July 2011

July has flown by...I didn't even realize it'd been so long since I'd updated the blog. It's been so enjoyable (up until last week, when I worked all week and dropped Reid off at the sitter...leaving to "Mamaaaaa!!!!!" every day) Earlier this month, we took a little trip down to Katy to see Aunt Laura's new house. I learned the hard way that 13 months is NOT a fun age to travel and will not be doing a 6 hour trip by myself until Reid is older!! But it was fun once we were there and got to see everyone. I'm pretty sure Reid drove everyone crazy (including me, lol--he was into EVERYthing and I couldn't relax until he was in bed at night) and his cousins were sweet about it but weren't exactly sure why baby Reid got into everything.


The highlight of the trip? Ben's naked bike riding! We'd just gotten back from the pool (their neighborhood has a GREAT pool) and stripped everyone down. I had a really hard time taking the pictures because I was giggling so hard, but they came out pretty good. Ah, the innocence of kids!


Reid wanted to try, too, but he's a little small yet.


He played some sort of game involving the door and Alex. We adults weren't too sure of the rules, but the boys sure liked it!



I realized I don't have nearly enough sleeping pictures or nudie pictures of Reid (and he's getting to be more "little boy" and less "baby" each day, so don't want to miss out!). Jason caught me about a month ago...I just have to go in his room and check on him one more time at night. This picture was nap time, but how sweet are they when they sleep??


Last week/end, Daddy was gone for a bachelor party, came back for a day, then was gone for a fishing trip to New Orleans. I thought I would lose my mind with no adult interaction during that time (and Reid was ALL over the place 99% of the time)--glad Jason got to go have fun man time, but it was extremely difficult here on the home front!!! So Reid and I thought of everything we could do to play. He followed me into the garage one day and had a ball! I didn't think it'd be too bad, but he immediately went for the car tires. And then since he was already dirty, I figured what the heck--I might as well let him explore (highly supervised, of course). He was so ADHD that it was really hard to get a good picture that showed exactly how filthy he was, so this was about as good as it got.


So we had a nice little rinse in the sink before I disinfected it. He also enjoyed that.


He was already wet and still semi dirty, so I figured it was as good a day as any to explore in the yard before we headed to the pool to wash the rest of the filth off. I used to be really allergic to grass (and apparently still am--it makes me itch up a storm) so I was wary about him just running around in it, but he did just fine.

How cute is this pic??

And after the day's adventures were over, he escaped (for the first of many times, I'm sure) after his bath. When I caught up to him, he was dumping the contents of my bathroom drawers out, but did pose for this. Muscle man! I still don't understand how someone who wears SPF 50 can get a tan line better than mine!



He has been fascinated with blinds, so they've all been pulled up out of reach, which has created a new play place...window sills! He is now the perfect height to see out of most of them. I thought he wanted to see outside (which he does do sometimes), but he'd rather bring an object to hit/bounce around on it.


Everyone is always asking us where his shoes are (and really, he doesn't need any yet since he's not walking, but I didn't want him to look unkempt), so before church I wrestled Reid into these cute shoes that Ben and/or Alex wore. They looked adorable, but he didn't like them so much. Good thing he was the only one in his room of the nursery that day!


Reid has loved all of his birthday presents (not liked...LOVED!). He plays with the ball popper every day (thanks Aunt Laura and Taunt!), the trike every day (thanks Mamere and Papa!)-- even when it's too hot to go outside he pushes it around in the house, and we'd planned on getting him a wagon. But since he's still kind of little, I thought the Pottery Barn Kids everywhere chair (a quintessential kid must these days) would be even better for now. So thanks to Grammy, Grumpy, and Grandma Penny! Right now he enjoys climbing on it, but someday he'll enjoy sitting in it, too.


We went to visit my dear high school friend, Tyler, for an afternoon of yummy food and visiting. Reid loved her dog Sadie! It was hilarious!

And back at home yesterday, Reid was obsessed when Jason was mowing the yard. I finally found something fun to distract him (I didn't like us being outside with the mower, just in case) and even Dixie joined in on the fun, which is very rare these days. She usually just holds her ground and hisses when Reid comes near.

Playdates

The summer has been full of playdates for us. We have at least one a week, but usually two or three. I think it's good for Reid to socialize with other kids, but it also gets me out of the house and a little time around other adults. The best kid advice ever always comes from other mommies!

We went to the splash park in the Village at Fairview a couple weeks ago with Lacy (a teacher at my school--we bonded two years ago since our due dates were only a month apart) and her adorable daughter Violet. And can you think of a more perfect name for an art teacher's daughter?



Reid was still not a fan of the water, so I didn't even get a chance to take pictures in the fountains, but that has since changed. Jason and I took him back on Saturday after we had a burger next door and he actually played in the water! So on this day, we settled for snacks in the shade.



One of the girls in my playgroup is wonderful at finding neat places for little kids to go. She found Pump it Up, Jr. in Plano that has a "2 and under" time for little guys. Reid wasn't so sure at first...


But then when his buddy Jake arrive, the fun was on!



They also had a couple of cars, balls, etc. that he enjoyed. It was kind of hard to get him out of the car because he loved the steering wheel.


But this, by far, was the most entertaining thing!



We've had tons of other playdates, but either they're in the pool (and I'm afraid to ruin the camera/can't leave Reid) or we just get so busy that I forget to take pictures. They've all been so fun, and we're looking forward to some more!

4th of July

We were so fortunate that Great Grandma Will came all the way from Maryland to stay with us! This is the first great grandparent that Reid has gotten to meet, so we were quite excited that she was willing to take a little detour (she flew to Houston, then Dallas, then back to Houston the next day to visit the rest of the family) to come see us. Thankfully, Reid was pretty good (until bedtime, at least) when she came last Wednesday. But then on Thursday morning, he was a holy terror...screaming and crying for no apparent reason (laughingly we always say, "Could he be teething?" which seems to be the answer to everything, hahaha). Of course, I'd forgotten to take a picture the day before, so he didn't quite cooperate, but Grandma looks great!



The Fourth of July weekend was nice. We had a chance to enjoy some quality family time and even took a hike the morning of the Fourth. That afternoon was so hot that Reid needed a popsicle, which he loved.

"Hmmm...this stuff is cold!"

"How do I eat this, again? I've only had one in my life before..."

"Mom, I'd rather you get your hands sticky--I'll just eat it."

Our little firecracker (and boy, was he that afternoon!):

His new favorite trick? Emptying whatever happens to be at arm's reach in the pantry (or fridge, or cabinet, or shelf...need I go on?).



I'd also taken him to the park earlier that week so we could have a walk with new scenery. There also happen to be ducks and geese that are fun to feed, too. I gave Reid some bread to throw at the ducks, but he decided to eat his. Oddly enough, there was one snotty goose who would only drink water out of the doggie water fountain, not the pond. Hilarious!




He also loves to chase you to the back door, so we have to be careful when opening it (especially when coming back into the house, now). Of course, he didn't perform on demand here, but he was awfully proud of his clapping. It cracked me up the other day because I turned on the tv to find some music for us and the channel it happened to be on had "Family Feud" playing. All the people clapped for somebody's answer, so Reid clapped right along with them.

Our Little Junebug

June has flown by. I can't believe it will be July by the end of this week! I'm trying to not have the "mental countdown" going until school starts, like last year (I cried every single day at the thought of leaving Reid in just a few weeks), but to be greatly thankful for the time off that I can spend with him. Here are some of the things we have done so far this summer.

"Pleeeease, Mom...can we go to Italy?" Reid loves to fling magazines off of the coffee table. I have had to rethink my childproofing and put LOTS of things away for now, but I don't want him to think everything is off limits, so he gets by with that...



"What?? I need a haircut? And Daddy's gonna do it??" (and please note the onesy 'Hello, I'm Mr. Adorable'...couldn't pass that one up at Target last year!)



Oh, and Mommy's favorite (do you sense the sarcasm?)... Throwing food! Of all things, he managed to get a hold of an entire container of prunes, which ended up all over the floor, the tile, the fridge...you get the picture. Senor El Pruno:


And his mess! (No the carpet did not clean up well. Looks like our first casualty ala baby.)


Sporting the new haircut


And who could forget about all the cat terrorization? Reid is becoming a master of annoying Dixie. She just stands her ground and hisses (thank goodness for declawing!) Jason discovered that Reid has been saying their names (and we're not sure how long he's done this because Dixie is "Di" or "Dix" and Samson is "Sa" or "Sas") Here's what Samson does...and we're pretty sure he actually enjoys the torture.



And his newest trick? He can't walk yet, but he taught himself how to do the stairs! I showed him (one time) how to put his leg up onto the next step, and he was off! I couldn't believe how fast he went the very first day--tried to film it, but it was hard to do one handed so I had to wait for a day where Jason was home. I have tried to upload it for three days, but it won't :(

The Evolution of Crawling

So I was totally and completely worried that my son seemed to be the only 10 month old around who wasn't crawling. I probably wouldn't have worried too much, but at Reid's 9 month well check, our normally very laid back doctor informed me that if he wasn't crawling by 10 months, I needed to call and get the number for ECI (Early Childhood Intervention). Of course the teacher in me panicked once 10 months rolled around. I actually called about a week before he hit ten months, and it took an entire month after that for them to come out for an evaluation (my only complaint about them at all--the ECI program and people have been absolutely wonderful!!!). He did show a gross motor delay at that time, so he qualified. They come twice a month to "play" (at least that's what Reid thinks we're doing) and the best part is that it's at our house so that he's in his own familiar, comfy environment. Here's how the "crawling" started off, back at 10 months. I called it his "funky" crawl.



And then it progressed to this a few weeks later...




And became the "inchworm" about a week after that.




And finally, voila! Army crawling.



A few weeks later, the traditional crawl! At first, he would only crawl traditionally if he were going a short distance and he'd army crawl everywhere else. Now, he traditionally crawls everywhere unless he's on tile/wood floors (army crawling is still much faster sometimes, he's realized) or is really tired. And just as of this week, he can put it into "hypercrawl" mode if he's feeling pretty spunky, such as when he's chasing one of the poor kitties or being chased by Mommy or Daddy. So fun! Haven't gotten that on video just yet. And looking back...yes, I am thankful he wasn't mobile until later. He is now into EVERYthing!!

Reid's First Birthday Party

Still not sure where his first year went, but I have been busy planning this little guy's first birthday party for a week. All the cutesy "party packages" were very tempting, but being that he won't remember any of this later on, I decided to invest in the trusty ol' dollar store for decorations. Turns out that I should have gotten the balloons there, too, instead of going to the ghetto Kroger in Conroe (took a good 30 minutes and the balloons were deflated the next morning even though they were a dollar a piece!). But who can have a kids' birthday party without balloons? I was happy Reid enjoyed them so much...

The birthday boy's throne:

I couldn't scrimp on the cake... It HAD to be Randalls :) I was slightly disappointed that they had no white cakes with the yummy, crusty white icing, so Papa French lucked out with his fave--chocolate with white icing. It was delicious, though!

The birthday boy and Mommy

Our little family

Adding the final touch (a birthday bib) before chow down time...

3...2...1... Ick!! Reid didn't enjoy his cake at all! He whined when he realized it was sticky and stuck to him...


...so I tried spoon feeding it to him, thinking that would be more enjoyable. But apparently he doesn't have a sweet tooth (yet, anyways!). Still not a fan of cake.


Cousins Alex and Ben were so cute and thoroughly enjoyed the "Happy Birthday" song as they waited very patiently for cake.


The whole crew. It was fun! Hopefully, next year he will enjoy it a little bit more :)

1 Year Old!!!

So our little guy is one year old as of Friday!!! I had quite a shock when I opened up my weekly Babycenter email and it said, "Your toddler, week 1" instead of "your baby..." like always. Eek!




He's grown up soooo fast, and I feel soooo guilty about having to work and missing out on so much his first year. It's crazy to think back to June 3, 2010 at 3am, when it all began! I missed the last day of school, so the very end of this year was kind of surreal. Here's a look back in pictures... (and I couldn't resist this first one since it says how his first b-day went! Hopefully his little party will be better) I tried to get them all lying down, but it got increasingly harder as he became more mobile. That's why some of them aren't the best ;) From about 7 months on, I also got one of him sitting up, but you can't really compare the leg length as well that way.

Not a single day goes by (and they go so quickly!!) where Jason and I don't count our blessings. Reid has not been the easiest baby on the planet, by far, but we wouldn't change it for the world! We love our little gift from God :)