Heavy Heart

Today I write with a heavy heart. Some things are trivial compared to others, but all of them are weighing heavy on me right now. Some I can mention and others are unspoken, but God knows them all and He is able to carry them for me.

First off, I would like to ask all of you to pray for a family that is in our church. While on assignment in Utah for the Marines, Mike, was in a terrible snowboarding accident. This happened on Sunday. Meredith, his wife, and his family are out there with him, keeping watch over him and praying over him. They are asking that we pray that Mike will come out of the coma he is in. Right now he is not voluntarily responding to any commands. I don't know much about medicine, but I know that the sooner he comes around the better it will be for his recovery. While there are tremendous hurdles for Mike to get through, Meredith has some praises about the process and I am so thankful that God has provided for her. Praise God that He is so faithful to His children. Oh please, please pray for this sweet young family everyday!!!

The next big thing that is going on is that the "Year of Kim" has begun!!! Today ended up being the day, we are officially done nursing. It has been a couple of weeks now that I have figured that we could stop, but I just didn't want to let go. For all the times that I was somewhat annoyed over the whole nursing thing this past year an outsider would have thought that I was bitter about it, but in my heart of hearts I knew that I was doing what was best for my sweet JP and loving every minute of it. It will certainly be hard these next few days. I will miss that quiet cuddling time with him, but I also look forward to all the fun stages to come. He has been such a joy to watch as he has come into his own and started exploring the world around him.

Well, that is all for now. Please pray for my friends.

A Walking Kind of Day

First off, I just had to include this picture from this morning. Like I said in my last blog, you turn your head for one second and you never know what you are going to find when you look back. I am still trying to figure out how they both got in there without falling over in the basket. Oh well, I guess that somethings were meant for parents to figure out. But for real, how funny is that.

So after JP walked three times on Monday I really hadn't seen him walk much the rest of the week. In fact, I was beginning to think that we had a false alarm and maybe he wasn't quite ready to start walking yet. Well, I was once again proved wrong....today must have been the day because JP first started out this morning by standing up by himself; and while he has done this before he never looked at me with that look of "look what I did all by myself." After that he just started walking and pretty much walked where ever he wanted to for the rest of the day. I just can't believe it. He walked and walked and walked. I bet his little legs are going to be pretty tired tomorrow.

Here is a little clip of him walking and check out how he even steps over his sippy cup. Just amazing, on his first day of walking and he can already maneuver over obstacles (I knew he was advanced beyond his age, but this advanced I had no idea-hehehehe-a little mommy bragging moment). I think that I am about to enter a whole new world of mothering with two kiddos walking all over the house. With Shelby we never had to worry much about baby proofing things, but JP just may be a different story.

Turn your Head for One Second

What you are about to see are a series of pictures of what can happen when you turn your head for one second.


This first picture was taken yesterday when Shelby woke up from her nap. I don't usually allow any sort of drawing utensil in her room for this very reason, but somehow one made it by my security. Thankfully most of the ink was on her legs and hands and none of it found its way to the walls or furniture. The best part was that when I was telling Erin about what Shelby had done and that I had no idea where she got the pen, Shelby got up, went into her room, and came back with the pen and said, "Here it is Mommy." It was so cute!!! I just love that girl.


This picture isn't so earth shattering as nothing is terribly wrong with the world around JP, but it is earth shattering in the fact that it is my sweet little boy throwing somewhat of a mini-tantrum. He recently has started showing his pleasure and displeasure with things and I think it is so funny when he isn't pleased with something that is going on. He lays on his belly and pushes himself backwards while fussing about this or that. It is so cute. Also, don't you think he looks more like a little boy in this picture?? I just couldn't believe how old he looked when I saw the picture. Booooo Hooooo Hoooooo......

And now we come to the final two pictures....For some reason this morning I decided to take on the task of rearranging Shelby's room. I don't know what possessed me, maybe it was just a moment of insanity. Anyway, the project started while JP was napping, but of course, he woke up before I could finish. Shelby and I went into his room to get him. She loves to get him after his naps. She always insists that she opens the door, then she runs up to the crib and says, "Hey Buddy." It is so cute and JP just smiles so big. I love watching them interact now; well, most of the time. At any rate, I got JP out and left him and Shelby in his room while I finished moving Shelby's dresser. It didn't take too long for me to accomplish this task and when I came back into JP's room it was complete disaster zone!!! Let me tell you, it doesn't take them long to move a room from order to complete chaos. And look, of all the toys that are out, they aren't even playing with them.

Shortly after, the party moved to Shelby's room....and I will just let the picture speak for itself.

The kids are moving into such a fun stage. Shelby is changing so much everyday. She always is making us laugh. JP is really starting to "talk" a lot. He will sit and talk with you for minutes and minutes with the most serious look on his face and then he will throw in an occasional fake laugh. It is hilarious!!!

Happy Birthday JP!!!

We officially celebrated JP's right of passage from baby to toddler this past weekend with a little birthday party. It was great fun and he had a great time. I think that Shelby had the best time as she is my little socialite and loves having people over. All the time she asks me who is coming over, followed a name of someone whom she would like to see. It is amazing to me to watch our sweet babies grow. I mean, just yesterday we brought JP home from the hospital, helpless and crying; and today he is nearly walking and loves to roll around on the floor and has the best laugh you have ever heard. Of course, he is still a true mamma's boy and I hope that he never tires of that. There is no greater feeling in the world than when your baby wraps his/her whole body around you in the best hug ever.

Anyway, back to the party. Of course, just like always our morning started out earlier than I would like, but that was okay because adrenaline was already pumping over the excitement of the day. Shelby played host to all who entered and made sure that all of her friends were greeted with a box of apple juice upon arrival. I think that part of her thought that this party was for her.

Here is a picture of some of the "big" (and I use that term lightly) kids. They all sat at the coffee table and enjoyed some snacks.


We were so excited that Grandmother and Granddaddy were able to join us for JP's special day. He is a fourth generation Reed and so it is always a special treat to have all four generations in one house together. Papa John is so proud of his family. Everytime we are all together he proudly announces that there are four generations of Reed in the house and then we gather for a picture.

And now.....time for cake!!!! I was a little apprehensive about how this whole process would go. At Shelby's one year birthday I was so excited because I just knew that she would dive head first into her cake and make the mess of all messes; which we all know is acceptable at a one year birthday. In fact, anything less is just disappointing. Well, in true Shelby form, she marched to her own drum that day and didn't do anything but cry when we put the cake in front of her. It really was so cute, but not the mess that I had hoped for. So, back to the present, just in case JP would make a mess I dutifully put down some plastic on the floor and then took off all of JP's clothes so that if there was to be a mess it would be as easy to clean as possible. As you can see from the pictures below, I got a little more cooperation this time around. In this first picture you can see JP trying to put the cake in one of the little cupholders on the tray. It is funny because when he doesn't like something he always puts it in the cupholder of the tray.

When he realized that the icing wasn't going to come off and stay in the cupholder he got a little frustrated and tried to wipe the icing off on his chest and then I got it!!!!! A big mess!!!! All he wanted was to get that icing off of his fingers and so anywhere he could think to wipe his hands he tried. Isn't it sad how we all just stood around, watched and laughed at him in his somewhat stage of misery??? Oh well, I guess that is just part of being a one year old.

When JP clearly had enough we whisked him off to the tub for a quick rinse and then brought him back out to play.

It was a perfect day. We were surrounded by love and friendship and really, who could ask for anything more. God is so good!!!!

Almost Walking

Well this weekend was the big birthday weekend and I will post more on that later when I remember to bring up the camera to download pictures. Right now I just want to brag on JP and the fact that just a little bit ago he walked across the bonus room all by himself!!! I was so excited and half shocked so I made him do it three more times and sure enough each time he took his sweet little baby steps and made his way across the room!!! This is just so exciting!!! I can't believe how fast he is growing since he turned one last week. I promise you he must have gained 5 pounds and grew two inches since last week!!! Okay, maybe I am exaggerating just a little bit, but for real, he looks so much bigger to me.

PS-Shelby is still talking about mountains. Almost everyday she asks if we can have lunch or dinner up there. She is too cute!!!!!

Cute things....

Okay, now is the moment for me to put on my "my kids are the cutest in the world and say the cutest things" hat....

The other day Pratt said, "You know what Shelby, you are my favoritest daughter in the world." to which she replied, "Daddy, you are my favoritest daughter in the world." She tells us all the time that we are her favoritest daughter in the world.

She has also discovered the use of the adjective (all you English people out there feel free to correct me if I am wrong with the meaning of adjective). Everything is soooo.....I am sooo hungry. I am sooo cold. It hurts sooo bad mommy!! I am soooo (fill in the blank). It is so funny because of her sweet little voice when she says it.

The other night Shelby fell asleep on her floor while she was playing with her toys. Half way through the night she woke up crying because I think that she was confused as to why she was on the floor instead of in her bed. I wish you could have seen her little face as she sat on the floor.

JP and Shelby really love playing together these days!! It is great because now I can get more done around the house instead of trying to entertain them the whole time. Grammie got them some gigantic soft blocks for them to climb on and whatever for Christmas. They get such a tickle out of sliding down the blocks and climbing up the blocks.

My little man is growing so fast and I am sure that it is just a matter of time before he starts walking. He still doesn't have the confidence to let go, but as long as something this held firmly in his hands he will walk around aroung this house (and by something I mean the handle of a broom, his blanket, or someone's fingers).

Today was JP's one year check up!!! He is 20lbs 14 oz. (25%) and 29 1/2 inches long (50%). Everything was great and he is right on track. What a wonderful checkup and validation that I must be doing somethings right!!!

Family Mountain Weekend

Well, I don't know if East Fork Ranch will ever be quite the same. Yup, we did it....we took the plunge and loaded up the kids and half of our house into the car and made the trek to N.C. for a little family time. It was great fun and I think that Pratt and I realized that we need to make more time to do things just as a family.

We started out on Friday around 11:30 or so and what should have taken only 5 hours ended up taking nearly 7. We made our first stop only an hour down the road to grab some lunch and we ended up spending way too much time there. Shelby is notorious for saying she has to go potty and not really having to go or claiming that she isn't finished when she really is so we waited in the parking lot of the Ruby Tuesday while Shelby sat on her super cool new travel potty. I think that she just really liked the potty and didn't want to get off. When we finally coaxed her off and got some gas we were able to get back on the road only to be told by our little princess in the back seat that she had to go potty again. I tried to change the subject and distract her, but then I started to think, "Oh no, what if she really does have to go potty??? I don't want her to have an accident in her carseat. That would make a smelly rest of the trip." So, with all disregard of the law and what is safe I set up her new potty on the floor of the car and let her sit on it at which point she did potty. Well, this basically went on for the rest of the trip and I have to give her credit because everytime she said she had to go she went. We finally pulled up to the cabin around 7:30 and Shelby was so excited. JP could really care less; he just wanted to sleep. Instantly Shelby put on her hat and never took it off except when she was sleeping.

The next day was so nice because I got to sleep in until 6:30 (I know, it is really sad that I now consider getting up at 6:30 as sleeping in.....). JP was ready to go and Shelby followed shortly behind. It was a fun morning though because we just did whatever. There was no one rushing off to this or to that. Once we got going we went to this great little restuarant for the best pancakes ever. No kidding, these are the best!!! Then we hit the grocery store on the way back to get necessary provisions. After a very short morning nap from JP we headed back into town to do some shopping and have lunch. It turned out to be a very beautiful day and not as cold as I thought it would be. Of course being from the south we had JP bundled up to the hilt. Poor kid couldn't even move underneath all that we had on him. He just sat there so still and would only move his eyes around as he had this perplexed look on his face. At one point when I set him down on the floor he just tipped over backwards. Thank goodness his puffy jacket was so puffy and allowed for a softer landing!!!! Shelby really enjoyed the rest of the day just hanging out and playing with daddy.

The next day (Sunday) was JP's FIRST birthday!!!! Oh my, I really can't believe that my baby is one already!!! What at first seemed like a time that would never come because I was sure I would die before it got here had arrived!!!! We spent the whole day at the cabin. It was supposed to snow that day, but it didn't. During the morning we took the kids down to the river, looked at the trout ponds and went to see the horses. That night we had Wilton and Amanda Graves over with their two kids, Wilton and Ellie, to have a little celebration over the huge milestone of the day. Shelby had so much fun playing with Ellie and Wilton that she is still asking about them and wanting to go back to the mountains to play with them. We were so glad to have them over to help celebrate and it also gave us something to look forward to during the day that kept us from getting cabin fever too bad. Pratt and Wilton had a great time talking about, well, I am not really sure what they talked about, but if I had to guess I am sure that it had something to do with work, house building, and wine. Amanda and I mostly talked kids (why is it that all I talk about these days with other friends are kids.....hummmmmm...I wonder:-) Anyway, we had a great time visiting with them and catching up on all that had come to pass in the two years since we last saw each other.

This is JP on Sunday. We were all bundled up for a fun day of throwing rocks in the river, visiting the horses, and just walking around. At this point we kind of knew that it wasn't going to snow, but I still had high hopes.

Shelby loves her brother sooo much!!! Sometimes when she hugs him, she hugs him so tight that I think that his eyes are going to pop out.

This is Shelby and Daddy talking to the horses. She wasn't nearly as timid around them as I thought she would be.

Doesn't JP look older in this picture??? Maybe it is just me since I knew that he turned one. Oh, what a joyous and sad occassion all at the same time.

Here is the great cupcake making fest. Shelby did a great job helping to stir the batter and frost the cupcakes.

Monday morning came fast and early as JP was up at 6:00!!! And I promise you that all the sudden he looked like he grew a couple of inches and lost so much of his baby look. He really looked like a little boy. It was so sad and so exciting at the same time. We loaded up the car and then Pratt headed over to Cold Mountain with Wilton to take a look at the community they are doing over there and I took the kids over to play with Ellie. Once Pratt got back we loaded up and headed out (and not a moment too soon as the temp. that day was a freezing 25 degrees!!!!!) We had such a wonderful time and can't wait to go back. Like I said before, Shelby is asking us to go back....I want to eat dinner in the mountains. I want to play with Ellie in the mountains.

'08 is going to be GREAT!!!

I have to say it....Aside from my sweet baby boy's birth, I am so glad that 2007 is over!!! Talk about a challenging year in our house! Man, thank goodness we did a study on 1st and 2nd Peter in CBS this fall because I was about to just give up. It seemed like every time we felt like we were starting to get our bearings straight something else would come up, but the blessing in all that is that God was always with us, carrying us most of the time as we could hardly stay on our feet. Praise God for always watching us and keeping us in the palm of his hand!!! He truly is the Lord of lords and the King of kings.

Now on to the new year! So far '08 has been great!!! Clemson Football is once again undefeated and even though the basketball team suffered a heartbreaking loss to UNC the other night, they are looking to be quite the threat this year. Some people have even said that we will make the Big Dance!!! How great would that be!!! Shelby and JP are doing wonderful. I was hoping that maybe we would start to get more consistent nights of sleep; that hasn't come yet, but I am sure soon enough I will be having to drag my kids out of bed in the morning (atleast I am hoping for that).

It is only 9 days into the new year and already I feel like we have done enough to fill up a couple of months. It has been nice to have everyone back in town from their travels. Yesterday we started back into our routine of school, CBS, etc. Shelby was so excited to go back to school and while I was beginning to fear that she may be dropping her nap, all she really needed was one fun morning of school to really wear her out.

New Year and new miracle!!! Shelby actually wore her hair in a ponytail for almost a whole day. She looked so grown up and soooo cute up (she hasn't let me put her hair in a ponytail since). Here is a side picture. Her hair is getting so long. Pratt and I keep talking about when and if we should cut it, I just can't make up my mind. One day I think that we need to trim it a little, but then the next I think that we should just leave it because her hair is still so thin.

Shelby was so excited to have Rob and Erik back in town. They came over for dinner the other night and immediately were roped into playing, reading and doing whatever my little princess wished. Here is a picture of Shelby and Rob reading. I don't know how much of the book that they made it through before Shelby was on to the next adventure.

As you know, Aunt Suzy and Uncle Patricio have been in town for a couple of weeks to visit. The kids have had the most fun playing with them and hanging out. Shelby asks all the time, "Aunt Suzy Uncle Patricio stay at my house?". I think that she really loves all the extra attention that she gets. One of her favorite things to do is put Uncle Patricio to bed. She makes him lay in her bed, turns on her noisemaker, walks out and shuts the door behind her. Then she announces to everyone in the room that Uncle Patricio is taking a nap and we should be quiet. He puts up with so much from her and I am so thankful!!! It is so sweet to watch them together. When Suzy and Patricio come over I might as well be chopped liver. It is a great break for me. Thanks so much guys for all you do!!!! Anyway, here is a picture of Uncle Patricio and JP hanging out in Shelby's room. JP is still a mama's boy, but every day he is discovering more and more about his world and enjoying other people's interaction. Look at how happy he is!!!!

As you can tell from this picture we have been busy. I never seen Shelby act so tired as she did this day. Truthfully, I can't even remember what day it was or what we did that day, but whatever it was it tuckered her out. She has had her little anywhere chair for a year and not once has she ever laid down in it like in this picture. I just love how she looks so restful and it makes the picture complete to have Froggy in it because she definitely would never lay this still without him in her arms.

And finally, check out how cute my little man is in his new hat. We are going to the mountains at the end of this week and so I had to get a few essentials for the kids so that they could stay warm. This hat is about the cutest thing that I have ever seen on JP. The funny thing is that I took this picture yesterday when it was 75 degrees out. I don't think that he will get much wear out of the hat here, but I know that it will be great for our trip. On the walking front, everyday he has been taking a few steps here and there. I know that it is just a matter of time that he will be walking!!! I really can't wait to see how the dynamic of his and Shelby's relationship will change. They play together so well now and I hope that it only gets better as he becomes more independent....I hope!

Oh, one final, final thing. Pratt is doing great. I realize that I don't really talk much about him or myself on this post. Our lives revolve a lot around the kids, but we also have other things going on. His latest endeavor has been in the form of a 1980 something Jeep Wagoneer. You know the kind with the wood paneling around it. He has done a lot of work on it, some on his own with the help of friends and some we have had to hire qualified professionals. All in all, it is really looking good.

In closing, I hope that you all have a wonderful new year!!! We are definitely looking forward to all the God has planned for us, everything from the fun adventures to the lessons that we need to learn.

He did it!!!!!

First off, since I am almost a week late....Happy New Year to you all!!! I will have to take time later to post a "New Year Thoughts" blog for you. Right quick, while I have a moment, I have some big news about JP.

TONIGHT AT MY PARENTS HOUSE, HE TOOK THREE STEPS!!!!!!

It is so exciting. My mom, sister, Pratt and I all got to witness it and we errupted with such excitment that we scared the poor boy to death. He may never walk again because of that but atleast we got to all see his first three steps. I can't tell you how excited we all were. Yeah for my baby boy!!!!

Anyway, that is all for now. Have a great night.