Photo Shoot of Sorts

I took a few pics of Kye the other day. 9 month pics. Problem is I didn't get many of his face because his backside was too darn cute. :)



I know I have mentioned this before, but I have to say it again - I just LOVE the back of this little man's head! His ear sticking out like that are just way too cute for his own good.

Little Stinker

So, Kye doesn't like me to feed him, but he is also pretty particular about what he will feed himself. If he doesn't like it he will start smearing his hands all over his tray in an effort to mash up all the food that he doesn't want. He seems to be partial to certain textures of foods and he likes carbs...not so much fruits or veggies. Unfortunate.

Anyway, sometimes he goes even further and starts smearing his messy hands all over himself...


...and he thinks it's so funny.

I don't really share in his joy when he does this. But he does look so darn cute. :)

Dancing in Springtime

Tryn wants to be a dancer. I would say she kind of already looks like one. :)













Needless to say, we are fully embracing this beautiful weather. Has it ever been 80 degrees in March before? Not that I remember. We love it.

Sunday Thoughts

Things I am thinking this morning:

* This weather is so stinkin' wonderful I don't even know what to do with myself. I took the kids to the park yesterday for the first time this year ("To the outdoor park?" was their awe and wonder.) and just sat reveling in the fact that I have a really great job right now. Part of my job is to sit in the sun on the first beautiful day of the year with three of the people that I love the most in the world and just have fun playing. How awesome is that?! I feel so blessed.

* My knee is stiff from running lately. If anyone has any good stretches to help knees, please let me know. It's the inside of my knee.

* I was realizing this morning that Kyeson is around the same age as Berlin was when she started walking. Kye is not even close to walking yet, which is just fine by me for my last little baby, but the thing that I keep thinking is, "How in the world did Berlin actually walk when she was only this size?!!!" Kye is so wobbly when he stands, and he is entirely too little of a human being to be walking around. Yet, Berlin was fully walking by this age. I do remember thinking she was the smallest walking person I had ever seen...

* And super random thought that I have been thinking about for the past day. I have been trying to imagine a world in which we didn't care about fashion or style...sadly, I can't. We are such a materialistic world. Don't get me wrong, I like to dress nice and have cute clothes, but wouldn't it be so nice not to care? I think it would be fabulous. We could all wear our clothes until they were threadbare and until we needed (as in need because otherwise we would walk around unclothed) something new.

* This weather is so nice.

* I am considering tapping the maple trees in my yard and making maple syrup. Am I crazy? Probably. But for some reason it seems like it would be kind of fun. :) I should decide soon as it seems this would be the week to start.

One Determined Little Boy

Kyeson was sitting on the floor this morning with a bunch of toys around him. Eventually he noticed that my computer charger cord was sitting within view. He scooted around on his bottom until he could grab the cord. Success. Then he realized that the cord came with a box attached to it (you know, the middle of all computer chargers) which was out of reach between a rock and a hard place (couch and laundry basket). So he pulled and pulled and pulled with all his might. Over and over and over again, getting mad when he still couldn't reach the box part, until finally the cord popped loose from the wall. Success! Total happiness.

One determined little boy.

Also, I decided to try to give Kye some yogurt to see if it would help with his digestive issues and ongoing gas pains. Of course, he is too young to use a spoon himself and so I had to feed him the yogurt. It took me three separate mealtimes to get him to eat an entire small little container of baby yogurt. He didn't not want to eat something that someone else had to feed him.

One determined little boy.

It's a good thing I come with my own healthy dose of determination as well. We will be a good match against each other. ;)

Happy Birthday Berlin!

Dear Berlin,

Well, you finally turned four. One of my favorite things to do over the past few months was to ask you, "Hey! Do you know anything three year olds?" You would get this silly smile on your face, like you knew a secret, and yell, "ME, Mom!" Then I would ask you if you could please stay three for me so that I could always have a three year old and you would tell me, "Um, sure!" It didn't work though, you still turned four. :)

I have been thinking lately how very much like me I think you are - sorry about that. I sure do love to watch you though. You are the greatest story teller. I can't even describe the wonderful way you tell stories...I think I will have to try and get it on video sometime. I love your phrases, word choice, and how you add actions to explain your stories better. It is my favorite.

Your birthday was so fun! We invited some of your little friends over and you had such a good time. You waited for days for your friends to get here. Even though you were excited about presents, I think you actually were more excited about getting to see some of your friends that you hadn't seen in awhile. And this year you picked Winnie the Pooh for your cake, which totally surprised me. We started out with Diego, went to Ariel, and ended with Pooh. Last minute you tried to convince Daddy that we should switch the cake to Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, which is still one of your favorites, but not even possible as a cake option sorry to say.

I love you so very much. You are my favorite newly turned four year old in the world and I love you all the way to Africa and back.

Love,
Mom

Here are some questions we asked you today.

Favorite Color: Orange. And blue.

Favorite food: Pancakes

Favorite dessert: Ice cream

Favorite thing to do: Play animals in the bath

Favorite game: Memory

Favorite toy: My Ariel and animals

Favorite movie: Winnie the Pooh

Favorite song: The Christmas Taylor Swift song (Last Christmas)

(Steve's question) Who is your favorite parent: Mom (haha! That one backfired on you hon!)

My Saturday

The goings on of our household today have been as such: Berlin found a little ladybug in my room while I was in there cleaning earlier. She brought it over to me on her finger and I told her it was nice. And then screaming commenced because Berlin discovered that the ladybug was actually living and it "tried to grab my hand with it's fingers!".

Said ladybug decided to hang out on the floor while we all adjusted to the fact that it was living. Tryn, Berlin, and I were all crouched down on our knees with our faces to the floor. The girls discussed how cute the new ladybug was and tried to think of a way to keep him, I tried to gently dissuade them. It didn't work.

We all watched the ladybug crawl around the floor. When it decided to stretch his wings, wherein we found out that something must be broken and he can't fly, I think we all moved fairly quickly in what Berlin and Tryn described as "freaking out". We all just decided to give that little bug some distance, is the way I would describe it. Then the girls got out my phone and took numerous pictures and video of the insect.

The poor little bug has now found a home in a lidded plastic container with some bits of lettuce for company. His name is Cruella and he has been a constant playmate all day long. Berlin pretended to take a nap with Cruella, Tryn has carried him around, and Berlin recently burst into tears when she looked in the container and thought he had passed from the living. They have pretty high expectations for this poor creature.

Oh, and Steve and Kye are the only people in this family who have gotten out of their pj's today. They both spilled breakfast on their pj's...oh, wait, that was just Kye. Steve had to go to work. :) The girls and I are having a pj day, which Tryn is very excited about since she has to get dressed most days to go to school.

And that is Saturday.

Update Oops!

After I got done writing Kye's update yesterday I realized I forgot a few really important things!!

First, Kye says Mama and Dada!! He started saying them right after Christmas and, of course, he said Mama first! He started saying Mama when he was upset about something or wanted something and shortly after started saying Dada. He mostly just says Dada when he is hanging out having fun and Mama when he is upset, but he did say Mama first - no matter what Steve has to say on the subject if you ask him. :)

Also, a few weeks ago Kye started giving kisses! I love it. They are open mouth and the biggest sloppiest kisses ever, but I love it every time he does it. He will just take my face in his little hands and plant big ole sloppy wetness on my lips and it's so cute.

AND, Kye currently has 6 teeth. He started getting them in December, right before Christmas and all 6 of them popped through within about a week and a half. He has the cutest smile ever right now with a space right between his upper front teeth. I kind of hope the space sticks around for a little bit because it is just so darn cute.

Okay, I think that is all I forgot.

Kye Update

Well, Kye's update dates that I wanted to mark by writing a little bit about where is he at just come and go and I don't even notice. Oops. I took some 6 month pics of him that I wanted to post and I forgot. Oops.

Yes, they were nakie baby pics in front of the tree. Unfortunately, he was just learning how to sit up without falling over so the shoot didn't last long we had to do it the day we took our tree down. But I got a few pics that he will hate later at least. :)

Over the past few months there have been two things that changed Kye in noticeable ways. First, we took our trip out to WY. While we were there Kye had to learn to sleep in a different bed and take naps outside of his comfort zone - several times over a few different days. When we got home he was suddenly a different baby. Before we left I was laying down with him to help him fall asleep for naps and when we got home he was different and seemed much older. Because suddenly he was less dependent on me for sleep. Which was great, but just different.

Then our household was sick for a month. Kye and Berlin started it and Kye and I ended it. At the end of January the kids got a cold/fever/flu type thing and I got a cold and poor Kye also got pink eye and then a double ear infection. After he got put on medication and started sleeping for more than an hour at a time at night we all came down with a whole separate cold/flu/fever type thing. Then Kye broke out in a horrible rash all over his body and looked like he had a plague, allergic to Amoxicillin apparently. After all that was said and done, the poor babe had not really had a normal healthy day in a whole month.

Now that he is healthy, however, I think he is trying to make up for the lost time of laying around sick. He is like a different baby than before he got sick. He is super, super active and trying to get into everything. He can't crawl yet, but I can tell he wants to so very badly. I am pretty sure that if he hadn't had to lay around for a month he probably would be crawling by now. He has crazy amounts of energy.

He also refuses to be spoon fed now. Before he got sick he was eating baby food like a champ, loving even combinations like spinach, peas, and pears. While he had the ear infection he stopped eating baby food all together and also stopped nursing for about 5 days. I had some nice visits with my pump and we realized that Kye still does take a bottle just fine. When he started eating again he still wouldn't eat baby food from a spoon - at all. He would let me give him like 6 or 7 bites and then he would just close up his lips and refuse the food, no matter what it was. It took me a few days to realize that he will eat almost anything if he gets to do it himself. So over the past week his favorite foods have become black beans, tofu, eggs, egg and quinoa patties, cheese (specifically havarti), blueberries, and grapes. Oh, and he loves Kix cereal. He won't let me sneak bites of anything else in via spoon, it has to be chunks of something on his plate or he won't eat it.

So, again, he has become much less baby-ish over the past week and half. And then I realized that he is 9 months old and few short months away from turning one. I have to keep reminding myself that before he was born life was getting much easier with older kids and that I was feeling crazy to move back to baby stuff. Remember that, remember that! Because right now I am freaking out that my baby is getting so old so fast. And one really small part of me can't wait until "a little while from now" when this little last baby of mine starts sleeping through the night. I cannot wait to sleep through the night for like 7 days in a row or something wild like that.

But I will really miss the baby part of baby Kye.