Stop, Mommy

Stop, Mommy. Hold it right there.

Don't take any more pictures of me.

I'm really busy, I tell ya!

I'm hanging out with my daddy.

He gives good sugars and I like it!

I know this really doesn't go with this post, but this is just a little detail I want to remember. The thickest part of Reed's hair is at the nape of his neck. Will had the exact same point, as does their daddy. I just love looking at it and feeling that soft, sweet hair and thinking of my first born when he was a tiny baby.

What's a momma gotta do...

What does...

...a momma gotta do...

...to get a smile around here?

Apparently it does not matter, because this little guy just wasn't feeling it!

Five Things

I got tagged by Megan to answer five things.

Instructions:
1) Answer five questions with five answers.
2) Tag five people

1. Where were you ten years ago?
-I was in my spring semester of my senior year of high school
- I was preparing to attend Mississippi University for Women with hopes of getting into nursing school
- I was totally smitten with Brad and we had just celebrated our 1 year anniversary of dating.
- After school I worked as an administrative assistant to a human resource director.
- I was getting ready to go on my first ever cruise with other seniors in my youth group.

2. What is on your to-do list for today? (I don't typically make to-do lists but here is what I have done/still need to do)
- Go to work (done)
- do laundry (not done)
- give Will a bath (done thanks to Brad)
- get Dr. Browns bottles to see if they help with Reed's fussiness (done)
- go on a walk with my family (done)

3. What five snacks do you enjoy?
- Lately I have been addicted to Golden Flake Cheddar Corn Puffs. Kinda like cheetos but lighter. Delicious.
- Chocolate chip Fiber One bar
- cheese cubes
- carrots dipped in hummus or ranch dressing
- Oreos

4. Where are five places you have lived?
-Pontotoc, MS
- Hattiesburg, MS
- Biloxi, MS
- Columbus, MS
- Jackson, MS area

5. Name five things you would do if you were a billionaire.
- Quit my job to be home with my boys.
- Buy a Honda Odyssey (minivan)
- Replace the flooring and rest of the appliances in our house while building a larger (but not huge) home
- Get a Canon 50d and a bunch of cool lenses and a Mac and take a class to improve my photography skills.
- Fund a mission trip and go on it with my church. Someplace warm. Sorry, mom, not going to Russia.

And now I tag:
1. Haven
2. Deanna
3. Dru
4. Erin N.
5. Erin T.

Warm

The cold weather has passed for now and it is warm. Like 78 degrees warm. Ahhhh. I am not much of a cold weather girl. My bones ache and my skin dries out like crazy and I just don't like it. You can pretty much count on me never leaving the South.

It was raining yesterday but nice and sunny today. I got off work a little bit early and after Will woke up from his nap and Reed was nice and full, we headed out to the park. Apparently a lot of other people had the same idea, because it was crowded. After we had been there several minutes and I had been taking pictures of Will, a lady asked me if I had four children. I said no, just these two! I have no idea why she pegged me as the mom as of some other random kids since I was following Will around exclusively.

Will had a fabulous time. He looked out through an opening.

He slid down the big slide.

He laughed as he watched other kids slide.

Reed enjoyed being strolled around, though he did fuss a little till I sat his seat up higher so he could see.

Then he decided it was time for a nap.

He slid down the little slide several times. Then it was time to go.

He threw a royal fit when we tried to leave. I thought it was funny. I couldn't get a good picture because by the time I could get my camera focused on him, he was running back toward the playground. He kicked and screamed. Flailed his arms. Threw himself on the ground. Good times.

We eventually made it to the car. Kicking, flailing toddlers are hard to carry, by the way. But we had fun and the exit tantrum was worth it. Especially when I opened up the door and saw this little guy:

Weekend Getaway

One of my best friend's husbands is turning 30 and we were invited to his party at a farm in north Mississippi. All of my best friends live in different cities and it only happens 3 or 4 times a year that we are all in the same place, so I thought it would be fun to go and see them. Haven and Laura had never met Reed and the original plan was for me to take Reed while Brad stayed home with Will. Traveling with one baby or toddler can be tricky, and taking two could be very tricky. But after some prodding from the hostess, Brad decided he and Will would come along after all. We were planning to stay with my friends at a lake house.

Friday night I was looking at the weather and almost cancelled the trip. Then Saturday morning we decided we would go and just come back afterward instead of staying at the lake house so my friends wouldn't be bothered by crying babies (we are the only ones with children). We packed up the boys' stuff including pjs for the return trip and left town after lunch. When we got about 30 minutes from home Brad's parents called and said they weren't going on their trip to Memphis (for a separate event) but had already booked a hotel and couldn't get a refund. They offered us their downtown hotel room since it would be wasted. We decided to stay which would allow us to see Brad's grandparents the next day.

We went to the party and had a great time visiting with friends. The nice thing about having the only kids out of the group means they help hold and tend to them when we are together. Alyssa (the hostess) gave Will tons of sugar. He really seemed to like her! (she really didn't give him that much, but did let him have a big ball of fondant from the cake). Sadly, I didn't get any pictures from the party, though I wish I had attempted to. More on that in a minute.

We left the party and stopped at Walmart in Horn Lake. Since we didn't know we would be staying overnight, neither Brad nor I had packed a bag. So we had to buy some essentials. We didn't have our GPS, either, so we had to rely on directions from his mom. Neither of us have driven in downtown Memphis much, so it was quite interesting! He missed the I-55 turnoff, so I called Alyssa to see which exit to take from 240. As she was telling me to take the Poplar exit and how to get to downtown from there, we saw a sign for the Fed-Ex forum and decide to take that because we knew it was downtown near Beale St. and that the hotel was near Beale. We never saw another sign for the Fed-Ex forum, but we did see one for Riverside Dr. which was part of his mom's directions. But we passed it because we saw it as we passed a school bus that I told Brad to go around so we could see better. Then before we knew it, we were on a bridge to Arkansas, something both Alyssa and Brad's mom had warned us about. I think probably half of the times I have been to Memphis and been near downtown, I have ended up on a bridge to Arkansas. Add that to the list of states my boys have been to, I guess.

So we turned around at the first exit and got back to Tennessee, then finally made it to Beale Street where we got caught in the pedestrian traffic from the Orpheum crowd. By this point, Brad was really regretting our decision to stay the night because we could have been halfway home already. We pressed on and found the hotel a few minutes later. But where to park? If you have never been to downtown Memphis, be warned there are lots of one way streets and little on the street parking. And part of Beale Street is routinely blocked off for pedestrian traffic only. And there are trolley cars that traverse some streets. Anyway, we make a loop and finally figure out where to park. But the parking garage is flooded with cars trying to exit and there is barely room for us to come in. Enter more frustration from my spouse.

We finally park and get unloaded. By this time it is 10:30. Reed is crying. I put him in the sling and Will in the stroller and we get both of their diaper bags and condense our Walmart items to two sacks and we go to the hotel lobby. A very nice lobby. With two babies, two diaper bags and two Walmart sacks. Talk about country coming to town. Or at least to the Westin downtown Memphis. The staff was very nice. I was secretly betting that after all of that, they would tell us they couldn't find our reservation and my husband would lose it. I was wrong. They had it, they just didn't have any king sized rooms. Or queens. I was thinking oh no. They are going to give us a full. We are too big for a full sized bed. But then she said it.

We are going to upgrade you to the executive suite.

Suh-weet.

We got to the room. Oh my word. This place was nice. We had no business staying in a hotel that nice, but we sure did enjoy it. I sent Brad back to the car to get my camera so I could take pictures to show you how nice it was. And he did go get it. But in my hurry to leave our house, I forgot to put them memory card back in the camera. I wanted to cry. No memory card. Boo. If I had tried to take pictures at the party, I would have realized I had no card and would have bought one at Walmart. So my cell phone camera will have to do. I can't show you in detail the plush towels and robes or the starbucks coffee or the luxurious pillows and comforter or the buttons to work the motorized blinds and drapes or let you smell the yummy soaps, but I do have a few snapshots.


This was the living area you first walk into after passing through a big entry way with a large half bath and closet. It had a nice flat panel TV and the sofa made into a bed. We had them bring us a portacrib for Will.
This is the bedroom. It was huge! The whole wall on the right was windows. The far wall of windows overlooked the Fed-Ex Forum, which was spitting distance. There was another large flat panel TV in here. See our Walmart sacks on the dresser? Can you find Reed on the bed? Kudos if you can.

I didn't want to leave this bathroom. Double sinks. Walk in closet. HUGE soaker tub (which I did partake of). Fluffly towels and robes. Across from the tub was an enormous walk in glass shower with a seat and 2 shower heads. You could fit 4 people in it easily. Not sure why you would want to put that many people in a shower at one time, but it would be possible. The door in the picture takes you into the 'water closet'. There was a phone in there! I think that would make 4 phones in the whole suite. And that is a stroller in the picture. Thank you, Will.

The is the view from the living area window. To the left would be Beale St. I wish I had taken a picture at night because it was really pretty.

I have to admit the experience would have been much more relaxing without the kids. Will didn't want to go to sleep. Luckily we did have the 2 rooms to keep Reed from waking him up once he did go to sleep. Reed was up until 1:30ish. We all slept until 9:15! But we still enjoyed our stay and hate his parents didn't get to!

After we checked out we took Will to see the ducks at the Peabody Hotel. I had never been. I wish we had gotten there earlier so we could see them parade out of the elevator, but he still liked it.

After visitng with the ducks, we got semi lost on the interstate again, called Alyssa (and woke her up! Sorry!) for directions again, then met up with Brad's grandparents for lunch. It was sort of a fly by the moment weekend, but so much fun!

3 Months

Reed,
You turned 3 months old yesterday! It seems so unfair that 3 months have passed already. I only blinked one time! You have grown so much in the past month and have changed so much.


You weigh about 12 pounds and can't fit into any newborn things anymore. You wear 0 to 3 month clothes and size 1 diapers. You don't have much fat on you but you are solid!

Your eyes have lightened to a nice blue and we see a lot more of them these days! You still sleep a lot but have a lot more wake time, too. You have been cooing and smiling for about 3 weeks now and do it more and more each day. You seem to really like you playmat and bouncy seat and kick and shriek when you are on them.


You are still a very snuggly baby but when you are awake, you would rather be held up than be cuddled. You are eating 3 or 4 ounces when you have bottles but you prefer to nurse. You are sleeping in our bed most nights. I took down the hammock because you would cry every time the lights went out and you were in it, so you would end up in our bed anyway. But Friday night Daddy put you in the packnplay in the living room and you slept 6 hours in it! I am hoping that will become more of the norm because there have been a couple of nights you have only let me sleep 3 hours before having to go to work! I'm not sure what it is about the hours between 9pm and 1am, but you sure can be fussy then! Daddy and I have becomes fans of Mylicon lately.


Oh look! We have a photo bomber!

...aaaannd there goes the bunny.
Don't cry, Reed! We'll get the bunny back. I guess that's just part of having a big brother who is not too far out of babyhood himself. I'm sure you will have your revenge one day. He is actually pretty sweet to you most of the time.

Daddy and I do our best to protect you. We love you so much and are so glad God gave you to us. We are really enjoying having you in our lives!

Sweet Smiles

21 Months

Will, you turned 21 months old yesterday! Just three more months before you turn 2! You are such a funny boy. You love to laugh and sometimes you do this fake laugh and say "Hee hee hee hee!". You make us laugh, too! The other day when you were having lunch at Poppy's house, you turned to your highchair and said "Bye, eat!".

You seem to really like your baby brother. When you walk by him, you cheerfully say "Hey, baby!". When he cries, you drop what you are doing and run to him. If he is in his packnplay, you turn the music or vibration on. If he is in his swing, you turn the dials until it does something different. If you see a pacifier, you will bring it to him.

You are still taking your own pacifier, which you have named 'ba'. You love it and ask for it if you don't already have it. You also have taken a liking to your blankets you sleep with and often bring them into the living room in the mornings. Some days, you may try to tote your 3 monkeys, 1 lion and a blanket or two.

You have become quite a climber lately and have torn up or broken a few things. You climbed on the kitchen table and broke my pretty vase and the lid. You climb on our bed and then get stuff off the bedside table if you can't reach it from the floor. One morning your daddy let me sleep in, but you came in and grabbed my mug of water and threw it on me!
You are very good at feeding yourself these days. You primarily use your left hand but sometimes switch to the right. We have a hard time convincing you to eat vegetables, but you do ok with fruits. Meal times are a bit unpredictable because you may gobble up a certain food 10 times then the 11th time you won't even taste it. One thing you never turn down is something sweet! If you see me or daddy with a piece of candy, you immediately start begging for it and devour what we give you.
You seem to be getting taller and leaner these days. You wear anything from 24 months to 4t and a size 7 or 8 shoe. You look so big and grown up to me and daddy. You for sure are not our baby anymore!

Will plays with his aunts

We went to Atlanta before Christmas to visit family and had a great time. Will really enjoyed playing with his Great Aunts Sarah and Becky.

I think...

I think Will likes his little brother. Just a little bit...

Big Boy

Mommy tells me I'm such a big boy. Yesterday, she weighed me on her scale and we think I am 12 pounds now! I am doing such a good job of holding my head up and I even kind of stand in your lap if you hold me. She put me in my bumbo and I can sit up! (sort of).

After a minute or so, I start to leaning...

...and then lean a little more.

Boy, I'm tired! This being a 'big boy' stuff is hard work!

Maybe I should just stick to laying down for now.