A tale of two Christmases

Two posts in two days...Don't get used to it! This is Adam posting because he has a minute now that school is done for the semester and my beautiful family is fast asleep on this snow covered winter morning. I was reading Alicia's posts and noticed there are a lot more photos of me and Douglas then there are of Alicia and Douglas. As is the case with many new mothers, she gets more of the work and less of the glory--but is an incredible mother, more loving then I bet she ever thought she could be.

We've been talking with friends about the difference a year makes and how, looking back, it can seem like both a lifetime ago and the blink of an eye. Which reminded us of last Christmas when we had a 15 foot Christmas tree and a lot more room (even though it didn't seem it at the time). So here are some photos for comparison and others...

Christmas 2009

Giant tree and no baby

Christmas 2010

Baby tree, and baby baby

The following is the Grizwald's attempt at getting the perfect Christmas photo...

We're still working on it!

Finally, some photos from Paul's birthday, it was fun hanging out with the fam and celebrating his 58 years. Check out that lung action!

And Douglas just slept through the night from 8pm until 7am, only waking up once (at 2am)...Dare we say he's getting the hang of it?

While it is storming outside...

Here are some more pictures of the goings-on in the Reinhardt household. Douglas has been growing at an amazing rate, keeping me on my toes to keep pace with his feeding schedule. He is also becoming much more aware of his surroundings which has been very fun to watch. Things he is fixated with: ceiling fans, christmas trees, windows.

Here he is getting his first bath. This expression was between the first initial reaction which wasn't favorable, and the last conclusion which still wasn't favorable. We haven't attempted a second bath yet, doing more the spot cleaning.

I don't know if I had ever put up pictures of what the room looks like completed. Here is a view. I had my one and only sewing project of making the curtains with my mom. People who sew impress me because it isn't my cup of tea. Adam was responsible for putting up the pictures, which are pages from the book Animalia. They encircle the whole room.

This is Douglas at 5 weeks old. I am trying to get the month increments pictured, and here you can see his huge eyes. If a mom can say so - so cute :)

This is a cute picture from a christmas party we had with some close friends. Notice Adam's christmas vest!

I couldn't resist this picture. This is Adam writing one of his finals and Douglas absolutely zonked in the Baby Bjorn. Thanks posse - it has been wonderful!

Hope everyone is staying warm and dry.

We are one month in...

I have been informed that I am being derelict in my duties as blog updater. And I also realized that I should update because Douglas has reached the one month mark. We are very excited about these small things now.

Let me give you some facts:

Douglas is now 12.5 lbs (off the charts, weight wise) 22.75 inches (90th percentile for height) and his head is measuring in the 50th percentile. So, he may be tall, but he won't have a huge head!

Now let me give you some pictures to show you what we have been up to... (in no order).

Napping. (I am actually sitting up on the couch. Just flip the photo around in your head.)

Brining the turkey for Thanksgiving. (Ignore the brining bucket.)

Douglas hanging out under his blanket made by his Aunt Emmy.

Douglas showing Adam his prowess at taking a bottle.

Dad and son dressing alike. (See the old school NY License Plate over the shoulder? Courtesy of Aunt LJ.)

I can't believe that is has already been a month, but I am sure that every new mom says that. It has been wonderful so far.

Till our next update...Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Years.

Douglas Vladimir Reinhardt: 10.31.10

The blog has been suspiciously quiet over the past few weeks due to the arrival of our son Douglas Vladimir Reinhardt, born Sunday afternoon October 31st and weighing in at 8 lbs. 15 oz. and 22 inches long. A real sight for sore eyes!

We have some pictures we'd like to share with you, in lieu of waiting for enough free time to write about the joy of being new parents. After we catch up on our sleep we'll get back to you with more exciting details.

Smiling baby - 2 weeks old

Baby 1 and Baby 2

One of our favorites - we call it Paparazzi Baby

4 days old

10.31.10 Strong Hospital - Baby and Mother

Baby Shower

Well, as I promised here is another post.

Last weekend my mother-in-law and one of Adam's aunts and his cousins threw me a wonderful baby shower. The food was incredible and it was great to see a lot of family and friends. Now that we are in count down mode for Pidge/AJ to arrive, it was wonderful to get together with those that are special to us and share some time with them.

Here is Adam's mother as she is prepping some of the wonderful apples slices and carmel dip. Right now I am loving autumn food! Apples, cider, donuts, carmel, comfort food such as meat loaf and lasagna - so delicious.

I thought this was a cute picture of my circle of helpers. Erin (in the orange) was helping Maggie (in the purple) hand me the presents, while my sister Liz (in the gray) was a faithful list keeper. Maggie was quite energetic about handing me the gifts and making sure that I got them all opened quickly.

Here I am with one of my other pregnant friends, Mary. She is the third of our trio and will be having her baby in December. It has been wonderful to have some friends to share the experience of pregnancy with.

Now, I am not going to show every picture of every present, but there are three gifts that I want to highlight because they are wonderful examples of the crafting skills of the women in Adam's family.

The first is a quilt made by his Aunt Marianne. It has the Winnie the Pooh theme on it and was nice and fluffy. I can totally see our little son playing on this quilt.

The second is another beautiful quilt made by his Aunt Kathy (also the hostess) and is great variety of different pictures for all the letters of the alphabet. Adam and I love the Alphabet theme, so this was perfect.

The third picture is one piece of a set - a beautiful blue and white jacket that Adam's grandmother knitted. There was also a cute hat, booties and a wonderful blanket.

I am blown away by the skills of all these women!

This picture is a great moment where there are actually four generations all together. Adam's grandmother, Adam's mother, my mother, me and then Pidge/AJ. It was a special moment.

Now, this last picture is just me wanting to show you where our cat has decided she likes to sleep now. On top of my boppy pillow, which is in the basket/compartment right below the bassinet. She will spend all day there! At least she hasn't decided to sleep IN the bassinet, I guess.

Lest you think this blog is going to become all about the pregnancy and the baby - I will give you an Adam update. He has been busy with school work, but also created this whole Alphabet picture display that is currently being put up on the nursery walls. Once all the pictures are up, I will hopefully remember to take a picture to share with you.

Till then - happy Autumn!

Friends, Romans, Country men...

So, I am not quite getting the hang of this - putting pictures in your blog - but I shall prevail. Blogger will not defeat me!

It has been a busy August and September here in the Reinhardt household. And when I say busy, I mean that Adam has started and accomplished a lot of tasks. Me, getting bigger by the day, am becoming less helpful and useful. But, once our little one arrives, hopefully that will change. The first major item to be discussed is the room in the basement.

Basement corner where the room will be built. See Adam's nice and neat piles of supplies?

As you saw in my previous post, we painted the small room that we have upstairs for the baby. That room used to be our TV room. In an effort to prevent our house from really feeling like a small apartment, Adam and Co. took on the project of building a room in our basement. It was amazing how fast they were able to get the two walls up and dry-walled! It took them one day! Then Adam kept riding the wave of momentum and got it all mudded and sanded, we invited friends in to paint, and now are in the process of putting down carpet.

Adam, Jared and Jesse next to one of the walls that were framed in.

The other side of Adam, Jesse and Jared.

Now for a picture of the finished wall. If you look close, you will see me and my belly in the room :)

After all the construction, over Labor Day weekend we attended our church's Family Camp down at Canandaigua Lake. For this lady the weather ended up being great because the heat broke and the cool breezes came in. I bring up this weekend mainly to say - a lot of shuffle board was played. I think we are in process of bringing Shuffle Board back to the masses!!

Adam and Lance studying the points.

See all my style and grace?

This was our amazing audience through the different matches. It is 3 more people than were watching last year.

Even before our labor day festivities of Shuffleboard began, Adam went back to school. Now he is quite in the swing of the semester, but that was another major happening.

Finally, I will give you some pregnancy pictures from yesterday. There have been requests and now that I am starting my 35th week, I figured I should document these last remaining weeks of Adam and I as a two-some (is that even a word)? We went apple picking last weekend and out to a movie. This weekend we are entertaining family and friends and who knows what will happen next weekend. The skies the limit!

Who is starting to look like a giant marshmellow?

This angle is better.

My lovely sister and me. (Funny thing, I think she is wearing my class shirt from when I was in high school. Awe, quality clothes from the 90's. I am glad someone still has it.)

Happy Fall everyone!

Alicia's First Post

Hello Friends and Family! This is my first ever blog post, so hopefully it will work as it should. If not, accept my apologies now.

Since Adam's last post, we have had a busy summer. We went camping with my family up to ADK, my wonderful co-workers threw a baby shower for me, we spent a wonderful day in Stony Brook Park with friends and a tree decided into come down in our front lawn.

Please enjoy the pictures.

Adam and I at Rollins Ponds in ADK.

Adam and his fire. All breakfasts were made over these fires.

Many afternoons looked like this - all of us huddled with our books as it poured.

When it wasn't raining, the afternoons were occupied by this - the ongoing paddle ball game between Bennett and Adam.

Three of the sisters.

Adam kayaking.

Adam canoeing.

Our trip to Stony Brook was a lot of fun, but man was it crowded! And, I managed to find out how much stamina and balance a 7 month pregnant woman does NOT have. It was a little sad.

Adam and I at Stony Brook.

This tree branch coming down was really unexpected. We have many trees in our front yard, and many in worse health than this one. But did they come down? No.

The tree branch that randomly decided to come down.

Adam and Dan cutting up the tree.

The tree all cut up.

We had a nice surprise last week when Adam's parents came over with our crib! We had thought that it was out of stock and were trying to work ourselves up to go and look for a new style. It was a wonderful surprise!

Adam and our new crib!

Till the next post - have a wonderful summer :)