Family Pics

Our friend took some pictures of us for our Christmas card. We went to a subdivision nearby that has a very old church that was kept when the subdivision was developed. The pictures came out great. I used one for my card, but there were some others that were great as well. And some funny ones too!!!


The one of Reid running away cracks me up! I came close to using that one as my Christmas card:)
Reid was throwing rocks at the photographer! He was tired of having his picture made. Who knew he had strep throat? He was running around like a wild child, and then that evening.....sick!

Lance and me

Probably one of my favorite pictures of Wyatt and Reid of all time!

Sanka Claus

Reid is so loving all of the Christmas decorations. We ride around and look at lights and look for "Sanka" Claus. At first he said Santa (the correct way), and then he started saying them together, but for some reason it came out "Sanka Claus". So, I have been saying it too! It cracks me up.

Thursday night we went to Bass Pro Shop to have our picture made with good ole Saint Nick. I was tired of the mall scene, so we headed to Denham Springs. Lance walked around with the boys while I stood in line. We showed "Sanka" to Reid as soon as we got there. He seemed excited about all of the decorations and seeing good ole Sanka. So, when it was our turn to go up to Santa, Reid RAN down this "red carpet" type thing full speed ahead. When he got about 5 feet from Sanka, he put on some serious brakes. Even Santa said, "He just slammed on the brakes!" It was pretty funny! He turned around to Lance and me and said, "Hold you!". So, we have the Griswold family photo. We have the same "family" pic with Santa when Wyatt was 17 months! Too funny!

Here is our picture from last year, and then our Griswold picture from this year. What a difference a year makes! Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday (Refrigerator Invader)

18 Month Check Up and First Zoo Trip

Yesterday we went for Reid's 18 month check up. He weighed 28 pounds, and he was 33 1/2 inches long. He remains around the 90th percentile for both height and weight. He got three shots yesterday. We are doing a delayed shot schedule with him, so he received Chickenpox, DTaP and Flu. We have to go back in 4 weeks for a second flu shot. I hate that for him, but it's because they included H1N1 in the flu vaccine this year, and he hasn't had one before. So he has to get two. Wyatt will get one in 4 weeks as well. Reid's appointment went great. We don't have to go back to see his pediatrician until he is TWO! That is amazing!!!

My niece had her second baby last Thursday. So, my sister-in-law went to get her 3 year old to stay in Baton Rouge for a few days. She was going to take him to the zoo and asked if I wanted to join them. We met them after Reid's doctor visit. It was Reid's first trip to the zoo, and my first trip to the Baton Rouge Zoo in many years. The weather was perfect, and both boys had a GREAT time! (I am trying to keep it a secret from Wyatt, but I will take him when he gets a day off of school in October.) I am so enjoying all of these "firsts" with Reid. For so long I resigned myself to the fact that I would never have those "firsts" again. To be given all of these opportunities again with Reid makes my heart want to burst with HAPPINESS!!!

18 Months

Reid is 18 months old today! Where, oh where, has the time gone? He is so sweet, and he is starting to say more and more words every day. His latest words are milk, juice, light, NO, Heidi (my MIL's dog), bike, JoJo (Wyatt's hamster), and others that I can't think of right now. (How do you like his LSU outfit??? Geaux Tigers!)

He is a total wild man. He can now open the refrigerator door, and if I am sitting in the living room, he will walk to the doorway holding the 1/2 gallon of milk or apple juice. He is a CRAZY kid!


He also wants to be a nudist. He has learned to take his shorts and diaper off and would prefer to be nude than have clothes on. Yesterday he was so fussy in the afternoon, and he finally ripped off his shorts and diaper and then was happy as can be.

Most importantly, he started Mother's Day Out this past Monday. I didn't think he would get a spot, but someone dropped and they called me last Tuesday. He has done great both days this week. I am so happy. Although, Monday I boo hooed like a baby when I dropped him off.


He loves Wyatt to pieces. That makes me so happy. AND Wyatt loves him too! Wyatt was so worried about him going to school on Monday. He thought he was going to REAL school like he goes to. I explained that he was only going from 9-1. He kept asking me about when we were going to drop him off and pick him up. I explained that I would drop Reid off AFTER I dropped him off, and then pick him up before he got off of the bus in the afternoon. He was so cute asking these questions about his little baby brother's first day of school.

We will go on Tuesday for Reid's 18 month well baby check up. Can't wait to see his height and weight.

To top this day off, my niece had her second baby. She already had one boy, and this was her second baby boy born just about 30 minutes ago. The gender of the baby was a surprise and so is the name. I don't know the name or any details yet. I am so happy for her. She had infertility issues with both pregnancies, but God was faithful and this time she conceived naturally. She and her husband and son are precious! I love them, and I am so happy that they have a new sweet addition to love.

Packing It All In!!!

First off, let me say that I am NOT a homebody! I hate to be at home. I would much rather be out and about with the world. However, since Reid was born 16 months ago, I have spent much more time at home. Having a baby at 37 will make you feel old in a hurry:) But this summer, I can't stand to stay home with Wyatt and Reid. They are both as restless as I am!!!

School starts in 12 days (but who's counting), so we are trying to PACK it all in before August 11th.

Wednesday we went to the OLD (newly renovated) Chuck E. Cheese in Baton Rouge. We usually go to the new Chuck E. Cheese in Baton Rouge. This CEC has been there forever, but it was recently renovated. It was really nice inside. We stayed about 1 1/2 hours because that was my limit of chasing Reid around. He wears me OUT!!!

Thursday my wonderful mother kept Reid for me to take Wyatt to Blue Bayou and Dixie Landin'. We stayed from about 10-3. We had a really good time with some friends from church. She has a son the same age as Wyatt, and she has an older daughter. They rode lots of things, and the moms actually got to visit! It was NICE!!!

Today we went to the Mall of Louisiana. We went to the indoor playground and rode the carousel! It was nice to be inside out of the 100+ degree heat!

This summer is costing me a fortune:) School better start soon!!!

Wordless Wednesday

First PB and J

Reid had his first PB&J today. I had made him one other peanut butter sandwich a couple of weeks ago. Today I added grape jelly. Not sure that he liked it as much as just the peanut butter. Wyatt likes peanut butter ONLY sandwiches too!


Reid's facial expressions were so funny when he took the first couple of bites. Of course, I missed the first expressions, but I have attached a few others. He loves some food, I can tell you that!!!! So opposite of his brother. Wyatt was making mac and cheese at the same time, so Reid had to have some of that too:)

You are 9!

My first born son is 9. (His birthday was July 11, but I am just now getting around to doing this post!) In case anyone is doing the math, that is half way to 18. Oh my! How can it be? It has gone by in the blink of an eye!


We started celebrating the birthday on July 4th. My family all came over and we had a cake for Wyatt. The following Sunday was his actual birthday. Lance and I took him to see Despicable Me and my parents kept Reid. Then this past weekend, he had his first sleepover party. He had 5 boys spend the night. It was "interesting" to say the least. They were really good, but I think that will be our first and last sleepover party.













Wyatt got an iTouch for his birthday. He never had a Nintendo DS or any other handheld devices, so I decided this was more bang for your buck! And the games are a lot cheaper too. He actually got it in May before we went to the beach.












He also got these two books. If you have little boys in your life who love animals, these books are THE BEST! Wyatt has 4 of them now. I actually found these 2 on clearance at Borders. He LOVES these books about animals. The first 2 he received for Christmas have started falling apart!

15 Months

Reid turned 15 months old last Wednesday. We celebrated by going to the doctor's office. This visit was his first visit since his 1 year check up which is remarkable! On Tuesday he started running fever. On Wednesday morning I made an appointment, and we saw the NP because our doctor was out of town. This is our second time to see the NP, and I really like her. She is very thorough. His ears were fine, and she said his throat was just "slightly red", but she still did a strep test. It came back positive! I was shocked. Strep was the last thing I was thinking he may have. He was so pitiful once Wednesday night rolled around, and Thursday was the WORST day. But thankfully by Friday morning he had turned a corner, and he was back to being his old self again:) Thank goodness for antibiotics!!! He weighed 27 1/2 pounds at the doctor's office. He actually looks (and feels) like he is thinning down some to me.


Reid has started to have quite the personality. He likes to dance and sing. He has started saying a few things. He says Mama, Dadda, Bubba, Bye Bye, ball and a few other things very plainly. But he babbles like a maniac! I would love to know what is going on in his little brain with all of that babbling. He is also quite the climber. He climbs on EVERYTHING! It is kind of scary. I have found him on top of the dining room table, and he also climbs on the desk on a daily basis!!! We call him a billy goat!


He still loves to sleep. He still sleeps from 9ish-11ish in the morning and then takes another 2 hour nap in the afternoon. He is so grouchy when he doesn't get that morning nap. My MIL kept him yesterday for me to take Wyatt to Blue Bayou, and he was not a happy camper over there. But he won't sleep unless he has a baby bed of some sort to sleep in. That is why I usually leave him with my mom instead of my MIL! Oh well, they both lived through it:)

He still doesn't like to watch TV. He may have increased his time from 5-10 minutes, but it is NOTHING compared to Wyatt at this age. Sometimes I really wish that he would sit still for 30 minutes and watch something. But he never has, and I wonder if he ever will?


He also loves to jump. He started jumping on the trampoline a couple of weeks ago. He is so cute how he jumps up! If we ask him to jump in the house, he will try to do it, but it's not as easy inside! He also loves to jump on Wyatt's bed! Only Wyatt's though, not mine! He is funny....he knows what he wants!!!

He is so sweet, but he definitely has a strong will! We love him to death! Sometimes I still can't believe he's mine! I am forever grateful!!!

Show Us Your Life--Lenox Solitaire

Kelley's Korner is hosting Show Us Your Life on your china patterns. Mine is Lenox Solitaire.

First off, let me say that if I could rewind 12 years, I would NEVER have registered for china. It has been in the top of a closet at my parents' house for all of these years! I have never used one piece of it, and I doubt I ever will. It is VERY pretty, but it is TOTALLY impractical! Maybe I will go break open some of the boxes for my next party for friends! That would be hilarious! We usually eat on paper plates. Not really, we often eat on our everyday dishes which are Italian Countryside by Mikasa. I still love these dishes after all of these years!


The green dishes that Kelly showed are much more my style today. Maybe I should sell all of my china on ebay. That's an idea!!!

Wyatt and Reid

Kelly's Korner did a post about baby names and how you came up with them. When I was pregnant with boy #1, I remember sitting at home by myself and thinking of the name Wyatt. I have NO idea where it came from. When my husband came home from work, he walked in the door. I distinctly remembering sitting on the couch and saying, "What about Wyatt?" as he walked through the door. I FULLY expected him to say, "Are you crazy?". He said, "I like it." Now keep in mind, this was 2001. There were NOT many Wyatt's running around. NONE that I knew of. Now (almost 9 years later) I hear it and see it much more often. So, that was the name if we were having a boy. When we found out in March 2001 that he was indeed a boy, that was his name, and we NEVER wavered on that decision. His middle name is Bradley which is also my husband's middle name. I tried out some other names with Wyatt, but I always came back to Bradley. So, boy #1 is Wyatt Bradley.


It took us 6 years to finally get pregnant again (with 2 miscarriages during this time), so I had A LOT of time to think about baby names. My daddy had given me his baby book, and I was looking at it one day. I never realized that my daddy's grandfather's name was Lawson. I fell in love with that name. I knew that if we ever had another boy, I wanted his name to be Lawson. When we realized that our baby #2 was going to stick around, we discussed names with friends and family at every gathering. Everyone loved Lawson, except for one very important person---my husband. When Wyatt was 4 years old, he had a boy in his class named Tyler. Tyler had a little brother named Reid. I remember at his end of the year party thinking that was a cute name, but I never gave it much thought after that. At this point we knew that we were having boy #2. On the same couch where I thought of Wyatt, I was sitting with a friend one night. We were on the subject of baby names AGAIN. I remembered the thought of Reid, and I opened my mouth and said it OUT LOUD. Before it left my mouth, I knew in my heart of hearts that my husband was going to like it. He had liked NOTHING else that I had mentioned (or anyone else for that matter). Sure enough, he liked it and he NEVER let it go. So, after much fighting up until the day boy #2 was born, I lost out on Lawson and boy #2 was named Reid Patrick. Patrick is in honor of my husband's dad who passed away in 2006. It took me a long time to get over his name not being Lawson. I even have friends who still call him Lawson. But I have grown used to Reid being his name. Naming boy #2 was a MUCH more difficult and emotional decision than naming boy #1. I hope they both like their names when they get older......

Loss of Two Great Men

I am so behind on blogging. Lance's two cousins, Jacob and Trey, were killed in a traffic accident on Friday, April 9th. Life has been in a tailspin ever since.

Jacob and Trey were wonderful men. They were both 38 years old. Jacob was the father of Matt (8) and Addison (4). He was the husband to Melissa. They had been married for 11 years just like Lance and me. They were married about 6 weeks before us. Matt was born 5 weeks before Wyatt. Trey was the father-to-be of Blaize who is due in August. Trey and Mistie had just found out that they were having a boy. Trey was ecstatic to finally be a father, and he was very happy to be adding another boy to the Kiger family. Blaize will be the 17th Kiger great grandchild and the 15th boy!!!

These two have a left a hole in so many hearts. They have left behind mothers and fathers, wives, children, sisters and brothers and cousins who all loved them beyond words. The journey of grief is a long and winding road. I pray for this entire family, my extended family, daily.

Where Did My Baby Go???

Last Tuesday we went to Dr. West for Reid's one year check-up. Reid has been exceptionally healthy during his first year. For that I am SOOO thankful! He actually had a bad croupy cough on the Sunday before the doctor's appointment, but by Tuesday it was better. He looks great. He started walking about one week before his birthday, so he is right on target for his milestones. He has been eating table food for a long time now, and he loves EVERYTHING. He is a huge lover of food like his MOMMA! (and DADDY too)

Reid weighed 8 lbs and 2 oz. when he was born. He weighed 25 lbs and 6 oz. last Tuesday. He is is the 75-90th percentile for weight. He was 20 inches when he was born. Last Tuesday he was 31 inches. This is also in the 75-90th percentile. So, he is consistent in both weight and height.

What a difference a year makes!!!!

Wyatt was with us for the appointment. I had already warned him that Reid would be getting a shot. He is soft-hearted when it comes to his brother. Reid cried, but it was short-lived. Wyatt loved going to Dr. West with us and telling her all about Reid's life. He is a sweet brother.

Reid is pretty much opposite of Wyatt in many aspects. As I already said, Reid loves to eat. Wyatt merely eats because I force him to. Reid WILL NOT watch TV. It is the most bizarre thing to me. At about 3 months old Wyatt started absolutely loving Veggie Tales and Baby Einstein. Baby Einstein would MESMERIZE Wyatt. Reid will not watch anything. He may watch for 2 or 3 minutes, and then that's it. Reid does love music. If he hears music playing he will start dancing. It's too cute.

He is not very verbal yet. He babbles a lot, but not many words yet. He says ma ma and da da sporadically. He says "bubba" sometimes for Wyatt. Recently he started saying "nigh nigh" for his lovies. He associates them with going night night. He waves bye bye sometimes and says bye bye. He just doesn't say anything a lot. Maybe he will be my quiet child:)

Cleaning Tips!

Kelly's Korner is hosting a Show Us Your Life about Cleaning Tips! Well, I HATE to clean worse than anything in the world. So, my best advice for cleaning is to have an event at your house. Have a birthday party, a dinner party, a football watching party or a shower of some kind. My house never sparkles like it does when a bunch of people of coming over.

I have been trying out Fly Lady. I think she has some good points. But my favorite quote is "My house was clean yesterday, sorry you missed it!" It's so true......I think that's why I HATE cleaning so much. It's right back to dusty, dirty floors, laundry piling up the SECOND after it was sparkly clean. UGGH!!!! Maybe one day I'll become a domestic diva. But until then, I'll keep throwing parties once in a while. Then, I know my house will sparkle for a least a couple of hours!

The Real Birthday

It has become a tradition that we take the "birthday" person out to eat for their birthday. Since Reid can't tell us where he wants to go, we took him to Wyatt's favorite which is Outback. Reid LOVES to eat. So, if you keep the food coming, he is a happy boy. He did start to wear out at the end, but overall he did well. Next year, I wonder where he will pick???

"It's my birthday, and I'll cry if I want to."

His brother made him laugh!

Happy Birthday Reid

We waited soooo long for Reid. Now that he is here, I want time to creep by....to enjoy every moment. But time marches on, and he has turned ONE. How in the world did I let that happen? His birthday was Tuesday, March 23rd. We had his party on Sunday, the 21st. I picked the WORST day in the last 3 weeks of March to have his party. A cold front came through on Saturday. The high on Sunday was 54. It was miserably cold and windy. I remember when I found out Reid was due in March, I was so excited over a Spring baby. I could have awesome birthday parties outside in our huge yard. Ha-Ha! Not this year. We were prisoners inside.....Oh well, Reid didn't know any better.
This little "smash" cake was supposed to JUST have and "R" on it. The lady misunderstood me. So, it said Happy Birthday R. We got a good laugh out of that! Brotherly Love
Reid had no problem digging into the cake!

Reid received many nice gifts. He got a lot of spring clothes, a few toys and this pillow from Kemper. It matches his bed skirt! I love it!!!

He will definitely be wearing this outfit for Easter. This outfit was a gift from the Perdue's!