Empathy.....something we have mastered!

Empathy: the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to,

and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another

of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience

fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner . (as defined by webster)

Reese has this mastered. She feels so deeply for the other kids, she cries too!

Or maybe she is just scared and confused! I like to think she has mastered

empathy but it's more likely the latter!

This past weekend we were in Virgina visiting her friend Emily Ruth

(actually, my friend since grade school - Lauren). Emily Ruth is a month

older than Reese. They played to together very well but Reese spent a lot

of the time crying. She cried when Emily Ruth cried and she cried when

Emily Ruth would scream. I guess this shows that Reese was either scared or

confused....or maybe both!!! But overall is was a great weekend. Reese and I

rode up to Virginia with Lauren's mother to surprise her for her 30th birthday.

We got to her house while they were on their way back from being out of town.

We decorated the house and stood in the dark waiting!! She opened the door....

we turned on the lights....yelled HAPPY BIRTHDAY......she cried!!

Great birthday surprise.........I LOVE SURPRISES!

It's amazing we have been friends for 25 years!

We are starting Emily Ruth and Reese out early :)

A little bug!

We have had our first experience with the stomach bug this week.

Reese is 16 months old and this is the first time she has EVER t

hrown up. I have been quite amazed that she never really spit up or

threw up much as a baby. This little bug started Tuesday morning and

hasn't been that bad. She got sick Tuesday morning but after she got sick

she seemed fine! All day she played around and seemed to enjoy herself

but last night around 3 am she got sick again. So, now we are just trying

to "sleep" it off! Hopefully it will work! I do have to say that I hate that she is

sick but I LOVE how much she wants to cuddle with me and be with me!

Hopefully this little bug will leave soon and all will be back to normal!

Feeling the beat~!

I've been noticing that over the past month that Reese has picked up on music.

Towards the end of February we were driving along listening to her CD when

I looked in the mirror and saw her clapping her hands. It took me a second to

realize she was clapping her hands to the song, "If you are happy and you know it!"!

She's been clapping for a little while but I was quite amazed she knew to clap

when to song said to!

This weekend while at the beach we were walking down the hall in our hotel when

Reese stopped in the middle of the hall and started bouncing! They were playing

music throughout the hotel and I guess the moment took over!!! So there we are,

standing in the middle of the resort and she's bouncing to the music. A few couples

thought it was pretty funny too! I did get tickled watching her "dance"!

Ummm...I wonder, might I have a dancer one day???

"I'm walkin' yes indeed, and I'm taklin' 'bout you and me"

On the 25th of February, Reese turned 15 months old. Just a few days before then,

actually on Valentine's weekend, Reese started walking. She has been moving

about the den holding on to the furniture but was very leary of taking steps. But, I

guess it was just something about the Valentine's day weekend that lead her to

walking. I do remember the advice MANY mothers gave me.....

"Don't teach her to walk!!!". WOW, it does change things once they can

start walking! She is such a busy bee! Not only does she like to walk every where,

she LOVES to talk! Most of the time I have no idea what she is saying

but there are a few occassions I catch a word or two! (Usually it's DADDY!)

A year ago!

I can't believe it was a year ago that a "typical" doctors visit led to a hospital stay, which led to the birth of our sweet little girl!  The whirlwind of those days, especially the day of the 25th, feels like just the other day, but to see her now, you would think it was years ago!  I never knew how much you could love something/someone until she was born!  As I look back, I am thankful that I was on so much medication after the C-section because it helped me to not realize I wasn't seeing my brand new baby girl!  I wasn't able to see her until 20 hours after delivery!  The thought of that now is devastating but the Lord knows how to comfort me when needed.  Over the past year, I have thought many different times how wonderful "this" age is and each stage just seems to be getting sweeter and sweeter!  I remember how much I just loved holding her in my arms as she slept all swaddled up in her blankets and then when she first started to smile and coo at me. And now as she babbles to me and calls out "maama", it amazes me daily the love that fills my heart!  I often think how selfish I am because I want her all to myself all the time and can't even start to understand the selflessness of God!  How He knew what suffering His son would undergo and still allowed all that to take place for me?!!  I'm know I wouldn't be able to do that!  I am just so thankful for this past year and all the amazing blessings the Lord has bestowed on us!  Our sweet little 3 pound girl has grown and changed into this cute, lovable, personality-filled 17 pound one year old!  Thank you Lord for what you have given to us and how you show us daily the blessings you pour out to us!  So  all that to say little Reese is now a year old - 17 pounds, almost walking and talking up a storm!  

My trick monkey!

I'm not sure if other people feel the same way, but at times I feel like Reese is a trick monkey! I find myself constantly saying, "Reese say Mama, dada, bye=bye" or "Reese, wave bye, give me a kiss" and I expect her to perform! YEAH right! I know she can but I think she likes to make me look like the fool! I'm sure she thinks, "I bet I can get her to say that at least 50 times!!!" Much like the movie...Look who's talking~! How do I know she does this? OH, because as she is crawling toward the entertainment center she stops...looks back....smiles .....and then keeps going! I think I'm in control but she really knows who is in control! I wonder if it gets any different with kid number 3, 4, 5??!! I'll just try to remember that I don't have a trick monkey in the meantime!

Since the last time.....

The end of September.....Nana and Happy came, a new addition to the (extended) family, and my second little bit of RSV. I also learned how to crawl much better than the army crawl I was doing in August! Here are a few pictures from the end of September!