11 Months....What is Reese doing now??

 
The changes are just too numerous to cover right now...Our little girl is just becoming such a fun little person. Of course, so much of her attitude and fun loving personality were muted during the two week sickness from hell but Reese is back and she has been such an amazing little girl since feeling better.

Reese is doing the following:

• All through her 10th month she was walking in bits and pieces. Now at the beginning of the 11th month, she can walk the length of our living room!
• She crawls when she really wants to get somewhere fast.
• She LOVES books. 
• She can climb all the way up our stairs.....secured by Mommy or Daddy of course.
• She is finally starting to eat other things like...Teddy Grahams, Cheerios, Goldfishes, Diced pears, she tried oranges this morning and didn't want to but she ended up eating them, she'll eat mashed bananas, cares nothing for bread, she usually eats 6 oz of formula in the morning, eats some type of fruit and 4 oz of formula for breakfast, lunch is fruit and veggie...still #2 or #3 baby food with 4 oz, then her dinner is a #3 baby food with some type of meat or protein ---- no bottle ( I love) and then a 6 oz before bed.
• Her number one finger food is yogurt melts.
• She feeds herself all of the finger foods and has shown interest in the spoon so we got some smaller ones just to see what she'll do.
• Words include, Mama, Dada....whispers it for some reason, starting to say Papa, Nana, Uh-oh, Thank you on occasion, and tries very hard to say Touchdown when we yell it and hold up our arms. You can also say READY.....and she'll say GO! But sometimes it sounds more like Dough!
• She understands words like: eat, bottle, no, come here and so many others....she will respond to simple commands like put that in my hand.
• She loves to pull things out of something and put it back in....tissues, zip bags, blocks, bathtime letters....you name it. She'll either put them in something like a cup or take them out of what they belong in...like the zip baggies.
• Seems to be finally at peace with hair bows...until now it was a constant fight to keep one in. Thus the horrible hair pics.
• Sleeps from 8pm until roughly 7am....no later though. No later at all.
• She takes two naps and they seem to be getting longer for Mommy and Daddy but roughly the same for Sherry.
• She is amazed by other children and loves to watch them.
• Has four top teeth and three bottom teeth.
• Wears 18 month clothes.
• Cannot stand to have on shoes or socks.
• All of the sudden, despises the hair dryer. 

The walking and the food thing are the two that get me. Kim come up with some sort of food sharing deal where Reese would feed Kim and then Kim would feed Reese....all of the sudden Reese is eating things that she would have normally turned her nose to. Amazing....

All in all, Reese is fast becoming a toddler...it may be time to think about another baby for her to play with. :)

 

  

We love this little girl so much.....Pics like this just drive it home.

Happy 11 months Reese!!!

This isn't the pic post with all of the stats and what she is doing but I just wanted to throw out there that my little girl is almost ONE STINKING YEAR OLD!!!

Where has this year gone? Updates will follow with pics and her current list of activities.....a long one for sure now.

Happy Birthday Pooks!

Happiness Is....

My little girl finally feeling better....and an Elmo book.

Side bars?

These side bars seem a tad better and obviously I'm working out the kinks on the header but be patient....this may not be the last redesign by a long shot. Thanks for the honesty in the commentary....

New Look???

I'm not positive that I like this look....the header needs to change anyway but this background seems awfully busy. I'm thinking of ditching it and quick....any thoughts here.

I try not to make this a fru fru frilly blog even though I'm out numbered but I'm thinking this may be a tad too much.

Beautiful Sunday and a better baby girl....

Finally...FINALLY...it would appear that our little one is breaking this two week cycle of sickness. Thank you Lord!!!

Today has been a great day. Her awesome little attitude is back, she is playful, happy, smiling, and very inquisitive. She's even getting less upset when Kim leaves her sight. Not that she's ok with it but she's not going into full on meltdown anymore. Reese still has a bit of a cough but nothing as pronounced as the past several days and it would appear that the meds prescribed are having the desired effects based on everything we're seeing. We can't be thankful enough. It's been so hard on her..so hard. And in turn on us because we just haven't been used to her feeling so down for so long.

Our Sunday was pretty chill....just like we like 'em. I slept in by accident (K&R had a early morning thanks to a coughing spell so they went down stairs and slept a little) we took it easy during the morning, I worked out for a bit, Kim took a walk with Reese and we grilled out steaks tonight in honor of the amazing weather that has been in place this weekend. Yes...I know it will not last but its just nice to feel not so pinned in for a change. Kim and I have decided that Spring and Summer are going to be wonderful for us since we've been so accustomed to bundling Reese up all the time and this was a nice prelude for what to expect with a toddler.

I also caught up on some pics of Reese since she finally looks like a million bucks again....she was looking like a buck fifty the other day...and we just played and enjoyed the day. I love days like this and believe me when I tell you that you appreciate them more when they have been few and far between.

So...on to the pics. This is our attempt at training Reese to eat other things...like Cheerios. She actually ate a few this weekend and that is a minor miracle all on its own. She loves Yogurt Melts but anything else that you pick up...eeehhh. Not so much. This was the cutest sight because Reese would feed Kim and then Kim would turn around and feed Reese. It was so precious and they did this for a couple Cheerios so we may be turning a corner on this one.

The story on this one is Reese can't stand it if we're not in her line of sight...More directly Mumma. If Mumma ain't visible...there is liable to be hell to pay. So we bring her into the office/should-be-dining room and she plays with various things. This time it was slender blue and yellow post it strips. This kept her captivated for a good 15 minutes which is pretty amazing because everything I read says she shouldn't have an attention span of more than about 4 minutes and then she'll be bored with whatever she was doing. Not these post-its. They seem to have magical powers or something.

And finally...you've heard of a bull ring right? Well...we opted not to go through her nose. Just thought that seemed like a bit much.

That's sort of it folks....I'm tired, my legs hurt and the Olympics are calling my name. We'll keep the recovering baby updates coming but it's so great to have her back to semi-normal. I just hope we can keep it that way for a while!!

A little better??

This morning has been a decent morning for Reese...she just looks better. She isn't nearly as whiny and sad looking and there isn't a stream of snot flowing from her nose. Maybe...JUST MAYBE we've cleared the worst of it.

God I hope so....she has been so sick and we just want our little Pooka back.

Sick and tired of being sick and tired....

Reese will be 11 months old next week and I think it safe to say that these last two weeks have been about as challenging as any that she OR we have faced. She has had the stomach rot...and I will note that she handled that VERY well for the level of uckiness that you could tell she was dealing with but upon her arrival from Florida last week with Kim, she started showing signs of a cold that she has held onto ALLLLL week.

It has been so hard to sit somewhat handcuffed to do something about her misery but that's essentially what has been happening. We felt like something larger was pending on Monday and Kim took her to the Dr. but nothing was found....she just has a cold and runny nose but then Reese got worse and worse and worse so we took her back and she has an ear infection, the cold, runny nose, a horrible cough and a temperature. So all of this culminated with the two most recent days of sheer misery for her.

This is foreign ground for Kim and I. Reese traditionally wakes up in a fantastic mood and ready to eat some chow and face the day. The past two mornings she has struggled to breathe when waking up, she has been yawning like crazy which would indicate to me that she isn't getting good sleep because she is either coughing or is having a hard time breathing, and she is extremely clingy and irritated. It's hard to watch but...and I say this only because I am so unaccustomed to this...its hard to live through.

You have no real idea how long a sick child can murmur this whine that sounds like "nuhhhhhh, nuhhhhhhh, muhhhhhhhhh, muhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!"  Now complete with a new way to gurgle spit or snot in an attempt to either gross is out or just simply push Daddy closer to the edge. It's like a Chinese torture device that you can't escape! Mind you, we know (I know) Reese is sick and doesn't feel well and she can't relay that to us any other way but its just something that I wasn't ready for because Reese has been so excellent with anything that stressed her. Kim, on the other hand, is brilliant with her. Reese clings to Kim from whatever angle she can....she holds on to her shoulders, she grabs her pant leg when Kim is standing and shoves her head between Kim's legs like she's playing peekaboo with someone in front of Kim...and Mumma seems impervious to the dull roar of Reese's new found whine. It just doesn't seem to penetrate Kim's central nervous system like it does mine.

I'm so not laid back and I need to be....I need to not stress over stuff like I am. I'm fixated on Reese eating real food and the more I seem to stress over it, the less Reese seems interested in eating from the table. I'm stressing over her tossing everything off of her high chair and the more I say "no!", the more interested in throwing things she seems to be. I'm worried about her sleep, her meals, her health, her everything. I pray more for this child than I've prayed for anything cumulatively in my life. I just want the best for her and I want to make the pain go away. Some part of me feels terrible and bears the burden of guilt because she is going to daycare and if she stayed in the home or in a single child setting she probably wouldn't be this sick. And while I want nothing more than to keep Reese home...our situation doesn't allow for Grandparents to babysit or for bored neighbors to volunteer their time. Reese gets great interaction with children of different ages and I believe in my heart that this is a good thing for her but I also believe that she is picking up germs like a vacuum at Sherry's ----- its not her fault that kids carry this stuff like miniature virus mailmen. It just happens.

Sure...I read posts about multiples, children with chronic conditions, good days and bad days and Reese pales in comparison even on her worst day to what some folks have to deal with. But its hard to watch. It's hard to watch her hurt and not know how to fix it. I'm frustrated by my own inability to make her better...to understand her needs and anticipate them so that resolution is a step rather than a process. It's humbling...

I want nothing more than to be a good Daddy and for Kim to continue her reign as Mommy of the year. But then again...I take that back...I want my little girl to feel better for a while. She needs a break and I'm hoping that she gets one pretty soon.

These are some of the few pics that we have taken recently because she has been so incredibly sick lately....

 

  

And finally....here is a shot of what happens when the hair dryer gets a mind of its own.

Whatchu doing?!

Taking a line from this little boy that used to live next to us...Hey...WHATCHU DOING????
Well...we've had a rough run here lately. That's what we've been doing.

I told you about throw up baby...then throw up Mama....then Daddy leaves for Miami and is absolutely hoping and praying that he doesn't become throw up Daddy. Well, I didn't. I avoided the plague but what did happen was Kim's Grandfather passed while I was in Miami....I had been strategically avoiding planes on the outset that something would surely happen as soon as I became "locked" into a trip and so sadly, it did.

You saw my post about wanting to be back home with my wife and daughter to be their rock and their support during this time and how I couldn't mesh the plan together because of weather......well it could have been worse. I was moved to a flight at 2:30P on Friday afternoon from my canceled 7pm flight on Friday night. American Airlines will undoubtedly fly in garbage conditions and the pansies that I'm forced to fly called Delta will not. I will remember this Delta....I will remember it. BUT, not like my friend Daniel and my boss. They were bumped from the same 7p Friday night flight...put on a 6:30a flight Saturday morning...that canceled...then over to a 7:30a flight...that canceled and finally onto a 7:30P SATURDAY NIGHT flight that finally flew. Good Lord. Meanwhile I had left this....

 And come home to this.....

 

  

I mean I love snow and everything and this is beautiful but...my girls weren't here and I missed them dearly. According to Kim, Reese did fabulous in the car on the way down and back and for her troubles she picked up a cold while she was away and looks like she feels miserable right now. She looks soooo pitiful. We thought she may have had an ear infection but a trip to the doctor revealed bigger teeth coming in and and healthy eater.....she weighs 26.6 lbs!! 

Things are getting slightly better now because Kim had the same cold bug and she seems to be shaking it with Reese appearing to be a day behind the recovery that Kim is seeing. Hopefully my girls will be back to normal soon and we can get past all of this sicky business. I sure hope so.

We'll post some Reese pics later this week since she doesn't seem all that camera friendly right now.

Where my dawgs at?

Happiness Is....

Fresh snow on a Saturday morning. The smell of wood burning from a fireplace and the sound that the wind makes through trees that are blanketed with snow. I wish it snowed more around here.....

Sad news....

Last night, I called Kim from my hotel room in Miami to learn that her Grandfather had passed away earlier that day. While somewhat expected....he had been in the hospital since Thanksgiving with a clear indication that he had limited days....those phone calls are never eased with any amount of preparation.

Today is the day when I feel like my life obligations sometimes are overshadowed by my work obligations....let me explain. I'm in Miami attending my industry's singular greatest event for introductions and building business. This is it...this is where it happens. So I fly down here and now, Kim needs me. She needs to leave Friday to make it to the funeral by Saturday at 11am.....I need to be back in Atlanta earlier than I can get there because I need to fulfill my most important roles and be a husband and a dad. I need to help but I'm helpless. On top of that, its going to snow in Atlanta this Friday. We get one measurable snow in 10 years and it happens to be this weekend and oddity of all oddities...the snow fall amounts get worse the further south you go into Georgia so Kim will need to be driving in conditions that won't be favorable until the GA/FL stateline from what I can tell....And there is no guarantee that I'll even make it home now. Three inches could shut the world down in Atlanta so no matter what time I leave, it won't be soon enough.

Kim has opted to take Reese based on the knowledge that it may be very late by the time I get home and now I won't even be watching Reese this weekend to help out...I'll just be trying to get home and missing her Grandfather's funeral on top of all of this. I feel like garbage. I could have driven to Ocala had I taken weather into account but now, I've already charged the flight change fees and canceling this flight to opt for a rental is almost out of the question at this point. Airlines have no compassion for your situations....they just need that dollar you're clenching.

Kim was so strong for me when Papa passed but now...I can't do the same for her. I can't seem to put together anything that will help in the timeline that is needed. All the time that I give to work and to my career has somehow quarantined me from being where I need to be tonight. The perfect storm of events....I'm sorry sweetie. I'm so sorry.

Say a prayer for Kim's wonderful family because they are all missing Grandpa Goller tonight. I wish I could be there to hug you all...I'm so sorry that I can't.

Sick babies....

So how can I tell this story with compassion and my normal sense of humor??

(Disclaimer: I love my girls and I feel bad about poking fun but these are family moments that just happen so you might as well laugh versus cry.)

On Friday Kim came home and told me that our sitter's oldest boy had the stomach bug thats been floating around for a while and that we may end up seeing that manifest in Reese this weekend. Well.....it did. Saturday morning I woke up to look at the monitor and see Reese sitting up in her bed and just seeming sort of out of it. I go in and do the normal Good Morning song that we sing to Reese and she really didn't smile all that big. I pick her up.....she yakked. Not big but vomit nonetheless. I sort of do the ucky baby hold and keep her away from my shirt and we walk in to see Mommy still sort of waking up. Notable! Reese had slept until 8am so I was shocked that she had slept in and then gotten sick....I figured the bug would have made her stir a little sooner.

So, we get up and start the day and feed Reese after the "episode" and move on. A little baby food and a little bottle and a little later.....erp. Projectile vomit all over her little walker that looks like a lion. It was pretty massive....applesauce and formula drip from the lion so Kim grabs Reese and I grab the lion. It needs a shower....and so does Reese. SOOOOOO we give Reese a little bath and clean her up and go through the motions and I clean up the "vomit slick" that Reese laid down and spray everything with Lysol and hope that we're peaking the hill. Oh, did I mention that the whole time this is going down I'm trying to install a new ceiling fan in the sunroom/playroom? I've got stuff all over the floor so anytime you move quickly you have to be capable of doing sprints around the debris field in the living room.

I climb back up the ladder and start to do some stuff only to catch wind of a HORRIBLE smell. Oh no...its coming from the other end now...baby diarrhea!!!! It stunk so damn bad! Let me explain....Have you ever smelled something that stunk so bad that it almost smelled hot? Does that make sense? I mean it smelled like something that was simmering in funk. Grab her up....take her back upstairs and get ready for the unveiling of one of Reese's worst diapers since she was born. WHOA!!!!!! Did it deliver!!!

Kim took charge but I was right there with her and it was horrendous.....then it happened. Kim got the juicy jaws. You know the feeling...that sudden burst of slobber before you get ready to erp....the mouth sweats, juicy jaws....both are pretty interchangable. They describe the situation to perfection. Kim was overcome with funk but her own stomach issues were setting in. Oh brother.

Reese's diaper looked like something our dogs have puked before. It was different colors, textures, shapes...it was a pandora's box of poop. Kim was visably shaken...she has never done that before with one of Reese's diapers but her gut was in flux so it was highly expected. We clean up the lava filled cesspool strapped to Reese's bottom and go back down stairs to try another stab at normalcy.......sniff sniff....she's at it again!!!!! Well, not really. She had a little extra lava in her shorts and it was not an assplosion...thank you Tara for the term. We love it.....BAAAACK downstairs again and Kim starts folding clothes and I try to finish what I started....Kim succumbs (spelling?) to the stomach bug....she erps.

Not in the floor but she gallops into the bathroom and proceeds to cough and spit. That's her deal. She doesn't release the hounds so to speak but she just coughs and spits a bunch. Could it get any better? A sick wife...a sick daughter...

Well, we made it through the weekend without any major issues like Saturday morning......oh, until Sunday night. Right before bed, Reese turned into a puke fountain. She threw up all over Kim, all over the sofa, all over the little sofa pillows......it was awful. It was quite scary to be honest but after speaking with a nurse today, she felt like we had probably fed her too much and she was just done with it. A small burp turned into a spit up that wouldn't stop. So today...we're slowing it down a little so the baby girl can eeeeeeaaaaassseee back into eating again. We think she's fine now and appears to have held down a small meal from tonight but in all seriousness, say a little prayer that Reese will get over this bug soon and we can stop washing towels by the hundreds after cleaning up the mess.

If you ever have the time to revisit an older movie from my youth..."Stand By Me" there was a scene in there from the pie eating contest....I felt like I was in that scene this weekend....I love my girls but I was actually glad this weekend was over. I'm ready for a new attempt and rest and relaxation.

Same cute little girl.....

There is little more than five months difference from the bottom picture to the top and yet she still take the sweetest booboo pictures.

My camera isn't at fault here...its all operator error but I almost like the effect that the blur creates. There is something purposeful about it...like I meant to do it to create interest or something. Nah....I didn't. Just got a quick moving baby girl that loves to get in Daddy's face when he's snapping photos.

Big 'ol picture post.....the bathroom. Finally.

So last fall Kim allowed me the privilege of learning a hard, hard lesson. She gave the seal of approval for me to destroy the bathroom and re-tile the shower and floor. In my glorious ignorance, I accepted said task and what happened will forever be burned into my mind as the worst thing I will have ever attempted or will likely ever attempt in terms of home renovation.

If you ever want to re-tile something....don't. Contractors charge so much because it truly sucks that bad to lay tile. And HGTV doesn't show you the hell between the before...and the after. Why? Because HGTV is in cahoots with the building supply places and they make tons of money off of morons like myself that believe I can do anything if I only read a book on how to do it.

I want to be completely clear on this....I opted out of the shower installation because while I am half way handy...I'm not stupid. If it leaks then that's MY fault....it ain't an easy fix. So I didn't tile the shower or the tub surround but I did the floor with absolutely zero experience in laying, cutting, grouting, or handling tile....period. But the finished product is pretty ok if I do say so myself....enjoy the 9 Circles of Hell as seen from my camera through this renovation.

BEFORE.....

White shower with tile only head high....plenty of cracks that cannot be seen.

The tub with the useless and cumbersome step. It served no purpose other than to trip and maim.

The unique transition from one tile to another...beautiful. I was sure that this was a design element until I began to rip up the tile around the toilet....this tile was grouted and set in kryptonite.

 

When I would rinse....all of this BROWN painted sheetrock would be soaked. BROWN....like poo poo.

Beautiful scum in the grout lines.....ahhhh yes. Shower with mold and scum....I love it.

Nasty looking insulation.....be GONE!!!!

The tub and the nightmare of tools on the old vanity.....

 

Tile starting....

 

 

 You've never had fun like this....I promise. I mean this is good times.

 

 

 Showing some signs of progress.....

 And now for the final product.

 

 

 

 

 

  

So there it is....the mistake that I'll never make again. I'm only half kidding. There is some amount of satisfaction with doing something like this. The floor and base mold are my handy work and the installation of the vanity was by a pro as well as the counter top and mirror. 

A quick story about the counter top...our neighbor that watched Reese for a while came over one Saturday to see the renovation and she looked at what is obviously a granite counter top and asked, "Now what is this?"...I assumed that maybe she was not versed in the varieties of hard surface counter tops so I proclaim "Granite." Where as she promptly made me feel like mud by saying...."No, I know that...what is the name of the style?" Holy crap...you know your granite enough to know the names and what the styles are? I felt like a shithead. There. I said it. If you ever read our blog Krissy...sorry about that. I didn't mean to imply that you were a granite virgin. My bad.

I assume that we will pull or normal nomad-like ways and depart from this house once we decide that another child is in order but I assure you.....In fact I will proclaim to you on this blog that I will NOT be laying tile in a bathroom....EVER......AGANE. (misspelled on purpose so as to sound all hoity.)

Thanks for waiting patiently :)

Updates...

So nothing earth shattering has been happening over the last couple days. The weekend went by too fast and that pretty well sums it up. We did a little shopping Saturday and then Mom and Dad came down Sunday and Reese was great both days but it just seems like life is in a time warp right now. I really love cold weather but I'm almost in the mood for summer now because the days seem longer and getting things done isn't such a tough task.

The only major thing on our radar is Reese's photo session with Kristin Leigh...I think that's her name...and then the one year birthday party. It's so incredible that she will be one soon but it's just par for the course right now. I expect to wake up and be in my 70's the way things are going right now.....

The pics below are "Warp speed Reese" and of her playing in the hand towels.