adios; ciao; au revoir; adios; aloha

On Thursday night, we had to say goodbye to this precious couple:

They are leaving on Sunday to spend a looooong time in Hong Kong. As sad as I am that they won't be here, I am so proud of them for not turning away from the stirring in their hearts. God only knows the experiences they will have across the ocean!

We went to eat dinner one last time, and of course had to take some pics! The next time they see Reese, she could definitely be running into their arms!

Here is Reese with her Aunt Cat:

And Uncle Scott:

And all 3 together!

Scott and Cat, we will be praying for yall {and the rest of the team} daily! I can't wait to Skype and see the new digs close up! We will miss yall TREMENDOUSLY! {or, a lot}

Love yall!

First family vacay!

This past weekend, we went on our first family vacation with this sweet family:

Beth's mom lives in Pensacola and invited us to come visit! We had a blast and even though being at the beach with a baby is only slightly stressful, Reese loved it! {Until her diaper was wet and she had to get out of the water. Then, she didn't love it, but fell asleep quickly!}

Little toes in the sand!

She was such an awesome traveler! We aren't used to her sleeping in the same room with us, but she did great. She kept up her 10-12 hour nightly sleeping schedule AND took some good naps! I really can't complain about our little road warrior!

Sitting in her "pit" that her daddy dug her!

3 new posts below!!!

Let the debate begin!

Who does she look the most like??

{look at those matching ears!}

I know who my vote is for!!

Nature lover

That would be my husband. Loves nature of all kinds. Take a look at his recent photos. And yes, we argue over who has Nelly at any given time.

And just one that I thought was soooo cute of Reesie with her Nanna and Grandpaw!

P.S. I'm on a roll tonight with blogging! Make sure you read them all!

Better late then never!

Behold the bunny pics, starting with the itty bitty:

Umm, oh. my. gosh. Growing like a little weed!

For Uncle Joel

Uncle JoJo,
Hi! See this little guy I have laying beside me?

I love him! He is soo soft and I’m pretty sure I could fit into his t-shirt! I have named him Monty. Well, let’s be honest, mommy named him Monty. I don’t even know my own name!

I’m trying to talk mommy into coming to visit you. As long as the green flying bugs are gone from around your place, we are good to go.

Mommy just found out that you have a blog! She read it to me, but there are some words that I don’t quite understand. How bout you take the next post down to my level. I really like pictures, so I wouldn’t hate it if you posted some pics! Did you take any in Honduras, Costa Rica, wherever it was that you just went? If so, I would like to see them.

When will I see you again? I hope soon!

We've had a connection since I was born haven't we? Everyone tells me that my fingers are long, just like yours! Soo, I would like to enroll in some piano lessons ASAP!


I love you!
Reese

P.S. Mommy told me a story about you giving your Big Bird a bath. I think it’s a great idea and will be bathing Monty whenever I learn to walk {and stand and grab things and turn on water, etc.}

Laundry day!

Can we please go over the items that were in 1 load of laundry that my {wonderful} husband did today:

- 2 beach towels

- sheets

- 3 pairs of cargo shorts

- a sweater

- camisole

- underwear

- an oven mit

- a pixie stick {or the remnants of one}

- various tshirts

- a button down dress shirt

- 50 cents

I am not lying about any of the above items. In fact, I'm sure there's something I forgot to mention. I shouldn't complain. He does do laundry. I would just prefer that my cami not be mixed with beach towels and oven mits.

Whoa Nelly!

Nelly + Picasa {photo editing program} = Professionalish shots!

Day #1 with Nelly

Nelly the Nikon, that is. We get along great. I foresee a long and beautiful relationship that will only continue to get better.

Behold the images of Day #1::

Can you tell Nelly really likes up-close and personal shots of her fav. subject?

yyyyeaaaahhhh!

Thanks to these precious ones right here:

{pic stolen from facebook}

I am the proud {and extremely grateful} owner of this baby:

Let's just say that the quality of Reese photos is bound to increase.

That is, once I learn how to use it!

Thanks again yall...words can't express!

wǒ ài nǐ

{I'm learning Mandarin already!}

Reese's Baptism!

This past Sunday, Reese was baptized! It was so awesome and a sweet, sweet prayer was prayed over her. She started to get fussy right when we got on stage and I took her paci out. Well, the pastor takes her and as soon as he puts the water on her head, she gets totally calm, as if a peace came over her! I still get chills thinking about it! God has a wonderful plan for this sweet baby!

Afterwards, mom and dad hosted an awesome lunch at their house!

Thanks to ALL our friends and family who stood on Sunday to be a witness to our daughter! We love you!

Our last family pic before these two run off to the other side of the world!

What a beautiful baby in a beautiful gown!!

Laying in her Nanna's arms before her big moment!


Grandaddy, Reese, and I showing off the gown that EVERY baby has worn in the family for the past 60 years almost!


2 of my favorite girls in all the world!!

It was such a fun weekend! The day before her baptism, we hosted a baby shower for Regan! Grandaddy told us that Reese is the 42nd member of the family. Baby Knox will be #43 and we can't wait to meet him!

3 months!!

So, this post is a little late, and has no bunny pic, but I wanted to go ahead and get it on here. Bunny pic to follow!


I have a 3 month old?? How is that possible?! It’s as if time has sped up since her arrival. I don’t even notice the {seemingly} daily changes until I see pics from the day she was born. Just yesterday, I took pics of her in her swing and she looked HUGE! She still looks and feels like a baby when I hold her, but for some reason, she looks grown up in pictures!


I remember when Joel was born and I would try to imagine what he would grow up to look like. I just could not imagine it and yet it happened. It’s still happening. That’s how it is with Reese. I can’t imagine how she will grow and change in the future; and yet, she is changing and growing and I can’t really even see it until I look back on what was.


It’s all very exciting though. To see her little personality start to come out. She is such a morning person, which is very different from either of her parents. She doesn’t really cry in the morning, she just makes whiny noises and when I go in there, she has the BIGGEST smile and starts squealing. She hasn’t really started laughing yet, but I have a feeling, she will have a booming, infectious laugh! Her whole face gets into a smile, so I can imagine a laugh will be even better!


Since Reese was smaller at birth, the doc wanted to see her at 3 months to make sure that she is still growing like she needs to. Of course, the babe who put us all through so much stress during pregnancy is growing like a weed now!


Stats:
Weight: 10 pounds, 13 ounces {7-10%}
Length: 22 inches {7-10%}
Head: 14.9 inches {7-10%}


She gained 2 pounds in a month! Most babies triple their birth weight by 1 year, but Reese is predicted to triple hers by 6 or 7 months! The doc said that preemie and low birthweight babies don't follow the same trend, so it will be interesting to see how much she grows in this first year!


I have a few more posts to do tonight, so keep reading!

Similac is NASTY!

Especially when it is puked in your mouth.




If spitting formula into your mommy's wide open mouth is a milestone, Reese can definitely check that one off...

CVS-ing

**Warning, this is a non-Reese related post :)**

I have always been a fan of cutting coupons and I love seeing the total get lower and lower at the grocery store! Recently I have been reading several things about the CVS game. If you don't know, let me elaborate. I signed up for a CVS Extra Care Bucks card. Every week, in the Sunday paper, CVS has a circular which shows what is on sale. They also show items that you get Extra Care Bucks (ECB) back on.

For instance, this week if you buy 2 Coppertone sunscreens, you get $8 ECB. I had a $5 coupon off one Coppertone sunscreen, so this is how it went down:

$7.99--Coppertone Faces Sunscreen

$7.99--Coppertone Spray Sunscreen

-$5 coupon

=$11 out of pocket, BUT I racked up $8 in ECB for a future purchase!!

What I did was split my purchases into 2 transactions. The first purchase had everything that earned ECB. Then, I used those ECB on the 2nd transaction. Normally, I would not use every ECB on 1 purchase, but you gotta start somewhere!

The first transaction:

$60.42 spent

$22.88 saved

Not awesome, but not bad.

The second transaction:

$13.21 spent

$30.49 saved!!!!
I reached my goal of saving more than I spent! I felt awesome leaving that store.

All in all, today I spent $73.63 and saved $53.37!!! Eventually, I want to save more than I spend in the whole trip, but today was just the first trip! Hopefully I will see these numbers go down even more!

And ok, since she IS the reason for this blog, here is Reese's reaction to all the money saved!

And here is her reaction when she learned exactly how expensive her diapers and formula are!