A Fun and Fussy Weekend

Starting the weekend off right with a lazy Friday night at home

Tyson woke up bright and early Saturday morning to head to Iowa City for the football game.  Kai and I slept in a little bit longer and waited for Ella to come over for a play date!  Wendy and Darren both had to work and Ava was at my parent's house, so Kai and I got to play with Ella!  She came over about 8:00 and both babies "played" together until about 9:00.  Then it was time for Ella's bottle.  After her bottle, both babies were ready for a nap!  I was thinking this was pretty easy and probably could have snuck in a nap myself if I wanted.  My friend Elizabeth joined us around 10:30.  She stayed most of the morning and afternoon.  I was thinking that I might need some help, especially if both babies needed to eat at the same time.  Well, that never happened because Ella spent most of our play date sleeping. :)

We cheered on the Hawkeyes and then my parents showed up with Ava around halftime.  They stayed until Wendy got off work just before 3:00.  After everyone left, Kai and I took a two-hour nap on the couch until Tyson got home at 6:00.

Sunday started off with Kai and Tyson getting up around 7:30.  I got to sleep in until 9:30.  As soon as I walked out of the bedroom, I could hear Kai fussing.  Of course I figured it was because he was hungry.  I fed him and he started to fall asleep, but then woke up when I moved and the fussing continued.  We then decided to enjoy the weather and take a walk.  It was so nice out and we got to see all of the leaves that have changed color already(we only have one tiny tree in our yard).  After showering/getting ready (and trying to do anything and everything to make Kai happy) we made a quick trip to Target.  Then it was back home to listen to more fussing!  Nothing was working.  We tried getting Kai to sleep, feeding him, his Jumperoo, tummy time, snuggling, sitting up, and the list goes on and on.  Nothing seemed to do the trick.  Finally Tyson found something that worked for the time being....

We're seeing a lot of this lately...

...so we're thinking the chewing paired with the fussing can only mean one thing: teeth are coming!  However, when I feel his gums, I'm not feeling any little bumps.  I hope teething doesn't last too long.  I'm not ready for him to have teeth yet, but if it makes him feel better, bring them on!

Around 4:00, we headed to Waverly for a birthday pool party for our friend, Hallie.  She'll be turning 3 in a few weeks, but her mama is almost 40weeks pregnant, so an early party was definitely necessary!

A little unsure....

Much happier wrapped in a towel

Tyson got in the water with Kai at the party.  Tyson never got to join us at the pool this summer, so I let them bond!  He thought that Kai wasn't really a fan of the splashing (there were A LOT of kids).  He didn't cry or whine, he just didn't act like he really loved it.  He did enjoy watching all of the other kids eat their pizza and cupcakes though!

Birthday girl blowing out her candles

 Kai slept the whole way home from Waverly.  When we got home, I made some homemade oatmeal cereal for Kai to try.  He's been eating homemade rice cereal almost every night since September 1st, but after some reading last night (rice cereal can cause constipation), I decided I wanted to switch over to oatmeal.  He gobbled it right up like I thought he would.   For dessert, he chewed on a frozen teething ring.

I'm hoping this relieved some of the pain

We had such a fun weekend, even with the fussiness today.  We could be completely wrong and maybe it isn't teeth that are bothering him at all.  I'm hoping for my happy boy to join us in the morning after a good night's sleep. 

Family

Is there really anything better than family?  Even now, as an adult with a family of my own, I love family weekends.  Both of my parents come from large families, which means those families grew even bigger when my parents and their siblings had children.  Now those children (us) are having children.  Each side of my family keeps getting larger and larger!  I think every time we get together there's a new baby to love on!  In 2012, my sister and I had babies, along with one cousin from each side.  In 2013, I have three cousins due who are all on my mom's side of the family!!  To break it down for you into numbers....

Pecha side (Dad's family)

• 5 aunts, 4 uncles
• 12 cousins (+8 spouses)
• 17 second cousins 

Meinders side (Mom's family)

• 5 aunts, 5 uncles
• 11 cousins (+5 spouses)
• 14 second cousins (+3 on the way) 

*my family adds another 10 people to each family*

This may explain why Tyson swears that I'm related to half the state of Iowa, or at least most of the population of Dumont.

Anyway, I love when the holidays roll around and we get together.  I've always loved that half of my mom's family lives in Missouri, which means when we get together, it's for a few days.  I still love staying up late with everyone.  When we were younger (and fewer in numbers) we used to cram into sleeping bags, on air mattresses, and blankets in the basements of houses. 

Now that we have Kai, I am so thankful that he will be able to grow up with his cousins.  I can't wait for sleepovers and traditions to start.  I know he'll always love and look forward to those times, even if he ends up with all girl cousins. :) 

On Sunday, the two youngest cousins got to "bond" at the craft show.  Actually, those were sleeping and awake at opposite times, but they did a little lovin' when we came back to our house.

Welcome, Fall!

As much as I love the warm weather in the summer (and having the time off from school), there is just something about fall that I can't get enough of!  I love everything fall: the colorful leaves, warm days and cool nights, the numerous 'fall festivals', pumpkin carving, pumpkin farms, my birthday, and the list goes on and on.

This weekend we had our first taste of fall.  We went for a family walk around the neighborhood on Friday night.  Tyson ended up staying at a neighbor's house for awhile, so I got Kai to myself for a couple more hours.  On Saturday, Tyson had to go to Iowa City for work so Kai and I were on our own again.  We headed over to Malcolm's to bring Ella some UNI and Iowa apparel so she could cheer on her favorite team on Saturday.  Later in the afternoon, my parents and the Malcolm girls came over to watch the Iowa vs. UNI game.  My mom had just gotten back from her Ecuador trip on Friday night, so she had lots to tell us about! 

Ava and Kai having a tea party

My parents were babysitting Ava and Ella while Wendy and Darren went to a friend's birthday party, so after the game Tyson, Kai, and I brought supper over and watched "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" at the Malcolm's.  (Yes, we were driving back and forth to each others houses all day).

Nana got to feed Kai some rice cereal!

On Sunday we all met for brunch at Perkins and then headed to the Cedar Valley Arboretum for their Fall Festival.  The weather was perfect!  They had scarecrows everywhere, vendors, old cars, face painting, and some kids crafts.  Ava loved the huge sandbox and didn't want to leave!  Luckily she got to spend some time in it with Papa while Kai and Ella were eating.  It was the perfect weekend to start the fall!  

Five Months

Although I always think the time is passing too quickly, it seems like ages ago that I blogged about Kai turning 4 months.  That's not a good sign, as apparently the school year is off to a slow start.  No doctor appointment on these odd-numbered months, so according to our home scale, Kai weighs in at 15lbs 12oz.  My less-than-perfect measurement of his length shows that he is roughly 26 inches long.

At five months Kai is:
-wearing size 2 diapers
-wearing 3-6 or 6 month clothes
-eating five ounces every 3 hours (at least I know it's 5oz when he's at daycare)
-"eating" rice cereal almost every night (most of it gets spit out still and some nights he refuses it completely)
-still talking all the time and now he's really laughing out loud when he finds something funny
-still not sleeping through the night (let's not even talk about his sleep pattern at the moment)
-grabbing for toys, hair, dogs (Sophie), phones, and anything/everything put in front of him
-enjoying the Jumperoo and is just discovering that he can jump and turn around in it
-sitting up, unsupported, for a couple of minutes (he forgets that he needs to use his hands to hold himself and tries to sit all the way up and tips over sometimes)

Naked baby at five months!

Other things about Kai at five months:
-he is still doing GREAT at daycare and is loved by everyone
-he's still a mommy's boy, but is starting to take it easy on his daddy and others (for awhile Tyson felt like he could do nothing right but now Kai gets to spend more time with him in the mornings, so they are definitely getting some daddy-Kai time)
-he is getting pickier about his binkies! He has always loved his MAM binkies, but would take an Avent one or his Hawkeye one in a pinch.  He's never really liked the Nuk ones, but lately, he'll spit all of them out immediately and only wants his MAM.  However, he'll drink from three different bottles/nipple types. 

Third Time is a Charm!

Today was day three of rice cereal.  I was about to give up last night.  The first night (Saturday), I think Kai was a bit confused.  As I said before, he ate half and spit out half.  Last night (Monday), he spit out everything!  He then proceeded to spit up anything that did manage to make it into his belly.  I told Tyson tonight that I was going to try the oatmeal cereal, but I was going to try to finish off the rice powder that I already had.  Luckily I kept at it!  Tonight, Kai couldn't get enough!!  He absolutely loved it!  The only bite that he spit out was right away and I think that is because it was too hot.

Sorry about the video being sideways.  It's the way I was holding my phone so I can't rotate it.


(Oh, and I still can't get the video from the first night to upload).

Cereal, Football, & a Labor-Free Weekend

Wow! What an exciting weekend around here!

On Friday, I got out of school early due to the heat.  I picked up Kai from daycare and we met Wendy and Ella at a garage sale.  Then we picked up pizza from Papa Murphy's and headed home.  Wendy went to pick up Ava from daycare and then the Malcolm girls came over.  Kai decided to show off his sitting-up skills for all of us!  Tyson and Darren showed up after work and we enjoyed pizza and a Friday night of relaxation!

Not a very clear picture but I was trying to hurry. Ava freaked when we put Kai next to her!

Then we took him away and she said "Cheese!" and started kissing Ella!

Saturday marked the start of College Football (well, I actually think games started on Thursday).  I got Kai dressed in his gold and black right away.  While the boys were watching football, I got busy on making homemade rice cereal.

1/2 c. of rice                                                       Dumped into your blender*                           Blend until you have a powder

 Rice powder (refrigerate until ready to use)                   Boil 1/2 c. of water                       Mix in 2 tbsp.* powder & WHISK!

Add in your choice of breast milk or formula and voila....baby rice cereal!

 * I used the Ninja to grind up the rice into a powder, but it didn't do the job I wanted it to do.  I had to switch over to the blender which did a much better job.  I'll save the Ninja for when I need to puree fruits and veggies.
* Kai didn't even come close to eating the amount of rice cereal that 1/2 c. of water and 2 tbsp. rice powder made.  I think I will try a smaller amount tonight.

After I had the rice ground up into a powder, Kai and I took off for Target and Walmart.  We were told we needed to be back for the start of the Iowa game at 2:30. We made it back with 10 minutes to spare!  And this is what we rushed back for....

...so Kai could sleep through the first half of the game!

When he woke up, he was ready to cheer the Hawks on to a victory!

 After a Hawkeye victory and before bath time and bedtime, Kai got to try his first bite of rice cereal.  I'm not really sure what he thought of it.  He spit out half and ate half.  We'll keep trying.

(video to come at a later date when it isn't taking so long to upload)

On Sunday we made a quick trip to the mall and then to a neighbor's house to grill.  We stayed as long as we could but had to leave before the s'mores got started.  Kai was getting tired and would not fall asleep.  He was asleep before we got home (in the 2 block drive).

Today, we are both spending the last day of our long weekend at home with our favorite little guy.

Sitting

Starting this summer, Kai would try to pull himself up when he was laying on his back, especially if he was laying in the Boppy.  At the beginning of August I started having him sit with the Boppy wrapped around him.  He usually wouldn't last too long before he was leaning sideways. 

On August 21, Kai was able to sit unsupported for all of about 10 seconds.  Long enough for me to snap a quick picture, but I had Tyson waiting to catch him when he would start to tip.

As of August 31, Kai can officially sit unsupported for a few minutes on his own.  I wouldn't walk out of the room or even away, but he was definitely showing off his new skills on Friday evening!