Christmas

To say the last week has been a marathon of celebrations is almost an understatement. Reed has been quite the social butterfly and is now a very experienced party hopper. It was a great week of spending time with friends and family and isn't even over yet, but I just had to start sharing some of the fun we've been having.

We started off our week of craziness by hosting an "Iron Chef" competition between our good friend Clint and Pepe last Thursday. Jon, Nonna, Clint's parents, and myself were the judges and although it ended in a tie we decided we all had won because the food was so amazingly good!

Reed preparing to be a judge for next year's competition

On Friday we started our Christmas festivities. First Reed and I went to Amanda's for a Christmas lunch with Lee.

Reed and his Aunties

After our yummy lunch we headed to my parents' house for some Christmas baking (we actually missed the baking and aw shucks just had to do the tasting) and to meet Aunt Laurie and Uncle Peter.

Reed and his Grand-Aunt Laurie

Our day of fun continued when we had dinner over at Chelsea and Drew's to celebrate Nonna's Birthday.

Reed loved Nonna's Birthday Hat

The next day was Christmas Eve and we spent part of the day over at Pepe and Nonna's having a nice McClarty/Ketelsen Christmas celebration.

We got back to our house just in time for my family to show up for our annual Minestrone dinner (Momma Joan does all of the cooking which makes hosting a pretty easy job).

It looks like the adults weren't the only ones that overate!

Two babies, too much fun!!!

After everyone left we picked up a bit and got the house ready for the next day . . . Reed's first Christmas. I really wanted to start the tradition of opening pajamas on Christmas Eve night, hopefully my kids won't hate me for this, but the thought of having an annual pajama picture is just too hard for me to resist, I got Jon to go along with the idea as long as we didn't have to have matching jammies.

1st Annual McClarty Pajama picture

We had told both sides of our family our plan to have a mellow Christmas morning at our house and if they wanted to come over they could. I think the baby was just too hard to stay away from, so we ended up doing breakfast for 11 adults. We didn't need to worry about entertainment - Reed and Annaliese took care of that.

Uncle Jon holding his niece for the first time

After everyone left we got ready and headed over to Aunt Penny and Uncle Mark's for the afternoon. The conversation once again centered around the two little ones and my cousins Melissa and Greg decided they feel more like an Aunt and Uncle to the babies so we came up with knew monikers for them . . . Auntie "M" and Hunky Greg!!!

Reed and his color-coordinated Auntie "M" and doing a good job distracting our hosts

The last stop of the day was Jon's Aunt Paula's house for the annual McClarty gift exchange. This side of the family has quite a few little ones. It was so much fun to see them running around and building a massive fort in the living room, I can't wait for Reed to be able to join in.

2nd Cousins

Pepe showing Reed off to Uncle Allan and Uncle Tim

On Monday the festivities continued when we got together to celebrate Papa's Birthday and since we weren't able to make it to Dos Palos on Christmas Eve we got to exchange presents with everyone too. Unfortunately I think I had tired of taking pictures by this point. I at least had Pepe take a picture of Papa and his Grandchildren (and Great Grandchild):

If this doesn't sum up how we felt after this crazy week,

I'm not sure what will

3 Months

3 Months

Holy Gargantuan Baby Batman, Reed is 3 Months old today! I feel like this month I finally have caught my breath a little bit. Yes he is still getting up twice a night, yes his naps and feeding are still a bit unpredictable, but at least parts of his day have fallen into place. I made two solo trips to Fresno with Reed this month as well as a Grandma assisted road trip to the coast. A month ago I would have never thought any of these would be possible.

Reed at 3 Months

Probably by no coincidence my two favorite times of day are the times when Reed is at his cutest, but also at his most predictable. First is his wake-up time somewhere around 6:00 to 7:00 am. He is usually in a great mood; smiles, lots of talking and stretching, and sometimes even a giggle or two. We usually do a quick diaper change, he nurses, then plays on his play mat while Dodger and I get breakfast. Usually after about 2 hours of being up he's ready for his first nap of the day. This is where everything goes out the window, sometimes it is 30 minutes and once in a great while it will be 2 hours long. Usually it falls around the 45 minute mark, at this point the slogan for most days becomes "It's Reed's world I just live in it!"

The Beginning of Reed's Day

My other favorite part of the day is bedtime. We have slowly worked into a bedtime routine that usually starts around 7:00 pm. Reed gets his bath, which he LOVES! He kicks and splashes like it's nobodies business. After about 10 minutes of playtime, I pull him out of his beloved tub and we head into his room for a little baby massage and to put his pajamas on. If he is looking sleepy we go straight for the swaddle and nursing, but if he is still pretty awake we do a little story time. If Jon is home he'll read to Reed, their current selection is World War Z (yes you read that correctly) and if not I'll read one of his board books to him. We go through his quilted family photo album and say goodnight to everyone and then it is one last meal before he's passed out.

Fresh out of the bath

I have to admit that Jon getting home is also a highlight of my day. He will usually take Reed so I can make dinner, walk the dog, or just have a little bit of time to myself. I think this is probably Reed's favorite part of the day. Dad is way more fun than Mom, because he does things like drum beats using Reed's arms and legs.

Reed and Dad practicing the drums

Monthly Statistics

Weight: 14 lbs 12 oz

Length: 24.5 inches

Head Circumference: 15.75 inches

Clothing Size: 3 month outfits are now way too small, and the 3-6 months tops are getting to look a bit like muscle shirts. 6 month onesies are fitting scarily well while the pants are all over the board. The 3-6 month bottoms are usually super tight, but still too long and the 6 month pants don't seem to get much bigger around just longer - so he ends up wearing a lot of cuffed/rolled up pants.

Can't live without: Baby Bjorn, Sound Machine, Play Mat, Miracle Blanket Swaddler, Bathtub, WubaNubs, and his "Soft Sheep"

Nicknames: Reedster, Reedcito, Baby Bear, Duder

Where/How Reed is sleeping: In his crib, swaddled, usually with one arm out

Eye Color: Blue with a ring of hazle/green on the inside

Favorite Moment: Reed mimicking what his Mom does by putting his "Soft Sheep" blanket up to his own cheek and rubbing his face in it.

Reed lovin' on his "Soft Sheep"

Milestones:
11/25/11 Reed becomes a Cousin
11/28/11 Grabs and Cuddles his Sheep Blanket
12/01/11 First Real Tears (When he headbutts Mom in the mouth)
12/09/11 Mom gets a giggle out of Reed by saying "Hi" over and over again
12/13/11 First overnight trip - went to the coast to meet Annaliese

Embarrassing Picture:

I would blame your Father for this one - it was his idea to call you Cupcake before you were born

Cousins!!!

On Tuesday Reed took his first road trip; Grandma, Mom, and Reed headed over to the coast to meet Miss Annaliese. Before the big trip though Reed got to meet another special someone on Monday, my childhood ballet teacher Julie.

I forgot my camera so had to make do with my cell phone - bummer!

It is amazing how much stuff you need to take with you for an overnight trip with a baby. Good thing Grandma has an SUV! Reed did great in the car, sleeping most of the way and entertaining himself with a rattle for the portions he was awake. After some road construction we finally made it to Grover Beach. Although it was a quickie trip it was so worth it. Besides meeting Annaliese and getting to see Kyle and Kari we also got to see one of my Mom's friends, Jill.

Reed loved playing with Jill Baby

Now on to the star of the week . . . Annaliese:

Proud Moms

I'm an Auntie

Baby Switch-a-roo

Uncle Kyle can't believe how big Reed has gotten

Proud Grandma

To precious for words

The expanded Gillette Family

Brody wants in on some of this baby lovin'

A Couple Quick Introductions

This is going to be a short post, but I'll have another, very special post, later this week. In the meantime, to keep Reed's picture hungry fans happy, here are a couple quick shots from Wednesday when we had a little get together at our house:

Meeting Clint for the first time

Ben's better half Molly holding Reed

Although these two have hung out with Reed before, it's been awhile and this was the first time they each got to hold him:

Deric practicing his baby holding skills

Isn't this an adorable picture of Lee and Reed?

What Reed Wore

Walking through kids stores I always thought the boys clothes were so cute, but I never gave much thought to how I wanted to dress our baby. Since we didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl we didn't buy many outfits ahead of time either. Reed has been pretty lucky to get so many adorable outfits as gifts and Mom has broken down a few times, unable to resist a cute outfit here and there. The problem is the little guy is growing like a weed and we've been going through clothes like crazy these first three months. This week I decided I would document Reed's "looks" so that at least a few outfits could get a moment in the spotlight.

The Classic

Tough Guy

The Worker Bee

(yes that is an HMC polo)

The Sophisticate

The Hippie

Penguins - need I say more?

Taking after Mom with his own Puffer Vest

The Military Man

(with some serious spit up to boot)

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