Family update.

Another up-to-the-minute Reeder family update for this lovely Spring day. (Side note: Spring! Tulips! Sun! Trips to the Park! Hooray!)

Joe
~ He can stand for long periods of time holding on to things. He loves to stand next to the couch or some of his toys. He is also starting to pull himself up on things. He can get himself up on his knees but that's as far as he's gotten so far.

~ He loves to jump! Whether he's in the exersaucer, the jumparoo, or just holding your hands, that boys loves to bounce up and down.
~ We are about two weeks in to a new feeding schedule for Joe. We started trying to give him one bottle a day for 2 reasons: to get him used to taking them so we can have some flexibility and also because I was a little worried my milk was starting to deplete. After giving him a bottle right before bed one night, we were rewarded with a really good night of sleep. So the once-a-day bottle is now given every night just before bed. Thankfully, he's fairly used to taking bottles now so we get very little resistance anymore. I nurse him between 5-6 pm for the last time, then he gets a bottle between 8-9. He still nurses once overnight, but I only feed him on one side (still trying to totally wean him from nighttime feedings.) We've also added in a 3rd meal of solids each day. Trying to figure out this whole new feeding schedule is exhausting for me; I remember this exact same thing with Brooke. The transition from milk to solid foods is not as easy as it sounds! (Either that or I'm an idiot. If you think it's the latter and you have some brilliant ideas as to how to get the timing right for all of this food, please let me know!)
~ He's not a very big fan of actual solid foods. He'll eat oatmeal and purees, but he gags when you put a bite of something in his mouth. We have about a 25% success rate with Puffs; most of the time he just spits them back out. He loves pureed bananas but wants nothing to do with a real banana. We're going to keep trying new things - takes some practice!

Brooke
~ She is a champion whisperer. Since her brother was born, she has mastered the art of whispering. She can be very quiet...if she wants to be, of course.
~ Her favorite shows right now are Little Einsteins and Special Agent Oso. She still enjoys Bubble Guppies, but it's never her first pick anymore.
~ I swear she has grown 6 inches in just a few days. She's just so tall now. It's hard to believe this big kid is my baby girl.

~ Some of her new favorite foods include: french toast sticks, asparagus, chocolate animal crackers, apples, raisins, and orange juice.
~ Favorite activities: going to class down at the Rec, playing games (we play Memory about a dozen times a day and Hi Ho Cherry-o every once in a while, too), playing on her playground in our backyard, & playing with Play-Doh.

The husband & I
~ He started grad school about a month ago. It's an online-only program, & so far it doesn't seem to be too hard for him. Luckily, he's been able to get a lot of his school work done at the office, so the kids still get lots of Daddy time at night. We are so proud of him for taking this on!
~ I've started drinking more. Ok, it's not as bad as it sounds. Considering you could count the number of drinks I had had since I got pregnant with Brooke 3 years ago on one hand, "more" isn't really all that much. Now that I'm not nursing after 6, I can have a glass of wine or a beer with dinner if I want to. I didn't realize how much I missed it. (I am not an alcoholic. I do, however, appreciate the freedom to partake when I've had a long, stressful day. Plus, Riesling is delicious.)
~ We're both really tired. Joe's about 7 days in to a sleep strike that we just can't figure out. And it's slowly chipping away at our sanity. Note to self: schedule a date night ASAP.
~ We're planning an adults-only long weekend trip this summer and I couldn't be more excited about it. Spending a whole weekend without changing a diaper or anyone asking me for another box of raisins? I'm soooo in.

Shopping with 2.

I just did something that I never in a hundred thousand million years thought I would do.

I let my child ride in one of these.

Trust me, I'm cringing right along with you. I'm fairly certain she's going to develop Lyme disease now. (No, I have no idea what Lyme disease is.) Oh, the germs! I can almost hear the good folks from Child Protective Services walking up to my front door right now. At one point, she even peeled one of those stickers off the roof of the car and put it on her shirt. Ewwww. I almost died right there next to the spaghetti sauce. In my defense, I did wipe the crap out of the car with the provided Lysol wipes before she got in. And gave her a hand sanitizer bath the moment we got to the car.

But can we talk about the more important matter at hand for a second? I took 2 children to the grocery store and lived to tell about it. It was actually completely pleasant, minus the germ-mobile. Brooke was super well behaved in her little car. And Joe sat up top like a big boy, with a pappy and a bag of zucchini to play with. We made it through the entire store in under an hour, which was quite a feat considering I had to maneuver that monstrosity of a cart. (I imagine that's what the husband must feel like trying to drive my boat SUV.) And we got everything on both of our lists (including a bottle of wine for Mom & Dad because there's a 6 month old in our house that refuses to sleep this week.) And I did say "lists" plural. Brooke went to the store armed with this:

She was super excited about it. She kept telling me everything that was on her list as we shopped & got even more excited when we picked each thing up. It ended up being a great distraction tool for me.

All in all, I'd call this a mega successful parenting moment. That's not to say I'm going to do this often; it's very rare that I can't get to the store alone (or at least with the husband.) But it's very nice to know that I can do it if needed & we can come out unscathed. We all survived what could have potentially been a very disastrous trip. Joe took a nice little nap afterwards & Brooke helped me put away the groceries (something else she loves to do.)

Grocery store: 0.  Mommy, Brooke, & Joe: 1.

Booyah.

Confessions.

I have a few confessions to make. This is some pretty powerful stuff, so brace yourselves.

1. My 6 month old has spent the last few weeks sleeping on...a pillow. I KNOW. A pillow. Scandalous, indeed. The SIDS police will surely have something to say about this. The boy couldn't breathe last week when his strep made him all congested so I propped him up on a (very flat) pillow. Homeboy has been peacefully sleeping ever since. (Do not assume "peacefully" and "through-the-night" are interchangeable here. Because they are so, so not. I mean "peacefully" in that the boy can breathe while he sleeps.) I'll probably remove the pillow and see if it makes a difference once I'm convinced the stuffiness is gone, but until then? Poor parenting up in here.

2. I think nap time is the most glorious time of day. Even better than just regular nap time? Simultaneous nap time. What's that, you ask? It's when all the stars align and both of my children nap at the exact same time. I'm not kidding, when I get to the bottom of the steps after successfully putting the second child in bed, angels sing a heavenly chorus of "Hallelujah!". There are few things more joyous in life. (Here's the part where you start to judge me because "Sarah, shouldn't spending time with your kids be the best part of your day?" and my response to that is: cool it. You come spend a day in my shoes and deal with the sass of my 2-year-old and the whining of my 6-month-old and then tell me you don't want 5 flipping minutes to yourself to eat a snack, pee, and watch a little Project Runway.)(No really, come spend a day in my shoes; then I can take a nap while you watch them.)

3. I'm pretty proud of how well I'm doing with this whole Boot Camp thing. Oh, you thought I had given that up? No sir, I haven't missed a Wednesday night yet. I've even thrown a few Saturday morning classes in there, too. I used to be sore until, like, the Tuesday after the Wednesday class, but I'm rarely sore anymore. And I finally feel strong enough to do all of the hell exercises she puts us through, rather than feeling like a complete waste of uncoordinated space. And, this just in: I'm down 2 jeans sizes. Say what?! Two! Which I find to be completely ridiculous. I had a serious moment in the Gap dressing room the other day. I'm now a size that I always told myself would be impossible to achieve given my body type. Like I said, ridiculous.

4. There are 3 leftover pacifiers in the top drawer of Brooke's dresser (we had 8 identical pacifiers but she never saw more than 2 at one time) and I am soooo tempted to break one of those bad boys out, like, every other day. She has never been a sound sleeper; she wakes up once a night pretty much every night. She even cries out in the middle of her nap about half the time. It used to be so easy to coax her back to sleep: go in, turn on the seahorse, pop in the pacifier, and she's out. Now? Well, it's such a struggle. And her cries are loud enough that they wake up her brother, which is quite frustrating. I won't actually ruin the whole pappy-free thing, but boy am I tempted...

5. I compare my kids. Poor Joe. He's got some big shoes to fill. His sister did (& mostly still does) everything ahead of the game, so I'm expecting him to be able to do some of the same. And he's just not. And having this blog to use as a reference is not helping his case, either. By 6.5 months, Brooke was army crawling and pulling herself up on things and rolling all the way across the room. Joe is not really into any of that, and I unintentionally judge him for it. (Hey, these are confessions. I didn't say I was proud of myself for it.) He'll roll a little bit, but it's more like he just falls over. And he scoots himself backwards, but only if he's angry that he's on his belly. I know, I know, "every child is different". But that's a very difficult concept for my head to grasp. Until it does, I'll try not to think of these things as shortcomings and instead use them as what we need to work on with him. (That sounds terrible. Who judges their 6-month-old?)

6. I taught Brooke the chorus to LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem" and I consider it one of my all-time greatest parenting achievements to date. It's phenomenal. Imagine a 2-year-old singing "Every day I'm shufflin'" and perhaps you'll understand why. Video to come very soon.

7. I don't care what anyone says, chocolate animal crackers are not cookies. Nowhere on the bag does it say the word "cookie". Which is a good thing because I ended up giving up baked goods (i.e. cake, cookies, brownies, pie, muffins) for Lent. And it's mega hard. Harder than childbirth, I'd say. (Which actually isn't saying much because I didn't think childbirth was all that hard. Annoyingly long, yes, but not super hard. I know, I'm a brat.) To make up for the loss of sugar in my system, I've amped up my consumption of candy and ice cream and other non-baked sugary goodness - like animal crackers.  Oh, and side note, Pinterest is the devil when you're not allowed to bake!

8. POTTY TRAINING SCARES THE CRAP OUT OF ME. That is all.

Well, there you have it. It feels good to get those things off my chest. Especially that last one. I don't think there's enough wine in the state of Ohio to help me get through that one.

Pappy free!

Our big girl got even bigger a few weekends ago...she gave up her beloved pacifier! The "Pappy Fairy" made a visit to our house. For a couple weeks before, we talked a lot about how Brooke was a big girl now and how only babies like Joe needed a pappy. I explained that the Pappy Fairy takes pacifiers from big kids and gives them to new babies, leaving behind a special present for the big kids instead. So on a Saturday morning, she very excitedly helped me wrap up her pappy and put it in the mailbox. After lunch, she found this in the mailbox:

It said "Brooke, I got your pappy & now you are a big girl! Love, The Pappy Fairy." (I have no explanation for that weird look on her face, by the way.) Inside her "goody bag", as she called it, was a Little Einsteins DVD & a princess wand. She was very excited!

Until a few minutes later when it was nap time. And this is the part where I felt like the world's worst mom. And also the part where I was reminded that my very smart, very large toddler is only 2. See, she seemed to be all excited and willing to do this whole Pappy Fairy thing. But I don't think it really registered with her that she really wasn't getting her pappy back until we went up for nap time. There were many, many tears.

And it wasn't until that moment that I really thought about what a big milestone this was. She'd been using a pacifier as a comfort tool since the day she was born. Seriously, we popped a pacifier in her mouth in the hospital to help her sleep (despite the judgy eyes of the nurses). And she had used one for every single nap and nighttime sleep since. So for that to suddenly be gone would obviously be an incredible adjustment for her. Hence the Super Mean Mom award that I gave myself in that moment.

She eventually fell asleep and has been sleeping pappy-less ever since. She cried at every nap (and a few nights) for a good ten days. She never once asked for her pacifier; she just cried that she didn't want to take a nap. However, I'm happy to report that we're finally, and I'd say even happily, pappy free! She's all grown up, with just one pretty major Big Girl milestone to go: potty training!

Half birthday boy!

Dear Joe,

Happy half birthday, kiddo! Who could believe that you've been with us for half of a year already? We've loved every second of it! You are such a busy little bee this month, always moving and trying to get new things to play with (well, chew on.) You aren't doing much rolling, but you have started scooting backwards the tiniest bit. You turn in circles both on your belly and while sitting, and you have an incredible reach; from a seated position, you can bend over at the waist really far to grab at things (something that impressed the pediatrician.) You are becoming a funny little eater. You almost always shudder at the first bite of any food, but then you usually eat every last bite. It's funny to see your preferences for certain foods starting to develop. Even though you're eating like a champ, you're gaining weight fairly slowly. You weigh 20 lbs 10 oz, putting you in the 95th percentile. You're 28.25 inches tall (also the 95th percentile) which means we've had to start buying 12 month clothes for you, you big boy! Speaking of big boys, you got your first 2 teeth this month! Here are a few of the things that make you happy (and a few that make you sad) right now:

Favorites
Electronics - Buttons and lights and sounds, oh my! To say you are obsessed with electronic devices would be an understatement. If a remote control or phone is in your line of sight, you will not take your eyes off of it. You reach hard to get your hands on any that you see. And you love Mommy's iPhone; there's a Fisher-Price app with animals that she plays for you that you just adore because they dance when you hit the screen.
Books - You are just now starting to get into books. We've started reading to you nightly, just like we do with your sister, and you seem to really enjoy it. You mostly grab at the pages as we flip them and swat at the pictures. You've also discovered that board books are a fun thing to chew on.
Pacifiers - Your pappy is one of your very favorite things. Not only does it soothe you when you're upset & calm you when you're agitated, but it has now become a fun thing for you to play with. You can now pick it up and get it into your mouth by yourself. And you love to chew on it with those new teeth!
Your cousin Hannah - You have a very special bond with your cousin Hannah. At just over a year apart, you two are currently the babies in the family. You LOVE when Hannah plays with you. Don't get us wrong, you are quite fond of all of your cousins, but that girl can get you to laugh like no one else. She was the one that prompted your very first out-loud giggle. We hope you two share this special bond for years to come!
Mirrors - You love to look at yourself in the mirror! Though we're not quite sure that you realize it's you you're looking at, you sure do love that boy smiling back at you! One of your favorite things to do is sit on the bathroom counter after your bath and laugh at yourself. You reach for yourself and pat the mirror very excitedly. It's so cute to watch!
Mommy - You are the quintessential "Mama's boy". You could be perfectly content with someone else & then the instant Mommy walks into the room you get fussy until she holds you. In fact, you usually cry in my direction while staring me down, as if to say "Mommy, please come get me!" Just last night, you were being pretty whiny for Daddy, but as soon as you were in my arms you starting giggling and playing. Talk about a strong case of separation anxiety!

Not-so-Favorites
Bottles - You still hate to drink from a bottle. We have to come up with some way to distract you or trick you to get you to drink from it. The Bottle Boot Camp we threatened last month never happened. But, you better believe we're going to do it this month because, with the addition of those 2 new teeth, Mommy won't be nursing you too much longer!
Cold food/drinks - For some reason, you are not a fan of cold foods or drinks. You don't appreciate it when we give you a cold fruit or veg straight out of the fridge or if we make your oatmeal with cold water. And we have much better luck giving you a bottle if it's pretty warm. However, you do seem to be warming up to drinking cold water (we're working on getting you to use a sippy cup) so maybe you're turning a corner.
Green vegetables - You have been introduced to a myriad of pureed veggies, & you are certainly not excited about the green ones. You aren't super thrilled with any of the veggies - a definite fruit guy - but the peas and green beans seem to be your least favorites. Something tells us you aren't going to care for the Garden Vegetables mix (peas, carrots, and spinach) we give you tonight!

It's truly delightful for us to watch you grow. You have the sweetest disposition; as long as you can get something into your mouth to chew on (a toy, a pacifier, your hands) you are a content little buddy. You have an ear-to-ear grin that has only gotten even more adorable with the addition of those little teeth (and a constant stream of drool down your chin.) Even though you are a Mama's boy, you get the biggest grins on your face when Daddy walks into a room. And you have the cutest laugh, something you've been doing more and more of lately. You find your big sister to be pretty hilarious, and you're very patient with her when she plays too rough or steals your toys. You are also pretty patient with Mommy & Daddy when we have to attend to her before doing something for you.

You are such a complete joy to us, Joseph. You really are sweeter than pie. We love watching you transition from baby into little boy, so keep those big boy milestones coming! Love you, Buster!

Love,
Mommy & Daddy

Sick buddy.

Doesn't look sick, does he? Mr. Joseph was congested and whiny all last weekend. Tuesday afternoon he woke up from a nap blazing hot with a temp of 102.6 (anything over 100.6 for an infant is considered high.) After a quick trip to the pediatrician (where this picture was taken) it was determined that he had strep. And apparently it's very rare for a munchkin his age to get strep, especially considering no one in our family has it. Another overachieving Reeder! Several terrible nights of sleep & 5 days of antibiotics later, our almost half-birthday boy seems to be feeling much better! We are all exhausted & still catching up on sleep, but we are thrilled our little man survived his first illness!

Cutepalooza.

I don't know everything. 

"HOLD THE PHONE! Did she just admit she doesn't know everything?" I really did. As much as I wish I was all-knowing, there are things I don't know. Like why my kids were cursed with terrible digestive systems. Or why Mother Nature thinks it's April (which I'm loving, don't get me wrong, just as long as she doesn't think it's February in April.) Or why I'm still watching The Bachelor even though he's annoying & unattractive. Or why Cold Stone Creamery closed all of its locations within 20 miles of me (grrrrr!)

But, I do know one thing for certain: My kids are cute. Like, super cute. And I'm allowed to say this for 2 reasons:

1) I'm their mom. Moms get to brag. Like I always say, if you push it out, you get to brag about it.
2) This is my blog.

In case you need proof, let's talk about this little nugget, shall we?

Just look at that face! 

He makes my heart pitter-patter. He's just so happy and sweet and cuddly.

And did I tell you he has a tooth?! A tooth! When did he get this old?

I bet you're smiling right now at all the cuteness. That little smile is contagious, huh?

See what I mean? It blows my mind regularly that I made this child. 50% of that cute comes from me. Love love love my handsome boy!

(This post had absolutely no purpose other than to showcase some recent pics of my little man. You're welcome for all the hot mess babbling that came with them.)