.:Catch Up:.

Alrighty, I got semi-caught up on the blog tonite, so be sure to scroll down to see what we've been up to this busy month of October.

Well, at least part of what we've been up to. I'll be posting all of the October/Halloween festivities another day!

.:Remi - Seven Months:.

My baby is seven months old. That is closer to one than to being a newborn! I feel like we're going to have the holidays, which will fly by, and then all of the sudden I'll have another toddler. Slow down!

Remi is still just....happy! I know I say it all the time, but she is just content and mellow and so stinking cute.

Remi still will not roll from her tummy to her back. We're going to be putting her in her real crib, without the sleep positioner next week, so I just know this is going to be a major problem. But I guess that's how she'll learn, right? She's so strong and can push her chest up so high, but for some reason, just doesn't remember how to roll back on to her back!

The little Rem is obsessed with tags. If there is a tag on a toy or a pillow or anything, she will find it. It's funny to watch. I usually put the Boppy behind her when she is sitting with toys - just in case - and I thought she was just being lazy everytime she ended up on her tummy (which is often) but then I realized that she goes to her tummy because then she can play with the tag on the back of the Boppy. Silly girl!

She's also started using just her pointer finger to feel things out. I just noticed it the other day, and I think it is so cute. Just her little, dainty finger, exploring everything!

Remi has never been a big laugher. She'll smile the day away, but when it comes to laughing, it's tough to get it out of her. Unless you are Reece. Reece can get Remi to laugh like nobody's business! I love that they are starting to interact and play together more. It is so cute to listen to them giggling together when I'm not even in the room! I know it's just going to get so much more fun as they get older!

We dropped Remi's 10:00 feeding a couple of weeks ago. The first nite was HORRIBLE. She was up from 1-3 a.m. and I was this close to just feeding her so I could go back to bed. She was never even that bad as a newborn! I anticipated her having more trouble the next few nites, but after that first bad nite, she's been 100% fine! She goes to bed aroun 7:30 and doesn't get up until 7:30-8:00. She even slept in until 9:00 twice this past week! Go baby!

Remi continues to hate most things that start with "b": binky, bottle, baby food. She's not impressed with any of them. We've gone through all of the veggies, and almost all of the fruits. The only one I've been able to get her to willingly open her mouth for is bananas. I don't know if it's the texture and consistency, or the taste, or what, but it's just not getting much easier to get her to eat. It takes us three days of her eating once a day to get through one jar of baby food. I should probably offer it to her more than once a day? Maybe then she'd get the hang of it faster? She does love Mum Mums and the puffs. She'll lunge like crazy to get those in her mouth!

(Not impressed Mom).

Remi also got her two bottom teeth! She had a horrible time getting the first one through. I didn't really think either of us were going to survive, but once that one was through, the second one came in with no problems. I'm hoping the next couple of teeth won't be so tough! She likes using her teeth on the Mum Mums, but luckily she hasn't bit me. Yet. We'll see if that changes once more come in!

Our little Rem Rem is just a little sweetheart!

At seven months, Remi likes:

- smiling

- smiling/laughing at/with Reece

- exersaucer

- sitting

- toys: light up seahorse, tambourine, laptop, turtle

- nursing

- puffs and Mum Mums

- feeling/grabbing/touching things

- tags

- splashing in the bath

- walks

- having air blown in her face

- talking/cooing

- sleeping

- being kissed

- being tickled

At seven months Remi does not like:

- bottles

- binky

- baby food (not very much anyway!)

- getting stuck on her tummy

- being in her car seat for too long

- being cold

Love this girl (and her cute sister too)!

.:Gramzee comes to town!:.

We were lucky to have Gramzee come visit us in the middle of October. We hadn't seen her (or "Pok" {Grandpa Paul}) since our trip to Oregon in July, so it was high time!

She flew in for a few days. It was so nice that she flew instead of drove, because that really gave us some extra time with her! We just bummed around, and went to some of our favorite Utah places: Cafe Rio, Tai Pan, and Gardner Village. Reece loved having "my grandma" here, and I love that she is remembering our family that doesn't live near us. She just picked right up where she left off.

I always enjoy the time with my mom. I don't get her to myself very often, so I loved our small drives in the car together, getting cokes, and just staying up late chatting. It definitely doesn't happen often enough, and I wish that we didn't live so far away from each other.

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Gardner Village to see the witches.

We love it when Gramzee comes to visit, but we just have one requirement for next time: stay longer.

.:Five Years:.

Josh and I celebrated our five year anniversary at the beginning of October. I can't believe it's been five years, but at the same time, I can't believe it's only been five years. And I mean that in a good way! I just feel like we've always been together, and can't imagine life without US.

To celebrate, we headed up to Park City to stay at the Silver King - where we stayed for our mini-honeymoon after we got married. There was a certain tag along who refuses to take a bottle, so there was no leaving her behind. Reece was lucky and got to have a fun sleepover with her cousin Millie, Aunt Em, and Grandma Beckloff. To say she had a good time is an understatement....

So the three of us headed up to Park City and hit the outlets for a tiny bit before we could go check in. We decided to attempt a movie after that. Remi was really good, but still making happy noises, so I spent part of the movie standing up with her. Josh came and took her from me at the end because she was being way too noisy. (I guess I didn't notice - it didn't seem that bad to me!)

After that, we went out to dinner. It was nice to just be able to be out, and even though we had Remi, not be all worried about getting home to relieve our babysitters!

We spent the rest of the evening at our hotel, and just enjoying the time together.

Remi decided to make up for us having to bring her, and slept in until 9:00 the next morning! It was soooooo nice. I didn't get up until 8:30, and I can't even remember the last time I came close to sleeping that late! We got up, got ready, and headed back to the outlets. We found lots of great deals, and had a nice time just being away together.

We've grown and learned a lot these past five years together! Josh really is my best friend, and I'm so grateful for the kind of man that he is. He is such a hard worker, and the best dad to our girls. I'm pretty sure they have him wrapped around their fingers! I love watching his relationships with both of them. I love him so much and can't wait to see what the next five years brings!

This is the only picture we took while we were up there: what a cute little stow away!

.:Reece's Birthday Party:.

I supppose I should blog about Reece's birthday party! Better late than never, right?

I still can't really wrap my brain around the fact that my little baby is two. Okay, not so much a baby anymore.

Reece is a lover of all things sweet, so we decided to do a candy party for her. It was complete with candy cupcakes....

And a candy buffet. We had little baggies so that people could make themselves a little treat bag to take home. (I still ended up with WAY too much candy leftover - good thing it's almost Halloween, right?)

I also made these cute gumball flowers, which I really thought were a fun addition.

I made this gumball machine to play 'pin the gumball on the gumball machine' but we didn't end up playing it. It was just way too wild, and the thought of trying to calm the kids down enough to do that was overwhelming at the time! I don't think anyone feels like they missed out....right?

Reece had quite a few of her little buddies and cousins there to celebrate with her. It really was just a crazy, wild party, made even more so by the abundance of sweets! We ate dinner, opened presents, and had cake. The kids all had a great time running around and playing with balloons.

I was really bad about taking pictures. We didn't even get a picture of our little family!

But here are a few pictures of her being sung to (I think she was wondering what in the world we were all doing - her expression was priceless!), opening some of her presents, and opening the rest of her presents the next day. Yep, had to do the presents in two shifts - think she was spoiled much?

It was a great time and we're so grateful for everyone who came to show Reece that they love her!

.:Remi - Six Months:.

The Remster is six months old today! That's half of a year!

In Remi's five month post, I wrote that I thought she was figuring out how to roll back over from her tummy to her back. Total lie. She still continues to get stuck on her tummy and get so angry about it. Occasionally she will accidentally roll herself back over, but it's definitely not deliberate at all! She still sleeps with her sleep positioner, but somehow during her nap yesterday, she rolled over and was still in between the positioner, but on her tummy! It was kind of funny, although she was quite upset about it.

Remi's newest trick: sitting! I think she probably could have done it a lot sooner if I'd practiced with her more. I usually leave the boppy behind her, but she actually is pretty sturdy and doesn't really use it about half of the time. It makes her seem so much older to me! It is fun when she and Reece are sitting by each other, sharing a toy - I just love that they will start playing together more now!

Remi has never been much of a laugher, but she is starting to a lot more. She kind of has a belly laugh; not your usual baby giggle. It's pretty cute, and I'll do just about anything to get it out of her!

We're still doing well with sleeping at nite. I've continued feeding her at ten, before I go to bed, and at this point, I think it's more me being afraid of dropping it and having her wake up at 4:00 a.m. than her actually needing the feeding. She doesn't wake up and lately has barely been eating anything. After that feeding, I was putting her in her real crib in the room with Reece for the rest of the nite. But she went through a week or two where she kept waking up around 5:30-6:00 and squealing for awhile. Which is fine, but I didn't want her to wake up Reece! So I would grab her out of there and put her in the travel bed and she'd go back to sleep. So for the past few days, I've left her in the travel bed all nite to try to break her of that habit. Pretty soon she's going to have to be in the room with Reece full time, so we've got to get it all figured out!

We've also started food with her! Only rice cereal so far, and she is totally unimpressed. She gags on it and makes faces. So different from Reece, who was lunging at the spoon after her first initial bites. We'll probably try oatmeal tomorrow and see if we can get a different reaction! It's fun to have all four of us sitting at the table together, eating.

Remi is just the happiest, easy baby in the world! She is so sweet and loving, and we just couldn't be happier to have her as part of our family!

At six months, Remi likes:

- exersaucer

- smiling

- laughing

- eating

- light up seahorse

- rolling

- playing with toys

- feeling/grabbing/touching things

- watching Reece

- talking/cooing

- sleeping

- sitting

- sucking on hands

- baths/splashing feet

- grabbing/sucking on toes

- walks

- being kissed on face/mouth/neck

At six months, Remi does not like:

- binky

- bottle

- rice cereal

- being hungry

- being on tummy for too long

- being stuck in car seat for too long

- taking naps in car seat

Sweet baby girl!

.:Reece - 2 Years Old:.

Two years ago, our lives changed when our sweet Reece became a part of our family. I'm still not quite sure how two whole years have passed since then. It seems like it was just a couple of months ago we were doing her first birthday!

(Flashback photo from her first birthday)

Where would we be without our little Reecey girl? A whole lot less entertained, for one thing. I've never seen a girl with so much spunk before! Reece is contstantly on the move and on the go. Her pediatrician is always stunned by it when we bring her in. I wish I could just copy what she does all day long, because then I'm positive I could get rid of this baby weight/flab!

This is turning into a super FUN age and a super FRUSTRATING age. Maybe we'll just call it the 2F age.

Reece is hilarious. She will try to say almost any word, and she does this little tongue roll with a lot of her sounds, and it just makes us laugh everytime. (Tip: Have her say octagon for you. You won't be disappointed.) She knows SO MANY words, I won't even try to attempt writing them all down. She is getting good at communicating what she wants using simple 2-3 word sentences. That is, when she remembers not to whine. :) We're working on using words instead of whining. I think it's going to take awhile! She's really into labeling things/people, just because she loves to talk and is so proud of herself for knowing so much. And we're just as proud of her!

The way she says things is just as great. It's amazing how kids listen to parents and try to mimic tones of voice and expression. I swear, Josh has to feel like a million bucks every time he comes home from work or school. I wish I got greeted like that all the time!

Reece is turning into such a caring little girl. She is always giving us hugs and kisses - including Remi. When Remi is playing with something, Reece will take the burp cloth and wipe up Remi's drool, just like a little mommy. We go for walks every morning with my friend, and if Remi starts fussing, Reece will turn around and rub Remi's little head. It is so sweet! She also loves to share her drinks with her kitty and other stuffed animals. I love to catch her having little conversations with them and just watch her taking care of them.

We're still working on the nursery thing. She stayed in there by herself for an hour last week, so maybe we're getting somewhere. At least I know it won't last forever....(right???)

Reece is a total Daddy's girl. She loves her Mommy, too, but she is really close with her Daddy. They have such a special, sweet relationship, and it just makes my heart happy to watch the two of them together.

That all sounds like FUN, doesn't it?

Well, the only FRUSTRATING part about her age is the blooming of independence and realization that she has choices. I'm all for giving them choices, but it's interesting to see her figure out that she doesn't actually have to do what we say right away. She's definitely feeling out her boundaries. Her listening is also not the greatest. Another boundary thing as well, I'm sure. We just need to be more consistent with what our game plan is when it comes to that kind of stuff.

The FUN far outweighs the FRUSTRATING, and I feel so blessed that Heavenly Father chose me to be her mother, and us to be her parents. She's a special little girl, and I know she has wonderful things to offer this world. I can't imagine our lives without her!

At two years old, Reece likes:

- being silly

- jumping

- climbing

- laughing

- fake laughing

- running/chasing

- shoes and putting them on by herself (she usually gets the right feet, too!)

- "lips"

- lotion

- helping

- movies

- dogs/animals

- candy and all sweets

- craisins

- cereal

- baths

- books

- stickers

- coloring (especially with the whiteboard and whiteboard markers)

- her kitty and 'nite nite' (blanket)

- singing

- dancing

- showing off/getting attention

- being tickled

- washing and drying her hands

- Elmo

- Mano (Nemo)

- Frog (Princess and the Frog)

At two years Reece does not like:

- diaper changes (she has always had extremely sensitive skin, and lately the diaper rashes have been horrible, poor girl)

- being told 'no'

- not getting her way

- getting nose and face wiped (sometimes)

- shirts going on and off her head

Happy Second Birthday to our sweet girl!