Today Reese and I went to the pool at around 9 and swam until 10! She swam, jumped and got dunked for an HOUR! She loved it too cuz we were in the 90 degree pool.... it's for PT and arthritis people, and of course... swim classes, but we aren't putting Reese back into those until 18 months because it's just going to go over the same thing we learned at 6 months.
SHE LOVED IT. Especially when all 20 of the old people kept whistling at her and calling her "hot stuff"... and one said "look at that belly! So cute on babies, but when they get older, not so cute on women!" I died laughing.
Reese was hamming it up once she figured out that they weren't going to "get her" ... which I need to do more often because she's not around elderly people as much, and well, they aren't exactly Santa Claus, but they do look different from the "younger generation" that she's exposed to... my MIL/FIL/BIL's etc.... she laughed and laughed when she would splash me in the face, and loved going up and down the stairs and falling into me. She's already starting to lose her fear of jumping into the pool.... AT 15 MONTHS!
The best thing was when everyone complimented me on how well she did in the water, I musta been asked about 10 times "she's not afraid of the water at all is she?" I happily said "Nope!" and also backed it up that we had her in swim classes at 6 months of age.... and the garden tub at home really going to miss that for a year.... Scott promised to put one back in our house for me!
The dunking was funny because she'd go down smiling and come up with the big open mouth smiling. One of the ladies said "Does she drink the water?" I said "if I didn't blow in her face yes, but you count to 3 to give her the que then quick blow in the face so she sucks in to hold her breath down she goes, and back up again!" She'd do a bunch of sputtering if she swallowed anything! The lady said "Nope, no sputtering, she just loves the water!"
But after we got outta the pool at around 10 and into the car by 10:30 we both were SO tired... the whole 2 mile drive back home Reese just about passed out! We both slept until 12:30.
I am going to take her there every Tuesday/Thursday mornings.... well, not this Thursday, have to go over to our house and wait for the dumb gas people to come and turn it back on!
But just had to share more of my daughter's goings on.... gosh I love her so much, and I made a promise to her today that we'd do that 2 times Monday - sunday once Riley is here... just "Reese and Mommy time." Think that'll make me feel better than it will her!
And while I was in the other room doing the Suzy Homemaker thing (stuffed pork loin [always check out your grocery meat section for awesome deals and recipes] with some olive oil, rose mary and basil drizzled, and to top it off..... scalloped potatoes, from the box, please, I'm not THAT devoted. ) I heard Reese grunting in the other room...... low and behold she had gotten stuck....
Yes, she managed to pull out the mower, her walker[not pictured] and her baby stroller while managing to find my shoes which she likes to put on and stomp in the kitchen where there is linoleum and it echos. And where are her pants? Who knows.... need to go see where she took em off! This picture just cracked me up to NO end....
I was cleaning Reese's nose and said "Reese, got any more boogies?!" She proceeds to stick her finger up her nose. After she took her finger out I said "Where do the boogies live?" Again, up her nose!
I also forgot to mention, she's been doing this for MONTHS now, but if you say "Reese, let's go downstairs...." She proceeds to get back from the stairs about 2 feet, belly down.... sticks her leg out to find the start of the first stair and slides down each one.... if she's "racing" Scott or I, and has a onesie on so her belly doesn't get red, she'll slide the WHOLE way down....
Reese is 95% feeding herself with a fork and spoon. She's got the fork part down pat, and tonight she demanded to hold her own spoon..... and kept going back to the sweet potatoes! :hehe: She had green beans with bits of turkey and a side of sweet potatoes. The only thing I had to help her with was keeping the spoon level or pulling it out of her mouth because you could see she was trying to keep the food in her mouth but also trying to figure out how to pull the spoon out without losing one morsel.
So I haven't given a mega "developments" update in a while, we've been "living the moments" as Dawn/David introduced me to the term.... so guess I'll start a big run down from today going back.... or as far back as a pregnancy brain will allow me to.
Wednesday and Thursday Reese has gone to one of the gals that's a friend of the family that watches kids. She has 3 kids of her own, all in Middle School / High School. Linda has been on Jury Duty, forgot to mail in that she was a "Child Care Provider for a Minor" WHOOPS! Oh well, next time! We really only have to take Reese by very few times during the winter, if ever, so it's been a while since Gina has seen Reese, or even myself for that matter.
Friday's are days that Gina takes the kids that are with her, usually only 2 or 3... sometimes just Reese, to the grocery store. Reese LOVES going to the grocery store. It's hysterical when Scott, Reese and I go up and down the produce aisles she signs "Eat" over and over and over again! Yes, we have a veg head..... anyway, back to my story.....
When I came by to pick up Reese, Gina and I were talking and Gina asks "Does she say a lot of words?" I said "Yes, she's starting to become more vocal." Gina said "Oh, ok, well then that makes sense, my mom and I were coming out of the grocery store and she handed her sippy cup back to her and we thought she said 'Thank you' but we weren't sure, so we thought we'd ask you. But it was one of those things where we both stopped, looked at each other like 'no way did she just say that!'" Needless to say... one of my moments.
Scott and I have worked with her on saying Thank You since about 10 months old when she would bring things to us, or she would take things from people when offered. "Reese, say Thank you." Around 10 1/2 - 11 months it started out being "Tttt" then it got to "Tah" and I guess now when I thought she had been saying it a few times the past week, she really WAS saying it, or got really good at saying it.... the best part, UNPROMPTED. Guess the next step is "You're welcome."
AND, if I have failed to mention, only because I usually just laugh with Scott because seeing her do it is hysterical... she's been signing "All Done" (but we don't shake our hands, we just hold them palms up) for the past 2 months. But she's gotten REALLY smart at knowing that if she signs "all done" that it usually is followed up with her being picked up outta her high chair and put down to go play.... so we've found ourselves having to say "No Reese, you aren't done eating. I know you want to play, but finish eating and then we'll go play." What does she do? Signs "eat" and scarfs down the rest of her food and down she goes to play!
I haven't created a separate page of words that Reese has been saying, or can identify.... so I'll list em here so I don't forget at some point.
Mah, Mom = Mom Dad, Dah, Daddy = Dad Hi = Hi Kih! *usually followed by a squeal* = Kitty Dah & pointing = Dog Buh & pointing = Bug Bah & pointing = Balloon Pah = Grandpa Bahn = Banana (ADDICTED TO THESE THINGS) Tah ew = Thank You
Nih Nih = Night Night (I'm sure there's more, but I can't recall them right now)
If asked she can point/identify/pick up toys and bring the following:
Christmas Tree
Santa
Cat
Dog
Sheep
Giraffe
Ball
She's FANTASTIC with finding puzzle pieces and bringing them back, i.e. Reese, find the cat, duck, bird, etc.
Books
Pretty much anything we ask, say, she points to. It's really bizarre in a cool way!
As of 6:02PM we signed our LAST piece of paper. On Thursday at 5:00PM we will take possession.
We are both royally pissed at our mortgage broker, hope to never see or do business with her again.
Too bad we don't feel better about the whole situtation, but all that matters is that it's over. We LOVE our Realtor (also my co-worker), Seller, Title Company and our new bank. Thank you to those that helped out with with everything!
NOW.... onto the move........... hurm, Reese, what color do you want your room again?
I love my daughter, but I wish she'd keep her cooties to HERSELF.
I spent 6+ hours yesterday in the hospital getting 3 bags of fluids BACK in me after retching from 3AM - 11:30AM. All I gotta say is Zofran is my FRIEND, and I still need to drink more fluids all night/tomorrow because I didn't get "as much" as they would like me to but after 6 hours they have to admit me and Barb didn't want to do that because I was feeling better.
I apparently contracted the Rotavirus from Reese because she was sick New Year's Day - Monday night.
I was pleased to see that they are working on a Rotavirus vaccine because I get this crap EVERY YEAR. I've been admitted to the hospital now 4 years in a row with the same crud.
This was a wee bit of a "wake-up call" because though I was on the L&D "not laboring" part of the ward I could hear this one lady laboring! I immediately thought, HOLY CRAP WE ARE DOING THIS AGAIN?! Barb came in to check on me and said "my patient down the hall has this virus while in labor." POOR LADY! I did have the nervous feeling of giving birth again sorta diminish when my nurse told me that they have hired 2 massuses!!! Every mom who gives birth gets a free massage!!!!
They hooked me up to the fetal monitor because I couldn't tell if I was having contractions (Braxton Hicks or the like) and it was freaking me out a bit, but no contractions, just intestinal cramping. PHEW! THANK GOODNESS!!! Riley's hb was anywhere from 147 - 157 and she's definitely a mover and a shaker because they had a hard time keeping the monitor in a spot to continuously hear her.... and everytime she kicked me the nurse would say "wow." So I guess I wasn't making up how much of a fighter she is.
The nursing staff remembered us from Reese's birth and we all joked that we hope to not see eachother again until the end of April.
Today we thought Reese was fine, heck, we even took awesome family photos.... but while driving to get some lunch she puked on herself in the car and thought that was it, then at lunch, she puked all over herself and somehow dodged my clothes, but got all over my hands. GROSS GROSS GROSS. Nothing but water and cheese it crackers.
We stopped by our local pharmacy again today to ask what he thought and he said "something is going around, the only thing we have is antinausea medication and we are out because so many kids are sick right now.... but wouldn't recommend it, it's not working." What makes me mad is that Reese HAD HER FLU SHOT! Some of the other moms in my various playgroups have said that their kids all have some weird thing (even across the country), even the pharmacy tech's 2 kids (4 and 3) have it and the meds didn't work. Oh well... just hoping none of us get it!
We were told that this thing lasts 2 - 3 days and Reese is feeling good tonight. We kept her on the B.R.A.T. Diet (Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast) all day and seems to have worked well.... she definitely HATES Pedialight and the other stuff by Gerber that supposedly has "better taste" trust me, tastes WORSE. She slammed down a diluted water bottle of pedialight this morning and followed up by a bottle of water... later had a few more sips of water, a box and a half of apple juice along with 2 bananas for dinner. She's urinating normally and had a small bowel movement today.... so at least we know that everything is working in the plumbing department.... Scott and I just feel so bad for her!!!
I hope that everyone had a wonderful New Year (if they didn't sleep through it)! Reese went down at 7, but we got her up at 11:45PM and she rang in the new year popping balloons with me laughing up a storm.
We got home around 1:00AM and at 4:30AM she threw up in her bed, hair, blankets, pillow, everything else....... she threw up 3 more times and dry heaved about 4 times (we got smart and hung her over the sink) and at around 7:30AM she was "fine" and back to her old self. No CLUE what got a hold of her, she didn't eat anything out of the ordinary or anything like that (not to be too gross, but it was all curdled milk and carrots from earlier in the evening)... and this is her first real "throw up" episode....and we shall now keep at least a spare bottle of Children's Tylenol on hand because unless the Pharmacist is on duty you can not buy Children's Tylenol, something to do with drug addicts using it to get high. GREAT. Thankfully the assistant on duty showed Scott another form of multi-symptom children's medication that we COULD buy over the counter... well, out on the shelves. GOOD GRIEF.....
Scott is "traumatized" only because he walked in on her and he didn't turn on the light but thought something "looked weird" and he stuck his hand down in it! I would have hurled, but I was too mad at him for not telling me what was going on with her crying and him saying "Sue get in here now! Get in here now!" Men...
Reese got this singing bear yesterday for Christmas from her great-grandma/grandpa that when you press his hand he sings the ABC, press his foot he counts his toes, has buttons, snaps, zippers, etc....... I was checking my email while Scott was playing with her and all of a sudden she blurted out ahh,beee,cahh,dahh..... in rhythm of the music!
There was a moment of silence as I came flying out of the computer room and Scott's jaw was dropped and he exclaimed excitedly "Sue! SHE STARTED SINGING THE ABC'S!!!"
This was my first "Exorcist Moment" with Reese thus far. Where oh where has my "baby" gone?
Ya know, I failed to mention 2 other updates that happened over the Christmas Holiday.
Saturday before last Rebecca and her friend came down from Cleveland to take Scott, Reese and I out to dinner and bring a few early Christmas gifts. It was so nice seeing her! They brought Reese several nice outfits! Rebecca gave me a beautiful St. Nicholas figurine and candle holders. She also gave us a full set of 6 place settings of Christmas dishes!!!! Scott really liked his leather photo albums so that I can “no longer be the photo Nazi” LOL Reese loved her Christmas bear, and enjoyed the Chinese even more! Thank you for everyone gals!!!
On Friday, the 23rd, I officially became an Ohio citizen! I took the Ohio State driving test. Yes, I know, should have done it about 2 years ago.... HOWEVER..... my LA license was good until April 15, 2006..... UNFORTUNATELY.... I'm going to be 9 months pregnant at the time and no thank you to looking at that chubby face for 4 years!
I took the 40 question test.... stood behind a 16 year old who failed the test by 1 question and I immediately thought "crap!" and the woman didn't tell me I passed until she sat behind the eye testing station! Talk about sweating bullets! I asked "Did I pass?" She apologized and said "Oh yes honey, you did just fine!"
Btw, do any of you know what violation you must commit to get a 6 points added to your Ohio license? yeah, me either! OR... if you are considered a high risk driver and didn't have insurance at your last accident the steps you have to take to verify with the state that you have high risk insurance? Yeah... again, me either! I was expecting "How many feet do you need to remain behind an emergency vehicle, etc." But nope, dumb questions like that! OH WELL..... I'm official now!
So yay me!
AND, and just incase anyone is still wondering how our Christmas was if you haven’t read the previous update…… just take a look at this photo:
That pretty much sums up everything. We had to make a separate trip to the IL's to pick up the majority of the items under the tree. It filled the VUE, and I made a separate trip the following day to pick up the rest of our Christmas city. I had to stand behind our TV to get everything in the photo. One word? WOW. Thanks Tom and Linda!
THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR EVERYTHING! And to think we still have our 3rd Christmas tomorrow when my mom and John stop by!
WOW! What a whirlwind week before Christmas, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! We all had a BLAST!
I am going to warn you… this is going to be LONG because well, it was a LONG great holiday! There will be roughly 160+ photos capturing pretty much every moment of our adventures in the coming day(s) in the photo section.... I'll letcha know when it's posted.
The week before Christmas Scott and I both took the week off. We didn’t go out of town overnight, but did fun things throughout the week, slashed in between with days of running countless errands and some last minute Christmas shopping.
Tuesday, Tom and Linda joined us heading down to Columbus to check out some steals and deals at the JCPenny’s Outlet and Polaris. We had a BLAST! Reese was an absolute ANGEL…. Sleepless angel, but an angel none the less. She only slept 30 minutes from 6:30AM to 8:30PM, didn’t fuss ONE time. She was so taken with all the hustle and bustle around her she didn’t want to sleep, though buy the end of the day she looked drugged! She had a blast at the JCPenny’s Furniture Store. I swear I personally have never seen so many couches under one roof, there had to have been over 3,000, and this is no joke. Reese loved squeezing between some that would allow her head to get through and using the theory of a rat, if her head fit, the rest of her body did! We almost got away with no tears until I accidentally closed her hand at the bottom of a dresser she kept grabbing Styrofoam out of, but only after a minute of tears, she was ok…. And running a muck again.
We all had some really good grub at Smokey Bones. Now Scott can proudly say that I’ve eaten there. He’s addicted to that place. Reese once again wowed the staff and they were all smitten with her little impish grin and that classic backwards hand closing wave. She’s such a little ham when she wants to be, but doesn’t hurt that she’s cute to boot!
At Polaris we looked in pretty much every store in the two story mall and found some really awesome deals on two unique Christmas card holders. Couldn’t pass up the 50% off of Christmas items at The Great Outdoors. By the end of the night we were all so pooped but we all agreed we had a BLAST!
Thursday Scott and I went to Olgebay Resort! It was Reese and my first time going to see the Christmas lights, and a really long time since Scott had gone to see the lights. We walked around the Glass and Christmas Shop scoring on some really awesome ornaments, and even finding one with Riley’s name on it! We picked up a blank ornament to put Reese’s name on it. After walking around doing the “touristy thing” we headed up to the Lodge for an AWESOME meal gazing over the beautiful landscape sprinkled with wandering deer and Canadian geese while witnessing one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve seen in a long while. We decided to eat at the buffet and it was so yummy! Reese ate more than Scott and I combined! We couldn’t believe it! I joked to our waitress to give our compliments to the chef for the chicken because Reese isn’t a huge meat eater but she devoured their glazed roasted chicken. I was addicted to their wedding soup and cheese cake.
We followed Tom’s advice of getting “in line” to see the lights at roughly 5:30. What a great 2 mile loop of light displays! Reese loved standing up front as we eased along at a whole 3 miles an hour looking at each one. She particularly loved the Peanuts rocking horse and was thrilled when we were able to pass it twice going from the lodge to the “entrance” of the display. Reese also liked being able to turn and off the fog lights… ahh, little buttons that light up on dashboards must have also been designed for the little ones in mind. After looking at all the displays we headed home, once again, pooped, but had a blast!
Christmas Eve Eve, Friday night, was our family’s annual Hibachi Japan dinner in celebration of Scott’s late Grandmother’s birthday. She started the tradition years ago, and they have kept it up since her passing. The group has grown substantially since its inception, therefore requiring a table and a 1/3, but the restaurant accommodated splendidly. My eyes are WAY bigger than my current stomach size (thank you Riley), but no worries…. The first time that Scott actually took me up on my offer to finish up half of my meal…. scallops and steak, but as good as it tasted, who wouldn’t! He partook in their sushi menu (Thank goodness it wasn’t a Tuesday, he would have been crushed). Scott was sweet and ordered one extra crab meat piece and a Hibachi Roll that consisted of nothing but either fried or cooked meat so I could have some. I love that man, and his compassion for my taste buds! We had a great time, especially when Scott noticed two little girls that in our minds looked a lot like Reese and Riley would at that age and seeing how they reacted and how cute they looked made us smile and comment “look how cute those little girls are.” Thank you to Tom and Linda for everything! And another special thank you to Holly for babysitting Reese last minute!!! You definitely will have repeat customers with us! And so glad that Reese was a gem with you and hope you don’t mind her 45 minute reading stretches too much! What can we say, she’s a book worm!
Christmas Eve, Saturday morning, we got up early and met up at 9:30AM at the Restaurant of Plates aka Cracker Barrel. This too is another family tradition that I always look forward to, and Linda always gets a kick out me making fun of how many plates that they pile up in front of one person. Reese was again such a little cutie and ate only a little because she is on a good schedule of eating between 7:30 – 8:30 in the morning, noon and around 5:00 at night… so she had a HUGE breakfast earlier that morning. Our waitress and the staff were FANTASTIC. Out of 16 people no ones order was messed up, not even one piece of toast misplaced. FANTASTIC service and food!
While at dinner everyone was discussing going to the annual Christmas Eve movie, but since Reese wouldn’t sit through a 2 hour movie if her life depended on it we had already discounted us being able to attend, however, while sitting at breakfast Kim offered the most wonderful gift ever! She said she’d watched Reese for us if we wanted to go to a movie!!!!!! I was blown away and Scott and I were so grateful because Scott and I just don’t attend the theater all that much, we are Blockbuster rentaholics, but it worked out perfectly! After breakfast Scott and I went to see Harry Potter while Reese played with Kim, the rest of the extended Aunt/Uncle/Cousin extended family. THANK YOU AGAIN!
After picking Reese up we headed back over to Scott’s parents for about 2 hours before the wonderful lasagna dinner that Linda made. I scarfed mine down like I hadn’t eaten in 3 days, don’t ask me why! After stuffing ourselves yet again we hung around a little bit before heading across the street to Sheila and Tom’s for their annual Christmas Eve party. I love seeing those two and holy moly! There used to be more adults than kids, but this year there was about 2 – 3 kids for every adult! I cracked up at Erica’s comment of “they are starting to out number us!” Reese had a blast playing with the kids, the dogs and just all the excitement even if it was already an hour and a half past her bedtime. It was a great Christmas Eve, but boy were all of us ready to head to bed for the arrival of Santa in the morning! No one more than Reese whom Scott had been trying to distract with something else because we didn’t want her to think that tearing open gifts was bad, but no way to rationalize with a 14 month old that she has to wait 2 days when she really doesn’t understand past when meal times and nap times are by how tired or hungry she is during the day. It’s been funny to watch her lightly touch the tree and/or presents.
MERRY CHRISTMAS! Sunday morning we got up at our normal time of 7:30. We took showers because it’s our routine and Reese’s hair was a little less desirable from what looks like a massive sandman fight during the night! hehe We came downstairs and her eyes were wide when she saw stuff in her stocking, and better yet when she was able to take stuff out of it! Reese loved the monkey blanket I made her, the Weebles tree house that Scott gave her, puzzles, Little People farm and the tons of other stuff she received. We started to open gifts right around 8:00 and opened the LAST gift / took the last photo at around 10:15. It was so fun to watch Reese open certain gifts, play with toys, mostly Oreo’s chew toys and pig ears…. But the best was at the end when the child went NUTS in the wrapping paper. It was like she was in a pool or bathtub…. It was HYSTERICAL. I only wish I still had a camera that did small clips… hopefully we’ll be able to transfer our video to computer here shortly and you can see for yourself. What wonderful memories for her 2nd Christmas, but her first “real” Christmas.
I know this is Reese’s site, but have to also talk about how great Santa was to us this year, and what a great Christmas Scott and I had. Santa left awesome stocking stuffers. I chuckled at Santa’s inhibition to walk into Motherhood and ask specifically for Lilypadz. Very good of you Santa, VERY good of you! I will REALLY appreciate these in about 4 months!!! The dark chocolate was a fantastic added touch, it was if you knew I had a major chocolate addiction this pregnancy! teehehe Scott was impressed with Santa’s selection in hair styling products, chap stick, 400 11.5 gram poker chip set, and wireless remote charger for his Xbox 360 charger. If I hadn’t talked about it before, Scott waited for 12 hours in line the day that the XBox 360 came out and was one of the lucky 400,000 people that purchased one (not off of eBay). That was his “big gift” and I gave him a few extras like a wireless remote and the “funniest thing ever” a faux wood panel customizable face plate…”a woody.” Yes, go ahead and laugh, I did. The best gift and TOTAL surprise that I was not only able to covertly work with his Dad to get, wrap in the basement and bring it up without Scott knowing ANYTHING was a brand new set of golf clubs that he’d been salivating over for a good year or more. “You got me Sue, you got me good. THANK YOU!”
Reese was a true sweetie by giving me a CUTE Christmas ornament earlier in the week so I could put it on our tree with all 3 of our names on it, and a special pregnancy ornament with a pregnant mommy and baby name book with Riley’s name on it so that Riley was part of this Christmas. SO SWEET. Thank you my wonderful daughter! Scott spoiled me with fantastic maternity PJ’s, sweaters/shirts, 2 given to me prior to Christmas to wear Christmas Eve Eve and Christmas Eve. AND my “big gift” was the best freaking gift EVER…. right up there with the golf clubs…. My digital 8mp Canon Rebel XT SLR, 1GB memory card, matching camera case, extra battery, charger, UV filter lens and blew me away when I opened up a 75mm – 300mm lens!!!!!!! I was truly SHOCKED. I swore that gift was a Precious Moments figurine, he got me, he got me good! This was a dual gift because I sold my other 5mp Sony Cybershot DSC-F717 to Kim and Ryan who are expecting their first bundle of joy July 4th! So it all worked out in the digital camera world! I suppose this was also a 3 way good deal because Scott is chomping at the bit for BestBuy’s MyRewardZone redemption gift cards to come in (one of his stocking stuffers) because I got double points for buying the camera and memory card at the same time! For every dollar you spend you get 10 points… for every 20,000 points you get a $40 gift card…. Needless to say, Scott’s already got a game or two picked out for his Xbox 360. Yes, I know, I’m a good wife. teehehe
Reese went down for her morning nap around 10:15…. I took her out of her Christmas onesie so she didn’t get too hot, my god she’s going to kill me even more after I tell this story, but this is oh so Reese……… I left her in her diaper, covered her up, gave her something to drink and left the room with her being hunky dory just about to fall asleep. Scott looked in the monitor about 15 minutes later after coming back from taking out some trash and asked “Sue, is Reese naked?” I said “What? No, I took her outfit off and left her diaper on.” I turned and looked into the video monitor and low and behold if she wasn’t standing there nekkid as the day she was born jumping up and down while pushing her head as far into the crib tent as she could while making noises because she thinks it’s funny. Which, it was HYSTERICAL! I asked Scott if she peed on anything and he said “Nope……. Wait, some may be down her leg…………… wait, that’s just drool……………….. wait, take that back, yup, she got it…… can you come help?!” We were all dying laughing, including Reese. After a quick change of sheets, disinfecting of her waterproof mattress, switching out of blankets she was out by 10:45….. only to wake at 11:15AM to be thrown into her Christmas outfit, flung into the car and flown over to the Grandparents for Christmas at their house!
We arrived at Tom and Linda’s in a whirlwind at around noonish (we were running late… our bad!), and I was blown away by the sheer amount of gifts that were piling up in front of me, much less in front of Scott and then behind Tom and Linda were Reese’s gifts!!! Next year, we need to get to their house at 9AM! HAHAH They spoil all of us so…. Seriously. I can’t thank them enough!!! I received WONDERFUL pre-pregnancy shirts/pants and FANTASTIC maternity shirts! I love them! There as a sweater in there I had been spying but they didn’t have my size at the time! Now I know why, LINDA GOT IT FOR ME!!! Shaun gave me a really awesome stylish hat! I have always looked into those, but never had the nerve to buy one, but I love it!! Thank you Shaun! I think that a little birdy told Matt that I had been looking at a Lenox Christmas train and I laughed when Shaun said “What’s that?” and before I could answer Scott said “One other Christmas thing I have to put up in my house!” I said “darn tootin!” Linda laughed…. She understands…. Don’t you Linda!!
Scott received several beautiful sweaters and a great golf pull over. Matt gave Scott his favorite Mojo golf balls and a trucker Titleist hat which Scott was very impressed that Matt was able to find! Shaun gave Scott a kick butt poker game watch to work on his Texas Holdem game. Reese got one of her most favorite gifts of Dusty the talking vacuum and TONS of CUTE CUTE CUTE clothing! Linda was funny and said “If it doesn’t fit Reese, you can always use it for Riley!” There’s a grandma always thinking! Matt gave Reese an Aquadoodle where the pen fills up with water, it writes ONLY on the mat and once the water dries it disappears to start all over again, never once writing on anything but the mat. Shaun made the comment that it was “really cool and she has to bring it over when she’s there.” Good toy choice Matt! *wink* Shaun gave Reese the cutest LSU cheerleader outfit! Scott said “just this once she can wear a Cheerleading outfit.” Tom also gave Reese her first unicorn, bigger than she is, and she loved it! Good choice Tom! Santa, Tom and Linda gave us wonderful joint gifts as well!!! Complete with a family Christmas ornament that not only included Riley, but also Oreo! They finished out our Christmas town filled with more “people!” Scott has complained the past 2 years that there aren’t enough people in the town…. No worries with that now, 2 boxes of people, not to mention that people come with each of the buildings as well. Linda said that this was it as far as the town goes because the company stopped making them, but we got 4 or 5 buildings and I know a School was in there so the people won’t be illiterate and there is a bicycle shop, ice skating rink for the kids and the town buildings we’ve received the past 2 years…. So it’s a nice sized city and conversation piece. Thank you so much for EVERYTHING! Linda made sure we took a photo with us in front of all of it in the living room…. simply AMAZING! And to think that my mom is coming up on Wednesday for us to celebrate with her….. I love the holidays! No way you can’t be in the Christmas spirit around this family!
At around 1:00 we headed over to Phyllis and Gary’s for Christmas dinner. Reese went down around 2 and woke at around 3 to sit around the table to not eat too terribly much until her Uncle Matt coaxed several spoonfuls of cranberry sauce. Reese LOVES her cranberries! Reese also chased around Jersey, Smeagles and Toshy. It was a great meal and ate wayyyyy more than I should have, but well worth it! Thank you Gary and Phyllis for Reese’s pink puppy, Elmo bath toy and books! They were all perfect! Thank you also for Riley’s giraffe and crinkle book! Everything was perfect! We all hung around until 5:30 when Reese was at about her breaking point of tiredness, but got her second wind when we got home.
Reese spied all her toys from this morning all over again and especially took interest again in her Weebles tree house. Scott was a great father and took everything out/put it together so she could play with it. After she was content he headed out to rent a movie and Reese found her drum set again and had me take out all the instruments so she could see them. She took a shining to the monkey maracas. When Scott got home she and he played with them in the mirror, Reese giggling like mad. It was a perfect ending to a perfect Holiday!
Scott has all next week off, and currently I’m going in Tuesday and Thursday with Friday being a maybe. My boss, Terry, is a gem and let me have Wednesday off to spend time with my mom and John that are driving up from Virginia then heading down to Dayton to ring in the New Year with her best friend and her husband (My Godmother and Godfather). Until then, tomorrow will be spent returning 1 set of PJ’s that the Motherhood woman told Scott that I would fit a Large, which is true if it was short sleeve, but though the lady said that it would be “huge on me” that doesn’t mean that the sleeves will be long enough! LMAO! I put it on just to show Scott that it fit EVERYWHERE but the sleeves, gotta love it when no words but laughter come out of his mouth! Then again, I was laughing too…. Pee Wee Herman’s suit had nothing on me! OH and I need to pick up more wrapping paper and bows to replenish that which was used this Christmas. Yes, I think I’ll be one of those crazies out the day after Christmas!
Our family hopes that you and your family had a wonderful and Merry Christmas!!!!!! Now to prepare to ring in the New Year!!!!! *faint*
Whoa... I knew Reese was indpendent, but lord help us. She's a little over 14 months old and already showing signs of definance. The lastest test... the Christmas Tree (As can be seen in her 14 month gallary). We've had to repremand her several times for taking ornaments off... and of course the lovely glass ones that she gets up on the couch and reaches on her tippy toes to reach. She leaves EVERYONE else's tree alone. Grandparents and friends.... but when it comes to ours, fair game. STINKER.
Reese has also gotten into the "throw myself down on the floor and cry" when you tell her no or tap her hand away from something. I ignore her or say "Yup, keep on crying, still not going to get you what you want. Life's not fair, but I love you!" But dosen't seem to ease her tension when she REALLY wants to play with the cell phone or chess pieces.
We also ventured out last weekend and took a photo with Santa. Will post later, need to send it out in Christmas cards first.... trust me, it's memorable. I also took Reese out today for her "dress up" photo.... couldn't decide between my 2 favorite, so I just got both. I LOVE THEM. Again, will post them later.
Hope that you are all gearing up for a cold winter if you are somewhere where it DOES snow.... we are expected to get 4 - 6 inches tonight!!! UGGG.... My company Christmas Party is Saturday... that'll make for a messy drive!
Tonight around 8 we got the best news EVER. After almost 2 weeks of going back and forth with seller's of a house we've been interested in we got the "All's a go" tonight!
We CLOSE JANUARY 4th!
The only photo I have is of the outside from the listing site, but hope to have more the week after Christmas when I hope to schedule a walk-through with my mom when she comes up.
Until then, here's a wee bit of a rundown:
Style: Colonial Year Built: 1923 Square Footage: 1623
Bedrooms: 5 Full Bath: 1 Half Bath: 1 Kitchen: 11x12 Dining Room: 12x14 Living Room: 12x17 Master Bedroom: 15x11 Rooms: 8 Other Rooms: Attic Basement: Full
Acres: 0.12 Lot: 40x120 Under 1/2 Acre Garage: 2.00 Car,Detached with opener
Hard to believe that Turkey Day has come and gone, but it’s probably a good thing! I’m not sure how much more excitement Reese can have!
Scott had the entire week off, so it was just he and Reese doing whatever those two wanted to do throughout the day. All I know is that every time I got home she was PASSED OUT until almost dinner time. By the end of Thanksgiving Day and the weekend, she was taking a nap by 9:30 and waking at 1:00PM.
But may be some reasons why she has been so exhausted here:
One Snow Suit: $24.95, One Sled From Summer Yard Sale: $2.00....
Watching/Hearing your daughter fly down the equivalent to her of Mt. Everest squealing with laughter and clapping her hands? PRICELESS.
We all hope you had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving! We sure did! Turkey and all the fixin's complete with about 3 inches of SNOW!
Scott's parents have a perfect "starter hill" in their front yard, and we took full advantage of it. Reese was out on Thursday for about an hour until her little cheeks were a little too cold for our comfort, but boy was she upset that we went in! Friday we went back over and again, she went down about 30 times and we knew she as "spent" when Scott was dragging her back up to me and she had thrown her head back and arms out trying to lay back!
We all had a blast watching her! Her laughs/squeals got us all laughing out loud..... she's definitely a "wild child"... the faster the better.
"What is this stuff?"
Finding her balance. - Also reminds me of the scene from A Christmas Story "I can't move my arms! I can't move my arms!"
She would lean forward to go faster!
To think only 29 days until Christmas!!!
Scott, Reese and I went to the Festival of Lights in Barberton last night. We had a good time, not to mention Reese got a free ornament! REALLY excited that Santa didn't freak her out.
Scott and Reese at the entrance
Alpaca stare down!
Silly faces!
CHEESE!
HAPPY HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Reese has also come into her own as knowing what she wants, and not fond of the word “no.” or if you say her name in a certain tone. “Suck it up” seems to be the favorite phrase thrown around the house.
She goes back for the other half of her flu shot on the 8th. That probably won’t be a good day. Poor girl!
Scott and I went looking for Reese her first pair of "hard soled" shoes today.... well, couldn't believe it.......... we have sasquatch on our hands.
Reese barely fits into a size 6.... she's almost in a size 7!
We had to go over to the "big girl section".... I did find a kick butt pair of leather pink slip on shoes on sale for $3! I paid a whole whoping $3.19 with tax. She will be sporting these tomorrow for Turkey Day!
Well I've been fighting off the cooties, cleaning the house, going to work, tending to Reese, did I mention fighting off the cooties? Scott was a doll while waiting in line for his XBOX 360 for 8 hours he picked me up some Robitussin DM Man after my own heart.
Reese is starting to mimic me... when I laugh it's really deep and gravelly.... guess what? She's doing this "Haaaaa............haaaaaa" that almost sounds like "Huuuuuuuuuuuuu.................Huuuuuuuuuu" everytime she laughs at something... see, once again, my kid has no sympathy for my pain!
As well as, since I've been blowing my nose so much and we obviously wipe Reese's nose a ton she has now started to grab up tissues wipe her nose, then go dust the house. If I take the tissue and clean up her buggars she makes a sound "puh" like she's blowing her nose, but she's just blowing out a little puff of air out of her mouth.
and also backed it up that we had her in swim classes at 6 months of age.... and the garden tub at home 
really going to miss that for a year.... Scott promised to put one back in our house for me! 
We both slept until 12:30. 
This picture just cracked me up to NO end.... 
I put Reese down for her nap and as I walked away I said "I love you." Reese followed up with "I nah nah" 
Yes, we have a veg head..... anyway, back to my story.....
moments. 
I immediately thought, HOLY CRAP WE ARE DOING THIS AGAIN?! Barb came in to check on me and said "my patient down the hall has this virus while in labor." POOR LADY! I did have the nervous feeling of giving birth again sorta diminish when my nurse told me that they have hired 2 massuses!!! 
So I guess I wasn't making up how much of a fighter she is.
I would have hurled, but I was too mad at him for not telling me what was going on with her crying and him saying "Sue get in here now! Get in here now!" Men... 
I asked "Did I pass?" She apologized and said "Oh yes honey, you did just fine!" 
Santa, Tom and Linda gave us wonderful joint gifts as well!!! Complete with a family Christmas ornament that not only included Riley, but also Oreo! They finished out our Christmas town filled with more “people!” Scott has complained the past 2 years that there aren’t enough people in the town…. No worries with that now, 2 boxes of people, not to mention that people come with each of the buildings as well. Linda said that this was it as far as the town goes because the company stopped making them, but we got 4 or 5 buildings and I know a School was in there so the people won’t be illiterate and there is a bicycle shop, ice skating rink for the kids and the town buildings we’ve received the past 2 years…. So it’s a nice sized city and conversation piece. Thank you so much for EVERYTHING! Linda made sure we took a photo with us in front of all of it in the living room…. simply AMAZING! And to think that my mom is coming up on Wednesday for us to celebrate with her….. I love the holidays! No way you can’t be in the Christmas spirit around this family!
