Monday, March 26, 2007

Can You Do This?



I remember my mom saying that I liked to suck my toes, maybe all kids do. Anyway, Kai certainly enjoys his big toe!

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Sunny Sunday!



He keeps pushing himself backwards and the harder he tries to go forward, the faster he goes backwards on his belly!

So nice out today! I went for an hour long bike ride...alone. Ahhh relaxing. Kai is `talking' up a storm, it's pretty funny because I think he thinks he's really saying stuff. He is starting to eat a lot of different things too. Along with his rice/oat cereal, pureed fruits and veggies, he's having egg yolk, chicken, bread, and salmon (all in super small pieces). Gary and I are enjoying a lot of different food too:) Since he's been home for spring break, Gary has cooked every dinner meal, WOOHOO!

What's Up?

Few things;
1. Football has started again! Yippee!! We cancelled practice due to the rain yesterday but our first game will be April 14th. Good times.

2. I have made 2 resolutions; accept a compliment and speak thinking that people want to hear what I have to say. I often feel that when I say things, people are thinking `why is she saying that? That doesn't make sense etc' so I speak really quickly and summarize my point so much that it sometimes doesn't make sense. Either that, or I ramble.

3. We went to a wedding last night, it was at 7pm with a dessert buffet afterwards (with swing dancing but we had left already). If we got married again, maybe we would do that, it was a really nice idea:) We didn't stay long though because my dad had Kai and Kai doesn't sleep anywhere but his crib. I am putting him into `training' this week. I will be putting him to bed in his playpen so that he gets used to it and we/others can actually put him to bed in different places.

4. I can't believe Kai is almost 8 months! He can crawl/push himself backwards and his favourite thing to say is `na na na na na'. Okay, that's all he really says besides emitting a high pitched squeal intermittently. I'm trying hard to get his na na na to turn into ma ma but no such luck! He is behind schedule with the teething though, technically on average, babies have teeth between 3-7 months and he's got nothing! I don't know when I started teething but my neice started at this time so we'll see. I'm in no rush, as long as they come in eventually!

5. We watched `Stranger Than Fiction' and it was okay, I had really been looking forward to it. Maybe give it a 7/10. I liked the numbers aspect and the graphics with the storytelling.

6. Gary had a root canal this week. I guess its not as bad as people always say, he was fine!

7. Finally, just a weird thought. I love my son so much more every single day. To be honest, I did not feel the `Oh, I love this baby so much, my life is now complete' feeling when I had him. I felt like `The Baby Story' on TLC made me feel like a bad mom for not feeling `it' right away. When I saw Kai, I didn't even recognize him and I thought I would. He didn't look like me or Gary (but Gary assured me that he never left his side while I was in recovery so he was def. ours). When he was born, I just felt that I cared about him. After a couple months came the love and now is a point when I have that scary, intense love that awes me. I think he is so amazing and I feel very blessed:)

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Cutie:)




Tonight I went to Terri's surprise baby shower and it was so nice to see a bunch of Vancouver friends again and just celebrate Terri's little bundle on the way. When I came home I saw that Gary had taken some cute photos of Kai....here's a couple with his little teddy bear:)

Monday, March 19, 2007

Spring Break Experience/Experiment


We left Thursday after school and headed down to San Francisco. The plan for the trip was to go camping in the sun and to try to be like we were before Kai. Besides, it had been a whole year since I'd been camping, we were long overdue for a trip! Well, we drove through the night so that Kai would sleep the whole time. He did okay but Gary and I were exhausted by the time we got to San Fran at 9am the next day. It was super warm (prob. 25C) so we tried to stick to the shade although we all managed to get the missed spots of sunscreen.



Kai's highlights from the trip include; eating his socks, sucking his toes, being licked by a dog, and watching the birds. I have never seen him so in love and so happy as when that dog slobbered all over him!

Gary and Kai having a nap in the park. I had to nurse Kai to sleep but at least we finally got him to fall asleep without his crib (as was the theme for the trip).




We slept in a hotel for our first night in an attempt to rest up. Unfortunately, the cops had to be called at 1am due to rowdiness (ya, not us). Fortunately, Kai slept through it, Gary and I did not. We hung out at Golden Gate park in the morning and walked around and Gary took some photos. Then, we headed out to Half Moon Bay just an hour south of San Francisco. We spent a lot of time walking and it was super windy so we tried to keep Kai warm.



Kai fell asleep in Gary's arms as we were walking along the beach, he never does that at home so it was super cute. The night was cold and lets just say, it was another night of little sleep for all of us. Kai ended up pretty much in my sleeping bag and not really sleeping at all..I ended up nursing him and singing to him for 3 hours in order to get him to sleep (I didn't want him to scream and wake up the whole campground, normally at home, I'd let him cry it out a bit).We decided to save camping for when he's a bit older and he can handle the cooler weather. So, we headed home a day early and stayed in a motel along the way. Kai has almost stayed in more hotels than I ever have!

This was our campsite, it was right on the bluff next to the water. There were lots of pretty flowers and the view was amazing. In conclusion, we learned the following;
1. We are looking forward to just Gary and I getting away for a trip (in a few years maybe:))
2. Kai throws up a lot on long road trips. No fun to see your baby sick:(
3. No weather is good for a baby; it's either too sunny, too windy, or too cold!
4. It was nice to get out the ole tent and eat some good old camping food....mmm...beef jerky:)
5. I don't know how anyone gets to work in San Francisco, the highways are insanely busy.
6. I love beaches and the ocean. Love them.
7. It was nice to just have lotsa time to chat with Gary, I didn't even make him play silly car games with me.
8. Next time we go camping, we'll stick closer to home:) I do love half moon bay though, maybe when the kid(s) are older (no, there is no other kid on the way!!)
9. A van would've been handy, just being able to sit back there with him and feed him etc.
10. Gary and I prayed for a safe trip and for an extra dose of patience with eachother and our prayers were answered:)
11. You can listen to the same kids praise cd over and over all the way from Vancouver to San Francisco (it was soothing music I guess...well, soothing to him!).
So, that was our trip. I hope it doesn't sound like we didn't have fun. We did. We set out in order for it to be a learning experience and it was. Camping and road tripping etc. will never be the same and I accept that, it's just another thing to add to the `I now have to be completely unselfish' pile:) I think that once Kai enjoys it a bit more, then I will too. I think he was happiest tonight, when he was playing on the floor with all of his regular toys:)

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Rainy Sunday Afternoon


I wondered what was taking Gary 3 hours to make a power point. I snuck up on him and realized that there was a movie playing on his monitor (beside the power point) and he was looking at flyers which he placed inside his textbook so I wouldn't notice (it did take me 10 seconds to realize the science 8 textbook wouldn't have computers all over the pages). Not sure why he was trying to hide it from me...I'm not his mother or his teacher!

Kai has started playing the piano and loves making lotsa noise.

He loves eating his socks. I even put shoes on him and he managed to pull those off too.

Cute smiles:)
So, not much exciting this weekend. Yesterday I had football practice in the pouring rain and Gary has been doing school work (report cards etc). He made some super yummy calzones last night, the dough was fabulous and the chicken and cheese inside was even better! Then, he made brownies so we could have a yummy brownie sundae for dessert. Mmmmm food.
I read two good books this week (I'd rate them 7/10); Never Let Me Go and My Sister's keeper. Both touched on the same topic in a very different way. One (My Sister's Keeper) was a realistic story of a girl that was genetically chosen to be implanted in her mother's womb in order that her umbilical cord blood could help her older, sick sister. However, her older sister needs more and more of what the younger sister has (eventually her kidney). The second one (Never Let Me Go) was kind of `Handmaid's Tale'ish. It was about children that were raised to be `donators'. At the age of 17 they would start donating their organs until they `completed' (died). Anyway, I'd recommend both of them!

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Hockey Night with Daddy


What could he find so interesting?

Could it be watching hockey with daddy? I couldn't get the attention of either of them! I remember when I was pregnant saying `We won't ever let him watch tv as a baby'...oops...

Kai's newest thing is pulling off his socks and eating them all the time. He's a little confused here that this one doesn't come off!

I've been monitoring Kai's weight daily as he had lost quite a few ounces (for those of you that don't have kids, ounces might not sound like much but I don't think that babies should be losing weight). I've been feeding him a lot more solids and he gained back what he lost but hasn't gained any weight beyond that yet. He's still a solid 20lbs 6oz (just like he was last month).

A little note on baby food. I make all of his food and it tastes pretty good if you ask me! I've tried out two baby jars (squash and banana) because I just wanted to compare the taste and see if he would eat it if we go camping or on a trip, and it was so gross! He ate it just the same but I could barely handle the smell, and there was no way I was going to try that out. So far, his favourite seems to be the pears but he'll eat anything (as long as its pureed, he won't eat any little chunks yet).

The weather today was so super awesome! It seemed like everyone was outside today and they all seemed so friendly. I can't wait for the summer!

Friday, March 02, 2007

7 months old


A couple scrapbook pages from when he was born...

His page last month...

This would be today's page (below)...

He would not go down for his nap! He cried like CRAZY. I asked him if this is what he wanted me to post as his 7 month shot and he kept crying, so I think I'll have to get a better one tomorrow:) I gave him some teething tablets...I'm thinking his mouth is in some pain as he is constantly chomping on his hands and his nose is a little runny. I've been thinking that he's been teething for 3 months now so who knows when the tooth will make an actual appearance.
Tomorrow Kai will be 7 months old. I weighed him this morning and was very shocked to see that he actually lost weight this month (just 4oz but still, no gain!). I'm not sure if this is normal but he has started being very active, naps just twice a day (he always used to nap 3X), and now he only eats during the day so maybe that's why. Maybe I did the math wrong (I stand on the scale with him and then without him) so I'll try again later.
7 months sounds really old to me! He is 10 billion times easier than he was as a newborn but lately he's turned into a bit of a momma's boy. He needs to know I'm always in the room and the second he actually realizes that I've left the room, he goes from giggling to crying. The major changes this month are that he has stopped slobbering, he eats 3 solid meals a day and has gone down to 2 naps.
From what I can tell of his personality, he is very observant. He doesn't give the quick smile to everyone, he likes to stare for a while first at everything going on around him. He's quite laid back (Annika can steal his toys and knock him over and that's okay with him) and he loves music (in the car, my singing, or playing the little piano by himself). The biggest giggles are elicited when I lay him down on our bed and do a belly flop right next to him.
It felt like the first 4 months took forever, seriously, way harder than I thought and no one told me it would be so crazy. I don't think that I took into consideration what kind of person I would turn into while sleep deprived night after night. I wasn't able to nap during the day because I'm one of those people whose mind just goes and goes, so, I was just living on a few hours a night. I seriously wondered if we would ever be able to have another, a sibling for Kai. Next time, i will make myself nap. Fortunately, a month full of solid 8 hour sleeps has returned me to the Louise I once was, the Louise I was afraid was gone forever! I now have more energy than Gary!!! Yippee!! I can't fall asleep before 11:30pm!! Yippee!! Since the fourth month though, time has been flying. That's okay, I like each month more and more. I know I should be careful what I ask for but I can't wait for him to be running around! Well, hear him crying. Lucky me, he only slept for 26 minutes...this will be a long afternoon.
As a sidenote, if I see one more snowflake....grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Time to go hiking!!!


I was so excited to try out our back pack carrier today. It is 10 billion times better than the baby Bjorn right now (that he is just way too heavy for). I felt like I could walk for hours. Kai didn't enjoy it too much but it could be that he missed his morning nap. My back and arms are permanently sore from carrying him...I should take a picture of my biceps, they are huge! Anyway, I felt zero pain when carrying him on my back. YAY! I should just hike him around like that all day.

Last night we went for dinner at Brent and Melissa's. Sam and Torie were there too and in total we had 6 adults and 4 little boys. Times have changed...
It's really nice to have Gary back as bball is done. He's home every night for dinner and then I also get a little break before Kai goes to bed.
I know I'm blogging a lot right now but I will slow down soon:) Well, maybe I'll slow down when I go back to work in Septemeber! Have a great day all!