Bear on bike

We took our first of many family bike rides yesterday. Billy cleverly and safely attached another car seat base to our bike trailer and the three of us headed off to the Berkeley Marina. While there, we realized that we did not bring our camera for this maiden voyage so we asked a nice tourist to take our picture and email it to us (see the group shot below). Being able to bike with Reed has been a goal of ours for a long time now so yesterday was really special and the perfect way to greet 2009! The next step is to figure out how to tow the boy and the dog...we'll keep you posted.

Christmas in Berkeley

We decided to stay local this year for Reed's first Christmas and celebrate with friends and family who are here. It was bittersweet to celebrate this way. On one hand we had a wonderful time setting up our own home for Christmas and enjoying a mellow Christmas morning together. We also loved going to the many parties we had been invited to on Christmas Eve and Christmas day sharing traditions and stories with people from all over the world (Australia and England included).

It was a little strange to be the parents this time around which made us realize that we can now decide what traditions we will bring into our family from our childhoods and what new traditions we would like to include. We appreciated how lucky we have been to have the parents that we do and to never (until this year) have had to think about what Christmas will be, it just was. Without a doubt, we missed being with our loved ones in Minnesota, Oregon and this year New Jersey and sharing our happy boy with everyone for this holiday. That said, here are some of the highlights from this year. Click here for many more pictures of our holidays

[Reed on Christmas Eve with our dear friend Liz]

[Riding my new bike on Christmas morning]

[Elliott Witort playing drums for a captivated audience (aunt Helen and Reed) on Christmas morning]

[Christmas morning music jam]

[Happy on the house Santa's lap for Christmas brunch]

[Games on Christmas night at Doug and Rachael's house (this is a picture of the women's team in a battle of the sexes]

In other exciting news...Reed is enjoying his first solid foods. We started with rice cereal and today we introduced a little avocado into the mix. He seemed a little confused but then seemed to like it. We pulled down the high chair (given to us by Jenny and Eric) from the attic and began organizing his little bowls, spoons etc in easily accessible places int he kitchen...times are changing fast. I still nurse him most of the time, but in addition to occasional solid foods we also are trying to give him a bottle of formula mixed with breast milk at night before bed. It is sweet to see the boys bond on this night time feeding and it is a nice break for me.

[Eating his second rice cereal (but the first time he got any in his mouth]

Nana's visit

My mom just left yesterday after a wonderful week here with us. The joy she felt being with Reed radiated off of both of them and everyone around them. As per usual, we stayed pretty busy and she hung on for the ride quite well. Some of the week's events consisted of cooking diners together, hosting a very fun make-your-own Christmas stocking party with tons of friends and babies (see more pictures here), giving me sewing lessons, Christmas shopping, witnessing Reed taste his first rice cereal, celebrating his 5 month birthday, and TONS of face and cuddle time with Reed. Nana made it very clear she wanted to leave an imprint on him that he would not soon forget so she made an effort to hold him and talk to him as often as he was awake. She even babysat for a few hours when I had a work thing to do. All in all it was a wonderful trip and we miss her already!

[Becoming reacquainted with Nana on her first day here]

[Reed helping with our sewing projects]

[Making Christmas stockings together after putting the boy down to sleep]

Reed (4.5 months) goes to Portland!

[Cousin Sonia holding her baby cousin and loving it!]

Reed had a fun-filled trip to Portland to visit all sorts of family and friends. This being the first visit after Kris's sister Jenny and her family moved there, it was a whirlwind to see everyone, but really wonderful. The weekend consisted of lots of laughs both from and with Reed, lots of cousins holding "the baby", Christmas tree chopping and decorating, birthday celebrating (for Jenny), great eating and drinking, seeing old and dear friends, and getting to know a new area of Portland.

Once again, the airplane trips were pretty easy and bouncing from house to house didn't seem to bother our little jet-setter. Here are a more pictures of our wonderful pre-Christmas trip to Portland.

[Could he look any happier amongst all these ladies?]

[This was taken at our house before the Portland trip. Reed and his first Christmas tree.]

The other day I discovered that he thinks it's hysterical when I sneeze. I received a ton of belling jiggling laughs so by the time I got the video camera he was almost out, but here are a few to give you the idea. Just imagine this times 10!


In other news...
Today is Reed's 4th full moon (almost his 5 month actual birthday). He is getting so much more active and needs much more stimulation. Gone are the days of laying on his back under a hanging object for more than 3-5 minutes. He wants to bounce, swing, and see new things constantly. He watches me like a hawk and wants to be part of every activity I do. Vacuuming is one of his favorites, but he also loves swinging in the hammock, and going to the park. That's right, Carmen (our nanny who starts in Jan) taught me that he is a big enough kid to enjoy a toddler park. He LOVED swinging in a double swing with Maya and sliding down the slide with me. I never would have thought that he would be ready for a park like this yet, but as they say he changes every day.


He is incredibly affectionate and shows his love by eating our faces. Anytime he gets close to a chin or cheek he clamps on and loves us up. He grabs everything he can and puts it directly in his mouth. I am considering giving him a taste of some real food in the next few weeks. Sleeping is not so great. He gets up every 2-3 hours in the night, a regression back to his earliest weeks. We are weighing our different options and will report back on this.

Fall beach day

Yesterday we spent part of the day at a local beach on the bay. It was warm and sunny and a gorgeous day in November. We met Jon, Helen and Elliott there and played in the sand and water in between snacking on a beach blanket. We were reminded how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful place.

That same day we walked two blocks away and picked out our first Christmas tree as a family from Delancy Street Trees. I meant to take a picture of me in my tank top and B in his sun hat picking out a tree, but forgot the camera. It certainly was a change from my Minnesota days of tramping through the snow and chopping down our own tree. Reed loves to look at the lights on the tree and stares at it whenever he gets the chance. We are in the process of decorating it and I will post pictures soon...

Reed's first Thanksgiving (and his first cold)

I'll start with the later part of the title first, Reed got his first cold a few days ago. We all know that we are in cold and flu season and so far we've remained pretty healthy. About a month ago Billy got a nasty cold but Reed and I stayed healthy. Then a couple weeks later I got a little cough and runny nose, but nothing worse, and Reed continued to be healthy. Finally a few days ago we noticed that he got the sniffles. He is fine but sounds very similar to a little pig when he nurses now. It's a little sad to hear how hard he is working for for the milk especially at night, but he's a trooper and doesn't seem too phased by life's new obstacle.

[Our happy guy even with a stuffy nose]

As for his first Thanksgiving....We stayed in Berkeley this year and hosted the event with a small group of close friends. We all remarked upon how grateful we were for this local "family" when we were not able to be with our other families. Each person brought a little bit of their families and traditions to the table which turned into a tasty potluck-style version of the holiday.

It was our first time hosting and all in all it was a great success. Following the advice of my mother, the night before, I made my her green bean casserole, and cranberry sauce and submerged the turkey in a brine brined over night. At 9:30 am we prepared and started roasting our 18lb turkey and basted every 20 minutes there after. Liz made three delicious casseroles traditional to her Alabama family, Peden made a peanut soup from his grandmother in Georgia's recipe, Kate and Ryan brought mashed potatoes with Vermont cheddar cheese (their home) and Julia made cookies and brought traditional pumpkin pie. It was fabulous!!

[Billy and Peden teaming up to carve the bird]

Reed was the big boy of the group because Brody, the other kiddo was only 3.5weeks old. Although they didn't do too much talking or playing together yet, they did seem to acknowledge each other. Check out this video for a peak into their getting to know each other or see more pictures of the our fiesta here



The next day I slept in until 10am (with two sleep-filled feedings in there) and woke up to coffee with whipped cream left over from the pumpkin pie mmmmmm. Billy and I enjoyed a morning together at home and then met some friends and headed to the hills for the traditional post-turkey day hike. It was a great first Thanksgiving!

[Hiking with Beko and Kai]

In other Reed news....
He began pushing himself to standing all on his own. It really seems that he only need our hands for balance, check it out.



Other fun new things he does: holds his pacifier with his hand pulls it out and about 25% of the time puts it back in successfully, makes funny fake cough sounds and growling noises, while nursing, he pulls off and talks to me in the sweetest and softest voice ever, kicks all the time, grabs his toes, laughs at everything especially happy silly people like his parents.

Happy 4 month birthday!!

[4 months old in his bouncy seat]



[First bath in our kitchen sink]