She is half a year old - WHAT????

Can't believe it has already been 6 mo since Reese was born.  Her first half year has absolutely FLOWN by! 

Stats 'n' Stuff:

Weight:   19lbs 7 oz - 95th percentile!

Height:  28 1/2 in. -99 percentile!

She is even bigger than her big brother was at this age - I couldn't believe it! 

But I guess she takes after her mom in this department - check out this snapshot from my baby book!

 

Eyes: Big and BLUE - she gets lots of compliments on them!

Hair: Blonde -- pretty much WHITE

Sleeping habits:  
 - Daytime   This little princess is doing great with the sleeping and has a pretty good routine down!  She wakes up for the day around 8-8:30, eats milk before 10, cereal around noon -- maybe a little nap late morning.  Then milk early afternoon and her big nap (sometimes 30 min- but for Grandma she is known for doing a couple hours!)  Then she will take another little cat-nap around 6-6:30, and to bed at 8:30.

 - Nighttime   - not too shabby!  She goes down between 8-9, then occasionaly would wake up once before 3, but sometimes skips that wake-up and goes until 4:30 or 5.  She is STILL battling the snuffles so I don't think that helps!


new stuff:
LAUGHING AND ROLLING and ROLLING and LAUGHING!  She has learned to roll front to back, back to front, pivot using her head and use swimming motions to get around.  

She so badly wants to crawl, but due to her extra chubby belly she is stuck rolling.  She is fast too!  We have learned we can't take our eyes off of her because she can really get around now.  She also perks up when she hears Drew's voice.  They love each other so much - it just makes my hear happy to watch the adoration they have for each other.  

Also, her smiles are so big that you just can help but smile back - everyone we meet says "wow - she is such a happy baby!"   She is constantly entertaining people at church, the grocery store, the neighbors - you name it!


FOOD:  This mama is proud to say she is still nursing the little angel :-)  

 We also have introduced baby food (she likes IT ALL)... sweet potatoes, bananas, peaches, green beans... she has also had some avacado and LOVES yogurt.  She is also still taking her rice cereal.   

When she eats, she just opens her mouth waiting for the spoon - her eyes get big and she just gulps it down.  This little princess loves her food! 

SITTING UP:  She is really getting good at this!  She can keep her balance in the front and sides - just needs a little help staying up.  IT's like humpty-dumpty when she starts leaning back :-)

Favorite things to do: 

Watch Drew!  She really can't get enough of him.  I try to nurse her and read books to Drew at night and she can't focus on eating.  She has to watch Drew and the book!  

She also still loves her jumperoo -- that thing hasn't gotten old yet!   

Things she does NOT like to do: 

Nothing really comes to mind -- she is such a little trooper and rarely makes a fuss.  Sometimes I wonder what is wrong with her????  hahaha! 

Things she has learned

1.  How to eat baby food!

2. How to get her toes to her mouth! 

3. How to per herself back to sleep and even to sleep at on her own at night.  Now that she is rolling everywhere she can sleep on her tummy.  If I just put her down after feeding her, she will swirm around in there for a few minutes and then she is OUT!


Things mommy has learned:


That there is nothing better than coming home to her and her big brother at the of the work day -- I look forward to seeing them and cherish those few hours I get at home each night before bedtime.  I swear that being a working mom make me a better mom!  No distractions in the evening and I make the most out of every weekend!  I am also blessed that I have a flexible schedule so I get to hang with them in the morning before I go to work.

Love these little people so so much!

Here are some of our favorite pics from the month: 

Mommy decided after Christmas that it was time to go back to BLONDE!  It's been 10 years since I rocked my more natural blonde look, so I think this is overdue.  I had appointments on back to back weekend and the second time I went back I took Reese!  My hairdresser has been doing my hair since I was a blonde, so we had a ton of fun with this! 

Not much AJ can do to this girl's hair just yet!

 Having fun at the salon!

Mom - what are you doing????????

Love you to pieces, our little Reese Cup!  Happy Half-Birthday

Don't forget about The Merrills! Christmas 2015

That's right -- there is STILL MORE CHRISTMAS TO CELEBRATE!  After we returned from Iowa we still had to open our little family gifts, plus celebrate the holiday with Grandma and Grandmpa Merrill!  The fun never ends!  :-)

G&G Merrill picked us up from the airport on Wednesday night and we went straight home to find that Santa had indeed made a stop at the house!  

Drew found a JOHN DEERE TRACTOR under the tree!  He was so excited/shocked/happy that he barely even said anything.  I think we was seriously in shock!  Of couse we had to take it for a spin that night!  

And Santa left Miss Resse her very own jewlery box and of course... some fun clothes :-) 

 

Then the next day (New Year's Eve day) we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's to open presents!  We were lucky to also get to spend some more time with Great Grandma.  It was fun and Drew got SOOOOOO many nice gifts!  

I wanna do it "all by myself" papa!

Great Grandma it looking great and enjoying life!  She stays with Ron and Cathy for a couple months in the winder and it's great that she gets to spend some time with the kiddos! 

 

Drew's very first sleeping bag!  How fun!

 

Grandpa has binoculars and Drew has always thought they were pretty cool - so this year he got a pair of his very own!

 

A picnic basket for little Ressie!  

 

MORE PRESENTS!!!!!

 

Daddy got some good loot too!

 

Tear it open Drew!  I don't think I have a picture -- but he got a Woody doll from the Buzz Lightyear movie for Christmas and LOVES it.  Yesterday I asked him who is best friend is and he said it was Woody. SO cute! 

 

Happy boy.

We all got such wonderful gifts  - it was a fun celebration back in sunny and warm Florida! 

And that's "a wrap" on Reese's first Christmas  -- it was loaded with love, gifts and the holy spirit!  We are so blessed to have such loving families and are thankful for everyone each and every day!

Christmas Eve + Christmas Day + the extended stay!

On Christmas Eve day we were off to Grandma Lori's!  We spend the afternoon hanging out together and enjoying the smells of Christmas!  Grandma was busy cooking a big yummy meal for all of us! 

Ethan was getting his snuggles with Reese in while I was getting cleaned up (and cleaning up all of our clothes that got trashed in the travel fiasco!)  Ethan is such an awesome helper!

It's been a tradition every year to get all dressed up for dinner, then off to church!

I wuv you weesie!

Family photo time!  I love getting all dressed on Christmas Eve and scoring a decent family photo makes it all that much better! 

Drew and Grandma after church... waiting patiently!  Church is always a gamble - never know how these kiddos are going to do.  This year was better than last  - they were all pretty good.  Luke had a minor break down at the end with the candles, but other than that they probably scored about an A-!



Back to Grandmas to open presents!  The girft opening was such a whirl wind... I think I got like 2 pictures of gift opening because it was just INSANE!  Lots of fun had by all!

New bath towels across the board!

Grandma held Reese while she was sporting her new ISU slippers from the Webers!  

  

Close up on the slippers - so cute and they fit perfect!!

 

 Grandma and her special little people - it's hard to get them all standing or sitting still after opening gifts  - they all had WAY too much to do!

Hi mom - here I am.  Been pretty busy tonight!

....Karaoke machine was a HIT! 

 

Time for grandma to have a drink!  The signature drink of the night was the "Jack Frost" -- fun!

 Now time to jump into the tee-pee -- the fun was showing no signs of stopping.....

 

And the last hurrah was one more round of karaokee by Drew and Luke (we were nearing 11pm at this point)

 

Look what mommy found!  Wait, is that Reese???  Oh no, it's roll-polly mommy as a baby!

 

 SHOTS of OJ across the board!

 Merry Christmas!  Look at this little cutie on her first Christmas morning!

 Off to Great Grandma Butchers for a special celebration with her!  She always makes such a delicious meal and it's so fun gathering around the table at her house.  We love her so much!

 Story time with Aunt Renea!

 Oh boy, Grandpa Butcher is here!  I love this guy!

 Ra-Ra of course had to have her snuggles from her little princess!

 Quite the trio......

 Ra-Ra got her down for nap!

I can't get enough of these beautiful pictures with Great Grandma and the little ones.  They are such lifelong keepers.

 On Saturday we jumped in the car and made a trip to Cherokee to see Great Grandma and Grandpa Hammer.  Grandma is doing okay - and grandpa is taking great care of her.

We were supposed to go home on Sunday, so back out to dads for a night then off to the airport.  But plans changed on the way to Omaha!  Our flight was delayed, ultimately canceld and we turned around and headed back to Holstien!  It was crazy.  We weren't sure how long we would be there because Southwest couldn't get us back on a flight for 5 days!  We ended up booking on another airline out of Des Moines and getting home in 3 days... but wozers this was a crazy trip! 

But the great part was that Wendy and her boys suprised us back at mom's and stuck out the storm with us!  It was awesome -- I couldn't think of better company to be snowed in with or a better place to be stranded.  We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family :-) 

Frank let Drew tag along to go out and feed the doggie!

Then Grandma Lori and all the little boys went out to brave the cold and snow... AND have some fun! 

Daddy went too..... lookin' good!

 Love these three!!!!!!   

These two are just TOO MUCH!  

  

CHEERS!  Time for some hot chocolate!

Later on is was time for some cheesecake with Grandma! 
 


During the big storm we also got a visit from Kelli Meyer and Katie Clausen - so much fun catching up with these gals!

 Lukey was loving the extra cuddles he got with Reesie!  I think he wants a baby sister........

 More love from Grandma Lori! 

 Can't forget about Drew! 

 Oh wait - Cousin Kelby is back for more Reese snuggles too!

 Had to do the side-by-side!

 On our last night before we finally flew back (for real this time) we stayed back out at dad's house.  It was a blast and the little guys got together one last time.  Also - Uncle Ben sent a text late that night that a baby calf was about to be born!  We had to go down in the morning to check it out before we hit the road.

Heading home... ready to be back, but sad to say good bye to everyone.

Big boy Drew was such a good helper in the airport!

 We had such a great time!  Christmas 2015 was one that will surely go down in the books!