Category: Reed

Julie, Reed

Month 8 Update

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I feel like I am finally in the home stretch.  Yesterday marked week 35, with 35 days to go.  5 weeks still seems like a lifetime, but I know it will be here before I know it. 

In retrospect I have to admit that this has been a smooth pregnancy with little complication.  However, in the last week my feet have begun swelling to sizes I didn’t know were possible.  Overall my joints seem to be stiff and full of fluid.  I wonder if this is what people with arthritis feel?  Did anyone else go through this weird joint thing?  My mom did, but I always assumed that was because she was a floor nurse who worked 12 hour shifts on her feet all day.  I sit in a cube.  Not really an excuse for me!

At my last Dr. appt on Friday he measured my belly and said baby is definitely growing and will probably be a large baby at birth.  Since I was 9lbs 3oz at birth that doesn’t surprise me (but Randy was only 5lbs 9oz!!!)  My only hope for a small to normal sized baby will be if he decides to come early, which I wouldn’t mind at all!

He moves all the time (except at night, weird).  My favorite part is that I can always find him.  He’s getting so big that no matter where he is in my belly I can always feel a big lump of baby.  For some reason I find that encouraging.

I think the best part so far is that I can still sleep through the night.  If I have to roll over I wake up to do so, but fall right back asleep.  Believe me…I’m enjoying every full night of sleep I have left! 

JB

Events, Julie, Randy, Reed

Concerts & Events

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Baby Baldwin has had quite an exciting life so far.  We have already mentioned all the places he has been, but he’s also been to several concerts too.  So far, he has seen Cory Morrow, Aaron Watson (twice), Wade Bowen, and most recently Pat Green.  After our experience at the Pat Green concert and San Antonio rodeo last Thursday, he might not see any more concerts until after he’s born.  My large pregnant body doesn’t fit into the tiny seats with no leg room so well anymore.

He has also been to a few Spurs games, an Aggie football game and a Silver Stars game.  Somehow I think it was a lot easier to bring him to these events when he was still inside the womb than it will be after he’s born…

JB

Events, Julie, Randy, Reed

Baby Shower II: Couples Gone Wild

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We are a little behind in our updates. Julie and I have each had intense work weeks recently, and we are both brain-drained when we hit the couch at home. Nonetheless, we need to keep you (our loyal readers) up-to-date, so it is only a temporary excuse.

Almost two weeks ago, we had our second of four baby showers. This one was hosted by Julie’s Grandmother, Mom and sisters.  Her family isn’t near as big as mine, so it was a perfect opportunity for them to invite many of their family friends, and for us to invite those friends that don’t fit into “Family” or “Church”, but are still very important and close to us. Julie’s entire immediate family was in on the gig, including Dave, who served up some great snacks from the BBQ pit.

The major difference this time was inviting the guys as well. The first shower was all about the ladies and had all the shower games and such. Julie’s goal for this shower was much less girlie and even less about the gifts. While we still opened the gifts for everyone to see, it was a come-and-go-as-you-please; mostly so the guy’s eyes wouldn’t glaze over and they could escape to stand around the BBQ pit with Dave if they needed to.

It was a blast and the puppies that Julie’s family are trying to sell provided great entertainment outside. Many thanks to her entire family for putting this on. It was fun for everyone… even the guys.

-RB

Events, Julie, Randy, Reed

Baby showers have begun!!

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My first baby shower was this Sunday (Jan. 18).  This shower was thrown by 5 wonderful women in Randy’s family including his sisters, cousin, cousins of his mom, etc.  I want to thank all of those ladies for throwing such a fun shower, so thank you Beverly, Britany, Patty, Debbie and Susan.

I felt so blessed because half of the guest list was from out of town…and they all came!  Randy’s aunts and cousins came from Houston, Natalia and Dallas to celebrate with us.  I didn’t get a headcount of the guests…but there were probably 25 ladies and all of them were Randy’s family members (except Diana, mom and me).  All in all we had a great time and I appreciate everyone celebrating with us and I of course appreciate all the gifts too… 🙂

-Julie

Julie, Reed

Baby Update and Nursery Progress

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I’m going to give you updates on several things all in one post…

Baby Reed is a very active little boy.  I am constantly amazed that each day he continues to get stronger and move more often.  This week he is definitely going through a growth spurt and I am feeling the stretch in my belly.  Since my belly has gotten significantly larger in the last few weeks people have stopped looking at me and wondering if I’m pregnant or not.  They know!

Now that we no longer have to worry about and dote on Shiloh (tear) we have been able to start doing some of the fun things to prepare for baby.  We went to Ikea to buy a bookcase last weekend and finally put it together last night.  We have lots more decorating to do in the nursery, but a few pictures are attached below.  

We have also finally registered.  For anyone that is not already a mom I have to warn you…it is an overwhelming experience.  Registering for the wedding was fun because I already knew about house stuff and what you do and don’t need.  Even though I have lots of friends with babies and grew up in a large family I realized I know nothing about what baby gear you do and don’t need.  So registering was a challenging experience for us (because I like to know everything before I dive into something!)  Tack on top of the general stress the fact that it was Christmas time so all the stores were packed!!  Thankfully, we have finished.  Any of you mommies out there, if I have missed something or registered for something stupid feel free to tell me.  I’m not too proud ot admit I don’t know what I’m doing!  (We registered at Babies R Us and Target)

Finally, showers start next weekend and I am so excited.  I can’t wait to see friends and family that I don’t get to see very often, but more importantly the presence of showers means we are starting the final countdown!  I am at 30 weeks with less than 10 to go.  I can’t wait to meet this kid that keeps pushing me around all day!!

Julie







Holidays, Julie, Randy, Reed

Proud to announce… Reed Matthew Baldwin

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Merry Christmas!!

We have picked today to give Baby Baldwin #1 an official name, Reed Matthew. The name has been circulating for several weeks now amongst our family and friends, but with all the new babies we have visited and announced, I felt the announcement and the title might have been lost in the mix. So I picked our “Christmas post” to make it official.

For those that don’t know, the initials “RMB” have been in my immediate family for 3 generations already. In the Baldwin extended family, all the boys at least begin with an “R” and have various middle initials. I have never wanted a Randy Jr, so the search for boy names started in the Rs and ended in the Ms.

Neither “Reed” or “Matthew” hold any significance in our families. My goal was simple, but distinctively a boy name. Not too trendy, but not old-fashioned. For the longest time, “Ryan” was my first choice, but within the last 3 years we have met a number of Ryans, so it was losing its uniqueness in my mind. To me, “Reed” fits the same mold as “Ryan”, and we’ve had a great response from it. The next challenge was to find an M-name that matched… and Julie picked “Matthew”.

Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!!

-RB & JB

ps — After MANY requests, we finally have a belly pic to show everyone!

Randy, Reed

facebook: the ultimate informer

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This blog does a great job for Julie and I of keeping all of our readers informed and up-to-date with stories and picture during the pregnancy of our first born. We’ve also added some updates on a few of the other babies that have come into the world during our own pregnancy. However, Julie and I are regular users of Facebook and recently it has been BLOWING UP with new babies!

It would be realistically impossible to stay in touch with all the friends we’ve made throughout the years, and human nature is very much “here and now” with the exception of those few timeless relationships most of us have. We loose touch for one reason or another and before you know it, you are asking yourself, “What ever happened to <insert name>?”

Well, Facebook, better than any other social media (IMO), has answered that question in our lives. Of course, it is limited to users of Facebook, but the numbers are growing everyday and it even spans generations. Many of my friends’ parents have made their way to Facebook to see what the buzz is all about, only to be swept up in the madness just like their kids.

Back to the BLOWING UP….

I’ve already posted about 3 babies we’ve known about in December, and two of them this week alone. Well, we are happy to announce two more THIS WEEK!

Coyt Johnston, an old volleyball teammate of mine from UTSA, just had his first born girl, Porter, on December 16, 2008. And yesterday (Dec 17), Shaun and Rachel Gardiner welcomed their first born boy, David. I know Shaun and Rachel from my previous attendance at Wayside Chapel and the young adult group they had there.

Thanks to Facebook we can send our congratulations and stay in touch as events occur with little to no effort. This blog is limited to those that know about it AND stay up-to-date themselves. Only the RSS feed makes it a little bit more effortless.

Speaking of the RSS feed, can I get a comment from those of you that are using it? I get no stats on the usage, so a quick show-of-hands by way of comment on this post would be appreciated.

Thanks!

-RB

Randy, Reed

the couch

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We’ve made some recent investments in our house and furniture, partly out of need, but mostly out of preparation and mentality that it will all be put on the back burner once the baby arrives. One of these investments was a sectional sofa to add an element of “feng shui” to our living room and allow for a much needed coffee table/ottoman. The change worked out two-fold because my parents were in desperate need to replace their 35-year old couches! (Seriously, they had been re-upholstered only once in my lifetime and had reached the “impossible to stand up” state). So, my parents took our “old” couches and we made room for the sectional.

I digress…

Julie’s sleeping patterns have changed considerably since her belly has grown and she can no longer sleep on her back or her stomach. She used to be out in a matter of minutes and hardly move a muscle all night.

Within the last month or so, her breathing during sleep has become considerably LOUDER. I’m a light sleeper as it is, and distractions make it nearly impossible for me to fall asleep. I’ve tried a few ways to drown out the nasal whistle, but when she is facing directly towards me, even the iPod doesn’t cover it up and still allow me to sleep.

My last resort was to get up, leave the bed to her, take my pillow and try out the new couch. I really had not even given it a spin for a Sunday afternoon nap, but it was long enough to stretch out on (strong selling point), so it was going to have to do. Low and behold, in a matter of minutes, I was out for the night. Julie woke up at some point during the night and I had to break the news to her that I was actually more relaxed out on the couch than I was in our own bed. I know she felt bad, but I assured her that I would have rather moved myself than woke her to complain.

She went back to bed and the next morning we each had a hard realization that we had each slept very well that night, better than recent memory.

My last resort has now become my first, in the event that either Julie’s breathing or our collective tossing and turning is preventing both of us from sleeping well… the couch has become my new best friend.

-RB

Julie, Reed

Baby update

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In the spirit of keeping this blog a reference for baby Baldwin, I figured I would write about some of the things going on with me. 

First of all is food.  Clearly this child is Randy’s because all he wants me to eat is healthy food.  (We will see how that progresses as we get further into the holidays…)  For the past several months my favorite things to eat are honeycrisp apples, celery and peanut butter, and cereal.  I think I could probably live on that diet for the next 4 months if it was healthy enough.

Baby is moving around a lot these days.  I used to only feel him if I paid attention and even then it was very limited.  Starting a few days ago I feel him all the time.  Sometimes I think he is never going to stop moving.  An added benefit to this increased movement is that Randy finally felt him move for the first time this weekend.

We had another doctor’s appointment on Friday and everything still looks good.  My blood pressure is fairly low as usual, weight gain is still minimal and when the doctor went to listen to baby’s heartbeat it was very distinct, loud and strong.  No compliants from doctor, baby or mom.  Let’s hope all the appointments go this well!!  Next appointment is in mid December when I get to do the lovely Glucose test.

Julie

Julie, Randy, Reed, Travel

He’s Alive

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Friday was easily the best day of pregnancy so far.  Not only did we find out that baby Baldwin is a boy, but I when I was laying down to go to sleep Friday night I felt him move for the first time!!!

We were in College Station for the Aggie game and Randy was at midnight yell with his sisters.  Mom, Dad and I stayed back because we had to get up super early to hit HEB around 7am.  We were all starting to fall asleep and I felt this bubble in the left side of my stomach.  I yelled to my parents that I just felt him move for the first time.  I was sad Randy wasn’t there, but he wouldn’t have been able to feel it anyway.

Now that I know what it feels like I feel him moving all the time.  It is so sweet (at least it is now before he is kicking me in the ribs in the middle of the night).  It makes me feel so connected to him.  The best part about all of this movement is that I don’t think I will forget I’m pregnant anymore!!!

Julie