The Last two Months

So I felt a twinge of guilt when I read my sister in law's blog since it has been two months since I updated this one. But then I reminded myself that our life has been just a bit crazy!!!

October was pretty much the same other than two things. The first one was that we took a little trip down to Tampa and got to see lots of our loved ones!! Reid did pretty well with this trip, he didn't cry the whole way in the car anyway:) We left on Saturday morning and drove to Lakeland to see Erik's mother and his step-father. This was a nice relaxing time. Erik and I even got to have a lunch date while they watched Reid- that was weird. The next day we met some of our old Ruby Tuesday friends for lunch - we were a little late (don't ask- sore subject, hint: my sense of direction + traffic from Bucs game in Tampa), but it was lots of fun and we finally got to see Hope and Jeramy's little guy Brady, and we got to see little Mason still cozy in his mommy's tummy. It was a lot of fun to see them, but totally weird too since I don't think there had been a time where we had been in their presence ever that didn't involve having a little too much fun with frosty beverages. After this lunch we drove to St. Petersburg to see my best friend Megan and her family now including 2 little ones!! We relaxed with them in their awesome new house. The next day we came home. It was a lot to do in a short time but we got to see a bunch of people!!

Reid and his Grandpa

Reid playing at Megans House on our Tampa Trip

The next awesome thing was Reid's first Halloween!!! We were a little worried because he hadn't had much sleep that day. We went Trick or Treating in what was to be our new neighborhood with Reid's uncles (my 5 year-old brothers). Erik was in charge of going to the doors with Reid to get candy. Reid loved it!! I think there was a lot for him to look at with all the kids and the candy. He even managed to get a Hershy Kiss in his mouth even though Erik was being very vigilant- the problem was Reid didn't take the wrapper off so we had to fish aluminum out of his mouth. The cool thing was that we got candy out of it since Reid can't eat it!!!

Reid in his turtle costume on Halloween

Reid with his uncles David and Bruce


November 1st came with the daunting project of starting to pack for the move. We did a pretty good job at doing a little at a time and the night before we closed, we left Reid with my mom and finished up. Reid ended up coming down with a cold or something a week before we moved. He had a fever, runny nose, croupy cough, diarrhea, and even vomiting. It was poor timing to say the least. One night I had fed Reid and put him back to bed (it was about 2AM). I heard him on the monitor in his room talking and making some noise, but was waiting for him to go back to sleep. After about 40 minutes, he started fussing and I went into his room and he had vomited EVERYWHERE. All over the bumper, the sheets, his socks, his PJ's, and on top of that had also had some diarrhea. So at 2AM Reid got a bath and the sheets got washed as well as the bumper covers. He went back to sleep about an hour later. The next day I had heard him after his nap and went upstairs to find that some diarrhea had come out of the back of his diaper and was on the bumper covers I had JUST washed. Then another mess from that illness was when all of the diarrhea came out of his diaper and was all in his jeans. Needless to say parenting is not for the faint of heart.

The even worse thing about this is that he was exhausted by the time we moved. WE closed on our old house on November 14th. Closed on our new house on November 15th, and moved in on November 16th. The move was pretty uneventful, not bad, not good. The next two days we waited for our new furniture and Refrigerator to arrive. Once we got everything in place we are THRILLED with it. It is wonderful to have the extra space. Reid was a bit timid for the first few days wanting to stick right by me, but he got over it and is very happy here. As of now the only thing we haven't done is put up pictures on the walls. We just haven't had a minute to do it yet. Hopefully soon though, I know that will make it feel like home. My friend Jennifer just started a tailoring business so I am enlisting her talents both as a decorator and as a tailor to make me some window treatments- which will be totally exciting.

Reid of course turned 1 on November 18th. Unfortunately that day was not celebrated as greatly as we would have liked because I worked. He did get 2 mini parties before that at my mothers house and at my fathers house. He got some toys and he loves them!!! He really wasn't into the cake either time. I think by the time we got to it he was tired both times. We enjoyed it though!!!

Reid opening presents for his birthday

Reid and some cake (funny enough, he didn't really want to eat it).

We had his 1 year appointment on the 20th. We were shocked to find that he weighed 21 lbs 6 oz which is only 2 lbs more than he weighed at his 6 month appointment. This puts him in the 25th percentile for weight which is funny because he used to be such a chunker. He has also gotten tall at 30 and 1/2 inches he is in the 75th percentile for height. The funny thing is that he has quite a big head at 19 inches he is in the 80th percentile. He got two vaccines and we were given the go ahead to feed him what ever we want!! He had his first grilled cheese, which he definitely liked! He is a really good eater, and will eat most anything. WE are still breastfeeding and will continue to do so as it is sooo good for him. Especially since he keeps getting sick. Dr. Miles predicts that he will wean around 18 months so it will be interesting to see how it goes. I want him to be done by 2 so we can get going on baby number 2.

The next week brought Thanksgiving. We spent it with my Dad and Step-mom and a bunch of other people at their house. It was very nice. Reid ate a whole plate of food including squash, green beans, mashed potatoes, turkey and stuffing. I was impressed!!

Reid with his uncles on Thanksgiving


The next day we had another little party for Reid with my friends and their kids. That was fun, the kids are all quite spirited and I was ready to keep Reid an only child afterwards. (Just kidding).

Reid playing with his freind Gray at his 3rd party

Speaking of children, the past 2 months also brought a bunch of new babies. As I mentioned before Lane was born to Megan and Alex, Mason Emerson was born to Rich and Lisa, Logan Alan was born to Krissy (my step-sister) and her husband Scott. It is quite odd to be in the peer group of procreators instead of the procreatees. It still gets me all the time.

So here we are in the beginning of December. Work is going very well for both of us. We aren't minding the extra driving too much. We are looking forward to Christmas and are planning on getting the tree up and maybe some lights on the outside of the house. We are behind all of our neighbors. Gheesh, the pressures of living in an actual house. Erik is doing a great job with the yard and we are learning how many different tools one needs in order to maintain a nice yard. I can see why people pay others to do it.

Anyway that is a glimpse of our life right now. Once the house looks nicer I will put some pictures up.

Much love,

Jenny, Erik, and Reid





P.S. For fun here is a picture of Reid on 11/21/2005 on the day he came home from the hospital at 3 days old

Here is Reid exactly a year later.

September

We have had quite a month!!

So Reid just turned 10 months!! I can't believe my baby is 2 months away from being 1 year-old!! He is really starting to get smart and coordinated. He has a toy given to him by Gramp, Pamps, and Uncle David and Brucie. It is a tree house with a hole in the top and it came with some little balls that are clear with animals in them. Well Reid can now put the ball in the hole. It is quite impressive to see a little guy with such coordination.

Today I realized that he has put together the word No with the head shake. He was up in my room and we have an 8 outlet plug. Well he knows that he is not supposed to go over there. He looked at it and shook his head no. I could see the conflict going on within him. He had another toy he was playing with which he ended up throwing close to the outlet so he crawled over there and got the toy but as he looked at the outlet he shook his head no again. After this he couldn't contain himself and went to grab it, I said No! He stopped and shook his head again. Then he moved back a little bit and looked at it one last time resigned and shook his head again. It was soo cute. He also spent about 20 minutes with extreme concentration trying to get an evian lid on a zephyrhills bottle. See kids don't need toys...

Reid had reverted back to the soldier crawl, but now seems like he is working on crawling on his hands and knees again. He is also pulling up on everything, which has lead to a few bumps and bruises. At least he is finally realizing that he needs to hold on.

At his 9 month appointment he weighed 20lbs 4 oz, which is only 1 lb more than his 6 month appointment. He was 28 and 1/4 inches long. He was in the 50%ile for height and weight, but 80th for head (he took after his daddy on that!!).

Erik and I are pretty much the same. Erik shaved off his facial hair which took me a while to get used to, but I love it, and think he looks so handsome now that I can see his whole face!!

I applied for another job this month at the hospital where I have really wanted to work for a long time (the hospital where Reid was born). The position would not have consistent hours though and I am going to need them now, but I got good feedback and the woman I talked to said to keep an eye out for full time positions because she would like to interview me!! That was nice to hear.



The reason I need normal hours is because my dad and Pam were interested in an investment property and it just so happens that our townhouse is going to be their investment property!! We feel very fortunate, as it was not looking like we would be selling this place anytime soon. We have a contract on the house we want!!! It is not the same house from my previous post, but is the same floor plan. The main difference is that it is on a "lake" instead of the preserve. It is also a taupe/gray kind of color. We are really excited and terrified all at the same time. We have been very comfortable for a while now, and this is going to challenge us a bit. The closing date is set as November 15th. We will let you know how a move with a 1 year-old goes. I can't say I am looking forward to it, but I know it will be worth it!!!

I hope everyone is well!!

August

Well hello everyone. I hope everyone is doing well. We are doing great!! As you can see from the picture Reid is learning how to explore the world on his hands and knees. He has only taken a few steps like this, but is figuring it out. Last night he figured out how to get from his hands and knees to sitting. He is still soldier crawling to get where he wants to go, and is actually pretty quick with that.

We have had some rough nights recently due to teething. His upper right incisor has broken through and it looks like the other three (the middle two and left incisor) will be here soon- he is going to look really funny if they don't). Luckily he is doing better now, it was quite exhausting when he was waking up every 3 hours.

Reid is discovering his vocal talents. He is pretty entertaining. He has figured out how to make his voice loud and high pitched. He is also combining syllables and consanants. All in all he is quite chatty like his Daddy.

We have had to revert back to the way we were eating when we started. Reid started rebelling against fruits and vegetables after we introduced the beloved CHEERIOS!! He LOVES them so much that he doesn't want to eat anything else. We have had to hide them when we put him in his highchair so he will eat. He used to eat so well. So we are starting over with small portions and single foods. Tonight he ate squash again!! Baby steps...


Since I last posted we have given up on selling our house, taken it off the market, found a house we LOVE, (this is a picture of it, it is actually a tan color although it looks pink in the picture) and then relisted our house. I know, I know, I am quite fickle. We had decided that since we were going to have to compromise on the selling price of our home and at the time there was nothing that we were in love with we would just wait. Well a couple of days after that decision, I drove back to St. Johns Country Club (where Erik and I got married), and looked at an area of the neighborhood that has more affordable houses. The first time I saw them a few months ago, I was delusional about the type of house that Erik and I could afford and what it would look like and immediately dismissed this neighborhood. Well, the second time around it looked like heaven!!! I started to think we were insane to pass this up. This is a beautiful neighborhood with lots of nature with great amenities and of course the golf course. So we put our house on the market again. We talked to a mortgage broker, went over our finances, and now are just back to waiting. We dropped the selling price of our house $10,000, so we will see if that invites any bites.

Erik has taken the first step towards getting his CPA. He ordered a study kit for 1 of the 4 parts. He has decided to work towards this for now and maybe go back to finish his Masters degree later. Everyone wish him luck as this is one of those tests that prides itself on failing lots of people!!

As for me, there is not too much going on. I just had my weekend off so I got 3 whole days with Erik and Reid, which is always nice. Other than that, life goes on as usual. Reid and I have an activity almost everyday. Today we went to the beach with a friend and her baby. Reid had a wonderful time!! Wednesday we have Gymboree, Thursday we have our last sign language class, and Friday we go to Barnes and Noble for story time. There is a group of us that attend these activities, so we get some socialization time along with the babies.

Well, that is all for now.

July

Well I can't believe that July has come and is almost gone. Reid is now 8 months old!! The older I get, the faster time flies.

We experienced our first childhood illness with Reid this month. I woke up on a Saturday morning before work and noticed Reid felt hot, he also had a rather smelly diaper, which is not normal (GO BREASTFEEDING!!!). So I took his temp. under his arm and it was 99.8. I wasn't too worried, just figured he was teething or something. When I got home from work though, he still felt hot and I took his temp. rectally and it was 103!!! We called the pediatrician and she said that as long as he seemed to feel better when his temp. went down (after tylenol or motrin), then don't worry. Erik had him again on Sunday and he said he seemed better all day. Erik was awesome with Reid that weekend. We had an okay night Sunday night. The next day was rough!! Reid was miserable. He just wanted to be held all day long. That night after giving him medicine his temp. was still 102, so I called the pediatrican again and she said that we should come in the next day. That night was rough. I think Reid got about 4 hours of sleep as of course did I. He ended up falling asleep on my chest, which hasn't happened since he was a newborn. (that was the sweet part about him being sick, was he was snuggly.) Anyway, we went to the pediatrician in the morning, and she checked him out, we decided it was probably a stomach bug, but she checked him for a UTI just in case-(this involved putting a bag over his boy parts to catch the urine). His urine was clear. She said that if he wasn't better by Thursday then we would need to do blood work. Well he finally started to get better on Wednesday and luckily on Thursday he had no more fever. That was such a relief.

This past week (the week after his illness), has been so fun!! He is so happy lately, everything is funny to him. Other noteworthy things this month are that he has started saying B and G sounds which is pretty cute and he has started scooting all over the place. First it started out as him pushing off with one leg, then pulling his body with the opposite arm as I mentioned before. The effect was quite comical, but it got him to where he wanted to go. Now he seems to be using both arms, and occasionally both legs. I am curious to see if he actually does crawl with his belly off the ground. He has made occasional moves that lead me to believe that he will. For the first time the other day he followed me into the kitchen, which is quite exciting as it demonstrates that he has a will and some independence. Conversely it is terrifyiing to know that he can get where he wants to go.



Reid is loving Gymoboree. We went to play the other day and there is a tube he can crawl through, he LOVED it. I put him down on one end and ran to the other end and he thought it was hilarious. He scooted to the middle of the tube and then would play for a while and eventually crawl to the other end with a huge grin of accomplishment.

Reid is definitely mastering the skill of wanting to play with things that are unsafe or that we don't want him to play with. We have started having to say no, which is hilarious, because the second we say it, he stops, looks up at us, gives a huge grin and goes back to what he was doing. If I take him away from something he goes right back. I can't believe we are already moving from caring for our child to parenting our child.

As for the adults, still nothing on the house. Although we seem to have pinpointed the area in which we would like to live, and have found some houses in our price range so are still just waiting. It seems as though two homes in our neighborhood have sold, so maybe we will sell our house. I for one am still in no hurry though.

Work is going well for both of us. Erik has been super busy at work. They are going through some big changes with software soon, so he is doing a lot to prepare for that. I had a recent negative interaction with a doctor, but I think I am finally over it. Yesterday I had a patient who was having her 3rd baby. Once the midwife broke her water she got really uncomfortable, but didn't want an epidural. She had been 6 cm dilated when the MW broke her water. About an hour or two later, she told me she really wanted to stand up, I tried to convince her to just sit all the way up which she did for a minute. She still wanted to stand so I went down the hall and asked the MW if it was okay, she said it was. The patient stood up and hugged her husband as he supported her and had about 2 contractions, which she tolerated much better. On that second contraction she said the baby was coming, so I held my hand between her legs while I tried to get the bed back down so she could get back in. She got back in bed and had the baby about 2 minutes later. It was AWESOME!! The only thing was when the baby came out I got squirted with amniotic fluid (GROSS!!) I felt like I was doing midwifery again. Granted it would have been really bad if the baby fell out, but that didn't happen. Women who don't have drugs know what position they need to be in to be more comfortable which is usually the position needed to get the baby out. It made me realize how much I miss home births where anything goes and birth is not ruled by monitors and IV's.

That is all for us for now. I hope everyone is doing well!!

Wow it's been a month!!!

Well I have not posted in a while, because basically there isn't much to report. We are all doing very well. We have gotten to spend some quality time with family in the last month which was nice. Erik's mother Susan and his step-father Alex, came up for the day a few weeks ago. Susan went to our last Level 1 gymboree class with Reid and I. He proved to be less than cooperative in that class but I think it was no longer keeping his interest. After that we had lunch and went back to our place to visit.It was fun to see them and Reid enjoyed playing on the floor with his gramma and grandpa.



In the middle of June we went with my Dad, step-mom, and brothers to Hammock Beach which is a resort in Palm Coast. My sister's fiance Rollin flies the planes for the bigwigs who own it. It is a beautiful place. We were only there for one night, but it was a lot of fun. Reid got to do a lot of swimming and so did we. It was fun to have a mini-break as the brits call it.

We had a nice fourth of July. We went on my Mom and Step-dad's boat and took Reid. We docked up at a place called Fort George. We swam and had a cook-out. This was Reid's first boat trip and he did wonderfully!!! He actually did better than Erik and I did. We were a little jumpy with some of the wakes, but Reid just sat there taking it all in. He didn't move a muscle for the entire boat ride on the way back to the marina. My mother was beside herself. Her two favorite hobbies are her boat and spending time with her grandson.



Reid has now graduated from rolling everywhere to "soldier crawling", basically while on his belly he pulls himself forward with one arm, then with the leg on the opposite side he pushes forward, it does not seem like the most efficient way to get around, but he does it surprisingly well. I am now wondering if he will be one of those kids that skips crawling all together.

I don't remember where we left off on our food list so I will just list them all:) Avacado, Peas, Green Beans, Acorn Squash, Apples, Peaches, Rice Cereal, Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, and Banannas. I am going to venture out into some new things next week. He is a great eater when he is in the mood. I don't know if you people remember or if you don't have kids, but there is quite a sport to feeding a baby. You have to have pin-point accuracy on a moving target in order to not make a huge mess. Good thing I like a challenge:)

Reid had one vaccine last week and he didn't even cry. What a big boy!!!

Reid graduated to Level 2 in Gymboree. We moved from the sweet baby class to the very busy next level. The kids crawl on obstacle courses (I am not sure how Reid is supposed to crawl up something when he doesn't even crawl on a flat surface, but we improvise), Reid flies on my legs, he gets thrown around like a sack of potatoes to music, we play gymboree soccer, which means we pass a beachball to the other people while sitting in a circle and you use the baby's legs to hit the ball by flinging them in the air, we play with a parachute, and blow bubbles as well. I get a work out too!!! He and I are going to be taking a baby signs class, which should be interesting. The idea is that baby's understand language before their speech develops. They are able to learn signs to communicate earlier than speak which leads to improved communication between parent and child. I will let you all know if it works for us.

We have had only 2 people look at our house, which is fine with us. We have realized how we are in no hurry to move. We are happy with our situation now, and it will change when we raise our mortgage payment. We are just relaxing and waiting to see what comes our way.

Anyway, that is all from the Hirsch's for now.

Our House

Remember that show with the Witherspoons? That was a great show, too bad that guy is doing diabetes commercials now.

Anyway, Not a whole lot that is new on this front. Last week was spent cleaning and dumping in order to make our house appear clean and spacious. I think we did the job. Now we don't want to move (just kidding). It looks great. Now we just wait I guess. Erik solicited some people to look at it this weekend, they were across the street looking at another one for sale and he told them they could look at ours. Other than that nothing has happened. Of course our house has only been on the market for about 3 days.

Reid is now onto green beans. He is not very thrilled with them. I was trying to get them into him today and he had his first choking episode. He was fake crying and I put some in his mouth while it was open, he took that opportunity to inhale, and then started coughing. It was not fun, and of course I felt guilty for having tried to force him. He got over it quite quickly though. He did excellent with the sweet potatoes which was the previous food. I think we will try rice cereal and fruit next. He does not eat well when I am at work, so I am hoping the next weekend I work, Erik can supplement with solids 2 times a day instead of the one we have been doing. I have decreased from pumping 2 times at work to 1. I figure if Reid isn't going to drink the milk, than I am not going to pump as much and I just feed him when I get home.

Reid was playing today on the floor. I heard him banging on the vent to the air conditioner but didn't think anything about it, it was a cool noise. A few minutes later I picked him up to take him upstairs for a nap and realized that his finger was bleeding. Somehow he had cut himself. When I came back down I saw some blood by the vent, so I guess he cut himself there. I couldn't figure out where though, nothing felt sharp to me. I had a bad mommy day :(



As for funny happy non-accident news, Reid is getting hair again!!! It appears that it will be dark. Also he learned how to shake his head today as if to say no. I think that he liked the way the highchair felt on the back of his head when he did it, but when my mom did it back to him he reciprocated which was funny. It felt like the first time he copied us. His favorite thing in the whole world to play with is a water bottle. It just goes to show that you buy them all these toys and they really don't have any interest in them. Very interesting.

I don't think I have mentioned it yet, but Erik has lost 23 lbs on South Beach. He did 3 weeks on the no carb thing and then introduced limited carbs. He has been doing great with it and seems to be feeling great. We are going to have to get him some new clothes though. I keep calling him saggy bottom boy, because all of his pants are saggy. This has been an easy diet for us both. I didn't do the no-carb thing, because of the breast feeding, but we have changed the way we eat. With lower carb meals, and using brown rice and whole grains when we do eat carbs. It has been fun, and I highly reccomend the South Beach cook book. There are some excellent recipes in there. Some are a little time consuming, but we have loved everything we have tried.

I guess that is all for us right now.

Peace.

Big News!!!

Wow a lot can happen in a week.

Erik had Monday off for Memorial day. We had a lovely day. Erik went to Gymboree with Reid and I, so he got to see what we do there. All the Dads were there that day so we all went and had lunch afterwards. It was fun!! You can see in the picture how Reid behaves, he never lies there quietly to pay attention to his loving mommy, he tries to flip all around to see the other kids and the teacher. We graduate from level 1 of Gymboree in 2 more weeks, then we will move up to level 2.

Afterwards, we decided to check out a new neighborhood that my Mom and Step-dad were interested in. We didn't love that one, but we did discover another townhouse neighborhood that we LOVE. It is by the same builder that built our current house, but the townhouse is a lot bigger. It has 3 bedrooms, 2 and 1/2 bathrooms, a two car garage, an office, and has over 2000 square feet. Not only that but it is well within our price range. It just so happened that the very same day we were having dinner with my Dad, Pam, and the boys. Well since my dad is a realtor and very willing to help us out, what happened next happened so quick that I still can't believe it. We now are going to have our house listed by the end of this week. WHAT??? We are going to see what happens. The problem is that there are a bunch of our townhomes back here for sale right now, 13 in fact, which means that we could have an issue. We have the hardwood floors now, so we hope that will give us an edge. The price we picked is right in the middle of what people are asking. We have someone coming Friday to film a virtual tour, so those of you who haven't seen our house can see it now. We have been cleaning and dumping like mad, trying to get the house in tip top shape to show.

The bad news about this is really sad. We decided to have my 17 year-old cat, whom I got when I was in 5th grade, put to sleep. We did this for many reasons not the least of which is that she is old, and I believe having some kidney failure. She has become very thin and lethargic since her runaway incident a few months ago and has seemed arthritic. There is also the very real problem of Reid, he will pull her tail at some point, and she will probably bite him, not to mention he will try to eat her food and litter. We decided to do this now, though, in light of trying to sell the house and moving into a new one. One of the reasons I think she has kidney failure is because of her constant urinating. This translated to her using the carpet, and the outside of the litter box. It was just such a problem to keep the house clean, Erik was changing the litter 3 times a day. Anyway, it happened today. I feel really bad about it but relieved as well, as her quality of life and in turn ours was deteriorating. She had a long nice life, and Erik who was such a good daddy to her, so we can be happy about that.

If you are interested in seeing our potential next home you can click on this link. We are interested in the Yardley. http://www.pulte.com/homefinder/community.asp?DCMP=browsegrid&commorg_acctcode=2832

Squash

So the second food was squash, acorn to be exact. I hacked the thing into pieces (I tried to cut it in half, but it is like cutting a rock), then I cooked it in 1 inch of water on 400 degrees for 40 minutes and it came out soft and nice. After that I just pureed it in my baby food pureeing machine. It came out perfect, I froze it in ice cube trays and now we just take one out at a time to feed him.

He did pretty well with it. It does have some sweetness to it so maybe that is why. The first night he only had a couple of bites and was not too excited, he gave us the obligatory faces like the one in the picture, but by last night when Erik fed him, he ate almost the whole thing. Although we use the term "ate" loosely. He gets it in his mouth and rolls it around until it gets diluted with saliva, then some of it gets swallowed and some gets drooled out. Tonight will be the last night of squash, then we will be on to peas...

Reid discovered his voice on Sunday. I called Erik from work and heard screeching in the background. Reid was apparently just lying on the ground making as much noise as he could muster. Erik said he kept startling himself, but then would do it again and again. It was very funny to listen to on the phone and it made me laugh at work.

We had the swimming lessons this week. They were not really lessons so much as supervised play. It was fun though and Reid LOVES the water and even tolerates the sun hat I use to protect that bald head. It wasn't too cold. Reid splashed and even did some kicking. He doesn't get upset when the water gets on his face, which is good. We are going to try to make it part of our daily routine in the morning. It wears him out too, which is a plus.

Reid's two bottom teeth have both now erupted, so soon he will have a toothy grin:)

What's a date again??

Erik and I went on a Date on Wednesday night!!! We went to dinner at Cheesecake Factory and then went to see Phantom of the Opera. We had a lovely time. Reid stayed with my mom. Whoohoo free babysitting.

Erik and I had both seen the show before. It was very well done. I just didn't like it as much as I remembered liking it before. I didn't get any goose bumps like I have when I saw Les Miserables or Rent.

Regardless it was fun to get dressed up, go out, and have some QT with my hubby. I think we even did a good job of discussing topics other than just Reid.

YUMMMMMMM-O

So Reid was officially 6 months old yesterday on the 18th. The excitement of the day started off with a visit to Dr. Miles who informed us that Reid was doing great. He weighs 18lbs 12 oz which is still in the 70th percentile. He was 26 and 3/4 inches which is in the 50th percentile. Then Reid got his Prevnar vaccine, which made him mad to say the least. While Dr. Miles was examining Reid I got a different angle and saw that his two bottom teeth are emerging!!! What a surprise, I thought he might be teething, but you really never know. He has been pulling on his ear, drooling, chewing, and occasionally acting irritable for no apparent reason. That was an exciting thing to notice on the day of his six-month birthday!!

We were given the okay to start trying solids. Dr. Miles said to start with more neutral vegetables as opposed to rice cereal or fruits. She said that they will expect all food to be sweet and starchy and that it actually changes their neurons to start them on sweets (I don't know if she meant that literally or figuratively, but it got my attention- I want his neurons to be normal). She also said that rice cereal is overrated because it is fortified with iron, and that what iron is in my breast milk is fine for Reid.

I was going to try some jarred food, but I want to give him organic stuff and they only make sweet foods it seems. So I am going to be making babyfood for Reid. I went to Native Sun which is a health/organic grocery store. I got him an avacado, an acorn squash, a sweet potato, green beans, and peas. We started with an avacado. Erik said he didn't want to be around when I tell Reid later in life that his first food was an avacado. Now before you send me a nasty e-mail RICH, let me defend my position. Avacados are very good for people, they have monounsaturated fats which are very healthy. Also they are good and mushy and don't have to be cooked. Plus they really don't taste like anything, so I figured it wouldn't be too strong of a food for him.

We have to wait 4 days before trying new things, so he is stuck with it for 4 days. He was less than thrilled with it. We got the expected gagging and shivers of disgust, but overall it was anti-climactic. He did better tonight. Got a couple bites down. The problem is that it takes him a while to figure out how to get it to the back of his mouth to swallow it. Plus he isn't very fond of it so when it gets "stuck" in his mouth he gets mad. Tonight he gagged and threw up pretty much everything he had eaten so far (Which really wasn't much), but overall though he did better than last night which is all we can ask for.

I am going to try squash next. I am excited about making Reid's food. It actually seems easy. You just cook it, puree it, then freeze it in ice cube trays. Each cube is a 1 oz portion. After the cubes are frozen you put them in a freezer bag and pull one out when you need it to reheat it. They are good for 3 months. This way I know what is in his food and I imagine it tastes better too. It has to retain more nutrients than the jarred stuff.

I will keep you all updated on our upcoming eating adventures!!

Bon Appetite

Crash

With Reid's 6 month birthday tomorrow he is officially becoming a person who is aware and interacts with the world. No more lying around taking things in, he is exploring everything, figuring out how to get Mommy and Daddy to do what he wants, and learning the wonder of making sounds.

Reid is sitting up very well. He occasionally still has a crash, but can sit for a good 10 minutes. In fact he is sitting up so well, that mommy takes her attention away sometimes. This resulted in our first "injury." Reid toppled into one of his toys and hit his head on the hard plastic. He was not very happy about this. I felt bad about it, but we all got over it pretty quick, and it left no lasting marks. I imagine that is the first of many falls we will all experience.

We can no longer count on leaving Reid lying on the ground, walking away and assuming he will be in the general vicinity when we get back. That boy can move, of course he is still rolling everywhere, but is surprisingly mobile. His favorite hang-out is under the coffee table. He played under there for about 20 minutes the other day.



We are at the point where EVERYTHING has to go into the mouth. Which hopefully bodes well for our new adventure of eating solid food which begins tomorrow. We are all very excited and Reid is showing all the signs that he is ready to start this. Don't worry I will take lots of pictures.

Reid has progressed from the fake cough to the fake cry. He is becoming aware of the connection between him crying and us coming. He does not, however, have a very promising future as an actor, he really needs to work on his delivery. He has also figured out how to be loud, which is pretty funny. He is very proud of himself and his new talents.

On to us... Erik and I are going to see Phantom of the Opera tonight, which we are both excited about. It has been quite a while since we have been on a real date. My mom is going to keep Reid.

My back is STILL hurting, and in fact almost feels worse. I am seeing an MD on Friday. I am not convinced they will be able to do anything, other than get an X-Ray or MRI and see if something is really wrong. I think my problem is that I am not going to be able to rest enough to heal... so I am not optimistic. I am going to continue to see the Chiropractor, I think he is at least helping it not heal badly, in the case that it ever does heal.

Well I suppose that is all for now. I hope everyone is well!!

Shalom

Baldy

Reid is officially 5 and 1/2 months old now!! My how time flies. It is shocking to me how fast this is all going and I am even living in the moment and trying not too look forward. Right now Reid is sleeping in his crib, as he does pretty much all of the time.

Last week I did the thing where I fed him in his room when he woke up at night and put him back in his crib and he did perfectly. The kink in that plan is tired mommy. So I have been still getting him out of his crib when he wakes up and bringing him back to our bed. He does end up back in his crib though at some point. He used to be snuggly and still and now he ends up sideways in bed so that our family looks like an H for Hirsch, me on one side, Erik on the other, and Reid connecting us. Sounds kind of cute, but not very comfy. I really do think Reid sleeps better in his crib, so I will become better about putting him back on a case by case basis.

Now that Reid can roll over like a champ, he gets frustrated because he can't figure out how to go forward. He is definitely making motions to do that though, he can get his little bottom up in the air and can move his legs, but he can't quite get the front to cooperate. He can't sit up very well yet either. He ends up bent in half. I don't think that will take too much longer though. I was trying to distract him with a toy the other day and instead of playing with the toy while sitting up, he went mouth first into it to lick it so ended up being bent over again. Everything has to go into the mouth... He even ripped off a piece of our wreath on the door the other day and it went into his mouth. He is especially fond of cups and water bottles.

He continues to get more bald every day except for a patch in the back that makes him look like a monk and a wispy little mohawk. Erik says I am not allowed to shave his head.

Reid has identified his favorite book. It is called Moo Baa La La La. He smiles when I open it even before I start reading. It has animal sounds so I guess he thinks that is funny. I am amazed at how much he likes reading at this age. We can literally sit down with 10 books and he will pay attention. I can't wait till he is old enough for Harry Potter!!!

There is nothing new going on with me. I was blessed with a half day on Sunday. I got a call at 4:45 in the morning on Sunday telling me I was put on call, which was a lovely call to get that early. I turned off the alarm clock and Erik, Reid, and I got to enjoy a leisurely morning. They called at 1 pm though and told me to come in, which was fine, at least I made some money Sunday.

Erik finished his dreaded class last week. He is going to take the summer off, which we are both excited about. He has too much on his plate right now with Reid and more work responsibility. It is hard on both of us. He has the number of classes needed to take his CPA which was the original goal so we will see what the future holds. He has no current plans to take the CPA exam since he is not really in that line of work currently.

We heard that my wonderful Mother-in-law has been relieved of her new position of Principal. Because the school where she works has not made adequate progress in 3 years she was let go. There are a few problems with this...

1. She has only been there a year, so she is being punished for someone else's mistake.
2. There is a huge population of non-English speaking migrant children who usually are not in school the whole year.

I have a hard time believing the school is ever going to get better if they aren't going to let the principal do her job. 1 year is a short time to make change. It is completely ridiculous and another reason why we are not anxious about putting Reid in a public school. It is obvious that the people in charge are not the sharpest.

We are considering home schooling as an option for Reid. It is obviously something that we have time to research, but I am interested in it. It all depends on how we feel about the public schools where we live at the time. We are hoping to live in St. Johns County by then, and they have a great reputation. The other option is private schools, but all of the options around us seem to be religious based, which is not what we want for Reid. Anyway, homeschooling has recently intrigued me. A friend of mine is also looking into it so I told her to take me along for the journey. It seems like all of the homeschooling groups are all very religious as well- which I am not opposed to, but that is not the reason we would be doing it. I would want to find a group that is not a religious based one...

I guess that is all of my ramblings for now.

Cheers!!!

Jenny

Reid's special painting.

I asked my friend Jennifer to paint Reid a painting for his room. She finished it and I had to post a picture of it because it is BEAUTIFUL!!! She has exceeded my expectations as usual. I can't wait for us to get it up on Reid's wall.

THANKS JENNIFER!!!!

Birthdays

On Sunday I turned the big 28. Inching up on 30, EEEEEK!!!! I had a nice birthday, it was on Easter and I had to work. Luckily though we had a pretty calm day, which was nice since I was sure something would happen and I would end up being late to my birthday dinner. I wasn't though- we went to my mothers and she cooked a nice roast and mashed potatoes. She made me a chocolate cake with chocolate-cream cheese icing. Yum!! I just finished the last piece. The next night, Reid and I went to my dad's house for another birthday dinner. My step-mom, Pam's, mother's birthday is the day after mine so we shared a celebration. We were treated to my four-year-old brothers rendition of "New York State of Mind" by Billy Joel, which was the cutest thing I have pretty much ever seen in my entire life.

On Tuesday Reid turned 5 months. Only 1 more month until he can eat real food!! I think he will be very excited about it. He is very interested in what we are doing when we eat and he pretends to chew all the time. He had two more shots yesterday. He only cried for a minute and then was over it. I feel so bad, one minute he is all smiley and the next minute he is being stabbed and probably thinking: What the **** are you doing to me? I feel like I am betraying him, but of course, better this than the possibility of getting a disease down the road.

Reid was the star in Gymboree on Monday. They said he is a different kid since the week before. He is now so comfortable on his tummy and is pushing up. Before he would get tired so quickly and put his face in the ground and get super frustrated. Now, he will stay there and play for a while. He is just now getting good at rolling from his tummy to his back. I also caught him making crawling motions the past few days. Our days of calm are almost over. We are going to have to do some serious child proofing.

He has continued to do well in his own crib. I have now started putting him to sleep in there and just getting him out when he wants to eat and bringing him to our bed. He is a pro. Almost the second I put him down in there he goes to sleep. It is wonderful. I guess once he starts waking up fewer times in the night we will start leaving him in there all night. The problem is that the rocking chair is down stairs where we LOVE having it -(Thanks again Gramma!!!), and it really needs to be upstairs so I can nurse Reid and put him back to bed. That will happen in the future I guess.

I had my annual appointment with the lady doctor. I happened to see Sharron- my midwife from Reid's attempted home birth, and asked her about VBAC(vaginal birth after cesarean). She actually said that Dr. VanScriver (her back-up doctor and the doctor who delivered Reid) has recently said she is uncomfortable with Sharron doing primary VBAC's at home, which basically means if the next delivery goes well and I have a vaginal delivery and then we decide to have a third child, I can have that one at home. So it looks like I will be delivering in a hospital next time around- which I am okay with. Frankly, I am glad to have the decision made for me. I know people are laughing at me thinking about this already, but time flies and I want to have a plan- as those of you who know me well know about me. We also talked about the bump I found in my breast a few months ago. I went in to have it looked at then, but they were pretty sure it was just a duct from breast feeding. They have offered both times to have an ultrasound, but both of the practitioners weren't worried about it. I am not either. I was just told to keep an eye on it and if it changes then we will look at it further. There isn't much they can do with it since I am breastfeeding.

I think my back is feeling a little better. Dr. D. had me lie on a roller table this time. I go back on Friday, so we shall see. Maybe after the weekend of not holding Reid as much I can finally get some relief.

I added a picture of Reid eating as that is such a special time for me.

Well I guess that is all for now. Thanks for Reading!

Love,

Jenny

Weddings, Sleeping, and Outings

Well as some of you know my baby sister is ENGAGED!!! I did not realize how fun it could be to help plan a wedding that is not your own. I have been asked to be the Maid of Honor, which of course is an honor. I even got to pick out the bridesmaids dresses although I was vetoed on the color. (there is still time to manipulate). Reid and I went the other day with Carolyn and our mother to look at dresses. Reid had quite a girly day, being held by Carrie while she got a pedicure, then dress shopping, and then a dinner with two other women. When we got home I let Erik take him to watch sports to balance it out :) Reid did awesome out. He is so easy going. In fact I think he does better out than at home. He sleeps when he is ready and is happy the rest of the time. He smiles at everyone, which is sweet, I have had a couple of people say that Reid made their day.

He is doing AWESOME with the sleeping. That baby goes right to sleep if he is tired. I read him books, then we go in his room where I give him his tiger and pacifier, then I turn on his waterfall CD and he usually goes right to sleep. Last night he was tired at 8pm, so I put him down in the crib and he went to sleep and didn't wake up until 12:00. I changed him, brought him to bed with me and fed him, then he slept until 5:00. He woke up at 8:00 ready to go, so we got up. I am not ready to put him back in the crib after the first waking, but I am encouraged by the ease with which he is adjusting to the crib. He started out in his crib the night before as well and woke up at about midnight also. Erik said since Reid is so easy our next baby is going to be a terror. I suppose that is quite a possibility.

We are going today to sign up for swimming lessons. I will be in the pool with Reid, so that should be really fun. We have a pool in our neighborhood which I hope to utilize a lot this summer, so teaching him to swim is a great start now.

My back is still hurting from the fall and doesn't seem to have gotten any better. Of course I missed one of my appointments this week with Dr. D., which didn't help. I am going two times next week, so we will see. Because of Reid, it is just not able to heal. Does that mean I will be in pain forever???

Back to work tomorrow. I like my job, but I still would rather be home with my boys. They are my happiness.

Ta Ta for now,

Jenny

Reid's First Road Trip

This was an eventful weekend for us!!

We took Reid on his first road-trip to Lakeland to see his grandparents. The trip takes about 4 hours and Reid did very well. Much better than I had anticipated. On the way up we only stopped one time. I sat in the back with him and read him books and played with him. He napped a little bit. When we got to Lakeland, we ate dinner and then went with Susan and Alex to one of their Car shows. Reid had enough by that point though and everything disturbed him from the man on stilts, to friends, to the music. I guess it was too much to ask of him to tolerate all of that. He was also very tired, which didn't help. We went home and Reid decided to be cute then. We laid him on the carpet and he got all sorts of excited. He eventually wore outh though so we all went to bed.

We got up the next morning and relaxed with Grandma and Grandpa. They made us a lovely breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast- my favorite!!! Reid went down for a nap and decided to sleep for a very long time. He went down at about 12:00 and woke up at about 2:30. He never does that at home when I have tons of stuff to do! We then went and had a late lunch at Panera and started the drive home.

He did equally well on the ride home. We hit a bad storm which made it a little hairy, but we got home safe and had a very nice trip. It's hard to believe that this is my child who would scream all the way to Publix, which is about a mile away. We are very proud.

Tonight it took us an hour and a half to get him to sleep- which is abnormal. Erik gave him a bath and read some books. Reid fell asleep in his crib for about 5 minutes then woke up. Erik went and got him. I came home from Publix and took Reid upstairs and nursed him. Then I put him in his crib and turned on his soother which projects a picture onto the ceiling. I heard him about 5 minutes later. Next I tried to get him to go to sleep in the bassinett. He was calm, I left him, he cried, I went back in and sang to him- Repeat. Finally I told Erik it was his turn, so he tried twice. Since this was an hour and a half later I finally put him in bed with me and he fell asleep almost instantly and stayed asleep when I got back up to come down here. I will have to check that and see if it is a pattern. During the day he sleeps fine in the crib- so I am wondering if he has noticed that at night we sleep in the bed- hmmm- that could spell trouble.

Next weekend it is back to work for me until my next weekend off in JUNE...

Until next time,

Jenny

Not so good at keeping up with this

Wow, so it has been 1 and a half months since I wrote last. OOOPS.

Well Reid had his 4 month appointment on March 20th. He weighed 16 lbs and was in the 70th percentile for weight; he is good and chunky:) He was 25.5 inches long which is the 60th percentile. He is at this moment 4 and a half months old. He is starting to act like a baby, smiling and reacting to us. He is really starting to be able to grip things and hold on. Yesterday he pulled his sock off for the first time, which is the end of not stretched out socks as we know it. He is rolling over a lot from his back to his tummy. He then gets mad that he is there and I have to come rescue him, but it takes longer now than it used to. He is finally becoming a little more content on his tummy. He hasn't quite gotten the hang of the tummy to the back roll though, but he has done it a couple of times.

This week we switched to size 3 diapers which are a bit big on him, but fit. I also started putting him in our 6-9 month clothes which also fit better than I had anticipated. We will start talking about solid foods at 6 months. He is obviously not lacking in the nutrition department.

I noticed a couple of days ago that his hair is starting to fall out :( I found hair on the sheet where he sleeps, and when I run my fingers through it I get some. I thought we were past that, but I guess I will have a bald baby soon.

Last weekend I was walking down the stairs with Reid and slipped. I landed on my tail bone and my upper back hit the upper stair. I screamed for Erik, (who was dead asleep- it was 5AM) and scared him to death, he jumped out of bed and ran past us into Reid's room, so I said "no we are down here" and he came and took Reid who was fine just scared by my screaming. I was in a lot of pain. That was a long day at work. My back still hurts and if I catch my tail bone just right when I sit, it elicits a scream. Dr. D- my chiropractor has been taking good care of me and hopefully I will be normal soon. Things like that make you realize that you can't handle a fall like you could when you were younger...

Reid LOVES reading. We will sit down with 7 books and he will pay attention the whole time. We have been reading Raffi's songs to read; The Wheels on the Bus, Baby Beluga, Down by the Bay, and 5 Little Ducks. Also Sandra Boynton's Pajama Time, Barnyard Dance, Moo Baa La La La. We also read Brown Bear Brown Bear and Good Night Moon. So lately I have been making reading part of our going to sleep routine. It seems to be working. I also bought a CD of waterfall sounds to play in his room which seems to help him stay asleep longer. Our problem was that he was going to sleep okay- really easily in fact, but not staying asleep- which is frustrating. He has done really well this week taking 2 hour naps by himself in his crib. He is still sleeping with us at night, but I am not ready to part with that yet. As wholistic and alternative as Dr. Miles is, she was not impressed with our co-sleeping which surprised me. She basically said we can get him out now or in 5 years. My biggest concern is if we don't do it now it will be traumatic later. So it is a work in progress, we are doing the transition in stages.

In other news, we have hardwood floors now, which look lovely. We could not be happier with them. We are still waiting on some transition pieces, which is annoying. The place where we bought the wood has turned out to be less than cooperative. We also got a new dining room table today which actually has 4 chairs. Those of you who have been to our house know we have been flying with 3 for a while, which is fine until company comes. We are starting to feel like grown-ups;)

Work is going well for me, there is never a dull moment. I finally feel like I am getting the hang of it and am starting to be on top of things instead of drowning in everything. I had my first true emergency a few weeks ago. One of my patients was showing every sign of pre-eclampsia, which is a state caused by pregnancy that basically causes your body to malfunction. It starts with high blood pressure, continues to do damage to the kidney and liver, and ends with a seizure, after which it becomes eclampsia and can lead to even more problems. Unfortunately, I caught the end when my patient had a seizure. It was the scariest thing I have ever seen in my entire life. We had to immediately take her to the OR where we waited for the anesethesiologist and the OB so we could do a c-section. She was very combative after the seizure and it took 6 of us to hold her down so she would'nt fly off the bed. They ended up doing the c-section. Her baby was too early at 31 weeks but did well. I saw her the following week and she looked very good. I got to learn a lot about paper work as well as how to handle an emergency.

Well that is all for now, I will try to keep up with this so there is not as much at one time.

Cheers,

Jenny

Here is a great way to talk about myself!!!

Well I decided to join the Blog revolution!! I don't think I have too much that is interesting to say, but I would like to log my son's accomplishments and just keep a journal about our lives to be able to look back on.

Reid just turned 3 months old on February 18th. My how time flies. He is in size 2 diapers and in size 3-6 month clothes. He is an awesome baby. He is just starting to develop some hand eye coordination which is very cute. He is very slow and calculating when he goes to grab for a toy or my cell phone as the case was today. He is smiling and cooing a lot. That is the best sound in the whole world I have decided. Right now he is sleeping in his crib, which we don't do often enough. It is so easy to put him in the swing, and since he sleeps with us in bed he doesn't get to sleep on his back alone much. I love him sleeping with us, but I am thinking that when he starts to nurse less frequently at night then we will start to integrate the crib into our sleeping arrangements.

He got his DTAP and Polio vaccine yesterday and didn't even cry. I was shocked. He didn't develop a fever and really wasn't even fussy. I am glad we are going with our pediatrician on this one and doing 2 per month instead of all at one time. I think it will be easier on his little immune system.

Reid and I have been attending Gymboree (how very yuppy of us). We both like it though. I am hoping to meet some Mom's that I can hang out with as I don't know any around here. My mommy friends are all in Tampa. It is also fun because I learn games to play and songs to sing with him. It is not intuitive to know how to play with a three month old. Reid had a hard time focusing last class, it is a lot more fun to look at the other babies than boring old mom. He then had a melt-down right at the end, that nothing would calm. I had to take him out of the room. Of course he was ready for a nap before class and all of that stimulation on top of being tired already must have really hurt his brain.

After Gymboree on Monday I went and had a cyst drained on my wrist. There is a possibility that it could come back and if so they will surgically remove it. I have had enough surgery in the past few months so I am going to hope that it stays away.

Erik's birthday was yesterday. He turned 32. He got a Tivo for his birthday, which we have both enjoyed. We have waited too long to jump on that band wagon. He also got a nice outfit from the gap to go with his new body. He has been doing the South Beach Diet and has lost almost 10 pounds. He looks great and his clothes are fitting him better. What is even better is that the food is great and I like it too. He has done low-carb for 3 weeks and now is moving on to some good carbs. He is in the process of looking for a new car. Our Honda that we have had for 8 years and are still paying on is no longer worth it as the AC starts to act funny. The fact that he has to use a tampon to keep the windshield wipers from going berserk should tell you something. He deserves a nice car after he got the raw end of the deal when we got our Escape. He ended up losing his Miata which he loved and I got to drive the new car while he got stuck with the old Honda. We are looking at Jetta's. We both love them. He needs a four door car for Reid anyway.

I just finished Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner. What a great book. So relevant to my life right now. It brought up the issue of trying to have it all i.e. career and family, and how it is very difficult. I feel so great about how we have made this work. Much of the reason that I wanted to become a nurse was because of the flexibility I knew I would have to be home with my children. It works out perfectly that when I do have to be away from my baby he is with his father. That book was really a great read at this point in my life and I highly reccomend it to any new moms. Although I admit I did just get back around to reading again.

I have been thinking a lot about my next birth even though it is so far away. (We will probably start trying again when Reid is 2- actually not that far away). I was told VBAC was an option- and I definitely intend on persuing it (it was no fun recovering from that c-section). The question is do I do it in the hospital or not. There is lots of evidence pointing me to consider both options so I plan to do a lot of investigation in the next couple of years.

I guess that is all of the rambling I can come up with today.