2 months

I know that this is very late!! On the 28th of September, Avett turned 2 months old!! We can't not believe how quickly he is growing and we feel like we just do not have the time to watch him grow the way we would like to.  We are, though, fully enjoying our life of a family of 4.  It has been so amazing to watch Avett and Addison interacting together, to go and do small little family outings as a family, and to feel so complete with our family! Here are some stats on our boy for the month:
~ He is now weighing in at 13 lbs 10 oz. and is 24 inches long.  Both of these are in the 50-75 percentile.  Not too big and not too small! We have moved to 3 months clothing, but are slowly pulling from the 3-6 month section, as well.
~ He is sleeping up to 4-5 am. He has been sleeping in his bassinet still, but the weekend he turned 2 months we transitioned him into his crib.  He is still getting used to a more open space of the crib and his loose arms are waking him up more in the middle of the night. So, some nights we have a our full night of sleep until his normal wake up time, or we wake up around 1 or 2 and need to be repositioned.
~ He is cooing and smiling, ALOT! He has been very alert and loves to have anyone sit and talk with him. Kisses. also, are always a good starter for a big smile! He is able to track a person or toy with his eyes.
~ He has shown that he is very strong in his leg and head muscles.  He enjoys to stand and look around and will hold his head up for very long amounts of time.
~ He is still eating very well, but has calmed down quite a bit..helping me in the process! Mom gives him bottles during the day and he is taking the bottle with no problems. He does enjoy sucking on his hand when hungry and we are really trying to move away from that...even trying the paci, which I did not want to use, but he is not really interested in that.  Therefore, it is just a "catch me if you can" game with his hand. We try to quickly move his hand away whenever we are watching him and take care of the "stiuation" if at all possible.
~ We had some major skin problems on his face and head this month with alot of baby acne and irritation from lotions, perfume, and especially Thomas' aftershave. His face has completely cleared up and baby soft again after multiple face washing throughout the day, natural anti-allergen lotion, and no body products worn from the adults.

The Reynolds

Parent Teacher Conference

This week, Thomas and I headed over to All Saints for Addison's Parent Teacher Conference. Mrs. Oatman shared that Addison is doing extremely well in school and that she just cracks her up! She always come in with a smile and, as usual, ready to talk her ear off about anything and everything and more specifically, Avett! She has placed Addison at a table with two other little girls that are very quiet to do her work.  This not only is to help with the classroom noise of not putting Addison with other talkers, but also it is being used as a way to help get the quiet girls to be more talkative! Nice planning! She also shared that Addison is doing so well with reading comprehension that after nap time, she will begin to pull Addy and 2 other students to start doing the emergent reader program! So thrilled to hear that! It was awesome to hear that she is doing so well and that she thoroughly enjoys being at school and learning! 

Much Love,
The Reynolds

Sept. 11, 2012

Remember

Much Love,
The Reynolds

Apple Butter Festival 2012

YAY Apple Butter Festival! We were so excited to head out to the apple orchard once again to enjoy some apple picking! It was such a great dreary day to head out and have some family time outside. Avett slept the entire morning, not even to eat did he wake up (he was really enjoying the feeling of being lazy on days like that). We picked lots of apples, went on the hayride, had some yummy apple cider slushies, looked at a couple of farm animals, and Addy got her face painted. It was such an enjoyable time!

Much Love,
The Reynolds

Honors College Cookout

We attended our annual Honors College Game Day Cookout on the first weekend in September. As usual, Thomas was the grill master! We had some yummy sausage wraps, chips, and ice cream. This year was special because we were able to bring Avett to his first Texas Tech event. He did wonderfully and it helped that there was an air conditioned building that we could hang out in and not get overheated. The next best thing about the cookout was that I got to hang out with some great friends this time! Trinity, Diana, and Grace and Dan and Jeremy came to enjoy the cookout and go to the game! It was wonderful to spend the weekend with them, let Addison and Grace have some playtime together,and start the introduction of all of our family traditions to Avett!

Much Love,
The Reynolds

One Month

Avett is officially one month old this week! It is so hard to believe how quickly he is growing. We have seen different changes in him every week. We have been so lucky that we have this sweet little boy and sooo lucky that he is such a great baby! We have really had no problems or hard times with him thus far! Here are some things he is doing:
~ He has definitely begun to fill in and has started to become our chunky monkey. He has quickly moved from his newborn to the 3 month outfits and barely working the 0-3 month outfits. He is eating very very well! He is eating every 1 1/2 to 3 hours. I am still in and out of having problems, but things have gotten easier.
 ~ He is sleeping really well at night. We feed him between 8 and 9 in the evening and he will sleep until 2 or 3 in the morning. He will only eat a small amount and get his diaper changed and is back to sleep for another 2 hours, eat a tiny bit more and get changed and sleeps some more. He is still sleeping in our room, but the moses basket is increasingly getting tooo small. So since I have been home alone with him this week, I have been transitioning him for napping into his crib. It seems to be going pretty well, and once he is sleeping longer through the night we will move him into the crib at night.
~ He is smiling, making eye contact, and cooing so much more. He looks around and observes so much, especially his sister while she is playing. He enjoys smiling when he is getting "silly kisses" and will give you eye contact, noises, and open his mouth to "request" more! It is so fun to see him become more interactive. When he is not hungry he will lay on the pillow with Addison at night and listen to the bedtime stories, I think he more enjoys laying on the comfy pillow and laying next to sister.
~ He is not a fussy baby at all! Thank goodness! The only time he really cries is when he is "starving" and when he has had a dream that startles him awake. He will make one or two "sad" noises when he is starting to get sleepy. We have not used a paci at all and I am very happy that we have not had to use one. What luck we have!
~ Addison has done so so well with him. She has been a big helper. She enjoys picking out his diaper and throwing them away. She will watch him, while mommy or daddy walks away for a moment, she loves to talk to him, kiss him, hold him, sing to him, pretty much anything she can do with him, she enjoys! We are working on her having a quiet voice while he is sleeping and to not touch him or things around him that move while he is sleeping. She just can't help herself and it has been a bit of a struggle for her...lots of reminders are being made by mommy and daddy.
In the next month, we will be having some more changes on sure physically and developmentally, but there will also be some changes in the environment. Mom will be going back to work on the 10th and will begin going over to Nana's everyday for "Nana Daycare". I am very happy that she will be taking care of him, but I am so sick to my stomach about not being with him anymore. He will begin the transition to taking a bottle this week. Hopefully, this will go well!

Much Love,
The Reynolds

Pre-K

Addison had her first day of Pre-K at All Saints yesterday! She was so excited to be there and so happy to have the teacher she had been wishing for all summer, Mrs. Oatman. We had her open house last week on Thursday and that day she had received a postcard in the mail welcoming her to Pre-K, but it did not reveal who her teacher was. When we went to the open house she brought her postcard with her in anticipation of meeting and showing her new teacher that she got her mail. The class lists were on the doors of the teacher and when we saw that she was on Mrs. Oatman's list she was over the moon, she told me, "I wished and wished and it came true". We are so happy that she is such an excited kid, eager to be at school. We hope that this feeling will be everlasting and we can't wait for all the great things that are going to happen with our big girl in Pre-K.

Much Love,
The Reynolds