Happy Halloween

I thought a lot on different things that Reid could be for Halloween. Of course turtle, bear and monkey were among the first ideas I had... but I thought it would be better to wait until a time when he can move around a bit more to unleash the animal costumes (and there will be animal costumes).

Reid knew something was up when I put him in this glittery green bodysuit this evening. A pea in a pod? A green bean? The not-so-jolly green mini me?

Nope. I settled on the more traditional - and more sedentary - Pumpkin! He didn't seem too thrilled about it, but I was!

I think he felt better when he saw that older brother Harvey had to wear one too. Here they are sizing eachother up:

Harvey is already being such a good influence on Reid, teaching him important lessons like "every now and then you just have to suck it up and wear something ridiculous to make Mommy happy in exchange for her putting up with all your crap (literally)."


In the end, I think Reid warmed up to it.

And Harvey, ever the showman, warmed the hearts of everyone on our evening walk. There were 6 or 7 dogs out at the local park, and Harvey had a blast running and playing with them. He actually seemed proud of his pumpkin costume (and yes, he was the only dog in costume). As one of the other dog owners commented, he was just "so full of joy." It's hard to capture the essence of Harvey on film, but here's a little snippet of him and one of his running buddies just so you can see our furry pumpkin in motion:

Happy Halloween from the Hamiltons!

Videos - Oops!

It has been brought to my attention that some (all?) people have not been able to play the videos I've posted thus far. I think that I've corrected the problem, so if you were not able to play them previously and you're interested you may want to revisit September's "That's How He Rolls" and October's "Nostalgia" posts to see if you can now view the videos!

Will post Halloween pics soon!

4 Months!

It's October 19th and I'm 4 months old! A coupla months ago, Mommy had a little talk with me. She said things weren't working out too well, and that I needed to show some improvement or she was gonna take me to the orfnuj. I don't know what a orfnuj is, but I don't wanna go there - I wanna stay with Mommy and Daddy and Harvey!

But I guess I was being kinda needy and crying a lot and just not that pleasant to be around. So anyway, Mommy gave me 'til my 4 month birthday to settle in and work on my bad attitude.



So I stopped crying so much and started smiling a whole bunch - Mommy and Daddy really like that! I 'specially smile a bunch first thing in the morning during cuddle time with Mommy and Daddy - they call it the morning cuteness.



But a few days ago, I started getting really nervous about October 19th coming up. So nervous that I haven't been able to sleep much this past week - I've been up 5-6 times a night worrying 'bout October 19th and the orfnuj!



I was trying to figure out what I could do to make 'em wanna keep me. What with me being so busy playin' and poopin' and rollin' around all the time, it's kinda hard to find the time to do anything special. But I thought about it and decided that since Mommy likes the morning cuteness, I'd give her even more morning cuteness! And since I haven't been able to sleep much anyway, that worked out great. So, for the past few mornings, I've made a special effort to wake up around 4 am. I cry for a while 'til Mommy comes to see me, and then I bust out a big ol' smile! Then I stay up for over an hour, just smiling and "talking" (I make really good sounds!) and being really cute. Awesome idea, right???



I thought so, but oddly enough Mommy hasn't really seemed all that into it. But I guess it must have worked because today Mommy said that even though I'm not into the whole sleep thing and we've gotta work on that, I'm making lots of progress in cuteness and sweetness and funniness and they're going to keep me so I don't have to go to the orfnuj! YAAAAY!

Hmmm, I wonder if this means I should keep up the 4am cuteness sessions...

Nostalgia

So, I know my baby is only 4 months old and we've got a long way to go before he's all grown up and I can legitimately wax nostalgic, but some good friends had a baby boy this past week (congrats Victoria and Martin!) and it brought on a wave of nostalgia for my tiny newborn. I turned to Ted and said, more than a little verklempt, "Remember when Reid was so tiny and did all those cute newborn things? He's growing up so fast!" He thought I was kidding... 'til he noticed the tears streaming down my cheeks. Maybe I've still got some of those pregnancy hormones swimming around.

But I already miss that tiny little baby body - Reid has already put on almost 10 pounds, well more than doubling his birthweight. My back misses that tiny baby too, and I know he's not gonna get any smaller. And I miss how much he slept - naps for hours at a time! - even though it wasn't always at night. And I miss the "boob comas" (hi lips!). And I miss his cute little uncontrolled movements, like "spirit hands" as Ted and I jokingly called it when Reid would be laying there, fast asleep, and all of a sudden his little hands would fly up into the air for a quick shake before settling back down against his body.

There are plenty of things I won't miss for sure, but I can see why they say mothers quickly forget how hard the early days can be... because when you look back at the pictures, you can't hear the crying, or feel how unbelievably tired you were, or sense the isolation that caring for a newborn can create. You just see how cute they were. And while I'm still feeling really tired and frustrated and I sometimes wonder what I've gotten myself into, I'm sure someday I'll look back at "4 months" the same way.

For now, join me in my premature nostalgia and take a look at my little man here as he was at 3 weeks old (and, of course, my little schnauzer at 2 1/2 years old):

New Record!

9 hours, 4 minutes in Sleepytown! Yay Reid! Now if only your insomniac Mommy could sleep that long, or even half that long...

(10/14/08 UPDATE: Nope, no repeat performance. But maybe there's hope for one again soon... there's got to be, right?)

Sleep Deprivation

Sleep deprivation has a number of side effects, including failure to blog. I hope to add more pics and updates in the near future, but right now it's taking everything I've got to keep myself hydrated, nourished and relatively clean while keeping the little man all of the above plus happy in between his sporadic 40 minute naps.

Other side effects include inability to finish sentences, crankiness, tears, really bad hair, occasional lapses in personal hygiene, seriously flawed wardrobe choices, generalized mild insanity and, ironically, total and complete insomnia. I've gotten so out of whack that I can't even sleep when given the opportunity. So out of whack that sleep aids that used to help don't help. At all. I lay down and I hear the baby crying - even when the baby isn't crying. It's like there's a soundtrack of his cries that plays in my head all the freaking time.

Many thanks to my Mom and Dad who came down to help out this past week and give me a much-needed break. But while I got rest from dealing with the baby, I still didn't get much sleep - certainly not because they weren't willing to do whatever they could to let me sleep, but just because I can't. Mom even took over for a night of baby duty, and I did manage to string together a few hours of sleep with the help of my old friend Ambien and some earplugs, but not even a full night's worth when I had the chance. I woke up in the middle of the night and just tossed and turned 'til morning. What is wrong with me?

And so that is why I am blogging at 3 a.m. I decided I might as well be semi-productive in my sleepless state. As luck would have it, the baby's been sleeping now for the last 7 hours - his second longest stretch ever! Could we have a record by the end of the night? Could be, but it doesn't really matter to me because I can't sleep anyway. I really wish I'd taken that last half an Ambien...

But I know what you really want are pictures, so while I'm lacking proper brain function to put together clever commentary, here are a few of a little guy we like to call "the cutest baby in the world" (except for yours, of course):

And here's the whole family (minus the turtles, who couldn't be bothered to come in from the pond) celebrating the Longhorns' victory over the Sooners - Hook Em'!

Still sleeping - go, Reid, go!!!