This guy just keeps getting bigger and bigger. He’s growing up too fast and this week he’s reached another milestone where he turned over from back to front! So, it’s the end of swaddling around here and I was able to capture Reid having a cozy nap one of the last times he was snug as a bug in his swaddle. To this point he’s slept really well on his back and taken good naps as his arms are on lock down in his swaddle. We’ll see what the future holds! He also “holds” his bottle some from time to time :).
Big bro likes to play sports ALL.THE.TIME. He pretends that his spider man gardening gloves are football gloves and he runs around throwing the football to himself and continuously play calling while he’s running around. If I’m not in the room when he’s playing he will regularly come find me to tell me the score for the Buckeyes versus Penn State (or whomever today’s opponent may be). He likes to call out plays using J.T. Barrett’s name (sometimes pronounced J. Teen Bar-ret, lol).
Check out that baby bird hair! It’s coming in more and more and after a shower he’s like a baby bird with fluffy and fuzzy hair. He’s adorbs. And he’s a mama’s boy for the time being. When I arrive home from work it’s time for him to eat so he pretty quickly gets fussy once he sees me and hears my voice. As much as I try to have others hold him, he also seems to prefer having me hold him if I’m around. So, we’re gonna have to work on his flexibility! For now though, he’s surely my sidekick.
We had a TON of rain this week. One morning I went to leave for work and I opened the door to the Jeep, which we park outside in our driveway, and the entire driver side floor was flooded thanks to a leaky windshield/seal. Yikes. What a pain. I left anyway thinking I could just dry it up at the gas station while I filled up. Boy was I wrong. I soaked up the floor and rung out a full size bath towel three times before I decided to head back home. 🙁 So of course I arrived at work about 45 minutes late, which seems to be the story of my life anymore. Despite all efforts and no matter what time I get up I can’t seem to arrive at work before 8 am. I literally texted George and told him my car floor was flooded – I felt so silly, like seriously, I’m not one of our seasonals making up some story that the dog swallowed my car key – this flooded floor business is real life. He got a good chuckle out of that when I arrived at work and described my morning. Thankfully he’s as flexible and forgiving as a boss can be and it was no big deal.
Finn and Daddy had some together time the other day where they stopped at Chuck E. Cheese and Oakland Nursery. Kevin sent me these pics of Griffin next to a ginormous pumpkin and having some fun playing games.
Our friend Nicole gave us a huge bag of clothes that her son Jake has outgrown. They won’t fit for a few years, but this rob fits perfectly now and Finn thinks it is so cool. Not to mention super soft and fuzzy fleece!
I take pictures of most of Griffin’s worksheets and art work from preschool and what he does at home with Debbie. I’m excited to see how well he does writing his name and numbers and will be happy to have these to be able to compare the beginning of the year to the end of the year! He’s growing up so quickly, he’s able to do almost anything on his own and we encourage him to be independent and self sufficient! He really enjoys doing things independently and is typically very proud when you’ve asked him to do something or go fetch something and he returns or completes whatever he’s been asked to do. He’s got a cute grin.
Debbie and the boys baked some tasty fall cookies this week too using miniature cookie cutters. It’s so nice to come home to lovely baked goods (though not good for my health, lol) and the mini size were perfect. Though let’s be honest here, we all eat many each time – not just one! Even Reid “participated”.
We’ve enrolled Griffin in his second season of soccer. He’s really enjoying it and loves all of the exercise he gets during the 40 minute class. He’s definitely come out of his shell since he first began and he really likes Coach Aaron. It is a fun program and I love that it is so close to home.
This week I was the “mystery reader” for Finn’s preschool class on Thursday. I arrived about 15 minutes before the end of their day and brought two of Finn’s current favorites to read to his class. “Kid Amazing and the Blob” from the library and “Mousetranaut” from home. He was so excited for me to be there. He did his excited face and jumped up and down and sat in my lap after I finished reading. It was a sweet thing to participate in and I enjoyed getting to see him dance for a game in glass and interact with his friends.
This big boy is so funny. Most days when I’m getting ready for work he follows me around like he’s my shadow and when I sit down to put my shoes on he instantly bulldozes himself into me! So we play and wrestle for a few minutes and then he sits down and lays his entire body all across my legs like he’s just a little lap dog. He’s a sweet boy, even though he’s huge and clumsy with his feet. He regularly brings things in his mouth to me, like toys or things he knows he shouldn’t have, just to get attention.
I’m so far behind on blog post I forget so many things from the weeks, but I think this pic was from a date night that Kevin and I had when Debbie watched the boys. And this was bedtime!
As if life wasn’t busy enough, Kevin and I agreed earlier to again head up our church’s Fall Fest, which was held this past Sunday. In the moment we always enjoy it, though this year I was beyond stressed and frustrated even during the event. Help isn’t always as plentiful as needed and this year I’ve had little to no time to work on planning since I’m back to work full time. When I get home I had high hopes of planning and organizing and list-making to organize volunteers and activities, but in the end I ran out of time. My frustration is with myself, as when I commit to doing something I want it to be done well (read that as I’m a perfectionist) and this year in my eyes it was so far from that. I was irritable and annoyed and frustrated and kept thinking to myself, I can’t wait for this to be over and I’m never doing it again. Just ask Kevin, there were many times I wasn’t very kind to him as I expressed my frustrations about everything. But in the end it turned out to be a very well attended event, the rain held off, the flag football games were able to be played (and Kevin got awesome trophies for the winning team this year), the chili cook off was great (we had 26 entries), and we were given numerous compliments and good feedback from the staff who interacted with many newcomers. So in the end, all was good, but I have a long mental list of improvements should we take it on again!
Neither Kevin nor myself are very good about asking for help, hence we baked all 20 dozen cookies ourselves! It was simply throw them in the oven as we bought frozen ready-to-bake cookies from GFS, but that was a lot of rotations. So, note to self for next year, add this to the sign ups! Duh! And I at the very last minute asked Andy to seek donations to give to the chili-cook-off category winners. He rocked that task out in a matter of a few hours and got awesome donations from Nothing Bundt Cakes, BW 3’s, Piada, and First Watch!
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October 8, 2017 ~ 20 weeks
This picture is a good example of these two lately. Griffin loves to hold Reid and they both are smiley and silly for a few minutes. Then Griffin says “ok, you can take him now” and he’s ready to be done.
We had Reid’s 4 month well-check this week, a little later than it should be since we were on vacation for his 2 month check up so that one was a bit behind and this one follows suit since the vaccinations are spaced out. He is growing really well and is a healthy boy! He weighed in at 15 pounds, 10.4 ounces (45th percentile), 25.5″ tall (51st percentile), and head circumference 44.2 cm (97th percentile). He is definitely getting longer as we can tell his clothes are getting stretched more when his legs are straight and he’s filling out the co-sleeper as you can see! He got two shots and an oral vaccine. He cried after the second one as it stings pretty good they say. But he recovered quickly and we headed home where he was sleepy for the afternoon and part of the next day.
I’m continually amazed at how neat and tidy Griffin insists on being while coloring! And more apple painting this week, at school. He also did some fun painting at home using foil. Check out the concentration face :).
Our chair arrived this week! Kevin enjoyed relaxing in it while feeding Reid a bottle one afternoon. It’s comfy and it spins around. The floor is a bit slippery for the ottoman though as it moves when you bend your knees and use it as a rest! We’ll have to figure out something to do until we put our rug out when the couch arrives.
On Saturday we went to Leeds Farm with the Kesslers for a fun afternoon of fall festivities. There is so much for kids to do there and it was a beautiful and sunny fall afternoon, a perfect day really! We went on a wagon ride, Griffin rode pedal karts, jumped on the orange pumpkin floor, went on a barrrel ride (Laura too, lol), and many other things. After we left Leeds we went home and picked up the dogs and headed to Mansfield for a short visit since we hadn’t seen Mom and Dad in awhile. It was a short and sweet visit.
Reid is super close to turning over. He makes it most of the way and then usually returns to his back. He’s yet to pull his right arm out from underneath himself. He’s so close!
We keep finding Griffin asleep on the floor of his room near the door! It can be challenging to get in his room to move him to his bed!
And here is a video of Griffin singing in the bathtub this week. I love it when I find him singing songs he has learned at school or vbs or church!
September 24, 2017 ~ 18 weeks
We haven’t yet come up with a nickname for Reid though we often call him “monkey” or “stink bug” or other names we use for Griffin. I’m thinking perhaps “cheeks” or “smiles” are good fits though 🙂
Griffin continues to love “Debbie days” and these photos are just part of the reason why. He’s always learning through play similar to when he’s at school but instead at home and in his comfy clothes. We are blessed to have her. She loves Griffin and Reid as if they were her own and teaching them along the way is just a bonus.
Ever since Reid was born I’ve placed my hand on the side of his face to settle him down or get him to fall asleep. I love that he’s taken to grabbing my arm whenever I put my hand or arm near his face. He just clamps down and holds on!
Griffin typically takes showers but every now and then he enjoys a “play bath” where we fill up the tub with bubble water and he plays with his toys for a half hour or so. This particular day I thought, hey Reid needs a bath – let’s have him take a bath with Griffin. He was a bit apprehensive to hold Reid and then pretty quickly Reid squirmed and went under for a quick second. But no worries, back up quickly bathed and all done!
I took many pictures on the 20th, for Reid’s four-month birthday. He moves to quickly that I don’t think I got one photo that didn’t have some part of it blurry! But this collage sums up our quick photo session pretty well.
Whenever I clean, which is rare these days, Griffin sees what I’m doing and wants to help. He will often do things to earn money for Happiness, the girl his preschool sponsors through Compassion International. He loves going to the cleaning closet and getting out various supplies. He really enjoys being a helper. I’ve begun walking to get some exercise to enjoy the nice weather and to blow off steam once I get home from work. Being gone more than three months has me playing a lot of catch up and there is no shortage of work. Since I’m trying to unbury myself I rarely leave the office so by the end of the day I’m ready for some fresh air! Griffin is loving his new bike and we’ve discovered a Free Library in the neighborhood across Jewett Road. So our new thing is to go on walks and donate/take a book! Jack and the Beanstalk has been Griffin’s favorite bedtime story for a long time now and on our first discovery of the free library what book was in the box? Yep, Jack and the Beanstalk! He was so excited. I felt super accomplished on this morning as we got our walk in before church!
Some days are just down right tiring. Griffin hasn’t napped since summertime and he rarely falls asleep when he sits or lays down during the day (unlike his Mama, lol). This day was another story, however, as he fell asleep on the dog bed!
And here is a short video of Reid babbling and eating his feet!