The fleece snowman pajamas says a little bit about this spring weather but Reid is pretty happy regardless! Here are a few pictures throughout our busy week. It was one for the books with a concert/date night, birthday celebrations, and all kinds of fun.
Griffin and I put together the party favor bags for his upcoming birthday party this weekend. We formed a nice assembly line 🙂
Griffin loves to go in and help Reid – whether that be getting his pacifier that fell or just talking to him if he is crying. I like to peek in on them via the video monitor 🙂
For my birthday Kevin gave me tickets to see Blake Shelton at Nationwide. We enjoy going to concerts together and this was another fun night of good music and fun with several artists including Carly Pearce, Brett Eldredge, Trace Adkins and Blake. It was a late night for a weeknight concert! 
How can it be that our first born is turning 5! On Friday we celebrated Griffin with a super fun day. I was able to take the day off work so the day began by taking Griffin to school. Then I surprised him at lunchtime with his favorite – Jimmy Johns for lunch and rice krispie treats for all his classmates. After school we headed to the zoo for a short bit of exploration and then we headed to PINS Mechanical in Dublin for some Jenga, Duck Pin Bowling, Pinball games and then we headed home for gifts and cake. Reid took a bit of a nap and then we headed out (at almost normal bedtime!) for a birthday dinner at none other than Rooster’s, Griffin’s favorite restaurant. 
We are having a basketball hoop installed in our driveway for Finn’s birthday so we gave him some accessories to go along with it and to fuel his buckeye fever. 
We had Griffin’s 5th birthday part at The Bounce Club again this year along with 20+ of his friends, cousins, and preschool classmates. It was a full house. Go Go Power Rangers!
On Sunday we met up with our neighbors at Dave and Busters for some gaming fun and lunch. Griffin loved it and Reid and I hung for awhile before we headed home for nap time. 
It’s been a great week!
I love this picture of Reid even though it is out of focus. Our morning time is one of my favorite times of the day. He’s only up a short bit before going down for his first nap, but he is happy and fun and I love that I get to see him and put him down for a nap before I leave for the day. And that belly!
He’s got the widest and happiest smile. He’s a really happy baby but don’t let us fool you, he has his temperamental moments too. He knows what he wants and when it gets taken away he’ll let you know he’s unhappy! He’s pulling himself up to his knees and will stand at things if you place him that way, but he’s not yet pulled himself up on his own. 
I struggle with control and order but I’ve been intentional about letting Reid and Griffin explore and make messes and just be kids. How did I ever become such a control freak that thrives on order? Ugh, it can be paralyzing so I’m trying really hard to let go of that or at least lessen up! Both kids find so much joy and fun in the littlest things so I’m working hard to encourage that and not be such a rule maker or enforcer. 
Tooth number 5 has popped through, lower right (left when looking at him!). 
One of his mad faces, lol!
Almost buddy, you just have your legs twisted!
Finn loves painting and coloring. Here he is with his thundercloud masterpiece. 
Dinner at Panera after Tuesday night soccer. I’m glad I’ve still been able to leave work early to take Finn for the end of Session 3. 
Crazy hair!
Preschool artwork!
Brothers having fun together and being in “jail”. 
Brutus. He’s always around, especially when there is food. Isn’t he pretty?
Look at our little Lils with bone on her nose snuggling with Hailey in her puppy days. 
Just a typical day around here. Lots of crawling around and climbing all over the dogs. 
Pretty boy and girl!
Happy birthday to me! A macaron in bed at 6:30 am! And a beautiful flower arrangement! We attended a Millcreek social on my birthday (which was a Friday this year) so that was pretty much our night. 
On Saturday we headed to Mansfield to celebrate birthday’s for Amy and me. We met up at Malabar Farm’s Maple Syrup Days. Reid was tired and it was super cold (and we didn’t bring him a coat, what?) so he and I stayed in the car while everyone had some fun on the farm. Thankful for the good pics from Amy and Kevin!
And the bunny birthday cake tradition continues thanks to my hubby! He picked up the supplies this year again and assembled everything in Mansfield before our family birthday dinner. Griffin and Greta had a pretty swell time decorating this year. Look at those happy faces. 
Graham loves to talk to and play with Reid. He usually gets in some good snuggle time too. And Grandma loves her baby snuggles too :). 
Another happy day with Debs!
Amy came out to Millcreek this week to snap some staff and plant photos. I wondered around with her and loved seeing the in-bloom hellebores. Just wish the weather was cooperating more so that everyone in the garden centers would want to see these beauties too! Greta loved being on the tractors and golf carts. 
Our Marketing director and myself have been working on some facility enhancements. This week some new artwork went up in the lobby of the main office and in the main hallway. Looks nice!
The boys enjoyed some fun activities this week – of course the painting, of which Reid enjoyed painting not only the paper but also his body! Debbie did tell me that he wasn’t interested in eating it, which is great considering he usually puts everything in his mouth! The big kids made chicken noodle soup this week. Griffin loves to do this each year with Debbie. He thinks it is so fun to take the meat off the chicken bones (eek!!) and make the soup. I love that he enjoys it. Chicken bones aren’t my thing, lol. 
Reid continues to do really well sleeping. His naps are solid during the day and he’s still sleeping 12 hours at night. I sneek in to feed him and change his diaper once between 9:30-10 at night usually. And I love to find him amongst all of his pacis. Too many, I know, but you know what? He can always find one which makes sleeping at night for mommy and daddy that much better! Lately I’ve been noticing when I put him in bed that he has one in his mouth and he crawls or scoots around his bed to find another and then just kind of holds it in his hand or plays with it in his hand for a few minutes. Probably creating a bit of a crutch – but blue bunny that we got on Black Friday has been missing for 5 or more weeks, so he’s been going to bed with just his pacis. We’ve yet to unearth where blue bunny could be…..
And this boy has been sleeping hard too. He definitely grinds his teeth some and babbles in his sleep. And he is a sweaty hot-box! I find him in the craziest of positions all over his bed when I check on him at night!
And there are dog snuggles too. Brutus and Lils regularly hang out at the top of the brown stairs in the mornings. 
Awhile back I got these “iron beads” for Griffin but I must say, there require a lot of patience and fine dexterity! This particular evening Griffin said, “mom – I made a G!”. And sure enough, he’d made a huge G :). 
Reid, Finn, and I were all hanging in Reid’s room one afternoon. I had just unpacked a box of wipes and Griffin wanted to badly to put Reid in the box. He was able to do it all by himself (I kind of winced once or twice watching the attempts as Reid is not light, but he got it!). After he got Reid in the box he proceeded to get in himself and have the cutest conversation with Reid. “I just love you Reid” he said at one point. And they were just looking at each other. It was the cutest!
I’ve been struggling with poison ivy outbreaks over the last couple of weeks and one day this week Debbie texted me to see if I’d noticed a red spot on the back of Reid’s head. Instantly I thought it could be poison ivy because of where it was on my arm and how his head hits my arm when i hold or feed him. So I asked her to send me a picture – sure enough, he had gotten my poison ivy. Thankfully though it never really got bubbly and just kind of scabbed over. His healed very quickly and he didn’t ever seem bothered. Whew! 
We headed up to Mansfield for Mom’s early birthday celebration as they’ll be in Florida for her birthday. Graham wasn’t feel well so Andy stayed in Cbus with him, but the rest of us were able to gather for another tasty italian dinner and rich chocolate cake that Amy made. We spent the night and left early Sunday morning as we were in the nursery at church! Happy birthday, Mom!
