Busy week!

• We have had a busy week! Reed had his 4-month doctor's appointment yesterday, and he blew us all away. A whopping 11 lbs. 8 oz.; I could hardly believe the nurse when she told me. This puts him in the 90th percentile for weight. What a big boy! He has a horrible little rash in the creases of his neck, and so the doctor gave us a script for new meds. I think it is going to do the trick. Otherwise, a clean bill of health and a great check-up.
• Reed slept all the way through the night on Monday night and surprised us all! He woke up Tuesday morning at 5:30 am, and he chugged a big bottle down. We were so proud of him.
• Leyton has been playing like a champ. He played kitty cats and bad guys with Papa, and he has been playing witches & kings and everything else imaginable with Grandma and Grandpa Mollus today. Last night we had a serious living room dance party. Grandma was on the microphone, Leyton on flute, Grandpa on drums, and mom on air guitar. It was loud and explosive, and Reed slept through every second of it. Leyton is so inventive and funny with the things he thinks up now. I just love hearing what is coming next!

QUOTES by Leyton

So, I have been a bad blogger lately. Lots of fun (and not so fun) things going on around the Selkirk house. Scott is fighting the flu, and so we have all been tip-toeing around and hoping not to catch the bug. Doing lots of laundry, changing sheets often, and laughing at daddy as he drools...

• Posted above is a pic from Leyton's school today. "Lunch time" was the subject line. Yum!

I have been trying to do a better job of writing down the things that come out of Leyton's mouth. He is at that perfect age where he says the funniest things, and we wonder just where they come from and if they are even half-way right?!?!?

• "I hope the guy on the weather says no more snow so we can go to the park and play." (Amen! Leyton said this yesterday on the way home from school as we passed by the Brookside park - covered in snow!)
• "I love CANDY!!!" (Leyton shouted these words in the back seat of the car on the way home from the grocery store on Saturday morning when he walked out of the store with a new PEZ dispenser and 10 new packs of PEZ. Sugar overload for sure.)
• "It's okay baby Reed." (This is what Leyton was saying on Saturday morning at 6 am when he was leaning over Reed's swing and trying to calm a crying baby by putting the pacifier against Reed's lips. It was one of those precious moments that I don't think I will ever forget! As a very important side note, Reed made it through the night for the first time on Friday night. Hasn't happened again since, but we were so proud of him!)
• "Thrisha doesn't have any, I don't think." (Meaning, Thrisha does not have any gummie vitamins at home. Exactly....?)

Eyelashes

So, Reed's eyelashes are growing in, and appear to be much darker than Leyton's were. Maybe Reed won't have the exact same beautiful light red hair as his older brother? I guess we'll have to wait and see. He is definitely handsome no matter what...!

Happy Valentine's Day :)

• Leyton had a big Valentine's Day party at school on Friday. The party was scheduled for 4 pm, and by the time I arrived at 3:30 - the kids were already bouncing off the walls. It was so much fun! All the kids brought their Valentine treats and handed them out all by themselves. Leyton had helped me make treat bags for each of his friends. They had a great time passing them out to one another! Ms. Rebekah asked everyone to bring a side dish, and the kids lined up for the mini-buffet and filled their plates with Valentine goodies. At the end of the party, I heard Leyton say three words that I thought I would never hear him say: "I love ham." After Cash (his little red-headed friend who was sitting next to him at the table) scarfed down a couple of slices of ham, Leyton was asking for his own ham and started putting the slices away one by one, like I have never seen. He turned to me and said, "I love ham!" Wow, I only wish daddy could have been there to hear and see it!
• Reed tagged along to the Valentine's Day party and slept quietly for the first 30 minutes or so, and then he had had enough. He was hungry and wanted out of the car seat. Everyone commented on how handsome he was once he made his big appearance! Check out his gams in the picture above :) He is my chunky monkey.
• Papa "Grandma" Selkirk came down last night and watched the boys during the afternoon and evening while Scott and I ran a few errands and went out for a Valentine's dinner. They played dinosaur mommy and daddy, cars, store man, and who knows what else. When I Scott and I got back home, we found a surprise....the dining room drapes and drapery rod were down and lying on the dining room table. Needless to say, the crew must have had one heck of a party while we were away!
• Papa brought Reed a gift - a hand-made mosaic bulletin board full of treasures. It is awesome!!!!! We hung the bulletin board today (along with the dining room drapes!), and it is the perfect adornment to complete Reed's room. It is so special to have!
• We celebrated Valentine's Day today by making chocolate-covered strawberries and winding down the evening with baths for both boys!

Water, water everywhere!

• Leyton's most fun thing to play with at school is water! Nearly every day when I pick him up, he is elbow-deep in a bucket of water cleaning something. Sometimes he is playing in water with friends, and sometimes I find him all by himself playing with water and not caring what any of his friends are doing. He loves water! Check out this picture that his school sent to me yesterday :)
• Reed spent the day with Grandma Mollus yesterday while I was away in Centurions meetings. It was the single longest time I had been away from the Big Kahuna, and it was hard. I missed him so much :) But, Grandma took extra special care of him and was a huge help. Thanks, Grandma!
• Reed and I had our first play date on Monday of this week. We met a friend from work along with her 10-week old at the coffee shop and had a nice visit. Reed slept through most of it, but it was fun to get out.
• Last night, we tried to fill Reed up with a 5-oz bottle before bed - first time we had tried the "big" bottle. He didn't make it all the way through the bottle, but he gave it a good try. He still slept awesome and made it through a 5-hour stint, which was like heaven for mom and dad. Way to go Reed!
• Leyton is gearing up for a big Valentine party on Friday, and so we may start working on his Valentine treat bags tonight! Whoever Leyton's Valentine ends up being (probably Thea!) is going to be the luckiest lady in the world!!!

Who is wearing the PANTS now?

• Reed hit a milestone yesterday - he wore a pair of PANTS for the very first time (check it out in the photo!). And, this time, his legs and waist were big enough to keep them on. What a Big Kahuna!!!! He is growing so fast and still eating like a champ. He is still plagued with the sniffles and congestion, though, and there were a couple of times yesterday where he was choking when he was trying to drink his bottle. He and I are both tired of this stuff, and I can't wait for him to get rid of his little cold.
• Me and the little guy met daddy out for lunch yesterday, which was a fun outing! Reed slept through the entire lunch date, but it was fun for us to get out and see daddy during the work day for a change.
• On a different note, when I picked Leyton up from school yesterday, Miss Rebekah pulled me aside and said Leyton had gotten himself into some mischief yesterday. Apparently, he went to time-out on two different occasions. His problem in the morning occurred when he was hitting and swatting at three different little boys in his class. (I can hardly imagine that the littlest runt in the class was bullying the others around, but I guess it happened.) Miss Rebekah put Leyton in time-out and told him not to behave that way. Then, I guess in the afternoon, he hadn't learned his lesson yet. Miss Rebekah said that he would not stop talking during circle time after she asked him repeatedly to keep quiet. (Guess he had a lot to say, huh?!?!) So, he went to time-out again, and this time Miss Rebekah told Leyton that she was going to have to tell his mommy when I came to pick him up. Needless to say, when I arrived for pick-up, Leyton looked at me with this concerned and nervous look on his face and watched Miss Rebekah as she shared the details. Scott and I both sat down with Leyton last night. He did not want to talk about any of this!! Oh, the things kids do! Let's hope today he remembers to "keep his hands to himself."

Weekend Highlights!

• Daddy got back home on Thursday night, right after Leyton gave Uncle Adam's rubber people a good soak in the tub and scrubbed them all clean. We were all so happy to have him back!!!
• We had a great weekend and kept busy around the house, playing games and having fun.
• The boys had a biscuit party on the pink carpet on Saturday morning while watching some Saturday morning cartoons.
• Daddy brought back a surprise for both boys from Cleveland's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Reed now has an adorable little black hat, and Leyton has an awesome "School of Rock" t-shirt to show off to his friends.
• On Saturday, Scott asked Papa to come down to watch the boys for a couple of hours while he treated me to a night out. It was so, so great to have a nice (adult) dinner out at Avenues Bistro!
• Tonight's entertainment was a good old-fashioned, living room rock-band challenge. Mom on guitar, dad on drums, and Leyton on the mic. We were rockin' the whole neighborhood, and I am pretty sure that we sounded really good :) Reed slept through the entire escapade!
• We capped our Sunday night with a game of Toy Story Yahtzee and the game of Operation. Leyton is getting pretty good at them both!

Look out daddy! There is a new man moving in....

• Reed seems to be a doing a bit better and appears to be a little less congested today. Here's to hoping he keeps improving. In the meantime, he is moving daddy out of bed :) Better hurry home, dad! We can't wait for you to be back!!!
• Leyton is still all about playing doctor. We haven't stopped playing doctor for one second this week. His latest patient.....Taggie! Check it out.

Reed's first cold (& photographer photos ready to view!).

• Reed-bug has caught his first little cold. After some serious spitting-up yesterday, the mucous started last night and has continued to build up and congest the little guy ever since. It is so sad to hear him try to breathe through his nose, without much luck. Last night was a rough one - he wasn't able to sleep a whole lot, and eating from a bottle is difficult when you can't breathe. Grandma Selkirk rocked him this morning to keep him upright, and I am trying my best to keep him elevated today so that his little nose doesn't stay plugged up. Mommy got the boogie sucker out for the first time during the night last night, and Reed doesn't like it one bit. Go figure! His temperature seems to be staying around 99 degrees, and so I am hoping that this is a bug that will just run its course (sooner rather than later).
• I called the doctor's office this morning in hopes of learning any helpful pointers on how to ward this nasty little cold off. Was told to give Reed saline drops in his nose at every diaper change, keep up with the bulb syringe twice a day, take temp to be sure under 104 degrees, elevate his head when sleeping, and expect smaller & more frequent feedings. FYI - he also is not a fan of saline drops!
• Leyton somehow managed to sleep through all of Reed's crying episodes last night. Hard to believe, but I was so proud of him this morning. As soon as Leyton hopped out of bed, he was ready to play "mommy and daddy bear" with Papa. I watched as Leyton ordered Papa around, told her to get in the car, dropped their kids off at school, and then drove Papa to Starbucks for some early morning coffee. It was quite the show, really!
• Papa dropped Leyton off at school this morning, and when she left - Leyton was in tears and sad to see the week of partying come to an end. Leyton, Reed and I were all happy to have the help and company this week from both grandmas!
• OKAY, on a more positive note, I rec'd an e-mail this morning from the photographer with word that the photos are up and in slideshow form on her web site. I could hardly wait to check them out, and they did not disappoint at all. I am including the link here so that everyone can take a look. I have two very handsome boys, and it will be the hardest thing ever to decide which photos I have to have. Maybe all of them!!!!
• http://www.sarafarrarphotography.com/. Click at the bottom to enter the site, choose "Menu," then "Slideshows," followed by "Selkirk." The password is "sara" - all lowercase. Enjoy!!! What is your favorite?????

Dr. Selkirk

• Dr. [Leyton] Selkirk put on Papa's glasses and was making quite a few house calls tonight. Boy, was he busy!!! Lots of patients to see and so little time to get it all done. He was tired by the end of the evening :) Check out these doctor glasses!
• There was a bit of role playing with "the dolls" as well. Anytime Grandma Marilyn is around, you can bet there will be some fun times with roll-playing...The things that Leyton says and comes up with....let's see, he drove his "car" all around the house and carried his man bag all around with him. Stopped every now and then to check e-mail, and then he went on a wild goose-chase at one point to fight the snakes. All of this in a day's work is quite impressive. You should see Leyton in action; he is more than I can keep up with right now. Thank goodness Papa is here to entertain and go along with the shenanigans! Wouldn't be near as much fun with just mommy.
• Reed hit the four-week mark today. Happy one-month birthday to my little guy! I can hardly believe that a month has already gone by. Papa made Reed a taggie of his own - priceless!
• So, now it is 9:13 p.m., and I can hardly keep my head up. Reed had a day of major, explosive spit-ups (very unlike him), and after 4 loads of laundry and nearly a dozen changes of clothes - I am ready to hit the pillow....oh, I wish!

Grandma Becky in the house!

• Grandma Becky paid a visit to the house and spent the day helping out with Reed and with Leyton. It was great having an extra set of hands to help with the boys!!!
• Leyton spent the evening showing Grandma how to play cars in the front room (with a make-shift steering wheel, airbags, and a blinker), he checked out Grandma's ears with his version of an otoscope (a.k.a. the bottom half of the pumpkin light that Grandma and Grandpa brought him for Halloween!), dispensed some medicine into Grandma's ears, and the two of them read some books before Grandma left to go back home to Grandpa and Bailey. Grandma was a trooper and went along with every bit of Leyton's imagination; it was a wild time! Leyton loved the visit and now has a fresh batch of pumpkin bread to snack on for breakfast in the morning. Thanks, Grandma!
• Reed had a good day as well but was a bit gassy. He had quite a spit-up episode - - - regurgitated an entire bottle this evening, which was a first for him. He is making up for it this evening and downed a 5-ouncer tonight. So far, he seems to be soothed by the binky. We'll see if he turns into a two finger-man like his older brother :)
• Here's to hoping for a smooth night!

Phyllis goes a flyin'

• Spent yesterday afternoon and this morning playing with Leyton's dinosaur race track, and woo - eee.....we found a new way to make the big race even more fun. Just put firewoman Phyllis on the dinosaur tail and watch her launched through the air. We have had way too much fun with this!
• We made a family outing to the grocery store this morning - all four of us. The first time all of us had ventured out together to the store; and, we survived it! Scott had to wheel Leyton around in a separate fire truck shopping cart while Reed and I collected the groceries. Fun times.
• Reed slept in his big boy bed (aka crib) last night. This was the first time he had slept through the night in the crib versus his swing. He did great and even made one five hour stint of sleeping without eating. What a big boy!

A morning of magic!

• Leyton has turned into quite the magician recently. He sets-up his magic show (in the middle of the living room) with a plastic box covered up by his "B" and then lays out his trick of the moment. This morning, dad and I got a special treat and were able to see his latest magic trick. He says, "Ladies and Gentlemen...welcome to my magic show." Then, as he does the trick, he shouts "Pocus Pocus!" Of course, right? What else would you say before a magic trick? Here are a couple shots of the magic show in progress :)
• Reed has spent much of the morning eating - no shocker there!

Reed is officially a businessman!

• So, Reed is attending his first business meetings today. The little guy and I attended a Centurions breakfast meeting this morning bright and early at 7:30 a.m. Have a conference call later this afternoon, and a 4:00 pm meeting later today just before we pick Leyton up from school. I may have bitten off more than I can chew.....am exhausted already and still have more than half a day ahead of me. It is a darn good thing that Reed is such a good baby, and he has been a great sport about caravanning around with me!
• Just received a photo from Leyton's school (above). In the subject line, "Singing days of the week in Spanish." That's my boy; what a smartie, and it looks like he is having a blast. There is nothing I love more than getting photos from his school and seeing/hearing about all the things he is learning....
• I am one lucky lady with two wonderful boys!!!

Boys are boys!

• If I have learned anything from having boys, it is that one thing is for sure: they can totally and completely tune out the world when watching TV. Got Leyton home from school today, he parked his little bottom in front of the TV with his snack in hand, and didn't hear a word I said. Just peaked around me and complained when I stood in front of him that he couldn't see the TV. Geez!
• Reed was a big eater again this morning, and then had a fussy spell just before lunch. Screamed for about 45 minutes - so unlike him. I turned on some Billy Joel, and we danced the tears away. Much calmer almost immediately. Reed loves to dance with mommy!
• Kelly stopped by around Noon and brought me lunch and a little gift for Reed. This was the first time she had laid eyes on the little man, and she could hardly believe how tiny he was! It was great to see her and to catch up. Always nice to have visitors :)
• Both boys had a bath tonight, and Reed hit a big-time milestone - his first night in a 0-3 month sleeper. Wahoo! He is growing by the day, and he is wearing the cute little monkey and lion sleeper that Uncle Adam and Aunt Tina sent to him.

Little guy, big eater!

• Reed certainly ate more than his weight in milk today. Wowee! He is making up for Leyton's infant-stage...and then some! We had a great day at home today. Reed, of course, spent most the day eating and sleeping. I can just stare at him for hours. A great baby!
• We picked up Leyton from school this afternoon, and once again - all the kids at school asked to see the baby. Rarely does a day go by that one of the kids at Leyton's school doesn't peak over into Reed's seat and ask to touch him. He is hard to resist, we know :)
• The afternoon ended with a game of superheroes (check out Leyton in his cape; he ran circles around the house and let the wind fly under his sails!) and a quick posed photo of the boys!
• Scott and Leyton are racing dinosaur cars right now. Too cute!

Leyton's first dentist appointment!

• Leyton had his first-ever dentist visit this morning. I bundled up the boys bright and early for the 8 a.m. appointment and was hoping for a smooth outing. After arriving at the dentist's office, Leyton was quick to find the toys and a few other distractions. The dentist came out and met us and played games with Leyton before luring him back into the small exam room. Leyton didn't hesitate in the least to go straight back with the dentist, who asked if she could take a look at his teeth. A minute later, the dentist came out and said Leyton wanted his mommy. Reed and I picked up and headed back to the exam room to find Leyton lounging in a pair of red hot sunglasses with big ole crocodile tears streaming down his face. He was about finished up with the exam, and we could all tell that he wasn't going to last a lot longer. He crawled out of the chair and into my arms and was glad to be done. He received a good report, though, and is scheduled to be back in 6 months. (He also picked up a brand new Lightning McQueen toothbrush and a glow-in-the-dark bouncy ball. Whatmore could a boy ask for...) I was very proud of my big boy!
• The rest of the morning has been busy. Leyton is out of school today for the MLK holiday, and so it has been a wild morning at the house. Reed is still eating great - he is a bottomless pit and ate more than 5 oz. in an hour and a half this morning - way to go Big Kahuna! He is snoozing now, and I just got Leyton down for a nap.
• Leyton told me we are going to play superheroes when he wakes up from nap! Oh yeah.

A big start to the new year!

• A new baby, a new year, and a new look for the blog - 2010 is starting off in a big bang way. It is hard to believe that baby Reed entered this world almost three weeks ago, and I have finally regained the gusto to begin again posting updates about Leyton and the newest family addition, Reed Scott Selkirk. It's about time, huh?!?!?!
• Reed had his first newborn photo session one week ago. Both my boys posed great for the camera, and Leyton had an even better time entertaining the photographer. We were able to see a sneak peak of the photos on Sara Farrar's blog, and I am posting a link to the blog where my two rock stars are featured. http://www.sarafarrarphotography.blogspot.com/ The photos wow-ed me, and it made me realize how big Leyton is already and how quickly this newborn time with Reed will fly by. I am dying to see the rest of the photos!
• Our chilly Sunday has been spent indoors and watching football. The boys have done well: Reed has slept most of the day away, and Leyton has kept busy as usual - hopping from one activity to the next. Mommy has been looking forward ALL DAY to the red carpet and an evening of the Golden Globes....yea!