Top 10 in 2010

2010 has been a big year in our home. My friend Christin just blogged about her Top 10 in 2010, and I'm copying her idea. I'll list the big moments chronologically because it's way too hard to rank them. Geez, it's just tough narrowing the list down to ten. Wes suggested I only use three for baby related events, but I told him that wasn't possible seeing that we found out Reese was on her way only four days into the new year, and she's pretty much been the focus of 2010. You will notice, however, that I did include several non-baby moments so that our lives don't appear to be so completely encompassed by the birth of our daughter. Ha. That means that I had to take out Reese's first time to church, her first holiday, and a few other baby moments in order for us to look like we have a life outside of Reese. And indeed we do; it's just that when I think of the best moments of the year--preparing for, the arrival of, and loving on Reese just take the cake. She outshines the other things that happened this year in our lives. So I guess if I had to rank the moments, Reese's arrival would be at the top. Regardless, enjoy the list...

(Beware: A lot of pictures are to follow.)

**Well, this one is actually the last picture taken of 2009, so it didn't make the list. I just think it's a neat addition to the post. Wes and I went to Copeland's on New Year's Eve and enjoyed discussing the decade we had been together. We talked about the big highlights of each year and tried to predict what the future would hold. Hehe. So fun.

1. We are having a baby!! (January 4) The extra week of Christmas break due to the snow storm was also known as the greatest week of all because I found out I was pregnant on Monday morning and was able to have an entire seven days to get out my excitement via googling baby stuff instead of being tempted to tell my co-workers at school. Really, this was a great moment. I couldn't believe God had really given us this blessing of expecting a child.
(the beautiful snow from our front window)
(my first prego week-by-week shot...week 4 I think)
(our first glimpse of B-Dub)
(announcing the news to family...yes, they look happy here, but just wait to see their faces on September 18th.)

2. The Kitchen Makeover (March). After enjoying the brick red walls and dark brown cabinets for 2 1/2 years, I was ready for a major change. Green walls and cream antique stained cabinets have completely opened up our kitchen and made it so much brighter. Since then, we have added hardware that completes the look so well.

3. It's a girl! (April 20) I really had convinced myself we were having a boy simply because I have an older brother, and I just assumed that's the order our children would be. However, when we found out we were having a girl, we couldn't have been more excited. My mom brought up the first of MANY loots of girl stuff the next day before we left for a Dallas wedding.

4. Four Weddings and Four Babies!! (April through September) Two of my best college girlfriends were pregnant alongside me this year (Lauren with twin boys and Brooke with a little girl), and we got to support another bestie Beth at her wedding in April. I also had the major honor of being a bridesmaid for three best friends from my childhood. It was such a special year of celebrating babies and marriages of such incredible friends.

(Lauren with Hudson and Thomas in there, me with Reese, and Brooke with Stella) **And a few of my dearest friends here in NWA had babies this year, too. I don't know where I would be without their friendship and encouragement.
(Beth's wedding in Dallas)
(MP's wedding at Greene Chapel)
(Liz's reception at Hendrix)
(before Brittany's wedding at Greene Chapel)

5. Fabulous high schoolers. (All year) Well, now they are in high school. Last year, they were eighth graders, and not only did I teach 110 of them English, but I coached 12 in cheerleading, and I led (and still lead) a load of them in a Bible study. They easily make the list because they brought so much joy to my life and made my job so incredibly fulfilling. I am very thankful that I still get to see so many of these special guys and girls often at cell group events and around town now that they are driving. Yikes.
(Mrs. Walker's homeroom)
(Two of my incredible girls, Maris and Chelsi. These two, along with several others, were some of my cheerleaders and are now some of my favorite people on earth. We get to meet almost weekly and talk about what God's doing in our lives and make each other laugh A LOT.)

6. VACATION!! (June 27-July 3) And this will be the last one with just the two of us for a while. We thoroughly soaked up every moment of relaxing together and exploring the Naples area for a week thanks to the wonderful family of one of my students.
(Well, I guess it wasn't just the two of us, but Reese was very easy to take along on this trip.)
(Captiva Island)

7. Generosity of others. (July) Woah. Wes, Reese, and I were showered beyond belief. I don't think Wes and I have had to buy one thing for Reese using our own money until this month. Thank you so very much for the extreme generosity given to us this year. I know I can't ever thank everyone enough. And I need to give a shout-out to the generosity showered on us during our stay in the hospital. It brings tears to my eyes to think about the love, prayers, visits, and food we survived on for those 12 days.
(Some of the aftermath of the Conway shower)

8. Reese's Birthday! (September 18) I don't think I need to say much here, and I know several of these pictures have already been posted, but they are worth the extra exposure. The pride and love I saw on these people's faces after learning that Reese had been born make me so happy.
(That's one proud new daddy.)
(And four extremely joyful grandparents.)
(Definition of happiness.)
(A moment I will always remember. Reese had been taken back to the ICN for oxygen treatment, so my parents came in to see me for the first time. What a reunion.)

9. Taking Reese home from the hospital!! (September 30) I remember sitting in our room waiting for the nurse to bring Reese to us so that we could take her home like it was yesterday. I was going to be able to hold Reese for the first time without any cords or wires, and I could hold her any way I wanted. I fed her, got her dressed, and then I just stared for a long time.
(She was staring at us, too.)
(Home. Sweet. Home.)

10. The Holidays. (December) You just read all about our Christmas in Conway in my last post, so I'll stop here.

(These five older cousins adore her, and it was so fun to celebrate Christmas and the holiday season with them.)
(Our little family.)

**Tonight, New Year's Eve 2010, Wes is taking me out to Bonefish Grill for another wonderful dinner date. It will look a little different than last year's date as we will have a 3-month-old in a car seat next to us, but it's guaranteed that a good time is to be had with lots of really great conversation on this big year that's coming to an end.

A Very Merry Christmas

Wes, Reese, and I just got home from a wonderful week in Conway celebrating Christmas. We headed out as soon as Wes got off work last Wednesday, and we made it back by 10:30 this morning to pick up Emmett and enjoy one last day at home before Wes hits the real world again tomorrow. I knew this holiday would be special with Reese, but boy, it was simply beautiful. To see her smile and to see so many others smile because of her makes me so happy.

Here's a rundown of the week's events because it's so much easier to list today:

Wednesday: took Reese to the Promenade to visit Santa in between packing up for the week--ate a late home-cooked dinner when we got in that night

Thursday: enjoyed visits from Christin, Brittany, and Shaleah during the day--laughed and shared lots of stories with the Vammen family when they brought down homemade pizza for dinner

Friday: made a few last-minute shopping trips--took a trek to LR to deliver some Christmas gifts--enjoyed the most amazing shower before church (I love getting to take as long as I want in the shower when family is around to keep Reese company)-- went to the Christmas Eve service at FUMC (Reese slept the entire time)--ate a fabulous dinner with the family--got in our Christmas pajamas--watched part of A Christmas Carol--read THE Christmas story with Reese in bed

Saturday: checked out what Santa brought in our stockings--took lots of pictures of Reese on her first Christmas morning--exchanged gifts with Wes (he did amazing as always)--"air lifted" Patsy up the stairs into the house--dined on mom's incredible Christmas brunch--exchanged gifts with the family--sang carols around the piano--drove across town to Gran and O'Pa's house for the night--opened more gifts--ate Dixie Pig barbeque sandwiches

Sunday: went to church with O'Pa--napped with Reese AGAIN--drove back across town to my parents--celebrated Big Creek at the Smith's

Monday: watched Wes try to cram everything into the car (mom will be taking a trip up here to bring what we couldn't fit)--enjoyed a wonderful breakfast at 7 am--got on the road and made it back home in 2 1/2 hours.

*Of course I'm leaving out lots of snacking on mom's fudge, good conversation, staring at Reese for hours on end, listening to her "goo" and watching her smile over and over again.

*I had to pick from the 100+ pictures taken. If only it didn't take so long to upload pictures on here, I would post way more images of this holiday. You readers are probably glad this is the case. I did, however, try to pick pictures that represent most of our holiday happenings.

The first visit to see Santa.

Sitting on Uncle Allen's lap...and everyone staring at her cuteness.

The Frost-Vammen pizza dinner.

The kids before heading to the Christmas Eve service at church.

Mopsy and Popsy loving on Reese during her first Christmas morning. These two are absolutely head over heels for this girl and take every opportunity to love on, play with, and hold sweet Reese.

Santa filled her stocking.

Our Christmas pajamas.

Accordion entertainment at the end of exchanging gifts.

Reese's custom family tree...a surprise gift from Wes.

Reading from the Mother Goose book given to Reese by Uncle Al.

At Gran and O'Pa's Sunday morning. Sad I didn't get a good pic of Reese with her fabulous Gran and O'Pa.

Big Creek Christmas.

Really?

Have these last two days really been this busy after just mentioning how laid back our December was/is? Regardless of the craziness of the last couple of days, I wouldn't trade one minute of them. They have been incredible.

Monday: Clean house, bake symphony brownies, make meaty cheese dip, get ready for a home full of some of my best friends and our babies, meet Thomas and Hudson, and simply enjoy a full house of people I love so much.

Reese sandwiched by two studs, Thomas and Hudson who were born just 8 days before her. I was soooo ready to meet these guys, and I'm amazed by their wonder woman mom, Lauren. :)

Can it get much cuter?

Add in Stella, and I think it can! Oh my goodness, I LOVE these kiddos.

We knew this get together would be funny.

Oh, I could post LOTS of pictures of these sweeties.

Tuesday: Shower before Reese wakes, Target run, Walker cousin Christmas lunch and gift exchange, another get together to spend time with the twins, a LONG trek home through TONS of traffic, pack for Conway!

Reese slept through the party, so instead of her being photographed, here's me reading the gift these sweet cousins gave her. They got her a book called My Very Own Name, and if you need a gift idea for a baby, this one is it. Google it. It spells out her name with different animals, and I CANNOT WAIT to read it to Reese. She will love it forever.

The rest of the gift exchange...lots of books, tutus, Littlest Pet Shop, Star Wars, coloring books, Barbie DVDs, and my favorite--Zoobles. :)

1st Annual...

...Holiday trip to the Mercy ICN. I've been wanting to make this trip for some time now, but I figured the holiday season would be a good time to make the trek. Plus, it will become one of our Christmas traditions for our family. During Reese's 12 day stint in the ICN at Mercy, the nurses poured so much love on her and basically saved her life. I don't want to sound like I'm exaggerating, but I'm pretty certain that I'm not. A few of the nurses noticed something a little more than just simple oxygen problems the first night of her life, and they decided to draw blood to check it out further. And we know that what they found was Group B Strep, and they found it quickly. It's extremely risky and scary to miss catching it early, and I will be ever grateful to the concern and diligence these nurses took. I feel like we got to know all of the nurses so well as we were in there every three hours for two weeks. They are incredible. I could go on and on about the level of care they give, the knowledge and advice they gave me as a new mom, and the love they share to all of the babies and families. I look forward to taking Reese up to the hospital each year, and before we know it, she will be able to help me make the cake and maybe even write on the Christmas card.

One of the main things I want Reese to learn at an early age is to love others and show Christ's love to them, and I'm a big believer of putting words into action. I pray that God dwells in her heart and gives her the desire to love him and all of his children. I pray that this new tradition is a good step in leading her to see the joy that comes from loving others.

May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else.

1 Thessalonians 3:12

The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.

Psalms 126:3

Here's how our Sunday afternoon looked today:

We started by explaining to Reese what we were going to do. Bake a chocolate chip pound cake (my fave, and I told her she would have a bite of one before we do this again next year), wrap it all up, write a thank you note to the ICN nurses on the back of our Christmas card, load up as a family in the car, head to Mercy, ride the elevator to the 5th floor, and give the cake to whatever nurses were working that shift. Of course I also told her all about how the nurses took such good care of her, and we just want to thank them.

Reese was very into the baking process. A girl after her mother's own heart.

The delivery!

1/4 of a Year

You read it correctly. Reese is 3 months old today. In celebration of the big day, she slept from 6:45 to 9:00 in the bed with mom and dad this morning, took an hour long nap with no breaks, went on a shopping trip with daddy, had two separate photo shoots (different outfits involved), slept 2 hours on me and continued to sleep while I was eating a s'more that Wes made on the fire pit, and hopefully will enjoy a drive to look at Christmas lights at the downtown square after her next feeding.

Here are the stats on the cutest 3 month old I've ever seen:

*RRW is becoming more predictable and less of the "irregular" baby I knew last month. One of the ways this plays out is that I know she will only sleep 45 minutes before waking up from her naps crying.

*Reese still LOVES bath time and splashes everything and everyone around her due to the excitement of being in the water.

*Baby girl has rolled over a handful of times from her belly to back, and tummy time is definitely more enjoyable. She just looks around while propping herself up on her elbows.

*B-Dubette enjoys just hanging out on her mat staring at her giraffe and elephant hanging in front of her face.

*Sweet girl holds onto a few toys, and she grabs my clothes all the time.

*RRW is fascinated with her hands. She wants to put them in her mouth, open and close them, move them all around, but mostly just put them in her mouth.

*Reese sleeps from 8ish at night to 8ish in the morning. It's not that simple though; I feed her around 10:30 as her "dreamfeed" and then again around 4am when she wakes up crying.

*B-Dub has been a trooper through my THREE bouts with mastitis.

*Reese knows who I am, and I think she likes me. If I'm missing for more than a couple of hours, she lets whoever she is with know it.

*Little girl is becoming social. She smiles and coos when someone talks to her, and it's the sweetest thing--even when it's in the middle of a feeding.

*RRW wants to sit up at any possible moment. She can easily sit up against something on her own, but she obviously needs to have assistance at any other place. Reese also loves to put weight on her feet and stand. I think she's pretty proud of herself for sitting and standing these days.

*And to report on the elimination of Zantac, she is doing great without it. No more spit-up than before, and no more fussy behavior than before either.

I am so in love with this sweet girl. Enjoy looking at these beautiful pictures.

Okay, so this first one is just funny and proof of her desire for her hands to fit in her mouth.

Photo shoot #2 of the day. Christmas card attempts.

I wish you could see her outfit better, so I'll just tell you she's wearing an incredibly cute ornament onesie, skinny jeans, a beautiful and artsy headband, and felt Christmas shoes. It's so much fun dressing her.

And this is my motivation for getting out Christmas cards this year despite the fact that it's 7 days until Christmas...I. LOVE. CHRISTMAS. CARDS. I clear off this window of whatever was being showcased right before December and just watch it fill up with pictures of our wonderful and beautiful family and friends.