Flashback Friday! Halloween recap time...

Halloween 2016, unlike Thanksgiving 2016, was not a success. In fact, BBL spent most of Halloween night laying with mom and dad and nursing a fever on a blow-up mattress we sat out on the living room floor. No costume, no candy, and no fun! That said, we did have fun playing dress-up with our little man prior to and after Halloween. And Reid has enjoyed sorting the leftover halloween candy and carrying it around the house (yes, this is still happening in December).

Without further ado, allow me to introduce you to Reid the Shark, Reid the Rastafarian, and Reid the Tiger

A sampling of how Reid and I spent our Halloween evening- at least one of us was in costume! (Thanks, Snapchat filters!)

Thanksgiving 2016

Well, I suppose I should have posted the Thanksgiving post before the Santa Claus post, but here we are. In conformance with societal norms, we did wait until after Thanksgiving to visit Santa Claus.  However, days tend to blend together of late so please forgive the tardy post. In any event, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day meal at my Aunt Suad and Uncle Mac's home this year. With the exception of last year and this year, my parents have always hosted a big Thanksgiving Day meal at the Lake Waunatta Home, and I am still not used to the change. It seems that many of my family members aren't used to the change either since less of them have shown up over the past two years. Still, my Aunt and Uncle hosted a great Thanksgiving (with the help of my Mom's cooking and Andy's homemade pumpkin pie, of course!), and it was really nice to visit with my family that was in attendance. It is also really fun to see Reid walking around among his little cousins, like Zain and Naveen.

After enjoying a late Thanksgiving lunch, we returned home (with Reid in a turkey stupor in the backseat), and Andy and I enjoyed a cold beer on our porch while Reid continued his nap. Then, we took a family walk on the golf course and watched the sun set. Overall, Thanksgiving Day 2016 was a success.

The following day, Andy and I spent the morning with Reid, Gage, Scotty, Apa, Nee Nee, Aaron, and Dom. Around Reid's naptime, we left for an overnight stay at New Smyrna Beach to celebrate our third wedding anniversary. As usual, NSB did not disappoint, and we really enjoyed the alone time and the ability to eat a fancy-ish meal (and a delicious meal at JBs) and have uninterrupted adult conversation for hours. Quiet time on the beach and the opportunity to begin a new book were also welcome distractions from our "normal" life. That said, we talked about BBL often and were anxious to return to him the following day.

On Saturday, after we returned home, we spent some quality time with Nee Nee, Apa, Scotty, and Gage. We treasure the time we get to spend with all of them, but especially sweet Gage. It is really fun to see the boys interact, and we have loved seeing Gage grow up and open up more. He is a very kind-hearted three year old that especially loves dogs, chocolate milk, Dada, Apa, swimming, super heroes, and legos- that is my take on him, anyway!

On Sunday, we took Reid to the Mall at Millenia and visited with Santa (see previous post). Later that evening, we enjoyed a belated Thanksgiving meal at my parents' home since the Clark and Rios families missed the Thanksgiving Day meal. As usual, it was heartwarming to see Reid interact with his grandparents and cousins, and the food was delicious. Reid took a late cat nap while we ate so we were able to enjoy a relaxing meal and (mostly) relaxing evening. Even though Reid spiked a fever upon our return home on Sunday (he wanted to keep us on our toes- we were too relaxed), we had a heart-filling Thanksgiving Day, anniversary trip, and weekend. Bring on Christmas!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town...

The good news is that Reid is on the "nice" list (so far) this year. The not-so-good-news is that Reid didn't love his visit with Santa. He wasn't scared of Santa, and he isn't known to shy away from the camera; however, his visit with Santa required taking a cracker away from a very over-tired toddler- talk about tragic! Poor Reid was beside himself during the bulk of his visit with Santa, and he fell asleep within five minutes of getting off Santa's lap. I'm sure his dreams were filled with Christmas magic, though.

Oh, and the other good news? We only waited about five minutes to visit with Santa. For those of you who have visited the Santa at Mall at Millenia, you can appreciate that this was, truly, a Christmas miracle.

This sums it up for me.

Eye on the cracker...

"Who does this guy think he is?" - Reid

"The sooner I smile, the sooner I get my cracker back." - Reid

Wild and One!

BBL turned one year old last month, and I am still in disbelief how fast a year flew by. I have been told that, when you have children, the days are long and the years are short. Based on my thirteen months of experience, I would say I agree. This past year has been amazing, tiring, fulfilling, draining, inspiring, and full of so much love and gratitude. Even on the most trying days with BBL, I am so thankful for him and the ways he has helped me grow and appreciate the love between a parent and his/her child. It is truly inexplicable. So, that being said, let's move on to BBL updates.

I would say the biggest changes I have seen in Reid over the past month are the ways his cognition is blossoming. He seems to be mimicking us more and recognizing patterns and where things belong, like puzzle pieces and shape blocks. He loves to put lids on and off things, help out in the kitchen ( watch us cook and help stir anything and everything), pacifiers, dogs of all sizes, share his food with Finn, dance, point to items, sign that he is hungry and try to verbally communicate with us when he wants something, open and shut cabinets, bang items together, pick up sticks and mulch, read books, ride in his blue car, and give lots of hugs and kisses. He also loves hitting his head, much to his cousins' and grandma's amusement, but we are trying to break him of that habit. Somewhere along the line, he realized that he could elicit giggles by hitting himself, and he loves making people laugh. You can already tell he is a little entertainer.

Reid also enjoys spending Saturday mornings at MyGym, and he is becoming more fearless with climbing things and venturing into new spaces (i.e. parking lots) without mom and dad. Reid's newfound confidence is a wonderful thing, albeit a bit anxiety-producing for dear old mom... pass the wine, please! Reid also took his first bike ride on the back of dad's bike this past weekend. He wasn't a fan of the helmet, but he seemed to enjoy the ride. We took him to Jingle Eve on the bike, and he fell asleep by the time we got there. As a result, mom got to carry him around in the ergo while enjoying a glass of rose at Washburn and visiting with the McLeods - utter bliss! I see many more bike rides in our future.

Well, that is it for the update this morning. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SWEET BOY!

These are a few of my favorite things...

Wow, I can't believe it has been so long since I have published a blog post.  As usual, time has gotten away from me and life has been busy. Also, I am fairly certain nobody pays attention to my blog (sidenote: by nobody, I am referencing the family members that know about the blog.  I am certain that this blog would go viral and BBL would become an internet sensation if more people were aware of this blog). I digress...

Anyway, Reid has really grown in the last few months - in so many ways! He is still a sweet and extremely loved baby (he still qualifies as an infant until he turns one- TOMORROW!), but he has been getting moodier and is prone to throw a tantrum or two when things aren't going exactly the way he hoped. I think most of his frustrations stem from his awareness that a. communication exists and is a way to get things he wants and b. he is unable to communicate about most things.  Overall, though, life just keeps getting sweeter with our little man. Below are a few of the things he has been showing the most interest in over the past few months.

1. Food. Little man loves his food and always has. So far, there are very few foods he will turn down, although we have noticed that he is becoming pickier and is especially enamored with snacks. For example, he loves puffs, rice cakes, cheerios, and teething biscuits. He also loves dairy products, especially cheese and yogurt. Applesauce and pears are favorites in the fruit department. And I really believe he will eat anything out of a pouch - he loves his food pouches ! The only food I have seen him absolutely refuse is eggs, although I do feel like we are on the brink of Reid weeding out foods that he previously ate with ease as he has been eating less and less of certain foods he used to love.  Stay tuned - mom and dad hope Reid remains a good, healthy eater!

2. Walking everywhere.  In August, Reid was obsessed with walking all over our house with his lion walker. Once he got the hang of that and really started moving, we knew it was only a matter of time before he began walking unassisted.  Within weeks, Reid began experimenting with taking his hands off the walker and walking a few steps, as well as cruising around furniture. During the first week of September when he was about 10.5 months, Reid took his first steps with the help of magical measuring tape, and he hasn't looked back since. I think he understands that we need him to be in top walking shape by the time of Aunt Dom and Uncle Aaron's wedding (October 29th).  Now, Reid zooms around the house sans magical measuring tape. He is almost ready to race Gage down the aisle!

3. Holding things. Reid loves to hold things while he walks, while he sits, while he eats, while he is in the bath, while he sleeps, etc. It doesn't have to be anything in particular, although measuring cups, dangly items like necklaces, pacifiers, sippy cups, sticks, leaves, cell phones, and spoons are fan favorites.  Reid also loves putting things in his mouth, especially blocks, and he can frequently be seen walking around the house with one block in each hand and one in his mouth.

4. Adventures, especially in the blue car. I'm sure most babies are curious about the world around them - after all, they are experiencing so many things for the first time EVER. Still, I think BBL is especially curious about EVERYTHING. He loves opening and shutting things, exploring the contents of the kitchen cabinets, putting items in and out of other items, waving the water hose around, playing with the water table, taking rides in his blue car and pointing at everything, picking up whatever he can find on the floor and waving it around while he observes it, and crawling and walking around everywhere. It is really fun watching him explore his world, and I am really looking forward to seeing how my little engineer's natural curiosity grows and transforms as he gets older.

5. All dogs, especially Finn. A small dog sighting will almost always elicit a squeal from our little animal lover. Reid is especially obsessed with Finn, and he often looks for him first thing in the morning after he wakes up. He also looks for Finn when he is eating his dinner, and he loves dropping food and watching Finn gobble it up with excitement. When he is close enough, BBL also loves feeding Finn directly and is known to (attempt to?) alternate bites of food between himself and Finn (mom tries to stop that as quickly as possible...).

6. Books. This mama is overjoyed to announce that BBL seems to share in his mother's love of the written word. Okay, he can't read yet, BUT he really does love his books. The other morning, he insisted (in his own way) on taking his Baby Animals book in the car on the way to daycare. At one point, he dropped the book and immediately commenced hysterics.  At a stoplight, I was able to retrieve the book for him, and he spent the rest of the car ride turning the pages and babbling to himself. At this point, until somebody tells me otherwise, I am convinced that he was trying to read the book to himself! Also, he will often come up to his daddy or me with a book in his hand and give the book to us so we can read it to him. Due to his short attention span, we often get through a mere page or two before he takes the book back and walks away, but I am certain that he appreciates and understands the portion we read. His favorite books right now seem to be the touchy feely books, Hungry Hungry Caterpillar, and the Colors book that he received from Aunt Dom and Uncle Aaron. Dad and I love reading the classic Disney books to him, and I love reading On the Night You Were Born, as this was the first book I read after he was born. Every night, we read a few books to him before bed - I hope we can carry on this tradition for many years.