6-Month Pics

Sean, Bryce and I have found a wonderful photographer in the Malvern, PA area. Mary Parnell took our newborn photos, and two weeks ago, she took baby Bryce 6-month photos. If you want to see some sweet pics go to this link below:

http://mparnell.photobiz.com/cart/

Type in my email: kreedy@me.com

Password: Reedy

The link may eventually become unavailable-- However, you can always check out Mary's blog that has a pic or two of baby Bryce.

http://picklepussphoto.blogspot.com/

He's so handsome :)

Walking to Mommy

Baby Bryce is trying to walk. It's going to be a few months before that happens though!

(He still needs to learn to roll over...)

Hats

Baby Bryce can finally fit into his baseball hat he got from our awesome neighbors. It's a Mets hat. His first one. And definitely not his last.

They look so much alike in these pics.

Ah yes...the next new thing

And, this morning started out with a bang. No less than three outfit changes BEFORE we even got to daycare. Sigh...exhaustion.

Somehow Sean manages to be out of town on mornings like these. :)

Anyhow, my pity party is over and I am happy to report that Sean and I have learned something new about our sweet baby. Drum roll... We know the exact moment when he is making 'poopies' as Sean would like to call it. Although gross, it's pretty comical. Some serious grunting, followed by straightening/hyperextending the legs, and it's over. Today, even his little face turned red. I laugh.

Also, here is a link to my photographers blog. She is great, and took the 6-month photos last week. Bryce is on her blog, and I'll post the link to look at the pics when I have them. In the meantime, here's a sneak peak!

http://picklepussphoto.blogspot.com/

TCU Horn Frog

Let me start off by saying this. I love my TCU Horn Frogs, but my loyalty is to my SMU Mustangs. I am a Mustang through and through, but, I did get my MBA from across the pond.

Two wonderful TCU people, Linda Smith and Garry Bruton, the Director of Administration and Professor sent me a onesie. It's sooo cute, I had to put it on Brycie. He looks like a super stud. It's pretty cold here (still) so we had to wear an undershirt and jeans with his styling Uggs (that now fit him).

Mommy, I'm standing!!!

Notice the hornfrog fingers.

Standing on the counter!

Yay, TCU Neeley School of Business!

Everyday

Everyday.

Everyday is a new adventure. It seems like every single day Bryce does something new. If you just blink, you miss out.

Last week, he learned how to hold his sippy cup and drink it all by himself. We don't have enough sippy cups, so he still gets a bottle sometimes, but at least half the time he uses his sippy cup all on his own. And, he's got the bottle holding down too. Funny.

This week he has learned to take his binky and put it in his mouth himself. And let me just say that Sean and I are learning that we need to not give this to him unless he absolutely needs it. (Much easier said than done because remember, he is at school 8 hours a day, so who knows what goes on there...)

Sean and I are trying to give it to him only at bed time now. I should video tape this because it is absolutely amazing that this little binky has become his soothing mechanism. When he's tired, he'll be cranky, rub his eyes, and get all ancey if you are holding him. As soon as you give him that binky, he is out in about 5 seconds. And I am not exaggerating on this one-- just ask Sean.

Maybe next week he'll be feeding himself too. Then maybe he'll change his own diaper? (I can only wish).

6 months

Bryce's half birthday was over a week ago, but, I thought I would wait for the official check up before posting any thing of significance.

Our big boy was 17lbs, 11 oz, which puts him in the 55% range for weight. He was over 23 inches for height, which puts him in the 70th percentile! Can you believe that!?! He might actually be tall! How cool would that be!?! Well hey, I'll even take average!!!

Anyhow, here are some things he's up to:

• Sleeping: 10 - 11 hours at night. He usually goes to bed at 7:30 - 8pm, and is out until I have to wake him up around 6:30am - 7am. He then typically sleeps around 3 to 4 hours during the day.
• We are on lots more 'solid' food. He eats oatmeal and bananas together in the morning, and then 3 more meals during the day. The ladies at daycare get excited when they see more food in his bowl. But we space it out appropriately.
• He's drinking less and less milk...breast milk, that is. No formula-- yet. Thank goodness he's drinking less. As of this week, I've officially cut one pumping session-- so I only pump four times per day now. (I actually never breast feed him, he only gets breast milk...I can't even remember the last time I breast fed him.) Anyhow, he drinks about 26-28 ounces per day spaced out into 5 sessions.
• The mix of bottles and sippy cups. We have started sippy cups during his morning meal and during his dinner meal, but we keep with the bottle for school.
• Bryce loves to stand. Loves loves loves it. He could stand all day. In fact he'll stand while just holding on to the couch. I'll just hold his hand and he'll stand. We even started practicing to walk, because he's acting like he wants to take steps.
• As much as he loves to stand, he HATES tummy time. No, he loathes tummy time. So, there's no initiating rolling over by himself yet. But we anticipate that coming soon.
• He seems more alert every day, just soaking up the world around him. So much fun!

That's it for now! We have official 6-month pics this weekend, so that should be lots of fun!!!

Another Exersaucer Video

Dear Daddy's Friends Jonathon and Tiffany,

Thank you very much for my exersaucer. I get a lot of use out of it. Even though it took daddy 8 hours to put it together, he always tells me that it was worth it because I love it so much.

Here's the proof in the video below. Oh, and by the way, daddy says that what goes around comes around...whatever that means.

Love,

Big Boy Bryce

PS. Mommy says daddy is sometimes crazy because he doesn't know how to film a video the right way. You have to turn your computer or head sideways to watch. Duh, dad.

First Sporting Event

Ahhh yes, the Mavs played the 76ers! We had to go, and we brought Bryce.

It was AWESOME! Sean got us floor seats for super cheap. We all had a great time, and Bryce was such a champ. Not one tear the whole time.

Here's the team warming up.

Look at that beautiful family!!

Mommy and baby. Everyone around us was impressed at how well he behaved. He didn't bother anyone!!! It was awesome!

So I was meandering in the grocery store last Saturday morning (a trip without Bryce)... and I was reminiscing about being pregnant again and all the cravings I had. At the time I really didn't think I had any cravings, but it's funny because looking back on it, I really did. Case in point-- Captain Crunch. When I was pregnant, I was always buying sugary cereals such as Captain Crunch, Reeses Peanut Butter Cereal, Lucky Charms, Cocoa Pebbles, and the like. And now, no craving for those. Weird.

It's crazy how life has changed post Bryce. It's all for good, but life is totally different.

I don't know what we did before him.

Let me just tell you about a typical evening:

1) Pick up Bryce from school. Sean almost always does this...thank goodness because they close at 6pm.

2) Clean bottles and food containers from the day at school. That would be three bottles and the four extra pieces that annoyingly accompany them, and then the two food containers and spoons. Oh yah, then all the stuff that I use to pump during the day-- the four pieces plus the bottles. We hand clean everything. This process takes about 15-20 minutes, if one is able to do this without having to watch Bryce...

3) Give Bryce a bath, or get him in his PJs...20ish minutes.

4) Give Bryce his dinner...10ish minutes.

5) Make bottles and food for next day. Defrost and pour all the milk into next days bottles, and make the food to go into the little containers...20ish minutes. And not to mention, making sure he has clean bibs and putting it all into the pack, so all we have to do is grab it going out the door.

6) Give Bryce is last bottle (now sippy cup) for the night: 10-20ish minutes depending on how hungry he is.

7) Put Bryce to bed. 10ish minutes if we read a book or two.

Somewhere in there we manage to eat dinner. And then, I still have to pump (again). Although Sean and I have a pretty good tag team going, we typically don't sit down until 8pm.

Typically, I'm in bed before 9pm, to get up and going by 5-5:15am. Tonight is a random night that I happen to be up...working, no less.

Being a full-time worker, a full-time mom, and a full-time pumper, I"m thinking that I need to give up one of these sooner rather than later. I'm thinking it's time to start weaning off the breast milk.

Six month doc appointment tomorrow. Six month pictures this weekend. More to come...

Exersaucer!

Bryce loves his exersaucer. This video doesn't really do it justice, but nonetheless, he's a happy boy!

He's in his PJ's still this morning!

Yams, Carrots & Squash...Oh My

Yum. Yams, Carrots, & Squash, oh my.

Today I cooked. For those of you that don't know me as well this was a notable occasion. Don't get too excited though. This was not for my own benefit, nor Sean's. It was for Bryce.

Let me just start off by saying that I never ever ever ever thought I would be making my own baby food (I mean, who does that and who has the time?) Well, I guess if you make time... It was a holiday today, so what do I do? I get out the big steamer from the basement (I might have used this twice in the past five years) and I steam away. I steam squash, carrots, yams, and pears.

After the steaming comes the 'puree'-ing. Yes, this is what people do-- puree baby food. There are even recipe books-- which I have.

HOLY COW. I'm exhausted. Even though this whole process only took me two hours, it was definitely a tedious task, one in which I am not sure I can keep up with. But, nonetheless, I have frozen baby food that should last for at least a couple of weeks.

So, yams for lunch. Bryce loved the yams. He ate them right up. He loved them so much they came right out 20 minutes later. They came out the opposite end and out of his diaper, up his back, into his hair and onto his elbows. And guess who else got it all over themselves?!?! Yup. Me. Yes, after I slaved for a couple hours (clean up took another hour), I got to clean up Bryce...and myself. Disgusting.

And then to top it on off, he is Mr. Fuss after all that. Apparently those yams did not set so well and we think this is why he's so upset today. Hopefully, tomorrow is a better day, and if not-- it's not my problem-- daycare! Ha!

Squash-- I put it in an ice cube tray and will freeze it until needed.

Steamer in action.

These are the yams. These were pretty easy too. The carrots were definitely the hardest because I had to use the food processor.

Yum. Yams.

No pictures of the incident that happened 20 minutes after this picture.

Off to more adventures in parenthood.

The Rice Cereal Saga

Two Weeks Ago Bryce had his first experience with rice cereal. He really wasn't a happy camper...

You might be wondering what his bib says: My Uncle is HOT and SINGLE!!! (Love you uncle Danny).

And, this is where we netted out with the rice cereal two weeks ago...in the bottle it went.

And this was last week:

And now, we have much to look forward to as baby Bryce will be starting sweet potatoes this weekend.

Happy 5-months!

Baby Bryce was 5-months old yesterday, here's what he's been up to:

- He's a well traveled baby, this last month he made his third round-trip flight to & from Dallas-- and he's a good traveler. His ears never seem to bother him.

- He started rice cereal on Monday. And I'm proud to say that although it takes him 30min to eat 2 Tablespoons, he's finally starting to get the hang of it. We figured out that it only works AFTER he's had the bottle. (The first day we gave up after the first 30-min and put the rest in his bottle...I know I know, my bad.) He eats this twice a day.

- He still is a chugger with his milk. He hardly wants to stop to burp and he gets mad when you do stop for him to burp. He can chug 7.5 oz in t-minus 7 minutes. He eats about 34-35 oz per day in addition to any that's added to his rice cereal.

- Mom is still pumping. It's starting to get a little old. But, having routine is key.

- He's in 6mos clothes and he's starting to outgrow those. Some things I still wish he could fit into, but it's just not worth the effort trying to snap that last snap that just causes the outfit to stretch to the max.

- He stands up all the time. I barely hold him and he just locks his knees and flexes his upper thighs and stands. He loves to stand. The ladies at daycare even say that he is so strong.

- His hands are always on his bottle....always. He loves trying to hold it-- he can't do it, but he loves to have his hands right on it.

- He loves bath time. Scratch that...he loves the water. We took him to the pool for the second time this month. He loves to swim.

- He smiles at everything. He loves his daddy sooo much. He likes to sing the ABCs with daddy.

- He also loves his mommy :)

Overalls are so cute.

Kisses from mommy! Such a cute combo.

New outfit we love!

A Trip to Texas!!!

This past week, the Reedy family had a nice little adventure to TX!! Yay!! So much fun! The trip, however, was unfortunately more of a work trip for me, but Sean and I tacked on some personal time to the front and back end of it.
My company’s annual sales meeting happened to be in Dallas this year, and, I can definitely say that I have been on overdrive at work for the past couple of months in order to help prepare for it. Anyhow, Sean, Bryce and I came in last Saturday afternoon, and spent some time with Sean’s friends and Sean’s sister Sarah. Bryce officially met his two of his 5 cousins—Ethan and Liam. They all had so much fun playing together, and I know that they will be great friends as they progress in age. Sarah is already planning the family trip to Disney World in a few years. Sean and I can’t wait J
As Sunday afternoon rolled around, I had to begin working before all the sales representatives arrived the next day. Sean also was planned to be working the entire week in Boston, so needless to say, we needed some childcare help. And, so, I had to twist my mom’s arm to take Bryce for the week (not really, she was excited). Grammy to the rescue! My mom came and picked Bryce up and drove him down to Houston. This was my very first time away from the little guy—and although it wasn’t bad at first because the 12hr days kept my mind off of my missing child—by the end of the week, I was getting really antsy to get my baby boy back. Grammy and Uncle Dan did a great job of watching him during the week. Thank god they know how to handle breastmilk…side note—shipping breastmilk is definitely not on my ‘fun’ list. It is a pain in the A$$ to do, and it costs a lot to ship four days of milk overnight.
Anyway, Uncle Dan brought Bryce back up on Friday afternoon (long after all the sales people left). Sean, after being delayed by 24 hours due to the crappy Boston weather, beat Bryce back to the hotel just by a couple of hours.
As for the tail end of our trip, we met up with some of my awesome college friends who came into town for the weekend. Kristin came all the way from Milwaukee to meet Bryce and hang out with all us tri-delts. Fun times! Then, Amy, hosted a ‘Sip n’ See’—something that has been in the works since last July—for all my DFW friends to meet Bryce! It was great! Sean’s aunt, uncle, and cousins came, along with many of my cowtown gym friends, school friends, and work friends. We had a great time, and everyone was able to hold little Bryce.
Sean and I definitely miss Big D—and although we are super happy with where we are on the Mainline in Pennsylvania, we love our friends and family in TX.

Swim Lessons

Yes. 4 months. Swim Lessons. Crazy mom.

So here's the story. On Saturday morning I decided to go to the gym. (First time this year.) As a side note, I might add that I loathe January at the gym. Can all you people that make New Year's Resolutions to get in better shape just hurry up and give up already? Usually it takes until spring break time for the gym to clear back out to us normal gym rats. Anyhow, I digress.

I'm at the gym, and I see this 'Open House for Kids Day' going on. So, since I am now a proud owner of a four-month-old, I inquire. And guess what?!? They have a Water Tot class!! And like all sales people would say, 'No age is too young'! So, Sean and I sign up Bryce!

We get to the class, and guess who gets a PRIVATE LESSON!?!? Ha!!! We do! No one else came to the free class!

We had a great time. And Bryce liked it too. We're sold. We're going to sign him up for classes on Saturday mornings. Fun!!

Bryce got a new swimsuit for Christmas from our awesome neighbors-- it's a little big for now, but he'll grow into it! Ladies man...

Mom, this isn't a bath!

Here we go!

Kick kick kick...

Tummy time is better in the water!

Hold your breath!

Swim swim swim...

Let's play kick the ball!

Very intense focus on that ball by mom and Bryce.

The best day in the pool!

Growing Up So Fast!

Happy 4 months Bryce! On January 2nd, Bryce turned four months! I personally cannot believe that he is getting soooo old! It's amazing the difference that four months makes. Let's start with myself first--

1) Although I am nearly back to my original weight, my body is completely different. I would say that is due to a lack of existence at the gym, and mostly, a crappy diet. Let me just tell you that just because you have a salad doesn't mean you can eat a pint of ice cream.

2) I thought I would be done being drop-dead exhausted by now. Not so much. Despite the fact that Bryce sleeps through the night (most of the time), I am tired, all the time. There is no amount of caffeine that can fix this.

3) I'm still waiting for my linea niagra to disappear. I still have a faint brown line down the middle of my tummy. Hopefully this will be gone by the time swimsuit season arrives. Of course that assumes I'll be in a bathing suit during swimsuit season.

4) I feel older. Now I know that today is the youngest I'll ever be, blah, blah, blah, but the difference is night and day from before Bryce to now. I wonder if this feeling has anything to do with not working out and a crappy diet. hmmm.....

5) I'll admit, I miss Hoda and Kathie Lee. I wish I was home during the day just for this. Maybe I'll set the TiVo.

Okay, now on to the (2nd) love of my life. Bryce has been up to sooooo much, and I wanted to just capture a few thoughts for my general, small audience.

• Mr. Smiles & Laughs is his new nickname. He loves to smile and loves to laugh. He's tickelish on his tummy.
• He has a doctors appointment this week, so I don't know how much he weighs yet, but I'm guessing he's nearly 15 pounds.
• He's into size 2 diapers. I actually had to give the rest of my size 1 diapers away because he was constantly using more diaper than diaper could hold (if you know what I mean).
• His hair is really growing in-- we think it's strawberry blonde most days. Other days it's just light brown/blonde.
• He is out of his '3 month' clothing and into either 3-6 month or 6 month outfits. He's so long that none of the legs fit unless they are 6-month size.
• Speaking of sizes, he still eats 32-35 ounces per day. He eats at 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm and 7pm. He actually gulps like he just can't get it fast enough. But, when he's full, he starts to play with the bottle with his tongue.
• Everything goes into his mouth-- his hands comfort him, and all toys must taste yummy.
• He's a drool monkey some days. Gross.
• He can grasp his binky and hold on to it. He actually enjoys taking it out of his mouth just to insert his fist instead.
• Bath time rocks. He's not huge into playing with the water yet, but it's more like he just wants the water to be as high as possible as he likes to sink into the water. Sometimes we have to embrace him just to keep him from trying to submerge himself.
• He is starting to sit up with very little support. He can sit on our laps and doesn't need to be held for a significant period of time.

Those are some main points that he's up to right now.

The best is this little video that he likes of Baby Bach. He's entranced by the TV. I'm not sure if this is good or bad!!!