Thanksgiving Special

This is going to be my final blog post. For November. Because it's the last day of the month, silly!

I have great news, I finished Reed's mobile! You really just have to come see it because I discovered that it doesn't photograph well. I tried numerous times but to no avail. I had to choose a couple pictures to post, so this is what you get.

I enjoyed it so much that I offered to make on for my friend, Janice. She’s having a boy in January and her colors are black/white & orange. I have some ideas now that I’ve completed mine, but who knows when I’ll get hers done!

Thanksgiving was very special. We had Mike’s parents as well as his brother’s family. I always enjoy spending time with Mike’s family so of course we had a good time! Reed met his cousin, Luke, for the first time. Too bad they look nothing alike. *sigh* Luke is a year older than Reed and has a little brother on the way so Reed will have another cousin soon! They were able to participate in our Thanksgiving tradition- in our house we make pizza on Thanksgiving day.

I'm sure they thought it was a little odd, and to please everyone we still did the turkey on Friday, but as long as Mike and I have lived together, we've done this. So we had all the toppings that anyone could want and we rolled out our dough and made our pizzas. I remember the first year Mike and I did this at the condo in Salt Lake and I ended up burning my arm taking the pizza out of the oven. The scar isn't even visible anymore but when I sent the picture message out I got a lot of "Pizza on Thanksgiving??" replies. The best part about having family come to visit is you don't feel quite as much pressure to "host". However, the worst part about having family come to visit is you don't have that pressure to "host"! My only regret about the Thanksgiving holiday is I wish I had been a better host.

Normally, Mike and I will have an itinerary ready for guests who come to visit. A whole list of options so the days can be jam packed with memory-making activities! This time we did a whole lot of relaxing! I hope they didn't mind too much!

Speaking of visitors, my mom will be coming soon! It's going to be wonderful and I'm just aching to throw my arms around her and wrap her up in a big hug. I've been missing my mom pretty intensely lately. I suppose she was feeling the same way because all it took was one conversation about her coming to visit and the ticket was bought! Its difficult for me to visit her in the winter because there are many smokers at my mom's house and I can't just go outside to avoid it. We're talking about temperatures below zero, and Reed just doesn't have clothes that are warm enough! So, the warmer months are much more comfortable. Not to mention the chances of getting stuck in Denver in the winter... no thank you!

Have I mentioned how lucky I am to have the most wonderful husband? Mike is the most competent daddy I know. Reed loves playing with him and I already see a special bond. With Mike, Reed is always learning. It's either some kind of exercise or his alphabet, shapes, or colors. Reed has recently started his "grabbing". We are in the very very early stages but we're working on the hand/eye coordination. Mike held out a toy, very steady until Reed grasped it in his little hand! He got so excited about this that he started kicking his legs and when he let go he just wanted to grab it again. So, Mike held it for him again and it took a while, his poor little hand floating around very near the toy while he strained to control what he was doing with it, but he got it again. They also do push ups together. Okay, Reed does tummy time while Mike shows him how to do push ups. I mostly dance with him, that is, when I'm not feeding him! Mike and I split night-duty. He keeps offering to take care of Reed for a whole night so I can get the entire nights sleep, but that's impossible. As a breastfeeding mom, even sleeping on a sheet saver isn't going to get me through the whole night. Besides, lately Mike's been having a little trouble soothing him back to sleep quickly in the night. I think this is because Reed thinks dad means playtime!

How do you ignore that angelic face and those huge eyes looking up at you with that mischievous grin?? It's difficult, but you have to do it. He tries to pull that with me, too. I don't look. Strict rule: No eye contact at night! Okay, so I've fallen for it once or twice. Last night Mike gets up with Reed in the night but in the end he brings him to me and explains that Reed is wide awake and he just can't get him back to bed. So, I get up, nurse him and have him in his crib within 15 minutes. Sometimes Reed just makes me look good. It's really probably because he was full, clean, and faking Mike out with the bright eyes, even though he was so sleepy.

One last thing- we thinks we had Reed's first laugh! And WHO made him laugh? Mike's brother! Dang it, David!!! Oh well, at least we were all there for it! I've been trying to get Reed to laugh for me for days now. No such luck!