A Blog from the Fog

Neglectful Blogger

2009-05-10T20:00:00.005-03:00

I know, I know, it's been ages since I've posted on my blog. There are a number of reasons for this:

1. Time- 2 kids, work....you know how it is.
2. In this world of Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc there's hardly the need to post pictures and update you all on my life....lets face it, it's already all out there!
3. After becoming more familiar with the blogosphere, I can't help but feeling that my pathetic little blog is....shall we say inadequate? I can't say as I feel that I'm adding to the blog world in any way. And as you well know, I'm not someone to half-assed do things.

So that being said, I won't say farewell to my blog at this point in time, but I'm letting you know up front that if you're interested in what's going on in my little world, follow me on Twitter and/or add me as a friend on Facebook as the blog posts may become few and far between.

For now, here are some updated pictures of the kiddies. Reese is going through that stubborn-don't-take-a-picture-of-me stage so there are noticeably fewer pics of the peanut butter cup.

Here's Hunter making a break for it.

"Let me outta here!"

Reese loves holding her little brother:)

Basking in the sun:)

Doesn't he look spiffy?

Please notice the raspberry on top of his head.

He love, love, loves his sand and water table.

Showing off some of his new teeth.

My 2 cuties playing in the sand:)

Florida 2009

2009-03-17T21:10:00.001-03:00

What a great break we had from a long, cold, blustery NB winter. My parents were kind enough to open up their condo they rent in Redington Shores to us and we took full advantage for 9 whole days! 9 whole days of sunshine and warm temperatures I might add! We started off at Seaworld. Reese totally loved it but after a long day of travelling, we had to cut the day a bit short to respect naps for both kids. Of course Shamu was a huge hit, but nothing could compare to Reese's excitement for a "flamingo ride!"

She was proud as punch walking up the pier after our ride. Ahhhhh, one of those moments I'll never forget:)

We then headed to the shore. After much humming and hawing, we decided to drag the big double stroller down with us. Right decision! We took it right on the beach with us and walked with the kiddies everyday. Here's one of our early morning walks.

Of all the things a kid can do to amuse themselves on the beach, Reeses's favorite by far was chasing the birds. Whenever she saw 1, 10, or 30 birds, she'd chase them as fast as her little feet would carry her and scream "BAHHHHHH" at the top of her lungs.

Continued on the next post..............

Florida 2009- Part 2

2009-03-17T19:31:00.007-03:00

Collecting seashells was a close second.

How nice it was to sit outside for our meals. Here's Reese and Nana D during our little "cocktail hour."

And Reese with Boom-boom/ Grandad/ Johnny Bubba/ Grandpa. He got it all from Reese this week.

Can't forget Hunter, the smiling, charming, happy-all-the-time baby.

Yes, she swam with her little life jacket on all by herself. I never dreamed she'd be doing it on her own, but she did and she wore herself out every afternoon going from one end of the pool to the other.

Reese made friends wherever she went. She truly has a very outgoing personality. We took her to a playground one morning and within minutes of being there she took her new friend by the hand and helped her around the playground. Ummmmmm, adorable!!!!!

My 2 beach boys:)

And my little beach bunny. Dare I say, she *owned* that beach!?!!

Mark so enjoyed his time playing with Reese on the beach. I don't think it's a stretch to say that he had every bit as much fun as she had.

And Hunter and I spent a lot of our time sitting under the umbrella. He was surprisingly good on the beach. At first he wasn't too sure of the sand and just stayed put on the blanket.

After a while he got more brave though and definitely ate his fair share of sand as you can see.

Bedtime with Nana D.

My dad and Hunter were able to spend a lot of quality time together. He's at that perfect age where he's not a tiny baby which can be quite daunting to grandfathers, but not yet a toddler either. I think they really enjoyed their time together:)

Reese braving her way into the "cold tub." (the hot tub that didn't work)

Yep, it's cold in here. Brrrrrrrrr!

More poolside grandfather/grandson bonding.

No family pictures. Try as we may, it seems nearly impossible to have all 4 of us look at a camera and smile. Maybe next year. And we desperately hope that there is a next year!!!!!!

A day in the life.....

2009-02-19T09:52:00.003-04:00

Here's a typical day in our humble abode:)

Watch out Reese, someone has their eye on your markers!

Miss Lola just trying to catch some zzzzz's amidst the chaos.

No pants today......Reese thought this was great!

My little reader. She grabbed Harry Potter and *read* it to Hunter:)

And he's off.......

2009-02-14T15:31:00.003-04:00

So I had myself completely convinced that Hunter WOULD NOT be crawling before we head to Florida in March. This of course, would lead to a little less stress while we're down there. At 10 months it would not be unreasonable to NOT be crawling, Reese was probably 9 1/2 months before she crawled. But my dream was not to be:( It looks like our hands are officially full!

The Army Crawl

2009-02-09T08:58:00.004-04:00

Life is beginning to return to normal in our home after dealing with a steady month of stomach flus and colds. It's unbelievable how much these bugs can truly disrupt your lives. However, life goes on and I'm thankful for that:)

Hunter is becoming busier by the day. Although he's not crawling per se, he's doing what we call "the army crawl." He lays on his belly and pulls himself around with his arms. Fortunately for us, it's not nearly as fast as a true crawl, so we'll take it for now and hope he doesn't figure out any other means of transportation in the near future.

I thought the look on his face was priceless here. It looks like he's saying "Who, me???!!"

That's officially as big as his smile gets!

And here he is demonstrating his army crawl. You get the gist, I'm sure.

Melt my Heart:)

2009-01-25T21:46:00.002-04:00

This one speaks for itself and truly made my heart melt.......

What We've Been Doing

2009-01-20T19:54:00.007-04:00

Here's a little of what we've been up to........

When it's not too cold:

Hunter's *almost* wave:)

Happy 2009????

2009-01-17T10:02:00.003-04:00

Just a quick post to let you know that we have not fallen off the face of the earth, but we have taken a nasty beating from Mr. Influenza 2009! He arrived with a vengance last Thursday and is STILL HERE! Hunter and I are mostly better now and poor Reese is in the midst of it as we speak. And the dear little thing does not do well with the flu:( Mark has escaped it so far, but please cross your toes, fingers, whatever you can for him! I'll leave it at that and will spare you pictures;)

Oh yeah, the sub-zero temperatures aren't helping either! -40????? Come on!!!!

Roller Skating

2009-01-01T11:50:00.002-04:00

Well that's what Reese likes to call it. The rest of us call it figure skating, and this was Reese's first attempt at it. It was little more than marching on the ice while I held her up, but I'd consider it a success. You've got to start somewhere, right?

She looks pretty steady here, but I must confess, she has her boots on.

Ummmm, is Mom more excited than Reese?

"March, march, march!"

I'll have to remind her to keep her head up next time.

It was my first time on the ice in ten years or more. I have to admit it felt pretty good!

Frosty etc.

2008-12-28T21:54:00.002-04:00

With the unseasonably warm weather we've had here the past day or two, it's made for perfect snowman-making conditions. Now I've never claimed to be an expert, but in the eyes of a 2 year old, I was a genius. See what you think!

He didn't have hair for the longest time, and then it just took off! Looks like he has his dad's curls!

And how often do you forget that there's a 4-legged member of our family? Here's poor, neglected Lola, looking as gorgeous as ever:)

Whew!!!!

2008-12-26T14:31:00.004-04:00

Can you even believe Christmas 2008 has come and gone? All that hype and build-up and just like *that* it's over:( What a ball it was to celebrate Christmas with a 2 1/2 year old under our roof. She was just old enough to "get it!" So we had lots of fun with her- from writing a letter to Santa, to leaving out food for Santa and his reindeer, to sneaking into her room when she was fast asleep and leaving an overflowing stocking for her to discover when she woke up........it's something I'll never forget:)

Christmas eve we spent quietly at our house eating Mark's famous seafood chowder. Reese enjoyed hearing 'Twas the Night Before Christmas (a Murray family tradition) before bed. After opening gifts here on Christmas morning, we headed over to Mark's parents house where there were yet more gifts to open and more delicious food to eat. It was exhausting and enjoyable all at the same time.

Santa brought Mark a new external flash for his camera so he was busy snapping pictures through the day. Here are a few I thought I'd share:

Hunter, the cutest Santa's little helper you ever did see:)

Hunter and I. I'm sporting a new super-cool and comfy sweatshirt that my awesome sister got me for Christmas:)

New flash works well!

Ankle deep in gifts and wrapping paper. FYI, I have Xmas jammies too but refused to post pictures of myself first thing in the morning.

"Oh, let's open it!" I heard it one hundred times that day!

Christmas eve.....Santa's helpers left jammies for all of us.

Hunter's Christening

2008-12-22T20:17:00.005-04:00

We had a busy weekend with a Christmas visit from Nana D and Boom-Boom (aka, my mom and dad) and Hunter's christening. As per usual, Reese had not a shy bone in her body and I'm quite certain she ran both grandparents ragged! Hunter was his usual charming self despite being sick with......well who knows.....a bug, or teething??? Who really knows?! We kept things low key for the christening with it being so close to Christmas, but here a few nice pictures from the ceremony.

Cathy, holding her new Godson:) And I know it's a faux pas to have a hat on in church, but come on, how cute is it?!

The *very* quick ceremony.....never heard a human being speak so fast in my life!

Nana D enjoying a quiet moment with her grandson:)

Yes, Reese was there and looked gorgeous, but she's going thru the "whatever you do don't you dare point that camera at me and take my picture!"- stage.

My little Santa!

One of many laughs over the weekend! I wish I could bottle up Hunter's laugh and sell it, it's just priceless!

I somehow managed to get her to smile for this one.

Ta- Daaaa!!!!

2008-12-15T19:05:00.003-04:00

Finally! After threatening Reese for weeks upon weeks that I was going to get her hair chopped off, I finally did it! Yes, *I* did it. Myself. I made an appointment to have it cut but I seized the moment last night after her bath and thought, how hard could it be? It wasn't so bad. And since her hair is curly, I felt there was enough room for error that I'd be ok. And as you can see, it turned out beautifully! I'm still letting her bangs grow out, but this is a definite improvement.

And of course my always popular gold Christmas tree. As lovely as it is, I must admit I'm tiring of the gold after 4 straight years of it. I think purple or blue might be a nice change. But who in their right mind can afford to go out and buy all new decorations? So we will live with the gold for another few years:)

Sweater Vest

2008-12-04T14:19:00.003-04:00

Just wanted to show off Nana D's latest masterpiece. It's gorgeous and fits him perfectly:)

Love it! Thanks:)

A "Blue" Day

2008-12-04T13:05:00.002-04:00

And the moral of this story is......never leave a 2 year old unattended in a room with markers;-)

Family Photos

2008-12-02T10:11:00.005-04:00

I thought I was so on top of things back in September when I booked an appointment to have Christmas pictures taken of the children. I booked for late November which would give me plenty of time to have Christmas cards made and get them all out well before Christmas. I carefully chose outfits for Reese and Hunter which would perfectly compliment eachother. I battled with Reese the night before to make sure her hair was just perfect. Naps were adjusted accordingly so we could be there on-time, and happy. You get it right???........ A LOT of preparation was put into this! I knew as I neared the counter at the photography studio that something was wrong. I was a half an hour late. A half an hour. My appointment was for 9 and we all showed up, looking gorgeous I might add, at 9:30. Tough luck. Nothing they could do. It was clearly my own stupidity. So rather than show my face there again, I carted the family off to the beach to try to get some worthwhile pictures. Mark deserves full credit here, he was the one behind the camera (or clicking the remote in a few). Although I'm not sure any of these will make a Christmas card, they certainly turned out well:

Oh, and I now realize we don't pay professional photographers enough. To get a 2 year old, a 6 month old, a dog and 2 tired out parents to all look at a camera at the same time and look happy is NOT an easy task.....right Mark??? Mark took over 100 pictures and this is what we narrowed it down to.

Movies by Mark

2008-11-17T21:57:00.006-04:00

Hunter and Leah

Hunter the Piano Man

The Girls

Just to explain......Reese and her 2 very best friends were painting in the kitchen the other morning and the sun was beating in on them and was right in their eyes. They thought the idea of sunglasses was great....et voila:)

Cousins

2008-11-17T19:14:00.006-04:00

I'm always sad after a visit with my sister......sad that we don't live closer together so we could see eachother more often. And the kids. We always have such a great time when we're together. She and Thing 3 were here for a visit this past weekend and it was just perfect. Yes, 2 of 3 kids were teething and one was caught in the midst of the terrible 2's, and no, we didn't do much of anything while she was here, but it was still just perfect. We just hung out and were moms, sisters and kids.

Reese has been HATING baths for the past little while, but she was more than thrilled to have Leah join her in the tub. Here they are post-bath watching a little Dora.

I'm in disbelief that this little guy turned 6 months old this weekend:( He was in for his needles today and received a clean bill of health. He's a healthy 17lbs and 14 oz, not nearly the porker that his sister was at his age, but he's tall (in the 90th percentile) and has inherited his father's "bison head" as we like to refer to it (also 90th percentile).

I think Leah was going in for a kiss here.

Yes, she's cute, but it doesn't hurt that her mother ALWAYS has her dressed in the cutest duds!

I mean, they're just too cute for words. Please note the rosy red cheeks and drool sodden shirts. Think they might be teething? I also have to say that Hunter is beginning to look more and more like his Grandad. Could it be the sweater vest and bald head??

Leah is on the move....and she's fast! Poor Shan has her hands full.....and then tag on Thing 1 and 2! I've said it before and I'll say it again, Shan, you're a brave woman!

Here are the 3 cousins just as snug as bugs in the back of the truck. They just barely fit!

Future Figure Skater???

2008-11-03T21:26:00.005-04:00

Reese has really taken to watching figure skating on TV with me. Yes, I'll admit I'm only too pleased about this as I spent most of my childhood on figure skates. But I truly didn't force her to watch with me, it was just on TV and it caught her eye, and she just LOVES it. I'm not sure why, but she does refer to it as "roller skating." I caught her doing a little dance the other day and it looks to me like she picked up some of these moves from watching Skate Canada. But watch how she holds onto the handle of the freezer as if it's a ballet bar. Could we have a ballerina on our hands???

Halloween

2008-11-03T18:52:00.003-04:00

Halloween 2008 was a whole lot of fun at our house. We did our best to build it up for Reese since this was the first Halloween where she could understand what it was all about. She woke up that morning and the first thing out of her mouth was "We going trick or treating NOW????" She eagerly jumped into her Minnie Mouse costume and paraded around most of the day in it. We only visited 5 or 6 homes but she was very quick to catch on. I fear she may have her mother's sweet tooth.

Here she is with her buddy from down the street dressed as a butterfly. It was so cold that evening that the costume was sadly hidden by her coat . Couldn't hide those ears though:)

Here's Hunter showing off his sitting skills with Lola. He was only in his costume for about 5 minutes as it was pretty tight and arguably a titch on the "girly" side.

It was so hard to get a picture of the 2 of them. I thought this one was cute though.

You've gotta admit, he makes a pretty cute sunflower:)

Movie Time

2008-11-02T13:21:00.003-04:00

Mark had a bit of free time the other night and put together one of his famous slide shows:))

He's Eating:(

2008-10-19T19:42:00.004-03:00

After flatly denying for the past week or 2 that Hunter was hungry and in fact ready to start eating solids, I gave in on Sunday and offered him some rice cereal. I was sure that he was too young to start eating and he wouldn't know what to do. I was sure he'd simply spit the food back out as soon as I inserted into his mouth......like his sister did when she started eating.....for a month or more. Maybe I was dreading it because of this and because of the added work of feeding another mouth at the table. So I was more than shocked to see Hunter not only open his little mouth like a bird as I neared his mouth with the spoon, but to swallow it all down.......just like that......no problem. As pleased as I was that it was such a success, part of me was just plain sad that my little man is growing up:(

Here he is as he goes in for his very first bite:

I caught Mark doing double duty with Reese and Hunter the other day.....how cute:)

Cool dude! You can't tell the shades are pink, can you?

Yet another gorgeous shot of the poser. She's soooooo thrilled to see the camera and insists on having her picture taken whenever it's out.

Dancing Queen

2008-10-15T20:33:00.001-03:00

Seriously Cute

2008-10-14T10:29:00.004-03:00

Just a few cute pictures from the weekend.

Enjoy:)

Fall in Southern NB

2008-10-05T18:52:00.006-03:00

It's hard to believe we're into October already, but here we are! We took advantage of a sunny and crisp weekend and headed out to a local apple U-pick. LOTS of fun for a 2 year old! And the cortland apples were delicious to say the very least! I even dug deep into my domestic juices and managed to throw together an apple crisp......this is quite a feat for me. And the feedback was overwhelmingly positive! There were also pumpkins for sale at the apple orchard so we killed 2 birds with 1 stone and picked up our Halloween pumpkin while we were there. Reese picked out her very own pumpkin and carved it already. And then to finish off the fall festivities, Reese and I planted some tulip bulbs which will be lovely to look forward to in the spring. So much to do in southern NB in the autumn:))

Here's Hunter hanging out with me while Reese and Mark picked apples. It was a cool day so we broke out the boiled wool hat again......luv it!

Reese was only too happy to plant herself on one of the pumpkins and pose for a picture!

"Who, me??!?"

The grass was very long and difficult for Reese to manage in so she jumped into the backpack with Mark which made the whole thing much easier. Here she is with her first apple.

Didn't take her long to decide to dig in......delicious!

Hunter and I getting in on the action.

That Ain't Right!

2008-09-29T20:54:00.004-03:00

'Nuff said!

Kiddie Olympics

2008-09-22T09:16:00.004-03:00

Ok, I'm officially that over-the-top, gushing, proud Mom. Our community had its annual corn boil and kidddie Olympics this past weekend. I assumed Reese was too young to partake and would simply wander around and enjoy all the excitement of the afternoon. Mark felt otherwise and signed her up for a number of the events. So there she was, at the head of the line for the long jump. In my mind, there was NO WAY she would make the long trek down the path and then jump at the end, especially in front of so many people. But I held my breath, camera in hand, and just hoped for the best. And here's what my little peanut butter cup did:

Yep, here she is beating it down to the end as fast as her little feet would carry her:

Can you see Dad cheering her on?

It's a long way for a 2 year old.

And then my little athlete stopped and jumped with ALL of her might.

I will admit, a tear may have slipped out of my eye. I couldn't have been more proud:-) Unfortunately I missed her throwing the shot put (YES, she did!!!!) but rest assured we will be there again next year with the video camera!

Trip to Ottawa

2008-09-08T21:24:00.008-03:00

We're just home from a fantastic weekend away in Ottawa. We had a wedding to attend in Port Hope, Ontario and so we made a long weekend trip to Ottawa of it. Reese had been talking for WEEKS about "David-airplane" so needless to say, it was an exciting time for Reese. The kids played hard, all weekend long. Everyone got along great and Reese's affection for David only grew stronger:) The plane ride was a breeze compared to what I was expecting......but don't get me wrong......it was still a handful (I had to laugh when Mark accepted the morning newspaper that the flight attendant offered him.....never quite got that read.) But all and all, both Reese and Hunter were as good as gold. Mark and I even managed to have a kid-free day. When we went to the wedding which was about a 2 and 1/2 hour drive from Ottawa, Shannon kept Reese and a good friend of ours in Ottawa kept Hunter. My only real worry was Hunter since he's only been taking the bottle for a week. I'm happy to report he sucked back every bottle without batting an eye and even spoiled Jodi with a 3 hour nap after I'd assured her he'd only sleep for 45 minutes at a time. So of course we were thrilled that everything went as well as it did. I slacked a bit in the picture department, but here are a few gems.

The farm where the wedding was hosted left us speechless and there happened to be a spectacular sunset that night. So here's a rare picture of Mark and myself at the wedding:

Shannon arranged a get together with our 2 cousins who live in Ottawa and their kids. It was an absolute ball! We tried for a picture.......9 kids......this is the best we could get. And I must mention Stephanie, the oldest, who wasn't able to be there:(

Hunter's first plane ride:

Clearly enjoying himself:)

A Visit from the Baby Whisperer

2008-09-01T11:46:00.007-03:00

Yes, we had a visit from our very own Baby Whisperer this weekend, a.k.a. Nana D. Our little Hunter has been such a good little baby and then a few weeks ago he up and decided to no longer take a bottle:( This of course proved to be a HUGE issue for me as it meant I couldn't leave the little stinkers side for more than 2 or 3 hours for......well for God knows how long! So we enlisted my mom, who assured us she'd get the little guy taking a bottle and she didn't fail us! When I asked how she managed to do it she replied "I put the bottle in his mouth and he started sucking." Go figure:) She helped us "tweak" a few of our bad habits we may have developed with Hunter (like sticking a boob in his mouth everytime he fussed!) and he's eating and sleeping better than he ever has! So, I really do feel it was a worthwhile visit and that she truly deserves the title "Baby Whisperer."

Here she is after working her magic:

Reese had a weekend visit with her other Nana and Papa so she was away for Nana D's visit. I caught this picture the other day after she grabbed a magazine and took a seat in the Bumbo chair to check it out.

We've strapped Hunter into the Jolly Jumper but he hasn't yet caught on to the whole "jumping" thing.

BIG squeezes from big sister:)

Vacation 2008

2008-08-11T10:37:00.008-03:00

I've finally downloaded some pictures from our summer vacation. As in past years, my sister and her family came for a visit to our cottage. It was the first time I met my beautiful niece, Leah, and their first time meeting Hunter. The boys and Reese are finally at an age where they can all play, and play they did! We then all headed to my parents place in NS. Although the weather didn't totally cooperate, it wasn't ever so bad that we felt cooped up inside. As you can see from the following shots at Hunts Point beach, the sun may not have been shining, but that didn't stop us!

Here's a picture of Reese and Hunter cuddling on the Diego couch.

Awwwww.....my sister and I and her "great, big baby."

Nana and Leah

Boom-Boom and Reese. Yes, she calls him Boob-Boom. When my dad came to visit in March, Reese's version of "Grandad" came out Boom-Boom and lo and behold, it's stuck!

You didn't think we could get a decent picture with all 5 grandkids did you? Unfotunatley one was quite unhappy and one was asleep and entirely absent from the picture.

Nana-D and her 2 grandaughters.....and me.

The 2 babes chasing the shade.

Mmmmmm, fudgesicles!

Kisses for baby Leah:)

And more kisses......

Proud Auntie and Leah:)

"Heartbreaker"

"Hallelujah!"

Poor Lola just trying to beat the heat.

The three cousins hamming it up. If only you could hear them all bellowing "CHEESE!" at the tops of their little lungs!

Shan and David enjoying a dip in the Kennebecasis River.

Proud Nana and Papa

2008-07-21T18:25:00.004-03:00

Hunter has officially fallen victim to the "second child syndrom." Yes, I have to apologize for the lack of pictures of the little guy. I keep bugging Mark to put together a little slideshow so I can post it here, but there really don't seem to be enough pictures of him to put one together. So I thought I'd throw in a few gems from the weekend:)

Papa and Hunter......although it took a little coaxing, he looks like a natural!

And looking just as content with Nana:)

Reese turns 2!!!

2008-07-21T11:00:00.005-03:00

It's hard to believe, but Reese turned 2 this weekend! We decided to forgo a big birthday bash and had a lovely, low-key bbq with Reese's Nana and Papa. We're planning on having a small party next weekend when my sister and her family are here. We're so excited to see them all as we haven't seen them since last summer! Once again this year, Reese was not really thrilled when the cake and singing happened.......no, she screamed and cried, but seemed to thoroughly enjoy eating the cake and especially the ice cream! So here are a few pictures to mark the big day:)

Very excited about her presents!

......still loving the bubbles:)

Birthday dinner.

Here she is as she first spies the new playset Mark and I got her for her birthday. And kudos to Daddy for putting it together so quickly!!!

A new "dolly" for the 2 year old. Can a 2 year old ever have enough dolls???

Here she is enthusiastically trying out her new slide. I'm glad to report it was quite a hit!

Another Sunny Weekend in Southern NB!

2008-07-17T21:27:00.004-03:00

We've really been lucky with the warm sunny weather we've had this summer.....very uncharacteristic for the Fundy coast! Not so great for the farmers and for our poor lawns, but I have no qualms with it! Needless to say, much of our time has been spent at the cottage. Although getting there is much more of a job when you're packing for 4 rather than 2, it's always so worth it once we get there. This past weekend we had a bbq with some of our friends (and Reese's friends!) which was great entertainment for all of us.

Here's Daddy, Reese and Hunter (in the Baby Bjorn carrier). Reese is really well behaved at the beach, she's not interested in going too far into the water and spends most of her time throwing rocks in the water.

Reese is so good at sharing her toys with Hunter:)

Do we have another thumb sucker on our hands?! I swore my second child would take a soother and although I try almost everyday, so far, no luck.

Reese and some of her buddies playing on her new bunk bed.

My boys:))

As most of you probably know, Reese has not been totally co-operatve in the hair department. In fact, I'm lucky if she'll even let me brush it. She freaks at the hairdresser now so we've resorted to her sitter for trimming her bangs (and a mighty fine job she does, I might add). Well we had a breakthrough this week! Her buddy was visiting and Reese saw her mom put a bow in her hair. Then lo and behold, Reese wanted a bow in her hair! And she actually allowed me to put a clip in her hair!! Major breakthrough! And doesn't she just look adorable???

Her sand and water playtable that she got for her 1st birthday are a huge hit with all the kids. The resulting sand that gets dragged into the cottage is not such a hit with Mom, but well worth the hours of fun for the munchkins!

And just a quick update on Hunter......I had him in for his 2 month needles, which he of course HATED, and had him weighed.......13lbs! He's doing great and continues to be a really good little baby. He's slept through the night once (from 10-7am) but is usually up once. Last weekend he decided to go on a bottle strike for Dad which was quite a scare for me. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have that freedom. So he's had a bottle every night since, and although he clearly isn't a big fan, he's taking it in small quantities. Thank GOD!

Canada Day 2008

2008-07-02T20:26:00.004-03:00

Despite some less than stellar weather we packed up and headed to the cottage for the weekend. Even though it's only 20 minutes away, you just feel like your "away" when you're there. Mark and I have always enjoyed escaping to the cottage and it seems like Reese is right there with us. It's endlessly entertaining there for her.....birds, flowers, water, rocks.....what more could a girl ask for? We headed to the Canada Day festivites at a local park, but truth be told, it was just plain old overwhelming for poor Reese and she unfortunatley had a number of *meltdowns.* Can you really expect a 2 yr old to wait in line for 15 minutes to go on a ride?! She had the best of intentions of riding a pony until she was up close and personal......no way was she getting on that horsey's back! Needless to say, we headed back to the cottage to enjoy the simpler things.....birds, flowers, water and rocks! A quieter Canada Day than usual, but enjoyable nonetheless! Here are a few gems from the weekend:

Mark has a picture of he and his brother in the same pose when they were kids. Don't ask me how he managed to get them both to smile!

Happy camper at the playground.

I think she's saying "What the $#^/{*:?"

Cooling off in her pool:)

Hunter just a chillin'

Hunter is one month old!

2008-06-16T13:11:00.005-03:00

I know it sounds so cliche, but where has the time gone? I can't even believe our little Hunter has turned 1 month old already! It's such a difference with the second child- with our first we were so frantic and nervous and just wishing things along. Now that we know what to expect, it's so much easier and we try not to take a moment of it for granted. This is the last time in my lifetime that I'll have a one month old! Sniff, sniff!

Hunter continues to be a pretty laid back little fella, but don't get me wrong, he has his fussy moments as most newborns do. His *fussiness* however pales in comparison to Reese's when she was his age. He's just over 10lbs and smiles, and looks when he hears noises. I have to laugh because he startles so very easily, and if you were lucky enough to know my grandmother, you'd know he comes by this honestly!

We enjoyed a beautiful sunny weekend at the cottage this past weekend and here are a few pictures we took while we were there.

Do two year olds EVER get tired of bubbles?!?!!

Reese is still loving her little brother and keeps a close eye on him:)

Ok, too cute......Dad's hand and Hunter's.

The little one month old himself!

Our little poser:

And again.

Dad and Hunter cooling off in the shade....it was a hot one, over 30 degrees!

Awwwwww, nothing like a sleeping baby:)

June 1 2008- Proud Big Sister

2008-06-01T15:37:00.004-03:00

Reese continues to be quite taken with her new little brother. She's always inquiring "where's baby?" and is busy checking him out when he is around and awake. She loves to help with burping him and is, oh so gentle when she pats his little back. She will bring him his blanket if it happens to not be on him and she gives him little pushes in the swing. It really melts your heart! She did give him a prompt "Sssshhhhhh!" yesterday though, when she was trying to watch Elmo on TV and Hunter was fussing and making a little too much noise for her liking!

Here she is holding Hunter for the very first time:)

And here's a picture of Hunter in the bath the other night. No, like most babies, he clearly doesn't love it, but as usual, he's a pretty good sport.

Hunter and Reese

2008-05-26T09:36:00.006-03:00

Mark, Reese, Lola and I are nicely adjusting to our new family of 5. Hunter seems to be a fairly laid-back little fella which was a huge help this past week as Reese had yet another bout of the stomach flu......ARGH! Poor little thing, she was a good 5 days with it this time:( Anyway, she's on the up and up now and we certainly wouldn't have survived the week without the help of Nana D. She was super at diaper changing and burping and I think she and Hunter had a really good chance to bond:) So now Reese is back at the sitter and Hunter and I are on our own.......and so far so good!

Here are few pictures from the weekend:

Mark and Reese did a fun-run in K-Park......you probably can't see, but miss Reese slept through the whole thing.

And here's a newer picture of little Hunter. I'm pleased to report he's eating well and gaining weight, he's up to 8 lbs 7 oz already!

The Wait is Over:-))

2008-05-18T20:30:00.007-03:00

Hunter Murray Anderson arrived safely on Friday, May 16th 2008 at 8:04am weighing 8lbs even. He made a surprisingly speedy entrance to this world with Mom only labouring for a little over 6 hours. Mom had to go "drug-free" this time as a result. As rough as it was, the recovery has been so much smoother this time. We're all home now and feeling great......tired, but great. So far, Hunter seems to be a pretty easy-going little guy which is a welcomed relief after our "high maintenance" little girl. Speaking of which, Reese has responded fantastically to her new little brother. She's so taken with him and just wants to kiss and hug him all the time! She has a way to go in terms of "gentleness" but we'll get there. Anyway, here are a few early snapshots and rest assured, there'll be more to come.

Hunter, shortly after arriving.....bumped and bruised, but no worse for the wear:)

Mama loving the new man in her life.

Reese's first kiss for her baby brother. Awwwwwww:)

Proud Daddy, an old pro at all of this.

All set for the drive home.

Notice the cars on the sleeper......he is an Anderson afterall!

Still Waiting....

2008-05-15T09:16:00.004-03:00

Well as the waiting game continues, I've had lots of time to be more efficient at updating my blog! We headed to the cottage last weekend and Reese got to try out her new "big girl bed" and I'm happy to report she did great! She went to bed with no fuss, didn't get out of the bed all night and, in fact, we felt the need to wake her at 8am to ensure she was still breathing! And she was:)

Our first sunset of the year at Meenan's Cove....gotta love it.

I'm not sure this picture does this sweater justice, but it's yet another Nana Murray creation. Gorgeous! The detail is amazing, so much so, I've heard this will be the one and only. We love, love, love it!

Busy doesn't begin to describe Reese these days. She's into absolutely everything, and has so much fun doing it! Here she is testing out Lola's crate with Dad. She's SUCH a ham, this is the smile we get when we tell her to say "Cheese." LOVES the camera:)

Reese is very hesitant to have anything on her head or face. She finally started wearing winter hats in March and now it's been impossible to get her to wear sunhats or sunglasses. Then lo and behold, Nana and Papa bought her a pair of Strawberry Shortcake sunglasses that she has been quite taken with! There's hope yet!

The Incredible Growing Belly

2008-05-02T20:58:00.003-03:00

After a slow start to the pregnancy weight gain, I've pulled ahead in my final trimester and have officially gained just as much weight as I did with my first pregnancy. With just over 2 weeks to go, there's not much action to speak of. The head's down and I'm dilated 1 cm. Yup, that's it. I have another appt on Wednesday, so keep your fingers crossed! Last time I went into labour after a pedicure and some deep massaging of the pressure points in my feet. I had one today and no such luck. Anyway, here's a picture of the beloved "bump:"

Spring Fever

2008-04-27T20:32:00.006-03:00

With spring here in full force, we've had plenty of opportunity to spend lots of time in the great outdoors. It's hard to remember now what we did with ourselves over that long, nasty winter. The fresh air is so great for Reese.....and her sleeping habits.....this weekend we returned to 3 hr naps and sleeping past 7 am......keep your fingers crossed that it continues ( or did I just seriously jinx ourselves?!) I'm especially pleased to welcome the warmer weather as I'm officially done work another year. So a few weeks of warm sun before "the bump" arrives would be great!

Here is Reese hamming it up with Mom's shades on......upside down:

So if sorting through the mittens and hat drawer keeps her happy for a while so Mom can get supper ready, does that make me a bad mom? As you can see, she sure enjoyed it:

Reese's latest obsession is books. Not a bad thing to be obsessed with of course, but it can be frustrating for mom and dad reading the same book 10 times in a row! I kid you not! I'm sure I read her 5 books a total of 25 times before bed last night! Here's Reese and Dad putting in some serious book time:

Big sale at Toys R Us this weekend! Reese scored her very own Dora coupe: Here she is chatting on the phone in her new car:

And the piece de resistance.......isn't this sweater gorgeous?! Yup, you guessed it, compliments of Nana Murray:0)

Reese the Flirt?!

2008-04-13T18:40:00.004-03:00

Reese had one of her buddies over for some playtime and a BBQ last weekend. Little did we know we had such a flirt on our hands. Check out the two of them :

Only too happy to kiss for the camera:

And hug:)

Sharing a seat to watch their favorite show Bo on the Go:

Rolling around on the floor together!

And one more kiss for good measures:

We couldn't wipe the smile off her face!

Spring????

2008-04-01T20:21:00.005-03:00

After a long, cold winter, we finally had some "spring-like" weather this past weekend. After dressing and undressing Reese probably 100 times in her snowsuit, we were finally able to simply walk out the back door with a warm jacket on and do Reese's favorite thing- PLAY! Unfortunately the back yard is still a sheet of ice, so we had to keep her up on the deck. She still had a ton of fun, mostly with bubbles. She was so in awe of the bubbles!

Reese had her first real tantrum the other day. Boy, that was something else. According to my dear mother, she comes by it honestly;) So Mark and I have resorted to a lot of bribery. Bad parenting technique? Perhaps, but it works!

And I'm glad to report that Reese is eating considerably better these days. She's still far from a good eater, but boy has she developed an appetite. The first thing she does when she walks in the door from the sitters (May-May as Reese calls her) is she goes straight to the "snack" cupboard and pulls out a snack for herself. Sneaky! And we've even managed to incorporate some fruits and veggies into her diet. She can't get enough grapes, watermelon and nanas (yes that's short for bananas) and asparagus and broccoli are her favorite veggies......shocking, isn't it?! It's quite a relief to know that she will in fact eat more than goldfish......or "ish" as she refers to them:)

Here she is wearing a bit of ketchup and yogurt after dinner. Mmmmm, sounds yummy!

Taking a seat. Her hat was knit by none other than Nana Murray!

And miss Lola looking simply gorgeous!

Oh, those eyes.....

.....and those cheeks!

Let the bubble blowing begin!

In absolute awe of the bubbles!!!

More Reese- March 2008

2008-04-01T20:05:00.002-03:00

The talented Mark Anderson's been at it again! Enjoy!

Weekend in New Hampshire

2008-03-15T08:10:00.004-03:00

Despite Reese fighting a nasty stomach flu, we had a wonderful weekend away in North Conway, NH last week. We joined 2 other couples and their kids at a house we rented right in North Conway. It was an ideal set up for a vacation with kids. Due to the weather, the guys only got in one full day of skiing, but from what I understand, the conditions were great and they really enjoyed themselves. We did lots of shopping there (you've gotta love no taxes) and I would say were mostly prepared now for the arrival of "the bump." And I'm glad to report that Reese seems to have finally recovered from the flu. It was a nasty one, and lasted 8 days:-( As you can see from these pictures, she was still in pretty good spirits.

Reese really loves to sit at the table and color and play with stickers......she LOVES stickers. Here she is perusing a new coloring book.

I think the kids were lined up in front of the TV at this point, but as always, Reese was hamming it up for the camera!

Checking out Jordan's purse.

"Ho-hum....."

Dads on duty while the moms shopped:)

"Hmmmmm, what can I get into next!?!!"

Mmmmmm, Oreo's!

2008-02-18T22:23:00.003-04:00

Clearly, Reese shares her mother's love for Oreo cookies!

Belly Laughs

2008-02-18T21:36:00.002-04:00

Who knew a handful of Dora stickers and Daddy's nose could be so funny??!?!

Swimming Class

2008-01-17T21:59:00.000-04:00

Reese and I started another swimming class this year. She hasn't really been in the water all that much, so I was curious to see how she'd react. Well the first week she seemed pretty bored with the whole thing. Certainly no splashing and screaming like all of the other kids. But she didn't seem to mind it either. Week 2 she seemed to warm up to it a bit more as you can see from the pictures.

This picture was taken just seconds after I dunked her underwater for the very first time. She did really well......no screaming or fussing. But as you can see, she doesn't look super-impressed!

Being only 18 months old, she doesn't really follow directions as well as some of the older kids do. We didn't have much luck with blowing bubbles, kicking or "just hanging onto" this floating mat. Reese insisted on climbing right onto it. Oh well, she wasn't the only one and she seemed to enjoy it.

Here she is getting ready to take the plunge. Again, seemingly unimpressed.

And might I mention kudos to moi for being brave enough to squeeze myself into a bathing suit at 5 months pregnant!

Reese had her (gulp!) 18 month checkup the other day. She's doing just great and at 28 lbs and 85 cm tall she remains at the very high end of normal for her age. She was a model patient for her checkup, I was so proud......and then the needles came out.......3 of them to be exact. You would have thought someone was actually trying to murder her. I felt so badly for all the other patients at the office that day. Needless to say, we survived. Her fourth eye tooth is just about to poke through and praise the lord, I think we're done until the 2 year molars! Teething has not been particularly fun for Reese, or Mom and Dad for that matter!

Happy 2008!

2008-01-06T21:02:00.000-04:00

Well 2008 has arrived and so far, so good! We had a lovely Christmas break that took us to NS to visit with my Mom and Dad. It was great being with family at Christmas time, and even moreso as Mom was just 3 weeks post knee replacement at the time. It was amazing to see her getting around as well as she was and not just that, but preparing a Christmas feast for all of us and trying to not to trip over Reese at the same time! She did great! Despite Reese cutting all four incisors, she was in pretty good spirits. At 17 months old, she didn't quite get the whole Christmas thing yet, but by the end of Christmas morning she had certainly caught on to the whole gift-unwrapping thing. Here she is in her adorable Christmas jammies playing with one of her many Christmas goodies:

She was also lucky enough to get a brand new sled for Christmas. With 30+ cm of snow down in Saint John, we had a chance to try it out once we were home. As you can see, it was a huge success!

Here's my Mom's always gorgeous tree:

And my ever-photogenic Dad opening a gift:

And Reese totally enjoying a toddler sized chair my Mom dug out for her:

So now here we are back to the daily grind. As nice as an extended break is, it's always nice to get back to a schedule and routine! Oh, and at 21 weeks pregnant, we're over halfway there! Happy 2008!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Getting Ready for Christmas

2007-12-16T11:19:00.000-04:00

Well it's been a busy few weeks getting ready for Christmas. The house is decorated, the tree is done, baking is completed, and the gift wrapping is.......well started anyway! It helped that I had a cookie exchange with my old baby group last weekend, so that forced me to kick it in to high gear. And the best part is that I have a freezer FULL of cookies! We're really looking forward to heading over to NS for Christmas this year. Mom has just had her knee surgery and we can't wait to see her and help mend her back to health. I can only imagine the havoc Reese will wreak on their house, but I have a feeling Nana and Grandad are actually looking forward to it. We've been trying to help Reese understand as best she can, the whole Christmas thing.......keeping in mind at all times that she's just 17 months old. She says Santa on cue and can also recite "ho, ho, ho!" But that's about the extent of it. I had huge concerns about the Christmas tree, but she appears to have very little interest in it. Gifts will be fun for her to open this year and I'm sure she'll be excited about some new toys, but I think next year will be the big one for her. We had adorable Christmas photos taken of her, but of course I have no way to upload them, so these random shots will have to do for now:0)

Just lookin' plain old cute!

Reading her morning paper.

Sitting on her Dora car on the phone, her very favorite thing these days!

Ready for bed in her Christmas jammies.

Reese's Big News

2007-11-13T21:37:00.001-04:00

Soooooo slack......I know!

2007-11-01T19:35:00.000-03:00

My apologies for being so slack at updating my blog. Life is pretty hectic these days to say the least! But all is well and I wouldn't change a thing. Although the working mom thing is busy, I really am enjoying being back at work. For me, it's a fine balance. And Lola has certainly added a bit of work to our lives, but as all you dog lovers know, there's nothing better than coming home to a wagging tail! It's so nice to have her around. And she's just a wonderful little dog......we're really pleased with how things have turned out. She and Reese truley are "buds" and play together and keep eachother company. Reese is often less than gentle with her and Lola just turns a blind eye and puts up with it.

Apparently Reese's looks are really changing. Of course, we see her every day so don't tend to notice, but everyone that sees her comments on how much she's changing. So here are a few pictures to keep you up to date with the little peanut butter cup (which of course we handed out as Halloween treats....Reese.....get it?)

Here she is in her "a- little- too- small- but- we- made- it- fit" Piglet costume:0)

And here she is just lookin' plain old cute:

Diving onto and rolling over Lola:

I wish we could capture Reese's reaction when Dora the Explorer comes on TV. This picture just doen't do it justice!

Our Growing Girl

2007-10-02T20:58:00.000-03:00

Mark and Reese did the 10k run in Marathon by the Sea a few weeks ago. Reese loved it and Mark had a very respectable time of 56 min. Not bad for no training and an extra 30 lbs to tote!

We had a lovely visit with my parents this past weekend. Mark and I had a wedding to attend in Wolfville, so we took advantage of Nana and Grandad for the night. They seemed thrilled to have Reese for the night and bless her little heart, she was good as gold! So it worked out great, Mark and I enjoyed a night away in the valley and Nana and Grandad had some bonding time with Reese.

We tried to get her to *pose* for a couple of shots, but we're just not there yet. They're some darn cute shots nonetheless.

And since she's walking, we just had to get her her first pair of Striderites!

More Summer 2007

2007-09-04T19:26:00.000-03:00

Well time certainly is flying, and here we are at the end of the summer. Hard to believe! I'm back at work now, and things are going really well. You don't realize how valuable adult conversation and brain stimulation is until you're home for a year with a baby! However, I wouldn't trade in my year with Reese for the world! She continues to grow and do new things everyday. She's taking a few steps now, although I wouldn't dare call it "walking" yet. She's so darn quick on her hands and knees, I'm not sure if she'll ever make the transition to two feet! She has settled in amazingly at the sitter which is such a huge relief!

So I just thought I'd post a few more pictures from the summer while I had the chance!

Voila!

We took a trip to Bar Harbour a couple of weeks ago and here's a picture of Mark and Reese on the summitt of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. The view was breathtaking!

And Momma too!

There's a beatiful beach there called Sand Beach where we got some beautiful pictures. The waves were huge, but the water was cold enough to give the Bay of Fundy a run for its money.

Reese was lucky enough to have a visitor at the cottage one day this weekend, Jordan. She was such a well behaved baby it *almost* made me think about having another one......almost.....but not quite! Anyway, here are Reese and Jordan playing nicely.

Mom and Dad were also here this weekend to see the Cirque de Soleil. So I managed to catch a cuddle moment between Nana and Reese. Unfortunatley she wasn't so co-operative with my dad. But she sure loved the "great big bear from over there stories!"

Getting ready for a bike ride with Dad.

Lounging in her very own patio chair.

Story time with Dad.....awwwwww:0)

Reese- The Year in Review

2007-08-18T08:52:00.000-03:00

Mark's been working on this forever trying to get it uploaded. Enjoy!

Reese Randoms

2007-08-12T21:55:00.001-03:00

These are just a few pictures we captured this weekend. We're trying to get more creative. Enjoy!

Dad and Reese checking out the river:

Heading back up the path to the cottage.

Havin' some fun in the sun at the beach.

Showing off her standing skills.

Floating in the river.

Awwwwwww, the happy little family:0)

Our Little 1 Year Old

2007-08-12T21:06:00.000-03:00

As a 1 year old, Reese continues to be off the charts in terms of height and weight....above the 95th percentile for her weight (24lbs) and the 90th percentile for height. She's crawling very effeciently these days, so much so, I wonder if she'll ever walk! She stands well on her own now, so I figure the walking thing will soon come. Here are some pictures from our visit with the Bertels' and Reese's big birthday party!

She was less than impressed with the cake and the singing. A little overwhelming I suppose:0)

Warming up to it.

It's my party......

The heat has been on this summer, so Reese seems to spend a lot of her time in her little pool. Here are a couple gorgeous shots of her soaking up the rays in the pool.

Here are Reese's gorgeous cousins Peter and David posing at Meenan's Cove.

And Pete lounging on the deck at our cottage.

Reese at Meenan's Cove.

Kisses for Auntie Lauren!

And Reese enjoying her first popscicle!

Reese's Christening

2007-08-12T20:52:00.001-03:00

Well we've had a very busy summer here. In July we had a wonderful visit with my sister and her family. They came to Saint John for Reese's christening and to celebrate her first birthday. And of course, shortly after, I returned to work. So I'm tardy getting these pictures posted, but better late than never!

We were so very fortunate to be able to have her christened right at our cottage. Shannon and Paul are the Godparents and it was a very intimate ceremony with just immediate family.

Here's mom, dad and our little angel:

And here we are with the new Godparents:

The actual blessing. Thank you sooooooo much Father Brian!

And the whole fam-damily. This was the best we could do with 2 toddlers, a 1 yr old, Maggie the dog, and a 10 second timer. Good job Mark!

Canada Day Weekend

2007-07-03T17:01:00.000-03:00

Well the Canada Day weekend ended up being very busy for Mark and I. We started with a wedding on Friday eveneing and ended with a Canada Day bash at the cottage. Our good friends Jodi and Greg got married here in Saint John on June 29th and they were kind enough (or crazy!) to ask Mark and I to act as masters of ceremony. There was a little last minute stress as we scrambled to get the slide-show put together for them with pictures included from the ceremony, but we pulled it off, and from the feedback I heard, we did a pretty good job to boot! The ceremony was beautiful and we all had a blast afterward! Reese had an overnight visit with Cathy and Jeremy and they not only survived, they all did great!

Here are some pictures from the wedding....

The guys minutes before Greg made the plunge. Nice touch with the piper by the way!

Olivia and Morgan, the two most adorable flower girls ever!

Introducing Jodi and Greg Furlong!!!!!

I had to include this one since there never seems to be any pictures of Mark. In fact, of almost 200 pictures taken that day, Mark was in 3. Guess who's usually behind the camera???

The happy couple sharing a snuggle. I beleive the rye train had arrived.....choo- choo!

Mark, Jodi and Hege:

We had friends over for a bbq and some fireworks for Canada Day. As usual, Mark went way overboard on the fireworks, but it was quite a show! And yes Dad, they were *very* careful! Here's Reese posing with Auntie Shel:

And here she is all decked out for Canada Day:

This Dora car is her new favorite toy as you may be able to tell from the smiling and clapping:

And coming in for a close-up!

Our Climber

2007-06-24T18:53:00.001-03:00

No, she's not walking yet, but she's climbing on everything! As far as she's concerned, nothing is off limits! She's keeping Mommy on her toes these days, that's for sure! Here she is discovering the dishwasher....as you can see, Daddy didn't think it was such a good idea:

Couldn't you just eat her up!!!???

She spends a lot of time gazing out the front door...

...and the back window

It's so hard to believe that she's soon going to be 1. I understand what everyone was saying when they told me it was going to go by so fast! I'll be back at work on August 1st....I think I'm in denial on that one. It'll be fine once I'm back into the swing of things, I'm sure. And although she still *wails* when I leave her with the sitter, it's clear that she's becoming attached to her....sad for me, great for Reese. So that will be one less thing to worry about when the time comes.

Sunny and hot!

2007-06-12T13:33:00.001-03:00

I understand that not all of the maritimes have been blessed with such great weather, but I have to tell you that it's been amazingingly hot and sunny here lately.....especially by Saint John standards! So needless to say we've been taking advantage and spending lots of time at our cottage. Reese was having problems settling down for naps there, and we finally found a solution.....the swing! If we put her in it before her nap time, she's out cold within minutes. It's wonderful! And pretty darn cute too, so I thought I'd share some pictures:

We thought we'd try for another family photo, but it seems the older Reese gets, the less co-operative she becomes. Oh well, this one didn't turn out badly:

Do we like Mark's shaved head??? I personally give it 2 thumbs up!

Here's Reese attempting to read her book (albeit upside-down) while Mom gets her supper ready. It was 37 degrees on the deck that evening!

And here she is playing with her buddy Ryan who just turned 1!

A Weekend at the Cottage

2007-05-28T19:32:00.001-03:00

With the gorgeous weather this past weekend we decided to head out to the cottage and get it all ready for the summer. This was Reese's first trip to the cottage since she was just a wee one and she adjusted well. Mark re-did one of the bedrooms for her last fall and she slept well there with no issues. She loved crawling around and checking out all the new things. And as always, it's wonderful for her to be out in the fresh air....it knocks her out! Unfortunatley, her new teeth seem to be giving her some grief and she's been not quite herself lately, but I'm sure it will pass.

This is Reese and I on the deck on Friday evening when we arrived. As you can see, the weather was glorious!

Reese, au naturel.....and loving it I might add!

She had just woken up from a nap here and the *bed-head* was too funny. She looks like she's saying "Get that camera out of my face!"

Mark introduced her to a water jug which gave her endless hours of fun this weekend.

And the piece de resistance......her new swing.....she absolutley LOVES it! This was an early birthday present from her Nana and Granddad Murray so thanks a million!

Dora Chair

2007-05-23T21:27:00.000-03:00

I had to post this pictures of Reese in her new Dora chair. It's no secret how much she loves cartoons and Dora has become on of her favorites (yes, at 10 months old!). Here she is enjoying a little "Treehouse" in her new chair and showing off her new favorite skill- clapping:

And these are just a few randoms we took:

If you look closely you can see the 4 (yes 4!) top teeth that cut through this week. She made out much better with these teeth cutting through than she did with her 1st two...knock on wood of course!

10 Months Old

2007-05-21T16:24:00.000-03:00

I can hardly believe it, but Reese is 10 months old now! And she's crawling.....yes, life as we know it is officially over! No more coffee and sudoku while Reese lies immobile. She is on the move! And fast! It's amazing the things she can get into. We're trying to "baby-proof" but it seems we don't think of what she's going to get into until she's actually there! She's a lot of fun these days. She also cut 4 teeth this past week and she made out surprisingly well. She wasn't nearly as fussy as she was when she got her first 2 teeth (knock on wood of course!).

The move went extremely well. We've settled in nicely, but rest assured, there's plenty more to do. I can't seem to shake the feeling that we may be living out of boxes to some degree for a while. There's just not enough hours in the day to get it all done!

I've posted a few pictures that Mark took of Reese before the move. As everyone tells me, her looks are continuing to change so I'll try to post some more recent pictures....well when we take some.

Tired Girl

2007-04-23T21:53:00.000-03:00

Reese had a busy day today- baby group in the morning and then a doctors appointment in the afternoon. With her appointment at 2pm, this interfered with the nice, long naps she's been having in the afternoon. So once suppertime came, she was a bit tired and fussy so I decided to give her her bottle before her supper to soothe her. Well I guess that was a mistake.......here's the result:

So we decided that she couldn't sleep at 5pm because then we'd be up with her half the night so we woke her up to try and feed her supper and this was the result:

You can see her supper sitting there ready to eat! It was the cutest thing I'd ever seen! Anyway, eventually we got her up and fed and she made it until 7pm!

She got a clean bill of health at the doctors today and fortunately no needles. She weighed in at 22lbs and 4oz....still in the 95th percentile! She's really close to crawling now and she just started being being able to push herself up to a sitting position from lying down. It's just amazing how quickly she's changing!

Last week we had our first day at the sitters. As everyone assured me, it was harder on me than her. She was perfectly fine, not even bothered when I left her there in the arms of a stranger. She went down for her nap without fussing and slept for 1 1/2hrs and ate up every bit of her lunch. What a little angel! So hopefully she makes out as well when we take her there again this week. Keep your fingers crossed!

1st Haircut

2007-04-20T17:24:00.000-03:00

Reese had her very 1st haircut this week. She just needed it trimmed around her ears and in the back. Our friend Jenn is a hairdresser and she was brave enough to do it for us. She made out really well! Reese was well behaved (with the help of Dora and a dvd player) and her hair turned out great. Not sure if you can tell from these pictures, but she looks like a whole new kid! Gorgeous of course!

Oh, and by the way.....she turned 9 months old today....I can barely believe it!

Neglectful, I know!

2007-04-16T17:29:00.000-03:00

So you may have noticed my blog has been neglected lately. I'll be honest and admit this is due to my newfound addiction to Facebook. Facebook is the latest and greatest in the world of on-line networking......aka catching up with old friends. I've been having great fun catching up with people I haven't seen or heard from in years. Anyway, I highly recommend it! Be sure to look me up if you join!

As for Reese, she's doing well as you can see from the pictures. She's eating all kinds of new things and besides one gagging and vomitting episode involving a cube of sweet potatoe, she seems to be taking well to most things she tries. It's so cute to see her chubby fingers trying their darndest to grab a cheerio and then maneuver it into her mouth. As you can see, she's not always successful. And she's even managing to feed herself her bottles with her meals now. Such a big girl!

Trip to Florida

2007-04-08T08:52:00.000-03:00

My apologies for being entirely slack about getting my blog updated since we've been back from Florida. To say we've been busy would be an understatement. We had a wonderful trip as you'll see from the pictures but it's been non-stop ever since we returned. We picked up Heidi (not Sydney as we originally planned) on our way home from Florida. She's a dear, sweet little dog, but had never been in a house until she arrived here last week. I'm AMAZED at how well she's made out. I had visions of a wild dog on the loose in our house but she's been quite the contrary. She's settling in surprisingly well. She certainly has a ways to go with obedience training but for a dog whose had her entire life turned upside down, she's doing awesome. Mark has taught her to sit and he's working on "heel" with her. She comes and knows "no." That's pretty good for 1 weeks worth of work. Don't get me wrong, we're exhausted but it's so rewarding and absolutely worth it, especially when you see the smile on Reese's face as soon as she sees Heidi. She giggles and laughs at her and they seem to be getting along great! As for the name, we felt that we'd stressed her out enough and that changing her name might just be a little too much. And frankly, Heidi has grown on me. Whew! Pictures will follow when I get a chance! So for now, here are photos from the trip.

Reese playing happily under the cabana:

David and Reese got along famously. Here he is trying to steal her hat as Mark takes the picture:

Reese's big cousin Pete loving every minute of the pool:

She's awfully close to crawling!

She loved to hang out in the water in her blow-up crab:

We discovered how much Reese likes an audience. Here she is sneaking into a picture with Auntie Shan and her buddy David:

David may have just woken up, but he's still so darn gorgeous!

And Reese isn't too bad herself:

We took a trip into Tampa with all the kiddies. Although these two were a bit young to appreciate it, I think Peter had a blast.

Here's a great shot of Paul and Peter on the beach flying Pete's new kite. This picture was taken from the balcony of my parent's condo.....not a bad view!

And here's Pete looking happy as can be......explaining the ins and outs of the Teen-Age Mutant Ninja Turtles if I remember correctly. Thank God for Splinter, eh Shan?!!

Anyway, the trip was great. It was so much fun to see the cousins all together. In a few years they'll be doing some serious damage I'm sure. My parents were there too as well as Mark's mother. Not sure how, but they seemed to escape a lot of the picture taking. Oh wait, they were on the patio enjoying bloody Mary's and wine whilst we were running after the rug rats....something about having "already put their time in??!!?" Just kidding! A good time was had by all!!

So now the madness continues at our house as we move in less than a month. So on top of trying to train Heidi, we're packing our entire house up. Exhausting, but I'm sure it'll all be well worth it. So forgive me in advance if the postings are few and far between!

Cute or what???

2007-03-11T15:19:00.000-03:00

This is a stepping stone to her first corvette. She looks comfortable behind the wheel already, doesn't she? It's hard to believe she's only 7 1/2 months old, she looks so big in these pictures. I'm holding onto every minute now!

Ok, so am I biased, or is she getting cuter and cuter???

A Walk in the Snow

2007-03-05T19:39:00.000-04:00

After last Friday's storm passed, the weather was absolutely beautiful here so we thought we'd take advantage of the mild temperatures and get out with Reese. Mark brought along the trusty camera and we attempted some family photos, but with the sun as bright as it was, only a few turned out. Daddy's squinting a bit in this one, but it's a cute picture nonetheless.

Here's Reese testing out the snow for the first time:

And here's Reese and Mommy looking snug and warm!

Not much new to report. Yes, she continues to grow. I'd venture a guess that she's close to 21 lbs now but I'm not sure since we haven't had her weighed in a month and a half. She's sitting up well on her own and is doing more rolling lately but is still content to just stay put. This is fine with me! I've seen what life is like when they're moving around! She's definitely saying "Mama" although I'm still not certain she knows exactly what she's saying. It's very cute just the same. We've begun signing a bit with her. Just some basics to start off with but we're hoping she picks up on it and then I'm planning on attending a class with her in the spring. I've heard and read amazing things about baby signing so we're hopeful it works out. We're getting anxious to head to Florida in a few weeks. We're going to stay with Mark's mom who is staying just down the boulevard from my parents. And my sister and her family are staying with my parents at the same time. Should be a ball!

Bath time!

2007-02-27T14:22:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately my camera didn't co-operate while we were in Ottawa so I don't have any pictures of all the munchkins together to post. I can tell you that the trip to Ottawa was a huge success. Reese was great on the plane and was in great spirits the whole time we were there. She was very taken with her older cousins and was exhausted everyday just watching them. A 3 yr old and a 16 month old, both boys.....bless your heart Shan, now I understand just how busy you are! Reese was also quite taken with their dog, Rudy. I've never seen her laugh the way she did when Rudy was howling. It was very cute and only makes me want another dog even more. Shannon and I did lots of shopiing, mostly for the kids.....I guess that's how it works now. And we even had some birthday dinner, cake and wine as it was Shan's birthday on Friday. CLearly a successful week!

I thought I'd add a few pictures of Reese. Everyone says how much her looks are changing and even I noticed it in these pictures. Not so much in this bath picture, I just thought this one was plain old cute:

But here you can see how fair she seems to becoming, and her hair is growing like crazy.

And now she likes to stand up to play with her piano. Mom still standsby for support, but she can hold herself up and play for a bit now.

My Little Valentine

2007-02-16T10:49:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to post a picture of Reese from Valentine's day.....isn't it adorable? Shannon sent this little top down to her for her trip to Florida and I thought it would be perfect for Valentines day since we didn't have a *Valentine's day outfit* (as most of her friends at her play group did!) She looked gorgeous and we had lots of compliments on it. Reese, on the other hand, was only interested in sucking on the cherries and bow on the chest. So thanks a million Auntie Shannon!

Speaking of Shan, we're heading to Ottawa for a visit with she and the boys tomorrow. It'll be the first time I fly with Reese and I'm going without Mark to boot. Should be an adventure. I'm really looking forward to it though since I haven't seen them since the summer. I hope to have lots of picture of all the kids to post when we return. Until then......

On a Happier Note

2007-02-10T15:01:00.000-04:00

Here it is....the new abode! We don't move until May which gives us lots of time to get organized and all packed up and ready to go. It's not a long move for us, it's just a few streets away in the same subdivision we're currently in. Anyway, we're really looking forward to it!

And we're excited to say that Reese is sitting up on her own now.......when she feels like it. She was doing so well sitting by herself 2 days last week, and then the next 2 days she would just do the "stiff as a board" thing and flop onto her back. She's a stubborn thing! Here she is sitting up like a big girl!

We also had our first overnight away from Reese last night and it went extremely well! She stayed with Mark's parents while Mark and I headed to Fredericton for the night. We enjoyed a relaxing dinner and drinks with friends while Reese was apparently on her very best behaviour for her Nana and Papa.

Oh and by the way, the second tooth has finally cut through! I'm trying to get a picture of the new toothy grin, but do you suppose Reese will co-operate? We'll post one when we get one!

A Tribute to Cash

2007-02-05T20:48:00.000-04:00

Well it's still shocking to say it, but Mark and I had to have our dog Cash put down this weekend. He was 9 years old and lived a very happy and healthy life until this weekend. He began having seizures on Friday night, they continued thru Saturday morning, and he lost his sight by mid-morning. The vet felt he had a mass in his brain and given the circumstances, Mark and I made the most difficult decision of our lives, to have him put down. Undoubtedly it was the right decision, but still difficult and heart-wrenching.

Cash truely was an amazing dog. We "adopted" Cash when he was 4 years old. He was a hunting/field trial dog who needed a home and he was exactly what we were looking for. When we brought him home, we had to push him up the stairs in our house because until then he'd been a kennel dog and had never been in a home and was unclear about what to do with stairs. After a week or so at our house I think he thought he'd died and gone to heaven. He immediately became a member of our family.....yes, to the point where he was extremely spoiled. The happy memories we have of him are endless. I can't begin to describe the joy he brought to our lives.

Mark and Cash shared a very special bond. Mark hunted with Cash and this was absolutley Cash's favorite thing to do. And from what I understand, he was quite the bird dog. According to Mark, his last hunt this year was probably his best ever. And those two walked the neighborhood daily. I'm sure there were people on our block who could set their clocks by Mark and Cash coming around the corner at 7:30am. Needless to say, he'll be sadly missed by the neighborhood dogs!

Cash's favorite place very quickly became our cottage. Even though we've only owned it for a short period of time, Cash was so happy, relaxed and "at home" there. He loved to be able to wander at his leisure and couldn't wait to get down over the hill to bound into the water. We can't even imagine going there without him, so we've made the decision to spread his ashes there.

Anyway, I hate to go on and on......any of you "dog people" understand I'm sure. Mark put together this slide show.....Enjoy.

Sleeping...finally!

2007-01-30T15:15:00.000-04:00

Well after a week to 10 days of being off on her sleeping, Reese may be returning to somewhat of a schedule. She's napping right now and has been for 2 hours. Thank God, frankly! She's still waking through the night but is managing to soothe herslef back to sleep. How quickly you forget what those sleep deprived first few weeks of motherhood feel like! Her tooth has still not cut through but we're expecting to see it any day. She was at the doctor yesterday for her 6 month check up and weighed 19 lbs 3oz... still in the 95th percentile for height and weight. That's my girl!

We had pictures done last week at Sears and we wore this adorable dress that Auntie Shannon got for her for Christmas. I think the pictures turned out well, we'll see when they arrive.

And here are my two babies taking a nap (yes Reese is the purple speck in the crib:-). Cash has been slow to warm up to Reese, but as you can see here they're snug as a bug in a rug (or as close as they've ever been to it). I shut the door and was on the phone a few minutes later when I heard Cash crying to get out of the room. Thank God he didn't wake up Reese! Anyhow, I thought it was picture-worthy!

No Pictures :-(

2007-01-24T10:53:00.000-04:00

Well to say Reese has been a handful lately would be an understatement. Last week she was pretty fussy with the teething, but NOTHING compared to her demeanor the past 4 or 5 days! We went to Halifax to see the Canadian Figure Skating Championships with my mom and between the teething and the fact that her routine was interrupted and in a new place, she turned into a devil-child. She decided she was no longer interested in naps nor sleeping through the night. The only way I could get her to sleep was by nursing her. So unfortunately I have no pictures from the skating because Reese really didn't allow me to sit and watch the skating while she was with me. Thank God for a friend of my Mom's daughter and my brother-in-law Pete who watched her for me in the evenings. So I did manage to enjoy some of the skating, and I must say it was fabulous!

Since we've been home she's still not back to herself. I can clearly see her other bottom tooth ready to cut through, so I'm pretty confident that's the issue. But what a challenge to get her back to her napping schedule. I've had to give up and let her cry which we've really never had to do before. She's managing to get short naps, but nothing compared to what she usually gets. Last night she finally slept through the night again and this morning went down for a nap with relatively little fuss. She's been asleep for over an hour now, so I'm praying that she's finally settling back into her old routine! Keep yer fingers crossed!

Also on my plate is our new house.....yep, we're selling our house and buying a new one! We were very spatially (is that a word?) challenged over Christmas and I caught the real-estate bug. So just like that, we found a bigger house in the same subdivision that we just love and suits our needs. So Mark took charge of selling our house privately and it sold within 6 days. We're still in the process of finallizing the details, but it looks like things should wrap up by the end of the day and we'll be moving in April or May. Quite a lot of stress, but I'm sure it will be well worth it in the end!

And finally, Cash has given us a bit of a scare lately. He's had a limp that's gotten worse and worse over the past few months and has really gotten bad the past week or two. So we've been carting him to different vets getting Xrays and second opinions and no one seems to be able to find a darn thing wrong with him. He's 9 now, so you worry when they get to be that old. There may be a touch of arthritis in one of his shoulders but nothing that appears to be life threatening:-) I'm chalking it up to a combination of old age and a bit of stress caused by you-know-who.

So yes, it's been a bit hectic lately and that's my excuse for no pictures! Things should settle here shortly and I promise to get snap-happy again and post more pictures of the babe and our new house!

Teething, teething and more teething.....

2007-01-16T21:25:00.000-04:00

Yes, the teething continues:-( However, today we noticed that one of her lower teeth has cut through! Hopefully that means that the worst is over for now.....only 31 more to go! I shouldn't complain, she really was not that bad. Just fussy and on one or two occasions, inconsolable (right Nana and Grandad Murray!??!)

We had our 6 month follow up at the breastfeeding clinic (yes, I'm *still* breastfeeding) and we were weighed in at 18 lbs 13 oz. So obviously her weight gain has slowed, but remains healthy. I give her a bit of formula mixed with expressed milk when she takes a bottle, but can't seem to let go of the nursing. It depends on the day, somedays I think I've had it and other days I can't imagine giving it up. She's improving with solids, but hasn't yet mastered it. She takes a good three or 4 bites per meal, but the rest she just pushes out. She's not bothered by it though, so we shall continue.

Her newest obsession is her feet- they're in her mouth every chance she gets. Here she is getting ready to devour her left foot:

I give her Mum-mum crakers after her meals (don't worry, they're essentially rice cereal and instantly melt on her tongue) and you can see all the little bits she's pushed out of her mouth. Can you say messy?

Here are she and her daddy watching the tube. It fascinates me how mesmerized she is with the TV. If it's on, she's watching. And the funny thing is that Mark's the exact same way. I catch him totally caught up in Dora and the Backyardigans when we turn it on for her, because he can't help but watch it if it's on. Forget trying to have a conversation with him if the TV's on. I fear she's going to be the exact same way!

Reese loves her new piano she got for Christmas. I explained to her that she couldn't use it until she can sit up on her own and she suggested the Bumbo chair because she just couldn't wait to tickle the ivories. Worked great as you can see:

Happy 2007!

2007-01-02T21:27:00.000-04:00

It's hard to believe another year has come and gone, but here we are in 2007! Last year absolutely flew by for us with all the excitement little Reese created. We're looking forward to lots of fun and excitement in the year ahead.

So Reese is forging ahead with the eating of solids. I think she's doing pretty well. She sure isn't crazy about the rice cereal and I'm so tempted to mush up some bananas in it, but I'm sticking to my guns and holding off until she's tried all the veggies. So far squash is her favorite. Here she saying "You're going to make me eat WHAT!!??!!?!"

Her new thing is sticking her thumb in her mouth as soon as the spoon is out. Makes for a messy meal time, but from what I've heard, we ain't seen nothing yet!

And here she is quite content that supper is done!

Reese's first Christmas

2006-12-26T14:36:00.000-04:00

Well Reese's first Christmas has come and gone and by all accounts was a success. She was very spoiled by friends and relatives, but better now than later I suppose. I'm spending the day washing her entire new wardrobe of clothes that she received! She also got a new highchair and car seat and lots of new toys. So thanks to everyone!

This is the first year that Mark and I hosted Christmas dinner. We cooked a turkey with all the trimmings (with lots of help from Mark's mother!!) and it turned out beautifully. Mark's family was here and we took lots pf photos as you can see........

Here we are for our first Christmas as a family:

And Reese taking some time out to bounce......

Our tree......pre-Christmas morning:

Another picture of the 4 generations.......

And Reese looking cute as ever......

Reese Tries Cereal

2006-12-17T09:18:00.000-04:00

Friday was a big day here as it was the first day we fed cereal to Reese. She nursed for 45 minutes on Thursday evening and was still hungry and ate 5 ounces from a bottle, so I figured it was time! So we put her in her new high chair (thanks Nana and Grandad) and made the plunge. As you can see from the pictures, she wasn't exactly thrilled!

But she did well for her first time, and each day since, she's done better and better. Very exciting. And I thought I'd throw in one more picture of her in her Christmas dress.

Santa's Little Helpers

2006-12-12T21:57:00.000-04:00

How cute are these Santa's little helpers? Thanks to Christy for the picture! As you can imagine, it's not easy to get 9 babies to cooperate for a picture. Turned out pretty well though, don't you think?

Nate had plans of his own while the pictures were being taken, and couldn't wait to get his hands on Reese to plant a wet one on her cheek. Trust me, the picture doesn't do it justice!

Getting Ready for Christmas

2006-12-10T21:24:00.000-04:00

Slowly but surely we're getting ready for Christmas here at our house. Most gifts are bought, but not wrapped, cookies are baked (thanks to a cookie exchange our baby group had!!), and the tree is up and decorated. Although it's Reese's first Christmas we're taking it easy on the gifts this year, she won't know the difference anyway. But of course we have a few little things picked out for her. Since we're well into December we're taking every opportunity to wear all the Christmas clothes we've collected. Here she is with her Nana and Papa Anderson wearing her "Harrod's" Christmas sleeper that her Nana Murray bought her in London. :

Even Cashman got decked out for the holidays:

As you can tell from the pictures Reese is still a pretty happy baby........however, she does seem to be teething. She has very fussy days lately and fusses a lot when I breastfeed her. She has the rosy cheeks, rash on her face and drool..........the drool is unbeleivable! We can't see any teeth working their way up, but the signs are all pointing in that direction. It's so frustrating to see her in pain, and not know for sure what's going on. I guess you have to trust your instincts, so we're going with the assumption that she's beginning the teething process. Keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't drag on forever. Her teeth don't seem to be bothering her in this picture:

4 months

2006-12-04T11:15:00.000-04:00

I must apologize for being tardy with posts on the blog. I've been taking a lot of heat for it (eh Cathy!!??) So better late than never!

Hard to believe but she's 4 months now. We had our 4 month check up and needles and got a clean bill of health. And she continues to grow.......she's 17 lbs and 26 inches long. Basically the size of a 7 month old. Basketball may be in our future.

We travelled to NS to visit with my parents and that went extremely well. She did well on the ferry which saved me a lot of grief as it's a 6 hour drive to Liverpool and she still hates the car. She slept fine there (although she was off a bit on her naps) and got along great with everyone. I even had a relaxing night out with my parents for dinner at my favorite restaurant, Charlotte Lane, while Reese stayed at home with a sitter. All and all it was a success.

Here she is at my parent's house in their Exersaucer. We discovered that she LOVES the exersaucer:

And here's a cute shot of her sitting up in Granddad's chair:

Mark is still working diligently on his photography skills and has been using Reese and I as his guinea pigs. Here are a few poses he wanted us to try. Not bad!

Rock on, Dude!

2006-11-12T11:04:00.000-04:00

With the sun shining for a change, we thought it was a great chance to try out Reese's "Baby Banz." Doesn't she look like a rock star with her shades on?!!?! A special thanks to Shelley for finding these keepers!

Reese is really turning into quite the character. Her personality comes out more and more every day. She spends lots of time just laughting, cooing and gurgling at anything and everything. And on Friday she rolled over for the first time! We couldn't be more proud! Needless to say we're really enjoying this stage she's at now and hope it lasts a long time. Once she's crawling and walking it's a whole new ball game.

We're looking forward to visiting with her Nana and Granddad in Nova Scotia next week. We've opted to travel over on the ferry as Reese still isn't crazy about the car. We figured this would save both Reese and myself some grief. And Mark is heading to hot and sunny Florida for Nascar races while we're in NS. Sounds like fun......minus the Nascar :-)

Family Pictures

2006-11-06T07:50:00.000-04:00

We headed down to the K-Park beach this past weekend and took some more family photos. Mark's become pretty talented with his new camera and it's a lot cheaper than professional photos. It was a beautiful day, but crisp to say the least so we're all bundled up. In fact this morning we had flurries! Anyway, here are some of the better pictures he captured:

And I managed to snap this adorable one of Reese and her Daddy:

I have no doubt that Reese is going to be a "daddy's girl." You should hear the way she laughs and giggles at Mark. She certainly doesn't with that much enthusiasm with me. Here she is in her new Chariot stroller. Mark got this on Ebay and let me tell you, it's a machine! You can run, walk, bike, and ski with it. I wouldn't be surprised if it spreads wing and flies too! Mark's planning to keep up his running training this way. He's even talking about attempting a triathalon next summer. Hope Reese is up for it!
And of course we can't leave out Cashman. Can you believe he'll be celebrating his 9th birthday on the 14th? I say "celebrating" loosely.......he may get 2 timbits instead of his usual 1.

More Halloween

2006-10-31T20:31:00.000-04:00

Well it was a quiet Halloween here, only about 40 kids. Looks like there'll lots of candy leftover...... could spell trouble for me! We had a Halloween party today at our baby group and we managed to line them all up for a picture. Reese looks huge here, but just for the record, the 2 babies she's beside are both quite small and her costume is stuffed, so that doesn't help. Isn't she just the cutest sunflower you ever did see?

And here she is posing in her Halloween outfit that her Nana Murray bought for her. As you can see, it just barely fits her. My mom bought it for her in September thinking size 6 months would be plenty big. I tried to squeeze her into it every chance I could this past week, knowing full well this would be her last chance to wear it. Thanks Nana Murray!!

Halloween's Coming!

2006-10-26T10:53:00.000-03:00

With Halloween quickly approaching, our Kindermusik group all dressed up for this week's class. Here's a cute picture of Reese and some of her buddies. We're going to a Senior citizens home in the city tonight to do some trick or treating with the group as well. And I'm sure we'll be out and about on Halloween to show off our costume. So it looks like we'll get plenty of use out of it. We have to thank her friend Ryan (the lion) for lending her the costume.......he was going to wear it if he'd been a girl!

Just thought we'd post this picture of Reese in her Jolly Jumper as it's a particularly cute one. She absolutely LOVES the jolly jumper. I thought she'd just hang out in it for a while, but she caught onto the "jumping" very quickly and is content to bounce around in there for long periods of time. And boy does it tire her out!

3 Months!!!

2006-10-21T09:17:00.000-03:00

Our little 3 month old is getting bigger and stronger by the day. She can sit up with support now as you can see from this shot of her sitting on the couch. She's quite the drooler so we have to keep the bib on her pretty much full time now.

We pulled out the "Jolly Jumper" for the first time yesterday and she seemed quite happy in it. She didn't exactly bounce on her own, but enjoyed it with some help from Mom and Dad. I think she may follow in her big cousin David's footsteps as far as the bouncing goes!

Cash has been "coping" shall we say with Reese's arrival. He isn't exactly enthralled with her, but he certainly isn't disgusted with her either (except when she's wailing!). We often will catch him snoozing right outside Reese's door or curling up beside her while she plays on her playmat. There's hope yet!
Here he is on his couch catching a moment of peace and quiet!

Out for the Count

2006-10-17T09:24:00.000-03:00

I have to say my favorite time of day with Reese is her bedtime feeding. Just the two of us in her warm nursery with Celine Dion's Lullabies playing.......I just love it and judging from these pictures, so does she! Last night she was out cold when we were finished and Mark thought it was a good photo- op. You can really see how big she's getting in these pictures.

Baby Einstein

2006-10-15T14:59:00.000-03:00

We've discovered that Reese loves to watch Baby Einstein videos. I swore I'd never be one of those parents who plunks their children in front of the TV, yet here we are at only 3 months of age. But she just loves it, she giggles and smiles the whole time, and it's a great chance for me to accomplish some things around the house. Here she is sitting with Dad watching Baby Mozart:

Here she is, all smiles:

And here she looks a bit like a deer caught in the headlights :-)

Our Little Swimmer!

2006-10-09T20:16:00.000-03:00

Reese and I had our second "Fit for Two" class this past week and Reese did really well this time.......no crying at all when we got into the pool. Getting out's another story, but we won't go there. As you can see, her bathing suit's a bit big for her, but very cute none the less:

Reese has enjoyed walks in the Baby Bjorn all along, and now she's finally big and strong enough to have her facing outward to see the world. This went over extremely well with her. It was a beautiful fall day here in SJ so we took advantage of the warm weather to get out for a walk and got the yard all cleaned up.

A Hike in Welsford

2006-09-30T19:48:00.000-03:00

Mark, Reese and I went on a hike today up a hill/mountain in Welsford (between SJ and Fredericton). You can probably tell from the pictures how high up we were! It was quite a workout, especially for Mark with Reese in the Baby Bjorn and his camera and case. The view was amazing with all the fall foliage......the pictures don't do it justice.

2 Months!

2006-09-25T11:07:00.000-03:00

Well it's hard to believe, but our little peanut turned 2 months old last week! As you can see, she's a pretty big girl, and she weighs over 12lbs now! We started Kindermusik last week, which is a class for babies that combines music and movement. She's a bit young to appreciate it right now, but you can never start too early. Plus it's nice for Mom to get out and socialize with other Moms! We're also starting a "Fit for Two" class this week at the Y which is an aerobics class for Mom and baby followed by a half an hour in the pool. I can't wait to see how she reacts to the water.

No new milestones to report but she's still all smiles (like this little crooked one) and there's times when you'd swear she's giggling. She's starting to settle into a routine of a morning nap and an afternoon nap which is great for me so I can accomplish some things around the house and have a bit of "me" time. So all and all, things are going well!

Here she is with her Nana Anderson on her 2 month birthday:

Reese- the Movie

2006-09-19T22:11:00.000-03:00

Here's a movie that Mark put together......it's from Reese's birth til now. He's quite talented. Enjoy!

Reese in her Bumbo!

2006-09-17T19:51:00.000-03:00

We put Reese in her Bumbo tonight and she seemed to enjoy it as you can see:

September 8th Wedding

2006-09-17T15:01:00.000-03:00

One of my best friends was married in Saint John recently and I was her matron of honour. It was a beautiful wedding and everything went off without a hitch. It was an exciting day for Mark and I as it was our first outing without the little one. We were lucky enough to have my parents come over from N.S. to watch her for us and by all accounts, everything went well. Here are a few photos from the wedding:

Michelle and I:

The wedding party:

Cathy and her parents:

Unfortunately we didn't get a great shot of the happy couple, but rest assured they both looked amazing and hopelessly in love!!!!!!!

And here's a great shot that my mom took of Reese while she and my dad were watching her:

Here's a picture of Reese and her Grandad:

4 Generations

2006-09-13T13:58:00.000-03:00

Here's a very special picture of Reese, Mark, Barb (Mark's mom), and Eilleen, Mark's grandmother. Reese is great-grandchild #10 for Mrs. Farrell!

Reese smiles!

2006-09-13T13:06:00.000-03:00

For the most part, Reese is a pretty happy baby as you can see from her smiles that we managed to catch on camera.

Then along came Reese.......

2006-09-12T18:33:00.000-03:00

On an unusally hot, humid July day, Reese Lilliane Anderson was born!

Our little princess was 7 lbs and 4oz when she was born. She was stubborn, Mom was in labour for 29 hours! Dad's been very busy snapping photos of Reese:

She's had many visitors since she's been born: