10 Months!

Holy moly! Just two short months until Reed is 1! I really need to get on starting to plan his party. It will be here before we know it. There has been a lot going on with Reed the last month, so let's get to it.

Stats:
Height: 30 inches
Weight: 22 lbs.

At 10 Months:

• Reed is a walking pro. While he still doesn't just stand up in the middle of the floor and start walking very often, he does take off once he's pulled himself up onto the table, couch, chair, etc.

• He has moved from his first home to his second. Wow, can't believe he's already lived two places at such a young age. Hopefully, this will be his home for quite some time.
  
  
• He shakes his head no all the time. Mainly when we say "no, no". I think he knows that we are serious because he never laughs, but he isn't good at listening either. He does pay attention to me the majority of the time that I say no but he refuses to listen when I say no to him climbing on the fireplace. So, I have started to put him in timeout for a few minutes with him sitting in my lap. I am hoping that he will figure out what it means soon enough. We are terrified he is going to get hurt.

• Just last week, on Thursday, he started pointing. He makes an L with his thumb and finger to point. Too cute!

• And, just yesterday as we were in Toys R Us he decided that he would wave. It is a hilarious wave. Check out the video below.

• He has started eating more and more table food. He really isn't the biggest fan though. Every time I make dinner for him, he refuses to eat most of it. I am not sure what that says about my cooking. We are slowly but surely getting him off baby food, but it will take some time.
  
  
• He refuses to nap more than 30 minutes in his crib. I am not sure what is going on here. I think we are getting very close to transitioning to one nap in the afternoon but he still needs a short nap in the morning. In the afternoon, he sleeps 30 minutes in his crib and then I have to hold him or lay down with him for him to sleep more. I have got to work on him getting better at napping or these boxes will never get unpacked.
  
  
• He absolutely loves the water. We got in the pool with him for the first time on Sunday and he splashed and played. I love that he doesn't mind the splashing at all.
  
  
• He loves climbing stairs. We have to invest in a baby gate at the foot of our stairs so that we can stop using chairs and an ottoman as barriers, lol!


• He is a little chatterbox. In addition to "dada", the majority of the time, and "mama" when he's whining, I am pretty sure that he says "duck", "bye bye", "hi" and tries to repeat most everything else that we say.

10 Months Old!

Peeking outside

Trying to climb out of the chair.

Showing off his pointing skills.

Sweet Baby!

"Let me give ya a big kiss!"

Congratulations Leanne and Andy!

Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. Frey! We celebrated with Leanne and Andy on Saturday afternoon at a beautiful ceremony and reception. We had such a great time! Congratulations to the two of you! We wish you many years of happiness together!

Andy and Leanne Frey! The only pic I got of the two of them together. I felt bad asking them to stop dancing to take a picture. They were having too much fun!

The Girls!

Leanne and I. Her dress was so beautiful!

Andy wearing a Mexican wrestler's mask. What great traditions they had at this wedding! The men on Leanne's side of the family serenaded the bride and groom with several songs. It was so great!

Dancing action shot.....I promise she smiled immediately after I snapped this pic.

Day 3 in San Francisco

We started off the morning by going to Teal and Laren's church. Unfortunately, Reed is past the point of sitting quietly during the service, so he and I spent the entire sermon climbing up and down the stairs. After church, we headed to one of the Carlocks' favorite places for brunch, Q. Which has been featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, one of my favorite shows! The food was so yummy. We tried the macaroni and cheese tator tots, which were awesome, as was the rest of the food as well.

After brunch, we drove through many of the neighborhoods in San Francisco that missed the day before including Chinatown. Chinatown in San Francisco is very cool. It seems much more authentic than the Chinatown in NYC and certainly better than the one in Boston.

After contemplating what to do for the rest of the day, Teal suggested that we drive to Napa. It was music to my ears, lol! I never imagined that we would get to go to Napa on our short trip to California. But, we did! Yay! It was absolutely beautiful up there and I can't wait to go back.

Paraduxx Winery that we happened across. It isn't very hard to happen across one, since they are absolutely everywhere.

We sampled their wines which were very good.

Reed being very patient while we were wine tasting.

Reed playing in the vineyard.

And again. So cute!

That evening we were exhausted by the time we made it back to San Francisco, so we opted to order in pizza. After eating, we grabbed yogurt with Teal and Laren's friends Dan and Sarah. Then, it was time to head back to get packed up for our 6 am flight. Sorry Teal and Laren for making you get up so early to take us to the airport. We promise to never do that again! We love you guys and can't wait to see you again! Thanks again for being such awesome hosts!!

San Fran Trip Day 2

In the midst of unpacking, it is absolutely necessary that I sit down and write about the rest of our trip to San Francisco before I forget what we did. After the grueling moving weekend that we had, it seems that our trip to San Francisco is so far away. We miss it already and miss the Carlocks already.

Day 2 in San Francisco started off with a Teal Carlock special smoothie. Then, we headed out in the car to see as much of the San Francisco area as we could. Here are the highlights.

We started with a short drive on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Here is a pic from Ocean Beach, which I later read was used in some of the beach scenes from the movie Beaches. What a tear jerker that one was.

Another pic of the Pacific Ocean. So awesome!

The Golden Gate Bridge from one of the many parks in San Francisco. Atlanta really does need a view like this!

The Fam with the Pacific Ocean.

The Carlocks

After going over the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time, we headed to Sausalito to eat at Salsalito. It was so yummy and the perfect little place. We loved it!

The sign on the tree behind me. Thankfully, no one was hit while at lunch.

Teal entertaining Reed.

I really wasn't that impressed with the Golden Gate Bridge from afar but the closer we got to it, the more impressed I became. It really is an awesome sight.

Thanks to another tourist, we got a pic of all of us.

Lombard Street....the crookedest street.

A view from the bottom.

One of the many hills in San Francisco. Can you imagine walking up and down this everyday? I can't even imagine doing it one day, lol!

A quick stop by Ghiradelli Square for some yummy ice cream and probably the best homemade milkshakes I've ever had.

And the Full House house. I couldn't leave San Francisco without seeing it.

The Painted Ladies, made famous in lots of movies and especially the intro to Full House.

And, and a quick drive through Haight/Ashbury to see The Grateful Dead House. This is where in the mid-'60s Jerry Garcia and the band lived together.

Whew, we saw a lot in one day. It was so great to be able to drive around and hit to high points without having to walk. I can't imagine how people who just come to visit without visiting friends do it. I guess you really have to learn to use the buses really well.

To be continued......

Wow.

Our baby boy is now older than the amount of time that I carried him. It is so hard to believe that I carried him for as much time as we have spent with him. I have to admit that I have enjoyed these almost 10 months so much more than I did the previous 10 months. Wow. It is just crazy to think about it that way.

Happy 1st Father's Day Chris!

And, Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there, especially the fathers in our lives! We are so thankful to have each and every one of you in our lives. We do apologize that we chose to move on Father's Day weekend, so we promise to celebrate Father's Day at a later date.

Chris got to celebrate his first Father's Day by doing some unpacking. I am sure this is not what he was hoping for, but Reed and I promised to give him a "Daddy Day" sometime very soon! Happy 1st Father's Day Babe! You are the best daddy to our little man! He couldn't ask for anything more from a father. You're the best! We love you so much!

Reed and his Daddy.

"I love you Daddy!"

Atlanta Airport Celebrity Sighting

I completely forgot to mention that Reed and I started off our trip to San Francisco with a celebrity sighting at the airport in Atlanta. Granted, it wasn't an A-list celebrity, but I will take what I can get, lol! Considering we had a gazillion bags to check, Chris dropped Reed, myself and the bags off just outside the ticket counter while he went to park the car. We figured that would be easier than lugging the gazillion bags around with a baby in tow as well. Reed and I just stood outside and waited on Chris beside one of the Delta curbside check-in areas.

While standing there, up walked a guy that looked very familar. It was none other than Kristian Bush, the less popular half of the band Sugarland. I even had to google his name!!! If I mustered up the courage to speak to him, I didn't want to say "are you the guy from Sugarland?". Thank goodness for my iPhone! I was able to find his name very quickly. I snapped a quick pick of him checking in and then prepared myself for speaking to him. It is very random that I always see celebrities at the Atlanta airport and I never speak to them, but considering the fact that he was going to walk right past me, I had to talk to him.

So, as he walked by I said "are you Kristian Bush?". Being the nice guy he is, he said yes. This guy was so incredibly nice and normal. I just told him that we loved his music and then he chatted with Reed and I about where we were going and where he was headed. I was shocked at how normal he was. It was a quick visit with him and I didn't even ask for a picture....I didn't want him to feel too overwhelmed, lol! Needless to say, I was on the lookout for Jennifer Nettles the entire time we were in the airport but never saw her. I will settle for seeing him this time!

This was the best pic I could get of him. I didn't want him to turn around and catch stalker girl taking a picture of him, haha! Notice a few of our many bags!

San Francisco Trip

After dealing with an abnormally fussy baby at bedtime tonight, I decided that I would write a blog about our San Francisco trip instead of packing boxes for our move this weekend. I've got my priorities straight, right?!?!?!

This past weekend we made the trip across the country to see our good friends Teal and Laren Carlock. And, when I say we, I mean all of us, me, Chris and Reed. It was Reed's first airplane ride and first trip out of the surrounding states of Georgia. What better way to introduce him to travel than to take one of the farthest flights possible in the United States. He doesn't have his passport yet, which I need to work on getting, so this is technically as far as he can go, although I guess we could've gone to Alaska.

We started our trip on Thursday with an evening flight in hopes that Reed would sleep for at least half of the flight. We fed Reed his dinner once we got on the plane and gave him his bottle just about an hour and a half into the flight. Shortly thereafter, he went to sleep. Oh, precious baby! He was such a little angel on the flight. While he was awake, he played peek-a-boo with the lady behind us and tried to get anyone's attention within eye shot of him. Unfortunately, when Reed gets excited he screams with glee. Thankfully the lady didn't play peek-a-boo with him the entire time.

Reed on his first ride on the train at the airport.

Playing under the chairs at the airport.

Reed and I on the airplane. Notice the TV on the back of the seat. Those kept Reed quite entertained.

Reed and Chris on the plane.

Trying to keep him entertained.

We made it to San Francisco just before 8 p.m. Pacific time. The Carlocks picked us up and we headed back to their apartment in Burlingame, CA. What a cute place! Their apartment is in an older building with lots of charm. We chatted with them until way late eastern time, but it was worth it since we hadn't seen them since October.

Friday, we spent the day exploring the city ourselves while Laren and Teal worked. We purchased tickets to Alcatraz for Friday because Laren had already been 3 times. I can imagine how she feels not wanting to go to Alcatraz for a fourth time. I think I did the Freedom Trail a few too many times in Boston. I definitely started planning visitors trips so that they could do it while I was at work, lol!

Laren dropped us off at Pier 33 to catch the ferry to Alcatraz. It was a very cool tour of the former prison and I highly recommend it for anyone who makes a trip to San Fran. I actually met a couple at Laren and Teal's church on Sunday who grew up in San Fran and have never been there. What?!?! I guess I can kind of understand that it's just a tourist spot to them. Regardless, it is cool to see it and hear about it from the people who were there and lived through it.

Reed on the boat ride over to Alcatraz. He loved it.

Bay Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge

Alcatraz

Downtown San Francisco

WARNING: PERSON PROCURING OR CONCEALING ESCAPE OF PRISONERS ARE SUBJECT TO PROSECUTION AND IMPRISONMENT.

The Warden's House sitting on top of the hill with the lighthouse behind it. This was the first lighthouse in operation on the Pacific coast.

Military Chapel

Guard Tower

Showers.....ugh!

Example of a cell. Man, they had tons of room, lol!

Famous Inmates. Notice Al Capone on the far left. His crime is listed as tax evasion. I assume that that's all they could get him for. He was transferred from a prison in Atlanta, never knew that.

Chris in solitary confinement.

Don't leave me in here!

Bar spreader used in one of the escape attempts.

Marks made by grenades dropped in during one of the attempted escapes.

They painted where the knives hung so that the guards would know if a knife was missing. Unfortunately, that didn't keep a few inmates from getting stabbed.

After the almost three hour tour of Alcatraz, we headed over the Fisherman's Wharf to grab some lunch and see the sea lions. The sea lions might have been my favorite part of that day. I probably could've sat there all day watching them. They were too funny. Instead of wasting our time with the sea lions, we walked along the water toward a park that has a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge. After spending some time relaxing and letting Reed walk around, we decided to start the process of getting back to Burlingame.

The sea lions!

What a great view!

Reed practicing his walking skills (I seriously need to write a blog about that!).

Thankfully Teal gave us excellent directions for taking public transportation home and thanks to the iPhone for being our backup. We took a bus and the Caltrain to make it back to Burlingame in about an hour. Not too bad at all. I do get a little paranoid about figuring stuff like this out, but it was no problem at all! Teal and Laren got back to their apartment not too long after we did and we headed out to dinner at one of their favorite local restaurants that serves yummy Asian food.

Reed on his first train ride, which came after his first bus ride.

It was actually Chris' first train ride as well.

And, that was our first day in San Francisco in a nutshell. To be continued......