Goodnight!

Merry Christmas to All and to All a GOODNIGHT!

Makin' a List

And not in the good sense. Cameron and I are both off work next week. But do not be confused...there is plenty of work to do at home. Here's a list of all the things we need to do over the next few days:

1. Clean out my closet
2. Clean out Reese's closet and bathroom
3. Clean out spare bedroom
4. Clean out den

Are we seeing a theme, here? And yes, it is only four things, but if you saw all four of these things, you'd understand why this is a very daunting task. Let me just put it in perspective here...the "den" used to be a 2-car garage. And it's full...of stuff. Don't know where all this stuff came from or where it's gonna go, but it's down there. There are three sofas down there. Well, I know that some of this stuff will need to go in the attic, but that's gotta be organized first! So, there's lots to do and not very much time to do it in!! Hope everyone has (had) a wonderful Christmas!

New York State of Mind

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Not even sure if anyone out there is still reading or still cares...but I promise to catch up over the holiday!**********************************************************************************

So, I have officially turned the big 3-0! Almost a month ago, actually (at least when I first started this post!). Guess you could say I'm having a hard time admitting it, as evident by the delay in this post. Cameron said until he turned 30 in April, he was going to call me his "old lady". Thanks, honey! In all seriousness, thirty is not the worst thing that could happen. Especially, when your hubby whisks you away to NYC to celebrate. And that's exactly what we did!

Cameron and I left the Saturday before my birthday and returned that Tuesday. We arrived around lunchtime on Saturday and headed into the city. After almost 2 hours (I'm not exaggerating) we arrived at our hotel. We stayed the Carlton in midtown. It is a really cute, smaller boutique hotel on Madison. It was a great mix of contemporary and classic. Saturday afternoon we spent at a bar called Firefly, aka the Georgia bar, to watch part of the UGA/Auburn game. It was pretty fun because we were actually winning when we left...which of course, didn't last! Because you don't go out of town on one of the biggest rivarly gamedays and not manage to squeeze in some of the game!

We ate such good food it was ridiculous! The night before my birthday, we ate dinner at Upstairs at the 21 Club. All I have to say is Best. New. York. Strip. EVER!!! After dinner we went to see "Promises, Promises" starring Kristin Chenoweth and Sean Hayes (with a small appearance by Molly Shannon). It was very good and funny. The next day we went to the Met and saw some pretty amazing art, walked around Central Park and took a carriage ride. We hit the theatre again for a matinee of "A Little Night Music" starring Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch. Also very good and Bernadette Peters was amazing...truly a Broadway legend!! We ate my birthday dinner at Aureole. It was, as Cameron says, at little more "Top Chef" than the 21 Club. Also very good! Our last day was spent just wandering around the city, doing a little shopping, and of course, some good eating! We ate our last meal at the Stanton Social, a very chic tapas restaurant. I'm telling y'all...we didn't put a bad thing in our mouths the enitre time we were there! This is only the second time I've been to NYC and absolutely loved it...but was absolutely ready to come home. I missed Reese and just the slower pace. But I can't wait for next time. Too much to do and see for a three night stay. But at least I can say I rung my 30s in in style!!

Genius Baby?!

The following montage is what happens when you ask Reese to "put his paci in the compartment."

So, I'm not really sure if this is something a normal one-year-old could do, or if Reese is just a genius! Well, I have my biased opinion! One morning we were just hanging out in the den and I said, "Reese, can you put your paci in the compartment?" I was blown away when he actually walked over to the activity table, opened it up, and stuck his paci in there. I thought it was surely a co-incidence, but everytime I asked him to do it, he did! Then, he usually opens it and takes it right back and sticks it back in his mouth. I mean, where did he learn the word "compartment"!?!

Here are some other things he's doing that I think are pretty smart:

When I ask him "who am I? What's my name?" he very enthusiastically responds: "Mama!". He does the same when we ask him about Cameron..."Dada!"

He rolls his trucks on the floor while blowing raspberries with his lips (don't know where he got that...I didn't teach him that!)

He knows that juice and milk are two different liquids and he cannot be fooled!

He knows and says "quack, quack!" when you ask him what the duck says.

When you ask him if he wants to put on his pjs he walks to his room, when you ask him if he wants to go wake up Mommy or Daddy he starts walking back to our room.

He will pick up his brush and "brush" his hair.

He can point to his teeth and point to your nose.

I'm sure there are many other things he can do that I am leaving out, but those are the things I can remember for now! He amazes me daily and I love to see his little wheels turning in his head and the light in his eyes when he figures something out. The little mind is wonderful!!

Lions and Tigers and Bears...Oh, My!!

Well, maybe just lions!! Okay, maybe just one lion...but he sure was a cute little lion. Reese was a very scary lion for Halloween. Since he was so little last year (read: barely 1 month old) we did not dress him up last year. So this was his first real Halloween. Our next door neighbors invited us over on Saturday for a chili supper and trick-or-treating. There were probably about 40 kids that ended up being there. They had four vehicles pulling trailers of hay for the kids and parents to sit on. Reese and Cameron took off on a trick-or-treating adventure. That lasted ten minutes. I stayed behind and about ten minutes after they left, Cameron came walking through the door. Apparently Reese didn't care too much for the noise of the ATV he was being pulled by and started screaming. So they got out at the first house and walked back home. Oh, well...maybe next year. Enjoy the pictures of our scary little lion!!

If you look closely at the last one, you can see Reese's pumpkin has his name carved in the mouth!

Giveaway at Across the Branch!

My friend, Ashlee, at Across the Branch is doing an awesome giveaway. However, the deadline in Sunday so head over to www.acrossthebranch.com to enter for your chance to win a couple of awesome handmade wooden spoons!

or click: http://www.acrossthebranch.com/2010/10/busy-fall-weekend-brings-my-first.html

12-Month Stats

We went to Reese's 12-month well-baby check up last week and Reese is growing like a weed and pretty much perfect. We have so much to be thankful for with this child. He is just the sweetest, most precious little boy! Here are his 12-month stats:

Weight: 22lbs 14ozs (50%)
Height: 29inches (50%)
Head: 17.5inches

Apparently they measured his height wrong last time, because I assure y'all...he did not shrink. At least his clothes tell me he did not shrink. He's already having to wear 18 month pjs!! I'm not liking all this growing he's doing so quickly!

Big Pimpin'

Y'all think Reese likes his big boy seat?!

Happy 1st Birthday, Reese!!

Dear Reese,

Happy 1st Birthday, Sweet Baby!! I can't believe you are already one year old. Really you are a little over one year old. Once again, Mommy is a little late. We celebrated your birthday the Saturday before with a party of family and a few close friends. You were very blessed with lots of fun toys and some cute clothes. It was like Christmas! You did so well with the crowd and all the attention. You even showed off your new walking skills. That's right!! You are a walking little boy now. You had been taking a couple of steps here and there, but exactly a week before your birthday, you started taking lots of consecutive steps. By the time your party rolled around you were getting more and more brave about how far you'd try to go.

On your actual birthday, we got you a cupcake and some more balloons. And, Daddy got Mommy some flowers. You dove into the cupcake with no hesitation! You were a little hesitant about your duckie smash at your party, but you still did a pretty good number on it, too!

Your new skills are way too many to even try to keep up with. You are getting so good at word recognition and remembering things. Your fine motor skills are awesome and you can easily press a little button with the tip of your finger. You bring things to me without me holding my hand out. I just ask you and you'll do it. You know what your basketball, ball, duck, books, and a few other things are and will look for them in your pile of toys when I ask you where they are. You have learned how to say a few words. You can say (in addition to mama, dada, and "du"ck) uh-oh, whoa, bye-bye (you can wave, too!), ba-ba. We're still working on a few things! I'm sure there are things I'm missing, but you just learn so much every day.

You are still an eating machine and love to feed yourself finger foods. You have gotten to love cheese so that's becoming a must have. You haven't really changed much in the amount you eat, but you are starting to get some formula that has lactose in it and seem to be tolerating it fine. You are wearing size 3 diapers, size 12-18month shirts and john-johns, and size 9-12 pants. We'll find out your official stats next week at your 12 month check-up.

The party spread. We had spinach dip, fruit and cheese, turkey, ham, and pimento cheese sandwiches, chips, chic-fil-a nuggets, and cookies!

A close-up of the cookies! They turned out so cute. My friend over at www.thehunniepot.blogspot.com, aka, Linsey McCord Freeman, made them.

Reese's cakes. His duckie smash cake and the cake for everyone else.

A close-up of the duckie!

Look at all his toys and presents!

That camo hat almost works...hard to see the birthday boy in amongst all his goodies!

The red wagon from Mommy and Daddy

I'm not so sure about this, Daddy!

Mmm...this is good!

Big mess!

Trying to take a family picture, but I'm the only one paying attention...Reese is trying to feed Daddy!

Waiting for his cupcake on his actual birthday.

Oh, I remember this!

Yum!!

Getting more into it!

Big 'ol mess!!

Reese, you are such a joy and we fall more in love with our sweet baby every day! We love you!

love,

Mommy and Daddy

Teeth!!

Reese's two teeth! Only took us three weeks to post about it...obviously Reese is not a fan!

The Lost Month...11 Months Old!

Dear Reese,
Mommy almost let you turn one year old without talking about you being 11 months old! It was a big month for you. Very shortly after you turned 10 months old, you got your first tooth! About 1.5-2 weeks later you got your second tooth. I wouldn't say you are the worst teether, but you were not a happy baby! You also had a virus around your mouth (Hand, Foot, and Mouth) around the same time. You were kinda puny all round. However, you never had a fever...just a runny nose.

When you got your teeth, something clicked in you and you finally started feeding yourself! I put out some puffs and you just shoveled them in. We are still working on the sippy cup, though. You're not quite there. You are still a really great eater. You like the Stage 2 meats now, which is a surprise. We usually give you puffs to feed yourself while we fix your food and then you eat about a container and a half of food. You love cold fruit as your dessert, too! You are still getting four bottles of formula a day and you usually take between 5 and 6 ozs during the day and 7 and 8 ozs at bedtime.

Reese, you are so busy! I have never seen a baby that is as busy as you are. If you are awake you are moving. Most days we have to make you be still in order to calm down enough to realize you are sleepy. You would probably stay up and play until 10pm is we'd let you! You love getting into to everything. And you like to climb. You are so funny how you like to climb up on whatever you can put your knee up on. Mommy and Daddy are gonna be in trouble when you start walking. You are figuring out so many new things everyday. You love sliding the lid off your box of blocks and dumping them out. Then you like for Mommy and Daddy to stack them up really high so you can knock them over. You are getting more patient about waiting till we're done stacking, too. You have a ring stacker that has a button on the top that makes it light up and play music. You love taking all the rings off and reaching out and pushing the button and dancing. You have really gotten into dancing! It's really cute. You are a cruising machine, Reese! It won't be long till you're running around here.

You are such a joy to watch grow and learn. We love you very much!
love,
Mommy and Daddy

Vacation? Not So Much!

Let me just start off by saying that family vacation definitely takes on new meaning with a baby! There is no sleeping in every morning, or staying out on the beach under the umbrella all day. We still had a great time, just different! Ever since I was a little girl, maybe 10 or 11 years old, my family has taken our summer vacation to Ormond Beach, FL. Ormond is just north of Daytona, but far enough away to not be crazy crowded. It is a very family oriented place. After feeling out some different places, we settled on one particular condo complex and started staying there at the same time every year. Turns out, there were several families with kids our age that stayed there at the same time. So we kind of "grew up" together at the beach. I used to get so excited every year to see my beach friends. Well, this year we went in August, instead of July and stayed at a different place, because we needed a 3 bedroom and there isn't one at our usual place. It was so not crowded, which was nice because we never had to wait at a restuarant! I had not been to Ormond since the summer before dental school, so it had been 7 years. I love it there and so does my family. Cameron got pretty sick of us always talking about Ormond, so I think he's kind of over it and could not care less if he ever goes back. Oh, well! His loss!

I love how wide the beach is at high tide. Lots of room for Reese to crawl around!

It rained a lot in the afternoon and it was really neat to see a storm come up on the water. There were always a few shrimping boats out there that just stayed and rode out the storms.

One afternoon after the storm, there was a gorgeous full arch rainbow over the water.

If you look very closely you can see it was a double raindbow! It was so pretty since it was still so dark over the water.

The condo was very nice! It was 3 BR, 3 BA and had an extra little room that was a study, which worked great for Reese's pack n' play. Reese really liked exploring and could usually be found in the corner of the kitchen pulling bags and boxes of ziplocs off the shelf.

Reese did a lot better with the beach this time. He loved crawling along the shoreline and splashing in the tide pools...as long as he was away from the waves. Still a little unsure about the waves and noise! But he sure did enjoy trying to eat the shells and seaweed.

Feeling the wet sand.

Hey, this is actually fun!!

Off I go!

Our good family friend, Ashlee (at http://www.acrossthebranch.com/) and her hubby, Brad, and little girl, Blair were down there at the same time for a little while. Blair was so sweet and loved sharing her toys with Reese. Reese, on the other hand, was not so willing to share! He could use some lessons from Blair!

One of Reese's favorite games was to climb on the foot of my chaise lounge and then climb off it. One time he tried to do that with noone sitting in the chair and ended up face-planting in the sand. He was so pitiful, but it was just too funny to not take a picture!

Swimming like a big boy!

Playing with Aunt Emmie.

It was definitely different, but we still had a good time. Now, if only I got a vacation to recover from my vacation!