Out with the old, In with the New

A bunch of us headed over to Joe and Ivy's for New Years Eve. It was a great time with TOO MUCH GREAT FOOD and adult beverages galore. We had some beer pong games, guitar hero, and of course children to entertain us. Reef, Crew and Renae were helping celebrate.

Reef and Crew were good little boys and went to bed around 9:30, but some of the guests were just a little tipsy and kept going upstairs and using their OUTDOOR voices. Crew kept waking up, but Steph and Verne were able to get him back down fairly easy. Reef didn't wake up until about 10 till midnight and decided to be a die hard and not go back to sleep until we headed home at 2 am! I guess he just wanted to ring in the new year too!

It was a great time meeting new people and hanging out with the oldies but goodies!

Cheers to a new year. :)

Playdate with Max and Oscar

Today we had a playdate with Max, Oscar and Breanna. We headed over around 10 am and enjoyed eating our cereal in their portable high chair/booster. I really need to look for one at a garage sale or thrift store or even Craig's list, because it will come in handy, better than the bumbo seat!

It was quite the zoo at the Prochnow residence as Breanna already had a teacher friend from McPhee over that has a 3 year old daughter. Breanna was also babysitting a friend's 3 year old, so the count was 3 three year olds and 3 babies under 7 months old! Us girls had fun talking school and kids and husbands, etc...I could go on and on about our conversations, but that would bore you! We ordered DaVinci's 5 cheese pizza for lunch....if you haven't tried this and are a cheese fan, it's a must! Alisha and her 2 1/2 year old daughter, Addison joined us after Nicole and Alex left, so the ratio was still the same. Reef and the boys managed to take a cat nap while the rest of the kids were watching a movie. That gave us about 20 minutes of girl time before we were back on duty! It was great getting together during break with so many friends.

Reef looks like a GIANT compared to Max and Oscar, and well he should because he's 5 months older than them!

Playdate with Teagan

Today we had a playdate with Karli and Teagan. We got over there around lunchtime and enjoyed sandwiches and cheez-its!!! Reef showed off his scooting and crawling skills while Teagan showed off rolling over from her back to front several times. She had only done it a few times before and was showing off today! It's going to be really fun to see the two of them together when they are older. Right now the 2 month difference seems pretty big since they are around a milestone apart, but in about 6 months, they will be super fun together!

Hanging out ALL Saturday

We had a lazy morning followed by a busy day. We headed over to Joe and Ivy's around 1 pm and just had a lazy afternoon with them. They were busily cleaning their back room and taking breaks every now and then, and then we watched Tropic Thunder... IT was hilarious! Here are the boys hanging out on the couch! We had some pizza and then we headed over to Pat and Breanna's because a bunch of girls I graduated college with were getting together.





Over at Breanna and Pat's we had a good time chatting and reminiscing about college days. It was fun to get a bunch of us together as we all live fairly close to one another(Lauri, the girl directly behind me, lives in Seattle) and we try to get together every few months. It's getting harder and harder as a few of us have kids or are about to (Jody is due in March.) It definitely was NOT like the old days, drinking and partying!!!

Pictured (clockwise from left): Amanda, Brandy, Lauri, Shylynne, Jody, Breanna, Bethany, Me, DesiRae

Merry Christmas

Reef and Great Grandpa Leon with their matching driving hats!


Merry Christmas (although I'm typing this Jan 12th!) Today we went to Crete to celebrate with the Mundt's. We got there around 10 am for a brunch, as Jarod and Stacey were going to get to Crete around 1 pm for lunch. After brunch we hung out and had a good time chatting with the grandparents. Reef was pretty excited to see all his grandparents and great grandparents!

We brought our guitar hero game for the family to see and play with, and it was quite the hit. Mostly for us young kids, though! After lunch it was present time! Again, Reef enjoyed tearing the paper off of the toys and gifts he got, and I was quite impressed with his skills! He's getting that pincher grip down!

More guitar hero followed and I tried to take a nap, but Reef just wasn't having it. Overload of the senses, I think. We had a very small dinner as we grazed all afternoon and all of us played dominoes before bed. Reef was a die hard as well and would only sleep for about 20 minutes until he finally fell asleep around midnight....or so we thought. It was a VERY rough night for me because Reef got up every 1-2 hours and wanted to stay awake at 7 am! Luckily mom got up around 8ish and let me take a much needed nap until 10. What a Christmas!

Merry Christmas EVE

This afternoon and evening we had Christmas with the Rohrs'. We went to church with Rick and Cyndi and then back to their house for yummy food and of course PRESENTS!!! Reef was super excited about opening presents and we captured lots of video of his FIRST Christmas. I will download those later!

My favorite gift from Rick and Cyndi was my Willowtree Nativity Set. I am SOOOOO excited about it, but am refraining from setting it up this year since the season is nearly over. Next year though...come Thanksgiving, you will see it up! Jared got loads of gator things, and I'm sure his Tim Tebow autographed picture was one of his favorite gifts. Reef has been loving all his gifts, and we've been having a blast watch him grow and navigate the house and play with his new toys.

What a wonderful season.

Rolling, Scooting, Crawling, Bear Crawl

So Reef is officially a mover now. After several months of rolling, about a month of scooting (backwards mostly), we are now on to crawling! We have only taken a few "steps" forward, but I'm sure in NO TIME he will be into everything!

This morning after I took a shower, Reef was playing in the hallway while I was getting ready. He was scooting and crawling around and found the door stopper, you know the boingy thingy that stops your door from making door knob holes in the wall! He was FASCINATED with it, and I was happy that he was occupied, although in the back of my mind I thought for sure he was going to pinch his little finger. He didn't!

He gets into the bear crawl *hands and toes* position, but doesn't move yet. He's getting to be SUCH a big boy!

6 month check up

We had our 6 month check up today with Dr. Brabec and it was good. He gave us the ok to start solids and said we have a very healthy boy on our hands. Reef weighed in right at 18 lbs (65 %) and was 27 5/8 in. long (90%). He is slimming down a bit, not that he was ever fat, since he's been so mobile. We have NOT been enjoying the cold weather as it slows us down and mommy doesn't want to take her precious little boy outside!

WE are still fighting bedtime and will go to sleep, but wake up EXACTLY 30 minutes later and won't go back to sleep. Our bedtime USED to be around 7 and now it has been 10!!! Please come back good sleeper! Hopefully he will just work on it himself...while we try to RE-train him in the sleep department.

Ugly Christmas sweater party!

We had our friends over for a little Christmas get together and I decided to ask people to wear "ugly" Christmas/Winter sweaters. I've always seen and heard of people having these parties, but we've never been to one or had one. Of course, with many of our skeptical friends, not very many showed up wearing them. Next year more people said they'd show up with some funny shirts. I had a blast wearing one of Cyndi's old homemade sweatshirts, while Jared wore one of her old red and green sweater vests. My friends Bethany and Shylynne joined in the spirit by borrowing a couple of B's sisters vests.

We enjoyed the night talking, eating, playing games (guitar hero and others!) and just hanging out. Reef had a late night as he didn't want to miss out on all the fun. He went to bed around 9:30 and then decided to wake up around midnight as some of our friends were leaving.

Jared and Joe partied hardy all night long and played video games until nearly 4:30 am! What a bunch of crazies. Ivy and I were smarter and went to bed around 1.

I think this will definitely be a new tradition to have.

Limo fun

It has been a tradition of Rick, Cyndi, Ken and Di to go drive around town and look at the Christmas lights. Rick usually has to drive while the others get to partake in adult beverages and see all the beautiful lights without having to worry about the roads. This year, however, was different because Cyndi surprised Rick with renting a limo to take us around. IT was supposed to be just a small stretch town car, but the company overbooked and we got an Escalade instead!

The girls always wear jammies and so I had to dress Reef in his Christmas jammies too! Don't we look great??? :) It was a fun night and hopefully a NEW tradition for us.

1/2 b-day!

So today is Reef's 1/2 birthday and we had SUCH a busy day. I can't believe it's been 6 months since that morning of his birth...it goes by SOOOOO fast. It's funny that after just 6 short months you forget how small your baby was....when you hold a new baby, you think to yourself, there is just NO WAY your baby was EVER that small. As I hold my friend's babies, Reef looks like a little boy, not a baby, but I know he still has much more growing up to do and I will cherish each growth stage more than the last!

So far, Reef can: sit up by himself
scoot backwards and in a circle
get in the crawling position
get in the bear crawl position
roll all over
grasp objects
hold his own bottle (not all the time)
drink from a sippy with help
jump like crazy in the jumparoo (or with someone holding him!)
go from a sitting position to crawling position and back
much, much more!

He has made the transition into starting to go forward with scooting, so I know it will be ANY day now that he's moving all around!

Here is Reef excited that it's his 1/2 b-day:

Christmas photo fun!

When we got home from the mall, I decided to have my own photo shoot with our Christmas tree. Reef looked so cute already, and he had a bath this morning, so I took advantage! I hope he doesn't get all pictured out as we have his 6 month/family photos on Saturday!

He loves the feel of our tree (it's fake, if you couldn't tell) and will grab the ornaments off. I have put unbreakable ones on the lower part, but they still have small parts, so I have to watch him like a hawk! He scooted backwards underneath the tree last night while I was making supper and had the picture frame ornament in his mouth...UH OH, bad mommy! He's going to be a fast one...already is! Hopefully that will help the weight to continue coming off!

Our mall outing

Here are pictures from today's mall outing.


Reef sitting on the carpet in the family bathroom waiting for the twins to finish getting fed. Amazing, it takes longer to breastfeed 2 babies than it does to breastfeed one!



Oscar-top and Max-bottom in Reef's stroller, Reef was in Ella's old stroller. We didn't want to get the double stroller out when they can still (barely) fit in the same one.

Have I said how much I HATE this program when it doesn't get the pictures on here straight?

A visit with Santa

Today I convinced Breanna to bring the boys to the mall so we could walk around and shop. I also wanted to get a picture of Reef and Santa. I didn't know what to expect from Reef...was he going to scream, was he going to pull his beard or glasses? NOPE! He was the perfect little man and even sort of smiled for the camera. Can you tell I was standing off to the side of the camera??? Hence Reef not looking at the camera. Oh well! It's still cute.

We had a good day and for some funny reason, Reef's hair looks REALLY auburn in this photo. Could be all the Red in the picture!

Nikki's Wedding

This weekend was my friend Nikki Miller (now Buck)'s wedding. We went to jr/sr high school together. We played volleyball, sang in choir and numerous other things together. It was a GORGEOUS day and a beautiful wedding and reception. I had a good time catching up with friends I hadn't seen for awhile and spending time with Lindsay(my date for the wedding as Jared had to work).



Pictured: top row- Natalie, Abby, Nikki, Sarah, Lindsay bottom row- Me and Carrie (who was in the wedding)


Reef and Mommy, cute as ever!

SOOO BIG

So Reef can't pull himself up in his play yard yet, but if you stand him up, he'll be there for quite some time. He is currently a little beaver, gnawing at everything he can get to. On Monday the Dr. said he probably would have a tooth or two by Christmas....we'll see. He is getting to be such a mover...just not forward yet. Circles and backward are his thing right now. Too soon will he be crawling around and getting into things we haven't baby proofed yet. It's on my list to do over break...I swear!

In other news, he is doing much better since getting diagnosed with the minor ear infection, but his bed times are still TOO LATE for me. It's been consistently between 8:30 and 9:30 and my little boy needs more sleep than that. Or maybe it's me...hmmmmm. Anywho, hopefully when we start solids next week that will change. Please???? More details later!

Visiting the great and great great

Rick, Cyndi, Reef and I loaded up the car and went on a 2 town adventure today. We first went to Fremont to have lunch with great great Grandma Dorothy. We had Gambino's for lunch, and anyone who knows Fremont should know Gambino's. I had the Polynesian pizza which was simply divine. Pepperoni, green peppers, tomato, pineapple, and onions.....YUM, YUM! As always, we had to bring Jared back a Meat Lovers because he would've been sad if we hadn't.

Next, we went into Omaha and visited with great Grandma Glennie. Aunt Patty came and hung out for awhile as well. Reef always brightens grandma's day when we come up. He gave her a little surprise today also by pooping out his outfit while sitting on her lap. Luckily nothing got on her. We both heard the noise, but didn't think to check his pants!

A good time had by all.

Pictured: Grammy's handiwork

Doctor, Doctor gimme the news...

So we saw Dr. Tucker today because Dr. Brabec was out of the office and she thought his right ear looked a little inflamed so she prescribed some antibiotics. She thinks Reef is probably kicking it on his own, but this is just a precautionary measure. He slept WAYYYYYY better last night from 8:30-8 with only 2 wakings!!!! And he was almost his chipper self this morning.

This afternoon I could tell he was feeling better because he was scooting all over the place (in circles and backwards), rolling here and there, and babbling again. Last week he didn't talk much, so I could tell he was feeling better. We had another "steam" in the bathroom, we are still flushing the nose, and hopefully with the added meds, he should be like new.

I am very thankful that he hasn't been sick often, and this small ear infection has been our worst encounter for almost 6 months! He's had maybe 2 little colds and they weren't bad at all.

Let the better days come our way!

MOVIE day

This morning Reef was still not a happy guy. He needed lots of TLC and that's just what he got. We had movies playing in the background all day while we tended to our sick little guy. Ocean's 12, Formula 51, Boondock Saints, and Anchorman to name a few of the flicks that made the cut.

We decided we should call the Dr. today to find out just what was making Reef so unhappy. The nurse that I talked to told us that if his runny nose lasted for more than 10 days we should see a Dr., but from his symptoms that I told her about, she thought it was probably just a cold. I still decided to make an appointment for tomorrow. Better safe than sorry.

He had a pretty good afternoon and we took a bath together (he LOVES the water), sat in the steamy bathroom to help his runny nose, flushed his nose with saline and breastmilk (he DESPISES this), and still had him sleep in the swing. Hopefully he will have a better night!


Pictured: Reef Sad......Reef Happy. All within minutes of each other!

Go gators!

We had an enjoyable afternoon watching football and cheering on the gators. Reef was also in good spirits, so we could accomplish what we needed to. We had already made plans to go out to eat with Dan and Courtney, but we didn't know when and where. They decided on Las Margaritas at 6, so we knew the game wasn't going to be over. Jared was a little disappointed, but he has his blackberry to keep up to date scores and I knew there would be a TV at the restaurant.

We dropped Reef off at grammy and grampy Rohrs' and had a great meal. It was even better that the Gators beat Bama (for Jared's sake, and mine!!) We had also had some after dinner drinks with friends at Lancasters. While at Lancasters Cyndi called to tell us that Reef was NOT a happy camper. He had been crying for about and hour, hour and a half. We decided to call it a night and go see what the little guy needed. He tried to settle down when he saw us and was O. U. T. OUT on the drive home (9:30). He slept until 2ish and then decided to get up every 2-3 hours to eat. There just has to be something going on in that little guy that we don't know.

The waiting game

It's always a waiting game when you come upon something you're just not sure about. That's how I feel right now with Reef and his lack of sleeping at night to put it kindly. Last night around midnight we finally tried having him sleep in the swing since it is reclined and he wouldn't be laying flat on his back. He slept until about 6 am, so I would say "SCORE one for the team!" After I fed him I tried him back in his crib and he slept until 8.

His naps today weren't quite great, but my mom (she babysat while I worked) said his nose wasn't that runny. Hopefully it's going away! But as my new Parenting mag said, all colds/illnesses are worse at night, so I was prepared for it to come back with a vengeance. He fell asleep at his 7pm feeding so I laid him in his crib. He awoke 30 minutes later with sinuses full of gunk. We're trying the swing thing next. He seemed hungry around 8, but I was at war with myself debating on NOT feeding him every hour. I tried giving him a couple ounces of water instead. He had about 1 and decided that just wasn't doing it. I gave in and let him eat. He didn't fall asleep but was getting sleepy. I sat in the chaise lounge with him reclined on me and let him drift off into dreamland. I set him in the swing at 9:30 (man, it's early!!! ;) and now we're playing the waiting game.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Making Cookies

Tonight Reef was a big helper making chocolate chip cookies with me. Actually, he was NOT cooperating by playing on the floor or jumping in the jumperoo, so I used the handy front/back carrier and strapped him to me while I finished up mixing up the cookies. He was in a trance watching the batter mix and watching me pour the ingredients. He actually kept his hands to himself (which he HAS NOT been doing for the past month) and didn't try to touch anything.

The cookies turned out great and tasted VERY yummy. Looks like mommy has a helper in the making!

And the crankiness continues...

Day 3 of Mr. Cranky. For the 3rd night in a row Reef has decided to extend his bedtime to nearly 10pm. This is about 3 hours later than usual. Last night he woke up screaming at midnight and we couldn't figure out what was wrong. I finally fed him again (I had fed him at 10, so I didn't think he'd be hungry) and he went back to sleep.

I've tried several non-medicinal remedies to get him more comfortable. Of course we use our homeopathic teething tablets that work great all day, but don't seem to do ANYTHING at night. I did my breast milk up the nose, flip and suck (if you want to know more details, let me know) because of his runny nose bugging him. And I did give him some infant tylenol last night because I was just getting so frustrated. Tonight I tried some homeopathic gripe water that says it's for upset stomachs and gas from colic or teething pain. It seemed to do the trick (although I'm not sure how fast it's supposed to work) but I still had to feed him again (he ate at 7, 8, and 9) before he fell asleep around 9:30 to his rainforest waterfall and music.

On a positive (maybe) note we did wake up to snow that actually stayed put for a little bit. I'm considering this Reef's first snowfall even though technically it has snowed a couple other times. Enzo on the other hand was NOT so pleased with the condensation that stuck because his little paws just don't like the cold.

Pictured: Enzo venturing out in the snow to go potty.

The park view from Reef's window.

No work for mommy...

I don't know why Tuesday's are sooo slow and there aren't many jobs, but I get to spend the day with my boy today! I waited until 11:30 at home, just in case I would get an afternoon job, but none came. First stop Target. We are running low on diapers and Target always has good deals. They have the huge boxes on sale for $30 and if you buy 2, you get a $10 gift card. Can't beat that, unless you're me and have a $10 off coupon! You have to be thrifty when the jobs aren't as plentiful. Even if they were, I'd still be thrifty!

Next stop, Gateway (yes, I still call it gateway) Mall to get some exercise and to see if there are any good sales. There were a few good ones, but nothing I couldn't live without so we left empty handed.

On to Breanna's. Since we were so close we had to stop by and see the twins. They were having an excellent day and we had a good time for a couple hours. All 3 boys even let us have mommy time by taking a nap at the same time! We decided it was time to go when Reef was needing another nap and was getting quite cranky.

Pictured: Reef loving his shoes (He has approx. 8 pairs of shoes that fit him right now from Robeez to camo shoes to mini Nike's) Not sure why a 5 1/2 month old has that many shoes, but I guess people just can't resist the teeny shoes (by the way Reef is wearing a size 2-3 shoe!)

Reef checking Max out. Reef's still not sure about those teeny babies and their small cries!

Happy December

I cannot believe that December is here! It seems like just yesterday we were getting ready to go on our Christmas cruise while not knowing if we had a little boy or girl growing inside. Now we have a healthy baby boy (that is very cranky lately at night with teething, we think.) Everything goes in the mouth, we are EXTREMELY drooly, we have a slight runny nose, and we DON'T want to go to bed at night. During the day we are as happy as a clam, but come nightfall, BEWARE! :) Hopefully this stage doesn't last long because I enjoyed the past 5 months of having the evenings to myself! This too shall pass.