Reese is 15 Months Old!

Last week my baby girl went and turned 15 months on me.  I've finally purchased a baby book for my poor child so it's been fun going back and filling it in.  So for posterity's sake, here is what 15 months is looking like for Reese.

Stats:
Weight: 21 lbs. 2 oz. (49th percentile)
Height: 30 and 1/2 inches (49th percentile)
Teeth: 12 and number 13 is on it's way.  Her most recent three teeth have all been molars and seem to be super painful :(

Sleeping: 12 hours at night (approx 7pm-7am) and about 2 hours during the day (morning and afternoon nap)

Eating: Still a bit of everything.  She currently likes (and I say currently because she changes all the time!) eggs, fruit, graham crackers, goldfish, raisins, Aidell's Chicken and Apple Sausage, pasta, turkey sandwiches, and peanut butter.  Over the last couple of months meals have become a wee battle.  Reese is very independent and wanting to feed herself, or wants me to feed her a certain way, and most times the majority of her food ends up on the floor after she excitedly and/or angrily threw it across the kitchen.  What can I say, we're working on it :)

Drinking: Organic Whole Milk and Water

Playing: We still love reading books, dancing, clapping, swinging, and more recently Reese has really loved playing with her cozy coupe outside.  We try to make it to the park at least a couple times a week and Reese loves climbing on the toddler playground.  She is currently OB-SESSED with Taylor  Swift's 'Shake it Off'.  I really don't know how much more I can take of the song...but it makes her so happy. She has really taken to playing with her baby doll and loves hugging her, putting her in the toy stroller, and pushing her around the house.  And, of course, playing with Lily is at the top of her list.

Likes: Library Babies Class, playing with other toddlers,  reading books, music, owl straw cup, playing with mom's make up bag and wallet, anything having to do with animals (particularly DOGGGGGIES), fruit and goldfish crackers.  Riding in shopping carts is tops and she and she loves waving to passerby's as though she is Duchess Kate.  She makes friends everywhere we go!

Dislikes:  Car seat (but overall this improving), diaper changes, having something taken away from her, mom leaving for work, and generally being told something is off limits.  Pretty typical toddler stuff.

Says: She mimics words and phrases that we say to her and really picks up on anything said to her repetitively. Currently she is saying Mama, Dada, Doggy, Down, There You Go, Thank you, Do Do Do (means I want that or do that), Love You

Milestones:  The big one is Reese is walking!  Right around her 14 month birthday she started getting more confident taking a few steps here and there.  About a week after her 14 month birthday, she put it all together and just took off. Naturally this was a day I was gone for a training and missed it all, but luckily Tom was with her to witness and record it.  In just a few weeks she practically runs now...and you can tell she really loves it.  After discovering her deep love of her belly button, we are working on identifying her eyes, nose, mouth, etc.

In addition to speech gains she is really becoming more and more independent.  And my mama heart is a little sad about this one.  Don't get me wrong, I know it is all age appropriate and shows that she feels secure enough to begin exploring her world...but sometimes I just want my baby to sleep on my chest.  But, she still treats me to the occasional resting of her head on my shoulder and my favorite thing right now is how she walks over to me and folds herself into my lap with a book.  Nothing better than that.

Not to sound like every other parent in the world, but it really goes by in the blink of an eye.

Happy 4th Birthday Lily!

Two weeks ago our sweet Lily turned 4!  It's hard to believe she wasn't even 2 when we rescued her, yet it feels like she's been a part of our family forever.  When Gouda turned 2 we started a family tradition of steaks to celebrate dog birthdays and anniversaries, which we have continued to this day.  It may seem silly to some but our dog will always be a part of our family and we want them to feel celebrated as such.  Tom picked up steaks from the butcher Saturday afternoon, I was in charge of the sides, and we ate early enough for R to join us.  Lily inhaled her steak in record time and enjoyed licking everyone's plates.   I really live for these little family dinners. 

After we lost Gouda Lily mourned for quite awhile, right along with the rest of us.  Until then she had never been the only dog in her home so it took some adjusting for her.  Since then she's really come into her own as "the dog" in the home and I think she's doing a great job.  She puffs her chest when anyone comes to the door and eagerly intercepts anyone stopping to say hi to R on our walks. 

Lily is a wonderful dog mama to R and they really have become best friends.  R becomes giddy with excitement whenever she hears the tags on Lily's collar shake in the next room.  She proudly points to Lily and exclaims "doggy!" as soon as she sees her.  R routinely sneaks snacks to Lily which is a daily struggle.  I love watching their friendship develop and get a total kick out of their interactions.

Happy 4th Birthday to our sweet, patient, and WILD Lily!  We love you so much and here's to many, many more birthday steaks.

Fall 2014

We have been having a fantastic fall season, and as with most things, it is so much more fun to experience with a toddler.  We have been enjoying the mild weather and keeping busy with story time at the bookstore, library babies class, date nights, lots of park time, and all the other not as fun stuff, like working, keeping up our home and hitting the gym (well that last one isn't so bad!).  We rounded out the fall season with a trip to Keeneland and I'm officially ready for the holiday season.
Some pics of what we've been up to!

Over the last couple of months I have really been getting into spinning and have worked out a nice schedule (with the help of Tom) to attend classes a few times a week that minimizes my time away from R.  I really hope it is something that I can continue to prioritize.

Now...who's ready for Thanksgiving?!

Folly Beach and Charleston, South Carolina

Last week Reese and I had the opportunity to skip town for a few days and join my in-laws for a mini getaway to South Carolina.  Unfortunately this is a very busy time for Tom at work so he was unable to join.  I was a bit nervous about taking a 13 month old on her first flight alone, but she did just great.  I spent an embarrassing amount of time reading tips and tricks for traveling with a toddler to make sure I was as prepared as I could be and it was as easy on Reese as possible.  Overall, aside from Delta continuing to be my least favorite airline, everything went as smoothly as I could have hoped for.

Ergo carrier and golfish...required for a successful jaunt through security.

 While the mini and I flew, my in-laws drove down separately (I drew the line at a 10 hour car ride with my car seat detesting child...no fun for anyone) and they were able to take the car seat and a few other items that were too big of a pain to travel with.  This helped immensely!!  Our condo was in Folly Beach, about 20 minutes outside of Charleston.  I had never been to the area before and just loved it.  Here are some pictures from our travels, if you'd like to see.

Early morning walk on the pier...perks to traveling with children is you're up for the sun rise!

Our morning coffee stop...Black Magic

If you're ever in Folly go to Taco Boy...and eat ALL the tacos!  I heard their margs were worth writing home about too.

One thing I have learned in my 13 months as a parent is that whatever expectations you have, just throw them out the window.  I really thought Reese would go nuts over the beach considering how much she loves anything having to do with water.  So as soon as she woke up on our first morning we made our way to a foggy and windy beach for a little picnic breakfast (Lara bar and banana...so fancy!).   I carried Reese along the sand and stopped to lower her feet.  No go.  She practically hiked her little knees up to her ears.  This shouldn't be too surprising considering her love/hate relationship with grass but it was entertaining at least.  She had a similar sentiment toward the ocean....no thanks guys.   But as long as she could admire it safely perched in her mama's arms she did just fine!

                  

Not one to be deterred (all I wanted was ONE picture of my baby enjoying the beach), we headed back to the beach on our last morning, determined to get a few good pics on the beach.  At least I can say I got a few and she seemed to tolerate it (maybe even enjoy it?) a bit more.

my sweet girl

The rest of our brief trip was spent eating seafood, taking long walks, going for dips in the pool, and doing a little shopping and sightseeing in Charleston.  I haven't been one to mess with our daily routine too much (hello....first time mom) but I was so proud of Reese and how she just rolled with it every day.  She handled restaurants as well as could be expected and overall continued to be nothing but a joy.   Although we only spent a day in Charleston I would absolutely love to go back with Tom and spend some time there.  I feel like most of my time and attention was keeping my toddler entertained/safe/fed/happy/cool/contained, etc...so I didn't get to absorb too much of the city...not to mention it was crazy hot and crowded.  Charleston is definitely on my list of cities to visit again after this.

collage images via

One lesson learned on this trip was that a vacation with a toddler is not actually a vacation...who knew?!   All kidding aside, we missed Tom like crazy and although we enjoyed the new experience we were happy to be home.  Not happy to have brought a cold back with us, but what can you do.

One thing I will definitely do differently next time is take a buffer day off in between travel and going back to work.  We got home Wednesday night just in time to hug Tom and put the munchkin to bed and the sitter came bright and early the next day so I could go to work.  Not my best idea, but it was the only way I could fit it all in.  Now where to go on our next adventure?  

What We've Been Up To!

Things have been pretty chill around these parts lately (likely to have jinxed us...naturally) and we had an all around great time this past weekend.  We're all gearing up for a bit of travel this month so it was nice to have a weekend to ourselves.  We laid low on Friday night and began our Saturday with respective workouts (run for him, spin class for me).  After R woke up from her nap we took advantage of the mild weather and headed to Findlay Market.  All summer I've been meaning to go but it just never materialized.  So happy we were able to squeeze in a trip!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We wandered around, picked up a few goodies and stopped in the Biergarten to rehydrate.  R enjoyed my water and Larabar and Tom went for gold with a tall beer.

 

 

Spontaneous monkey hug from your baby RIGHT as a picture is being taken?  Pure gold.

 

After we finished up we made the short drive over to the Celtic Festival at Washington Park.  Overall, I gotta say this festival was weak.  But you could buy, and walk around with, beer in public and adorable little dance troups were dancing to Irish music, so it was a good way to spend an hour.  And wouldn't you know, R lost her mind over the music and dancing.  Guess she is half Irish after all :)

 

Banging on dad's head to the beat of the music!

 

Sadly the day ended with a pretty ugly Michigan loss, but you can't win them all.  In other news, Authenic Weather App is the most hilarious weather app there is.  Accurate, not so much, but funny...indeed.