Halloween Party

Ok, so I know this is a month late but I have to blog about it for the memories! Lately, I feel like my life is spinning out of control. I just can't catch up! I LOVE being at home a couple of days a week with Reed, but it makes getting work done so hard so I need up staying up until 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning. Then on the nights I actually work in the office after Reed goes to bed I completely crash and end up going to bed shortly after he does. So that has been the cause of the lack of blogging lately, not that I have ever been great at it! Anyway, on to the Halloween Party we hosted almost a month ago!

So on October 24th we hosted a Halloween Party for all the kiddos and our great friends! It was a chance for all the kids to get together and see them all in their costumes before Halloween. Unfortunately we didn't get a group picture of all of them, but we had a great time hanging out with everyone! It was so much fun seeing all the kids in their costumes! I of course had lots of fun getting ready for the party by making fun decorations and desserts.

Reed, as you can see below, was the cutest elephant I have ever seen! He hated the costume, he didn't like the head piece at all. We were able to capture a couple of pictures but the costume came off pretty fast.

This was the best smile that we got without him pulling at the ears.

Reed and sweet Amelia, the cutest bee ever! They were the only 2 that couldn't walk, so they got stuck in front of the camera! Haha! All the other kiddos were running around.

Reed loved Amelia's shiny black shoes.

Ashley and Deacon, he was an adorable Lion, you can see pictures of him in his costume and some of the other kids here, Deacon's Mommy is a much better blogger than me and took quite a few more pictures.

Amelia and her Mommy, Heather!

Owen and his Mommy, Amy!

Thank goodness for Laurie! She held Reed a lot this night. I under estimated how hard it is being the host with a little one. Josh was grilling most of the night, so I had a hard time getting things together with Reed on my hip. Another reason I forgot to take more pictures too.

One of the few pictures of some of the food. Rice Krispy treats, Nutterbutter ghost and Oreo spiders.

This is a terrible picture. But the centerpieces I made for the table were Halloween trees. I took orange flower pots put Candy Corn in them to hold up a black painted twig. Then I hung small pumpkins, black cats, spiders and ghost on them. They turned out so cute!

Lots of picture taking went on outside in the yard. If you look close you can see Chandler the sock monkey, Stella the flower, Megan as Batwoman, and Mason as Tiger.

Stella was cracking me up! After taking off her costume she was running around in her tights and boots.....so cute!

The best part of the night for Reed was that Deacon brought his walker over for us to borrow! Reed LOVES it! He chases us and the dogs all over the house in it. He amazes us how well he turns in it and gets where he wants to go.

Reed's 1st Masterpiece

A couple of weeks ago, unfortunately, I caught a 24 hour stomach virus. It hit me so hard out of no where one night after work. The next day Josh had to stay home with Reed while I quarantined myself to the bedroom. That night I was finally feeling better and my fever had broke so I decided I would go see what my boys were up to and this is what I found! Daddy had set up a little painting project for Reed! He mashed up banana and avocado, added a little food coloring and made "paint!"

So excited to paint!

I can do it myself Dad....using the paint brush!

Forget the paintbrush, I am digging in with my hands!

2 hands in and loving it! He is looking at me like are you sure this is ok?

Our little Picasso at work!

Next color please!

Showing us how it is done!

Next color....green!

Ummm, I like this color!

I better taste it before I use it!

Almost finished!

This paint is pretty good!

All done! Next project, please!

Josh and Reed had so much fun hanging out together all day! Josh is the best Daddy any little boy could ask for. To be honest I would probably never dream of letting Reed do this, especially not at 6 months old. But he had so much fun and to be honest it was a very easy mess to clean up. I am sure we will be doing it more in the future!

Taking a bath in style!

About a month ago Reed had completely outgrown is baby bath tub and then I remembered I had received a rubber blow up duck at one of my showers (thanks Jamie)! I was home with Reed this day so I decided to blow it up and see how it worked out for giving a bath in and see if Reed liked it. Well he loved it and is still loving it to this day! This is a great transition between the baby bath tub and the big bath tub.

As soon as I put him in he went to lounging! It was so funny! He loved having something soft to rest his head on.

Just relaxing and playing with toys.

A couple of days later he had perfected the lounge! So cute! Josh and I were dying laughing at him and he had no idea why.

This is a daily occurrence for Reed! He loves his bath time!

Birthday Presents

The big 6 month milestone, calls for presents...right? Well at least for Reed! Friday, Papa watched Reed while I went to work and that morning he brought a birthday present in for Reed.

This is what Papa got Reed.....

and he loves it! It is a little alligator that when you push the button on top he rolls across the floor. Reed and Daddy played with it tonight.

Sunday we went on a family outing to Wal-Mart. Of course we had to make a run by the toy section for Reed. It wasn't planned but when we saw this little drum we couldn't pass it up. I don't think I have told this funny little thing about Reed, but he loves to tap his hands on things. A few weeks ago my Mom was tapping on a table and Reed started tapping back. It sounds crazy but he almost always taps back when you tap on something in front of him. We were pretty sure he would love tapping on this drum and we were right.

When you tap on the drum it goes through the ABCs! Notice what letter it is on in this picture...R for Reed...how cute and totally not planned!

We were very impressed with Reed's skills! He just tapped away flying through the alphabet!

He loved it, you could really tell he was playing with a new toy!

We may have a little drummer on our hands!!

6 Months Old

I can't believe my baby is 6 months old! This has been the first milestone that made me a little sad. Last Friday on the 9th, every time I would think about Reed being 6 months old the tears would start coming. I just want to hold on to that little baby forever!

This was the first monthly birthday that I wasn't able to take pictures on the actually day. I had to work Friday and I had plans to take them before I left for work, but Reed decided to sleep in until 7:40 (he didn't make a peep for almost 11 hours). I let him sleep in until he woke up, but as soon as he ate I had to leave for work. After work we packed up and headed to Fayetteville to see friends and for Josh and some other guys to go watch the Hogs game. So I took pictures Sunday afternoon after church in his church clothes. Reed was in a funny, very busy mood as usual. He is a typical little boy for sure! He can't sit still for more than 30 seconds and wants to put everything in his mouth. It is getting harder and harder to get some good pictures of him.

Look at that mischievous smile!

Laughing for the camera.

The famous open mouth smile.

Going for the shoe....

Look Mom...I got it!

Now for the other shoe.

And the bear....

Reed was ready to get those clothes off!

Look at that precious face!

I thought I might be able to get some better pictures without all those clothes on!

Not so much! He looks huge in this picture...he is getting so big!

Silly boy....always on the move!

Has you can see Reed's little personality is starting to shine! He is such a happy little boy! To me this month as been the most fun! He has changed so much! It is so much fun to see the world through Reed's eyes.

At 6 months Reed is....

• Almost sitting up by himself, he does so well sitting up with the boppy behind him for a little support. He prefers to be sitting up. He is able to sit and play and go from toy to toy by himself.
• Reaching and grabbing for anything that interest him. We have learned that he is very fast!
• Doing great drinking from a sippy cup. He has learned that he has to tip his head back to drink
• Holding his own bottle.
• Still going to bed right at 8 pm and sleeping until around 7 am. A few mornings a week he wakes up around 5 to 6 for his paci and that will hold him off for another hour or so
• Eating consistently for the last couple of weeks at 7, 11, 2, 5 and 8. Some days I think he is going to be way off schedule b/c he will eat early at 6:30 and then again at 10, but some how by the end of the day he always gets himself back on schedule
• After his 5 pm feeding, he eats his solid food. Thus far Reed has had banana, sweet potatoes, avocado, cooked pears, cooked peaches and cooked plums. Next, up is mangos and papaya. Most of the time I mix the food with a little bit of cereal to thicken it up and for the iron in the cereal.
• On the 8th we tried adding a second feeding after the 11 am feeding but he hasn't seemed to interested. I made the Super Porridge from the Super Baby Food book (basically it is fine ground, cooked whole grain brown rice). Reed wasn't very impressed! I mixed it with a little banana and it still wasn't his favorite.
• Still wearing size 2 diapers
• Transitioning more into size 6-9 month clothes, a lot of this is due to the season changes.
• Loving bath time. Still getting baths during the day, mainly b/c Gran and Gigi give them to him.
• Naps are getting much better, I wouldn't say they are predictable, but they are easier. The last couple of weeks I have been able to lay him down in his crib when I know he is really tired with his blanket and he will get himself to sleep within 5 to 10 minutes. However, you never know how long he is going to sleep, anywhere from 30 mins to 2 hours. He averages about 1 hour 3 times a day.
• Has the best giggle! Loves being tickled and playing peek-a-boo! He will giggle so hard over and over.
• Has mastered spitting the paci out when he wants to put something in his mouth instead.
• Saying Da-da and babbling so much more. He even as a little squeal he will do sometimes.
• Has really discovered his hands. He will lay back a turn them back and forth just looking at them it is SO funny.
• Also found his ears, he will sit and just play with them.
• Sitting up in the stroller, shopping cart and high chairs at restaurants. This has been a lot of fun!
• Rolled over from tummy to back on September 28th. Rolling over now is old news, he makes it look to easy. We waited forever for him to roll over and now all he wants to do is sit up.
• Has started reaching for me, it is the BEST! This is the single one thing that I couldn't wait for! Makes my day that he knows his Mommy! He has also started getting really excited when he sees me when I get home from work.