Laughter box

Check out the video of Reed cracking himself and us up. He is so much fun with all his smiles and laughs these days!

Kauai (weeks 13 & 14)

Our first vacation as a three person family was fantastic. To begin, the plane ride was smooth and Reed spent most of his time either nursing sleeping or smiling. Nearby passengers commented on how perfect he was "not a peep" they said. After we landed in Kauai, we rented a car, did a little grocery shopping and headed for our home away from home: a small flat on the bottom floor of a house on the beach in Anahola. We were all pretty tired so we snacked through dinner and went to bed around 6pm. The next day we watched the first of the 8 sunrises over the water we would see.

[Smiling at the sunrise]

The following days were simply wonderful and consisted of sitting on the beach with a cup of coffee and watching the sunrise every morning, hanging out at lots of beautiful beaches, eating fresh fruit and fish (not necessarily together), swimming, snorkeling, surfing, hiking, bird watching, napping, cooking, and reading.

[First time in the ocean]

[Second time in the ocean at Ke'e beach]

We didn't waste any time in getting our little crab into the water. The following day we headed to Hanalei beach and set up camp Witort. We borrowed a sun tent from friends and staked our place at the beach. This shelter from the wind and sun along with another borrowed item - a portible bassinett- worked out great in order to help Reed nap during the day and in between naps, we played. After the initial shock, Reed truly loved the warm ocean water. We bobbed up and down in the waves and he was totally at peace with it all.

[Nap time in the tent]

Billy starting calling Reed the crab prince, not because of a crabby demeaner at all, but because he formed his hands into these great little claws and because there were thousands of crabs on our beach in the mornings.

[A song for the crabs]

The rest of our trip consisted of more of the same: relaxing on beaches and experiencing the most beautiful places. One day we hiked the beginning of a trail up to the point where we could get a good view of the majestic Napali coast.

[Overlooking the Napali coast]

One day we stayed home and hung around our beach all day. We took family naps and only got in a car at night to drive to Kapa'a to have the best sushi we'd ever had.

[A rainbow at sunrise from our beach]

When we hiked part of the Weimea canyon hike we had to brave a very slippery and muddy trail. Billy carried Reed in the Moby wrap for this and every hike and, like a champ, he would fall asleep almost immediately.

[Reed shows us he is flexible with his sleeping arrangements. He's also showing us his growing chubby cheeks.]

We had a great time and can't wait to go back! Here's a bunch more pictures

Below freezing? Bring it on!

We went on our first camping trip this past weekend when Reed was 12 weeks old. After his morning feed around 6am we made coffee, packed the car, got Reed buckled into his car seat and headed to Yosemite. We were meeting other friends with babies Shelly, Tony and Lucy (8mos) and Karen, Carter and Teo (4 mos).

All of us were excited to be there and a little freaked out about how cold it was suppose to get. When we got to Yosemite Valley we ate lunch and went on a hike with all the babies.

[Standing in the spot where Mirror Lake is in the wet season]

At dinner we all met up at the campsite and Billy made us a great fire. Sitting around the fire two of the three babies slept (Karen and Carter got Teo down to sleep in their tent) and the parents talked and enjoyed the cool evening. By 8pm or so it was completely dark and getting really cold so we all decided to head to bed. Reed started off the night sleeping in his bassinet in several layers of sleep clothes, his swaddle blanket, and inside two cozy fleece and cotton sleeping bags.

[Can you spot Reed?]

At his mid-night feeding (around 2am) I bought him into the sleeping bag with us and that's where he stayed the rest of the night until 8am or so.

Despite the below freezing temperatures we were all very cozy and warm. However, I did not sleep well until he was in the sleeping bag with us. When he was in his bassinet I was constantly worried about him staying warm enough and being able to breathe.

[A family that camps together, stays together]

It felt great to get outdoors as a family and to know that we camp well together. I mean, if we can survive the freezing temps when Reed is 12 weeks, I am confident there will be a lot more camping in our future!

Reed is such a great kid and is becoming ever more interesting, talkative and funny. He makes me laugh all the time with his smiles, his growls (I'll try to capture one on video sometime) and now his great laughs. It's true what other parents say, we really don't remember life without him.

11 weeks!

It's getting so fun to watch Reed learn about his world and stake his place in it. The latest fun things include smiling at me through the mirror in the back seat of the car. We have a mirror situated on the headrests of the back seat cushions angled so that I can see Reed by looking through my rear view mirror. At stop lights I often turn around to fix a fallen out pacifier or give him a pat of reassurance. Yesterday I turned around only to see him wearing a huge smile on his face looking right at me through the mirror. We proceeded to have a short smile session before the light turned green.

In addition, Reed has a voice. Not just a cry or a coo, but a real live voice. He is making a ton of sounds which I think are his version of talking. Sometimes they are fussy talking and sometimes they are almost a laugh. But no matter the intention, they do not sound like a cry they sound like a baby trying to get your attention or enjoying himself.



Other exciting things at 11 weeks....Less swaddling! Until recently, Reed has needed to be tightly swaddled in order to be calm and fall asleep. There was no falling asleep in someone's arms or in the car seat with out the perfect swaddle. This meant, not only did he need to be swaddled but the swaddle needed to be tight enough that he could not free his arms because flailing arms upset him, erasing any of the soothing and calming accomplished thus far. Just this week however, I noticed that he crashed out in his car seat with just a loose blanket. I have mixed feelings about graduating from his swaddle. On the one hand it is nice to know he is beginning to be able to soothe himself and does not need to feel like he is still in the womb all of the time. On the other hand it means he is growing up which we know is inevitable but often difficult to admit. Finally, he is starting to grab at things just a bit, more on that in another post.