I can't believe the holidays have come and gone already!!
We had a fantastic December enjoying family, friends, and our new house. The house is starting to come together. There are pictures on many of the walls. Our office and the third bedroom (future baby #2's room) are still a mess, but that will come with time. The house is wonderful, we couldn't be happier with it.
We had a very nice Christmas. We spent Christmas eve with my Father, Pam, and the boys, and Christmas day with my Mother and Mark. Reid had a great time opening presents and got TONS of toys!! He is a happy guy!! Santa was good to Erik and I as well.
So this month brought some fun developmental things with Reid. First he started using his signs that we have been teaching him a lot more. The one he uses the most is the sign for "eat". He is very good at it, and even uses it to communicate with me. The other night I was eating cheese cake, and he came up to me and used the sign- it was SOOO cute, of course I had to give him some:) He also uses the sign for "more" and "all done". Besides signing though, he is getting really good at communicating with us in other ways as well. He does a lot of pointing. And we hear what sounds like a word occasionally. He says "shoe" which is annoying to me since he still hasn't said mama. He is very good at identifying things and people. It is so incredible to see the wheels turning.
Another cute thing he has been doing is whenever anything is soft, he either rubs it, or he will bring it up to his cheek, or he will lay it down of the floor and put his head down on it.
Reid had been walking occasionally but doing it mostly for our entertainment and to get a reaction out of us. Saturday night though, he started really walking- using it for transportation. It is great!! He has been walking everywhere since then. He is definitely still crawling as well, but I think the transition will be made soon.
Also last night Reid gave his first kisses. That is so sweet. He is such a happy and easy going baby. He brings us such joy!!
The other exciting change this month is that Reid started sleeping though the night. He did it all by himself- no crying it out or anything. One night he went to sleep and didn't wake up for 12 hours. He has done that almost 100% since then. We had a couple of times where he would wake up at 6 am, but then he would nurse and go back to sleep until 9. The first couple of nights I woke up in pain because he didn't nurse, but I have adjusted and am enjoying a full nights sleep for the first time in a long time!!
Reid has cut back on nursing a decent amount. This was also on his own with no help from me. Now we are nursing about 2-3 times per day. Once when he wakes up, once in the middle of the day, and before bed. I stopped pumping at work, which is a relief. It is nice not to have to worry about that in the middle of a crazy day. I have a feeling that he would do fine without nursing at all, but I am not ready to give it up yet- mostly because I want him to continue to get the health benefits since he has been prone to so many colds lately. I definitely forsee a time in the not too distant future though, where he will not want to nurse anymore. It will be sad, but then we will start thinking about the next baby.
Anyway, I guess that is pretty much it from our end. We hope everyone has a happy and healthy new year. I hope everyone can be as happy as we are. I truly cannot imagine being happier than I am right now.
Love,
Jenny, Erik, and Reid
We had a fantastic December enjoying family, friends, and our new house. The house is starting to come together. There are pictures on many of the walls. Our office and the third bedroom (future baby #2's room) are still a mess, but that will come with time. The house is wonderful, we couldn't be happier with it.
We had a very nice Christmas. We spent Christmas eve with my Father, Pam, and the boys, and Christmas day with my Mother and Mark. Reid had a great time opening presents and got TONS of toys!! He is a happy guy!! Santa was good to Erik and I as well.
So this month brought some fun developmental things with Reid. First he started using his signs that we have been teaching him a lot more. The one he uses the most is the sign for "eat". He is very good at it, and even uses it to communicate with me. The other night I was eating cheese cake, and he came up to me and used the sign- it was SOOO cute, of course I had to give him some:) He also uses the sign for "more" and "all done". Besides signing though, he is getting really good at communicating with us in other ways as well. He does a lot of pointing. And we hear what sounds like a word occasionally. He says "shoe" which is annoying to me since he still hasn't said mama. He is very good at identifying things and people. It is so incredible to see the wheels turning.
Another cute thing he has been doing is whenever anything is soft, he either rubs it, or he will bring it up to his cheek, or he will lay it down of the floor and put his head down on it.
Reid had been walking occasionally but doing it mostly for our entertainment and to get a reaction out of us. Saturday night though, he started really walking- using it for transportation. It is great!! He has been walking everywhere since then. He is definitely still crawling as well, but I think the transition will be made soon.
Also last night Reid gave his first kisses. That is so sweet. He is such a happy and easy going baby. He brings us such joy!!
The other exciting change this month is that Reid started sleeping though the night. He did it all by himself- no crying it out or anything. One night he went to sleep and didn't wake up for 12 hours. He has done that almost 100% since then. We had a couple of times where he would wake up at 6 am, but then he would nurse and go back to sleep until 9. The first couple of nights I woke up in pain because he didn't nurse, but I have adjusted and am enjoying a full nights sleep for the first time in a long time!!
Reid has cut back on nursing a decent amount. This was also on his own with no help from me. Now we are nursing about 2-3 times per day. Once when he wakes up, once in the middle of the day, and before bed. I stopped pumping at work, which is a relief. It is nice not to have to worry about that in the middle of a crazy day. I have a feeling that he would do fine without nursing at all, but I am not ready to give it up yet- mostly because I want him to continue to get the health benefits since he has been prone to so many colds lately. I definitely forsee a time in the not too distant future though, where he will not want to nurse anymore. It will be sad, but then we will start thinking about the next baby.
Anyway, I guess that is pretty much it from our end. We hope everyone has a happy and healthy new year. I hope everyone can be as happy as we are. I truly cannot imagine being happier than I am right now.
Love,
Jenny, Erik, and Reid