18 MONTHS!!

Reese is 18 months old today!! How is that possible? I took her to the doctor this morning for her check-up. She weighs 26.6 lbs and is 32 1/4" tall. That is 79% and 76% respectively. She did so well at the doctor. They said she was right on track with everything and we are so happy to hear that. She got one shot and had her blood tested for any iron defiencies. She didn't cry when they pricked her finger but she was not happy when she got the shot!! After both of these they put band-aids on her finger and leg. She was so excited about the band-aid on her finger and couldn't wait to show Daddy. When we got in the car she took the band-aid off so I took it away because EVERYTHING goes in her mouth. She cried "da-da" all the way home. I think she was afraid she was not going to be able to show him her finger. So when we got home I put the band-aid back on and she ran in to show him with the biggest smile on her face. She was so proud of that band-aid.

Yeah...we have made it 18 months!!

Two Words

Reese has started combining two words. It is fun to hear her and know that she understands a lot more. A lot of times she puts the word "yes?" after other words. For instance, when she wants to watch Elmo she will say, "Elmo, yes?", as if she is asking us if she can watch Elmo. She also likes to say "Yeah Daddy". I am not sure why she adds Daddy to the end of yeah but she does. Her new word that she loves to say is "Amen"...but it is more like "AAAAAAA-men". So cute!! I just know that by the time she is two she will be talking in sentences. It is amazing to see her learn all of these new things!!

Two Firsts

So far today has been a good day. This week Reese has been kind of grumpy. Each morning she wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, immediately wants to watch Elmo, when I say no she pitches a fit, and we start all over the next day. Last night I prayed that she would wake up smiling this morning because I didn't think I could take another day of her being grumpy. So far so good.

This morning Reese had her first gymnastics class. It was so much fun and I think she is really going to like it. She, of course, didn't want to leave and kept saying play as I was trying to get her ready to leave. There was a little girl there today who was just a week or so younger than Reese and it was also her first time. Her mom was kind enough to take some pictures of Reese and send them to me. They are too cute.

Reese is on a trampoline lane. They jumped up and down the lane.


Here we are on a trampoline that was really bouncy. I think she liked this the best.

Reese in the pit. She liked being dropped in to the pit and then also liked stacking the blocks on the edge so we could knock them down. That is the teacher in red.

Walking on the beam. She did surprisingly well on the beam...even the normal sized ones.

She was always checking out what the other kids were doing.

At the end of class they all got stamps on both hands and feet. She thought that was really cool.


After gymnastics I went to Target to buy Reese a booster seat. The highchair has been driving me crazy so I decided it was time to move on. Doesn't she look like such a big girl sitting at the table??

What is my deal??

Several times this week I have woken up when Lance's alarm goes off (around 5) and have not been able to go back to sleep. This morning was one of those days too. It stinks!! And now here it is 11:45 pm and I am wide awake. What is my deal? I have no idea. So since I can not go to sleep I will amuse you with pictures and stories while I am not amused AT ALL.

Yesterday morning we got up and went to run a few errands. We went to the mall planning on going in to Belk and right back out. However after we made our purchase we looked outside and it was pouring down rain. So we walked around a bit...which can always get us in trouble. We (or I) always find a way to buy Reese more clothes. So I did. At my favorite new store, Crazy 8. I have a hard time in there because I want to buy it all and it is great prices. Then last night we went to my friend Nicole's house (whose little guy is Mitchell) for a Christmas party. The kids were so cute together. We haven't really seen them interact too much together before but last night they were too cute.

This morning we had full intentions of getting up and going to breakfast before church. But as usual we were running behind. We left the house with enough time to get something quick to eat but probably would not be able to enjoy it. But half way there I realized I forgot Reese's teachers gifts. So we turned around to get the gifts and decide to just grab some donuts at Dunkin' Donuts. That is never a good idea. Finally we make it to church and heard the most amazing music EVER. I am not a stand up and praise kind of girl but the female singer sang "Ole Holy Night" and it was tempting to get emotional. I seriously have never heard it sung that beautifully before and I am pretty sure Celine Dion sings it on the radio. After church we went to my parents house to visit with my grandmother who is in town from Florida. Reese was wild and crazy while we were there. Once we got home and put Reese to bed, I headed out to shop...some more. Nicole had given me an invite only invitation to Gymboree. They opened up their back room and let you ransack it. It was all last season clothes (and maybe even two seasons ago). But everything was discounted and then you got an additional 25% off that. And then Nicole had a 20% off coupon so I got that on top!! I spent $23 and the most expensive thing I bought was $5. I also bought the bubbles from there...if you have babies who love bubbles, Gymboree is the place to buy them.

Reese ready to take her lunch to work...


Reese is cutting four more teeth so her hands are constantly in her mouth. I think they have finally all broken the gum. Once they are bigger she will officially have 16 teeth!! That is crazy!!


We seriously love playing with the new camera...it is so much fun. When we pull it out Reese immediately says, "Baby", and points to the camera so she can see herself. So most of her pictures are up close.

Reese Updates

I haven't done many updates lately on things Reese is doing so I figured I would do some now.

• She has eight front teeth and four 1-year molars.
• She LOVES Elmo and Abby on the TV and on the computer. She will grab Lance's hand when he gets home and say, "walk" and lead him to the computer where she will say, "watch".
• She loves to color with pens and crayons. She also has bath tub crayons that she loves to color with. This has gotten us in trouble with knowing where it is ok to use her pens and crayons. She decorated the wall and kitchen floor for us with a pen.
• She throws major tempertantrums when she doesn't get what she wants or has to do something she doesn't want to do.
• She will eat pretty much anything.
• When we say "night-night" to her she says, "ni-ni" really high. And then when we say "I love you" she says "yu-you". It is so sweet to hear.
• She will push anything and everything. We really could take back any toys she has and put boxes around for her to push and she would be happy.
• She likes to take a bath but hates to have her hair washed. I have to do it while she is playing with her crayons and she is usually ok with that.
• She will test ANY limit that we put in front of her.
• She now only sleeps with one pacy and her kitty but she has added Elmo to the mix.
• She says "poop" when she has done that. And recently when ever she sees the Soma Intimates commercial where they show the lady in her underwear, Reese will say "poop". I have no idea why or where that came from.
• She loves to read books.
• She is dusting for me right now as I type this...haha. So funny!

I am sure there are more updates to add but I can't think of any right now...I will update as they come.

Talking, Talking

Reese has started saying tons of new words since her birthday. Here is a list so that I can remember where we were at this time in her life.

Da-da
Ma-ma (sometimes)
Baw (ball)
Kick
Pop (for when ever anything pops up out of the toaster)
Beep
Honk
Bek-Bek (Aunt Becky)
Gigi
Dow (down...this is new and it is used for up or down)
No-No (for yes or no)
Book
Mick (milk)
Uice (Juice)
Out (for outside)
Eese (Reese)
Mail (which sounds similar to meow)
Per (diaper...sometimes...if she is not saying no-no to her diaper being changed)
Animal Sounds:
Meow
Woof
Neigh
Moo
Snorts like a pig
When she "reads" a book she usually looks for the cats and says "Meow, meow" the whole time.

I know I am missing some other words. But this list will do for now.

1 year pictures

We had Reese's first birthday pictures made yesterday at Portrait Innovations. There were a ton (a ton) of cute pictures. We spent way too much money but got some great shots. Our house is going to be a shrine to Reese. We had her picture made in two outfits. Next time we will only do one outfit because that made the decisions so much harder. We also went in with out a plan. Next time I will take a list of who all will get pictures so I know how many pictures to buy.

To our Moms, Dads, and Sisters,
Go ahead and clear off an entire wall for the number of pictures you will be getting!

I am not going to share the pictures until after Reese's birthday...so be waiting on Monday!!

Ok...maybe I will share just one...here is one we did not buy! (We got the CD of all of the pictures because of the number of pictures we bought...I told you we bought a lot!)

And we're off...

Today started off like any other day. We played, we ate, we ran some errands, I tried to get Reese to say ma-ma, and I tried to get her to walk. Well, she did it...the walking part. We were sitting on the floor and I stood Reese up, she threw her hands in the air and I backed away. I put my arms out and said, "Walk to ma-ma." And she did!! She walked five steps to me!! I was totally caught off guard and so excited. She walked to me like she has been walking for weeks. Maybe she has...just behind my back. I captured a few steps on camera. I am so proud of Reese. Later in the evening she even stood herself up and walked. How did she get to be such a big girl...all in one day??!!

I bought Reese some fridge magnets today at Wal-Mart. I put them up for her to play with. She immediately knocked them all on the floor and a few under the fridge. One of the magnets fell out of a number, she put it in her mouth, now the magnets are all put away in a drawer for when she is a little older...lesson learned.




Later Reese was playing with ALL of the toys in her toy basket. She apparently sat on something with Velcro which then attached to a toy cow...they all stuck to her diaper so it looked like Reese was "having a cow".

More

Reese has learned how to say more in sign language. She doesn't really know how to use it yet. And she shows you how she can play shy as well...which she is not.

She is in her bed screaming again tonight. I don't know what the deal is...maybe she is not tired. It is stressful...

Standing Strong

Reese's new trick is that when she is standing up and holding on to something she will throw her hands in the air like a champion and stand for a few seconds not holding on to anything. It is so funny. It happens so fast that I have not gotten a picture of her yet...hopefully I can snap one soon.

My view

*Sigh*

Letting Reese cry it out hurts. When she is screaming it makes me want to cry! We know this is the best thing for the future but it hurts right now. The last two nights she has fallen asleep in 25 and then 20 minutes. Whoever said this was going to only take a few nights was WRONG! This is going to take weeks I think! Today I did let her cry it out for her morning nap and it only took a minute, literally, for her to fall asleep. That was great!

Learning, Learning, Learning. It is amazing at how much Reese is learning. She can say Ma-Ma occasionally...I think when she wants something. She can stand up just by leaning her hands on something instead of pulling herself up. She finally pulled up on the coffee table last night. It is higher than most of the other things she pulls up on so it took a while to get it. I have been giving her some YoBaby yogurt this week and she seems to like it. It took a little bit of time to get there because the taste is so different from any of her other foods. After she eats she likes to have the spoon so that she can put it in her mouth. She has also learned a bad habit of pitching a fit when she doesn't get what she wants. She hands me books that she wants to read. When I ask her where her duck book is, she can find it. Having two paci's is better than having one. She likes to have one in her mouth and one in her hand. Sometimes she will switch them back and forth. She is much more clingy right now than she has been. She has learned that if she holds on tight to my arm I can't put her down. I definitely think these past few months have been my favorite of her life so far. I can't believe she is going to be ten months old next week.

After eating some yogurt


Putting the spoon in her mouth...and relaxing


She likes to help do dishes


Checking out the world


My View

Teeth

A Tale of Two Stories

Date: Tuesday, May 6th

Time: 7 PM

Story: Lance was running late Tuesday night. I was letting Reese navigate the downstairs like normal. She usually goes in to her playroom and plays. She will come to check on me occasionally or I will go to check on her if she is quiet. All of a sudden I hear a loud smack on the hardwood. I run in to the foyer to see Reese pushing her self up off of her face and starts to scream. What in the world did she do I wonder to myself. She doesn't have that far to fall so she shouldn't be screaming like this. She will occasionally push herself up to standing at the bottom of the stairs but that is still not a far fall...nothing she hasn't done before. While she is still screaming Lance walks in the door. She stops for a second and then reaches for him. He takes her and she screams some more. She apparently wasn't getting enough sympathy from me. She eventually calms down and we start her bedtime routine. She goes to bed as normal and then around 11:30 wakes up...and doesn't go back to sleep until 3:00 AM!!

Date: Wednesday, May 7th

Time: sometime in the morning

Story: With a bruised cheek, Reese is playing in the playroom while I am busy packing up some dishes. Today I am keeping a more watchful eye on her. She crawls towards the stairs...I still have my eye on her. She rounds the corner and I let her go. No need to follow her like a hawk. So I think. I give her a few seconds then quietly proceed...with camera in hand. She has learned to climb the stairs!! How in the world?? I carefully take her picture and then quickly remove her from danger. We go upstairs, put on some clothes, and then go out to buy gates for the stairs.

Date: Thursday, May 8th

Time: any time

Story: Reese hasn't really noticed the gate yet...we will see how she likes being kept out!!

Peek-A-Boo

Reese has learned how to play Peek-A-Boo. However, she usually misses her eyes. It is too cute though...check it out.

Nine Month Check-up

Today was Reese's nine month check-up and two shot day. Today she weighed 20 lbs, 6 oz (70-something percentile), is 28 1/4 inches long (70-something percentile), and her head is 18 inches around (91 percentile). She has definitely slowed down her growing and I think her weight has slowed because she is moving around so much now. They pricked her finger first and tested her iron and did a lead test. She was not happy about them pricking her finger. After the prick, they gave her two shots. Even more unhappy now. The nurse left the room and then came back in and Reese started crying again. She didn't want that mean old nurse near her. Poor baby has had a rough day after such a busy weekend!

On Friday night Lance's cousin Claire came to visit with us. She was coming in town for a bachelorette party so she spent time with us as well. Saturday my mom and I had a wedding shower for my best friend from high school, Adrienne. It was fun and went off pretty well. Lance and my dad took Reese to her first Georgia Tech football game...it was a practice game. Then we spent the evening with my parents. Sunday we went to church as normal and then Lance's parents and nephew, Dalton, came over to visit with us and Claire. It was a family filled weekend!

Reese with Daddy at GT

Claire and Reese

We put Reese down in the grass and she acted like such a girl...she didn't want to put her hands or feet down in the grass.


Then she got adventerous


Looking cute!!

More Teeth

Reese has finally cut her top teeth. The right one is definitely through the gums and the left one could be...I can't tell yet. Hopefully we can get back to our normal sleep routine now. Cutting teeth is a lot of work and keeps Reese up during the night!! I will try to get some pictures of them to share as soon as I can snap one!!

Uncontainable

As Lance reported yesterday, Reese is now crawling. She is officially uncontainable. I can no longer put her in one place and know that she will stay there...I can no longer sit her on my bed and know that she will not fall off...I can no longer lay her on the changing table with out her rolling around trying to move...I can no longer leave the outlets unplugged...I can no longer leave things out in her reach...Wow...Our world just totally changed...but it is amazing!! Below is a video of her crawling...and of course going right towards something she should not be playing with. Lance said she has been eyeing all of these things to get in to for the last eight months so she is making up for lost time. Don't ask me what is going on with her hair...it is uncontrollable. It curls on top and will not lay down at all. It looks best with a bow in it but now she has learned that the bow is there and pulls it out and puts it in her mouth!

Crawling update

Reese can crawl a few "steps". She has moved her arms and legs in order to move herself forward. I am not sure she realizes she can do this yet but she does it occasionally...especially when she really wants something...that she shouldn't have. Any day now she will be moving all over the place. Babies R Us here I come for a gate!! I will try to capture her crawling on video and post it. Most of the time it happens when I am not expecting it...and she doesn't crawl on demand.

Trying So Hard

Reese is trying so hard to crawl. She is doing a great job of getting up on her knees and rocking forward. She has even figured out that she has to actually move her hands forward but she hasn't figured out that she needs to move her knees as well. She usually just ends up doing a belly flop on the floor. She even decided that she needed to practice this morning at 4:00. I heard her wake up and hoped she would just get herself back to sleep. But 20 minutes later she is calling out to us. I go in to her room and she has backed herself in to the corner of her crib up on all fours and slapping her hand on the bed. Once I got her out of bed she needed to put in some more thinking about crawling before going back to sleep. She stayed awake until just at 5:00. She will get it soon!!

Recap

I don't know how a week goes by without a new post. This past week wasn't too busy or crazy. Thursday we got to go to the park again because it was beautiful. We are going to try to get out there again today! Friday we went to the gym because it was rainy and cold. Reese didn't cry at all while we were there!! Woohoo!! Saturday we spent the day cleaning, watching movies, and running errands. Oh yeah...and we bought a Wii. Lance stayed up all night playing with that...I am sure he is thinking about it at work right now. Sunday we were finishing up cleaning the house because we had an Open House that afternoon and suddenly realized we had lost an hour! We began racing around the house to finish cleaning and getting ready for church. That is not the way to start the day. It seemed everyone at church felt rushed Sunday morning as well. Sunday afternoon we went out to my parents house and spent time on their Wii with my mom and Becca. This morning as I climbed out of bed my hip was hurting...and I remembered all of my Wii playing over the weekend. Isn't that crazy that you can be sore from playing video games??

Well, here are some pictures from this past week.

One of Reese's new favorite things to do is sit in front of her toy baskets and take everything out.

Here she is in the downstairs toy basket.

At the park...look at all of the green behind her. You don't see that much around here anymore. Her sunhat stayed on long enough for me to take this picture. She kept taking it off and throwing it on the ground.

You know it is a gorgeous day when Dobbins has it planes out flying around. It looks small here but this is one of those "Operation Dumbo Drop" planes.

We bought this jumping seat for her...we will see how she likes it!

Oh yeah...and she learned how to push herself up to a seated position this weekend.