etc, etc. Overall, I had a great time and it was so, so great to catch up with some of my most favorite people from high school!

Adrienne, me and Andrea


Davis, JP, Bobby, Jonathan, Andrea, me and Adrienne

Whoa!

Tonight after Lance got home from work we went to the park to eat dinner and play. It was a very nice night, minus the bugs. Reese is still not too sure about the playground. Especially when there are a bunch of bigger kids playing on it (and by bigger I mean two year olds). Lance put her on the slide and here was her reaction...too cute!

Some of my favorite things...

Surprise!! Here is one of Reese's new looks. It is so funny. She looks like she is surprised by something. Usually her lips are shaped like an O.


Sweet Kisses. This one was funny because she was kissing her Daddy but she wanted to keep an eye on me to make sure I wasn't going anywhere.

Learning new things. Jump!

"Baw" translation "Ball"

Reese has a new love...kicking the ball. Check it out!

All in one day

Here is what our day's usually look like...

In the morning. So sweet. Plays nicely. Does what is asked of her.


Playing in Daddy's shoes. She loves to play with our shoes. If we are upstairs, she pulls them out of the closet. If they are lying around, she brings them to us and wants to put them on.


While I am making dinner, she has a melt down. She probably did not take a good nap, she is hungry, and is having a bad case of seperation anxiety right now. Yes, I know, I am right there...she wants to be held...I don't know why she thinks I am going anywhere when I am just standing at the stove. If I walk five steps away from her, she freaks out! I will be happy when this stage is over!! It is stressful. Notice the tears and the snot...that is a good cry!!


Finally it's time to eat!! Something she does well!! This night it was pasta for dinner.


I am not sure how much actually ended up in her belly...most of it is on her belly. Luckily I had the foresight to see this coming! She eats naked a lot of nights.


I thought it might be best to clean her off in the sink. We ended up taking an early bath because she was so dirty!!


For some unknown reason Reese has been waking up in the middle of the night this week. Last night she was awake off and on for two hours. She would be quiet long enough for me to fall asleep and then she would cry out again. Hopefully tonight we can make it a full night with out crying. I know Lance would like that! And hopefully that will help with the meltdowns during the day!

Oh, Great!

Last night I was grilling chicken on the George Foreman. I have done this millions of times. This time for some reason I noticed there was a tag attached to the power cord so I read it. Please see below.

...may cause cancer, and birth defects or other reproductive harm!!! WHAT?!?! So I washed my hand immediately. How many other power cords will have this effect? Is it just the George? And why is only the State of California concerned about this? Seriously! What the heck?

Does your George Foreman have this tag?

Fun, Fun Weekend

We had a fun, fun weekend!!

Friday night was just a boring old night...nothing too exciting...that I can remember anyways. Did we do anything?

Saturday morning once we were all awake and fed the three of us headed over to our favorite park. The last two weekends Lance and I have run a mile (me pushing the stroller) around the trail and then walking after that. It was a beautiful morning...almost fall like but a little hotter. We hit up the grocery store real quick and then headed home for Reese to take a quick nap. After her nap, Reese and I went over to our friends Mitchell and Nicole's for a play date and lunch. Nicole made us a yummy lunch and then we took the kids to the pool. They had a great time at the pool playing and splashing. I know I have said this a lot but it is so great to visit with other mommies. And this one is especially special because the kids are so close in age. It is even more special that we have a lot in common so we don't just talk about what the kids are doing. We can talk about life too!! Saturday evening Adrienne and Erik came over and we had dinner and visited...all night!! It was so much fun to spend time with them. We watched the Olympics and talked and talked. It is so funny because Lance and Erik were separated at birth! I swear they think and talk so much alike. It is almost scary!! But we had fun with them and we can't wait to see them again next weekend.

Today was a normal Sunday. We went to church, had lunch with my family at the mall, and then Lissa came to watch Reese for us. We left while she was napping again so she was so good for Lissa. We hate that we have to be sneaky but we love that she behaves and makes Lissa's life easier!! We know she will get the hang of us leaving one day but right now is not the time!! We just want everyone involve to have an easy time...us included!

I, of course, forgot my camera when we went to Nicole's so I don't have any cute pictures from the pool. I have been SOOO bad about taking pictures of Reese ever since her birthday. I think I took so many pictures her first year I am burned out now! Hopefully I can snap some cute pictures this week to share!

Advise for 18 year old Renee

I saw this on another blog and thought it was a fun idea...give it a try.

Dear 18 year old Renee,

Hey...it's me...ten years from now. Yep, ten years...your ten year high school reunion is just around the corner. So, I've seen the future (at least ten years of it anyways) and I thought I would give you some advise.

First of all even though you are scared to leave home and venture off pick a college that is not so close to home. Pick one that has a fabulous football team that you will have fun cheering for. Be more adventurous and have fun doing it.

Put down that credit card!! No seriously, put it down!! I know you think it is free money and that you can pay it off later but really put it down. Don't think about using it. As a matter of fact, go get a job and study harder. You didn't listen did you? Well, good luck paying off those credit card bills...oh yeah, and your student loans. It sure would have been nice to go out and buy some new clothes with out worrying about spending your credit card bill and student loan bill money! Your future husband and I are working on getting all of that paid off now!

Yes, future husband. Even though you decided to stay close to home instead of having fun at a big school, you found a football team you could cheer for. You meet a guy who goes to that school. He treats you well...better than any of those other stupid guys you will meet. Instead of questioning it in the beginning, just go for it and make the most of it. He's the right one! And he sure does make cute babies!!

Well, one baby so far. But she is so cute and sweet. Guess what?!? Remember when you were in middle school and one of your mom's friends asked you what you wanted to be? You told her a stay-at-home mom. She was mortified and told on you. Boy was she crazy? Well, you get to do it. Your one dream that has always stayed constant comes true! You get to stay at home and raise your sweet baby! It is amazing and you are so blessed.

When you think your life is over because of silly things that happen in college just know that life gets so much better!! Stay focused on school...and study more! Take the school part of school more seriously!! Get better grades. I know...I told you that you were a stay at home mom...that doesn't mean you should slack in school. That will help with the school loan thing I mentioned earlier!!

Love your friends! You will still have some of them for a long time. Let go of the ones you know will only hurt you! Life is too short to try to keep them around!

Love yourself! Wear that bikini proudly!! Don't stay out too late! Well, every once in a while is fine. But know nothing good happens after midnight!! Most importantly, believe in yourself!

Take a deep breath, open your eyes, and embrace life to the fullest. I know...it is a little scary! But if you just do it, it will make life so much more rewarding and fulfilling.

See you in ten years!

Love,

Future Renee

It's your lucky day!

Not only is it 08/08/08 today but I am going to share some cute pictures of Reese with you!! Wow! I told you you were lucky!!

Reese and Daddy outside eating their ice pops.

I don't think you can see it here but orange was running all down her belly.


The mosquitos were starting to bite and Reese dropped her ice pop on the ground so we went inside to the bath and started over.

Messy Girl

How can one cute, sweet, perfect little girl make such a mess?? Yesterday for breakfast I gave her scrambled eggs and jelly toast. That doesn't seem so messy, right? Well it was! I am not a fan of being dirty and definitely not a fan of cleaning up dirty. If Reese gets really dirty, Lance has to clean her up. I hate for food to get under my fingernails and that seems to happen more than you would think when trying to clean Reese up.

Here she is ignoring the camera as usual.


Finally I got her to smile...I think she was happy to be so dirty.


So imagine the challenge I faced when deciding to let Reese feed herself yogurt. I sucked it up and gave her the spoon. She did pretty well considering it was her first time attempting to scoop the yogurt out and feed it to herself.

Old Friends

Yesterday Reese and I had lunch with some old co-workers of mine. One of them is currently on maternity leave. She has a one month old baby who was so cute and perfect while we were at lunch. It was great to see all of them. I definitely miss them...just not in the work setting!!

Weekend Review

Saturday night we made hamburgers. I gave Reese her first hamburger but she wasn't too impressed until I gave her some of mine on the fork, of course. She will eat whatever I am eating and most of the time she will eat what is on her tray.


Then the wind started to blow...harder and harder. Here Reese is checking it out. The wind was blowing so hard we thought we were going to lose some trees. Luckily no trees fell down.


However, we lost our power for three hours. So we played Monopoly by candle light. And I kicked Lance's butt!!


Then Sunday after church Emma came over to play. We hadn't seen them in a few weeks so we had a great time catching up!!


Sunday night we went to FPU and Reese did great for Lissa. We left during her nap time so she only had Lissa when she woke up and didn't have to see us leave. That is so much easier on EVERYONE!! She was a happy girl when we got home.

Here she is saying, "Oh Mom, you are so silly!"

Girly Girl

Finally, I can put dresses on Reese. For a long time I refused to except for when we were going to church. When she was newborn it was too hard to put dresses on her. They would bunch up, slide up, get tangled in the car seat, etc. Then when she started crawling her knees would get stuck on the dress and she couldn't crawl any further causing her to get frustrated. So she always wore onesies, one piece outfits, or shorts and t-shirts. Now that she is walking I can dress her in her cute dresses!! It is so fun. Like my own little doll.

Here are three pictures from this past week of dress up...and she has on a dress today too!! She is going to hate me for this one day!