Introduction to Solids

Chicken and Sweet Potato

Happy St. Patricks Day

Please Roll Over

I haven't been able to catch it on film... yet. Here is one of my many attemps. I have to admit I am impressed with the video capabilities of my camera. The picture is amazing!

Trying to catch Reed rolling over on film.

4 Month Pictures

4 Month Stats

Our little man is growing up way too fast! I cannot believe how much he has changed over the last month.

Reed had his four month check up on Monday weighing in at a whopping 17 lbs! I guess the upside of him being such a big baby is my arms are jacked ;) The downside is he looks like a giant in the “mini” crib we purchased from Pottery Barn to fit into our mini condo. He is also going through clothes at such a rapid pace that many of the outfits I am packing up he has only worn once or twice. All 0-3 month clothes have gone into storage. He can still wear most of his 3-6 month clothes, but for the most part he is into his 6-9 mo outfits. By the time we weaned him off the swaddle he was too big for all of the sleep sacks we had received from friends and family.

Have I mentioned, that his height and weight are still following his growth trend chart, but his head jumped from the 86^th percentile at 2 mo to 98^th percentile this month? He gets that from his daddy too!

Another outcome of our pediatrician visit on Monday was the realization that the routine I have become familiar with is about to be flipped upside down! Up to this point Reed has been 100% breastfed. He generally wakes up at 7:30AM and goes to sleep at 8:00PM eating about 4oz every two hours in between. He does not like to miss a feeding or even be asked to wait to eat. He is one hungry boy – always! In fact, he recently has reminded me of our puppies, always begging for food. I’ll nurse him first thing in the morning and then head out for work. Thirty minutes later he lets Matt know he is hungry and Matt gives him a 4 oz bottle which he guzzles down in 5 minutes. Matt then drops him with Nanny Ann and Reed puts on his show again until she gives him another 4 oz bottle which he polishes off immediately. Maybe he learned this method (each time a new person comes in cry and trick them into feeding you) from the dogs? Moral of the story, our doctor told us we need to go ahead and start him on solids since he is eating so much and starting to wake up in the night again for feedings. Food has been purchased, so we are ready to give it a shot this weekend!

Breastfeeding has also become a challenge as I have started traveling one night a week again for work. Think planes, trains and automobiles. I have pumped in all of those locations… not fun! Not to mention the time that goes into booking hotels with refrigerators, finding the time in the day, and trying to travel with a minimum of 12-4oz bottles of milk through the airport. This past week I had a day trip to New York for a big meeting. Here was my schedule:

8AM – Drop Reed off with the Nanny (had to push him in a stroller and drag a carry on with nothing but my pump and cooler in it) Called a cab to pick me up there

9:15AM – Flight from Boston to JFK

1-3PM – Meeting with Ernst & Young in Time Square (had to take my carry on into the meeting with me because I had to catch a cab from the meeting straight to the airport)

4:35PM – Flight out of Newark

6PM – Pick Reed up from the Nanny

Now, where in that schedule am I supposed to find time to pump?! Hence, we started introducing formula this week L It makes me sad that I can’t make it to the six month mark, but it just isn’t working with my work schedule. I am going to try to keep nursing at night, but we will see how long my supply will last. Formula and solids all in one week – I just hope his tummy can handle it.

On a happier note, his growth and development has been so much fun to watch:

·         He is turning over! Only from belly to back right now, but he is so close to making it all the way around. By the way, talk about mother’s guilt, he rolled over the first time for Matt while I was in Toronto L

·         He loves his bumbo – this took a couple tries. We gave it a go when he was only a couple months old and he hated it. We kept trying about once a week and at about three and a half months he turned the corner. All of a sudden he can stay there for 15-30 minutes and just hang out with his toys or watching me.

·         He is having a blast with activity centers. Reed loves standing up, so I thought he would like one, but I didn’t know if it was too early. I asked Nanny Ann to put him in Elizabeth’s one day and she sent me the pic below. Needless to say, we went ahead and purchased one for him and he LOVES it.

·         He is a talker. No idea what he is saying, but he babbles all day long. It is so cute. He definitely gets it from his mommy J

·         He has such a great giggle and makes himself laugh. Some mornings I wake up to the sound of him talking and giggling. I turn on Reed TV (aka his monitor), and he is just cracking himself up in his crib waiting for me to come get him. (Here is a pic of one of those mornings while in TX, before we broke him of the swaddle)

·         His new trick is blowing spit bubbles. He thinks it is so funny. Here is a picture of him at the doctor’s office blowing bubbles.

·         He has developed real tears and it breaks my heart. He really doesn’t cry often, but when he does it makes it so much worse now that he has big tear drops streaming down his face.

·         He is a drooling machine! Reed has never really spit up, so I haven’t had a need for the dozens of bibs I received. Thank goodness I hung onto them, because now that everything is going in his mouth the drool is everywhere!

·         He has a shyness to him that must come from Matt’s side of the family. If he is being held and doing his own thing and realizes that you are looking at him, he smiles  really big, giggles and then buries his head into your shoulder for a couple seconds before looking back.

I could go on and on and on – clearly. I love our little nugget and am so sad, scared and yet excited for this next stage in his life as he becomes less and less dependent on his mommy.

Four month stats:

Weight: 16 lb 14 oz (96^th percentile)

Height: 26” (86^th percentile)

Head Circumference: 44.5 cm (98^th percentile)

Clothes: 6-9 months

Diapers: Pampers Swaddlers Size 2

*I’ll post his official 4 mo photos from Sunday later tonight or tomorrow.

Cousins

If you know Matt and I well, you know that we want a big family. Matt is one of six kids and I am one of four. Together we have six nieces and five nephews. It was so great to bring Reed down to Texas and introduce him to the majority of his cousins. It was also a nice look into what it might be like to have more than one little rug rat running around the house. Here are just a couple of highlights I found funny:

·         While giving Reed a bath one night, Claire (almost 6) and Emma (just turned 9) came into the bathroom with Grandma. It was Claire’s first lesson in anatomy. She pointed to her private parts while looking at Reed and asked “what is that?” At that exact moment, Reed decided to turn on the fountain and pee. Matt’s mom said that is where boys pee from (clearly). Claire blushed, turned towards the door and said, “We should go, this is his private time.” Emma laughed and responded “Geez Claire he is just a baby.”

·         I was changing Reed’s diaper at my sister’s house and Ayden (4) trying to help ran and grabbed one of his Haley’s (16 months) diapers. He came running back, “Here Aunt Debbie, I brought a diaper for Baby Reed.”

·         After Reed’s baptism we were taking family pictures. Crystal got my attention just as she caught Haley red handed. Haley had seen Reed’s bottle in my diaper bag, she looked both ways to see if anyone was looking before taking the bottle and trying to get into it. Thank goodness she wasn’t successful. That would have been a little disturbing J

·         Haley also found a fascination with Reed’s paci. She would walk over to him, take it out of his mouth and then try to put it back in. It was like he was her little doll and he didn’t mind one bit!

·         When it was time to give Reed a bath at Crystal’s house, all hands were on deck. Both Ayden and Skyler (6) jumped in the tub to help. They would take the wash cloth and spread it out over his belly and then pick it up and start all over.

·         I had to give Reed nebulizer treatments for his RSV. When I pulled out the machine, Skyler stated “I know what that is, it is to get milk out. My mom has one too.”

·         The boys helped me give Reed the treatment which came in handy the next day when Skyler went to the dentist. The dentist had to give him laughing gas and Crystal said Skyler was so excited to get the same treatment that baby Reed was getting (because both were given with a mask).

·         Collin (3) was so excited to meet baby Reed and help out. He would check on him while we were in the car and couldn’t see him, he let Reed sleep in his old crib, he let Reed share his couch to watch morning cartoons, it was so cute to watch the two of them interact. We went shopping and Collin wanted to push the stroller. He would push it a couple feet and then come around the stroller to check on the baby. He would pop his head around and play peek-a-boo just to get Reed to smile.

·         Collin also had us take Reed into meet his daycare class. He was so eager to show off his cousin to his teachers and classmates.

There are so many more precious moments that I will cherish. It makes me sad that we don’t live closer and that he still has four cousins to meet. I only hope that it makes the time we spend with our families that much more important. Reed is only three months old, but this trip also made me even more excited to expand our family (in due time of course).

I'll get more pictures of the family up in the next couple days. Try getting this many kids under 7 to smile at the same time...

Two to Three Months

My little man is three months old today! Where has the time gone?

Since I have not done a great job of keeping up the blog since I went back to work, here are his two and three month stats.

Two month stats:

Weight: 14 lb. 3 oz.  (96^th percentile)

Height: 24” (86^th percentile)

Head Circumference: 16” (86^th percentile)

Clothes: 0-3 months

Diapers: Pampers Swaddlers Size 1

Three month stats (measured at home):

Weight: 15 lb. 4 oz.

Height: 25”

Head Circumference: n/a

Clothes: 3-6 months

Diapers: Pampers Swaddlers Size 2

On one hand, I cannot believe Reed is already three month old. On the other, I do not remember life without him. He is changing every day and keeps me on my toes.

·         He is a talker! He imitates every movement my mouth makes and tries to do the same. Every once in a while it truly sounds like he is saying hi, hello and even I love you. It is so fun to watch him try to communicate. He can coo for hours.

·         First virus down. We went home for his baptism this past weekend and the poor little guy just wasn’t himself. After two nights of no sleep, no smiles and terrible congestion we took him to the doctor. The doctor told us he had RSV and prescribed him albuterol nebulizer treatments. My heart broke to see him in so much pain and was glad that the treatments seemed to make it easier for him to breath. Plus, he looked so cute with the little duck mask on.

·         His smiles and giggles melt my heart. It doesn’t take much these days to get a smile out of him. If you smile at him he usually reciprocates. Even though it is more and more common, it still melts my heart every time. I can’t wait to see him every day just to see that big gummy grin.

·         He still can’t find his thumb. He tries so hard! His hands are always in his face and his mouth is wide open. He balls up both fists and then the search begins. You can hear his smacking away as he gets one close and then his glee turns into a frustrated grunt/cry when he realizes he just can’t figure it out. It cracks me up.

·         He already has the ladies drooling. Little Elizabeth (his daycare buddy) stops everything when Reed comes into the room. She rolls over to grab at him and hold his hand. If her mom is nursing her and she hears Reed she stops what she is doing to look for him. We are in trouble.

·         He loves “tubby time” as Erica has named it. Every night at 7ish we start his bedtime routine with a bath. It is his favorite time of the day. Even if he is tired and crabby at the end of a long day, we put him in the water and he starts swimming away. His eyes dart all over while his arms and legs flail and he giggles the entire time. He can spend up to 30 minutes in the tub just swimming away.

·         Reeds growth spurts have pushed him right out of the 0-3 month clothes and into the 3-6 month although since I see him every day I don’t always see the growth. I only know that my arms have more muscles than ever before.

·         We are still 100% breast feeding, but I don’t know how much longer we will be able to hold out. Now that he is three months old I am going to start traveling again for work and while I do have pumped milk stored up, I don’t know that it is enough. I really don’t want to introduce formula but I may not have a choice.

·         Manhattan Toys are his favorite. It is a brand that makes the best baby toys. It is the small things that give me so much joy. He has gone from not knowing what a toy is to grabbing and pulling them to his mouth. I pick him up and he still hangs on tight to his toys. It is so cute!

·         He now enjoys facing out. Just within the past two weeks he has made the transition. He now wants to see what is going on around him while still being close to his mommy. It makes life a lot easier now that I can sit at the table with him on my lap perfectly content.

·         He is a perfect traveler. He has now been on two long distance round trip flights. I don’t know if it is the movement of the plane or what, but he sleeps the whole time. The only challenge is when flying by myself trying to get all my belongings on the plane with only one hand!

Here are some pictures of his two and three month photo shoots J

Censored Bathtime

My sister Vicky flew up to Chicago last week to watch Reed during my first few days back at work. The first night I came upstairs just in time to help with bath time and putting him to sleep.

Who knew you don't need all the gadgets for a successful bathtime? Vicky had the tub filled with an inch or two of water and Reed was swimming away. He LOVED it!

Reed and Baby E

Reed started with the nanny this past Friday. It has been really hard on me, but he loves it! Nanny Ann sent this picture to me today.

How cute are they!! Reed loves spending the day playing with baby Elizabeth and I pick him up so happy. I even get to sneak over during the day to kiss and squeeze him.