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June 11, 2017 ~ 3 weeks

Those cheeks! We’ve all been saying that since he was born. He’s maintaining his chubby cheeks quite well. I always remember how we didn’t give Griffin his first bath at home until he was 10 days old and thought that was such a long time without a bath. Well, what is that they say happens with your second child – you become more relaxed, document less things, take less pictures and so on. Well, same thing here with the bath – as Reid was 17 days old when he had his first bath at home. Yikes!  I’d planned in my head on so many different evenings that I would give him a bath that night but it just didn’t seem to happen. I wanted Kevin to be home for it and he’s been really busy with his work projects, some nights getting home at 8, 9 or after and after our regular bedtime routine with Griffin and Reid’s night feeding I was too beat to do it after all that. So, after much ado we finally were all together at a decent hour and we gave Reid his first bath. Griffin loved helping and Reid didn’t mind it in the beginning. By the end, well, that’s another story. We learned that next time we should make the water a bit warmer :).  And wow, did we forget how fuzzy his hair actually is (which also makes it seem a lighter color of brown) when the oils are washed away!

This collage was put together by Google. I love the perfect circle cowlick that Reid has on the back of his head. And this is pretty much how we begin every day. I’m in my room either asleep, feeding Reid, or lounging a bit when Griffin wakes up and comes in. And he likes to begin his day with snuggles. In fact, when he doesn’t get any it starts the day off on a sour note! Griffin loves to hold Reid for short periods of time and he really loves to pinch his cheeks and hold his hands.  After really long days at work, Kevin really enjoys coming home and relaxing. And one of the things he loves most about relaxing is having Reid fall asleep on him 🙂 I’ve gone in to work a couple of times for short stints for one reason or another. Each time I’ve taken Reid and he’s been quite the good baby.  He sleeps in his car seat until he’s hungry and then after he’s eaten he typically goes right back to sleep. It’s been great to be able to get things done while having him with me.
We are grateful for the chair that Grandma and Grandpa Armstrong gave us for Griffin’s room. It arrived on Tuesday and fits perfectly in Griffin’s room. It is going to be great! The Manning girls came over one night this week and brought a tasty dinner from Mellow Mushroom pizzeria. Each of the girls held Reid and it was fun for Finn to play with them for the evening too.  On Friday morning Amy and the kids came over for our neighborhood garage sale. They arrived with a delicious box of Tim Horton’s donuts and Timbits that we all very much enjoyed. It was a warm day for the sale and we each had some large items we were hoping to get rid of.  Griffin was able to get in some t-ball with Debbie and Sam, his cousins, and Cooper and Cole. He lived outside most of the day other than the lunch break.  When Reid was born he was given a hearing screening at Riverside. They told us at the initial screening that he didn’t pass in his right ear, but that he was pretty irritable (he’d just had his circumcision and he needed to eat!). They said that can be common and they would re-test the following morning.  So that next morning they retested and he still didn’t pass in his right ear. We were referred to Children’s for follow up test. We went to the Children’s Dublin location and met with an audiologist who did three test. He had a total of 3 tests, the first two took about 5 minutes total. Next she told us the last test checks each of he different frequencies that relate to speech and language development.  When I booked the test the said the whole thing should take about 45 minutes.  Well, we sat in this silent room only listening to the clicking of the physicians mouse for nearly an hour – just for this third test. So I was convinced she’d found a problem and was working to determine the severity of it. Kevin and I were giving each other looks across the room like “what is going on?”, “how much longer will this be”, “what is she doing?”. Finally, after about an hour, she stopped clicking her mouse and said something along the lines of “ok, I’m all done and everything is fine”.  What??!!  Did I just hear that correctly?? Whew, what a huge relief. We were so very thankful and both just kept signing with relief for the next several minutes while we made our way out of there. Thankfully it was a great start to our weekend as it was about 4 pm on Friday! After the garage sale ended on Saturday afternoon Finn took a nap and then we headed down to the Columbus Arts Festival in downtown Columbus along the river. Amazingly we met up with Cole and Cooper, Brian, and his parents who were there as well. We both knew each other were going but we just so happened to be at the same food truck area when we ran in to one another. So we all walked around and enjoyed the evening for awhile.  And here are a few other odds and ends of our week. Lots of sleeping and snuggling. 

May 14, 2017

I was fortunate to break away from work over the lunch hour to go surprise Griffin at pre-school for the Mom’s and Muffins mother’s day gathering. I hadn’t told him I’d be there as I like to surprise him – and I just love to see the expression on his face when he discovers I’m there.  So fun! I was able to play with him in his classroom where he showed me so many of his toys. Then the kids were read a book by the teacher, showed us a dance they do to music, and each child was called to the front one at a time to get the painting they had made for their mom.  While the child walked up to the front the teacher read one line off their “mom” worksheet which you can see below. Some of what the kids answers were to the questions were pretty hilarious! For mine, she read that “Griffin’s mom is 10 years old”.  I could tell as he was walking back to me with his painting and the paper that he was a little embarrassed. He sat down and muttered “I didn’t know what to say for how old you were…..” like I would somehow be disappointed that it wasn’t correct.  So I reassured him it was ok not to know how old I was and how much I loved the painting he made and all of the answers to the questions that his teachers asked him about me. Apparently we make and eat a lot of pancakes and waffles around here….. On Thursday morning I had yet another weekly non-stress test which again went well and the baby’s heart rate looked great. This week I met with Dr. Costa afterwards. She thinks based on my current status and that I delivered Griffin 10 days late, that I will go after my due date.  She actually mentioned that she saw my ultrasound results from last week and that I have above normal amniotic fluid (mine is 18, normal is 10-14), though it’s not cause for concern. But it does make it more difficult for the baby to move down to the cervix, which is what causes it to begin dilating. Even though I’ve been having regular braxton-hicks contractions, the additional fluid makes it difficult for the babies head to move down which is why I haven’t made much progress in the last couple of weeks.  I’m ok with that since it has allowed me to get through spring at work! 

Earlier in the week Griffin and Kevin went to Cincinnati with Paul and Nick to watch the Reds battle the Yankees. It was a trip planned awhile back as a boys weeknight getaway.  They all enjoyed themselves, and believe it or not – both Nick and Griffin got actual game balls! They had great seats up the first base outfield line which gave them great access to the ball boys :). It’s really neat that the ball boy gave Finn a ball which even has grass stains and other game-day marks on it! We have since mounted it in a keepsake ball holder.  I, on the other hand, got out of work at a decent hour and was home and in my comfy bed watching part of the game :).  Over the weekend Kevin started working on the nursery closet. We are going to customize the shelving and add some built in drawers. So Kevin and Finn headed to Lowe’s to get the necessary supplies and then began working on the pieces parts. And, as always, Brutus inserted himself in the activities wanting to be in the garage during all the activity.  On Mother’s Day Mom and Dad came down and the Bethune’s also joined us at Griffin’s flag football game. The league gave the kids flowers to give to their Mom’s and/or Grandma’s that were there – how cute! Afterwards we headed to Graeter’s (who doesn’t enjoy a sweet treat after a little flag football) and then on to the Bethune’s for a pizza dinner to celebrate Mother’s Day.  Yummers!  Griffin made the sweetest card for me with Miss Debbie. I really enjoy reading the sentiments that she captures when she asks him questions like that. 

While Griffin played outside one day he created this masterpiece which he called his “collage”. A unique and beautiful compilation made when he combined water and sidewalk chalk and then painted with his feet. He was so proud. There were several colors but you can’t quite see that in the photo here.  Griffin loves to be outside and play sports as much as possible. Anytime he hears his neighbor pals Cole and Cooper outside he immediately wants to head outside and play with them. They get in games of driveway hockey and lawn baseball quite a bit.  And from this weeks trip to the zoo:

 

 

 

May 7, 2017

Check out our handsome 4 year old Tiger’s spring school photo! Looking sharp!

We had a typical spring week this week – me working lots of hours with the spring rush. Finn went on some fun adventures with Debbie, including the Franklin Park Conservatory. He also made cool artwork at home and at school. Flag football was fun and the weather was brisk! And Finn won the sportsmanship medal this week for demonstrating good determination! Yay Finn!  My entire pregnancy it seems this baby has been off to the right side of my body! When I have braxton hicks contractions it is SO obvious that my belly is lopsided! I had yet another non-stress test this week. It went well but it took longer than it has been as he was sleeping. The nurse used a buzzer on my belly to wake him up, lol! There were a couple of “dips” in his heart rate so they did an ultrasound. Sometimes the dips are perfectly fine/normal for the baby and other times they can indicate low fluid.  The ultrasound went well and my fluid level is just fine. And the technician said she checked and the cord isn’t around his neck (that’s a frequent concern of mine and most moms to be at this stage I guess!).  Brutus went to the vet on Saturday as he can’t seem to kick this ear infection that he’s basically had on and off since we’ve had him.  We got a new med that hopefully will do the trick.  He now weighs 88 pounds!! A small pony, right? And speaking of Brutus, one night this week at bedtime we couldn’t find him anywhere. After looking everywhere up and down stairs Kevin went in to Finn’s room and discovered we had left him in there.  He was actually behind the chair and Finn had taken a pillow and some lovies back there and was sleeping on him. Completely asleep.  It was pretty cute.  One night this week I had a lot of regular contractions and I got kind of nervous that it could be actual labor!! So, along with doing our first load of baby clothes in the washer I had Kevin take this photo of me and Finn to have before this baby arrives – just in case!And how can it be that this was 3 years ago already. Whew. I wish life had a pause button.