Loving 15 Months!!!

Reese is 15 months old today, April 21, 2009. I am really enjoying her at this age! Every day she does something different from the day before.

Reese has been doing so much lately I'm afraid I may forget something . . . Let's see she has . . .

- Acted like she was blowing her nose with Kleenex. Twice now she has grabbed a tissue from the box and held it up to her nose and made a blowing sound. I thought it was pretty funny. I didn't think any of us blew our nose that often for her to notice and mimic it. Amazing what she picks up on.
- For most of Reese's 15 months of life my chest has been her comfort zone. I guess now that she is getting bigger and stronger I really notice because she can get quite hasty. She loves to pull my shirt down and stick her hand in. It can be hard to stay covered up! She especially likes to do this in the middle of the night or when she is tired and ready for a nap or bedtime.
- She also buries her head in my chest when acting shy (don't all kids do this?). I love it!
- Finally figured out it is fun to walk everywhere and has not crawled in at least 3 days. She also loves to walk and talk. She goes all over the house talking away.
- The past few days she will stand and pivot on one foot in a circle.
- Reaches and asks (grunts) for her milk and drinks well out of her sipy cup.
- Loves to play with doors. She will open and close them over and over. Luckily she has not smashed her fingers yet. We always tell her to watch her fingers.
- Loves to play on the front porch and walk in and out of the front door. See pictures in post above.
- Loves to find Grandma in her room. She will walk from one end of the house (our room) to the other (through her room and the hallway past the bathroom) to seek out her Grandma. Then she'll push the door open like she is saying, "Hey Grandma, I'm here!"
- Likes to watch T.V. from the reflection in Grandma's vanity mirror. At first Grandma thought she just liked to look at herself, but I said, "No, she is watching T.V."
- Speaking of T.V., Reese likes to watch Sesame Street in the mornings. I love Saturday mornings when I get to cuddle with her and watch while we both wake up before breakfast.
- Sleeps well in her bed until 2:00 a.m. or so then she wants in bed with us (I know, this habit is hard to break...I thought I was supposed to follow one of those books better that said not to do this). Last night she kept sticking her arm down my shirt and banging her head against mine, so I decided to put her back in her bed. Unfortunately that didn't last and she ended up back in bed with me. Luckily she fell asleep fairly quickly so I could too. Oh well, I must admit, I enjoy cuddling with her and watching and hearing her sleep next to me.
- She has my rosy cheeks which we lotion multiple times a day. When I was her age, mine looked exactly the same and I remember my Mom putting cream on my cheeks at night.
- She has her daddy's soft clammy feet (I had to post this because it is so true). If she goes without socks her little feet pick up everything on the floor.
- She does not like wearing her $13.00 bows anymore! I bought two brand new bows for Easter and Scott's wedding and she will not have anything to do with them. As soon as I place them on her head she reaches up and yanks them off. The headband size is supposed to go up to 4 years, so maybe the money will not be a total waste.
- She has given me more open mouthed kisses. Oh how I love them! I hope she gives Daddy one soon.
- She is super ticklish under her chin, on her belly and her back and Reese snorts when she laughs. It is so funny. I wonder if she will always be a snorter? Fine by me.

Like I have said before, Grandma loves dressing Reese for the day. I love coming home for lunch to see what cute outfit she has on and I usually pull out the camera.



These eggs have kept her entertained for days! I finally got smart and emptied the contents so we would not have smashed Goldfish all over the place (and so Reese wouldn't eat off the floor).

This is the one cabinet I really don't want Reese in because it is our food pantry. I can just see her spilling the cooking oil or shaking baking soda all over herself. Sometimes you just give up and take a picture.

Here she is with Grandpa Sam looking back at (what else) the T.V.

Not liking the grass today...Daddy help!

Racing to the steps (much better!).

Pause for effect.

Up the steps for the 10th time.

When she is curious about something, she touches it with one finger.

I love her face in this one.

And this one too.

These are the shots I got during lunch on Reese's 15 month birthday. I love these Hanna Andersson floppy hats (she has a pink one too). She and Grandma were heading out for a walk while I headed back to work. Sometimes I just want to stay home and go with them!

What a big girl! She is not quite as big as she looks on film.

I love that she still has chubby cheeks!

Bath time Reesie!

After 15 months, she finally got the body wash. She has been intrigued by that bottle forever and she finally reached out of the tub and grabbed it before I could stop her.

This is the view I normally see from my room when Reese has found her Grandma.

Hi Grandmas!

Tutu's and Puma's ~ Easter Weekend

Last night after Reese's bath she and I were playing on my bed. I was tickling her and giving her kisses and I said, "Can mommy have a kiss?". She opened her mouth wide and leaned into my face giving me my first official Mommy Kiss. She gave me three more and then I took her into Grandma's room to show what she could do and I got two more kisses from Reese. So now Reese knows what to do when I say, "Give mommy a kiss". She gave me another one this morning before I left for work!

On Friday night, Grandma, Reese and I went to dinner with Mom, Sam and his best friend Bill Scruggs. Bill came and spent the whole week with Sam. They had a great time and it really lifted Sam's spirits. Sam is doing well. He finished radiation on this lung last week and had chemo yesterday. We'll know how the radiation did in another week or so. Hopefully it did not damage his heart or anything else.

Matt got home from Fayetteville on Saturday morning after being gone all week. We were so glad to have him home! He and Reese spent the day together while Grandma, Mom and I did a little shopping. Reese has recently decided she doesn't enjoy long shopping trips which involve strollers and elevators, so we didn't take her along.

Look at the cute outfit Matt picked out for her to wear on Saturday! I was impressed he wanted her to wear her yellow tutu! Don't you love it?

They went to the park where Reese did a lot of walking and exploring.

They also ran errands, went to Kroger and Chick-Fil-A.

Here she is before bedtime running around the living room pushing her walking toy.

Sometimes she gets going so fast that she slips and slides, but it doesn't slow her down!

We went to church with Scott, Lauren, Chris and Christina. It was packed! We snapped a few pictures before we left the house. Reese found her Easter basket and was intrigued. She has started doing this puckered lip smile which I adore.

The night before, Matt and I filled the eggs with Cheerios, Raisins, Dried Cranberries, Goldfish and Toddler Cookies.

Today she discovered the goodies inside the eggs and treated herself to raisin and cookie snack before dinner. She cracks me up because she stuffs the entire quarter sized cookie in her mouth and has the other in her hand ready to go when she finishes the first.

Reese took a nap with her Daddy after church, while Grandma and I prepared our side dishes for Easter lunch at Mom and Sam's.

We never got to hunting eggs on Sunday as Reese was a bit fussy in the afternoon. I think she had a tummy ache. However, she loved sporting her new Puma's that I bought for her during our Saturday shopping excursion.

Scott and Lauren brought Reese her Easter basket Sunday evening; it had candy called "The Reester". How perfect is that?

We didn't see Matt's parents this past weekend, but Scott and Lauren's wedding is April 25th so we'll see everyone then. The plan is to spend the weekend in Conroe as the wedding is at Bentwater. We can't wait!

Other Reese updates . . .

We weaned her off her two daytime bottles and replaced one of them with a late afternoon snack. So that leaves us with the morning and night time bottles. This morning, Reese woke up and didn't immediately cry for her bottle, so I changed her and let her play while I got ready. She found her paci which seemed to satisfy her. It was almost too easy (but I really shouldn't be writing about it as I may jinx it)! Grandma fed her an early breakfast and Reese didn't realize what she missed. I must admit I have been stressing a bit about getting her off the bottle because her pediatrician wanted her off by 15 months which is next week. I think we are doing well, and I'm ok with keeping the night bottle a bit longer. Maybe it will be easier than I think to wean her off that one too. We shall see.

A couple of weeks ago Reese had fever and I figured she must be teething, but I never saw any teeth until yesterday. During one of our tickle fests, I saw a new tooth on the top, left, back of her mouth. Ah hah!

Reese talks a lot, but we still haven't really heard any words yet. Sometimes it sounds like she says Hi or Bye, but most of the time I just hear a lot of jabber. She knows exactly what she is saying, but we don't. That doesn't stop us from having conversations with her. I talk and she talks back to me. I know she understands what we are saying. For example, she knows what "No ma'am" means and sometimes cries when we tell her no. Cute.

I also discovered how to get her into her high chair without a fight. She was on this back arching kick which made it difficult to place her in the chair when it was time to eat. If I give her a Goldfish or Raisin she gets distracted and doesn't mind sitting in her chair.

Things I like and don't like . . .

I like playing outside with Mommy and Daddy everyday when they get home from work.

I don't like touching grass with my toes.

I like sitting in Daddy's lap in the grass.

I really don't like grass; I'd rather do a pike instead.

I like to walk (when I want to).

I like to keep myself awake during nap time by bouncing around the bed and digging my head into the pillows.

I like to take a nap with Mommy and Daddy (when I finally give in and close my eyes).

I like water puddles.

I like wearing my flip flops for the first time.

Even though they are hard to walk in.

I like to splish splash in the bath.

I like to play in my drawers and toss my bibs all around.

I like to play with my spoon and any kind of ball.

I like to celebrate my friend Ashtyn's 1st birthday. She did much better with her cake than I did on my birthday.

I like to help open birthday gifts.

I like getting ready for my bath. Hurry up Mommy and put me in!

I like to walk up the sidewalk and up the steps (with help from Daddy). I love to walk up and down the steps...over and over again.

Sometimes I like to walk in the grass and sometimes I don't.

I like to go through Grandma Ruth's vanity drawers.

I like to play at Grandma Fredda's house.

I like to put things in my bucket.

I like to throw toys behind me (and I love my mullet!).

I like to discover new things in new cabinets.

I like to make capes out of hand towels.

I like to pull out old toys and play like they are new.