10 Months!!!

Reese is 10 months old today!!! She is working on getting some top teeth (I think I can see 3 coming in), so it's been tough to get any pictures of her without her hands in her mouth. It's also been interrupting her sleep, which is no fun for any of us. I feel so bad for her! She has gotten SO fast with her crawling, & it's almost impossible to get a decent picture of her anymore. So, today, I resorted to turning on the tv to at least steal her attention & keep her in one place. I could hardly get her to look at me, of course, but at least I got a few pictures of her staying still!










She has learned how to sniff, so we have been seeing a lot of this face lately, & it cracks me up:

I kept wondering why Reese would get super excited & squeal every time I took her into our bedroom. It became quite clear, once I saw this new game that her & Matt have been playing:





My first Mother's Day was wonderful. Matt did a great job of planning a fun day. On Saturday afternoon, he surprised me by sending me for a massage, which was fantastic. On Sunday, him & Reese took me to Wildfire for lunch, & then we spent some time walking around Oakbrook Mall, & it was a beautiful day for an outdoor mall! Reese & I wore our matching hair flowers, & I felt so blessed to celebrate the day with my baby girl. When we got home, I got to take a nap, & then Matt made me a delicious steak dinner. I'm a very lucky lady!







Reese found her refection AND the kitty in the window. I don't know which one exicted her more!



A couple weeks ago, Reese got to wear the adorable sweater, bonnet, & booties that Matt's mom made for her and gave to me as a baby shower gift before Reese's arrival. I've been waiting a long time to see her in this ensemble!










We have been signing some basic words to Reese for a few months now, & a couple weeks ago, she started signing back! She signs "milk" consistently. She also claps for "more" (the actual sign for "more" is to touch your fingertips together). She is still saying Dada non-stop, but I haven't gotten to hear a Mama yet.

Reese keeps getting faster & faster with her crawling, & she can escape a room & find trouble in no time flat. Her favorite thing to get into right now is Bailey's water bowl. It provides endless fun. Well, I guess it does end, because then I wash her hands & she doesn't like that very much. She is obsessed with the stairs, & I feel like I spend half of the day taking her away from them. We really need to put up the baby gates. I keep putting it off because I really don't feel like dealing with the hassle of opening & closing gates to use the stairs. But, it's time to break down & put them up because I don't like making her cry when I take her away from them. We do let her practice climbing them under supervision though, & it's amazing how quickly she gets to the top!!!

Reese will now stand without holding onto anything for decent amounts of time. She is also enjoying walking behind her walk behind toy (what a clever name, eh?). A couple weeks ago (May 3), she took her first steps!!! She took 3 steps for Matt that day, & another 2 steps that weekend, but she still hasn't done it for me. Stinker. Oh well, hopefully soon!

Hoppy Easter!

Hoppy Easter from the Reeseter Bunny!!!! (I can't take credit for that--my Aunt Tracy came up with it.)


Reese woke up to all sorts of Easter surprises. The Easter Bunny left her a monkey basket & a new ride along/walk along toy.

My parents also left her an Easter basket with some new clothes since they are down in Florida visiting my sister. Matt's parents spoiled her with some new toys and an adorable outfit as well. This is one lucky little girl!

We spent the day with Matt's family out at his Grandma's house. Reese got to take her first trip down to the creek since the weather ended up being so nice.







She is in such a fun stage right now, & we are having a blast with her. She started dancing this week, which is hilarious & adorable. She has started puffing her cheeks & blowing, & she really likes it when you blow back to her. She has also figured out (I have no better way to describe it) how to blow on our skin & make fart noises. She will sit & do this forever. It's pretty funny.

She had her 9 month pediatrician visit on Thursday, & she continues to be a perfectly healthy little girl. She weighed in at 18lbs, 13oz, & is 28" tall.

On Saturday, we participated in The Great Cloth Diaper Change. This was an Earth Day event for the Guiness Book of World Records. There were over 400 locations participating worldwide, & over 10,000 cloth diapers were set to be changed at 11:30 a.m. I haven't seen the actual numbers posted, but it was fun to be part of an event to bring some good publicity to cloth diapering.

I hope everyone had a great Easter!!!

9 Months Old!

I apologize in advance for the huge pictures, but I'll be honest: I'm too lazy to adjust the sizes like I usually do. So, enjoy some giant pictures of Reese!!!

It's been a few weeks since I updated the blog....we have been very busy & having lots of fun!!! Our baby girl is 9 months old today. 9 months in...9 months out. It doesn't seem possible.










She loves looking out the front door.



Especially with her puppy & kitty.



She is at such a fun age right now. It seems like she is doing something new every day. In the last couple weeks, she has started waving, clapping, and...CRAWLING!!!!! We officially have a crawler!

She started crawling last Saturday....on the concrete. We were hanging out on the patio, & Matt was bringing out our patio furniture. I was holding Reese, & she started getting squirmy, & I knew that she wanted to get down. I felt badly that there wasn't anywhere soft to put her down, & I set her on the patio & sat down next to her. She immediately got on her hands and knees, & after sitting there for a minute, slowly started to take crawling steps. I don't know if she was just ready, or if she needed the motivation of the hard concrete to keep her from dropping to her belly to army crawl, but she has been crawling everywhere ever since. Luckily, we had our phones there to video tape this big event:



She really loves crawling on that concrete.





Last Thursday, Reese said her first word. Dada. She has been babbling da-da-da-da-da for a couple weeks now, but on Thursday, she definitely said it on purpose, and it hasn't stopped since. We were hanging out in the living room with my mom, Aunt Mary, Emily, and Eva. Matt came home from work, & as soon as Reese saw him, she lit up, & exclaimed, "Dada!". It melted our hearts. I think Matt probably would have shed a tear over that one, but he kept his composure with a room full of people. :)





We have really been making an effort to get Reese around other kids more often, & we have had a lot of play dates this month. A couple weeks ago, Olivia & I took our girls to story time at the library, & then we went back to our house to play. It was opening day of baseball, & the girls managed to get along despite their Chicago team rivalry. :)






The next day, my friends Carollyn and Morgan came to visit with their daughters, Hayden and Quinn. This play date was a bit interesting because Reese had decided that she didn't want to nap that afternoon. She had just discovered that she could stand up in her crib, and that seemed to be much more fun than napping in it. So, she was a bit crabby during our play date, because she was sooooo overtired. Quinn kept squealing with excitement while they were playing, and Reese kept bursting into tears because she would get startled each time. She was much better after she finally took a break for a quick nap.






The next day, we put Reese's hair in pigtails for the first time. Adorable. (Is it okay to say that about your own kid?)



Matt & I had our own big milestone last weekend. We left Reese overnight for the first time! We dropped her off at my parents' house on Friday morning, & we headed into the city for a night. We had a hotel room right on the Magnificent Mile, & we had a great time hanging out in the city. Of course, we missed her, but it was a nice break to spend a day together without watching the clock to be sure that we weren't missing naps, bottles, or meals. It was also nice to be out past 7 p.m., which is Reese's bedtime. Reese did great at Grandma & Grandpa's. She slept through the night, & was happy as a clam. We were happy to get back home to her on Saturday afternoon, but we will definitely do it again! These are some pictures that my mom took of Reese's overnight stay.







Today, we went to the DuPage Children's Museum with Jordan, Olivia, and Audrina. Reese had a blast. There was a lot for her to do there. Surprisingly, she wasn't bothered by all of the noise & commotion. She loved it! I just realized that Reese is wearing the same thing twice in one blog post. How embarrassing.













Well, I think that's it! Looking forward to her first Easter next weekend!