The closest Kyle ever got to his birthday cake! 

Long awaited update...

There is so much new going on with Kyle, but it's hard to remember/get it down when it happens. We have some great new pictures I'm hoping to get downloaded later today.

Kyle is toddling around everywhere now, climbing on everything, and eating a lot of real food. We've both been able to adjust to the 3x/day nursing schedule and he's sleeping through the night once again.

Diaper changes often happen while Kyle's standing up, since having him lay down (without some additional help), is no longer an option. Last night Kyle climbed in to his rocking chair and sat down. He loves his little chair! This morning he watched Sesame Street while sitting in his chair. He says the word "dad" consistently, referring to Kevin, and is noticing everyone who has something on their head, using the sign for "hat" to tell us about it.

Kyle's first birthday and party were this past weekend. It was really nice to see everyone who's been a part of his life this past year and celebrate! We had pizza and cake, although Kyle really wanted nothing to do with his cake! We tried again at home on Monday night, but once again he just turned his nose up at it.

Yesterday, we took Kyle for his 1 year checkup at the pediatrician's office. He is 31 inches long, 21 1/2 lbs, and I forget his head circumference, but it's in the 75th percentile. For his height, Kyle is in the 95th percentile, but for his weight he's like in the 30th percentile. Our tall and skinny boy, no surprise to me when I look at Kevin now and remember myself growing up.

Kyle is more adorable everyday as he walks around, discovers new things about the house (and we discover new ways to babyproof!), and talks, talks, talks. Just this morning he took his alphabet magnets off of the fridge and tried them on the oven! I thought that was pretty smart of him to see if the magnets would stick to other surfaces in the kitchen.

Jason, Kirsten, and Ellie are probably in Jordan by now. They stopped by for a little while the other night, the kids played, and we did some catching up. Thankfully, most of their family is still in Arizona, so we'll probably see them at least once a year while Jason and Kevin are finishing up their degrees.

Kyle should have a new little cousin here in the next 2 weeks or so. Anastasia is due on September 7th (I think) with baby #2 for their family. I think it's going to be a lot of fun as the kids get older, with all of our kids just a year apart. Cameron, her firstborn is 2 years old, Kyle is 1 year old, and soon this new baby! I doubt we'll continue the trend next year, as we'd like to wait a couple more years before having a new addition to our family.

Alright, that's about all! I have new professional pictures of Kyle I'll be putting in the mail later this week!

This and that

Kyle broke a tooth through this week...I'm not sure when, but I discovered it on Monday. Also, he's been throwing tantrums of sorts. Just today we went to get pictures taken and he broke down; the photographers asked how old he was. When we told them he was a year, they kept saying how he was already acting like a 2 year old. I can only pray that his "terrible twos" aren't starting a year early! Regretfully, we only got 5 pictures, and all but one were family pictures since Kyle refused to sit and smile by himself. Oh well. We'll try again at Christmas.

We purchased some bowls that suction to Kyle's high chair tray and he's been eating dinner out of them, sometimes with a spoon and sometimes with his hands. It hasn't been as messy as I anticipated.

Attempting to wean Kyle from nursing is taking just about all the gusto I have everyday. My goal is 3 times per day and I'm attempting to give him soy milk when he asks to nurse more than that, but he's terribly insistent. I'm a wuss when he screams bloody murder and I'm the only one around.

In other news, our washer was out of commission for a week, maybe longer, but is now working again. We were in Flagstaff this weekend for a wedding, had a chance to see Kristin, and go to our old church. It was a nice time all in all, but quite a bit of driving for 2 1/2 days.

Kellie and the twins are stopping by tomorrow. I realized when she called to get together that we haven't had any babies over since Kirsten and Ellie left for Egypt. I've tried to invite our neighbors over, who have a 1 year old girl, but I must be overstepping some Brazilian custom because they will never set foot in our house. Oh well.

It's Kyle's 1st Birthday party! Saturday August 26th, 2006 10 A.M.-noon in Tucson. Email me for details! 

We (I) survived

Kevin and I took this weekend for ourselves and it was wonderful! However, we seem to have gotten a different baby back and are a little worried. Kyle has been nursing, eating, and drinking just fine, but he's soooo lethargic; nothing like the little guy we left Friday night. I might have to call the doctor. We'll see.

Despite the fact that I enjoyed this weekend, it is really nice to be home. There is something about our little place that I just love to come back to. August is a busy month for us: we're traveling to a wedding in Flagstaff this weekend, then my birthday, and Kyle's birthday.

That's about all I can muster as far as news go...enjoy your August and I'll update when I can!

He did it!

Kyle was hanging out in his bedroom, holding on to the bed while I got his room ready to go to sleep and Kevin was drawing his bath. Well, I turn away for two seconds and he's taken off out of the bedroom, around the corner to the bathroom, and ends up at the tub! He walked that way all by himself without falling. I bet he'll be cruising around by the time all of you see him again!

New developments everyday

So what has Kyle been up to?

Well, I bought a smoothie at the mall this weekend and, though he had never figured out how a straw worked before, he was a pro by the time we finished off that smoothie. I've now bought ingredients to make these at home; thank goodness for a way to get him some fruit in his diet!

Kyle is taking more and more steps on his own...we took a video that hopefully Kevin will post sometime this week. Also, he can now climb on to the couch all by himself, but still prefers to bail off head first.

Today I locked my keys in the car at the grocery store (I knew this would happen eventually while I had Kyle with me). Well, I was on the phone with AAA and noticed a van in the parking lot advertising "Locks & Safes", then a guy approached me (in this company's uniform) and asked if I needed my car unlocked. I said yes, but that I got it free through AAA, so I'd wait for them, but he said "No problem, I'll take care of it for you"! What a blessing! I was not looking forward to being stranded at Fry's for an hour with junior.

So that was our adventure for the day. We'll be in Phoenix this weekend, Kevin and I celebrating our anniversary, and Kyle will be staying with his Nana.

Kyle took off with one of the walkers at his tumble class last Friday...he'll be walking by himself before we know it! 

"Look Dad!"

Tonight Kyle took his bath cup, filled it up with water, and emptied the water on to the floor! This left Kevin quite speechless as he mopped up the puddle, until he saw Kyle with another full cup of water, ready to pour it on to the floor again.

This morning I figured out why Kyle is Mr. Personality during storytime at the library. Just recently he's been crawling off while we do songs and such, but today I noticed he plants himself in the middle of the circle of parents/babies and puts on a show for them (claps, smiles, rises up on his knees and then crashes down on to his belly) or else he thinks everyone is singing for him. The latter I bet. Either way, he's the life of the party when it comes to storytime.

Here's to Kyle sleeping in until 7:30 all but one day this week, woohoo!

What can I say?

Today Kyle climbed the stairs to the top of the slide all by himself (after watching the other kids do it for 20 minutes), then proceeded to try sliding down head first.

Today at breakfast, Kyle imitated Kevin by running his hand back and forth over the top of his head, just like Kevin does. It was too funny!

Today Kyle climbed on my back and I took him for a horseback ride; something he would never let me do before!

Today we discovered Kyle actually has two new teeth (seven altogether); I discovered the top one while looking up at him during humpty dumpty jumps in the water practice during swim lessons.

Our vacation was ok. It was great to see my family, but I don't think we'd personally choose to go back to Jekyll Island, GA. I'm hoping to get some pictures scanned later this week, since we neglected to bring our digital camera.

Kyle still really lives off of cheerios, kix, and goldfish crackers, but he will try new things. This week he has tried baby carrots, gnochi, and popsicles; with popsicles being his hands down favorite (grandparents: have sugar free fruit popsicles on hand if you want to feed him a treat).

Kyle is practically walking; we do "walking" practice just about every night when Kevin comes home. And lastly, Kyle is learning how to stack things in order really well and he will flip through books, "reading" them all by himself.

In other news, Kyle's birthday is coming up in just over a month. The party will be here in Tucson and you're all invited! Regretfully, that's all the details I have for now. And our Zoe cat has found a new home; she'll be moving in Sunday.

That's about it!

Figuring things out...

Yesterday morning Kyle took his letter magnets off the fridge, slid them under the edge of the fridge, then used his foot to kick them under the fridge as far as he could...tell me that's not logical genius ;).

Yesterday afternoon Kyle used his "walker" to walk across the family room and kitchen twice back and forth! This was really exciting because he always wanted to hold on to us or a piece of furniture when using this toy as a "walker" in the past.

And lastly, Kyle's been doing this huge open mouthed smile whenever he gets happy or excited. The general public gets a real kick out of seeing him do this, which makes him do it even more. Kevin pointed out that I've been doing that kind of smile at him since he was born, whenever I get excited about something he's doing or trying to encourage him. I would've never made the connection!

Vacation!

I did it; made reservations at a local resort for our anniversary in August. I look forward to this weekend every year since our first anniversary (not that we've had that many, this is going to be number three). However, this year will be particularly sweet since Kevin and I have yet to spend 24 hours alone since junior arrived.

Also, I'm plunging back in to the job market, looking for part time tutoring positions. This is kind of exciting and scary at the same time. I feel like I've just come in to my own as a stay at home mom, but there's something to be said about bringing home a paycheck (which I had been doing since I was 15 until we found out we were pregnant).

Kyle is learning new skills really fast lately. As of last night he would willingly walk around with one of us only holding one of his hands, instead of both of his hands. This morning he leaned over the tub to retrieve a toy he'd thrown over with no fear of falling in or getting stuck. Last week he did the same thing but screamed when he ended up balancing on the tub. Kyle knows how to throw and will play some semblance of catch if you have a ball to throw with him (this morning he also attempted catch with one of his hard blocks which I quickly tried to ignore).

Also, he loves to have conversations where he says something, you reply, and he'll talk some more, in addition to you mimicking him or him mimicking you. All of these things just get him giddy with laughter. And lastly, he seems to be picking up on his signs a little faster. Just the other morning he woke up in bed with me and started moving his hands in the "change" sign for diaper change. Sure enough, he let me change his diaper no fuss and has continued to do this consistently.

To my chagrin, he's been nursing more lately, but then I realized he's also been sleeping more, so I'm wondering if he's going through another growth spurt. We're leaving for the beach on Saturday, so I'll post when we get home (unless there is something spectacular that happens that I just can't wait to tell you).

cough, blow, cough, hack, hack, spit

I'm pretty sure we've all been sick at one point this week, which is frustrating. I think I get sick about once a month, ugh. I can't imagine if Kyle was in daycare how much more he'd be sick, and probably us too.

Tomorrow we're dropping Zoe the cat off at Pam and Jerry's; she has expressed herself one too many times on Kyle's possessions. Also, we'll be making appearances at Cameron's 2nd birthday party and Owen's 23rd birthday party; at least I think he's turning 23.

Kevin and his band will be playing in Safford tomorrow. They are the first band to play at noon if you'll be in the area; ah hu.

That's all the news I can muster tonight.

Almost over...

Kyle's fever broke last night...only lasted 24 hours give or take. He is still cranky, but doing better. We're kind of having to retrain his sleeping patterns again because I was nursing him if he'd wake up to make sure he didn't get dehydrated while his body fought the fever.

In other news, my mom comes home from Africa tomorrow and I am so excited. I talk to and see her pretty often, so it's been a little hard on me not being able to contact her at all these past couple weeks! She was volunteering at orphanages in Mozambique through IRIS ministries.

Time for bed! Kevin and I are making a concerted effort to go to sleep earlier now that Kyle is sleeping through the night.

Is he sick?

We had such a nice visit with mom and Jerry yesterday. Kevin took time off too, and my favorite part of the whole day was having adults to talk to. It was wonderful!

Regretfully, Kyle came down with a fever sometime around 5:30 yesterday and it has yet to lift. He has no other symptoms (except crankiness), so we're going to see the pediatrician at 3:45 this afternoon. I feel like such a novice at this, as Kyle hasn't really had a fever yet in his short little life. He burned up to over 103 last night and was over 101 this morning. He took a shower with Kevin, then a shower with me, and if he's really uncomfortable after his nap, I might stick him in a cool bath again. It seems to lower his temperature some and make him feel better.

We took the morning off from swim class and I have a feeling we'll miss tomorrow too.

"Not the scissors!"

So, we were trying really hard to wait to give Kyle his first haircut until he was a year old. However, after answering the question, "Is it a boy or a girl?" almost daily, I caved. Tonight Kyle had his first haircut and he did great. I was amazed at how much hair this guy shaved off and secretly pleased that there were baby girls out there who would kill for Kyle's hair color, length and curls! Check out Kevin's blog for a picture, but if you want to see the new do, you'll have to pay Kyle a visit ;)!

I'm so bad at these title things

After reflecting on some of the "mom" wisdom I heard while we were in Mexico, I realized I liked the idea of buying finger foods for Kyle. He loves to feed himself and I'm just not in to scraping oatmeal off of everything within a 5 foot radius of him. So, at the grocery store this week, I bought a few items that I'm hoping will work. He's a definite fan of the whole wheat goldfish and the veggie hot dogs. We still have to try the frozen blueberries.

Also, Kyle's new (well, new to us) car seat arrived this weekend. Despite our misgivings on how big it is, it fits in our car so that there is actually more room for the front passenger! He seems to like it well enough and definitely fits in it better than his infant car seat. We debated on just sticking him in his forward facing car seat, which we already own, but after much research decided that leaving him rear facing was the right thing to do.

And, the best news of all is that Kyle has slept through the night for the past two nights in a row, 10 hours each time! I'm so proud of all 3 of us for sticking it out with the Ferberizing. In reality, we started the process Tuesday night and he was sleeping through the night by Friday night, so we really didn't do that much. However, we are expecting that he'll regress at some point, which is typical of most children as they hit various developmental milestones.

On a final note, what does Kyle do with the letter magnets I bought him this week? Throw them under the fridge, of course!

Everything

The sweetest thing happened this morning, but I'll have to back up so you understand it all. As of last night, Kevin and I agreed it was time for Kyle to learn how to sleep through the night (I know, I know, but Kevin and I are both softies about hearing him cry out at night). So, we decided that we'd do everything the same, but instead of putting him to sleep at the beginning of the night and subsequent times he wakes up, we'd go in every 10 minutes to check on him.

This worked great! It took less than a half hour for him to put himself to sleep at 7 p.m., then he woke up around 11 p.m. and was asleep in less than 20 minutes, and lastly, he woke up at 3 a.m. (right when his infant motrin should've been wearing off). The 3 a.m. wake up had me pumping, so Kyle got a sippy cup of milk around 3:30 (this is compared to his usual nursing schedule of every 2 hours all night long). He woke up for the day at 6:27, which was perfect because we had decided we wouldn't go get him until 6:30 every morning.

So, when Kyle woke up at 6:27 a.m. this morning, I went in to get him and he's sitting up in his crib. I picked him up and put him over my shoulder, he laid his head down and I talked to him real quietly while patting his back. He started talking back while still snuggling and all of sudden I feel this thwap! on my back. He continued to "pat" my back while I patted his as we both woke up together. It was so funny, like he was saying "I know last night was as hard on you mom as it was on me". It was so cute and I'm wondering if it'll happen again.

Now to back track: Kyle had a doctor's appt. last week and the little guy is 20 lbs 11 oz (50th percentile), 30 inches long (95th percentile), and at the developmental level of a 13 month old according to the doctor. In other words, he's doing great! However, his measurements mean that he has outgrown his infant car seat, so we just purchased a convertible car seat that should be here by next week to get him through to his 1st birthday. He seems to be doing something new and wonderful everyday. He'll be 10 months old on June 26th.

We think he learned how to throw things (from the 2 year olds we were staying with) while we vacationed in Mexico this past weekend. Despite having 4 kids hanging around, it was so relaxing and so much fun. The resort was great, our ocean view was amazing, and the whole place was family friendly. Kevin and I both agreed we'd go back here again.

In other news, Kyle is swimming 4 days a week through Tucson Parks and Recreation and teething once again.

Growing up

"Hey Kyle, can you tell everyone what you learned today?"

"Sure mom, I learned how to put Cheerios in my mouth all by myself and how to place my ABC blocks back in their slots. And, if you insist, I'll hold my own sippy cup when I'm thirsty."

"Did you learn anything else?"

"Yes. I said my first word. Took my first step. Typed my first e-mail. Filed my first patent. Cured cancer. Oh, and I proved Riemann."

"Ready to start preschool tomorrow?"

"You know it mom!"

I swear he'll be walking out the door to kindergarten the next time I look away for 30 seconds and look back. He does something new everyday now! Kyle has his 9 month check-up on Tuesday and I'm curious to see how big he is.

P.S.-Kyle actually remembers people now, so if you want him to know you I'd suggest stopping by once a month to hang out and play for awhile.

I wish I could write everything down

I had this feeling that Kyle would be cutting teeth while we were in Dallas visiting family...and wouldn't you know it, that bottom tooth showed up the afternoon after we arrived back in Phoenix this week. It was a good visit, but not much sleeping for either of us, even with Kyle under the influence of infant Motrin. He now officially has five teeth and I'm expecting a couple more in the next week or so with the way he's been carrying on, drooling, and chewing on everything.

Thankfully, Kyle is eating more solid foods. Today he conquered 1/4 of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch; I can see this eating solid food thing is going to keep me skinny as he likes to eat what I'm eating during the day! A large portion of the jelly landed in his hair, but what fun is learning how to eat if it's not messy? Additionally, he will now hold his own sippy cup of water if he's truly thirsty.

Kyle's tumbling class starts up again tomorrow and his swim lessons start on Monday. I'm taking a dance class and ice skating this summer, while Kevin is doing a piano class.

We're pretty sure Kyle could walk if he wanted to; we often let go and he stands on his own or takes a few steps before realizing we've let go. This past week or so he's really gotten a lot stronger. Also, he's saying dada, mama, nana, and dog (minus the "g").

In other news, we've come to the decision that Zoe, our cat, needs to find a new permanent home. Despite how much Kyle enjoys her, we've had our problems with her waking him up in the night, and most recently she peed on his plush gorilla chair. It seems we just don't have the time to give her the attention she needs and she's acting out more and more as Kyle gets older.

And congratulations go out to our old college friend Celeste, as her and husband Chris are expecting a little girl in October.

Lastly, GO SUNS!