Peek a boo

Ugh...I miss those giggles and that big, sunny smile. Love you Reesie!

It's happened...

This morning I said to Daly, 'Come here, baby girl.'

'Moooom, I'm not a baby!!' she laughed.

I've been dreading that comment for three years and four months.

I'm sure this was just last week...

This was our first anniversary. Daly was 5 days old.

Technology

Here's my mom taking video with her iPhone, while Reese is Skyping with Daly and me {we were sharing some potato chips}. That dinging sound in the background? That's my phone going crazy, telling me Heather had just posted a bunch of pictures of Reese on Facebook. How bored and lonely would we be without all this technology?!

{And, speaking of technology, I was thoroughly amazed by it earlier today. I was writing an email and I intended to add an attachment. By the time I was finished typing, I has completely forgotten to attach the document.

When I clicked send, a little box popped up that said, "In your message you wrote 'I have attached...' but there isn't an attachment on this email. Would you like to add it now?" Incredible.}

My funny girl

As I lay here next to Daly, {she's slept with me every night since Ryan and Reese left...my girl is keeping her mama company, not the other way around} I've noticed that she is laying just like Ryan does. Head propped up on the pillow, right hand behind her head, elbow on the headboard pointing straight toward the sky. I love it. She also found his cologne bottle earlier and was pretending it was pepper spray {that's a story for another day!} so she smells like him too. It makes me smile, so happy that I have Daly with me, but I am missing Ryan and Reesie so much.

The great thing about this trip? I am really loving all the one-on-one time with Daly. We had a super fun day today with my friend, Bex, and her two boys, Bailey and Elijah. We went swimming at the Lido, then went to an indoor playground called Lollipops. {This no camera thing is killing me, but it's actually kind of nice just being present with my girl.}

So on our way from the pool to the playground, with all three kiddos in the backseat, Bailey asked his mom for a plaster {read: Band-aid} for the blister on his finger. We started talking about Bailey's 'plastah' {in my best Kiwi accent}.

Daly says, 'No, Mom...I don't want any pasta. I don't want to eat pasta!'

Then on the way home from the playground, the gas light turned on in the car. Bailey asked if we were going to stop and get petrol {read: gas}. On goes the conversation about petrol...

Daly: 'Yay! I want some pretzels too!'

I say it all the time, but man these girls make me laugh every single day.

Can you remember a time when Daly wasn't talking? Me neither. But here are some pictures to jog your memory. These are all from the last week of July...three years ago.

4 month old pictures.

{She's cuddling next to me with that same blanket as I type this.}

Daly still loves the bath this much. And smiles that same bright smile.

This is still one of my favorite pictures of these two.

It was such a special weekend for us.

Our first little vacation as a family of three.

Baby girl's first day at the beach {Avila}.

And I distinctly remember Daly holding her bottle by herself

for the first time as we sat on the beach together.

Unexpected

Two-thirds of my world is now halfway around the world. I am really excited that Ryan got the chance to take a team of high school girls to a basketball tournament in San Diego. And it does make me happy that Reese will get to spend lots of time with our family and friends.

It's pretty bittersweet for me, though, and slightly more bitter for Daly. I knew we would miss them A LOT, but I sure didn't expect to be this bummed out. We're probably 70% sad and 30% just plain jealous. {And the reasons we got left behind? My volleyball team is playing in a national qualifying tournament next weekend. If we don't make the top two there, we can't go to Nationals in August. And this will be Reese's last 'free' trip, so we took advantage of one more flight to the states with a 'lap baby'.}

Thanks for the mobile uploads, Mom and Heather.

Just hung up skype with my mom. As Daly and I are still bundled up in bed, we got to see Reese napping in just a diaper and a light blanket at the foot of my mom's bed. We heard about their breakfast on the beach, how hot it is outside, that Ryan had just taken the girls to Costco, and that our best friend Trisha had just stopped by. Okay, so maybe the sad/jealousy factor has become 50~50.

. . .

I sent my camera with Ryan to have the lenses repaired...and with it went my sd card with our most reese-ent adventures. So I'll warm up our external hard drive and this will be a week of flashbacks and reminiscing. But first, here are some photos from a trip to our local library a couple weeks ago.

We have been trying so hard to work on Daly's writing. She absolutely loves to draw. Treasure maps, happy faces, and family pictures are all well in her repertoire. But when it comes to writing {D, A, L, and Y have been the focus}, she just doesn't want anything to do with it. Here's Ryan trying to coerce gently guide her from drawing to writing.

This is the reaction we always get.

I love this huge city wall mural...and those curls.

The playground and the 'monstah'.

A few weeks ago, we followed the Jets up to New Plymouth for the final game of the regular season. The girls and I were lucky enough to get to drive up with our friend, Kat. We had such an awesome couple days together. Before the game, we found a great playground right next to the stadium.

Two of my favorite things in the whole world

{three if you count the sleeping}.

Our girls {and Ryan and I} are surrounded with so much love.

Trying to get the big, heavy, circle swing moving was a full body effort.

Baby girl woke up to play.

I'm head over heels for this plant we found in the park.

love love love

We walked over to the stadium...hoping for a Jets win.

{Unfortunately, it didn't happen, but the entertaining loss didn't keep us from the playoffs!}

Most of my focus was not on the basketball. It rarely is, unless we have a babysitter for game nights. Actually, with the help of Kat and other Jets fans in the stands, most of my focus wasn't even on wrangling the girls {which is the norm}. No, at this game, I had to keep my eyes on the opposing team's mascot. Let me introduce you to the Taranaki Mountainairs Yeti.

Pretty scary, you say, for a mascot that is supposed to be friends with the kids and motivate the fans? Yeah, I thought so too. I am not ashamed to say that, even as an adult, I was trying to avoid making eye contact so he would pass on by.

Daly told us over and over that she didn't want to give him a high five. Fair enough. Reese, who in most situations is a pretty confident little girl, was beyond scared of this 'monstah'. Every time she so much as saw the mascot, whether he was right in front of us or on the far side of the stadium, she would jump into my lap and start physically shaking. 'No monstah, Mommy, no monstah.'

So I kept diligent watch out for the scary monster mascot. Anytime I saw him coming close {or moving into Reese's line of vision} I would put my hand in front of her eyes, turn her around to look at the people behind us...anything I could do to divert her attention elsewhere. We finally settled on a more consistent form of distraction.

This is Kaden, Matt and Kelly TeHuna's little boy.

'Little Bill' is Reese's favorite cartoon.

Having episodes on the ipad is invaluable to us.

With the Yeti well out of view,

it was safe for the kiddos to cheer on their daddies!

Wordless Wednesday

It's Wordless Wednesday {well, not completely so}. Not because I need a cutesy theme, not because I'll necessarily keep up a theme like this weekly, not because I believe you'll get so lost in the photos that you won't need words to support them...

Just because we have one very sick little Daly, one spunky and healthier little Reese, and one exhausted stay-at-home Ryan -- I've reffed twelve volleyball matches in the last two days {four more tomorrow}...and my brain simply won't crank out any smart or funny words...

Sick sick sick.

We have got one sick girl on our hands.

I have been asking myself a question the last couple days. I wonder if it's easier to have one sick daughter, and one who's healthy...or if it's actually better when both are sick at the same time? Poor Daly doesn't really get why she can't taunt, poke, and mess with Reese the way she usually does. Why Reese is much crankier and less likely to want to play dress-up.

We're sure Daly will soon come down with whatever bug Reese has at the moment, prolonging all of our miseries. It might be nicer if they were both going through the sickies together, both down and out, both snotty and coughy. BUT, maybe it is a blessing to only have to cater to one little patient at a time.

Rainy day reading.

We've had quite a few rainy, windy days this past week. Reese has already figured out the best way to spend them....curled up on the couch with a warm blanket and her favorite book. (Dr. Seuss's ABC)