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!