Last days of May and the beginning of summer vacation!

Kieran is all about his Rhyme Time scoot and go truck these days. I think he has realized that there are other ways to get around besides crawling but he's just not quite ready to walk unassisted yet- enter the super cool plastic wheels! He drives it all over the house- much to the pet's dismay as this makes him even bigger, faster and more of a nuisance! KP's main mode of locomotion is still crawling, but he cruises like a mad man all around what ever he can grab on to, loves to walk holding onto fingers and crab crawls... so I really do think he will be walking soon- hopefully before summer's end! He stands all by himself, very well, for extended periods of time and even will occasionally take a tentative step but then changes his mind and plops down to the old familar crawl instead. I think he's a little unsteady still and not too keen on falling- smart boy ;)

Balls and bubbles... two of Kieran's favorite things these days! We are thinking of investing in small,  soft plastic balls and making our own ball pit- I am thinking this would be a huge hit with the little man. Bubbles make bath time a lot more fun these days- Kieran loves to grab, pop, catch and eat bubbles- the only thing he doesn't like is when they get in his eyes- OUCH!

 A favorite pass time is looking out the window and waving hello to passing people and cars... if only they would wave back!

Kieran is still really into music- listening, making and dancing to. Here the mini-maestro is composing a new piece on a little piano at grandma/grandpa's house.

What's new with Kieran these days??? Well, for starters, he suddenly "gets" books. He doesn't just see them as a plaything or chew toy anymore and even has favorites that he likes for mommy and daddy to read over and over. He loves Good Night Moon (mostly at bed time) and he also really likes this cool bird book we have that gives hints as to what sort of bird is hiding and then you pull a tab and the bird is revealed. The book also has the bird's actual calls- which Kieran loves to dance to. I am loving finally really being able to read to our little one- can't wait for many, many trips to the library this summer!

We officially began our summer vacation Wednesday this week and Kieran had his last day with Sheila on Tuesday. So far we have really been living it up- enjoying all our extra time as a family. On Wednesday we went to Runge and then had Indian for lunch. Yesterday we went to Little Swimmers time at the Arc in Columbia. This was Kieran's second trip to a pool- the last time was at Memorial pool when he was only  a few months old. He wasn't quite sure what to think and was very reserved and clingy. But, after lots of hugging on mommy and sitting on my lap in the shallow area, he started to warm up to the idea and even splashed a little bit! While we were at the pool, we met two other little boys about Kieran's age and their families who invited us to lunch with them at the Mall. We all ate together and then had lots of fun riding the carousel. Kieran was even brave enough to get off the bench and rode a camel this time! Then we went for a drive-nap and ended up at my parent's house. Kieran had lots of fun playing with toys on the sun porch and riding around in his little car outside.



So far today, we have taken a walk downtown and visited the library. KP is napping now and I am finally catching up on this blog! I hope to post more regularly again this summer as I hope to keep us all busy with lots of family-fun activities.

A few early May photos...

The first pic is from the Nifong park in Columbia last weekend. Kieran wasn't too sure about the swing- but it was made bearable with Scout along for the ride ;)
The other two are just photos from breakfast one morning before work... Just thought KP looked too cute in his new "mane man" romper!

Happy mother's day!

This mother's day weekend mommy got a lovely surprise when she opened the diaper bag Saturday morning... a card from Kieran! Sheila made a card with a photo of KP and decorated with his scribbles on the backside. What a lovely thing to find in the diaper bag- much nicer than the usual dirty bottles and poopy diapers!

Kieran spent mother's day 2010 with mommy and daddy at nana and papa's house along with auntie Shannon and cousin Presley. We all enjoyed a yummy grilled meal of steak and trout along with sweet potato salad, butter rolls, baked asparagas, sweet-pea salad and fresh fruit. For dessert there was chocolate pie and homemade coconut cake- mmmmm! We all stuffed ourselves silly!

Kieran enjoyed his first taste of corn on the cob... he loves corn and is even more excited about it when it's still attached to the cob!

Presley and Kieran had great fun playing with all the nana/papa toys... it's virtually a baby-wonderland at this point thanks to nana's hardcore and regular garage-saling! Neither Presley nor Kieran is too great at the whole sharing thing at this point- there is a lot of "he/she has it??" "Well then, I WANT it!" It's cute to see them together anyway though ;)

Later in the afternoon, we all enjoyed a little outside time by the iris's before it was inside for dinner, playtime, bath and bed.

Another post on sleep

So as some of you know, Kieran has taking over an hour to go to sleep every night for the past month or more, despite mommy's efforts to nurse and comfort him to sleep- he seemed to need to cry in his crib (to keep him from getting off our bed to play!- we co-sleep) in order to wind down enough to nurse asleep. This hour plus ritual was frustrating us both and Kieran has been getting less and less sleep during this time.

Well yesterday was an all time low for sleep- he took an hour and a half to fall asleep the night before and then tossed and turned all night- nursing every hour or so and then woke at 5:15- grouchy and tired! He was a crabby mess by 8 (and of course we had plans to have breakfast with friends). He slept a while in the car before breakfast at 9:30 and then was crabby and hard to control all morning. After lunch I lay down with him and nursed and then put him in the crib when he refused to lay still and after over an hour and a half of repeating the nurse/crib he fell asleep only to wake a 1/2  hour later! He was fussy all afternoon and evening and I finally decided something had to give.

Soooo... we shook up the bedtime routine a little. We gave him a bath early (5 instead of 6) and then I nursed him in our glider rather than in bed until he was done and of course, despite rubbing his eyes and being obviously exhausted, he wanted to play! I passed him off to dad at this point and took a walk with the dogs because I just knew he would cry and be inconsolable without me there.

When I got back a half hour later the house was silent... hmmm where's the crying? I tip toed upstairs and peeked in the nursery/bedroom to find my sweet baby boy passed out cold in our bed and my husband watching a netflix on the laptop with his earphones in! "How?!" "What did you do?!" My husband informed me (rather smugly I might add) that he patted his back and held him on the bed so he couldn't get down and play and he cried for ten minutes and then fell asleep. "Go..." he told me "We'll be fine without you" So I went out... bought a book, had a quiet dinner by myself and read (which was such a delicious treat- and yet of course the guilt...)

When I got home around 9- he was still passed out cold. "Didn't make a peep" my DH informed me- again with that smug smile ;) He woke twice in the night (midnight and 5) to nurse but it was quick and he didn't stir otherwise- no tossing, no turning, no crawling around and fussing- just blissful sleep until nearly 7 this morning!!!

A part of me feels a little sad it could happen without me and that it went better with dad than it has been with me there. A part of me feels guilty about the 10 minutes of crying without his mommy. But another part of me- is soooo relieved that he finally got the sleep he so obviously needed. And a selfish part of me was a little happy to have some time to myself- out in the world again in the evening rather than in bed at 7 with a exhausted baby who fights sleep till the bitter end. Maybe it's a fluke and maybe it won't last- but after a restful night (for both myself and Kieran) I have awoken this morning hopeful and excited by the possibility of a more "normal" and abbreviated bedtime routine in our future.

Just wanted to share

Grandma's and Grandpa's place

Kieran loves to be outside and so does grandpa so they both really loved the weather we had a couple weekends ago- warm and sunny! Luckily for us, Kieran isn't too keen on crawling in grass so he mostly stays put on the blankets we lay on the ground.

Kieran helped grandma prune the lilac bushes... one of mommy's favorite flowers- they smell soooo good!

Grandpa seems to think Kieran likes sitting on stumps but I think he only does it to humor grandpa ;)

Kieran thought grandpa's tractor was pretty cool until grandpa tried pushing it... then Kieran wanted OFF!

However, Kieran did really like the super-cool car and brand-spankin-new, bright red radio flyer grandma got for him and Presley. If hadn't been raining all weekend, Kieran would have loved to go for a ride or two!

Kieran is still taking a bottle and as you can see he has gotten pretty got at it- he even multi-tasks! He uses a sippy cup at meals but still really loves his bottle of milk three times a day. We are going to work on transitioning solely to cups this summer... soon it will be time to say bye-bye to ba-ba!

Looooong time no see!

It's been awhile since last I blogged and I have some catching up to do! But first, an excuse... perhaps flimsy but at least a reason for the big delay in this post. Our computer was in the shop- something to do with a fan and so it was sent off to the place where computers are fixed and we were without my blogging laptop for a couple weeks. But it's back now and so I am going to combine what would have been three or four posts in to one big one and then try to keep up from now on!
So first on today's post- Presely's 1 year birthday party at my parents. It was a lot of fun- sort of a replay of Kieran's what with the pizza, cake and family/friends... but with lots and lots of PINK! Presley was a little doll in her spotted sun dress and later her pink tutu. Kieran and she had lots of fun playing with all her gifts- in fact Kieran wasn't completely convinced that some of the things didn't belong to him ;) Presley loved her cake- who doesn't love sugar- especially pink sugar?! Thanks to grandma and grandpa for putting together another fun and memorable birthday for the grandkids!
The outside pics are from Kieran's 13 month birthday. KP LOVES to be outside, playing in the dirt with grandpa or blowing bubbles with mom and dad- doesn't matter to him- he just wants to be out! As you can see he is growing again- he seems taller and a bit leaner, more and more like the little boy he is destined to become. He still isn't walking unassisted yet but he takes a lot of steps holding hands and cruising around furniture and walls. He stands from a seated position by himself pretty well now- but those first independent steps have yet to come- however I am sure they are just around the corner!
Kieran hasn't added any new words recently to his vocabulary- I think he is too busy concentrating on this walking thing. In fact most things are now "da" or "dada"- much to Rick's delight ;) He is eating more and more finger foods as mommy eases up on her terrible fear of choking-just a little ;)
We have spent the past few weekends with family a lot and some with friends. We visit grandma/grandpa every weekend and love to play outside- grandpa has even let Kieran ride in the wheel barrel which he isn't too sure he likes but it's cute anyway. This past weekend grandpa was working in his flower bed and when Kieran came out to see what he was up to, grandpa put KP's feet in the dirt and buried them! Kieran thought this was great fun and proceeded to kick the dirt everywhere- too cute!

A couple weekends ago we had a garage sale, which kept us busy all spring break as we prepared. Lori and Jesse were nice enough to host the sale in their yard. We sold a ton of stuff- it was great to get the basement and closets cleaned out. All of this of course is in preparation for our eventual move. Rick has been busy working in the yard- getting it in better shape for curb appeal. We have also begun packing away things like books and frames to make the house seem larger, less cluttered and more like a "hotel room" as has been suggested to us to increase our chances of selling. It's been strange packing away things that I know we won't see for a year or more but it's also nice to open up the house a little and declutter as well.
I have been busy looking for day care for Kieran for next fall as Sheila is retiring. No luck yet but we have our name on a few wait lists and I have seen a couple in homes as well. I think finding care for Kieran has been one of the hardest choices we have had to make so far. It is such a big deal- letting someone else care for and basically raise your child while you are at work. Talk about guilt. And when we finally get comfortable with someone, we have to change and do it all over. We are taking suggestions, so if anyone knows anyone or can recommend an in-home or center, we would love the advice.