Baby to Toddler

I know, I know, Reese turned one in July. But, I had the "ahhh ha"moment last week where I looked at Reese and saw her as a little girl now, no longer a baby. She is this walking, taking, fiesty little girl who is developing a big personality. She has added many new words to her vocabulary including: "uh oh", "bop" (drop), Nana (my mom), tatee (Jackie-our cat Jack), bana (banana),and peas (please). She can also do sign language for all done, please, and more (thanks to her daycare teachers!!) This alone makes communicating with her a lot easier. I am in the process of trying to teach her thank you.
We have been very busy during the month of September and cannot believe fall has already arrived. We had a wedding last weekend in western Iowa for a close friend. Nana (my mom) came up to Madison and got to hang out with Reese all weekend. They must have had a blast considering Reese cried when she pulled out of the driveway!
Kyle is liking his new job and is a tad overwhelmed with all the new information that has to sink in. Typical new job learning curve that he is working through! I am still loving my job and look forward to going to work each day to see the kiddos. I do miss Reese now that she is in a different room, but I sure do get a HUGE hug when I pick her up in the afternoon :)
We have no shortage of events in October either. Reese and I will be making a trip up to MN to visit my sister's family. I am always SO excited when I can get up there to see them! We will also be hitting up some pumpkin patches, celebrating Halloween (costume in the works), and attending my school's fall party/barn dance at the end of the month. A busy, but fun fall!

Testing, Testing, 1...2...3...

Except for Reese the counting does not stop there. It goes something like "test, test, 1...2...3...4...5...6...and so on." We have entered the stage of testing limits and pushing boundaries! What an exciting time in our lives, not. She will repeatedly do something we tell her not to, only it comes with a smile on her face and a devilish look like "Hey, look at me. I am not listening to you!" :) The little stinker is getting into everything and exploring all aspects of her world, while learning what is ok to do, and what is not. We have a low mantle on our fireplace in our living room, and she tries time and time again to climb up on it. We tell her "no, that's hot" (b/c in the winter, it will be when the fireplace is on), and she looks back at us, smiles, and climbs right on up. Over and over again. Patience, patience, patience. Mine grows each and everyday. It would be a lot easier if she didn't look back at me after I already told her to stop and then smile and do it again :)
This morning I saw her do the sign for "more" for the first time. I was pretty excited as I have been trying to teach her this since she was 7 mo old. She got the hang of "all done" right away, but "more" was harder for her because she just wanted to clap everytime.

Family Photos

A few more shots from our family pictures on Saturday. More to come when we get to see them all, these are just sneak peeks from the photographer: www.nmbphotography.com

Tantrums, teeth, and more...

Wow, haven't been on here to catch up in a while! We have been busy, busy. Labor Day weekend we celebrated with friends and family back in Pearl City. It was so good to catch up with my high school girlfriends and their significant others! This past week was Reese's first week in the toddler room. Not only is she not with her mommy anymore, but she also has to sleep on a sleeping bag at nap (as opposed to a crib.) Tuesday and Wednesday were a little rough. The teacher said she was pretty whiny and stood by the door a lot looking for me. Thursday and Friday were MUCH better. Not one tear was shed and she was a happy girl. She adjusted much quicker than I thought. She is also napping wonderfully on her sleeping bag (about 1 hour 45 min on average), MUCH longer than I ever thought! :)
Since moving to the toddler room, Reese's tantrums have become very exaggerated and they are mostly with me. She will throw her body to the floor and act like the world is ending, all for a diaper change! I think she is taking out her frustrations of not being with me everyday. I didn't know a 1 year old could throw such a tantrum!! I think I am really in for it when she hits her "terrible twos". Must be karma calling for all the tantrums I threw as a kid, right Mom? :)
She is also getting one of her molars, which is causing her a little bit of pain. Nothing a little tylenol can't help though.
We headed to Freeport yesterday for family pictures with Kyle's family. We had Nancy Barker (NmBPhotography) out of Freeport do the pictures. She was GREAT! Below is the sneak peek we have gotten, I can't wait to see the rest! We also headed to the Lena Fall Festival in the late afternoon and met up with my parents as well. I think Reese had a great time, before diving head first into the duck pond! Gross carny water all over her body. Let's just say a bath was needed after that.
Today is a day of relaxation and joy as the Bears kicked some butt against the Falcons. I am busy making some homemade salsa as we speak and hope to get outside this afternoon and enjoy this gorgeous day!!

Reese and cousin Mekenna