Christmas Card 2008

It's that time of year again. Yep, the time that I try and keep up with modern trends by creating an E-Christmas card. (And once again keep up with one of my favorite traditions of sending a card in the mail. I like both, and I try to make them different so that those of you who's address I have won't get bored).

Here we go:

The A&W 2008 Christmas Card!

Sorry it's so tardy this year.

Happy Four!

Today is Reese's four-month birthday, and William and Anna's four-year anniversary. Yay for us!

Four Months

Four Years

Dresses

There are two things that I have, so far, been able to count on 100% when it comes to Reese in dresses. #1: She will pull up the skirt and try to stuff it in her mouth. #2: If we are at church, she will have a blow-out and get poop all over it.

She couldn't get the skirt so she's going for the collar. This dress has a hood, which makes it fairly easy.

3 Month Reese

Three months old today. Here are some things about Shareese.

loves her mobile . gets excited when Daddy comes home . only likes short 'tummy time' . always smiles on the changing table . gets sharp finger nails . wiggles . tries to laugh . has beautiful blue eyes . fuzzy hair that's growing back . startles when someone sneezes . almost holds her head up straight . called "Ms. Grumpy Pants" when fusses for no reason . called "Angel" when her normal, happy self . tries to eat her dresses . always blows out at church. likes walks with Mama . usually feeds six times per day . sleeps through the night a lot . loves her binki . learning to suck on her fingers . chunky thighs . happy in the rocker . tries to talk . loved by her family .

Clip People

I just created clip-art pictures of the doctors at Spinal Interventions. I think they're good enough that it would be rude to keep them to myself. Especially since Dr. Faber is my dad.

So here they are:

Dr. Peterson

Dr. Faber

Babble

This past week Reesey has really started babbling. She likes to tell stories and sing and is delighted when we babble back at her. She was one of the best singers during the opening song in Relief Society on Sunday.... and during the opening prayer.

Little Bit of talk

Don't Smile

I wasn't going to blog tonight, but I have to record something that made me laugh.
We came home from a visit to Will's parent's house right around ten p.m. and Reesey was asleep in her car seat. I was hoping that she would stay sleepy while I fed her and would go right to sleep again. You all know that wasn't really going to happen. But when she was done feeding I wrapped her in a blanket and she actually was sleepy-eyed, so I put her in her crib, thinking that she would be able to get to sleep.
About ten minutes later, after Will and I were finished the weekly family blog-checking, I walked past Reesey's door and heard a loud sucking noise.
"She's awake," I said to Will. "She's sucking her fingers."
Will replied, "Good, maybe she'll suck herself to sleep."
Reese subsequently made some upset/crying noises.
"I think it's your turn," I said to Will.
"I don't want to go in there!" Will exclaimed, "She'll smile at me!"
When I started laughing at how absurd that argument sounded, he defended himself with a (quite serious) "What? You know she will."
-Which made me laugh even harder.

You see, when Reesey is in her crib and not happy, she is delighted to see Mommy or Daddy come to her rescue. The problem is, she'll start smiling when she merely sees one of us, before any amount of rescuing has taken place. This is a huge problem because we feel obligated to perform the action that she already seems to be thanking us for (picking her up). Thus, we both have a significant problem enforcing bed time when she does this.

It's been two and a half months and she's already got us both wrapped around her tiny finger.

"I don't want to go in there- She'll smile at me!"

Bath Time

Here's some Reesey since I don't have any exciting news.

The sound she is making in this video is one of her "I like this" sounds. I love it.

The Legend Of Sleepy Baby

Kaylie, my cousin Jason's wife, gave Reese a cute pumpkin costume. If you recall, she was wearing it in the pictures of our ward Halloween party. Will was wearing his Kermit costume and carrying around our little pumpkin Reese under his arm, and mentioned that he should have been the headless horseman and then Reese could be his "head". I thought that would be a fabulous idea. But then what would I be? The horse, of course!

I started looking around for a headless horseman and a horse costume. Unfortunately, the only headless horseman costumes I could find were online, and ran around $80, not including shipping. I thought at least I would be able to find a horse costume around locally, but it appears that a horse is not a popular costume. I decided I would have to sew a cape for Will. I then began to look for a large stuffed horse that I could turn the head in to a hat or something, but Savers only had little stuffed animal horses.

I was scrambling the week of Halloween, I couldn't figure out how I was going to do the horse and the cape. The only hope I had was the fact that all Halloween stuff was 50% off since Halloween was so close. I was at K-mart when I found this monk costume and the wheels started turning in my head. "A monk?" you ask? That's right.

The monk costume had two important features: A horse-color body and a hood. A hood with plenty of material to sculpt into a horse head. I bought cheap black fabric and buttons, used some scraps that I had at home (and some fake eyelashes) and went to work.

They took a while to make, me having only the picture in my head and no patterns and all, but the costumes turned out even better than I had hoped. The only sad thing is that I didn't get the costumes done in time to enter any contests. I was pretty proud.

I have a couple more pictures in a web album. I really think that Will and Reese were the hit of the evening, though, and the entire ensemble cost us less than $20:

08 Sleepy Hollow costumes

2008 Pumpkin Carving!

Our friends, the Riggins, invited us over for a pumpkin-carving family night. They purchased pumkins for us and everything, and it was so much fun!

Will and Britt pumpkin-carving

Me and the pumpkin

Bret finished his pumpkin and played with Reese

The crew and our pumpkins

The pumpkins and an extra head

Bret: Boston Red Sox logo

Will: classic face

Anna: Cat

Britt: spider and web

Reese (Anna did this one): Bat, light-bright style

Sharon Park 8th Ward Halloween

Our church did a Halloween party tonight. There was a chili cook-off and a Trunk-or-Treat (named such because it is traditionally set up in such a way that various volunteers use a trunk or box to set up a station inside the church gym where little kids can go trick-or-treat at. We used the classrooms around the church rather than having volunteers bring trunks.) I've been playing hooky from Relief Society for the past two weeks for a couple of reasons, so I didn't find out until this week that we were supposed to wear costumes to the party.
Luckily, my cousin's wife, Kaylie, got Reese an adorable pumpkin costume. It's for a 1-year-old, but still looks cute. I pulled out our costumes from last year, made some tweaks and viola! It was a fun night.

We were lucky that my sister, Megan, asked to borrow the Kermit accessories or we wouldn't have had them out for Will to wear again.

Cutest pumpkin at the party!

I thought about dressing Reese as Fozzy Bear to continue the Muppet theme, but I didn't have time. I just hope that our real Halloween costumes come together by the 31st....

Animal Mobile

Reese was too little to appreciate the mobile that hangs over her crib when we first brought her home. The other day I turned it on for her and lo and behold, she loved it! She even smiled at it. When it ran out of steam I wounded it up again. The first time, the sound of me winding startled her, but the second time I wounded it, she got excited as if she knew that meant it would spin and play music again. I'm delighted that something can hold her atention.

Short and Sweet- Reese Enjoys Her Mobile:

Picture Day

Grrr. I tried so hard. I carefully scheduled Reese's meals all day so that she would eat just before going to the photography studio. We changed her diaper while we were there. We talked to her, sang to her, smiled at her, but she didn't smile back. She should have been dry and sated and happy, but instead was tired and grumpy and fussy. After a while I gave up the hope of getting a picture with her smiling and was simply hoping for a picture with her not obviously wailing. We went hope tired and somewhat discouraged. I hope most of the pictures turn out okay.

We got home and it was time to change the diaper again. The changing table must be a happy place for her, because she began smiling and wide-mouthed grinning and cooing. I rolled my eyes, but it was too difficult to be frustrated at such a cute face. I suppose I can't help it if she's happier in a place that I associate with poop than a place I associate with memories.

"I love the changing table, Mom!"

I have a grandpa that thinks she isn't really smiling, that the appearance of a smile is just "colic". I've got news for you grandpa, this girl can smile for real and gets excited, too.

Reese in one of her picture outfits. I'll post a copy of professional ones if any turn out good enough to share here. Will made the comment that, though Reese had three wardrobe changes during the photo sitting, all of her clothes were hand-me-downs or gifts. Hooray for cousins and baby showers!

Baking With Baby

Biscuits and gravy are one of Will's favorite meals. Normally a breakfast dish, it shows up more often in the evening at the Will and Anna Heath home. This is the first time I've baked since Shareese came along. I strapped her on because she was in one of those moods where watching from the sidelines is just not good enough for her. Then I had a dilemma: How to get the ingredients in the bowl instead of on the baby? A combination of wide, swooping arm movements and an apron outer-layer seems to have done the trick. I get the feeling this is only the begining of many adventures in the new "doing things with baby" chapter of my life.

I didn't even get flour all over the place!

The baby-and-apron combo

Happy Birthday

My birthday is October 8, and for the first time it honestly snuck up on me. Usually I can see it coming at least a couple weeks in advance, but I was surprised to find that it was a few days away when William asked me what I wanted. I guess I've just been wrapped up in a lot of other things lately. I haven't really been keeping track of how old I am, anyway, so I guess it's not a huge deal.

A birthday cake was served during the festivities following Reese's blessing, and I gave permission for it to be cut before we got a picture of the whole cake.

Later, we celebrated with candles in a pecan pie. Mmmm... Happy birthday to me.

Blessing Day

Sunday, October 12, Shareese was given a special blessing by her dad. Friends and family were there to support and celebrate this precious baby and the prospect of her eternal future. After church we had a get-together with food and socializing. This is the first time I got to host a family gathering, (meaning I did the planning and invitations and the food prep. It will still be a while before I actually live in a home large enough to fit so many people.)

Though administered with a real power, the blessing hasn't stopped frequent fussing, leaky diapers or 3:00 am feedings, but it has helped me to appreciate the love of family, friends, and Heavenly Father. For sure I love both Reese and spending time at gatherings of loved ones, so obviously I thought this was super-fun.

Our little family with Reese in her blessing dress (thanks, Ellie!)

Bret holding Reese for a photo-op by her "Welcome Reese" cake.

Those who stood in the blessing circle.

(Reese's) Great Grandpa Dorian Faber, Great Grandpa Paul Heath, Grandpa James Heath, Daddy William Heath (holding baby Reese), Grandpa Daniel Faber, Great Grandpa Austin Christensen, Uncle P. Howard Heath.

I feel so lucky to have had this group of patriarchs participate in Shareese's special day.

Reese's Blessing Day Album

Reese Blessing Day

Showing Off

Not the most exciting week at the Reese Heath home. Reese went with us to a family night with friends Britt and Bret. And this past weekend we listened to conference. Not much more worth mentioning. We're still working out daily schedules and trying to get by.

Showing off her smile after a blowout

Showing off her good luck as she helps Daddy win Chutes and Ladders

Showing off her social skills as she hangs with Bret

Showing off her strong neck

Showing off her Grandpa Faber

One Month Older And Wiser, Too

Reese seems to be getting so big so fast. (Above: Will in the green shirt was taken a day or two after hospital discharge, Will in the Grey shirt was taken today) She was four weeks old this past thursday, and today is her official one-month birthday. A landmark this past week is she grew out of her first outfit that was too big for her at birth. She's also getting pretty good at holding her head up, even though she sometimes looks like a bobble-head doll.

This week the woman in the extended Heath family threw Reese a baby shower. I requested that this party occur after her birth so that more people would be able to see her as little as she is than probably would have been able to otherwise. Thanks to Aunt Sally for generously hosting the get-together.

One gift was an infant rocker. This chair is fabulous. It slides on the carpet easily, so now I can drag Reese to whatever part of the apartment I'm at and I don't have to pick her up if she's fallen asleep. If I'm cooking, I can drag her to the kitchen entrance. If I have to do laundry, I can drag her to the laundry room. If I'm putting on my face, I can drag her to the bathroom. So much for a rocker, they should advertise this thing as a sled.

A very helpful neighbor, Cheri Brewer, lent us some mittens to keep Reese from scratching her face. Yesterday Cheri asked me how they were working and I gave her the thumbs up. Then today Reese decided to take advantage of her mitten-less-ness on the way to church and gave herself a nose scratch. Rats.

This video isn't very exciting, but I thought that I would post it anyway to keep a memory of Reese and her cousin, Katie. Actually I think Reese sneezes towards the end, so that's pretty exciting.

To me, this video is slightly mroe exciting, if you can tell that she's holding her head up by herself.

They Grow Up Too Fast- Not Quite A Month Old

Today I tried to put an outfit on Reese that was pretty big on her the day we brought her home from the hospital. It didn't fit anymore. How in the world did she get to big so fast?

Reese and her cousin, Lillie. Lillie is about 6 months older than Reese. You can't tell very well from this picture, but when they were side-by-side, Lillie looked twice as big as Reese. Do they really grow that much in such a short time?

I don't know why she's so shy; I think that the dress is adorable. (It's also courtesy of a Gymboree gift card given to her by aunt Melissa- Thanks!)

Happy BYU football season! Due to the game, a lot of my mom's family was in town and we had a game-day party. That's when I got this great four-generation shot. Great-grandma Evelyn Christensen, Grandma Leah Faber, Mom Anna Heath and Baby Shareese Heath.

Our Bishop challenged us to get to the temple at least once per week. When we were very first married, this is a feat that we actually accomplished. Things have gotten a little more complicated since then....

Luckily, you can still visit the temple without spending an hour or two doing ordinances, so that's what we did, and we brought Reese along.

Reese obviously enjoyed the sweet spirit of the temple grounds, as evidenced by her peaceful expression.

Then again expressions don't say everything.

On Sunday we made it all the way up to Bountiful to attend the mission report of Reese's first cousin once removed, Justin Faber. He just came home from the Accra, Ghana mission. During his mission, he sent great emails with stories about eating dog (and keeping large portions of it in the freezer) catching Malaria multiple times, and sweet conversion and baptism stories.

Reese got passed around because she's so popular. Here she is with Great-grandma Faber.

And here's Buck, Justin's food storage.