Reid Extravaganza

I started out not quite intending to post a bazillion pictures of Reid, but he's just so painfully cute that I couldn't stop. So, this is the short list. And believe me, there's plenty more where these came from. This picture shows how Reid has mastered "the rollover." He does full rolls on either side. This gets tricky because I put him somewhere and in a matter of minutes he's rolled up against something and he gets stuck. It's interesting because I know he has the technology to roll back the other way, but he's intent on going one direction and gets frustrated when something like a wall slows him down. I can't really blame him there. My mind thinks in the same irrational manner. I want what I want, and that's all there is to it. So I get it, if Reid is intent on going right, he's going to go right. Even if it means he goes right into a wall. Then he howls and I rescue him, so it all ends up okay. Check out his cute outfit, it says, "Let it snow!" This was chosen to photodocument our first sighting of snow. This morning there was snow on the rooftops. Just a little, mind you, but I'm not fooled. A little soon becomes a lot, and a lot soon becomes never ending. I know, I know, Salt Lake got snow over the weekend. But I'm not about to hear any whining because we're looking down the barrel of a solid six months of snow. Can you say that, Utah? I didn't' think so. Another shampoo shark shot. He loves bathtime. It just adds to my daily daydreaming of Hawaii as our next assignment. I can just picture the three of us playing on the beach, Reid as our little beach baby. He can be like the cute baby on the sunscreen bottle (minus the pigtails, and the sun damage. But not minus the dog, I think we should get a dog wherever we go next.)

Reid falls asleep in the craziest positions. Many times he's holding his hands together, like he's praying. So cute. But today his little footsies were trying to escape.

On another day I found him up from his nap and playing. This shot is funny. I think he can see me out of the corner of his eye, and he's paused like, "what?"

"Oh, hi mom. Did you want to play?"

Here's the little man. Doesn't he look like he's about to start kindergarten or something? I should get him a little backpack. He looks so much like Erik. I had Sunday dinner over at the home of a new family in the ward. They moved in after Erik left, so they haven't met him yet. As I was holding Reid and the wife says, "So Reid looks a lot like Erik, then?" Exactly. Reid looks so much like Erik, and not hardly at all like me. He's a smart boy, that Reid.

That's right, he's on to solid foods. It's going pretty well, except for the fact that the days of his inoffensive, innocent poop...are gone. Over. A thing of the past. Never to be seen again. Finito. So long. Done for. I mean, I don't mean to dwell on it (well, maybe a little) but I didn't see too much of a change with the rice cereal, but on Saturday I gave him bananas. Sunday's first diaper was like WHAMMO! Welcome to the real world! Sheesh.

I try to send Erik a shot of the two of us every now and then. But they usually turn out like this. This one is a happy accident, though. Regardless of the fact that it's completely blurry, it captures something that Reid does all the time, so I'm glad to have it in a picture. When I'm holding him and he catches our reflection in a mirror, or someone says hello to him, or for no reason at all - he turns into me and buries in my neck. It's really cute. It's him being playful and bashful at the same time. He kisses my neck and nuzzles into me. Heaven.

These next few shots are from a fun day when Reid and I were playing. He was in his swing and we were just chatting like two old friends. We had such a good time. Check out those rosy cheeks.

Reid loves this little elephant toy. When he falls asleep with a toy nearby, he's always holding on to it still. I promise, this wasn't staged. I got him out of the car, put the carseat in its parking spot in the living room, and he was still reaching up, holding onto his toy.

Just because he's cute, and because he looks like he's a 50's high school athlete.

Another cute shot of funny sleep poses.

Check out those hands.

And finally, the Bumbo. A rad little chair that helps him to sit up. His head/neck is really strong, but his hips wobble about still, so he can't sit up on his own. He loves hanging out in this thing and being part of the action.

And he loves the toy that I hook to the tray. It's very predictable: I put him in, put on the tray, suction on the toy...in the mouth it goes.

So that's what's going on around here. Erik is doing well. Hanging in there. He's pretty much amazing. Completely amazing. I know how sappy it is to say it, but I really feel like it's an honor to do what I can to support him in his efforts. He's a good man. So, the big debate around here is: what are we going to be for Halloween? I thought I had the perfect plan. I was going to be this (3858) and Reid was going to be Senor Baby, to match. He was going to have a little "Three Amigos" outfit with a ruffled shirt and everything. And a tiny mustache and a black hat with black pom-poms around the brim. But then I realized that up here no one is going to know what a Mariachi girl is, so I'll show up at the church for the party as "Girl in the big, strange dress." That's not that funny. So, then I found this (3637) at JoAnns. That's right, I'm going to be Marie Antoinette. Now I'll be "Girl in the big, strange dress and white wig." That's a little better. William had the hilarious idea of Reid being a little French boy. You know, give him rosy cheeks, a beauty spot, a white wig, and a little suit with knickers for pants. Underneath he'd have tights and then little buckled loafers. So cute. But, I talked with Reid about it and he doesn't really want to be Senor Baby or Monsieur Baby. He wants to be Ninja Baby. And I can't say I blame him. Ninjas are pretty sweet. I think he knows how to use the computer already, the must be teaching him that in kindergarten. I think he got on to youtube to watch this. Now, imagine if that cute baby had a costume on. Funny, right? So, as of now, Reid wants to be Ninja Baby. He may change his mind though, which I understand, I do it all the time. Plus, it's his first Halloween, so I think he's a little overwhelmed. Seriously, there's so much fun to be had, it's hard to decide. Very early on, in no uncertain terms, he informed me that he would not participate in any Halloween festivities that included him dressing up as any of the following: a pumpkin, a pea pod, or a bug of any sort.

It's all really silly anyway, because people here aren't really party people. Reid and I are going to show up at the ward party dressed to the nines, while most of the other kids will be wearing a t-shirt that has a jack-o-lantern on it or something. And the adults don't dress up at all. But I decided that Halloween is a time for silliness, so I'm going to give it all I've got. And I love that Erik is right there with me. Or, maybe he's a few steps ahead. The first Halloween I knew him, I had a party at my parents house for the Institute ward. I was Jessie from Toy Story 2. Crazy cute costume by the way, made my my mother. I remember Erik and Mark showing up, and Erik was wearing a vintage brown leather jacket. I couldn't tell if that was his costume or not. I hope not because as a costume it's pretty lame. But just to wear it...sweet. We hardly knew each other at that point. By the next year, we had become better friends and one night he came over to my house to show me the costume he rented. That's right, he rented a costume. I loved it. What kind of a guy rents a costume? My kind of guy. I'll find the picture of it. It'll blow your mind. That year I was "gum under a shoe." Years ago my dad found a pair of size 19 sneakers at a sports store. He bought them because the were so darn funny. I'll always love him for that, it shows a very keen sense of humor. He let me drill holes into the bottom of one of the shoes, and then tie the shoe onto a bike helmet that I had spray painted bubblegum pink. I dyed a shirt pink, and my mom and I made pink pants to match. It was a fun costume. What I remember most about that costume is that I had to fish out these sneakers from the back of a closet. I jokingly put on one of the shoes and felt something with my foot. I screamed and pulled my foot out quickly. As I frantically dumped over the shoe, a FROG fell out. A gross, dried out, dead frog. Isn't that so sick? What a sad death for that frog, to die in a giant sneaker. But, I wonder, what is a frog doing in the back of that closet? So strange. Gives me the willies just thinking about it. Well, that's all the nonsense I've got the energy for today. On to the questions! (Actually, anyone who got to the end of this mega-post should get a prize, but that's too easy.)

1. What was Erik's funny costume for Halloween 2003? (I'll post the picture when this round is over and I reveal all the answers.)

2. Name any three of Emily's many, many majors.

3. This one is for fun. Knowing Reid's perfect blend of Erik's mellow and amiable-ness, and Emily's feisty and playful-ness, what do you think Reid will be when he grows up?

Reid is a poser

Hello everybody. Reid is getting so good at playing on his stomach. He gets stronger everyday. Today I put him down and he completely lifted his chest off the ground, his arms were totally straight. It was amazing. Unfortunately, I didn't have the camera nearby, plus it was a pretty fleeting moment. He's getting stronger, but I don't think we have the next Arnold Schwarzenegger on our hands...at least I hope not. It does seem, however, that Reid is into yoga. Cool.
So here are today's questions:
1. What yoga pose did Reid do today, as demonstrated by the lady at the left?
2. What was Erik's major at BYU?
3. What field day event was Emily terrified of as a kindergartner?

Who's up for some fun?

Hey people, I've got a fun game to play. I have no idea who even reads this silly blog, but I'd sure like to find out, so here's the game:
Every 5 posts I'll tally up the points and the winner will be sent a little present. You can earn a point for each time you comment on a post, and I'll ask questions in each post that you can answer in your comments. Correct answers will earn you a point. Doesn't that sound like fun?

This girl thinks it sounds like fun. Check her out, she seems intrigued.

This baby is like, "Yes! Presents! I'm going to rule this game!" He is excited, for sure.

This lady is like, "I hope I win! I hope! I hope! I hope!"

And best of all, this boy heard the news while he was in the bath. His excitement was just too much to contain. He's definitely ready for some fun.

Now you're thinking, "I guess I'm excited, but I don't understand...what's the point of all this, Emily?" Well, if you are asking that then we need to spend more time together because you have not yet learned that not everything I do has a point to it. This is just for fun. I just like hearing from all you out there, and I like to give presents.

Here's a few questions to start:

1. What were the 4 wild card middle names that eventually lost out to the winner, Hunter?

2. What animal does Emily collect?

3. If my Mom didn't have veto power, what would my Dad have named me?

Alright, the game has begun. This round will go for 5 posts, after the 5th one I'll tally up the points and then we'll start again. So if you're out there reading this, let me know it by commenting and saying hello. You could win yourself something cool.

Oh, I have big news too! I'll get a good picture of it, but look back at the post called "I think I'm backwards" and you'll see the earrings that I ordered. I'm going to need them now to put in my new pierced ears! It sounded like something fun to do so on my birthday Reid and I went to Good Karma Tattoos in Fairbanks and I got them pierced. I like it.

Here's how to comment: at the end of the post click on the link that says "COMMENTS" and then write your message. It's easy...and fun!

I'm a winner!

So, I am sad to report that I did not, in fact, win any blue ribbons. I will have to try again next year, wherever we are then. This is the sweater that I entered in the "Recycle, Reduce, Reuse" category. I figured, "this sweater is darn cute, I'm a shoe-in for the blue ribbon." Not the case. I won 5th place...in my division. That's not good. Tomorrow I'll post the some other entries that placed higher than me in my division. Apparently I lost pretty bad, because those entries are nothing special.

However, in my quilting division I got 2nd place! Still not 1st, but I didn't get slaughtered this time. I love this quilt. My Mom and I took a class from a friend who was trying to start up teaching quilting. My Mom (already a pro) and me (a novice then and a novice+ now) figured we could probably learn a thing or two, so we gave it a shot. We actually learned quite a lot. I think that's good advice: even if you're pretty good at something, every now and then a lesson is a good idea. Keeps you learning and progressing. I need to start taking piano lessons again, I improve so much faster than just working on my own. I made this quilt with the intention to create a nighttime ritual. Every night the kids can pick a book, grab the quilt, and we'll all snuggle together and read a story. Hence, I have named this quilt "Storytime Stars." Apparently quilters name their quilts. You can't really see, but the blue fabric with the small stars and swirls, and the dark blue fabric have glitter on it. Now that I have it back I think it's time to start the ritual. I like rituals, things that carry over from season to season. We're making memories here, people.

Here we are with cute little Madeline. She loves our Reid, and she's jazzed to say hi whenever she sees him. I was feeding him and she really wanted to help, but it's kind of a one-woman job right now. Cute, cute Madeline.

Oh, another shot of the loser sweater. Actually it's really cute. I think I'm going to go to Value Village and try and find some old sweaters to felt and embellish. Maybe I'll sell them and make millions. That would show the Tanana Valley State Fair who's a winner.

This crazy thing won "Best in Show" for the entire Recycle, Reduce, Reuse category. This is a grocery sack. Whoever made this wove hundreds of plastic bags into one big plastic sack. Huh. That's right, I lost to this. I guess it's pretty clever, but I figure, if you want to recycle the bags, just use them again. I don't know, seemed like a big fat waste of time to me. But that's the life of a crafter...one person's big fat waste of time is another person's favorite pastime. Wierd though, right?

After checking out the exhibits, the O'neils and I went around to the booths. There was this guy who guessed age, weight, and birth month. You pay him $3 and if he gets it wrong then you can pick a prize. So Dahlia goes first and he underguesses her age by like 5 years or something. Then Jeremy has him guess his weight and he underguesses by 20 lbs. So I figure, sure...this could be fun. I pay him my $3 and have him guess my age. (Seriously, I'm still playing the "I just had a baby card", I don't need anyone guessing my weight) He, Jeremy, and Dahlia were all facing me as he writes his guess on his post-it note. As soon as he writes it Jeremy's eyes get really big and he starts laughing. So I'm like, "hey, what did he write?!" The guy then asks how old I am and I tell him "25." He immediately crumples up the paper and says to Jeremy and Dahlia, "don't tell her, don't tell her!" I eventually got it out of them that his guess was 31. 31! Granted, "I just had a baby" so I've kind of got that haggard mom thing going on, but 31! I thought it was funny so I had him rewrite it so I could get a picture. That's me holding my prize, a teddy bear. That was an expensive bear, it cost me $3...and my pride. Today I turn 26 and I have decided that 26 is going to be the year I'm the best Emily ever. No more of this 31 crap until I actually am 31, and even then it would be nice for people to guess that I'm younger. So watch out people, Emily's bringing sexy back.

Alive and well

Reid and I are back from our first cross-country tour and it was so wonderful to see family, and to spend time in Tucson. It's hard for me to quite explain what it is about Tucson, but it certainly feels like home. It's such a big part of who I am. I'm Erik's, I'm a mother, I'm Mormon, I'm female, I'm an Arnett, I'm Tucson. You know what I mean? Spending time there was just so good. From there the baby and I flew to Baltimore to see Erik before he left country. *Side note: whilst spending time with family over the past couple of weeks, I have been informed that I talk about Erik and Reid a lot. Apparently a lot of gushing about how great they are. Well, hope you can hang with that, because that is not going to change. My boys are my very favorite thing to think and talk about.* Erik took me on the most wonderful date. Do you ever have those evenings with your sweetheart where everything is just so perfect and you end up thinking, "I am going to remember this forever"? Indian food is my absolute favorite, when I eat Chicken Tikka Masala with garlic naan everything just seems right in the world. Erik found a little place and so we gave it a shot, hoping it would be good. Akbar is now my favorite Indian restaurant. It was a perfect night. Reid was awake the whole time, just smiling and hanging out on my lap. As you can see, he was completely content to sit with me and chew on my hand. That worked out well for me, it left me with the other hand to shovel the food in my face. It was so so so good. This picture shows our table after we just finished attacking our meal. We should have taken a picture before we ate it, it would have been beautiful. Oh, and the service was amazing. Indian restaurants usually have great service. The tables always have actual linens and cloth napkins. And our server would fill our water when it was not even half empty. So great. When we finished the little owner's wife came over to chat with us. She was so great, she held the baby and was, of course, smitten with him. It was a perfect night. I love this picture and after we took it I looked at it and immediately thought, "this is going to be one of those pictures that our kids will look at growing up and see Mom and Dad when they were young, and our kids will think 'look, Mom and Dad really love each other.' " Such a perfect night. I would really love to go back someday, and go to the vintage shop above it.

So I was very lazy and I haven't edited any of these photos, and obviously I didn't even go to the trouble of making the orientation right. But if you tilt your head just so, it'll work out. Don't worry.

This one's of my handsome boys at the D.C. temple. I love Erik for taking me to the temple, even if we don't have anyone to watch the little man and so we can't do a session. I just loved being there. I saw this temple about 6 years ago and I'm sure I never could have guessed that the next time I saw it I would be married with a little baby. What a lucky girl I am.

When I left Baltimore, I met up with my Mom and Dad in Oklahoma as they were driving to Ohio. This one's of Reid and his Grandpa. They were fast friends. I think Reid is trying to tell me how much he loves Grandma and Grandpa. He tells me how much he misses them all the time.

Back at home now. His hair is filling out and I think he looks like such a gentleman. That's what Erik said changed the most about him, he looks older and even cuter with all the hair he's getting.

After I got home, I got a visit from Aunt Annie and Uncle William. I loved having them here. It was incredibly kind of them to come and see us, I just loved it. We didn't do very much more than eat junk, watch old musicals, and play with the baby. Perfection. Here's Annie reading Reid a wonderful little story. She took this Aunt stuff pretty seriously, and she's darn good at it.

Reid is starting to get really into playing with toys. He focuses well and uses his hands so well. He fell asleep with them still clasped to him. So cute. I got him a little elephant toy with lots of things to look at and play with and he loves it. I love watching him play with it. He's almost always got a hand on it.

I ran to see a friend and on the way back he fell asleep in the car (he gets that from me, I have what Erik and I call "car narcolepsy" which could be shortened to "carcolepsy".) I put him in the little carseat parking space and thought it just looked so cute. So here it is.

Here's William singing Reid a song as Officer Jawalski. I love that silly puppet. We found that in a great children's store in Ft. Collins, Co. They had a few different characters, but I just loved this guy and his fuzzy mustache. We were just kind of window shopping and so after we had moved on to a few other stores I begged Erik to let me go back and buy the little guy. Isn't he so funny. I told Erik that we could teach Reid things like traffic safety and stuff with him. I don't know, I just think it's so great. I could laugh for days about this guy.

This one's cute. Annie and Reid hanging out again. The expression on Annie's face looks like, "that baby gets all the attention" or something like that. But actually I think it's, "oh, I just love that little boy. I'm going to love him forever." I know the feeling, Annie. I don't know why, but writing about this picture reminded me of a funny story. As a kid we went to Portugal to visit some family friends. The dad was serving as the Mission President there. We went to a park that had a carousel-type ride and I remember my Mom taking a picture of me as I went by and one of Annie as she went by. I guess Annie was really hamming it up for the picture and so each time she would go by my Mom would pretend to take a picture of her. I was so hurt. I remember thinking, "holy crap, Mom takes one picture of me and 20 of Annie?" I felt pretty unimportant. What a strange story, huh? Makes me think about all the good intentions that parents have and how kids read things wrong. Also about how kids remember everything. Yikes. I better be on my best behavior. Good thing I have Erik. He's put his foot in his mouth exactly 2 times in the 5 years that I've known him. Twice, people. I do it twice before lunch each day.

Reid is getting so good at playtime. He rolls back and forth (though not quite rolling over yet). He also chews on his fingers a lot. It's cute. The other day he had a pacifier in his mouth and he pushed it to one side so he could have a thumb in his mouth, too. I guess he wanted both. Fair enough.

Here's a close-up. He really goes for those hands. I bet he could fit his whole fist in there if he wanted. Maybe that will be his next trick.

He plays and plays, and then a moment later he's asleep. What an angel.

Check this out, he's finally got enough hair to do the shampoo shark. Sweet. Look at this kid, he's a tank, I love it.

Post-bath Reid is one of my favorites. Right before he plops into bed Reid is another good one. Nursing Reid is pretty cute, and just woke up Reid is a showstopper of cute, but here's post-bath Reid.

Look at that little robe. He was playing and kicking around, so some of the shots ended up being a little flasher-ish, but it's not quite his fault...it's a pretty short robe.

I love clean hair. It's so cute combed to the side like that. He looks like he should sing in a baby Barbershop Quartet. He'd actually be really good at that. His coos and jabbers are beautiful.

Again, hand in the mouth. Seriously though, look at that handsome little face with the gentleman's hairdo.

Yep, post-bath Reid is one of my favorites for sure.

Lastly, here's the view outside our bedroom window. Not a good shot, but our fall-time is just so gorgeous, albeit a little short. The leaves are all changing and falling off, and soon winter will settle in. Once it does it's not going anywhere until the end of April, so I'm enjoying the fall. Short though it may be.