46 weeks!

Happy 46 weeks little man! Only six left until the big one year! Mommy and daddy can hardly believe how you have grown and keep growing at an alarming rate! This week Kieran has been practicing his new word- "dada" and is babbling up a storm! He may be working on a new tooth or two because he has been a bit fussy in the evenings as our PAT, Alla, found out yesterday when she came for her monthly visit. Despite Kieran's sour mood towards the end, however, we all had fun playing with the cool toys Alla brought along in her magic bag and mommy and daddy are grateful as always for all the great advice she has to offer.
This weeks pics show how Kieran likes to enjoy a good book- through the sense of taste of course! Note the shiny string of drool and Kieran's look of pride when he finally gnaws the front cover off his Peek-a-Whoo book!
Kieran is less and less enthused these days with Owl Pal. In fact the relationship has been in a slow decline for a few weeks now. Kieran was especially displeased when his green friend decided to take a ride on one of KP's favorite toys- the rhyme-time firetruck! It's a good thing these weekly owl photo sessions are nearing an end- I think Kieran might be ready to quit Owl Pal pretty soon!

45 weeks!

Kieran is 45 weeks old already and getting closer and closer to that one year mark! New this week: KP has added "dada" to his vocabulary and is saying it a lot! He is pulling up more and better- as you can see in the pic of Kieran rotting his brain (what great parents we are!) He's been doing better sleeping at night for longer stretches (for now anyway) and even rolls/scoots himself over into his crib- guess he needs his space! When we get the new sides to the crib (due to that recall) we are thinking of putting all four sides on again and seeing how he does with that- of course the crib will stay right next to the bed for now though- baby steps...!
Kirean spent some time with grandpa Rother and Kimi this weekend to celebrate a late xmas and birthdays (mom's and Kimi's) We all enjoyed a yummy dinner at El Rodeo and then some cake at grandpa Rother's place. Kieran was very excited about his super cute explorer pal and vibrating chew toy- thanks again guys!
Guess that's all for now... I will try to get back on track with the uploading of weekly pics this week... the camera was at my parents all last week as I left it there when we visited on MLK day.

Happy 44 weeks/10 months!!

Running a little behind this week with the blog and never did get owl-pal in on the photo shoot action either... however we did manage to get some cute bath pics and a couple shots of Kieran is his too cute super-baby-sleeper ;)
Kieran is getting bigger and bigger- he's now wearing 12-24 month clothes and weighs 22+ pounds! Big boy! He is eating like a champ- feeding him self better and better every day both with his fingers and his helper spoon. He has also figured out his sippy cup and straw cup.
This week Kieran is finally able to get his little hands to connect so that all his frantic hand waving is paying off in the form of clapping- makes patty-cake all the more fun! I also think I have caught KP trying to blow kisses when we are driving home in the evenings- quite adorable. Kieran is also getting pretty good at rolling a ball back and forth and loves to play with paper bags and plastic containers. He still hasn't said much recognizable outside of "mama" and "mom" but we keep on practicing!
Another new but not so wonderful development is that Kieran has not been naping for Sheila any more at daycare- great. In fact, she has gotten so desperate to get the little fuss-in-stuff to sleep that she has resorted to laying down with him! A truly dedicated babysitter- but we really don't expect her to continue do give up what little "free" time she has... hopefully he will get it together in the coming week or two as we all get used to the work-day schedule again.

Mommy's birthday and 43 weeks!

We have all enjoyed another extended break together thanks to snow and sub-zero temps... gotta love being a teacher on snow days! Kiearan helped mommy celebrate here 30-something birthday at grandma/grandpa with daddy, grandma Sandy, auntie Shannon, uncle JT and cousin Presley. We had warm-you-up-yummy-soup and delicious appetizers for dinner and two types of cake for dessert- pumpkin spice with cream cheese frosting (thanks Sandy!) and chocolate with mint frosting and chocolate ganache- mmmm!
Kiearan's owl pal pics this week are too cute- I especially love the bad-boy-biker-baby pic with his too cool expression! Happy birthday to mommy and Kieran!

42 weeks

Kieran spent his 41st week birthday with Nana and Papa D while mommy and daddy saw a movie and had dinner out. We saw (and loved) Avitar on New Year's Eve while Kieran was at my folk's. We were back for Kieran by 8:00 at which point he nursed for a few minutes and passed out cold. He was so ready for bed that he didn't even wake up when we transferred him into and then out of his car seat! That's one tired little boy! Nana and Papa had fun with KP but hope that mommy figures out a way to get him to sleep soon without the comfort of nursing... I figure we'll worry about that this summer, when there's more time and the weather doesn't lend itself so much to snuggling!

This week Kieran has really been into his Baby Mum Mum rice cakes. In fact, the only way we have been able to get him to eat any other food is if he has a Mum Mum cake in hand first. Much to our dismay and distress, we discovered today that the rice cakes we have been feeding Kieran for the past week expired two months ago... great. Mom and dad of the year for sure. Needless to say, we have thrown out the suspect Mum Mums with plans to replace them with fresher cakes tomorrow and we are hoping we didn't do too much damage to our infant son's digestive tract with our carelessness. Sorry about that one baby boy.

As you can see in the video, Kieran LOVE's his new ride-along fire truck and baby walker- with their super cool tunes! We love to see our little man bob his head and rock out to the sweet sounds of the Muffin Man and something in Spanish the we are working on translating... Aye carumba!

Christmas 2009 (and 41 weeks old)!

I know, I know... this is rather late in coming and I have had more time than usual to get the blogging done too... no good excuses other than we have been busy having too much fun here!
So a recap then... Somehow we forgot to add owl pal to the 41 week birthday pics, but I think Kieran's size is pretty apparent from how much of him is sticking out of the pack-n-play these days! We will get back on track with owl pal this week... at least that's the plan ;)

Kieran had a wonderful Christmas- three of them actually! Our first holiday was spent in St. Charles with Rick's father's family. Rick's Aunt Alisha hosted this year at her beautiful home that had lots of space for the dozen or so kids and two dozen or more adults. There was tons of food and tons of noise... Kieran was a bit apprehensive at first but quickly warmed up to the craziness after watching some of the big kids run and play. Kieran received quite a few gifts from his great aunties and uncles and had lots of fun watching the famous (or infamous- depending on your perspective) Rother wrapping paper fight after all the gifts were opened. By the end of the evening Kieran was worn out and fell asleep as soon as his bottom hit the car seat and he stayed that way all the way home- which his fellow travelers were quite thankful for!

Christmas number two was spent at Grammie and Grandpa Daugherty's home. We got up, packed the car with presents, food and baby essentials and hit the road, enjoying the white christmas as we drove. We had breakfast when we arrived- quiche, sweet rolls and lots of other delectable appetizers. We enjoyed this morning feast with Grammie and Gramps as well as Shannon, JT and cousin Presley. Then it was off to open gifts which was of course lots of fun this year as there were finally toys under the tree again! Kieran and Presley enjoyed the festivites and all the presents and by 1 were ready for naps! So we all took a break from opening gifts- there were still the stockings to dig into- to prepare dinner and let the babies rest. We enjoyed a peaceful meal, while the babies slept, of the holiday staples such as turkey, stuffing and of course cranberries! When the babies woke up we opened stockings and then finished the day with coconut cake, made from a freshly cracked and grated coconut- mmmm!!!

Christmas number three was spent the following day at Grandma Sandy's home with Uncle Zach, Uncle Aaron, Auntie Angie, Great Aunt and Uncle Joyce and Furcin, Great Grandma and Grandpa Gene and Eileen and cousins Jayden, Jaron and Braydon! It was packed at Grandma Sandy's for sure! First we watched the big kids open presents and then we got down the important stuff- eating!! Kieran got to join the meal sitting in daddy's old highchair, which was made of metal and made great "music" when pounded on! Grandma Sandy's dinner was enormous too- two types of meat, lots of veggies and delicious rolls- mmm! After dinner it was time to open gifts and of course Kieran enjoyed this part best of all! He got to unwrap gifts with the assistance of cousin Jaron ;) After all the packages were torn open we ate- again.... lots of yummy deserts like red velvet cake and cookies and pie.

Kieran had such a wonderful first Christmas. He loves the books he got, the fire trucks, walk-to-stand toy, educational toys, stuffed animals and more! Thank you to all our families for their generosity and love this holiday- you all made it very special and memorable for our family. We wish you all a Happy New Year and look forward to many more holidays spent together as family!