Reese 2.5

Eight days later...Reese is two and a half. September is and forever will be a BIG month in our house. Graham's Birthday, Reese's Birthday, Wes' Birthday. Football season. School getting under way. Busy, but I look forward to September so much already. There is so much to celebrate.

Reese's personality and little character has developed so much in the last six months. She has gone from speaking in 2-3 word phrases to carrying on full conversations. We can reason with her very well, and she's proven to be obedient and compassionate. Reese is quite the ham, and she's also content to observe. As I type, she's watching Veggie Tales next to me on the couch with her proper posture, ankles crossed, and totally engaged.

When Reese wakes up in the mornings, she starts singing. And talking. and pretending. Her first song she began to sing on her own was Wheels on the Bus last summer, but she quickly acquired new favorites including Jesus Loves Me, the ABC's, Trust and Obey, God is so Good, Away in a Manger, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and the list literally goes on and on and on. While shopping in the bread aisle at the grocery store last week, Reese was singing Old MacDonald and Farmer in the Dell when several other shoppers began to laugh and encourage her to keep going. I quickly responded with "She'll be singing 'til she goes to sleep tonight."

Not only does she sing, but she talks and talks and talks. Although her main pronouns are still mostly mixed up, that doesn't slow her down one bit. She makes herself clear by mentioning the person's name after the pronoun in case I didn't catch what she was trying to communicate. She also has associations really well. Mention an event, a person, etc. and she will tell you whatever is associated with that. Oh, and one of my favorite quirky communication traits of Reese's is the way she says what she expects someone else to say to her. "Hey, Reese." "You have such a pretty dress." "Thank you, Reese." These are just a FEW examples of this, and I love it. I started to correct a few words months ago only to witness them correcting themselves before I knew it. Therefore, I make sure to communicate correctly to her, but I'm not going to correct her. It's going to happen, and then I'll miss how she says words. "nilk" just turned to "milk" and my heart sunk a bit.

The fabulous world of pretend has entered our home. I find Reese carrying on conversations with her baby dolls, stuffed animals, and herself. They aren't too elaborate, but pretend is beginning, and it's awesome.

The saying "Obey all the way, right away, and with a happy heart" is one I like to follow. Reese does really well with obeying, but we struggle with the happy heart part. Some days it's wonderful and self control makes an appearance, but most days her heart is on her sleeve. She's a dramatic toddler, and her fair share of tears have been shed.

Reese loves hard and laughs loud. She gives the best hugs, snuggles a lot, and she sympathizes with anyone who appears to be in pain or sad. Especially people in books or shows. "Oh, I'm sorry, George." She likes to hold Graham's hand, and she's grabbing mine right now. LOVE her.

Reese can make Graham laugh out loud, and she does the same to most people around her. This girl is funny. She loves making funny faces, silly sounds, and picking out my shoes. She loves to dance, walk with her eyes closed (yikes!), and carry her "guys" around the house with her. These guys are her lovie, blanket, kitty cat, kangaroo, and baby doll.

She's extremely persistent (you must acknowledge what she is saying), she loves help, she loves her friends, and she asks for hair bows on a daily basis. She loves stickers, iPad games, princesses, legos, matching games, and puzzles. She asks for honey bear sandwiches (PB, Honey, and Jelly), yogurt, smoothies, cereal, cheddar bunnies, and chocolate milk.

It's been such a blessing to watch this little girl grow. I love her with all of my heart, and I find myself just staring at her in amazement. She's got a head full of curls and a heart full of love and kindness. She still adores books and learning, and I so look forward to the second half of her third year.

Halloween 2012. 

Mothers Day Out. October 2012.

Halloween 2012.

November 2012. Crystal Bridges trails.

December 2012. Christmas card pics. And an odd warm day.

 Oh. October again.

Ham. December 2012.

December 26, 2012. Conway. 

December 2012.

Throwback to 1987. Two and a half year old momma and Moppy. See any resemblances?

We said good-bye to the pacifiers at the very beginning of 2013. Here she is drawing a picture for the Paci Fairy.

Laughing with daddy February 2013.

Like mother, like daughter and son.

Debuting her new red shoes. February 2013.

Funny Faces. February 2013.

Crystal Bridges. February 2013.

Spring is coming. And friends are plentiful. Bentonville Square, March 2013.

Graham 0.5

Mandy, I stole your post title idea. Hope you don't mind.

Graham is SIX months old. That's half of a year, folks. I was just telling some friends at the park on Friday that the day he was born feels like yesterday and at the same time feels like 10 years have passed. I am so thankful that we have made it to the SIX month mark. It's a day to look back at the first six months of Graham's life and remember the sleepy weeks, the pacing the hallway evenings, the middle of the night feedings, the first smiles, the first laughs, and it's a day to thank God for Graham's health and the joy he has brought to our little family. Little Graham is so much fun, and he makes us all smile every day. 

Graham has been waking up around 6:30, and sometimes I get him to sleep until 7. He nurses, eats breakfast, and then plays until about 8 when he goes down for his morning nap. (The timing may change with DST that just started this morning.) He eats again around 10 and then either takes a mid-day nap if we stay home, or he gets toted around while we make our outings for the day. Depending on whether it's an at home day or an errand day, he naps again at 1 or 2ish. What's interesting is that we are out and about, at BSF, or on a different schedule with MDO most days, so the mid-day nap isn't very common. He sometimes falls asleep in the car during our errands. He always nurses again around 1 and then again around 4 after his nap. He stays up until dinner around 5:30, and then he either watches a Baby Einstein/Praise Baby or takes a bath before books, breastfeeding, and bed at 6:30. Note: He does wake between 3-5am some mornings, but he just needs a simple re-insert of the paci.

Graham loves the Jumperoo, practicing sitting (he can go several seconds on his own, but he definitely needs support), watching Reese, rolling both ways with his own interesting techniques, grabbing everything, and trying to figure out how to put the paci in himself. this has happened a few times, and it will be a glorious day when he reaches for one in his crib and gets it in on his own. Graham is WAY better at self-soothing than Reese was, but I still look forward to this skill. He's overall a super laid-back happy baby, and I am so thankful.

We had a great month full of Moppy and Poppy visits while Daddy was away skiing and on a business trip, play dates with friends, and a few encounters with spring-like weather. Here are some pictures to recap the past month.

Daddy-Daughter snuggles 

 Jumperoo love

Moppy and Reese at Crystal Bridges playing I Spy with a painting

The awesome kid area at the museum

cute little guy

Super laid-back and such a happy baby

We ALL loved Moppy's visit.

Making silly faces with Mommy

Museum kids area

Poppy's visit

My favorite activity of the day: reading to BOTH kids at the same time.

Sibling love

Hey

Celebrating Whitlee's 7th birthday

Happy little guy

He's becoming a belly sleeper.

Greetings, FIVE months.

He turns five months old today, and he is just about the sweetest baby ever. After having a bit rougher of a morning and getting to snuggle with me in bed for about 45 minutes, Graham's five month birthday began with cute snuggles and giggles with Reese, a great breakfast of peaches and rice (after a nice feeding of milk obviously), some jumping in the jumperoo to get out some energy, followed by a very restful nap while the rest of us got ready for church. I got called on to sub in the nursery this morning, so I got to spend even more sweet time with my little guy than usual. Afternoon naps were followed by a super fun outing to our church's Ice Cream Social where Reese completely charmed the crowd and Graham just hung out on me and remained his typical mellow self. Now the kids are asleep for the night, and Wes and I are on the couch with a night's full of television ahead of us. Grammy's, Walking Dead (one of those shows I'm just tired of, but we have to watch to see what happens), and Downton Abbey.

We live an extremely blessed and relatively simple life. Do I write this too often? If so, it's because we know these are the days of our lives, and we are so thankful we get to live them the way we do when so many live them with much more difficultly. So often I allow myself to get overwhelmed with my to-do lists, dog hair all over the floors (a new Dyson Animal is on its way to our house!), my hair everywhere (I seriously had forgotten how much hair falls out post baby), and other things that cause my mind to drift from what's really important and what really satisfies. My baby turned five months old today, and he smiles at me every time I look at him. My husband did our taxes last night, does the dishes, loves our kids better than I could ever have dreamed, and adores me. Reese sings all day and has just recently learned she can hold on to my leg while I walk around the house. And what really satisfies me are God's promises that we are lucky enough to read and see daily. Hope in a God who is sovereign and forgiving when I forget to see Him. When I begin to think of all the things I "need" to do, God ever so gently nudges me with His Word, His Spirit, or through others and reminds me to thank Him, glorify Him, and enjoy Him.

So our days around here are full. I begin each one with somewhat of a plan but am asking God to direct each as He wishes as often as I can remember. Some days more things are scheduled than others. Graham wakes up around 7 or a little after, nurses, eats breakfast with Reese and me, plays for a bit and then goes back down for a nap between 8 and 8:30. He's started solids and loves them. Pears, peaches, carrots, and peas. Loves everything so far. If it's an at home day, he takes another nap between 11-1, or we get out and run errands during these hours. Another nap occurs in the afternoon, and just recently, he either goes without a fourth nap or just takes a 45 minute cat nap in the late afternoon/early evening. We all try to eat dinner together around 6, and then Graham has started watching a Baby Einstein or Praise Baby before getting ready for his bedtime routine. He's typically up for an hour to an hour and a half during the day before needing a nap if we are home, and he spends that time rolling from back to belly, getting frustrated when trying to roll to his back, semi-reaching for things, putting his hands in his mouth, jumping in his jumperoo, and watching Reese do whatever she's doing. 

Graham has a sweet spirit about him, and he melts my heart on average 24 times a day. He loves attention, and I'm pretty sure he loves his momma. I knew having a boy would be fun. 

Here are a few pictures from his fifth month of life. 

Can't quite sit up for long. 

Hey, cutie. 

FIVE MONTHS.

Hands in mouth. I had forgotten how much I love this age. 

A baby boy in jeans. I love it.