Sunshine...finally.

After the rainiest April in the history of Cincinnati, I can't tell you how happy the ladies in this house are to see some sunshine. We've finally gotten a taste of the bright, warm Spring we've been waiting for. The little one has this incredible fascination with being outside - like, she ADORES it. Which is hilarious if you know me. I'm not exactly Queen of the Great Outdoors. I mean, I love sunshine, but more in a loves-to-lay-by-the-pool kind of way than a let's-all-take-a-nature-hike kind of way. Spring usually brings out the tiniest little outdoorsy part of me, though, and I try to take advantage of the beautiful days when I can (especially now that offspring are in the picture.) So anyway, the kiddo and I have been out in full force enjoying the sunny days we've had this week!

On Monday, Brooke's cousin spent the whole day with us, including some playtime in the backyard. Neither of them was too keen on letting go of their sippy cups to do much playing, however. I tried to engage them in some Dora soccer and even broke out giant bubbles (hello, giant bubbles!) Thankfully, Brooke was willing to appreciate my efforts a bit, especially the bubbles. (My nephew kept trying to break back inside...he seemed afraid of the grass.)

We spent a little more time soaking up some Vitamin D again today. We made the quick 10 minute walk down to the park this morning. I specifically went early in the day to avoid the heat. The weather channel said it was only 75 degrees. Um, it felt like 110. The husband tells me it was the 100% humidity that killed us today - I guess I didn't pay much attention to that little tidbit when the meteorologist was singing the praises of today's weather. I swear, both the munchkin and I were sweating after just 5 minutes at the playground. She powered through, but Mama was a hot mess by the time we left. (Oh, and note to self: the walk home from the park is pretty much all uphill. She's only going to get heavier and you're only going to get more pregnant. Keep that in mind.) The big lesson I learned today is this - it's going to be one long, blazing hot, pregnant summer!

After the chica's nap, we spent a little more time outside. I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of her cute little skirt and ponytail!

After a double dose of hot for the day, I thought it was only fitting that we have a little snack :)

(I'm not sure what was so riveting on the TV that she couldn't keep her eyes off of it. The end of Oprah perhaps? Maybe she knows that there are only a few episodes left ever so she's trying to soak it all in while she can...)

Happy mama :)

How far along?: 24 weeks, 1 day.
Total weight gain/loss: Not a big fan of the scale this week. I even said to the husband yesterday "Did we eat a lot of crap this week and I just forget?" because it was that bad. Gonna make this a bi-weekly question - maybe it will even itself out by next week.
Sleep: Oh just awesome. And by awesome I of course mean awful. Took quite a few naps this week.
Movement: Things have gotten intense. I am feeling very distinct movements, playing the guess-that-body-part game. I think I'm feeling knees or elbows at times!
Food/Cravings: Starting to slightly worry (coughobsesscough) about my weight gain, so I'm trying to be good. Luckily, I don't have any real cravings right now. Unluckily, we have about 2 dozen donut holes on our counter right now, tempting the willpower right out of me (leftovers from my brother-in-law's graduation yesterday, not an everyday occurrence.)
New w/pregnancy #2: I never carried around a heavy, squirmy 16-month-old during a complete toddler meltdown the last time I was pregnant. Not so easy. So yeah, that's new.
What I miss: Broken record time...real sleep.
What I am looking forward to: Friday's OB appointment, though not the yummy glucose drink I have to drink for my blood sugar test. No matter what they say, it doesn't really taste like Sunkist. Fingers crossed that I pass!
Best moment this week: Spending Mother's Day with my baby girl & knowing that I'll be spending it with both of my kids next year :)
Weekly Wisdom: Nada.
Milestones: VIABILITY WEEK! Hooray Baby Reeder! In case you weren't around for the last pregnancy, 24 weeks is the time at which a baby's lungs are developed enough that should something happen that would cause the baby to be delivered, doctors will make every attempt to save the child. Survival odds at 24 weeks are super slim, but it is possible. Making it to this point with a very healthy baby is the only Mother's Day present I needed!

Twenty-three.

How far along?: 23 weeks, 1 day.
Total weight gain/loss: +3 lbs over 2 weeks, so up 13.5 lbs total. 
Maternity clothes?: Deleting this category for a while because, duh! Of course I am. And really, do you care what I'm wearing?
Sleep: Gross.
Movement: Literally watching the baby jump around in my stomach as I type this. This kid is strong & mighty for sure!
Food/Cravings: I made the most delicious carrot cake for Easter. We're talking 5 sticks of butter and a double batch of frosting, friends. My offer to bring it for my family's Easter lunch was totally selfish - this pregnant lady wanted her some cake. It's that good.
Gender: 17ish weeks until we find out!
New w/pregnancy #2: Crazy, ridiculous, so-not-normal dreams. And I remember them vividly.
What I miss: Real sleep.
What I am looking forward to: Hitting 24 weeks is a pretty big deal for me, so I'm pretty excited that we're only 6 days away. Making it sweeter? It's falling on Mama's Day :)
Best moment this week: Watching the Royal Wedding with my daughter...and possibly another daughter in my belly! (Woah. Another daughter. That's weird & cool to say.)
Weekly Wisdom: Toddler runny noses will undeniably be passed on & become super awesome colds for their pregnant moms. You know, because being pregnant isn't enough of a reason to not be able to sleep; it's more fun if you throw in an inability to breathe and a hacking cough. Lovely.
Milestones: I felt baby hiccups for the first time this week! I couldn't believe I could feel them this early. But I checked with my go-to parenting consultant - Google - and it turns out that it's totally normal. I guess I'm excited because it means that Baby Reeder's lungs are developing and working properly (hooray!!) But anyone that's been reading this blog since my first pregnancy knows that fetal hiccups aren't my favorite. They're awkward and - don't judge me - annoying. Especially when they come right as I'm trying to take a nap after getting about 2 mins of sleep the night before (yeah, sleep has been that gross lately, no joke.)

16 months!

Kudos go to the husband and I for keeping this kid alive for 16 months! I mean, really, that's insane. 16 months? We almost have a one-&-a-half year old! Crazy, folks. And she's turning into the most fantastic & entertaining little thing, too. She seems so much older than she is, which is so fitting considering she's my child. Ask anyone who knew me as a child - I was a diva, "4 going on 24" my family would say. I imagine Brooke will be just like that, with possibly even more personality (an almost-scary thought.)

It's incredible how much she changes month by month. Here's a quick recap this month:

- We have a monkey on our hands! We started tumbling class about 4 weeks ago. I'm shocked at the progress she's made in just 4 weeks. She is so much braver now, willing to try anything. She climbs and practices her balance and jumps on a trampoline (all with Mom as her spotter, of course.) She even pulls all 31 lbs of herself up on a chin-up bar, using that super-human strength she seems to have been born with. We can see a huge change at home, too. She's climbing all over the place!
- Appropriately enough, Brooke and I went to the Children's Museum for the first time, the perfect place to practice all her climbing skills! She got to play with all 4 of her cousins in the adorable Kids Town, complete with a grocery store, post office, diner, etc. They played at this giant water table, ran all around the gated toddler area (with a castle & a slide,) and threw balls all around in this big cage. She had so much fun!

- The purse obsession has been taken to a whole new level. She got 4, yes 4, new purses for Easter. She now has 6 and it is not uncommon for her to be carrying around all 6 at once. There are purses everywhere now!
- I'm proud to say she has become very polite lately. She can now say "thank you" pretty clearly and she says it in the sweetest little girly voice. She uses it all. the. time. Like, she'll hand you something and tell you thank you (for holding it for her, I guess?) I told her this morning that if she overuses it, people won't think she's being sincere!
- The morning nap is history. She just has one 1.5-2.5 hour nap in the afternoon. So sad :(
- Somebody had her first (and second and third...) ice cream cone this month.

- I'm not even going to try to list all of her new words this month because it's ridiculous. She's a big-time mimic now, trying to repeat everything she hears. This has helped her develop even more sounds, which has translated into a ton of new words. I understand almost everything she says, but Daddy sometimes needs a Toddler Translator. Some of our favorites? "Vacuum", "cracker", "cupcake", and, of course, the oh-so-sweet "thank you". She does have trouble with R's and S's, though. Have you ever heard of a child changing these into G's? She wears "gocks" on her feet, things often get "guck" (stuck), and she loves to "gock" in the rocking chair. Hilarious.
- She has started to sing along to the Dora theme song. She picked up on this quickly, as we don't watch Dora all that often. The best part is when she imitates Swiper's "Oh, maaaan!"

A few more random pics I never got around to posting!

To sum up: Brooke is awesome and I take a lot of vertical pictures.

Princess breakfast.

I'm not gonna lie. I was crazy excited for the big wedding today. Partly because, I mean, how many times do you get to see a girl become a real-life princess? Like, straight up fairy tale style? I'll tell you how many - maybe a couple, if you're lucky. Well I wasn't alive in '81 for the last one (no one counts Fergie), so I was a virgin Royal-Wedding-watcher.

Even more exciting? Getting to watch a girl become a real-life princess with your daughter. Um, hello! That's pretty much awesome. My sister felt the same way, so we planned a very special Royal Princess Breakfast to watch the big event together with our own little princesses. We didn't watch it live; there are very, very few reasons to wake a child at 6am, and Royal-Wedding-watching is not one of those reasons. (What is, you ask? Leaving to go on a Disney vacation, for one...November needs to hurry up!) So we started our breakfast and the Today Show coverage we had recorded around 9:15 instead. The girls dressed up for the occasion, because duh - it was Princess Day!

My mom & I made princess crown cookies for each of the girls (chocolate sugar cookies, yummmm!) Brooke got to enjoy her very own cookie. This is one of my favorite pictures of her lately! (She got her princess jammies in her Easter basket - not for this occasion, but what perfect timing!)

She wasn't into the cookie so much, but clearly she loved the icing!

The anticipation was great while waiting for the princess to appear. Due to a small glitch, we ended up coming home just before the Big Event started. My sister tells me her girls were in heaven watching the princess get married, especially seeing her ride in her royal carriage. My little nugget cuddled with me on the couch and we watched the whole wedding together (she wasn't feeling great - tummy troubles - so she was extra cuddly this afternoon.)

Something tells me I won't forget about this wedding for a while. And not because of the royal procession and the crazy hats, but because of the lovely little girly day I had with my daughter, my princess.

Hop hop.

"Brooke, what does a bunny do?"
"Hop, hop." Then she bends her knees and bounces up and down. (Sadly, that's as far as it goes. No actual hopping, as she inherited her Mom's absent vertical leap.)

Brooke's 2nd Easter was a great day! Eggs were hunted, baskets were opened, yummy food was devoured. She took 2 glorious naps and was pretty angelic all day. It was such fun to experience it with her this year, through her excited little eyes. Watching her enjoy it in a hands-on way was incredible. In true mamarazzi style, I photographed most of it. And as is the usual these days, Brooke was too busy to look at me and smile. But I did capture a pretty sweet little grin post-egg hunt.

Mini-soapbox alert: I've read a lot of cynicism surrounding the extravagant celebration of Easter recently and it makes me feel like I have to justify my own celebration. I am well aware of the meaning behind Easter and our children will be well-versed in it, too. But, just like with Christmas, I don't feel that we can't still celebrate the holiday in a fun & exciting way. Growing up, my parents did an incredible job of making each holiday a magical time for us, and I plan to do the same for our kids. I want them to look forward to Easter and be excited for it, not just pass it off as "another holiday". And for the first few years, sure, it will likely be all about the toys and gifts they receive; but eventually, as I did, Brooke will understand the religious meaning and the real reason we make Easter such a celebration.

With all that being said, here's our little lady with her Easter basket. It was overflowing with books (including her 1st bible), bunny slippers, a Dora soccer ball, and some quite girly things (a new purse, bracelets, etc.) just to name a few. She tore through it quickly and enjoyed each and every little gift!

What is it about Easter grass and toddlers?

 This kid owns more shades than most adults :) 

And apparently she was so excited for Easter that she decided our usual wake-up time just wasn't early enough - she wanted to celebrate even longer, so we got up at 7:15 (not early for some, crazy early for Brooke & me.) Of course, I had THE plan-of-all-plans for Easter morning ready in order to get to Church 20 minutes early (an Easter Mass must), my very last attempt at fulfilling my Lenten promise of being on time. I even kept her up a little late the night before, with the hope that she might even sleep in. So that lovely early wake-up call threw me for a big loop. I was worried that Brooke would lose steam by 11:00 Mass, so we ended up adjusting our little schedule to fit in a quick morning nap. Amazingly, it was a success. We had breakfast, a bath, got her in her dress, did an egg hunt and opened her basket, put her back in her jammies, and back to bed she went. All by 9:15. An hour later, we were out the door in our Easter best and had a beautifully behaved toddler for the rest of the day!

(That paragraph, which probably overwhelmed you just reading it, is exactly how my mind works. Overkill, no? On a regular day when we have no plans, I'm totally a go-with-the-wind kind of Mama. On mornings when we have a time limit? Somewhere to be? I plan things out the night before to a T. I usually have contingency plans in place depending on what time she gets up. Easter morning, as I lay in bed listening to her over the monitor playing in her crib at 7:15, my wheels were spinning as to how to get everything accomplished and still have a pleasant toddler come lunch time. I feel like this insane brain explosion sums up motherhood pretty nicely.)

Happy Easter :)

Happy Easter from the Reeders!

The 4 of us hope you enjoyed your holiday weekend :)

I hate to say it, but that smile on my face is slightly forced. While I very much enjoyed celebrating this holiday with my family, I'm not feeling so hot. My back has decided to rebel the last few days. I have incredible lower back pain, & I seem to be overcompensating for it in such a way that my upper back (and really the rest of my body) is starting to ache, too. It's so bad that I had a heat patch stuck to my back under my Easter dress during Mass this morning... Hopefully the pain will subside before Brooke's tumbling class on Tuesday! (I've been meaning to blog about it. She's loving it so far, but it's very physically demanding/exhausting for Mommy!)

Here's where things are in Babyland:

How far along?: 22 weeks, 0 days.
Total weight gain/loss: Next week... 
Maternity clothes?: Can't wait for this rainy yo-yo weather to end. While I'm not looking forward to the heat, I am greatly looking forward to less confusing temperatures (one day it's 45, the next it's 70...make up your mind, Mother Nature!) The cotton skirts are just beckoning me from my closet, but the maternity jeans seem to keep winning out.
Sleep: Depends on the day, really. Some nights it's not bad and I sleep like a rock (with a bathroom break or 2 in there, of course.) Other nights I toss and turn like it's going out of style. I think I need more pillows now...
Movement: Holy cow is this baby moving! I'm convinced this kiddo is dancing already. Both Daddy & big sister Brooke got to feel some pretty big thumps today!
Food/Cravings: None to report. Cruisin' through these days; no more sickness - knock on wood - and no crazy cravings yet.
Gender: I really am convinced there's a little man in this belly. (That's a weird sentence.)
New w/pregnancy #2: The crippling back pain started a few weeks early this time. (Not to be confused with regular back pain, which started weeks ago - also earlier than last pregnancy.)
What I miss: My back from last week.
What I am looking forward to: Halloween with 2 dressed-up kiddos! Oh, imagine the costume possibilities! I better start thinking about it now.... :)
Best moment this week: Mmmmm, carrot cake.
Weekly Wisdom: Back pain blows. (Gee, I'm getting wiser as the weeks progress, aren't I?)
Milestones: Baby Reeder weighs about a pound now. Only 8+ lbs to go :)