Snow!

There is nothing better than getting to play in the snow when you feel like poop.

Excuse the half lit house but Jason blew a fuse and has yet to fix it.

Christmas 09

What a fun and crazy busy Christmas we had this year. It was so wonderful to spend it with all of our family and friends. We had 3 family Christmas parties and 2 Christmas's.

It all started the Saturday before Christmas. We had the annual Kiesow/Goad Family party at my Nana's house...

Sunday, Family Christmas party at my Aunt & Uncles...

One of his very favorite presents, the Dirt Devil. If this was a real vacuum cleaner my floors would be spotless...

Wednesday was the annual Beach/Blakely Family Christmas Party. I forgot my camera so no pictures from that night...

Waking up Christmas Eve morning at Jason's parents house...

Starting to snow at our house...

Christmas Eve with my family at our house. My sister, cousin Michael and Bro-in-law Trey...

Michael and Katie

Tried to get a picture of everyone having a snowball fight...

Santa came...

Cars, Cars and more Cars...

The Fam playing Rock Band...

Aunt Sharon attempting to play the drums but failing miserably.

Prayers

My mom is dealing with some health issues and the doctors haven't exactly been able to pinpoint what is going on. Long story short, she got the results from her CT Scan last night and they did not find what they were hoping to find. She will now have to give bone marrow at the first of the year to help the doctors further their evaluation. We are hoping for the best case scenario when they get the results but there is still the nagging leukemia thought/talk in the back of everyone's mind. Please keep my mom and family in your thoughts and prayers through the holidays.

Santa

Reed liked the idea of Santa this year but when it came to sitting on his lap, he freaked!

Round 2...still not loving the idea. I thought he would be tough for his girlfriend Grace, but as you can see he pretty much looks the exact same in both pictures.

Dermatologist

For the past 10 months we have been dealing with the most annoying "diaper rash" known to mankind. After countless tubes of diaper ointments, doctors visits and me yelling at Reed on a daily basis to stop scratching his booty so he wouldn't make himself bleed to death, I found a pediatric dermatologist who has finally figured out the mystery diaper rash...Reed is allergic to the blue-dye in diapers. Who would have thought??? Not me!!! So, now that we know how to fix the problem it's finding what I need to fix it. He has to wear a dye-free, chlorine-free diaper. That's really not that big of deal but I have only been able to find 2 different brands, Earths Best and Seventh Generation and the largest count I can find is 22 diapers for $12. How annoying is that??? If anyone has ever seen this type of diaper in a larger count would you please pass along the info. I would greatly appreciate the help! Good news is, he doesn't have a rough, red bottom anymore and doesn't scratch at it!

Daddy Time

Every night before bath and bedtime Reed has his very own Daddy time. They run, wrestle and play hide and seek. This is his absolute favorite part of the day!

He can finally hear!!!

It has always driven me crazy that Reed wasn't saying some of the most important "first" words correctly and really wasn't even saying many words. For instance bye-bye sounded like dye-dye or dog sounded like da-a. Everything always started with "d". When we went in for his 12 month well visit I brought this up to the pediatrician and he tried making me feel better and reassuring me that every child develops differently so it wasn't anything I should be concerned about. It's hard not to worry and compare your child to the other children around who were talking so much more than Reed. I was constantly worrying that he was going to be behind developmentally or that one day we would be dealing with speech problems. So.....

Reed finally had tubes put in both ears about a month ago and they have made a huge difference around here. The doctors decided after 9 ear infections, a ruptured ear drum and severe hearing loss all in less than a years time he was definitely in need of some help/relief...I think I was too! The procedure itself took less than 15 minutes and was so not a big deal. The worst part of the whole ordeal was when he was waking up from anesthesia...kind of weird holding your child who is crying and looking up at you wondering who in the heck you are. I know that sometimes tubes are not always a permanent fix but so far so good and I would do it all over again if need be. Since the surgery he hasn't had an ear infection and has added many words to his vocabulary...and saying them correctly! The same day he had his surgery he said milk and cracker for the first time. I was super excited...it was like watching him take his first steps. We went back to the ENT last Friday for a post op check up, his ears are perfectly clear of all the nasty gunk and he aced his hearing test! I guess as parents we all have our own variations of things we obsess over. Some maybe more serious than others, but this is definitely one issue I am thankful to not be stressing about anymore!

Locked In

Yep, that's right...Reed was accidentally locked in a running vehicle, in the middle of the country.

My parents have a place out in East Texas that is literally in the middle of the sticks. It is so far off the beaten path that they bought a truck to leave down at the nearest airport to drive while you are there.

Reed and I joined my mom last Wednesday for a quick trip so she could get a few things done around there. We stopped in town to drop off my car, picked up the truck and headed into the forest. After we got to the house and unloaded our things, we drove the truck down so she could change the battery in the deer feeder. I was sitting in the front seat reading directions to her on how to install the battery and in the mean time Reed climbed in the back and was playing with his car seat. I noticed his cheeks starting to turn pink so I turned the truck on to get some airflow.

After she installed the battery she was wanting to move the truck closer so she could stand on the side to see how much corn was left in the feeder. I jumped out to help guide her closer, shut the passenger door just as she was trying to open the driver side door. Next thing I hear is "oh my gosh Jessica, the doors are locked." I proceeded with an "oh s#!%, what are we gonna do???" My heart sank and I went into complete freak out mode. Here we are in the middle of no where and my child is locked inside of a running vehicle. I ran up to the house, grabbed our phones and luckily was able to get in touch with my dad to tell him to call a lock smith. While waiting for someone to show up, if anyone was going to show up, we were able to guide Reed to the front seat. I was yelling at him to push the button in hopes he would hit the unlock button but he just kept hitting the lock button or go and act like he was driving the truck...with a big smile on his face. Finally, after about 30 minutes of yelling "push the button" he tapped the down button for the window and we were able to stick a coat hanger down the side and hit the unlock button. Reed was free at last.

I think I almost put myself into labor and my mom about gave herself a heart attack while Reed was having a blast. Thank goodness he didn't start freaking out because I think that would have made the situation way more hectic. HUGE lesson learned, always make sure the truck is unlocked before shutting the door.

It's a......

BOY!!!!!!!!

Profile shot (18 1/2 weeks)

I feel like I am violating the little guy but here is the money shot!!!

My mom always told me that I was going to have a house full of boys and boy was she ever so right! Jason and I could not be any happier and I know that Reed and his little brother are going to be the best of friends! :) I might be a tad bit disappointed there will not be bows, dresses or tutus around the house, but would honestly not have it any other way. We still do not have a name nor do we even have a list of names...pitiful. I am starting to feel better and smile about life again. Baby and I are growing right along. I went from loosing weight to gaining a billion lbs this last visit and he is measuring a week ahead of schedule. I feel him move all the time now and I am loving it!

Everything looks great with little man on the sono but my placenta is still low. Dr. S said this is something very normal and has never had a patients placenta not move into the correct position before giving birth. I guess if you go into labor and start to dilate it will cause the placenta to tear. So, we will do another sono in 8 weeks just to make sure it is where it is supposed to be.

Trick-or-Treat

We had a pretty low key Halloween this year. Since I haven't been feeling my best I really hadn't put much thought into it. I waited until the week before to buy Reed a costume, which I highly suggest NOT doing. There was absolutely nothing in his size. Just another one of the many bad mommy moments I have had lately. My parents came over early that afternoon and carved a pumpkin with Reed. Then Jason's parents and the Dercks Family came over to do some trick-or-treating. I have to say my little man is quite the pro at trick or treating. I don’t think he understood the concept of it but he sure thought he was big stuff walking up to the house with his little pumpkin bucket and grabbing his very own piece of candy. It was too cute!

Watching Marmi clean out all the yucky stuff.

Big helper!

David, KellieAnne & Grace

My little Monkey

Ready to see what this whole trick or treating thing is all about.

So BIG!

Grandpa, G-Bo & Dercks Fam

Daddy & Reed

Granny & Reed