Chank a Chank and Little People Play Dates March 20, 2012

 Friday night we took Reed to Downtown Alive. We are very lucky to have something like this in the city of Lafayette. For the last 29 years, Downtown Alive! (DTA!) has united community and culture to create a weekly tradition and celebration in Downtown Lafayette every Fall and Spring. DTA offers great entertainment in the form of free, smoke free, family friendly, outdoor concerts. This was the second concert of the season and Feu Follet was the band that played. We taught Reed the word “chank a chank” for music after we bought him a shirt at Parish Ink downtown that has an accordion on it and above it says “chank a chank”.

Reed’s new word for dancing: Chank a Chank

 I am very lucky to have a little boy who enjoys music as much as I do. No matter whether it’s the radio, a commercial, or live music Reed loves to dance.

Reed dancing at DTA

Our friend Kelli and her little girl Millie were in from Houston and we were able to spend the evening with them. Ross and I were lucky enough to meet Millie’s parents while the kids dad’s were in college for engineering. Ross and I were even both lucky enough to serve in their wedding. We don’t get to see them as often as we like so when they are around we make sure to get together with them. Millie is 12 weeks older than Reed and they have pretty much always liked each other from the first time that they have met.

The first time the kids met they were just a few months old.

Here they are now:

It seems as if Reed always makes a similar face when he first sees Millie. It could be because she is crazy like her Mama. 😉

Then he decided that it was okay to put the moves on her.

Reed wanted to get as close to the band as possible so Daddy let him sit on the end of the stage.

After Downtown Alive we went to Agave, a mexican restaurant downtown so that the parents could continue to catch up and the kiddo’s could continue their date.

They colored until it their food arrived.

Then they shared a plate of guacamole together.

He ate so much guacamole and he had it everywhere. We had a 3:00 AM wake up with a tummy ache that resulted in us not being able to attend the Komen Race Saturday Morning.

This was Reed at the end of the night on Friday. Too much dancing and flirting can wear a little fella out.

Saturday I wanted to go to the Komen race but because of Reed’s guacamole episode we were not able too.  We were, however, able to make Reed’s little friend Maddie’s 2nd birthday party at the Children’s Museum. Reed had never been and he had a really good time. We were also able to spend the day with his godmother and her son Cooper. Reed loved the ambulance and the music area the best.

Here’s a video of Reed jamming on the guitar.

Reed playing the guitar at the children’s museum

Climbing in and out of the ambulance.

He takes driving very seriously.

After the party we went back to the house so the boys could play outside and that evening we took Reed to a chinese buffet. To be so skinny, my boy LOVES to eat.

The boys sliding down the slide in the back yard.

Reed eating like a big boy at the chinese restaurant Saturday night.

Sunday I woke up with a horrible headache. My allergies and sinuses have been giving me fits. Once I felt a little better we went to our friend Tedd and Tonya’s to give Evan his birthday present. Evan just turned 3 at the beginning of March. We spent the day outside with them watching them play. Later that evening we grilled and then we headed home to get our week started.

Evan and Reed playing with the sand table.

Evan was a really good boy and got an awesome play set for his birthday. Reed was really excited to play on it. I was a little apprehensive because the only way up to the fort to slide down is to climb the rock wall. Of course, Reed climbed up it like a champ. See the video below:

Reed and the slide at Evan’s

Tonya and Tedd just built a house with a pond in the back in a beautiful neighborhood in Youngsville.  Reed and I were just enjoying the sun and view. I even taught him how to throw rocks into the pond.

Hope you guys enjoyed our weekend. Stay tuned to more adventures this week.

Peace and Love,

KB & Reed

Second Generation Popeye March 19, 2012

I am the third of four children and my father’s youngest girl. He and I have always had a very close relationship that has only grown stronger over the years. Any real advice or true honest answer I have ever needed I have gone to him for. Both he and my mother are people who I constantly strive to be more like. In saying that, when I was little my Dad used to always sing songs to me. One of the first songs he ever taught me to sing was Popeye the sailor man.  My Role was to sing toot toot at the end.  My girl is another one of our songs and I am sure that if I ever get married that will be the song that he and I dance too.  Now I am sure you are wondering what this has to do with Reed. Well of course when Reed started to talk my Dad thought that it was only appropriate that he pass the Popeye song  down to him. Most of the time, the minute I hit the record button Reed freezes up so I was very excited that he cooperated for this one. Not only does Reed say toot toot, but as you can see when you watch the video he is trying to mouth the rest of the words.

Below is the video and also a few pictures of my Reed, my Dad, and I.

Popeye the Sailor Man

My Dad and I when I was in kindergarten. This was one of the few times it’s snowed in Louisiana and stuck.

My Dad, Mom, Sister, and I. My Dad is the roots of our family.

My Dad and Reed. Reed looks up at his “Big Poppa” in awe all the time. It truly is the most heartwarming thing to watch.

Reed and his pizza March 12, 2012

Reed and his pizza

So here is the first video of Reed. I must admit, adding video’s on here was not a very easy task. I actually feel like I have accomplished something. Reed has had pizza bites and maybe a bite or two of pizza but tonight he ate two slices of pizza that were cut up into 4 squares. This is big considering he normally eats lots of little things. He isn’t a huge meat-eater either. He would much rather eat fruits or vegetables. He loves cut up cucumbers, bell peppers, and avocado. We are trying to get him to not talk with a mouth full of food but he’s only 18 months so cut him some slack.

Hope you all enjoy. There will be PLENTY more where this came from. 🙂

A Letter To My Children About Marriage, I hope I am able to teach Reed these life lessons

A Letter To My Children About Marriage, I hope I am able to teach Reed these life lessons

I found this on Pinterest during one of my lunch hours a while back. After reading it, I sat, reflected on the words, and I cried. Ross and I are not married. We have had many hardships and struggles throughout the years. Marriage is one thing that he and I both take very seriously. Marriage is not an entitlement and should be treated as the sacrament that it is. You should consider yourself lucky if you are able to get married. If you are graced with a good husband or wife you  should treat it as  you do you favorite shirt, car, or house guest. We always go the extra mile to carefully take care of these things. We should treat our significant other the same. They are not by any means obligated to stay. So many times in life we get so busy and self consumed that we forget a lot about what is in this letter.  If you are married with children or in a relationship with someone and you have children you should want to live this way. If we don’t instill these characteristics in our children then who will.

Back tracking to the beginning… March 9, 2012

Our first ultrasound said that Reed’s due date was September 1st. When we went to sneak peek to find out his gender the due date was September 3rd. Our sneak peek experience was something  I will never forget. I wanted a boy because it’s been said that they are a lot easier than girls. Most men always want their boy. When we found out that it was indeed a boy, the look on Ross’s face was priceless. Once the sex was determined, it was decided that since Reed would be the last Kerne boy in the family that he would take on the initials of his father and grandfather, RJK. We went back and forth on whether his middle name would be his dad’s which is Jacob or his grandfather’s which is Jude. Right before I started pushing we finalized his name, Reed Jacob Kerne.

Reed was born as mentioned September 1, 2010. He weighed 7 pounds 7 ounces and he was a little over 20 inches long. The delivery was quite easy and after some help from the lactation specialist we were well on our way to raising a healthy breast-fed little boy.

This was the very first picture of Reed. We could not get over how alert he was from the very beginning. I fell in love with his baby blue’s the moment I laid eyes on him for the first time.

Daddy got to hold him first because well that’s normally the way it happens.

He was our little Ragin Cajun from day 1!

This was just a few minutes after we signed the paperwork to be discharged. I was very over being woken up every hour for blood or temperature and blood pressure.

That’s it for now, next I’ll start with his first year of life and his major milestones. Hope you have enjoyed so far and thanks for sticking around.

KB

Reed is currently second in the JV Clothier’s #1 Draft Pick Model Search March 8, 2012

There is this new line in Lafayette called JV Clothiers. Their focus is on preppy collegiate wear for young boys. I think it’s genius because it’s not easy to find cute UL gear for Reed. Well they are currently looking for their #1 draft pick to model their clothes. I entered Reed into the contest not really expecting us to get as far as we have. The contest ends on March 14th and we are currently second place. This is the picture of Reed that we submitted. If you guys could please click the link below and vote for our boy. We would most greatly appreciate it. Besides, who would not want this little cutie as their #1 draft pick.

The link to vote is:http://bit.ly/Af2zyt. You can only vote by computer.

Once again, I sure do appreciate you helping us to get our little guy to the #1 spot.

My apology to my friends with children…

Yesterday while playing on Facebook I came across an article from the Huffington Post. It was in the parents section and the title was, “Apology To The Parents I Judged Four Years Ago”. After reading this article it brought me back to a situation with Reed last week. Sometimes after work, depending on Reed’s mood when I go to get him, I try to run some errands or go grocery shopping. Last Wednesday I took Reed to Target. We needed some things for him: Diapers, Food, Milk, and Juice. I also bought him a shirt. Yes, I often splurge on cute things when he doesn’t really need them. Anyways, I get to the baby aisle and start putting Gerber fruit snacks, twists, and strips in the basket. Next thing I know he is screaming for the fruit twists. I tried to deter him with the pretzel and miniature frosted mini wheats that were already in his backpack but that did not work out as planned. Okay fine, I’ll give him one and then he’ll be fine were my thoughts. However, he had other plans. He ate the whole box except for 1. They only have 5 in the box. He then proceeds to find a way to squat in the seat of the cart. I have the strap on him as tight as I can get it to go. Next thing I know he is standing against the seat and then proceeds one foot at a time to get out of the strap belt. I am flabbergasted watching him do this. He then decided that he wanted in the big part of the basket and climbs over.  This gave him more freedom to try to grab things off the shelf and open then things that were inside of my cart. By this point I am at my wit’s end. If I wouldn’t have had a full cart of groceries I would have left right then and there. By the time we check out he has climbed out of the seat into the big part of the cart,  and then decides he no longer wants in the cart begins to cry, which if you know Reed it’s more of a shrill,  and I end up holding him while trying to push the cart. The icing on the cake was him trying to get on top of the belt that pushes the groceries to the cashier.

I used to be the person who judged my friends for having issues with their children, or I would laugh when they would tell stories similar to the one I just told. Not anymore. I was so embarrassed being in Target and feeling like I could not do anything to calm and soothe my child. So to my friends, I’m sorry. I am now in your boat and I will NEVER judge you or how you handle your children ever again.

Below is the link. Take some time to read it. You’ll be glad you did.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kara-gebhart-uhl/mom-judgments_b_1319775.html