Category Archives: Mommy

Pressure

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On Tuesday, Paul and I went to Mother’s Group for the first time in a month. It was intimidating.

Paul is the second oldest baby (out of 10 or 12). One baby had cut two teeth. A few babies were busy rolling over. Most babies were starting to notice the other babies. All seemed huge! A few babies are already wearing the Crawler-sized diapers; they’re mothers said they’re already 8 kg. Paul was content to amuse himself, he hasn’t started rolling over again, and there is surely no sign of teeth (not that I’m looking forward to the teeth bit…). Paul is still about 6 kg and wearing the Infant-sized diapers.

On Wednesday morning as we ate breakfast, I was explaining to Ryan how Paul seemed to be behind. Ryan went over to Paul, who was minding his own business on his belly in the playpen, and rolled him to his back.

“Good job!” he said. Paul was excited too. Then Ryan made Paul roll over a few more times. Paul didn’t seem so excited anymore. Ryan left Paul on his belly.

As we were putting away our breakfast dishes, Paul rolled himself over to his back again.

I was delighted. I guess it takes a Dad to teach these kinds of things.

(Paul rolled over a number of times Wednesday. Thursday he didn’t do it very much, but he also seemed quite tired and fussy. Maybe Wednesday wore him out!)

The Entire Reid Family

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Here are all the Reids!

Alex took the picture using his remote control shutter release, which meant we could all be in the picture, we didn’t have to wait 10 seconds between each picture, and we only had to be trying to keep control of the kids for about 5 minutes. Here are the three best shots.

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If you want me to email you the high resolution, either send me an email at rebecca [at] reid [hyphen] family [dot] org or leave a comment. (I can see your email when you leave a comment.)

Dreaming and Singing

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Some times when Paul is asleep, his mouth opens in a wide smile and he giggles to himself. He stays asleep.

Some times when Paul is sad, I sing him a song. The other day he was wearing a Noah’s ark outfit, with animals on it. As I was changing his diaper, he was very cranky. I began to sing “Rise and Shine”.

Paul stopped crying and smiled at me. I sang it to him a number of times through the day and he always seemed happy to hear it.

Ever since he was born, I’ve developed the habit of singing him “Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam” and “Jesus Said Love Everyone” and “I am a Child of God” at least once a day. Even though I don’t have an incredibly beautiful voice and I’m probably off key, he usually calms down when I begin to sing.

Ryan thinks babies dream in colors and faces. They don’t have words, but they have colors. I like to think that Paul dreams in song as well. He may not have the words, but the sounds and the love behind them are pleasant to him. I like to think that he smiles in his sleep because he’s thinking of music.

How do you think a baby dreams?

Two Videos

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Don’t get excited about these two videos. Here’s why:

  • The videos are large files and so will take a long time to load.
  • Paul doesn’t smile or do anything cute, other than look at the camera.
  • Mommy gets distracted because Paul isn’t smiling and she looks at the camera and talks to the cameraman.
  • The cameraman tries to be funny and gets the viewer all dizzy.
  • Nothing happens in these videos, but the cameraman didn’t want to try again, so this is what you get.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

I’m Three Months Old!

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I had my three-month checkup yesterday:

  • I am 5220 grams (gained 830 grams in one month; 10th percentile)
  • I am 59.5 cm long (25th percentile)
  • I have a 40.5 cm head circumference (25th percentile)

Here’s a rundown of my life these days.

I like to suck on my fingers—but I don’t suck my thumb because I don’t know how to get my thumb out of my fist. Sometimes I stick my whole fist in my mouth and I gag myself.

I still spit up a lot, but maybe not as much as before. Now I’m drooling a lot too. I like to eat Mommy’s milk (I’m still too little to eat food), but if I’m too tired, I’d rather sleep. I sleep really well at night, usually falling asleep at 8 p.m. and sleeping until 5 a.m., waking only once to eat. I only sleep that well in my own cot, though. At night I don’t like to sleep in my car seat, even if I’m tired. I sleep well during the day, taking two one-hour morning naps between 8 and 10 and 11 and 1 and a longer afternoon nap between 3 and 6 or so. I don’t catnap as often as I used to. But I don’t follow too much of a schedule yet. I like to do whatever I want. Every day is different. That’s what keeps life exciting!

I like to hold a toy so I can look at it and try to eat it, but I often let go of it and can’t find it again. I try to bring things to my mouth, but I don’t really know how my hands work—sometimes I’m lucky. I like to listen to music and I like to watch the flashing lights on my new rain forest music box from Grandma Peggy.

I really like to go for a horsey ride on Daddy’s knees; I squeal in delight. (But not when Mommy has a camera going! I stare at the camera because somehow I always see it.) When Mommy and Daddy hold me up, I can stand on my own two feet! I make happy noises when I do that—unless I’m tired. Then I whine.

I used to like rolling from my front to my back, but lately I just look around while on my tummy and then I get tired. I think I’ve forgotten how to roll over.

Mommy likes to read to me. Before bed, she feeds me and then reads me Goodnight Moon, which Grandma sent me. It is just the right length—by the end, I’m ready to go to sleep. Other times of the day, when she reads to me, I think she is talking to me. I look in her eyes and talk to her with my coos. She coos back. I really like that time.

I smile most in the morning. At 5 a.m., I really like to see Mommy or Daddy coming to get me. I am extra smiley then. For some reason, Mommy is not as smiley then. But I know she’s trying to be smiley. After my first morning nap, I’m very happy. I smile and giggle as I play.

I’m very content when we run errands. Mommy keeps me in my car seat and I eat my hand. Everyone thinks I’m very cute and tells me so. At church, I spend some time with Daddy and some time with Mommy. But really, they could just give me to the young single adult girls and I’d be fine. They all like me very much. It would be nice if, in 16 years, so many girls thought I was cute!

I’m feeling a lot bigger than I was before. I can’t wear a lot of my favorite outfits anymore—I’m too big. But that’s OK, because Mommy has a drawer full of new favorite outfits to wear!

Well, I’ve got to go spit up, so that’s all for now!

Paul’s First Christmas and New Year’s Eve

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For Christmas this year, Paul and family took a trip to the High Country in rural Victoria. The whole family enjoyed the time we spent together. I think Paul especially enjoyed playing with Daddy all week.

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We stayed in Mansfield and Bright, which are down in the valley, and we went up the mountains for photography during the early morning and evening hours. Paul was a good sport with all the driving. When we went on the short 1-2 km hikes, he rode along in Mom’s front carrier. He tended to fall asleep!

Christmas Eve morning we went to Mt. Buller for the sunrise. Paul fell asleep, but it was all foggy, so he didn’t miss anything. That evening, we drove to Craigs Hut, which is a representation of the hut that was used in the movie The Man from Snowy River. It was a long and bumpy drive and Paul was tired of being in the car! He was fussy in the carrier. But by the end of the 2 km hike, he was asleep. It was very cold (nearly freezing) and windy on top of the mountain, but he was wearing a (borrowed) snowsuit, so he didn’t feel the breeze!

On Christmas day, the whole family was too tired to get up for sunrise again. We stayed in the apartment and had a low key morning. Then in the afternoon we headed back up to the top of Mt. Buller for the sunset. It was a perfectly clear evening and we got some great pictures! We took a family picture with a sleepy Paul while on the mountain top.

Christmas 2007

The family hiked to the top of Mt. Buller for Christmas Day’s sunset.

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By the time the sun had set on his first Christmas, Paul was sound asleep in the carrier.

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On Boxing Day, we headed to Bright and Falls Creek. There, we got some pictures of the high country. It was a lot warmer that evening and Paul didn’t even need to wear the snowsuit to keep warm.

We began the drive home the next day. It was at least five hours of driving, plus we stopped for brunch. By 1:30, Paul had had enough. He wouldn’t stop whining. I didn’t blame him. It was a lot of time in the car! Thankfully, there was only another hour and a half of driving at that point.

All in all, Mom and Dad had a great Christmas this year. We think Paul had a great first Christmas too, but he slept through most of it so I don’t think he will remember much.

(I am working on processing my pictures and will post them on my page when they’re ready.)

Paul’s New Year’s Eve was not very exciting. He went to bed at 9:15 p.m.! This morning, he welcomed the 2008 with a “bang.”

He’s a very good, happy boy!

Paul Discovers a Toy

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I’ve often tried to get Paul to notice his toys. I put all of them on the blanket around him and try to force them into his little hand. He lets go of the toy immediately and then tries to eat his hand.

“Look!” I say excitedly. “It’s a toy to play with! Play with it!”

He laughs at me. Despite the colorful toy I’m shaking right in front of his face, his focus doesn’t shift away from my face.

“Ah, well,” I think. “It’s good my child is not materialistic.”

The other day I peeked into his play pen and this is what I saw.

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I didn’t even force it into his hand. He found it himself. He held on to it for a about 10 minutes and then fell asleep, his arm curled around it.

Maybe he imagined he was calling one of his grandmas to say hello.

Merry Christmas, Paul! (and Mommy too…)

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For Christmas this year, we got Paul a Port-a-cot (aka Port-a-crib) to be used as a portable bed and as a playpen for downstairs. I put the unopened package by the tree, but I finally gave up waiting for Christmas, and I opened it. I bought it for Paul because we need it! I didn’t see the point of waiting. (We were going to open it to take on our trip the week of Christmas anyway…)

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I love having a place downstairs to put Paul down!

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When he’s awake and I’m cooking dinner, he just watches me and follows me with his eyes. I think it will be a nice safe place for him as he gets older and actually begins playing with his toys.

(Note that Paul has discovered his fingers, at least for sucking on, as evidenced in the second picture above.)

No More Smiles

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Mommy took my on an outing this morning. I thought it was going to be fun when I saw all the other little babies. Some were crawling around. I should learn how to do that. I smiled at Mommy and impressed the other mommies with how much I looked around. I was so alert! This was new type of outing. I wanted to pay attention.

Then Mommy held me in her arms really tightly and smiled at me. I smiled back at her.

A lady gave me a sweet thing to drink from a dropper. It was fine, but I couldn’t tell what was going on. I don’t remember eating like that before. Mommy kept smiling at me. Then all of the sudden, the lady poked me in the leg with this sharp thing. It hurt! I screamed as loud as I could. I thought that was it, but no! She poked me again. I wished I could talk so I could tell Mommy that the lady was being mean. I tried to wiggle away but Mommy let her poke me again! Three pokes! I was so mad. And Mommy didn’t stop her.

Mommy held me close again and I thought maybe I could be happy again, but then I started feeling all achy. It’s a few hours later and I still feel awful. I want to just keep crying and screaming. Mommy holds me but that doesn’t make the icky feeling go away. Mommy feeds me and I still feel all icky. I try to sleep but I wake up feeling achy. I am not happy.

What is this new feeling? Why did Mommy let that lady poke me? It was not any fun. I thought Mommy was nicer than that.

I’m really sad. I don’t think I’ll smile today.