14 months old

More Bobby updates:

He has finally mastered walking well. I remember writing in his baby book on his 13 mth update that he was taking steps regularly…but I would say it was another week or week ½ before he really started taking off. Now there is no crawling...its all big boy steps all the time. And oh how the boy does he enjoy the walking…he just walks for the sake of walking…round and round the kitchen island and dining room table…back and forth down the hallway. He just enjoys strolling. Its soo cute. I tell Robby all the time it’s like he is still the same weight and same baby has he was 3 mths ago…its just that now he is vertical instead of horizontal.

He jabbers NON stop (everyone thinks its such a funny joke to say he takes after his momma in that department!)  I swear he already has a full vocabulary but it’s in his own language. He talks so much and responses to you when you talk to him (in his language) that you really do feel like you are carrying on a conversation. The only real words that I can gather from it all are pretty much the same as they have been…ma-ma, da-da, lots and lots of Uh-Oh’s. And I swear he has muttered something along the lines of gamp-pa. I blew my in-laws off the first several times they mentioned it (cause I figured it was just wishful thinking on their part) but its true…I have heard it several times myself. I can hear him trying to imitate the words we say…like the other day I say “Come on Coco, good girl!” And he muttered go-gol like he was trying to say good girl. I was shocked! Soo cute!

Bobby eats really well most of the time. He gets very cranky if you are eating something different than he is. He wants what you are having and sometimes that isn’t always a good idea if it’s spicy or its chips etc. Sometimes I will even have prepared the same thing for him and put it on his tray early to cool off but he immediately thinks I am trying to trick him out of something and it’s not near as good to him unless he sees it specifically come off my plate! I think I narrowed down his eczema to hotdogs or macaroni and cheese (not sure which, or both). But when we avoid those two foods we seem to notice there are no flare ups. I swear my child is going to turn into a green bean…they are his number one favorite food. He eats them almost every meal. I even pack some in the car with me and hand them to him when he fusses. You would think they were candy! He also really enjoys peaches and pears. Oh and lots of cheerios…and those little freeze dried yogurt snacks.

His last Shriner appointment went really well. Not much came from the ordeal but I wasn't expecting much either. I did ask more about future options...like whether or not we have a chance of  transferring a cadaver hand possibly...and its not an option because he is not only missing the ulnar bone in his arm, he is also missing all the nerves and tendons too...so there wouldn't nerves to attach it too. I also asked  about the possibly of restoring motion in this elbow and the same issue is withholding us...the muscles that he is missing are the ones that we use to move our elbow. hmmph. So no luck there either! Otherwise though they were happy with how he is progressing. They have no vision of future surgery at this point...so it was pretty much a "see back this time next year and we will reassess the situation" type of thing. I was fine with it all...no news is ok with me...at least nothing dramatic going on.

He is starting to enjoy his toys a lot more as he has gotten older. He empties out baskets and dresser drawers on a daily basis. I just noticed yesterday he has figured out door handles…I can usually lock him out of certain rooms (where dog dishes are etc) but we have the kind of door handles that are like pull down handles (not the round door knobs)…and last night I saw him standing at the shut door reaching for the door handle with all his might! I couldn’t believe my eyes…he was trying to open it! He LOVES books. Could care less about TV or movies I try and play for him on car trips. He LOVES watching and playing with the dogs. They crack him up on a daily basis. He loves it when you act like you are play biting him on his belly, legs, arms etc. He cackles out loud with joy. He wants daddy to throw him repeatedly…once you start he doesn’t want to stop. BTW daddy has become a lot more on radar to him. He has realized with daddy its more wrestling and playing and he is super fun…but his mommy on the other hand makes him do not so fun stuff like eat, and sleep and change diapers and clothes. I find myself working extra hard to be super silly with him to make sure he knows I am FUN too! ;-)

Well that is all I can think of for now…we are in SUCH a fun phase…I honestly can’t even see it getting better than this…although some how I just know it will…

Happy Summer everyone!

Please excuse the cell phone pictures...these are the only ones I have downloaded of him on the move.

Bobby's 1st Haircut!

Some before shots...

 Shaggy!!

 Here we go!

Mom, I don't really think I like this... 

 I HATE IT!!!

 But I look so cute afterwards!

We weren't able to get the best haircut since Bobby was having a full out meltdown (he was PISSED and the poor other clients were probably plugging their ears from our little disturbance, so we just kept it really short and did the best we could quickly) but at least it's out of his eyes and not over his ears. He threw a bigger fit there then he does when he gets shots! But it was so worth it, and now every time he gets out of the bath and I get to comb his sweet little hair I squeal with this cuteness!

9 Months and Counting!

Today was Bobby's 9 mth well visit and I have been looking forward to it for weeks! The break from the doctor's office between six and nine months feels so long and I really had no idea how much he had grown or weighed (I try and keep the mean nasty scale put away most of the time).  I'm not complaining though... I am thrilled that we haven't had to make any illness visits to the doctor in the mean time! Anyway on to the stats.

Bobby weighed in at 20lbs 1 oz...putting him the the 50th percentile (perfectly average!) and he was 29 3/4 inches long, ranking him as a BIG boy in the 90th percentile on height. I am so proud he is growing up so big and strong! The doctor said he was perfectly healthy. I felt like he was in a sense giving me a gold star or something (when of course it has very little to do with "me"...I still burst with pride like I am sure most mom's do).  



Big Boy!...those are his size 18 mths jammies!

 Bobby is still VERY interesting in his new shoes...as you can tell.

 His fingers are CONSTANTLY in his mouth these days...ohhh the teething.

Sleep log update...he has been sleeping in his own bed ALL night long. SUCH a good boy!

Watch out here comes Bobby!!!

BIG NEWS at Reed household...Bobby officially started drag/scooting (his version of crawling) today! I wish I had my camera cord with me so I could download the video...but stay tuned for that! He doesn't push up on his arms at all (which doesn't surprise me) but he will like pull forward with this arms but his knees are up underneath him like he is crawling...it kind of reminds me of a bulldozer! Its adorable!

Bobby just made all sorts of progress today. He also was attempting to pull himself up...I'm not claiming that he was completely succeeding at that maybe it was more of a crawl up attempt...but again it was the first time I have witnessed these milestones so I was thrilled. He has this toy train and he went from the sitting position to trying to completely crawl over it. So its not like he went straight up...but he was able to get his feet up underneath him....which got mommy and daddy very excited! Again...stay tuned for a video image of this event!

I know I know before I know it I will be wishing he would just sit still and stay out of things. But its just so neat to watch him grow and learn. I sound like such a cliche parent right now...but its the truth...I just couldn't relate until I experienced the love for my own child.

 New jammies...and fresh out of the bath.

Ringing in the New Year...

Again, I know how late I am posting about this but at least its documented for later. We had a busy night scheduled for New Year's Eve because two of my closest friends were BOTH hosting party's...and I was determined that I wasn't going to let either one of them down. So I decided to take the plunge and for the 1st time stay the night away from Bobby... luckily Grandma and Grandpa's are always eager and happy to keep the angel so he spent the whole night at their house. I did better than I expected because once I dropped him off I was already running late and the busier you are the less time there is to think.

First off, my friend Tara's house. Man, this girl knows how to throw a party. She had the ENTIRE house decked out in 2011 decorations, she had hourly door prizes, and a table decked out in yummy snacks. I just wish I would have had my real camera with me to capture them all but who wants to be responsible for an expensive camera on New Year's Eve? Not me! So these are the only pic's I got from her house except for the last one that I stole from her blog.



Hideous picture of me...but had to document the night, right?

Next off, my neighbor Kristin's house. This was perfect for us being right down the street because there was no worrying about the drive home, and for the first time in 8 months I had no curfew!

These are the "girls from the hood" as we like to say.

She was hosting a masquerade themed party.

The whole night was a lot of fun! Did I miss my baby? YES, of course. But did I need a grown up night out on the town...YES, again.

Another BIG boy moment...

Look at my BIG boy in the lower part of his stroller! He said FORGET my carrier mom, I want to SEE everything!!

num num num...

My little bitty baby isn't so tiny anymore...he is growing so fast and now eating cereal!! and he LOVED it! (momma is going to cry if time moves any faster!)

Big news in the Reed household...

Well my little boy is growing up...TOO FAST! Two major milestones were hit over this weekend. First, on Friday night Mommy was in playing with Bobby in the nursery and mean ole' mommy was making Bobby practice his dreaded tummy time. But this particular evening I had an extraordinarly happy boy (must have enjoyed a late afternoon nap or something) but not only was he smiling during tummy time, but he did something I wasn't even expecting...he rolled over!!!!! I couldn't believe it...I was soo excited! We jumped up and ran outside where daddy was mowing and started screaming the exciting news to him. HE ROLLED OVER!! He rolled over!! Daddy has been jumping the gun on this very issue for months now...I really think he thinks Bobby is some Olympic baby or something (or he just has a hard time realizing the reality of developmental stages for a baby) but he has been waiting for this day! So Robby jumped off the mower and we all ran back inside to the nursery, I put Bobby back down on his tummy and he did it again...not once but TWICE!! Daddy was soo proud! Now has Bobby rolled over again since that night? Nope...not even close. hahah Wouldn't you know it. But I KNOW I didn't dream it because daddy saw it too! :)

Milestone #2

Bobby slept 11 hours on Saturday night...now THAT is what I call sleeping through the night! We went to Pittsburg on Saturday to visit great grandpa RIP and I guess the trip wore him out because when we got home he crashed! I put him down at 8...and at 6:30 am I woke up in a panic! IS BOBBY still alive!?!? I ran over and checked his breathing...yep he was breathing. I went and laid back down but my mind was still racing. Was I SURE he was breathing? I got up and checked again...yes again I could see his chest moving. I laid there and tried to tell myself to leave him alone. And thank god within about twenty minutes (yes, I was still awake worrying) I heard him let out a sigh and start stirring around. I have never been so happy to jump up out of bed to get him. :) I am sooo proud of my little sleepy head though!

Early Christmas present for Mommy!

Last night Bobby decided to make his presence know...I finally felt him kick! This time I am 100% sure! So it was just a day short of 23 weeks. Its lower than I expected, right below my belly button actually. I don't know what made the difference yesterday but he was so BUSY last night, I felt it over and over throughout the evening. I had ate some Christmas goodies...maybe it was just the sugar in them? This morning I was anxious to feel him again so I drank a glass of orange juice right away...and like clockwork there he was again! Now I am starting to wonder how much of the time he sleeps and how much he is awake? Anyone know the ratio? He is actually kicking me like crazy as we speak. I LOVE IT!! Its the best feeling in the world. Well that's all for now...gotta go start getting ready for the Christmas craziness that is set to begin this evening. Everyone be safe on the roads...MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I LOVE the holidays...

I LOVE the holidays...but I'll tell you what...I can already tell this year is going to be harder than usual because I get so tired I can barely keep up! I feel like I didn't even get to sit down the entire four days I was off! That's ok...it was a great weekend and I wouldn't change any of it! I'll start from the beginning of my holiday weekend...I got some great news from my OB on Weds afternoon that my amniocentesis came back completely normal. I not quite ready to go into detail about why this was so important...but let's just say I had been losing sleep waiting to hear those results...hoping and praying to hear good news...and I DID! I could hardly believe it. The nurse double checked again and yes, again she said the words to me. "Your results came back completely normal...the doctor read the report with a smile on her face and told me to GO CALL HER BACK AND TELL HER THE GOOD NEWS!"

W. O. W.

Talk about the best day of my life! I called my husband and then shot out of my chair at work to do a lap around the office giving hugs and spreading my wonderful news! We continued the celebration that night by going out to eat and smiling ear to ear the whole time. What a way to start a long weekend! :)

Then came Turkeyday! Boy did we ever have alot to give thanks for! I had gotten up early to make one of my favorite staples for thanksgiving...my late grandma's mashed potatoes. (I seriously think I could survive on potatoes alone these days.) And then we had to Robby's grandma's to celebrate the day. Thank goodness it was a pretty low key day because I was already worn out from all the excitement the day before.

Friday morning....AKA BLACK FRIDAY! Well I chickened out on going to do the early EARLY bird shopping even though it crossed my mind a million times, right up until I went to bed Thursday night. My girlfriend was all ready to go at 3 AM if I was up for it...but I just didn't think I could hang with her. I decided to go for the less craziness at about 8AM. There were still a few stores that had lines wrapping around the place but thank goodness I never had to get in any of those lines. I went with my mother-in-law and she had a list of huge items and was on a mission. Lets just say four tie-downs and seven hours later we were back to the house unloading and finishing up with online shopping. WHAT A DAY!

And there was no resting in the picture for the poor pregnant lady from there either...oh no, I had to get right back up and be out the door by 8AM again the next morning with Robby on the way to Norman for the Bedlam game. The weather was nice and we played good so it was a wonderful day. We stopped for dinner in OKC at Bricktown so by the time we got home it was dark and another day was gone.

Sunday...day of rest right? Ahem...I wish...it was my first day at home in a while and I had A LOT to catch up on. I put clean flannel sheets on the bed (ready for a our cold weather!), did all the laundry, gave the girls a bath, went and got groceries, cleaned the house, wrapped Christmas presents, worked on my performance review for work, and we finished the Christmas lights outside (in the COLD and rain I might add) but it was totally worth it because the house looks a million times better.

Drumroll please....

So I must start out again by apologizing for my lack of communication. As I finished off the longest month of work in my life last week AND THEN we finished off the week by getting the BEST news of our lives!

Wednesday: My 2nd prenatal appt...yah! I had been looking forward to this. Everything went fine...I met with my actual OB doctor for the first time instead of just the nurse practitioner. I liked her, she gave me the vibe of very smart, very comfortable in her position...been doing it for 30 plus years (yes I asked). :-) Just very comforting. All the normal little things they do went fine...my blood pressure, my weight...everything right on schedule. She said his heartbeat was 140...at that very second the old wise tale popped in my mind WHAT did it say if the heartbeat was below it would be a boy or a girl? hmmm. Then she asked if I wanted to do the down syndrome test...and Robby and I looked at each other and thought...well why not. She says ok well it has to be done between 16-19 weeks...or your test will come back abnormal. Was your last period a normal one? I answer with a yes, but that it was 12 or so days late...to which she says ohhhh...hmm...well in that case I think we'd better do an ultrasound to verify that you are just 15 weeks....and not further along because that will skew the test results. YAH! Sooo excited! I get an ultrasound! Seems like everyone else I know gets an ultrasound every time they go to their doctor, and here I was probably only going to get the one at 20 weeks.

So they call and schedule the ultrasound for the next morning (Thursday) at noon. Robby and I are SOO excited! We get in there and it is EVERYTHING I hoped it would be. We could see the little baby bouncing around and moving its little legs up and down, we could see its face, its feet, its everything! I exactly 15 weeks like we had suspected, and it weighed a whopping 4 oz. How CUTE!! LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT!! And the tech says....well I think I can already tell what it is...do you want to know??! Before I can even say anything Robby practically screams YES! we want to know. I look over at him...and then I look back at the tech and agree with Robby...yes we would like to know.

And the drum roll please
.
..
...
....
...........ITS a BOY!!!!!!!! Little Bobby Reed!!!

I can't describe the excitement that went on in that room. Robby jumped out of his chair with his arm shooting straight up in the charge position and yelled YES!!!!!!!! I KNEW IT!! I started laughing so hard that tears were coming down. I was SO excited...seeing him sooo happy meant the WORLD to me. This was it...the moment we had been waiting for. Who knew we would find out this early!?! We were thrilled. We got our sonogram pics and headed back to work beaming...and bursting at the seams to spread the news. I can honestly say it was the best moment of my life!!

Heartbeat!!

I just got back from my first official "doctor" appt...it was WONDERFUL! Its not like there was a whole lot to come from this visit because we still have a long way till the fun stuff...BUT today WAS fun because we got to hear the heartbeat for the first time. I obviously didn't have any idea what to expect on how we would hear the heartbeat...so I half way expected a full out ultrasound where I might get to see the baby too. But no, it was just a little tiny roller on a cord hooked to a speaker. I swear she didn't even get it fully against my stomach before we started hearing the very clear "panting" is how I describe it. It sounds like Coco panting when she gets hot. But it was a wonderful consistent FAST heartbeat. She said "sounds very strong healthy heartbeat to me". I didn't full out cry...I admit a few tears escaped the corner of my eye...but it wasn't full out emotional, it was more SHOCK and excitement and trying to soak in what I was hearing. Robby sat right next to me with the HUGEST smile planted across his face. She said the rate was 173, which I immediately started asking if the old wise tale was true that if its over 140 its a girl and under 140 its a boy...but she threw that right out the door and said no, its a myth...all babies heartbeats are super fast in the beginning like this...and slow down as the pregnancy so we can't tell anything from this. WHEW! I didn't want to be jumping to conclusions about it. I honestly want to be completely suprised when we go in to find out what it is at 20 weeks...so this was a relief.

She also measured me and I am right at the mark I thought I was at...at about 10 weeks...well 11 weeks tomorrow. YAH! Overall it was a wonderful experience and I can't wait to go back! Only 4 more weeks!