Busy Outside

Reese had a busy day outside. She helped me water all our flowers, ran around as she got sprayed by the water hose, and played in her sand and water table for the first time this year. She was worn out!

Bug Scare

I really need to get a grip. I freaked out all day Sunday because I thought we had bed bugs. Here's the story...

Reese and I both have terrible bloody bites on the back of our necks, but Daddy does not have any bites. The only place I could think that Reese and I have been and not Daddy was Reese's bed, because I lay with her every night.

I was sleeping with Reese last night and found a bug crawling in her bed. I captured it in a container and went online to try to identify it. Of course my research had me completely convinced we have bed bugs. I called Terminex and got their after hours emergency line for existing customers only. I left a message stating, I am not an existing customer, but will become one if they will come disinfect my house immediately for bed bugs. Can you believe Terminex never called me back? They must have thought I was crazy.

I tore apart Reese's bed searching for more bed bugs. I sanitized all the bedding and flipped the mattress and box spring on its side to inspect the seams (per my online research). Libby was the only one who seemed to enjoy this - she climbed up on top of the box spring to watch me inspect and clean frantically.

I kept inspecting the bug all day on Sunday, I am pretty sure it was a deer tick, not a bed bug. Also very disgusting. Luckily our bites look nothing like tick bites, so we eliminated the tick as the neck biter.

Finally, I was talking to some neighbors today and found out they have the same bites. They spoke to a pharmacist about the bites and I guess they are just nasty gnats and nothing to worry about. Ugh! All this worrying for nothing! Now we just apply some hydrocortisone cream and sleep soundly.

PBS Kids Day

Despite the weather, we had a fun day at Como Zoo. It was a special "PBS Kids" day where we could meet some of our favorite characters like Super Why, Curious George, and Clifford. It was super wet, so we were surprised how packed the zoo was. It's amazing what people will put up with when they have pre-paid for their tickets. Luckily the rain cleared around 1pm, so we enjoyed a couple hours dry and riding on some rides.

We're so sick of this yucky spring. Bring on the hot summer weather!

Happy Birthday Uncle Troy

We celebrated Uncle Troy's birthday tonight at the Olive Garden. We had a small milk drinking incident, but luckily we had bought some jammies today so changed in the restaurant.

Reese was in a great mood and had so much fun, so we were shocked when she threw up 3 times in the car on the way home. I have no idea why she threw up - perhaps too much rich food at the Olive Garden. Daddy was a trooper and cleaned up the car seat as best he could at a gas station (with napkins stuck up his nose because of the smell). Then I spent 2 hours at home doing a thorough cleaning. I think I would have paid $1000 if someone would have offered to clean it up for me. Yuck! Reese seemed perfectly fine after throwing up, and even had a snack when we got home.

Today's Funnies

I'm so happy to be home again with my little girl after two nights in Laguna Beach, CA for work. Reese said a couple funny things today...

This afternoon I asked Reese if she wanted to take a nap. She responded, "That's a REALLY good question." She never provided me an actual yes or no answer. I think she was stalling.

I gave Reese a cupcake as a treat today. She took one bite and told me, "There is no problem here!"

San Diego day 4

Reese and I took our time getting ready this morning. Reese even had her first pedicure (by Mommy) - so cute and exciting!

Then Reese and Daddy headed to the airport, while I headed to my meetings. Reese was a perfect angel in the airport and on the plane for Daddy. What a good little traveler! And now that Reese has her own Delta frequent flyer number, we'll have to plan another trip soon.

San Diego day 3

We took it easy on day 3. Unfortunatley it was still pretty cold outside, so we found some things that did not involve water. We walked around the hotel, played at a park, rode a small train, and went on a fun bike ride. Reese loved sitting in the front of the bike, wearing her bike helmet, and eating snacks.

This evening we celebrated Mother's Day with a nice dinner. Reese learned how to "double fist" her drinks. And her obsession with toe fuzz continued, even in the restaurant.

San Diego day 2

Reese currently loves whales, so this was the perfect time to go to Sea World!

We saw 3 different shows (1) Reese sat in awe as we watched the show about a "pink girl" named Marina with her dolphin and bird friends. (2) Next we enjoyed a show where all sorts of pets did tricks. We were most impressed with trained cats who did things like cimb the rope upside down! (3) Then we saw the awesome Shamu show.

After a 3 hour nap in her stroller (tired girl!), Reese woke up to see the manta rays, play in the Sesame Street playground, and much more.

I'm sure this is a day Reese will talk about for a long time!

San Diego day 1

I had to go to San Diego for work, so we all decided to go early for a little family vacation. Reese did great on the plane. This was her 4th plane trip, but the first time we had to buy her a ticket and bring the car seat. She got a little antsy in the car set, but overall had fun and did a great job.

After Reese took a quick snooze in the rental car, we checked into the hotel and went swimming. Reese loved her purple swimming suit (she is quick to tell you that purple is still her favorite color), but took awhile to like the water. Soon she found a pattern she liked of jumping off the steps into my arms, twirling, bouncing, then climbing up to do it again. I think we repeated this 50 times!

This evening we took part in a hotel family activity of roasting marshmallows. She said the marshmallows tasted, "Yum, yum, yummy!"

Nap

Reese has been only occasionally napping lately. I actually like it when she doesn't nap because then she goes to bed a a decent time (8:30 rather than 11:00pm!). But today Reese fell asleep when we went for a walk. I decided to park her in the garage and left the door open so I could get some things done in the office which is near our garage. When I peaked my head out to check on her, I found her in this position, basically sleeping standing up, but still snoozing away. Guess she was really tired today and needed a nap!

Animal Lovers

Todd, Reese, and I are all extreme animal lovers. Here are two recent examples...

Reese likes to watch The Wonder Pets cartoon. Her favorite episodes are "Save the Kitten" and "Save the Puppy". She gets VERY upset while watching "Save the Puppy" because she feels bad for the puppy who is inside the house and has to go pee pee. Reese covers her eyes, pouts, and even cries with huge tears running down her face while she watches. She does this every time she watches the episode, even though she knows that it ends with the puppy going outside to relieve himself.

Libby (our killer cat) brought home a little bird last night. She left it at the deck door and Todd noticed it was still moving a little bit. So he quickly researched online where it said to make the bird a nest to keep it safe and comfortable. This is a picture of the nest he made out of a kitchen strainer, old socks, and one leaf (ha, ha!). When Todd opened the door to help the little bird into the nest, it popped up and flew away.