Have been away for too long! I don't know where the last 3 months have gone!

Aidan is 10 months old now and such a little man, no longer a baby! He has been pulling himself up to stand on furniture and can even take a few steps with that support. He has a hollow leg and eats more than the rest of the members of our family! I can't imagine what it will cost to feed him as a teenager! He also recently learned to clap and loves to clap for himself or whenever it will gain him attention. He is such a little ham and loves to make other people laugh or smile.

Reese is 2 1/2 and so mature for her age. She is so smart and looks older than her 2 1/2 years. Lots of people that we run into while running errands assume that she is at least 4. Then they look at me like I am a terrible parent when I have to change her diaper or she is sucking her thumb! When I get the chance I always announce her age to lessen the disapproving glances that I get from others. We have been working on the potty training and it is going better than my previous attempts over the past 16 or so months. She has her good days and her bad days. We mostly only have trouble making it to the bathroom for number 2. I really cannot wait until this stage is over! She can be so sweet a times, and melts my heart with her rendition of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". About 2 weeks ago she only sang, "Twinkle, twinkle star" over and over again. Now she can sing the whole song, and does over and over again. I have tried to videotape it, but as soon as I pull out the camera she gets shy and stops!

Hopefully now that the holidays are over life can get back to a more normal pace!

Poopy training

I have been trying to teach Reese how to use the potty for over a year now! She absolutely will not sit on the potty anymore to pee. I have tried every trick in the book from offering rewards (candy and stickers), making a big deal out of any success, involving grandparents and family in her success, buying a second toilet that plays music and has fun toys, and even peeing on her potty chair myself to demonstrate how it works! In order to get her back to using it, I have been catching her mid-poop and getting her to finish on her potty in the hopes that succeeding at something will encourage her to use the potty to pee on also. Tonight the mess in cleaning up afterwards almost made me want to quit until she is 4 and ready to start school!

Mini me

Reese follows me around and does everything that I do and repeats most of what I say. This is really funny and cute when she calls my husband, her father, babes.

It is really sweet when her little brother Aidan is crying and she tells him, "It's ok Aidan, I'm right here."

It can be a little annoying when she tries to mother him and physically moves him away from something he should not have.

It is also a little bit sad because it just shows how much more mature and older she is getting each and every day!

"You hot mommy!"

We just recently moved and I have been working non-stop to get everything put away in it's place and decorate. As a result of all of the moving of furniture and running around cleaning that I have been doing, I have been forgoing a shower until later in the day. Recently I needed to run a few errands, so I showered and got all dressed to go. Reese looked at me quizzically and said, "You shower mommy?" as if that was something completely foreign. She then said, "You hot mommy!" I only wish that my husband could be as impressed by the simple feat of taking a shower!

Tender Moments

Reese is such a good big sister and the bond between she and Aidan is more evident every day. There are the simple things that reveal their bond, like her asking about his whereabouts the second she wakes up in the morning and throughout the rest of the day, to her constantly giving him hugs and kisses. Recently, we went to the races and did not have ear plugs for either of the kids. We took turns holding them and covering their ears so that the loud noises from the cars would not hurt their little eardrums. While I was holding Aidan, Reese came up next to me and put her little hands over Aidan's ears to protect him. It was the cutest thing! I teared up immediately! I worried that they would not be as close because they were not the same sex, but so far that does not seem to be an issue!

Since I have not been working since Aidan was born and rarely leave the kids with a sitter, I thought that I would be missing out on those moments when Reese would be really happy to see me, such as when I used to pick her up from daycare after work. Though I rarely get the greeting that I used to get then, both of the kids have become very attached to me. If I go to the bathroom and don't tell Reese, she walks around the house saying, "Where are you mommy?" The only other question she asks just as freuquently is, "Where daddy at?" Randy and I have gotten to where we don't like to do anything without the other parent because Reese is constantly asking where the missing parent is. Though she is very attached to both of us, she does have an independent streak. Recently, while swimming at a hotel pool, Reese was jumping off the edge into the water. I would swim up to the edge so I was close enough to catch her, at which point she held out her hand in a stop signal and would say, "No mommy! Stay back!" She is growing so fast and my heart bursts with pride and sadness at the same time.

Will things ever slow down?!

I have been looking forward to the end of the summer just because I am ready for things to slow down and become a bit more relaxed. That couldn't be farther from what is actually happening! We are booked every weekend through the end of November! There goes fall!

More cute Reesisms

Everbody qweem up!- Somewhere we started singing clean up, clean up as we clean up the toys that we have been playing with. For some reason Reese sounds like she says qweem instead of clean and it is so cute!

That's Aidan- If you ask Reese what her name is she quickly points to Aidan and says "That's Aidan". We haven't decided if she is just a proud big sister or is hoping that somebody will take her little brother so she can be an only child!

I want em- This translates to I want lemonade!

Shocklate milk- chocolate milk

Cubbers- when tucking Reese into bed she always asks for her cubbers (covers).

Kwikwi- her blanket used to be kiki, it is now known as kwikwi

We recently went to a streetfest in our little hometown. They had a band playing and Reese ran around and danced until we dragged her kicking and screaming home to bed! When we returned to the restaurant a few days later Reese pointed and said "I go dancing!"