You've come a long way, baby!

Check out my little guy 1 year ago...

And 8 months ago (24 weeks gestation)

And now!  My, my how he has grown.

On July 25th, 2010, Reid was a wee 5 day old embryo.  He and his sibling were implanted back in my uterus and the prayers continued just as they had all through our infertility and IVF journey.  We certainly prayed that both embryos would survive and that we would be blessed with twins.  I found out very early that I was indeed pregnant and my HCG levels (pregnancy hormone) were very high which indicated twins...but after the initial screening the levels didn't double like they should have.  After my first ultrasound we figured out that I was pregnant with twins but one did not make it very long and while one baby's levels were rising, the other was fading...thus the conflicting HCG levels.  I grieved for the little one that we would never know and swung from the rafters about the one we would.  I didn't have long to grieve because I had to take care and celebrate my pregnancy and have been caught up in the joy that is Reid ever since.  However, today I am a little sad not knowing which of the two embryos above is Reid.  I guess it is just knowing what that little embryo can become...

On the lighter note that I intended to write about...Reid will be 16 weeks tomorrow!  He is the most adorable and smiley little thing.  My favorite word to describe him is delightful.  He truly is.  We went to the pediatric GI doctor today to discuss his acid reflux.  Result: He has acid reflux, yep we knew that.  :)  We are going to up his dosage of Prevacid and see how he does.  We really liked his doctor and now have established the relationship to monitor his acid reflux and the crazy noises that come out of babies that have reflux.  The other cool thing is that we got his stats!

Reid is:

*16 lbs. 10oz.

*26.5 inches long.

Additionally, he is:

*loving to sit up!  Reid goes from a laying down position, grabs our hands and pulls up to a stand.  He loves it!

*sleeping through the night most nights. (Lord, please don't take this away now that I wrote it...please.)

*napping every 90 minutes during the day.  He just dropped his evening nap and goes to bed at 9pm.

*napping for 45 minutes most naps and usually one 1.5 hour nap during the day.

*looking red headed one minute and blonde the next!

*wearing mainly 6 month clothing.  In Janie and Jack he wears 3-6 but not for long!

*wearing size 2 diapers but not for much longer.

*doing well with physical therapy and still goes 2x per week for his torticollis.

*drinking 7.5 oz. of formula 5 times per day.

*dancing like Lord of the Dance several times per day (video to come)!

*kicking so hard in the crib that I had to put his bumper back in so he would quit injuring his foot by banging it against the hard surface.

*loving his cousins both older and younger.

*super interested in faces.  Since I'm home with him (and Mike too when he is not traveling), he gets tons of face time.  He even gets super ticked when you are not right in his face visiting about all the world has to offer.

*talking up a storm.

*giggling several times a day.

*crying less.

*ready to start eating some "real food"!  Rice cereal soon!

*not ready to sleep without a swaddle.  His arms just bonk him all night without it.  Who am I kidding?  The kid can't sleep without it yet.

*must have his pacifier to relax...favorite is the "binkie".

*maybe just a little spoiled!!!

Happy 1 year anniversary,* kiddo.  I plan for us to be attached at the hip for many, many years to come!  :)

*I just had a good giggle about the title of what type of anniversary we are celebrating here!  Happy 1 year, taken from my body, birds and the bees in a petri-dish, grown for 5 days, and returned to your home for the next 9 months anniversary!  Hey, the journey makes him even more delightful and miraculous!  :)

I'm older than 31...

Let me preface by saying Reid is doing some super cute things...he is a true joy and delight every day.  He has a cheeky grin that will melt any heart and complete strangers even marvel at him.  There is just something sweet and good that he exudes.  I have pictures and video that I need to upload - he is so darn cute.  Instead of the post I'm about to write, I should be documenting all the cool stuff he is doing.  But he deserves more time than what what I have to write right now...

OK, then there is his momma.  The lady that went to bed with wet hair on Monday night to wake up Tuesday "clean" so there was no need for another shower yesterday during the day...nor was there time.  Thus, I walked around the house all day with crinkle-wet-hair-then-bed hair and of course no make-up.  Throw in a little drool and spit up on my shoulder and there you have me.  OH!  Wait, I totally forgot that I pulled my bob hair back in a ponytail by afternoon so it looked like a rat tail.  I can't stand small ponytails.  Like when you go to the gym and someone has hair too short to be pulled back so they have to keep messing with it and it looks awful?  That was me.  Anyhoo, Reid was out of formula so I had to run out to Wal-Mart yesterday evening.  I caught a glimpse of myself as I was getting out of my car and literally thought, "what the hell happened to me?".  I need something.  Maybe to go back on Retin-A for these crow's feet.  I don't know but I sure looked older than 31.  And I know I felt older.  I used to think I never felt a day over 25 no matter how much older I get.  Until yesterday.

Then when I got home from Wal-Mart, Reid spit up an entire meal on a freshly showered and shaved Mike.  I don't have to write down how the rest of the evening went from there...but it didn't help an already haggard woman!

I'm determined to get ready today and present myself in a half-way respectable way.  I think I'll swing Reid by the hospital and show him off to my former co-workers.

Speaking of people who look older than they are, I heard the new Britney Spears song, "I Wanna Go" in its entirety yesterday.  It's Bravo's summer theme song so I had heard the chorus. (So it's probably not new by the time I heard it...)  She sounds like a chipmunk!  It's just weird.  But catchy, so I sang it all day yesterday in a chipmunk voice to Reid.  He liked it!  :)

I was thinking about how this blog used to be all about important things like struggling with infertility, marriage, Reid updates, etc.  Let this post just slide under the radar.  I ordered some new workout CDs, am making a hair appointment and have a dermatologist appointment on the 25th (I'm getting Botox and lip injections...just kidding...my super glamorous 6 month skin cancer check).  But I am going to get some damned Retin-A for this saggy face!  I wonder if she can zap my undereye circles.

Carry on.  If you actually read this, I apologize...

Hi, I'm Reid and I'm 12 weeks old today!

Our little guy is 12 weeks old today.  I can hardly believe it!  Here's what he's been up to:
*Reid is drinking about 35 ounces of food a day.
* Reid is sleeping through the night for the last few nights...usually to bed by 10pm, pacifier cry at 4 or 5 am and back to sleep until about 8am (please keep this up!).
*Mommy estimates his weight around 15 lbs and over 25 inches.
*Big boy is in 6 month clothes.
*Reid loves his new play mat!
*Reid is grabbing for everything...hair, noses, blankets, toys, dogs.
*Reid's physical therapy is going well at 2x per week.
*Reid's neck strength is a little behind but he's super strong everywhere else...it won't be long until his neck catches up.
*We found out that Reid loves music.  A friend of ours let us borrow a lullaby CD and we play it before each nap and bedtime.  He sleeps better now!
*Reid hates tummy time!
*Reid loves talking and can carry on an ohhhh and aaagggooooo conversations.
*Car rides are sometimes welcomed, sometimes not.  It has to be well timed!
*The last month has shown us just how bad his acid reflux was...he is now such a happy baby!
*Reid's parents and family are absolutely in love with him!

Happy 12 week birthday Mommy's little man!  I just adore you!

Here are some pics from the last few weeks!

Kisses from my fox!

Kisses back at ya!

Does this even need a caption??  How adorable is this grin?!

Reid already has a girlfriend.  Her name is Ella Courter and she's an older woman...by 1 day.  He dressed up for her visit as you can tell!

Papa Fred, Olivia and Reid

Father's Day 2011 - Mike's first Father's Day!

Cousins!

First time in the bumbo!

Mom's current favorite outfit!

12 weeks today!

A Father's Day Gift...

Happy Father's Day, Michael.  Today you received an awesome flash for our camera so you can take even better photos of our boy.

More importantly you got a true giggle session from your son!  Not just a glimmer of a giggle like what we have been getting for a few days, but a true gleeful chuckle!  What a gift.  We have the happiest baby who was just waiting to shine once we got that painful acid reflux under control.  He is the most wonderful gift we could ever hoped to receive.  My thanks is given to God each night for an amazing husband and God's trust for us to raise such a blessing of a child together.

Happy First Father's Day!  I love you more than ever.  And yes, I did get it on video.  :)

Rocking...

I just rocked my 10 week old baby boy to sleep...

I wish I had a picture to share but here's what it looked like: the room was dark except for the night-light of his closet peeking under the closed door, his lullaby was playing on the ipod speakers very quietly, his nap nanny was set up to help fend off the acid reflux, he was swaddled like a little beautiful burrito and his eyes stared into mine until he drifted off to sleep as we rocked to the sway of the lullaby.  Every once in a while I got a little glimmer of a smile before he was fast asleep.  No cries, just a relaxed baby ready to go night-night but not without the comfort of his mommy before bed.

It was heaven.  I think I'll do this every night until he won't let me anymore...

Good call...

Reid turned 6 weeks old yesterday. He also found his arms and went on a sleep strike! We kept thinking...just get to 6 weeks and then everything will level out and we'll find our rhythm. Lol! Reid had other things in mind! Poor guy just swings his arms and legs all night and hits himself in the head no matter now tight the swaddle. All the extra commotion has aggrevated his colic too. So this morning I was feeding him and we were making up with each other for our night time struggles when I got a call from a familiar number that I knew but could not place. I answered it and it was our IVF doctor's office letting us know that they received our announcement and congratulating us on our bundle of joy.  Yep.

Sleepless night? Thank you, Reid, may I have another and another?!  That call was well timed in my sleep deprived state. We tried hard for these sleepless nights and look forward to many more in our future! He's worth every missed zzzz and then some. :-)

Mornings...

Reid usually has his first feeding around 7 or 7:30am. He usually likes to snooze a little after he eats rather than having wake time...I can't blame him. I know I should try to follow Babywise and do an activity, but look at how sweet he is sleeping on my chest! I think for a while, I'll continue to soak these moments up instead of hyperscheduling...

He'll be awake soon enough anyways, lol!

Test

A little different this year...

Ahh, it is Mother's Day.  What a difference a year makes! Last year was so hard knowing that I would one day be a mother...just no idea when God had that planned. I am humbled and grateful that His plan brought our miracle this year.  He was sooooo worth the wait.

Happy Mother's Day to all moms and those who are praying to become moms in God's perfect timing.

And we're out!!!

Kind of. I instilled a schedule last Thursday. Baby Wise style, I guess. We had been trying a loose form of it but no crying it out used. So we started a 2.5 to 3 hour eat, play, nap schedule. It worked! At night, we got 4 and 3 hour stretches from start to start of night feedings. We woke up feeling close to human on Saturday and decided to go out to eat and my favorite breakfast spot because it is always empty, is a large open area (no germs) and it's super close. One of the things it has going for if (being empty) turned out to be its demise. We pull up and the darned restaurant closed down. But it turned out there was an equally empty Mexican food restaurant in the back of the shopping center. We had a lovely brunch and Reid slept the whole time. It was great to be out somewhere besides physical therapy! I even had 1/2 of a mimosa...!

The coolest part of lunch was when the greeter asked us if we needed a sling for the carrier. Why, yes we do. Because that's what parents with a baby in a carrier need. It felt so surreal!

Ok, enough about us. Little Reid updates are:
His cold is much better!
Physical therapy is loosening his neck up and his foot is much better.
We think he weighed 10 lbs, 6 oz as of Monday
He has started spitting up some. In fact, he just lost a whole meal all over me...wondering if that is normal? Most the time it is less than that. Ok now worried...
He is in between newborn and size 1 diapers.
He peed on his physical therapist again this week!
He is sooo sweet when I wake him. He gets rowdy if he wakes himself, lol.
His hair is looking red!!
He loves to eat and finds comfort in it. So much so he has milk blisters on his lips. Which means I spend a lot of time in my breastfeeding chair!
Reid is 3 weeks old.
Pics from our outing below.
*It has only taken me 5 days to write this post a little at a time. And at this point the schedule is a little rocky! Poor Reid had a rough day yesterday! Hoping for a better more restful day today.

An Aunt Meredith's Account...

Mike's sister, Meredith, is the original blogger of the family.  She has three beautiful sons that Michael and I love like our own children; her blog has let us follow their endeavors before we moved back to Dallas and even now when we can't make important events we can relive them through her posts.  I absolutely love her writing style and honesty about raising a family and being an all around wonderful person (not that she writes that she is one, but one scan of her blog and you'll know why I love her so dearly and declare her just about perfect).  Like Anne, she wrote a beautiful account of Reid's birth.  Please check it out below. 

http://countyourblessings.typepad.com/count_your_blessings/2011/04/reid-michael-robinson.html

Hopefully, I'll write my own story at some point!  My pictures don't compare though.  Michael took some great ones, but we were kind of "in the action"!

Love...