Reed's Favorite Things in Action

Another one of Reed's favorite things is getting tossed in the air by Mom and Dad.

Reed's Favorite Things!!!

So I had planned on this week's post being about Reed's eating habits, what solid foods he loves, what we are getting ready to try, etc., but in our ongoing battle against constipation he was put on a breast milk only diet for the last week, and thus a different theme for this week emerged. Reed definitely has some go to favorite toys - here are just a few:

Board Books - his new favorite skill is turning pages

Nothing can put a smile on Reed's face like seeing Dodger the Dog

Baby's First Blocks - The Blocks, The Bucket, The Lid, he loves them all

Reed thinks Llama Llama is better to eat than to cuddle with

He would stand holding on to the ottomans all day if he could

After a hiatus the play mat has again become a popular place to play

Reed LOVES napping with his Soft Sheep

Woodours Bear - a new favorite

Under the Sea Spin Toy inherited from the Roberts Family

Reed says "DaDa"???

Reed has really started to babble in the last few days and while it isn't uncommon for a kid his age to be able to say "DaDa" they aren't usually able to associate the word with the actual person for another month or two. I don't think there is any argument as to what Reed is saying in the video, but I will leave it up to you to decide if he actually knows who he is talking about.

7 Months

Where to begin? I can't believe Reed is closer to 1 year than to being a newborn! A few weeks ago I was thinking that while he had mastered a few things, we hadn't had any really big "milestones" this month. Boy did that change! The last two weeks have been filled with firsts for our little man. It is so crazy to wake-up to a baby that has literally developed a new skill overnight.

We have had a lot of ups and downs in the sleep department this month. Reed has gotten so much better at napping. He's down to two naps a day most days, but they are usually around an hour and half in length and we have had a couple two hour plus naps, which are marvelous. It seems when he sleeps longer during the day he also sleeps better at night. It is kind of counterintuitive but I think it is because if something is bothering him during the day it is also bothering him at night. This month the two big culprits have been teething and constipation. Five nights ago he woke just once at 3:15 am, the next night, just once at 4:30 am, the next night he slept through the night, and then the last two nights I was up and down with him all night. The thing is, he is a great sleeper and is pretty good at putting himself to sleep and back to sleep when he wakes up most of the time, but if something is bothering him he screams and cries and will absoultely not calm down (we've tried letting him cry-it-out for up to 15 minutes) unless he has Mom to cuddle with.

Now that we have so many "monthly pics" I'm going to stop posting all of them each month. Instead I will just post his newborn shot and the picture from six months prior which will have been taken in the same location as the current month. And you can of course go over to our "Monthly Reed" page to see all of them, anytime you would like.

Newborn

1 Month

7 Months

One big development this month was Reed's ability to hold himself up in a sitting position. This has opened up a whole new world of fun things to do. I mentioned using a restaurant high chair in a prior post, but this week we've added picnicking and riding in a shopping cart to our list of regular activities.

Picnic lunch with Auntie "M" and Auntie Amanda

Picnic with Mom and Dad in the front yard

Just chillin' like a big boy in the shopping cart

Monthly Statistics

Weight: 19 lbs 7 oz

Length: Sorry they didn't measure him at the Doctor's office today and I don't have the energy to wrestle with the little guy tonight.

Head Circumference: 16.75 cm

Clothing Size: He is wearing a lot of 9 month and 6-12 month clothes during the day. His pajamas are all 9 or 12 months.

Can't live without: Baby Bjorn, BOB stroller, Baby DeeDee Sleeping Bag, Soft Sheep, Graco High Chair, Munchkin Fresh Food Feeder,  ZoLi Bot Sippy Cup, Fisher Price Baby's First Blocks, any of his touch-and-feel board books.

Nicknames: Reedster, Reedcito, Buddy Bear, Honey Bear, or just "Bear" in general, Monkey, Wiggle Worm.

Where/How Reed is sleeping: I always lay him down on his back but he almost immediately rolls to his left side or onto his stomach.

Eye Color: Hazel with a thin ring of blue on the outside

Favorite Moment: It was so hard to pick just one moment this month, there really have been so many great things we've shared with the little guy during this seventh month. I let Jon have the final say and I completely agree with his reasoning that while there have been a lot of firsts the coolest thing has been watching him develop his eating skills. He has gone from hardly being able to pick up food and getting very little into his actual mouth to being able to feed himself peas with a developing pincher grasp and use a "pre-loaded" spoon to feed himself pear and apple sauces.

Milestones:
03/29/12   Stands from Mom's lap using the ottoman to pull-up to standing
04/05/12   First Solid Poop - we are still in an ongoing constipation battle
04/09/12   First time in a restaurant high chair
04/09/12   First bath in a real bathtub
04/10/12   First time spending two nights away from home
04/10/12   Tries juice for the first time (in an attempt to help with our constipation problem)
04/13/12   We order a back-up Soft Sheep after declaring him Reed's official "Lovey"
04/14/12   Reed's first time spending the night away from Mom
04/17/12   Reed starts to babble
04/20/12   Reed learns how to "click" his tongue
04/20/12   Reed truly sleeps through the night for the first time (7:45 pm - 6:15 am)
04/21/12   We swear we hear Reed say "DaDa" several times
04/21/12   First ride in a shopping cart

Embarrassing Picture: Technically it is a unisex sleep sack but we do quite regularly refer to it as Reed's sleep dress.

Sitting Up

Sometimes I think we put too much focus on "firsts" and don't take the time to appreciate when a baby has mastered a skill. In honor of that sentiment this week's video isn't very exciting, but it is what Reed does all of the time now - Holds himself up sitting!

Road Trippin'

Last week was full of milestones for Reed. I was so impressed and proud of how our little man handled all of the new experiences we threw at him, he really is a great kid!

On Monday, after all of our Easter festivities were over, we loaded up the car and headed to Fremont. Great Grandma Joan (GGJ) had come down via the train for the holiday weekend so we gave her a ride home and then were able to take an awesome WWI plane propeller, that belonged to my Grandfather, back with us.

My plan was for Reed to get his first nap for the day, eat, and then get on the road. We would stop for lunch in Los Banos and then the munchkin could use the remainder of the drive to take his second nap. With Reed, rarely does everything go according to plan, but I was so happy when he did exactly what I had hoped. We were even running a bit late for nap time when we got to Quiznos, but he was completely content hanging out in a big boy high chair with some rice crackers while we ate our sandwiches.

Reed literally woke up when we were just two miles from GGJ's house and was pleased as punch to be able to stretch out and play once we got the car unloaded.

After dinner on Dad's lap we decided to attempt a bath in a real bathtub. Jon helped balance Reed while I did the lathering and rinsing. It was a tight squeeze but we got the kid cleaned up.

On Tuesday GGJ had a meeting so we headed to Oakland to meet up with Adam, Marli, and Cole for lunch. We've been lucky enough to see them about every three months since Cole arrived and not only is it fun to catch up but it is so neat to get a preview of what Reed is going to be doing in the next few months. I wasn't expecting much of a "play date" so I was amazed when the boys started to reach for each other as soon as they saw one another. They even played with the same toy for a bit and of course Cole showed Reed a few new tricks.

I think Cole inspired Reed to work on his crawling skills because on Tuesday night he started getting up on his knees with his bum in the air.

This last week was Jon's "vacation" for the year so we made sure that he got to have a lot of Daddy and Reed time.

Wednesday came way to soon and before we knew it we were heading home. I think if she thought we wouldn't notice GGJ might have tried to keep Reed up North with her.

This time we stopped in Dos Palos to see Reed's Great Gran and Great Papa. He took his first nap for the first half of the car ride. Then we played and ate lunch with Gran and Papa for a couple hours and then he slept the rest of the car ride home. Like I said I couldn't have custom ordered a better trip!

After a little bit of quiet time on Thursday and Friday our week of firsts wasn't over yet. On Saturday while Dad and Mom were both at Bachelor and Bachelorette parties Reed had a slumber party with Grandma Kelley. I was a bad Mom and forgot my camera, both when I dropped him off and picked him up. He had a great time, woke up twice in the night (which is pretty normal), and for the most part behaved himself fairly well. My Mom did get a shot of him chowing down with her phone, so at least there is some documentation of the big milestone!

Standing Proud

So I think our little guy skipped a few milestones and has decided that standing suits him just fine. He can only pull himself up on our ottoman because of its "lip" but I have a feeling it is only a matter of time before he starts mastering our other furnishings!!!

Easter

Well it was another Marathon Holiday for the McClartys. We started off Easter Sunday with a little bit of quiet family time (breakfast, coffee, and the Arsenal game). Reed was supposed to get his Easter basket as well, but he and Dad had discovered it the day before, so he had already gone to town on his swag. Growing up my brother and I always got a new bathing suit from the Easter Bunny, so of course I made sure that he continued the tradition for Reed. The little guy also got a new summer sleep sack, a personalized beach towel, sunscreen, new pacifiers, a bath toy, and a couple of new books. That doesn't include the swimsuits, stuffed animals, books, toys, and new outfits the Easter Bunny left at other people's houses for him (spoiled much?).

Our first official Easter gathering was at my parents' house for lunch. All of Reed's Great Grandparents on my side of the family were there, what a treat! We also were lucky enough to spend the day with Mark, Penny, Greg, Melissa, Kevin, Dale, Linda, and the Wades.

Aunt Penny and Uncle Mark had to get in on the baby holding action too!

Someone also had the great idea of getting a grandparent shot, so now we have a picture with Reed and all of his living Grandparents and Great Grandparents on my side of the family.

After a fun afternoon at Grandma Kelley and Papa Jay's we headed over to Jon's Aunt Lynette's House. Aunt Paula and Aunt Lynette had fun taking turns holding Reed, but once Pepe arrived he insisted on taking over.

We had warned Reed that, unlike at my parents' house, there were going to be other kids at this party and so he wasn't going to be the center of attention. Unfortunately none of the six other kids made it this year, but Reed seemed fine with being the star once again.

We did an impromptu feeding session at the dinner table. Reed wasn't sure about me spoon feeding him rice cereal since I usually let him feed himself but was pretty content once he got control of his pear in the munchkin feeder. Auntie "C" was put on Reed duty next, followed by (Great) Uncle Allan.

Nonna didn't get much Reed time this Easter, but was able to sneak a few precious moments with the little guy when we were saying our goodbyes.

Even though today was a bit hectic it was nice to spend such great quality time with both sides of our family. I already feel like Reed isn't much of a baby anymore, but it's so weird to think that next year we are going to have an Easter Egg Hunting Toddler on our hands. I guess it is true, time flies when you are having fun!

Reed Plays Peek-A-Boo

While Dad is away, Reed and Mom will Play

Reed and Mom were flying solo all of last week while Dad was traveling for work and then going to the Stoothoff wedding in Florida for the weekend. It was pretty lonely around here, but we tried to make the best of our time alone and ended up having a pretty good week.

I think Reed got a little tired of me being his sole source of entertainment most days though, and tried to work on his friendship with Dodger a bit.

In an attempt to stay busy we made a couple of visits to the grocery store as well as Starbucks, got a couple of good runs in, I worked on Tuesday while Reed hung out with Grandma, Amanda and Melissa came over for lunch on Wednesday, and then Chelsea and Drew brought over lunch on Thursday.

Thursday night we went over to Penny and Mark's house to celebrate Great Grandpa Dean's Birthday. My Dad was a sweetheart and entertained Reed while I made myself a plate and ate dinner.

In high school I had a great group of friends that I've been lucky enough to remain close to now for more than 15 years. We have all moved in and out of the Valley since high school, but now only Alisa lives out of town. She has being trying to get up here to meet our Little Man for months and I thought Jon being away posed a great opportunity for a full-fledged Girls Weekend, complete with Saturday night slumber party. Alisa got here on Friday night just in time to see Reed before bed, but then she got to spend time with him on Saturday before everyone else came over.

On Saturday evening the rest of the girls came over for pizza, wine, and of course lots of chatting. Heidi brought her almost 2 month old son Drake and it was so funny to see Reed's reaction to a "baby" - I think he thought he might be a new toy!

Reed with Amanda and Lee on Sunday Morning 

Reed didn't seem to care that we didn't get to bed until 1:00 am and thought 6:00 sounded like a perfectly good time to wake-up (after waking up once in the night and then fussing since around 5:00 of course). Lucky for me, Grandma Kelley had agreed to babysit while we went out to lunch and got pedicures. I'm not sure who enjoyed their afternoon more, but Reed and I were both pretty tuckered out when we got home.