Merry Christmas

Watch "Baby Reed Christmas" on YouTube

From our munchkin to yours! This was my attempt at catching Reed giggle. I was unsuccessful.

Reed: One Month

Everyone tells you to cherish every moment because the time flies by. It is an understatement. I cannot believe Reed celebrated his one month mile stone on December 11^th. I am posting this a week late because he didn’t have his doctor’s visit until this morning.

One month stats:

Weight: 12 lb. 1 oz.  (90^th percentile)

Height: 23” (75th percentile)

Head Circumference: 16” (75th percentile)

Clothes: 0-3 months

Diapers: Pampers Swaddlers Size 1

Reed has been such a blessing in our lives and amazes us in new ways everyday. It is hard to imagine life without this little guy. Yes, it was easier to do just about everything, but being responsible for someone else gives life so much more meaning. Here are a few milestones from the past month:

·    Reed is a champ when it comes to eating. He started breastfeeding in the hospital and hasn’t had too many hiccups since. We did have than one or two rough nights where I knew he was hungry but was so worked up that he wouldn’t eat. Thank goodness my mother-in-law was here to help me get through those nights. At three weeks we decided to introduce one bottle a day. Reed took the bottle immediately and loves his quality time with daddy. He eats A LOT (as you can tell by his weight gain!) He is gaining a pound a week!  During the day he feeds every two hours. It wasn’t until we started pumping/introduced the bottle that we realized how much he was getting during each of those feedings. He can down a 5 oz bottle in about 5 minutes and is ready for me (aka more milk) just 30 minutes later.

·    His sleeping patterns haven’t changed much. He sleeps on and off throughout the day. He takes a bottle from dad around 8PM and then we put him down between that feeding and 10PM. Most of the time he needs a topper from me to put him out for the night. Then he sleeps until 2 or 3 AM when he will wake up for another feeding and diaper change and goes back down. He is back up around 6 or 7 AM. I am ready for him to skip that middle of the night feeding. He has slept in his crib at night with no problem during the day, but we are far from napping there during the day.

·     I had to pack up Reeds newborn clothes this past week – tear. He is growing so fast!·    Every day he can entertain himself for longer periods of time on his play mat. He has been extremely alert from day one, but wanted to be held during that time. It has been nice to see him wake up from naps and not immediately cry to be held.

·    He doesn’t mind tummy time for the first 5 to 10 minutes or so. He has been able to lift his head for the past couple weeks and turn his head from side to side. He is getting so strong! Just yesterday I stood him up and he locked out his legs for a solid minute. It really is the little things that get me so excited.

·    He started smiling right before his one month birthday and even giggles every once in a while. It doesn’t happen very often, but I love when he makes eye contact and smiles at something I have done. Melts my heart every time!

·    He loves play dates and, as I’ve mentioned from a previous post, thanks to CMA he gets plenty of them.  I even took him to a see The Descendants at a local theatre that hosts a bi-weekly “Box Office Babies” event. We went with a couple other local moms. The theatre was packed with moms and babies with car seats and diaper bags littering the aisles. It was hysterical.

I don’t think I am cut out to be a stay at home mom, but I am really sad just thinking about leaving Reed to go back to work. I am thankful that we will get to ease back into it. More about that later – until then I am cherishing every minute I get with him!! Here are some pictures from his one month birthday December 11, 2011:

Charlestown Mothers Association

I love our neighborhood in Boston!

We choose Charlestown because it reminded us of Windsor, where we lived in England. It is a historical community along the freedom trail with sites like the Bunker Hill Monument, the Constitution and the Warren Tavern. It is also a short (less than a mile) walk or ferry ride to downtown Boston.

Now that we have Reed we have just one more reason to love it here, the Mothers Association. This morning, I attended a new mom's breakfast at a host mothers house a couple blocks away. More than a dozen mom's attended with their newborns. It was a great way to meet other moms with babies the same age as Reed.  A CMA board member was there and said that 10 to 15 babies are born in Charlestown each month!

I met some great ladies and was invited to a play group tomorrow afternoon. The mom hosting tomorrow even lives on our street and her son is 11 weeks old. I am excited to widen our circle of friends and hopefully meet some new friends for Reed.

CMA is how I met the family for our nanny share as well. Here is a picture of Reed and Elizabeth. E is two months older.

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Bath Time

Reed had his first bath this past weekend and did great – at least for the first half. As soon as Matt put him in the tub Reed started peeing straight up. It all happened so fast. Matt shrieked and jumped back. I was so concerned and asked what was wrong because I couldn’t see. Matt told me he was peeing, so I stepped forward to cover the stream with my hand so it didn’t go all over the bathroom. I couldn’t stop laughing at Matt’s reaction. To his credit, it was the first time Reed had peed on him, and it has already become a regular occurrence for me. Even with the WeeWee Tepee’s.

As you can see from the pictures below, Reed really liked the first few minutes of warm water, but that only lasted a few minutes. Lesson learned, we have only about 5 minutes to get him in and out before he has a meltdown. Overall, it was a success and all worth it to see him wrapped up in the froggy towel.

1 Week Visit

I can't believe Reed is already nearly two weeks old. Time passed so slowly the last few weeks of my pregnancy and now it is flying by.

Reed was born weighing 7 lbs 7 oz. Last Monday at our doctors visit, he was down to 7 lbs 1 oz. He has been nursing like a champ and it shows. Today he was up to 8 lbs 4 oz!

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Birth Story

For the last 9 months, Matt and I have anticipated the day we would get to meet our little bundle of joy. On November 11, 2011 Reed Stewart Tuel decided it was time to meet his parents. It was an experience I wasn’t quite prepared for and the moment they put him on my chest, I knew my life would be changed forever. Let’s start from the beginning.

As we all know, I honestly thought Reed would come early. Possibly even as early has Halloween. As we started getting closer to the due date, I tried everything to speed up the process:

·         An eggplant parmesan recipe that women swear induces labor – fail

·         Pineapple and Mango smoothies – fail

·         Long walks – Fail

·         Chiropractor Visit – Fail

·         Raspberry Leaf Tea – Fail

·         Massage Therapy – Fail

·         “Marital Relations” – Fail

·         Acupressure…

Reed stood his ground and refused to cave into my wishes for an early delivery. He was on his own timeline. On November 9, 2011 my mother-in-law flew in for a 10 day visit to meet baby Reed, but she would just have to join the waiting game with Matt and me as the due date came and went. Thursday November 10^th, Carol and I started the day at the grocery store to pick up all the ingredients we would need to make meals to freeze for after her visit was over. Then we were off to Bella Sante salon in Back Bay for a relaxing massage. My therapist was amazing! Although she informed me that she was trained to stay away from pressure points that would induce labor. I asked her if those really work, and she swore by them. Midway through, she said if I really wanted to go into labor she would show me the pressure points that Matt could try on me that night. Of course, I wanted to know all the details. She proceeded to grab my knee until it hurt. She then shook it side to side while holding the points and told me that Matt should do that to each knee a couple times. I swear, while she was doing that I felt little Reed flip over! (He was face up and my doctor said all he needed to do was flip over and that would cause him to drop and me to go into labor)

A few hours later, Carol and I were in the kitchen cooking away when my back started bothering me. I assumed it was because when Reed flipped he must be putting a new pressure on my back. I took a couple breaks, but cooked through it. At dinner my back pain continued to get worse and I had a hard time eating, but still didn’t think much of it. After dinner it was time for Matt to test out the pressure points I was sure were going to work. He squeezed behind my ankles and I immediately felt like I needed to rush to the bathroom. I couldn’t go to the bathroom, but did notice I was bleeding and the back pain got stronger as I sat there. A couple rounds of that and I realized at about 8:30PM I was in fact having contractions. We didn’t even wait to time them for an hour but called the hospital and they said to come on in.

We got the Brigham Women’s hospital at 9:30 PM and were sent to triage. I was at 6 cm dilated and immediately admitted to labor and delivery. About thirty minutes later, the epidural was in and I was ready to go! By midnight I was already at 9 cm and thinking we were almost ready. Unfortunately, progress stopped there.  At 4 AM my doctor decided to give me a little Pitocin to speed up my contractions and push me to 10 cm. It worked and at 4:30 we started pushing. Matt was a trooper encouraging me every step of the way. It was a rough two hours, but finally at 6:22 my precious little angel was placed on my chest with his gigantic hands reaching for me, his mommy. The emotions that took over at that moment were crippling. I love this little nugget of perfection more than I could ever imagine. Just the sight of him brings tears to my eyes. I still can’t believe we created him and he is all ours. What an amazing experience and it is only the beginning!

I am so excited for what the future holds for our family. This is just the beginning and I am loving every minute of it!

Reed Stewart Tuel – 11/11/11– 7lbs 7oz – 20” long

Belly Growth

It is crazy to take a look back at the growth of little baby Reed!

Week 13 - My first "bump" sighting. Looking back, it doesn't really look like much of a bump.

At 29 weeks I threw on the same outfit and tried to recreate the picture at home.

 Yesterday, at 39 weeks, I recreated it one last time. Wow have I - I mean has he - gotten big!