On Sunday we got back from our annual Lyman family beach vacation. So fun! Brian’s dad rents a house for all 8 adults, 1 nanny, and 8 children. We read, swim, eat, and play games. Reese enjoyed playing in the water (though she only did it for about 10 minutes before turning her back on us and walking through the sand back to the house). She had some separation anxiety, because I was leaving her with someone for probably 6 hours a day, but she got used to it by the end. Can’t wait for next year!

Here is Reese with her next oldest cousin, Joshua. They play really well together.

Here only two cousins are missing. From left to right: Joshua, Grace, Reese, Caleb, Jonah, Joy.

Grace belongs to Brian’s sister Cori, and the other four that aren’t Reese belong to his sister Tracy.

Brian and I took some of the kids to the aquarium on the island. We had fun.

I made my last several videos into one, so it’s pretty long. Quite cute, though. I can’t believe how much better she can already do all of those things. She’s pretty much mastered parts of the face (though, as you can see, getting her to sit still long enough it a challenge). She’s better at throwing as well. She can count up to 6 by herself, but is not really clear on what it means. Oh well, it’s really cute.

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The week after Grandpa came to visit (Brian’s dad), Brian’s mom came down. We had fun going to the Discovery Place room for toddlers and playing with all of their fantastic toys. Here was a fun one in the baby/toddler area where Reese crawled all over the mats:

There was also a structure representing the human head and the senses. Grandma and Reese are in the ear canal listening to the sounds:

I got her into a dress that was handed down by Grandma. She wore it when she was tiny, and, if you can believe it, was made of feed sack. Apparently they made feed sacks with all different patterns so they could be reused for clothing. Cool, huh?!

We also had a request from Grandpa for a picture on dark pony, and we were happy to oblige:

Special shout out to Grandma who got Reese to go shoe shopping and who watched her so I could get a haircut. Yay Grandma!

This is the first of a few movies I need to cut. Obviously I have some catching up to do since this is from the middle of June. Sorry kids, I’m trying.

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Grandpa came for another visit this week. We didn’t do much, but we did go to the mall. Our intention was to buy shoes, but that didn’t happen. Reese was in a strange mood and almost as soon as we entered Stride Rite she flipped out. So, no shoes. I’ve been giving her pep talks because Grandma comes next week and hopefully we can get some shoes then. We did go to the play area at the mall, which had Grandpa panicking. You can see him here:

We went to P.F. Chang’s for dinner and I found a new way to get Reese to sit still for a whole meal (my previous strategy being giving her a muffin to destroy). We gave her some lo mein noodles and she would stretch one noodle between two hands and bite the middle out. I love pasta.

Despite these successes, I do often realize that I’ve been a mom for a short period of time and still have a lot to learn. Example: she was eating chips a few weeks ago and the salsa I was using was too hot for her but she wanted to dip them anyway. Thinking I was so smart, I gave her a container of tomato sauce. she loves it, it will dip, what could go wrong? Let me show you:

I turned around and she was dipping her hands in and smearing it on her face.

She has also finally learned to stand still for the camera. We got out her 18-24 month outfits and we were so excited she finally got to wear an outfit my friend Paige, from NM, gave her. I told Reese to stand still and smile and she did. How cute is this?!

Courtney’s been begging me to post pictures of my new wardrobe from Atlanta. Sadly, few pictures are taken of me, but the shirt I’m wearing in this photo is one of the shirts:

Sorry we’ve been away so long! Apparently the stories are not enough, you’ve been demanding pictures. Well, we’ve been busy! I want to Atlanta with the Lyman women and Brian’s dad came to visit:

We all drove down to Brian’s big sister Cori’s to see their new place in Americus. We had a great time at the pool:

They were dog sitting a little Jack Russell stray and everyone doted on her. We also went to a farm (sorry no pictures) where we saw a great garden and some animals and we went to hear President Jimmy Carter teach Sunday School in Plains. Now we’re home, back to our old ways:

Reese had her 18 month check up. Only one shot but had to have blood drawn from a finger prick which she hated. Mostly it was being held down and having her finger squeezed that bugged her. I didn’t realize how traumatized she was until today when I got out some ointment and a band-aid for her big bites and she ran away screaming as if I was going to kill her. I need to teach her that shots only come from evil doctors, not nice mommies. Anyway, she is tall, 33″ (90%), and her weight is good 25 lb 13 oz (70%). Toddlers her age are supposed to have 4-10 words other than Mommy and Daddy. When I sat down to write down her words the night before the doctor’s appointment I counted at least 100! Go Reese! Anyway, she’s awake and I’ve gotta go. Videos are coming soon!

No photos again (I’m sorry, ok?!), but another great story to tide you over.

Reese was in a frisky mood this afternoon and was generally getting into everything she should not be into. Not bad stuff, just pulling books off shelves, DVD’s out of the cabinet, and some choice items out of the pantry. She usually only does those things when she’s annoyed with me and trying to get my attention, but I was not getting a clue. I was having a few conversations with people on the phone and was not keen to be interrupted. Finally, I turned around and saw she had a Dove chocolate in her hands. I had seen her dragging the bag around and had thought nothing of it. I didn’t think she would be able to unwrap them. As it turns out, her fine motor skills are more advanced than I realized. I turned just in time to see her remove the last of the foil and pop the WHOLE SQUARE into her mouth. I dove for her, but was only able to salvage half of the chocolate. As I threw it away, I turned back and saw another square in her hands. I confiscated it. After putting it on the counter, I saw that she had another square. She had stashed them in her push-car for easy access and for each square I took, she had more. I finally found them all in the midst of gales of laughter and when she realized her stash was gone she got mad.

Not to worry Reese, I’m sure there will be something else to get into tomorrow.

We are down visiting Brian’s sister Cori and her family in Americus, GA this weekend. We’re having a great time (sorry, no pictures yet). We visited Koninia Farm (http://www.koinoniapartners.org/) today and saw their gardens and livestock. We had a lot of fun, but the funniest thing happened before lunch. There were two little girls who had the most beautiful curly red hair and she kept calling them “monkey”! Oh no! At first we thought she was just having a private conversation, then we thought she was calling herself a monkey (the story which me maintained throughout). We finally realized that she was calling them monkey! My daughter’s first faux pas. *Sigh* She’s getting so big.

Last week Reese and I went to Albuquerque to visit my family. I also got to connect with three good friends from high school - Alice, Paige, and Whitney. We had a lot of fun, though I mostly forgot I brought my camera. We played at the playground in my mom’s development, swam in the kids pool, visited McDonalds, and went to the zoo. We had a lot of fun!

This is Reese’s first time on the second level of a Playplace. She didn’t know what to think.

We had a lot of fun at the zoo. She particularly liked the giraffe (video later).

This is Reese with my mom.

Reese actually did fine on the plane (thank you Benadryl and car seat). The last flight went on too long though, because we sat on the runway for a while, then our pilot took a very circuitous route to avoid turbulence. Reese got fed up.

For Father’s Day we went down to a little outdoor shopping mall where thay have a fountain. Reese also took a little bit to warm up to that, but finally she would walk up and touch the fountain and spray herself.

Happy Father’s Day!

Brian, Reese and I went to the park last weekend, and Reese is really starting to enjoy the swings. She walks over and says “Up! Up! Up!” Then once she has been swinging for a while, will say “All done!” only to scream when we take her out then say “Mo! Mo! Mo!” (as in “more”). Sigh, toddlerhood.

I had to get a picture of this one. Reese had been delicately eating her quesadilla, until she decided she needed the whole thing in her mouth. Great.

She’s much better with a fork than a spoon. Usually she uses baby forks, though.

Drinking milk. “Milka!”