Chatty Cathy

Ba, Ba, Ba, Ba, Baaaaa....this is what I hear non stop from Reese. She has turned into Chatty Cathy, talking alllll the time. This morning she just said Da, Da, Da for the first time, and of course Kyle jumped right on that (even though she was not referring to him) :) I also, was a very talkative child, if you can believe that!My mom said she always knew where I was b/c I was talking non stop, and if I was quiet, that is when she needed to come see what I was doing. I have a feeling it is going to be the same way with Reese.

Reese turned 7 mo.this past week. She is now:

sitting up all by herself
grabbing everything in sight
rolling over multiple times
eating oatmeal cereal and baby food
fascinated with our 2 cats
talking up a storm
has her two front, bottom teeth
getting up on her knees while lying on her stomach, trying to crawl (god help me!)
loves her bath and being in the water
recognizing her name, looking at us when we say it
weighing about 18 lbs and wearing 6 & 9 mo. clothes

Obsessed

So I have a little bit of a new obsession, taking good pictures. I have been learning how to really "use" my camera, and do things manually...like setting the f-stop and working on finding the perfect shutter speed for each picture. Whether she likes it or not, Reese has become my little model :) She does quite well, and actually enjoys the camera! I have always liked photography, but now, it is SO much fun when you get a great picture. I am really looking forward to getting better and better with it. Practice makes perfect!

This weekend we went to the Children's Expo at the Alliant Energy Center. Reese was in heaven watching all the kids run around and looking at all the booths and demonstrations. She met Elmo, danced along to a kid band, watched a Karate demonstration, and gawked at a firetruck. It was a nice family outing.

Last week Reese went though a growth spurt (or at least I think so) and was waking up in the middle of the night to eat. Finally, she slept the entire night again last night, and it was awesome. Hopefully she keeps it up!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures I have taken this weekend..

Our kitty, Jack

Jolly Green Giant

Aidan, Reese, and Aubrey

2 little cutie pies :)

Aubrey 10 mo., Reese 6 mo.

This past weekend (while Kyle was in Nicaragua for a friend's wedding) Reese and I headed North to visit my sister and her family. We made the trek with my friend Jennie, and her almost 2 year old daughter, Ada. Jennie's parents live about 10 min from my sister, so it worked out nicely. We had no major meltdowns or catastrophes, and the girls traveled great.

We had a nice weekend with the family. I always get a kick out of Aidan and all the new things he has learned since I have seen him last. This time, it was his ability to question everything, even a question :) He has a very inquiring mind and wants to know how everything works and the reason anything happens. Aubrey is a little chatter box and is on the move, crawling about and watching Aidan romp around the house. When I say Aubrey is little, I mean it! She is this little cute petite girl, and this is why I reference Reese to be the Jolly Green Giant (not quite a Giant) but bigger than Aubrey. Aubrey is 4 mo older than Reese, and Reese is more "solid" that Aubrey. Her hands are twice the size, and I even feel like she weighs more.

I got the chance to take Aidan to Kyle's hockey game on Saturday afternoon while Courtney stayed home with the girls. I had a blast with him. He was so funny, telling me about all the "rules" of hockey, of which I have no clue. It was neat to hear his interpretation of the game.

Little Miss Reese has not been sleeping well since this weekend. At first, I attributed it to being in a different place over the weekend. Then we we were home Sunday night, she was up multiple times, crying and hard to console. I know she can make it through the night w/out eating, so I figured she was not waking up due to hunger. Monday night and last night were just as hard. We were up about every hour and half last night. I would let her "cry it out" for about 30-40 min, and she still was not going back to sleep. We just stopped her ear infection medicine this past Saturday, so it had me wondering if it could be another one. I took her to the dr. today, and both ears are just fine. Thank goodness. Her bouts of night waking must be due to either teething or growing. She has her two front bottom teeth popping through, and she has also gained about 1 lb. since Feb. 1st. (She was 16 lbs 7.5 oz on Feb 1st, and was 17 lb 5 oz today). I can just hope that tonight goes a little smoother. I have become "afraid" of the night again like I was the first weeks of her life when she woke every 2 hours to eat. In the words of my mom "Oh the joys of parenthood!" :)

Poor Baby...

Reese has had an interesting week I must say. We had 3 (well 4) things happen this week that made it a little tough on her. First, she had 4 shots on Tuesday at her 6 mo appt. Then on Wednesday, she woke up with a really runny nose (part of an existing cold) but it was hard to stay on top of it since it was runny non stop. Then on Wednesday night, I put my finger in her mouth to check around for teeth, and sure enough, her bottom right tooth is popping through. To make matters worse, she just was not sleeping well on Friday, and was VERY crabby Friday night, and was tugging at her ears a lot, so I had Kyle call urgent care of Saturday morning so we could get her checked out. Sure enough, she has another ear infection, in her left ear this time. He said it was not too bad, but he wanted to get her on antibiotics right away since she just had one in her right 4 weeks ago. My poor baby....what a rough week. The doctor put her back on medicine, and hopefully she will start feeling better soon. We have had lots of cuddle and snuggle time with her these past couple days. I can't imagine having an ear infection, a cold, and a tooth coming in all at the same time :( Praying for a better start to this week...

SNOW DAY!

I'm sure ALMOST all of you reading this have in some way been affected by the blizzard (as it took up almost half of the U.S!) Snow in Madison started yesterday around 4:00 p.m., and was very heavy. Thank goodness I got home around 3:45, because the Interstate and Beltline were a mess! Reese was supposed to have her 6 mo. appt. yesterday at 4:30, but they called and asked to move it up, so Kyle took her at 3:15. She received 3 regular shots, and the first round of her flu shot. We have to go back in a month for her second flu shot. According to Kyle, she did pretty good (I think it was harder on him). They both got home around 4, when I did and she drank a bottle and went to sleep for almost 2 hours. Here are her 6 mo stats:
Height: 27" (87%tile)
Weight: 16 lbs 7.5 oz (56%tile)
Head: 42 cm (33%tile)
She is getting longer and losing weight, but still within normal range.

Kyle spent the majority of the morning digging/blowing us out. It took almost 2 hours of snow blowing and shoveling to get it clear. I was sure not heartbroken that I had to stay inside with Reese. It looked nasty out there! The snow has stopped now and we are bracing for below zero temps.

In conjunction with the blizzard, our hot water heater went out (of course). After Kyle got done shoveling, he then tackled the task of fixing it. After 2 hours, lots of cuss words, and a blow dryer to melt the ice away from the exhaust outside, he managed to fix it. So much for a relaxing snow day!