Reese, 8 months old!

Well this past month has just flown by.  I feel like I say this all the time and all the time it is true.
I was super determined to take Reese's 8 month pictures while she was still 8 months.  So today, one day before she turns 9 months, we took her pics!  :)  Lucky for both of us, she was in a great mood and was very playful. She was super active and this made for some silly photos. :)



check out that long hair in the back :)

Reese is such a sweet baby, and her personality is starting to show more and more.  She can be pretty content, she can also be very particular and she can swing from one to another in the matter of a second.  She still loves her momma and pretty much all is right when I'm around.  I love this!!  She has been really interested in anything and everything Riley does lately.  This has resulted in some fun tug-o-war sessions (Reese is very strong and almost won out a few times :)  She has taken an interest in Scout lately as well, he does not particularly love this especially when she goes for the paws. 




Here are some things she is up to this month:
-Still army crawling all over but also crawls on her knees several times a day (usually just a few steps)
-Loves to eat and will eat just about anything placed on her tray.  Her new favorites are tilapia and brocolli but she still loves carrots, sweet potato, and her all time favorite is pear.  Girl can eat an entire huge pear (cut up) for breakfast. 
-Reese babbles a ton more, she has been focusing on the bah buh and nah sounds lately.  She has said her first word.  Momma.  I'll post about that another time.  <3 p="p">-She still takes 2 naps, and nurses about every 3 hours.
-She sleeps from 7pm-7:30am and wakes 1-2 times a night
-Oh and she now has 4 teeth!  Her front bottom two teeth and a week and a half ago she cut the top left tooth and yesterday she cut the top right.  As soon as she cut the top left tooth she went from waking 3-5 times to only 1-2 times a night.  Whew that was a tough 6 week battle.  Lets pray the other teeth aren't anything like this.






Silly girl!!


army crawl

Riley says

My big little girl says some big, big girl things. For awhile now I have recorded some of the hilarious things Riley says in my phone. If I don't write them down immediately I will forget.

Sidenote: I sometimes wonder if something is wrong with me. I mean I forget pretty much EVERYTHING all the time. Then I remember that I haven't slept much in the past several months. make that years. and then I don't feel like a CAT scan is as necessary.

Anyway, Riley cracks me up on a daily basis. Hourly really. She talks like such a little mini-me sometimes, it is seriously hilarious. But sometimes it's not. Like when she wants to do something and I say no or its not on her terms. R: "But I'm asking you nicely..." Yes, sweet Riley you are asking nicely. Ha!

Here are a few of my other favorites.

"Reese eats old food from your tummy" Hmmm. Breastfeeding redefined. :)

"Scout is a child of God too."

***"Daddy has on his big girl panties. Dora panties."

"Reese has Jesus in her heart." My heart exploded on that one.

Not on this one... "Your fingernails grow like worms. Small worms not big worms."

Riley was pulling at her ear. Me: Are your ears bothering you? R: "No, they were just crooked, but not anymore. I fixed them."

While listening to He's Got the Whole World in His Hands. "Jesus has lots of things in his hands."

After spending the morning at the park in August and eating a popsicle. "that popsicle was good, it made the hot day go away."

After bath with Clay she told me, "my bottom was making bubbles in the bathtub." HA!

She took a drink of my water bottle and spit water back in my bottle. "it was too full in my mouth so I just put a little back."

"Food and God growed me."

"Look at my face mommy. See how I'm standing on my eye?" She was trying to wink. ;)

To my mom, "Nana, sometimes I take secret bites before the blessing."

And my sadest, least favorite was when she threw up for the first time. She was so scared and didn't know what was going on. "I spit my throat out. I spit my throat out, Mommy."

Rileyrincess and Reesephant

Riley loves dessing up now and choose her Cinderella costume over a month ago. There was almost a last minute wardrobe change (her Dora princess dressup outfit) but Cinderella won out.









Neighborhood pre-trick or treat party




Rileyrincess's carriage awaits.





Riley had a great time trick or treating but really I think her favorite part was helping us hand out candy to the other trick or treaters. Almost everyone in our neighborhood puts chairs out front and just waits outside for the 100+ childrent to come looking for treats. Riley loved vegging out in our front yard, smacking down on some candy and voicing her opinion on which candy the other children should choose from our bowl. ;) Such a fun time in such a special neighborhood. Thankful for our neighborhood and even more thankful for the sweet familys that are not only neighbors but friends. And a bonus...more and more young families are moving in...yay!!

Pre halloween

The last week of October was so fun.  We kicked off the week by visiting a nearby pumpkin patch.  
Riley had a great time searching for the perfect pumpkins and loved picking out a special one for her baby sister. 















Later that week, Riley had her costume parade at her school.  Sweet, simple parade.  The children walk out in front of her school and wave at the cars honking as they pass by. 


Reese was happy to be outside supporting her big sister. :)

Notice the mom fail here.  Riley is the only girl with a shirt under her dress.  In my defense...it was COLD that morning.  At least blue and orange are complementary colors, at least I think they are?  Art fail too.



Poor thing has sensitive eyes like her mama.  Hopefully not my poor eyesight though.


And a small smile for mommy.

That same day a sweet friend had a costume playdate at her neighborhood park.  (Not many pics from this.)


 

Reese turned 7 months!!

So, it is a little confusing to Riley that Reese is 7 months (was as of today she is 8 months...I am behind, what's new).  She will say to me "but I'm 3 I'm bigger than Reese but she is 7??"  :)  Months, years, its a hard concept for a 3 year old. 

Reese is so sweet!  Clay likes to call her his "honey pot" and  Riley likes to call her "lil munchkin/lil punkin" in a voice that sounds so similar to mine it is hysterical.  Reese loves her daddy and big sister but still often prefers her mommy.  I have a feeling that this may not last much longer...she has eyes for her daddy and will kick and smile so big each day when he gets home from work. 





Reese has been super busy lately.  She army crawls everywhere and is pretty fast too.  Her newest discovery is Scout's water bowl.  Fun.  ;) She still takes 2 good naps a day (9am and 2pm) and nurses about every 3 hours.  She is teething and so sleep has been kindof sketchy and by sketchy I really mean bad.  It's like a rollercoaster.  Some weeks she only wakes up once, some weeks she wakes up 2, 3 or 4 times a night.  I am ready for these top two teeth to fully erupt!    Reese can be laid back  or she can be strong-willed.  If she sees something she wants she is going to get to it and there is not much that can get in her way.  She is a very, very sweet baby but just growing too quickly.    She is starting to use her voice more and more and just in the last week has focused on the "bah/buh" sound.

Reese also eats very well, and there is not too many foods she does not like.
I am kindof doing something called baby-led weaning except not the weaning part, so really I am doing baby-led feeding.   You can read about it here.  But basically it is introducing solids instead of purees.  I do both, solids and purees.  BLW (baby led weaning) food that Reese eats are slices of ripe pear, slices of avocado, some very small pieces of meat, she has tried small pieces of pasta, scrambled eggs, and rice.  Pretty much if I have cooked something soft enough she will try it. She also loves sweet potato, pea and pear, squash purees and still eats some oatmeal and rice cereal.  Oh and the mesh feeder thing, while incredibly DISGUSTING to clean, it really is an awesome way for Reese to eat.  She loves eating apples, cantelope and lately ice (for teething) with the feeder.  In the past month Reese has really perfected the motor skills necessary to pick up food and get it into her mouth.  This makes eating dinner as a family so nice!!



Reese, you are such a sweet, beautiful blessing to our family.  We love you and are so thankful for the gift that you are!

Oh and just like her sister at 7 months, pictures did not go well. 

And here was Riley at 7 months.



and the best ever big sister!