More from the Lake

Aunt Tammy just sent a few more pictures from our last weekend at the lake.... Reese on her first paddle boat ride and Brayden with his worm friend. Cute pictures and fun memories, so thought I would share.

Little Giant

While we were at Grandma and Grandpa Cipra's house this weekend, we got to baby-sit adorable little Callie who is just 3 months old. Reese liked Callie. She read her books and asked her to go outside and play - not quite understanding that Callie can't get up and run around yet. Playing with Callie really showed me how big and mature Reese has gotten!

Technology

Reese already loves technology. Here are a few examples...

She is currently OBSESSED with going on the computer and looking at her blog. She says "Computer Reesie" and demands that we scroll through her blog for what feels like hours.

She enjoys playing Wii with Daddy, however we can only play one game - the cow racing game. If we try to switch it to another game she yells "Cow Go Go Go!" over and over again until we switch it back.

Finally, Reese likes my new iPad and is really good at playing the interactive kid games. I recommend a few Apps for kids: The Wheels on the Bus, Fish School, and Old MacDonald - all by Duck Duck Moose.

It's only a matter of time before she will be programming the DVR and setting up her own Facebook page.

At the Lake

We spent the weekend at the lake and had a great time. Reese experienced lots of new things like going on a paddle boat ride, watching her cousins fish, driving Brayden's four wheeler, and playing in the sand. She also saw a huge pelican fishing and thought it was "a big duck." Reese had so much fun that she was the last one to bed (at midnight) and the first one to wake up (at 8am).

Slide

We bought Reese a new slide for a few reasons (1) she loves slides lately (2) I want her to be more confident when we go to play areas at the park and mall (3) I'm still trying to figure out how to wear her out so she'll go to sleep earlier at night.

The first night Reese really enjoyed the slide. She would climb up all by herself and would say "No touch" if I would try to help her. It took her awhile to build up her confidence each time before she would slide down. Once she finally went down she would immediately run back to the steps to climb up again.

The next morning she found it more entertaining to sit at the top of the slide and direct Daddy and me to pick up balls, cars, etc and slide them down next to her. So the slide is wearing us out instead of Reese!

Bye-Bye Mike

Our neighbors Mike and Laurie moved this weekend. We are very sad because they were wonderful neighbors who let us borrow their truck to haul things, took care of Belle when we were out of town, gave us advice whenever we needed it on how to fix our lawn, etc. I'm a little worried if/how Reese is going to cope. One of her first words was "Mike" and she always looked out the window or ran down the driveway saying "Hi Mike!" Today as the moving vans were packing up, I had to explain that Mike and Laurie are moving to a different house. And to that, Reese said "Bye-bye Mike". They will be missed!

Rockin' Rusty

We went to "Rusty's Rockin' Jamboree" at the Saint Michael library this morning. While she looked adorable in her cowgirl outfit, Reese wasn't a huge fan of Rusty. She kept glaring at him, and when I asked her if she wanted to leave half way through the show she immediately said, "Yeah, bye-bye". Sorry, maybe next time, Rusty.

Some Good, Some Bad

Reese had both a good and bad day.

The good: We enjoyed a picnic at the park and Reese mastered going up the steps and down the slide all by herself - I didn't even have to offer my hand for support. She was pretty proud of herself.

The bad: Reese had her DTP (Diphtheria, Tetanus & Pertussis) vaccine today. The shot itself was no big deal - she just cried bloody murder when we had to hold her down. Then we had to spend 3 hours in the basement this evening due to a tornado warning. Reese enjoys playing the basement, but became restless and hungry during those 3 hours.

All in all, the bad wasn't really so bad, so we had a pretty good day.

Fun Dinner

Reese was in such a great mood and loved her dinner tonight. I had to grab the camera to capture her cute expressions.

Wear Her Out

Reese has not been going to sleep until 11pm this past week. So, Grandma and Grandpa Cipra were given strict instructions to wear her out today so she can get back on schedule. They did just that by playing outside between the rain showers, running laps around the kitchen, racing to the couch (Reese loved hearing "Ready, Set, Go" over and over again), and visiting Dick's Sporting Goods where she learned how to putt with Grandpa. It worked -- Reese went to sleep at 9pm. Now they just have to wear her out again tomorrow.

A Toast

Congratulations to Melony and Tim on their beautiful wedding today. Reese enjoyed the day with her friends Alexis, Ian, Logan, and Audra. Reese and Audra even toasted the bride and groom! It was great to spend the day with friends and celebrate.

Strawberries

We picked strawberries with Tammy and Brayden today at Apple Jack Orchard. Reese loved it! She had evidence smeared all over her face when we went to pay for the strawberries we picked.

Mauer

Reese has been obsessed with Twins catcher Joe Mauer this week. Every time we go into her closet, she says "Mauer" because she is looking for her Mauer jersey. We went to Daddy's softball game last night and I asked her if she wanted to see Daddy hit the ball. She responded with "No, Mauer" - sorry Daddy! And tonight Reese and Daddy are watching the Twins game and she keeps saying "Mauer! Hit the ball!" and occasionally "Morneau" for Twins first baseman Justin Morneau. I think this proves we watch too much MLB and ESPN at our house!

Words of the Week - 3rd Edition

Here are some of Reese's fun new words this week...

* "Hug" and "Kiss" fortunatley Reese says these two words often and gives big hugs and kisses when she says them. We love it!
* "McDonalds" which probably means we have made too many trips here
* "Shrek", "Fiona", "Donkey" and "Gingy" again, too many trips to McDonalds for these Happy Meal toys
* "Bus" Reese says this word a lot. She has a few toy buses, loves to watch the school bus drop off the kids in the neighborhood (she's going to be so sad now that the school year is ending), and at our church parking lot where we got to touch a bus which was the greatest!
* "Basketball" Reese has been saying this word for awhile, but it used to be "bah-ball" and now is all 3 syllables
* Many animal sounds like "Meow", "Woof-Woof", "Tweet", "Who-Whoo" and
Blub Blub" for the "Fishie"
* "Happy" Daddy is trying to teach Reese emotions, and she seems to be catching on to this one
* "Clean" and "Mess"
* "Airplane"
* "Train"
* "Man" meaning Policeman when she hears sirens
* "Coon" for racoon and "Pecker" for woodpecker - two animals found in our backyard
* "Owie" said whenever she sees a cut on our skin. She pointed to a cut on my leg the other day, said "Owie", and then kissed it to make it feel better. So nice!

Little Miss Independent

Reese has become very independent this week refusing my help with things and knowing what she wants. Here are a few examples...

Last night I made her dinner and put it on a plate. She would not eat and kept saying "Purple". I could not figure it out until she pointed to the cabinet where I keep the plates. She wanted to eat off her purple plate, not the orange plate I had put her food on! Once I transferred her food, she gobbled it up.

Again last night I asked her if she wanted grapes with dinner. She promptly said, "No, Melon" so we had watermelon instead.

Reese has always liked helping with laundry and playing with her clothes. She used to let me help put things away, but now she wants to do it all herself - including hanging things up in the closet.

I could go on and on... Reese is becoming little Miss Independent.

Makeover

As mentioned last week, we had new flooring installed on the cabin. It turned out great, and we spent the day doing some final cleaning and moving everything back into place.

Reese enjoyed her day with Grandma Haag again. She would not let Grandma rest and kept saying "Grandma ball!", "Grandma books!", "Grandma, Grandma, Grandma!"

On the way home tonight we hooked up Reese's DVD player for the first time. Reese loved it and said "Again" each time a segment would end on the Baby Einstein video. The video worked great - until the power went out and I could not reach to plug in the adaptor. Lesson learned! I think the DVD player has become a necessity for our many trips to the cabin this summer.

Splash Pad

We met some Luther friends today for a playdate in St. Louis Park. The park we went to has a splash pad, and Reese thought it was super fun. She was very brave and walked all around getting splashed - next time I'll have to remember her swimsuit! I don't know who the little boy is in these pictures, but Lily (Joy's daughter) is in the background in the first pic. After a couple of hours, the only way I could get her to leave was to promise we would go on the swings on the way to the car.

On another note, Reese's rash is already gone. Poop Goop works like magic!

Poop Everywhere

Reese has developed another little diaper rash. Nothing nearly like the last rash and no open sores -- I am still blaming Pampers for the open sores, but don't get me started on that topic again.

Anyway, we are using Poop Goop again and trying to give Reese lots of air time without a diaper to help it heal quickly. I decided to let Reese nap without her diaper this afternoon, which I did multiple times with the last rash. Well, this time it backfired on me. Reese woke up after sleeping just 15 minutes and I went into her room to find that she had pooped everywhere in her crib. Ugh! Reese wasn't crying, but definitely knew something was wrong and kept saying "poop".

So, I quickly cleaned her up and started on the crib. As you can imagine, it took awhile to get the crib cleaned and sheets in the washing machine. Dumb me did not put a diaper on Reese during the cleaning, and she peed twice on the carpet. Ugh again!

I found this story comical and worth sharing, but, needless to say, I did not run to get the camera to capture the experience.

Owl-Themed Day

As I have mentioned before, Reese loves owls. So we had an owl-themed day today.

Reese, Grandma Cipra, and I went to Build-A-Bear Workshop this morning and built an adorable owl we are calling Opal. I'm not sure who had more fun building the owl - Reese, Grandma, or me - because there are so many outfits and accessories to choose from. Reese loved Opal immediately giving her lots of hugs and carrying her throughout the mall.

This afternoon I decorated Reese's bathroom in owls, birds, and trees. I found these great stick-on-wall decorations at Target for just $14 (I love Target). Reese actually stayed interested and helped me put them up for almost an hour. We love how it turned out.