Reese ...On the Move

More Pieces

Here are a few pictures from the past couple of weeks. Reese is growing faster than our ability to blog it all. Stay tuned for some quick videos to follow. Enjoy...

See, proof that underneath those cheeks there actually IS a neck!


Deep in thought


Here is our other daughter, (the dirty one)


Here's Reese with her Great Grandma Messal

Faux Hawk

The hair is a gettin' longer. Here is Reese post-dinner, pre-bath...it's amazing what a little applesauce'll do for the coiffure.

Picture of the Day, No Picture of the Year!

If this picture don't get yer grinnin' goin'...Yer happy must be broke!

Random Pieces

We know you all love the pictures, and some of you may even prefer it if we offered them up sans colloquy...Well this post is for you. Below are some random images that we thought were befitting bestowment...enjoy.

Following the Gator Gallop, Reese watched the floats pass by during the UF Homecoming parade.

The Nugget perfects her pimp strut with the assistance of her new 'mail cart'.

This photo, taken a month ago, is just plain ol' cute!

Editor's Note: Any of these images can be viewed in a larger format simply by clicking on the photo.

Life's a Beach

It's a hard life being halfway through your sixth month of living...spending your days being waited on, entertained and cared for by a couple of warm, thoughtful and good-looking parents. Hungry?, they feed you...Tired?, they'll lay you down for a nap...Gotta poop?, no worries, just expel it into your pants and they'll clean it up later. Life aint bad!

Top all of that off with a trip to the beach. Sand, surf, tiki bars, fancy hotels, swanky restaurants...funny thing is I don't remember any of those things, but I do recall getting lots of rest...Ahh, aint life great?!

Below are some pictures from my trip to Bradenton Beach. The first one is me doing some 'four-wheelin' on the beach, followed by a raucous time at the Tiki Bar (where I promply passed out from all the partying). Enjoy.

Reese

A piece of the Pretzel

What do you do while driving three hours to the beach while your wife and daughter listen to a children's "sing-a-long" CD with 44 tracks on it? You nibble your way through a big bag of pretzels which results in this.

Breakin' off a Piece...

...of sweet potato
"Sure, give the 6 month old some solid 'adult' food. Just give her one bite at a time on her tray so she can develop hand-eye-mouth coordination." said the pediatritian.

It's amazing how far a 6 month old can stretch one bite of sweet potato. Reese stretched it all the way from the back of her head to her eyebrows to her chest to the dinner table to the floor. How's that for coordination?

Editors Note: Reese IS perfectly capable of picking up food, and bringing it to her mouth...she just has more fun painting with it!

Pieces of Halloween

Due to an overwhelmingly large amount of requests for pictures from Halloween...we proudly present to you, photos of our 'Chicken Nugget'...enjoy.

A milk cow and a cute little chicken frolick lovingly on Messal farms


The Chicken Nugget sits upon her perch awaiting trick-or-treaters


The Nugget gazes curiously into the Milk cow's eyes and wonders if she is her Mommy


"Do you know where my Mommy is?"


The little Punkin in the Punkin patch awaiting to be picked [up].

Catching up with Reese...

Well, it's been almost a full month since our last entry and we've been busy. Our home computer has been slowly running out of storage space due in part to the copious amounts of photos and videos that we've been weighing it down with as if it was a pack mule setting off on a cross-country excursion. With a new external hard-drive in place, we're now galloping smoothly along like a thoroughbred en route to the triple crown.

I'm now going to diligently populate this blog with a few of the "Reese's Pieces" that you've missed in the last month. I'll start with:

Reese's New Kicks:
No self-respecting father is going to let their child wear any type of athletic attire without a good pair of sneakers. A Gator cheerleading outfit and a pair of butterfly sandals just don't jive. So we took a trip to the Kid's Footlocker in the mall. The result was a slick lil' pair of Nike 'Shox' (I highly doubt that there is anything that would remotely resemble a shock in these shoes).

Reese loves the shoes and they add a great deal of stability while she is attempting to stand. The best thing about the shoes, according to Reese, is the taste. I haven't taken a nibble, but judging by her eagerness to open mouth and insert shoe, they must taste great.


No Likey Peas
Our daughter hasn't met too many types of food in her short life that she hasn't liked, or at least tolerated enough to fill her little belly. But when it came to peas, Reese's little tastebuds just couldn't handle it. Instead of crafting the image of the event with words, here is a series of photos that will better illustrate her reaction.

•1• The dreaded peas

•2• Just prior to contact

•3• The reaction

Recent Photos of the Nugget

Reese enjoying herself at Uncle John's tailgate before the UF vs. Tenn game (9-15-07)

Rockin' the orange & blue while ExerSaucin' it

Little miss Jet-Set during one of the six flights she's taken in the past 3 weeks

Reese having lunch at Connie's Deli in Auburn, NY (9-27-07)

Reese and Dad catching up with SportsCenter from the Springside Inn in Auburn, NY (9-27-07)

Little Homie

Paul saw this hat and decided it was a "must have." I have to say it might be the best $1.50 we've ever spent. How cute is this child! She lets us play dress up with no complaints. Maybe she knows how cute she looks!

Watching TV

Ok, so lots of people are against letting babies watch TV, but if the baby enjoys it, what's the harm?!?
In all seriousness, Reese has a favorite video, Baby Einsteins, Baby's First Moves, which will draw her undivided attention for the entire length of the video. I swear she's taking notes and learning how to "jump" "crawl" and "sit up"! For those who've seen the video, you know what I mean!

PlayGroup

Message from Jen:
Ok, my attempt to download a video of Reese at her playdate...
We had about 10 babies in one room (at this point, the playdates are more for us moms than for the babies, but it's so cute to see them start to notice each other). We were trying to line all the babies up in front of the couch for a group picture, but that just wasn't working. Reese who is sitting up very well could not keep from falling into her friend, so as you see, she's now just lying on her back kicking with joy!

On another note, Reese has learned how to get herself into a sitting position. She can go from her tummy onto her butt. She still struggles and squakes her annoyance, but she's getting there!

What a pretty face...

Reese at Bathtime

I know I've said this before, but my baby is getting so big. She just recently upgraded her infant bath to an inflatable duckie tub (thanks to the Musalo's). She really enjoys the ability to sit up and when she falls she hits an air mattress rather than hard plastic. The only down side is that she has more room to fall face first into the water (as I learned last night!) What a scare!!! She plays with her little rubber duckie and when it swims out of reach she always tries to grab it. Well, if she grabs it, she usually leans on it and PLOP, face first in the water. Luckily I caught her, but she did inhale some water. Reese is such a mild tempered baby, though, not one cry. Just a few deep breaths and than back to trying to stuff the entire rubber duckie into her mouth!

Jen's Attempt to post

This is my first attempt to blog...I have a lot to say, but am just not too computer savy! Since our last post we've been VERY busy. Between work, traveling and tailgating we've barely had time to just relax!

We took Reese on her first plane ride the weekend after labor day. Paul and I were extremely anxious, but I doubt Reese even realized we were 30,000 feet off the ground! Of course, the child who will go days without pooping had a case of diareah (I know TMI, but whatever, new moms love to talk about poop). Besides having her first accident in her bed the night before we had to leave by 5:30 am, she chose to go as soon as the plane took off. Poor Paul changed her in the tiny bathroom WITHOUT a changing table. I can just picture his 6'2" frame having a hard enough time fitting into those tiny stalls let alone trying to change a squirming childs diaper. At any rate, we had lovely accomodations at casa del zellen and really enjoyed spending time with great-grandma and all the family. I wish everyone lived closer!

I tried to attach a picture of Reese with her Uncle James...for all you gator fans, don't be too upset. As Paul and I said, "when in rome!" Besides, she was just being nice to her Uncle!

Reese at the Swamp

Well, Reese may have been the youngest Gator fan in attendance this past Saturday as the Gators took on the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. The almost 90 degree heat was made worse by the 500% humidity, but Reese stayed cool with her hand-held fan and her shady location in the south endzone. Although the heat wasn't a problem, the noise level didn't agree with Reese.

As the Gators ran out of the tunnel to the cheers of the Gator Nation, the tone for the day was set (pun intended). Apparently, Reese only likes it when she's the one screaming, not those around her...something she'll no doubt have to get used to as there are many more Gator games in her future (but we'll probably wait til the end of the season when the temp. isn't at a heat index of 110 degress!)

We managed to enjoy our time at the game, and Reese settled into the gameday revelry...she even managed a nap just before halftime.

We've put together a short video of the day's events...enjoy.

Gettin' ready for gameday

Reese will be attending her first Gator Game on Saturday when the University of Florida takes on Western Kentucky right here in Gaines-vegas! Reese is very excited and can't wait to experience the pageantry of being at the Swamp with her closest 90,000 friends as the defending National Champions take the field!

This outfit is for 12 month olds, but Reese isn't too far from filling it out completely. With all of the tailgate food and beer this season, she'll probably be ready for an XL #15 jersey by the time we play FSU.

Picture of the Day

Nugget* containment



* for those of you that don't know, Reese is affectionately referred to as 'Nugget' by her Mom and her Dad

Giggles

For some reason, Reese gets the biggest kick out of feeling my face when I haven't shaven...enjoy.



The audio only version can be heard here. Copy the link, and listen to it whenever you'd like.

Picture of the Day

Reese laying in her Pack-n-Play while visiting MeMaw and Poppy

Picture of the Day

Reese sitting up, enjoying her cousins at her uncle Brett's 40th birthday party this past weekend.

"Larger-Baby"

This past weekend Jen and I had to finally adjust the harness position of Reese's carseat to accommodate our growing baby girl. We moved the straps up to the top slot, re-fastened everything and thought that we'd be good to go. The shoulder-straps were now in a good position, however, the waist straps were too short to comfortably contain Reese's belly.

Trying to figure out some of these "baby apparatuses" seems to require a mechanical engineering degree...or at least breaking down and looking at the directions. So we dug into our over-stuffed file folder containing warrantees, product information and directions to all the "baby apparatuses" we own.

After quickly thumbing through the carseat manual, we realized that we'd need to "Lengthen waist straps for a LARGER baby". Apparently our pediatrician wasn't exaggerating when she told us that Reese's weight and length put her in the 97th percentile of babies her age.

Don't let this be a one-sided conversation...

Now that we've finally made this site public (and by public we mean private to just you select friends and family) we're going to be a bit more dedicated to keeping up with posts. Check back often and then check back again...and when you do, be sure to leave your comments.

As much as you all like reading and viewing what is (and what will be) on this blog, we like reading your responses. I know, I know...some of you are shy when it comes to expressing your thoughts and feelings in a public forum (and by public we mean private to just you select friends and family), but rest assured that there are only a few privileged members of this highly sought-after membership.

We're greatly looking forward to everything you have to say!

Music Video

Clips of Reese that were shot between the ages of 2-4 months.
Song titled Bubbly, by Colbie Caillat.

Our little sunflower

Just filling in the Pieces

Welcome to A Little Piece of Reese. This is a private site for friends and family to see how our daughter is growing. Pictures, stories and random tid-bits from the life and times of Reese Addison Messal.

Check in as often as you'd like to experiance Reese's growth through our words, videos and pictures. We hope to make this site as interseting to you as our lives with Reese are. Enjoy...

Proof it wasn't the milk man

originally posted on 5count 5-23-07

As those of you with children already know, people like to assign parental characteristics to newborn babies; i.e., "Oh she's got Jane's eyes, or, "Little Billy sure has his dad's nose, or, "He must be Tom's kid, they both have the same huge ears"...you know what I'm talking about.

This is a topic that has come up numerous times since the birth of my daughter. BUT, I've always maintained that babies look like babies. Sure they all have their differences, but I'm talking about the proportions of a baby. All I'm saying is that any judgements as to if the newborn looks more like the mom or the dad should be withheld until the child reaches between 4-6 months of age.

To this point, most friends and family have said that my daughter looks more like her mom (which is fine with me, my wife is super cute), BUT there is one little characteristic that everyone has agreed is all me. That's right, there is an undeniable feature which we both share that proves the Milk Man had nothing to do with her conception...no, I'm not referring to our farting habits, I'm talking about our "Lip Dimples".

I was mildly unaware of my Lip Dimples prior to my daughter's arrival. I always thought that everyone had them, mine were just slightly more pronounced. The similarities might be slight, but I'll take it. I've gone ahead and put together a magnified comparison of my lower lip/chin and the lower lip/chin of my daughter (I'm the one with the 5 o'clock shadow...if I didn't mention it, one of you yahoos would've). See for your self:



There you have it...undeniable proof. We'll check back after a few more months to see what other similarities surface.

Being a Dad...by the numbers

***Originally posted on 5count 4-27-07

I have recently entered into the realm of fatherhood. My daughter, Reese, was born on the thirteenth of April, two thousand and seven. How's it been going?...I'll give you the numbers:

8 - number of pounds Reese weighed
13 - number of ounces Reese weighed in addition to the 8 lbs.
21.5 - number of inches long Reese was at birth
2 - number of hours I slept on the day Reese was born
3 - number of hours I slept the day after Reese was born
4 - number of times I've been spit up on in the past 2 weeks
8 - numbers of hours spent on the bike in the past 2 weeks
252 - number of hours spent staring at Reese in the past 2 weeks
3 - number of episodes of 'Live with Regis & Kelly' I've watched while on vacation in the past 2 weeks
3 - number of times we've filled our Diaper Genie II
0 - number of times I've prepared a home cooked meal since Reese's arrival
5,000 - number of congratulatory emails, text messages, phone calls, visits and gifts we've received in the past 2 weeks (THANKS)
10 - number of trips to pick up take out in the past 2 weeks.
24 - number of different onesies/pajamas Reese has worn in the past 2 weeks
50 - number of time per day I wash/sanatize my hands
10 - number of fingers and toes (each) on Reese (long monkey toes at that)
24 - number of years before Reese will be allowed to date.