Rock Stars, Airplanes, & Forgiveness

Ok, so maybe I should change my resolution to blogging 1-2 times a month!

 

Reed grew almost an inch from Jan 2 - Jan 21!  We THOUGHT he had been eating more!  All of a sudden his 18mo pants fit him in length (although they still won't stay up) and he looks so much older! 

 

He has been learning so much!  We have started on his letters.  He likes the letter "O" because he makes his mouth into an "O".  The letter "R" he calls the "Pirate Letter" (because it is "ARRR").  He tries to brush his hair with the letter "E" and touch his nose with the letter "N".  Not sure how much he's getting of it, but we are having fun.

 

He learned that he doesn't have to straddle his 4 wheeler, but can almost stand on it while he rides it. 

He loves being a "rockstar" and daily employs anyone who is standing around to play the drums or the harmonica to accompany him on the "datard".  When it is his turn to play the drums he will beat one drumstick against the other and yell, "2, 3, 4, 5!"  Sometimes he gets carried away and makes it to "6" or "7" before starting to play!

Baseball is still an everyday activity.  Here's the windup - and the pitch!

We have had a fun January. The weather has been in the 50's and 60's and we have enjoyed more time outside than expected in the winter time.

Reed loves to have Bentley as an outside companion, although they don't always agree on which way they should be going!



I never knew our backyard could be so full of adventure!  He loves finding rocks... 

Big sticks...

And watching airplanes go by while eating popcorn.

He LOVES airplanes!  Emily was watching him one afternoon and they were in the backyard.  He kept running around the yard after the airplanes shouting, "Come back airplane! Come back!"

Like all toddlers, Reed has been trying to find his independence and "the line".  We tend to go through ups and downs where we can go days without much discipline and then some days with LOTS of discipline.  One night, after a "LOT" day, Reed was ready for bed and he and I were rocking in the dark waiting for David to come in to pray with Reed and put him to bed.  Reed said, "Pray?" and I said, "Ok", and started a prayer of Thanksgiving which is the kind of prayer  he normally prays. "Dear God," Reed repeated and then said, "Sorry".  I asked, "are you sorry because you disobeyed?"  "Yes," he said.  All I could do was hug him, hold back my tears and pray that his sweet heart would stay with him forever.

On a totally "non-Reed" note - surprised? - David's parent's sold their house in Indiana!  David's mom is coming down next week to find and buy a house.  Reed (oops! back to him!) is excited to have Baboo come visit and we are excited that they will be living closer to us!

A new year

I can't believe my last post on this blog was nearly 2 years ago. How our lives have changed! Reed is walking and talking and enriching our lives as his wit and personality are becoming more apparent. Everyone keeps saying I need to be writing these things down, but I'm one who misplaces my cell phone on a regular basis, so keeping up with a notebook to write Reed's little sayings in is out of the question. My resolution is to keep this blog up to date with pictures and updates of our lives.

December 16th, David started his new job at Fed Ex. Reed usually asks to "pray for Daddy job" at least once during the days I'm home with him. And mutliple times a day Reed gets in his toy car to go to "edEx"

We spent a wonderful, but short Christmas in Ft. Wayne. "Turtle Sauce" came on Christmas and brought Reed a drum and a baseball pitching machine. Now when he says, "Baseball time!" (which he declares multiple times a day) we can say - "Ok, go play baseball!"

("Turtle Sauce" also brought me a Cannon Rebel DSLR camera which I have throughly enjoyed and plan to document our lives with it to the nth degree!)

On January 2nd Reed and David drove to pickup Vance (Pa) from the airport (he travels from Ft. Wayne to work in Savannah, TN until they can sell their house. He spends 3 out of 4 weekends a month with us and we are so blessed by it!). On Jan 3rd, David flew to Dallas for 3 days. Reed spent the entire week saying, "Pa go on airplane. Daddy go on airlplane. Reed and Mama go on airplane?" He really wants to ride an airplane again.

On Wednesday, Dec 28, my maternal Grandmother passed away after 95 years on this earth. She joined The Lord and her husband of 74 years. We drove to Florida on Jan 6 to join the family in celebrating her life. It was a great time of laughter and tears and being together with family from all around the country (AR, MA, RI, MD, SC, GA, WA, & TX - just to name a few). There was ultimate frisbee, fishing, and picking grapefruit, lemons, and komquats. Some of the fruit was really stuck to the tree! Reed's favorite activity was riding with Grandad in the "dolf park". They would go all around the property. When they would return from their loops, Reed would declare - "I'm Back!" and repeat it until someone recongnized that he was back!

One of my cousins "got Reed's sugar" which Reed had never experienced before. Now Reed will open the collar of his shirt and say, "Sugar's right here, Mama!"

After so many hours in the car (44 driving hours) in 2 weeks, it has taken Reed a while to get use to our normal home routine. Coming home from work the day after Florida, Reed said, "eat in car? sleep in car?" I said, "No, we are done living in the car!" Luckily he is a fantastic traveller and as long as we have enough food and enough DVDs he is content.

David received Zelda for the Wii for Christmas and has enjoyed playing it. I have started exercising again with Wii fit. Reed has really gotten into both of them. He wants to watch "Daddy's game" and he wants to play "Mommy's game" so he can have a "REmote" and run around the house! Reed has learned the importance of batteries in our everyday life! One day we were trying to Skype with David's mom and the computer kept erroring on us. We told Reed it wasn't going to work and he said, "Need new battery!"

All boy, Reed is as vested in the football season as he was the baseball season. He loves to "Hike! Down! Set!" and then run and tackle someone.

My resolution is to post something at least once a week. They probably all won't be this lengthy. They may only be a cute story or a cute line. I hope you enjoy this small window into our lives (and I hope I can keep it up!).

4 months old!

I can't believe we are at 4 months already! Reed is growing and changing so much that sometimes it seems he is a different baby overnight! Let me catch you up on what you've missed since I have been delinquent in posting:

Christmas and New Years were wonderful. The festivities began early when Tante Gika came to visit the 21st through the 23rd and even though her luggage never caught up with her until she was home, we had a lovely visit and were able to capture Reed's smile for the first time on "film".

My whole family was able to be together on Christmas (although it took some doing). Mom and Dad were suppose to arrive on the 23rd, but due to weather and absent flight crews they arrived Christmas afternoon). Even with the travel delays, we had a great time together. Reed (of course) was the center of attention and the joy of the party.

It was especially sweet that we were altogether since my youngest brother, Scott is leaving this spring to serve another year in the war against terror. He will be stationed in Afghanistan this time and I know that he will serve his country and Lord well while he is over there. Please keep him in your prayers.

We entered 2010 without much fanfare (I think I woke up in time for the East Coast ball drop and then just went to bed). David and Reed spent the afternoon on New Years Day with one of our new traditions - the Winter Classic Hockey Game. Father and son had a great time watching the game until Reed decided it was better to fall asleep on Grandpa.

We had our 4 month checkup today and Dr. Newman said he is looking good and catching up! He is 11 pounds 4 ounces and 23.5 inches long (and just in case you care - his head is 40cm around). He is in the 25th percentile for height, 5th percentile for weight, and 10 percentile for his head! He wasn't a fan of his shots today and started to fuss even before she touched him! But he is doing well and we are having so much fun!!

Christmas thoughts

I have been listening to Andrew Peterson's Behold the Lamb of God: The TRUE Tall Tale of the Coming of Christ. It is a wonderful cd with original music that chronicles the story of Christ from Moses leading the children of Israel out of Egypt through Christ's birth. It is very succinct, telling the story in about 30 minutes in a very dramatic and real way. Our worship team has performed it 2 years now and it is always very moving.

This year the story of the birth of Christ strikes me even harder since I have become the mother of a baby boy myself. When I listen to Away In A Manger, I really question whether Jesus, "no crying he made". I'm sure even Jesus as a baby had to let Mary know when he was hungry! Peterson's song Labor of Love makes me tear up everytime and I wanted to share it with you:

It was not a silent night - There was blood on the ground

You could hear a woman cry in the alley that night

On the streets of David's town.

And the stable was not clean. And the cobblestones were cold.

And little Mary full of grace with the tears upon her face

Had no mother's hand to hold.

It was a labor of pain. It was a cold sky above

But for the girl on the ground in the dark

With every beat of her beautiful heart

It was a labor of love.

Noble Joseph by her side - Callused hands and weary eyes

There were no midwives to be found On the streets of David's town

In the middle of the night.

So he held her and he prayed - shafts of moonlight on his face.

But the baby in her womb

He was the maker of the moon

He was the Author of the faith

That could make the mountains move

It was a labor of pain

It was a cold sky above

But for the girl on the ground in the dark

Every beat of her beautiful heart

It was a labor of love.

For little Mary full of grace - With the tears upon her face

It was a labor of love.

When I think of my labor story and the complications with it. Being surrounded by experts in modern medicine and remembering how much we prayed and David's concerned face as I began laboring I cannot even imagine Mary and Joseph's night but I feel that I have a little more empathy with Mary's story. As I stare at my quickly growing little boy I remember how Mary "treasured all these things in her heart" Luke 2:19 She didn't have a digital camera to capture each moment as Jesus grew but I'm sure she enjoyed them as much - or maybe more- than I am enjoying watching Reed grow. My prayer this Christmas is that Reed will follow in Jesus' footsteps and will grow "in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men." (Luke 2:52)

Merry Christmas!

First Trick!

Reed rolled over for the first time yesterday (Thursday)! I had him up on the couch cushion and he rolled over 2 times to his right (from stomach to back). So I put him on the floor and he rolled over to his left! This morning he did it multiple times again so I was able to get it on video and he was able to do it over Skype for Bittle (David' mom). According to some baby milestone charts only a few 3 month olds can turn over but most turn over by 4 months. Reed is only 11 1/2 weeks and will be 3 months in 10 days! ( If we counted from his due date he would have just turned 2 months!) As I try to type this posted he is nursing sporadicly - stopping to smile up at me and coo! Life just gets better and better!

First Road Trip

We took Reed on his first road trip to Florida (south of Jacksonville) to visit his Great Grandparents (my mother's parents). He was a great traveler and spent the majority of the trip like this:

It was a very special weekend. My grandparents are 94 and 95 and still live at home. They are both mobile and still do many things on their own. They have been married 73 years and are still very much in love - it is a great thing to watch! Granny and Grandad were so happy to meet Reed. My mom flew down to join the festivities and get 4 generations together. Grandad always tell the story of when I was little he took me to the bank and sat me on the counter while he did his business. He loved showing me off to the people at the bank. He is still banking at the same bank so we took Reed to sit him on the counter so Grandad could show him off. We spent a lot of the time playing with Reed...
Granny rocked Reed to sleep

And Reed listened while Grandad told stories and sang songs to him:

We enjoyed being together and were so thankful to have the 4 generations together.

Schedule

I've decided we need a schedule...Reed needs a schedule. I have enjoyed my baby for 8 weeks now and as the end draws near ("the end" being an eventual return to work) we need to have something that resembles a schedule. My mom was always a big fan of the schedule. I remember during summer and holiday breaks from school, she would always comment on how my brothers and I were out of sorts because we were off our schedule. Early bedtimes were a big part of our schedules. Even in 3rd grade I was going to bed at 7:30. I remember this because this is when I started competitive gymnastics and practices were from 7-9pm on Monday and Wednesday. My mom was really worried about this because it would interfere with bedtime. I don't remember how it all worked out - well the gymnastics was good - but I don't really remember my disposition due to the later bedtime.

So Reed and I started a schedule this morning. What better time to start a baby's schedule than a week and a half before going out of town? :-) But this morning instead of falling back in bed with him at 7:00 and nursing while we both dozed until 9, I got up out of bed and into the rocking chair and fed him while David got ready for work. Then I put Reed on the floor to play with Bentley while I fixed breakfast for myself and David.

I let him play too long and missed my opportunity for a peaceful transition to nap time, so after I calmed his crying, I put him in the swing and he fell right to sleep. I was able to pump, shower, blog, and put a load of laundry away! He is now starting to wake up and I am so excited to be able to hold, feed, and play with him before he goes back to sleep and I continue the projects I have for the day! I know this schedule will take some getting use to. I attempted some of the schedule last night and he slept for 5 hours straight! I know this will be hard but there are rewards!! As the mom it is my job to make sure the hard things are done so that Reed has the opportunity to turn into a well adjusted, disciplined child of God. I pray that he chooses that path!