Reese @ 12 months

1 year old! How can this be? Reese changed so much from 11 to 12 months. She is constantly on the go. For her monthly photo I couldn't even get her to sit in the basket. She plays with cars as good as big brother Todd. In fact she ended up with some princess wheelies and they are some of her favorite toys right now. She spends a lot of time snuggling Mops, and has to get in a good snuggle before bed at night on the couch. She loves playing peek-a-boo and will cover her eyes. Reese figured out she could make bubbles with her spit and will spend several minutes doing it over and over, popping them and humming. She started pulling up on the furniture. She's so smart! After we went to the doctor's office she found the toy stethoscope and put it around her neck. Her first word was uh-oh! and says it a lot. She has been such a joy to our family over the last year. She fits right in and we couldn't imagine our family without her! God has blessed us tremendously! She continues to surprise us with how fast she is at getting up the stairs, playing right along with big kids, the number of things she can eat with two teeth, how quiet and loud she can be at the same time, and how she adores the water and being outside. Love you honey bear!

At Reese's 12 month well-visit she weighed 16 lbs 15 oz (11%), was 28 1/2 in long (26%), and her head was 43 1/2 cm (15%).

For her 1st birthday we wanted to do something fun as a nuclear family. We took her to Chick-fil-a, and then Build-a-Bear. We took Elle for her 1st birthday too. Elle and Todd helped pick out a bear, and stuffed it. They both got to pick a heart and make a wish for Reese to put inside her bear. She was excited about all the stuffed animals and is a good cuddler. Todd and Elle picked out a name for Reese's bear. Hearty Zone Shrock joined our family that day.

reese @ 10 and 11 months

As par for the course I'm behind on monthly updates. The last two months with Reese have flown though. I can't believe we're creeping up on her first birthday. I may be an emotional mess soon!

10 months:

We finally started getting out more, and the library is one of the kids' favorite places to go. Reese's favorite activity is pulling all the books off the shelf into a big pile.

By this month she had decided she was done with baby food if someone else was going to feed her. I discovered that if I put the food on her tray and let her think it's her idea to eat she would do better. However, she quickly got to playing in it.

Her new favorite spot to play!

And she's such a big helper with the dishwasher!

We got out the swing and Reese loved it! She quickly discovered how much she enjoys the outdoors and wants to be swinging or sitting outside most of the time.

Since it was still cold on the days she couldn't go outside she would sit here at the backdoor and watch for Mops.

Quickly becoming a dog lover!

And she had her first tornado this month, and taking shelter in the basement at church.

11 months:

By this month she had her second tooth on the bottom. She loves pushing cars around on the floor (really anything), and making noises while she does it. Can you tell she hangs out with her big brother a lot of the time? She's also started pulling up to her knees

For this month's monthly pic, we've had a more difficult time getting it done. Between busy schedules, and the rainy days providing little light I had a hard time getting it done on time. Here's the first round, and Reese really wasn't in the mood either.

And here's the second round, already see big differences!:

She went to her first Daddy Daughter Date Night at Mayfair!

She enjoyed eating outside for Elle's birthday.

A big milestone this month was her first Easter! She went on the first egg hunts for our neighborhood hunt, and at my cousin Jeff's house.

Sunday morning she checked out her loot from the Easter bunny, and had her first egg hunt at Mayfair!

Reese also got to spend time with more of her buddies that are close to her age.

She's also continuing to go to work with  me and enjoys crawling around everywhere and getting into everything! I'm pretty sure she thinks this is the church's dog.

Love you baby girl!

elle is 6

When I was pregnant with Elle I signed up for the babycenter website emails to keep up with how she was developing before birth and have continued to receive the emails. In her 6 year email they included this description from A.A. Milne's Now We Are Six. It says that six year olds are fanciful, adventuresome, silly, comforted by familiar things, and boldly curious about the new. To me it describes Elle perfectly.

Elle has had a big year--new house, new sister, new school, but she's handled it all like a champ. As much as they are all new for her, she's also been leading us through lots of learning experiences too as she has the unique position as our first. She amazes me everyday! It's hard to believe that she's 6, and it feels like time is flying by. She has always been a good reader, but now she's really reading, and loves to write. She says her favorite thing to do at school is science. She's becoming a great signer too, as her teacher has been teaching her class sign language. Elle's even got her own library card now! She's so big!

She still loves to play with Todd, and is good at entertaining Reese. She is thoughtful about things they like, is sweet when they're upset (most of the time). Elle has made several new friends at school, but still loves her time with her cousins and friends from church. She says the funniest things all the time. She got a check for her birthday and was happy because she "finally got a paycheck!" Elle was bragging one day because she picked up and held a worm for the first time. She loves to wait until bedtime to start talking your ear off. I hope she always wants to share with us so much.

We love our sweet pooh bear and pray over her daily!