Already?

It happened yesterday. I put on a pair of much loved jeans and was inches away from being able to button them! They're the kind of pants that are always snug when fresh out of the dryer (which they were) but there was no way I was going to be comfortable if I tried to button them. I'm still surprised at how much sooner I'm showing!

Reed and I had a fun day yesterday. I took him to our favorite park for a while. Reed likes getting kisses, but isn't the kind to seek them out, but yesterday, he abandon the toy he was playing with at the park, walked over to me for a kiss, then turned to go back to play, but three steps later, came back for another kiss. It melted my heart!!!

Hummus has been a new addition to Reed's diet and he LOVES it! I wonder if this hummus company could use a new spokesperson. I'm thinking this face could sell a lot of hummus!!

Three minutes of Reed

We realized today that it's been a while since we posted a video, and figured we were long overdue. So we grabbed the camera this evening, and captured some moments of Reeds every day life. While editing the video, I was amazed by how well he is communicating, and how much he understands. He's really been quite the helper with our floor project, I figured I probably couldn't get him to fetch tools for me until he was 4, but he's doing it at 17 months! Enjoy!
-Gerry

The beginning of the end...

...of our old carpet. Gerry has started installing our new flooring. The learning curve is proving very steep at this point and so the going has been a bit slow, but I know that things will speed up once he gets a little more experience under his belt! Here he is nailing in the very first board. I just love how it looks. I'm excited to see more of it go in!

Reed was hungry before snack time on Sunday, so he found a box of Purely O's (like Cheerios) on the table, and shook it till he got a snack on his own!

My sleeping beauty. Reed went down for a late second nap on Sunday, so after an hour, I went in to wake him up so he would still go to bed on time. I usually don't go get him till he's awake so when I saw him asleep, I couldn't help taking a few pictures.

Introducing Baby Bun

Well, some of you already know, but for those of you who don't, we've got news! I'm pregnant again. This little one, who we've been calling our Baby Bun, is due in mid-October, which means that I'm about 12 weeks along. I've been feeling great, once again, pregnancy really seems to agree with my body. The only differences with this pregnancy are that I don't think about it as much as I did with Reed (because Reed keeps me distracted) and I'm showing a lot sooner! I think I'm only going to be able to go another few weeks before I have to start wearing maternity clothes. It's okay though, I love the big belly!! You can see from my picture, that I’m definitely in what I call, the “pregnant or fat” stage. It’s that awkward time in a woman’s pregnancy where you look at her and can’t quite tell if she’s pregnant or just packing a few extra pounds! :-)

So without further ado, here is Bun's blog debut!

Okay, I know that looking at ultrasound pictures can be like trying to interpret hieroglyphics, so what you see here, is the baby with head on the right, one arm crossed below head, and legs crossed on the far left.

And in this one we see Bun's head on the lower right and torso on the upper left.

We're making some changes for this baby's birth in hopes of me having a successful natural childbirth this time. I've switched from an obstetrician to a group of midwives and if all goes well, will deliver in a birthing center instead of a hospital. I'll also be hiring a doula to help me through labor and delivery. Hopefully this will all give me the best chance of having the birth experience I really want.

So from now on, Reed is going to have to share the spotlight on our blog, but hopefully he won't mind!

You may have also noticed in my picture, that our carpet is missing. That's because we recently purchased strand-woven bamboo flooring and are starting the installation process. Here Reed is helping Daddy move the book shelves out of our front room. This is just one of several project we want to wrap up before we don't have the time to!!

And just a few March pictures of Reed since I updated so infrequently last month. Here Grandpa Darrell shares his blizzard with Reed Prior to this, Reed had never wanted ice cream he was offered, but a blizzard, well, it's never wise to pass on ice cream blended with oreos!

And Reed with one of his very favorite toys.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

These pictures are a few months old, but I've been waiting till today to post them! The cute outfit came from our friend Courtney who is currently living in Ireland.

This has been a week we'll be glad to be done with. It started with Reed getting the flu on Saturday night and by Monday evening, Gerry had gotten it too. Just as Reed seemed to be getting over the flu, he got a cold and it wasn't long before I got it too. Yuck!! Gerry is feeling fine now, and Reed and I seem to be past the worst of the cold. Luckily Gerry and I took turns being sick so we were able to help take care of each other and of course, take care of Reed.

Reed provided me with a much needed ray of sunshine yesterday (when I was feeling worst). I had a basket of clean laundry sitting in our hall, and I noticed him pushing down the hall, so I watched. He pushed it toward the laundry room, then proceeded to put every piece of laundry, piece by piece, into the clothes washer! So cute!! And apparently today the laundry was done because he pulled it all out again and put it in the laundry basket! It's so fun to watch him figure out the routines and patterns of our life.

Sign of the times

About half a year ago, Gerry and I started trying to teach Reed some useful sign language. Reed now has a number of signs in his vocabulary. Many of his signs relate to eating: eat, more, want, water, all done. But some of his favorite things now have signs too: phone, up (to be picked up), brush teeth and bath. Reed's most recent addition has been daddy. He doesn't yet sign for mommy, but I'm not discouraged for a couple of reasons. One is that we make a big deal about seeing daddy come home and signing for daddy and just haven't found a way to make a big deal about signing mommy. The other is that Reed's very first sign, was the sign for milk, which we use as the sign for nursing. As far as I'm concerned, that's as good as signing mommy.

The funny part is, that most of Reed's signs need a little interpretation. For instance, some of you may already know the sign for daddy.

But Reed's sign for daddy looks much more like a scuba diver's above water okay signal.

If I hadn't seen him do a lot of these signs immediately after I'd done them, I wouldn't quite know what he was talking about. Gerry and I both agree that it's nice to have ways for him to communicate his needs, especially since most kids are able to sign before they can do much talking. The only down side is that teaching sign does seem to delay speaking for some kids (they can get all their needs met without talking) but once they start talking, their language skills don't seem to be stunted.

And now, a picture of Reed outside with one of his favorite toys (not the dump truck as you might imagine, but the golf ball in his hand).

Breakin' the law

Reed has his first run in with law this morning. I was hoping we could avoid these sort of confrontation all together, and definitely never expected to have to deal with this before he's even two! This morning, as Reed played in the living room, a sheriff's car parked beside our house. I thought it was strange, but thought it was even more strange when the officer got out of his car, and seeing me through the window, beckoned me outside. So out we went. The officer asked if there had been a 911 call from this house. No, I said. He asked if he had our address right, which he did. And then it dawned on me. Reed had been playing with the phone earlier!! Oops! Reed had dialed 911 (plus a lot of other numbers) then hit the call button. I explained to the officer and apologized profusely. He smiled (he was very good natured about the whole thing) and said he would usually explain the importance of 911 to kids, but recognized Reed was a bit young for this lecture! I felt terrible, because really, I should have been watching more closely, or better yet, not let him have the phone, but it's hard to say no to these eyes. I still feel a bit bad for having wasted the officer's time, but on the bright side, I can't imagine that 10 am on a Friday morning is a busy time for them.

A good weekend and a hard day

Gerry, Reed and I had a great weekend, helped in no small part by the fabulous weather! We celebrated Gerry's birthday on Saturday by going out to dinner together, without Reed. A rareity in this family. :-)

We took advantage of the gorgeous weather on Saturday by climbing Green Mountain. The last time we attempted this, I was about 7 months pregnant with Reed and had no energy. Not surprisingly, I remembered the hike as being much more difficult than it was! We made it to the top no with no problem this time!

Here are the boys with a view of Seattle and the Cascades behind them. It looks hazy in the picture, but was really crystal clear. Our new baby backpack was one of Reed's birthday presents (thanks Hama!). It was much easier on the back than our soft backpack which is great for shorter trips.

Reed found a stick to play with while we had lunch at the top.

A few gray jays, or camp-robbers as Gerry called them, were quite persistent about getting a snack from us. Beautiful birds!!

Yesterday, we seized on the nice weather again to get some yard work done. Reed wanted to follow his daddy everywhere! He'd cry if Gerry got out of his sight, so while Gerry did yardwork, my main job was just making sure that Reed was close enough to Daddy to be happy, but not so close that he was going to get hurt (we were pruning some big branches).

And the hard day today was Reed's first day of daycare. Turns out it was harder for me than him. He didn't cry a bit when I left (which is more than I can say for myself). It was definitely tough for me. I'm feeling really torn right now between being a mommy and being in the workforce. I keep reminding myself that I shouldn't make any decisions based on the first day of daycare! If I still feel this conflicted in a few weeks, then it might be time to reconsider.

Home is where the heart is

We decided to stay home this year for Valentine's Day. I briefly tried to talk Gerry into going out for an early dinner, but Gerry talked me into staying in for a home cooked dinner. I think it was probably a good decision considering we'd probably have been fighting crowds, and with a tired little boy too (Reed only had one nap today and usually still needs two).

Reed and I had a wonderful afternoon yesterday! We'd been busy running errands all day and I'd been wanting to get outside and do some gardening. Finally, when Reed got up from his afternoon nap at 4:30, I noticed it was still nice and we still had sufficient sunlight (hooray for the days getting longer!) so we got bundled up and out we went! It's been such an awful winter that Reed really hasn't spent much time outside lately. He had tough time toddling on the deep grass and moss, but at least his landings were cushy. He let me stay out long enough to clean up all of last year's growth from our daylilies and irises. When I was done, he started pointing toward the house. I told him to lead me where he wanted to go. He walked right up the path, crawled up the stairs and pointed at the door. To my disappointment, he was done with outside time.

Reed and I also got invited to our first playgroup which we attended on Tuesday. It was great to see him interact with the other kids. There were 5 other kids there and three of them were within a month or so of Reed's age which made it even more fun. The best part about it is, that this playgroup led me to find out about an attachment parenting online forum for Kitsap county. Through this forum I'm beginning to find more local, like-minded parents which makes me feel a heck of a lot less isolated!

I've also been seeking a daycare for Reed and happily, have finally found one. I wasn't thrilled with the idea of putting him in somebody else's care, but when I found the right place, I suddently felt a lot better. It's an in-home daycare and the instant I walked in, I felt at home. This was the first daycare in several I'd visited, that did not have the TV on when I came in (nor has it been on in subsequent visits). That's just the first of many things that fit our parenting style. So Reed begins next week. I'll keep you updated on how he does, and how I do (this may be nearly as traumatic for me as him!)

A week or so ago, Gerry installed a new glass shower door in our bathroom. No more ratty old shower curtain. Woohoo! Ever the little helper, Reed held on to Daddy's level until he needed it. (Reed looks tiny in this picture to me. Either it's the angle, or I have no concept of how big my child is.)

Just another cute picture from our shower door installation.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Yes We Can!

This past weekend, our state held the presidential caucuses. Watching the politics play out in the early states, and super Tuesday, gave us the sense that something was really happening in America. We have some of the best candidates we've seen in a long time.

One of our biggest reservations about having children, was not knowing what kind of world we'd be bringing them into. In a world plauged with reactionary violence, and disrespect towards our planet and fellow humans, we doubted whether we could leave our children a world that was better than the one we'd inherited.

Lately, we've found new hope in one candidate with a positive, hopeful message. It is time to strive to become the best that we can be. And It is time to do what is right, regardless of whether it's the way that we've always done things. We believe that Barack Obama will be the kind of president that inspires us all to achieve greatness, and that we can, once again, leave a better world for our children than the world that we were left with.

So on Friday, we took the ferry over to seattle to try to go see Barack at the Key Arena.

While trying to get to the parking lot, we noticed masses of people migrating towards Key arena... then we saw a line forming near Mercer Arena, but going towards Queen Anne hill. (The line was so phenomenal that I thought it was worth a map to show just how long it was, you may need to click on it to see it well). We parked, and went over to see what the line was all about, and found out it was the line to get in (at that point we could see the line stretching about as far as the question mark on the map). Of course, where we once had seen the end of the line from the car (the # sign), was now wound all the way back up towards Key Arena, looping through the Fun Forest. We finally found the end of the line up by the monorail (at the X), but it was growing faster than we could walk.


Once we finally found the line, we had heard from folks with friends inside, that it was already nearly full. We decided to hang out a bit to see what was happening, then the police directed everyone in our portion of the line a different direction (the orange arrow on the map). Straight in through another entrance to the arena. Considering how far back we were, we were EXTREMELY lucky to get in!!

Here Reed and I are hanging out in line. It's hard to get a feel for how many people were there from this picture. It was really exciting to see how many people had turned out.

Reed and Cammy waiting for Obama to speak.

It was jammed packed, definitely over capacity, but we found a great little spot behind some folding chairs, and one really nice lady gave up her seat for Cammy and Reed. There was a little 'cave' underneath the stairs that Reed enjoyed playing in.



And he made all sorts of friends with the people jammed close to us. He was much more social than usual. Perhaps being in such close proximity with politicians, he felt he should practice his shmoozing skills.

After about two hours of waiting, and some other speakers including Governor Gregoire, Barack took to the stage.

I wish I had more to say about his speech, but it was so loud, that we only caught about 2/3rd of what he was saying. You could definitely feearakl the electricty and energy in the building.

So the next day, all three of us went to caucus. Thankfully, we're democrats, because republicans don't allow kids at their caucuses. Reed had lots of fun toddling around meeting our neighbors, and the overall theme of the caucus was UNITY. Our caucus eventually went 23-5 for Obama, but everyone was happy with both candidates, and there was real hope that real change was coming to our country.

From one beach to another

Gerry's early birthday present from his parents this year was a trip to visit them in their new home in Florida. We were hoping to get some warm Florida sun, but while the weather was not as cooperative as we had hoped (only occassionally hitting low seventies and usually grey), we still had a wonderful time!

Our first day there was the coolest, requiring some layering to play outside, but we were bound and determined to be outside! One of Reed's favorite features at Grandma and Grandpa's house was the garden, filled with agates. He'd pick them carefully out of the garden and deposit them in waiting hands or sometimes, the pool.

Gerry's folks have a couple of Shih tzus (Florida dogs!) and they waited "patiently" for any cracker bits that Reed might "accidentally" drop. You’d have the same look on your face that Reed’s wearing here if two dogs almost as big as you were watching you, hungry-eyed, while you snacked!

It didn't take Reed long to figure out that if he pointed at where Grandma kept her animal crackers, he would promptly be rewarded with an animal cracker for each hand.

Gerry's folks only live a few miles from the beach so we made several trips. Reed has a bit of an aversion to getting his hands messy, but we didn't know that this aversion applied to his feet too, so when I tried to put him down on the beach for the first time, he curled his legs up as far as he could to avoid touching the sand.

Reed's first sand castle. Okay, this is really just a pile, but give him a break, he's only 14 months old!

The family out on the beach.

Three generations of the men in the family.

Reed does his best impression of Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible.

The difficulty in getting a baby to look where you want him to. "No Mommy, you look here!"

We found some shells for Reed to take home. Shortly this picture was taken, Gerry and I noticed Reed playing with half of what had started as a whole sand dollor. I quickly scooped the other half out of his mouth as Gerry noticed that the shell still contained its deceased resident. Yuck!! In typical mom fashion, I worried for the next 24 hours that Reed had swallowed some of it and was sure to get some bizarre food poisoning, but he was just fine.

It was a wonderful visit and I look forward to the next time we'll get to visit our Florida home!

And our New Year's

We spent a wonderful few days over New Year’s in Pacific Beach with our friends Dave and Sarah, and their son Robbie. The three of them are currently living in Tokyo, and prior to that, lived in San Francisco so we don’t get to see them all that often, and cherish every opportunity that we do! (BTW, I owe a thank you to Dave for sharing their pics with us so quickly, as our camera was on the blink for most of the trip.)

We did a lot of walking on the beach and the weather was fairly cooperative. At least it didn't rain! It was fairly windy, and it turns out that Reed is just like his mommy when it comes to wind, he doesn't like it one bit!

Reed's first walk on the beach!

It was really fun watching Robbie and Reed play together. Robbie is 4 months older than Reed, so in some ways, every time we see him, we get a sneak peak at Reed's future. Here the boys are having a drum circle!

Reed and Robbie are definitely distinct individuals. Both boys are very sweet, but where Robbie is gregarious and independent (here Robbie gives Reed a hug), Reed, at least initially, is quite shy and prefers to stay close to me. It took Reed the better part of the 4 day trip to decide that he could play on his own without needing mommy quite so intensely. It's okay though, I wouldn't trade my little snuggler for anything (although I do sometimes miss going to the bathroom alone...)

All in all, it was a wonderful trip. Perhaps the only down side, is that I was reminded of how much I really love these friends and now miss them more than I did before.

Our Christmas

Well, it was a busy, but wonderful holiday season for us this year! We geared up for Christmas by baking some Christmas cookies... Okay, Gerry baked the Christmas cookies while I said, "no, don't make them, we'll just eat them", but they were good. Here's Reed enjoying his first ever Christmas cookie.
We got up early on Christmas morning, and wouldn't you know it? Santa came!! "If I give you a cute look, can I start opening my presents??"

Reed got lots of new books...

And toys. This one seems to be his post-Christmas favorite. It has lots of noisy buttons and Reed loves it! Despite the obvious appeal of all the buttons, his favorite feature seems to be the seat, which lifts up to reveal a small storage compartment. He likes to hide a toy in it, after which he gives a great dramatic gasp, then lifts the seat, gasps again, and pulls the toy out, then we start all over again. It's VERY cute.

And it snowed on Christmas day! This was a first for both Reed and I, as I don't ever recall having seen it snow on Christmas. So of course, we had to get the wagon out and go for a walk.

After dinner, to celebrate the fact that Reed can now eat a nearly normal diet, we let him have the cake he couldn't have on his birthday. Only Reed didn't want it! Perhaps I shouldn't have fed him dinner first, but I didn't want him to get hyped up on sugar just before bed. He didn't want anything to do with it though, so no cake covered baby pictures for us!!

Here he goes!

Here comes Trouble!

-Gerry