Brothers & Bluebonnets

Brothers

(Reid: "Heaven help me.")

I know flowers may seem a little girly, but I think boys and bluebonnets go great together! First they are "wild" flowers, boys tend to be a little wild ;), they are blue (obvious), and these boys are tried and true Texans! I've been anxiously awaiting bluebonnet season to take their pictures and so lucked out with a beautiful area right near our house. We had to run really fast across a semi busy street to get to them, but we made it and had a really great time. Luke loved just running (of course), and Reid was really into examining the flowers (eating them...sigh).
I sure do love bluebonnets - they make me feel so springy and Texan!

Oh how sweet, he's smelling the flowers.
Upon further inspection, he's digesting the flowers - awesome!

Concentrated Running

Such a great big brother!
"Hey brotha." -Job

Kisses - goodness knows this won't last forever, so I'm glad I have pics now.

Chillaxin'
Sweet flowers for mommy! Among all the blue, he kept bringing me the yellow flowers.

And an added bonus. Disclaimer: It was really windy, so it's hard to hear what he's saying, but he's re-enacting the opening scene from Sound of Music...one of his current favorite movies.

7 month itch!

Here we are, 7 months old! I will explain the title of this blog, by saying the only "itch" I have for Reid is that he would start eating solids. This little (not-so-little) man is not a fan of the baby food. I started trying around 6 months without any luck. Then a fantastic round of colds/ear infections/sinus infections/2nd ear infections struck and we backed off for almost two weeks. We were lucky he was eating anything. So now that we've all been feeling better it has been my goal to get him to eat something off of a spoon without spitting it out. Oh boy! We've tried cereal, cereal w/ pears, yogurt, bananas, and showing him the bottle and when he opens up quickly putting the spoon in his mouth. He just frowns and spits out the food. I guess this just threw me for a loop since Luke loved eating and has ever since. I think Reid's going to be a little pickier. We did have a little bit of a breakthrough this week. A friend of Nana's suggested putting the baby food on my finger (hands washed in hot soapy water) until he got used to swallowing the food. It seems to be helping a lot. He likes to grab my finger to put it in his mouth, and every few bites we'll use a spoon. So I guess he's more of a finger food guy...literally!
Other 7 month milestones include trying like mad to get up on all fours and get moving,I can tell he's going to be a busy one, taking big boy baths with brother (they have a blast, and I'm pretty much always soaked), and talking up a storm. Luke went to Austin for a couple of days while we had a garage sale and Reid seemed to really like being the only child. He started saying "dada-dada and baba-baba." I guess he was finally able to get a word in edgewise. He has finally got down to two naps a day, which is nice when we are trying to run errands in the morning. As soon as he starts eating solids regularly I think we can drop the dream feed which will be really nice.
Reid is such a fun baby and continues to be pretty laid back. He also is sharing his 7 month birthday with Nana who is turning...oh just kidding, we don't tell that sort of stuff! ;)

Easter Egg Hunting

The Easter Baskets

"I found him!"

Going ahead and opening the egg to survey the contents.

Sadly we didn't get any "Easter outfit" pictures Easter morning. We were happy to make it to church almost on time. :) I'm sure there will be plenty of other Sunday mornings when we are less rushed to get some cute outfit shots. We had a great Easter Sunday though, and a wonderful brisket lunch. Afterwards Luke hunted Easter eggs in the backyard and did a really good job finding all of them (with a few clues here and there). The eggs were the best incentive for continued trips to the bathroom and I think he went about 20 times more often than normal so that he could get an egg. Whatever works though! Luke has continued to do fantastic with potty training, it's been such a blessing. He also has worked really hard on his new reward chart system. When he uses good behavior (sharing, helping clean up willingly), or nice words ("yes ma'm/sir on his own), he gets a sticker and once he got 10 stickers he got to take his chart to the store and pick out a new movie. Lucky for him "Princess and the Frog" just came out on DVD, so guess what we're watching tonight after bath? I think his next reward chart will be a trip to the new yogurt shop in Allen...yummy!

Getting his completed reward chart.
"Cool."

And the prize! Awesome job Luke, keep up the good work! (What a face!) ;)