Happy Birthday Reese

A letter to my sweet daughter.....

Dear Reesey,

I can't believe you are 3 today!  I get teary eyed just thinking about it (I am not lying!)  I remember the day you were born so vividly and to watch you grow up these past three years from the sweetest baby girl into a very happy toddler to an extremely inquisitive and curious little girl has been amazing.  I remember when were we just a family of three and I thought, how could I possibly love anyone as much as I love Ashton...and then you were in my arms and you want to talk about the flood gates openning and my heart just exploding for such love for this beautiful baby girl.  You have had your daddy and I wrapped around your little finger since Jun 23, 2010 and have only gotten more people to fall in love with you as the days, weeks, months and years have passed.  You are our princess and a little diva in the making.  While you provide us with challenges (daily) you also give the sweetest hugs and the best kisses...never just one kiss at a time but a minimum of three with the cutest little puckered lips.  Your blue eyes and dimpled cheeks have gotten you out of a lot of trouble and I have a feeling will get you into a lot more in the years to come.  I am pretty sure in your eyes you have two heros that have most of your heart....your Daddy and your big brother Ashton.  You love to be right there with him and he is sweet enough to play with you, almost all the time.  You have a sweet compassion for your little brother too, and often ask where he is and want to make sure you give him enough kisses.  While you have been generous with him as well, sometimes that gets you into trouble....as we learned you can't feed Eli M&Ms or stickers, both of which he was happy to try and eat.  Reese, you are a beautiful little girl both inside and out and I look forward to our special mother/daughter moments and memories we have made and will continue to make.  I love you with my whole heart and thank God for giving me our Reesey Peesey!


XOXO,
Mommy

11 Months Old

Another month down...it's an understatement when they say time flies.  To think I will be writing your year post in just a few short weeks is so bittersweet!  You will ALWAYS be my baby and this month was wonderful!  Time to recap....

Nickname: Eli, Monkey, Booga Bear, Peanut....the list can go on and on but these are the everyday ones

Likes: Mommy, Daddy, Ashton, Reese, clapping, army crawling, eating, being outside, your BED...oh how I love this; stroller walks/runs, a certain purple ball (the yellow one won't do)

Dislikes: Sitting still, sitting on someone's lap, when you are walking around holding him and then sit down...that is a big NO in Eli's mind

Milestones: Clapping on cue, pulling up (3X so far), army crawling everywhere consistently; waving bye bye or hi

Feeding: You are still nursing in the morning and at night and take two bottles during the day; you eat oatmeal for breakfast usually with toast/fruit/yogurt; fruit/veggie puree or finger food for lunch; afternoon snack and then dinner is usually similiar to lunch.  You are not a huge meat fan, I usually find it stuffed in your cheeks about 10 min after feeding it to you.  We are working on more "table foods" but you tend to prefer pureed still so that is a work in progress.  Food I always find frustrating...I did the same with Ashton and Reese in trying to come up with new ideas...I feel like i end up doing different forms of pasta way too much

Sleeping:  You go to bed between 7-8 each night and take roughly two naps a day or one long one.  Your naps are usually less than an hour or if it is just one then you will go two or more.  I am just happy with our nights.  You still have your occassional outbursts but you have really had a good month of sleeping (knock on wood)

Clothing: Some 9 months but really 12 months for the most part.  You are over 20 lbs and have a belly that shakes like a bowl full of jelly to say the least...but it is pretty darn cute.  You are still in size 3 diapers and those fit well.

Firsts: Pulling Up, family trip to the beach...for a nine hour car ride you did amazingly well; slept in the pack in play quite a bit this past month; saying Mama consistently; waving Hi and has said it a couple times

Looking Forward too:  Pulling up consistently and walking around furniture; planning your firsts Birthday party; having your vocabulary expand

Eli you amazes us daily and fill us with JOY!  We love you to the moon and back!!!

Happy 11 Months!!!

XOXO

Please ignore the bruise under his eye.  We had a mishap with the corner of a table...

Beach Trip Part II

Tuesday was an awesome day!  I started each morning with a run on the beach...my calves have never felt such pain!  But to make up for the tightness from running on sand, the guys brought in a lady who gave all of the women massages for mother's day.  It was an hour well spent to say the least.  Then as a gift to our mom's, Jac and I hired a photographer to come and take family pictures.  When you have a group of 15, 5 of which are children, never a good idea.  But I am hopeful that she got some good shots.  We took our own camera and Ellie did a great job just clicking away.

Best.Week.Ever...part 1

We just got back from spending the best week ever in Orange Beach, AL.  This was our first real family vacation with the five of us.  We loaded up the car and drove the nine plus hours in the wee morning last Saturday to check in for 7 wonderful days.  We were not alone, we had a houseful!  Mo, Mimi, Mark, Jac, Cash, Walker, Ellie, Nana, Molly and Grandpa all met up in AL for a wonderful week.  Then on Sunday Nannie Marge, Kayla and Brayden drove over for a few days.  So we had six kids under 5....it was blissful chaos.  We rarely left the house...only for the daily grocery runs.  We had BEYOND perfect weather and the kids had a blast to say the least.  I have a few beach bums on my hands.  It was amazing.  And this is the first of a few posts to come.....

10 Months

Oh Eli, I am not going to lie...I am sad to think in just two months we will be singing Happy Birthday to you.  You are my baby, you are my last baby, and I am trying to soak in all the "baby" things that are left.  I have no doubt that God gave you to your Daddy and I because it was all part of His great plan, but it doesn't stop amazing me how you are doing things at a nice and slow pace, I think that is His way of letting me take it all in and really appreciate each of your milestones.  So, its time to break it all down....

Nicknames: Eli, Monkey, Booga Bear

Likes: Food!  Dude, you have a belly that gets some serious attention and you like to fill that belly more than anything else.  You love being outside and cry when we come in.  You love your brother to "chase" you around (you stay in the same spot and he runs in circles around you....this makes you belly laugh big time).  You love to bathe and really like to kick and slap the water and make a mess!  I have no doubt you will love the pool. 

Dislikes: Being put into your carseat, especially if you have just been outside...as long as your brother is next to you, you usually calm down, but to start with you are not happy to be constrained.  You do not like getting eye drops put (had a little infection this past month).  You are starting to like veggies less and less, but I am determined to feed them to you.  And of course...being left alone in a room.  As long as someone is with you, you are a pretty happy little guy

Milestones: You are ARMY crawling, but hey, its a form of crawling.  I have been worried about your development and while I know you are behind a bit, your daddy, dr and I all agree as long as we continue to see progress then we will let you move at your pace for now, which is exactly what you are doing.  You also have started to work on pulling up, which is a big improvement!

Feeding: You are nursing/bottles 4 times a day, with nursing morning and night, one bottle of breastmilk and one of formula.  You are eating cereal for breakfast still, veggie and fruit for lunch, some small snacks and then veggie/fruit/yogurt or other fun stuff for dinner.  I am trying to introduce more things.  So far we have tried waffles, polenta, black beans, quesadilla, grilled cheese, turkey, chicken....and the only real HIT has been black beans, but even that wasnt welcomed without some resistance.  This will be a work in progress.

Sleeping: You are a catnapper still, but I can usually count on two naps during the day with one being at least an hour, the other usually under it.  At night though you are rocking!  I am not going to go overboard and say you are perfect, but in comparison to past experiences, I will take this any day.  You usually go down between 7-8 pm and will sleep until 5 or 6.  One or two nights a week you still will wake up somewhere btween 2-4.  I try to let you put yourself back to sleep but on occassion I will get you if I can tell you aren't going to soothe.

Clothing: 9 Months but soon to be 12.  You have a belly as mentioned before and some things are a bit SNUG on it.  You are still in size 3 diapers and when we were at the dr last week for an ear infection you were still around 19 lbs 12 oz so not quite hitting the 20lb mark yet...but we will blow past that soon I have no doubt with your appetite.

Firsts: First time to crawl which made me so happy!  You also have starting sucking your thumb...not sure if this is going to stick

Looking Forward to....Pulling Up!  I can see how much stronger you have gotten in this last month and each day I see more and more progress, I really think this month you will be pulling up because you already love someone to stand you up so you can play and grab things that way!

Eli you are so sweet and innocent.  You bring joy and happiness to every life you touch.  We love you so much!  Happy TEN MONTHS!