Reed turned two months old today! We celebrated with his first hike in the woods, which he mostly slept through in his Ergo carrier. Part of me can’t believe he is already this old while another part feels like I’ve known him forever. The past month has been a whirlwind of visitors, but we have the house to ourselves for the rest of the summer. While it’s nice to have company and help, it’s also be nice when it’s just the three of us. My parents were so crazy about Reed that they’re renting a house nearby for three weeks to spend more time with him.

Reed has been growing like a weed. Two weeks ago, we learned that he was in the 75th percentile for height

Adam circa 1971

– which is impressive when you have two shorties for parents. He’s grown 4 inches since he was born
so is 23 and 1/4 inches now. While he eats like crazy, he’s still a pretty lean guy. I’m sure he’ll fill out
soon, though I was never particularly chubby as a baby. I’ve recently seen pics of Adam at this age and he is a chubby version of Reed; it’s really uncanny!

Tummy time or snack time?

Reed’s accomplished so many things this month. Four weeks ago he cracked his first smile and since then he’s been smiling all the time when he’s in a social mood. He’s been cooing a lot and we’re much more clued in to what his various vocalizations mean. He’s started playing with toys — batting at and clutching toys that dangle over him. He’s a whiz at tummy time and has a very strong neck. On Sunday morning he managed to roll himself from his belly onto his back!!! It was a big weekend of firsts since Saturday he also was able to consistently get his thumb in his mouth. He’s still not quite as crazy about it as the pacifier, but he seems to use it more and more each day. He’d been getting it into his mouth on and off for 2 weeks, but he was never able to consistently repeat the feat until now. Good work Reed!!!

I started back at work last week. I’m only working two days per week until mid-August (when Reed is 4 months old) and Adam will be watching him on days that I’m away. It’s difficult to be away from him, but at
least for now he’s with Adam who is so great with him. They have so much fun together and Adam is a really supportive, hands-on dad (and husband). The idea of sending him to daycare really freaks me out, but there really isn’t another good choice for our family.

Lots more to update, but my buddy here seems to want to play, so play we shall.

So, with this extremely painful medical issue, Adam and I are supposed to be flying to Iceland on Saturday for 6 days to attend a conference and see the sites. On top of that, Iceland isn’t sounding like the best place to travel to at the moment. If people think our economy is bad, they should try Iceland, where four of their major banks have failed, their currency has lost most of its value, and the government has given up trying to peg the Krona to other currencies. People can’t even get their money out of their banks. Since the people of Iceland (and companies) can’t get foreign currency, they’re predicting serious food shortages and other problems. Normally, I’d be game for this and probably would find it a fascinating experience to bear witness to what’s going on there. However, now that I’m responsible for another human life, I feel like I need to be more cautious. And with my current health issues, I don’t want to be stuck in a country where I can’t get the basic care I might need.

So, the trip I’ve been looking forward to for months and months now feels like an anchor around my neck. I don’t want to let the conference organizers down — I’ve never missed a conference before and I’ve spoken with food poisoning, a horrible hangover, a cold, etc. I also don’t want to lose the money I spent on two plane tickets to Iceland if Adam and I decide not to go, as well as the experience of visiting a county I’ve dreamed of going to for well over a decade. Adam and I plan to wait and see how things look late in the week and then make our decision, but I definitely will not take any risks that could put baby in danger.

On a positive note, I’ve just started to show a bit, though to most people I probably just look like I’ve developed a small pot belly. It’s definitely made the whole baby thing feel more real to me, and I can’t wait until I can actually feel the baby move around and kick. In spite of how crappy I’ve been feeling, it hasn’t lessened my giddiness over the pregnancy one bit.

Still waiting for that second trimester pregnancy glow though…