4 Months

...and  yet another month has come and gone.  Where the time goes....I haven't the slightest clue!  Reese reached the 4 month mark this past Saturday and my was it a busy month.  First there were Matt and Shell's wedding festivities, then my 1st Mother's Day (which, by the way was a great one and I have a beautiful blue topaz ring from my husband and daughter to remember it by), and I've gone back to work....sort of.  This post is all about Reese, so I don't want to bore you with too many of the details, but Graco (teutonia and Aprica, too) has contracted me to work on all of the details for the 2010 ABC Kids Expo in October in Las Vegas.  So part of my day is also dedicated to this, which makes things CRAZY BUSY!

So, back to Reese.  She is a growin' little girl.  We went to the doc yesterday and here are her stats:

Weight: 15 lbs 4 oz (85th percentile)

Height:  25 1/2" (90th percentile)

Becoming quite the "long chunk".  My mom calls her "chunky monkey".  She is really starting to have fun with her toys and of course everything goes straight to her mouth.  She continues to be quite the little chatter box, too!  The girl just doesn't quit...the only time she really sits still is when she's sleeping.  And speaking of sleeping, she doesn't want to miss a thing, keeping her up during the day more than the average baby.  She does sleep great at night though!

getting used to her entertainer...her favorite is for me to sing along with Old MacDonald

these are her two bff's

I recently bought her the Jump N Jive doorway jumper (the musical mat is awesome!), and I can't wait until she understands how to use it like Will  I'm a little biased about this product, too, because I worked on the commercialization plans for it while I was at Graco.

So, basically, we are just chuggin' along and loving our little lady more and more everyday.

Here she is lately....

with Daddy in the pool

in her float

enjoying an evening on the patio...note the bug on her cheek

loving the duckie

loving bathtime with Daddy

Bluebonnets

Yes, I know they have come and gone in our great state, but I did have Reese's first spring in the bluebonnets documented.  I mean what would life be like in Texas, without photos like these?  I would be a horrible mother if I didn't get some. And for those of you out-of-staters, the bluebonnet is Texas' state flower and every spring you see the sides of the highway littered with people taking pictures in them.  I'm proud to say that these are NOT on the side of the highway.

There was this great deal through Alicia Cargile Photography that I just couldn't pass up.  She was offering the sitting fee for $20 for bluebonnet shots and all of the proceeds went to the Brenham State School.  Hello!?, even if there was only 1 good shot, it would have been worth it.  Now the bad thing is, there really isn't a bad shot and we have to make some decisions.

Reese was only 2 months when these were taken, so sitting up in the bluebonnets on her own wasn't going to happen, so I had the bright idea to use this antique red rocking chair.  It was my grandmother's dad's and I think it really turned out to be a great prop!

These are a few of my faves.

Another House Divided

Last weekend, the time had finally come...Shelley and Matt's nuptials.  We've been looking forward to this for quite sometime, and let me tell you, the weekend did not disappoint.  There was literally no detail left undone. 

A quick history of this lovely couple, for those of you who don't know:

• Shelley: one of my besties from Texas Tech and Theta sister!
• Matt: friend of JP's from UT...they worked together for the football team while they were students and now Matt is Equipment Manager for UT Football

These two are so special to us and we are absolutely thrilled to have two great friends ready to spend the rest of their lives together.  And we must not forget, they are now members of the UT/Tech House Divided fraternity....woo hoo!!!!

Thursday: A fab Tex-Mex dinner at Matt's Famous El Rancho and then on to the Broken Spoke for a little two-steppin'.  Shell's fam was in from out of state so they enjoyed dance lessons, too!

Friday: The Bridesmaid's brunch at Iguana Grill overlooking the lake while the boys played golf at the UT Golf Club.  The spread was amazing...my fave was the fried eggs on top of toast and ham with poblano cream.  Of course, great margaritas for lunch on a Friday were all I needed to get the party started! 

Then we headed over to the Lakeway Resort to check in and get settled.  Of course, the highlight of Friday's festivities was the rehearsal dinner.  It was at the UT Club at DKR stadium and absolutely not one detail was left undone.  When we arrived by the provided transportation (awesome, I must say, to have a few drinks and not worry about who is driving home) we were greeted by Bevo himself.  Funny thing is there was quite a bit of foot traffic around the stadium and there were lots of crazies trying to get their pic with Bevo, but we kept shooing them out of the way, because really he was there for OUR party. 

Shelley had worked to get the Masked Rider there too, but Transfer of Reins to the new rider was 2 weeks prior and there was already a Tech event scheduled that day for the rider to be at.  Up in the club we were greeted with amazing decor sporting a tailgate theme and the godzillatron was in full effect congratulating Matt and Shelley. 

There was even a video toast recorded from Mack Brown himself given to the lovely couple.  I know it was so special for them!  We had drinks galore and feasted on typical tailgate fare with a slider bar...it was yummy!  Except for the venue of course being in Austin, everything was divided between Tech and UT.  Even the cocktail napkins were UT and Tech jerseys.  We ended the evening with a trip down to the field for a few pics and practicing our run through the endzone.  It was such a great party and of course a great primer for the big day.

Saturday: Pretty much consisted of a laid back morning and afternoon of gettin' ready, yummy food and mimosas.  It was just so fun to be in a wedding with so many other GREAT friends!  The wedding itself included another mention of the Rutherford "house divided".  The night was so "shelleyfied". Hot pink and orange lighting EVERYWHERE lit the entire venue overlooking Lake Travis, coupled with beautiful flowers and feathers.

Food was amazing...cedar plank salmon with dill, grilled veggies, pasta salad, broccoli salad, mashed potato bar complete with french fried onion strings, caviar and blue cheese, brisket sliders and mac and cheese!   Can I go back and get some more?  My only disappointment was not getting any dessert (wedding cake, of course, along with fried pies and Blue Bell homemade vanilla for the grooms cake) due to my gallivanting on the dance floor.  And my little lady was such a trooper all weekend...she didn't want to miss a thing!  I don't think she slept for more than 30 minutes at a time on Saturday and even those little cat naps were few and far between!

thanks to Maurer Party of Five for a great family photo!

"And after the show, it's the after par-tay, and after the par-tay, it's the hotel lobby..." And what would a great wedding weekend be without an exceptional after party!?  Honey was gracious enough to let Reese sleep in her room, so JP and I, accompanied by a tub of Cheesy Poofs (which Erika is kindly displaying) enjoyed the evening...errr morning to the wee hours.

Sunday: RECOVERY!

So here's to The Rutherford's (man, I'm gonna have to get used to that!)...may God bless you as you enjoy a lifetime of happiness and a very happy HOUSE DIVIDED.

5 Year Jaunt

Wow...time really does fly when you're having fun!  JP and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary last weekend and what an amazing ride these past 5 years have been, especially this past year as we welcomed Miss Reese into our lives.

We weren't quite ready to head off on a big trip without Reese, so we decided to just enjoy this great city we live in for the majority of our Saturday.  As we both mentioned earlier, Reese was well taken care of by the Beverly's, so we decided to jaunt around Austin and enjoy the beautiful day.  The rule was we couldn't go to any place we had been before...and we stuck to it!

Our first stop was the Shuck Shack on East Cesear Chavez.  Such a great outdoor place, complete with a bocce ball court and horseshoes.  We were really looking forward to some raw oysters and come to find out, their shucker doesn't arrive until 4:30, so no raw oysters until then.  Instead we had the ceviche, which was quite good.

Next stop, 2nd Street District.  We headed into Lambert's for a refreshing cocktail and their gourmet frito pie.  Let me just tell you that this thing is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! It's basically fritos, a little bit of brisket, goat cheese, homemade green chile queso and a little pico de gallo...I could have eaten 3 orders of it on my own!  Then we headed to La Condesa, which is supposed to be famous for their ceviche, but since we already had our ceviche fix at Shuck Shack we decided on the nachos.  They weren't your traditional nachos, but oh-so-tasty!

My friend, Megan (who recently moved to Austin) met up with us and since she lives downtown, we decided to go soak up the evening sun a bit on her rooftop pool.  It really has such an amazing view of Lady Bird Lake, the Congress bridge and the Austin skyline.  We hung out until the sun went down and even watched the bats fly...something we hadn't done yet, either.

that line in the sky are the bats

Finally, 9 o'clock rolls around and we figured we should probably go grab some dinner.  We decided on Vespaio on South Congress and it did not disappoint!  I think we got on the wait list around 20 minutes after 9 for a 45 minute wait, but luckily we were able to find a tall top in the bar a little sooner.  JP and I love sitting in the bar, but Reese is usually with us and it doesn't work so well with a baby, car seat, etc, so it was a treat!  The food was AMAZING!  They had a special of the day, which was gnocchi with a tomato cream sauce, avacado and lobster, but much to our dismay, they were sold out.  Of course, my wheels start turning (I was determined to taste this treat) and I'm thinking they are probably sold out because they were out of lobster, so I asked about just getting the gnocchi without the lobster and it worked!  Even better...they added shrimp to it!  JP and I shared that along with the veal saltimbocca.  Oh and how could I forget our awesome appetizer...just made fresh mozzarela on top of an artichoke puree and tomato puree served with foccacia bruschetta....DELECTABLE!

So, can you tell we are foodies?  A good cocktail or glass of wine accompanied by a good plate of food and conversation is all we need to celebrate and remind us of what an amazing 5 years it's been.  Love you, babe!

Buy Me Some Peanuts and Cracker Jacks

Heidi and I took Reese down to UFCU Disch-Falk Field to see the Texas Longhorn baseball currently ranked #2 in the country play a Saturday afternoon game against the Kansas Jayhawks.  AS always we hung out for a while in the left field corner with some friends...Reese hung out in the Baby Bjorn while daddy had an iced cold cocktail to get primed for the game...

When it was finally time to go grab a few innings from the seats, Reese was ready and eager to see what was going on...

The Hittin' Horns didn't disappoint my baby girl, and thus Reese is 1-0 at UT Baseball games...My little lucky charm!!!

This last weekend before setting off for a day of bar hopping, Heidi and I took in the Annual Brenham Day down at the Disch...Though we didn't stay long, we saw a lot of friends from Brenham and Washington County.

Otto Kemper and Ricky Seilheimer always make this event great for family and friends to come and hang out at the ballpark, even if you don't go into the game....

The Maurer's Party of Five were in attendance, of course, and we got to chat it up with them for a while.

Austin, Avery, and Caleb took a liking to Baby Reese and kept her company while we chatted with Wes and Jamie.

Finally it was time to go...Reese got to take in more baseball at Cousin Reed and Chase's baseball games in Pflugerville while Mom and Dad celebrated their 5th Anniversary downtown with a few stops at the Schuck Shack, La Condesa, and Lambert's (their Gourmet Frito Pie is AMAZING!!!) before have a very nice Italian dinner at Vespaio.  Here's to another 5 years, Babe! And another...  And another... And another....

3 Months

I'm sure you can all relate...you hear it time and time again, "they grow up so fast" and "love every minute because it goes by so fast".  Everyone who has ever uttered these words is absolutely right!  I cannot believe that Reese is already 3 months old--time really does fly by when you're having fun.

Speaking of fun...Miss Reese is more fun everyday.  We see a little more personality out of her everyday and quite honestly, she cracks us up!  She is quite the chatty little baby.  It will be interesting to see what she talks about once she actually has a vocabulary, because I can only imagine what she intends for all of her interesting sounds to be as they are today.  And I swear she is growing like a weed!  JP and I look at her some days and see noticeable differences from the day before...it's wild!  She really is putting on the baby chub and I love pinching that sweet meat! She is also learning new tricks everyday.  Last weekend Honey taught her to sit up on her own in the Boppy and boy is she proud little baby! She also loves sitting in her highchair and watching whatever I have going on in the kitchen...and tells me all about it, too!

Along with her 3 month birthday (last Thursday), Reese also experienced another first this weekend--her first sleepover (without the 'rents).  JP and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on Friday.  Our cousins (and friends), the Beverly's, were also begging us to babysit, so it was perfect timing.  We dropped Reese off around 1 pm on Saturday and didn't get her back until 2 pm on Sunday.  JP and I stayed in town, but sure enjoyed a beautiful afternoon and evening around the ATX hitting up a string of places we had never been to--it was a blast--more to come on our destinations a little later.  Reese enjoyed watching the Beverly boys' baseball games on Saturday, attending their school carnival and more baseball on Sunday--thank goodness she likes to be on-the-go!  We really enjoyed ourselves, but it sure was great to have our little lady back home on Sunday!

Here are a few pics of the little lady lately...

Girlin' It Up

As you recall, we did not know Reese was going to be Reese until she arrived, so I had planned a very gender neutral nursery. The beginnings of the nest may have been suitable for a boy or girl, but we've been girlin' it up ever since Miss Reese made her arrival.

The monogrammed panels you see in the pic were planned be it a boy or girl. I had all of the white and brown painted and complete before delivery day and had already planned to do the monogram in silver sage if IBP was a boy and pink for a girl. I also added painted ceramic pink and brown knobs to her dresser. That coupled with some of the awesome gifts Reese has recieved has made for an adorable little room.

So anyway, just wanted to share a few pics of Reese's girly nursery. It continues to evolve, so stay tuned to see the awesome hair bow holder Aunt Lauren made...as soon as I get it hung!

Paci on the Ground

Reese and I made up a new song today when she was sitting in her highchair, and proceeded to spit out her paci. It goes a little something like this...

(to the tune of the oh-so-famous "Pants on the Ground" from American Idol tryouts this year)

paci on the ground
paci on the ground
what we gonna do
with the paci on the ground

Reese just cracks up when I sing it to her...now I can't get it out of my head and JP is walking around the house singing it too!

A 105 Year Difference

We headed out to the ranch once again to celebrate the Easter holiday this year.  As always it was a great time with family and a great chance for a little R&R.  Aunt Cornelia came out for a visit on Friday and since we missed her the last time we were out there, it was her first time to meet Miss Reese, and it was so special!

Before I go any further, I need to give you all a quick history on Aunt Cornelia.  She turned 105 years old on January 18--WOW!  Yes, that is just 4 days difference from Reese's birthday, so they are almost exactly 105 years apart.  Aunt Cornelia never had any children, but her 16 nieces and nephews were the stand-in, and then the great nieces and nephews, and great great, and so on are all truly like her grandchildren and great-grand children to her.  PawPaw (my moms dad) was one of her nephews and they were always very close, so it was so special to see her with Reese and see another generation get to meet our matriarch.  Aunt Cornelia, along with her late husband, Albert, are also the party responsible for giving our family "The Ranch".  It is such a special place to us and we are so thankful for it!

5 generations (with Grandma standing in since PawPaw isn't with us)

Now, I have to tell you a bit about her visit and some of her remarks.  As can be expected with 105 years of life, she is a bit confused these days, so she did ask me a couple times, "is this your baby?".  She was really in awe of Miss Reese.  It was a fairly warm day and Reese was dressed in some play clothes (a onsie and pants), but Aunt C harped on the fact that she needed to be covered up with a blanket so that she would stay warm and not get sick.  Well, Reese is a little heater, and we kept a blanket on her to make Aunt C happy, but I have a feeling Reese was quite steamy.

On to her swing.  For part of the visit, Reese was sitting in her carseat, with it attached to the SnugGlider and swinging away.  She loves it and I do to!  Aunt C kept asking, "Is she getting dizzy?"...so cute...we kindly replied, "no, it's just like if we were rocking her in a rocking chair".

I just thought it was all quite humerous to hear her remarks and what was going through her mind pertaining to a baby and such and how it differes from my thoughts and the way we care for babies on a day-to-day basis.  What a difference 105 years makes!

A Lady Who Lunches

It's funny...I always admired the "ladies who lunch" when I was working hard and grabbing a quick bite somewhere before heading back to the grind.  Well, during my time off with Reese we've had a few chances to go out to lunch with friends and I must say it is quite enjoyable to have a nice little lunch outing in the middle of the day.

Last Thursday Reese finally got to meet Michele.  She had just flown in from NYC, Marita picked her up from the airport, then headed over to meet Reese and me for lunch at Hula Hut.  It was a beautiful day and Hula Hut was the perfect place to catch up on the patio, enjoy the awesome weather, and for Michele to get some much needed queso and a marg.  Thanks ladies for a lovely lunch!

So, I think I might start calling myself a "lady who lunches"...I could get used to it!

Michele meeting Reese for the first time

Marita finally getting to hold Reese

Lake Austin as the backdrop...one of my fave places!