Valentine's Day

This year I decided to do the "14 Days of Valentines" for Derek. I gave him a candy or snack each day with a little tag tied to it with a "clever" phrase on it. I think he liked it... he now has plenty of candy and had plenty of Mountain Dew. That was gone pretty fast though.

On Valentine's Day, I came downstairs to find a table filled with presents. One was a large, orange vase filled with candy and a rose in it. That was for me and I love it! Orange is my favorite color, and candy is one of my favorite things. Then, next to it, was a card from my parents with a gift certificate in it (and a voucher for free babysitting while we use the said gift certificate) and a dress for Reece. The dress is darling! I can't wait until Reece fits into it.

For breakfast I made us some stuffed french toast. It was AMAZING, if I do say so myself. Afterward, we hung out until Derek had to go to work. And that was pretty much it. I like Valentine's Day, but it's not a huge deal to me. I'm just glad I got to spend it with my husband and sweet little girl. Now, for some cute pictures.

Hahaha, she was so done taking pictures.

Cousins Much?

When Reece was first born she looked just like Derek, as I've said a million times. When we came home for Christmas, I had started to see a little bit more of me in her. But then, when Courtney and Jay arrived for the holiday, we realized just how much Reece and Piper look alike. Piper is six months older than Reece. Here they are at Christmastime.

Despite the difference in size, if you look at their little faces, they look alike! And just take a look at a few of these pictures. They look so much alike to me!

It makes me smile to see the similarities between these two cousins. At times, my mom and I have seen flashes of Jace in Reece as well. I can't wait to see all these cute children grow up!

Reece: Four Months

Reece turned four months a couple weeks ago! We just love the fun things that have been happening in the last little bit. Things that define Reece's life these days:

- Yelling at everything. She has cute little sounds and will baby babble a little bit, but she mostly just yells at things. Me, Derek, her grandparents, her toys, Nana... just about anything and everything she sees she will greet with a giant grin and then a yell. It's her way of showing affection.

- Reaching for her toys! This has been fun to see develop in the last month. She'll get so excited and try so hard to reach for her toys, and then she does it and she's so happy with herself! And, of course, the next logical step is to put whatever she has in her hand in her mouth. That's been fun.

- Laughing. We got Reece to give a real giggle for the first time, and I caught it on camera! I was so proud of my timing! Since then we have been able to get her to giggle a couple of times. It is the cutest thing in the world.

- Sleeping through the night. I've been trying to set her bedtime around 7:30pm, and so far it's going pretty well. If she wakes up, she'll wake up after sleeping for 9-10 hours. Then I'll nurse her and she'll sleep until around 8:00am. It's beautiful.

- Starting to sit up on her own. Reece is surprisingly strong for her age. She can sit on the floor without any help for a substantial amount of time. However, after about thirty seconds she starts to lean forward and prop herself up by putting her hands on the ground in front of her.

She is growing WAY too fast. To me it looks like she is growing more and more and getting longer each day. Even when I'm incredibly tired and have to get up with her at 2:43am, she still makes me smile. Love our little Reece!

And now, for the real reason you probably came to the blog, the pictures. The quality isn't that great, I took all of these with my phone. But, hey. Reece is still stinkin' cute.

And, this is how you can tell your child is done taking pictures. 

Happy (late) four months to our sweet Reece Averie.