Pictures of Reed

Reed

Little Reed has arrived. Reed James Batt was born in 11-11-11 at 2:13 pm and weighed 6.10 lbs and 19 3/4 inches long. He is a little guy. We can't believe he is already over a week old. Time flies! We just can't get enough of little Reed and can tell that he is a sweet boy. Initially we thought he looked a lot like Mitchell, and there are definitely some similarities, but he has his own look, different nose and when he makes certain faces you can see two dimples in his cheeks. He is a adorable. We just can't express enough how much we love him and how lucky we are to be parents once again. Heavenly Father has truly blessed us.

First family photo.

Cute little Reed. 

November Already?

I can't believe it's November! Only 12 days to go 'til we get to meet our new little guy and Mitch becomes an older brother. It's going to be a mad house. In a way it makes me sad to see our time alone with Mitchell slipping away, but it will be great to have another little guy to dote on and for Mitchell to have a brother to kiss all the time. (He loves kissing his cousin, Jonah. Not in a weird way). For now, I will post some pics of Mitch and Halloween but I am sure more posts will come about our house and our new son.
Halloween was a lot more fun this year since Mitchell can now walk, talk and actually eat candy. I can only imagine what was going on in his head, seeing a group of kids dressed up and getting free candy. He picked up pretty quickly how to raise his bucket up to get candy and then bow and say "hanks." It was a fun holiday, now on to the next!

He plowed through the first few pieces of candy like nobody's business. And YES, I let him.

I love this picture. Lee and I were trying to get him to smile for the camera so I said, "Show Dad your teeth," and this was the result.

Our little cowboy, waiting for the trunk or treat to start.

Family Day

As many of you know, Lee works at the site and because of that I had never seen where he worked. So I had always conjured up an idea of where Lee worked, since I couldn't ever enter on my own. I always pictured dead aliens floating in green goo and stuff. (Not seriously). This year INL offered a day where you could bring your family, so of course we jumped at the opportunity. We didn't see any dead aliens nor even catch a glimpse at Will Smith or Tommy Lee Jones (unless they just erased our memories with one of those little cameras....) but it was cool regardless. It confirmed to me that Lee is on a much higher level of understanding and smartness than I am and that I could never be employed by INL because I would probably cause a nuclear meltdown and ultimately cause the downfall of America.

The highlight of the tour was when we got to dress up in some garb that they occasionally have to wear. I thought it was awesome. Mitch thought it was strange. 

I think I might use this picture for our Christmas card. What do you think?

Creepy

I always thought Nicolas Cage was a little creepy, but this article confirmed it.
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=17324863&nid=1011#.TnjdWgiRiQw.facebook

Apartment Living

I wonder if they make an Apartment Living Magazine? I think that would be hilarious. What items would they sell in the magazine? Maybe they would sell earplugs, deadbolts, metal bars for your windows?
That was a tangent I wasn't planning on, but oh well.

We have been living in apartment lavish for a couple months now. Its actually not too bad...for living in an apartment. The two bedrooms are pretty big, its two level, and really its a pretty good area and pretty quiet overall. I have only one(ish) beefs with living here: poop. Dog poop. We have a communal grass area we share behind our apartment and we share it with eight other apartments. It's small, but fine really. My only problem is with our neighbors directly behind us. They have these two ugly dogs that they let crap all over. Somehow these little pooches cant ever stay behind their apartment and have grown to love our little square of a backyard. It is literally 4 feet by 2 feet of grass that Mitchell gets to play on.
Mitchell is the only little person within the eight apartments, and really the only person that even goes out on this grass. Each time we go out in the back I just take a shovel, shovel up the poop and throw it over to their side of the grass. But today really ticked me off. Mitch and I were standing at the back glass window when our lovely neighbor lady (directly across from us) opens her glass door and watches her dogs come right up to our door and do their duty. She made eye contact with me and Mitch and called them in and shut the door. I was a little....stunned! AND mad!
So, here is where I need your help. What do I do at this point? I thought about picking up the poop and putting  it in their mailbox, but is that considered a federal offense? I mean, it is THEIR dog crap. Do I print a sign and put it on our backdoor saying, "Your dogs crap on our lawn!" I hate not to be neighborly, but I don't hate it that bad. Any suggestions of what I should do?

Bragging Rights

I should start off the blog by thanking those of you who want to read this blog. It might be like other "mom blogs" but thanks for hanging in there with us.
Secondly, I have meaning to brag about Lee for a while now. I should brag about him more often, but fortunately I think everyone knows how lazy I am and how I love to procrastinate.
When Lee decides he wants to learn something, he just does it. I lack that drive. When Lee wants to learn how to do something, he not only reads up on it, but decides to make something right then. One of these new hobbies he has acquired is wood working. He has made quite a few things and several pieces for Mitchell. I thought I would share a couple of them.
He really has done a great job. No- not great- excellent. He is a perfectionist, so they have turned out incredible. I love the pieces and I love him for making them.

A little shelf for the boys room.

A cool new set of drawers, with Mitchman on top.

A closer look at the drawers.

I could include some other pictures, including a crib (that is beautiful) but I know Lee prefers me not to because he wants to add one more thing to make it perfect. ;) Good job Lee! You have worked hard.