Baby in a Box

Following this week's theme of messes I thought I would share this video with you. The best/worst part is that I don't know how he got himself into the storage cube in the first place. I was sitting about three feet away from Reed, taking care of a work issue on my phone, when all of a sudden I heard him grunting. I swear I hadn't had my eyes off of him for more than 30 seconds, oh well!

Hurricane Reed

As most of you know I'm somewhat of a neat freak. I know kids are messy, I love making messes with Reed, but at the end of the day I need my house to look like adults live here too. For the most part it is easy, Reed's toys all get thrown in our storage ottomans in the living room or his bookshelf cubbies in the nursery. I've also embraced the fact that sometimes you have to make a mess to have a clean house -  wwwwhhhhaaatttt? I know, I know, but honestly it makes sense. Most mornings when I make our bed Reed pulls all of my bathing suits out of my dresser, but I can easily scoop them up with one hand while holding Reed in the other when I'm done. Another often messy room in our house is the kitchen, when I make dinner Reed usually cruises between his three "approved" cupboards, but what he pulls out over the course of half an hour or so can easily be put away in just a minute or two when I'm cleaning up the rest of the kitchen. I have to admit though, some days I'm still amazed by the mess The Little Booger can make in a matter of seconds - when this happens I usually say we've been hit by Hurricane Reed.

Daily Bathing Suit Inventory

This definitely counts as helping with the Laundry!

A favorite game - take everything out of the ottomans

This took less than five minutes, impressive I know

Too many cooks in the Kitchen

Pillows, for decoration? That's just silly!!!

Sometimes I get to clean up after more than one "kid" . . .

 

The Aftermath of a Dad and Reed vs. the Stuffed Animals War

11 Months

Reed amazes me everyday as he understands more and more of what we do and say and is starting to be able to communicate back as well. I swear he changes overnight sometimes! He loves life so much and is in a state of constant amazement some days. Maybe it's just that we have finally settled into our busier summer schedule, but this month it just seems like things have clicked into place. Reed has become more predictable with his needs and I think Jon and I have found a good rhythm that allows both of us to bond with our son, have some time to ourselves, and also contribute to the duties around the house. This month brought better (not great, but better) sleeping, lots of yummy new foods, Mom being away at work a bit more, a lot of rearranging of furniture and organizing of drawers and cupboards, and of course so much fun!!! The diaper change and eczema wars rage on, but we've accepted them as part of life for now and are blessed that those are our biggest concerns for our otherwise happy and healthy boy.

Newborn

5 Months

11 Months

My friend Alisa once told me that watching your child see something for the first time makes you look at it in a completely different light. This week we were having some work done in our backyard and there was a trenching machine being used. Reed was mesmerized by it and stood at the window sill and back door looking out at it operating for stretches of time longer than I've ever seen him concentrate on a single toy, book, person, etc. I have to admit I had never really seen the awe in a trencher until the moment I heard Reed squeal with delight. We ended up both crouched in front of the window watching the machine do its magic, with Reed's arm slung around my shoulder - MELT MY HEART!!!

Monthly Statistics

Weight: 22 lbs

Length: I either measured wrong last month or this month, because I know he has shot up in the last few weeks but my measurements still say 30 inches

Head Circumference: 17.5 inches

Clothing Size: 12 month or 12-18 month for pretty much everything. I'm still squeezing him into a few 9-12 month pajamas in hopes of them lasting until the weather changes.

Teeth: 8 - 4 on the bottom and 4 on the top

Can't live without: Beco Gemini Carrier, BOB stroller, Soft Sheep, Fisher Price Healthy Care Booster Seat, Baby Bjorn Bibs, ZoLi Bot Sippy Cup, Any of his Board Books, Plastic containers (especially ones with lids), his Melissa and Doug Push Toy, Rubber Ducks, and Remote Controls (somehow he knows the difference between the ones that control things and the old ones that we give him to play with).

Nicknames: Reedster, Reedcito, Buddy, Honey Bear, Monkey, and Sweet Pea. Occasionally I throw a "Monster" in there, but since that is one of his Auntie C's nicknames I try not to use it to often.

Favorite Foods: Hummus, Figs, Chicken, Toast, Avocado, Mushrooms, Mum Mum Crackers, Fish, and Watermelon

Words: Reed now almost always says "DaDa" when he sees Jon and "Daa" or "Daayer" when he spots Dodger. He added "Nonna" to the repertoire this month, but uses it for a few things besides Jon's Mom. I get a "MaMa" once in awhile, but it's rarely directed at me. He will mimic me when I say "Ball" "Blue" or "Duck" but doesn't usually say them independently.

How Reed is sleeping: Reed takes a nap in the morning that ranges anywhere from 1.5 - 2.5 hours and one in the afternoon that is about an hour to an hour and a half in length. He goes to bed around 7:30pm, then he usually wakes somewhere between 3:00 and 5:00 am. He's gotten to the point where he is usually able to put himself back to sleep in about five minutes and if not, a pacifier and his soft sheep do the trick. He usually wakes up for good somewhere between 5:00 and 5:30, once in a great while making it to 6:00am.

Favorite Moment: Reed started pointing one day without any coaching, within a week he started pointing at various objects and seemingly asking us what they were. One day I started asking him where the light, Dad, his water, etc. were and he was able to point them out. It's one thing to get feedback in the form of a smile or a giggle, but to actually see cognitive feedback has been AMAZING.

Milestones:
07/30/12   Reed begins pointing
08/10/12   Reed falls and cuts his lip on the edge of a storage container. There was blood, I was scared, there were tears for about a minute, then he was over it.
08/11/12   Reed is able to identify objects/people by pointing at them when we ask him to - "Where is the light?"

Embarrassing Picture: Sometimes life isn't all smiles!!!

Bad Parents

Life isn't always grand or perfect, there are fairly regular tears and meltdowns, but I assume everyone knows that, and would rather hear about the fun stuff. Sometimes though tears can be funny (we're not sure how bad of parents this makes us though). Last weekend Reed kept pointing to a Jack 'n' the Box that he has always been pretty scared of. We played "Peek-A-Boo" with the monkey that's inside the box a few times and he seemed to be liking it so we decided to go for the whole crank/music/pop show, you can guess what happened from there. . .

I'm posting another video this week so that you can see Reed laughing as well. He has a new favorite game, we like to call it "Shoot DaDa with the Remote."

Strollin'

We have a ridiculously long hallway that runs almost the entire length of our house. Up until recently it has only been good for sliding in socks (think Risky Business) or a misguided competition we had one Halloween that involved sling-shotting people on rollerblades. Now the hallway belongs to Reed. My dear friend Amanda gave Reed an adorable wooden push toy at Christmas time knowing it would be awhile before he would be using it, but hoping he would like it as much as her nephews - well he does!!! He probably does 10 to 20 lengths of the house every day with this thing. This video is a bit wobbly, but at the end you can see him stand independently for a few seconds (his newest skill).

Insta-Reed

Jon makes fun of me whenever I use Instagram, but honestly it is fun to quickly edit, crop, and/or apply a filter to a picture you just took on your iPhone. When you have a kid on the move all of the time it is hard to get just the right angle or lighting, but you can take a pic you would normally delete and change it into a keepsake in under a minute. We were pretty low key this week so I thought I would share a few of my iPhone/Instagram snapshots of The Reedster.

Too Precious!

Not sure what to make of his pink Crocs from Tio

Caught Red-Handed

Early Morning Run with Mom

Strollin' Round the House

This Kid LOVES to eat!

Reed seeing his reflection on the phone

Fun Day VII

Six years ago Jon declared a random Saturday to be "Fun Day" - A day that was to be dedicated to eating, drinking, playing games, and just good ole fun. Everyone had so much fun it has become an annual tradition and yesterday we hosted the seventh Fun Day. Last year I was seven months pregnant with Reed which is just so weird to think about looking at the pictures of him with us this year. Jon and I both LOVE the Olympics so we decided to make that our theme for the big party this year. Our friends did not disappoint . . . we had swimmers, soccer players, cyclists, triathletes, and hardcore USA fans. On my camera alone there were over 500 pictures and I'm sure Pepe took at least that many as well. It will take me awhile to go through and compose a proper slide show, but since this blog is intended for Reed fans, I pulled a few out featuring him and our Fun Day VII festivities.

Family Pic

Team "Eagle"

Group Shot

Admittedly the first Fun Day took place when Jon was living at his parent's house and they were on vacation, but they have allowed us to continue to host the event at their house every year. Harold always cooks the most amazing food and acts as official photographer (I know he snapped some great pictures of Reed this year that I will have to post later once I get copies). Debbie always has everything outside arranged so perfectly, they both have become excellent Beer Bunnies for our Beer Hunt, and this year they get a huge THANK YOU for adding baby sitters to their list.

Reed was thoroughly entertained while Mom and Dad
were busy being ridiculous!!!