Reesy Piece...

After getting dressed the other day I walked out of my bedroom and Reese, unsolicited, shook her finger at me and said, "No, no, no mommy. I don't like it. Not cute." She then went into my closet and picked out two different shirts and told me I should wear one of them.


Driving in the van...
Reese: I have to have the window down mom.
Mom: why, I have the air conditioning on. Let's keep the windows up.
Reese: But I need the sun mom. My body needs sun, so good for me.


I left the room for 1 minute, when I came back I found Reese attempting to change Anni's diaper. She had her completely undressed and diaper off. It's a good thing it was only a wet diaper.


After asking Reese to do something multiple times... with no response...
Mom: Reese, what is it you hear when I open my mouth? Do you hear my words or just noise?
Reese: Quacking mom, like a duck. Quack, Quack, Quack Quack!
Mom: I guess that explains it.


Reese was playing with Anniston on the floor, but it was time for Anniston's morning nap so I picked her up and said...
Mom: Say night night to Anni, Reese. It's time for her nap.
Reese: No mom, Anni doesn't want to take naps. Her not tired.
Mom: She looks pretty tired to me. I think she does want a nap.
Reese: No mom, she told me her not tired. She wants to stay and play sisters.


Reese: Mom I wanna watch cartoons.
Mom: (feeding Anniston) Hand me the remote and I'll turn them on.
Reese: where remote mom?
Mom: It's over on the arm of the chair.
Reese: On arm? Chair have arms mom?
Mom: Well kind of, that what you call the end of the chair.
Reese: Crazy! How come I never know these things?

Grandma...

These girls love their grandma...and Mickey Mouse Club House. That's what they were all watching together. Anniston can't take her eye's off the T.V.

What do you think??

More and more people keep telling me that they don't think Reese and Anniston look anything alike and when I tell them that they actually do look very similar they seemed surprised. While I definitely think that Anniston has some unique characteristics and will probably take on her own look as she gets older...you can't tell me that these too don't look an a lot alike...at 4 1/2 months anyway.

"Self" photos

When Reese was a baby I used to get on the floor with her and we'd have "self" photo shoots while we were playing. I thought it was about time Anniston got in on the action.

She thought it was the greatest thing ever...and so did Reese!

Sometimes I think the most "technically" wrong photo's are the best.

We really are....

just a family of fish.

Breakfast

With our new couches we made a rule that food is no longer allowed in the living room. So this is how Reese eats breakfast, so she can still watch cartoons.

Our talking toddler...

Early one day Reese asked if we could go outside and play. I told her it was yucky outside (it was dark and rainy), so we would probably be staying inside today. A couple hours later the sun came out. Reese looked out the window and said, "look mom, it's not dirty outside anymore."

Reese: I want juice mom
Me: Sorry sweety we don't have any juice, it's all gone.
Reese: (total look of shock) What?? No juice, how do these things happen??

Me: Reese will you stop growing up and stay my baby forever?

Reese: Sorry mom have to grow up...it's life.

While driving home from the mall, I had just gotten off the phone with Arnold...

Reese: Who talking to mom?

Me: daddy.

Reese: Mine daddy?

Me: Yes your daddy.

Reese: Arnold daddy?

Me: You only have one daddy honey...that would be Arnold.

Reese: One daddy but two grandpa's? (Arnolds parents are visiting and Reese is still grasping the concept of two sets of grandparents.)

Me: yep, two grandpa's.

Reese: grandpa and candy grandpa? Where candy grandpa? (my dad is "candy" grandpa)

Me: He's in Idaho, that's where he lives. He's coming to visit you in a couple weeks though.

Reese: Let's go get him and have two grandpa's together?

Me: Sorry sweety it's not that easy.

Reese: miss mine candy grandpa. I schatzie...grandpa's treasure.

(Schatzie is what my dad call's Reese. It's an Americanized version of the German word schatzen, which means little treasure. It is a term of endearment in Germany like princess or sweetheart. The Americanized version got started when an American GI married a German girl after WWII and started calling her “Schatzie” instead of “Schatzen.”)

Arnold: Reese that's a cute shirt is it new?

Reese: Yep, mom bought it at Old Lady. (Old Navy)

Reese ran to the bathroom after playing outside all afternoon. When she emerged...

Reese: Mom I had accident...pee peed on the bathroom floor and rug.

Me: Of course you did. That only makes sense considering I just cleaned the floor and washed the rugs today.

Reese: (all smiles) Yep...a course I did.

Reese: Mom...I tired.

Me: You are? Do you want to take a nap?

Reese: (shaking her head) Don't be silly mommy.

Reese was looking at a picture of herself from last summer:

Reese: That me mommy?

Me: Yep, that was last summer.

Reese: Where mine hair go?

Me: You didn't have very much hair last year.

Reese: Why cause? Hair all gone?

Me: It was still growing from when you were a baby.

Reese: Oh oh oh...hair growing. Now I have big girl hair.

Daddy and his girls...

Boy does he have his hands full...literally and figuratively.

4 months...

Stats:

Weight - 13.5 lb. 40%

Height - 26.5" 98%

Head - 16" 27%

Progress...

Anniston rolled over for the first time last week; back to tummy. She's done it a couple more times since, but doesn't quite know what to do with herself once she's on her tummy and gets pretty upset if you don't help her roll back. She has never liked tummy time; we've been working on that.

She still likes to be swaddled when she first goes to bed, but usually manages to wiggle her way out some time during the night. She then enjoys moving all over her crib in her sleep. One night she even managed to wiggle her way right out of her PJ bottoms.

She still likes to take a binki at bed time and nap time, but really has no interest in it any other time of the day. Very much the opposite of her sister who couldn't live with out hers. Anni much prefers to suck on her hands, or her blanky, or mommy's hand.

Anni is finding her voice more and more each day. She loves to have little conversation with anyone who'll take the time to talk to her.

She is still our little skinny mini; only eating about 24 oz. a day. While she's grown into a size 6-12 months with her height, she's still a 0-3 month in her waist. One of these days I'm hoping she'll start eating better and get a little meat on her bones.

She's still a pretty good sleeper, going to bed around 8-8:30 p.m. and waking up around 5-5:30 a.m. She eats and goes back to sleep until 9 a.m. There are however, random night every other week or so that she'll wake up a little earlier, like 3 or 4 a.m., but she still just eats and goes back to bed until 9 a.m. And on the flip side, she also has random night that she'll sleep all the way until 8 or 9 a.m.

I'm pretty sure she's started teething. The last few weeks she's been getting random low grade fevers. She's also been drooling like crazy and gnawing on anything she can get her little gums around, which is usually my hand, fingers or shoulder. I guess mommy tastes pretty good.

Anni loves loves loves her big sister. Reese can always get Anni to stop crying, just by paying attention to her. Anni watches every move Reese makes and laughs or giggles at everything she does or says. On the flip side, Anni get's very upset if Reese is upset. She can be completely happy then she'll hear Reese crying or getting upset and Anni loses it too.

We've taken Anni swimming a couple times now and it looks like we may have another little fish on our hands. She officially loved the water, smiling and squealing the entire time.

more fun photos...

Our #1 fish

To say that Reese loves the water, is a huge understatement! Arnold and I want our kids to love the water as much as we do, and Reese does not disappoint!

She especially had a great time this week swimming with her cousins Riley and Mycol. Ironically I feel like it was just yesterday that Riley and Mycol were Reese's age and I was taking them to the pool. Time goes way too fast.

Our little bugs!

Reese really wanted to get she and Anni matching pj's. She picked out these cute little "Snug as a bug", lady bug pj's, and she loves it when they wear them together. Our little bugs are so cute!

Just watching cartoons...

...with every blanket and pillow they could find in the house. (Reese and Rowan Tate)

Summer bathing at it's best...

Reese, Lucy Nuttal & Rowan Tate

"Tanglehood" of Fire!

Our neighborhood held our 2nd annual "Tanglehood of Fire". We all gathered for a BBQ and pooled our fireworks for one awesome show.

This was my favorite picture of the night. It may be blurry, but it captures the essence of what the night was about.

(Brynn Tate, Rowan Tate & Reese)

Reese loved the sparklers!

Everyone in the "hood"

Friend loves...Reese & Lucy Nuttall

The Gardner bellies...one of these bellies has a baby that's ready to come out very soon!

Reese and Daddy, getting the fireworks ready

Thiebaud Family

Arnold's entire family was here for the 4th of July weekend. It's the first time we've all been together in over 2 years.

Reese had fun playing with her Grandma & Grandpa.

We did all kinds of fun things, including a trip to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point.

(Reese with her cousin Ezra)

Cousin's Dan & Ezra digging for dinosaur bones.

Reese also got to go bowling for the first time. She had a lot of fun and even got a spare.

Reese right after she got her spare!

Sisters...

Reese...

...is such a big girl and a great big sister. But I tell her everyday that she's still my baby, and everyday she does sweet and cute little things that not only make me smile, they make me love her more and more. Like...

Instead of saying "how come mom?", she say's "why cause mom?".

She sings to herself when she's on the potty.

She pretends to call her friends and her cousins Riley and Mycol on her pretend phone and has full one sided conversations about what she's wearing and what she's doing and the cartoons that she's watching.

Any time she's watching Loony Tunes, and Road Runner comes on, she say's, "Wode wunner...gwampa's favit." (My dad has always loved the Road Runner cartoon. Last time he was visiting they watched it together, and she hasn't forgotten.)

When I put her to bed at night she's started asking for made up stories. I try to tell her stories about princesses, but she wants stories about snakes, frogs and monkeys. She's a little animal lover.

She's as stubborn as they come, just like her mom, and she insists on doing just about everything by herself. Including picking out her clothes and getting dressed, making her bed, putting on her shoes, stirring her chocolate milk, combing her hair etc, etc....

Anni...

...just keeps getting cuter and cuter and we just can't get enough.

She smiles, giggles and coo's more and more each day. She definitely a mamma's girl and often won't let anyone else hold her.

She has the most beautiful blue eyes and the sweetest little cheeks. I just want to nibble on them all day.

She's finally started eating better now that we have her on the most expensive formula available. We're just hoping that her expensive taste isn't a tell for years to come.

She's also a pretty good sleeper. She sleeps 10-12 hours a night about 6 days a week. However she likes to keep us on our toes so she still likes to party in the middle of the night, at least one day a week. Lucky for me Arnold is always willing to take her to the basement and party with her, so I can sleep. We've discovered that he functions much better on no sleep than I do.

We definitely think we're the luckiest parents in the world, to have two healthy and adorable little girls.