Cousins

If you know Matt and I well, you know that we want a big family. Matt is one of six kids and I am one of four. Together we have six nieces and five nephews. It was so great to bring Reed down to Texas and introduce him to the majority of his cousins. It was also a nice look into what it might be like to have more than one little rug rat running around the house. Here are just a couple of highlights I found funny:

·         While giving Reed a bath one night, Claire (almost 6) and Emma (just turned 9) came into the bathroom with Grandma. It was Claire’s first lesson in anatomy. She pointed to her private parts while looking at Reed and asked “what is that?” At that exact moment, Reed decided to turn on the fountain and pee. Matt’s mom said that is where boys pee from (clearly). Claire blushed, turned towards the door and said, “We should go, this is his private time.” Emma laughed and responded “Geez Claire he is just a baby.”

·         I was changing Reed’s diaper at my sister’s house and Ayden (4) trying to help ran and grabbed one of his Haley’s (16 months) diapers. He came running back, “Here Aunt Debbie, I brought a diaper for Baby Reed.”

·         After Reed’s baptism we were taking family pictures. Crystal got my attention just as she caught Haley red handed. Haley had seen Reed’s bottle in my diaper bag, she looked both ways to see if anyone was looking before taking the bottle and trying to get into it. Thank goodness she wasn’t successful. That would have been a little disturbing J

·         Haley also found a fascination with Reed’s paci. She would walk over to him, take it out of his mouth and then try to put it back in. It was like he was her little doll and he didn’t mind one bit!

·         When it was time to give Reed a bath at Crystal’s house, all hands were on deck. Both Ayden and Skyler (6) jumped in the tub to help. They would take the wash cloth and spread it out over his belly and then pick it up and start all over.

·         I had to give Reed nebulizer treatments for his RSV. When I pulled out the machine, Skyler stated “I know what that is, it is to get milk out. My mom has one too.”

·         The boys helped me give Reed the treatment which came in handy the next day when Skyler went to the dentist. The dentist had to give him laughing gas and Crystal said Skyler was so excited to get the same treatment that baby Reed was getting (because both were given with a mask).

·         Collin (3) was so excited to meet baby Reed and help out. He would check on him while we were in the car and couldn’t see him, he let Reed sleep in his old crib, he let Reed share his couch to watch morning cartoons, it was so cute to watch the two of them interact. We went shopping and Collin wanted to push the stroller. He would push it a couple feet and then come around the stroller to check on the baby. He would pop his head around and play peek-a-boo just to get Reed to smile.

·         Collin also had us take Reed into meet his daycare class. He was so eager to show off his cousin to his teachers and classmates.

There are so many more precious moments that I will cherish. It makes me sad that we don’t live closer and that he still has four cousins to meet. I only hope that it makes the time we spend with our families that much more important. Reed is only three months old, but this trip also made me even more excited to expand our family (in due time of course).

I'll get more pictures of the family up in the next couple days. Try getting this many kids under 7 to smile at the same time...