Before I was a Mom I made and ate hot meals. I had unstained clothing. I had quiet conversations on the phone.
Before I was a Mom, I slept as late as I wanted And never worried about how late I got into bed. I brushed my hair and my teeth everyday.
Before I was a Mom I cleaned my house each day. I never tripped over toys or forgot words of lullabies.
Before I was a Mom I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous. I never thought about immunizations
Before I was a Mom I had never been puked on Pooped on Spit on Chewed on Peed on Or pinched by tiny fingers
Before I was a Mom I had complete control of: My thoughts My body And my mind. I slept all night.
Before I was a Mom I never held down a screaming child so that doctors could do tests Or give shots. I never looked into teary eyes and cried. I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin. I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.
Before I was a Mom I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put it down. I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt. I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much. I never knew that I could love someone so much. I never knew I would love being a Mom.
Tonight Scott, Reese, Tom, Linda, Shaun, Matt and I had dinner at Max and Erma's tonight. It was such a wonderful little dinner with Reese being a complete ham and enjoyed her mac n' cheese, and eating off of everyone's plates, or trying to. She really enjoyed her OWN cake complete with a candle and a stuffed animal given to her by one of the waiters/waitresses at the resturaunt that won it in the machine earlier that evening. It was just such a wonderful little time and I teared up only a little when we sang Happy Birthday, but completely lost it driving home because I looked at the time and it was the exact moment that Reese was brought into my hospital room with Scott beside me and it just hit me that "we were a family." Gosh, how 1 year went by in a blink of an eye.... and to think we'll be doing it over and over for Reese's and Reese's children.... and if we are lucky, their children.
I've added all the photos taken at Reese's party that Scott and/or I took under the left nav (Monkey Mayhem). There are other photos under Reese's 52 week/ 12 month section.
HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY REESE!
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
(1 Year Old!)
It's so hard to think back "pre-Reese" it's like she's always been there. I know that sounds cheesy or a cliche, but it's the truth. My life has forever changed for the better, and though I've been pooped/peed/thrown up on, changed thousands of diapers and lost a good 2 weeks of sleep in the past year........ it's 100% been worth it and I'd happily go through all of it again.
I hope that she will continue to grow and develop into a wonderful little girl that she is already becoming............................... though she hasn't hit the "terrible twos" yet.
Happy Birthday my little monkey, you'll ALWAYS be mom's little 8 lb 4.6 oz baby.... with the massive cone head and looking like "a little old man" as your father liked to describe you.
Happy Birthday To You... Happy Birthday To You... Happy Birthday Dear Reeeeessseee... Happy Birthday To You!
I was a very "nice" mommy and had to schedule Reese's 12 month check up today. She got her MMR in her right arm and Chicken Pox in her left. She was sitting on my lap and I had to hold her arm across her chest.... I felt horrible, but after 1 minute and a bit of hyperventilating and a sticker later she was all smiles.
I'm happy to report "She's going to be one tall kid... she's almost off my charts on height." That's what we like to hear, and "higher learning" for college never hurts either!
Reese is currently 31" inches long, 22 lb 13 oz and her big ole noggin' is still 19 inches, which is perfectly proportional with her body. Reese is "happy and healthy." We got the go ahead on smooth peanut butter and eggs. I also inquired about how much whole milk she should be getting a day, he said two 4 - 5 oz of milk throughout the day, or eqivulent with dairy intake.... WE are SUPER ok with that because Reese drinks 9 oz of milk before each nap and before bed. Along with devouring string cheese and yobaby yogurt throughout the day.
Dr. Keith also wants Reese and I to get flu shots since we both are in the "high risk" category. Before leaving, I scheduled them in the first part of November.
I also did what we've been waiting for for a year! SHE'S NOW FLIPPED!
2 days / 1 year
Reese passed out about an hour ago, and I'm heading to get some sleep myself, a rather frightful night..... will explain later. We are all ok and Reese slept through all of it.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY BEAUTIFUL LIL' REESINATOR!
1 Year Old Monkey Mayhem
Sunday, October 02, 2005
(11 months 4 weeks)
Special Thank you to Ryan Noggle for the WONDERFUL artwork.
And I made the inside
Happy First Birthday Reese
(Tuesday, officially, but we still had fun!)
We all partied hearty at the NAT Saturday. It was such a whirlwind time from picking up food and balloons to actually DECORATING and I can't thank everyone that pitched in to help us out enough! THANK YOU! Reese was truly spoiled, and we now DEFINITELY have to buy a bigger house to store all her birthday party gifts, "official birthday" gifts coming and Christmas less than 2 months away!
Reese did REALLY REALLY well with all the people around, including eating a TON of stuff, mostly her smash cake. It was so wonderful to see some friends that I hadn't been able to catch up with since having babies, having more babies or just life getting in the way in general. It's so amazing to see all the kids interacting with each other, and of course all the "isn't that cute!" or what a "great idea for a Christmas gift!" that came from the crowd of on lookers.
Below or just a few of the photos that I'm sure will be pouring in... but wanted to share a few that Scott took today.... when we all got on him to get back to "paying attention."
THANK YOU EVERYONE THAT ATTENDED or VICARIOUSLY ATTENDED!
Cake Table (Grab bags, Monkey Cake, Monkey Smash Cake and cup cakes)
Monkey Cake / Matching Smash Cake.
(Thank you Lisa Stemple for the WONDERFUL cake! Everyone complimented on how unique and great it was, truly one to remember!)
The GIFTS! Thank you EVERYONE for spoiling Reese so. She is truly one BLESSED little girl, as well will be VERY well dressed!
Opening Gifts. Reese was flailing around the Happy Birthday Beanie Baby while I was trying to show off the pink Ohio State complete outfit!
(I'm still very impressed that Todd and Melissa were able to find one in PINK!)
Reese played more with the toys I brought in for all the kids more than with her NEW stuff! HAHA
The most hilarious gift..... My Godmother found Reese a Crystal Monkey! LMAO!
I need to give a SPECIAL thank you to Angie Potter for helping to organize all the gifts after they were opened! It was definitely a HUGE HUGE help. Reese was on my lap, but please see previous photo to see why she didn't stay!
Getting ready to set up for the smashing! Reese was stripped down to her diaper wearing just a bib..... you'll see why in a minute...
Enthused? This is 1/2 of the "Evil Reese Face"
Reese ate the ENTIRE SMASH CAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
POST PARTY
All the toys, but Reese managed to find my brother's (Uncle Lyle) wallet! And she was SO proud of herself!
Reese, is that a monkey on your back? Yes, Reese will be a leashed child, and as the box said "Makes harnessing more friendly" One of the gals in my weekly playgroup said she had one person in a store say a nasty comment of "you're child isn't a dog" in passing..... hope to avert these comments.
Reese loved playing with the left over balloons that I didn't cut loose and give to everyone.... I should have taken photos of the entire set up, sure that SOMEONE did!
I can't get over how big that stinking monkey is... and I am speaking of the balloon!
Testing our her new Monkey chair we got her for her birthday and playing with a halloween bear she got from Great-Godmother Rebecca.
Playing with her Gobble and Go Hippo from John! She loves it! Thank you!
She's now symmetrical!
Thursday, September 29, 2005
(11 months 3 weeks 4 days)
Reese's 4th bottom tooth FINALLY started to pop through yesterday. So she now has 4 top and 4 bottom. I feel HORRIBLE that all 4 of her molars are about to errupt as well. I feel really bad when I look over and she's chewing on her finger.... or mine!
The same wonderful online community that pulled together for Eric and Maleah during Ethan's passing once again stepped up to the plate for AllyRae and her family during Ryland's passing during birth due to an undetected heart defect. Not only did we pool enough money to pay for his memorial plate we also are putting together 8x8 squares that will be mailed to a centeral person that will then put them all together into a wonderful memorial quilt.
For those of you that know me know I don't sew. A missing button, hole, etc. I can take care of no problemo, but something this wonderful... the pressure was on. I wanted to make darn sure that I did something for this wonderful family because Ally lives about an hour from Maleah and helped out SO much with fund raising for Ethan's medical bills.
Here's my attempt. It's my 3D artwork.... cut out by hand, placed some floral wire between the two identical pieces of cloth..... used Wonder Under to iron them together.... glued down the bodies with Tacky Glue, drew on the antennas with a fabric pen and placed my name/city/state under the big butterfly wing
Say it ain't so.......
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
(11 months 3 weeks 2 days)
I can't believe that exactly 1 week from today it will have been 1 year since I gave birth to our beautiful baby daughter. My how this year has gone by in a flash...........
We are down to the end of things to gone done before Reese's party on Saturday. I can't wait! I know that Reese will have fun, but she'll not know what's going on 100% except the fact that she gets to run around like a monkey and get jacked up on cake and icecream.
Update on the weekend to come later, not much to tell, just a whole lotta stuff that really didn't amount to too much, but Reese did enjoy her funnel cake!
WOO HOO!
Saturday, September 24, 2005
(11 months 2 weeks 6 days)
Scott came home on Thursday and Reese was happy to see him. We hung out and had dinner together at his favorite Chinese place. Reese LOVED stabbing the bread with her straw, she had already pretty much filled up on milk, water and cookies while waiting for Scott, but it's ok she had healthier stuff during the day. The child is definitely NOT starving.
Friday I went to work and finished up some odds and ends while the boss was away. Scott was able to finish up his work early and came home and did all the cleaning that involved chemicals!!! Never seen the toilet and tub sparkle like that before! He did a wonderful job and such a nice thing for him to have done while I was at work.
Yesterday we also went by and put in orders for additional cup cakes just in case the cake wasn't enough..... and we figured out where to get our sandwiches from the cheapest and now just have to figure out what the additional side dish to go with the potato salad will be. We also managed to pick up the CUTEST swishy monkey chair at BJ's. I couldn't believe it! So Reese is taken care of from us on birthday for SURE. I also picked up the gift for the honey baby birthday gift exchange and hope to have it out in the mail next week ..... I couldn't believe that I Found it so inexpensive! I wanted to get this same thing for Reese, it's on her wishlist registry.... so ya know what they say, always buy gifts that you'd want and the person is sure to like it!
I had a 20% off my entire purchase at Card Factory Outlet which was FANTASTIC because I could even use it on helium that I needed for them to blow up 25 balloons that I got from Oriental Card Factory with the big mylar monkey. They also had all their party supplies, plates, napkins, etc buy 1 pack get 1 FREE! Couldn't believe it even if I tried! The manager was awesome and took a look at the monkey balloon and said "Those are too darn cute, we have those during the summer, but they get sold out immediately!" I said "tell me about it! Why do you think I went online! He said "You got a deal!"
Checking out was a bit hairy because we figured out that for 5 round tables that we'd need 4 balloons on each table, 2 of each, then it was how long the strings needed to be, then how much it would cost to fill up each balloon, then when I'd pick them up, making SURE they wouldn't loose them because RSVP lost our order during the Shower, but then again, this wasn't that store..... Reese leaked her diaper because MIL bought Luvs for Reese when with her and they absorb differently than the diapers we use, so she really full when it didn't feel like it obviously! During all this commotion I paid, though the chick didn't put in the charge for the helium so that was a different transaction, she forgot to give me the 20% off of that..... and when I go thome I had a message on my phone that said "Sue, you forgot all your party supplies here." I LEFT THE ENTIRE BAG OF EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Scott was a gem and went and picked em up. HE said that everyone laughed and he blamed it on me being pregnant.... though I thought he had taken out the stuff with Reese, should have asked, will know next time!
Reese walked around EVERY store and place we went in and by the time we finish dinner she passed out like a light by 7:00 and didn't wake up until 7:30 this morning!
Scott and I watched a really funny movie last night, The Longest Yard with Adam Sandler as the convict. I wasn't sure if I was going to like it, but it had some REALLY funny parts!
Today Scott is playing golf with his dad and his dad's company's owners.... BIG BIG BIG wigs (FIL works for a world wide company). Scott is excited and his dad is excited that he's been asked to play this year. Though he won't get home until later this afternoon no big deal.... Scott works hard and deserves his golfing once a week.
Reese's 11 Month Pro Photos!
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
(11 months 2 weeks 2 days)
Sunday Reese and I went in for her monthly pro photo.....
Here are the "others".... Reese was out of sorts, probably because she hadn't had a long morning nap and was famished. Oh well, at least we got 1 good one! hehe
I also picked up the gift for the honey baby birthday gift exchange and hope to have it out in the mail next week ..... I couldn't believe that I Found it so inexpensive! 
Couldn't believe it even if I tried! The manager was awesome and took a look at the monkey balloon and said "Those are too darn cute, we have those during the summer, but they get sold out immediately!" I said "tell me about it! Why do you think I went online! He said "You got a deal!" 
During all this commotion I paid, though the chick didn't put in the charge for the helium so that was a different transaction, she forgot to give me the 20% off of that..... and when I go thome I had a message on my phone that said "Sue, you forgot all your party supplies here." 
I LEFT THE ENTIRE BAG OF EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Scott was a gem and went and picked em up. HE said that everyone laughed and he blamed it on me being pregnant.... though I thought he had taken out the stuff with Reese, should have asked, will know next time! 
Oh well, at least we got 1 good one! hehe
