Wednesday, March 28, 2012

These top two photos are for my Mom. You see, I have had a bit of a problem getting around to bathing Reid as often as I did the other two when they were little. She is a little appalled by it. It's not like he is walking around caked in dirt, but we don't bathe daily (or .....). So, here is to show you that tonight, all three of them had their first bath together w/o the baby bathtub. They smell so clean! Yes, Grant had a good grip on Reid so he wouldn't slip although these two pictures aren't very convincing!
Spring Break 2012
1. We had Grant's lovely trampoline collision/six stitches. He was told to take it easy for a week until the stitches came out.
2. Day one of the break, Kyle came down with pink eye. Nothing like visiting the After Hours clinic on Saturday morning with a kid whose eyes are matted shut with eye crusties.
So this picture - it's what they did most of the break. And they might have even worn those same pants for a few of the days...
As a side note, Jason and I have become very aware of the technological era that young kids are growing up in. I read somewhere about the iPaci - it's how so very often, when our children become slightly bored at a store or restaurant (or, heck - even our own homes), we as parents are just tossing them our smartphones to entertain themselves with an Angry Birds swipe of the finger.
Shouldn't society be aware of this? How are our youth going to grow up without knowing simple entertainment from creativity and imaginative play? It worries us. So, we have done a few little things, that, in our eyes, slow this process for our particular household. 1. We have set days of no screen-time/video games (M-Th) and then on F-Sun, we have a 2 hour limit. That's it! The exception is when we have "family movie night" and those hours don't count - but we haven't told the kids that info yet! 2. Even though our cell phone contracts for new phones were up nearly a year ago, we have yet to "upgrade" to avoid the pressure. Likelihood of one of us getting a smartphone when we do is 100%, because we WANT one (such Americans), but we are delaying. What's been fun to find out - several of our really close couple friends are doing the same things! So, I find hope! :)

Thanks, Greg and Linda, for the shirt (and Carrie for shopping with your Mom!)
Three day post-accident picture. Amazing imprint of the net! Thanks, Dr. Tom, for your care!Spring Break 2012 - Part 2
The timing was perfect. Pink eye had cleared out, and Grant was given the all-clear to play.
So, we loaded up and headed with our friends to their lake house. Our trip was initially going to be couples-only with three couples, but a few things fell through, so it was a family affair. And it was so much more fun to see the joy in their eyes and hear their laughter every day!
The backyard of the lake house.


The big kids took a break at the marina. Pretty good photo opportunity!
Boat ride!

The Moms!


I forgot our camera! Can you believe it?!?! So my friend had hers, and she sent me a link to her Kodak gallery, but it doesn't allow you to download w/o ordering pictures. So.... I was a bit creative and literally went through the slideshow taking pictures of my computer screen of the photos. Quality isn't so great but at least I have the memories digitized!

Friday, March 16, 2012

We were "lucky" to have our first set of stitches on a kid last night! This is what happens when we get a neighborhood full of fun kids - some people go flying in to trampoline nets/poles/something and start gushing (and I am not really exaggerating!) blood. He got 6 stitches, one underneath b/c it was so deep, and then 5 on top. You can see the imprint pattern, which will leave a nice mark for a while. So, first off, thankful he was okay and no concussion. Secondly, we hope it doesn't scar since it is in such a prominent spot. Grant cried a lot but once we were in the doctor's office, he did great.


Dr. Kyle at the Wondertorium at a friend's birthday party

The culdesac boys working on their man project. Still not sure what the goal was but whatever it was, they did a great job!

This is what happens when you go to Sam's Club. A whole van full of stuff. We even attempted to go to Academy afterwards and add more stuff - crazy! So thankful for our versatile Sienna!

L-O-V-E!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday, March 15, 2012

This was a forwarded email this morning from my Mom.... AWESOME VIDEO! This will replace and be better than Texas A&M's band. Way to go, West Virginia!

Friday, March 9, 2012

Nursing

Tonight marked the last breast milk bottle for Mr. Reid. Yes, I cried. No, it's not the end of me nursing, but it is a significant step (and I can't emphasize that enough) for me to start feeding him formula, and very soon, to whole milk.

I exclusively nursed/breast milk bottles Grant for 12 months and about a week. The beginning six weeks of his life (a month early) trying to get it to work was exhausting. Jason, my Mom, Aunt Kelly, and Granny took shifts helping me out and we did the pump/syringe/tube/shield/etc. tiring but so glad I stuck with it because he was finally able to suck and nurse. I worked until he was almost 10 months old so a lot of that was pumping at work. At that point, I was offered a great job that I couldn't pass up of 2 days/week, and could still have the opportunity from the Director (the late Carolyn Hill) to pump. Great job for me at the time!

I exclusively nursed Kyle until 13 months, and was able to not have a job during this time, except for buying the business/moving/starting that job but from home. He was a great nurser.

Reiders... if you are new to the blog, you can get his baby history here. So, I made it to 9 months and a little bit with him. We still have nursing time in the mornings, usually laying in bed, which is my favorite. He is really distracted when we try to nurse so it otherwise doesn't work!

Nursing has been very important to me, but it really proved to be imperative to Jason. I wanted to quit 6 months ago with Reid, and he encouraged me to continue, and I am so glad I did.
So, these breasts have nursed for 34 months so far and given a great, healthy start to our three little boys!

Bittersweet day for me today!!!!!

Monday, March 5, 2012

Fav Game: Who is Who?!?



Oh My Cuteness....




This is what I did for an hour today! Took pictures and played with my sweet boy before naptime! So, I just had to share, and there were so many cute pictures, I posted nearly all of them! :) yes, I am in love for the 4th time....