Wasting Santa's Time

Keep in mind these are the best pics from the visit.

Catch Up!

As many of you know, I got a new job so the last few months have been extremely busy for the whole family.  Here's a few of the best pics I have had on my phone since the last post in October....



Hard to tell, but it was the first snow fall of the year.

The First of Many "Firsts".

Let's just say Cash playing sports is a work in progress.  Right off the bat he didn't want to take the warm up lap, Andrea ran more than he did.  There was much more participation in the second practice, however.

The First Day of School is Never Easy...

This is not a common core household.  Math is the foundation of an elite education.  Unbeknownst to Cash, that sign is his homework tonight.

This kid has charisma....

The camera loves him....

Just like his dad.

Backpack.

"Ok, Mom.  Let go.  LET. GO."

The morning was going soooo well.  Awesome pictures.  Cash is holding it together.  Mom is holding it together.  Until Mom wants me to "document" the walk in which means I have to let go of Cash's hand.  Then... what happens?  The sidewalk jumps up out of nowhere and trips him.  That's right folks.... Mom's fault.

Healthy Choices

Chicken, check.  Healthy carbs and greens, check.  Desert, nope.  This kid's ready for some gains.

Rend Lake of the Ozarks 2015

Boat Ride (Ozarks)

Aden's Cereal, Cash's Slime

Slime Face

How your face looks like when I take a pic while you're in the middle of saying "slime".

Tickle the Baaabyyy

https://youtu.be/i6CHtAiG6yg

The First Dentist Appt

Great report!  Cash behaved well.  No cavities.  ...and the dentist got all the "rocks, bugs, and dinosaurs" out of Cash's mouth.  He did so well he got a bouncy ball.  ....which was quickly thrown away after getting home.

Time for Bumbo

I think she likes it.

Worst Happy Birthday Ever

We were invited to a birthday but couldn't make so a video was a requested.  This is what they got...

Brother/Sister Vol. 1

Baby Girl Reed Live Blog

0320 - I awoke a father of one.

0540 - Completed a sweet, pumptastic shoulder workout, brah.

1150 - Andrea calls me at work says "GET HERE NOW, WE GOTTA GO TO THE HOSPITAL". I race home setting the cruise on 83 mph.

1230 - I walk in.  She's cleaning the floors.  I said, "let's go!".  She responds by "I gotta do my hair."  Seriously?

1240 - Sat on the couch and started the Baby Girl Reed Live Blog while birthing mother does hair.

1250 - Hairs done.  Thank goodness.  

Beauty is imperative for the birth process.

1323 - we have arrived at the hospital.

1335 - my bed for the night.  Having babies is so painful for the father.

1346 - Father's view.  Stay tuned for the doctor's view ;)

I know what you're thinking.  Man, that hairs gorgeous, right?

1410 - Successful protein run.  

Fact: you get a lot of awkward looks when u wear scrubs and walk around in a small hosptital u don't work in. 

1450 - IV started.  MTV's Ridiculousness on.  Trying to laugh ourselves into labor. awaiting pitosin.

1510 - Pitosin started.  I cracked a joke to the nurse, "after that's started it only takes 5 minutes, right?"

...I was the only one who laughed...

1550 - Andrea just asked me to dim the lights.  Normally I would get excited after that question but considering our situation I'm not getting my hopes up.

1630 - Jeopardys on.  See ya in 30 min.

1710 - The flood gates have opened!  (It sounded like it too)

...the water broke if you haven't figured that out by now.

1755 - Some collaborative thinking between Dad and Grandpa Reed, maybe a lapdance will get this thing going.

1850 - Contractions more intense.  Epidural started.  Hair still looks amazing.

2054 - Aden Jane Reed

7 lbs 15 oz

19 3/4"

Everybody's healthy and happy.  Time for Jack in the box.

The Morning After - 

After 7 attempts at staging a picture, I caught this candid one.  Candid wins.  Every time.

Kids Say Creepy Things

July 2013-September 2014:

-

October 2014:

I'm crouching down to pick something up in the middle of the day when what I swear is a figure appears in my peripheral vision.  It was enough to startle me and make me quickly look to my left (which was in the direction towards this staircase) but of course, nothing was there.

November 2014:

I'm downstairs in the laundry room (which is at the bottom of this staircase to the right) packing my gym bag around 4 a.m.  All of a sudden, a ball of light flashed to my right, bright enough to startle me again.  Afterward, I felt that cold chill that people always describe when they experience something like this.

December 2014:

Andrea is downstairs in the laundry room and experiences the same, strange ball of light and chill feeling in the morning right before Cash wakes up around 6 a.m.  She gets slightly freaked out because I had spoke of my prior experience.  She goes upstairs to get Cash out of his room (which is behind and to the left of this staircase).  They follow their daily routine of walking past these stairs and into the living room together.  The staircase light is always on, their was absolutely nothing different about this morning for Cash.  Except that this morning, was the first morning, that he stopped at the top of the staircase, looked downstairs, and asked, "Mommy, who's that downstairs?"

1986 or 2014?

I've wanted to write about this picture for a while now.  I took it back in August.  I would come across it several times in my Library and always go off on a tangent in my head but I was never able to jot anything down.  Well... I finally have a minute...

I've taken hundreds, maybe thousands of pictures of Cash, but this one caught my eye.  It was special in a way that it took me a while to realize why this picture was so different than the others.  It was the first time I've ever actually seen myself in him.

I know that phrase gets thrown around lightly.  People say he looks like Andrea, some say me, sometimes your child's actions give you a tiny reminder of how you acted.  But this was different.  If I said to myself, "I wish my mom had a cell phone with an HD camera on it and took a picture of Grandma and I back in 1986 when I rocked a sweet pair of plaid shorts" and it came true, well then here you have it.

And if you looked at that picture, not a lot has changed.  The cabinets my grandpa made, the kitchen that hits 80 degrees because Grandma's always cold and the stove was on blast heating up the sauce, and my grandma who would think it absurd not to serve a guest spaghetti (or anything they wanted) whether they were staying for an hour or a week.  

The only change would be that the little boy is now my son.  A boy who has changed my life for the better, who has made me realize that growing up and taking on more responsibility than I could ever imagine as a teen isn't that bad at all.  (Cliche Warning)-Its the moments like this that make it all worth it.  I hope he remembers going to Great Grandma's and I hope the memories are as good as the ones I have because some of my happiest happened in this house.

There is no point to this.  There is no lesson to be learned.  Just a proud dad, who took a cool picture of two of the most important people in his life and wanted to write about it.

Christmas 2014 at the Reed's