Comparison

Left~Reese a little over 3 months
Right~Emma Grace a little over 5 months

Hand me downs

Reese had some bangin' clothes! This was a little ditty from Mommy's good friend Amy D who bought it for Reese for her first Christmas (if Mommy remembers correctly). It's just as cute as it was the first go round says Mommy. :)

So Sassy

So back before I was born Mommy bought me this SASSY Jumper. Reese never had one... she was deprived as a small child (riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight) :). Just being in this bad boy MAKES ME FEEL SASSY! Obviously I can't jump in it yet, but it was kind of fun hanging out in it for a while so Mommy could clean upstairs a little while Reese napped.

Did Mommy tell you I'm working on a tooth? She seems rather depressed about said tooth, but I feel liberated!

Vomit

Rachel here. Vomit. It's what I wanted to do yesterday while we were tailgating. Why you ask? Was I boozing it up... keg stand style like the old days? Nope. Emma Grace was being BEYOND fussy... to the point where admittedly I didn't know what to do. Reese cried ALL NIGHT LONG... every night... it was awful... I wanted to die most nights. EG, however, has always been a dream baby. Cries when she's hungry, tired, or has a yucky diaper. She was literally screaming for a good chunk of yesterday. I tried rocking her... no. I tried feeding her... no. I knew she was super tired (she's definitely a crib sleeper baby only), so I was doing everything I could to get her to go to sleep. Poor thing I started to bounce her in my lap, when I saw it... my WEE LITTLE BABY is getting her first tooth! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Reese was 10 months old... TEN MONTHS OLD! Little Roo is only 5 months old! Reese was so late getting teeth, they all seemed to just slide in at once... she didn't cry... she didn't even drool. Poor little Emma though... SCREAMS. The minute we got her home, Meredith held her down and I poured the baby Tylenol down (it was a little less nomadic than you are probably imagining), and she bounced back within 5-10 minutes. I was worried last night about her sleeping... especially with the Coles in the next room, and I'm proud to report she's still asleep... it's a little after 630. Ugh... my poor EG. :(

PS... picture to come soon. :)

Taggies

Let me tell you about these Taggies products... they are WONDERFUL! My BFF Aly has an awesome ball that I tried to steal from her when we were visiting with Auntie Ange, but alas, her Mommy was too quick for my snail like reflexes. The ball was seriously the size of my head to the 10th power, but it was hot. Since I'm starting to show an intense interest in playing with toys, Mommy decided to dig through some of my infant toys to see what I had that was soft enough to play with. When my sister was a baby, Mommy and Daddy let her play with a wooden maraca that they got in the dollar section at Target. She apparently used to constantly hit herself in the head with it... did Mommy and Daddy take it away from her? Well, not immediately... they got a couple of good chuckles and ONLY THEN took it away... explains a lot doesn't it? But I digress. In my toys bucket Mommy found this WONDERUL Taggies book that Uncle Aaron and Liz got me before I was born. I'm in lurve I tell you! It's so soft and cuddly!

And I can fit it SAFELY into my mouth... and even better... it's washable people... which is a necessity these days seeing as how EVERYTHING is going into my mouth and Mommy is terrified we are all going to get the Swine flu (to which we are FINALLY getting our vaccinations on Monday). So let's give three cheers to the Perlewitz-Graffeo combo for a homerun! :)

The Grand-Parentals

Rachel here. This just cracked me up. So Reese is OBSESSED with looking at her photo albums. She can name most everyone in all the pictures, including all her grandparents. There are Nana and Pot (Pop... sorry Mike!), Papa and Girl (Grandpa and Pearl), but DaDaddy and Gamma (Grandaddy and Grandma... Bryan's parents) are the only ones with alter egos. I'd like to introduce you to airplane pilot Grandaddy and school secretary Grandma. Yes, Reese picked these out of her bucket, brought them over to me, and with extreme confidence called them DaDaddy and Gamma. :)

Comparison

Reese~Left
Emma Grace~Right

Emma Grace~Left

Reese~Right

5 months old

Well, hello people! Today I am the big 5! 5 months old that is!
What am I doing at 5 months? Well... NOT ROLLING... I'll tell you that much. I have rolled ONCE, but now we're for certain that was a fluke. I may be more like my sister than anyone is willing to admit. :) Speaking of my sister. She makes me smile... A LOT. She shares her toys with me, gives me my paci when I need it, and loves to "help" feed me "baby cereal." She's a keeper.

I'm still breastfeeding, and I WILL TAKE AN OCCASIONAL BOTTLE. HALLELUJAH! In fact I have one at the start of everyday, so Mommy can pump. She's a real trooper that Mommy. I'm eating about 6-7 times a day (about every 2 hours), and I even get a big bowl of cereal before bedtime. Mommy was giving me two bowls there for about a week, but then I started to fuss during one of them, so she cut me back to once. We'll start trying some oatmeal next! Yeehaw! I can't wait for those fruits and veggies though... Reese says they were uber good! :)

When it comes to sleeping... for about 3ish weeks now I've been sleeping THROUGH THE NIGHT... HOLLER! Mommy puts me to bed between 6-7ish and I'm good to go until about 7 am. Occasionally I will try to wake up and party around 4 am, but am able to put myself back to sleep. It's on a rare occasion that Mommy or Daddy will have to come in and give me my paci. Mommy refuses to feed me after I go to bed for the night, so I usually am up to cooperating, so 7 am will come sooner. :) I'm also taking about two 30-60 minute naps and one 2 hour naps each day.

For the record... isn't my outfit TO DIE FOR?! My sister has one JUST LIKE IT! Mommy had quite the time taking photos this go 'round because all I wanted to do was admire my skirt and then throw up on myself... these are the days we'll remember forever. :)

Winter...

... is just around the corner. Rachel here. I took these pictures from our bathroom window yesterday as I was getting ready to step into the shower... yes, I actually took a shower yesterday... seriously. These pictures make me sad. Not depressed just sad for the coming winter. Winter here is cold, and wet, and all around boring. It's always icy, so you can't drive anywhere. And I'm virtually locked in the house ALL DAY... BY MYSELF... well, not really by myself... I'll have the girls, but they aren't always the greatest candidates for adult conversation... or any conversation that doesn't have to do with "peepoo" or timeout. This is the time of year I dread because I know Bryan will be out of town for about 2 1/2 months come January. Yes he can come home on weekends, but seriously... SERIOUSLY... 5 days at a time, locked in my house, playing playdoh and watching "Backyardigans" can take a toll on a person. If they'll have us, we'll probably be spending some time with my family in Tidewater. It makes me sad that Reese (and EG) doesn't get to see them often, so hopefully we'll get to make up for some lost time. And maybe they won't want to talk about boogers. :)

Got cream cheese?

Eleven

That's how far I can count people! Mommy has been working for months and months with me on counting and my abc's. I was starting off great... 1, 2, 3, 13... I just wanted to keep them on their toes. :) I counted all the way to 10 Saturday while Mommy and Daddy had a business meeting with Santa C. My Grandma and Grandaddy came to up to babysit me, so I decided to impress them with my skills while playing with my Play-doh. The very next day I did it again for Mommy and Daddy. Yesterday this is what came out of my mouth: "1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11... 13". :) I think I like 13 the most... he's always coming out prematurely... even when I'm practicing my abc's. :)

Update

Rachel here. It's probably time for a little update on my mini. While she's still a handful, as it becomes easier for her to communicate... let me think before I type... her tantrums have become much more manageable. :) Now watch... today will be hell. :) But just looking at this face will make that hell totally worth it.

HATES. She hates to sit on the potty. She hates to have her diaper changed. She hates when I wake her up in the morning or come home from running errands. Bryan gets the hugs and kisses upon arriving home, and I get screams. I guess that's the price you pay when you're the one putting her in timeout and saying "no" all day. For the record... she snuggles and loves me too. :) She hates to go to sleep. We're still figuring out what works with this one. She will occasionally take a nap. They are becoming much more frequent now that we've figured out that one of us has to fall asleep with her before she'll fall asleep on her own. I don't like this at all because all I can think about is us being on "Supernanny," but for now... it works. At bedtime she needs 3,486 stuffed animals with her, 4 different blankies, and 2 teething rings... seriously? YES. Last night she would not even agree to going upstairs without a sticker. So last night it was all of those requests and a "Count", from Sesame Street, sticker. Good thing I have tons of stickers from teaching. :)

LOVES. She loves playing outside. She loves painting. She LOVES making messes. And she loves to talk. She'll have complete conversations with herself. The other day she came up to me with a can of playdoh and said "playdoh open, what do you say?, please, thank you, you're welcome." And then she smiled at me. How could I not let her trash my kitchen with playdoh after that adorable show? :)

SKILLS. We've caught her singing A LOT! She'll try to sing along with most of the theme songs on her shows, but we've also witnessed her singing "Twinkle Twinkle" and "Happy Birthday." She loves to try to say her ABCs and to count. It usually goes something like this "ABFZ" and "1, 2, 13." I LOVE IT! She picks and chooses when she wants to know her colors... if you ask her she'll just look at you and say a random color but will say them to herself occasionally. She also knows most of the regular shapes. We got her some flashcards to practice some different skills with her that she just loves! Mostly right now we're just working on picture recognition. It's neat to see what objects she knows, and what words she associates with them. We have a picture of a bird's nest with eggs in it... she sees it and yells "eggs!" but not nest, so now it's more of getting to experience a wider range of things to become familiar with those objects.

She's growing and changing soooo much, but there is one thing that doesn't change... her ability to make us smile. :)

Fall classes

This week ended my Fall Session classes through the Rec Center. I had an absolute blast and can't wait until they start up again come Jan/Feb. While I enjoyed Art and More, Energy Outlet was definitely where it was at. Sadly upon arriving at class on Tuesday we were told that class had been canceled because Ms. Maria wasn't feeling well (errrr whatever... per Mommy, who complained that that was now the second class that had been canceled, and that didn't seem fair... blah di blah di blah... for the record Mommy was extremely calm and kind in her disgruntledness and still managed to get our money back for the class... yeeeehaw! We then took that money to the bookstore and got 2 potty books for me and a glove toy for Emma Grace... good times!). Now I was BEYOND bummed at this finding because Daddy took an hour off from work to come with us! He wanted to see me in action. How on earth were we going to make this right and salvage our day? Why... go to the playground at Chick-fil-a of course! First we ate our breakfast and then it was time to get down to business.

Not bouncy class but just as good! Then we took a bath in hand sanitizer and headed to the bookstore. :)

Today was also the last day of Art and More. I wanted to catch you up on our projects that we made since the last time I reported. First there is the crazy bird fan that Ms. Carol gave Mommy the materials for us to make at home. If you recall this was one of the projects Mommy left on the top of the car and proceeded to drive away.

Last week we made fall trees. And some crazy "moons" with coffee filters, bingo blotters, and spray bottles.

And today... drum roll please... Daddy came with us! He worked from home today and came on out during his lunchtime. My Daddy works VERY hard and hasn't been able to spend a whole lot of time with me and EG. When he is able to spend time with us, we try to go all out and have as much fun as possible. I enjoyed having Daddy in class today, and I think he may have enjoyed it just as much. :)

Here is our underwater collage that Daddy and I made.

We also made a "Tom the Turkey." I had no idea what his belly was made of or that I could even eat it until I saw another one of my friends munching down... ahhhhhh SUGAR!

Mommy cherishes these projects so much... I'm sure I'll be seeing them again once I'm 20. :)

Ahhh... that voice PART DEUX

Rachel here. While Reese's little voice is uber adorable, it seems my little Emma Grace has found a voice of her own. ENJOY!

What a day!

I have a secret...
Soooo... Mommy has been working with me on potty training. It's a huge chore, and we basically wanted to throw in the towel before we even began. I hate the potty! HATE... HATE... HATE... the potty. We've had the potty FOREVER it seems. I want to say Mommy and Daddy bought it for me shortly after I turned 1. Ahh yes I remember now. It was when Daddy was in Abingdon... back in the days when I pretended to vomit in it... memories. Since then my potty and I have been ignoring one another... like two passing ships. Since I'm 2 now, Mommy feels like I should be at least sitting on the darn thing. Personally I think she's as delusional as always, but nonetheless Mommy went ahead and made me a quiet little area in the bathroom.

I even have my own potty chart. Everytime I peepoo (that's what I call either one) in the potty, I get a sticker for my chart...

... and a Reese's piece... appropriate huh?

Here's how I felt about her newest plan:

Until today. Basically Mommy held me hostage in the bathroom for three hours... you read that correctly... THREE HOURS. Her logic on the matter was... she doesn't want to pressure me and push me to do it if I'm not ready, but if I just spent some time on it then I might get over my initial fear of said potty. The first 15-20 minutes were spent with her holding me onto the potty as I screamed BLOODY MURDER and KICKED like a mule. Mommy just kept telling me that it would be okay, that she loved me, and that I was such a good girl... I should have known there was something up. ;) Finally I relaxed and just sat and sat and sat... read book after book after book... okay really it was the same flippin' book OVER AND OVER AND OVER again... my new potty book. :) This is where Mommy gets stubborn. You would have thought after the first hour of me not peeing in the potty would have put her over the edge. Nope... she's a persistent booger. I think we both knew that as soon as she put that diaper on me I would pee my little heart out... well not on her terms buddy. We sat on. I was getting so comfortable in there... we had lunch.

Then it happened... Mommy was feeding Emma Grace her afternoon cereal (once again... in the bathroom), and she stopped dead in her tracks...

I PEED PEOPLE... I PEED ON THE POTTY PEOPLE!

Here's the proof... yes my mother took a photo of my pee... oy vay!

After eating my candy, I got my sticker.

I sure hope Mommy doesn't get used to this. ;) We're taking things slow... one day at a time.

Big girl bed... the finale

Rachel here. There isn't too much new around these parts. Emma Grace and I went to Newport News for the weekend with Laura and Aly to visit Angie and HAD A BLAST! We ate, drank (VERY LITTLE), and shopped... it was so nice just to visit! Meanwhile here on the homefront Daddy and Reese were putting the finishing touches on Reese's big girl bed. A few weeks ago we completely took her out of her crib, put a twin mattress on the floor and wedged it between a wall and her crib (to keep her from hitting the floor). She LOVED it! She was more than proud of her "big girl bed." I then ordered the side rails to convert her crib into the full sized bed (we completely skipped over the toddler bed piece because she was kicking the sides and would have done the same in the toddler bed), Bryan picked up the full sized mattresses, and I agonized over the bedding. I wanted a quilt that wasn't trendy or too girly... something that could grow with her and we wouldn't need to replace once she grew out of it at age 5. I found an AMAZING deal at JCPenney... more than 50% off of a beautiful quilt, 2 shams, and bed skirt. Reese now has a bedroom that is completely put together... but she may be a little scared of her big girl bed now. Apparently she loved it until Bryan put the rails on it, so she wouldn't roll out... not pictured below. She's getting used to it, and we couldn't be happier with how it all turned out!

I originally wanted the owl/tree bedding from Pottery Barn, but seriously who has $189 dollars just laying around for a quilt that your kid would probably hate once they turned 7? I did, however, splurge on the $18 owl pillow from Target. :)

Uhhhh.... that voice

Rachel here. It seems like Reese is changing so much every single day. I have some cute photos to share as we get closer to the drama that is potty training, but I'm just too pooped to upload and edit them, so I'll have to just leave you with this video. Granted it's an uber boring video of Reese and I doing her flashcards, which she LOVES to no end. You'll also see in the background the mess that is my home, but I'm not Mrs. Cleaver so deal with it. :) I'm posting this because Reese has the sweetest little squeaky voice I've ever heard, and I'm falling in love with it the more she learns to say. She's very much into having complete conversations with herself these days, so before just about every word she says she asks her self "what's that?"

In love

Rachel here. I'm seriously tearing up just looking at this picture!

Princess Sparkles

Rachel here... doesn't Em look like she's just woken up from an all night bender?!

Okay... seriously though... LOOK AT THAT FACE! Ugh! Mush! Okay for real... so I went in to get Emma Grace from her nap today and she was playing with one of her new favorite toys. Her little unicorn. Now originally Auntie Heather bought Reese this unicorn about a year and a half ago. No disrespect to Heather, but Reese really wasn't that into it. Never fret Heather because Emma LOVES it! She's really bad at pulling her paci out of her mouth if she's trying to fall asleep, so we have to put something in her hands for her to play with. The unicorn has become one of her favorites! Just look at that cheese!

Sometimes it's even better than the paci. ;)