9 Months (in 2 days)

Reed had his 9 month check-up today. He received 3 shots (he,surprisingly, was not excited about that), weighed in at 18lbs 3oz and measured 29 inches long. Still a little on the small side but the doc says he's doing fine ("small, but mighty"). The next scheduled appointment is at 1 year. Ca-razy. Reed will be 18 the next time I blink.

The doc said we can start introducing table foods to Reed. By around 1 year he said that most babies have moved on from baby food and gone from formula to milk. We can also start introducing real dairy (yogurt, cheese) in the next couple of months. Now, if I can just get over my fear of Reed choking....are you sure I can't feed him baby food until he's 10? I should have asked the doctor.

He has become pretty verbal in this last month. He is saying "dada" and "mama" a lot. He's not 100% certain that Dane is dada, but he's pretty sure that I'm mama. When he wants my attention he crawls to me yelling "ma ma ma." He's super cute.

Remember when he was this small? He doesn't even fit sideways in the crib like this anymore.

Reed is not small for lack of eating. He loves food.

Stay tuned in September: Montauk mini-vaca, Dane turns 27 & Reed's second surgery on the 30th.

What a special little stinker we have.

3 Month Follow Up

Reed and I just got done with his 3 month follow up appointment at the eye doctor. I was told what in the back of my mind I knew I would hear but REALLY didn't want to.

Reed has to start wearing an eye patch for 2 hours a day on his right eye to strengthen his left eye which is still turning in. His right eye is great and his left eye is so much better than it was, but it's just not where is should be. This could be caused by an over correction by the doctor in his first surgery or by the brain not being willing to respond to and accept the change.

I have to schedule a second surgery for sometime in late fall. This will give us a chance to see if the patch works. If we find that it did it's job then we will cancel the surgery. However, we knew going into this that a second surgery is the case at least 50% of the time with strabismus patients.

This just really sucks. I wanted the doctor to say, "Yes, his eye is looking a lot better" and then just leave it at that. Instead I got, "His eye is looking a lot better, but it looks like we're going to need to start patching and then go ahead and schedule another surgery." At least I was able to keep it together until I got back to work. I tried really hard there too, but my supervisor is just too sweet. One hug from her and I was in tears.

I know that things could be MUCH worse...but he's my baby and I hate that he has to go through this stuff (even if he's never going to remember it). But, my life verse is Jeremiah 29:11 and I need to keep that close to my heart. God has a plan for Reed and He's taking care of him every step of the way.

Let's cheer ourselves up with some pictures of the cute little monster:

 This one is for Uncle Tyler.

"Mom, please? I promise I'll play with it."

Well, with looks like that at least we know that he'll be the cutest little pirate ever to have existed. 

Baby's 1st State Fair

On Friday after work the 3 of us headed up north to Sherman, IL with grand plans of attending the Illinois State Fair. Growing up just outside of Springfield (which hosts the fair), Dane has many fond memories of this event. I attend for my husband's sake.

We arrived at Grandpa Al's just in time for Reed to eat, take a bath and go to bed. Al had gone to get us some dinner and when he came back Reed was in bed. We sat down to eat (Dane, Devan and myself) and the next thing we know, Al is standing in the kitchen holding the baby! We all ask, "what are you doing? he was in bed!" To which Al replies, "He was crying." It was pretty cute. Needless to say, after Grandpa got to hold him for a bit, Reed was sent back to bed.

On Saturday we met Grandma Lori at her place so that Reed could get a chance to meet his Great Grandma Barbara and his Great Great Great Aunt Catherine. Then to the fair we went! As soon as we got there it started to rain. We spent about an hour in a building and about 30 minutes walking around after the rain stopped until Reed had had enough.

Sunday we went out to Grandpa's church where Reed had a messy diaper...and then pooped all over the changing pad while Dane was changing him. I laughed...Dane was not ready to laugh about it. Maybe he is now ;)

 A-Dorable.

 "Mom, can I sleep in  here tonight?"

 The dog cracks Reed up.

Look at this cute dear we saw at the fair!

3 month follow up at the eye doctor on Friday. Prayers that he likes what he sees!!!

8 (great) Months!!!

Can you believe my baby boy is 8 months old today? My how time flies. This month Reed has become a pro at pulling himself up with furniture as an aid and walking along said furniture. He has become quite adept at this and moves pretty fast. I predict he'll be walking by 10 months. And then Dane and I will never get to sit down ;) In addition to pulling himself up and walking down the furniture, he has started bending his knees to ease back into a sitting position (instead of just plopping) as well as bending over to pick up toys. This is apparently a pretty hard skill to learn (can you tell I'm bragging just a little? sorry, I can't help it). Reed is also sleeping straight through the night from about 6-7pm until 6am. Way to go little guy! He's adjusted to his schedule at Julie's and Pat's and seems to enjoy his time with them. I'm so thankful that God led us to Julie and that we trusted His direction, she's been really great. His new favorite snack is banana flavored mun mun's (which we call num num's, seems so much less silly for some reason). While I'm still a nervous wreck when he eats them, they're ok because these rice crackers dissolve as babies chew on them. No choking danger here (at least this is what I have to tell myself as I vigilantly watch him munch on them).
So, that's what Reed has accomplished in his 8th month of life. I wonder what you've done this month? It's amazing how quickly babies develop.

The other day I got a text from my little bro Tyler that said "they say he looks like me" and had this picture attached:

Yes, I have balloons in my hair, but let's try to look past that. Tyler is (obviously) the baby in this picture. Now, let's compare Tyler with the picture of Reed below:

(I know, he's so handsome)

Well, what do ya think? Similar smile, eyes, and hair swoop, I think. Bottom line is that he's a pretty good mix of me and Dane. At times he looks just like Dane, others he looks just like me and still other times he looks like my dad or Tyler. Whatever mix of genes he acquired though are certainly working for him. I know I'm biased, but he's super cute.

Aunt Darci, Aunt Devan and Grandpa came for a visit a couple of weeks ago and took some pics:

Stay tuned for upcoming blog entries. August will bring us the Illinois State Fair, a 3 month follow up with the eye specialist, and Reed's 9 month appointment.
That's all for now!