Memorial Day Weekend

For Memorial Day weekend we headed out to Oxford Mississippi to visit Paul's brother Russ and his family.  We've gotten to see them 4 times this year and so it's been fun because their kids really remember us and like us now.  Hayden and Jett have the best time together and Quincy is also great at playing with them.  Ozzie and Cooper really enjoyed spending some time with Reid and playing with him now that he is more interactive.

Reid was such a good trooper on the long drive

Saturday we went swimming at their friends pool and then came back to their house and played outside all day long!

 Sunday we went to church and then had a nice relaxing Sabbath day. Reid LOVED how soft this love sack was!  

Monday morning we played more outside, ate sushi and then said goodbye around 3pm.  

They seriously have the most fun backyard ever!  Tree house, trampoline, splash pad, fire pit, hammock, batting cage, seriously the only thing left is a swimming pool!

So glad these boys are so good to my Hayden and include her in all their games

As always we had a great relaxing time and we remember to be grateful that we have family 6 hours away.

1st Foods

Like with Hayden, I wanted to wait until 6 months to introduce solids, but around 5 1/2 months I felt like Reid was still hungry even after nursing.  So I decided it was time to start some food.  I am trying to make my own baby food this time around for 2 reasons.  1) way cheaper and 2) I'm hoping having some texture to his first foods will help him be a little less picky!

on May 16th we first tried avocados and his reaction was pretty funny! He had such a troubled look on his face with each bite, yet he kept trying it!  I think I knew he was done when he started dry heaving near the end...

The next day we tried butternut and it was much more successful.  Hayden loved feeding her little brother!

Schools Out

Hayden's 1st year of preschool has ended sadly!  She loved her class and teachers, Mrs Tammy and Mrs Beverly.  The last day of preschool was suppose to be a big picnic with lots of activities, but it rained so they moved everything inside sadly.

For teacher gifts I decided to make raspberry jam and homemade bread.  I think it turned out great!

All the kids went from classroom to classroom where there were activities set up.  This was one of her favorites, playing in shaving cream!

We ate lunch in her classroom where she was awarded with a certificate and I was given a scrapbook of her first year of preschool.  This was an awesome surprise and one of the most fun things to look through!

Here she is with her teachers.  They always called Hayden "pretty girl" and she is sure going to miss them both!

Amy

Last week we were fortunate enough to get a visit from our friend Amy Richards.  Amy and her husband Travis were awesome and came up to Paul and I at an Air Force function clear back in 2006 and started a conversation. We never would have done it and we are so grateful that they did because we became great friends.  We've kept in touch these last 8 years and we were so excited when Amy told us she was traveling to Atlanta for work.  She braved Atlanta traffic and almost 2 hours later made it to our house for dinner.

Reid loves new faces and couldn't get enough of Amy's new face :)

Thanks so much for coming Amy!  We had a great visit!  Hopefully we will see you and Travis again soon.

Mother's Day

Mother's day was pretty special this year with the addition of little Reid man (that's become his nickname I guess...) I've wanted another little baby for quite some time, so it was so fun to have him with us on this special day.

Hayden's preschool did a really cute mother's day lunch where she presented me with this gift.  They also read out loud a card she filled out which read: "My mom's name is Kristine, My mom's favorite thing to do is clean up, my favorite thing to do with my mom is to clean up the toys."  This made me laugh and it also made me sad that the thing that sticks out to Hayden the most about me is that I clean a lot!  I've been trying to do other things with her so she remembers much more important things about me!

On Mother's Day morning Hayden and Reid made me a hearty breakfast of: German Pancakes, an Omlette, and a green smoothie.  After church they sent me on a scavenger hunt where I discovered Paul had planned a trip for me to see my sister Michelle in Colorado Springs!

We took pictures after church and Reid was EXHAUSTED so this was the best picture we got!

Hayden also filled out a paper all about me on Sunday in her primary class:

So grateful to be a mother to these two cuties. I'm so grateful I get to experience being a mom to my new little guy!

Scalinis

The Wednesday night before I went into labor was a depressing night!  I was told by the Dr.that he wanted to do an emergency c-section because Reid was a big baby and because of the degree of my tear with Hayden.  After taking all our Bradley Classes, this is NOT what I wanted.  So the Dr. told me to try and get labor going by Friday or they would want to induce me.  So we did everything we could think of which also included going to Scalinis for their infamous Eggplant Parmesan, known to help get labor started for women.  After you eat the entire dish you get to sign your name in a book and the time you ate.  If you go into labor within 24 hours of eating it you get a free meal ($25 worth), your baby becomes an honorary Scalini baby where you post your story and the baby picture on their website and they get a t-shirt.  Pretty funny.

So 5 months later, we took his birth certificate and finally collected our prize!

5 Months Old

Poor little Reid man got a cold around 5 months old and still has a cough from it!  I thought he was finally over it and it came back.  Breaks my heart every time he starts coughing!  It was hard to get pictures this time around because he just didn't feel good, but I was already almost a week over his 5 month mark, so here's what I got!

• No teeth yet, but I swear he is teething.  Every once in awhile at night he'll cry and cry until I put orajel on and I even gave him Ibuprofen early because he would not sleep all night unless he was held upright.  He drools a lot and chews on everything!
• Reid recently started sleeping on his side and prefers this most often
• He does not like his arms swaddled anymore, we swaddled Hayden until about 9 months old!
• Reid still likes hanging out on his back most of the time and does NOT prefer his tummy
• Reid is grabbing at more toys and likes to hold things in his hands, like mommies hair and my headphones when I'm talking on the phone while I nurse  
• Reid transfers toys from one hand to the other
• Reid still loves taking baths in his tummy tub, how cute is he all bundled up!  
• We also introduced solids this last month: avocados, butternut, sweet potatoes, green beans, and carrots so far.  He is ok with everything but does not prefer avocados and I think his favorite is sweet potatoes.