January = blah.

January. What a hot mess of a month! No time to blog right now, so here's a picture of the kiddos to tide you over :)

Mickey's house.

Disney = quite possibly my favorite place on the planet. And Disney through the eyes of a toddler? Priceless. It's hard to believe that our Disney trip was already 2 months ago. My parents very generously took my whole family to The Happiest Place on Earth over Thanksgiving, and it was awesome! 19 of us, including 6 kids under 5 & 1/2, navigated our way through 3 parks over 4 days. Phew! And yes, it was as exhausting as it sounds! Of course, there were tears and fights and meltdowns (and oh so many leaky diapers by my kids, good grief!) And the adults were all ready to drink by about noon each day (don't worry, we didn't...well, some of us might have...) But there were also so many giggles and smiles and hugs that made it all worthwhile. Little minds were being blown by the magic that surrounded us at all times.

Brooke was especially thrilled to see all the characters she watches and reads about every day (Mickey & crew, the princesses, etc.) She enjoyed most of the rides we went on, though she wasn't a big fan of the Pinnie the Wooh ride and she fell asleep on It's a Small World (and who could blame her...) Overall, I'd say she was really good, considering she wasn't quite two years old and we were pushing her to her limit every day. She got a nap each day, which was my goal, and once she even napped in the stroller so we didn't have to leave Magic Kingdom. And she slept well in the big bed all by herself, something I was worried about - she'd never slept in a real bed other than her own.

Joe was a model baby on the trip! Carting an infant around the airport/parks was a whole different experience for us. Thankfully, at 2.5 months old, he was still in that sleeps-most-of-the-day stage. However, he was also in that super-needy stage, too. As long as he was fed when he wanted to be (I can now say that I've breastfed at the foot of Cinderella's castle & in Norway) and had a pacifier close by, he was a fairly amicable baby.

I think one reason it has taken me this long to blog about it (you know, other than the fact that we were insanely busy for the weeks following the trip,) is because I was/am overwhelmed by the number of pictures I have. 615 pictures, and very few actual good ones of my kids. And, yes, it makes me sad that I don't have a great shot of the kids with Mickey & Minnie or one of all the girls wearing their matching Minnie shirts/bows or one of Brooke wearing her Mickey ears...but then I remember that I was juggling 2 kids, a huge pile of stuff, and a giant camera. Not to mention Brooke is going through her "I refuse to look at the camera and simultaneously smile" phase and Joe was only 2 months old when we went on the trip.

But among the 615 pictures were a few good shots that depict the fun we had on this magical vacation, and that is what I'll share with all of you.

This is the only picture I have of Joe on his first plane ride. This was taken shortly after I changed his dirty diaper on the tray table while we were 35,000 ft in the air.

 Our first day was spent at Magic Kingdom. The girls wore their princess dresses for most of the morning, which surprises me because Brooke will usually only wear it for about 5 minutes before she's done.

 One of the sweetest moments of the trip was watching Brooke meet the princesses she'd been reading about for months. She was super excited to show them her dress. She was a little timid but not really afraid, which I was impressed with. Up first was "Sleeping Judy". 

 Next was Mommy's favorite, Belle.

 And finally, the lady of the hour, Cinderella. Brooke seemed especially smitten with "Cindawewa". And Cinderella seemed especially smitten with her, too...

 ...so much so, that she left her a little reminder of their visit. :)

 Our kids are so lucky to have such awesome, hands-on aunts and uncles. Everyone helped out with the kids while we were there, holding hands and hoisting kids on shoulders. There was always someone willing to help us parents out, and I can't even begin to explain how grateful I was. At any given time, one of my brothers could be seen holding Joe's pacifier or giving Brooke a lift. Their arms were probably sore from holding my heavy kids or our heavy crap all week!

 This was hands-down my favorite part of the whole trip. The "Move it! Shake it! Street Party" was a mini-parade that stopped right in front of Cinderella's castle. We were surrounded by Disney characters on floats shaking their groove thing. The kids had a BLAST dancing along to the music. And, honestly, so did the grown-ups. We made a little circle around the munchkins and let them just go to town. At one point, we even had our own little family conga line going :)

 A Disney employee saw our kids rockin' out and came over to dance with them. She taught them all the correct dance moves. Brooke paid very close attention to her and would mimic her every move. You should see my girl shake her tail feather - hilarious!

 Magic Kingdom was certainly the most toddler-friendly of all the parks, in my opinion. Especially for little girls :)

 This is the only picture I have of Brooke in her ears. I was a very nice wife and did not force the husband to wear ears (the same can't be said for a certain sister of mine...Greg, you are a trooper!)

 Dancing wasn't just reserved for Magic Kingdom. The little lady was jammin' all over the place!

 I kinda love this one. (And, in case you were wondering, my sister and I wore matching "Original Mouseketeer" shirts to the park...proudly.)

 Cousin Hannah is a fan favorite around here. She & Brooke get along great (they are 7 months apart) and had a blast riding in the stroller together. And she & Joe are fascinated with each other in a completely adorable way. Such a sweet little thing!

 The best family shot we could get in front of our hotel.

p.s. It was flippin' hot down there for the end of November.

 We loved these little beach snowmen!

 Joe spent a good portion of Epcot passed out like this. Lucky boy got to just sleep whenever and wherever he felt like it. We used his Mickey ears to shield his head from the hot sun since Mother of the Year over here didn't think to get the boy a sun hat for the trip.

 As anticipated, Brooke was afraid of Mickey and Minnie and clung to her Daddy pretty tight. Boy do we look like a hot mess as a family!

 Silly girl on her way into a 3D show!

 Has there been a picture of Joe awake yet? There weren't many, I tell ya. He'll get to soak it all in the next time we go. (Can you even handle this cuteness right now? I mean, seriously!)

 All of these little munchkins had such an incredible time meeting Mickey and all of his friends. We are so incredibly grateful to my parents for helping make this dream vacation a reality. The memory of Brooke & Joe's 1st trip to Disney will live with me forever!



Right now.

Oh, hey.

Yep, I'm alive. Remember how January was supposed to be all slow and uneventful and I was supposed to have oodles of time to clean my house and organize my life and I was supposed to be able to sleep and relax and enjoy my family and blog and I wasn't supposed to constantly feel like I had a million things to do? Remember that?

This is not that January. This January is busy and crazy and no one sleeps and nothing is organized and my house looks like an episode of Hoarders. This is the first chance, seriously the first one, I've had to put some effort into a blog post. And I hate that because, as I've said before, this blog acts as my kids' baby books. So the fact that I haven't updated it enough the last 2 months makes me sad. So rather than spend time blogging about the events that have recently happened (Disney, Christmas, Birthday) and aren't going anywhere, I'm going to hurry up and blog about what is happening right this second. Because these kids are changing rapidly and I'm missing it. So, here's our family right now, as of 1/19/12:

Joe
...sits up on his own! Hooray! If he has something to hold/concentrate on, he can sit by himself for a long time. It's when something to his side or behind him catches his attention and he turns to look that he topples over. It's ridiculous that he can already do this at 4 months, though not surprising as his big sister did the same thing. Let's hear it for big babies, eh?
...has forgotten how to poop, and I blame Mickey Mouse. Before Disney, we had ourselves a few-times-a-day boy, delightfully regular. Then, we come home and BAM! Boy can't poop on his own anymore. Pooping on 2 plane rides must have traumatized him. Every 5 or 6 days I've had to *help* the boy go. Ah, motherhood is so glamorous, isn't it? So, no pooping here...UNTIL we started oatmeal cereal 2 weeks ago (a recommendation at his 4-month appt.) It seems to be helping, though he's still anything but regular.
...has also forgotten how lovely it is to sleep through the night. After it took us 14 months to get Brooke to sleep through the night (and even now she wakes up about 50% of the time), God blessed us with a great sleeper. At first. Now that Joe's digestive system is on strike, the little man is plagued with gas pains that wake him up. Between that and the itchy eczema covering his body, he's up a hundred times a night. OK, maybe not a hundred. But a bunch. And it's wearing me down, kids.
...has developed this terrible habit of only napping longer than 30 minutes if he's being held. And, like idiots, we're enabling this behavior because, well, sometimes we just need a break from the fussiness and constant attention-seeking. Plus, snuggling with a baby is pretty awesome.
...sits in the high chair now like the big boy he is! And gobbles up baby oatmeal like nobody's business. He'd eat 2nd and 3rd helpings if we let him. His mind is going to be blown by actual foods. Fruits and veggies will be on the menu in a few weeks!

Brooke
...is two. (Need I go on?)
...has entered the most exhausting boundary-testing phase to date. And it's KILLING us. She spends a good portion of her day in Time Out. We're trying to really crack down and be consistent with the discipline - we ask nicely 2 or 3 times, then we warn her that she'll go to TO if she doesn't do it, then off she goes to the steps (our TO spot). A few times she has even put herself on the steps instead of just doing what we asked. It's a battle of wills and the husband and I usually win.
...thinks getting out of bed and making us chase her back into it is the funnest game around. She's very stealthy about it, too. We'll think she's fast asleep up there and then we'll hear her trying to open the gate at the top of the stairs or hear the floor in our bedroom creak. She walks around with her pacifier and stays very quiet. She then laughs when we come up to get her because she just thinks it's terribly amusing. Well, it's fun until I shut her door. Then she flips out because she can't get out. After trying to turn the handle for about 2 minutes yesterday, I heard mid-sobs "1, 2, 3, 4, open the door!" as if rhyming would magically open the door. (Seriously, imagine a sobbing 2-year-old saying that and try not to laugh. I about died.) I went in after about 5 minutes and she was so exhausted from crying that she didn't put up a fight to get back in bed and stay there. For now, threatening to shut her door is what is keeping her in bed. That is, until she learns how to open doors, which I'm honestly surprised hasn't happened yet. It'll probably happen, like, tomorrow, because that's just my luck.
...is in LOVE with her kitchen and all the kitchen-y things she got for Christmas and her birthday. She comes and takes our order and then goes into her kitchen to make it. And as she takes your order, she'll ask appropriate questions: "Do you want sauce with that?" Her specialties are "regular soup" and cookies. She also makes a mean cup of coffee with chocolate frosting in it.
...successfully potty trained for 2 days back in December and has wanted nothing to do with the bathroom ever since. She got Big Girl undies for Christmas and talks about wearing them all the time, but won't try to go. I'm debating whether I push it now or give it another month or two (the pediatrician said girls don't typically start until 2 & a half.)
...now sits at the table with us like a Big Girl so Joe can have the high chair. And she loves it, even though her view of the TV is a bit blocked (Yes, we watch cartoons while we eat. Only during breakfast. Mama needs some proper wake up time & a few episodes of Bubble Guppies seems to do the trick!) It's so funny for me to look over from across the table and see her sitting next to the husband. She looks so little next to him! (That's a popsicle she's eating in this pic, btw. It's what she always picks for dessert when we let her have it. Even over cupcakes and cookies - silly girl!)

The husband
...has been stepping up in major ways lately. And probably thinks I haven't noticed. But I have. And I'm grateful.
...has an even better understanding and appreciation for what I do each day after spending an incredible amount of time off over Christmas. He even got another dose of it Monday for MLK Day, at which time he threatened to go into work even though it was a company holiday (8 trips to Time Out before noon will do that to a person.)
...is the best Duplo Lego tower maker around! He builds, Brooke tears them apart. Over and over again. He's a trooper.
...doesn't know it yet but is going to take his wife out to dinner on Saturday night sans-children. And then drive her home after the one glass of wine she's going to have makes her tipsy because, let's face it, her tolerance is embarrassing right now. (Don't worry, I'm working on it. One of my NY Resolutions is to drink more!)

I
...am now the proud owner of an iPhone. And a Twitter account. And just paid 2 of our bills online. Hello, 21st century!
...worked out last night for the first time since getting pregnant...with Brooke. And I lived to tell about it. Excuse me while I go pat myself on the back (and then wince in pain from moving...) I might just make this a weekly thing, because even though Boot Camp kicked my ass for an hour, it was an hour I was out of the house doing something for myself (a RARE occurrence.)
...am starting to decorate our house. Nope, not redecorate, because that would imply we decorated in the first place. We've lived here 4+ years; it's about damn time we start putting stuff on the walls, am I right? First up - the playroom!
...am trying very hard to be more hands-on with the kiddos during play time each day (another NY Resolution.) I'm trying to give each of them some undivided attention each day to just play with me. Sounds so simple to actually sit and play with your kids, right? But, far too often, laundry or dishes or something gets in the way. Joe's play time involves a lot of pat-a-cake and being bounced around and tickled. With Brooke it might be playing a game (she got Hi-Ho-Cherry-O & Memory for Xmas) or mixing up something fabulous in her kitchen. I'm hopeful I can keep this up. I might even start setting a timer to remind me to stop what I'm doing and sit down & play!
...will continue to count my blessings. Though the days have been trying lately, my life is for my kids right now, and that's exactly how it should be. Even if I need a few glasses of wine to survive it all.

Butchered.

Brooke speaks incredibly clearly for a 2-year-old. It blows my mind that we have some of the conversations that we do. She's just so much smarter than I ever could have imagined. And yet, if you chat long enough, you're quickly reminded of how young she really is. She regularly butchers certain words and we laugh every time she does it.

My faves:
Banana - "Dabana"
Vanilla - "Dawiwa"
Ketchup - "Kepup"
Pillow - "Piwwow"
Balloon - "Doubloon" (I think this comes from the pirate show on Disney Jr. where they count gold doubloons.)

And we've tried to teach her the correct pronunciation to no avail. For example, we've told her how to pronounce banana. We'll do it slowly, one syllable at a time. She'll repeat the syllables correctly - "Ba. Na. Na." - but when we have her say it all at once? "Ba-Dabana."

Soon enough, she'll figure out how to correctly say all of these things. Like how she figured out that oatmeal is "oatmeal" and not "ohmomp". But until then, it's nice to have these little reminders that she's really still just 2. Still just my little girl.

Four Months.



Dear Joe,

What a crazy & busy month this has been, buddy! You seem to have transformed from a newborn into a very active, happy baby the past few weeks. Gone is the tiny little infant that just slept all day. Now, you're always moving and looking for something new to play with. And you look so much bigger/older, too! You are in the 95th percentile for weight (17 lbs 8 oz) and off the charts in length (27.5 inches) - a tall & skinny Reeder, just like your Uncle Craig! You are just the happiest little guy most of time, making it really hard for us to even come up with a list of things you don't like! Alas, here's a taste of what you do & don't like at 4 months:

Favorites
Chewing on things - This is still a big-time favorite of yours. Everything you can get your hands on goes straight into your mouth.
Exersaucer - The exersaucer has replaced your swing and bouncy seat as your go-to entertainer. You will happily play in there for up to 20 minutes, pressing the buttons and pulling at all the little toys.
Yawns - You think that it is absolutely hilarious when someone yawns. Maybe it's the wide open mouth, maybe it's the squinty eyes, or maybe it's the very dramatic yawning noise Mommy now makes because she knows you love - whatever it is, you think it's a riot! And because you're not sleeping very well lately, Mommy & Daddy have lots of real yawns for you to laugh at every day!
Your Sister - You have finally warmed up to that crazy big sister of yours. You find Brooke very entertaining. When Mommy is busy with something & you start to get upset, she often sends Brooke over to talk or sing to you. It always calms you down and makes you smile. Her favorite song to sing to you is the ABC's. She also loves to try to comfort you when you cry in the car; "It's okay, Joe. We'll be there in 2 minutes." she'll say (although she doesn't really know what 2 minutes means...) You're constantly following her with your eyes as she quickly moves about the room. We are very hopeful that you two will be good buddies.

Not-so-favorites
Being Startled - You don't like when someone sneaks up on you or suddenly uses a loud voice near you. You like to know what is going on around you at all times. More often than not, your sister is the cause of you being startled...
Your Digestive System - You poor little boy, you have the worst digestive system. You've had issues with belly aches since you were born. Now, to top it all off, you've forgotten how to poop! Ever since our trip to Disney at Thanksgiving, you're having serious issues. You've pretty much stumped the pediatrician as to how to fix it, too. We're going to start introducing solid foods to you this coming month in an attempt to help moves things along in there. In the meantime, you are just suffering through the gas and discomfort, and you hate it!
Your Itchy Skin - You are covered head-to-toe in eczema, and it must itch like crazy. Mommy was astounded the first time she watched you itch your arm purposefully. Every time she moved your little hand away from your arm, you went right back to it for relief. The itching even keeps you up at night. We are diligently trying to provide you with even more relief by lathering you up with 4 different creams/lotions every day. Surprisingly, you don't seem to mind all the lotioning - you must be used to it by now.

You've mastered lots of skills this month. You can roll over from your belly to your back (something you've done since you were about 6 weeks old, but now you do it with purpose.) You can turn your body 360 degrees on the floor by wiggling around (Mommy often finds you turned around in your crib in the morning, the opposite direction of how she laid you down.) You can easily bring your hands together to grab an object and hold on to it for more than a few seconds. And, just this week, you were able to sit up all by yourself for up to a minute without toppling over! This is very exciting, as the world will really open up for you now that you can sit up.

Even though this has been a very trying month, filled with one ailment after another and many sleepless nights (our perfect little sleeper has disappeared!), it's still been such a blessing. Your warm smile could melt glaciers. We are going to do everything in our power to keep you smiling every single day. We love you, buddy!

Love,
Mommy & Daddy

Birthday interview.

Every year on our kids' birthdays, we're going to ask them a series of questions to see how their preferences change over the years. Yes, I totally jacked this idea from the internet (Pinterest is my new time-sucking BFF). I just think it'll be a fun thing for them to look back on as they grow. Plus it'll make me all nostalgic on their 21st birthday when I'm buying them a Lemon Drop at the bar to look back on their cuteness.

Note: We did this interview while she was eating dinner. (Her birthday dinner of choice? Waffles, mixed vegetables, and peaches. Whatever the sick birthday girls wants, the sick birthday girl gets...) She was a tiny bit distracted by all the eating, but I documented her answers word-for-word. We tried not to give her too many ideas, but some categories she needed a little help with.

(And before you ask, no there wasn't a Year 1 interview. All of the answers would have been "duck" or "hi" or one of the other 6 words she knew at the time.)

Brooke's Birthday Interview: Year 2
1. What is your favorite animal? A lion. (I had asked her this earlier in the day and the answer was giraffe. She's clearly not attached.)
2. What is your favorite food? Cheeseburger. (She needed lots of choices. She even picked this over ice cream.)
3. What is your favorite show? Bu-bu-bubble Guppies and Elmo and Dora.
4. What is your favorite color? Green.
5. Who is your best friend? Molly (pause) from Bubble Guppies. (We thought for sure she meant my niece at first, which would have made perfect sense as she adores her.)
6. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Oatmeal. (Truer words have never been spoken. And she just learned how to say this word correctly. It used to come out "Oh-momp" for some unknown reason.)
7. What is your favorite restaurant? WaWosa's.
8. What is your favorite book? Pinnie the Wooh and cheeseburger. (Um, we've read 1 Winnie the Pooh book once before. And we don't have any books about cheeseburgers, she just really loves the word.)
9. What is your favorite song? Jingle Bells!
10. What is your favorite toy? My kitchen...I love to play that.
11. What is your favorite snack? Fishies. (Daddy gave her a list of choices for this one. If he hadn't, I'm sure she would have come up with the right answer, animal crackers.)
12. What do you like to sleep with at night? Bunny, pappy, and piwwow.
13. What kind of birthday party are you going to have? A Bubble Guppies birthday! My fingers are sticky.

And there you have it, folks. Brooke Mary in a nutshell at age 2.


(I've got some serious catching up to do on the blog - Disney, Santa's early gift, new traditions, Christmas, Brooke's pathetic little birthday, Joe updates because he's growing faster than I can handle - so I'm going to spend the next uneventful month filling you all in on the Reeders. Prepare to be inundated with retroactive posts.)

2 fabulous years.

2 years ago at this very moment, I delivered a little girl that changed the way I saw the world. In just 2 quick years (man, how fast they have gone!) she has taught me more than I had learned the previous 25 years of my life: how to smile through a crappy day, how to be understanding when every ounce of my patience is gone, how to love deeper and unconditionally. These two years with her have been the greatest blessing of my life.

Happy birthday, my beautiful little girl. Love you tons.