Almost walking

It's funny...I already had used the title "almost walking" when I was documenting all of Reece's firsts. It's kind of sad this time reporting that my baby is almost walking. He can stand up all by himself (from a sitting position) which means he is pretty strong and probably capable of walking. Reece never stood on her own until after she was already walking. I remember her crawling to something, pulling up on it, and then walking away...so Brody is on his way!



He is getting quite the personality. He is told "no" so much (mostly by his big sister - aka other mommy) that he says it back quite frequently. When he says it, I am unsure if it was him or Reece because they sound so much alike. He also loves it when daddy comes home from work. When I tell him that he is home, he crawls to the door and waits...squeeling with joy and yelling da-da. He loves playing with Reece. If she is still sleeping when he gets up, he gets bored and is so excited when he sees her. He currently says "ssssss" for sissy or Reece. She makes him belly laugh and it brings tears to my eyes. He totally adores her. I think she's pretty wild about him too. Every time we are in public, the first thing she says is "this is my little brother" as she puts her arm around him...HEAVEN on earth, I tell you! He can also say "ut-oh" and he ewwws and ahs over things, especially lights.



He's a total boy...loves trucks, tractors, balls...anything that moves. He hates grocery shopping or shopping in general and gets bored easily.



He also got his first real hair cut about a week ago.



Here he is standing...looking for sissy's approval...see the way he looks at her? (new hair cut in these pictures)


Loves to play

Ready to take a step

Walking behind the push toy

Halloween - Sesame Style

Note to stalkers (you know who you are): If you were on facebook, you would have seen these pictures 2 days ago.

Here is our very own Sesame Street crew with their Mi-Mi and Pa-pa!

From left to right (Zoe, Mi-Mi, Elmo, Cookie, Ernie, Pa-Pa, Cookie Monster, and Big Bird)

Close up of our Zoe girl (by the way...I did actually make the costume...I know this is surprising!)

Here's one including Snuffalufagus (aka - me...the big brown blob on the left)

And they're off to get their treats...

Halloween Dissappointment

I don't think I have convinced Reece that she will NOT be Elmo for Halloween. I had gotten an Elmo costume at a garage sale that I thought she could wear but she's too tall for it. While, it's a bit big for Brody, we are going to make it work for him. So Instead I made Reece a Zoe costume. She got these elmo slippers last year and found them in Brody's closet for this year. They are way too small for her but she shoves her big foot in it anyway and insists on wearing them...most likely because I told her they were Brody's now. She still has a bit of a sharing problem but we are working on it!

Whatcha up to?

What have we been up to, you ask? We've been pretty busy but can't pinpoint all the things we actually do. Reece loves to play dress up and play with her dolls, while Brody likes to get around and especially get away from Reece. There are many reasons he likes to stay clear of her...one probably being how she treats her baby dolls. I walked in the kitchen the other day to find Reece shoving her baby doll into a plastic Wal-Mart bag. I began to tell her how we shouldn't play with those bags because one could suffocate. It became quite the learning moment. As a joke I said "no matter how bad you want to sometimes, never put your baby in a plastic bag". She continued anyways and began to run around the house shaking the baby in the bag. I followed up with "Never shake your baby, Reece"...which turned into her doing this more and singing "shake your baby....shake your baby" (all to the tune of "shake your booty"). So...I have a lot to teach this little girl! Good thing it will be awhile before she has to take care of a real baby!





Brody playing tractors


Turning off the TV

Getting into things

Playing in the leaves.

Curtis Orchard

On Columbus Day we checked out another orchard. We went up to Curtis Orchard in Champaign with Mi-mi, Aunt Jo-Jo, Kennedy, Tate, Aunt Jill, Bo, and Gracie.

Look how big we are?

Yea!! I fed the goats!

The famous "cool" bus

Future Engineer?

Reece loves to build and figure things out. I went down to the play room the other day and found her building this....

I was amazed at how well she put this together all by herself. I would like to take credit but the only towers I build with her are the kind you build as tall as you can until they fall. Not sure where she learned this but I was amazed at her skill and patience (this must be from her father!).

She was pround of it too...

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Every night for the past couple weeks or so, Reece has claimed on average 2 additional items to bring to bed with her. It has accumulated to like 37 items or something like that. If you take items out and hide them, she can tell you which items are missing and refuses to go to bed until you bring them out of hiding. She says good night to each of them by name, tells them she loves them, and says prayers with them. It's a rather time consuming process. It is frustrating too when there are items you have to scurry around the house trying to find so she can go to bed. It dawned on me that I remember seeing a picture of me in a pile of items in my bed when I was little. I dug it out and sure enough...

Here she is...

Here I am...