nursery, kindergarten, same thing...

I have been telling Chris that I would finally take Reid to the church nursery when he was 9 months old. Well, he's 9 months old. The last few times we have gone to church, Reid and I have ended up in the lobby playing and walking around. I decided I would take it slow. I kept him with us while we were singing and then walked him to the nursery. I asked the sweet ladies if I could stay in there for a little while and just see how he did. It was the perfect day to try the nursery because there were only 3 babies and 3 workers. He sat in my lap for a few minutes and looked around and then decided he wanted to play. I let him scoot around by himself and just watched him. He was doing great, so I slipped out. I only stayed gone for about 30 minutes and then came back to get him a little early. I honestly thought I would cry when I left, but I didn't. :) It did feel a little bit like taking him to kindergarten or something. I KNOW I will be a basket case when that day comes.

I thought he looked PRECIOUS in his bubble before church. My mom made this for my brother 21 years ago! While Chris is always sweet and impressed with my mom's talents, he wasn't exactly excited about Reid wearing this. :) I loved it.

He got one of the ladies to let him "walk".

Mommy was so proud of her boy! :)

He must have had a lot of fun because he was worn out! :)

Here is a picture of Chloie for good measure. :) We love our Chloie!

9 months!

Our baby boy has been a part of our lives for 9 months now! We are just so, so in love with him. This month has been really fun! I had a hard time getting pictures this time because there was a lot of this going on...

We started our day off yesterday with a visit to Dr. Torn! Reid's official 9 month stats are...

Height: 29 3/4 inches, 94%

Weight: 22 pounds, 85%

Head Circumference: 18 1/2 inches, 94%

We have a big boy on our hands! The doctor said we could move him into his big boy car seat now, but I'm just not sure I'm ready for that yet. That is going to make things trickier because he hates sitting in the shopping cart. I usually just keep him in his car seat when we shop because he's happier in there. Reid wears 12-18 month (mostly 18 month) clothes now and size 4 diapers. He's a pretty good eater! He doesn't eat very much at breakfast or lunch, but he more than makes up for it at dinner! He just eats and eats and eats! :) We are sprinkling in some more finger foods and he's getting better at feeding himself! We usually feed him in the bumbo because it's so much easier to clean than the highchair. I think he's getting a little too big for it though! He's also having fun practicing with his sippy cup!

Reid is still a great sleeper! I laugh at that sentence because 2 months ago it couldn't have been further from the truth! He is taking two decent naps a day. He takes his first nap around 11 and his second one around 3. He goes to bed around 8 and wakes up for the day around 8. Regardless of when he goes to bed, he usually sleeps for 11 or 12 hours! Yay, Reid! :)

Our weeks seem to be getting a little busier these days, which I like. We go to baby bootcamp or walk in the mornings. Reid is a really great sport and is so good at bootcamp. He laughs the whole time. It's so funny! Nothing will boost your self esteem like having your 9 month old laugh at you while you squat! :) We usually go to Target and the park at some point every afternoon. At home, he still loves to look at books. His favorites are definitely Brown Bear, Brown Bear and Snuggle Puppy. He lights up when he sees me get them. He loves to scoot around in his walker, as well. He's getting tired of his jumperoo because it doesn't let him go anywhere! He's getting better and better at the army crawl and uses it more and more. He is perfectly content to just roll around on the living room floor and play with toys by himself for a few minutes at a time which is nice. His new favorite activity is playing with the fan cords while he is on Daddy's shoulders. He is starting to "get" peekaboo, so we are having fun with that. A couple of weeks ago he started fake coughing. It's so random, but so funny. He does it and then starts laughing so hard! He knows we think it's funny! :) He is starting to have some separation issues, but luckily it's not too bad yet. He will bite my shoulder or arm sometimes if I start to pass him to someone else. Bath time is still so much fun. We got him a little inflatable duck tub a few weeks ago to put inside the bathtub. He was getting too big for the little baby tub, but I am too nervous to just put him in the regular tub. We crack up because he props up his feet and lounges in it like he's at the beach. He loves to have Daddy throw him up in the air when he gets out of the tub. They do it over and over and over. He's "talking" a lot this month and laughing so much too! He's just too much fun!

We love you more than you will ever know, sweet Reid! :)

weekend fun

We had a fun weekend! On Friday night we celebrated my beautiful sister's 26th birthday! We went to Lupe Tortilla and then went to her house for a little while.

Reid is kind of tricky at restaurants these days. He hates sitting in a high chair so we took turns entertaining him while we ate dinner. :)

He was much happier once we got to Alli's house and he had a spatula to play with...

Reid had fun hanging out with Alli's boyfriend, John!

We had a three day weekend because Chris had today off. This morning I went and got a massage with my gift certificate from Christmas. It was sooo relaxing! My dad and grandmother (Reid's great-grandmother) came over for a visit this afternoon. We love our visits with Guinny!

I just love this picture because you can see Reid's mouth full of teeth!!

I started to feel bad because I don't take very many pictures of our dogs anymore. They have really been so wonderful with Reid. Annabelle is usually up for photo shoots. Chloie usually isn't. So, here is a picture of Annabelle...I love her underbite! :)

Tagged!

This is my first time to ever be "tagged" in the blog world! Fun times! :)

Rules:
1. Post these rules.
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in her post.
4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.
5. Go to the blogs and tell them that you’ve tagged them.
6. You must tag 11 people.

*I am typically a rule follower, but I am going to break number 5/6. I think it's fun to learn random things about people though, so please do it! :)

11 Random Things About Myself:

1. I am really, really, REALLY scared of lizards. I would 100% rather have a spider or even a snake within 5 feet of me than a lizard. I am also scared of birds.
2. I got an overhead projector for Christmas in 4th grade.
3. Texas A&M was the only college I applied to.
4. I hate warm seats of any kind. They gross me out.
5. The sweet girl that works at Chick-fil-a (Christie) knows my voice when I order my Diet Coke(s) every day and we always have a mini conversation through the speaker.
6. I am not a music person. I never know what the "cool" songs are or who sings them.
7. I am technologically challenged. Chris had to help me do the link to Amanda's blog below.

8. I have a fear of having "Happy Birthday" sung to me. I really don't like it at all. I also get nervous for other people when they are being sung to.
9. Commas kind of stress me out. I know I was a teacher, but sometimes I can't figure out where they are supposed to go!

10. I've only owned 3 hair brushes since 6th grade. That's such a weird piece of information to remember.

11. My mom picked out my clothes and fixed my hair for me every day until sixth grade.

My answers to Amanda's questions:

1. If you had to have any one song play to announce your arrival whenever you walk into a room, which song would it be? This is easy. I would NEVER EVER want a song to play when I entered a room. I would be mortified! (See #8 above.)

2. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? I'm going to go with the chicken.

3. What one thing is guaranteed to make you cry? I am guaranteed to cry if I see a stray dog or watch one of those horribly sad animal commercials.

4. What do you do for a living? Did you grow up wanting to do this? I used to be a teacher and wanted to be a teacher my whole life. (See #2 above.) Now I'm a mommy and couldn't imagine doing anything else right now.

5. If you had to name your next (or first) child after a pet you’ve had during your life, which name would you pick? Well, I equally adored our sweet Raisin and Lacie, but I will go with Lacie for obvious reasons. :)

6. What’s your favorite sport to play? And to watch? I've never actually played a sport unless you count picking flowers in the outfield in junior high as a sport. I love watching college football!

7. What’s your pet peeve of the moment (because if you’re like me, they change from day to day)? The term "date night" really annoys me for some reason. I probably just hurt somebody's feelings by saying that. My other one right now is something I am totally guilty of doing myself, but once I realized it bothered me I stopped! You know when someone says hi to a newborn baby and the mommy replies by saying to the baby, "Can you say hi?" That's my pet peeve. Of course the baby can't say hi! :)

8. If you had to eat one thing for breakfast every day for the rest of your life, what would it be? I love sweet things for breakfast. If calories were not an issue, I would want some kind of yummy pastry, such as a cinnamon roll.

9. How many glasses of water do you drink, on average, per day? Are you proud of this number? I try to drink between 48 and 64 oz of water per day. I should probably drink more than that.

10.What was your favorite grade in school growing up and why? I loved 3rd grade because of my teacher. When I got my first teaching job, I tracked her down (she lives in Illinois now) and we exchanged a few letters. She was the best teacher!

11. How many pairs of shoes (estimate) do you own? I just cleaned out my shoes, so I currently probably have around 10 pairs. I tend to stick with simple shoes that go with a lot.

My questions for you:

1. If you could take your family and friends with you and move anywhere in the United States, where would you move?

2. If you could have any talent, what would it be?

3. What was your AIM screen name?

4. Other than your wedding or the birth of a child, what event in your life would you like to relive if you were given the chance?

5. What has been the biggest surprise in your life? (This doesn't have to be deep. Just a fun surprise!)

6. How long does it take you to get ready in the morning?

7. What is the last book you read?

8. What is your favorite room in your house and why?

9. If you could do it again, what is something you would change about your wedding?

10. What is your favorite non-reality show?

11. What is your favorite vacation spot (a place you've already been before) and why?

I hope someone answers my questions! :)

On the move!

I forgot to take a picture of my two valentines yesterday...oops! I think it will be fun to do cutesy things for Reid on Valentine's Day as he gets older. This year we got him a book and some cars. I realized that he didn't have any cars and every boy needs cars.

When you pull them back and let go, they zoom forward. Reid wasn't really a fan of that and got kind of scared. He would rather just chew on them.

The biggest thing that has happened this week is that Reid started crawling!! It's just an army crawl, but it counts. He started doing it on Monday and has already gotten much quicker. The only thing that seems to get him to do it is putting the remote in front of him. Such a boy! ;)

Getting focused...

Eye on the prize...

Good job, baby! This is going to open up a whole new world for him and us! :)

Our Valentine's Day

We've never been big Valentine's Day people. We decided that today was our Valentine's Day.

These pictures just melt my heart. Chris was making Reid laugh while we ate lunch. I love the joy on his face!

Tonight we made pancakes for dinner. We also tried to make some heart ones (for Valentine's Day, of course). We figured out the correct way to use the heart cutters after we had already made them.

During dinner Reid fixed his hair using organic hair gel made from peas and squash. :)

He is wearing the same thing in all of these pictures because he stayed in his pajamas all day!

I love pj days! :)

"Walking"

It seems like lately the only thing that Reid wants to do is "walk". He loves doing this and gets the biggest smile on his face, but we can't exactly do this all day long.

So, this weekend we went out and got him a walker. He thinks he's such a big boy when he is walking around the kitchen. Today he scooted over to the open pantry while I was doing dishes and turned around with a huge grin. It was like he was making sure he was allowed to be in there.

He's starting to look so grown up! :(

TGIF

I'm happy it's Friday! Chris was out of town for work part of the week. Reid and I went to Mumsie and Popsie's house because I don't like the idea of being alone overnight with a baby quite yet. Reid hasn't felt good all week. I ended up taking him to the doctor on Wednesday and she said he most likely had the mouth portion of Hand/Foot/Mouth Disease. Luckily it wasn't too bad yet. His throat was just really red. One thing I like about going to the doctor is that we can see how much he weighs! He was 20.5 pounds yesterday!

A Friday List of Thoughts...

*Reid has started having an opinion about things. All week it seemed like nothing I did was making him happy. Sometimes I just think he gets bored of me by the end of the day and is ready for a new face to look at. I also think that he wants to move around and is getting frustrated that he can't crawl yet.

*Reid is starting to hate his car seat again. He's usually fine once we start driving, but he screams every single time I put him in it.

*I'm learning that watching a baby learn to feed himself takes a lot of patience and self control on my part. It takes him 10 minutes to eat 3 puffs! :) I have to try really hard not to just put them in his mouth myself. He's slowly but surely figuring it out!

*Even though Reid is now a great sleeper, he is still a very light sleeper! When I go in to check on him at night, he almost always wakes up and stares right at me! I try to be so quiet!

*My car is turning into such a mom car. I've always been someone that loves a very clean car. Now, there is random stuff thrown everywhere! It's kind of driving me crazy. Baby shoes are in the console, a random sock is in the cup holder, toys everywhere... Luckily we haven't started having snacks in the car. I don't think I will be able to handle cheerios being all over the floor. I may just be a mean mom and not ever let him eat in the car.

*One of my favorite things to do is watch Reid's face when he sees something new. The littlest things are so amazing to him and I love it. A couple of days ago I was holding him and filling up my water bottle at the refrigerator. He got the biggest smile on his face and then started squealing and kicking! He thought it was so funny! He still stops every now and then to study his hand and fingers. I love that. Last week my dad was over and blew a bubble with his gum. Reid's eyes got so big and he was really studying it. When the bubble popped, he started laughing so hard! They did this for about 15 minutes straight. Precious...

*Reid and I have a pretty good schedule going. The problem is, I don't feel like it matches any other baby's schedule that we know! It's hard to get together with people because we are always on a completely different schedule. For now, we will just stick with what is working for us and participate in things when we can.

*We started Kindermusik classes this week! Chris' parents gave Reid these classes for Christmas! We went even though Reid wasn't feeling very well (this was before I took him to the doctor). I think he will have so much fun at music class when he is feeling better!

HAPPY FRIDAY!