9 Months

Kyler and his Valentine's balloon from Mommy.

Kyler has changed more in this month than he has his whole life so far. It's crazy! I have no idea where that tiny helpless baby went. Here's what he does now:

• He can crawl!!! He just started in the last week and today got much better at it. Soon he'll be pretty fast and we're going to have to keep an eye on him every second.
• He can clap his hands. Lately it has been more of rubbing his hands together. We're not entirely sure why.
• He can wave "bye bye." (Tonight we were telling him that a sheep says "baa baa" and asking him to say it and he started waving bye-bye. Poor guy is a little confused.)
• He can go from his tummy to a sitting position and does it all the time.
• He's got two new teeth on top (for a grand total of 4 teeth so far). This means the tongue stays in his mouth a lot more. And he really likes to take bites of food and other objects that make it into his mouth.
• He no longer takes a bottle. He is on the sippy cup now.
• He eats big person food and drinks whole milk instead of baby food and formula. And he is getting huge from eating so much. His belly sticks out really really far!
• We have had to pack lots of little baby things away like the infant car seats, baby toys, and bottles.

This little man is getting smarter and learning new things everyday. It is amazing the things he will copy and the things he understands. (For example, he understands "no" and understands that the worst punishment he can get isn't all that bad. We've shouted and even lightly slapped his hands and he will just give a little grin. I think we're in for it.)

Ky was playing in his room and when I checked on him, he had found his books and taken them all off the shelf.

Tomorrow is his 9 month check-up so we'll see what this huge baby weighs.

All You Can Eat Chinese Buffet

This little piggy went to market...

This little piggy loves egg rolls...

This little piggy also loves the sugary donut things...

This little piggy can't make up his mind...

So this little piggy just alternates...

And makes his Mom and Dad smile! :)

Happy Valentine's Day

Last week was nuts with Kyler being sick and me being extremely busy with work so these didn't go into the mail in time for Valentine's Day but here's a preview...

I am proud to say that I did this by myself just by using a template and layering the photos in a free photo editing software I found.

Happy Valentines Day from Brett, Cindy, & Kyler (and Maggie & Baxter too)!

Sick of Being Sick

Kyler is sick once again. He has been battling his ongoing cold for months now. It gets better and then worse. But overall he's usually been pretty good and just had a little bit of a runny nose. Yesterday he started running a fever again though and his cold has gotten worse in the past week. So we had to keep him home from daycare today. Brett stayed home with him until 3:00 so I could go in for some meetings and to work on a return that is due next week. Hopefully this is the last time that happens for a while. I'm hoping when the weather warms up Ky's cold goes away... now if the weather would just warm up!

Update: It turns out Kyler had roseola. We figured it out after he started getting a rash on Thursday evening and it was gone by Saturday morning. This is something that almost all babies get once. It starts out as a fever and ends with a rash. The good thing is he is slightly less irritable now (although still not his happy, content self) and his appetite is back - we learned on Saturday that he is a big fan of Chinese food, especially egg rolls. Now if he could just kick this cold I think we would be in good shape.

Our Happy Boy

I have totally been slacking at taking pictures and posting on the blog. So here are some of the more recent pictures of our little big boy.

One day we caught him playing in the crate that his toys are in.

Then he noticed I had a camera and had to give me a little smile. :)

While I am working away in the kitchen (recently tearing down old wallpaper), Kyler will play and play for hours at a time.

He's our happy boy.

And he loves it when his daddy gets him. He will scream and laugh.

Look at those wheels turning while he looks at books with Dad. Books are his favorite. They are always the first toys to be pulled out of the crate.

Tonight we bought some new shoes so that Kyler can't pull his socks off. They make him look so much older!

He's not sure what to think of them. They wouldn't come off his feet like his socks do. He even tried to pull them off with his mouth. But eventually he got used to them.

Did you notice his chubby cheeks? He is such a big eater and is really starting to fill out. I wouldn't say he is a fat baby but he's definitely solid. We'll find out what he weighs here in a few weeks at his 9 month check-up but I'm sure he will be over 20 pounds based on the weigh-in the last time we took him to the doctor for his cold and fever.

8 Months

As you can probably tell from the lack of posting, things have been crazy around here. After we got back from our Christmas vacation Brett and I have been pretty busy with work. And Ky-Man was sick for a little bit. He ran a really high fever that got up close to 105 degrees. On top of all that we were trying to get by with one car and in the process of buying another. And Brett was traveling for a couple of days while Kyler was sick and I was really busy trying to catch up on work.

Anyway, back to 8 months. We can tell that Kyler is really picking up on things lately. He copies a lot of our actions when playing with him. He is discovering some new body parts in the bathtub. In fact, he even found his birthmark. It is about the size of a kidney bean on his forearm close to his elbow. The other day he had a short-sleeved shirt on and was trying to pick at his birthmark like it was a piece of food stuck to him. Today Kyler started clapping. He had shut all the little doors to his pop up toy and looked up at me smiling and proud of himself. Then he started repeatedly putting his hands together. It was very slow and obviously didn't make a sound but we were so proud of our funny little guy!

Kyler has been growing so fast. He is already close to 20 pounds and has been getting really long too. We can't believe how big he has gotten. He is eating almost all finger foods now and we started mixing whole milk with his formula. He still just has the two bottom teeth and we know he is working on several more. And he has yet to start crawling. He will occasionally get up on all fours and rock but only scoots backward or around in a circle on his tummy. He is gaining interest in pulling himself up to furniture. We are still thinking he might walk before he crawls. He makes "dada" and "mama" sounds (although he doesn't understand what they mean) and also says "baba" and blows raspberries. Books are still probably his favorite toys followed by the pop-up toys and the ones that make noise.

This weekend Brett and I are going to Colorado on a ski trip and it will be the first time Kyler is away from me at night. He will be staying with my parents for about 5 days. We sure will miss our Ky Ky but we know he is in good hands and will have lots of fun with Grandma and Grandpa!

Baby New Year

We want to wish all of our friends and family a happy new year! We have had so much fun in 2010 with our little Ky-Man and are excited to see him continue to grow and change in 2011. It is bittersweet watching all of these changes in him. We don't want him to grow up so fast but he is becoming more and more fun all the time. In the past week or so he has really found his voice. Most of the way home today we listened to him babbling and yelling in the back seat. Nobody can say that Kyler is lacking personality!

He has also been eating a lot more "real food" and we have gotten away from his babyfood more and more. When he feeds himself finger foods he is a lot happier and eats better than when we feed him bottles or babyfood so that's what we've been letting him do. It's messy but it works. His favorites are bananas and Grandma's chicken noodle soup with crackers. He also really likes grilled cheese and peanut butter toast.

It might be a bit of a challenge getting Kyler back on his normal schedule after his holiday break. He has been staying up very late and sleeping in later than normal. On New Year's Eve I put him to bed a little after 11:00 and he was back up before midnight to celebrate with us. We just stayed in and Grandma and Grandpa's house since it was so cold.

New Year's Day was Great Grandma Rita's Christmas and Kyler was definitely spoiled. He got a scooter toy to ride on, a little toy car, two more cell phones, and some really cute clothes. He spent a lot of time with the older cousins. You wouldn't believe how popular he was with the teen and college-aged boys.

We hope your holidays were as merry as ours and best wishes in 2011!

Kyler's 1st Christmas

We started the celebration at home the Sunday before Christmas. Since we were planning on leaving town as soon as I got off work on Wednesday, we thought Sunday evening was the best time to open gifts. Ky couldn't wait to get started.

Kyler had plenty of gifts to open before we even left the house. He got some "Engrish" shirts from Uncle Ryan and Aunt Jessica in Japan. They have English writing that doesn't always make sense so they are pretty funny. They also sent over some boxing shorts from Thailand.

From Santa and Mom and Dad, Kyler got a baby basketball hoop, a stuffed dog called My Pal Scout that knows his name, a toy cell phone, a Yo Gabba Gabba book, and his favorite book from the library: "And the Cow Said Moo." He was starting to get the hang of unwrapping gifts by the time we were done.

A couple days later while Mommy was making Christmas goodies, he made a big mess with his cookie. But at least it was yummy and he enjoyed it.

Kyler was at Grandma and Grandpa Brack's from Wednesday night through Christmas day. He got a box full of books - one of his favorite things. He also got a bunch of things to play with in the bathtub. We can't wait to get home and try them out. He also received another stuffed doggie that plays music from Great Grandma and Grandpa Weber.

On Christmas day we headed to Seneca to Great Grandma and Grandpa Haverkamp's house. Kyler had a lot of fun playing with all the younger kids there and he got a little toy train. Then on Sunday we opened more gifts at Grandpa Tig and Grandma Debbie's house. By this time Kyler had it down. We are getting a bike to ride this spring and Kyler also got some pop up toys, a bike helmet, and a recordable book with Grandma and Grandpa reading to him. It was pretty funny when he listened to it the first time - he kept looking at them as he heard their voices.

We have one more Christmas to go on New Years Day. Our car is already packed as full as it can go so hopefully we don't end up with too much more!

Merry Christmas!

We are off to visit the grandparents. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

7 Months

Kyler turned 7 months old yesterday. Grandma and Grandpa were in town doing some last-minute Christmas shopping and Grandpa Tig could not believe how big Ky had gotten. We have been noticing the same thing each time we get Kyler dressed. He is growing out of more and more clothes on a daily basis. Can you say growth spurt?

Here is a day in the life of Kyler at 7 months:

MORNING

• Kyler wakes up around 8:30 each morning. He eats some baby cereal or Cream of Wheat with a couple tablespoons full of pureed apples or pears mixed in. He also has some toast or graham cracker or some other finger food to go along with it. Lately he also has to take his medicine (an antibiotic for his cold and nearly an ear infection). 
• Kyler constantly has his tongue out. We think he is feeling his two new bottom teeth and hope he keeps that tongue in his mouth when the top two get here. 
• Ky usually makes 2-3 dirty diapers in the morning, one right after the other. He loves playing with his feet and socks so we are constantly fighting over them when he is getting his diaper changed. 
• Kyler takes a bottle either before or after breakfast - around 6 ounces. And then he plays with his toys until he goes down for a nap around 10:30. He rubs his eyes and gets fussy when he is tired and he will fall asleep with his paci, blanket, and his mobile on in his crib.

AFTERNOON

• Around noon I hear him making noises in his bed. He is usually playing with his feet or the ties on his crib bumper. 
• He gets up, has a diaper change, and it is time for lunch. This is usually some finger food like canned pears or a banana and close to 1/2 cup of some mixture of squash, sweet potatoes, and fruit. 
• Then it is playtime again for a couple of hours. His favorite toy right now is his Little People nativity scene. We even opened gifts last night and he was still wanting the nativity scene over all the noisy and bright toys we bought. I guess we should have gotten more Little People toys instead! 
• Kyler loves sitting up and playing and is trying hard to move around more. He plays like a boy, always banging and throwing toys. He gets upset when he is reaching and rolling and bangs into a hard toy. His arms are always up in the air when he is excited and instead of wagging a tail like a dog would do when they are happy, Kyler moves his feet in circles. 
• He takes another bottle while he is awake and at around 2:30 he goes back to bed for an hour or so. Then it is playtime again for a couple of hours and he will have another bottle during that time.

EVENING

• We usually feed Kyler dinner (and recently his medicine) around 6:30 after Brett gets home from work. Dinner is similar to lunch and we sometimes give him crackers or some kind of snack so that we can eat or do things while he is in the high chair. 
• A few nights each week I give Kyler a bath after dinner. This is one of his favorite activities. He now has a bath seat and can sit up in the tub. I dump water right over his head and he has no problem with that. He splashes quite a bit and is fascinated with the drain when I pull the plug.
• Then it is playtime with Dad for a little while. Brett has been really trying hard to get Kyler to crawl and Ky is way more patient on his tummy than when I try. 
• Kyler has been pretty vocal lately. He sometimes yells pretty loudly and does a lot of babbling... bababa or dadada are his most common phrases. 
• Around 8:30 it is time to start calming down. Kyler takes a bottle; we try for 8-9 ounces at this time so he will sleep longer. Then he usually wants to sit or lie with one of us and read a book or play with a quiet toy with his paci until he is tired enough to go to bed.

NIGHT

• Once in bed, Kyler has been waking up every 20 minutes for the first hour or two. We think it is because he is working on his top two teeth. He loses his pacifier and immediately wakes up (normally he would sleep right through that). 
• Once he is finally down, he will sleep until around 4:00 when he needs a bottle and a diaper change. Then he is back down until morning.

We are really looking forward to Christmas with Kyler. We did our own family Christmas last night and he did pretty good opening gifts. He started realizing that he pulls the paper and then something fun appears. I sure I'll be eating my words when it happens but we can't wait for Kyler to start crawling. I know he will be into everything and will probably be pretty fast - the kid does not stop moving!