Quickly captured.

All too often, the only camera I have around is the one on my phone. While I adore my big fancy DSLR camera, I've been able to capture some pretty sweet moments with my little iPhone. It's always nearby (although the husband would strongly disagree with this statement as I often lose it), so it's easy to grab it quickly before an adorable moment passes. They may not be the sharpest in quality, but the memories are clear as day.

Here are some of my favorites from the past couple of months, with the captions I used on Twitter for each. (If you follow me on Twitter, you've seen all of these. But they're cute enough to look at again, in my opinion. Also, all photos have been filtered with Instagram, the golden child of my phone.) Enjoy!

"World's Unhappiest Baby. #sarcasm #lovehim"

"Bathtubs make great time-fillers sometimes. Two happy babes = a happy mama."

"Check out her form. There are scholarships in her future."

"It was a 'play outside on the swingset but only for 8 mins b/c it's incredibly hot out' kind of day."

"There's just something so adorable about toddler lunches."

"Thanks, Today Show, you just made their week. And now we can watch it on repeat for weeks. #callmemaybe"

"My current view. Hurry home, Daddy."

"This is what a double ear infection looks like."

"He was feeling good & hungry...@ Skyline Chili."

"Sprinkle sharing, sibling love, perfect night."

"Starting him early..."

"Pretty much the perfect day for hopscotch & rainbows."

"Feeling extra safe this morning."

"Cool evening walks might just become a habit. #embracingfall"

Prima ballerina.

Want to spend 45 minutes with a giant smile on your face, repeating the phrase "Holy crap, this is the cutest thing I've ever seen."? Enroll your child in ballet class.

Brooke started baby ballet a few weeks ago and is loving it! She thinks dressing up in her "leotard & skirt & slippers" is just fabulous. Not at all surprising considering how girly she is! And because I think it's just heaven, I put her hair up in a bun each class. She has learned a few real ballet moves, though they use kid-friendly terms to help the kids understand. For example, to teach 1st position, they ask the girls to make their heels "kiss" and to put their arms out like they are holding a beach ball. Super cute! Brooke's favorite part of class is the Crocodile Song, where they pretend to be a crocodile as they stretch at the beginning of class. It's all just the most precious thing ever.

This class doesn't end in a recital (much to my dismay & the husband's relief,) but we wanted to be sure she'd really like it before we committed to a more serious class. After all, ballet is not exactly the cheapest hobby to begin. But I did it for 2 years when I was little and I still have vivid memories of it - I absolutely loved it! And I just knew my girly dancing queen would love it, too.

The pics below aren't the greatest quality, as the lighting was just marginal & I was juggling Joe as I took most of them. But you can see enough of the adorableness, right?

(p.s. I did not tell her to pose like this. She came up with this one all on her own.)



Whether she was trying to or not, she's dead-on 2nd position here.

Brooke & her friend Sarah Kate. (Notice Joe in the background, happy as a CLAM that he's finally allowed to get down and dance around - I literally hold him the entire class so he doesn't run off & try to join the girls.)

1st birthday :)

Joe's 1st birthday party was a fun-filled days-long celebration!

First up was lunch on his actual birthday with his cousins (the ones that don't go to school on Thursdays, that is) for a little pizza followed by ice cream cones. (Notice how little ice cream is actually in his cone? Yeah, I ended up scooping most of that out because it was in his way.)

 I forgot to mention that our little birthday boy was barely 24 hours in to an antibiotic for a double ear infection (and dealing with "terribly swollen gums", to quote the pediatrician.) So it wasn't exactly the happiest of birthdays. He woke up from his afternoon nap screaming & tugging at his ears. This was the first clear sign that it was his ears bothering him, as the fussiness leading up to his diagnosis wasn't specific to a certain pain. For 30 minutes, he was completely inconsolable. No amount of food, drink, cuddling, or Elmo helped. It was basically the saddest 3o minutes ever, as I sat here helpless, unable to make the ear pain go away.  In another attempt to calm him down, I tried taking him outside.

He was calm for about 2 minutes. And then the poor guy had had enough. Does this not just break your heart?

 Once the afternoon dose of Advil kicked in, we got a marginally happy baby back for the rest of the day, which included a trip to the park...

...dinner at Firehouse Grille (which meant getting to sit on the firetruck!)...

 ...presents...

 (...eating the darn pointy hat we kept forcing him to wear all day...)

...and dessert! He loved the singing, couldn't care less about the brownies.

On Saturday, Joe was surrounded by all of his favorite people at his big firetruck birthday party! Until very recently, he hadn't really taken a liking to any particular character or toy. So I just picked a theme that I thought was boyish but also fun & easy to do. Turned out to be the perfect choice :)

I had a ton of fun planning this party and even managed to get a lot done ahead of time (unlike Brooke's birthdays, which I usually don't start planning until Dec 26th, for obvious reasons, giving me just a few days to pull it all together.)

He had a mountain of gifts to open thanks to our very generous family and friends. He only tolerated the first half dozen or so before he started getting really antsy. Between the lingering ear infections and the fact that it was already pushing his usual bedtime at this point, I'd say he did a good job. Thankfully, everyone seemed to understand and didn't complain that I was opening all of his gifts for him :)

 It didn't help that this adorable fire truck was one of the first things he opened. Very little could pull his attention away from it after that.

 He was super crabby as we ventured outside for cake time. But the moment we started singing Happy Birthday, he perked right up!

 He was fascinated by the candle on his cake. Didn't really try to touch it, just didn't understand what was happening with it. Once again, Mommy stepped in to help out, this time with blowing out the flame.

 Not sure what it is about my kids, they just don't care for birthday treats! After taking a taste or two of the icing, he was uninterested in it. Not exactly the typical "destroy the cake as fast as you can" behavior often seen by birthday babes.

Ah, a cookie - much less intimidating, much easier to throw on the ground once he ate all the icing off of it.

Love this birthday boy :)

Thanks again to everyone who helped us celebrate the big 1st birthday with our big boy! We still can't believe we have a 1-year-old!

Birthday Boy.

Dear Joe,

Happy, happy birthday to our handsome little guy! You are such a sweet, cuddly, funny boy with such personality. You are growing every day, though you seem so "petite" to us. You spend your days in size 4 diapers (5's at night) and size 12-18M clothes. You have 8 teeth, with very swollen gums showing us that several molars are on the way soon. Your speech has really taken off over the past 2 weeks or so. You are babbling constantly, with a few actual words thrown in there every so often. You are such an active guy! You move non-stop, climbing in/on/around/through whatever is in front of you. You just love to climb. Mommy caught you standing on the seat of your sister's tricycle just last week! When we can get you to stop moving, cuddling up with a book is a family favorite activity. Here are a few more of your favorites (and not-so-favorites) in this last month of your first year:

Favorites
Elmo - "Melmo", as you call him, is your new buddy! You just light up when he comes on TV or you see him in a book. We have started watching a lot more Sesame Street, as your sister often suggests it because she knows you like it.
Being mischievous - You are already a button-pusher, and you think it's so funny! You are constantly testing the waters around here, doing things you know you're not supposed to do (yes, you're smart enough to know already) and looking back with a smirk to see if we've noticed. If you see us coming towards you to stop whatever it is you're doing, you start doing it faster. Hear us coming to get you off the stairs? You climb faster, giggling the whole way up. See us coming to get you away from the bathroom? You get in there as fast as you can with a giant smile on your face.
The garbage can - Why do you adore the trash can so much? You think it's so fun to pull trash out of the can and to put your toys in it. To you, there are lots of things that look fun and tasty in there. Like the Montgomery Inn rib bones that Daddy threw away after lunch one day and you proceeded to pull out and gnaw on before Mommy caught you. Buddy, that's a pretty gross habit!
Fruit - Your diet is currently about 60% fruits & veggies, 25% dairy, & 15% meat and grains. Your preference certainly seems to be fruit! You almost always eat your fruit before the rest of your food. Your top 3 faves include strawberries, watermelon, & mandarin oranges, with several others close behind.
Forks - You will eat almost anything off of a fork! If we are having trouble getting you to finish your meal, all we have to do is give you a fork. You understand how to use it, you just don't quite have the motor skills to do it yourself. If we help you stab the food with it, you think it's so fun to put it in your mouth!

Not-so-favorites
The stroller - If the stroller isn't moving, you're trying to climb out of it! You will only tolerate being in the stroller for a few minutes at a time and only if it's in motion. The best chance we have of keeping you in there is to feed you snacks or give you toys...which you then throw out. We'd let you walk more if you'd agree to hold our hand, but you want to run free!
Strangers - The typical Stranger Danger stage has taken full effect. Here's the problem: you are a very friendly, smiley guy - people just flock to that smile! When a stranger approaches, you get very nervous. Especially if the person is elderly. For some reason, older people tend to get just a little closer and more in-your-face. It's quite common for you to burst into tears after a few seconds of someone being too close.
Baby Food - We gave up on trying to feed you baby food in the middle of this month. You prefer to eat like the big boy you are.
Baked goods - You are completely unimpressed by baked goods (which breaks your Mommy's heart a tiny bit.) When you were diagnosed with an egg allergy, the allergist told us to slowly introduce baked goods that had eggs baked in them to see how you'd tolerate them. The trouble is you want no part of them. You've eaten the frosting off of a couple cookies this week and took a tiny bite of the frosting on your birthday cake, but that's about as far as you've gone. You love packaged baked goods (graham crackers, animal crackers, etc.) but want nothing to do with the homemade kind. For now, at least.

We are having a ball watching you grow up into this big, smart boy. Daddy just beams with pride as he watches you throw a ball (with your left hand) or make a basket in your "bat-ball" hoop (and he secretly adores that one of your first words is basketball.) Mommy's heart just melts each time you bring her a book & sign "book" and then "please" before starting to climb onto her lap. Even Brooke gets really excited when you learn something new, like how to play with a certain toy or finally do a sign we've been trying to teach you. We just can't get over how bright you are & can't wait to see that little mind expand even more in the coming years.

At 11:55 p.m. one year ago, you completed our family. And today, you bring more joy, more smiles, more love to our lives than we ever could have imagined. Happy birthday, baby boy!

Love,
Mommy & Daddy

Off to school!

Today's was Brooke's 1st day of school! It was a widely anticipated event; we have been talking about it for months, hoping to help her prepare for what the day would be like. Our preparations must have worked because she had a great day :)

Mommy & Daddy had a special gift for Brooke the night before her 1st day...

...new jammies to help her get a good night's sleep! This will definitely become a Reeder family tradition. She LOVES these jammies - she said to me before bed, "Cinderella's going to get lots of rest, too!"

 After a great night of sleep, she got to have a special breakfast: a sprinkle donut! This was maybe her 3rd donut ever and she was thrilled about it! Another fun back to school tradition :)

 Her little brother was excited for her, too. Well, as excited as one can be with a double ear infection & a 103.7 fever. (We've been to the doctor & started antibiotics at lunch today. Fingers crossed he's better by his birthday party!)

Basically the most adorable & grown-up she has ever looked. I can't even handle how much I love this girl.

The Minnie Mouse backpack is just too cute for words. She didn't want to take it off to get into the car to drive to school.

Brand new shoes for the first day! How long before these babies no longer have a speck of white on them? I give it 2 months.

 Walking in to her school like a big girl. My favorite part of this (blurry, sorry) picture is the blue Keds labels on her shoes - takes me back to 1st-4th grade!

 Hung her backpack up all by herself.

There wasn't even one second of hesitation about being in her classroom. She was ready! She started playing with the puzzles right away while I talked to her teacher for a minute.

 Then there was a very quick kiss & hug and she was off to play! Didn't look back to see me leave, didn't seem worried one bit (unlike the other screaming children all around us. Both teachers had a crier in their arms when I left, with another one trying to run out the door. You couldn't pay me enough to be a teacher of 13 2-year-olds.)



While she wasn't super forthcoming with what she did at school, I know she had a lot of fun. They played on the playground, sat on the circle to sing a song, painted (there were 4 all-red paintings in her backpack), & played with Play-Doh. If you ask her what her favorite part was, she'll tell you it was snack time - pretzels & water. Her teachers told me she was their "big helper" today (not a classroom job or anything, more like Brooke's self-appointed role.)

I'm so proud of my big girl for being so brave at school. She's the oldest one in her class, so I'm glad she was able to set a good example. And Mommy was brave, too! I had the hugest smile on my face as I drove her to school & the same smile was on my face as I drove away. I knew she'd have a fabulous time. She doesn't need me anymore...and I'm okay with that!