Reed Says . . . July 2014 Edition

A few quick notes about Reed this month. First he has completely given up his booster chair to his baby brother. Kieran now eats three meals a day and Reed voluntarily has allowed him to take over the booster and he happily chooses a different chair at the table for each meal. As far as vocablulary goes the Monkey has been really into the sounds letters make and what letter different words start with. He usually will say "Mmm, mmm, mmmom, starts with M."

On Sunday Reed did a poop in the toilet, something that hasn't happened in months! As a reward we let him take Dodger to Nonna and Pepe's and play down in the hole with him. I figure since Dodger usually gets neglected on this blog I would post pictures of him in his element, especially because one of Reed's favorite things to do is look at pictures of Dodger. Oh, and to say funny things ...

 

I was putting sheets on Reed's bed and as I was putting the pillow into a pillow case he said to me "no not that suitcase for my pillow!"

One morning Reed was hanging out in the bathroom while I was getting ready for work. I put on a blue denim dress and he immediately said "I think you are a Mom, but you look like a kid."

When Reed was misbehaving one day I told him I was getting frustrated with him and he replied "what's wrong? Mom, you're breaking my heart."

I grabbed and old Simspons beach towel one day to dry off the floor after swim lessons. Reed pointed to Homer Simpson and asked "is it people or animal?"

One night at dinner Reed complained that his stomach was bothering him. After a bad allergic reaction to Almonds a few weeks ago, I went into high alert and started asking where it hurt and what it felt like. He quickly informed me that his "belly hurts because there's babies in there and they are starting to pop." FYI - "popping" is how we've described babies being born to him.

I was squatting down to pick something up off of the floor the other day when the Kiddo ran up, knocked on my head, and said "that's a good melon."

Kieran has been putting anything and everything in his mouth lately. One morning he picked up one of Reed's drumsticks and started putting it towards his mouth. Reed watched him do this and said "Kieran thinks that's a flute!"

I was already dressed for work last week when some applesauce was spilled on my pants. Reed started crying and I asked what was wrong. He responded "I just want to get the sauce off of your pants because they are soooooooo cute!"

We've been making smoothies a lot lately and I happily obliged Reed when he asked for extra ice in his. When it was done he took one sip and proceeded to tell me that "it is too cold, I think I need my bear gloves to drink it."

I thought I heard Nonna's car pull up the other morning and I asked Reed to go look out the front window and let me know if she was here. He ran back and said that she wasn't. I was sure I had heard her car door so I asked if he was sure, to which he replied, "no I think it's someone different." I went to the front door and found Nonna standing there and pointed out to Reed that she was most definitely Nonna, to which he told me that it's "not Nonna, someone different, see her hair different." Note: Her hair was in a ponytail instead of down as she normally wears it.

On Sunday I had a bridal shower to attend so before I left I had Reed try to go to the bathroom again, since we had a success that morning. He was straining really hard and I didn't want him to hurt himself so I explained that people sometimes only poop once a day. Jon sent me a text while I was gone saying Reed had pooped himself and when Jon had asked why he didn't try to use the toilet he had replied "people only poop once a day."

Life According to my iPhone

On any given day I take a minimum of at least a few photos on my iPhone. They aren't the best pictures but they capture what our family is up to pretty well. Here are a few of my favorite snapshots from the last two weeks.

Reed practicing floating on his back at the end of bath time.

Mommy and Kieran selfie after I got home from work.

We eat dinner outside at least a night or two a week. It's the best! Also, K is big into nose sniffing lately.

I subscribed to Kiwicrate which is a craft delivery service and Reed and I built an awesome campfire during Kieran's nap.

Reed came down with a high fever and yucky cold last week. He was so sweet during the days he was ill and while I wanted him to get better quickly I didn't mind the extra snuggle requests.

Reed and Kieran getting ready for Mom to take them on a "magic carpet ride" down the hall.

On Sunday Gran and Papa joined us for dinner at Nonna and Pepe's. Kieran was definitely mesmerized by Gran!

Dad put Kieran in "Reed's" chair at Nonna's. That smile on his face is him waiting to see Reed's reaction.

More Gran and Kieran love.

Reed has been taking swim lessons for a few weeks. He gets so excited for his lessons, but I think part of the excitement is because he is in awe of Morgan, his super sweet instructor.

Did I mention Kieran can pull up to standing now? It's pretty great, but he's not very sturdy yet so that means Mom has to be close by at all times.

After a bad reaction to almonds two weeks ago we took Reed to the allergist to investigate further. This is him hanging out at the doctor's office - he's such a trooper - he had a prick test that confirmed a tree nut allergy just a few minutes later. Although his reaction was pretty intense he handled it well and once they got the itching to stop he was all smiles again.

It took me a long time to hire a non-family member babysitter, but Julia started working for us one day a week almost six months ago (when Kieran was only three months old). The boys loved her and sadly for us she is moving away, today was her last day. This is Reed giving her a running goodbye hug. As he watched her leave he turned to me and said "I'm going to miss her!"

Well there you go . . . our life as of late.

Goodbyes and Hellos

My brother and his family are getting ready to make a big move to the Pacific Northwest. We are excited for them as they are moving close to Aunt Kari's family and it will be nice to have Grandparents on hand to help out with the kids. They definitely will be much farther from us with this move, but hopefully that will just mean that we plan ahead better and carve out special vacation and Holiday time with them in the future. This past weekend they came to town for a final goodbye. G-Mama also came down and stayed with us. Reed and Kieran loved their special time with her and we all had a very busy few days of kiddo bonding, catching-up, and tearful farewells.

On Friday we went to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner. It was so neat seeing how much four month old Haleigh has changed since Easter and how much fun Reed and Annaliese have together. Even though they are still babies, Kieran and Haleigh loved hanging out together and were in fits of giggles when they first saw each other.

On Saturday Grandma and Grandpa hosted a going away party and invited family and close friends. Reed had a ball playing outside all afternoon despite the heat and I had to keep reminding him to drink water.

Auntie M and Haleigh

Kieran and Grand Aunt Penny

To round out our busy weekend Jon's college roommate Phil, his wife Kelly, and their daughters Maya and Lana made a stop at our house to watch the World Cup final on their long trek from Northern California back down to San Diego. This was their first time meeting Kieran so that was fun. Reed was pretty cute with the girls and just wanted them to play with him. He kept running up to Maya, touching her shoulder, saying tag, and running off. It took a bit for them to warm up to him but finally they all had a great time when Reed pulled out some plastic eggs and they took turn hiding and hunting them.

Happy Birthday America!

Our good friends Shannon and Laurie are sisters that married best friends, who also happen to be friends of ours from high school. At one point they all lived on the same piece of property so we referred to them as the "compound" for a few years. They have since each bought homes within a few miles of us (and each other) and for the last couple of years they have hosted a "compound fracture Fourth of July." Shannon and Kevin live a block away from the high school which puts on a fireworks show on the 3rd and then Laurie and Russell have a great house with lots of fun stuff to play with that we go to on the 4th.

On Thursday we got in some serious pool time, only taking breaks to eat pizza and then again for dessert and fireworks. Reed was so excited for fireworks and sat mesmerized on our blanket eating dessert and watching the colorful explosions. I wasn't sure how Kieran was going to do and figured he would be hungry around that time but too distracted to nurse so I threw in a bottle and crossed my fingers. He loved them too!!! The noise didn't bother either of the boys and K sat in my lap or sprawled out on the blanket the entire time. After Reed finished his dessert he sat with Tio for a while and then went over to a little girl (of like 7 years) grabbed her hand and pulled her back to our blanket. It was just about the cutest thing ever.

Clarita and Kierito

Shannon and Reedcito

While Dad was at work on Friday morning Reed and I made breakfast oatmeal in the shape of the American flag. I'm not sure which he liked more - putting the flag together or eating it! After the boys woke from their afternoon naps we headed over to Russell and Laurie's house to spend the rest of the day swimming and eating. Russell did a great job barbecuing and there were lots of yummy salads and desserts too. Besides swimming Jon and Kevin also played a game of pool beer pong, they upped the difficulty by each holding a kiddo during the game.

I took the boys home at their normal bedtime, after having such a late night the evening before we decided it was best not to push our luck with two nights in a row, Kieran was getting pretty fussy too. Jon stayed behind and came home a bit later so I told Reed that I had a special thing for him if he played quietly in his room while I nursed Kieran and put him down to bed. He was an angel, so I took him out by the pool and proceeded to light two dud sparklers much to both of our disappointments. I offered up the idea of blowing out a special candle instead and he bit. He thought the candle being blown out and then lighting back up on its own was so cool and we had a great time with our indoor "firework."