This boy likes to eat!!!

This evening was our first real go at giving Reid solid food... carrots and rice cereal.  Sounds yummy, huh?  Ha!  Well...THIS BOY CAN EAT!!!  He loved it!  (Which makes mommy & daddy's lives a little bit easier!)  He ate the entire serving of carrots and most of the rice cereal.  He wasn't too crazy about the rice cereal, but didn't mind when I mixed it with the carrots.  I couldn't shovel it in fast enough... here are some cute pics...

Other fun happenings... Reid's toy basket is one of his new favorite places to play =)

I may be just *a little* biased...but we think he's the greatest kid that there ever has been! =)

Sitting Up!

My sweet 5 month old is sitting up ALL BY HIMSELF!  As you can see from the pics... he's pretty proud of it! =)  Sorry for the blurry pics...they were taken with my camera phone b/c it's all I had with me... LOVE THIS LITTLE MAN!!!

Our LAST in-home visit!

This has been an eventful week for our little fam in adoption world... we had our VERY LAST IN-HOME VISIT with Kris Miller, our social worker, this week... WAHOOO!!!!  This means that we are oh so very close to having Reid "officially" be a part of what you would call our "forever family".  (In our hearts he, of course, already is!)  Kris came to evaluate us this week and everything went really well!  A lot of people ask us what goes on during those visits...  Basically, you are evaluated interacting with your child and are asked a series of questions about his developmental progress, how you and your spouse have adjusted to various challenges, etc.  Now, Kris will be writing up her final report to file with the state, then we will (hopefully) be receiving our court date very soon for the month of August to finalize and seal everything.  I cannot even begin to describe the incredible feeling we have to be at this point in our adoption... it's AMAZING!  It is all so overwhelming at the beginning of the process, and a 6 month finalization period (for the state of TX) seemed SO LONG in my head... but it has absolutely FLOWN by.  I blink, and I feel like my sweet baby has grown another inch.  Ben and I consider it a true blessing to be given the honor to parent Reid and call him our own.  *Happy Tears*  You better believe that we will be throwing one massive "Gotcha Day" party when all is said and done... CANNOT WAIT to celebrate our miracle!

Another exciting happening... we had a visit from my dear, dear friend (and college roommate) Naomi.  It was so great to catch up and for all of the kids to meet!!!  Here is a picture below of our meal at BreadWinners...  

picture: Myself, Reid (in his stroller), Reece (1 yr), Naomi, and sweet Ashley (3 yrs)

Aren't Nay's kiddos absolutely BEAUTIFUL???  I just love all of the red hair they get from their Daddy!  We love you guys and can't wait to see you again soon!!! =)

And, finally... here are a few more swim snapshots from the other evening.  I know that it seems like we live in the pool...  And to be quite honest, we do live in the pool during the summers.  That's what happens when it's 106 degrees outside...  But, I just loved these shots of Reid and Ben... Reid loves his Dad so much! 

Independence Day 2009

These are just a few pics of our fam pool-side on the 4th of July...what a great day!  We were joined later that evening by the McDaniel's and Reneau's... so sorry we didn't get pics all together... but we had a blast celebrating Independence Day with everyone!

My SURPRISE 30th Birthday Party!

I must say that I have THE BEST husband, family, and friends in the world!  They truly went above and beyond to surprise me for my 30th birthday, and I couldn't be more grateful to each of them for all of their hard work!

On Thursday evening, I was under the impression that Ben and I were headed to dinner with the DeLaPorte's for a little (private) birthday celebration at Flight @ Ferrari's in Grapevine...

Sneaky, sneaky...  Ben, Jen, Jill, and Neely had gathered about 50 of my friends to surprise me when we arrived at Flight for a WONDERFUL party!  I was SHOCKED... when the door opened and everyone started yelling, I jumped about 3 feet back out the door before realizing what was really going on...=)  Here I am finally figuring out why everyone was there...

Some of Susan Robertson's AMAZING cup cakes...

My sister, Neely, was a great photographer for the evening!  Thank you so much, Neely!!!  Following are just a few pics of our fun friends throughout the evening...wish I could include them all!

The "BRAINS" behind the party... The Hand's...

...and the DeLaPortes... We love you guys!!!  And I can't thank you enough for all that you did!!!

...a few more pics...

When things were winding down at Flight, then a smaller group of us all headed out for the rest of the evening at Copelands in Southlake...such a fun, fun night!!!  And...the surprises weren't over...  My sweet husband had booked he and I a room at the Hilton in Southlake for a kid-free night.  So nice!!!  This had to go down as the best 30th birthday in history!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of our family and friends who helped to make the evening so special!  

Our little fish...

So today was my (gulp) 30th birthday...I keep trying to remember when exactly it was that I got so old, but time just seems to fly by.  Most days I still feel 22, so I guess that's a good thing =)  And I must say, this couldn't have been a more perfect, relaxing day!  If you know me, then you know that I am THE BIRTHDAY QUEEN - I stretch my birth"day" out into a birth"week" (Isn't that the only way to do it??? ha!).  

So, since we have a very busy week and weekend ahead with various birthday celebrations and dinners... we decided to keep it close to home today and hang out with just the family.  Lots of great, quality time!  My mom, sister, Reid and I headed out to a fun lunch then I was off to get a hot rock mani and pedi (a little slice of heaven!).  After that we headed to KK and Doc's where we met Ben for some dinner and FINALLY for some pool time!  (The pool had to be redone this year, so yesterday was the first day that it was opened back up for swimming.)  

Ben and I LOVE the water - we both grew up in the pool and lake - so we were a little nervous that Reid might not be as fond of it as we are.  But, alas... HE LOVES IT MORE THAN WE DO!!!  And what's even crazier, is he's already trying to swim on his own!  Michael Phelps better watch out... Ben thinks we've got a "natural athlete" on our hands!  We might be just *a little* biased, but seriously...  If you don't believe me, watch his little legs kick and swim in this video...

Is that not the GREATEST?!!!??!?!  I love this little man!  Here's one more video... (sorry for my extreme cheesy-ness in these...I just can't help myself!)

And here are some more pics from our swimming adventures this evening... probably boring to most of you, but since I am having this blog made into a scrapbook for Reid it's more for our memories... Hope you're all having as much fun this summer as we are!