Surgery Day

We spent the morning at Lebonheur today for Reid to have an ear tag removed. Crazy enough they had to put him to sleep and intubate him for it. It only took 15 mins. once they got started and the surgeon said Reid did very well. Enjoying a day off to rest together!

Fall 2010 pictures

Reid will be 5 months old on Nov. 28th! We can't believe how fast time flies. He is eating cereal now and slept through the night for the first time last night! Praise the Lord! We are enjoying him so much and wanted to share some new pictures.

A few more

Yay for Fall

Hey! FINALLY I get a minute to update the blog! Life has been hectic as my work schedule has become increasingly more time consuming. I've been working in the Allergy clinic this month which has been hard work but I am really enjoying. Neil just finished a month of Interventional Radiology which was busy for him as well but I think he enjoyed a little change of pace. We are loving the fall and the cooler weather. It has been fun to watch some football, GEAUX TIGERS, and Reid looks great in all his LSU stuff. Plus Neil and I have always enjoyed going for walks and we have loved walking each night with Reid. Our neighborhood has a football team for kids, the Uptown Steelers, who practice 3-4 nights a week so we love watching them and getting to know our neighbors each night. Reid is growing so fast, smiling all of the time, realizing that he has hands and slowly figuring out how to use them. haha Neil actually put him in his crib over the weekend and he slept great! He's sleeping 6 hours or so at night which is a huge blessing for us. Life is good in the Patel house these days... hope everyone is doing great!!! Enjoy some pictures of our amazing boy!

8 weeks

8 weeks ago today I was sitting in a hospital room waiting for them to bring Reid from the nursery, and let's be honest.. waiting on some chicken fingers too! haha It's insane how fast time flies! As far as our growing boy goes, he has been smiling a lot more lately and actually only woke up twice last night to eat. Praise the Lord! We are settling in as we get used to both working full time and taking care of this fun boy too. I really have tons of great pictures of him! I'll try to post more soon, but for now here are his week 6, 7 and 8 pictures. He grows so fast!

Sunday Errands

We ran some errands this afternoon which included a trip to Wal-Mart. Reid was in a great mood and Neil took this picture with his phone. It's a little blurry but still one of the best ones yet! Love love love this kid!

School Day School Day

Well Reid had one of the biggest firsts I think a person can have this past week... his first day of "school." :) Katherine and I were laughing last weekend as we discussed how many school days will follow. Let's say he'll be in school roughly 265 days a year for what... the next 23 years for sure to get him through high school then who knows! Whew... it's a marathon not a sprint... hang in there little man. The great news is that we're absolutely thrilled with where he is spending his days. Reid is a proud member of the little lamb room at Lindenwood Christian Church Childcare. He is actually the only kid in his room at the moment because he is the oldest in his class of newborns! Only one more out of the 6 has even been born! I thought that was pretty funny. Anyway, as you can imagine he is quite popular being that he is the only "baby" around so far. He has 3 teachers all to himself!

In other news, this is Jes's last day in Memphis. (insert mental image of me crying right here :) ) She has been invaluable to say the least. I was just telling her yesterday that there are no words to do justice the gift that she has given me this summer and I will forever owe her for giving up what could be her last "free summer" to be in Memphis. I have had a blast spending so much time with her! We will all miss her, especially Reid! :) We love you Jes!! Now back to being FABULOUS in NY!! We are ecstatic for you to restart your Brooklyn adventures and tell us all about them.

A Big Day

Monday, August 2 was a big day at our house. Neil and I celebrated 2 incredible years of marriage, Reid turned 5 weeks old and I went back to work. I mean... that's a lot. As far as the anniversary, Jes and Emily made us a date night reservation at South Of Beale which is a cool little restaurant on South Main Street. It was a huge step up from our first year anniversary which was spent sharing a not so romantic meal of chicken fingers in the Med cafeteria because I was on overnight call. This year was much better to say the least. THANKS Jes and Em! Plus my sweet husband bought me flowers, love love love him.

Then our little boy is growing so fast! He definitely looks like a baby now instead of a skinny little newborn. We are loving him being awake a little more during the day and interacting. Plus he's sleeping 3 hrs at a time at night which we are told is great for his age and we are thankful. I still don't know how people do this without a Jes! Thank the Lord for Jes... I mean.. really. :)

Then also I'm back to being Dr. Jen. It's insane how time flies. I'm starting back on a month of Allergy/Immunology research. It's a nice transition as the hours are tolerable. I would love another month home with Reid, but it has been nice to see my friends and to think about something else as well. Thankfully Jes and one of our greatest friends, Emily, are here to take care of Reid this week before he's old enough to start daycare next week. It makes my return to the working world a little easier not to make those two transitions at once. Overall, it was a good day, a little busy... but good.

Father and Son

"He looks like Neil!" is a phrase I am hearing more and more these days. It makes me happy considering his Dad is so good looking. :) Neil was home this past week for paternity leave and it was great! Jes has been in Louisiana visiting our fabulous friend, Emily, and attending a wedding. This meant Neil, Reid and I were on our own. Although we definitely missed "Aunt Jes" and ALL that she does to help, it was such a good week of time together. I truly enjoy watching Neil with Reid! It is amazing how God has gifted them with a special bond already. Reid calms down at the sound of Neil's voice and loves to look at Neil when he's holding him. It's obvious he adores his Dad already. I just want to take a moment to brag on Neil and how amazing he has been over these past 3.5 weeks. He is constantly encouraging me, telling me how gorgeous I look (even when I definitely don't feel that way) and taking me on excursions at night to get out of the house even when he's worked all day. Then he has also been helping with all things baby such as changing diapers, staying up at night, washing bottles and swinging with a crying baby. Thank you God for this little boy and his incredible Daddy. I am so blessed.

A night on the town

Thanks to Neil's parents, we got the chance to have date night on Saturday and it was a-mazing. We went to Itta Benna, a cool little place on the third floor of BB Kings on Beale. The place is sort of hidden, no signs and an unmarked door for an entrance but oh. my. goodness. It was fabulous! The atmosphere was so neat with exposed rafters and brick and great lighting. Then we were even more excited once our food came. It was all incredible and had a cajun kind of influence. We had an avocado appetizer that was to die for followed by some crab bisque and a great piece of fish with a side of crawfish mac-n-cheese. Yes... be jealous. It was SUCH a great night and I absolutely loved getting out of the house for a great night of fun and conversation with Neil. Thanks again to Neil's parents for watching our sweet boy so we could go.

Settling in

We are settling in as a family of 3 as Reid turned 2 weeks old yesterday. We are enjoying some sweet time with this amazing little boy as we make this transition. Neil went back to work last week and has started his full time training as a Radiologist. This has been another big transition but we are so excited for him. I have the month of July off work for maternity leave which is a huge blessing. We are doing well other than being a little tired. We are extremely thankful to our siblings and both of our parents for helping us so much already! A super thank you to Jes who gave up her fabulous life in Brooklyn this summer to help me learn to become a mama. I heart you. Reid has had many firsts already.... first bath, first walk and first trip to Sonic. :) So far his favorite things are his yellow blanket that Donna made him, sleeping on his dad's chest and actually just sleeping in general. He has his daddy's ability to sleep! Thanks to all of our fabulous friends for bringing us meals these last 2 weeks! We really appreciate it.

A new arrival

Welcome to all followers, we are really excited to launch this new blog to help all of our family and friends keep up with our newly growing family. We are proud to announce the arrival of Reid Thomas Patel. He was born on June 28th and weighed 7 lbs 4 oz and was 20 inches long. The labor and delivery wasn't too bad at all and now mom and baby are doing great! He has been on home bili lights for 2 days but looks like tomorrow will be our last day. I have a ton of pictures so I will try and post them on here as often as I can. Right now we are trying to keep him dry and fed. His sleep cycle is still off so he wants to be awake while we sleep and he ends up sleeping most of the day. Here is a picture of baby in the hospital...more to come later.