Broken Bow

Spring Break went way too fast, of course! I am just grateful that I had time off with my little guy during the first half of the week, then we got to see my folks, then I had time JUST with my big guy! :) Grammy and Grumpy came up a day early to see a typical Reid day, then Jason and I were off on our fantastic voyage the next morning. We snuck out while Grammy read a book to Reid. It was last minute when we booked our cabin, but it was the perfect getaway for us! I forgot to get a picture of the inside, but it was just right...cabin, fire pit for roasting s'mores, hot tub to relax our over-used hiking muscles, and a very comfy bed. In fact, it kind of made me want to buy a new mattress!


We enjoyed great food at Abendigo's, wine tasting at Girls Gone Wine, and (of course!) great hiking. We saved our favorite 7 mile hike for our full day there. Much to our delight, a tiny waterfall had been discovered since our last visit.


Sadly, our next favorite (and a little easier) hike must have been the victim of a flash flood (?). Half the trail and one of the bridges to the other side of the stream were missing, but it was still beautiful.



Reid had to have a good outfit for Grammy and Grumpy--I couldn't resist a "this is your captain speaking" shirt. I'm sure it's one that Aunt LaLa picked up on one of their many cross global trips before they came back to Texas. She is so wonderful to have carted back many suitcases full of maternity clothes, baby items, and little boy clothing for us...all from overseas! I am just so glad we can now text from the same time zone instead of internationally, and I'm really looking forward to many visits over the summer. Jason and I loved our time away, but it was great to come back to this amazing little guy. God is truly good to entrust this wonderful little boy to our earthly care!

March

Our little guy is growing, growing, growing! He suddenly (well, suddenly for him since he'd been at 23 lbs. seemingly forever!) packed on some pounds. And of course, he also suddenly wants to be picked up for everything. It's sweet, but we're wondering why he didn't do this earlier in life, like most kids. Other things are growing, too! Hair...and I bravely bought some quiet clippers which I am hoping to learn how to use since toddler haircuts are $15! And he nearly has a full set of chompers. We are wondering if he is beginning to have those two year molars moving because he's back to biting me. (Jason's gotten to share a little bit of the fun this time around, too ;) Showing off his teeth:

He LOVES cell phones. I've downloaded a few games for him, but he doesn't quite seem to care too much about them...just wants to hold it, walk around with it, and pretend to be talking to someone.


We enjoyed a crawfish boil at Steven and Aimee's over the weekend. Reid was in love with this motorized car (thankfully, he didn't know it moved!) that was just his size.

Future Mr. Strongman contestant??

He also enjoyed checking out the live crawfish and wanted the ice chest opened several times so he could take a peek.


But when we went back indoors, that's when he thought he was in car heaven! He zoomed the cars over Papa, lined them up in little rows, played cars with Henry, and even enjoyed playing in the plastic car container.


The kids enjoyed hot dogs and sliders, but the main attraction for the adults was the delicious crawfish with all the fixings. Yum!


Back inside, Aunt Kristen became a jungle gym, Reid played with more cars, and Spiderman & Indiana Jones made an appearance.



Hayden's party was today, so Jason, Reid and I headed over there after church. The big boys played flag football, and Reid enjoyed wandering around on the bleachers. He loved this little tractor ride, but unfortunately it was broken. (and thankfully, Reid didn't know the difference)

Even managed to get a few shots where Reid somewhat cooperated...

And Reid's favorite song is still Katy Perry's "The One That Got Away." He's been singing it for a few months and we didn't even know! Holli, his wonderful sitter, said that he and Violet sing with a Katy Perry song in the car a lot, but it took until two weeks ago when the song came on and he began making his little "siren" noise for us to realize that it was THAT song. Now it cracks us up on a regular basis!

Spring Break!!

Yes, I have not posted anything in awhile. No, I am not trying to be a slacker. Last week was pure madness between Open House on Monday night, getting my grades and comments finalized and entered for report cards, scrambling to find a location and place to stay for a little getaway this week, and all the normal household duties that seem to drag on forever each week. But the good news? It's Spring Break!!! It's already been a great day and a half for Reid and me. (and to Jason, this is hopefully his Friday...if he doesn't get handed a bid at the last minute. He's taking time off, too!) I couldn't figure out why I was soooo tired yesterday...until I started rattling off all the things I'd already done by 4pm: enjoyed breakfast and fun with Reid, huge trip to the grocery store, cleaned/organized some things around the house, got two meals ready, ran to Lowe's, played with my favorite kid on Earth, planted flowers and weeded the yard, did a load of laundry, organized the pantry, packed our food for Broken Bow, then it was about that time that Jason called to see if I needed anything from the Asian market for our laksa (Singaporean dish my sis introduced me to while I was there the second time--love it!). I didn't realize it was already 4:30 and he was driving home! What a feeling of accomplishment. I felt kind of like Supermom :)

Sadly, our playgroup at the Arboretum was canceled yesterday, then our playdate this morning was, too. I know Reid is wondering what's going on since we haven't played with anyone (and I sure hope they all feel better!), but the good news is that Grammy and Grumpy should be arriving any moment. Jason and I are soooo excited because the grandparents are watching Reid so we can have a little getaway. It was kind of last minute, so our choices on where to go were limited, but it seemed fitting that we go up to Broken Bow, OK. We love the beautiful hiking trails there, plus there's a fabulous gourmet restaurant (yum!) and Girls Gone Wine, a cute little tasting room. Our cabin has a private hot tub and we have the makings for smores. Here's hoping for a happy, memory-filled, first time away from Reid mini-vacation. We are grateful for the opportunity! And yes, I will have pictures next time.

20 Months

It has been a season of sickness for this poor guy. He has had croup five times in the past six months, and had some nasty virus earlier this week that kept us home for three days. The doc finally decided to go ahead and put him on his (first!) round of antibiotics to get rid of any hidden cause of the lingering cough. As a bonus for us, it also causes other gastrointestinal issues. And the probiotic he recommended to go along with the antibiotic? $30. I just hope it all works and am thankful it's not worse.

On a happier note, I am absolutely amazed at what Reid can do and say these days. Kids are amazing little creatures! He hasn't seen Daddy mow the lawn in awhile since our grass doesn't really grow in the winter up here, but Reid was enthralled the last time Jason mowed (and ticked off at me since I wouldn't allow him outside to supervise more closely). Ever since then, he always wants to push around the (real) lawnmower in the garage. So he was delighted to get his own mower at Christmas. I figured it would lose its appeal being indoors, but so far it's still a fave. Eventually, we will really put bubbles in it and move it outside so he can mow the grass instead of the carpet. And yes, I'm sure this obsession won't last once he's in his teens and it's a chore!

Other favorite hobbies of our 20 month old? Re-arranging furniture...

...using utensils...or attempting to... The fork also doubles as a "dinglehopper" after seeing The Little Mermaid for the first time). It took a couple days of him brushing his hair with it (and me wondering what on earth he was doing!) before I realized that yes, he'd actually seen the cartoon characters doing that on the DVD.


...asserting his independence on walks. He now slides out of the stroller and insists on running around by himself or pushing the stroller into odd places. I'm actually pretty lucky when we make it out of the garage in the stroller... He loves his push trike (which is not so easy to push fast on long walks, like I do the stroller) and often climbs in it independently as soon as we exit the car each day.


...sleeping (often hiney up) in odd positions and letting us know if he does or does not want his sleep sack. I shudder to think of what we'll do when he outgrows this one, which is the largest I know of. He is finally taking a liking to a minky baby blanket I got out of the closet, but still doesn't actually like it on him at all.


...letting Daddy know when it's time for a horsey ride. (or Mommy, or his sweet sitter Holli who shared with me a few weeks ago that he comes and climbs on her sometimes if she bends down to do something!)

...or trying out Mommy and Daddy's things. He loves my jewelry (and I have several broken necklaces to prove it), brushing his hair with our brushes, trying to use my blush, and whatever else he sees us doing on a daily basis. But today, he had a new one:

His speech is coming along nicely. I am amazed at what he understands (and, unfortunately, often chooses to not do...even though he understands!) and can say now. The enunciation isn't quite there on a lot of things ("I want to see that" comes out more like "untaseedat") but much of the time we can generally get the drift. Favorite word? Cookie! Anytime the pantry opens, "Cookie? Cookie?"

And he still loves peekaboo. Lately, it's involved hiding in the curtains. Last week, he initiated it all by himself and thought it was absolutely hilarious. I was laughing so hard that I didn't even think about videoing it until he was finished, but later he did it again, so I got a few seconds.

Another fave? Lining up all his rolling things. I'm not sure if he has noticed we tend to put them all in the same general area when it's clean up time, or if he just took it upon himself to do it, but he ran them back and forth several times, carefully lining them up on each trip. He also has done this with his small toy cars at Holli's for awhile.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Yesterday was our playgroup's Valentine's party and card exchange. We girls know how to do it right, so there weren't actually any cards...just adorable goodies. Their little buckets couldn't hold everything. I wish I would have gotten a picture of the whole set up because Susan didn't miss a thing--there were three little tables with chairs, all set up with precious little Valentines activity mats and crayons, a Valentine's juice box, and two little snacks. On top of that, she had a large table complete with decorations, delectible goodies for us moms (can you say red velvet cake pops? Mmmm!!), and adorable Valentine's water bottles. But someone had to have my undivided attention because he was the first to arrive at his table.

"Mom, where are my friends?"

Reid's first Cheez-It. I think it was a success! He also liked the granola bar, but not as much as when I have one for breakfast. Guess stolen food is always tastier than getting it fair in square...





It was a great success... We actually arrived on time and Reid made it through an entire playgroup without a major meltdown. We were even one of the last to leave! He wasn't clingy except for a tiny bit at the very beginning. What a change! I know he is one of the two youngest (Kate, if you remember--his "first kiss" from March, is younger by a week) and it is always fun to see where he is headed by watching the other kids and getting great advice from the other moms. I'm looking forward to seeing them sans children at MNO (Mom's Night Out) this week, too!

Reid loves rearranging furniture and climbing anything and everything these days. I looked over two days ago and here's what I saw (notice the guilty look...he knows he isn't supposed to move the chairs). Eek! That's a long fall to the cold, hard floor if you look at the next pic.



And bath time these days is, well...interesting. Active, wet, splashy? It's a challenge to bathe him and feels kind of like a wrestling match. But then again, so does bedtime, diaper changing, and getting him dressed. I am one tired mommy at the end of the day after this little man and trying to teach 21 kindergarteners!


He loves bath time, but it's a challenge for us. But last night was pretty hilarious! He was cracking himself up (and us!) with his little duck waddle. Pardon the little "tinkle stick" flash in the middle...

Haircut...EEK!

So here's what our little guy has been up to lately. Diggin' for gold. Thankfully, SO FAR anyways, it only lasted about a week...sure it'll come back full force!!


And then there are those "new" teeth that have been coming in for two months, now. I swear the teething never stops. So far, two have broken. Still waiting on the other two canines (or whatever they're called)


So down to the serious stuff. Reid's hair has been driving me NUTS lately. It seriously takes longer than mine does in the mornings (not that mine is all that fantastic...ponytail every day!) because I have to totally wet it down numerous times. And then I usually just. give. up. Stupid me...thought a haircut might help. Ha! After we'd waited for an hour and a half (it was "toddler woddler Wednesday, so the haircuts were ONLY $12.95. Sheesh. But cheapest I can find for a kid place), we finally got the cut. I have to say--it wasn't quite as bad as the last time. He only screamed bloody murder for most of it, not all of it. So here's what we came away with:


I was in total denial at first. But it was all gelled up, which I never do (in retrospect, I'm thinking she did that to hide the unevenness!) and he just looked so...old! Nevertheless, we had to drag around Lammy when he got home. I bought this sheep when I was in Houston for my baby shower. He loves it!


The next morning, with all the gel washed out (note the unevenness on his right side) was a teensy bit better...


But that one side was still driving me crazy!! I busted out the scissors while he was eating dinner that night. Jason says that Reid has his hair, so it's a lost cause. But I will not cease to attempt some kind of "fix."

There. For now. At least this kid finally likes sippies!

Newest words? "Mmm!" (moon) He pretty much taught himself that one and notices the moon even when we don't see it right away. So naturally, Goodnight Moon has become the new favorite book. Today, "but-in" (button). And he suddenly waves hello to people (probably to make a liar out of me) as of yesterday. I've been trying to get him to do that for months. All it took was stopped at a drink stand yesterday--a couple of pretty girls, and Reid is all charm, smile, and waves of "hi!". (cutely enough, I discovered that one of my sweet girls from class lives right down the street from Holli) Love how he is learning something new each day!

Three Christmases...One Day!

The Christmas break went by waaaay too fast. I blinked, and it was over. But every second was wonderful! The first week was spent getting all the presents wrapped, the house cleaned, things organized, baking...aside from the day where I didn't feel well (and couldn't wait for Reid to nap, so that I could, too!), I didn't rest at all. The second week was spent traveling and seeing family. In retrospect, I probably should've broken this post into three rather than one very long one, but the pics were already uploaded, and that takes the most time...

Jason and I packed up the car on Friday night so that we could leave bright and early Saturday morning. By 7:15 (may not sound that early to you, but with a very active toddler, I was pretty proud of us!) we were on the road. Christmas Eve was spent enjoying time with Aunt Kristen, Mamere, and Papa, as soon as he was off from work. We all caught up while watching our crazy little guy (who almost didn't nap at all) run around. After riding in the golf cart, we enjoyed a yummy traditional dinner and then lounged around enjoying Christmas movies.

"Door! Why didn't I get to open it??"

On Christmas Day morning, we opened presents. Reid still didn't really get the whole 'rip off the paper--it's a gift!' thing, but he sure knew how to enjoy the toys! This one was a cute little truck that makes reactions and noises (even has facial features that move), then lets the little cars race out of the side.


But even more interesting than his gifts was the tree (or should I say, "Tee! Tee!" as Reid does?). Thankfully, Mamere thought ahead and had kid-proof ornaments. Reid was quite enamored with this one in particular.

Papa showed him some more up top...

I realized later that Mamere was so busy behind the scenes that I didn't get a picture of her with Reid. She cooked dinner, dessert, and breakfast, and wouldn't let us help clean up since we were guests. It was very sweet of her to let us be true guests and enjoy everything!

On to Aunt Laura's house for Christmas lunch! We swung by to get Grammy and Grumpy since they knew the way (and we tried out Grammy's new GPS that Santa brought). I should have taken a picture of the food spread--it was crazy good! All 12 of us enjoyed the delicious food...and kept on enjoying the delectable desserts the rest of the afternoon. Everyone did their own thing while Reid and Alex napped. Amanda showed us amazing pictures from her Machu Piccu trip, some napped, some watched a movie, some cleaned... then present unwrapping time was on! Reid got his very own big trucks which also apparently double as riding toys, by his own doing. Pretty sure the manufacturer didn't intend for them to do that. He loved moving them around and manipulating all the parts. The Kirkhams also were so sweet to get Reid his own gift box full of goodies, too, including Pez (his very first!), Eric Carle watercolors and book, a talking Cars car, and other goodies.

Aunt Laura and cousins Ben and Alex:

With people from both sides of their family, we had someone to take pictures! Here is the Shepherd side:

And the Kirkham side:

Reid stole some quality time with Grumpy over a snack. Grumpy would make silly noises and faces, then Reid would (attempt to) imitate or point.


One of Reid's favorite things that day was the new bubble machine Santa brought his cousins. I guess he heard the word "bubble" a couple of times because this boy was shouting "BUBBLE!" over and over. I didn't have extra clothes for him (nor did I want him to end up knocking over the bubble machine and spoiling the cousins' fun), so we enjoyed the bubbles from inside.

And then it was back to Grammy and Grumpy's for Christmas number three. It had been a long day and Reid had been a great little guy. We decided to let him open one present that evening and then enjoy the rest in the morning so he could fully appreciate them all. More cars! (Are you seeing a theme here?) These cute little cars are soft (yay for the walls, since he throws everything!), wind up to go, and some make neat jingly sounds, too.


And the next morning, more presents!! This was probably the most "in" to the unwrapping Reid got. I have a feeling that next year will be a little bit different...


But what did Reid like even more than his other gifts? My gift...a new stepstool! I have a feeling he knew it wasn't meant for climbing, but that didn't keep him from trying it out.


Jason left later that morning while Reid and I stayed one more night. It was fun for them to see a happy Reid since the times before this, he'd either been under the weather or just plain cranky...his norm. We enjoyed a nice dinner at Luby's since Jason isn't a fan, nor is there one in the McKinney area. A big treat for me! Tuesday morning, Laura came to pick up Reid and me for some sister/cousin time. We squeezed all three boys into the middle row. They were good little travelers. We stopped at a McDonald's halfway that has a play area (great for getting out some energy for the rest of the trip!) and they enjoyed movies on the portable DVD player.


Back in McKinney, we had naptime/snacktime/playtime and decided to take all the boys to the park. Jason had dropped off my car to get new tires (or so I thought!) so we went to pick it up. Little did I know he had "pimped my ride" with a DVD player and new stereo! So what do you do with three kids in the car while the technician explains everything to me? Have glamour shots and goofy pics!





Then we all headed to the park for some fun. Reid's new favorite has been the slide. He just can't get enough!

Alex loved the tightrope type thing. He wanted to do it over and over.

And Ben just did a little of everything. This park was great and had so much to do for a variety of ages. The second afternoon we were there, Jason and I even found a toddler area with a miniature version of things.

It turned out to be a beautiful, crisp evening...sunset and all.

And the next night, it was fun in the bathtub for all three cousins! Can't resist a few naked jaybirds! We took a million pics, but I think this one was the best:


Laura and the boys left so they could have some quiet family time before school started back up. We did the same, enjoying Jason's time off, too. And Reid's new trick? Dancing! He will dance for things (Cheerios, cheese) or to things, like his new Sesame Street Ipod from Aunt Laura (and pardon my singing...I always seem to forget that I need to just be quiet when I'm taping! But those songs just get stuck in your head!).