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.