A Few Things.......

We went to Cabelas this weekend. Normally I avoid Cabelas on the weekend. It is a zoo! However I bought a pair of shoes and I wanted to exchange them for some different ones and i could not be patient and wait for Monday. All went well except for the LONG wait in a line that only had 3 people in it. I knew Reed would start crying for a bottle any minute. I just wanted to get out of there and get to the car to feed him. That didn't happen. I had to start feeding him while waiting. After checking out I decided that I would just sit on a bench outside finish taking care of Reed and let River people watch. As soon as I sat down and got a bottle going for Reed, River says " I have to go pee." I tell him he has to wait until I am done and we will go inside. he seems OK with this. After a bit he stars climbing around behind the bench. I keep saying get out from there, it's dirty blah, blah, blah. Of course River doesn't answer because he is busy peeing. When I finally look back there to see what is going on, all I see is a stream of pee! I just looked away and concentrated on Reed pretending I was still clueless. River comes out and announces, proud as can be " I'm all done now." Before we leave I notice pee running from behind the bench out to the side walk! What's a Mom to do?

Last night I got brave enough to take both kids out for a semi sit down dinner. We went to Doby's Pizza. Just a small, mostly take out place. While we were waiting for pizza, I tell River how I notice how much Reed likes to watch him. River started playing with his straw and laughing and Reed just kept busting out with big, long laughs at River. It was cracking us up. It ended up being a fun time and I enjoyed being out with my kids.

Yesterday River and I got our H1N1 vaccines. We got the nose mist. I felt a little run down today but am better tonite. River seems fine. He needs a second dose in 30 days. Reed is still at risk but less so if River and I are protected. I am so glad to have had this done. It opens some doors for getting out and about again. Story time here we come!!!

Reed is changing so much so quickly. He can sorta sit on his own. Can sometimes get himself unstuck from being on his tummy. Today I noticed that while he was on his tummy he was really trying to get his knees under him. He even got on his toes with his butt in the air. He loves to watch the world around him. So much so that it can be hard to get him to take a bottle, he gets so involved in checking things out. He is so cute and it goes so fast. I can't believe it.

October

October turned out to me a much less pleasant month. Thanks to the swine flu or H1N1 or what ever you want to call it. After my babysitter came down with a case of the regular flu the day after watching the kids, I decided it was best to keep the kids at home as much as possible. So there went our nice little routine. No more mall, story time or babysitters. Reed started teething too!

On more positive note Reed learned to do so much! At the beginning of the month he gave out his first real, hardy, full fledged laugh. It was at river and very cute. He learned to roll over from front to back and began to try to sit on his own. Reed is no longer content to just sit and look at his toys. He wants to move. To bad he gets "stuck" on his tummy and can't do complete rolls yet. He is still very sweet and easy to cheer up.

River seemed to have a more difficult time and I think Brian being gone started to take a toll on him for a time.

With the monotony of being at home so much the days start to flow together but we did have Halloween to look forward too. Papa and Grandma went to the pumpkin patch with us. River did all the rides, the carousel, train, big slide and pony rides. As always, he loved riding the tractor out to get pumpkins. I guess he is getting older though. He was actually interested in getting pumpkins instead of just getting back on the tractor. Papa helped River carve his pumpkins and we trick or treated with Aunt Lori, Uncle Jeremy and the cousins. Fortunately we had no rain the whole evening. I have to say, the best thing about River, he gets one piece of candy and he is so happy about it we could be done. After going to a few doors he did start to get it and he had a great time. Reed enjoyed a little snooze in his stroller but he looked so cute in his pumpkin outfit.

September

The first month of Brian's deployment went surprisingly well. The month flew by after working out a few kinks. I realized that I would need some time to myself and time to get things done. I had my sister watch them one afternoon a week and a very wonderful babysitter come in one morning a week. We also figured out a routine that worked well. I thought it would help River to adjust to Brian being gone if he had an activity to keep him busy. I signed him up for Tae Kwon Do. I thought he would enjoy it as he liked to play "ruff and tuff" so much. I thought wrong. He was very very unsure and shy. I could not get him to go out and participate let alone even look at the instructors. After 2 tries I gave up. The point was to do something fun and neither one of us was having fun. So, we went to the mall play area once a week, did story time and played outside. Before dinner I spent time playing with the boys. The boys would lay on the floor and I would tickle them and stuff. Reed is turning out to be a very sweet, good natured boy. This month we started to see his personality emerge. Lots of smiles. He is content to lay under his baby gym and look up at his toys.

Farewell to Brian

These pictures were taken the morning Brian left for Iraq. A sad day but we all fared well, we knew it was coming. We are making the best of it. We know we have to think about the good of each day. It has been great that we have been able to see each other via skype twice a day or at least talk on the phone every morning and night. River seems to be having a hard time with all of the changes going on lately but over all I think he is doing OK. He is my special big boy. Reed is turning out to be a very easy going little baby. He is super sweet and loves to interact with people. He has the cutest smile and his baby vocabulary is growing. I am sooo tired from getting up with hi at nite but I do enjoy the alone time with him. I also LOVE to carry him around in his sling/carrier. It keeps him close and happy and I can still interact with River.

Last Camping Trip of the Season

Brian was able to take a few days off before he had to leave to Iraq. We planned to stay around the house and enjoy being a family. Over the weekend my parents went to Westport. Come Friday evening Brain and I, in the middle of cooking out, decided we just had to take one last trip to the coast. After taking entirely to long to pack (what were we thinking?) with a baby to care for and multiple wrestling matches with Reed's infant car seat we were on our way. It started pouring rain on our way out. To say the least it was a rough start. However we ended up having a great time. We didn't get to do a whole lot. We spent a lot of time caring for Reed, but it was great to have a change of scenery and get out of the same old routine. We had a BBQ with my family on Saturday and Reed spent lots of time being passed around and admired. River had fun playing with Papa and getting treats from Grandma. On Sunday we were able to spend some alone time with River. We took him to breakfast and then spent some time on the beach. He has so much fun on the beach and I could tell he was eating up the individual attention.

Long Overdue Update

Reed has made it into the world and is now 6 weeks old. My labor was induced 7/13 at around 7: am and Reed was here just before 12:00 pm. It all went very quick. I hardly pushed and he was ready to meet us. I actually had to wait (no pushing) for the Doctor to get in to deliver him. Brian said it was only a couple of minutes but to me it felt much longer. I had an epidural but still felt quite a bit. Once it was all over I felt NO pain!! I am lucky. I did get sick to my stomach from the epidural and I was so tired. River stayed with my Mom and Dad and they brought him to meet his new brother. He liked him right away and wanted to hold and carry him. When it was time for him to leave he left happily with Grandma and Grandpa.

I have to admit the first 2 weeks were rough!!! I had lots of help adjusting to having 2 kids from Brian and my family. Brian stayed home a couple days. My sister took me to our first pediatrician apt. My Mom and Dad came up and Brian took River to work an afternoon or morning here and there. I had been sick with a bad cold before delivering and was just so tired. Reed cried alot. I was breast feeding and he seemed to want to eat all day, like every 20 min for over an hour at a time. Turns out he was not getting enough milk. At his 2 week check he had not regained his birth weight. He started getting formula and was really a different, happy, relaxed little guy. However that was the begining of the end for breastfeeding. I never could make enough milk no matter how I tried and Reed stopped sucking hard enough. We made it for a solid 5 weeks with what I had.

For Reed's third week of life we had a visit from Papa Jim. We all had a nice time. Papa Jim spent lots of time holding baby and playing "ruff and tuff" with River. I think Reed spent all his sleeping moments on Papa's chest! We got out to see some of the local sights like Tumwater Falls Park and Percival Landing. We had a nice breakfast at Budd Bay Cafe. We even made it to both Mt Rainier and Lake Cushman, with our trip to MT Rianier being the highlight. We miss Papa Jim and wish that he lived close by so he could drop in and visit more often.

Since then we have been slowly getting back to life as normal. River LOVES being a big brother. He wants to squeeze Reed's hands and feet out of love but I have to keep him from being to rough. He also loves to rest his head on his brother as a way of hugging. Again I have to prevent him from "hugging" to hard. I think it is a bit hard for him to understand. He has been a bit defiant but I can not tell if it is because he is adjusting to having a sibling or he is just three. In the midst of it all he now rides his bike without training wheels!! Brian had raised them up a few months back and decided to just take them off before he leaves for Iraq. He is so proud of himself now. Reed is starting to really show some personality. He smiles big smiles at us and he coos, goos and gaga's a little more everyday. He is starting to fall into a bit of a pattern for sleeping and eating making it easier for me to develop a routine for all of us. It was a bit of a rough start but I am really starting to enjoy being a Mom of 2, in fact I wouldn't mind having another at some point.

River's Birthday

River had his third birthday April 1st. We had a small family party with just Grandparent's and Aunt, Uncle and Cousins. We had a pinata with candy and stickers and everyone got River great gifts. He was so excited to have his party and played so hard with his cousins. He waited patiently to eat his cake and blew out the candles before we even started singing Happy Birthday. He had a great day. Our baby is definitely a little boy now. He is still as cute as ever and getting even cuter!