Weekend at Mema's

Oh man, did we have an eventful weekend! {Disclaimer: This is a long story.} It all began when I dropped Emmett off to be boarded around noon on Friday. He walked in Sharon's door and peed on her plant. Thanks, Emmett.

Anyways, Wes, Reese, and I loaded up and headed out by 3 for Camden, and it was a trip. We rolled over a piece of tire on I-540, and it tore up the underneath of Wes' company car. Luckily, we were able to carry on and make it to Mema's by 8 that night. I knew we were eating dinner there, but I didn't know she had gone all out on the meal. Ham, potatoes, peas, rolls, and that throwback to the 50s frozen marshmallow fruit salad. And pecan pie for dessert. Delish, Mema. Wes' dad was actually there that night for a deer camp meeting early Saturday morning. Claire (Wes' cousin Ben's wife who had also come for the weekend) and I both said we would love to know what goes on during a deer camp meeting. We ran into a guy who had driven from North Carolina at Walmart the next day, and he couldn't have been happier about making the trip for the important meeting. Claire and I know nothing about deer hunting, so Thanksgiving is always a hoot for us. After listening to Mema cheer on her Atlanta Braves from the dining room table, we finished our meal, hung out and talked a bit more, then called it a night.

Cousin Mandy and her almost one year old Sam arrived mid-morning Saturday, and the party really got started. We pretty much hung around the house all day except for our outing to Walmart for Reese's and Sam's birthday gifts. That was a trip in itself. Woods Place is the place to eat in Camden, so we filled ourselves up on fried catfish, fried chicken, fried hush puppies, french fries, and Mema had her favorite fried onion rings. I'm glad I had a Diet Coke because I'm sure that really helped out my caloric intake for that meal. Ha. Another reasonably early bed time was followed by another glorious morning of Mema's famous cinnamon toast. The time at Mema's was full of family love and the joy that comes from being with family.

Wes, Reese, and I stopped by my parents' house in Conway for an incredibly delicious farmer's market lunch (stuffed peppers, mashed sweet potatoes, squash, purple hull peas, and my momma's homemade peach cobbler). Of course we got to watch them love on Reese for a while before we headed back home. I know this has been a long story, but the weekend got really interesting about 10 minutes after we were home. Reese was ready for dinner, and about 10 seconds after she was in her high chair, she fell out onto the tile floor. I'm pretty sure it was head first. Needless to say, we were both in major tears, and after a phone call to a family doctor who is a friend from church, we kept Reese awake for 3 hours and got her up every 2 hours through the night to make sure there was no slow bleed in her head. What a weekend indeed. We are praising the Lord for His mercy on our sweet girl. So, that was our busy past few days. With sesame chicken and veggie kabobs on the grill (thanks, Cat!) a rice pilaf finishing up on the stove, and Reese on her way down (she's playing in her crib at the moment) for hopefully a good night's sleep, we are a happy family. Enjoy the pictures! (There will be no picture of the banged up head...I haven't taken a good one yet, and I don't think you would really want to see it anyway.)

Nom nom nom. Mema's cinnamon toast.

Are you sure this is the last bite?

The three little rascals at play.

Sam and Reese making sure we know they don't like shoes.

Sam, Reese, and Lucy during music time.

Sweet Lucy and Reese looking out the door.

Reese's first first birthday gift.

At just 17 days older than Reese, Sam got a first first birthday present as well.

Mema made sure 18 month old Lucy wasn't left, so she bought her some bubbles. Here they are just playing with Cousin Mandy and the new lady bug toy.

Woods Place. FYI...some of those styrofoam bowls are holding BIG scoops of butter. Really?

I thought I would put the naked baby pictures on here, but then I got scared of posting naked babies. Is that an issue? Regardless, this shows you that bath time was quite the ordeal...and a pretty humorous one, too.

Sunday morning: Mema and cinnamon toast.

ELEVEN.

Hold onto your hats. This girl is about to be ONE YEAR OLD. Until then, this sweet ELEVEN month old is going to capture your hearts and make you smile. She's finishing up a nap right now, and then we will do our little monthly photo shoot before heading out to pick up two prescriptions for her. Yep, for the third time in her life, she needs some medication. Sweet Pea has a yeast infection and thrush. Thankfully it's not bad at all. I thought it was a diaper rash that wasn't going away, and because Reese has never had a diaper rash, I called the doc to ask for some suggestions. I tried them, and nothing happened. All that to say, we just have one thing added to our day today--running by to get two little applications . This is no biggie, but I was thinking earlier how I want to record this kind of stuff for future reference. I need to get out her baby book that I adore and catch up...I may add that to my afternoon to-do list now that birthday party invites are out and dinner is done for the next few weeks!

I've had several emotional spells lately thinking about my girl. I just love her so much it's crazy.

Onto her stats for the month:

*Because of her appointment this morning, I actually have up to date accurate stats. RRW is weighing in at 20 lbs 0.5 oz.

*Her height and head circumference were taken as well, but that info sheet is in the car, and I'm really comfy on the couch right now. I think she may be somewhere around 28 3/4 inches tall if I remember correctly.

*Sweet girl wears 12 month (or 6-12) clothes. She's pretty much right on target. We bought her an 18 month Patagonia fleece in San Fran, and it's big, but I think I will go ahead and start buying that size for anything fall/winter-ish.

*Typical schedule: Wake/nurse at 7:15ish, breakfast (YoToddler yogurt or baby food fruit and rice cereal) at 7:45, play, nap from 9-10:30/11, gym at 11 or noon depending on the day, lunch at noonish (turkey, cheese, and bread plus some baby food if needed), nurse at 1, nap from 1-3ish, play, independent play time or run errands, play some more, dinner at 6 (whatever we are eating or baby food or whatever else I come up with that day), calm play (haha), bath at 6:45, play a little longer if necessary, nurse at 7ish or a little after, and off to bed!

*Nursing 3 times a day is pretty awesome.

*We usually read a story before naps and bedtime.

*RRW still loves baby food, so I'm trying to find a good balance. Sometimes I feed her baby food just because I think she needs to eat more after she's finished with what she wants of table food, but I think that's just me being paranoid that she's not getting enough. Today for lunch I just let her eat some low fat baked penne with spinach (one of my freezer meals), and that's all she had. Baby food is still an easy, quick solution for getting fruits and veggies in if I don't have fresh ones available when she eats or if I don't have the organic produce I want her to have in the house. I read the dirty dozen list a while back, so I've been trying to buy only organic apples and a few other things, but I just don't get to one of the TWO natural food stores in the entire area often enough. We need a Whole Foods. Anyone???

*Vacation was so great for Reese. She napped for 4-5+ hours a day for almost a week when we got home, and she's still rockin' with naps this week. I do think she is wearing herself out more these days though.

*Speaking of wearing herself out, she is crawling FAST everywhere and pulling up on everything. No signs of walking yet. If she's standing up and decides she wants to go even three feet down on the couch, she sits and crawls and then stands back up. She has stood on her own for a few seconds a few times.

*Reese likes to talk. She has lots of noises and sounds in her repertoire but no real words other than mama and dada. And I'm not sure we can consider those to be "real"words yet. We like to think she knows what she's saying.

*I also like to think that she's begun signing "more" a few times here and there while in her high chair. Maybe it's wishful thinking, but it's something. She smiles and throws her hands and arms up over her head sometimes, and it's so cute. I just wish I knew what she was saying by that.

*She falls asleep at places other than home without as much of a fight as she used to--for the most part. And at home, she just knows to go to sleep. It's cute, and I LOVE watching her on the monitor.

*RRW has had a few sips of organic whole milk, and I think she will semi-quickly grow to love it. We are trying to get her used to it before I leave her over Labor Day for a retreat...that's all she will get that weekend unless I can figure out how to pump more than 1/2 an ounce at a time. So, my plan is to offer her a cup at one meal time every day until then. If I weren't going away before she turns one, I would just wait to introduce it until then, but this retreat is throwing a kink in the plans. I'll resume nursing after the retreat and continue the weaning process more quickly once September 18th comes.

*Reese Peese loves to crawl all over me, play "Where's Reese?" with me, and dance with me. These are some of my favorite moments of the day. That infectious smile and the "absolute best sound in the world" laugh are just too much.

Enjoy some pictures from this morning's session. We have scheduled the one year photo shoot with a REAL photographer, and I can't wait.

My big 11 month old.

Still got the same look as she always has, but she's way more than doubled her weight and added about 8 inches in length. That head has grown, too.

RRW still has grayish-blue eyes, and I'm just wondering if they will turn brown in the next few months. They look a lot darker in this picture than they really are...I "enhanced" the photo on iPhoto, and they went dark.

Reese's "playroom"

I said hold onto your hats, and I meant it. I know you are all smiling right now.

Reese and her buddy, Emmett. She loves playing with his tags.

Seriously?

I'm not sure what has happened, but I must be having blogger's block. I don't really have much to say except that I'm sorry you are having to stare at a picture of me by myself at the top of the blog. All of my pictures aren't on my hard drive right now, so I had few to choose from when trying to make my blog "my own" today. I think I may resort to hiring someone to customize it soon. I would enjoy creating it myself, but I don't have the right software for that.

Until Thursday, which is when I hope to be writing on Reese's 11 month birthday, I'll leave you with one heck of a random list.

My Thoughts Today:

1. All Reese wants to do these days is crawl all over me. It's cute, and she actually pushed off from my knee yesterday and stood on her own for the first time. For 3 seconds. She was SO proud.

2. I've rejoined the meal swap crew, and I am rather giddy about the big swap tomorrow. I have 6 freezer meals made, and I'll be making the other 6 tonight. That means I'll be bringing home 10 meals tomorrow. (2 that I'm making are staying in my freezer for this little family right here.) And these meals aren't just your typical freezer meals. They are GOOD and good for you. Yippee!!

3. I love my discipleship girls. Not only are they wanting to be fed and grow in their relationships with Jesus, but they are excited and praying about finding others to disciple. How cool is that?!

4. The Kappa house. I love it, and I miss it this week. I worked a morning of rec sessions last week, and this week is recruitment. Soooo many crazy times going on RIGHT now, and I would love to be in the middle of it.

5. Reunion weekend. Speaking of Kappa, I'm really hoping that all of my besties are going to be able to come for our reunion in November. Lauren, I'll fly to B'ham to drive the boys back here with you. :) I'm committed.

6. Reese is napping like a champ today. 2 1/2 hours this morning and going on 2 hours for the afternoon snooze.

7. I'm so incredibly proud of my husband. He finishes a program he's been involved in for a couple of years tonight, and I wish I could do more for him to celebrate. I did find a good lookin' chocolate chip cookie recipe on Pinterest, so I think I'll make those for him. And me. He deserves the whole batch though. I have a wonderfully dedicated, hard-working, and smart husband.

That's all of the thoughts I'll list today. Come back in a couple of days for some really cute pictures of a really cute 11 month old.

California Love

I could easily write a post dedicated to each day of the trip, but I'm too anxious to share lots of pictures! Maybe I'll still break up the trip to give you some fun details and even more pictures this week in between laundry, cleaning, going to the gym, and lunch dates, but for now, I narrowed down my favorite 20+ pictures to show you an overview. We had a wonderful trip to San Francisco and Napa Valley this past week, so enjoy the week in images...

(I don't know why, but my pictures don't upload as clear as they really are. Any tips??)

Morning #1. Allen took us up to see a great view of the city that's really close to his apartment while Dad and Reese napped. Without going into detail today, I'll just say that the trip out there was exhausting.

Visiting Stanford and seeing Uncle Al's name and photo in the English department.

Strolling over to the campus church.

Family photo #1.

After leaving Palo Alto, we drove the 17 mile scenic drive and visited Pebble Beach.

We stopped in Carmel for some really "cute" shopping.

And Reese got her first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean. Two oceans under 11 months.

And she touched her second ocean, too. This is right before the water hit her feet.

A must for the trip...seeing (and trying on) a friend's designer clothes at Barney's. Joseph Altuzarra was one of Allen's good friends and roommates from college. He now is a for real designer. I mean, his clothes are displayed next to Stella McCartney and Zac Posen.

This cable car ride WILL be an entire day's post.

Evidence of the above statement.

More evidence.

Let me explain. This is one of the designer dresses.

The view from our apartment's rooftop deck. You can see Alcatraz way out there.

It was CHILLY up there.

Heading out for a day of shopping and eating in the city.

A sweet bookshop was having a little children's party, so we stopped on in for a few minutes of sing-along time.

Allen's apartment.

Golden Gate Bridge as the fog was lifting.

Reese taking in the bridge from the Tahoe. Look closely and you can see her picture taken with the GGB. That's all we got...she had just woken up, so I didn't feel like getting her out of there.

First stop in Napa Valley...V.Sattui for lunch. This is one of the places I remembered visiting on our trip in 1998.

Reese's first winery.

Little Walker family photo.

Family Photo #2.

Reese and Daddy taking in Mondavi.

First hot tub experience. Mom and daughter only stay in for a minute before sitting on the edge.

Date night!! Mustard's Grill in Yountville.

My handsome husband.

Happy to be with my partner.

Tour at Frog's Leap. LOVED it!

Wes and Allen learning all about the no drip system here.

Very "artistic," right?

Reese checking out the sheep.

Hoping that bottle was already empty.

Family photo #3.

Sad to go, but at this point, we were ready to be HOME. None of us love a day of flying.