Let's Dance!

My girl-mom dreams have come true! The day I have been waiting for since the ultrasound showed girl bits came this summer!! Reese started ballet!! OH. MY. GOODNESS. My heart was swelling with happiness. Weeks before the class began I ordered her a new leotard, convertible tights (a hole at the bottom of the foot so that tights become footless tights), teeny tiny ballet shoes and tap shoes. EEEEEE!!! 

The class is a ballet, tap & tumbling class. They do each for about 20 minutes and it is the cutest thing EVER! Her favorite of course is tap, because why wouldn't it be? You get to stomp around and make noise! 

As expected, Reesey's attention span is like a gnat's, but hey she's not even three! There is A LOT of redirection by Miss Mary and a lot of "Reese, you should be over here." But, she loves Miss Mary, she loves going to ballet, she loves wearing her ballet clothes and she loves dancing. 

And while we are on the subject of Reese, one day after ballet, I decided to take her to the nail salon to have her nails polished. Girl mom dream come true number 2! 

She was such an angel and soo proud of her nails! She even sat still for the tech to paint a flower on her thumb. 

The only bump in the road was when Reese decided half way through the first coat that she wanted a different color. The tech was so kind and allowed her to go form fushia to baby pink. I mean, not many people say no to Reese. 

Let Summer Begin!

Summer started in early May in the Pearson house.  Brian heated the pool and we all spent an afternoon swimming.  

Like all proper girls, Reese had to put on a little makeup before heading out. 

With a makeup and goggles in place Reese was ready! 

Jaxon had to try out his new snorkel and mask by jumping in. He quickly learned that a snorkel does not work well underwater. 

Never one to be left behind. Reese had to have her turn jumping in. Yes, she's naked. This is how she prefers to swim. The bathing suit did not last long. "I no want to get it wet." Hmmm. Well, isn't that the point of a bathing suit? But you try to reason with Reese, it is just not possible. 

If jumping in wasn't enough, she had to slide head first into the pool. The girl is fearless!

Happy Summer everyone! 

Reesey Funnies

So Reesey is FINALLY talking! I am super excited about this! There are a lot of things she says that we still do not understand, but for the most part you can have a conversation with her. Well, if you ask her yes or no questions or one word answer questions. 

Here are some of my favorite conversations with Reesey as of late...

Me, Who wants pancakes?"
Reese, "Me!"

*****

Me, "Reese, tonight we are going to church. This means you have to be good. You have to listen, be quiet, you can't scream or walk around. Do you think you can be good?"
Reese, "UUUUMMMMM Noooooo."

*****

Me, "Reese, you want to take a nap?"
Reese, "No lede (lady)."

*****

Her new thing is to say "Welcome" to you. For example...

 She will hand you something (mainly things you do not want to hold or did not ask for) and says, "welcome".  
I will hand her a napkin and she says, welcome

 Or my favorite.

Reese, "I lub oo".  

Me, "I love you too!" 

Reese, "Welcome"

OMG! I die every time! I don't know why I find that so funny, but I do.

She has quite the personality, this little one. Her favorite Christmas present this year was by far the sunglasses and fake glasses. She wears then ALL.THE.TIME!

Even upside down

Inside and to the store

Or to Lola & Abu's house

Reese Turns 2!

So Reese turned 2 last month. What?!?! I know. How did THAT happen? As we were singing Happy Birthday I seriously felt as if he had just sung to her for her 1st birthday. 

Oh. My sweet girl. How I love her! 

She had a perfect birthday. As the months got closer I debated what to do to celebrate. I went back and forth between a big party in the park to just family at home again. I finally decided on just family at home, when my friend Maggie had other plans. "You aren't going to have a party for her? Oh. She needs a party. It's her birthday." So I decided to have an "exclusive" party. With only 4 invitees. I invited Mary and her 2 girls, Ami & the triplets, my parents, Courtney and Grammy Sue. Ok, so that's 5 invitees. 

Then as the day arrived I thought, I went through all this trouble I should have invited more people. But too late. And in the end, I'm happy with how my exclusive party turned out.  Next year, I'll add to the list. Maybe. 

Party table.
So I forgot how large an Eegee's sub is. Yeah. There was an entire sub left.

The birthday girl. She had such a fun time! The amount of kids was absolutely perfect for her. 

My from scratch cupcakes. :) 

Singing Happy Birthday is always my favorite part of my kids' birthdays. There is something about listening to other people help you celebrate your child that gets to me. And singing happy birthday to Reese was no different. Especially since it was THE BEST EVER reaction I have seen! She was absolutely elated to hear everyone sing to her. I have never seen her smile to big. My heart was absolutely bursting with happiness. I think what made it even more special was that last year she had zero emotion and come to find out, she had an ear infection, which meant she couldn't hear. So to see her enjoy her moment was that much more special. 

Look at that face!!

Is there a better reaction that this?
I think not.

We all had to help her blow out the candle. 

What? I can eat this cupcake?

Dainty. Didn't think that would happen.

There's the Reese I know & love

The only picture I got of the birthday kids. 

Lucy was in heaven because little kids don't really pay attention to their food so she ate a minimum of 3 cupcakes and ice cream scoops! 

So I love a good picture comparison and 'remaking' the same picture years later. Our last house birthday party was Jaxon's 3rd birthday. It also happen to be the day after I found out I was pregnant with Reese. The only person that knew about the pregnancy was Ami, well, and Brian. She took our family picture and I vividly remember her saying, "I can see another kid in this picture and it's going to be so cute." So of course I had to take the same picture again with our complete family of 4. 

Thanks Ami for another perfect family picture! 

I think Ami was right.
 The cuteness factor did increase exponentially with Reese. 

Reese only opened a couple presents on party day. The rest we saved for her real birthday. 

Her exclusive party was absolutely perfect. Brian and I were able to enjoy and socialize with all of our guests. The kids played nicely. Reese was not overwhelmed and was also able to enjoy her day to the fullest. So as much as I didn't want to throw a party and as much as I felt guilty for not inviting more people, I believe it was absolutely perfect.

*****

For the first time in my parenting 'career' I did not take the birthday day off to spend with her. Again. Guilt. But I did pick her up early and we came home for our in-home speech session. Which she absolutely loves.

Officially two! 

Later that evening we sang happy birthday again and opened all of her presents. 

This picture cracks me up! Ami got her a "Mom on the Go" play set. It is a set with things that a mom would have in her diaper bag. One of the things is a changing pad. Reese comes over to me wanting her skirt off. Which I took off. It was almost bath time anyway. Then she wanted her diaper off. I, again, obliged because well, it was almost bath time and once Reese gets something in her head, there is no telling her no. 

Once she is naked, she lies down on the changing pad and wants me to change her diaper. That girl is too much! 

Always my girly girl, she had to try on the skirt Rebecca bought her. She was strutting her stuff and twirling like a super model. 

The doctor's kit from Mary was another favorite. 

I cannot even imagine what our family would be like without Reese. She absolutely completes us. We all needed an extra little spunk in our lives. Reese has brought so much love and happiness into our family, it's unbelievable. She was exactly what we needed at exactly the right moment. I thank God everyday for her.