Spring Break Sleepover

I'm on spring break this week and we started it off with having Ava over for a sleepover!  On Sunday, my mom, dad, sister, and myself got pedicures (my parents are going on a cruise over Easter and my mom convinced my dad to get one).  After pedicures, Ava came home with me.

We got home just after Kai had woken up from his nap and he immediately crawled right over to her.  He sure does love her!!  Those two chased each other around the table, read books, and played with the rest of Kai's toys.

After a messy spaghetti supper, it was bath time!  Kai stayed in until his fingers and toes looked like little prunes, which was much longer than his normal bath.  Ava could have stayed in the bathtub all night!!  I finally had to convince her to get out because it was quickly approaching Kai's bedtime and I figured that she would want to play a little bit longer!!  Kai went to sleep about 30 minutes before Ava, so she got some iPad time in before bed!

On Monday morning, Kai woke up bright and early at 7:00am and Ava must have heard him playing because she was up only 30 minutes later.  Those two watched tv (Kai rarely sits still but Ava can get him to sit on the couch with her), ate muffins for breakfast, and played some more.  When Kai took his morning nap, Ava and I curled up on the couch: me with the laptop and Ava with the iPad.  She was excited to wake him up and wanted to get in his crib with him, however, Kai was not in the mood for guests and they both got out right away!  I had planned to go to story time at the library after Kai's nap, but the snow ruined our plans.  I decided to take Ava home before lunch because I wasn't sure what the weather was going to do for the rest of the day.

We had such a fun sleepover with Ava and we can't wait for the next one!!    

Eleven Months

Only one month to go before our sweet baby boy is one! Seriously, where has the time gone?!  This morning I weighed Kai on our scale at home and he came in at the same weight as last month, 20lbs 3oz.  Our rough estimate of Kai's height is also showing about 29 inches. He's had a rough month of teething and now has a cold so hasn't been in the mood to eat much.

At eleven months Kai is:
-wearing size 3 diapers
-wearing 9-12 or 12 month clothes
-wearing size 3 shoes
-still drinking 6oz of breast milk every 4 hours (sometimes he drinks from a bottle, sometimes from a sippy cup, and still nursing when I'm home with him)
-eating three meals a day plus two snacks
-taking two AWESOME naps!!  (9:00-10:00am & 1:00-3:30ish)
-going to bed around 7:30-8:00pm
-not sleeping through the night
-pointing at everything: people, dogs, toys, food, objects around the house
-talking a lot: he's always been a babbler, but now we're hearing actual words such as 'no', 'hi', 'boo', 'dada', and 'mama' only occasionally
-beginning to climb: he climbed up onto the hearth a few weeks ago and Tyson put him on the stairs at our friends' house today and he climbed all the way to the top
-sporting one teeny tiny tooth!!

We see this all of the time!

Other things about Kai at eleven months:
-he lays down for both of his naps pretty well, usually without crying at all.  However, the night is still a disaster
-loves walking with the motorcycle that Nana & Papa got him Christmas.  He is getting much better about turning and when he gets stuck, he'll just walk around to the front of the bike and push from that side
-loves books!
-loves his cousins Ava and Ella! :)
-he can be a good cuddler when he's really tired, but he doesn't like to sit still for too long these days
-we'll probably start weaning from the bottle and nursing soon.  I want to be bottle free (at least during the day) by his birthday AND my goal is no formula.  We haven't used any formula yet so we just have one month to go!

Still crawling all over the place!

Winter Fun!

As a teacher, I enjoy a snow day every now and then.  But after 5 days (and counting), I'm over it! I am ready for spring!  However, we've been trying to keep our active little monster busy and there have even been a few days nice enough to head outside.


In fear that the snow was all melting and I hadn't taken Kai's picture in the snow yet, we headed outside for a 2 minute photo shoot!

Luckily one week later, we got dumped on with snow (again) and we were able to get some REAL pictures in the snow!

Ava sure does love him!

Ella loved riding in the sled!

One thing that I do love about winter is being able to stay home on the weekends.  Once the weather gets nice, it always seems like we have plans and are running here and there.  It's nice to spend time at home and one way we did that was with pancakes for breakfast!  Kai loved them and ate a whole (small) pancake!

 

After a pancake breakfast, the Malcolm girls and Nana & Papa came over in the afternoon for some more sledding fun!

 

With all of this time spent indoors, Kai has had plenty of time to explore the house.  He's only done it once, but he climbed up onto the hearth of the fireplace one night before bed.  He was so proud!!

"Mom, look at all of this snow outside!"

Teeth

Well, sooner or later we knew our toothless 10-month old was going to get teeth.  I'm secretly (or not so secretly) glad he's getting teeth later.  No teeth = baby.  Teeth = toddler. 

My parents watched Kai on Saturday 2/16 and she called us to say that she felt a tooth on his bottom gums when she was taking a piece of food out of his mouth.  Tyson and I weren't surprised because she had noticed that his gums were looking a little different lately.

Kai showed NO signs of teeth until the tooth actually started to pop through his gums on Thursday, 2/21.  He woke up with a 101.5 fever.  I gave him some Tylenol and sent him on his way to daycare.  He had a fever all day and Aunt Wendy came to the rescue by bringing him some Tylenol!  He didn't sleep well Thursday night and woke up Friday with a fever over 102.  Luckily I had (yet another) snow day so I was able to stay home with him.  He was definitely not himself!!  He refused to eat any solid food and would only nurse (but not very much).  He took 3 naps and even fell asleep on my lap when we were watching t.v.  That hasn't happened since he was a teeny, tiny baby!!  Friday night was by far the worst!!  He would fall asleep and wake up 10 minutes later, screaming.  Poor babe must have been in so much pain.

On Saturday, Kai woke up without a fever but he still wasn't completely back to his normal self.  He still didn't eat much until suppertime.  I still gave him some Tylenol before bed because that's when his gums seemed to bother him the most.  By this point, we were also attempting to apply Orajel as well.  Finally on Sunday we had our happy baby boy back!!  He was ready to eat and play!! He enjoyed a blueberry muffin AND pancake for breakfast, oranges and spaghetti & meatballs for lunch, vanilla ice cream for a snack after sledding (thanks Nana!), and veggie soup on Sunday night for supper.  He barely left a trace of his meals on his tray.

His tooth is definitely visible now, although not much of it as popped through.  He is going to look so different when you can see more of the tooth!

I know it's blurry, but he looks too cute not to share!

Promoting good oral hygiene with his new banana brush!

Ten Months

Wow!  We have officially entered double-digit months!  Kai has also made his way out of the teens in pounds and weighed in at 20lbs 3oz this morning.  He is roughly 29 inches long, meaning I really need to find a convertible car seat that I like as Kai is about to max out his infant carrier!

At ten months Kai is:
-wearing size 3 diapers
-wearing (but mostly swimming in) 12 months clothes - a lot of his pants are still too long
-wearing size 3 shoes
-being offered 6oz every 4 hours but is usually only drinking about half (at daycare)
-eating three meals a day plus usually one afternoon snack - feeding himself at all meals except his oatmeal for breakfast
-taking 2-3 naps a day (mid-morning, early afternoon, sometimes after daycare)
-going to bed around 8:00 (give or take depending on naps)
-ACTIVE!! (crawling, cruising, standing, crawling over...constantly moving!)
-still not sleeping through the night (but is occasionally having better nights)

*Not much is new this month besides the amount and type of food that he is eating.  He's now eating pretty much all finger foods and loves chicken, baked beans, peas, green beans, Cheerios, toast.  He likes fruit but gets frustrated because of the slipperiness of it!

Daddy is so funny!!

Dear Kai...

I wish I could bottle up all of your sweetness as of late.  You are great at giving hugs and I even thought you were learning how to give kisses this weekend.  I leaned in for a smooch and you opened up wide for a slobbery baby kiss.  You get the BIGGEST smile when Mommy or Daddy gets home or picks you up from daycare.  There is nothing better after a long day than seeing that toothless grin! You have become quite attached to the people you see often: Mommy, Daddy, Kamie, and Mommy's family.  You are not a fan of strangers as a look of panic crosses over your face.   

That little smile just melts my heart!

You have also become such a good eater!! You have always liked everything we served (it took a little longer on sweet potatoes) but now you are definitely become more independent in the food area.  You prefer to feed yourself over eating pureed baby food.  Cereal with fruit is about the only food you'll eat from a spoon these days.  You are still eating a pureed fruit or veggie at lunch, but I think that will be coming to an end soon.  Some of your favorites are: peas, scrambled eggs, grilled chicken, green beans, and almost any fruit.  Oh! Kamie told us that you LOVED baked beans but we haven't fed you any at home.


You are definitely growing up.  I often wonder why I get so sad thinking about you getting older and especially as we approach your first birthday.  I think it's because I fear that you won't need your mommy anymore.  Lately you've been a mommy's boy (just like when you were a newborn) and it makes this growing up thing a little easier, thinking that maybe you still do need me at times. 


I love you baby Kai. 

Love,
Mommy  <3 br="">

Nine Months

 (Sorry for the delay - Blogger has not been cooperating with my pictures lately so I was on strike!)

What a busy month Kai has had!!  I'm so glad that I got to enjoy the last couple weeks at home of Kai at 8 months because that's when he decided to master EVERYTHING!  At Kai's 9 month check up, he weighed a whopping 19lbs 12oz and was 28.5 inches long.  This puts him just under the 50th percentile for both height and weight.

Our monthly photo sessions are turning into wrestling matches.  Kai won.

At nine months Kai is:
-wearing size 3 diapers
-transitioning out of 6-9 month clothes and into 9-12 months clothes
-wearing size 3 shoes
-eating 6oz every 4 hours (although during his first week back to daycare he's only been drinking about half of his bottles)
-eating three meals a day: oatmeal w/ fruit @ 8:30am, fruit or veggie (or mixed) puree @ 12:00pm, and fruit or veggie puree (or mixed) @ 6:30pm ish.
-taking 2-3 naps a day (9:00am, 1:00pm, sometimes after daycare around 4:30pm but only if his afternoon nap is short)
-going to bed between 7:00-8:00pm (earlier if he skips the late nap) and waking between 6:00-7:00am (he did sleep in later when I was on Christmas break though!)
-crawling (first time on 12/20 but crawling well on 12/30)
-pulling himself to stand (first time on 12/29 before leaving the Dells)
-walking behind toys/cruising (first steps on 1/3 but walking across the room on 1/5)
-getting from back to stomach to butt to knees (he's been doing this for awhile but he's definitely perfected it all and it's getting harder to and harder to get his diaper changed!!)
-dancing!
-occasionally waving 'bye-bye'
-drinking well from sippy cup (just started adding about an ounce of pear juice with a full cup of water)
-feeding himself Puffs and other finger foods really well
-still not sleeping through the night  :(

Other things about Kai at 9 months:
-He loves his new motorcycle that he got for Christmas from Nana & Papa!  When the music starts, he starts "dancing" - at least that's what I think he's doing
-This month we also transitioned out of his infant bath tub into a bath tub chair/ring that he sits in.  He seems to like it but can't reach his toys as well since they are now floating all over the tub.
-Definitely saying "mama" especially when he's crying and has been saying "dada" often as well.  I'm not sure, but I think he understands what those words mean now....??
-I think separation anxiety/stranger danger has begun.  He's fine with daycare drop-off, but leaving him home with Tyson's mom, Nana, and sister when I went back to work last week was not exactly smooth when I left. :(