2.5

Our spunky, independent, and hilarious little Reives is two and a half!  He is already talking about his birthday "in September" when he will "turn 3!"  I keep telling him not to get too ahead of himself.  I cannot imagine telling people I have a three year old!  CRAZY!  It is hard to sum up Reives's personality in words, but as his Sunday School teacher told me on Sunday, "He sure is ALL BOY!"  He is the rough, tumble, spunky, smart, "I want it my way, right now," never sits still kind of kid!  He is out to test the limits, but don't be fooled.  This little guy has such a tender, sweet, and caring heart.  He loves to kiss Mama's booboos, hug his little brother, and he gets upset when Brooks gets a shot at the doctor.

It is amazing how he has changed in the last couple of months.  He is becoming so much more independent.  Two of his favorite phrases are "I Do It!" and "No Mama help Reives." He is also becoming more confident of himself.  It is amazing that 6 months ago, he was still screaming every time we dropped him off at church and at BSF.  Now, he just walks on in without even looking back to say bye!  He is like a little sponge, and I love hearing about what he learns at church and BSF each week.  Last week, he learned about Jacob wrestling God.  When I asked him about it, he said, "No Mama, Jacob pushed God."  (I guess that is how they explained wrestling.)  He also recently told us that Jesus rode on a donkey.  (What he learned on Palm Sunday.)  He remembers so much of what he sees and hears...it is crazy!!  He loves to help us around the house now, so it is nice to have him move things when I vacuum, hand Brooks certain things for me, throw things away, unload the dishwasher, and he has even set the table a few times.

Some of Reives's favorite things to do right now are play outside (doing anything and everything), watch "Super WHY" on PBS, eat snacks (this boy still LOVES to eat), read books, and sing songs.  Reives has never been the type to sit and just play with toys.  He wants to be interacting with people.  He loves to sing, and it is so cute to hear him sing his version of songs to himself.  He loves to finish our phrases when we read the books he knows by heart, and he loves for us to make up songs about Elmo and all the things he wants Elmo to do (tee tee in his potty, go to the park, etc.)  Reives is definitely the typical two year old with meltdowns and tantrums each day.  Some days/weeks are worst than others,  He definitely likes to push the limits, and so we are working on obeying Mama and Daddy the first time!  Reives likes to say "Obey Mama, Daddy, and Jesus the first time."  He doesn't like if we leave Jesus out....love this kid!  I love that Reives still likes to snuggle with me before his naps, and he loves to snuggle with Daddy before bedtime.  He just melts our hearts, and we are so thankful for the blessing he is to our family.  He LOVES his brother, and even though he sometimes doesn't like to share and is too rough with Brooks, they are best friends!  It is so fun to see Reives wanting to play with him and do things with him.  He always includes him with stuff, and it makes me so happy!

A few other random things:
-Reives still sleeps in his crib (he has never tried to climb out, and seems happy, so why rock the boat?)
-Reives still takes a nap most days, although many days he is taking FOREVER to fall asleep
-Reives still sleeps with his pacis...dreading getting rid of these
-One of the best eaters I know
-Was 37" tall (71%) and weighed 30 lbs 5 oz (54%) at his 2.5 year check up
-Knows all of his colors, some numbers, and almost all of his letters, and he can count to 10 by himself and 20 with a little help

Reives finally got a desperately needed haircut!  He looks like such a big boy!  His hair is getting so dark and he is losing his curls :(  But, he is still as handsome as ever!!!

Happy 2.5!!!

(Reives on his half birthday...which is also Brooks's actual birthday...!)

Famous....sort of :)

Since we (the boys and I) are famous now, we will be signing autographs the next time we see you!!!

Back in December, the marketing director at The Savannah Bank called me and asked if the boys and I would do a photo shoot for the new Savannah Bank brochures.  Uh...let me think about it...free pictures ...get to be in a brochure....of course we will!!  Since I only had 4 days notice, we did not have time to get Reives a haircut, so it is a little on the wild side.  And, the day before the photo shoot, Reives took a little tumble down the stairs and got rug burn on his cheek and nose.  Thank goodness for photo shop!
Anyways, a professional photographer came out to our house and took pictures of me and the boys doing some ordinary things.  We got the disc of pictures back yesterday, so I am just going to share some of my favorites.  They did use 4 of these for the brochure!  They turned out really good :)  I know I am partial, but we do have the cutest little models in town!

And before photo shop....

Poor little guy :(

Party Time

We had Brooks's first birthday on a beautiful Sunday evening at our house.  The weather was gorgeous, and we had all of our family and a few friends over to celebrate our sweet, little guy turning 1!  We kept it basic and served pizza, chips, and fruit, and of course, we had plenty of cake and ice cream for dessert.  

Recap of the party:

 Brooks loved watching the guests arrive!!

 Me and my sweet birthday boy!!!

 Grammie and Brooks!

 My sweet niece, Jaymie....so cute :)

 Reives wouldn't be in the picture without a fight...surprise surprise!

 "No picture of Reives" (as I am snapping this)!

 Cousins...

 Checking out the jungle cake :)

 Gigi and the birthday boy!

 Present time..

 Cali and Reives were such little helpers :)

 "This is fun!"

 Daniel loved the presents, too!

 "Happy Birthday" time

 Not too sure...

 Only family photo from the party...

 "I am serious...I really don't want it." 

(Neither of my boys have liked their 1st birthday cakes...boo!)

 "Happy Birthday"....round 2

 "Are we done, yet?"

Daddy and the happy Birthday Boy!!!

I still can't believe my baby boy is ONE!!!

ONE.

ONE.  I can hardly believe that my baby Brooks is 1!!!!  This year has just sped by!  Although Brooks's actual birthday was Monday, March 11, we had his birthday party on Sunday, March 10.  And, in a way, I am so glad that we celebrated on Sunday and Monday.  Brooks was born on "Spring Forward Sunday," and not only was he born on that particular Sunday, but he was born 12 minutes after the offical spring forward time of 2:00 am.  So, as I was laboring with Brooks, the nurses kept joking that if I had him right at 2:00 am, they would have to decide if his official time would be 2:00 am or 3:00am.  Well, he waited a few minutes later, and he was born at 2:12 am (the old time), but since we had just "sprung forward," his official birth time was 3:12 am.  So, all of this to say, that no matter what the actual date of "Spring Forward Sunday" is, I am always going to think of that day as very special regarding the birth of my precious Brooks.  I will post more details of his party later, but I wanted to do a post about Brooks at this age.

Brooks is still as sweet, charming, and laid back as ever.  He has the biggest, brightest blue eyes I have ever seen.  He has a mouth full of teeth, and such a mischievous little grin.  He has pretty blonde, straight hair that is starting to stick out over his ears.  After going to his 1 month check up yesterday, we received his one year "stats."  He weighed 23 lbs 1 oz and was 30.3 inches long.  He is in the 54 % for weight and the 64% for height.  Unfortunately, they discovered yet another ear infection at his checkup, he is on yet another round of antibiotics.  The doctor is hoping once cold season dies down, that his ear infections will die down also (since he gets one whenever he gets a runny nose of any type.)  So, I hope that is the case.  If not, we will have to see about some tubes :(

Brooks LOVES toys!  He is so good at entertaining himself (much better than Reives was at this age.)  He is already pushing around trucks and cars with his big brother, and he is grabbing the soccer ball and trying to throw it when we play outside.  He has learned how to crawl into the sandbox now, so he is trying to dig and fill buckets with sand.  Although he loves his toys, his favorite thing in the world are books.  If you even mention the word "book," he gets soo excited!  He has a few favorites, but he really likes all of them.  He is still eating well, although he is becoming a little pickier.  I think cheese may be his favorite food.  He loves cheese toast, all fruit, sweet potatoes, yogurt, and ham.  Those are his staples.  He sometimes likes meat and occasionally likes vegetables besides sweet potatoes.  He always loves cookies, goldfish, and crackers for snacks!  And he will sure let you know how he feels about Reives getting something that he doesn't get!!!

Other things he is doing:

-still is such an amazing sleeper.  He takes 2 naps a day and sleeps 11-12 hours a night and never wakes up (even with his poor ear infections)
-still drinks his bottles, but we will be switching to cow's milk after he finishes this can of formula
-has said "mama, " "daddy," "hey daddy," "again," "uh oh" (his new favorite), and "cup".  He doesn't say all of these consistently, but he has said them all once of twice
-Brooks is pushing toys around and cruising everywhere, but he has not stood alone or walked on his own yet.  He can walk beside us while we hold just one of his hands.  I really think his balance is good enough that he could walk, but since he is a speed crawler, he seems content with that.
-Brooks LOVES to play outside, although we constantly find all sorts of the outdoors in his mouth...trees, sticks, bark, pieces of pinecone, pinestraw, and even pollen :(  YUCK!
-Brooks lets everyone know when Reives takes his toy.  I am glad he is learning to stand up for himself I guess!
-Brooks loves Wednesday nights when I go to help with the youth at church.  Trey, Reives, and Brooks have "guy's night," and they spend the evening playing with "guy stuff" and "wrestling."  According to Trey, Brooks laughs hysterically when they wrestle.  I am glad they have so much fun!
-Brooks is definitely getting to the "clingy age."  He is reluctant to go to the nursery now, but he has only cried once when I dropped him off, which is better than what Reives did at this age.  But, I think he likes to be held alot when he is in there :)

Here are some 12 month/1 year pics: