Reid is really developing his personality! He is definitely recognizing people and voices and is doing a really great job at tracking people and objects too. It is becoming easier to console him when he’s hungry (or upset) by picking him up and talking to him. He typically calms down unless he is super hungry. He is a good morning napper as he often falls back asleep easily after his first and usually second morning feeding. He’s even begun to rub his eyes a bit when he’s getting tired. I typically wrap him in his swaddle, give him his pacifier, and lay him down in his cosleeper in our room. I turn on the heartbeat noise maker and he drifts off to sleep on his own! He’s pretty simple that way! He also loves to be held and will sleep as long as you hold him :O). His neck is growing stronger and stronger and he gets “tackle time” practice with Griffin usually every day. He’s really able to arch his neck and shoulders into the air and high above his bottom. I thought he would have turned over by now (back to front) as he has a strong shove off and arch in his back, especially when he’s mad! I think it will be soon, He is also regularly putting both of his legs in the air and both of his arms forward and in the air. It’s a joy to watch him concentrate by making this cute face and straightening and tightening his upper lip. His smile lights up a room and he’s happiest just after he’s eaten or when he’s taking care of business ;). 
I’m enjoying my last few weeks at home. Griffin, Reid and I adventure out on bike rides/walks and various places together. I have mixed emotions about going back to work. I’ve really, really, enjoyed being home with Reid and Griffin over the last 13 weeks. I love to be able to spend time with them during the day and not just in the evenings. And I’m thankful for my workplace that has allowed me to be away on maternity leave for such a long period of time. I do enjoy my job though I’ve certainly enjoyed a change in my daily schedule that I’ve only had one other time (when I had Griffin) over the last 19 years being at Millcreek. And being home over the summer is a great time of year!
Thursday morning we went on a long walk/bike ride and then rushed home to shower and get ready for our adventure. Kevin and I were planning to surprise Griffin with a daytime trip to Pins Mechanical only to find out they don’t open until 4 pm! I had told him we were going to COSI, but really we were going to surprise him at PINS. Ugh! So instead we ate lunch at Si Senor and then Griffin, Reid, and I actually DID go to COSI.
We also ventured to the library this week where (gasp) I even checked out a book for myself! Griffin was getting so frustrated with me trying to find something I could start reading while he wanted to play in the kids area. Several times he handed me books off the shelf and said things like “here, Mom, this is the one. Read this one. This is good.”. I’ve never been good at reading as I fall asleep as soon as I start not to mention my wondering mind. But it’s a small goal of mine so I wondered around not being familiar with any authors and in the end took a book off the end that was a “librarians pick”. So far I like it! And as for Griffin, he loves reading or being read to and he really has fun choosing new books. He loves being read to at the library to see if he wants to check the book out. 
This particular morning Finn wanted the same thing for breakfast that Grandpa Beilstein had made him for lunch earlier in the week: scrambled egg and salami slices. And thanks, Mom and Dad, for coming down to watch Reid and Griffin so I could head in to work for a few hours for a meeting. Somehow I didn’t snap a single photo!
I’ve not always made time for tummy time each day but I’ve begun to get more regular use out of the jungle mat with Reid. It’s cute to watch him reach for the animals and listen to the sounds and watch the lights. And then there’s Brutus always wanting to be around the activity. 
I actually took Brutus to the vet on Thursday as he’d been doing some licking. I figured while he was there I would also ask them to cut his toenails (that’s a real win right there!). I’m really glad I took him there as my initial reason for visiting the vet was to refill Lily’s medicine. He weighs 105# and I was surprised to learn that she thinks he should lose about 10 pounds! What?! He’s only 11 months old! But it seems we’ve been feeding him too much (perhaps 6 cups some days, but he’s often not interested in eating all of it). He should have 3-4 cups a day so we’re going to shave his portions back to 4 cups total each day. She also looked in his eyes, ears, looked at his feet, teeth, etc., and she showed me some redness and scabs in his right ear. He doesn’t have an infection per the ear cytology so she gave me a topical ointment to put on it to clear it up. She thinks he may have some allergies (perhaps food or environmental) so I’m going to start being more observant as to what and when he licks and itches. Looking back I realize he’s always been more of an itcher but I never once considered allergies! He did great at the office and only barked a couple of times. Even those barks were soft barks not his deep loud barks. He is just a ginormous baby though as I had to walk with him to the table for him to be examined. Otherwise as they were leading him to be examined he was yanking backwards trying to slip his collar! 
On Friday morning I met up with Laura down at Columbus Commons. It was a beautiful warm and breezy day full of fun inflatables, building blocks, and art activities. Oh, and it’s free! I left Reid home with Debbie and Griffin and I had a morning date. It was fun!
The letter of the week this week, “O”, is for Octopus, 
I love how much Griffin loves Reid. He regularly asks to hold him and snuggles with him. He talks to him and is such a great helper. Whenever he hears him crying he rushes to his crib to give him his pacifier. He often says things like “I just can’t believe I have a brother”, “he’s just so cute”, “awe, look at his cute face”. It brings my heart joy. And guilt for being overly stringent sometimes about germs or just correcting him rather than just letting him express his love for his brother Reid. So, each day I try to do better than the last and strike a better balance. I love when Griffin is able to calm Reid down and make him smile. It’s the cutest. 
On Friday night we went out for our first Japanese Steakhouse experience with Griffin. He thought it was super cool to see the chef do the tricks with his utensils, including cracking the egg on his spatula and trying to toss broccoli into his and Kevin’s mouths! Oh, and he absolutely loved the soup (just not the mushrooms, lol). 
On Saturday we took meals to Missy and Brett as she is recovering from surgery. We then made a pit stop at Grandma and Grandpa Armstrong’s house. It was a fun afternoon. 
And on Sunday after church we celebrated with the Bethune’s and friends for Rowan’s 6th birthday! It was a sunny afternoon and a fun group of kiddos. I can’t believe he is already 6! He was just 3 months old when Kevin and I began dating!
Thankfully Debbie watched Griffin and Reid while we were out having fun. When we got home she was putting down a towel near the dogs water bowl. I got the towel and was trying to fold it and Brutus just wanted to play tug with it so I finally dropped it and this is what he did. Silly pup. 
Griffin has really been enjoying coloring. Nearly every morning he comes in when he wakes up and after a couple minutes picks out a picture and grabs his colored pencils and gets started. That along with Lily and Brutus snuggles are pretty regular around here. 
On Tuesday Reid had his 2 month well check (a bit late as we had been on vacation when we normally would have gone). He is doing great! I was surprised that he only weighs 13 pounds 8 ounces (66th percentile) as I thought he felt much heavier! He measured 23.5″ (55th percentile) 1 inch longer, though when I had her remeasure she got 24″ which I think is more accurate but she didn’t change what she’d written originally). His head is still a big one, lol, measuring 42 cm (98th percentile). 
One afternoon I was downstairs and I heard Brutus playing. I actually thought he was chewing his nylabone. I called for him and he met me on the stairs with a big half chewed roll of toilet paper! I walked up into my room and this is what I discovered! He’s always entertaining himself. 
For Griffin’s 4th birthday we gave him a big kid bike. It turns out it was a bit large and we were hoping to transition him right from his balance bike to a big kid bike with no training wheels. We finally gave it a go and he did pretty well! We decided to put the training wheels on though as he just isn’t tall enough yet to get safely off and on and stop himself easily. 
This week Debbie put some pictures in the app and one of them is the picture at the top this week of Reid. Griffin took it all by himself! He’s getting pretty good 🙂
I love that google puts these together. Makes my blog-making much simpler. 
On Thursday evening we headed to Dublin for the annual Kid’s Dash as a part of the Irish Festival. This is Griffin’s third year running with his cousins. It was really nice weather, almost fall-like with a breeze and low humidity. They had fun and this year were included in Dublin’s promo video they posted to Facebook!
Saturday was Griffins last t-ball game of the summer. It was a cool morning and perfect weather to spectate. We headed from t-ball to Emmaline’s birthday party which was full of fun frog activities. Kevin was even coaxed into helping get the kiddos prepped to play “push the lips on the frog”. 
We quickly stopped at home after the party to grab Brutus and Lily and then we were off for Enon for the day to visit with Sean, Chris, Eliza, Max and Charlotte who are in town visiting Jim and Pat in advance of their 50th wedding anniversary party. Bretty and Missy were there as well as Sebastian and Alexis who were in town with baby Damian. They were visiting from Florida and luckily we were able to see them while they were here. Damian was born 6 days before Reid so it was neat to see them together. 
Sunday we headed to the Dublin Irish Festival for the day. We met up with Sean, Chris, Eliza, Max and Charlotte and we all enjoyed tasty food (I had a delicious potato pancake!), music, and a lot of children’s activities. The younger kids all loved the bounce and inflatable activities. Griffin loved being “ninja” on the red ball course (see the video below). He probably did it 6 times. He also was brave and waited in line to climb up a really tall inflatable and then jump from the top – which is probably somewhere around 20 or more feet tall! When you jump you land on a super tall (8′ perhaps) inflated surface to cushion your fall. He was so brave he barely paused at the top, just long enough for me to give him the thumbs up. I was so super bummed that somehow I screwed up the video recording and only got him reaching the top prior to jumping off and then at the end running off to hug Kevin. Ugh! Then I was unsuccessful in getting him to do it again. Oh well, it’s the courage he had we are most proud of!
And I love this picture of Griffin from May of 2014 (14 months old) and then from this week with Brutus. Growing too fast!
This year when we were packing we told Griffin he could fill up a shopping bag with toys or stuffed animals to take. His choices included mostly balls (football, soccer ball, soft baseball) and lovies so he could tell the Jack and the Beanstalk story at bedtime with Daddy and have an animal for each of the characters. This is something they do each night before bedtime!
Mom and Dad bought each of the grandkids a container for their seashell collections this year. On Friday evening they packed up their shells into their containers along with a cool star fish and sand dollar that they gave each grandkid as well. They all thought it was pretty neat!
Reid spent all of his time under the umbrella at the beach and even so got a bit of sun one day on his nose and below his eyes or above his mouth. I’m not sure how, perhaps the walk to the beach or from reflection while we were there. He was otherwise mostly content other than when he became hungry!
This week Reid definitely discovered his hands are connected to his body! Now he regularly puts them in his mouth and sucks on them or slobbers them up! Especially if he wakes up and doesn’t have his pacifier. He seems to be watching his hands a lot more and he makes cute facial expressions as he’s trying to figure out what his hands are doing.His hair is also thinning on both sides as is evident by looking at his crib sheet! Though he’s also gotten a shower and had his hair washed every day this week after we were at the beach. Deluxe treatment here! He was an absolute champ in the car on our travel days, sleeping almost the entire time other than waking to eat or being happily awake once we got back on the road after he was fed. He was also enjoying his crinkle book and kept reaching to touch it. 
On our last day at the beach Griffin and Kevin were out enjoying the low-tide wave pools. They had been out there for awhile and all of a sudden Kevin is walking up the beach carrying Griffin who was really crying. He’s typically a pretty tough kid who doesn’t cry much (other than when he’s having a fit or whining, but not typically when he gets hurt). He was crying and screaming that his leg hurt. As it turns out we think he was stung or swiped by a jelly fish. He had two or three long welts blow up on his ankle. We rinsed it off with bottled water, then rinsed it off back at the ocean with ocean water and he rested for a few minutes. But probably less than 10 minutes from when it happened he wanted to head back for more fun. We’re so thankful it wasn’t severe!
Though it’s hard to tell here, this was my view on our last day at the beach. I’m holding Reid and Kevin and Finn are down near the water building “magic giant lake”. It was so nice to watch them having some good old father and son time just playing together at the beach. 
For our dinner night this year we grilled out hamburgers and hot dogs and had a strawberry-mango salad, and a cold grain salad too. For dessert the kids enjoyed their chocolate dipped and decorated ice cream cones (our activity from earlier in the day) with their choice of ice cream inside. 
When I was changing out Reid’s newborn-3 month clothes for the 3-6 month options I discovered Griffin’s Ocean Isle Beach onesie from four years ago. It fit Reid perfectly on our trip :). 
Getting some good air here at 10 weeks old!
Mom and Dad treated all of us to a couple of deluxe breakfasts complete with pancakes, eggs, and bacon. Yummers!
One afternoon Kevin and Griffin joined the Bethune’s at the local Arcade. They had a great time and even got a sweet treat. No surprise there!
This picture makes me giggle. Reid is sleepy tired and has popped is pacifier out. Dad is working on his computer and reading articles. Just a typical day at the beach house!
For our annual dinner night out we tried out a new restaurant this year. While we were waiting for our food Griffin came over to me and said he wanted to snuggle. A couple of minutes later I realized he wasn’t really moving and sure enough he had fallen asleep! I’m not sure that has ever happened before! The beach clearly does him in as he is constantly on the go. We’ve also given up naps for the most part so he is pretty beat by the end of the day!
Amy was gracious yet again and took our family photos at the beach after family dinner night. It was SUPER windy. So much so that I had to put my hair back and even then it was flying in my face! We’re grateful that she was able to capture our family of four and some cute ones of just Reid at the beach. This was his first time getting his toes in the ocean!
And here are some of my pics and others that Andy took during our photo session, the out takes so to speak!
The kids always enjoy playing with Grandma and Grandpa at the beach. This year they were all good ages to use the surf boards too as they learned to catch a wave and ride it in.
Our road trip back was much longer than our trip down. We had more stops for various reasons but in the end it was a safe trip and for that we are thankful! Reid did well with diaper changes and feedings in the car. 
Sunday morning we slept in and played catch up at home. Kevin mowed the lawn while I did laundry and various other things. Sunday evening we headed to the Sundays on the Scioto concert series in Dublin and watched Six Appeal, an acapella group that is really great. It was fun!
