Reed's One Year Check-Up

Millie and I took Reed to the Dr. today for his one year check up. I feel kind of bad for the Dr. because with Millie there asking him 100 questions and telling him about everything that has happened to her, Reed and JJ in the past year, there is not much peace for us to discuss Reed. He said Reed was wonderful, growing great and he is progressing just as he should. He weighs 24 lbs (70%), 31 in tall (80%) and his head is 48 cm (90%). He has 6 teeth and eats anything that passes near him.

So...what are some of the things he is doing these days??? He signs several words including finished, more, eat, drink and poop. He pees on the potty usually once a day, he says Mom and screams Dad. I think he relates Dad and being loud, I have no idea why he would make this connection...He walks with purpose now, going from one thing to another, sometimes he just takes off down the hall to check on things and then comes back. He loves to sit in the stroller and watch Rick, Millie, sometimes some neighbor boys and I play baseball in the circle. He enjoys playing at the water table and is still totally entertained playing with his monster truck on the screen porch. We still have him facing backward in the car seat, this will change when Millie turns 4 next month because she will go to a booster and he will get her (pink) car seat. He is comfortable enough with his manhood to cruise around in a pink car seat, he said so.

Reed Pooped on the Potty!

I don't have a photo, I am sure you are disappointed, but Reed just pooped on the potty! He has been getting better, or maybe I have, of noticing when he is getting ready to poop. I finally caught him in time and he went. Very exciting. He has peed on the potty about 5 times now. I will sit him on it before his bath and after his nap.

I am not using the potty chair with him. I learned from Millie that cleaning out a poopy potty chair is 10 times worse than changing a poopy diaper so we are just using the big potty with Reed. Some of you may think it is a little early for potty training but a big part of potty training is 1) being scared to use it and 2) unlearning a habit of pooping in your pants. The sooner you start introducing it to them, the better.

Wish me luck!

Blog Break

Unless something really wonderful happens with the kiddos in the next week or 2, I probably won't be blogging. I have a scan scheduled in 2 weeks of my corneas to have corrective eye surgery. This is very exciting for me because I have needed glasses since I was 6 years old and wore contacts everyday, all day, since I was 11 years old. The bad part is I have to wear glasses for 2 weeks before the scan so that my corneas go back to their natural shape. Apparently wearing contacts slightly changes the shape of your cornea. This is bad for me because the only pair of glasses I own are from the dark ages, they are the wrong prescription AND, the lens is too small for my prescription. What all this means is not only is my vision in these glasses blurry from being the wrong prescription, everything also has a fish eye sort of effect from the lenses being too small. Needless to say, I have nearly fallen down the stairs about 10 times already and I feel like a drunk while driving and have decided that driving at night is out of the question. This also means that taking pictures is a waste of time because I can not tell when anything is in focus which brings me all the way back around to the reason for no blogging...no photos. Unless of course I have to go rescue Rick from the side of the road again, blurry or not, that will be a good photo to have.

Rick And His Bike

For the record, I have to add a little to Reed's first birthday. It was a Friday and I was lying in bed awake but I had not gotten up yet. Rick had taken the day off so he could go to Gatlinburg with us. He had already gotten up so that he could go for a bike ride before we left. When I heard my phone ring at 6am, I knew exactly what it was, or should I say, WHO is was. Yep, it was Rick. He had a flat tire on his bike. He is normally prepared for these things, and he was this time. He replaced his tube with a spare he carries and when he went to air it up with the CO cartridge, he did not get it threaded correctly and so he wasted the cartridge and did not get the tube aired up. He is lucky my mom was there because there was no way I was going to wake up the kids at 6am, put the car seats in his truck and go rescue him. But lucky for him, my mom was there so I was able to hop in the truck and go get him.

On the drive to get him, about 20 minutes by truck, I had time to think about other times I have come to Rick's rescue...

College 3am - He falls asleep while driving from his hometown back to Evansville and totaled his truck. I get a call at about 3am at my apartment to come and get him. He was as pissed as could be and didn't even tell me thank you.

Indianapolis 8pm - We were married and it was the middle of winter. Leaving work, he would always go out in the parking lot and start his truck to let it warm up. Well, he managed to lock his keys in the truck with it running. I get a call to bring the spare key chain remote unlock thing to unlock his truck. I told him that I did not think the remote key lock worked when the truck was running but he would not listen and made me bring it anyway (30 minutes away from where we lived). I was trying to unlock it as I pulled in the parking lot but I could tell it was not working. Of course, he had to try himself because maybe I just was not doing it right. So, he finally calls a locksmith to open it (I told him to do this in the first place). I did not get a thank you for that either.

So, with all this said. He at least had a smile on his face when I went to rescue him on Friday, was pleasant and told me thank you. After 8 years, I have finally worked him over and turned him into a nice guy.

His lesson learned was to carry 2 CO cartridges.

My lesson learned was to start carrying a darn camera so I can take a picture of him in his biking clothes, barefoot, standing along the side of the highway at 7 in the morning. I know several guys he works with that would have paid me good money for that picture!

Happy First Birthday Reed

Reed was 1 Year Old yesterday and we had a full day. My mom and Rick's mom were both here which was a very nice treat for the kids. Rick's mom had been staying at our church for the week with a Catholic Work Camp group so we picked her up on the way to Gatlinburg.


We ate lunch at Olive Garden (Millie's favorite restaurant)on the strip in Sevierville and then headed up the Mountain to Gatlinburg.
Our first stop was at The Aquarium of the Smokies. The kids enjoyed it and the best part was them looking through the tunnel in the fish tanks.


Millie loved the sharks and the moving sidewalk but Reed was a little unsure of what was going on in that dark tunnel. He did great though and enjoyed trying to touch the fish.

After the Aquarium, we were off, further up the mountain to hike to Grotto Falls. It was a little over a mile to get there. We had Reed in the backpack and Millie walked the entire way. She is a great little hiker because it was muddy and uphill the entire way.

Rick enjoyed throwing her in the waterfall.


While we were at the waterfall, a train (heard? group? gaggle?) of llama's were coming down the path.
The man leading them said they were all carrying dirty linens (at first I thought he said dirty women!) There was a lodge further up the trail about 6 miles that was part of the Appalachian Trail and they used the llamas to get supplies to and from the lodge.



In case you could not read the 'fine print', here is a close up. I noticed this sign on our way back from the waterfall. I don't think it was there when we went up. At least we had the llama close, surely bear would choose a llama before one of us to 'play' with.

We hurried back down the trail, dodging llama poo all the way, because the best part of the day was yet to come...THE CAKE!

We did not get back to our house until 6:30 and I told Millie she and Reed had to have some supper before cake. So we made a few quick grilled cheese sandwiches and then it was cake time. Since I am having someone do fancy cupcakes for Reed and Millie's joint birthday party in Indiana in a few weeks, I decided to make this cake myself. Ann could have done better but it tasted good and that is what is important!

Reed loved it and although we did not just set a piece in front of him to attack, he still got plenty dirty helping my mom shove it in. Not only did he eat his piece, but I think he got most of my mom's as well.


This is him signing "more" in between bites. Guess it was not coming fast enough.

Reed's One Year Photos

Reed will not be one until tomorrow but we have a full day planned. Since Millie has been with my mom for the past week, I figured I would take him while Millie was not around. Reed did very well. We went to Portrait Innovations and I loved it. Before, we always went to JC Penny's and they use a tripod. So, the child can not move, they have to stay on a certain spot to keep everything in focus. This was always such a pain, no child is going to stay put so I just quit taking Millie to get her photos done. At Portrait Innovations, they hold the camera and move around as your child moves so you can get much better photos. Beware though, when they end up having 100 great photos, it is VERY difficult to narrow it down. Stay strong and narrow it down and you will be fine!

Reed's First Haircut

Reed was getting in desperate need of a haircut. It was fine unless it was humid and then his sideburns would flip out like little wings. I called my friend Misty who cuts hair at Urban Salon downtown (you can make an appointment online, it is fantastic) and she was so wonderful, she let us come to her house. Reed did very well and looks much better. Thanks Misty!






Much different than Millie's first haircut...