First Christmas

Reed's first Christmas was wonderful. We spent Christmas Eve at Aunt Cathy's house and Santa even stopped by for a visit:

 We went over to Papa's house and he took some good family pictures too:

Reed wore his special Christmas long johns:

We enjoyed a lot of good family time and shared lots of laughs. Reed was loved on by many aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. He gave mom and dad a great gift too...an awesome nights sleep!! 

Aunts

The day before yesterday Reed's Aunt Devan, Aunt Darci and Grandma Lori came to visit. They brought lots of Christmas gifts for him as well. I did not, however, do my motherly duty and take pictures of this event but I can include some other pics of Reed and his Aunts.

Reed with Aunt Darci at the hospital.

Reed with Aunt Devan at home.

These two ladies just LOVE their little nephew and can't get enough of him. And if Aunt Devan brings her delicious chocolate chip cookies with her each time she visists, she can come every day (I kid...you can come every day even without the cookies). 

And for those who are interested, Reed had a much better night last night and an even better day today. He even let mom get a much needed nap in. So, thanks for those of you who said any kind of prayers!

Looking forward to his first Christmas. I will remember to take pics of that event and post them early next week!

My Husband...

I'd like to take a moment with this entry to praise my wonderful husband. After two rather long days and nights filled with quite a bit of crying and screaming and not nearly enough sleeping (both Reed and myself) I have been feeling at my wits end.
When Dane called to check in on me this afternoon he was greeted with not only a screaming baby in the background but a crying wife on the other end of the phone. After listening to me sob for a bit and giving me some words of encouragement he told me that he was going to try to get out of work early and that when he gets home he is taking over with the baby and I am to leave. He told me to go anywhere I'd like and that he would take care of dinner and whatever else needs to be done around the house so that I can have a much needed break from the crying baby and my isolation.
I am extrememly blessed to be married to such a wonderful man...and I'm counting down the minutes until he gets home from work!

Thank you Dane. I love you to the max.

Bath Time

Reed's umbilical cord fell off a few days ago so we were able to give him his first real bath! I don't think he liked it very much...

Mallory and Reed have been adjusting to spending their days alone together. Looks like Reed doesn't mind all the one on one time with mommy too much...

Today we will be taking Reed to his first family function. Mallory's Aunt Cindy is having some family over for a chili dinner. I guess we can use this as a dry run for how Christmas Eve will work out. Wish us luck! 

8 Years

Today marks the 8 year anniversary of my mom's death.

As I was holding Reed this morning, just looking at him looking at me, I started thinking how sad I was for him that he will never get to feel the love of his Grandma Rhonda. I have so many hopes and dreams for him already and one of them is for him to grow up and feel like he knew her...I hope I can share with him what a wonderful woman she was and just how much she would have loved him. I hope I can be a fraction of the mom to him that my mom was to me and my brothers.
This is the first year that my mom is gone that I am a mom and it makes me miss her in somewhat of a different way. I don't really know how to explain it...maybe now I understand the love she had for me more and so I miss it a little more.

Moving on to some more sad news...Dane goes  back to work tomorrow and Aunt Jeanne leaves me too. It's been so nice having the two of them around! Dane is such a good dad already. He doesn't shy away and just jumps right in whenever he's needed. He's done an excellent job of taking care of both Reed and me. And of course, having Aunt Jeanne around has been awesome. I don't know how I will get the laundry done, the house vaccuumed, dinner made, the baby taken care of,  myself taken care of, etc without her extra help! She tells me that I'll figure it all out, but I just dont know...

Dane and I had our first night without Aunt Jeanne last night as she began to ween us off of her. We thought we'd be in for a long night since Reed was pretty fussy and awake until about 10:30 with gas. He'd fall asleep for a little bit and then wake up in pain. Luckily though, after his 10:30 feeding he went right to sleep and didn't wake up again until around 2am. Then he slept again until 6:30. I think he's finally figured out his nights and days. Success!!! It's funny that Dane and I celebrate getting a solid 3-4 hours of sleep in a row now. He's so worth it though...

Reed's First Snow

We woke up this morning to a snow covered yard...Reed's first snow!!! I think he's probably a bit too young to dress him and take him outside for pictures though, so that will have to wait. Instead, we'll just sit inside, drink hot cocoa, and enjoy the snow from the living room window.

Reed is just over a week old now and seems to be getting the hang of his days and nights pretty well. Dad and I are pretty happy about that :) Let's just hope he keeps it up for when we have to go back to work. Dane goes back on Wednesday and my Aunt Jeanne (who has been staying with us) heads back to PA then as well. I'll be left alone all day with the little guy then...I hope I'll do alright. Prayers please!!!

Here's a couple pictures of the cute little guy over the past few days:

I know...he's super cute.