Change of plans

My daddy is blowing in my face...I like it

Standing up in my crib

My plan was to go to Arkansas this week to see my best friend's baby. However, I woke up Sunday with a head full of gunk and a tickle in my throat. It wasn't too bad and I thought it might just be a 24 hour thing. Well, I should have known that working 4 days last week with kids who had green snot running, yes running, from their noses would rub off on me. Monday I saw 6 more snotty noses and by Tuesday morning, I felt like I had been hit by a dump truck. Needless to say, I have no business around a new baby. I'm praying that Reese doesn't get it. My head is less stuffy today, but now it's mainly in my chest. Hard coughing and sleep don't go well together. I'm just trying to rest as much as I can.

As for Reese, we are trying to get her back on her schedule. With me working more than usual last week, she didn't get as much sleep as she normally does and was only taking one nap a day rather than two. It's a bit of a struggle, but I'm hoping it gets back to normal soon. She is moving around like a champ. She's got crawling mastered and pulling up is a breeze. I all the time catch her standing up in her crib when she's supposed to be napping. She can pull up on just about anything (e.g. ottoman, TV stand, bookshelf, bouncy chair, sofa, my legs, her crib, etc.). She's even doing handstands on the ottoman (with me holding her legs up, of course)!

Monumental Week

Sick, but still smiling

Mom's pretend photo shoot

Sitting in the rocking chair

Ham cheese face

Lookin' out the window

Face attack on Daddy

Playing with Cooper

It's been an action-packed couple of weeks, to say the least. Dowell is quoted as sayting, "It's monumental" and I have to agree. He and I have always felt that Reese has been growing and changing so quickly, but last week, she took off...and we didn't know what to think. We had her 9 month check up last Tuesday. She's still small for her age, but I don't think her parents give her much of a chance :) To us, she's perfect. We were glad to see her temp go down and by Tuesday afternoon, she was fever free and feeling great. Dr. Ladd was impressed when I told him that she was feeding herself fruit chunks and whole veggies. Yay Reese!

And remember when I said that she wasn't crawling forward yet, or pulling up, or feeding herself pancakes, or drinking out of a straw, or smiling big cheesy grins, or clapping all the time, or sleeping in her own room? Well nix all that. She does it all now!!! I can't take my eye off of her for one second anymore or she's pulling up on the TV stand, or crawling to grab Cooper's paw, or cruising around in her crib! All this happened within one week! We are so proud of her. She's getting around and knows what she wants. Her favorite game right now is "sit down, stand up". She holds onto my fingers and stands up, then squats down when I say "sit down" then stands up again when I say "stand up"...it's so cute and she gets so proud of herself. Every time she stands up, she smiles SO big. Her daddy calls it her 'ham cheese' face.

She also had her 1st school picture yesterday!!! I can't wait to see her class picture. From what I heard, every baby in her class was screaming and crying except for Reese and Collin. Reese was grabbing Emmy's face and one of the teacher's had to jump in the picture to try to calm them down. It should be a really good one. The photographer got a really cute picture of Reese doing her 'ham cheese' face. Oh, I can't wait.

We've had quite a busy week. I've been treating kids at the clinic 4 days this week. Luckily, Dowell was able to stay home with Reese on Wednesday so she didn't have to go to school everyday. They had such a good time together. She has been saying "dada" all the time now. I know that makes him feel good. It's nice to be home today and catch up on some rest...Reese and I both. Here are some of the latest pics.

Oh, and I almost forgot...we took Reese swimming for the 1st time! She loved it. Splashed and kicked around, smiled, squealed...we'll be going back a lot this summer :)

Good News

Reese is feeling MUCH better, I dare say she is 100% again. Praise the Lord! What a stressful time. I don't think I've ever asked the Lord to let me take away pain like I did last weekend. I wanted to fight the illness for her. I wanted her to be able to sleep and feel well, but I think it's times like those that force me to trust that God is in control...to have faith that He will heal her. Gosh, those 3 days felt like forever. But I am so thankful that He takes care of His children.

I feel like so much has happened since Tuesday, so here goes:

1. She is sleeping in her own room in her BIG crib.

2. She is clapping...any time she hears the work "clap", she claps.

3. She is feeding herself pancakes, sliced pears, whole peas, and chopped carrots and apples.

4. She has adopted a new smile, pictured above. It's a cheesy grin (her daddy calls it her "ham cheese" face. It is so stinkin' funny. She smiles so big that her eyes close, her nose wrinkles, her cheeks sag, and all you can see are her lower gums and 2 bottom teeth.

5. She is laughing more (I finally made her laugh!). When she laughs, I swear that the world stands still. It's absolutely the most precious sound I've ever heard.

We actually had a family moment the other day where Reese was sitting in Dowell's lap and they were watching Cooper and I play. Reese got tickled and started laughing...so we all started laughing. For at least 5 minutes we all played, smiled, clapped, squealed, and laughed. It was exactly what we all needed...a time of fun and togetherness that we haven't had in a while. I can't imagine loving anything more.

Bad News

It's been a while since I last wrote, but a lot has been going on. I'll just jump right into the update. Vacation time off has finally begun for Dowell, so he has had a lot more time at the house (let me mention that "vacation time" for him means that he still goes to work, just doesn't stay as long). Thank goodness that he has been here. On Friday afternoon, we noticed that Reese's head and body felt a little warm. She was a bit fussy going to bed that night and we thought that her teeth were bothering her. The next morning, she still felt warm, so I took her temperature and it was 100.7 degrees. I gave her some Tylenol and we tried to have her take it easy. Well, as the day went on, she became increasingly feverish and I just kept giving her Tylenol, putting cold packs on her head, keeping her covered, and cuddling her as much as I could. She felt so bad. She couldn't nap and was SO tired. That night, her temperature was 101.5 and she was having a lot of trouble going to sleep. I was so worried. She finally went to sleep around 9 which is very late for her. She woke up at 2 and didn't go back to sleep until after 4 am. Sunday morning, her temperature was 102.7 (axillary temp) and I could tell that she felt lousy. She was up at 6 am...not much sleep for us. I was absolutely exhausted and running on less than 4 hours of sleep. Dowell got up and took care of her for a few hours so that I could get a little more rest. Around 10 a.m., we tried to put her down for a nap, but Reese wasn't having any of it. She felt crummy. I was so worried about her fever. Luckily, our pediatrician's office is open for 2 hours on Sundays for acute illnessses. When I read that the axillary temperature is actually 1-2 degrees lower than actual temperature, I looked at Dowell and said, "we are taking her to the doctor right now." I'm so glad that we did because it gave us both peace of mind. Dr. Ladd assured us that she would be fine and checked all of her systems. He told us that it was probably a virus and just had to run it's course. We got her some popsicles and Motrin. Monday morning, her fever was down and she seemed to be feeling a little better. She likes popsicles.