Blow Out

We have officially been inducted to the Parent Blowout club.

Actually, let me be more specific, Sean has been inducted to this club, not me. Sean told me that today he came home from school a 'little angel' as Sean says. Sean picked Bryce up and was holding him on our wonderful new rocker recliner (thank God for Laz-y-boy), when Sean noticed a weird 'vinegar' smell. Sean said that he then noticed his arm was a little yellow (ewwww). Anyhow, long story short, yuckie stuff up his back. Official blowout.

Sean, like a pro, got him in a bath and all dried and ready for me when I got home from work. I think I missed all the action by about 15minutes. This is one I'm glad I missed.

Falling into Leaves

Dad spent some time raking this weekend in our backyard.

He wasn't happy I was taking pictures-- I just LOVE this outfit.

Rudy got some good sunbathing and stick chasing in too.

And Bryce had a wonderful time in the leaves!

Bryce the Jay Hawk Fan

In honor of uncle Dan, Bryce wore his onesie. Apparently we will be receiving a cute Jay Hawk hat soon too!!!

Baby's Schedule

This weekend Bryce had a great time. He went and met one of his great grandmas, Grandma McLaughlin. He had a wonderful time being held and fed by her, as she wanted to keep him for herself. (I personally don’t understand this logic since she has TEN, yes TEN, children of her own.) Bryce is her seventh great grandchild. And those great grandchildren are all a product of Sean’s mom. None of Sean’s mom’s other nine siblings have grandchildren yet (I don’t think). Bryce must have been on his best behavior there because he was certainly back to his ‘hell raiser’ self upon returning home. He managed to keep Sean and I up for most of the night on Friday night and Saturday night. There was not much sleep to be had in the Reedy household. I’m convinced it must be another growing spurt—this is what I tell myself anyway.

Last night however, was another wonderful act of God. He slept nine hours. Thank goodness! I must say those nine wonderful hours were preceded by an hour and a half of full out screaming. I think he’s just tired, and on top of that he has a cold so we are not a happy camper. Sean and I just wear out over how much crying he does in the evenings.

I’ve decided that this whole going back to work thing at eight weeks was not a smart move. Not because I’m not ready, but more because Bryce is not ready. And since he is not ready, I’m exhausted all the time. Someone please tell me this gets better. On a bright note, we have a morning routine and night routine down. It goes something like the following:

(1) 5:15am, Kate’s alarm

(2) 5:25am-5:45am pumping away

(3) 5:45am- 6am—get bottles defrosted and all ready for school

(4) 6am-6:45am—shower, getting ready, listening to Bryce move around in his crib and praying that he doesn’t start screaming before I have to get him

(5) 6:45am—get Bryce up, changed, clothed and downstairs to eat

(6) 6:45am—7:20am—Bryce eating and playing time—best time of day for him, Mr. Smiley

(7) 7:20am---7:40am—finish getting myself dressed, packing my pump, packing my snacks

(8) 7:40am—Sean decides he better wake up (or I force him up) Love you honey

(9) 7:45ish to 8am—Done playing with Bryce and I’m out the door off to work. All Sean has to do is put him in the car, drive the half mile to school and drop him off (probably a 10-15 minute roundtrip depending on efficiency upon arriving at school)

(10) 8-8:15—at my computer at work

It’s seriously amazing that it takes me 3 hours from arise time to work time. I used to do this same routine, except I would get a solid one-hour workout at the gym in the mornings. I definitely miss that routine, but, I would never replace my current routine with the former.

Having Fun in the Jungle

Bryce loves his play jungle gym. I had to do a little video taping with my little non-hightech camera. He's now starting to smile without Sean and I prompting him. It's still slow and small, but we are patiently waiting for that HUGE smile to happen.

This week went well (for me). After the first week back at work, I must admit, I am super duper tired. I thought I would for sure be off to the gym today, since it's been nearly a week since I've done any sort of movement, but alas, I'm so exhausted.

On a fun note, Sean and I celebrated our FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY yesterday!!! I still cannot believe that we were married on a warm, sunny 88 degree day in Houston five years ago. I talked to my mom yesterday and she said that it was a lot colder there this past week-- she said the high was only in the 60's and it hadn't really been sunny at all. So, we really lucked out! Anyhow, Sean sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers at work, it was so awesome and sweet of him. (I was totally surprised!) Then last night we went out to eat at a place called Legal Seafood-- not too bad :) We took Bryce with us. We had to give him a bottle at the restaurant, but overall he was very well behaved. I think we need to do this more often. And plus, I had an excellent glass of wine, it was total bliss.

I think Sean and I are actually going to officially celebrate in a couple of weeks. We might hop the train to Atlantic City or New York City for just a night. That is, if we can find an excellent sitter for a night (Thanks Grammy Gibbons!) That will be fun too, but weird without Bryce.

Two Month Birthday!!

Happy Birthday Bryce! Today is his two month birthday and tomorrow he's officially NINE weeks old!!! Crazy!!! I seriously cannot believe how fast the time has gone and how big he's gotten!

So, at the doc's office this month (thank goodness he didn't pee on the scale) he made some great progress. Unfortunately it was 'man' time at the ped's office, and I didn't get to attend the appointment, but Sean did an excellent job of taking good mental notes and relaying them to me via text message during the appointment.

• Weight: 11 lbs., 2oz-- 40 percentile for his age
• Height: 23 inches-- 50th percentile for his age
• He received several shots in his leg, and I'm proud to say he's such a little man and only screams for 5 seconds and then is just fine and happy again. (Weird kid, I mean who doesn't cry at shots?!?!) Overall, it was a success and Bryce is doing great!
• Here's some extra stuff that we have been up to this month:
• Bryce's best face is his little pouting face. He loves to pout-- he sticks his lower lip out and makes this face that reads, 'I'm mad, help me.'
• He also smiles, but not that much yet. His best 'smiling' time is in the morning. He's so happy just watching us in the morning.
• We have him on a pretty great schedule, as we are following the Baby Wise book, which is so great because he's becoming pretty predictable in terms of when he wants to eat. He's so great at his school and takes three bottles from them each day.
• We had two glorious nights this week-- Monday night he slept 10 hours straight and Tuesday night he slept 8 hours straight! I'm loving the extra sleep, especially since I started work this week.
• He's in 0-3 month clothing, although I'm finding that some of those brands run small, and he's starting to be too long for some things. I find this hard to believe, as his newborn clothes were sooo big on him at first, and there's no way he could fit in those now!
• He's a tummy time fan!!! Although he likes it to take naps on more than he enjoys the actual pushing himself up! Too funny.
• He's a big mirror fan. He enjoys watching himself in the mirror on his playmat. He'll stare into that thing for 20 minutes or until we pick him up.
• The swing is our lifesaver-- when he's crying unconsolably, he goes straight to the swing, watches the mobile on the swing, and then he promptly falls asleep.
• He loves his crib (thank God). He watches his mobile on his crib a lot and he also has an awesome Rainforest Soother that plays sounds for him to help him learn to self soothe himself.

We love him sooo much! And have sooo much fun with him.

As for me, I'm back at work this week, and as much as I wish I was spending time with Bryce, I'm also glad to be back to the grind. I enjoy my company and the people I work with, which makes it that much better. Sean and I have established a routine (somewhat) at home with Bryce in the morning and at night. It's totally different from before Bryce, as I used to be able to have time in the morning to workout-- not so much now, there's no working out here. The only other hard part about work is that I'm still pretty exhausted. It's definitely hard trying to stay awake after 3pm comes around (my previous nap time), but I'm sure I just need to get back in a routine and regulate my sleep schedule. My body is definitely not used to getting up at 5am right now.

Again, happy bday to my sweet baby boy. (Yes, I have become that person...the annoying proud mama!)

Happy Halloween!!!

Some pics of Bryce as a pup!