Happy New Year's Eve

Lance's office closed early today so he suggested we take Reese to see The Princess and the Frog. She was so excited about going.


It was a cute movie...and I can't wait to see the end. LOL! For most of the movie Sam did great but then I had to take him out to the car. He was getting fussy with about 15 minutes left. He needed a diaper change and a change of clothes after spitting up all over his original outfit. Reese did awesome in the theater. I knew it was going to be hit or miss with her but she loved it. She got up and was dancing to the music. It was probably about 15 minutes too long for her though. I am pretty sure she ate the whole bucket of popcorn herself. Lance didn't want her first movie experience to be without popcorn! I was so surprised at the number of people at the theater for a 5:00 movie. The parking lot was packed!!

After the movie we went to Chick-fil-A for dinner. We have had a great final family day of 2009!


Sam is really starting to get interested in where all of the crazy noise is coming from. Reese loves to hold his hand and do silly things with him.


We were finally able to get his reaction on camera. Isn't that smile so sweet??

Follow-up at Seven Weeks

I had my six week follow-up visit today (at seven weeks post baby). Everything went great! I have about ten more pounds that I would like to disappear sooner rather than later! My mom met me there so I didn't have to worry about two kids. After my appointment we went to the mall for some lunch and shopping.

Today Sam is seven weeks old. Here are some things he is doing:
*Holding his head up very well
*Smiling in reaction to us occasionally
*Already moving in to size 2 diapers (I still have a box and a half of size 1)
*Packing on the weight
*Still sleeping a good bit of the time
*Morning time is his happy and smiley time
*In 0-3 month clothes
*Sleeping around 7.5 hours at night
*Eating every 2-3 hours depending on how he sleeps
*Is not swaddled anymore
*Tracking us with his eyes...especially his loud big sister
*Loves to snuggle and be held
*We are all smitten!!

The Day After

The day after Christmas my mom's family came to our house to celebrate. We had almost everyone together...that hasn't happened in a long time. We had fun catching up and visiting. Reese had fun playing with the other kids her age. They had free range to the playroom and I covered the dining room table in paper so they could color as much as they wanted to.

After they all left we celebrated Christmas with just my parents and Becca (Leah had other obligations so she had left already). It was like Christmas morning for the third time! We all got some fabulous gifts. I think Reese's favorite was this...

After she opened each present she would come back to this one to play with it again.

She also got these cute fairy wings that remained on the rest of the night.


After we opened presents we played with the Wii for a little while. Reese had fun playing the sword fighting game...she beat it every time.

One of Reese's gifts was a bunch of baby doll gear. She climbed in the baby doll's pack and play...she was a little too big.

After three days of a million presents, Sam being held by at least 30 different people, all the attention Reese received, more junk food than necessary, missed naps, tons of conversations, and love...we are exhausted!! Today it is after noon and we are all still in our PJs and are on movie number three...and it feels good!

The plan is to put away Christmas decorations and presents but we will see if that happens...

Christmas Day

Christmas morning we woke up at a normal time (more than likely the last time that will happen for several years). Reese really didn't remember that Santa was supposed to come. I was feeding Sam when she woke up so after that was done I told her we could go downstairs to see what Santa left for her. Then she got excited.

Yes, Sam is in a new outfit after spitting up all over his matching Christmas PJs.




She was bummed Santa didn't eat all of the cookies she left for him. I bet he will eat them all next year!! Santa liked the note she left him and he even wrote one back to her!!


Santa felt like he went overboard this year but once all the gifts were wrapped and under the tree he felt good about his gifts.

Sam just hung out and watched the madness. He is excited about next year already.

Santa left Reese some fun gifts. A Princess drum set, some Disney movies, a Crayola box full of Crayola goodies, a doctors kit, a Tinkerbell suitcase, and a bunch of other little things. Sam got some cool stuff too! (Things I can't remember right now.) For some reason Santa didn't do a "big" gift this year. I guess Dave Ramsey got a hold of him too!!

After we opened all of our gifts and played with them for a little while, we had breakfast, showered, and headed out to Lance's sisters house. There Reese and Sam racked up on a bunch of fun gifts too.

Reese even got an apron that says, "Mom's little helper", on it.

She put her cooking skills to work by helping Aunt Kathy make the potatoes.

Reese had such a fun time playing with her cousins. She would come up to me and say, "I am going to go play with the boys!" Sam had fun just being snuggled.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve started off our rounds of Christmas. That morning we tried to straighten up the house some because we knew the next few days were going to be crazy! We actually made it out of the house on time and headed to my parents house to celebrate Christmas with my dad's side of the family.

I love so much spending time with my cousins!! We were sitting around the table eating and obviously gossiping by the looks on my and Lissa's face.


My plans that morning had been to decorate cookies for Santa with Reese but we ran out of time. So I took everything with me to my parents house to finish.

We got home at a decent time and let Reese put out Santa's cookies, milk, and write him a letter.

After that we gave the kids a bath and put them in the matching PJs.

Then we waited for Santa to arrive...

Stone Mountain Christmas

On the 23rd we went to Stone Mountain's Christmas with some friends. We, as usual, were late meeting them there but we were so excited when we finally arrived. What a cool experience!!

There are so many fun things for kids (of all ages) to do. The first place we went was a ball house. There are foam balls everywhere and four stories of fun. You can collect all of the balls in bags and then go through the building throwing and shooting the balls. Foam balls are flying everywhere.


Every building, tree, fence, and structure was covered in lights. It was really beautiful!

The girls found the fake snow for the Snow Mountain advertisement and had fun playing with it! I am seriously thinking about taking Reese back to play there!

After playing in the ball house we set up on the side of the "road" for the parade. I had Sam in the carrier so Maddie had a prime spot in the stroller. She was so sweet with Reese the whole night. She would tell her what was going to happen, what she would see, and led her around everywhere. Reese was in heaven!!

Daddy had the camera the whole night but he made it in to one picture!

There were so many shows to see. I thought the Polar Express 4-D show was a lot of fun!

Sam was SO good the whole day! He went five hours without eating because he was sound asleep snuggled up in the carrier! I had to change his diaper to get him to wake up and eat. After he ate, he went right back to sleep. I am so glad I brought the carrier with us!!

He was also bundled up in this warm outfit!!

(Hey honey...if you are going to get that much of me in the picture, why not go ahead and get all of me?)

After several shows, we made our way over to the train. We rode in the covered car to help keep the kids warm. I was worried we wouldn't be able to see much but there wasn't much to see anyways. There were so few lights! I was surprised!

We ended up missing the fireworks because we were on the train during the show. Oh well! We had such a fun time!! I am so glad we were able to go. Our friends had been twice before (this year) so they kept us on track of what was worth our while! We ended up not leaving until after 10:00. Reese fell asleep with in minutes of pulling out of the park so we put her right to bed when we got home.

Lil Bruiser

When I got Sam dressed today I realized what a little bruiser he is turning in to. He is definitely filling in and packing on the weight! He looked so cute! I always thing my kids look cute but some days I think they look extra cute! Today was one of those days.

Friends

Today we kept Reese's friend, Mitchell, for a little while. I took this super cute picture of him...


Not to be out done, Reese asked for her picture afterwards...she actually smiled for the camera. I think because I told Mitchell how cute his picture was. She is a mess.

Christmas Cards

I LOVE getting Christmas cards in the mail. This year I have been hanging them on our back door so that we can see them all at once. Reese enjoys going over to check them out occasionally.

This year I did a Christmas card/Birth announcement. Since I can't send it to all of you, I will share it with you here...

Moose

Reese thinks all reindeer are moose.

Today at gymnastics her teacher had on reindeer antlers. When Reese saw her she said, "Ms. Peggy is a Moose!"

Tonight for our pizza and a movie night we watched a Mickey Mouse Christmas movie. Pluto was flying with the reindeer and Reese said he was being a moose!

She cracks me up!!

Seriously??

What a day...in a different way than yesterday!! My goal today was to try to keep the TV off more than it was on. So this morning we got up, came downstairs, and colored. Reese was acting out a little bit and being disobedient. I decided we might need to get out of the house for a little bit so I took a quick shower, got Sam fed and happy, and then we headed to Target to do some Christmas shopping. Reese had her moments while at Target but for the most part was behaving. We came home to have lunch and Reese was acting out again...which meant nap time couldn't come quick enough. When I put Reese down for a nap I realized she might have a bladder infection so I called the doctor's office and talked to them about it. They scheduled an appointment for 4:00 for her to come in. Of course it would be right during feeding time for Sam. I woke Reese up from her nap so that she didn't go potty in her pull-up because they wanted to do a urine test. I gave her a fun cup to drink a bunch of water from before we left. About 20 minutes or so before we were going to leave I wanted to change Sam and give him a quick snack to tide him over. I wasn't really paying attention to what I was doing and for the first time in five weeks I got soaked. He peed ALL over me and him. I had to go upstairs to change us both and he didn't get a snack before we left. I grabbed a bottle for him and headed out the door. When it was time for Reese to go to the bathroom she refused to. So they gave her a popsicle hoping to bribe her. No such luck! Then we gave her a cup of water to get her to go...nope. Sam got his first bottle of formula during this time...he did pretty well with the bottle. Then Reese flat out refused to go again! The nurse promised her a toy out of the treasure chest, another popsicle, and a sticker if she would go...I promised a Dora movie at home. Still nothing. Finally I told her we would just have to go home and she freaked out! Screaming! She knew there was a lot on the line to just not use the bathroom. So we tried one more time. This time nurse Hannah took her because sometimes Reese just does better with someone besides Mommy. She never went and the nurse needed to do other things so I went in with her. I think she sat on the potty for ten minutes and then finally started going. And I wasn't prepared!! I barely got the cup in there fast enough to catch it and only got a small amount. Luckily it was enough to run the test. So after an hour and a half of fighting at the doctors office, it looks like she has a UTI but they sent it off to the lab and we should know for sure tomorrow. After we got home she needed to go again and cried that it hurt so I think something is definitely going on. I don't think Reese has ever been as sick in her whole life as she has been the last five weeks. I think the stress of adding a new baby to the house is getting to her! Hopefully we can get it all cleared up and get our sweet, healthy girl back soon. PLEASE!!!

Oh, What a Day!!

We have had a busy day today! And it was so much fun!! The morning started out great because Sam slept for almost 8 hours last night! It was one of those mornings where you roll over, look at the clock, and then shoot out of bed because you have been asleep for so long. I got up and checked on Sam and he was still asleep. He slept for about 30 minutes after I checked on him and then the two of us got our day started. He was so happy when I got him out of bed! He got the biggest grin on his face. I love those sweet baby smiles!

Lance took the day off of work to go to Reese's Christmas Musical at school. It was so, so, so cute!! The two year old classes sang three songs and then left the stage so the bigger kids could finish the show. We didn't tell Reese that we would be at her school because we weren't quite sure she would understand when we dropped her off and didn't go in with her. It was fun to see her participate with out knowing we were watching. We got to see her in her own element. About half way through the second song you could see her look at Lance and register that it was Daddy in her mind. Here is her reaction...

In the video we recorded you can see the moment she recognizes him. It is so cute!! She gets the biggest grin on her face and starts waving. Then she looks for me and yells, "Hey Mommy!" She talked to me throughout the songs. She would say, "Yook at me, Mommy." "I doing it, Mommy!" It was so sweet.

After the musical was over, her class had a little party. Nothing fancy but it was neat to go in to her classroom and see all of her fun toys, crafts they have made, and all of her friends that she talks about. Her friend, Micah, that she talks about also has curly hair...I wonder if that is the draw??



Here is a quick little video I made before she saw us in the audience.



After school we made a last minute decision to visit Santa at the mall so neither kid was really dressed in Christmas attire. There were NO tears this year but Reese definitely was acting shy. Her new shy thing is to cover her eyes as if you can't see her anymore. So that is what she did to Santa. We couldn't get her to look at the camera and then she asked me to sit with her.

So we made a family affair out of visiting Santa. He is such a beautiful and sweet Santa. I love him! I was very disappointed in the photographer this year though. Notice the picture is not centered at all. When we were looking at the pictures the girl even apologized and said she was took short to really see in the camera.



After visiting Santa, Daddy and Reese went to the play area while I fed Sam. This picture is from Lance's iPhone...I wonder if he taught her to do this?

Once Sam was fed and happy, we had a special treat for Reese. We took her to Build-A-Bear for the first time. I think she was a little overwhelmed with all of the choices. She picked out a pony at first but then Daddy asked her if she would rather have the bunny and she decided to go with the bunny. Not sure why since she is loving horses right now but she did.



She had fun getting to participate in bringing the bunny to life. She pushed the lever to stuff the bunny, kissed the heart that goes in the bunny, and gave the bunny a bath (I think that was her favorite part).

After bathing her, we got to sit at a computer, enter all of our info, and pick out a name for the bunny. Lance and I thought of some names for her and let Reese pick out the name. She chose "Fluffy". We also bought Fluffy an outfit...it is a Tinkerbell outfit with a wand. I didn't get a picture of her dressed but I am pretty sure Reese likes the wand over anything else...including the bunny.

You wouldn't know it to see her bed but Reese is very particular about the animals that sleep in her bed. At night if there is a stray animal or baby in her bed she will throw it out. All of them are at the foot of her bed except for her monkey. So we weren't sure if Fluffy would make the cut or not. But we are happy to say that Fluffy not only made the cut but was sleeping up next to Reese and Monkey.

Sam has been an angel today. He slept most of the day but I think that is because he really didn't sleep a whole lot yesterday. He just went with the flow today without a peep.

We think Reese's stomach is still trying to get settled. She hasn't thrown up again since Sunday but she still isn't eating much. She will occasionally say she doesn't feel good. Today we wanted her to eat something and really didn't care what. We offered to go to Chick-fil-a and she said NO. Now, if you know Reese at all, you know that is crazy!! She did ask for McDonald's later so we got her some but she never at it. I have offered her so many things to eat that she would normally gobble up but she just isn't interested. Hopefully she will get back to her normal self soon and eat! I know it is hard to shake an upset stomach...I feel so bad for her.

The Bug

Whoa! I can't believe it has been so long since I updated this thing! So I will do a recap since Wednesday...

Thursday was business as usual. Reese had school and Sam and I went Christmas shopping at Target while my Christmas cards printed. One thing I have learned about school days is that it is inevitable that Sam will need/want to eat during drop off and pick up times.

Friday Reese had gymnastics and then we headed over to a friends house to decorate Christmas cookies and have lunch. The kids had so much fun and made a huge mess!!

Reese was so proud of her cookies that she made and couldn't wait to share them with Daddy.

Saturday we visited with family and friends most of the day. It was a nice day! That night we put Reese to bed and did our normal evening routine. Around 11 I was feeding Sam in his room and heard Reese start crying. It wasn't a normal middle of the night cry so I was worried. Lance was downstairs but luckily heard her crying. He went in to check on her and she had thrown up all over herself and her bed. There is a stomach bug going around and she caught it. He took her out of bed, stuck her in the tub and undressed her. I put Sam in his bed while I helped tend to Reese. I cleaned her off, gave her a bath, and got some new clothes on her while Lance cleaned up her room. It was so gross. And every sickness is worse because we have a newborn. Once again we had to keep Reese away from Sam and we washed our hands a million times. She ended up throwing up two more times but nothing like the first time. Lance once again had to make a midnight run to Kroger. (Hopefully that was the last time for a while.) We talked to the nurse on call and she said to slowly give Reese some Gatorade to see if she would keep it down. For an hour we gave her medicine droppers full of it and increased the amount as the hour went by. By 1:00 she was literally jumping around our room. I don't know how she has that kind of energy! Both of Reese's sets of bedsheets were dirty because I had just changed them so we set up sheets on the floor in our room and let her sleep in there. We also put Sam back in our room for the night in the pack and play so we would know immediately if he got sick. We knew that would be so bad if he did. Luckily he has not!!

Sunday we tried to keep Reese contained and resting. But she is a machine. You would have never know she had been sick and she didn't throw up the whole day. After nap time she was a little cranky but said she was feeling ok. We were supposed to go to some friends house that night. We talked to them and told them what had been going on and they said to still come on over. So we headed over. We parked the car and then Reese said she didn't feel good. She had said that a couple of times during the day but never got sick. We figured she was just testing out that phrase to see the reaction. But as Lance took Reese out of the car she threw up again. So we had to head back home. She has been fine since and has had no problems today...other than trying to touch Sam when she knows she isn't supposed to. She is a little spitfire!!

Today we have been lazy. Hopefully Reese's tummy is settled and we are done with the stomach bug. Lance and I have not been affected and hopefully it will stay that way. However, we are prepared with Gatorade, Ginger Ale, Saltines, and Pepto.

Sam has enjoyed the activity gym. When he is fussy and I don't know why I lay him in here and let him stretch out. He usually lasts about five minutes and then is ready to move on. I can't believe how big he is getting. He is starting to stay awake more. On one hand it is fun to see him start to learn and check things out...on the other hand it is hard because he needs more attention.

So there you have it. Hopefully it won't take me so long to update again.

One Month Old

Happy one month little buddy!!


You have grown so much in this first month of your life! You are so sweet and snuggly! Always wanting to be held...especially when Mommy has things she HAS to get done. You are sleeping well and still through most of the day. Your awake time is during the morning which is fun to see. And then you like to be awake to play with Daddy after your big sister has gone to bed. Your big sister adores you and is always asking where you are! She used to ask where Daddy was first thing in the morning but he has been replaced by you...Daddy is her second question now. We are so happy and blessed by your presence! We love you so much and can't imagine what life would be like with out you!