Reese's first birthday

REESE IS ONE! 

Now I have a one year old and a five year old. Life is crazy, but I'm really enjoying the stage we are at right now. I think I've even said that before. Reese is such an easy baby. So complete opposite of her first 4.5 months of life. We were all so miserable back then, its amazing she has such a sweet disposition at this time.

We got our check-up at the Dr. yesterday. (Maddie also missed school for the first time. She was running a fever and had some cold-like symptoms, so I took her in for a sick visit with Reese's well visit. It turns out she has strep throat. A first for Maddie.) Reese weighs 22lb's 75% and is 29 in. 75%.

A few things to add on to last month, Reese can now go from crawling to sitting to standing while holding onto furniture. She can move her feet a couple of steps, but that's about it as far as cruising. She will move her feet a little bit if I hold her hands also.

She plays well by herself, even if she is getting into EVERYTHING. Her favorite is to mess with the TV sound system and turn it off and on. Reese also imitates well. I am trying to teach her sign language starting with "more" and "all done". I am actually impressed at how well its going.

Reese also has a new game she learned. When you ask her "where did Reesey go?" she will cover he eyes with her fists, hold for a couple of seconds then show her eyes again.

Reese still loves to cuddle - especially before bed time and she still loves her lovie giraffe. I don't usually let her play with it outside of bed time, but when its with her, she will take him wherever she goes.

She is still in size 4 diapers and wears 12months clothes (not for much longer) and mostly 18 months.

For her birthday we had a small gathering and the Theme was Reese's Pieces. I had a lot of fun with that. I will probably be doing that theme again in the future. This theme was also easy to do at this time of year. Everything is orange and black, so it wasn't hard to find.

We did some crafts

This is Reese's classic face

Reese had her own smash cake, a large Reese's Peanut Butter Cup (only it was a vanilla cake with chocolate icing) 

Reese's monthly photos on the mantle. 

Kindergarten

School. It has begun. At least this time its not for me. Although it might as well be since I'm also the one having to wake up at the crack of dawn to get sister fed and ready to go. Maddie has to be there at 7:20 a.m. and it's been rough on all of us. She has told me before "Can you not wake me up and just let me wake up by myself?" oh how I wish I could let you do that.

Her first day was an exciting/terrifying day. We had just moved into our house the Friday before, so this was a lot of change in just a 3 day period. Brian had taken off of work for the move, so we all went together to drop Maddie off. The Kindergarteners were gathered in the cafeteria and that's where we were supposed to drop them off. (new system, not quite happy about how they decided to do things this year) We stood there with her for a while, but melt-downs started happening when the parents where dismissed. Brian was holding Reese and Maddie had her arms wrapped around my leg as if her life depended on it. She was almost hysterical. I could not let her go. I had to call Brian for re-enforcements. He gave me Reese and peeled Maddie off of me so he could try talking to her. I took Reese and walked out of the cafeteria before I went hysterical like some of the kids. I did see other moms crying as they were walking away too, so I wasn't alone.

It went kind of like how I imagined. I had been gearing up for this day since May, so there where no surprises. According to Maddie, the day went really well and according to Brian, (who takes her to school on his way to work) drop off for the rest of the week went well. On Friday of that week we where finally able to meet her teacher (Maddie didn't get her teacher assignment till Thursday afternoon) We ALL once more dropped her off at school, saw her classroom and met her teacher. She again had a minor melt down, but this time her teacher was able to comfort her and she had a great rest of the day.

Maddie is loving school. She still comes home tired from the long day and still misses the fun special activities she did at preschool, but I just have to remind her shes in kindergarten now and shes doing things she didn't get to do in preschool. I am nervous about the high expectations they are placing on kids these days - its amazing the academic expectations they have for these little kindergarteners already. Its forcing them to grow up to fast and that's sad.

 I look SO tired!!

  

 

Maddie and her teacher

Second week of school. 

Moving in

We have been in our new house exactly 31 days. We closed a month ago yesterday and its hard to believe we have had so many life changes in such a short time span.

On Friday morning, Aug. 23rd Brian and I left the girls with my mom and we came out to the house for our final walk-through. Surprisingly we had blinds on our house and I was very happy to see them. There had been a mistake in our order so we weren't supposed to get blinds for another 3 weeks. After our walk-through which took about an hour, Brian and I drove to Terrill to close. I don't even know why they use a closing office in Terrill, but whatever. It didn't take us as long to get there as we thought so we had time to venture out into the city.

We started our venture at a family owned TexMex restaurant. I told the host we needed a table for two and his replay was "smoking or non smoking?" Smoking? what? I haven't heard that in years! It caught me so off guard. I guess I need to get out more.  We ate leisurely and still had about an hour and a half to kill, so we walked down to a family owned furniture store and played on their recliners. When we got bored with that, we decided to google a Home Depot location because we new we had to buy lots of things necessary to keep up a house.

Finally it was time to head to the closing office. All day I was worried that for some reason our money wouldn't fund. I think I've heard too many horror stories, and even though Brian assured me that we where in no danger of that happening, I was still on edge. We signed all sorts of papers, and obviously our money funded and I could sigh a sigh of relief.

We drove back to the house to get our keys and started the move immediately. All four of us spent the night in our new house that night and continued the move through Saturday. We actually still have a few yard toys that need to be brought over here, but for the most part, we are pretty settled...

That is, until last weekend when it rained and our "office, craft room" got flooded. There was a problem with the roof and now we are waiting for it to be fixed. Everything had to be boxed up again and thrown into the garage. Annoyed is really the word for what I feel about it. I understand and accept human error, however they are kind of dragging their feet on getting it fixed. We will see what comes of it.

Partial family photo. Brian was still at the other house loading up the truck. I loaded up my car and my moms car and we headed for the new house to get the girls settled. 

Our first meal together in the new house

I will blog about the first day of school later when I get around to it.

Reese - 11 Months

Lots has happened in the past 3.5 weeks. One of which Reese turned 11 months on the 4th. I failed at getting her picture up here mostly because of how busy we've been AND because it took Verizon 2.5 weeks to get us hooked up with cable/internet. I had no connection to the outside world except through my tiny little iphone which was under limited usage because we only have so much data we can use. But those doom and gloom days are over and we are up and running again!

Reese turned 11 months on the 4rh and this month she has learned lots of new tricks.

The two biggest ones is that she can wave back at people when they say buy buy and wave to her. She can also clap her hands together now. I was particularly excited about this one because I wanted her to be able to clap her hands for her birthday. 

She can also give kisses when prompted to. She has been able to do this for a while, but I just got a photo of it.

She is still army crawling, but she is able to stand while holding on to something without support. She may be one of those kids who go strait to army crawling to walking. We will see. She loves her new found independence and her favorite thing to do is crawl under the side table away from the living room towards were our dog lies and annoy her.

Reese still eats the same kinds of foods as last month. I'm having a hard time being creative in what to give her- since I'm trying to move away from pureed foods, but they still need to be soft enough for her to be able to chew with her 8 front teeth.

This past weekend (on Friday night) was also a first experience for us. Something she ate (something I gave her, mommy fail :( ) made her sick and she threw it all up. She was in bed trying to go to sleep when it first occurred and of course it got EVERYWHERE. Poor thing. We had to completely strip her bed and give her a bath. Fortunately it only lasted a couple of hours, when there was nothing left in her tummy. She was exhausted and fell asleep while I rocked her, then we put her in the pack-n-play in our room for the night. I'm so glad it wasn't a stomach bug!

Reese wears size 12-18 or 18-24 month clothes and size 4 diapers.

I cant believe she will be a year old next month! Where has time gone?

Reese- 10 months

Oh wow, we are WAY past due with this one!

Reese has been 10 months since the 4th of this month. Today is the 20th, and I am just now getting around to taking her picture and posting it. I'll just say, there has been a lot going on this month. There has been a lot of packing and de-cluttering and organizing. None of which I have been very motivated to get accomplished.
Its been very hot, and trying to pack up things you and your kids use on a daily basis is nearly impossible. I think on Thursday I'm just going to get a box and shove everything else left over into it.  Showers and personal hygiene is overrated. I told myself the next time we move, my kids will be old enough to pack up their things themselves.

Here, Reese is being a helper while I pack up her room.

Now, about Reese:

This past month she has tried and eaten a lot of different foods and she loves them all. Last night I made spaghetti for dinner. I threw some meet sauce and noodles in the baby bullet just to get the large chunks out and gave that to her for dinner. She loved it. She still only has about 6 front teeth but she gums that food like a champ! She has also tried cut-up bananas (not mashed) cut up peaches and black beans. I like that she is starting to feed herself. This is new territory for me since Maddie ate pureed foods till she was 15months old. Maddie would not want anything to do with "real" food.

 Reese is still in size 4 diapers and wears 9-12 month clothes and she can get away with wearing 12-18 months as well depending on the brand.

Reese has also started crawling this past month. Its more like an army crawl, but it gets her places. She can go from sitting to crawling, but hasn't figured out how to get back to the sitting position. She has also started trying to pull up on things, like the bumper on her crib.

Reese isn't saying any words other then typical baby babble, but she understands quite a few words. She understands: Reese, No, come here, kisses (and she gives kisses when asked) dance, bounce and milk. Any time music is playing she will sway her body back and fourth as if dancing and she will also fake laugh. This is hilarious. I cant explain how she does it, but its really funny. She can also whistle. I know, my baby is a genius. She puckers her lips and blows in, which makes a whistle sound and that's how she woke me up on the monitor this morning. She also loves to imitate us. Whistling, blowing raspberries, laughing...Her personality has really developed this past month. I can also see traces of tantrum throwing in our future, but hopefully we can nip that in the bud.

Reese is a sweet sweet baby and I cant get enough of her. She also loves playing with her sister and Reese knows when Maddie is not in the car with us. It will be interesting to see if Reese notices Maddie's absence while shes at school.

I love my sweet girls!

Last Contruction Update

This will probably be the last construction update (even though this is only the 2nd one on here). We will be closing in 2.5 weeks so everything is pretty much done at this point. The main things left is the concrete for the sidewalk and driveway, appliances and minor touch ups on the inside. Here is what we have so far in pictures. I forgot to get a photo of the finished brick/stone, but that will come later. I also know its past time for Reese's 10 month post, but I haven't been able to get her picture yet. Hopefully I'll get that tomorrow. 

Brick on the back

We got tile!

one of the upgrades we chose was to add tile all the way up to the living room. 

Master Bath

Master shower- don't know what i took that crooked. 

Entry way

Guest bath (girls bath)

Kitchen

Counter tops 

Master shower with bench and grout added

Counter tops in master bath

We got our fixtures!

Tile and counter tops in kitchen

Back of the house coming along- it took FOREVER to finish the brick on this house. 

Fixtures in master bath

Magazene rack in the master bath.

girls bathroom with fixtures

Front entry fixtures

Master bath- DONE!!

Master bedroom with carpet- DONE!!

Kitchen/living room floors DONE!!

(This is not our front door. They will put the one that goes there when they get closer to finishing) 

Girls bath -DONE!

Laundry Room- DONE.- Its not interesting, but we do have one, so I thought I would show it.

Maddie's Room- Finished. I made the window seat cushion the other day as well. 

Reese's Room- Done. (minus the window that wont lock. It got damaged when they had to remove the window and move it up several weeks earlier, and since then it wont shut all the way.) 

4rth bedroom/office/craft room- Done!

Dining room/Play room- Done!

Back view of the living room. 

Almost done with Brick/Stone.

Frame for the front steps and side walk

I really cant believe we are already here. We started this process in April and back then, August felt like a lifetime away. I feel like I have a million things to do, but at the same time, I can't really do those things until the week we move. How do you pack up toys and everyday things when you and especially your kids use them everyday? Also, can I just talk about the fact that we close on Friday the 23rd and Maddie starts Kinder the following MONDAY? If I don't make any public appearances a few weeks after that, its because I will be in the house "unpacking" and not huddled up in the fetal position trying to remember life before my 5 year old became a big girl, going to big school, making friends on her own and living her life without me.