365 Days

My Baby Boy is ONE!

I don't know how it's possible. I don't know how 365 days have gone by, how a whole year has passed and Reilly is ONE. I just don't know.

I remember a year ago yesterday like it was 10 minutes ago. I remember vividly the sleep I did not get Monday night, getting up and leaving for the hospital as a family of two. I remember knowing that life would never be the same when we came home as a family of three. I remember playing "Name that Tune" during delivery and listening to Dr. Shah talk about his colorful backyard because his dog eats crayons. I remember panicking because Reilly didn't scream like I thought he was supposed to, and most of all I remember holding him on my chest for the very first time and falling in love. I remember every moment of that day like it was yesterday.
In the mean time, I've learned to clean up puke like a pro, to go with smaller amounts of sleep then I've ever imagined, to worry less about things and more about smiles, to live in the moment instead of having to know what's next, I've learned to love like I didn't know was possible, and most of all I've learned that I would allow anything to happen to me before anything could happen to my baby.

Each day in the past year has brought a "new" to our family. A new Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, 4th of July, a new smile, food, movement, just a lot of new. I treasure every moment that I get to spend with Reilly. Whether we are playing in the yard, swimming in a pool, sharing a snack, eating dinner, sharing snuggles before bed or he's picking my nose...you couldn't pay me a billion, gazillion, bazillion dollars to trade a single moment with him.

I love that right now, crawling around the house, getting into everything he's not supposed to is his favorite past time. I love that we have to risk Rei playing in the toilet if the bathroom door isn't closed, that we get to find Dave's shoes all over the house if he doesn't put them in the bedroom when he gets home from work. I love that things come up missing from the bottom half of the refrigerator if the kitchen gate isn't up, and I love that we can never find the TV controller or the cordless phone. I love it all!

Being a millionaire wouldn't make me happier than being a mommy does.

Dear Bubbers,

You are the love of my life. I can't believe that you are 1 now. There are so many exciting things for us to do together. I love spending time with you, (especially when you are snugly and let me pretend that you are little and stuck there like you used to be!) I consider being your mommy the best, greatest job ever. There are so many people that love you more than you will ever know. I know you are one, I know the next years will move even quicker than this first one has, but you should know, that you will always be MY little man! Happy Birthday, Big Boy! I love you!
My Heart Is Yours Forever,

Mommy

Job Promotion

One year ago today, I was up for the biggest job promotion in the world. I knew ahead of time that it could be messy, I would have long days, even longer nights, the possibility of a sassy and demanding boss, and I'd never be off duty. What I didn't know was that the job I was up for would be the most rewarding, amazing, love filled, sloppy kisses everyday wonderful experience that it is.
I am honored to be Reilly's mommy. It's the greatest job in the world!

10 Things on the 10th Day of the 10th Month...

Today is October 10th, 2010, or 10/10/10!

I thought it would only be appropriate if I shared the top 10 things on my mind today...

Here they are, in no particular order:

1. Double ear infections in my Rei Guy's ears are yucky. If they were human, I wouldn't ever speak to them again, that's how gross I think they are.
2. We had a fantastic day at Kercher's Fall Festival today with Keely, Jeff, Brady, Chad, Shelly, Sami, Reilly, Dave and I. We picked apples, took a hay ride, picked pumpkins and at lunch. All in 80+ degree weather, too!
3. Grocery shopping is awful. There's nothing exciting about it and I really just strongly dislike it.
4. I must always remember to be careful when I am coming down steps. My heart continues to ache for Kim and the ordeal she has gone through in the past 11 months. Just yesterday, she had her fourth surgery...this time to take the nuts and bolts out of her leg!
5. I can't believe that in 17 days my BABY IS GOING TO BE ONE YEAR OLD. That is all I can say, if I think about it to much, I start to get teary eyed and won't be able to finish my list, and I'm only half way done.
6. Although I love my job, there are many days that I wish Bubbers and I could stay home together and play all day long.
7. My family is the most AMAZING group of people I have ever met. I feel very lucky that God decided to give me my parents, sisters, brother in laws, husband, kid, nephew, grandparents, cousins and aunts and uncles.
8. My house is a DISASTER! I guess I thought today would be a good day to go through Reilly's room to get rid of clothes that don't fit him anymore...now I just have to find the energy to clean up the living room.
9. I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY wish Similac would have taken care of the insects before they made it into the formula powder. We need formula and everyone has taken it off their shelves. Here's hoping Rei will like his new brand...
10. I think the Simpsons is pretty much the stupidest show on television, and I just wish I could find the remote control so I could change the channel.

Reality Check!

It's been a week since our 2010-2011 school year has begun! Overall, I have a great group of kids. There's one...he might make me seriously consider early retirement...but that's a whole other post.

I often get reality checks at school. The kids that I have the privilege of teaching are very different than I was when I was there age. Not only in the normal ways...but in the socio-economic ways as well.

Best of example of this happened today.

In Social Studies, we have been learning about Social Scientist and who they are, what they study and why. We've learned about Economists, Historians, Political Scientists and Geographers.

The other day, there was a homework assignment that was sent home that instructed the kids to collect 4 artifacts, one from each category of Social Science. They had to pretend they were that person that chose what to study and why.

It was great. Many of them brought in maps for an example of what a geographer might study. Articles from the newspaper about local government issues as an example for political scientists were shared and very interesting things from history...including one of their grandfather's army hat that he wore in WWII.

For the economists, a variety of things were brought in. One of the boys brought a .45 cent off coupon for a brownie delight that he was very concerned about getting back. Some students brought in things like coins...all sorts of things that showed economists were concerned with the topic of how money was saved and spent.

My team teacher comes through my room, white as a ghost. She's asking me what my kids brought, I'm sharing proudly, just as a good teacher should. She whips out a ONE HUNDRED DOLLAR BILL! Yep, you read that right, A ONE HUNDRED DOLLAR BILL. It was real. Crisp. Green. The letter matched the alphabet. We held it to the light. A REAL one hundred dollar bill.

That's what one of her students brought in for his economist artifact. Ummm....REALITY CHECK!

And here I was thinking of trying to talk my student out of his brownie coupon so I could use it...

Music To My Ears...

Life has been really crazy-busy lately. It always is when the month of August rolls around. The back to school "panic" starts to set in, along with the "We are almost out of summer...what else can we shove into our days" panic. Our house is no different.


In the beginning of August, I was doing everything I could with Reilly, trying to soak up our time together before I headed back to school. Unfortunately, that often meant he and I were spending "quality" time together at school...him often entertaining himself on the floor or being "oohed" and "ahhhd" over by some of the other ladies at school!

So last Monday, August 16th, was one of the highly anticipated days...back to school for the teachers, ice cream social that night, get to meet our kids...just a big day. It was also a very sad day...I knew that when I dropped Rei-Guy off at Miss Betsy's that morning, we weren't going to have our lazy summer days together anymore.

So it was at the ice cream social, about half way through that I get this exact text message from Dave... "I kid you not, I just asked Rei what he wanted and he said Mama." Okay...shot through the heart. Like I wasn't feeling bad enough already...let's add another dagger.

So I pretty much ran out of the ice cream social at 6:30, beating over half the parents out of the parking lot to race home to hear my son say MY NAME! I could barely wait!

When I got home, he and Daddy had been practicing over and over, and as soon as I walked in, I got to hear it, I got to hear Reilly say Mama for the first time.

His first word.

I'm sure it was no accident.

It was music to my ears.

P.S. He still says it, so I know he did it on purpose! :)

Boy Shampoo :(

Today is Tuesday, July 20, 2010. I'm making note of this day just in case I wake up tomorrow bald.

It was a sad time tonight when I realized that I am COMPLETELY out of shampoo. Like, not an ounce in the house. Well...to clarify...I am out of GIRL shampoo. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch.

So in a split second decision, I decided to use Dave's boy shampoo. It clearly says MEN on the front.

I hope boy shampoo and girl shampoo is the same and I don't wake up bald.

Baby Food Bomber?!?!?!?!?

We've just had a delightful week full of memories down in Florida! It was a week of many firsts for Reilly...so exciting to watch him grow and discover.

As we were leaving the Clear Water/St. Pete airport yesterday...a couple of funny things happened. Okay, to be honest, I wasn't laughing at the time, but looking back now, they do make me giggle.

Let's back up a week and talk about what happened as we were departing South Bend and heading to some fun in the sun. Keely was gracious enough to take us to the airport, as I only still had one good hand and Kim only had one good foot. Upon arrival, the security line wasn't to long, so we jumped right in as Keely made a last minute run to the van for a missing Pickles...(one of Rei's favorite blankets.) Pickles was found and we were ready to pass through security.

Brady, who has been known to be a bit tricky through security, was being a great helper and wanted to push the buckets forward towards the x-ray machine. Some, a-little-to-big-for-his-boots-xray-man evidently thought this was a problem and starts snapping at him to back up and let go of the bucket. Um...okay. So we tell him to come back over, and try to convince the 5 year old who just wanted to help that he wasn't being appreciated was interesting. So, then as we get closer, I'm hurriedly trying to empty the stroller and things to get them on the belt so I'm not holding up traffic behind us. I get everything emptied, and placed on the belt, and the before mentioned man, takes the diaper bag and THROWS it under the machine. Now...a little history on the diaper bag...it had most of Reilly's belongings in it that we projected he would need for being away from home for 7 days.

So, after we get through, as Kim is being wanded down, contents of the diaper bag are flying down the other side of the belt at a top speed. We had diapers, baby food, nose suckers, medicine, wipes, toys...you name it, it was coming down the belt...not in the bag. All the while, I'm trying to gather everything else from the belt and still not hold up traffic. Thank goodness for my helpful 5 year old, catching all the diaper bag contents and stuffing them back in. All the while as we're trying to collect all of our items, one of the men says, "Ma'am, is this your luggage." I say, "yes." He says, "Can you step over here, I need to search it." PERFECT! So, after a search, he says, "Oh, it must have been the huggies you have in there that looked suspicious...." Um...SERIOUSLY? Just exactly what am I putting on my son's butt everyday that makes the TSA Security people suspicious? Wow.

Okay...so we're ready to load the plane...no easy feat again...as we carried everything on and didn't check any luggage. We gate checked the stroller and car seat, so after we dropped them off, we were left to carry on a suitcase, 2 purses, a booster seat, a baby, a variety of baby toys that no longer fit in the diaper bag because of it being dumped, and a computer bag...all with only 3 good hands and 3 good feet. We boarded early (I guess that's a least one positive of Kim still being in a cast...) and got situated in row 18, right where we were assigned. Only...not. We sat down, got all situated, only to find out we were in the wrong seats. That's AWESOME. So we moved and ended up having a great flight. Thank goodness.

Okay...fast forward a week to our trip home.

Glenn drops us off at the door to the airport, where again there is hardly anyone in line at security so we jump right in. It's again a challenge to get everything up on the belt while trying not to hold up the line. Brady gets through just fine. Kim goes to her "room" to be wanded down and I am ready to cross over. Once again, i get to the other side when someone says, "Ma'am, are these your belongings?" I say, "yes." Here's how the rest of the conversation went...
Lady: "Ma'am, why do you have so much baby food in your bag?"
Me: "Because I'm traveling with my son."
Lady: "How long is your trip?"
Me: "However long it takes to get to South Bend."
Lady: "I'm going to need to call over my supervisor."
Me: "Um, okay."
Supervisor: "Good afternoon Ma'am. Why are you traveling with so much baby food?"
Me: "Because we are going home, I have a baby and I bought to much baby food and didn't want to waste it."
Supervisor: "Do you have to travel once you get home?
Me: "For a bit."
Supervisor: "Are you aware you are over the limit?"
Me: "I had no idea there was a limit."
Supervisor: "Who is the bottle of water for in the bag?"
Me: "My son's bottle, we went to Urgent Care because he's not feeling well and they said to make sure he had a bottle to suck on take off and landing."
Supervisor:" I see. We'll, it's going to have to be tested."

At this point, they take the water, stick a strip of paper down into it, go into a huddle and discuss their "options."

Lady: "Well, Ma'am, we have decided to let you go through this time, but if you want to take all the food with you, we will need to pat you down and search all your belongings."
Me: "Ok"

So she tells me to spread my arms right there in front of everyone...so I do and I come out clean. Whew! :)
Then the search begins. She empties EVERYTHING from my purse and the diaper bag. Here we go again. She swipes out every compartment, every baby food jar, everything I own to make sure I'm not the bad guy...I guess.

10 minutes later, she hands everything to me in a gray bucket and says, "Okay, you're fine to go through." Here I sit with all of my belongings out in the tray again, left to repack. NICE.

So, we make it through with about 10 minutes to go before boarding begins. When we are finally called, I get up to the desk and the man there tells me that Reilly can't board without his birth certificate. Um...birth certificate in South Bend...Us in Florida. Here's how this conversation went:
Man: "I need to see a form of ID for the child Ma'am."
Me: "Excuse me?"
Man: "The baby cannot board without a passport or birth certificate."
Me: " I have neither of those and no one told me I would need them."
Man: "I can't let him board without seeing one of the two items requested."
Me: "Okay, so you want me to leave my son here with you."
Man: "I need to call my supervisor."

Wow...this all sounds so familiar.

Supervisor: "We'll let you go through this one time, but in the future, you need to bring identification for your child."
Me: "Okay."

Who would have thought leaving Florida could be so difficult?!?!?!?!?!?

Oh well, at least I'm not the baby food bomber.

Couples Skate

I'm so behind on blogging. I've missed 2 important monthly updates for Bubbers. I feel horrible. I need to blog again soon and catch up. Time just goes so fast.

Yesterday was July 4th. Keely and Jeff have started a great tradition of having a cook-out for our entire family, and Jeff's family too. There's always great food, stories, fireworks and memories (Except where there was a crazy firework last night that blew up on Jeff and shot at Brady. That wasn't a great memory, but something we won' t forget for a long time, thank God everyone is okay!) It's something that Dave and I look forward to each July.

We were pulling into the garage last night, with full bellies and a sleepy little boy when Dave got super excited about a song on the radio. I was only half listening, already planning my route to get from point A (the car) to point B (my bed!) Besides that, Dave had on 95.7 WAOR Dee Snyder's The House Of Hair, which I typically consider his "angry music" and usually tune out. He pulled in, looked at me and said, "Wait! You've got to hear this, don't go anywhere." So I sat there dutifully, as a wife should when her husband tells her too. Soon after the song started, my usually very unromantic husband reaches across the van seats, grabs my hand and says (direct quote!) "You gotta hold my hand, this is couples skate." As in the roller rink couples skate. At this point, I was so tired, and in pain from my hand, I thought perhaps it was all a dream...or the pain meds talking.

So we're sitting in the van, in our garage at 5 till 11, holding hands for a "couples skate." Then, about 30 seconds later, he says, (another direct quote) "Do you want to dance with me." Let's recap, this is my Dave, who does not do this kind of thing, does not dance with me at weddings...only promised me one dance at our own wedding. And he's asking me to dance at 10:55 pm in the garage on July 4th, 2010. So I of course jump at the chance! He turns the van radio up, jumps out on his side, comes over to mine and we danced...WE DANCED in our garage to Steelheart's "I'll Never Let You Go."

He has since decided this is now our song.

I love my Dave.

182 Days...

182 days...1/2 a year...6 months.

My baby is 6 MONTHS OLD AND I AM IN DENIAL! I can't even begin to remember where all of our time has gone. I just can't grasp the concept of Reilly already reaching the 6 month mark, it's all so surreal!

There have been SO MANY amazing and exciting things that have happened in the past month...2 of the biggest being my little man rolling over and getting a tooth! Such exciting stuff when you're on your way to being 6 months old!

To My Dear Sweet Bubbers,
You're growing up little man. You are still the apple of my eye and I love you more than you will ever know. It's so hard for me to remember life without you...it just seems like you've been here forever! You're little life has changed in so many ways over the past 30 days. Some of the changes you're making are hard for me to deal with. For example, you handled moving to your crib a lot easier than I did. I cried for the first 3 nights and you slept peacefully throughout it all! :)

Here are some of the exciting things that we've gotten to discover together and witness you do

• You moved to your crib on April 1st and slept there the whole night. I made Daddy get up to check on you 2 times, and I got up at least 3 times. I think you like it in there. You still sleep most of the night, just waking up to let us know that your "plug" has fallen out and you wish for it back.
• We went to the Dr., where we found out you weighed 16 lbs and 10 oz and measured at 27 and 3/4 in long. You are in great health, although you still spit up often.
• We started solid foods with carrots, which you LOVED. We gave you these for about a week before starting you on green beans...which you have now become a GREEN BEAN MACHINE! I love that you're a hot mess when you eat either of these...but you're amazingly sweet face smiling at me makes the mess all worth it.
• Your first tooth popped through and Auntie Keely was the explorer who found it. Just when we thought you couldn't get any cuter, here's one lonely little tooth on the bottom right side . You continue to chew on everything, (including whoever is silly enough to put their finger in there) and the drool could put a St. Bernard to a test.
• There's finally hope that you're not going to look like Grandpa Dick all your life...you have some peach fuzz that is getting thicker and dark...it looks like you're going to take after Mommy and Daddy.
• It's surprising that you're bottom lip is not chapped with the amount of sucking you do on it. It's always pulled into your mouth, slobbery wet and being sucked on.
• You've met so many new relatives this month. We went to Ryan and Michelle's wedding where you got to meet a bunch of new cousins on mommy's side and then we went to West Virginia for Aunt Jackie's funeral where you met a bunch of people on daddy's side.
• You love, love, LOVE spending time in your "jumper" seat. You have started playing with all the toys that are along the outside and smile and laugh like crazy when you are sitting in there.
• We went to the zoo for the first (and second times!) and you liked to look around. I can't wait for you to really realize just what you are looking at! :)
• We also went to Baugo Park to play Frisbee Golf with Daddy, and you got to play on a playground for the firs time. You LOVED to swing in the baby swing and would have been content there to play all day.
• You still like to fall asleep every night in my arms. While I know this probably isn't the best practice, it's my favorite time of day, where it's just you and I snuggled up together.
  

You are growing up so fast. I try so hard every day to make mental pictures of you at this age. As anxious as I am for you to grow up and be big and strong, I don't ever want to forget this time that we have together. I love you, little man!

Mommy

Where Is Time Going

Each morning, we hesitate to get out of bed until the very last second. Our days go by pretty quickly, we come home from work, make dinner, do whatever and then go to bed. The cycle starts again. It's hard to remember that with each new sunrise, that's another day that we'll never relive, never get to have a do-over, never get to repeat. It's another day that passes that my Bubbers learns new things, does new tricks and observes. My days are going way to fast.

Reilly is 5 months old. I can't believe it. I'm so VERY excited to watch him grow up, but then when I think about it, I want to freeze time so we have this little boy in our arms forever. He is by far the greatest gift I have ever been given. Each day is such a miracle that we get to watch him grow, learn, laugh, play and even cry. 5 months has gone so quickly, I just want to cherish every moment.

Dear Reilly,

Here are highlights from month 5 Bubber Boy...

• We had our first road trip...we went to Ft. Wayne with Aunt Keely and Uncle Jeff. This was your first stay at a hotel (and one to remember since the fire alarm went off at 1:30 am.) We spent time at the mall, went swimming in the pool, and visited a Botanical Garden Center.


• We also experienced our first (and hopefully only!) trip to the emergency room on March 7th. Daddy and I took you in at 9:00 pm after you had slept for about 7 hours and we couldn't get you to stay awake. You were diagnosed with an ear infection and a head cold.



• We had a small experience with Chicken Pox. Turns out not everything you bring home from Ms. Betsy's is good news! :)
  
• You helped me celebrate a great 31st birthday. I loved the presents you got me; a bib that says "I love My Mommy" and a coloring book with a note inside that said you can't wait until I can teach you to color and we can color the pages together.


• At our Dr. appointments this month, you were pretty consistently 14 lbs and 14 oz.
  
• We went to see your first Notre Dame Mens' basketball game. You stayed awake through 90% of it and just enjoyed looking around and taking everything in.


• You celebrated your first St. Patrick's Day with a special outfit and a "I'm a Lucky Charm" bib.
  
• Mommy and you went on a bus trip to Longaberger with Auntie Kim, Auntie Keely and Grandma Moroni (there were a lot of other people too!) You were AMAZING and a lot of our bus friends said if they hadn't seen you first thing, they wouldn't have even known you were on the bus!

This has been another wonderful month. I'm so thankful that I get to be your Mommy! I love you, Reilly!

Happy Birthday To Me...

Ahh...another year older, another year wiser, just like any other day...but only it's not.

I've had a GREAT birthday. This has been the first year that I've been able to convince Dave that I really am a fan of Birthday Chunnaka (sp) and he should be to. He embraced the idea this year and did everything he could to make this a very special birthday!

My celebration started last Sunday, when Reilly arrived in my arms sporting a brand new, "I love my mommy" bib that is waterproof. If you're reading this and don't realize how amazing that is in itself...you must not hang around us very often! The celebration continued on Wednesday, when I received an itunes gift card so I could get some of the cool apps on my iphone that I always want but never "purchase." Then, more celebrating on Friday, when I got a new pink wallet to take the place of mine that has been falling apart for quite some time now.

On to the real day, which is today, I got a new Nintendo DS puzzle game, the movie "Fireproof" and Bubbers got me a coloring book that had a message inside saying he can't wait for me to teach him how to color.

This morning, my dear friend Lisa invited Bubbers and I to breakfast to start my day! We had a great time catching up and visiting. My sister and brother in law, Kim and Glenn, offered to keep Rei for us this afternoon so Dave and I could go on a "date" to finish our celebrations. We dropped him off and had a great time seeing the moving "The Bounty Hunter" and then enjoying a late lunch/early dinner at Texas Roadhouse.

We went back and picked up Rei, then stopped off at Mike and Teri's for a quick visit before heading home and gettin' in our jammies.

Although Dave has made my day very special this year, I received the greatest gift of all earlier this year in October. The best present of my life was born on October 27th. It was exactly one year ago today that the Dr. confirmed that there was indeed a baby in my belly and told me that I was going to be a mommy. I'm not sure what else you can ask for on your 30th birthday.

I'm so blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life. I've had so many phone calls, texts, face book messages and well wishes. It's been a great day! I'd kinda like to have a birthday everyday.

3...2...1...PANIC!

Last Sunday started out as a great day! We woke up in Ft. Wayne during our weekend getaway and spent some great family time together.

Reilly had his first big weekend away, with lots of new things to see and do. He slept pretty well at the hotel, which I was very nervous about. We all would have done much better if the fire alarm had not gone enough at 1:30, but we survived.

Rei fell asleep at lunch before we headed out of town and slept for the majority of the ride back to Mishawaka. He did wake up for about 15 minutes so he and Aunt Keely could visit as I snoozed away.

When we got home, he continued to sleep for most of the afternoon. There were a couple of times that we tried to wake him up so he could eat, but he wanted no part of it. Throughout the evening, until about 9:00, he slept continuously, except for the 4-5 times that he woke up for about 5 minutes and just screamed. Then he would fall right back asleep. Although we were worried with how much he was sleeping, we did realize that he was out of sorts from our weekend away and blamed it on that. However, I did my best to wake him up at about 8:45, even having him sit straight up in my lap as I was sitting in bed, and he zonked right back off, almost falling over. This is when the worrying got bad.

We decided it best to call the Dr. to just get their opinion. Dr. Jagger was on call last weekend, and after giving my report to the call center, he called us right back. Although he didn't sound to worried in the beginning, after he heard about our day, and the fact that Reilly had only eaten about 9 oz the whole day, he urged us to take him to the Emergency Room right away.

3...2...1...PANIC!

Dave and I quickly dressed and made the phone calls to the family. We got to the ER, where Keely and Jeff met us and got checked in. The entire trip there and the check in process still provided sleeping time for the little man. While we were waiting to be called back to triage, Rei finally opened his eyes and kept them open. Of course!

We got called back and they did the necessary tests...temperature, blood oxygen level, etc. Everything appeared to be fine. To top it off, Rei was wide awake and looking at us like, "What are we doin' here guys?" One of those times that we can laugh at now, but felt rather silly during. We went from Triage to the actual room, where my Dad and Diane showed up as well. At this point, I think Rei thought we were throwing a party in his honor was was quite the guest of honor. He was chattering, giggling, moving...everything we had wanted to see the previous 7 hours, but didn't. He even got to wear the special hospital gown to his "party!"

One Dr. came in to make sure he wasn't an "Uh-oh" baby and needed to be seen immediately. He felt good with the way our little actor was acting and said that Dr. Speicher would be in soon. After waiting a bit longer, the Dr. came in, discovered Rei had the start of an ear infection, gave us a prescription and sent us on our way. Yep...an ear infection. (We found out the next day at our regular pediatrician, it wasn't even that impressive of an infection!) We're guessing that with his chicken pox, head cold and later stomach flu (we think!) maybe his body was just exhausted and was fighting off the illnesses with sleep. We made it back home around 11:00 pm.

Being sick is scary. Hearing a Dr. tell you that you should get your four month old to an emergency room as soon as possible is HORRIFYING. I can say that was the most scared I have been in a really long time. My family was amazing that night. Coming to meet us at 9:30 pm, staying with us until 11:00 pm, and calling to check on us after we were home.

Rei's much better now...finally back to his old eating habits and feeling much better. I'd be happy if he's never sick again.

Our Weekend Away!

Last weekend, 3/6-3/7, Dave and I decided to "get away." We were super excited that Keely and Jeff planned to come along, and quickly decided that Ft. Wayne was far enough to feel "away," yet close enough for a quick weekend trip...this was after all going to be Rei's first road trip.

We headed out of town Saturday afternoon and were planning on returning Sunday afternoon. We had a great time, seeing all sorts of fun stuff. We checked into the Hampton Inn, which was to be our home away from home, and then quickly headed over to Glen Brook Mall for some shopping fun. Although we were at the mall for quite some time, we left with money in our pockets! :)

Next, we headed back to the hotel for some swimming and relaxing. Oh, and dinner, too! We ordered pizza to be delivered, ate and headed down to soak in the hot tub and be chlorinated. Dave, Rei and I spent time in the pool only, as the hot tub was flamin' hot. The pool had plenty of chemicals, so we didn't even last in there to long. There were also so very loud, excited kiddies swimming which made it difficult to bear for much longer than about 25 minutes.

We headed up and to bed about 10:30, only to be waken out of a dead sleep by the hotel fire alarm at 1:30 am. Imagine waking up to the loudest sound you've ever heard and not knowing what to do next. I immediately grabbed Reilly to make our escape, and Dave jumped out of bed, looked around in a sleepy panic and said, "What do we do?" After taking a minute to breath, I put Reilly back in bed and headed for the hallway. There didn't appear to be any smoke, so I closed the door, told Dave to lay back down and proceeded to call the front desk. After 4 attempts, and no one willing to answer, I headed down to the lobby.

I found the front desk clerk, who was clearly out of breath and not in a good mood and asked what was going on. She said that she had "run the floors and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary." I asked if we needed to evacuate, (I did pass some poor souls who were standing outside in their jam-jams!) and she said she didn't think so. At this point, a bit of Mama Bear came out, and I replied, "Well, I need to know what we should do, not what you think we should do, because I have a 4 month old upstairs." She said we were welcome to evacuate if we wanted, but she thought everything was okay. She did tell me that the fire department was on its way, and she would know more than. As I went back upstairs, thinking we could be part of a huge weenie roast in under 5 minutes, I gave Dave the update, and he said to chill out and we watched TV for a bit. We heard the sirens come and then I headed back down about 15 minutes later to find out that a sprinkler had been bent and had triggered the alarm to go off. We're in teh clear.

Sunday morning we got up and enjoyed some breakfast downstairs in the lobby before playing some cards and heading out. We made a stop at Gander Mountain and then headed over to the Botanical Gardens that are in downtown Ft. Wayne. We had a great time walking around and exploring the different areas, plants, shrubs and trees. We made a quick stop at Red Robin before heading back home.

We had a great time in Ft. Wayne, took lots of pictures and made lots of memories. And if you thought I used to be a heavy packer before Rei, you should have seen me then...

4 Months!

Dear Bubbers,

Holy Smokes, Batman!

You, my little man are already 4 months old. I can't believe it. Each day goes by faster and faster...there are so many moments that I want to find a pause button for...but I know there are so many amazing moments yet to come. I try to hit the rewind button in my mind each night as I lay down and say my prayers...there is not a minute, event, or thing I want to forget about your childhood. I hope by replaying each day over and over, I'll never forget...

Month 4 has been very exciting for us. Here are some of our highlights:

*We got to celebrate Great Grandpa's birthday with your first trip to the Essenhaus for dinner.
*We discovered the most amazing inventions for babies...the BUMBO seat! We couldn't live without it.
*We've had our first round of "day care cooties" and still have the snot to prove it!
*You broke mommy's heart by crying your first real tear when I didn't get you out of your swing in what you thought to be an appropriate amount of time.
*We found out that our not-quite-so-chunk-o-man weighs 13 lbs. 14 oz, which was 2 lbs 3 oz more than last month. Even with your weight gain, you are still in the 47%ile.
*You are 26" long, which proudly puts you in the 90%ile.
*Dr. Meier let us quit the scary Reglan medicine.
*One day when I picked you up from Ms. Betsy's, you were wearing PURPLE pants. You had spit up so much, that she had changed you into all three outfits that we have there for spare, and she ran out of clothes. You had to wear Wylie's doll's purple pants home.
*You ate oatmeal cereal for the first time with a spoon. You were a MESS! We left the high chair and went straight into the shower.
*We celebrated our first Valentine's day together. I couldn't ask for a more perfect Valentine. You sent Mommy roses, a teddy bear, a balloon and chocolate to work.
*You had your first Valentine's Day party at Miss Betsy's...I'm sure you were glad to share your Jolly Rancher sucker Valentines with all your friends.
*I lost a lot of sleep this month as we started having you sleep on your belly. You love it, even though I still wake up 4-5 times a night to check on you.
*You wore shoes for the first time...although I think you prefer just socks.
*Similac is still your beverage of choice, although we did have one evening that we had to give you some prune apple juice to get things movin! :)
*We still like to go swimming each week, even though we don't stay long, you always seem happy in the water. You really like to shower, too!
*Tummy time is getting to be better for you, at least you don't start screaming the minute we lay you down.
*It's been a lot of fun watching you in your exersaucer, I think you have finally figured out that you can control the things at the end of your arms and are starting to really reach out and grab things.
*Reilly is your name, and droolin' is your game. You're a mess most of the time...drool, drool, drool!
*You average 2-3 outfits per day, which is far more than Daddy and I. This also means you make the most dirty laundry.
*Daddy and I enjoyed an evening out while you stayed with Grandma and Grandpa. This was your first time being with them. This was also the first time Daddy and I have gone out since we welcomed you into our family.

Bubbers...you are the joy in my life. I don't know what I would do without you. I'll never be able to repay Daddy for giving me such an amazing gift. I love you forever.

Mommy

My Very Special Valentine

Valentine's Day has never been super special for me before. This year was different, very different. To start things off, I got flowers at school. I only remember one other time getting flowers at school, and that was for my birthday (I think!) And...to top it off, they weren't just any ol' flowers. There were 12 beautiful, long stemmed red roses. AND...they also came with a teddy bear, chocolates and a balloon. I think someone loves me very much. Actually, according to the card, two someones love me very much! My Dave and my Reilly. I could not ask for two better Valentines! They're the best.

Day Care Cooties and Real Tears

Ugh! Day Care Cooties have hit the Woods' household!

Rei woke up last weekend with a bit of a stuffy nose. We didn't get to concerned, nothing too major. Well...it's been a week and we still have lots of green stuff flying at a high rate of speed each time he sneezes (which happens to be quite a bit due to his AR!) The poor thing gets up in the middle of the night snorting like an aged pig. It's not pretty.

He has also recently decided that the "big blue sucker thing" comes straight from the devil himself and starts to wiggle and whine when he sees it. I'm proud to say that I have mastered holding his head still while taking care of business though. Really, when you think about it, who in their right mind wouldn't whine and wiggle when they saw a big blue pointed object coming towards them and then feel it being shoved up their nose?!?!?! I think it's only right to whine and wiggle.

Sometimes our endeavours are rewarding, sometimes their not. I called the Dr. and he (ours of course wasn't on call) said that we just have to stick it out and keep on "sucking!" Wonderful. I hope we find the end to this soon.

On another note--my Rei is not really a crier. He whines, he groans, he moans, but he doesn't really cry to often. Last week, one day when he wasn't feeling that great, he was crying and I noticed a tear, a REAL tear. I thought maybe it was a fluke. Especially since I hadn't seen anymore since then.

This morning, when I was getting him dressed, I evidently wasn't working fast enough and he got pretty ticked and was screaming at me. I like to think it was encouragement to get to the bottle faster, but I think he was just really mad. There was another tear. Way to break my heart, little man. I think we've seen our first two REAL tears. I didn't really care for them to much. I hope I don't see anymore anytime soon!

Safe In Grandpa's Hands...

Bumbo Seat Saturday

If you have a small child, and no BUMBO seat, you should be ashamed. It's WONDERFUL. It's DELIGHTFUL. It's AWESOME. And Reilly LOVES it!

3 Months--Through Pictures (In no particular order!)

Swimming with Mommy and Daddy at Mishawaka High School on January 25th, 2010Didn't even cry when we first got in..and the water was COLD!
Hangin' with Grandpa at Brady's 5th birthday party on January 10th, 2010

Gettin' ready for Ms. Betsy's...first time at daycare...January 4, 2010

Just lookin' cute bein' naked and in his GAP hat.

Gettin' used to the new exersaucer...first time!

Hangin' with his best friend and cousin, Brady!

Don't know what's more exciting, the beginning of 2010, or the FAT ROLLS that we finally see!

3 Months!

Oh my goodness gracious! I can't even believe that my baby is already three months old. It seems like only yesterday we were laying awake the whole night imagining what life was going to be like with a baby and freaking out when we drove out of the garage on the morning of October 27th, thinking our family would never be the same! Here we are three months later and I wouldn't trade a single moment for anything in the world.


Here are some highlights from month three...

• Reilly decided that nursing with Mommy was no longer cool and went strictly to formula and cereal.


• Our little wiggle worm scooted himself all the way from the back of the couch cushions right to the floor under the end table...all done with Mommy crying far more than he did.


• We welcomed 2010 in at Aunt Keely and Uncle Jeff's house...and Rei made it until 11:59, and then fell into a deep sleep and drooled through the new year!


• Rei went to a babysitter (outside a family member) for the first time. We all quickly fell in love with Ms. Betsy and feel very blessed that she is a part of our little man's life.


• I made a very hard transition back to work, and I only cried 3 days...not bad!


• Reilly reached 11 lbs 11 oz at his last check-up, and I'm sure he's chunked up even more since then!


• Reilly reached the 2 foot mark! I think he's gonna be a tall boy!


• We got to celebrate Brady's 5th birthday (Rei's first birthday party!)


• We celebrated a late Christmas with the Moroni and Milner side!


• Rei's smiles light up my life each and every day. They come so frequently and make his whole face shine.


• We've gotten used to 6-8 hours of sleep at a crack. Right now, we usually get up sometime between 2-3 am to "chatter" and "coo" but rarely have to get up and do anything.
  
• There have been little bursts of laughter...one time even scaring him so bad he cried.


• Rei got to discover life in his exersaucer for the first time. We're still convincing him that it really is a pretty cool gadget...although he still very much prefers his swing.


• Rei discovered his tongue comes out of his mouth. We take turns sticking our tongues out at one another and he plays along for anywhere between 45 seconds to a minute.


• Rei, Dave and I went swimming at Mishawaka High School's Open Swim. This was Reilly's first time swimming and although I'm not sure he loved it, he sure didn't hate it!


• We had our three month pictures and he was as cute as ever.

I didn't realize that I could love a person this much. He is my life!

January 4th...before we left for daycare and school...before the tears!

I will post more pictures from month three soon!