Grandpa!

Well, don't get used to the frequent updating I've been doing lately, but lately our life has been full of wonderful moments that I've wanted to share!

We got to have Gerry's dad stay with us a few days this week. It was due to the sudden cancellation of an Alaskan fishing trip, so while we wished it had been under better circumstances, we were thrilled to have him with us for a few days.

Reed happened to be at daycare when Steve arrived. When I went to pick Reed up, I avoided saying that we were going to see Grandpa because I was afraid it would confuse him (my dad only lives 40 minutes away so Reed gets to see that Grandpa much more often that Steve who lives on the other side of the country!) Those of you who've met Reed know that he is not quick to warm up to people, so I was prepared for him to be a little unsure about Grandpa Steve since they haven't seen each for six months. Boy did Reed surprise me! Grandpa and Gerry were waiting on the front sidewalk for us when we got home. I put Reed down and he walked straight past Daddy and asked Grandpa to pick him up!!!! Gerry and I could only imagine that Reed remembered Grandpa from when we visitied in January.

Gerry and Steve took advantage of their time together by working on putting in more of our bamboo flooring (and of course, Reed helped). They made a LOT of progress in our front room which was especially challenging because they had to level out the floor before they could lay down the bamboo. It looks fantastic!!

As requested

A couple of close ups of my belly henna. This is right after I had it done, before I'd removed the mud.

And this is a couple of days after removing the mud, when the stain was darkest. I was really pleased with how dark the stain was. Henna stains darkest on thick skin (like your palms and soles of your feet) so I wasn't sure how dark my belly would get!

Okay... I get it now

We had professional portraits taken of our family a couple of weeks ago. The pictures turned out fabulous, and were a good deal less expensive than the ones we had done a year ago at the fancy portrait studio. I happened to meet our photographer, Kathryn, through La Leche League. I felt really good being able to support a momma who I knew shared many of my parenting philosophies.

People are always telling Gerry and I how much Reed looks like Gerry. Reed and I were even at the grocery store once without Gerry and the checker said, "Wow, he must really look like his daddy!", this was without even seeing Gerry! Now for a long time, I could see that Reed and Gerry shared some features, but I actually think his facial structure is more similar to mine than Gerry's. So everytime somebody would say this, I'd try to say something gracious, but I was always thinking "Really? You don't see any resemblance between Reed and I?" But when we got our professionl pictures back, and I saw this picture, I finally got it! For some reason, I can really see in this picture how much Reed and Gerry really do look alike!!

This picture illustrates a fun new quirk of Reed's. He wants to hold my hand almost all the time. While we were at String Summit, he took to holding my hand while Gerry pushed him in the stroller. On our way home from Summit, he wanted to hold my hand while he sat in the car seat. There have even been times when I've been carrying him, and he insisted on holding my free hand! :-) I'm sure this won't last long, but it melts my heart!!

We got so many good pictures from our portrait session that I'm having a hard time deciding which ones to post. I love this one of Reed and Gerry! The best part about these pictures is that unlike the fancy portrait studio, we got a cd with high resolution copies of all the pictures! Yeah, much better than having to go back to the studio to pay for a reprint if we ever want one!

NW String Summit

Last weekend we made our annual trek down to North Plains, OR for the NW String Summit. This was Reed's second time at Summit (or third if you count the time he went when he was still in my belly!) and just as last year, he amazed us with how well he did!

I don't think there was a thing about the whole experience that he didn't love! He loved camping, he loved all the other kids camping near us, especially Robbie, Dave and Sarah's son who was camped right next to us, he loved exploring the campground and going for walks, but most of all, he LOVED the music. The whole weekend, he kept signing for music. Right from the start, he wanted more music. Thursday, we happened to catch part of a sound check, and when the band stopped playing, Reed said "uh-oh" and signed for music. And he definitely preferred seeing the music live to hearing it on the radio, or the music they would play over the speakers during the set breaks. Gerry and I joked that he was definitely OUR son!!!

I got a henna tattoo on my belly to show off while we were at Summit. I loved it so much that I can't wait to have henna done on my belly again! I think pregnancy is SO beautiful!!

Some cute stories

We haven't had too much new going on, but I wanted to share a couple of cute stories (one that I've been meaning to share for a while!)

A month or so ago, Reed was asking for something from on top of his dresser where all of his stuffed animals live. Not knowing which animal he wanted, I got down his sea otter puppet and started making the otter talk to Reed. Otter has been a long time favorite of Reed's (one of his first ever smiles was directed at otter). I made otter say various things, and eventually made otter say "I love you" to Reed. Reed's response was immediate! He reached out and gave his otter a great big hug! It was so cute! Reed usually reserves hugs for close family and the kitty, so to see him so affectionate toward his stuffed animal was a rare sight!

And the more recent story. A few nights ago, we were outside playing with Reed in the front yard. It was another hot day so I was letting him play with the hose again. We have a pair of rain barrels in our front yard and Reed really likes to help us fill a bucket with water from the barrels, then help us carry it to water some newly planted lavender. Well, after playing with the hose for a while, Reed went over and got the watering bucket, put a little water in, and marched right over and dumped it out on the lavender. He repeated the process more times than I can even count! It's so fun to see how much he wants to help with things!

Baby bun and I are doing well. I'm almost to the six month mark in this pregnancy! I can't believe how fast the time has gone!!! She's much more active than Reed was, to the point of being a little obnoxious sometimes. One of my midwives said that there's probably more room for baby this time since Reed got everything stretched out. The one upside to her activity level so far is that she doesn't seem to be particularly active when I'm trying to go to sleep (this is when a lot of babies wake up and start kicking). I'm feeling pretty big already and while I think that pregnancy is beautiful, I'm a little concerned for how big I'm going to get!!

Hot fun in the summertime

I hope all of you managed to stay cool over this past hot weekend. Gerry and I were singing the praises of having central air (something we never would have installed, but which was already installed when we bought the house) because Reed wound up having a pretty high fever on Saturday. Sunday he had no fever, but was definitely still out of sorts. We took him outside in the evening, and playing with the hose made him a much happier camper! You can see here he figured out how to get a drink from the hose. For some reason I loved doing that when I was a kid... it always tasted better I thought.

Why not let him run through the sprinkler you ask? Well, that's a good question. Earlier in the week, I had decided to take Reed outside and let him run through the sprinkler for the first time. We bought a sprinkler a week or two ago in anticipation of warm weather and we've had it out in the yard where Reed has thought it was a great toy (you can see it in the pictures). So, I hook up the sprinkler to the hose and turn my back on Reed to turn on the water. In classic slap-stick fashion, Reed picks up the sprinkler (remember, he thinks it's his toy) and looks right at it. At the same time, I turn up the water much higher than I intend to, and Reed gets sprayed right in the face! I suddenly had a sobbing little boy on my hands.

I felt pretty bad, but it was a little funny at the same time. However, Reed failed to see the humor in the situation and feels he has learned all he needs to know about sprinklers, and they are not for him! I'm thinking by the end of summer, he'll come around on the sprinkler issue, but for the time being, I seem to have ruined one of the great joys in a child's summer!