Visit with Santa

We weren't so sure how you would react to Santa... you ended up being indifferent. You sat exactly how Daddy placed you in his lap. You didn't cry. You didn't smile. You just sat there looking at all the adults (Lori, Ashley & myself) talking to you trying to make you smile. You held on tight to that tiny candy cane however. We forgot you had it until we heard you crunching the wrapper in the backseat on the way to Daddy's soccer game. Candy canes and jingle bells. They make you smile. Santa? Whatever.

Dec 6

Baby it's cold outside!

Dec 4 & 5

Reid & I spent the weekend putting up decorations and making it begin to look a lot like Christmas around here...

Dec 3rd

I gave Reid her stocking this morning and she played with the jingle bells for a good 20 minutes. She is already having a merry little Christmas.

Dec 2nd

Reid cuddles with Brett in her Christmas jammies...

24 days 'til Christmas

And Reid is already opening presents, courtesy of my Mom. Thanks for the warm clothes & cute shoes Grams!

Long overdue

I'm officially behind... in everything it seems! I have rejoined the work force and still trying to juggle working 40 hour weeks while being a wife and parent. Trying to determine what a successful working Mom looks like, so if you have any suggestions feel free to share... So far I have figured out what it DOESN'T look like. Not a clean house, home cooked meals, or restful evenings. I am very determined to be present in whatever moment I am in. Thankful for my husband, my daughter, and my patients.
Life continues to be good to us and we are so blessed. I am currently listening to Reid watch the Leafs game with her Daddy in the other room as I type this. She is starting to talk up a storm these days {just like her Mommy!}. She also drools more than anyone I've ever met! Too bad we can't harvest that stuff and use it to cure Parkinson's or ALS. :) And her belly laughs are completely contagious.
Reid is six months today! We celebrated by taking her on her first hike at Swayback Bridge. She loved being on her Daddy's back, enjoying the scenery & soaking up the sunshine. She also had rice cereal tonight, which was not a huge hit. We are pretty sure that 1/10 of what we fed her ended up in her tummy...!
Enjoy some pictures from our day:

Family

Last week Reid got to meet some very important people... you know when friends are so close and so good, they are family... Aunt Sumer & Aunt Jen came to town to play with Reid for a couple of days, and man did we have fun. It's been quite a few years since we have all been together and we certainly made up for lost time. I love how those relationships never change despite all the reasons they should {time, distance, life changes, etc.}. It was as if we had just seen each other last week. Because some things shouldn't change..! :) I love these girls and love that they travelled from Washington state & Honduras to spend some time together and meet my little one.

Aunt Sumer - surprisingly not wearing anything Buckeye-related

Aunt Jen multitasking :)

And last weekend took us to Uncle Nate's wedding in Birmingham. So proud of that guy! He really is like a little brother to me and I am loving the fact that his bride will be in school in the Birm for two more years so I can continue to see him :) The wedding was so sweet and so beautiful it made me want to run down the aisle and marry Brett all over again!

Mr. & Mrs.
{Karen~ You've got yourself one of the best!}

The Mitchell family

Nathan with his sisters

ALL the girls!

Growing & Growing

2 months

1 month

1 week

Our little bundle is growing bigger and bigger! She now weighs 9lbs 5oz but continues to wear newborn sized clothes? An entire dresser and closet FULL of clothes, thanks to the generosity of family & friends, are awaiting her chubbiness to continue so they can be worn!
I stole this idea from my friend Sara who took pictures of her boys with the same stuffed animal to document their growth progress on a regular basis. This teddy bear was given to Reid by her Daddy... which actually was a present I gave Brett when we were dating in highschool many moons ago! :)
She loves having her hands up by her face {as evidenced in ultrasound pictures as well}, sucks in her bottom lip, hiccups about 2-3 times a day (also another habit carried over from pregnancy), pulls her knees up as high as she can when she's on her back, makes eye contact, smiles so sweetly it melts your heart, and will coo back to you when you talk to her. She has also just recently started sleeping six consecutive hours at night, we're keeping our fingers crossed that it continues!
She is such a sweet addition to our family, we are both very much in love with her...