January's Highlight Reel

 Visiting the Perot Museum with Uncle Brent and Aunt Jamye before they had to return to San Diego. 

Wrestle-mania is popular in our house these days.

 And so is brotherly love in the form of helping each other get ready for school 

(aka. "I get to use the water bottle and the brush on someone else!")

 The twin-littles have entered the stage of wanting to pick out their own clothes.  This is one *JOY* of toddlerhood that Reid did NOT prepare us for. He never really cared and for the most part, still doesn't.

 On January 21, 2016, we welcomed our newest cousin Eli Andersen Powell to the family. We couldn't have dreamed up a sweeter addition than this little man!

When Uncle Joe comes to Dallas to visit, we're always in for a fantastic (trio) date night.

 At the Dallas airport en route to Corpus for my grandmother's 80th birthday party.

This is where the boys get to go when mommy's away - Chuck E. Cheese!

Happy 80th!!

 Little Liam!

 Herein lies one of the problems with "sick" days when they are not actually feeling the least bit sick. The next morning while getting ready for school, Hunter said, "I sick, mom. I need go to work with you again."

Believe it or not, there were so many gorgeous days in January fitting for the Dallas Zoo.

 The boys' favorite zoo "attraction."

Celebrating Terrill's birthday at the Shooter Jennings' concert.

Reid had his first TOTS (Teams in Training) performance at the American Airlines Center. He loved every minute of it!

New Year's Eve

We returned home from Corpus on December 30th which gave us two days at home to recoup and to get back to our normal routine.  
As I sit here and type the word "normal," I laugh to myself thinking about how our "normal" will be long gone in just a few short months.  Oh how peaceful these days will seem in hindsight!
Jeff and I had illusions of a quiet, relaxing two days at home with Reid, but little did we know it wouldn't start out that way.
Although he was only showing one real symptom (an awful, lingering cough), we decided to brave the pediatrician's office on NYE morning.  The thought of having to wait an extra two days if something was really wrong did not sit well with me, and the thought of having to go to the ER or emergency clinic is at the bottom of my list of preferences as well.  
Little did we know that everyone wanted to get into the pediatrician's office on NYE!    1) sick season 2) it was a Monday and 3) it was the day before a holiday when the office would be closed.  
Even though I called at 7:00am (as soon as the phone lines opened) on Monday morning AND we arrived 15 minutes before our scheduled appointment time of 8:15am, the waiting room was PACKED!  I mean - every.seat.taken - packed (and it's a decent sized waiting room).  
Despite the fact that we were there from 8:00am until 11:00am that morning, I was so thankful we went.  
Dr. D diagnosed Reid with RSV - a very common respiratory virus that causes cold-like symptoms.  And not only had he not gotten over his right ear infection, but he now had an infection in both ears as well!  You'd certainly never know it from his demeanor.  
Poor little guy!
We left the doctor's office with a prescription for breathing treatments as well as antibiotic shots - one that day, one on Wednesday & another on Thursday (in case you didn't guess, antibiotic shots are NOT fun!).  
When we arrived home from the doctor's office, Reid ate lunch & went straight down for his nap.  It had already been a long day for the boy, and it wasn't even noon!
First thing's first after nap - our 1st breathing treatment at home (we did one at the dr's office that morning, however, it did NOT go this well).  
Thank you, Special Agent Oso, for instilling a calmness in our little guy (it continues to be his favorite show)!

 Now that the sickly stuff was behind us, we decided to get our NYE party started!

Spent some time with our creative juices

Then we bundled up to expend some energy on our jungle gym.

I think Grandpa Lou's riding lawn mower confused the boy!

We practiced displaying our age

Played a little basketball

And made a few trips outside to play on the jungle gym

(but the boy is hit or miss with a hat/head covering so we couldn't stay out too long)

Reid's 1st Shiners

Yes "shiners" is plural, but you didn't think he had a shiner on both eyes, did you???

1st Shiner Bock

And his 1st black eye

 

Happy Eight Months!

The Reid Report:

• At eight months I've eaten: avocado, peas, carrots, butternut squash, acorn squash, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, blueberries, mangos, pears, apples, chicken, turkey and puffs {boy does the boy love his puffs}
• I have two toofers!
• I'm army crawling all over the place now!
• I'm passing items from one hand to the other (and back).
• I love to play with other babies my age.  
• Hudson makes me laugh harder than anyone or anything else!
• I'm happy 90% of the time even when I'm sick.
• I'm sleeping through the night very consistently unless my toofers are hurting me.  Then mommy or daddy has to come in with a pacifier once or twice during the night to help me feel better.
• I'm learning to hug, and I'm definitely turning into a snuggle bunny.
• I'm happy to report that I convinced mom and dad to enroll me in my first session of Waterbabies!  I go every Monday evening for 6 months (through June).  I was happy that Dad was able to get off a little early to attend {and photograph/video} my very first swim class.  I'd like them to get more video footage of me at least once a month {to track my superb skills}, but since mom has to be in the pool with me & dad has to work, that may be a little difficult to accomplish...unless...hmmm...I wonder...{hint, hint}.  :)
• I weigh a whopping 19 lbs 11 oz.  We know this for sure because I had to go to the doctor on my 8 month birthday (& Valentine's Day nonetheless).  Dr. L confirmed I have my second ear infection (left side again & right side was too clogged to tell...again).  She reassured mommy that it's simply an anatomy issue.  Big people's ear canals angle downward to allow gravity to do its job, but little people's ear canals {that's me} are more horizontal so ear gunk gets trapped in there.  Then lo and behold an infection appears!  Don't worry though, I may be on antibiotics & probiotics again, but I'm still happy as a lark.

This is me...happy...and still making my cute bird sounds!

Gone are the days when I can sit Reid and his bear side by side for a photo op.  This was the only picture with the bear in an upright, seated position.

 "Geez, I wish my mom would trim my fingernails!"

"Don't you think I look like my dad when I smile big like this?"

 Watching his pups

 "I really do have the cutest toes ever!"

 "Who?  Me?"

 I laid Reid in his crib to try to get a comparison picture of his size in relation to his crib, but he was having none of it.  I couldn't get him to stay still for one second.  I think he was intrigued by all the fun stuff.  Normally, when he's in his crib, it's dark in his room.

 My little man...happy 8 months my love!  Your daddy & I love you to the moon & back.