WARNING: Baby Pictures May Cause Overuse of the Word "Cute"

I figure it's about time for some more Reece photos. The world needs a constant and updating supply of Reece pictures and it's my solemn responsibility to supply them. So here we go:

We have been practicing opening presents so that he can really burn through his presents on Christmas morning. He eventually opened this entire present and found, much to his surprise, a ball inside!

Our tree is, surprisingly, still intact. He hasn't broken one ornament or choked on one pine needle. He has certainly tried to do both of these things, but he's not quite fast enough yet.


Did I mention that he's adorable?

Christmas Destruction

It has been so fun to decorate our apartment for Christmas, and probably even more fun watching Reece destroy it all. His "crawl" is very unconventional but he is very fast and his reach is surprisingly high. Luckily he's not too interested in the Christmas ornaments or even the presents yet, though we expect that might change soon.

Hayley's Engaged!

So...my baby sister is engaged. She's not really a baby; she's 19. And I don't think I've ever even called her my "baby sister," but it makes it sound so much more dramatic that way. I'm so happy for her and she's so much more normal than I ever was when it comes to dating and relationships (I love you, Paul). She's so well-adjusted and not-crazy that really I'm just happy for her to have found a guy that apparently is amazing. I've never met him, but I guess he's perfect and wonderful and everything she's ever wanted. Plus his last name is Housekeeper, so Hayley will marry-morph from one noun into another, much more alliterative noun.Isn't she beautiful? He's a lucky guy.

I would like to be the first to extend a bloggable olive leaf to our new brother-in-law and say: Jess, you'd better take good care of my sister or I will hurt you. And with the necessary threats out of the way, welcome to the family! You're so lucky to have captured Hayley's heart. She's such a sweet, loving, empathetic person. She's a great listener and the best friend. I can't think of anyone who would make a better wife. She'll do everything she can to make you happy forever. I only wish I could marry her. Too bad I'm already married...and she's my sister...and that's weird.

So congratulations to the newly engaged couple! May you make many beautiful cousins for Reece (how's that for pressure?). Trashegofshi mire! (May you inherit well...standard Albanian wedding well-wishing...it makes sense, darn it). Hooray!

Best Christmas Picture EVER

We, of course, think that this is the best Santa picture of all time. We are up for the challenge, however, if you have adorable pictures of your kids with Santa that you want to showcase. Please let us know where we can see these pictures so everyone can benefit mutually from our/your beautiful kids. Reece, in his habit of loving strangers, took to Santa immediately. I guess you could say the adoration was mutual. I'm guessing Reece is on the "Good" list this year.

Also, we finally uploaded more pictures into our web albums. You can see pictures of Reece's wild mohawk, as well as our latest adventures in San Francisco with Tyler and Bryce, and some New York pictures with Markie.

Our Own Brand of Super Hero

Reece has been changing in crazy ways these last couple of weeks. He is almost crawling. He has been doing his army scoot for a couple weeks now (pulling himself with his arms and letting his little legs dangle behind; takes after his Grandpa Mel...for the army part, not the little legs part) and he even modified it so that he would turn in circles all across the floor. If he wanted something a foot in front of him, he'd turn in several 360 degree circles until he had scooted just far enough to reach it. Pretty funny kid. Well now he's starting to get the idea that he can also use his legs, so the crawling is imminent. This isn't the best video of him almost-crawling - he can make it pretty much all the way across a room - but he was tired this morning so we didn't want to push it too far. Please enjoy our little Reece-ster:



He also has two teeth. They are just coming in but they're hard to capture on film. I feel like he's getting super powers. He's got his super-bite now, enabling him to eat Cheerios and bananas more efficiently (who wouldn't consider that a super power?), and he's developing his super-crawl (a combo of arm pulling, sick 360s and cute mini leg scoots-see above video). And perhaps the most powerful of all, his super-charm. He will stare at women until they give him their attention, then just bask in his own cuteness. Reece's friend Nichelle (YMCA child care provider) said the other day, "He is adorable. I mean, all babies are cute, but he is adorable. Like, he should be in commercials." Reece has used his super power charms to win her over. Now he's the favorite baby at the Y and he gets people who don't even have kids stopping in just to woo him. Then two days ago we were at Wendy's and the manager brought us a FREE meal. He had been cooing over Reece and then BAM, free food. When does that ever happen at Wendy's? Thank you, Captain Charm.

If you're ever planning on visiting us you'd best be warned: Reece will have you wrapped around his little finger. And when he does, you'd better be careful: he bites.

Welcome to our Halloween-time

Every year that we lived in Los Angeles we would go to Disneyland at Halloween time. I even had my own song that I would sing for that special trip (see title of post). I really missed it this year, though I'm pretty sure Paul will never miss hearing that song, which only had the one line and which I would sing constantly for about a week. This year, though I really missed Disneyland, we did have Reece. And Reece is better than 1000 Disneylands.


Reece was a hot dog for Halloween (he requested it. I said "Don't you want to go as something more time-sensitive? Like dress up like Obama or Al Gore?" But again, he insisted on going as a little wiener). Paul and I dressed up as hot dog vendors, and we actually won his work costume competition. But with such a cute baby, it was kind of a shoe-in. We also had a little secret touch to our costumes, which was our custom logo that we ironed onto our hats and aprons:Please don't sue us, Wienerschnitzel. I promise nobody noticed, and my hard work of cutting and pasting in Paint was all for naught. Now for the real Weitzelschnitzel:


Paul also had his birthday this weekend (today, actually). He's now finally old enough to own a pair of feetsie pajamas (you know the baby pajamas with the little feet...yeah, those). He also got a hot dog cake to match our hot dog ensemble from yesterday. It didn't work out as pretty as I hoped, and we certainly can't eat it, as it's made of Twinkies and pound cake (we're trying to NOT die of pound cake overdose).



And finally just some cute pictures of Reece. I know that's what you really came for, but you get bonus points if you read this far...sucker.

Just Like Daddy

Despite my best efforts, Reece is taking after his dad. Sure, that's a good thing as far as ambitions and morals and being a great human being; but the video games, oh the video games! Fortunately, at least for right now, Reece is more interested in just chewing on the controller and cord rather than conquering beasts and perfecting a pix-elated character. But I fear that all too soon his Weitzel/Carr boy genes will take over and he will be lost forever.




(Side note: you can kinda see his mohawk in this second picture. It looks like a tuft of hair floating two inches above his head. It won't stay down even when we try, and it certainly gets a lot of attention from the ladies).

Go, Banana!

Just a cute video of Reece from today. I'll try to get more good pics of his radical mohawk. It's seriously two inches tall and totally natural. A lot of babies have to spend hours grooming to get that kind of killer hairdo. Not our baby. His hair just screams for attention, and oftentimes so does Reece. Usually, thank goodness, he is less likely to scream than to just stare people down until they fawn over him.




Here he is talking to Grandma Nancy on the phone. He always gets this look when he's on the phone, though he rarely makes a sound. You can also kinda see the mohawk here.



Reece loves loves loves Teddy Bear's Picnic (the original song, not the Internet Sensation version). It somehow ended up being his bedtime book/song. He gets so excited when we start to sing (Paul includes an opening fanfare each night so Reece starts flapping his arms and squealing when he hears the drumroll) and it is pretty much the only book that Reece doesn't try to eat as soon as he sees it. It's even worked as a calming ploy when we try to actually get him to sleep. He'll cuddle with his book. The book could be a bit more cuddly in return, but I'm sure with enough drool it'll end up nice and soft soon enough. For this video, I left Reece sitting in the middle of the bed, the book out of reach (I thought) and closed, and I came back to find him doing a little light reading.

Reece Today

Reece is 6 1/2 months old now and he just got a crib today. No more sleeping in a drawer for our little guy. He loves it so far, and I love that his bed no longer slopes toward the middle (play yards are fantastic, but his needed a bit of an upgrade). He also loves that his stuffed animals can all fit in his bed with him. So please do enjoy our little Reece-man.

Vacation Videos - Only 6 weeks late

So just a few videos from our trip. I know it's like a month later and it's kinda not relevant anymore. But it takes time to get to things, so here we go.

This first video is only representative of what happened with Reece everywhere we went. People LOVED him, especially the Italians. It was fun to watch, and we even (sometimes) got special perks because of it. Example: in Venice a couple gave us all-access passes to every museum because they thought Reece was cute. Unfortunately he cried in every one of them. Then in Florence's Uffizi, we got to go behind the little velvet ropes to get to the elevators and got to see the full 360 view of some famous sculptures (the actual thorn in the "Boy with the Thorn in his foot" or whatever it's called). We had tourists gawking at Reece instead of Michelangelo's David, and others pointing out Reece instead of admiring Galileo's actual finger (which we thought was pretty cool). This happened dozens of times a day, so when we left Italy Reece had been trained that if he looked at someone long enough, they would love up on him. He's still getting over that and will stare people down in the store. If they don't look back and smile, he yells at them. It's pretty funny and getting better.



This next video is from our drive through Switzerland. We were just amazed at how incredibly beautiful it was. Enjoy.




This video is halfway up Mount Pilatus in Lucerne, Switzerland. This was our favorite day of the trip.



And finally, just a little bit of French culture from our three hours we spent in Strasbourg. Sure Ryan and Liz actually live in France and can actually give you accurate accounts of the culture, food, people and music, but we aren't cool enough. So you get me singing Frere Jacques.

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait...but other things, like this post, also come to those who wait

I finally uploaded all of our trip photos and a few photos from September onto our web albums. Take a look if you're interested (and have time and/or desire to see about 500 photos). We love you! (Note: If you doubt that we actually love you because we don't know you, then we probably don't and you shouldn't be viewing this blog. If you think "maybe they love me because we are good friends and/or acquaintances," then you can probably assume that we do love you. If you still need reassurance, post a comment or call us and I will let you know on a more personal basis whether or not there is love. Again, the answer is probably 'yes').

We Made It!

We finally finally finally got moved in to our new place in Menlo Park. We have been here for 10 days now and just got our furniture two days ago. Then we just got internet today. So I officially feel like we've moved in. I even put up the first picture on the wall this morning. We did it! Paul started work on Monday and he's loving it. We are so happy to be here and feel so grateful to be done with school and have a great job. So let us know when you want to come visit. We have jelly bellies just waiting to be eaten.

Baby Mozart

Reece picked up this new trick while visiting Mozart's home town of Salzburg. We'll post more vacation pictures and videos later, but this couldn't wait.



It turns out most babies do this at some point or another. But Reece also loves it when we sing along to his music, and he loves when his dad plays the guitar. So yes, he is a musical genius.

Utah Vacation

Reece and I spent the last three weeks in Utah while Paul studied for and took his CA bar exam. He joined us halfway through our stay, and none too soon. We missed him like crazy and were so happy to be back together again. We loved seeing everybody that we could see and missed those that we couldn't (Ryan, Liz and Owen, we're talking about you). Though we're glad to be back in Los Angeles, we are definitely missing our family and friends.



The next big adventure is moving to Menlo Park in September, so start planning on when you're coming to visit us!

Peek-a-boo

Puke-tastic

I just found this picture of Reece from a couple weeks ago. Rolling in his own vomit is probably his favorite game.



And yesterday Reece learned how to suck on my chin. Don't ask me how he figured that one out.

Reece-a-Roni

Here are a couple of new Reece videos. What? You think we should have something else going on in our lives? How could we when our baby is so cute? So he's been doing these little laughs every once in a while but it's super hard to get in on camera. Mostly because he stops doing anything once he sees it. So here is just a taste of his cute little squeal laugh:




I love when Paul plays with Reece. It's just adorable:




And one more short game of peek-a-boo. Obviously it didn't catch on very well:


By the way, Paul takes the bar in three weeks, we just got back from Palm Springs for the fourth of July, and we recently bought tickets to Germany. We're celebrating Paul's graduation/taking the bar/possible last chance to take a vacation ever. We'll be traveling to Utah for a couple of weeks then heading to Europe for two weeks in August. Yipee!

Recent Reece

Reece is learning so many things so fast, it's hard to keep up. Right now (I mean right this second) he's talking to his toys. However, the video below is from a couple weeks ago. He's just learning this week how to grab them. He's been able to suck on his hands for a couple of weeks, but now he's getting to where he can suck on his toys (on purpose) without my help. He's also learning that if he kicks his little mobile, it will sing to him. He's already been quite the kicker, and this is just making him more so. I'm totally fine with all that kicking now that he's not inside my stomach. No problem at all now.

I'll just put a couple videos on here, and if you want to see more pictures just go to our web albums (link on the left). We've got some pictures in there of his blessing weekend, Paul's trip to Oregon (by the way, he got a clerkship with a judge in Portland starting fall of 2010 for a year), and just more cute Reece-ness. Enjoy!

ARIZONA! Featuring: Dave's family, Sedona and Grand Canyon

Just to make sure we start this blog right, here's some adorable Reece-ness (by the way, he is two months old today! Crazy!):
Now on to Arizona: After Paul graduated (yay!), we decided to take a little vacation to visit Dave and Teresa. It's one of our favorite vacations, and even though they're coming to California next week, we couldnt' resist making the trip. They were nice enough to let us come, especially on such short notice. We loved seeing Dave's work and playing with their kids. We wish we could have had more time with them, and I wish that I wouldn't have slept so much (I never thought I would say that). But super fun nonetheless.


Dueling babies.

Slide Rock, near Sedona. Much cooler than Grand Canyon, even though we got there just an hour before closing.


Although Grand Canyon was pretty cool, too.
Reece did pretty well for his first big road trip.

Paul Graduated!

Yahoo! Paul finally graduated from UCLA Law School! I am so proud of him. He has worked so hard for three years.

He got amazing grades, was the President of the Federalist Society (which was hardly even existent when he joined first year, but his third year he was in the top tier nationally in both quality and quantity of events. He got a personal note from the president of the national Federalist society congratulating him on a job well done. He hosted at least a dozen events with speakers and debates and had over 200 people at certain events). He made the moot court honors program, he had an externship with Judge Kozinski (like a clerkship but for law students), worked on a death row case with the DA of Van Nuys (the guy was eventually sentenced to death...how's that for success?), and most importantly Paul had a fantastic internship with Davis Polk & Wardwell in both Menlo Park, CA and New York, NY. Now he starts working for Davis Polk, Menlo Park in September and we are so excited to start his career.

I have to be the one to post this because he would never brag, but as his wife I am very happy to brag about him. He did all of this while serving as Elder's Quorum President, Second Counselor in a Bishopric, and now serving in the High Priest group leadership. He never studied on a Sunday, not even once. He certainly has been an amazing example to me of how hard work and faith can pay off in great ways. I'm so grateful to be married to such a stud (and not in the horse breeding kind of way). Way to go, babe!

Now he starts his bar classes on Monday and takes the bar in late July. Then he can achieve his dream of being called Dr. Paul Weitzel, Esquire. (By the way, I keep telling him that he's not a doctor, but he thinks it's funny, so I allow it). A big thanks to David and Hillary and kids for coming and taking great pictures and then babysitting so we could go to dinner. We love you guys!

Reece and Katie:
Mama and Reece:
All dressed up for the occasion:
Yahoo!

The only one not wearing his cap.
Molly and Katie with Uncle Paul:
Congrats, daddy!

Nah nah nah nah...Reece-Man!

He's getting cuter every day. It's hard to imagine, but true. I love his little coos and gurgles. he's much more active (meaning he likes to pull my hair when he gets the chance, and he can successfully remove my glasses from my face). Here are a couple of videos to prove his cuteness:


This was taken at 5 weeks old (Monday, April 19).


This was taken last Wednesday (April 22). He's such an angel.


This was taken today. He rolled over for the first time last Friday, and it took about 30 tries to get him on video today (hence his unhappy demeanor).

Cutest video ever

So Reece learned to smile.

Speed Reecer

Reece is now 26 days old. He's gained over a pound and over an inch. Also, his nicknames are constantly changing. I like Speed Reecer because I had a Speed Racer poster on my wall for about four years. Plus when Reece was on my team for Mario Kart, I won.

We are loving having him around. He is a very good baby and already likes to play little tricks on his mom and dad (like peeing on his dad three times while getting his diaper changed). Hilarious. Here are just a few newer pics:

This one is from his first week of life. He just looks so beautiful.

This one is a couple weeks old. I love his little mohawk.

This was taken today and shows his sticky face. It's sticky because one trick he likes to play is "Get milk all over my face by being a sporadic eater."


And of course, an adorable video.


This was taken last week. Those of you from Sanpete will notice the "Special Delivery" shirt from Sanpete Valley hospital. We have probably four of them that we inherited from either Dena's kids or Layne.

This is Paul living through his son. We've got the Dylan outfit and the guitar. We'll see if Reece can really fulfill his dad's dreams for him by loving Bob Dylan as much as Paul does.

Or not.