Celebrating Reid's 4th Birthday!

This is the first year that Reid has really gotten excited about his birthday.  He's been talking about it for a few weeks and he was just SO excited to turn four.  It was fun to watch him anticipate his big day!

Reid woke up to his presents and a special breakfast treat waiting for him.  

Chris picked up his favorite treat from Panera (a chocolate chip muffie) and we also let him have a few m&m's.  You only turn four once!  

He asked for two specific things for his birthday.  One was a Spider Man toy.  He learned about Spider Man from school and even though he doesn't even really know what it is, he really, really wanted a Spider Man toy.  The other thing he asked for was a police car.  Uncle Thomas took care of the Spider Man thing, but we got him the police car.  This series of pictures makes me so happy...

Reid really wanted to have his party at Inflatable Katy (aka "the jumping place").  He had a blast with his friends and it was super easy for me! :) 

Reid's favorite part was definitely the slide!

When it was time to go into the party room for pizza and cookie cake, our sweet boy started getting really nervous and uncomfortable.  He does not like being the center of attention AT ALL.  He had already told me that he didn't want us to sing to him and I assured him that we wouldn't, but I guess having all of those people in a room just for him was a lot to take in.  He ended up not eating his pizza or his cookie cake that he was so excited about. :/ 

This one, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed the food! ;)

I love this picture of Reid and his sweet friend, Clara...

We came home from the party and let Reid open his presents from his friends and then we all rested up a little bit for round two of celebrating!  

Our family came back over for dinner and quality time with the birthday boy!  

He was excited about his ice cream cake and especially excited about blowing out the candle and requested to do it twice!  We weren't allowed to sing, but we were allowed to clap.  Go figure. ;) 

Meanwhile, someone else was perfectly fine stealing brother's unwanted attention.  

Our tired, but blessed little family with our birthday boy!  

It was a FULL and wonderful day celebrating Reid turning FOUR!

Alli and John's birthday present for Reid was a special outing.  The weekend after his birthday, they went to Little Beakers, which is a science lab, and then out for lunch and frozen yogurt.  He and the best day!

Sibling Pictures - May 2015

I am so glad we decided to do this mini session with Aubrey!  These photos perfectly capture Reid and Georgia Kate around the ages of 4 and almost 2.  I LOVE how they turned out.  I included Reid's individual pictures on his four year old post, but here are the ones of the two of them together, as well as some of Georgia Kate.  

aubreytorreyphotography.com

Reid is FOUR.

Our baby boy is FOUR!  I have heard that four is a magical age and I can already see why.

Here are a few things I want to remember about our Reid Preston at four…

He turns everything is a competition.  "Are we faster than that car?" "Am I older than him?" "Is our car taller than that one?"

He LOVES games.  It must have something to do with the competition factor! ;) His current favorites are Go Fish and Candy Land.

He is really into building things and he is really creative!

As much as I didn't want it to happen, he has started becoming interested in super heroes.  I don't think he really even understands what they are, but his friends at school talk about them.  I'm not anti-super hero, but I guess I just feel like they are such a big boy thing to be into and I'm not ready for that!  

He is a great big brother and is usually very patient with Georgia Kate.  I'm sure it's not easy to have someone knocking down your towers and taking your favorite toys!  He has a sweet little voice that he uses only with her.  He's very good about trying to calm her down when she's having a meltdown.  He isn't always successful, but he tries. ;) 

He loves being home and I hope he always feels this way!  I tried to keep our non-school days pretty low key this year so we could just enjoy our days at home.  On Wednesdays and Fridays he always wakes up and says, "We don't have anything today, right?"

As of a few weeks ago, he falls asleep by himself.  This is a big deal because one of us (usually Chris) was spending up to 2 hours laying with him until he fell asleep.  Now, we read a couple of books, say prayers, I ask him if there's anything he wants to talk about and there almost always is (I love this and hearing about what's important to him), and then he stays up looking at books for a few minutes by himself before falling asleep.  This makes him seem like such a big boy!  He also talks in his sleep.  He's usually yelling at Georgia to stop touching his toys, which is so funny!

He really, really does not like the attention to be on him (in a group) and takes a long time to warm up to new situations.  I am so proud of him when I see him work up the courage to try something new even when he's really nervous.  

I did a little birthday interview with Reid and here are his answers...

1. Can you tell me what your name is? Reid Preston Sciba
2. How old are you? 4
3. What makes you happy? You giving new toys.
4. What makes you sad? Georgia taking away my toys.
5. What's your favorite animal? alligator
6. What's your favorite food to eat? macaroni 
7. What do you like to do outside? jump and slide and swing
8. What do you like to do inside? play
9. What is your favorite toy? new spiderman toy (other new toys) What is your favorite of your old toys? Everything of my old toys.
10. What's your favorite book? The Very Hungry Caterpillar 
11. What's your favorite show? Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
12. What's your favorite song? Wheels on the Bus
13. What's your favorite game? Sorry
14. What's your favorite color? gray and purple
15. Where is your favorite place to go? Sea World
16. Who are your best friends? my small group friends
17. What are you really good at? games
18. What do you like to do with Mommy? play with you
19. What do you like to do with Daddy? jump on him
20. What's your favorite thing to play with Georgia? trucks

We could not be more proud of this boy and we are so thankful he's ours!

Happy Birthday, Reid!  We love you SO much!!!

4 year old stats:

Height - 43.5 inches, 97%

Weight - 46.8 pounds, 98%

Baby Makes 5!

We are SO excited and grateful to be expecting another baby!  Baby is due on November 17.  I love the idea of a Fall baby.  I have been day dreaming about having a newborn during the holidays.  We found out on March 11 and kept it a secret from everyone (even our families) until after our first doctor's appointment at almost 9 weeks.  After I found out I wanted to call Chris at work and tell him right away, but decided to wait until he got home so I could tell him in person!  Since his mind often revolves around the Aggie football schedule, I just casually said, "Hey, do you know what game is on November 14th?"  Surprisingly he said, "Not sure, why?"  I told him that he might be a little busy that weekend and probably wouldn't be able to go. ;) He was so happy and we both just laughed at the thought of having THREE children.  Chris typically isn't a fan of major life events happening right in the middle of football and hunting season, but I think he'll make an exception this once! ;)  I ordered big brother/big sister shirts that we were planning to use to tell our families, but they didn't arrive when I thought they would and I was too anxious to tell everyone!  We decided to just tell our parents that we had taken some cute pictures of the kids that weekend and let them flip through them on our phones.  We snuck this one in at the end! :) Everyone was sooo surprised and absolutely thrilled!  

I am 14 weeks now and starting to feel a little bit normal again.  Even though they were different genders, my pregnancies with Reid and Georgia Kate were almost identical.  I was often very nauseous, but it was usually in little patches throughout the day.  Well, this little one was making his/her presence known from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to bed each night.  I know it could have been so much worse, but it was basically just a constant state of BLAH.  I also don't remember the whole increased sense of smell thing really being an issue the last two times, but oh my goodness has it been a thing this go around.  Going to the grocery store, walking into the pantry, the garbage disposal… all made me completely gag.  I basically lived on HEB brand mango popsicles for the first several weeks.  So random, but oh so good. :) All of it is more than worth it.  We know how blessed we are to have been given this gift.  

As for these two… I would say they are pretty excited about Baby!  Georgia Kate obviously doesn't get it, but Reid does, which is so fun!  I am really looking forward to watching him be a big brother again now that he's much older.  Of course the gender will be a surprise again, but when we first told Reid about the baby he said, "Well, I already have a sister, so I need a brother."  Then a couple of days ago they were playing really well together and having fun and he said, "I think I want another sister!"  It was SO cute and sweet. I predict that Georgia will be super into the baby and also super jealous.  She's an emotional little firecracker. :)

Everything is just as exciting and wonderful and special the third time as I was the first two.  I just can't say enough how grateful we are.  Mumsie already got the baby his/her first gift, a beautiful white gown, perfect for a little Fall baby!  

Sweet #3, we love you so much already!!!