Glad to be home!

Momma's home! Boy, did I miss my Matt and my Reese. I was only gone for 4 days and 3 nights, but it seemed like a long time and Reese changed so much. When I got home, she was even more bright eyed and active than before I left. It also seemed like she didn't miss me as much as I missed her. It took her a day to start smiling at me again.

I did enjoy my time in Las Vegas! On Sunday night, I went to see The Beatles Love. It was really good and really expensive. Vegas is not cheap!

The conference was good. I saw a lot of my Oracle friends and made some new contacts. And the classes were pretty good too.

I was treated to two delicious dinners at Tao in the Venetian and Table 10 in Palazzo. I also played craps one night. It bet $20 and was entertained for at least an hour before I lost it all.

After the Beatles show, we walked to the light fountain at the Bellagio. I always enjoy watching it! I must say, two things I do not like about Vegas are the dry heat and the smoke. My skin was dry and I was always thirsty. You can smoke anywhere, so the second hand smoke gets old fast.

Me, posing like a tourist, in the Mirage hotel where the conference was held and where we stayed.
I arrived back home Wednesday night. Matt and Grandma kept Reese up so I could feed her and put her down.

This is Reese on Thursday morning; now she sleeps on her side sometimes. I'm telling you she is always changing! As of last night (Saturday) she is sleeping without here swaddle. We gradually weaned her from it. We were wrapping her legs and she would usually get out of it before morning. Speaking of weaning; Reese is no longer breastfeeding. She is all formula, cereal and baby food now. I would have breastfed longer, but I was not able to pump at work anymore; the days are too busy. So I had dropped to 2 times a day and then once a day until there was no more milk. The Vegas trip helped us both to finalize the weaning process since I was gone for an extended period.

On Thursday night, we took Dad and Grandma to the Astros - Rangers game. It was Grandma's first major league ball game and Dad's first time at Minute Maid park. Mom kept Reese as we figured she wouldn't like to crowd or the noise. The Astros won! Grandma said that the Rangers had more runs over the past 6 games (they were tied 3 to 3 in the two series) so they won the Silver Boot. We had great seats on the 1st base line close to right field. We enjoyed chili cheese dogs and cotton candy.

I only managed to get one shot of Dad and Reese after the game. She was still up when we got home, so Dad got to hold her a little while. Dad left early on Friday morning at 5:30 a.m.

Reese is still enjoying her exersaucer. It's neat to watch her figure out how to spin the toys. She trys to chew everything too.

Saturday, we got up early and headed to Khol's and Target with Mom. Then we hung out at Mom's house and assembled Reese's other exersaucer which stays at Mom's house.

Sam is doing well, but is very very tired. He is anemic which doesn't help. He got an iron shot on Friday, so we are hoping that will help. He has two more weeks of summer school and then he'll have a break before the school year begins.

Saturday night, Robert and Victoria came over for dessert. They are expecting their first child in November. We are so excited for them! Right now, we have lots of friends expecting: Todd and Leslie are due in January and Amanda and Pete are due in October.

Reese is growing so much that we had to break out her big girl "ducky" bath towel.

Reese, you are the absolute cutest baby!

We think baby girl is teething (well she's been on the verge for a while now) because she's been more fussy lately and chews big time on her toys and blankets. I gave her Orajel the other night as she was so fussy and her blanket was sopping wet from her chewing on it. Today she was running a low grade fever at 100.2. We gave her some Tylenol and she seems better. Last time I checked her temperature it was down to 99.7. Poor baby!

Matt and I went to church this morning. It was the first time we have been since Christmas Mass! We found the crying room and plan to start taking Reese. We have our baptism class on Tuesday and will be scheduling her Christening soon.

Tonight, we met Todd and Leslie for dinner at Collina's. We had planned to take Reese, but decided to leave her with Grandma since she was still not feeling well. You wouldn't know she felt bad from the pictures.

Turning 5 Months (She turned 5 months on Saturday)

ADRIENNE LEAVES MATT (FOR LAS VEGAS)

You were probably thinking WOW, did Adrienne leave Matt and Reese?. . . . . the answer is YES, but she left me for a three day "work" trip to Las Vegas for an Oracle Software convention. If you haven't figured it out, this is Matt writing this here blog posting. Adrienne (the Captain), relinquished the helm to her assiduous husband. As such, a direct order was issued by the Captian to update the blog.

Since I was in DFW last weekend for Father's Day, we celebrated Father's Day on Saturday morning with my parents. We met up at the traditional Sicinski Family hangout, Empire Cafe on Westheimer, for a Saturday morning breakfast. The entire Sicinski crew was in attendance (Scott (my twin brother), Chris (my older brother), Adrienne, Reese, myself, my mom, and my Dad).

My brothers and I are very lucky to have been blessed with a Dad as good as my Dad. Happy Father's Day Pops! We don't say it enough, but we love you!

Reese was well behaved, but still doesn't like to be held by anyone except for Adrienne or myself. Everytime someone other than Adrienne or myself tried to hold her, she would go Ape Sh--t. Adrienne and I have reached the conclusion that the only way for someone to hold her, and have a successful experience, is for Reese to be held at our house. I guess she feels comfortable being held in familiar surroundings.

Here is a picture of Reese at Empire Cafe:



After breakfast, we went home to catch our breath and then we headed to Isabella's First Birthday party at Hermann Park. Isabella is the daughter of Mark and Valerie Jones (Mark is my roommate from Angelo State). We tried to stay for the duration of the party, but Reese wasn't "Feelin" the outside. As you can see from the picture, she didn't like leaving the Air Conditioning:

At about 3pm on Saturday we finally arrived back home and put Reese down for a much needed nap. Barry Goss (a former colleague from EY), stoped by and dropped of a baby bed he was no longer using. Grandma Fredda was looking for a bed to put in her guest room so Reese will have a place to stay. I am still hesitant about leaving Reese alone over night without Adrienne or myself, but my defenses are weakening and at some point I will be an appeaser just like Neville Chamberlain was with Nazi Germany in 1938.

Grandma Fredda also stoped by to see Reese. Here are some pictures of Grandma Fredda and Baby Reese:

Adrienne and I also decided to have a "Grown Up Only" dinner on Saturday night. We gave the conn to Grandma Ruth and met up with Todd and Leslie Bazin for dinner at Houstons. We had a good time catching up with the Bazin's and they brought by their house plans for a house they are in the process of building.

On Sunday morning, I woke up early and went running at Rice University and came back home and mowed the front yard. Adrienne, Grandma Ruth, Reese, and myself ate lunch and then Adrienne had to leave her baby girl for that boring place called Las Vegas. I don't know how many Oracle geeks were in Las Vegas, but I am sure it was a bunch (is a CPA calling an Oracle IT person a geek? . . . I think the pot is calling the Kettle black). Reese and I were sad to see the Baby Momma go, but Adrienne handed the conn to myself and off we went. Since taking the conn, the following has happened:

1.) She pooped twice on Sunday (all after Adrienne left H-Town)

2.) She ate an entire bowl of baby cereal

3.) She made eating motions while she ate the cereal (normally we just say a prayer and hope she swallows the cereal)

4.) She went Ape Sh---t when I tried to put her down to sleep on Monday night (I had to let her "Cry It Out" because it became clearly evident that she was happy, full, warm, and had a dry diaper . . . she kept crying when I would leave the room, but would be quiet when I got near her). I called the Captain (Adrienne), and she gave me permission to commence Operation CRY IT OUT. The mission was successful in 20 minutes (she is sound asleep right now).

Until next time, PEACE!

More things I love about Reese

Our love for Reese grows every day! She is a doll baby (Grandma Ruth's name for her).

A while back I posted things I love about Reese; here are a few more...

1. Her feet. I love to massage her with baby lotion after her bath and I massage her legs down to her toes. Her feet are so soft. I absolutely love to feel them. Matt's says I enjoy giving her a massage more that she enjoys receiving it.
2. Her cheeks; they are so round and kissable.
3. Her profile; she is just so adorable.
4. Her big brown eyes.
5. Her hair; it's getting longer and I can rub my chin on her hair.
6. The fact that she changes every day and gets bigger, stronger and better at everything.
7. Her sneezes; still so cute.
8. Her coughs.
9. Her sounds; she loves to talk and make noises. I'll miss hearing these sounds she makes at this age as I know they will change soon. I know I'll love those new sounds just as much.
10. Her demeanor; she is just a happy and content baby. Even more lately. She is learning to entertain herself and not fuss when someone leaves the room.
11. Her recent nicknames (I make them up for her on a daily basis; I have no idea where they come from): Twinkle Love, Mommas, Cuddle Bugs. I can't remember all of them as there are so many. She is not going to know what to answer to. I do call her by her name too. :)
12. Reese's hugs; she'll wrap her arms around my neck like she is giving me a hug.
13. How she laughs when we kiss her on the neck.

Here's what Reese has been up to this week...and more things to love.

Reese's tum tum (what I call tummy time).


Turning one way, but holding on to a toy the other way.

Momma, all you do is kiss me! (I love to kiss those cheeks!)

I love my momma (another song I sing to her) ... it goes "I love my momma, I love my daddy, I love my grandmas, I love my grandpas"

Reese has learned to turn all kinds of ways in her bed. The other day, Grandma said Reese turned on her mobile, most likely with her feet!

Mission Accomplished!

I just wanted to give a quick update on Reese. She did so great today.

MORNING - She slept until 5:30 a.m. at which point I fed her. I could see she was still tired so I swaddled her, turned on the mobile and started getting dressed for work. I kept checking in on her while I was getting dressed and could see she was very calm laying on her side chewing her blanket. The next time I looked in she was asleep without her paci.

AFTERNOON - She went down much better for her naps today. Grandma would go in Reese's room and give her the paci, but it didn't take her long to fall asleep. She still didn't sleep more than an hour though.

EVENING - Tonight was a great success! We bathed her around 8:00 and started her bottle at 8:15. Before we gave her a bath, Matt and I started to kiss her on the neck and she just kept on laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing. It was fun. After her bath, we fed her, she was sleepy during the entire meal. Once she finished her bottle I held her for a minute or so and rocked to make sure she was full and drowsy then I swaddled her, kissed her and headed out the door. She was fast asleep without her paci within 5 minutes and didn't make a peep.

I think she is a quick learner! ;) I hope it continues to go this well, at least for a while until she hits another growth spurt or teething phase. I know things change, but getting into this routine is the best thing for us all.

Crying it out!!!

9:04 p.m.

30 minutes ago I put Reese down after her last 8 ounce bottle and a little rock-a-bye. We cuddled until she started getting drowsy, and then I swaddled her, gave her the paci and a good night kiss and walked out of the room. The crying started exactly 1 second later and ended after 24 minutes. I've never watched the clock so closely as I paced the house trying to keep busy and tell myself this was the right thing to do. I found myself standing at her door as she screamed and belted out her mad cry. Then I'd walk back into the living room and say to Matt, "Turn down the TV, I can't hear her." "Check the blog, has anyone written me some encouragement?" (I have since checked my emails...thank you for the advice Christi and Shelli)

She started calming down after about 14 minutes and after catching her breath she'd belt 'em out again, but we could tell she was getting worn out and knew it wouldn't be much longer.

I just checked in on her and she is sound asleep, completely out of her swaddle and has wiggled her way up to the top of her bed as she started in the middle.

Whew! That was hard, but we all survived. High five Daddy! (You know, we didn't plan to do this tonight, but last night we both read an article out of Parents magazine about a couple letting their 5 month old cry it out...I guess it was what we needed,)

Let's hope she sleeps through the night. Last night, she woke up at 4:15 and fussed /talked/drifted in and out of sleep until 5:30 when I fed her. Then she passed out until 8:30 a.m.

Thanks for the encouragement Jaime and Wendy!

She did better going down for her naps, she didn't cry. However, she didn't sleep more than an hour each time. Maybe she is teething.