The Reeds Online

Sunday, March 19, 2006

The long awaited return

After a long hiatus, I have returned to the big world of blogging. Things have been busy around the Reed House.
Katie has started taking the necessary course to become a certified financial planner. That is what she plans to do to help make ends meet while I am in law school. She is doing great so far and really seems to like the course work.
Liam has started rolling over with some regularity. The first time he did it we thought it might be a fluke, but he has done it several times since then. He is also starting to reach for things, and with a whole lot of concentration grab hold of them. He is getting so big so fast.
Katie and I visited a friend of hers who just had a baby on St. Patty's Day. She was so small compared to Liam. Obviously I know he has been growing, but I did not really realize how much until I saw that newborn. Every time he does something new, it is bittersweet. I am excited to see him learn and grow, but every new step makes him that much less of a baby. It is hard on a Dad sometimes.
There is not a lot to report for me. I go to work and then come home to spend time with Katie and Liam. That pretty much sums up how my days go. If I could figure out a way to just stay home with them all the time I would, but I think the Army would have something to say about that.
Still planning to go to law school when I get out. Somewhere in Texas. Right now I am looking at University of Texas, University of Houston, and Texas Tech University. Those are three of the public universities that, because of my time in the service, will not charge me tuition. I am not sure which one I want to go to more. UT is one of the top schools in the nation. I am not sure that I could even get in there, plus most of my Tech buddies would give me a hard time for "crossing over." U of H is a decent school also, but I am told that it is in a really bad part of Houston. One of my good friends (Jake Bice, http://thebices.blogspot.com/ ) is going to be working in Houston, so we will at least know someone in the area. Tech is the lowest ranking law school (according to US News and World Report rankings, http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/law/lawindex_brief.php ) but I think Tech would be my first choice. I loved going there for my undergrad work and I know that Katie, Liam and I would be happy there. I guess I will just apply to all three and see what happens. Maybe I will only get accepted to one and my decision will be made for me.

Unfortunately, this picture came out fuzzy, but the look was so funny I had to post it.

This is one happy baby!

Even the happiest babies cry sometimes.

Not really sure what this look was supposed to mean...

Saturday, February 18, 2006

A Visit to the Doctor's Office

Well, last Thursday Liam turned 8 weeks old and as such he was due for his 2 month immunizations. After his mom and I got ourselves mentally prepared for this sure to be traumatic event, we headed off to the doctor's office on post. When we arrived at 1:40 p.m. for the 2 p.m. appointment, the receptionist seemed confused and told us that our appointment was actually scheduled to be at the pediatric clinic at the hospital where Liam was born. That was a bit of a problem since it is a 30 minute drive across the island. We called the hospital to explain the mix-up and they told us to come on down. We ended up not having to wait too long to be seen after all, which was good since we were expecting to have to wait many hours for the opportunity to be squeezed in. Liam's appointment went great his current stats are:

Length: 23 2/4 inches (75% overall)
Weight: 11 pounds 12 ounces (50% overall)

After all the measuring fun and games ended came the moment we had been dreading...the shots. The nurse had us lay him on the table and wake him up since they do not like to stick sleeping babies because they could jerk awake and get hurt. Needless to say, Liam did not like being woken up and let us know by crying...a lot. The nurse gave him his injections and he cried some more, but within a minute or so was sleeping in my arms again. That was it. No muss, no fuss. Turns out that Katie and I were far more worried about it than we should have been. Liam is such a little trooper. So far no ill effects from the shots. No crankiness, no fever, no reaction at all really. I guess we should have expected it to turn out like this, Liam is a fairly laid back little guy and he just took these immunizations in stride. In the end it was much harder on us than it was on him, which is just the way we like it.

Liam with the World's Best Mom!

Liam in his new overalls playing on the guest bed. Thats right, if you come to visit us you will have to sleep in a flowery bed, but the price can't be beat.