Happy and healthy again!

Reese is finally back to himself... After four days of sickness and a trip to the ER, he's finally recovered - Gabe and I managed to avoid getting sick as well. After four days in the house, we were feeling some serious cabin fever, so it was good to make it to swimming on Saturday. We even made it to a birthday party Sunday afternoon, Reese enjoyed "catching up" with some friends. : ) Another highlight of the week was watching NE volleyball practice at the Quest Center. We knew we wouldn't make it to the game, so we took Reese to watch the practice. He loves to watch any sport, so this was pretty exciting for him.

The below picture is his new bear crawl walk... He's also doing a few yoga moves lately - not sure where he learned those.

Poor sick baby...

Oh what a long week it's been so far. Reese came down with the stomach flu Sunday morning. We thought it'd be a 24 hour deal... Not the case. As it turns out, it's still going on today, Tuesday, with yet another "emesis" (trying not to gross you out, so I'll use the medical term) this morning. Selfishly, I was happy to hear from Gabe this morning announcing that his flight to Rapid City had been delayed and it would be a waste of time to go on the trip, so he canceled it all together. I did feel bad for Gabe though, because he was up at 4:30 am to make his flight. He ignored my advice of checking the status of his flight before leaving - with word of the "big storm" coming and all I thought it might be a good idea. Good thing the airport is only a 10 -15 minute drive from our house. Gabe worked around Lincoln today, but at least he's around tonight for a little moral support. I think Reese is on the mend, we just feel so bad for him. Poor little guy just wants to be held and lay on the couch. Even just bringing the little yellow bucket around makes him cry. He'll push it away and shake his head "no, no". As many of you know, little kids can't exactly tell you when it's coming, so the little bucket hasn't always helped anyway... Hopefully today is our last day and Gabe and I can somehow dodge this nasty little virus.

Oh Christmas tree...

Gabe brought home the Christmas tree the other night and Reese was SO excited about it! I think the idea of having a tree inside of our house was just so surreal to him... He kept running back and forth wanting us to go look at it again. He helped dad do some decorating and wanted so much to play with all the ornaments... That's been a challenge, keeping Reese away from the ornaments. So far two have been broken, even moving them up high hasn't helped. Somehow he manages to get them down... He'll bring them over to show us and tell us what it is - his favorites are the airplane, golfclubs, and of course, the little glass balls. Surprisingly, he hasn't even bothered to mess with the presents under the tree. I put a few under to test the waters and he really doesn't seem to care. We are really looking forward to seeing his reaction on Christmas when he realizes all the presents are for him... In the spirit of the season, he is quite interested in the nativity set - luckily it's non-breakable.

Visitors from up North

My good friend from Kearney who now lives in MN was here visiting with her husband, Kevin and little girl, Stella. Reese and Stella got along very well and with them being nine months apart, this was the first time they were able to play together more actively. On our previous visits to MN, Reese was still a baby or just learning to walk. Now he's able to hold his own and even managed to keep up with Stella and her busy ways! : ) He loved having her here and seemed kinda sad when she left! It made me happy to remember that he'll have company in a few months... Although, realistically, he might not be too happy about the "company" for sometime!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent our Thanksgiving in Kearney this year. Reese enjoyed the food very much and even helped Grandma out by licking the spoon. We were actually in Kearney for a full week spending time with both sets of Grandparents. With it being a longer stay, we also had time to visit some friends and Reese enjoyed his play dates with their kiddos. It was a fun week, but I must say, after late nights and early mornings - it was nice to get back on somewhat of a schedule here at home. All in all, it was a great time with family and Reese really enjoys spending time with his Grandparents!

The big feast!

Another Birthday...

Reese and I made the trip back to Kearney to celebrate Grandma's Birthday... It was a action-packed day shopping for gifts, taking lunch to Grandma at work, and a fun dinner out. Tylar, Reese's cousin was able to join us for the festivities as well. Reese had a great time with his Grandparents and sleep was really not a priority for him... Staying up late and getting up early (4:30 Am)... I guess he was too excited to sleep. This tends to happen when we go back to visit the Grandparents - he did the same thing on our last visit. Needless to say, he crashed on the way home and has been sleeping like a champ since returning to his own room and crib. I was happy to have him back on a schedule as well, pregnancy and sleeplessness doesn't go well together.

Also, Gabe wanted to mention that Reese got his first official pair of tennis shoes today... Grey New Balance ones. They are quite stylish and even come in an extra-wide. We were happy to find another company (besides Stride Rite) that made shoes for "fat feet"! : ) Reese apparently liked them too, as he was running back and forth showing them off to me. I'll have to get a picture and show them to you all too!

Happy Birthday Dad

We celebrated Gabe's Birthday this weekend... We had carrot cake (Gabe's favorite), ice cream, pizza, presents... and musical cards! How fun is that? Luke was so excited for Gabe to open his "chicken dance" music card. Once he finally opened it, Reese and Luke started running around the table dancing and laughing - where is the video camera when you really need it? I had a picture, but it was a shot of the back of Reese's head and one of Luke's legs... They were on the move and I wasn't quick enough. Give it a year and Max - Luke's little brother, will be right there with them. Hmmm.... I wonder if another boy will be added to the mix??? Four boys within 4 years apart - things could get a little hectic. : )

Another thing worth mentioning - Reese had a ball at swimming and did some pretty impressive things - he went down the big slide all by himself and he jumped off the edge of the pool several times. Several times meaning 10 or more... He couldn't get enough. I'm embarrassed to say that my arms were actually sore yesterday from lifting him up so many times.

Oh, the anticipation!




Everybody loves the chicken dance!

Trick or Treat

Needless to say, Halloween was a big hit this year compared to last. Reese somewhat understood the concept of dressing up and going out for candy. His favorite part was the selection process of finding the "right" piece of candy out of the bowls. It was a tough decision and mom had to speed the process along most of the time. He enjoyed every minute and especially liked the party afterwards. He was getting tired, but once friends (0urs and his) showed up for chili and drinks, he found some new energy. Luckily, for us and him, he slept in until 8:30 the next morning. He woke up excited and full of energy - a little sugar lingering in his system I'm sure.

Inspecting the first bag of goodies...

On the Move!!

Getting ready for the big night

Halloween happenings

The week approaching Halloween was a fun one anticipating Reese's first Halloween party, costume wearing, and candy - "uckers" = suckers, in the house. The above pictures are from his little Halloween party, which involved costumes, a pumpkin decorating activity- using stickers, treats, an unsuccessful group picture, and a meltdown on the way home. A fun time was had by all and I'm sure we'll attempt it again next year!

shoes

Reese has taken an interest in my shoes, Gabe's too, but he seems to have more fun wearing mine around the house... Hopefully this phase won't last too long! Maybe it's just because mine are a bit smaller and easier to manage - who knows.

Gabe and Reese had a boys weekend while I went to Chicago on a girls trip - they had a great time as always. I came hope to some new toys in the playroom - a bowling set, another golf set, some plastic golf balls...

Market-to-Market

This past weekend Gabe and Tyson ran in the market-to-market race... A relay race consisting of 8 runners per team running from the old market in Omaha to the hay market in Lincoln - approximately 88 miles. They finished in the top 15 out of over 150 teams... Gabe said it was harder than a marathon because you run so much faster, and difficult to run 4 miles, get in the van, wait 2 hours, run another 4 miles...etc. Plus, the pressure of keeping their lead. I think they had a good time though and Reese and I had fun cheering them on...

Rainy day

Yesterday was a rainy day, so we hosted a small, but wild, playgroup at our house. Friends Lauren, John, Caroline, Zachary, and Maggie all came by for some good times - and good times they had! Reese was the DJ controlling the stereo for a little start & stop dance action... Not to mention a few arguments over who gets what toy... and why not color on each other with a sharpie marker. Okay, so Reese was the only one coloring. Thankfully everyone else came away unscathed - Reese was the only one to end up with his own little mustache. I know this is the adults (me) fault for somehow letting this non-washable marker get into his little hands... But luckily it wiped off fairly easily. We all got a good laught out of it...

Grandparents visit!

Reese gets so excited when his grandparents visit - he'll walk around the house in anticipation - "gampa, gamma"... Last time we were in Kearney he was calling for "gampa" at all hours of the night... 2 am and again at 6 am and unfortunately the hours in between. Not a restful night for anyone... However, he had a great time hosting this weekend and the scowl he shows in the picture below is just one of his many facial expressions. Obviously, he wasn't in the mood for a picture! So sorry! : )

Children's Museum

Reese experienced the Children's Museum for the first time last week. I was quite impressed myself - having been there before pre-child, it's a whole another experience watching your own child completely in awe. What a great place to learn and play - I'm sure most people are familiar with Children's Museums in general, but I was very impressed. I'm sure we'll spend lots of winter days hanging out there. Reese especially enjoyed the "science room" with tons of balls moving thru a big mechanical machine... He also loved the water table and John Deer car, not so interested in grocery shopping - maybe that's a good thing?

Botanical gardens

We took Reese out to the botanical gardens - not so much for the gardens, but for the "kid structure" display they had set up for a short time. It consisted of big houses and play areas for the kiddos - of course there was an educational component to each... but they had fun just exploring.

"16" month check-up

This is Reese 'pre-shots' at his 15 month check-up yesterday. I came prepared this time with a sucker and it helped tremendously with the recovery. He weighed 26 lbs and is 32 inches tall. He's still hanging around the 75th percentile for both... not a small child. : )

It was a rough day... Poor little guy crashed hard for a 3 1/2 hour nap in the afternoon, then he got up to play hard with the neighbor kids, came in to eat a bite (barely), and then really crashed hard (no bath, too upset) for the night at 6 pm.

Zoo

This summer we have made several trips to the zoo, a few have been with good friends, Caroline and Zachary. The following pictures are actually from two seperate trips... The ones in the petting zoo are the more recent pictures. The other picture, by the statue, was a seperate trip. We were there again this week with Grandma Ellen, and Reese took his first ride on the carousel. I don't have pictures (Grandma had the camera), but it was one of those moments you're so happy watching their amazement and happiness.

Reese - so not afraid of these guys. He was running after them to pet them and "play". I had to remind him that they are "not like Fred".

To the upper left - Reese and Zachary - inspecting the Goat pellet poo.

Fun times at the park

Reese experienced his first ride on the swings... Obviously he loved it with the looks of his smiles. These pictures were actually taken back in early August, but as usual I'm quite behind on keeping this updated. We've had several trips to the park since these pictures were taken... With the weather we've had lately, we'll be there even more. In fact, we're going tomorrow with some neighbor friends... so maybe I will capture some more smiles!

Hello again!!

Well, I am going to try harder to keep you updated on Reese's life... I'm not sure why I let this go, but we'll give it another try! Reese is already 15 months old and growing like crazy! He keeps us on our toes as he is so busy and quite the dare devil! He is so funny with all of his mannerisms (most of which come from Gabe) and new expressions. The following pictures are a brief summary of the past 5-6 months... First Birthday, trips, days at the pool...

Random pic - hanging out

Posing with dad after the BCS golf event (in MN)

Fun times in MN with Stella

Reese and his buddy, Stella

Obsessed with dad's belts! He always has to put one on after watching dad do it...

Our little monkey climber enjoying his new playroom and table

Fun days at the pool

Father's Day at the pool

Fetching our food for us!

Loving Fred...

Going for a walk with neighbor friend, Lauren - chilly day for June!

All dressed up for Mother's Day!

Loves his new chair!

Going for a ride in his new wagon

Here's a glimpse of Reese's 1st Birthday... loved the cake, presents, everything!

Swimming lessons, Reese learned to dunk his head!

A little peek-a-boo

learning to walk...

The little "dare devil"