January 2011

Is it just me or is this year flying by!? It is now the last day of February and I'm posting about January and it's all just a blur. As you can see from the post date, I intented to post this IN January, but time got away from me. Fortunately, I'm more diligent in my picture organizing than I am at posting on the blog, so I can keep track of what happened when by going into January's picture file. Here are the highlights:


We went down to St. George again for a quick visit. I love this picture because Reed thought he was so big and it was the beginning of him really being able to communicate (very specifically!) what he wanted with us. We were in between church and dinner and he wanted to watch a show and not just any show, the "octopus show" (Aladdin) and he had to have the box and some sugar snap peas with "dip it" (Ranch dressing). He got himself all settled in the chair with his snack next to him and life was good.


Brent's dad sent us home with a cute little red trailer so we can haul stuff behind our car. It has already come in handy hauling our old water heater away and will be so helpful to have around this spring to take away the heaps and heaps of yard waste that our property produces. We've needed one many, many times since we moved in and this one folds and fits perfectly in our garage along with all the stuff we already had in there. It's great!

Reed finally gave up his binky. Well, I had packed away all but two of his binky's (he only had one to sleep or when he had a major bonk) but when we got home from St. George I misplaced them both I decided it was time to let it go instead of tear the house upside down looking for them. He was ready. He missed it for a few days (he would ask for it when he got hurt or it was time to sleep), but would quickly get over it. In less than a week it was a distant memory. Now when he sees other kids with binks he labels them "babies" and doesn't ask for his. I'm so glad that's behind us. I really thought it would more of a major event because he was SO attached to it, but am glad it wasn't. (The picture in the last post of him with his knife and shield is the last binky picture we ever took!).


Reed had a major haircut. I had given him a regular haircut, evening him up, but he still had hair sticking straight out on the sides so I just took the trimmer to it with the longest attachment. It looks much better, but he looks so grown up to me now! Although, the pure joy of the clean laundry being thrown over the upstairs railing reminds that he is still 2...


We had a floor put up in our attic this month. It's a really big space up there that we weren't utilizing so we laid a floor down, invested in some plastic storage bins and got all of our extra stuff out of the way and organized. We went around the house gathering everything we don't use on a regular basis (holiday decor, clothes Reed has grown out of or will grow in to, baby things, etc.) and we didn't even use half of it! Between you and me, I hope we never fill it up, but I have had fun teasing Brent that I can get more stuff now that we have all this storage space. He isn't amused. It has made a huge difference in getting the house totally organizing and making it so everything has it's place. I'm in heaven!


Right before they came to put the floor down (like the night before!) Brent installed a light fixture in our "office" (really just a nook a little bigger than a window seat!). For some reason they had gotten rid of much of the overhead lighting in this house in favor of something that required hooks!? There were hooks in the ceiling of almost every room when we bought the house. They had patched over the wires and put blank covers over the light switch boxes. Fortunately, it's just been a matter of putting the switches back, pulling the wires back down and getting new fixtures (I found this fixture at an architectural salvage yard in Berkeley). I've had everything ready to go for this project for over a year , but the threat of this project soon requiring pulling up part of the attic floor motivated Brent to get it done sooner than later. Now we don't have take up space on our desktop for a lamp.


The really noteworthy thing that happened this month was that Brent started classes at the University of Utah! He has a night class once a week and another one online with the testing being here in Bountiful at the University extension. It works out really well - this semester. At two classes a semester we've got a long road ahead of us, but I'm so proud of him! And he's more than halfway there already!


Brent and Reed having fun with a bag of old clothespins. Silly boys.



Reed loves his books and has fun getting all the props to go with them. Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel must have Reed and his "scooper" to go with it. I Stink is followed by over an hour using his dump truck to fill Noah's ark (a stand-in barge) up with "trash". I'm so glad he loves to read.


Mostly, we just take each day as it comes and are having a blast watching Reed grow right before our eyes. He is ALL BOY!