The Cereal Killer

In every house, there is one that lurks and waits until Mommy and Daddy are distracted. Then they prey on Fiber One Honey Clusters Cereal and gorge themselves getting 100% of their daily fiber intake. They get drunk on the delicious high-fiber cereal and have to lay back and enjoy their full belly. Proof is in the photos...and their diaper...

mwah ha ha ha, relishing in her cereal glory

and the cereal killer is caught!!!

I Love Cousin Lyndee!!!

Reese's cousin Lyndee competed in a track meet (the Texas Relays at UT) so we got some good time with Cousin Lyndee and Aunt Christie. We love them! It was so fun seeing Lyndee run and even more fun seeing Reese ham it up with her. Here are some photos of the day (don't miss Reese's cute hat and shades!):

Birthday Party!

There were so many photos we loved from Reese's 1st Birthday Party shot by my good friend and photographer extraordinaire Stacy Cross, that I just could not narrow it down. So get ready to look at a ton of photos of Reese! For more, visit the gallery at stacycross.smugmug.com, password riddell. Is it me or is Reese just the cutest???

First Birthday

Well, we all made it to your first birthday and we could not be more happy! Our little family of 3 has learned quite a bit in the last year.

In the last year, you learned to:

• Roll over, hold your head up, sit up, pull up, stand up, cruise, and take a few steps
• Laugh and giggle
• Play peak-a-boo
• Wave hello and bye
• Say Mama (first!), Dada, Hi, Bye (your favorite), Ball, Boo, and "Ba-uhl" which we think is bottle
• Point at objects you want
• Pinch Daddy's nose and stick your fingers in our eyes and mouth which we just love
• Hold a telephone up to your ear and say "buh bye"
• "Pat" Logan instead of pulling on his ears and hair. You now "pat" Daddy when he holds you
• Hold a spoon and pick the food out of the spoon with your other hand and feed it to yourself
• Depend on Mommy and Daddy a little less everyday...

In the last year, Jeff and I learned:

• You are never fully prepared for how your life is going to change when you bring your baby home, and that it somehow was always for the better
• How to install carseats, put together strollers, toys, jumperoos, and countless other items we never thought we would be reading directions on how to put together
• You are truly a parent when you have been spit up on, pooped on, peed on, AND thrown up on. The vomit is a right of passage...
• Our hearts grow a little more each day with room to love you even though we thought it couldn't be more full the day before
• How to get you to laugh - usually hiding behind doorways, blankets, and beds and popping up saying "HI!" gets the biggest giggle. You also like us jumping up and down (great exercise) and ballroom dancing
• That lack of sleep makes you crazier than any alcohol, medication, or drug you could be on
• The perfect way to rock you when you are fussy - swinging you side to side with a little bounce
• That tupperware and wood spoons make better toys than the $50 bright light and music objects
• That your favorite music is Tejano
• You pull on your ear when you are starting to get sleepy
• That your toothy grin can make us melt
• You aren't much of a cuddler now that you are so busy all day long, so we sneak you out of bed every so often when you are asleep to cuddle
• That we depend on you, our little precious baby Reese, every day a little more and more. You are the greatest gift God ever gave us and we hope we raise you to always know how much we love you. Happy 1st Birthday Reese's Pieces!!! Mommy and Daddy love you so much and are so proud of you!
  

12 Month Checkup

I've been a bad picture-taker lately so I decided to take my camera with me more often. I am sure the doctor's office just LOVED me as I was shooting a very fussy Reese being measured and weighed....the photos are pretty funny though! 28 3/4", 19 lbs 3oz. 50th percentile for height, 25th percentile for weight, 75th percentile for head (we are pretty proud of that one). She also got the OK to eat everything except for honey and peanuts. We immediately gave her scrambled eggs when she got home and she gobbled them up.

Messy Eater

First Steps!

It is official, Reese took her first unassisted steps last night! Of course it had to be when Mommy was at a meeting but Daddy witnessed it all. She was standing at the fireplace and wanted to get to Daddy, turned around and took 3 steps towards him! Way to go Baby Girl!!!! She took a few more steps later in the night while holding her soccer ball but would not repeat the exciting feat today. Oh well, I'll just have to patiently wait for some more steps!

Sorry no photos or video but you know how it goes....Jeff broke out the camera and she dropped and started crawling... I can't stand blog posts without a visual (yes, I am a "visual" learner if you were wondering) so here are some cute photos of Reese with her pals Caroline and Aubrey when they were over a few weeks ago :)

Sugar and spice and everything nice...