time to baby proof the house

lots of pictures and some pretty important milestones this update.

seven months old... can you believe it? we're on the latter side of the first year and going strong... it seems like this last month flew by! i'm finally getting the hang of being a stay at home mom... we joined a baby and me work out class twice a week (only $20 for 8 weeks - thank you city of irving)! kai loves playing with the other kiddoes - well mostly just touching their heads and i love getting out and exercising with the other moms... my buddy annie and kai's bff noli go with us!

also, i'm subbing just one day a week when Gilbert (the school i most recently taught at) needs me for a bit of extra money and some adult interaction... i have my first gig this friday and am super excited!

shawn and others (buddy brad, cousins michael and wesley) have finished the ceilings in the other two bedrooms as well... so the house is almost done! i'll get pics after we de-clutter with a garage sale this weekend...

ok... enough blabbering... here's what you all are here for!

fun times at the park... she LOVES the swing!



isn't this a sweet picture?



a couple of weeks ago we went to tobey's bday party and kai got to ride the train with daddy!



now about those milestones... we had to lower the crib because i came in to find this one afternoon...



and then this...



she is trying super-hard to pull up on her crib and has succeeded once... she loves to hold on to the side if i help her up... and... she officially CRAWLED today! i'm assuming in the next couple of days she'll become a pro and i'll get some good video!

we went to toys R us and got this horsey bouncer thing on sale because the store is relocating... sadly she has never enjoyed it as much as the first night we brought it home! that is pure bliss people!



i mentioned cousin wesley above... he came up to dodge Ike and got suckered into helping shawn put the finishing touches on the rooms... but i think he enjoyed seeing kai! he was great with her!



when the weather changed, i couldn't resist buying these leg warmers for kai... and she's so smart, she knows when she sees the orange light on my camera that a super bright light is coming... so that's why she's got the funny face!



and for the sad news of the month... kai had her first major boo-boo... she fell while we were at the park last week with some friends and scraped her head and nose on the concrete (ouch!) she was such a trooper though and it's already almost completely healed! it was way harder on me than her... i bought her a super soft stuffed monkey for being such a tough gal!



noli and kai doing the butt-touch as only bff's can do



and a final note... this saturday we had a youth group reunion... over 150 (including spouses and kids) people came including our old youth pastors rick and angela! it was amazing to see everyone 10 years grown up... so much fun! here's our group pic...


until next time!

saavy six months!

hey everyone... kai is officially half a year old! on one hand, it goes by super fast, on the other, painfully slow... it was weird not having a classroom to get ready this year and it still feels like summer to me, even though most of my friends have completed yet another first day!

we had our 6 month check up today... and kai got her first vaccine... the dTap... it's a combo of diptheria, tetanus and pertussis... unfortunately the only one she really needs is pertussis, but they don't make it alone... i've been debating this shot for a while because it's the one that both my OB and Pediatrician recommended above all the others... and i'm wanting to put kai in the church nursery so she can get some social interaction.... so i did it... she did well, i nursed during it, so it distracted her a bit... and she's had a good evening, so all is well. on that note, since i had to vaccinate my little girl for a disease we can all catch and spread... you all should go out and get yours done as well... shawn and i are both planning on getting it... there was a news special on an outbreak of pertussis in the DFW area... so i'm thinking it's a good one... and Dr. Sears says it's one of the least reactive, so go for it. ok enough of that...

growth!

height: I forgot to ask them the official measurement, but i just measured her while she was sleeping and got about 27 inches... that means she's grown 7/12 of a foot since she was born! crazy... not sure about the percentile...

weight: 18 lbs 14 oz... i guess our scale at home is different from the scale at the office, or she's lost a pound in the last couple of weeks (not entirely impossible since i was giving her corn syrup - yuk! - in her bottles to combat constipation and for the last week or so, she's only wanted me)

head: 42 cm... 50th percentile... in the words of Dr. Agrawal...a big noggin

otherwise, we're still not crawling... well, she can do a 360 on her cute little belly and can scoot backwards across the room and do a push up on her cute little toes... but she still hasn't put it all together yet... we're thinking in the next couple of weeks at most... fun times!

dr. agrawal also gave us the ok on ALL fruits and veggies! so fun... i made our first batch of sweet potatoes tonight... i figured some things will be easy and cost effective to make and others i'll buy... like bananas and avocados can just be mashed up... the sweet potato was super easy... just bake and blend with a little water... i made one ice cube tray from one fairly large potato ($0.98) which is the equivalent of about 4 jars of store bought stuff ($0.50-$0.99 per jar)... so that's a pretty good deal if you ask me!

hmmm... sorry this is so long and i'm such a chatty cathy... lots to say i guess... but i'm done now... enjoy some pics!

the other day i put kai in her crib like this:



and came back to find this:



she's a mover!

this is what eating looks like in our house:


a couple of weeks ago we went to the Dallas World Aquarium (a misnomer to say the least) but kai enjoyed the fish she could see... here she is with her older gal pal emma:



shawn has already had two cookouts in honor of his birthday and will get another one this saturday... here's kai with her two great-grandmas on my side:



and here's kai's first sweet potato souffle ala ice cube tray



i guess that's it for now... love to you all!

our sloppy eater

so i've started giving kai just a taste of some foods... namely cereals (not a big fan), avocado and applesauce... i've also let her play with the sippy cup a few times, but when she gets the water, she makes a face like, this is not milk!

can you see why i'm so in love with her?



such a dainty sipper - pardon her french (it was a gift from friends)



avocado is yummy! and a fun color!



she loves the irobot - which helps me get things done around the house (cleaning the floors and keeping her entertained!)



and now for the really fun stuff... just a peek of what i get to watch everyday!

kai trying to crawl



funny baby eating applesauce!

day by day

it's amazing to me how much kai will be changing in the next few months! each day she gets better at sitting and closer to crawling! i'm actually excited about her 6 month birthday because we get to start solids for real and i think it'll be fun (although i hear the diapers are not so much!) we've had a busy week/weekend... we attended a pool party (check out carolyn's corner for pics) and a water slide party right afterwards for my nephew's 5th birthday... kai did extremely well until the very end (which is unfortunately when i busted out the camera)we still haven't thought of a name for kai to call my mom and dad... we might have to wait until kai starts talking to see what comes out... i do like papa G for my dad though...



sunday was a pretty low-key day, although we ventured to costco (not recommened on a sunday!) while we were waiting in line to check out, i put kai in the seat of the shopping cart to see how she would do... she loved her new vantage point!



here's our pro-sitter (she still weebles a little bit, but she's pretty much got it down and she's only knocked her head on the way down a couple times - so hard for me, but i guess that's why we have skulls!)




today my cousin and her girls came over - the girls hadn't seen kai (except when she was 2 weeks old) so it was fun...





and this evening we took my grandmother peach ice cream for her birthday ... but i left the camera at home, so we're going to have to go back and visit again..
we probably wouldn't have gotten a great picture any way because kai was super fussy... it was a long night for us!

that's all for now, folks... shawn is having a pretty invasive test done on monday so say a prayer for him... we still don't know exactly what's going on with him... thankfully he's got GREAT insurance with his current job... we've joked about having another baby right away because it's so much better than my insurance was through the school district.... but the key word is joked... :)

five months!

Today is Kai's five month birthday... we celebrated by going shopping with the girls at Northpark... she totally had a good time... especially in spite of the last couple of days... we've been having major moodiness for the past few days marked with eating every hour or so in the evenings... i think she was going through a growth spurt and making me up the milk production... because today was MUCH better and i think she drank more in one sitting than she has in a couple of months! so, hopefully the crankiness is over for now.... it was really, really beginning to wear on me... physically and psychologically!

In other news, Kai has almost mastered sitting up by herself... check out this video:


why are you sitting on my rug mr. octopus?



she also ate some rice cereal with mama's milk a few days ago (trying to help with the insatiable appetite!) she did really well and seemed to like it in spite of the face below:


she wanted to feed herself i think!


let's see... what else, we've been swimming a few times in our new pool - the one that sent shawn to the ER... i'll try to get some pictures later this week... thankfully she's a total water baby! i don't know what i'd do if i had a child that didn't like the water!

as far as shawn goes... we got word back that his vitamin levels are ok... so i guess that means they've ruled out a vitamin deficiency as the cause of the anemia... so that just means more tests.... he's feeling fine and spent all day yesterday cleaning up the backyard (it looks great by the way... we're ready for a bbq now) we'll keep everyone posted!

update on shawn

well, we went back to the doctor today... all of his abnormal counts were back to normal... but he's anemic... so she's doing more tests to pinpoint the cause... hopefully it's nothing serious! say a prayer if you think about it!

in the meantime, enjoy some adorable pics:

first "big girl" bath - she loved it!


our cute little family

new baby

shawn's that is...


yes, shawn has a new object of his affection, a 4x4 toyota 4runner... he took the top off and we went for a ride to my parent's for my brother's birthday


don't worry, there are no front airbags so it was "safe" - well at least as safe as it was in the 80's

we went down to shawn's dad's house for the 4th and kai went swimming


then we put her in an innertube, just her size... she crossed her feet at her ankles and is almost ready for a trip down the guadalupe!


after some swimming she hung out with peepaw and bentley II on the swing


i'm so bad about taking pictures of the little one!

in other news, we had to take shawn to the ER last night... we were clearing a spot for a pool in our backyard and he kept getting really tired... we thought it was just the heat... he got nauseous and threw up everything in his stomach and laid down... he got up with severe "flank" pain - the area in between your ribs and pelvis... it finally got so bad he was dry heaving, so we rushed to the hospital... they did a ct scan and chest x-ray and did blood work... they thought for sure it was a kidney stone, but ruled that out after the scan... his blood work came back a little abnormal, so we went to the regular doctor today to get it done again.. if it comes back abnormal again, he'll need to go see a kidney doctor most likely... say a prayer, it's a bit disconcerting not knowing what's going on! we'll keep everyone posted!

that's all for now.. kai will be 5 months old next week... more to come soon!

it's an anniversary!

well, our wedding anniversary was yesterday - i can't believe it's been a year already! we celebrated by taking our first date without the baby saturday night... i had a margarita (yum!) and got my nose pierced for the 5th time! i've always had to take it out for work and since i won't have that problem come august, i've done it for hopefully the last time! we didn't get any pictures, we're slackers... but it was fun to be out without kai, it kinda even felt like we were dating again!

then yesterday i took kai to her 4 month exam (details coming soon)... and then picked up shawn from work (we're sharing the CR-V since we sold the Matrix) and we went to pappadeaux (shawn loved it, me, well, i'm not crazy about seafood, but the greek salad was great!)... we came home and looked at the top tier of our wedding cake,


took one whiff and decided that we didn't want diarrhea and put it in the garbage where it belonged... after shawn posed with the gooey mess


oh yeah and shawn sent flowers which upon delivery woke me up from a glorious nap, but it was worth it! i just went back to sleep after admiring them for a bit...


i also got my rings resized so i could wear them again (depressing and exciting at the same time)


it's been a pretty eventful year for us... new house, marriage and a baby all rolled into one! it's going to be hard to top it... but i'm sure we'll manage.

so... what you've all been waiting for... Kai stats:

weight: 15 lbs 14 oz - 90th percentile
height: 25 1/2 inches - 90th percentile
head: again not sure - 50th percentile

dr. says she's still a big baby... not sure where she gets it from... but i'm glad she's healthy and keeps growing... here's a run down of her sizes (they're all wonky)

shirt/top: 3-6 or 6-9 but some 12 month items fit
bottoms: without cloth diaper 6 months, with 9-12 months
feet: 0-3 months! i don't think they've grown since she was born! they're TINY!

what else... well dr. said don't start her on solids till 6 months, so i'm going to wait on that... she's doing well on breastmilk alone... while we were there i put kai on her belly and the dr. said she's already trying to crawl... won't be long! the only thing she mentioned for me to do was massage her back because she's still got quite the hairy butt crack - the doctor thinks massage will help it fall out... but i think it's kinda cute! she's recently rediscovered her feet (i'll try to get a picture for next time)... and has succeeded in putting her foot in her mouth at least once... she tries to put EVERYTHING in her mouth, even lucy's ears if they get close enough... oh well, they say dogs help build a baby's immunity!

go ahead and say it, cutest baby ever!


more pics of the little darlin' next time, promise!

Four Months Old... But Who's Counting?

Well, not much to say... we've added some decorations to the nursery... lots of monkeys because we like to call Kai our little monkey because she was born with lots of excess body hair (don't worry, most of it's gone now!)

As far as developmental milestones, she's rolled from her tummy to back on her own a handful of times... and can go the other way with just a bit of help... I've thought about introducing rice cereal, but i'm going to wait until our pediatrician visit next week... kai likes to watch us eat or at least the food that we're eating... i don't think she's made the connection between food and mouth just yet. She's laughing a ton and smiles lots, of course by the time we whip the camera out, she's done or becomes so fascinated with the camera that the smile is replaced by the open, drooly mouth of curiosity.

On other fronts, Shawn has finished working on the back bathroom and we sold the Matrix! So things are going well!

Kai's name in Anthropologiesque letters resting on her dresser:


Some of the awesome "Animalz" we got on clearance at Target:


Jumanji anyone?


They keep a watchful eye on us at night!


Beautiful (drooly) Baby:


See Shawn, there are benefits to me staying home - "gourmet" meals!


Stunning eyes eh?


Angry face in spite of Mr. Octopus - cutest thing ever!