Rocking and Rolling

Reese has reached another milestone this week; she can now roll over from her belly to her back. She gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth and then rolls over. Matt was home with her on Tuesday, and he mentioned that she had rolled over and when I got home today Grandma said she rolled over 3 times on my bed. So I scooped her up and took her to my room, so she could show me!

I put her down on her back and she rolled over almost immediately. I encouraged her to roll over by telling her, "Show momma how you can roll over!" When she did it, I clapped and yelled "Yeah, good girl!" and she laughed. I felt like I had missed out; it was like she changed while I was away (at work...crazy I know, but sometimes I feel like I miss out). Like my friend Wendy says, "It was my first time to see her do it" which is like it was the first time. She did it for me today which was so neat!

It's funny how she gets up on all fours and rocks. She will be crawling before we know it. We'd better child proof the house ASAP!

Reese playing last Friday afternoon.


Sticking that cute butt in the air!

What?

She loves to look at the laptop; the bright colors amaze her. So I opened up a word document to let her type. She just banged on the keyboard, but isn't she cute!

Here she is sporting her Harvard t-shirt and boxers (bloomers). Uncle Scott and Aunt Lauren brought her the t-shirt from their Boston engagement trip.

Wearing one of her many dresses; this one is from Grandma Fredda. We've got to get her in these dresses before she outgrows them or starts to crawl.

Such a sweet love!

7 months old and sitting up!

Reese is 7 months old today! I can't believe it! Over the past two weeks people kept asking me, "How old is Reese?" and I kept replying, "6 1/2 months." Then this week Grandma heard me say that and she said, "She'll be 7 months in 2 days." Wow, already?!!

When I got home I wanted to get some snap shots of Reese on her 7 month birthday, so I decided to test her sitting up skills and look at her! She leans over but was able to sit up on her own while I snapped away...

Snap...snap...look at those cheeks!

Snap...are you done yet Mom?

Snap...Jeez, I'm getting tired of that flash in my face!

After her bath, I snapped two more. She is 7 months old and wearing 12 month pj's!

We think these are the cutest pj's! And look at those 2 teeth and the most beautiful smile I have ever seen.

Reese has been putting herself to sleep for naps and bedtime (almost all of the time now) and she sleeps with a blankey now too. It was actually Grandma Ruth's idea to give her a small blanket to cuddle with when we were trying to get her back in the routine of putting herself down.

I must reiterate how excited we are that Reese finally broke out of her shell and decided it was ok to go out to eat, visit friends, let other people hold her and go to new places. It was like she just snapped out of it all of the sudden. I guess it really started when Meghan, Sam and Maggie came to visit and continued at Nolan's b-day dinner and Karsyn's b-day party.

When I came home from work on Tuesday, Reese held out her arms for me to pick her up. Oh, it was so sweet!

It's amazing how my love for Reese grows more and more each day. It's like my heart could just burst out of my chest I love her so much. I am so thankful she is in our lives. What did we ever do without her?

I Love You Boo!

Reese Attends Her First Birthday Party

We know it has been quite some time since our last blog posting, but we have set an Olympic record for the number of pictures in this blog posting. As denoted in the title to the blog posting, this weekend was Reese's first birthday party. Reese's BFF ("Best Friend Forever"), Karsyn Clark, celebrated her second birthday this past weekend.

On the Friday, the day before Karsyn's birthday party, we went to Lupe's Tortilla Factory to celebrate Nolan's 30th birthday party (Nolan was my rooommate from Angelo State and is Wendy's Baby Daddy . . . i.e. the father of Karsyn). It was good to meet up at Lupe's and catch up.

Adrienne was in Lafayette, LA last week from Monday through Friday. I finally had time last week to put Reese's bouncer together. Here is a picture of Reese in her bouncer (she likes to hold the plastic chains and jump up and down).


On Saturday, Adrienne, Reese, and I headed out to the Cypress area to celebrate Karsyn's birthday bash. This was going to be Reese's first time in a swimming pool, but the problem was we didn't have a bathing suit for Reese. Fortunately for Reese, her BFF had plenty of bathing suits and WHAM!! Reese had a pink bathing suit (I wasn't a fan of the two piece bathing suit . . . because I wanted to set the tone early that Reese is to be conservatively dressed at all times . . . . I really don't mind. . . . but I thought that was the fatherly thing to think). Here is a picture of me feeding Reese in her bathing suit prior to the commencement of swim time:


Here is a picture of me placing Reese in the swimming pool. As you can see, Reese is thinking long and hard about whether she likes this swimming "thing." Reese lasted about 45 seconds before she let it be know that she wanted out. It was overcast outside and the water was probably too cold for Reese . . . but we shall try swimming again when it is nice and hot outside and Reese can enjoy the cool water.


After swimming, Reese thought it would be fun to sit in the swing. Here she is sitting in the swing looking at the other kids playing.


Here is a picture of Reese's BFF and Reese's BFF's momma (aka, the baby's momma, aka, Wendy).



Here is a picture of another one of Reese's BFF (yes it is possible to have multiple BFF), Isabella. Isabella is the daughter of Mark and Valerie Jones. Mark was my roommate from Angelo State.

Here is a picture of Reese looking over my shoulder. You have got to love those big brown eyes and big cheeks.

This picture makes me think Valerie and Reese are having an intense conversation about some geopolitical event (perhaps the Russian invasion of Georgia?) . . . . or maybe she is giving Valerie the Vulcan death grip (yes Shae . . . I said the Vulcan death grip. . . . inside joke from one of my former work colleagues at Ernst & Young).

Here is a picture of Nolan and Reese (Nolan is the Baby Daddy of Karsyn).

Adrienne likes this picture becuase Reese is wearing her party hat and tutu.

I don't know how they got so many kids to stay relatively still for the picture. . . but somehow it was done.

Ditto.

Something tells me that whenever Reese looks at her Daddy with those brown eyes . . . that I will melt and do whatever she asks.

After the party we went home and had a relaxing evening. On Sunday morning we woke up and went for a walk. Here is Reese taking a Sunday morning stroll.

As we were walking through Monticello (that is the part of West U that we live in), we decided to eat breakfast at Buffalo Grille (which is the local hang out for breakfast). We walked back by the house and ditched Reese's stroller. I picked up Reese in my arms and we walked two blocks to eat breakfast. Here is a picture of Adrienne and Reese standing in line to make the breakfast order.

Reese decided she wanted to eat too. So we mixed up some breakfast for her and fed her before our food arrived.

Got to love that cereal and pears.

Here is a picture of Reese and myself walking back to the house. She likes to smile and look at Momma.

We turned around so momma could take some pictures during the trip back home.

Momma and Reese took a doze while I mowed the yard.

Sound asleep with Momma.

Reese was very well behaved this weekend. She didn't scream at Lupe's or Buffalo Grille. Additionally, she let multiple people hold her without screaming "Stranger Danger." Hopefully this is a sign we can go out to eat again in the near future.

A relaxing weekend...

This picture was taken weekend before last, but I forgot to upload it...isn't she cute? Such a poser!


This past week, Reese held her bottle of prune juice (it's the only juice she gets which helps her go poop). I reclined the seat and that seemed to help her. I wonder when she will start holding her bottle all of the time. I'm not really in any rush because I like to cuddle with her while giving her the bottle. People say I'll get more free time once she starts to hold the bottle herself, but I don't mind. However, I know it's a part of growing up and becoming independent!

Reese can sit up for about 30 seconds before she falls to the side. Before we know it she'll be sitting up all by herself.

We had a pretty relaxing weekend. Matt was in DFW again (sometimes we feel like we never see each other) so Reese and I celebrated Sam's birthday on Friday night with Goode Company bbq and chocolate cake. Sam was tired and went home before Mom. We watched the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics which are taking place in Beijing, China. It was a powerful and well choreographed ceremony. There were 2008 drummers and they were amazing. Wasn't it also neat how the games started on 8-8-08! I keep the games on and try to catch everything I can. I especially enjoy the gymnastics, swimming (Michael Phelps), diving and beach volleyball (Misty May-Treanor & Kerri Walsh). I was just wondering how old Misty and Kerri were, and I heard tonight that Kerri will be 30 on August 15th. Kerri is a fellow Leo! Misty is 31. Both of them plan to start families after the 2008 games.

Saturday, Pat came over to watch Reese while Mom, Grandma and I went to see "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2". Reese has started to sense when I am leaving; it started on Friday morning when I left for work. I kissed her bye, turned and waved on my way out and she started crying. Oh no! That makes it even harder for Mommy to leave. I resisted the temptation to turn around and pick her up and just kept walking out the back door. I know she was tired too, so that may have contributed. On Saturday, she was also tired when we were leaving and she knew all 3 of us were about to go. Even though Grandma Pat was there, Reese, cried hard and we just had to leave and hope for the best. Pat didn't say how long Reese cried, but I think it was a while. Reese did get over it and enjoy spending time with her Grandma Pat.

On Sunday, Meghan, Sam and Maggie came over to visit. They were in Houston celebrating Maggie's 4th birthday with her Grandparents. Reese did so well with Meghan. She let Meghan hold her for a long time! Meghan was even surprised because she knows about Reese's "stranger danger" as I call it.

Here is Maggie at 4 years and Reese at 6 1/2 months. Maggie is soooooo cute! She is soooo smart too! Reese has a new floor mat made of letters that fit together like puzzle pieces. Maggie and Sam quizzed each other on the letters and colors and Maggie knew them all. She also enjoyed playing with her new Barbie and bakery set. I was so impressed when she started making a shape on the floor with her Barbie and two sticks. When Meghan asked her what she was making, Maggie said, "A triangle." And it was a triangle! Smart kid!

Matt and Grandma get Reese all to themselves as I am in Lafayette for a 3 day safety training. I'll be home on Friday afternoon.

I miss you Daddy, baby girl and Grandma!

Turning the BIG 3-0!!!

Today I turned 30; I don't feel 30, but I have now arrived on the 3rd floor. I spent the day with Reese as Matt had to work on the Q.





Here is Reese in one of her new outfits from her Aunt Jamie. We received a box full of goodies for my birthday and Reese hit the jackpot!











We celebrated the 1st anniversary of my 29th birthday last night at Stag's Head pub.





If Melanie Carmichael would have been there she would have said, "You have a baby...in a bar!" (I know I don't need to tell Reese Witherspoon fans that quote came from her movie Sweet Home Alabama)





Yes, I'm guilty as charged, I took my baby girl to my birthday party in a bar. :)





Reese and Grandma hung out with us for an hour or so and then Matt's parents took them home. Reese was tired, so she didn't last long. At least you can't smoke in a bar anymore so the air was clean.











Dancing on the tables at 6 months old!

We had my favorite strawberry cake from RJ Goodies!

I've got news bigger than me being 30!

Scott and Lauren are engaged! He proposed last weekend in Boston and they plan to tie the knot next spring. We are so happy for them. Welcome to the family Lauren! (We had to get a picture of the bling!)

I keep trying to get a picture of Reese's two bottom teeth, but it's been challenging. You can sort of see them in this shot.







We bought Reese's highchair last weekend, and she loves it. She does really well in it too whether she is eating or playing. She loves to eat, and she knows to open her mouth when I bring the spoon towards her. Smart cookie!

Grandma Ruth took this picture of Matt and Reese while I was out of town in Lafayette last Tuesday for work. This was one of my b-day gifts and it made me cry for obvious reasons (and because I had not seen him in official uniform).

Is this not the most precious photograph of Reese and her Daddy?

Reese is soo big, I have to keep buying her more pj's. You may remember this one that she had as a newborn. (I'll upload the newborn picture soon)