Big Boy, Baby and Brotherly LOVE!!!

Tis’ the season for Valentines and I’m soooooooo thankful to have not one, not two, but THREE wonderful men at home to share Valentine’s Day with!!

Things are still quite hectic around our house, but basketball season is (finally) winding down. Reid, Reece and I have had a lot of quality time over the past few months, but we are very excited to have Daddy around each night again. The boys have really enjoyed going to the Rebel games this year and are very well-behaved. Reece, unlike Reid at his age, just sits on my lap and watches the game. He enjoys dancing to the band and just people watching. I catch him smiling at random people all of the time; he is such a happy baby! Reid likes to watch the game as well, but wants to run around upstairs at halftime. This usually works very well because he gets a lot of exercise right before bed 

Hmmmm.....what's new and exciting??? Well, Nate and I are going to get away for two nights in March to a resort in Sisters. We have our own little cabin reserved and will go out to dinner, enjoy complimentary nightly cocktail parties, the spa, movie house and spend time doing some trail hiking and whatever else we come up with. It will be some nice time away since we’ve only had 1 night away together in the past 3 years!!! I’m not however foolish enough to think that I won’t miss my little guys like CRAZY the entire time, but I know that we will have a nice time away! Other than that, future travel plans include a long weekend at Eagle Crest, Klamath Falls and 10 days in Hawaii toward the end of summer….CAN’T WAIT!!! We love to get away and am very thankful that my kids are such good little travelers. They will sleep anywhere and car / train / plane trips don’t seem to faze them. I haven’t had Reece on a plane yet, but he’s pretty laid back, so I think he will do great!

Speaking of new and exciting and love.....we've entered a stage in the boys' lives that I wasn't really prepared for and that has somewhat caught me by surprise. I often reflect on my relationship with each of them and our relationship as parents of two boys, but I was not prepared for the pulls my heart strings would get each and every time they interact with one-another. It is the most amazing thing in the world. They are completely in love with each other.....Reece only wants to be by Reid's side every waking minute of the day and Reid will tolerate any amount of hair pulling and face grabbing Reece can throw his way. I wash his hair in the tub and I get tears, but Reece pulls his hair out and he just smiles.....Brotherly love....one of the sweetest things I've ever seen......

Half-Year Celebrations!!

As we wish ourbouncing baby boy happy 6 months, we can’t believe our big boy is creeping his way toward 3!!!

Here are our stats as we hit this milestone:

Reid:

No official weight or height as we thankfully haven’t been to the doctor much lately. He is a beanpole with long legs; built just like his Daddy and pretty much talks about anything and everything. He’s developed quite an opinion, especially about where we are and aren’t going in the car. He also likes to be in control at stop lights….’stop Mommy, stop!’……’go, Mommy, go!!’ and my favorite when I made a right-hand turn on red…..’Mommy!!! No, STOP!!! The light is RED!!!’……yeah, try explaining that to a two-year old 

His favorite errand to run is anything at Fred Meyer, because they have ‘red carts’ – the ones that you drive. Though he used to love Costco, he now tries to talk me out of going there due to the lack of ‘red carts’. If I tell him that he can sit in the cart part of the cart (rather than in the seat that toddlers are supposed to occupy), he usually thinks Costco is cool again. As with so many things at this age, it is all about presentation  Reid is an awesome big brother and enjoys playing with ‘Baby Reecey’.


Reece:

Not sure if it was what he wanted, but Reece got his two front teeth for Christmas this year. For the most part, he’s handling teething pretty well, aside from a few earlier-than-normal mornings and the occasional need for baby Tylenol. His two little front bottom teeth are a very cute addition to his smile and I think we have other teeth close behind. Except for when his teeth are really bothering him, he is a very happy, easy-going boy! He sleeps and eats very well, which is something that Nate and I still can’t quite believe. Most nights he is in bed by 8 or 8:30 and doesn’t get up until sometime between 7 and 8. He will occasionally wake up in the middle of the night and talk to himself for a few minutes before putting himself back to sleep. His new thing right now is that he is a tummy sleeper and stays on his stomach all night…..freaks me out, but if I roll him over he rolls right back onto his stomach. Guess that’s just the way it is going to be!

He’s eating solids and has been since 4 months. So far, his repertoire includes green beans, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, bananas, apples, pears and peaches. Tonight we will add corn and kiwi to the mix. He seems to like most all food, but prefers rice cereal to oatmeal and vegetables to fruit (though I’m sure that one will change soon)  He is developing quite a personality and even starting to communicate with me a little bit. I know when he sees what he wants and though it’s usually a bottle or his cereal, the other night he made the same noise when he saw his bed (meaning he was ready to go to bed). He loves playing with toys and is starting to sit up really well. Can’t quite leave him on the floor without pillows yet, but he is very close. Most of the time he gets too excited playing, which causes him to topple! His absolute favorite toy is Reid and he would follow him all over the house if he could figure out how. This too will change and poor Reid will have a shadow here in a couple of months (I’d imagine the cats won’t like this either). His second favorite toy is a metal dump truck (because all 6 month olds should play with metal toys) with a load of wooden blocks. He can’t get enough of this toy and can reach it really well from his Bumbo. Sadly, Nate and I put his baby swing in the attic last night and brought down the walker. While this is exciting and certainly frees up some more space in the great room, it is bittersweet at the same time……he’s growing up….sniff! We go to the doctor for our 6 month check-up on Tuesday and I expect him to be in the 20 pound range and will be anxious to see his height, as he seems to have gotten quite a bit ‘taller’ lately. He is wearing size 12 month clothes now, which means that Mommy is cleaning out his drawers with rapid frequency these days….what a task that is!!

As for the Nate and I, we are just enjoying life with our little men. I’m very busy at work and Nate’s schedule is quite hectic with basketball, but we both love what we do and are extremely grateful to have good jobs and that we are passionate about what we do. We are looking forward to some small trips this spring and Hawaii this summer!!

Sweet Babes of Mine: Chubs and Stretch

Oh these boys are fun!! So much fun in fact that I haven’t even had time to update this blog in the last few months! I’ll do my best at a quick catch-up now:

We spent the latter part of the summer adjusting to life with two kiddos and eventually fell into a sort of routine. We took a family trip to Yachats and a longer trip to Gold Beach. While in Gold Beach, Reid, Nate and I went on a white water jet boat adventure! I would have never thought about doing this with a 2-year old, but my Aunt Mary Ann wanted to take her grandsons and Nate and I really wanted to go. Reece was not even 6 weeks old and I didn’t want to overwhelm my Mom with the two kids for the entire day, so I looked into whether or not taking Reid was an option. They said they have little people on the trips daily and better yet, he was free! I wasn’t sure if he would love it or be scared at the speed, rapids and spinning of the boat. He LOVED it and we had a fabulous time! Every time the boat would spin, he would say ‘more!, more!’ and the more wet we got, the better! This was an all-day excursion and he finally gave up in the most intense white water part of the river and took a nap on me. The best part of the whole adventure was that Grandpa Don was about 35 miles up-river fishing for the week. They anchored their boat in the middle of the river for the morning fishing excursion so that the jet boat would get right next to them once we made it that far. Reid was so excited to see Grandpa Don and Mama Linda and Grandpa Gary that he didn’t seem at all baffled at the fact that we had driven 5 hours and taken a two-hour boat ride just to see the people we see at home all of the time! Grandpa loved seeing Reid and even joined us at our lunch stop at Agness!

Nate went back to work in late August and I went back in mid-September. I was VERY ready to go back to work and get settled back into our routine. Don’t get me wrong, I miss my little men like crazy when I am gone, but I am not cut out to be a stay at home Mom and have the utmost respect and admiration for those that do it and do it well. It is literally the toughest job you can have! I was able to keep my part-time status at work and recently added a position to my department that will eventually help with the workload and will be necessary moving into the future. Things are quite hectic in my office, but I do like it that way 

We traveled to Eagle Crest in October and spent a week there with the family. It was beautiful and cold (in the teens at night) and we had a great time!

I can’t believe it is November already and the Holidays are right around the corner. The boys are both growing like weeds. We took Reece to the doctor last week and he was 17 pounds, 26 inches long and 90th percentile in both height and weight. He is a very big baby and is right on track developmentally. He sleeps very well at night, from about 8:30 until 5 a.m. when he eats a quick bottle and goes back down until 7:30ish. He naps three times a day; a short one in the morning, long nap between noon and two and another short one in the late afternoon. He likes to nap during the day in his swing and because he is spoiled and such an easy baby, we let him  At night he puts himself to sleep and has been in his own crib since he was two months old. He’s a happy little fella, but will let you know when he is ready to eat and/or sleep. Those are pretty much the only two things that get him riled up!

Reid is growing like a weed. We constantly get comments from people telling us how tall he is for a 2 year-old. He’s a bean pole, too, just like his Daddy. His talking and comprehension are just amazing; I can’t believe the things he picks up half the time! He started attending Beaver football games with Nate this year and absolutely loves it! They are usually right during his nap time, so he is in the habit of crawling up on Grandma Sheri’s shoulder and taking a snooze. He is a very good boy, but he is two after-all, so that always makes it lively and interesting around our house. He really enjoys having play dates and we try to get together with friends frequently for dinner during the week and let the kiddos play. Reid went to his first movie a couple weeks ago with Grandpa Dale and watched the whole thing! He also loves to watch the Polar Express at home and is excited to go on the ‘real’ Polar Express in December up in Hood River!

Other than that, it’s life as normal around the Neuschwander house….but really, does ‘normal’ exist? We are just enjoying a lot of ‘firsts’ together as a family of four 

Pictures!!

It's a Boy!!!!

Reece Nathaniel Neuschwander has arrived!! Born at 3:57am he was 7lbs. 11oz (born on 7/11), and 20 1/2 inches long. He is absolutely precious and mom is doing awesome,only pushed for about 35 minutes.

Nicole and Nate have requested that if you would like to come and visit them please do so after 3pm on Monday.

Moving Quickly!!

Dr. just broke Nicole's water and she is now 8-9cm. Woo hoo!! By the time most of you read this baby will probably already be here!!

Baby Neuschwander #2 is on the way!!!

Auntie Kara here.
Here comes baby!!! Nicole is in labor and resting comfortably. She is 5cm and doing awesome!! We are so excited to meet this new little one. Boy? Girl? We will know soon!!

Latest (and hopefully last) Pre-Labor Update

I’m now hanging out at 4 cm and having contractions every 7-9 minutes that are just uncomfortable, but not painful. Hopefully they are at least accomplishing something to kick this baby into gear and hopefully I will have some ‘real’ contractions soon. The doctor offered to induce me yesterday, but I want to give this little sweetie a few more days. Tomorrow is Reid’s birthday, so we are still running the risk of two kiddos on July 8th, but that would actually be kind of neat and since they are going to be within a couple days of each other anyway, maybe the same day would be easier and more special.

Can’t believe my little sweetie is going to be TWO years old tomorrow….wow, where does the time go?? We are planning a trip to Enchanted Forest in the morning with the grandparents and then will at least give him his present from Mommy and Daddy (a toy lawnmower with a gas can) tomorrow evening. Auntie Emmy flies in tomorrow night for 10 days and it will be so nice to have her around! We will do his family birthday party on Saturday night (as long as the baby hasn’t come) and are planning a friends and family BBQ and birthday party in late July. Looks like we will celebrate Reid’s birthday pretty much the entire month of July!!

Check back for updates, as Kara has promised to keep them coming while I’m busy baby-having 

All Ready for Baby #2!

We are full-term and ready to go! At my 37-week appointment I was 2 ½ cm dilated and cruising along; 1 cm progress in less than a week makes me feel like my body is working on getting this little sweetie out on-time this go-round (unlike it’s big brother)! Reid is all ready as well and talks a lot about the baby. He even got a big boy haircut to make him look more like a big brother. My Mom comes home from Hawaii today, so I have a green light to go into labor….whew!

I drove Reid by the hospital last night on our way home to show him where Mommy will have to be for a couple days while the baby comes out. Every day he tells me that he wants it to come out ‘night’ meaning tonight. I always respond with ‘well, me, too!’. Maybe one of these days we will both get our wish!

Cruisin' Along

Our little bun in the oven is on its way to being fat and happy (and a bit sassy I must say). We had a doctor’s appointment yesterday and I am at 1 ½ centimeters and 50% effaced. While this obviously predicts nothing, it is quicker than I dilated with Reid, which gives me hope of not going 41 weeks this time  Doc says that Baby is about 6 pounds, head down (whew!) and just about ready to rock and roll! The heartbeat is apparently a ‘girl’ heartbeat, but I haven’t met a doctor yet that believes in that science, so we won’t go buy a bunch of pink yet 

Our plan is to keep this blog (and not Facebook) updated with the delivery news, so make sure to check back!

Time Flies!

This pic is the sweetest flashback of our Big Boy. A good lesson that time sure does fly! We’ve been enjoying time with our main man and realize that soon it won’t be just the three of us anymore.

Crazy Days!!

Oh my goodness have we been having fun lately! Nate and I find ourselves continually amazed at Reid and all that he is learning; this kid keeps us in absolute stitches and we spend many evenings just cracking up at his antics. Just one month shy of two years old, he is now forming small sentences of “I see___!”, “Nice Kitty” (though the kitty part sounds like a female body part which is even more hilarious—try not laughing at that one!), “Grandma’s House”, “Grandpa’s House”, “No Way!”, “One, Two, Three!”, etc. We also have mini conversations and he is quite the little chatterbox when riding in the car—points out everything he sees and won’t stop talking about it until Mom or Dad acknowledges what he’s said. He’s also mastered “O-S-U, fight fight fight!!”. He spit this all out last night for the first time and I think it was one Nate’s more proud moments 

I now see why people have children close together, as they get so easy around this age if we weren’t already pregnant, it would be difficult making the decision to start over. Reid goes everywhere with us and is incredibly active, but easy. He sleeps from 9 until 8 or 9 every morning, naps about 2 hours a day, sleeps anywhere, walks and doesn’t need to be carried much anymore, minds well and is a very sweet and affectionate boy. Now that our once very fussy baby is becoming such a breeze, we might as well add another to the brood!! 

Speaking of the addition, we are 35 weeks and on the official countdown! The doctor says that baby is low and head down (thank goodness). They also say that it isn’t likely to be as big as Reid, which makes me feel good as I’ve had fears of a 9 pounder this time and it freaks me out! Reid was 8-4 and big enough for me! I have to take this all with a grain of salt, however, as Reid was only supposed to be 6 or 7 pounds, but by the time he overstayed his welcome by 8 days he ended up being larger. Baby moves around a lot still, but no more summersaults which is a nice change. Now I just feel knees, feet and elbows all over the place, but like big brother, all appendages are on the right side of my body. Whereas Reid would always tickle my ribs, this one jabs me in the hip bones—ouch!

Reid has big plans for his little brother or sister. He wants to hold Baby’s hand, take a bath with Baby and push Baby down the slide at the park (we might wait a year or so on that one). He also likes to push the baby swing the same way that I push him on the swing at the park—I told Nate that I now see why they put seatbelts on baby swings; not for the first child, but for subsequent children at the mercy of crazy toddlers! He maintains that this baby is a girl (he is one of 3 people that say ‘girl’) and that her name is ‘Bed’. We’ve had a day or two where her name changed to ‘Choo Choo’ or ‘inaudible Toddler babble’, but ‘Bed’ is by far the most consistent 

Reid is doing just great in his Big Boy bed without rails. He doesn’t move around much at night and still doesn’t get out of bed at all once we put him down (not even in the morning) until we come get him up. Nate and I know that will change at some point and have vowed to try hard not to laugh the first time he does it  He’s pretty serious about his sleep though, so all-in-all it will be alright. The nursery is coming along and I’m working on getting things washed up and put away for baby. It helps knowing the baby will be in our room for awhile and thus the nursery has turned into more of a ‘staging’ area—quite a bit more relaxed about all this the second time around.

Future updates on the status of Baby #2 will be posted here on our blog and Kara will try to keep the blog up to date on the big day. We are very excited and can’t wait to meet our new little baby—hard to believe it could be here in just a couple weeks!! Stay tuned……

Belly Pics - 30 Weeks

Reid's 2 Year Pics!

The Latest Happenings....

Is it May already? I’m finally coming to the realization that I don’t have a lot of time to prepare for Baby ….I need to get it in gear! I feel so much less organized this time around, but that could have something to do with an almost two-year old running around and ‘helping’ me with all of my various tasks. Reid is a mover and loves to be involved with chores and projects. His comprehension level absolutely amazes us each and every day and he is really starting to talk. Nate and I tried counting his words the other night and were amazed when the number exceeded 50! He picks up a new word (or five) every day and is starting to have mini conversations with us.

Reid knows that there is a baby in my belly, but sometimes there is also a baby in his belly and even in Daddy’s belly (Nate loves that!). He likes to kiss the baby and lay his head on it when we snuggle on the couch. He’s very sweet, but I’m not sure that he really grasps how much his world is going to change. He tells us when we ask that the baby is a girl and that her name is ‘Bed’. Though a lovely name for a girl, I think we will work on picking some other options 

His favorite things right now are tractors, airplanes, buses, trains and lawn mowers. He rides the tractor with Grandma Karen all the time, remembers flying on an airplane to Hawaii, had his first train ride a month or so ago with Grandma and Grandpa Neuschwander (they took him to Salem!) and his first bus ride today (again, courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa Neuschwander)! He also likes to mow the lawn with Daddy—he pushes his toy lion, appropriately named ‘Mow’ around the yard. In order to give poor ‘Mow’ a break, we got him a toy lawn mower, but Daddy is making me wait to give it to him until his birthday. The strangest obsession ever though is his obsession with the vacuum or ‘voom’. We have Grandpa Dale to thank for this one—but Reid can literally direct you to the vacuum section in any store in Albany and prefers to have our vacuum at home out of the closet and in the middle of the living room at all times (lovely décor, right?).

He’s learning to count and does a great job of ‘one, two, three!’. We are working on 4,5 and 6, but 6 sounds something like a male body part right now, so that will take a little more work  He is also fascinated by his ABC’s. We sing the ABC’s three times every night when we put him in his crib (he also kisses his pet rocks and socks—long story—good night prior to being put in his crib). He starts us off by saying ‘A, B, C….’ and Daddy and I finish from there. His favorite letters (or the ones he can pick from a lineup) right now are A, B, O, S, X. We are working hard on the others, but those seem to fascinate him most. Colors are also really big at the moment and he loves to color pictures and I can’t believe it, but actually keeps his creations on paper (for the most part). He knows red, green, blue, and everyone’s favorite, ORANGE, really well. The others are still a work in progress.

The really big news for Reid right now is that he is getting ready to make his move into his new Big Boy Room! Our house has been a flurry of moving parts and pieces in order to get this room done. Try to follow me here: The Den was turned into a playroom to accommodate the insane amount of toys this kid has, and our computer desk was moved into our bedroom. Not only are the lights and sounds of the computer very annoying at night, but in order to get the Big Boy Room cleared out, we needed space for our exercise machine (and yes, we do use it). So, we have our cabinet maker working on a custom desk to match our cabinetry and fill an empty corner in the great room and the computer will move out of our room and into the great room, the exercise machine will move into our room and leave the Big Boy Room free and clear for the Big Boy! And to think when Nate and I moved from 800 to 2100 square feet we thought that our house was ‘too big’….ha! The desk will be installed this week and our plan is for Reid to spend his first nights in his Big Boy Room this weekend. Cross your fingers for us, as we are letting him out of the confines of his crib (what we lovingly call baby jail). He’s a good sleeper and sleeps in regular beds during the day and doesn’t get up unless someone comes in to get him up, so we hope this continues! Thus a good reason to make the switch now! I’ll post pics of his new room here soon!!

The littlest Neuschwander and I are doing very well; 31 weeks and counting! It’s an active little thing and gets the hiccups at least 5 times each day. We had a doctor’s appointment last week and everything is progressing as it should be. We are focusing now on keeping Baby in there and happy for at least 6 more weeks and then on a safe delivery! We have decided on names, but won’t divulge until the little cherub joins us! We can’t believe how quick it’s all coming up and are getting very anxious to meet him / her! 

Attached are some pictures of Reid at 22 months and the little one in my belly at 30 weeks. Enjoy!

Reid's First Trip to the Bouncy House

Here We Go AGAIN!!!

Baby Neuschwander #2 will be here on or around July 12th!! Things are going well and we are more than half way there!! Once again it’s been a fairly easy pregnancy (thank goodness). I didn’t feel real well during the first trimester and weeks 6-8 were terrible, but I got over that just in time for Thanksgiving and have been able to eat—probably too well—ever since J My belly is definitely bigger this time around, as my stomach muscles have done this before. I’m also carrying this one a lot lower, which I don’t mind but now I am starting to have some ligament pain to remind me that neither way is exactly comfortable. I never thought it could happen, but this baby is actually more crazy than Reid and moves around all of the time; especially around 10 p.m. when I am trying to sleep. Whereas I was confident Reid didn’t have his days and nights mixed up in the womb, I am certain this one does….oh great!! We had our 20-week ultrasound a couple weeks ago and chose not to find out the sex. This will certainly make for an even more exciting delivery and I’m glad we went this route this time. I’m fairly convinced that I am destined to have boys, but we will wait and see what happens!

Reid has no idea how much his world is going to change, but if you ask him where the ‘baby’ is, he points to my tummy, gives it kisses and wants to see my bare tummy all of the time (a little awkward in social gatherings J). It’s cute, but he doesn’t fully grasp the concept. Poor little guy is going to have his world turned upside down a bit I think. He is getting so big and learning so much each and every day! He continues to amaze us and is transitioning nicely from baby to ‘big boy’. Along with the arrival of his new brother or sister, Reid will get his very own ‘big boy’ room! We are going to start working on the room this month and hopefully will have it all finished by May. Like the baby in my belly, Reid doesn’t understand the big boy room or his big boy bed, but once it’s done we are hoping he will really like it and want to give up his ‘baby’ room. We have some time though and will switch him over when the time is right; either a month or two before the baby comes or a month or two afterward. The nursery will stay decorated as-is (on the boy side of neutral) and we will add some magenta accents if this little bundle is a girl J

As far as the name game goes, Nate is once again adamant that we will keep the name a secret until he or she is here. We have it narrowed down to one boy name and between two girl names. Given all my pregnant friends right now, I’m a little concerned about name duplication, but people have the same names all of the time, so we will just cross our fingers and hope for the best. It's so hard for us to agree on one name, let alone one for each sex....yikes!

So...it's been awhile

So it's been awhile and our little man is growing up! Reid will be 6 months tomorrow and yes, we are scheduled for more shots at the Dr. tomorrow afternoon...poor guy! He is very busy learning how to move himself around--very good at going backwards and sideways and just learning to go forward. We have to watch him like a hawk! He is becoming a MUCH better sleeper and has learned to put himself to sleep at night. He still wants to eat once each night (around 1 a.m.), but seems hungry, so we go with it. We are starting to settle back into somewhat of a normal life and enjoying every second with him! I'll post pics soon!!

SUCH a big boy!!!

Our little man is almost 12 weeks!!! We can't believe how fast he is growing....he changes each day! We are so in love with him :-)

He was baptized today. It was a wonderful mass and we were very blessed to share it with our family and friends...pics to come soon!!!