Jake

Party of Five!!

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That’s right.  The Baldwin’s will be a party of 5 starting in June 2013.  We are both crazy excited and Reed is curious.  Not sure he is excited yet, but he definitely wants a brother and not a sister.  Alison has no idea what’s going on and that’s perfectly fine.  It is hard to believe that when Reed was Alison’s age I was in my third trimester and about to deliver.  I’m thankful for a little more space this time.

I am 8 weeks along and we have seen the heartbeat once and baby twice.  There is only one baby in there though…I really keep thinking I will get lucky and get twins, but not this time.

We are not going to find out the sex of the baby until his/her birthday.  The main reason for this is because I have c-sections.  Alison’s burth was a little anti-climactic for me since she was a scheduled c-section.  I knew she was a girl, I knew her name was Alison Michelle, I knew the date and even the time of her birthday.  While we were still in the hospital I told Randy that when we have a third baby I don’t want to find out the gender in advance.  So for all of you who hate people who don’t find out…SORRY!!!

Family, Holidays

Halloween!

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My mom had the brilliant idea of Reed and Alison dressing up as Hansel and Gretel for Halloween.  When my dad was a little boy his dad was in the military and they were stationed overseas.  He has an authentic German hat and mom just found it at my grandmother’s house.  This hat is awesome.  In great condition and over 50 years old.  We had to put it to good use.

Reed is a punk and always has been.  He does not want to do ANYTHING he doesn’t want to do.  (No idea where he gets that from.  Seriously).  Alison was so sweet to him and always tried to encourage him to wear his costume.  On Halloween night she even gave him her candy so he would wear the hat and take a picture.  My sweet girl…and my punky boy.  Here are a few pictures from the pumpkin patch as well as Halloween night.

Randy

Oh Rrrrrandy

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My sweet husband. I’m sorry, but this story is too funny not to share.

Saturday night we were playing in the street and Ali skinned her knee. To be fair, it looked like I would cry about it too.

We brought her in and threw her in the tub. She was screaming bloody murder even after we got her out and I was holding her. I ‘hastily’ barked at Randy to go get the frozen peas and carrots from the freezer. He started to ask a question and I ‘might have’ barked to just go.

About 2 or 3 minutes passed and I started yelling for him. I said ‘Husband! Where are you!!!’.

Randy comes around the corner with an opened bag of peas and carrots…and a bowl full of them that he had been heating in the microwave. He had a deer in headlights look because he was completely confused. I couldn’t help it. I busted out laughing histerically. I guess he didn’t know about using a bag of frozen vegetables for an ice pack.

We all got a pretty good laugh out of that one.  And Randy got an late evening snack of peas and carrots.

Reed

The Crocodile and the Soldiers

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The other night I was reading the Easter book to Reed (his choice of course). When we came to the page where the soldiers took Jesus away he gently put his little hand on my arm and said:

Mom, stop. When I become a crocodile I will BITE those soldiers and they will not hurt Jesus.

You can’t make this stuff up.

*as I was telling Randy this story he told me that the night before he had the same conversation with Reed during the Easter book. But this time Reed grew up to be a dragon and not a crocodile.

Family

Monday Kids

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We have a strange phenomenon in our house. Fridays are the worst day. By Friday afternoon both kids are done with it. They are done with school, they are done with morning, they are done with the weekly routine. If I’m honest, we are all like that…but the difference is that Randy and I get that the weekend is here so we can be happy still. Fridays are the worst. We basically just try to survive them. (The days Reed gets sent to the office are usually Fridays too.)
But Monday. Monday is the best day of the week in our house!

By Monday morning both kids are ready to get dressed and get to school. They both have great days at school, and then when we pick them up it is all smiles and ‘Mommy I love you’ and hugging each other. No joke. Every.single.Monday.

Last night was exceptionally awesome. Reed was over the top good. He helped Ali do everything, then he tried to help her to make good choices so she wouldn’t get in trouble at the dinner table. After dinner they both went on the back patio and played together. It was awesome. Then we went for a walk and Reed let Ali sit in his lap to ride in the blue car. (Mommy fail for not taking the camera with us!). To cap it all off, as I was putting Reed to bed he looked up at me, pulled me in for a kiss and said ‘Mommy, I love you’. Then he told me he was ready for bed. Who is this child…and can he come back another day??? Can everyday be a Monday???

Alison, Reed

Kid Update

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I apologize all the time that I don’t update the blog enough, so I’m going to stop apologizing every time I DO update. That’s just annoying.

Alison turned the ripe old age of 18 months 2 weeks ago. The next day she took me into the bathroom and went poop and pee on the potty. I might have freaked out a little. I am not ready for that yet. Then she woke me up at midnight to change her barely wet diaper. I am definitely NOT ready for that!! The next day at school she made her teachers take her to the potty. Good Lord. Thankfully, she hasn’t pushed it anymore since then. She’s just really whiney if she has poop in her diaper (and I can’t blame her for that!)

She is already learning about lady things. The other day she walked into the kitchen wearing her sun hat and my purse. If only my eyes could automatically take a picture every time something awesome happens…I didn’t get the picture.
My sweet little girl is turning into quite the sassy toddler. She is figuring out how to defend herself against her brother. I don’t want her to fight…but I am excited for her to stand up for herself. She is learning to bite and scratch…NOT a fan of that!! She brought Reed to tears yesterday from the bite she gave him. Yuck. Not ready for fighting.

Reed is turning into a big boy right before our eyes. He can now get completely dressed. And he can buckle himself into his car seat. And as proud as I am, I still love when he crawls into my lap to read a story, or for a quick cuddle.  He has the funniest sense of humor right now, and I really want to videotape him all the time.  He is at the fun age when sill things absolutely crack him up.  He has just discovered Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  There is one episode that Cubby says this pit of tar is ‘stinky’.  Reed almost fell off the couch from laughing so hard.  He asked me to rewind it so he could hear it again.  Love this age.  He also says the funniest things and I REALLY want to do a better job of writing those funny things down.  If someone calls him Reed Baldwin he will say ‘my name isn’t Reed Baldwin.  It’s Reed Banana-head-muffin’  and then he doesn’t laugh, because he is dead serious.  So I laugh.  Just cracks me up. 

Unfortunately Reed is becoming very physically aggressive. As much as we address the issue with him, we don’t seem to be getting through. He gets sent to the office once or twice a week for punching other kids. Even at home he is constantly punching things. I realize he is a boy and I have no experience with 3 year old boys…but I can’t have him become a bully or be the mean kid at school. Does anyone have any constructive advice for me? I have no idea how to teach him to control his impulses and how to teach him that attacking other kids, or me, or Alison is not the way to show your emotions.  Sorry to turn this update negative, but we just dont’ know what to do. Normally I would call my trusted pediatrician…but he isn’t here anymore to give me advice 🙁

All in all, the kids are growing and learning and turning into such sweet little people (aside from the violence issues.  I swear we don’t let them watch violence on tv and we aren’t violent people at all.)  Alison has this sweet little smile that melts my heart everytime, and when Reed puts his arm around Ali to protect her or spontaneously blows raspberries on her belly to make her laugh it fills my heart to overflowing.  I can’t imagine life getting better than it is right now!!!

 

Family

One Perfect Day

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Do you have a day that is so perfect you almost don’t believe it actually happened?  That was July 4th for the Baldwins.

I woke up early and read a little in my book before Ali woke up.  She and I started making pancakes and chicken sausages.  Then Reed and Randy joined us.  Our neighbors came over for a random breakfast party and it was great.  Victor and Margie stayed for a little over an hour and then Randy headed for the gym and I took the kids to the park.  We played at the park (with Duke and YaYa of course) for an hour or so.  Then we came home sweaty, tired and ready for naptime.  The whole family napped for a bit (heaven I tell you).

When we woke up we headed for my parents’ house.  We spent all stinking afternoon playing in the pool and then eating and playing some more.  I have never seen both of my kids play so hard or so long in the pool.  We had a few minor catastrophies, like when Ali decided to take a topple as she helped herself into the pool, and then Reed fell off the step in the hot tub and unexpectedly went underwater.  He got scared and freaked out a little, but I was so proud of him because when he fell off the step he kicked his feet hard enough to get his head above water.  I was super proud of him.

For some reason I just felt like drinking beer yesterday.  So I might have had a lot more than usual.  It was awesome.  I miss drinking too much beer on a random Wednesday afternoon.

Yesterday was also the anniversary of the day Randy proposed.  It made the day just a little bit sweeter once he reminded me.  It’s amazing how much has changed and how much happier I am than I was even on that great day.

All of this is to say…I truly couldn’t have expected to have such a fantastic day.

Family

Update on things around here

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We haven’t posted a new entry in quite a while.  We have been just doing the same old routine the last several weeks.  I started a new job at Tesoro at the start of June so I have been underwater with work stuff the last 5 weeks.  I am finally transitioned out of my old job and into the new one so things are slowing down a little for me.  Unfortunately Randy has a huge website release on July 16th, so now he is the one underwater.  Luckily we weren’t both slammed at the same time!

The kids are growing and changing and doing cute stuff everyday.  This weekend we moved Ali into size 4 diapers.  Yes, she is almost 18 months old.  She also got her first haircut on Sunday.  Randy’s mom just cut off a bunch of the excess scraggly hair off the top.  She looks less messy, but still has those sweet little curls in back.  We are hoping that with shorter hair on top she will stop rubbing everything she eats through her hair since her hair isn’t always in her face 🙂 

 Like I say, not much going on over here.  Just going to work/school, spending time at the pool and making it through the summer!

Oh yeah…and the Aggies are officially in the SEC.  WooHoo!!!

Alison, Reed

Swim Lessons

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Reed took swim lessons for the first time in early June.  He had a 45 minute lesson everyday for 2 weeks (at school).  His teacher and the lifeguard kept telling me he wouldn’t do anything during lessons so I was sad that we wasted our time and money. 

Then we went to a pool with a baby pool and…holy cow.  This boy might not be participating in swim lessons, but he is learning everything they are teaching.  He is jumping in and swimming with his face in the water all the way across the baby pool.  He really is an animal when he can be in the safety of the baby pool.  Needless to say I am pleased with his progress and excited for his next session. 

The only problem is that Ali watches every single thing he does and now she is ALL ABOUT jumping off the side and putting her face in the water.  The child has zero fear or respect for the water and it freaks me out.  She will stand in the baby pool and bend her knees until her head is under the water.  Then she will stand back up and give us the biggest smile.  She’s so proud of herself for going underwater all alone.

Family, Travel

Memorial Day Weekend

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So May turned into one heck of a busy month! Three out of the four weekends on the road somewhere in Texas… College Station, Houston and now Dallas!

The Browns (and the Keiths) invited the whole crew to stay in Southlake for the weekend for food, swimming, and more food, and more swimming. This version of the trip was little more suburban than the last one, but the agenda wasn’t all that different.

Thanks to Britt and KC for the awesome hospitality in the beautiful new home. Julie and I said several times how much we wished that there weren’t so many miles between us, but it is worth it every time we all make the effort.