Happy Birthday Reed!

 Last week Reed turned one.  It always seems to go so fast, but I swear this was the fastest year yet.  I can remember so many moments from the day he was born like it was yesterday.  It was my only morning labor, and it had a totally different feel.  I remember how big and heavy he felt, but tiny at the same time.  So crazy.  He was all amazed at everything, staring up at me with his squinty, light-sensitive eyes.  I think it took him a week to fully open them.  He was the cuddliest little buddy. 

 Like all the others we are so amazed at his personality.  I don't know how we get so lucky, but he's SO sweet, and smart, and funny.  Jess says things all the time to me about how much fun he is to have around, or thanks me for making him(like he has nothing to do with how great Reed is). 

 

He's been napping in his crib for a few weeks now, most of the time, which is new for us.  Ha.  He recently discovered the bear Great Grama got him when he was born.  He'll point at him and cry or try to say "bear", until we get him off the shelf.  Then he hugs him tight and is immediately happy.

He kept fighting off his naps for a few days and kind of fussing but I wasn't sure what he wanted.  I finally realized it was his bear.  As soon as I got him, he'd cuddle him, and nurse right to sleep.  It's so cute. 

  

At a year old, Reed weights 23 lbs 5 oz, which puts him at 84.1%, and is 30.5" long, and 75.8% for height.  He seems to grow in big spurts, more so than his siblings did.

He very suddenly started saying lots of words.  I THINK I've heard a few attempts at "peekaboo", and he definitely says "ball", "tickle", "bear", "mama", "dada", "byebye", and "moi(more)".  That one is our favorite, he says it in the cutest, desperate sounding tone.  PLEADING for whatever it is he wants.  He'll draw it out, sounding all sad, and adds an "uh" to the end for emphasis.  "Mooooo-uh"  He also makes a couple of animal sounds at times, especially "woof" and "meow" if we're reading books with cats or dogs.

He is a great mix of independent and cuddly and lovey with all of us. Still the most active, and is walking almost all the time now, unless he's in a real hurry.  Even then he tries to run sometimes.  He likes to be a little naughty, and will pretend to put something in his mouth that he shouldn't, like a Lego block.  He'll fake it, then hold it out to me with a mischievous smile, then turn around and "run" for it, cracking up because he knows I'll chase him.  He has a pretty sophisticated sense of humor, if you ask me.  :)  

A similar thing he likes to do is climb up on the hearth and give me that same naughty smile.

 He's still a huge fan of Gia.

Also his siblings.  He has to be right in the middle of whatever is going on.  I was playing Paige's tea party game with the girls on our bed one day, and he kept wanting to sit right on the "picnic blanket", which is basically the game board.  The girls were pretty patient with him.

One of his favorite things is to get to play on the top bunk with Paige.  We usually let him for a minute or two at bedtime, and he's not too happy when he has to come down.

Still loves to play catch.

He LOOOOVES water.  He will beg to drink our water, and wants to chug about a gallon in a sitting.

On his birthday morning, Jess made birthday cake pancakes, so he had some with strawberries, and we gave him his little birthday balloon.  He liked it all.  :)

 

After Jess and the big kids were off to work and school, we watched a birthday episode of Yo Gabba Gabba.

 

We read some books...

 

Got dressed for the day, and played a while.  Spent a little time with the beloved blue bear...

 

...had a morning nap, since he got up early for his birthday breakfast.

 

I took them to see Jess for lunch, and then to the pet store, since Reed loves animals.  He especially liked the cats.

 

We came home to meet Paige and Cason at the bus stop.  A package of birthday party stuff I'd ordered arrived, and in it was his crown, which he liked.

 

We played outside...

 

...and picked Jess up from work.  We had dinner, and then gave him a gift.  We got him a star and moon projector nightlight, and he loved it.  So cute.

Then we sang happy birthday to him and had chocolate cupcakes.  Reed played with his for a while first, but then he liked it quite a bit.

 

We all love this boy so much.  So grateful for all that he brings to our family.  Happy birthday sweet boy.  

A Few Things I'd Like to Remember

Sometimes I get pretty sad that I'm not blogging as often as I used to, but I just can't seem to make the time right now.  I hardly ever missed a post when Paige and Cason were little and saying and doing funny things.  I worry I'm going to forget some of the hilarious things Neely does right now.  I talk about the baby stage a lot, but every stage is awesome, and kids are so funny at this age.  

She hasn't been doing it lately, but I don't think I ever blogged about this.  For a while, Neely would get upset about anything happening without her.  She called it "Wif about me" though.  She'd plead with us "Don't go wif about me!"  It was so cute.  I miss that one.

She's getting so big.  She's pretty dang sweet and funny.  She's also an emotional one lately, and gets pretty mad at her big brother and sister when things don't go her way.  She's mastered the pouty faces too.

I try and write some of their funny quotes down somewhere to blog about them eventually.  I have a few from Paige in my phone right now too.  

1-While reading about echolocation:  "Why do bats and dolphins even bother having eyes?"  Haha.  

2-  When she wanted more oj one morning and realized we all wanted refills:  "So I'm pouring EVERYBODY'S orange juice?  What a ripoff."

3-The big three were all kind of wrestling around one day, and it reached that point when some of them are starting to get frustrated for real.  Paige wasn't mad yet, but could tell Cason was, and didn't care.  So she kept doing things that were making him mad.  I gave her a raised eyebrow look and she just smiled, looked at Reed, who was in my arms, and said "Reed's going to be just like us some day.  It's just in our nature."

I have another list of funny things to blog that I can't find right now.  :(  When I find it I'll be back to post some more. 

11 Months Old(a couple weeks late)

 Reed turned 11 months old on the first of September.  I'm really freaking out about it now.   It seems impossible, but then I look at him sometimes and notice how big he's getting.

He's still so active, so it didn't surprise us that he only gained a few ounces this month, despite being as good an eater as ever.  He was up to 21 lbs, 10 oz, so 69.2%, and was 29.75" long, which also put him at 69.2%. 

A few days after turning 11 months old, he took a few steps to me!  JUST before Jess came home from work for the day.   I was on the ground in the living room with him.  He was holding on to the couch, when he let go, stared at me for a few seconds, got the cutest glint in his eye, and I knew he was going to try.  He started to step toward me, and his momentum carried him all the way, about 4 steps, and I caught him as he started to lose his balance.    We all got excited and loud, and he looked proud of himself, so he kept trying.  He was too excited by then, because of all our excited shouts, so he kept kind of bouncing (Sort of doing a quick paced set of mini squats) and losing his balance.  Jess says from my description that it counts as his first steps, but I don't usually put it down as their first official steps until they do it with total control, staying balanced the whole time, so I don't know.

If we use MY definition, he did it this last Saturday, Sept. 13th.  He was holding lightly to the chaise part of our couch, and let go and walked diagonally across to Jess and me, who were sitting at the other end of the couch.  He was proud, and did it a few times that same day.

He still loves his family lots, and thinks he's pretty big, playing with them and laughing when they laugh.

 He also will stop what he's doing any time he hears someone crying, and look back and forth from the crying sibling, to me and Jess.  Then he usually follows it up with fake crying himself.  Ha!  Sometimes he even works up some real tears.

Some of his favorite things to do are play catch...

...push toy cars all over the house..

  ...pull books out of the shelves and onto the floor...

 ...put things in and out of boxes, or baskets, or in this case a ball in and out of the bumbo...

 ....and cuddle.  With people usually, but also in the stuffed animal pile.

 

 

 

 He LOVES his mama and daddy, but daddy gets a little more special attention since he leaves most days for work.

We made the mistake of laughing in the past when he smacked us in the head for fun, so now we have to try and get him back out of that habit.

It's usually for fun, but there have definitely been moments when he's mad at me and starts trying to smack me.

His favorite foods are avacados, berries, and scrambled eggs. 

 Neely loves him, and now that he's taken some steps she says he's a kid, not a baby, so he can play with her now.

He has such an awesome personality, and a cute sense of humor. 

 

 He's down to one nap most days, but occasionally he'll take two shorter ones.

 He says mama and dada regularly now.  There was never one time I was COMPLETELY sure he had said mama with purpose.  It just gradually became apparent that he was meaning me.  Makes me a little sad that I don't have a specific memory to write about in his baby book in that spot.  

He said his first official word on Sept. 4th.  He was holding a ball and I asked him "ball?"  He looked down at it, back at me, and said "ba".  Since that day he's said it several times, and has clearly started copying sounds we say to him.  Paige was telling him to say "puppy" one day and he kept saying "Pupupupu".  I don't think that was with any meaning, he was just mimicking the sound she was making.

He's so smart.  You can tell he's always thinking.  He'll play with something for such a long time, turning it around and examining it from different angles.

 He's so active most of the time, but likes me to be near him.  When he is sleepy during the day, and of course at night, I still get plenty of cuddles from him.

 So do the rest of his loved ones.

 Every day at the bus stop he gets so excited to see Paige and Cason coming.  Cason usually runs.  Reed will be looking in that direction, and when he first sees them he stops moving and kind of tenses up.  Then he'll start flapping his arms excitedly and making these cute little shrieks of excitement.  

 

 He loves them, and it's mutual.

Cason Turned Six!

Cason's actual birthday was on Monday after his party.  We got them up a little earlier for school, to have some chocolate cake pancakes for breakfast, and let him open a couple of little presents we'd saved. He was pretty happy about it all, and about being six.

When they got home from school, he and Paige ran up and Paige started excitedly telling me he was the first kindergartener to learn all of his popcorn words.  He was pretty proud.  

It's the goal for the school year in kindergarten, so it's pretty awesome that he had them all down after a week or two of school. 

Jess came home from work with pizza for dinner.  Tyra stopped by too and we got out the cake, sang to him and let him open the last few presents from us, and the ones Tyra brought.  He was pretty excited to have kind of a second birthday party. 

 He's got quite the dragon collection going, but all the Night Furies are of course his favorite.

 

 (Neely and Reed enjoy having them while Cason is at school, too.  Haha!)

 

Cason is still so sweet, and tender-hearted.   Sometimes I worry about him as he grows up, because I know how easily he can have his feelings hurt, and I can't keep protecting him from that.  So far so good though, thankfully he's a likeable fella, and so far everything's been great for him at school.

 He wants everyone around him to be happy at all times.  There's just no way to explain him properly, so I'll just say he's the kindest person I've ever met.  I don't deserve him but I'm so grateful for him and proud of him.  

I can remember so clearly the day I went into labor with him, and holding him for the first time.  Cannot believe this little guy....

..is a six year old!