an apple a day

Reese has never met an apple that she didn't like. And until the other day, she had only every tried applesauce, apple juice and freeze dried apples. Whenever we get apples at the store, she always wants to hold them and sometimes gets frustrated when I don't give her a whole apple to bite into. But this week Aunt Lili was in town...and Reese saw her window of opportunity! After dinner was over and I was trying to get Reese ready for bed, Reese went into the kitchen, where Lindsey was cleaning up the dinner dishes (LOVE HER!) and pointed to the bowl of apples. And once Reese got her hands on that apple, she was not letting go!

I know that apples can be baby choke food, so not to worry, we were watching very closely to make sure any bite Reese did actually bite off was not too big. Her teeth aren't quite big enough yet to dig in and get a big bite, but she can shave off little strips. Mostly it was just the juice (and her slobber) that was drenching the front of her shirt. Next time I'll be sure to have a bib on her.

Mothers' Day 2009

This Mothers' Day was a lot more real for me than last year. Although I did get to celebrate last year for the first time as a mother, Reese was too young to spoil me. Also, I was visiting my own mother that week, so I was still in the habit of being in the daughter role. (I guess from here on out I will celebrate Mothers' Day as both a mother and a daughter...an interesting thought for another post.)

This year, Reese is 15 months old (and so fun!) and has such a sweet and loving personality that when I ask her for hugs, she will gladly give them. But lately Reese has turned into a Daddy's girl. It really is so sweet to watch, but it was Mothers' Day!! C'mon. For example, Reese picked out a book that she wanted to read and I told her to come over to me so I could read it to her. She said, "No. Dada." and handed the book to her dad. Michael told me that actually Mothers' Day means you get the day off. Yeah, right. (I guess the day-off part came after the 7am wake up call.) Pretty much all day Reese wanted to sit on Daddy's lap, hold Daddy's hand, and follow Daddy around...I tried not to take it personally.

But, for about 3 seconds that day Reese was all mine. Michael took Reese to nursery with him at church so that all the women who normally work in nursery could go to Relief Society for a special Mothers' Day program. Afterwards, I was chatting with a few people and I saw Michael and Reese walk up close to where we were standing. Then Reese, in her cute purple sweater dress and sparkly clippy, walked right up to me, in the middle of about four women, and handed me the card she made for me in nursery that said, "Mom I luv U" in big foam letters. I swear it was the sweetest thing she has ever done and I nearly broke into tears right there (and then again when I recalled the story to my mom!). I didn't care that she wanted her Dad for the rest of the day--those three seconds melted me. It may not sound like much, but I don't ever want to forget it.

Fun in the Car

Reese has been in heaven this week--for lots of reasons, not the least of which being that she has had at least three people sitting in the back seat with her when we drive anywhere.  She has been entertained nonstop playing with makeup, singing songs, playing peek-a-boo, and eating snacks.  Here she is playing with Aunt Lally's makeup bag--hilarious!

In the last couple weeks, Reese has picked up a new phrase: "no, no, no, no".  Usually when you ask her questions, she answers with the sweetest "uh-huh". (Do you want some milk? Would you like some more? Is mommy your favorite person in the whole world?...Uh-huh.)  But, the way she says "no" is so funny!  And because we all laugh when she says "no", now she thinks she is hilarious and she laughs at herself.

Don't mind my man voice.  I seem to have caught a bug on the way to Florida.  What is with me getting sick on vacation?!

Bienvenidos a Miami

Reese and I are in Miami this week enjoying the first annual Stimpson girls' trip!  We have been having a blast swimming, shopping, and enjoying the beautiful (and warm!) weather and Reese has been enjoying the constant attention from her aunts and MommaCat.

Quite the social butterfly, Reese has been walking around the pool deck smiling at people and making lots of new friends.  Everyone she sees has been going crazy for how cute she is in her darling bathing suits (can you blame them?!).  And Reese is turning out to be quite a little fish--she LOVES the pool and the ocean!  When you hold her in the pool, all she wants to do is squirm away from you, kicking her legs and putting her face in the water.  She also loves to jump in from the side of the pool, although we are still working on her waiting until the count of three when I am ready to catch her.  

My mom wrapped a hand towel around Reese and she thought it was the greatest new skirt.  As they walked around the pool deck, if the towel started to fall off, Reese would stop so that my Mom could wrap it tight again.

After a few tries, Reese got the hang of keeping her arms on top of her inner tube to stay afloat.  And she loves the ducks on top--she swims around saying "Cack, cack"--just like the ducks say.

Celebrating Tessa's birthday at Cheesecake Factory...the first of at least three birthday celebrations for the week.  That's how we roll with birthdays in my family--we try to celebrate for at least a week.

Reese's favorite snack after playing in the water was goldfish--how appropriate!

Easter

When I was growing up, every Easter my mom would make a bunny cake and let my sisters and me help decorate. Now that I have a little one of my own, I was very excited to carry on the tradition! For my first try, I'd say it went pretty well. But I can't wait until Reese is big enough to help me decorate--I think it could definitely use her touch.

Michael's idea to have a striped bow tie

We had a great Easter this year and had a blast watching Reese participate in her first Easter egg hunt. She was pretty excited about it for about four eggs...then she lost interest. I would find an egg in the grass and call to her to come over and put it in her basket and she would just walk on by. But, she got a baby duck Pez dispenser in her Easter basket, which she loves! She actually got a few ducks in her Easter basket and she loves to see ducks because she know what they say--when I ask her what a duck says, Reese says, "Cack, cack!" It is a crack up--I'll see if she will do it on video.

Here is Reese, scoping out the course before the fun begins. (sorry you can't see her whole Easter dress--it was freezing outside! but it was darling!)

Dad is about to introduce Reese to the goodness that is a Reese's peanut butter cup.

Dad wasn't opening the candy fast enough, so she had to help him out. Either that or she got her hands in there first to make sure Dad didn't eat her candy.

She popped that Reese's cup in her mouth so fast!