Cheerios!

 My boy sure loves his Cheerios! Spreading them out on a chair keeps him nicely entertained.

Love this little squishy face!

Pearly Whites

Edison seems to be on a mission to pop out as many teeth as he can in a very short amount of time. In the span of 10 days, he has had 3 teeth cut through!

After the top two broke through, I was hoping for a bit of a teething break before the bottom ones made their journey to the surface. However, it seems we won't get a break just yet. A couple of days ago I felt a little part of a bottom tooth poke through. It is extremely hard to look in his mouth, most likely because it hurts and he doesn't want me poking around in there... who can blame him?!? However, today he tolerated it long enough for me to get a quick look and from what I can tell, the fourth bottom tooth won't be far behind.

Whew! That is a lot of teeth at a very fast pace and I really do hope that once the bottom ones are through my little guy gets a bit of a break. It's hard on all of us. He's hurting, not sleeping well, therefore I'm not sleeping well which makes for a grumpy baby and a tired mama. As much as I didn't want to do this, Baby Tylenol has been our friend.

The top teeth are only part way in but they are sharp little suckers! It's hard to get a good picture of them; here is the best I could do so far.... sorry for the up-the-nose view:

Wordless Wednesday - Edison wants to text too!

Long Weekends are Lovely!

Jonathan, Edison and I had a great long weekend spending time together. It's so nice that Jonathan is done with ballet and that we get our weekends back.

We did a lot of stuff over the four days including: a couple of church services, visits with family (Edison saw grandparents as well as his great-grandma), the Aquarium, grocery shopping, and today Edison had a play date with a couple of his cute little baby friends.

We went to the Aquarium on Saturday and were joined by Jonathan's friend Alex and his girlfriend, Jess. Saturday was by far the nicest day of the weekend, in fact it was pretty much the only nice day of the weekend. We weren't the only ones who decided to take advantage of the weather and go the the Aquarium.... there was about a billion other people there. I've never seen it that busy before, it was a little crazy. But we still had lots of fun and saw lots of fishies! Edison really likes standing up to the glass and looking at all the fish.

The nice weather sure made me excited for the summer! I can't wait to get outside and do more stuff. Here are a few pictures we took at the aquarium:

Waitin' in the car to get going

Me and my shadow

That's a sloth hiding up there!

I'm a pretty butterfly

Chomp Chomp

Sea Horses!!

Checking out the jelly fish

My boys... inside a bubble

Monday's Musings - Bumps & Bruises

In Edison's quest to pull himself up on absolutely every piece of furniture we own, taking a tumble is bound to happen.... and has happened (many times). Usually he just plops down onto his bum and all is well. Last Sunday however, was a bit of a different story....

He was trying to pull himself up while holding onto my bedside table, hands slipped, down he went, bonking his head in the process. He started crying, I picked him up and he quickly got over it. I didn't really think much of it until a few minutes later when Jonathan said "What's on his forehead?". I looked, and there it was: a purple bump! I know this will just be the first of many, but this was his first real bruise.... on his forehead no less!

Later on that day, Jonathan had Edison with him at the coffee shop and Edison took yet another tumble (bad parents or what?!?). Edison later developed another bruise on his cheek. However, the cheek bruise was in line with the forehead bruise, so we aren't sure if they both happened in the first fall, or if he got the second one in the coffee shop. Regardless, his poor little face was a little bruised up.

They've now turned yellow and are on their way out.... making way for future bumps and bruises, especially when he starts to learn how to walk.

I daily ask myself: do I let him figure it out on his own, be an independent explorer (and risk the falls, bumps and bruises along the way), or do I hover and try to protect him. While I think protecting him is good and necessary (especially as he is first learning how to do something), I don't want to constantly hover over him. I do, however, like to sit and watch in wonder as this tiny little body learns how to navigate this big world of his. Pure joy!

The forehead bruise....before the cheek bruise appeared

Both bruises...almost healed

He Is Risen!

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went it they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen." - Luke 24:1-6

It Is Finished

With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in from of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God!" - Mark 15:37-39

Maundy Thursday

Do this in remembrance of me...

Wordless Wednesday - Doin' the dishes!

Monday's Musings - 9 Months!

The little one turned 9 months old yesterday!!! He really is starting to be less and less of a baby and more like a little boy. In a way it makes me sad, that the time goes by so quickly, that I can't just hold him in my arms and cuddle him whenever I want to anymore. He's a mover... a very curious one. And now that he is much more mobile, he's always on the go. It's exciting, watching him figure things out and seeing his little personality develop. Every moment is such a gift.

Edison is still not crawling....in the traditional way. He pulls himself along the ground, inchworm-style.... and he's darn fast at it! He can make his way around anywhere he wants, and frequently "crawls" around the whole main floor of our house, exploring and checking everything out. We had to take a good look around to see what he could get into. I had to move Albert's food and water bowls out onto the deck because Edison was obsessed with trying to touch them.

He can get around so well like this now that I don't know if he ever will crawl the normal way before he learns how to walk. Here is a video of him getting around.... sorry my camera skills aren't very good.

This past couple of weeks, Edison has made big advances in his mobility. He used to be stuck where ever it was that we put him. If he was standing at his activity table, he'd be stuck there until he made enough noise that someone would move him to something else. If he was laying on the floor, he'd be stuck laying down...etc. Now, he can pretty much do whatever he wants. He has learned how to sit down, from standing. He's also figured out how to sit up on his own from the laying down position. He can also get himself up to stand at pretty much any object.....even a wall. While he's standing and holding onto something, he's started to be able to side-step around. So he can now walk around the coffee table or the kitchen island all on his own. I haven't taken many good videos of his new moves yet, but I hope to add some soon! Here is a little glimpse of him playing at his play kitchen:

Because of this new-found mobility, we've had to make a few adjustments. The first one happened the day I went in to get him from his nap and found him standing in his crib! He was never able to go from laying down to sitting to standing before....but now that he can, we promptly lowered his crib mattress. We also installed a baby gate at the top of our stairs. It has a clear panel, so he likes to stand and look down the stairs through it.

Now that Edison has good use of his hands and fingers, he has been exploring toys, objects and food with his fingers a lot lately. He likes to rub his index fingers over different textures. He's always so interested in our laptops and really likes to feel and push the buttons. However....because everything ends up in his mouth sooner or later, we can't really let him play with our laptops without some serious supervision. Jonathan, awesome Dad that he is, dug up an old laptop that doesn't work anymore to let Edison play with. So now Edison has his very own laptop to play with.... I think he was a little disappointed that the screen didn't light up though.

Playing with Dad's airplane controller!

The last exciting development in Edison's little world is that he is getting his first tooth! The funny thing is, in true Reichert fashion, he doesn't want to do anything the normal way...he's getting his top teeth first. Everything I've read says that babies usually get the bottom two front teeth, followed by the top two front teeth. Edison however, thought it would be more fun to get the top ones first....he is his father's son. He started showing the signs of teething a couple of weeks ago when we were in Tofino. I could feel that the top gums were swollen with two lumps in the front. So, for the past couple of weeks we've just been waiting. Edison is handling it fairly well. He has days where I can tell it hurts and he doesn't want anything in his mouth. Some days he eats food really well and other days he doesn't want anything to do with it. Yesterday was one of those days. I could tell it was hurting, I even broke out the baby Tylenol a couple of times.... and by this morning his first tooth has made its appearance! It's just the tiny little corner that has come through, but it's progress. I don't think the other top one will be far behind... I can tell the tooth is pretty close to coming through as well.

So that's where he's at! Now that he's moving around so much, he's definitely keeping us on our toes! There's never a dull moment in the Reichert house!

It's Nice to be Loved!

Edison is loooved by his Great-Grandma! At the ripe ol' age of 92, I don't think she gets too excited about many things these days.... but she gets excited when she sees him. I don't think she even notices me; I'm just the person bringing "her baby" to her. But that's okay... it's nice to bring some joy to her day.

Farewell Ballet.......Hello Jonathan!

Since before Christmas, Jonathan has been working very hard every weekend playing piano for the ballet rehearsals and exams for a number of different dance schools. While it's nice to have the extra cashola, it meant that he was working 7 days a week....with the odd day off on a weekend here and there. Thank you Jonathan, for working those fingers so hard!

The good news is: ballet season is officially finished for Jonathan, and he can finally have his weekends back. Edison and I are very excited.

I thought I'd post a few pictures that I took about a month ago and just never got around to putting up. I took these pictures on one of Jonathan's rare days off. It was a nice day out so we decided to take a walk down to our local coffee shop and enjoy a coffee. We then walked over to a small park near-by and put Edison into a swing for the first time! Even though Edison is strong and can sit up well on his own, the swing was still pretty big for him. I had to bunch my jacket up and put it in behind him to hold him in there while he was swinging. He loved it! It will be even better when he gets a bit bigger.