Preparing for Sisterhood

Hi friends, love you

The famous philosopher Bueller once said that life moves pretty fast and if you don’t stop and look around you could miss it. As time passes I am getting more and more excited about the upcoming year. Now that I’m going to be a big sister, I feel a little pressure to learn to do as much as possible before the baby comes so that Mom, Dad and I can take care of him or her. Mom is due on the 19th of July, but since it is hard for us to be on time to anything these days I think the baby will probably be late. Dad will be in the middle of the waterpark season and Mom will be exhausted, so I am going to have to help as much as possible.
I’ve been working really hard on my vocabulary lately. Besides the benefit of being able to express myself, I’ve also heard that an extensive vocabulary is important for the SATs. Dad says that so far most of my “words” won’t be on any test. He loves to practice with me and seems stuck on the word-dada. I say it a lot because it makes him happy, but I don’t know what it means yet.
Mom is a tougher audience, but I’ve learned a couple tricks that make her smile. I love to see my parents smile; it brings me so much happiness. Mom is a sucker for facial expressions. I have one that gets her every time. I’ll put a picture of it at the bottom of the blog. I’m not whistling yet, but I can click my tongue against my lips to let Mom know I am enjoying my food.
The biggest thing I am working on so that I can be more helpful this summer is standing and walking. Walking with my Pooh Bear toy is as easy as dirtying a diaper, and I can walk when Mom or Dad hold one of my hands too. But I am still working on that first solo step. I have a few balance drills that help me practice. The best one is leaning against my new padded ottoman while holding a toy in both hands. It forces me to balance without my arms—which is a huge step in the walking process. The ottoman is our new coffee table because the old coffee table was brutally hard and Mom was gasping every time I fell near it, so we used Great Uncle David & Great Aunt Debby’s Christmas gift to buy me something a little safer to play near—I can thank them for helping keep my face clear of cuts and bruises.
Speaking of injuries, last week I endured pain for the sake of beauty; Mom says it probably won’t be the last time. I received two permanent holes in my ears and filled them with adorable silver ball earrings. For Christmas I got a pair of earrings with my birth stone and I can’t wait to put them in after 30 days with this pair. The process of getting my ears pierced was similar to trying to give a cat a bath, but less than five minutes later I had forgotten about the torture and haven’t fussed about them since—other than a couple times when they are getting cleaned. Everybody seems to love them and I can’t wait to show them to GP and Gigi when they visit in March!

This face is very similiar to the one I had when Mom and Dad told me I was going to be a big sister.
If you have a great sleeping buddy, you can fall asleep in any position.

Mom & Dad thought the new ottoman would be great because it has a large storage space. Camden & I found a better use for the storage area.

God Bless,

Reese

A big big year ahead

The start of a new year is a great time to reflect on the previous year and set goals for the next year. Although last year was only about 8 months for me, I still made more lasting memories than I could possibly write about in my blog. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t list a few highlights. I guess I should start with last April, I was born. Though at first it didn’t seem that great-it was cold, loud, and spacious-it quickly grew on me and I fell in love with any warm body that was willing to hold me—while standing. Cousin Camden’s kisses came early and often and haven’t stopped since, he and Ashton are great cousins and playmates.
In June we relocated to Chelan, WA for our first summer in the waterpark business. All I can say is that it is going to be tough for future summers to compare to the fun I had in my first summer. Between bonding with our roommates, our visitors to Chelan and all the milestones I reached, it was one unbelievable summer.
We came back to Tucson at the end of September after a fantastic road trip down the West Coast and have been enjoying each other, our Arizona family and friends and the weather daily. I try to let Mom & Dad handle the stressful stuff and just smile as much as possible—God is good, so why not smile.
2010 is going to be an adventure and I have some goals to make sure I take full advantage of all of God’s blessings. I am getting closer and have already been working really hard on my first goal—walking. I am pulling myself up on anything and everything in sight and I’ve taken more falls than the housing market. Mom & Dad are worried I’m going to look like Rocky at the end of a fight before I figure out how to balance, but I am going to continuing with my adventurous spirit and hope for the best. My second goal of the year is to learn to swim before we go to Washington for the summer. I am going to start lessons this spring and will learn to turn face-up in the water, float and breathe without swallowing water. I already love bath time, so I figure I should move onto a bigger tub.
My last goal for this year will have to wait until July, but come July I hope to be the best big sister possible.

Next year my Tucson crew will be rolling four deep.

Dad was doing the dishes and I wanted to help so I stood up on the dishwasher by myself and offered a helping hand.

I find that smiling is a great way to make other people feel good.

The holiday season can be exhausting. Dad and I were surfing the web and I fell asleep in his lap with my head on the table. He was nice enough to move me to my bed--after he took a picture of course.