I Like This Article

I was reading another blog and the author had tagged this article.  I went and read it and thought how true it was.  I am not an advocate for having huge families, nor am I against it.  I think it is something you pray over.  However, this article was very convicting about the place children hold in our society and about the place they hold in our hearts.  I hope you take the time to hop on over and read a little bit.

A Day In The Life

Hello dear Readers!  Hope you are all having a glorious week!  I just wanted to give you a little update, tomorrow morning at 7:00 A.M. Mark and I are departing to go on a mission trup to Chicago.  We are going to participate in a organization called World Changers.  Basically we are going to do construction work all week.  We leave tomorrow (Saturday July 9th) and return the next Sunday evening.  Needless to say, blogging will be sparse at best.  Not to leave you hanging, I have decided to leave you with a parting post about a day in the life of Reid.

A typical day starts out much the same way.  We wake up in the morning.  Right now I am still working on getting his body clock set.  Some days he wakes up at 6:30 ready to go, but this Mama is not!  If we can make it to 7:30 or 8, I call it a good day!  Typically we are up between 6:30 and 8, with the first event being breakfast.  I have been making him cereal every morning, but about the past week or so I have been giving him a half a banana followed by a 6 ounce bottle.

Yes usually every morning he is in just a diaper!  I love it!

I love the fact that he is able to hold his bottle by himself now!  Makes my life about 10 times easier!  

Because of this new found trick, it left me able to do what I do best, play on the internet!  I have discovered Pintrest, and LOVE IT!  Lydia, you should definitely investigate it!  

While I am being the good housewife and cleaning away finishing up my online duties Reid generally crawls around and plays.  He is pulling up on EVERYTHING, and getting up and down by himself.  I tried to help him sit back down from the coffee table the other day, but he shook me off (literally) and then proceeded to use the next 2 minutes to succeed at the task by himself.  I think we have a Mr. Independent!  

He is a lightening fast crawler and loves to be able to go where he wants to go!  This is also good practice at learning the words "No, No,"  "Come Here, " and "Mommy will spank you if you______."  Of course by spank we mean swat his hand, but you get the picture.  

After his crawl around play time I put him in his exersaucer so I am able to get tasks done without worrying about where he is/ what he is getting into.  This usually ensures a good 20 minutes or so of uninterrupted  time in which I work lightening fast.  Sometimes it is longer and on those days I get much done!  

After a while he will want out so I set him out and we play or read for a little bit.  I know it is time for our morning nap when I sit him down and he starts crying because of it.  This is usually between 10-11.  The boy has been trying to phase out one nap, but he needs both!  Generally he is down for around an hour and half.  I then again turn into the cleaning woman and begin to do my chores (unless by chance there is an excellent book series or two I am reading lol).  I have not been following my note card system because our days are so crazy in the summer, but plan to start up again when we return.  

Once he is up it is usually around lunch time (depending on the exact time he went down).  Daddy has come home and is eating lunch with us, so he gets to see the Reid-Man then.  We have been trying all kinds of new stuff this past week for our meals, different fruits and meats are some of the faves.  However today we did sweet potatoes by Gerber followed by a bottle because we were in a hurry.  

He loves sweet potatoes!

This day also happened to be the day he turned 9 months old!  I cannot believe how big he has gotten in such a short time!  He is turning into more of a big boy toddler then my little baby!  It makes me sad!  However I am so loving this stage in life he is at right now, it is the most fun!  I'm sure I will be saying that for years, but for the time being it is the honest truth.  

Since it was his 9 month birthday, we of course had to take our pictures!  After pictures we were planning on going swimming so I went ahead and took the pictures in his swim outfit A) because it was close to the 4th of July, and B) because it is just so adorable!  He did rather well, and is quite the ham!

Of course being 9 months old comes with it's own tricks and scares!  He has figured out how to blow air out of his nose and thinks it is hilarious!  He also loves to attempt crawling off the rocker while we are taking pictures when he has had enough!  Mom doesn't like this new trick very much!  

We then headed over to my aunt and uncle's house to go swimming with my cousin Ty.  Ty is part of the youth group here where Mark is the youth minister.  Luckily part of Mark's job is to hang out with students, so after Ty helped him mow the church lawn that morning he went to his house to help him finish chores and then to take a little dip in their pool.  He even let me lay out for a minute, until Reid got fussy and needed to go take another nap.  

Gotta lather this white boy up!

Isn't it beautiful!  I could stay here forever! 

"Uncle" Cousin Ty

Daddy with our floaty!

Practicing our moves from swim lessons!

By this time it is 3 in the afternoon.  We go home and sneak another nap in for an hour and a half or so while I fix dinner or reheat leftovers.  Dad makes it home and we eat our dinner.  This night was actually kind of fun and different.  Usually Reid eats before us and then crawls around while we eat.  However, our schedules meshed to where we were all eating together at the same time!  Woohoo!  We ate chopped beef sandwhiches (which he loved, along with the potato salad and beans!), but I forgot to get a picture!  I have some with my phone I will upload later.  Because of the new experience of table foods, combined with feeding himself good gooey, saucy, yummy foods, Reid was a mess!  So at 6 when we finished dinner we took him straight to the bath!  This is slightly earlier than usual.  Typically bath time is what kicks off our bed time routine at 7.  Daddy is the bath giver and the best one!

The Sapphire ring on the right is my birthday present from Daddy and Reid!  Isn't it gorgeous?

You can kind of see all the chopped beef on his face.

We then dress him for bed, read a bible story, and give him a bowl of cereal followed by a bottle that he falls asleep to.  By the end of the day he is out like a light, especially after swimming!

So there you have it, a semi- typical summer day for us!  Stay tuned, there will be more to come!  However, I have officially stayed up until 12:15 when I  have to get up at 6 and finish any last minute packing and loading for the trip tomorrow. 

Help Us and Vote!

Hello there faithful blog readers!  While I have been petitioned to do a detailed post about Reid (which is in the works Lydia, promise!) I am asking today, for Reid's 9 month birthday, that you all would take the time and go vote for him.  There is a photo search contest going on at Gerber on Facebook.  The grand prize winner gets $50,000 of scholarship money and photo shoot in a national campaign add.

Here is a link that will hopefully take you directly to his picture.  If that doesn't work, all you have to do is go to your facebook page and in the search bar that is up at the very top type in "The 2011 Gerber Generation Photo Search App".  It should pop up.  Then go and like their page.  THEN go to vote.  Type in Reid's name under the section of "crawlers".  He is the cutest Reid in the bunch, in a green and blue plaid shirt.  The photo looks like this. . .

Thank you so much for your help!  You can vote every day from now until July 31!  Their server has been a little slow every day I have tried to use it.  Give it time and it will come up ( you may have to refresh it a little).  Here is an article for more information if you need it!  Thank you so much again!