6 months old....

Yesterday, Reese turned 6 months old!!! I have loved every minute we have had with her. It seems like yesterday that I was flying out to Detroit to see my little preemie baby in her little incubator. She has grown so much and has such a spunky personality. I never thought I could be this happy and yet every day I feel more blessed to be a mom. On monday, we went into the dr. for her 6 month visit and here are her stats:

Weight: 13lbs 8oz.

Height: 24.25 inches

Head: I can't remember, but she is finally on the charts. I think in the 5th percentile.

She had her 6 month shots and has been feeling kinda crummy the past couple of nights. Reese usually sleeps through the night, but she has had a difficult time the past few nights. I feel so bad for her and it is in the middle of the night when I am trying to soothe her that I just feel these overwhelming feelings of gratitude for my sweet baby girl. This is what a mom is about right. Of course, I am grateful for her as I watch her giggle and smile, but I am grateful for the sleepless nights, blowouts, spit up, and all that comes in between. I love being a Mom!

Reese may seem big to be swaddled, but hey it puts her right to sleep. So that has been part of our night time ritual. Reese no longer likes her binky except right before she goes to sleep. However, she likes to chew on the back and sides of the binky:) We have really tried to stick to a night time ritual lately and it has helped so much. I put her in her swaddle and then we rock in her chair, pray, and read scriptures. It has really become a really special moment for me. Lots of feeling of gratitude!
I had to post these pictures because she was making me laugh so hard. Reese loves to try to eat the couch. She even lost a shoe going after that thing.

She is so stinkin funny and cute! Here are some things she is doing at 6 months.

She can feed herself while lying down.

Likes to eat rice cereal, applesauce, but doesn't like bananas

Trying to crawl. She can army crawl about a foot

She is sleeping from about 7:30 - 8:00 am

has been taking a short nap from 11:00 -12:00

then an afternoon nap from 2:00-4:00

Reese loves to stand and bounce

I think she is going to start teething soon because everything is going in her mouth

Okay, hilarious picture!!! As soon as I took this pic, Reese pulled down her shirt. She has a little bit of cleave going on.
Reese loves to be pushed around the kitchen in her highchair.

Yes, we are USC fanatics!!!

This is Ron's special Daddy daughter bonding time. Reese actually loves to watch football!

New things everyday....

In the past week, it seems like Reese has learned so many new things. She has learned to make the sucking noise through her lips like when she drinks a bottle, but it is so funny because she is not even hungry and she will do it all day long. She has also learned to spit bubbles, which I am not sure is a good thing, but it sure is cute. She has also learned to hold her bottle and drink it. She was sitting on the counter and I was holding her and her bottle was sitting in front of her and she just reached down, grabbed it, and pulled it right into her mouth. I was so proud of her and she got really excited. I can't believe how much she is learning, I now just need to make sure she is learning good things.

My niece had a birthday party at the park and so I put Reese in one of the swings. She was still little for it, but I had to try it out and she loved it! It's funny how she gets this scared face at first, which turns into a huge smile. I love it!!
Our niece Isla came over and we were going to go on a walk and she tried to pick up Reese. The thing that I love about this picture is that she definitely has watched someone pick up a carseat because most little kids would grab the handle with their hand:)
This was also in the past week....... I went into Reese's room to get her after her morning nap and I found her hand and foot through the crib and she was trying to eat the railing. As soon as I walked in, she was all smiles and so proud of herself for getting her foot through the railing. I love my baby girl! She is so active and very strong. She can pull herself up to about anything. We took off the bumper padding because I guess the SIDS foundation says that it can cause a greater risk for SIDS, but what about the baby that sticks all of her limbs through the railing and gets stuck. Not quite sure what is better:)

I have started picking up more clients at the pilates studio and it has been a lot of fun. The best part about it is that I get to take Reese with me. The clients love to see her and I love to bring her. I bring her toys and blanket and she just lays on the mat looking cute. Here she is laying on the reformer. If anyone is interested in pilates, you should go check out the pilates body website. It's www.pilatesbodyut.com

All the girls at Kennedy's birthday party.

Getting settled in...

We are slowly getting settled in and it is feeling more and more like home. Well......it is feeling more like home to Ron, Reese, and I, but it is a whole other story for the dogs. Keiko ( the white one with black markings) is really good and anywhere we are is home to her, but Sachi ( the black one with white markings) is freaking out! We built a huge dog house in the back of the garage with a doggy door built into the house thinking it would be a little doggy suite. Sachi hates it! The first night the dogs slept here, we put the dogs in their new house and Sachi cried so loud. I was afraid our neighbors would hate us before we even moved in because our dogs were keeping them up, so we brought them in the house. Sachi still cried the whole night so Ron slept out by her. The next couple nights were SO much better. I was planning on putting up gates around the house so that the dogs do not go on the carpet, but we discovered that they already know that they are not supposed to from our last house and so we don't have to put up gates. It has been wonderful!

Reese has loved the new house. Actually, she probably doesn't know the difference, but she does love all the lights and fans! Fans have always entertained her and so we put one in her room and she loves to just stare and talk to her fan. It is so funny! Here is a picture of Reese looking out her bedroom window.

Our bathroomOur shower

Our kitchenThis is an old barn that is in the field behind our house. I am in love with it and love to take pictures of it at sunrise and sunset. I would love to go take some pictures of Reese by this barn.

Ron and I were sitting in the front room the other night just talking about how it's crazy that we have a new house. It is one thing if you had been planning and dreaming of a new house for a while, but a new house, especially building a house, was not our dream at all. Our dream since we were married was to have children and so that has been what we have been saving for. We have never gone on any cruise or exotic vacation because we have been saving for our adoption. The house thing just kinda came out of no where and I didn't really know what was going on because I was so focused on the adoption. So now, we have a baby girl, a new house with a great interest rate and Ron and I sit here thinking.....Wow, we feel so blessed!! This stuff doesn't happen to us.

As I have been busy unpacking boxes, Reese has been so good! I can't wait to have the house put together so I can play with Reese more. She loves her exersaucer and will spin things and giggle away. She loves to pull herself around in a circle. She is so strong and continues to amaze me at all she is able to do.

Reese is just growing like a weed and as much as I wish she would stop growing so fast, I love to see her personality develop and see how strong she is. She is such a happy girl and all I have to do is look at her and she will start to smile. She melts my heart and I love how I can make her laugh. Reese has been sleeping like a champ at our new house. Usually goes to bed around 9:00pm and wakes up at 9:00am. It is so funny when I go into her room to check on her from her naps, she is always just jabbering away to her fan. I can't believe how much I love our baby girl and she seriously makes me want to have 10 kids. I am so grateful to be a mom and I can't believe how much happiness I have felt from being the mother of one beautiful child. You would think after almost 6 months of having Reese, I would get sick of dressing her up,but I haven't. I still feel how grateful I am to finally have my baby girl and put on the bows and bracelets many times just because I finally can. She is here and she is ours.

Happy Birthday Sachi...

This is a little bit of a late birthday post, but Sachi is now 1. I can't believe we have had her for a year now. I have never really been a dog person. Actually when I was growing up, if my friend's dog came up to me, I would get completely grossed out if it licked me. I don't know what happened over the past year because now we have 2 dogs and I love them so much. They are part of our family and they have healed my heart time and time again. Keiko came to us when I felt so helpless. After a few years of infertility failures, I was just so lost of what to do next. Keiko came to us randomly one day (seriously...she just trotted over to our house while the teachers quorum were working in our yard. I wouldn't have let them feed her all that pizza if I knew she would be ours in a day.) She was left, tied to a fence, with a note that said the owner could not take care of her anymore and that she was up to date on all of her shots and that she was 2 years old. Anyway, we adopted Keiko and she has been a very fun dog. She is such a cuddler and loves to have her belly rubbed. I never realized how lonely I was at home until I got a dog, I talk to my dogs constantly.

Now getting back to Sachi. We decided to get Sachi after our failed adoption last August. It was actually Ron's idea and I went with it. He saw these malamute puppies on ksl and went to go see them. He came home and showed me a video of the puppies and I immediately fell in love. The excitement of a new puppy took away some of the heartache I felt from all the disappointment. We went to visit the puppies at 4 weeks and then every week, we would go visit our puppy until we could take her home at 8 weeks. The first night Sachi was home was HORRIBLE! I seriously wanted to take her back. We didn't know how to take care of a puppy, but our neighbors gave us some tips and we brought her kennel into our bedroom at night and life was much easier. I feel bad for Sachi because I treated her like a baby and would hold her like a baby. She let me fulfill some of those nurturing qualities that I had building within me. The dogs have made the wait for Reese so much easier. I love to watch them in the backyard. It seriously looks like national geographic the way they play, but the love it. We are still working on taking them both on a walk at the same time, because they are really bad. It's actually embarrassing and I try not to walk them together anymore.

They have both been so good with Reese and have never licked her face or jumped up on her. The other day I was laying on the ground with Reese and it was so funny because the kitchen gate was open and Sachi usually does not come in unless I tell her she can. Anyway, I was laughing with Reese when out of the corner of my eye I see Sachi army crawling to us. As soon as I turned to look at her, she rolled over on her back and started wagging her tale. She is a character. Sachi also thinks everything is a game and always has a smile on her face. Even when she is in trouble, she doesn't know it. (Which is sometimes a bad thing). She is always so excited as soon as we get home and it makes me feel so loved. I love our dogs and they have mended our hearts time and time again. Sorry if she has ever jumped up on you, we are working on that one too.

I am not sure if this is how all dogs sleep, but this is Sachi's sleeping position.