1st Birthday Weekend Craziness!!!

We officially have a one year old in this house!!! It has been a whirlwind weekend reminiscent of our wedding weekend! You know when it goes by way too fast and you hardly remember anything, but are soooo glad you took millions of pictures and videos! Reese suprised us and started walking that Thursday afternoon on March 31. It was the best gift she could have ever given me. I was so happy I got to be there to witness her first steps. I will never forget how magical it was! Nanny came to spend the night Thursday night. I was able to do all my grocery shopping for the party that night around 10 pm and it was glorious! I got to shop by myself which has not happened in a long time! We were also having a craigslisted couch delivered that night just in time for the new playroom which will be another post in itself! Friday morning my mom stayed at home with Reese while I ran a jillion last minute errands. That day was a marathon of baking, cleaning, cooking, and decorating! Reese kept herself busy by...

playing in the dishwasher,

and doing some naked walking with her walker.

That night after I gave her her last bath as an 11 month old I just had to have a picture after. I was very reminiscent of last year at this time when I was heading in to be induced!!! And now I'm bathing a chubby, sweet baby! What a year it's been!

Grampa came later that night to help out too. After Reese went to bed we had Pei Wei and then proceeded to bake 6 dozen red velvet cupcakes by scratch! The next morning Andrew and I went into her room once she woke up and sang Happy Birthday where she proceeded to cry b/c we did not have her bottle with us! Oops! After her bottle she played with her first puzzle ever! Her daddy got it for her! She loved taking the pieces in and out.

Auntie Babs and Unkie WiiWii got there soon after and Reese got another present! A tea set from Auntie Babs!

We took a break from party prep to take the birthday girl to McDonald's for her birthday lunch. Reese had never been to McDonald's before. That is where my parents took me for my first birthday lunch. I guess that's why I wanted to take her there. Kind of like a rite of passage to get her first Happy Meal on her first birthday. She did not even touch the nuggets but LOVED the fries! We were sitting near the bathroom and she actually was much more interested in watching the people come in and out the bathroom door. Silly girl!

Nanny and Grampa went to go pick up the balloons and the smashcake while Reese took her afternoon nap. The smash cake turned out sooo cute!

With the birthday girl right before her party!!!! Her party was a cupcake theme with lots of pink, purple, yellow, and teal. I have been planning this since early February and everything turned out better than I imagined!

Kisses for the birthday girl!

Grammee and Nanny

Reese LOVES balloons, so I knew we had to have lots at her party. She immediatly zoned in on them and said "BOON!" She pointed at every single balloon over and over! It was so cute!

Her front door sign!

Cute cupcake toppers from the tomkat studio on etsy with our homeade cupcakes!

Highchair/cake area

I put my mom to work and she made all the poms for me. I made the Happy Birthday banner myself and loved how it turned out. We tried to have a good mix of adult/kid food. We received her one year photo's just in time so I framed them and used them to decorate as well!

Better shot of the cake table

Treat bags for the pinata

I made cake pops and had another pic on display with the invite on this table.

Adult drinks & kiddie drinks

We got this water table right before the party for Reese and all the kids to play with and it was hands down the best purchase! Everybody loved it! Several of the kids stuck their faces right in to drink the water and many shirts took a turn in the dryer!

Reese and Carson playing

This craigslisted swingset was Reese's big gift from us. There is a little playhouse underneath the slide with a door that she loves going in and out of. The kids all had fun playing on it.

Mommy and Daddy with the birthday girl!

Auntie Babs came all the way from Oklahoma to celebrate!

Reese seriously had a FUN time at her party! She didn't cry once or even get overwhelmed! She screamed her happy scream when the attention was on her! I love that my girl was so happy to be at her party! It's like she knew it was about her and hammed it up every minute she could! She loved just hanging out with everyone and eating whatever I gave her from my plate! Here she is "hanging out" with her sweet friends Carson and Alyssa and cousin Mack.

She held onto that pig in a blanket for dear life!

Mack got Reese this cute chair! She thought it was so fun to sit in!

Grammee and Papa got Reese the Whisper Ride Step 2 buggy! She took it for a spin at her party with Papa!

We had lots of great helpers when it was present time. Reese was very blessed with lots of toys, books, and clothes! Nanny and Grampa got Reese a table and chairs to grow into.

Then it was on to the pinata! I thought it would be smart to do one of those little pull string ones rather than have a bunch of one year olds beating us up with a giant stick. :)

The kids seriously loved it! They were so curious as to what these strings would do. Once it opened they couldn't believe they got to pick prizes! Look at Reese standing there looking down at all the prizes!

She enjoyed her first sucker before putting an entire Reese's (get it?) peanut butter cup including the wrapper in her mouth!

She was so cute playing with the prizes!

Stripped down and ready for cake!

Look how happy she is to have everyone stare at her!

This was right after we sang to her and everyone started clapping. She has never clapped before and picked that moment to start clapping for herself! It was so cute! I'm so glad we have it on video!

She wasted no time in digging in!

Sharing with daddy

She had it everywhere! In her hair even!

She got a quick bath and then back to the water table to play some more!

Watching everyone with daddy

I had mixed emotions as I gave her her bottle that night. Happy b/c I was so proud of my baby and excited for the year to come, and sad b/c I know that the days of her being my tiny baby are drawing to a close. She is such an amazing child. The past year has been without a doubt the best one of our lives! What did we do before we had Reese?

We read one last book before bed.

For the mantle I made a picture banner of each month of her life.

We were very lazy the next day. Reese spent MUCH of the day in and out of her new car. She loves it so much! We did many laps around the house and neighborhood!

She sat at her table too and played with a new puzzle! She loves all her new stuff!

We are so thankful to each and everyone who came out to help us celebrate the first year of Reese's life! I know I stressed the details alot, but the party was special b/c of WHO was there!

Happy First Birthday Reese!!!

Just some things

Just some things I want to remember...

• Today at Kroger I was trying to finish up some last minute items, and Reese was getting cranky and tired so I held her while I was perusing an aisle. I was patting her back while stopped. She started patting my back too!
• Reese loves to take all her clothes out of the hamper. The other day she as she was flinging her clothes around, I noticed that every time she had a sock she would lift up her foot and touch her foot with the sock. So I handed her one and said "put your sock on", and she tried to put her sock on! She didn't even come close to getting it on, but she knows that her sock goes on her foot! Amazing!
• She was playing at her laugh and learn door and I noticed she kept trying to put the yellow circle in the spot that only the circle goes. I was so proud! It kept dropping and she would squat down and bring it back up to the circle hole! She was trying SO HARD to get that darn circle in the hole!
• She can put her plastic rings on the post of her ring toy.
• Today at chick-fil-a I let her "play" in the little kiddie area. There was this little spot where there were all these animals on the wall that you could flip around. Well she went straight for the duck one and said "DU!"
• Last night on a walk we were chatting with a neighbor and he was asking if she can say any words. I named a few of the words she can say. Usually she just says them on her own accord. I said "Reese say Dada", and she said Dada! Then later that night I said "Reese can you say Mama", and what do you know she said Mama too! I think it is clicking that I am Mama! Melt my heart!

I am so amazed as I watch her little brain work! I am so proud of everything she does! Lately, I feel she has really been showing her love towards me in such special ways. She squeals with delight when I walk into a room, and flashes me this look that says "You are my mama and I love you soooo much!" We had pictures yesterday with Jill, and bless her heart she just wanted to be near me and didn't understand that Mama was not picture ready like she was! I don't think the monogramed bloomer shot that I envisioned in my head will turn out quite the way I planned seeing as how she was SCREAMING! I'm talking red face, open mouth wailing, and giant tears! Oh well! She was still cute!

11 Months!

Oh my goodness I love this girl more than words! Every month that goes by I just love you more than I thought was ever possible! You are SOOOO sweet!!! We can tell that you love your mama and dada so much. We have had such a fun month together. You have such a fun and happy personality. It seems like crying is a thing of the past. You are so curious and we love watching you explore your world around you! I am just going to cry my eyes out when my little baby turns 1 next month!!!! This month's pictures were the hardest yet! You really showed an interest in Mr Beeps for the first time and gave him LOTS of hugs before throwing him overboard. It's impossible to keep big bows on you and the monthly sign is immediately shredded!

weight: 20.5 lbs

diaper size: 3 (size 4 overnight at night)

clothes size: 9-12 (9 months getting snug though!)

shoe size: 2

teeth count: 4 (2 top and 2 bottom)

Showing some sass in the picture above! We are definitely starting to see the 'tude show up from time and time again. Usually when you are tired and bored of being in the shopping cart. Or when we won't give you what you want (iphone, flip cam, keys). You have started arching your back really dramatically! You are FULL of the funniest expressions! My favorite one still being "the face" which is pictured below.

You have been an amazing sleeper the past month. We are so thankful for this! You sleep consistently from 7-7. You seem to have figured out napping this month. We thought you were trying to drop your morning nap, so we let you. But you were so exhausted by lunch you were falling asleep in your highchair. Suddenly you wanted a morning nap again. Thank you Lord! For about 2 weeks you would just sit there and cry and not sleep! You have now figured out how to lay down and put yourself to sleep! You sleep now from 9-10ish and then again from 1:30-3:30ish. You seem to sleep better at night too when you have a good napping day. Maybe the good sleep has something to do with the fact that you are busy!!!

You get really silly right before bed. Sometimes you fall asleep while drinking your bottle. But when you don't you are delirously funny afterwards! You lay in my arms and look up at me and just LAUGH! You will try to put your paci in my face and cackle if I take it. You also like to face me and lean your head as far as you can back. I will kiss your precious neck and you will just giggle soooo loud! It's my favorite right now!

You dropped one of your bottle feeds this month. You weren't finishing your day time bottles and were flat our refusing them sometimes! So we eliminated the 11ish feed and gave you a snack instead. You now take 6 oz breastmilk @ 7 am, 6 oz @ 1:30 pm, and 7 oz @ 7 pm.

You are doing SOOO well with table food! You pretty much want what we have. New foods this past month have been bagel thins with cream cheese, toast, scrambled eggs(hated), kiwi, grapes, strawberries, clementines, spaghetti(loved!), goldfish, and animal crackers. You are eating 3 solid meals a day.

You are so funny and are constantly cracking us up. You do this thing where we will give you a bite of yogurt and you will clamp down on the spoon. Then you will think it's really funny and try to smile while still holding onto the spoon with your mouth! It makes me laugh every time!

You are a cruising and crawling maniac! You cruise the furniture with ease. You still crawl mostly with your R foot down while dragging your L leg. I was paranoid something was wrong with your leg until I saw you crawl normally one day. I think you can just get to where you want to be much faster with your peg leg crawl.

You love to hand my tiny particles that you find on the floor. I swear I will have just swept and you find every single tiny piece of anything left behind. You will crawl up to me and so sweetly offer me your prize.

We had a fun Valentine's Day this month! We had heart shaped pancakes, opened some presents, made cookies, and went and played at the park at our outdoor mall down the street! It was such a fun day together!

You will sometimes hold our hands and walk, but only for steps. You usually don't care to though. If we try to set you down to get you to walk with us you will not put your legs down! You keep raising them up in front of you until we set you on your bottom!

You are getting very good at playing independently for much longer now. I love to just sit and watch you play with all your toys and figure out what does what.

You are soooo cuddly after your naps! You lay on me for a good 10 minutes and just snuggle!

You love to blow raspberries in the car. We often just spit back and forth to each other and laugh!

Your feline brothers have taught you how to open the pantry door, and it is becoming one of your favorite places to play! I have cleaned up many a messes from your pantry raids!

You said mama this month!!! I don't really know if you are referring to me quite yet when you say it but you are definitely saying it more and more! You also say dada, ba (ball), du (duck),

ca (cat), hi, and dyu (dog). When you see squirrels you say dyu. When you see birds you say dyu. When you see dogs you say dyu. Basically anything that looks like an animal that is not a cat is a dyu (dog).

You love to throw the washcloths into the bathtub as you watch the water fill up. You also love to stand at your hamper and dramatically fling all the dirty clothes out!

We craigslisted a jogging stroller this month! We got an awesome deal and with the warmer weather we got to try it out a bunch! We have taken lots of walks so far, and even a few runs! You seem to really like it. It's nice and padded. You especially love the snack tray!

You started pointing this month! You like to point at ANY animal and say "Dyu!" Here you are pointing at some random seagulls we found in the pond at the park. You always seem to notice any animal wherever you are. You especially love dogs!

You are very much still into waving at everyone and everything. You have been waving at your Baby Einstein videos in the car. If I say "Wanna go bye bye?", you instantly start waving at me.

You are starting to enjoy walking with your walker toys much more. You can walk across a whole room while pushing one. You go really fast too!

You mostly sleep on your belly now.

You are starting to give us the sweetest, slobberyist open mouth kisses. I love 'em!

Once all our babies were well again, we had another fun playdate. This time it was at Devi's and Miss Laine joined in on the fun for the first time!

You are starting to let me rock you more before bed. You are getting more snuggly again, even falling asleep on me sometimes. I will treasure these moments with you forever.

If you have a blankie with you, you will initiate peek-a-boo!

You LOVE junk mail. If you go get the mail with me you will cry and cry until I give you some junk mail to tear up and carry around with you!

Oh my sweet happy girl! How has a full year almost gone by? I have no idea, but I know that it has been the best year of my life! Your daddy and I love you sooooo much! We feel like the luckiest parents in the world to have you as our daughter!

Happy Heart Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love, Reese

I am off today so we are having a fun day playing, piddling at Target, eating lunch, and making Valentine's cookies!