Carving Out the Time

I had always heard how important it is to make the time to spend with each child. I completely understand and agree wholeheartedly that one-on-one time with each child is incredibly important. I have yet to experience the need to do this because I'm currently pregnant with Morgan Baby #2, so I have had all of my spare time available to Reece. And I feel as though I have been spoiled with how much one-on-one time I have been able to spend with her. 

The age difference between Reece and her little sister will be just two months over three years, which seems to be longer than most age differences between siblings among the young families that I know. I will have had over three years of time where it has been just me and Reece. Granted, after she was born, Derek and I did finish up our last two semesters of school as both students and full-time employees, so there were many demands on our time and attention. My point is: I have gotten to spend so much one-on-one time with Reece, and I love it.

I haven't had to "carve out time" to spend with her. Since I graduated with my Bachelor's Degree, I have been a full-time stay at home mom. It was a big adjustment for me, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world right now.

Reece helped me make some treats tonight for the missionaries in our ward. It was an incredibly simple thing, but it made me ridiculously happy. 

She stood there and helped me sort out the candy corn; she helped me unwrap all the Hugs; and then she helped me place the Hugs on the pretzels. It melted my heart to see her standing on that stool and very carefully placing the candy. She's growing up too fast and she just has too much cute for one little person.

And even though she will almost never make a normal, happy, smiley face for me when I try to get a picture together, I still love her guts.

Kitchen towels make the best skirts, didn't you know?

And here she is, smiling proudly with the finished product. Should I be hurt that she'd rather smile with a bunch of salty, chocolatey, candy corn goodness than with me? Nah. It just goes to show that she's mine!

Oh, how I love this little girl. She is my world. I'm ready to add another beautiful little lady into my world come December. But it's going to be a new thing for me to have to carve out time just for Miss Reece. I'm hoping and praying that we both make that transition smoothly, because we only have 5 weeks left! 

Reece Turns 3!

Reece is three. She turned THREE YEARS OLD. It's crazy to me that my once little tiny newborn baby is now three.

Isn't she so cute? And she's only gotten cuter over these three years.

We started her birthday with the opening of a present. It was a new outfit that she could wear for the day. After we opened the present, got dressed, fixed hair (just how she wanted it), we went to Fred Meyer to get donuts and chocolate milk! That was her requested breakfast.

After she finished her donut and chocolate milk, we went to the park to meet up with Grandma Jerri, Courtney, Piper, and Cooper. The kids played and played and played, and then we stopped and had a picnic lunch together.

These two kill me. They play together so well and are two little peas in a pod. Even when it comes to taking pictures, neither of them can muster up the desire to give a smile. They're still too cute for words!

The sun was really bright and was shining right in their eyes, thus the matching poses where they're shielding their eyes. The park was a lot of fun, but eventually it was time to go home and move on to other things.

When we got home Reece got to choose a movie to watch. I popped her some popcorn and she happily sat and watched Big Hero 6. While she was watching her movie I baked her birthday cake. It was my first time making a funfetti cake from scratch, and I had so much fun! Reece loved that I was making her a "sprinkle cake". I am no professional cake decorator, but I was fairly proud of the final product! Reece loved it, and that's what most important.

We had macaroni and cheese with green beans for dinner. Reece would live her entire life eating nothing but macaroni and cheese, apple slices, and grapes if I let her. But I don't. Meanest mom ever, I know. After dinner we had family come over and we got the party started!  

I didn't get any pictures of the birthday girl being sung to and blowing out her candles, but I know that my mom did. I'll have to snag those pictures from her phone. The party was wonderful, Reece had a blast, and most of all I think she loved having her family there with her. Grandmas, grandpas, cousins, aunts, and uncles are the best!

This picture was taken after the festivities, so I had already changed into my sweats. I can hardly stand to wear jeans for a few hours at a time any more. Yay pregnancy!

Reece is a sassy smarty-pants and she's too cute for her own good. She makes my days brighter by filling them with love and laughter. Reece Averie, Mom and Dad love you so, so, so much!

Our Perfect Fourth

I don't know why I haven't blogged about this yet, but I'm pregnant! And expecting another little girl around December 2nd. I'm currently 34 weeks (will be 35 tomorrow), and it just occurred to me today that I haven't blogged a single bit about this pregnancy. I had more time when I was pregnant with Reece, probably because this time around I have Reece to chase after and take care of.

When I got the positive pregnancy test, I was excited and a little nervous. My pregnancy with Reece was so easy.

I never got any morning sickness.
I was able to stay really active with my exercise.
Overall, there were no complications. It all just went so smoothly that I was sure I was in for a really difficult pregnancy this time around. But so far, it has all been fairly similar!

I haven't had any morning sickness.
I've been able to stay quite active with my exercise.
No major complications!

There have been a few differences:

I started to swell a lot earlier (I said goodbye to my ankles weeks ago).
I felt achy in my joints earlier.
My headaches have been worse this time.

Other than that, everything has been really easy! This little girl is just as active and punchy as Reece was. She really likes to stretch into my sides, and it HURTS. She has been head down for the majority of the pregnancy as well, so any squirms or stretches always, always, always push on my bladder. If you want to know discomfort, try having your bladder pushed on from the inside. Super fun.

The little peanut at just 8.5 weeks. She has always measured small. At this ultrasound they estimated that, according to her size, she was 6 days later than my clinical due date. So if I had to guess when she will be born, I would guess December 9th. But she could surprise all of us and come earlier than that. 

The top picture is Reece at 27 weeks, and the bottom one is this second little lady at 20 weeks. If you look you can see that they both have top lips that stick out father than their bottom lips. Reece's top lip was never bigger than her bottom one, so it makes me wonder if she was just sucking on her bottom lip, and maybe her little sister does the same? I'm not sure. But it was so fun for me to see that image on the screen at the ultrasound and instantly recall Reece's 27 week ultrasound and see the similarity.

18 weeks

21 weeks

22 weeks

24 weeks

28 weeks

32 weeks

I cannot wait to meet this little girl and see what she looks like! We are so ready to add another sweet little person to our family. She will be our perfect fourth.