double digits

Baby boy is 10 months old, and more active than ever. He even took his first steps on Saturday! We leave tomorrow for Denver to spend Reid's first Christmas with Brian's family. We are spending New Years weekend with my family in College Station. Busy, busy, busy!

Reflections

I have always had a freakishly good memory...emphasis on the freak. I have also always been someone for whom sounds, sights and smells bring memories flooding back. In fact, I recall sitting in my hospital room holding two day-old Reid last February 22 and weepily telling Brian how last February 22 I had the day off from work, and I had spent the day getting ready to host a baby shower the next day wondering if I would ever have a baby of my own and then we had a belated Valentine's Day dinner at Jaspers. And now we were a family (insert more post-childbirth-crazy-lady weeping here.)

Anyway. This Christmas season has left me reflecting on this time last year. I spent Saturday reflecting about how last December 12 I left work at noon for a routine OB appointment and was told things looked drastically different than they had one week prior. Only 1.7 centimeters were keeping Reid inside of me, and there was concern that my amniotic sac was slipping into the open portion of my cervix. I thought about that moment of realization--Brian was in New Orleans at a wedding. I was only 28 weeks pregnant. If the baby came now, he would probably survive, but it would be a long road. I remember driving myself home in a calm fog, and I took a shower while I waited for my sister to come pick me up and drive me to the hospital. Packing was surreal because I didn't know if I was packing for the trip to the hospital. I calmly packed the camera and battery charger just in case. Brian finally got the hospital after midnight, and we spent our time listening to Reid's heartbeat and the sound of him moving and kicking the fetal monitor while lying in the hospital bed together watching NCIS on my laptop.

Last December 14 I was in the hospital on my second day of bed rest. The doctors were finishing off the last of my 48 hour course of steroids to speed the development of Reid's lungs. I remember Dr. Hunt, who was on call for our OB, coming into the room and laughingly telling us that it was unfortunate that we were having a white boy. Apparently, baby boys' lungs always develop more slowly than little girls; and black babies' lungs develop more quickly than white babies'. Who knew.

Last December 15 they finally discharged me from the hospital once they determined that I was not contracting and that Reid wasn't in any immediate danger. Dr. Hunt dropped by to chat and to reassure us that no matter how early Reid came, he would be in good hands. I was given lots of information about how I would know when the pre-term labor started...about how it was unlikely they'd be able to stop my labor if my water broke. I'm a bottom line kind of girl, so as I peppered the good doctor with questions, he gently told me that it was not a matter of if Reid would be premature but how premature he would be. He told me that our OB, Dr. Fogwell's goal was to have a 2009 baby...to try to make it to sometime in January.

The weeks came and went...I stressed about Reid being breach and the possibility of not having the type of childbirth experience that I so desperately wanted. I tried everything to try to get Reid into a head-down position. And it the midst of all of it, I made it to 38+ weeks. And I had to have a c-section because my stubborn baby was still breach. Not my ideal experience, but a perfect baby, nonetheless.

And I'm sure that this coming February 24 I will be reminiscing about how last February 24, before being discharged from the hospital to take my sweet boy home, Dr. Fogwell dropped in and mentioned that due to me only having 1/2 a uterus...and due to it's odd shape...Reid had been much safer in the breach position. It was a position that allowed to him to grow free from the risks of intrauterine growth retardation. He also mentioned his feeling that if Reid had been in the normal, head-down position and putting all that pressure on my very weak, short cervix, it was highly unlikely that we would have made it to term.

So, this December, as I sit on the couch looking at our Christmas tree, I reflect on last December when I spent so much time on the same couch, looking at the same tree, wondering what the future held. And I am so humbled and thankful at what God has done in our lives.

Thanksgiving

I've been a productive blogger today. If you haven't seen the first post I did today "Pre-Thanksgiving Festivities" scroll down so you don't miss it. (I wouldn't want to be accused of being partial to my family over Brian's!)

We spent Reid's first Thanksgiving in College Station with my parents, Sarah, Toby and Cason. We had a wonderful time, and Reid truly embraced the meaning of Thanksgiving by eating everything on his tray. My sweet child (who continues to be around the 25th percentile for weight) ate turkey, brisket, stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans, part of a roll, and 1/2 piece of pumpkin pie with cool whip.





My parents bought a used double stroller, and Grandad had fun pushing his grandsons around the neighborhood. They might have been mistaken for twins except they look nothing alike :) Cason and Reid played together very intentionally for the first time. Unfortunately, Cason seems to be traumatized by his cousin Reid AND his Uncle Brian. I think they're just a little too...crazy, perhaps, for his taste.

Pre-Thanksgiving Festivities

The weekend before Thanksgiving we embarked on a major road trip with our feverish, fussy little guy. I did NOT have high hopes for the weekend. We left Friday afternoon and drove 6 hours to Wellington, KS, where we spent the night with Brian's grandmother. Leg One: Reid did amazingly well.

Early Saturday morning we left Wellington and drove 4 hours to Osborne, KS (which I spent the weekend referring to as Nebraska since it's in far Northern Kansas!). Leg Two: Reid did pretty well despite fever blisters developing on his lips and one very chilly, very dirty diaper change at a rest area.

Once in Obsorne we met up with Brian's parents and Brian's extended family at Great Aunt Berta and Great Uncle Bob's house. Reid also met his great grandfather for the first time, as well as Aunt Cinnie, Uncle Kevin and cousin Scott. We had a fun pre-Thanksgiving lunch and spent some quality time with family.

Meeting Great Grandad for the first time

Group shot in Osborne

Four generations of McFarland men!

Free from the car seat but we've managed to cage him again!

Trying to pull Great Aunt Cinnie's hair

Then, it was back in the car for 4 more hours back to Wellington. Leg Three: Mimi (Brian's mom) rode with us on this leg, and Reid did great for about 3.5/4 hours. As we neared Grandma's house he had a complete shrieking meltdown. And really, who can blame him?!

Saturday night we had dinner with more family at Grandma's house, and then Sunday we had another pre-Thanksgiving dinner with a lot of Brian's mom's side of the family. Some had seen Reid before and others met him for the first time. In no particular order we saw: Steve, Connie, Grandma and her boyfriend, Lou, Uncle Monty, Aunt Carol, Amy and Josh, Amy and Jeremy, Cole, Cason, Josh, Uncle Kris, Shawn, Amity and her husband and new baby Jaylyn.

This is the only shot we got of the family on Sunday, and as you can see, our camera was acting up :(

Then back into the car for 6 hours back to Dallas. Leg Four: Reid did amazingly well, again. Overall, he was an awesome little traveler considering he was in the car for 20 hours in a little over 2 days. He far exceeded our expectations, and we got to spent some great quality time with Brian's side of the family.

9 months...and 4 days

We are a tidbit behind on blogging here at the McFarland house. Reid actually turned 9 months old on Friday, but we were off on a wonderful, crazy, long whirlwind of a road trip to Kansas to see Brian's extended family. Pictures of that trip will be coming soon to a computer near you. But for now, to my baby boy, who is growing up more and more every second, Happy 9 Month Birthday!

Capturing this months picture was an incredible challenge. Reid risked life and limb to indulge my need to document his every move. I thought about using this picture because I feel it accurately represents who Reid is as a little person at 9 months old:





However, I persisted, Reid used 8 of his 9 lives, and we were able to capture a more legitimate shot.














However, I persisted, Reid used 8 of his 9 lives, and we were able to capture a more legitimate shot.

Monsters in the Bed

Reid and Brian have a game they invented called "Monsters in the Bed". Reid would like to demonstrate it for all of you, so you can play along at home :) Make sure your volume is on!

Snip, Snip

Reid got his first real haircut a few weeks ago, but I'm just now getting around to blogging about it. The first 60 seconds or so went swimmingly. Unfortunately things went downhill very quickly, and screaming hysteria ensued (and Reid was a little upset as well). We got pictures of the happy times, but because of the intensity of Reid's meltdown, we did not get pictures of the end result.

The night before the haircut. Reid was all dressed up for a night out on the town with mommy and daddy

A little apprehensive about sitting in the police car

Maybe this isn't so bad...

Umm, what is that thing on my head?!

Dad, please, save me!

This is about the time that Reid collapsed into hysterics. He did not recover until we returned home. The hair lady persisted, and here is the end result (about 3 days later!)

Birthday Suit

Trick or Treat

Reid got to dress up twice for his first Halloween. On Wednesday, our church had its annual Fall Festival. It is HUGE, and Reid loved all the action. He went down a few slides, petted animals in a petting zoo and took pictures with his cute friends.

When Saturday rolled around, we headed over to my sister's house. My parents were in town and we took Reid and Cason to a few houses in the neighborhood to trick or treat.

Our two little trick-or-treaters crawling out the door to kick off the festivities

My two favorite golfers

I was Reid's caddy for the evening.

When was the last time you saw Tiger Woods with a pacifier in his mouth? We're going to have to work on this before Reid hits the PGA tour.

Little belly :)

Cason, the cutest giraffe in the world. And, in a frightening, display, Reid demonstrated just how much he loved his cousin the giraffe. We're still not sure what happened to Cason! See for yourself...

Reid doesn't need to remove candy wrappers...he's efficient like that.