This was a big week around here! First, we got the news back regarding Brutus’ growth on his back right leg – it is a benign histocytoma. Whew, I was thankful to hear the news. He saw Dr. Mansfield at our vet practice and I really like how she interacts with our dogs and her personal phone calls to give us information. She is great!
Next up: a trip to Portland, Oregon for me! I agreed to go on this trip for work back in July, and honestly since then I’ve been wondering why I said yes! I’ve never been away from Reid and certainly didn’t leave Griffin when he was this young. It ended up being a good trip and a fast one as I was gone less than 72 hours! Sadly, we were in meetings the entire trip and I had no time to see the city. Literally, didn’t even see it in the daylight as we left for the seminars when it was darkish in the morning (it was raining there) and we were finished when the sun had set! I didn’t snap a single photo other than my breakfast one morning and a coffee I grabbed at the airport on our way home. We flew in at night and out on a red eye so I didn’t even see the city from overhead. Maybe one day we’ll head back for a vacation. I’m thankful that Jim and Pat were able to come stay with Kevin to help with Reid and Griffin. Reid spent the first night in his crib during the night while I was away! These are a few pics from the morning I left. As always Brutus tried to insert himself for some lovin’ too.
Brutus reminds me so much of Cammie. He loves the sunshine and loves to just soak it in. He’ll lay in the sun on the hot black driveway or on the patio. I regularly find him inside in our bedroom or in the dining room soaking in the rays. 
Griffin had lots of fun while I was away too. Debbie and the kids made applesauce and even Reid got in on the action. Oh, and Brutus too, of course. He’s never far from the activity. 
Debbie took Griffin to his soccer practice this week. I was happy to see this pic in the app while I was traveling to Portland. 🙂
Grandpa got a lot of outdoor time with Griffin during their stay. Here they are getting in a game of Lacrosse after I got home. It was a beautiful and sunny Friday morning!
Here is some more of Griffin’s artwork from this week. The fire department visited preschool and they learned all about fire safety and were able to see the fire truck visit school. 
On Saturday we took advantage of the beautiful weather and went to Young’s for Reid’s first fall trip there. We got several of our traditional pics that we took when Griffin was little, sitting on the cows and riding the wagon to go pick a pumpkin. Griffin picked a lovely orange fella. Afterward he and daddy played putt putt and then we enjoyed dinner at the Jersey Inn. Reid is so ready to eat big boy food. He talks and moans and watches me eat every time I’m holding him while I’m eating. Soon enough big guy!
Our happy baby boy continues to grow at a fast pace! He is really beginning to hold on to things with his hands and is smiling much more in response to being talked to. He has started to go longer between feedings at night, sometimes 5 or 6 hours! I’m trying to pay more attention to his feeding pattern and get somewhat of a schedule started for when I return to work in another month or so. I have started pumping to build up a supply for when I do go back to work so I typically do that in the middle of the night. I have a pretty good routine where he wakes up and I feed him, once I change him I put him propped upright and nuzzled in my curved body pillow while I pump. He falls asleep really easily and after I’m finished putting the milk in the garage freezer and cleaning the bottles I move him to his bed. Easy peasy. Though I’m still usually up about an hour by the time I do all of that and get my mind back to sleep mode. Reid is also beginning to talk a lot more with cooing and baby noises.
Those cheeks! People often remark on Reid’s chubby cheeks. He was born with them and they aren’t going anywhere! Seems as though I had a chubby face when I was a babe. Below are some photos of me with my Grandma Kirk, my sister, and my sister and cousins Missy and Rob.
This was a great week for Griffin as he attended Vacation Bible School at our church! This was the first year he was old enough to go and he was so excited! The theme was Wildwood Forest and the church was transformed into such a cool place with trees and tents and outdoorsy things everywhere! It was each day of the week from 9-noon and he had so much fun! Each day they collected donations based on a theme (breakfast, dinner, baby supplies) so when he would get home we would set aside the next days donations and talk about them. He really loved that part. My sister Amy was asked to take photos throughout the week so we benefited from her taking many great shots! And his dino-spikes hair do was for crazy hair day 🙂
And on Sunday some children that attended VBS led off the church service by singing a few songs they learned throughout the week. Griffin was so shy! Turns out he had a breakfast cookie still in his hands when he went up in front (bad Mom, I should have made sure he finished it or asked him to give it to me!). He was so self conscious of using his hands for the motions while he was holding the cookie. I was sitting in the second row and trying to tell him to put it on the stage – but he was nervous to do that as toward the end of the school year the children were told they were no longer able to play in the worship room after school since the staff had discovered food and drinks on the piano and stage area. He was worried if he put the cookie down that he or someone would step on it and make a mess :(. Despite him not doing many of the motions and having a concerned look on his face, if you ask him if he enjoyed it he says yes! And when I asked him his favorite part of the day at the end of the night his reply was being up on stage at church and singing his songs. 
Here I was trying to get a photo of both of their plain faces (no smiles) for comparison!
And here are a few others from our week. Sleepyheads, some patio water fun, Brutus always trying to insert himself for attention, Graeter’s, me trying to catch up on many previous weeks of blog posts, baseball, minions, etc.
On Saturday Mom came down and treated the girls to our annual pre-beach vacation pedicure. This was Greta’s first year joining us and we tried out a new place in Powell that was great! Thanks, Mom!
Sunday after church we headed to Jim and Pat’s for a short visit. They had their new countertops installed this week in their kitchen and bathrooms and it looks fabulous! Reid was also able to meet Uncle Brett, Aunt Missy, Aunt Cookie and cousin Pierce for the first time. 
I occasionally need to go into work for meetings and it’s becoming more difficult to take Reid with me so this week he had his first bottle, given to him by Griffin at the start! As it turns out it took Reid about 3 hours to drink 3 ounces (with several attempts throughout that time). He wasn’t overly frustrated but he wasn’t latching to the nipple of the bottle. So as I tried to feed it to him I had the revelation that I should try the brand of bottle that is the same brand as is pacifier (MAM) as the bottles I began with were what Finn used (Playtex) and were the same style as the pacifier that Reid does NOT like to use and spits out. So a quick trip to Target (which failed as they carry the MAM pacifier but not bottles) and then on to Babies are Us was in order. His next bottle he downed 2 ounces in 5 minutes! Whew, crisis averted! I was pretty stressed as I had a 4 hour work commitment the next day and I was freaking out about what I would do with Reid since I was leading and participating in a company wide meeting! 
Reid’s closet is now almost complete! Kevin did a wonderful job building the drawer unit and updating the shelves and rods. We will need to get drawer faces for the front of the drawers (the top drawer is the changing table and then will transition to a drawer once we no longer need a changing table) and add clothes to the closet and we will be done. Yay!
One day I asked Griffin to go get dressed and he returned wearing this – complete with a belt. This was his first time ever wearing a belt and he was so proud that he put it on a “fastened” it himself. 
Oatmeal raisin cookies have been a weakness of mine! And here Finn is dropping them on the cookie sheet!
And Brutus threw up a bit of stinky bile while in his crate this week and was in need of a bath, big time. He has the most unique coat – it’s so wiry and thick hair, but doesn’t retain water at all and he is dry very quickly. He is not really a fan of water very much!
Yay for nice weather! We were all able to get out together and go on a bike and walk through out neighborhood. It was Brutus’ first walk on a leash (which seems crazy since we’ve had him two months!) and he did well. Lily was so excited and had a great time but by the end she was pretty sore. We really shouldn’t be walking her with her torn CCL in her right knee. Griffin is so awesome riding his balance bike. He loves to bend his legs backwards and totally balance himself. He really loves to get out and ride his bike. We have had some really warm and unseasonable weather which has been great for being outside!
I surprised Griffin at school for his Valentine’s Party! It was fun to arrive and see him with his classmates. They had a special lunch that day, followed by filling the Valentine bags of each of his classmates with the Valentine cards they each brought. Afterward it was a couple of crafts and activities like making Valentine crowns and playing games. I got to read a Valentine book to the class and since Finn had Tony the Tiger over the weekend Miss Irma read about Tony’s adventures with us with Finn up at the front of the class. It was so cute to see. 
This is Finn and his best bud Jaxson. These kiddos just love to play together in their Tiger class!
For a special dessert Finn and I made a Lemon Pound Cake to go along with our Heart-shaped cheese ravioli dinner. Yummers! Finn helped set and decorate our table too. 
These are Finn’s Valentine’s for this year – glow stick bracelets in a card that we made. The idea is from Pinterest, of course, chosen by Finn himself. 
I’ve always loved that Finn’s birthday is 3/16 as it has always reminded me of John 3:16. In his class at school this week they tied that verse to the word Valentine. Cute!
And here are a few of Finn’s favorite things! It is fun to hear what he talks about at school 🙂
And he also did some fun art projects at home with Debbie!
On Thursday I had a regular OB appointment with Dr. Costa along with a growth scan ultrasound (28 weeks, but a week early) and my glucose tolerance test. I arrived early as they have to draw your blood exactly 1 hour after you finish the sugar-drink. And this never happens, but they were running ahead so rather than doing my ultrasound at the scheduled time they did it early – and Kevin was on his way but wasn’t there yet :(. I was so bummed since Chestnut was breech and in a perfect position for them to get great images. For the growth scan, they measure the head, belly, and femur as well as the amniotic fluid. Everything looked great, they estimated 2 pounds 6 ounces and he was in the 65th percentile, which Dr. Costa said is good and not unexpected since Kevin is a tall guy. The ultrasound tech asked if I wanted 3D images, so I said sure! Apparently not everyone wants them. But check these out – they are the clearest things I’ve ever seen. So different even than the 3D we had at 18 weeks in December. This first one is just a regular (not 3D) profile pic. 
This is the 18W 3D on 12/21/16 on the left and the 27W 3D on 2/16/17 on the right. 
And for comparison, here is a pic of Griffin that Amy sent me from his newborn session. They look more alike than I originally thought!
Thursday night we had loads of fun swapping around all of the beds in our bedrooms and converting Griffin’s toddler bed into a big kid bed! Even Lily and Brutus got in on the fun. 
This always makes me laugh – the three of them in the smallest space possible, our bathroom closet!
Finn’s mattress arrived like this – I had no idea it wasn’t going to be a large flat rectangle! Turns out this is a pretty awesome way to get a bed – we didn’t even go to the store or have to pack it into the van 🙂
First things first, we took apart the queen bed that has been in Finn’s room since he was born and moved it to the front (and now only) guest room which is next to our room. Finn was a great helper. 
Then Finn and Daddy took apart his toddler bed. He would go and get every tool like Kevin had so that he could do the same things that Kevin was doing to take the beds apart and put them together. 
The mattress went from this to on the bed frame in about 5 minutes!
Check out these big boy digs! His room feels so different now! 
Fast asleep – he had no troubles at all his first night in his big kid bed!
And check out all of these clothes that needed re-homed during our bed change-out activities. We have been beyond blessed with so many hand-me-downs from the Bethune’s! When I look at how many clothes Finn has outgrown and the number we’ve bought compared to what has been given to us it is astonishing! Thanks, Bethune’s!
And here is a look at Chestnut’s future room. For now it has a full-size bed, which Likely won’t stay. Not the best picture as there are no lights in there and this was taken at night with a flash from my iPhone camera. 
And here is the final of the now guest-room in the front of the house. Brutus perfectly matches the bedding and is ready to hit the hay himself. 