Well, Reese still likes to eat (and in reality, it's the only time she holds still long enough for me to take her picture, so I tend to take a lot of pictures of her eating. I hope it doesn't give her a complex when she gets older).









This was her face after she took a can of black beans out of the pantry & begged to have them for a snack on Friday.



She has also been enjoying cooking & baking. We built her a helper tower about a month ago. She can climb up in it and be at counter height to help with things. We are hoping that it helps her frustration level when the baby arrives & we can't always pick her up. She is really enjoying being able to stand up high and help with things. We baked cookies a couple weekends ago, and she had a blast.











After the cookies were baked, I was even a nice mama & let her eat half of one. I'm really loosening up, haha. I showed her how to dip it in the milk first. She was so excited to dip her cookie, and to drink out of a cup with no lid unassisted.











Reese wore her Blackhawks jersey through the playoffs, but she couldn't bring them the luck that they needed.





Enjoying the nice weather & some bubbles:





A couple weeks ago, Reese and I took a trip to Build-A-Bear to make a bear for Reese to give Baby Brother when he arrives. Baby Brother is taking a trip to Build-A-Bear to make a bear for Reese this weekend. :)

She enjoyed watching the bear get stuffed, and she added a heart and a lullaby. She gave him a good bath before we boxed him up to take him home.





We had a great time celebrating Mother's Day this weekend. On Thursday, Reese and I spent the day with my mom. We went to the children's museum for a couple of hours, and then took her out to lunch. We went out to Matt's grandma's on Saturday to see Mary and Grandma Rosie. Reese made pictures for my mom and Mary, and she was so proud of them. She kept saying, "I painted the hand and the fingers!!!" It was so cute.







Matt and Reese let me sleep in on Sunday morning, which was so appreciated because I have been so tired lately, and it's getting tough to get good sleep between being uncomfortable & making lots of midnight trips to the bathroom. While I slept in, they colored me a picture and made french toast. They gave me a sweet card and a gift certificate for a pedicure (which is awesome since I can no longer reach my toes!). They also ordered me a new sling for the new baby, and I can't wait for it to arrive this week! I am a very spoiled and lucky mama. :)

We headed up to the Sox game in the afternoon. The weather was perfect, and Reese was really good. She got to meet Southpaw. She was intimidated at first, but she touched his pink hair & his hands while holding on tight to my arm. And then she had a total meltdown. She started bawling & asking to go back to sit in her "big girl chair." So, we headed back to our seats. Reese proceeded to talk about Southpaw for the rest of the day. "I meet the Southpaw! I give him the hi-five! See him again? Where did he go?" She spent the rest of the game looking for him, and then she got really excited when she saw his picture in the hall. So funny.







We finished the baby's room last weekend, and I love the way it turned out. It was mostly DIY, I made the curtains, changing pad covers, mobile, and the elephant pictures, and Matt climbed up in the attic and wired a ceiling fixture & a dimmer switch, since the room didn't have any lighting. It was very time consuming, but it came together really nicely. I can't wait to snuggle the little guy in there. :)















And last but not least, Reese has become quite the entertainer. She loves to sing, and was using this flashlight as a microphone while we were working in the baby's room. I know I'm a little biased, but I think this is the most amazing performance of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Ever.



Oh yeah, and I'm huge. :) 36 weeks tomorrow!

Happy Easter!

Reese had a great Easter. It was so much fun to see her excitement to get baskets and to find eggs this year, and she has had plenty of opportunities. Last weekend, we had Easter with Matt's dad's side of the family. She had a blast finding eggs, chasing the other kids, and digging in the dirt. You could tell how much fun she had by how filthy her clothes were. It was good to see our neat freak little girl get down and dirty.

This past Friday, we went to my mom and dad's house for an early Easter celebration. My grandma and Uncle Ron were supposed to join us, but had to stay home sick, which was a bummer. Reese got an Easter basket from my parents, and she had fun finding the eggs that were hidden around the living room. It was also opening day for the White Sox, so she was looking adorable in the dress that (Cubs fans) Grandma Mary & Uncle Brian got her. :)





On Easter morning, Reese got her basket from us and enjoyed an egg hunt here at home. She was so serious and focused while she looked for them, it was hilarious. Her eggs were filled with puffs, and she was excited to dump them into her bowl and watch them accumulate each time she found one. She was a total stinker all day while I tried to get pictures of her, and she kept telling me, "put it away," every time I tried to take her picture. I still tried.



Checking out one of her new puzzles.







Looking for eggs:



Pointing to one that she found that she couldn't reach:



Enjoying the fruits of her labor:



Reese had to keep moving her basket to try to keep it away from Moxie, but the kitty was persistent.




Mmmmm, carrots.





We headed out to Matt's grandma's for Easter lunch.  Reese got to enjoy another egg hunt on the farm.









Matt's mom made her a Yo Gabba Gabba quilt, which she loves.  My mom said that all she wanted to do is hide under it all day today.  She sent me this picture while I was at work.



Last weekend, Reese enjoyed modeling the sweater and hat that Mary made her for Christmas. She looked so cute, and she totally knew it.









She has been obsessed with playing play dough lately.  She will sit with my mom and play for over an hour, but she always eats it when I play with her and we have to cut it short.  I'm not sure why she does so well for my mom!






She has really enjoyed getting outside with all of the nice weather we have been having.  My mom brought an easel over.  Reese loves coloring with chalk, dry erase crayons, and painting with water on the different surfaces.


She was enjoying some play time outside on St. Patrick's Day while she was all dolled up to go to a party with Matt's family.







Sometime since the last blog post, we made it up to the children's museum.  We have been members there for almost a year now, and it was really amazing to think back to our first visit there when she was barely crawling, and to see all of the things she has learned to do and take an interest in.  She loves it there, and we will definitely be renewing our membership!









We have also had a couple play dates with Audrina.  The girls play really nicely most of the time, but there are also plenty of moments to work on our sharing skills. :)







Getting that last picture of her looking at the camera and smiling was pretty much a miracle. This is the reaction I usually get when I try to get her to smile for a photo.



We also made it to the Brookfield Zoo with my parents last month (the zoo in tank tops in March--fantastic!!!).  We made great time working our way through the exhibits because every time Reese would see an animal, she would look at it, name it, and she would be ready to move on.  We heard a lot of, "Zebra.  Another one?  Another animal?"  This girl doesn't mess around.  She found a tree to "hide" behind and play peek-a-boo.











Reese has been such a sweet mama's girl lately.  She has been saying, "I missed you!" when she gives me my hug each night when I come home from work, and I fight the lump in my throat each time I hear her sweet little voice say those words.



I still can't believe how much she is talking, and her vocabulary seems to get bigger by the day.  The way she is stringing sentences together just amazes me, and it's so fun and so funny to hear the things she says.  She is singing all the time, and her favorites are Row, Row, Row Your Boat, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, and any song that they sing on Yo Gabba Gabba.  She has started singing really loudly in public to get attention (but then she acts really shy when someone notices her).  She's a character.

Last but not least, our baby boy is growing perfectly. We are going for bi-weekly OB visits now. Reese is really good when she goes to the appointments with me, and she likes to hear the baby's heartbeat (even though I still don't think she has a clue what it all means). He is kicking like crazy, and the kicks are becoming really painful at times. Reese never hurt me, this boy is rough! I feel like I'm getting so big already, I can't imagine how I'm going to feel in 9 more weeks.  One of my patients saw me today and said, "Oh! You're having another baby! I could see it in your face. It's fuller." People are really just too sweet.











We have been working on the baby's room, so hopefully I'll have pictures of that to share in the next post!