Boy, it's been a long time!

It has been almost a whole month since I have been blogging. I realize that my only excuse has been that my internet has been so sporadic that if I get to check my email then I consider myself lucky. I'm going to be working on getting everything back up to date. I am so happy that Prop 8 has passed and I hope that it will continue to stay in effect. I am glad that I was able to work on such a monumental effort to preserve the rights of Californians.
Our little boys have changed so much so hopefully I can show you all how things have changed.

Vote Yes on Prop 8!

Please send this email to any friends or family that you have in the state of California. Also, please visit the following websites to show your support to vote “YES” on Prop 8.

Protectmarriage.com

Preservingmarriage.org

Dear Friends and Family,

I’m sure that many of you know about the current Proposition 8 that will be voted on November 4, 2008 here in the State of California. I was able to attend last night a broadcast titled “The Divine Institution of Marriage.” Many things were outlined of the great importance of working diligently to help it pass. Proposition 8 would add to the California State Constitution that marriage will be defined as a union only between a man and a woman.

I have been working with the “Yes on Prop 8” campaign because I know and believe that marriage should only be between a man and a woman. I know this to be a fundamental principle of my faith and children should have the right to be born into such a union.

These are my concerns that would come to be if Prop 8 were to fail.

1. I would lose my freedom of how I could practice my religion because sanctions could be placed on me because I could be considered intolerant.

2. My children would learn at school that same-sex marriage is acceptable even though it is contrary to our beliefs.

3. Our churches could be penalized legally and lose their tax-exempt status because they teach doctrine different than what law dictates.

4. Religious adoption agencies who work so hard to place children in homes with a mother and father would have to either close their doors or provide adoptions to same-sex couples.

Please don’t misjudge my feelings as being intolerant. The Savior is tolerant, which means he loves everyone but he does not agree with some of their choices. I have friends who are gay and they will continue to be my friends but I do not have to agree with the choice in lifestyle they have made.

My final point is that my rights as a voter have been taken away by a court that should not be able to do that. When Proposition 22, which passed with 61% of the voters support, was overturned, our rights as United States citizens were encroached upon. The only thing that would change for same-sex couples is the definition of marriage. They already receive every other benefit that heterosexual couples receive, so none of their rights would be taken away, but so many of MY rights would be. Intolerance goes both ways.

Please let others know how we should vote “YES” on Prop 8 to retain our rights.

Sincerely,
Shanna Reed

New adventures with Little Steven!

A new fad is hat wearing at the Reed house. Of course it has always been a struggle to get Steven to wear his hat but now he goes to his hat box, picks one out and parades around the house. He is so proud. He also has learned to put on his own pajama bottoms, even though we are still working on getting him to pull them up. He also has started taking big kid gummy vitamins. I got the kind with sugar on the outside and he thinks he is just getting a treat. He takes it and over a 5-10 minute time frame he will lick off the sugar and then finally will eat it. It can be annoying but he really does enjoy it.

Little Steven Loves to take these little glasses, grab a bib and wear it and walk around the house. I think that he thinks that he looks cooooool. He is so cute and funny when he does this.

Little Steven has figured out that he loves popcorn. We went to a little street fair Saturday and got some popcorn for daddy and everyone. He immediately sat down next to Grandma (who had been working out in the hot sun all day long) and promptly went for the popcorn. It is actually a great motivator and helps him change what he is doing. Gotta love it.

On Saturday, Daddy got this old school table for really cheap at a local college auction. We think it will be great for the boys. It can be lowered down and as they get older it can be raised up. So of course as Daddy was lowering it, little Steven felt that he needed to help do the same thing and be right in there with his dad. Don't they make a great team.

Steven the King.

Here is Steven and his daddy. He loves to be outside and even more to be outside with his daddy.

You can't tell but Daddy is on the other side of the teeter totter. This was when a whole bunch of my family got together. There were 8 out of the 10 kids there (I'm the 10th). We had a great dinner and got to spend a little bit of time together. This was the most cousins that little Steven Has been around and they ranged in age from his on up to high school. I think that it overwhelmed him seeing all those kids playing , he just didn't know what to do with himself.

Stairs, Stairs, Stairs, Oh My!

Nathaniel is now officially a stair climber. He has started going up Grandma's large staircase. I am besides myself thinking that my little baby boy is just turning 8 months old and is doing this. Different house so of course a different set of skills learned. Also, Nathaniel has just gotten in his second tooth on the bottom. He definitely likes to chomp down on anything he can get a hold of, a toy, your finger, teething biscuits.

On a side note, I've started taking little Steven and Nathaniel to a baby story time that they hold at the local library. What a great idea. It is really short so you have to make sure that you are on time, but they read books and sing songs and then they can get up and play with toys all with children ranging in age from 6 months to 2 years. Reading will be so important in our house. I think this will just excite them so much.

This is crazy!

Nathaniel when I put him to bed tonight , (we're trying to get him to go to sleep on his own in his crib), and after some crying and remembering I needed to give him something for his new teeth coming in, was checked on by me and was found to be standing up in his crib holding on to the side. Now, I know that babies will do this, but this was his first time and it only seemed like yesterday that he was starting to rollover, let alone trying his hardest to stand up holding on to stuff.

Lil Steven was so adorable tonight with Nathaniel. He got down and started crawling and was wanting Nathaniel to crawl with him. If Nathaniel stopped, Steven went back to him (all the while crawling) and would coax him to get him to start crawling. What a wonderful big brother he is.

Teeth, Teeth and more Teeth!

We have been lucky in the Reed Clan to have both of our children cutting teeth at the same time. Lil Steven has gotten in 3 out of his 4 eye teeth and Nathaniel just today cut his first tooth. It is on his bottom right. This might explain the 3-4 times Nathaniel has been getting up at night and the small bit of whining lil Steven has been doing. Lil Steven has also started doing the look of "I'm not sure of that so I'm going to give you the confused look." But he has definitely developed into a little boy.