Its that time of year, when the world starts to sing...

Every song you hear, seems to say.

Merry Christmas, may your New Years dreams come true...

Okay, I can't remember the rest of the words to the song. But as I sit here, the CMA Country Christmas is on the television for the 3rd time this season and I just watched Vince Gill sing with Miss Piggy. As we are quickly approaching Christmas, we are also quickly approaching the end of Adam's last semester of classes. Next semester will be only student teaching and boards, yippee! So, Adam has been living in a world of projects and papers and exams. Every now and then he is able to slip away from the books and these pictures will show you all the activity of the past few months.

Here is Douglas on his actual birthday with his first ever cake. He really didn't know what to make of it and just kept staring at us. Nanna had to help him stick his finger in the cake.

After dinner, we dressed up in his Halloween costume (which is a duck) and crawled around the house. There was only one group of tricker-treaters this year and they came before he got into costume, so I was the only one to enjoy it.

At his birthday party, he still wasn't sure what to make of the cake (though he knew what to do with the party hat).

He was a little more daring to try and touch the cake himself.

But, he wasn't a big fan of how it felt on his hand (or the people singing to him). Maybe next year.

His good friends, Corban and Malorie were there and ready helpers in opening his presents.

Since his birthday, Adam and his Dad did get the red roof on our new back porch and it looks great. There is no picture as the cold has kept me away from outside and it is taller than me, so I wouldn't be able to do it justice. Douglas and I went with my parents to cut a Christmas tree down, he was amazed at the amount of trees and people all in one place and also the singing chickens.

Last Christmas was a lot of fun and quite an experience with a 3 month old and I suspect that this Christmas will be another new experience with a 1 year old. Let the fun times begin!

Now one last picture to leave you with... Adam studying in our new set up of little people furniture. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

Let's get right to it!

Yes, it has been a while since we have posted. Without further ado, let me show you what we have all been up to!

Douglas worn out buy a busy morning of camping. Nothing like sleeping in Nanna's arms!

Hanging out with Aunt LJ by the water.

Trying to eat/drink Daddy's spritzer (one of Douglas' favorite drinks, mind you).

Apple picking with Mama

Apple eating with Uncle Jay

Eating more apple

Climbing into the fridge

Playing with hangers

Being cute

Getting into Mama's plants...

and cupboards...

and pots and pans (we might have a master drummer on our hands).

Getting shoulder rides from Dad (they love to gallop around the house).

All while Dad and Papa have been building a new back deck.

Just waiting for its new red roof!

It has been a busy past month for sure. In the background of all this, Adam has been ramping up for midterms, I have become the acting director of my library, and Douglas is about to turn 1!!! How has it already been a year since he was born!? So, needless to say, we are keeping ourselves busy.

Next on the agenda - a first birthday party!

Till then, a happy early Halloween to all!

Is that some more personality that I am seeing?

Ladies and gentleman,

This will be a short post. But Adam and I have concluded that we are in the middle of 'major developmental changes' week.

It all started so innocuously on Sunday. We had been noticing that over the past few days that Douglas was less and less enthralled with his bottle - he didn't want it. We were trying to then figure out how to proceed with that because we were in the beginning stages of trying to wean him from an evening nursing and our transition plan included the bottle. So, while we were deliberating over that, Sunday evening rolled around and Douglas then made his wishes very clear - he didn't want to nurse either. He had nursed Sunday morning, but in the evening you would have thought I was hurting the little guy. It definitely threw us for a loop - no bottle, no nursing? What is a parent to do? It was a long night and I concluded that he must be sick. What else would explain such a drastic change (and also being up for most of the night).

So, Monday morning, to the doctor we went. He checked Douglas' throat, he checked Douglas' ears - nothing. This little guy (who was charming every nurse and patient he saw) was the very picture of health. So, back home we went to see Nanna for the day. He took a bottle that afternoon (though we found out later that he had to hold it himself) and nursed once more for me that evening. Little did I know that that time would be the last . Later that same night, you would have thought I was hurting him again by offering him another nursing opportunity.

Tuesday rolled around and Douglas' went to our babysitter and best friend's house. This time - no bottle, no way! He absolutely refused. (I wasn't even offering to nurse anymore, a mom can only take a screaming reaction when she offers herself so many times.) But this very astute lady noticed that he took his sippy cup okay, and seemed to want to hold the bottle himself. So, we then tried to just give him his sippy cup and he was as happy as a clam!

Apparently he wants to do it all by himself now. So - no bottle, no nursing, just a sippy cup. And yes, he would like to feed himself only as well, and turn the pages of the book by himself. "Please don't help me mom and dad, I want to do it myself" is the message we have received.

So, off to the races of a more independent child - luckily he didn't also decide to walk this week. I don't know if I could have handled all those changes at once.

Happy Thursday!

Summer is ending...

I realize that it has been many weeks since I have last updated this blog. You all have probably been wondering where in the world we had disappeared to. August was a busy month for us Reinhardts. Earlier in the month we went on a hard-core camping trip with my family up in the high peaks region of the Adirondacks. When I say hard-core, I mean tenting it with a 9 month old. To some campers hard-core might mean sleeping in a lean-to in the wild, but try sleeping in a tent with a 9 month old and you will find another level of difficulty. But, I would say that we prevailed, survived and even enjoyed it. Then at the end of the month we returned to the Adirondacks for a wonderful gathering of good friends for a wedding over Labor Day weekend. Luckily this time we were able to stay in a very nice hotel, Lake Pleasant Lodge. It is right on the shores of Lake Pleasant and was quite enjoyable.

[One note I need to insert before I describe our month. Our camera stopped working part way through our camping trip, so these are not all inclusive pictures. ]

These two pictures show our basic set up while camping. We were either down on the beach or we were sitting around our camp fire. The beach was beautiful, had a great view of Rollins Pond, and afforded us many pleasant mornings, afternoons and evenings.

Now the screened in area that you see behind us? In true Adirondack style, 12 hours in the middle of our stay consisted of constant pouring rain. And that screened in porch is where we spent most of our time. It got a bit crowded, especially when you add a pack and play for an active Douglas.

These next few pictures are a play by play of what Douglas was doing. He was crawling all around in the dirt and the sand and the water. He loved it! Now, sleeping in a tent in the cold - not so much did he like. So that made the trip a bit hard because Mom and Dad, while they would have preferred to sleep. But, all in all it was a great trip!

Take 2

Okay, so the video upload totally didn't work. So, until I get that figured out, I will provide some static images of what mischief Douglas has been getting himself into with his cousins.

We just spent the last two days babysitting Douglas' cousins Noah and Nadia. They are great kids and we had a lot of fun. Here are some pictures of what we did together. These two kids love Douglas so much and can make him laugh, it was great to be around them.

The first is Adam and Noah playing games on Noah's mini-computer. He was quite the wiz!

Then, we went to an indoor playground to get the kids out of the house (it was pouring all day) and tried to get a picture of all three.

This afternoon, a huge fort/tent was created in the living room. They were quite proud of their creation.

This is Adam, Noah and Nadia inside the 'bestest tent' that they had ever built. It was quite a feat.

After the tent got built, Douglas decided he needed to be on the move again. So, he made a beeline for the stairs. You can see the results. This is what he did for the majority of two days. He can now climb to the top of the stairs.

That has been our last few days in a nutshell. Next week we are off to our annual Camping with the Irvine's vacation. This will be an experience with a moving 9 month old, to say the least.

Happy August!

We made it!

Adam is done with classes for the summer. Everyone give him a nice 'Welcome Back, Adam' when you see him because he has been buried underneath books for a long time. It was a big sigh of relief when he came home after his last exam.

While Adam was finishing up classes, Douglas was also discovering big new things.

Crawling.

How to open and close doors.

How to pull him self up on couches and coffee tables.

It has been very exciting around the Reinhardt household, I tell you what.

Now - I am going to try something new. I am going to try and post a video that I have a Douglas. (I have a few in mind, I am going to see if any of them will work.)

So cross you fingers for me and in lieu of pictures, enjoy the video!

Quick - Adam's away from the computer...

Douglas is walking around the living room in his walker.
Adam is at the dollar store buying little prizes for his clients.
The computer is free and so are both of my hands.

I can blog!!

So, here is what we have been doing so far this summer.

Camping with the Newcombs.

Hosting one of my closest friends for the 4th of July.

Visiting with Noah and Nadia - Douglas' cousins.

Also, I didn't have my camera, but Douglas got to meet his West Coast cousins, Benjamin and Sadie last week. Sadie was showing him up in her ability to get on her knees and almost crawl at 4 months! Douglas now feels the need to just try and stand, forget crawling - let's walk!

I do realize the pictures are sideways - I was taking them straight from the camera. I figured the priority was the post (clearing throat at Liz and Dad) not the orientation of the picture ;)

Also, the picture in the laundry basket was just cute.

Hope you are all having a good summer. We are off to watch the women's soccer game in an air conditioned house!

Some pictures to enjoy