Reese's Birthday

Yes, I know she turned 2 over a month and a half ago. Despite that fact, here are some details.

We had a mini-celebration toward the end of our Utah trip. My girl LOVES the song "Old McDonald," (you can often catch her screaming "E-I-E-I-O...sheep. E-I-E-I-O...cow. Etc, etc. at the top of her lungs) so I made her a barn cake complete with animal cupcakes. She was as excited about it as I had hoped she would be! She insisted on eating one of each kind, frosting only.

There were big plans for her actual birthday, (beach, pool) but the weather was not cooperative. She opened her gifts in the morning before taking a long afternoon nap. We now have a 53" teddy bear named Bruno in our house, totally Brady's idea. She loves it! We celebrated that night by walking to the ice cream shop and getting her birthday cake flavored ice cream. We sat next to a big mirror and she was totally amazed that the ice cream turned her tongue blue. (Yes, I realize these pictures are not in order. Blogger is making me really mad.) We also had a fun party with some of our friends.

At the end of August, we had some fun visitors! My good friend Erin and her little boy came to stay with us a for a few days on their way back to Puerto Rico. It was so fun to hang out with them and to meet her little guy! Unfortunately, Reese discovered she's not such a big fan of babies. Yeah, I know. Not good. We're working on it.

Reese at two:-24 pounds, 34 inches
-Talking non-stop! She cracks us up with the things she says. She also surprises us with the things she knows sometimes, too.
-LOVES to sing. One of her favorite books is the mini Children's Songbook. When she sees it, she'll bring it over to you and want you to sing EVERY song that has a picture. I have realized that I am seriously lacking in my knowledge of primary songs. Her favorite primary songs are: I am a Child of God, I Love to See the Temple, Nephi's Courage, and We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet. She can sing the words to 2 verses of I am a Child of God and most the words of Nephi's Courage and "The Prophet Song." It seriously melts my heart.
-Other favorite songs include: If You're Happy and You Know It, Old McDonald, Little Bunny Foo Foo, and Bingo.
-Knows all of her letters, most colors, and basic shapes.
-Loves to boss her toys around. Especially the farm animals and Big Bird and Elmo. It is really funny to listen to her have conversations with them.
-Definitely been experiencing some Terrible Two's with our girl. Most the time she is pretty good-natured and happy, but when she decides she is having a bad day, watch out. She is very stubborn and independent.
-Loves to eat: oatmeal/porridge, feta cheese, toast with jam, yogurt, bananas, waffles, fruit snacks, TJ's cheese crackers and Strawberry O's, rice and beans, and candy/ice cream/cookies (she's her mama's girl).
-Whenever I ask her what kind of baby she thinks I'm having, she responds with "a green one." Hmmm..
-Loves going to the beach. Ever since we went to Florida last spring whenever I put sunscreen on her, which is pretty frequently in the summer, she says "we go to beach!"
-Started preschool co-op with some of our friends. It's been fun so far, and she gets really excited to go to school. (I also enjoy having a couple days a week with some alone time. Heavenly.)

Peek-a-Boo

My goofball child.

A few days ago in the afternoon she entertained herself by making a new friend, her shadow. I was surprised how long she did it. Of course by the time I got the video camera out, she was finishing up.

Man, I love this girl and all the crazy things she does to make me smile.

Reese Turns One!

Yes, the blogging has taken a back seat to chasing my child around. Oh, well. Here's a catch up.

Reese's birthday was August 20th.  I made some cupcakes and we invited a few friends over to go swimming.  It was a fun day, but a little cold for the swim. We waited until Brady got home for Reese to dive into her cupcake. She liked it and ate the whole thing. She pretty much ate the frosting off the top, then broke it into two halves, shoving each half into her mouth. That's kind of her eating style. Here are the pictures...

On a side note, at Reese's one-year check up she weighed 18 lbs 6 oz and was 29 inches long. She has jumped into the 10th percentile weight-wise and is holding steady in the 50th percentile for height.

More boring stuff about Reese:
-Has 4 teeth: 2 top, 2 bottom
-Has discovered toilets. Not so fun (or sanitary).
-Has fun laughing at herself when she walks backwards or spins in circles.
-Cannot resist eating sand and/or dirt.
-Loves looking at pictures of people she knows.
-Knows how to comb her hair (and mom's, too).
-Can find belly buttons
-Likes to hide in small  places like cupboards, closets, etc.

9 months

Reese had her 9-month (almost 10) check-up this week. It was quite the adventure! Her appointment was at 3:45 PM. The weather was fine for most the day, but they were predicting heavy rain to start between 3-4. Niiiice. Normally we take the train to her doctor's appointments, but I didn't really feel like walking to/from the train station in the rain and both of us getting soaked. So, I put Reese in the Baby Bjorn, packed an umbrella, and we hopped on the bus. I wasn't sure how she'd do, but she LOVED it. The bus got pretty crowded as we got to Grant & Millennium Park, but that meant there were even more people to look at and smile at! It wasn't as crowded on the way home, but Reese decided that our fellow passengers needed some serenading and did her happy scream for part of the way home. Oh, and it started pouring about 2 blocks before our stop. Good thing I brought that umbrella!

Here are her 9 1/2 month stats:

Weight: 15 lbs 8 oz (0-5 percentile)

Height: 28 inches (50 percentile)

Our doctor said she's small, but he's not concerned because she is growing steadily and meeting her milestones.

This is one of her current favorite "toys"

One of her 2 pairs of sunglasses. It's not obvious in this picture, but she won't wear them for more than 5 seconds. She'd rather squint into the sun.

We've been enjoying the warm weather (when it's not raining!) and going to the pool a lot. Reese loves the water. She is starting to get a little more cuddly and is learning how to give "loves" which Brady and I have been enjoying. Basically, she pushes her head into you, says "oooohhhh" and loves you. She has also started to love the pictures in her book and her stuffed animals. I can't believe how fast she is at crawling around and pulling herself up on things. Last week she started walking along the couch and sometimes she'll let go of what she's holding on to and stand by herself for a few seconds.

Six Months

We took Reese in for her 6 month check-up today. Here's the latest stats on our little lady:

13 lbs 2 oz (5-10th percentile)

26 1/2 inches (75th percentile)

This is definitely such a fun age. She is so much fun to interact with and is generally all smiles. Naps are still short and unpredictable, but we're working on it. To make up for the lack of sleep, we've started putting her to bed between 7 and 7:30 pm. For the struggle she puts up to stay awake during the day, nights are a breeze. Sleeping at night is definitely her thing...she lays right down and we generally don't hear her until 6-7 AM.

She has really started scooting around the last couple weeks. She has the feet part figured out, it's just the arms that she hasn't quite got the hang of yet. It's pretty funny to watch her push herself forward with her head on the ground. She has also figured how to push her self up onto her toes and hands into plank position. We're going to be doing yoga together before soon! The sitting is coming along as well. She'll go 10-20 seconds of sitting on her own before she gets distracted by something and leans forward to grab it.

We started solids a few weeks ago and she is digging it (mostly). Once we had the cereal thing down, we advanced to veggies. Sweet potatoes and carrots were a success. The first time we attempted peas, she literally gagged. Sad, but funny. We tried again the next night and she was much better. You can tell she doesn't love them, but she'll eat them.

I can't believe that half a year has already gone by! I feel like she is still so little, but looking at pictures and seeing newborns makes me realize that she is quite (relatively speaking) grown up! It's amazing all the learning and growing that goes on in the first several months. Even though we have our rough days, I feel very blessed to be able to spend my days with Reese.

our daugher, the contortionist

I think maybe she got some of her mom's "flexy" genes....

{she'll do this arch-the-back move and push with her feet and turn herself around in circles, it's crazy}

8 weeks

we took reese to the doctor last thursday for her 2-month appointment. she got her first round of immunizations and had to get a little silver nitrate on her belly button. (she had an umbilical granuloma...part of the umbilical tissue that stayed around after her cord fell off.)

she weighed in at 9 lbs 8 oz, and was 22 inches long. she's in the 25th percentile for weight and 50th for length.

it's crazy that she's been here for 2 months. it's flown by, but at the same time, it feels like we've always had her.


she was quite upset after getting her shots, but fell asleep on the ride home. brady's family got into town thursday afternoon and she welcomed them with quite the screaming/crying show. after we gave her some tylenol and she got some sleep, she was back to her happy self and kept everyone entertained all weekend long.


here's what she is up to these days:
+ loves her hands, especially her thumb. she'll spend hours trying to get her little thumb in her mouth. it's hilarious. if she can't get her thumb, she's happy with any other finger, or she'll just put her whole fist in there.

+ has discovered her tongue. loves to stick her tongue out and make licking motions. the show gets even better if there is something around to lick. blankets, clothes, people, etc.

+ sleeping. she sleeps pretty well. we have a bedtime routine of getting a bath, putting on pjs, eating, then going to bed. she usually goes to bed around 10 PM and will sleep until 4/430 AM and then go right back to sleep until about 730 am. she's been sleeping in her crib since she was born and she has slept through the night 3 times, but nothing consistent. but, she has been slowly been sleeping longer and longer. also, she is great about taking naps. if i can tell she's getting sleepy, i can usually go lay her in her crib and she'll put herself to sleep.

+very alert and likes to interact with people. she can pick out who is talking to her and will make eye contact and play with them.

+she lost some of her hair a couple weeks after she was born and had this weird, old man receding hairline. it's been growing back in the past week or so and you can see her cowlicks again.

+is starting to 'talk' and make all sorts of noises. if you start talking or singing to her, she'll usually start making noises right back at you. she especially likes if you mimic the types of noise she is making.

+happy, happy, happy. reese is so sweet and happy. we're lucky that she has such a happy personality and is so much fun.
she had fun hanging out with brady's family and i think she enjoyed all the attention.

One Month Stats

reese had her one-month check-up today. here are the numbers:

8 lbs 8 oz - 25 percentile

21 inches - 50 percentile

37 cm head - 25-50 percentile

we also found out she has a medium sized umbilical hernia (which i already knew/guessed thanks to google. who needs doctors?). the doctor assured us it is purely cosmetic and it will probably remedy itself within 18 months. if not, she'll have a funny belly button. also, if you're bored and search google images for 'umbilical hernia' you'll find some pretty frightening pictures. don't worry, hers doesn't look scary.

lastly, she had her HepB one-month booster. sad, sad baby. she screamed and held her breath, but calmed down pretty quickly.

here's a couple pre-doctor appt pics (p.s. brady got her dressed today! good job, eh?)

2 weeks!

can't believe she is 2 weeks old today! time has flown by, i have a hard time believeing it's been that long. she's a pretty happy little girl. here's some info about her:

-loves her hands! especially when she's trying to eat.
-makes the funniest faces. smiles, pouts, looks amazed, confused, mad - all in a couple of seconds.
-has been sleeping well at night. i've had to wake her up after about 4 1/2 hours to eat. we'll see how long that lasts, though.
-loves to look out our windows at all the city lights. she also loves to look at the stark white ceiling and grey couch....???
-good cuddler. has figured out how to work her way up your chest and nuzzle up in your neck. this has inspired dad to shave daily.

we love our little munchkin!!

::reese dawn::

august 20, 2009

9:34 am

7 lbs - 19 3/4 in

here are a few pictures. we'll post more later. everyone is doing well and happy to be home!! she is perfect and we're so excited that she is here!