Halfy Birthday Reid!

"This does not taste good."

How is it I get a little boy that turn 3 years old, and a few weeks a later my baby turns 6 months! Oh wow it's flying fast!! Granted we are pretty busy, I can only imagine what it's going to be like when we have kids in school...makes me tired just thinking about it.
So here we are, at the half a year mark with Reid. He is such a sweet little baby...well, he's kinda big, but still small. He is such a laid back baby and he just loves Luke. When he's in his jumparoo or at his activity table, he's all eyes on Luke if he's in the room. And if Luke happens to come over to see him, he practically jumps out of his chair with excitement. I adore it, and treasure it. I know there are quarrels to come, as siblings just do that, but my prayer is for them to be best friends, and to respect and protect each other. God does work miracles!
Anyways, Reid has started rice cereal, not a fan. I've added a little bit of pear and banana to try and sweeten it up...not a fan. He just spits it out. I'm not too concerned that he's not getting enough though, because he continue to sleep through the night a good 12 hours. We will keep practicing. We are still dream feeding and he's still got one arm in the swaddle. Woombie was so good to us, almost too good. He loves it and breaking him of it has been a challenge. He's done good with one are out about a week now, so I'll start working on his naps with both arms at. Who knew that would be such a challenge?!
He's rolling all over the place and I keep finding him under the coffee table. He seems to like it under there though. He is trying to sit up, but still falls to the side or forward. He plays really well on his tummy and is pumping those legs like crazy. I really think he'll crawl pretty soon, unlike Luke who was the "Scooter."
I've determined he's not a "morning" person, as laid back as he is. He prefers being held more first shift, but after a good morning nap he's all about playing and having fun. He enjoys bath time and just eating bath toys and kicking up a storm. Wait until we take him to the swimming pool this summer, he's gonna love it!
We are going to the dr. soon for his 6 month check up, so stats coming soon, and poor shots for baby. I only did half of his 5 month shots (there were so many), so I'm not sure when we'll catch up, but we will!
We love Reid Philip, you are such a joy and lovebug!!

"Here she comes again!"

"Dad, it's poison, I swear!"

M&M's, Gummy Bears and Suckers, Oh My!

The Goods: Success Chart, Sweet Treats, and The Chosen Big Boy Underwear

This is the what the jar looked like on day one...and joyfully it's almost empty which means we are at what I would say is the end of "potty training." Hallelujah!! I can't begin to tell you how much I DREADED potty training Luke. It's a bit of an understatement to say he is strong willed (all of which he gets from me, any laid backness is total Ross), so I just knew this would be a battle of the ages. Originally, long ago, I told myself I would not have two in diapers. But once I got pregnant, and then it was the heat of the summer, and I was oh so tired and oh so hot, I passed. I enjoyed my last few months of getting to take naps and having my only child around. Plus, I had heard they could regress after a sibling was born, so I put it off.
Then I put it off until after the holidays and buzz of all that died down. Well, I've learned the "buzz" doesn't die down, because we've been going full force since Jan. 1. So, Luke turned 3, and I had enough dirty 3 year old pull-ups. It was time. We picked the week with no activities and no visitors or going out of town and I made my plan of attack. I won't lie and said I didn't read two books, countless web posts and talked to many a friends on their methods, but I just combined a little bit of everything into my madness and took the plunge. And what do you know, we survived! It took us about 3 days of constant motivation, timers going off, candy galore, and reading books (and singing songs with his new CD player), and lots of Diet Dr. Peppers for me, but I can say Luke is potty trained!! It's wonderful and I'm so proud of him. He really only showed resistance a couple of times, it was more reminding him to go, but now he will go on his own, and most of the time he tells me he's going "by myself!". He still gets a "prize" for each time he goes, and a sucker for going #2, so I don't really know when that ends, but I'm fine with a few m&m's a day to avoid changing pull-ups (or buying them)! He's only had one accident while "out" of the house at church, but I attribute that to being there 3 hours and getting preoccupied with having fun. He has even stayed dry a few times during naps and bedtime, but I'm still not ready to try night-time training yet. It does give me hope I can get him there before long.
Some funny sayings I've heard from him are:
"Poo-poo, get in that potty right now!"; "I can't go, the shark ate my poo-poo."; "I'll push the button to go tee-tee."; "It's a space ship" - no explaining, you can imagine.
It's just another reminder of how big he is getting, but he really did a great job, and for him (and me), I'm glad we waited. Somehow I think this was our window of opportunity and we hopped in at just the right time! Yay Luke!!

Strutting his stuff in his favorite underoo's: WALL-E,
but he also loves those Spiderman undies too!

Back to the Tummy!

That's right! Reid's figured out the art of rolling from his back to his tummy! It's a whole new world from this view. I'm just waiting for him to do it in his sleep and get sad when he can't figure out how to get on his back again.

My 3 year old

Dear Luke Sawyer,
I truly can't believe I have a 3 year old! I remember thinking to myself how foreign it would be to have one, but here I am, and truth be told it's great! I'm so excited for you to be 3 and to experience all that comes with no longer being a "baby" but a "preschooler." This year has been a true test of patience, but has had some really fun moments. Your silliness is at an all time high and it's your joy to make other people laugh...and then get some giggles in yourself. Singing has become a favorite pastime too, and your current favorite movie "The Sound of Music" has provided lots of opportunities to learn some great songs. Another one of your favorite songs to sing is "Hey good lookin', whatcha got cookin?" (thanks Papa). It's really great when this is the first song you sing as we are walking into church.
You love to just talk and have conversations, "So, how's it going?" is a common one, as well as "what's your name mommy?" (daddy, nana, papa, grams, granddad, Taylor, Reid...etc!). You also feel it necessary to tell me your full name a lot too....just in case I forget. Another fun saying is instead of saying "why?" you instead say "but how?" It's hilarious!
Some other fun 2 turning 3 years old facts:
You tell us your favorite color is blue, but you do pick green a lot if it's an option. You love playing with your friends, and have been so blessed by wonderful friends (and mommy's) that we get to play with pretty often. Favorite toys are cars and your batman cave. You have started pretend play which I love listening too, and also playing with Reid. You are a great big brother, showing almost no signs of jealousy, only protection and affection for him. He adores you and is constantly watching you and trying to figure out how to get to you.
Throughout this year you enjoy running and then jumping in the air and falling down. I pray one of these days you don't break a leg doing this, but it's just one of those things you love to do.
You are such a boy through and through with your love of rough and tumble, tickles, and action. You love taking Daddy to "Narnia" in the closet under the stairs, and have recently enjoyed puzzles and "Go Fish."
Your favorite place to eat is probably Freebirds, but your favorite restaurant to go to is "Ronald Donald's", but you hardly eat anything when you go there. You are excited to go to school, although I think you are going to be a little disappointed when you realize you don't go to the middle school around the corner yet...but you are going to preschool at our church, so it will be a familiar environment with some great teachers and friends.
We went to the Dr for your 3 year check up and thankfully no shots this year. However, beware, next year they are due. You weighed 35.5 pounds (75th percentile) and are 3 ft 4 inches tall (90th percentile). You are just a tall boy, but maybe that will come in handy if you ever want to play basketball.
We just love you so much though sweet boy, and this journey of parenthood is more blessing than we could have fathomed. It's full of moments when it's hard, but necessary to discipline, but at the same time making us bite our lips so we don't laugh outloud. And then of course there's lots of laughing outloud and silly times. We are so privileged that God chose us to be your mommy and daddy and we are so proud of you already and the sweet heart that you possess. It is our prayer that your heart will know the true love of Jesus Christ, that's it's infinitely more than even our love for you (which is a crazy super duper amount you won't even realize until you're a daddy someday), and that it's our job to spread His love. You are already spreading so much love and that is such a gift for us to see. Happy 3rd Birthday baby boy, we love you!!

We had a Batman birthday party for Luke while we were in Austin and it was a great time! His buddy Will joined us (along with precious baby Blake) and he got to see all his grandmothers too! Great-grandmothers were even there! What a wonderful birthday! Don't you love his new "say cheese" smile?!

Compassion

Last year, while reading one of my favorite blogs, The Confessions of a Pioneer Woman, she posted a trip her husband and oldest girls took to visit their compassion child. I had never heard of compassion, but as soon as I looked into it I knew it was for us. You get to adopt a child and begin correspondence with him or her. We adopted a sweet little boy named Lazaro. So far we've gotten about 5 letters from him and I can't get them opened fast enough to see how he is. I ache for his life, that he lives in such hard conditions, but then again, he doesn't know of all the luxuries we have living in America. He has such a positive attitude and already a love of the Lord which is such a blessing to me. He lives in an AIDs sticken area and although we aren't sure, there's a good chance he or one of his family members has AIDs. Anyways, here's some pictures of our sweet guy...I pray that one day I get to hug him in person, and I truly encourage you to prayfully consider adopting a child through Compassion. I'm also attaching a video link from one of their conferences...it will bring tears to your eyes, but it's AWESOME!!
http://www.compassion.com/sponsordonor/catalyst-video.htm?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SP_SEG-0399_COMPASSION_ENEWS%20%281%29&utm_content=