Wiggle Worm

Reese has become quite the wiggle worm in the last couple weeks. She never wants to sit still. When we are holding her, she insists on sitting up or practicing her standing skills. She seems like she is getting close to sitting unsupported. I think that her big fluffy cloth diaper butt is making her balance extra wobbly though. She has started consistently rolling from back to belly, especially if there is a desirable toy just out of arm's reach. I haven't even attempted to get it on video, because I know it's a lost cause. She ceases all normal activity as soon as we get that thing out.

She moves all over the place while she is sleeping at night. She is almost always laying backwards when we go in to get her in the morning (as in her feet are where her head should be), & last night we watched her do a couple 360 degree turns on the video monitor. It's amazing how she scoots all over the place. The other night, she rolled all the way over onto her belly in her sleep, which woke her up & confused the heck out of her. Matt & I went into her room & found her looking around in bewilderment. We only laughed at her for a minute or two before we helped her back onto her back. When she is sleeping peacefully, her preferred position is now on her side. All of this crazy sleeping leads to some pretty hysterical bed head.



Matt also thinks it's a lot of fun to see how much worse we can make it. He likes turning her into Baby Einstein. Poor girl.


We are in the process of getting all of our Christmas decorations up, & Reese loves looking at the lights. She helped Daddy hang an ornament on the tree, and amazingly, we got the ornament on the tree without her eating it.





On Friday night, Matt & I went on our first "date" since she was born. We really didn't mean to wait this long. Time just got away from us, & before we knew it, it had been almost 5 months. It was WONDERFUL to get out of the house & have a nice adult dinner together. Of course, we talked about her pretty much the whole time (what else do we have to talk about??). I did resist the urge to show our waiter pictures of our adorable daughter, but I felt bad because I'm sure it would have made his night. :) We had a great time, & we definitely need to work on making date night a regular occurrence.

We took Reese to get her picture taken with Santa yesterday. Our local dog food store where we buy Bailey's food was having pictures with Santa, & you could reserve your own time slot so that you didn't have to wait in the super long line at the mall. Plus, the pictures were being taken by a professional photographer, so I figured they would be a little better than a snapshot from the mall. I thought this was a great idea, & I thought it would be cute to get a picture taken with Bailey. Our appointment was at 11:15. They were running about 15 minutes behind when we got there--no big deal, right? We got in & got the pictures taken. Reese liked Santa until she got REALLY hot sitting on his suit. She started to get a little crabby, so we decided to wrap up the photo shoot. I was looking forward to getting her home (she was crabby because she needed a nap), but when we got done, it was a TWO HOUR wait to review & order our pictures. And there was no option to view them online or come back later. I couldn't believe it. The WHOLE PURPOSE of doing our photos there was so that we wouldn't have to put her through the wait! So, we sat & waited, & she took a nap in my arms. It wasn't ideal, but it worked out. When we finally got to see the pictures, they had turned out cute. There was a REALLY adorable close up picture of her smiling at Santa, but I felt like I had to pick one with her and Bailey together (even though Reese isn't super happy in the picture). We could only pick one, and that poor dog has been neglected enough, I couldn't eliminate her from the Santa photo. Our pictures will be ready to be picked up in a week or so, & I'll try to do a (probably illegal) picture of a picture to share them with all of you.

I have realized with these last few blog posts that my picture taking needs a boost. When I was home with her all the time, I took pictures CONSTANTLY. Now that I am back to work, I'm slacking. I only have super limited time with her in the morning, & by the time I get home most nights, she is either crabby or in her pajamas ready for bed. I promise to get better so that all of the pictures I share aren't all taken on the same day!

Good News!

We had our 4 month pediatrician visit tonight. The pediatrician feels that there has been improvement in her head. He feels that the flatness is now all across her head (I know that doesn't sound good, but it really is), & not as much one sided like it was before. Now that she is rolling over & will be spending more time on her stomach, he feels that it will continue to round out quickly. We definitely have to keep working on it, but he does not think that we need to see a cranial specialist just yet. We will re-evaluate at her 6 month visit. That is as long as he will let it go & wait for it to improve without intervention, but he is optimistic that it can work itself out. Yay!!!

Our chunky monkey weighs 13lbs, 10oz (50th percentile). She is 24.75 inches long. She jumped from 50th to 75th percentile in this category!!! She is a very healthy & happy baby girl. :) She did pretty well for her vaccines, & she was even in a pretty good mood at bedtime. Hopefully she has a good night!

4 Months!!!

Reese turned 4 months old on Wednesday! She wasn't really in a very good mood for our photo shoot, but we got a couple cute ones.

Last Sunday, we went down to Princeton, & Reese got to meet her 2nd cousin, Eva. Eva was 7 weeks old, & she seemed so tiny compared to Reese. She was so adorable. I don't think she could be much cuter!!! We learned that it is very hard to get a good picture of 2 babies at once. But, we tried.

This Saturday, Matt's family (his Dad's side) had a little luncheon for everyone to meet Reese & to celebrate Mary's (Matt's mom) retirement. It was very nice, & Reese got lots of cute gifts.

We were supposed to go to the pediatrician on Thursday, but our pediatrician was sick, so we are going tomorrow. I am a nervous wreck to see what he thinks about her head. Some days I think it looks better, & other days I think it still looks pretty bad. She is definitely using the left side of her neck now, so I don't think that physical therapy will be needed. Hopefully he does not refer us to a cranial specialist tomorrow. Fingers crossed. I will update with her stats after our visit. I'm curious to see how much this chunky monkey weighs!

Don't worry, it's not a fresh one. :) One year ago today, we found out that I was pregnant. I remember taking the test that morning & then looking back & forth between the test & the mirror for a good half an hour. I kept thinking that I didn't look any different, & it just didn't seem real. It was so hard to comprehend. We had thought that it could take awhile to get pregnant, so when we succeeded on the first try, I was ecstatic, but very surprised. I remember not being able to concentrate at work all day long. I could hardly wait to go home to tell Matt the news (note to self: do not ever take a pregnancy test in the morning again--10 hours is waaaaay too long to have to wait to tell your husband that you are pregnant). We went out to dinner that night to celebrate, & it was so fun to sit & giggle about our little secret. I still can't really grasp that Reese was at dinner with us that night. I can't wrap my mind around the fact that she started out as a tiny bundle of cells in my belly. I grew her. It really is amazing.

But enough of that, that's old news! We have had a crazy busy week. Last Thursday, we flew down to Florida to visit my sister & her family. My nephew, Austin, was turning 1, & we couldn't miss his first birthday party. I'm so glad we were able to be there to celebrate with him. We had a great weekend, & Reese got to visit her 1st new state! She also had her first flight, which went very well. Her second flight (on the way home) was not as easy, but we all survived.

Traveling with an infant was definitely an interesting experience. I had perfectly planned everything out (1st mistake), & I figured that we would wake up & get ready at 4 a.m. Once we were ready, we would very quietly change Reese's diaper, feed her, & we would be on our way. Well, unfortunately, we slept through the alarm clock (only for 1/2 hour, thankfully). Once we woke up, we started scrambling, trying to get ready as quickly as possible. Reese decided she didn't want to miss out on any of the fun, & she woke up tool. She was wide awake & ready to party. I guess she was just super excited about our trip. So, we were trying to rush around & get ready while also entertaining her. It was a bit challenging. Eventually, we put her in her exersaucer to finish up the last few things we needed to do before leaving the house. When we were finally ready, I picked her up out of her exersaucer to put her in her carseat & realized that she had had a complete poop explosion. It was like nothing she has ever done before. It was all over her pants, her shirt, and now, my jacket. Matt worked on taking off her clothes & washing her down, while I went to clean myself up. After a full outfit change, we were finally on the road. It was not the smooth start to our getaway that we were hoping for. Eventually, I will learn, that nothing goes as planned with a baby.

I was wondering how Reese would adjust with all of the time changes while we were gone. When we flew down, we jumped ahead an hour to EST. On day 3 of our trip, the clocks turned back an hour for DST. When we got home, we went back another hour to CST. Somehow, miraculously, Reese was not affected by the time change. She is still waking up 3x a night & refusing to nap just like she was before. Thank goodness! (That's heavy on the sarcasm.) She's lucky she's cute. ;)

Speaking of cute, Reese has started giggling. It is so freaking adorable. She giggles, which cracks me up, which makes her laugh harder, which makes me laugh until I cry. It is seriously hilarious. I keep trying to get it on video, but, just like every other cute thing she does, she refuses to do it for the camera. But, as soon as she cooperates, I will post a video. It will be worth the wait. :)

Here's the little monkey on her 1st flight:

Hanging out in Jacqi's gorgeous backyard:

The big birthday bash:

She enjoyed riding the lamb:

But then she decided it would be more fun to eat it. This picture cracks me up.

She crawled all the way through this entire tube!!!! She wouldn't do it for the camera, so you're just going to have to believe me. :)

Austin & Grandma:

Reese LOVES posing for my pictures.

Seriously, could he be any cuter???

Hanging out at Brian & Jacqi's: