Kyler -- Week 36 (7/21/12-7/27/12)

We had a lot of firsts this week, including adding breakfast to Kyler's meal plan. We started out the week at Lori's family's cottage. Kyler had a great time playing in their kiddie pool, but also going into the lake. He was not sure what to think of the sand at first, keeping one of his feet off the sand at all times. He did not love his first boat ride at the beginning because the life jacket was in his face, but after I figured out how to pull it down, he was all smiles. Kyler had a great time hanging out with his cousin KayLynn and playing with all kinds of different toys. He had a great time on the swing and played in the exersaucer (which he could not figure out why it did not bounce like his jumperoo).


Kyler also had a great time trying lots of new foods, including his first finger food--puffs! He loves puffs and has started to get the hang of how to get them into his mouth. Kyler also got to try another new food--potatoes. He has found lots of new things to play with, including laundry baskets, and has mastered going up the one stair in Grandma and Grandpa's living room. Kyler has also found that watching Grandpa's fish tank is a lot of fun, but he keeps trying to touch the fish through the glass.

Kyler visited lots of new places this week. We went to the Hudsonville farmers market for the first time and got a lot of fresh produce for baby food. We went to visit our new house and show Kyler what his new room would look like, but before we could leave, Kyler spit up all over the new carpet. I guess he wanted to leave his mark in the new home. We also had a great friend invite us to visit Sandy Pines, where my family used to spend lots of summer days swimming, boating, and spending time family and friends. It was bittersweet to be there; it was great to take Kyler to visit a place that is so dear to my childhood, yet sad to know that he will not have the same experiences there. But whatever Kyler's summers hold, I sure they will include lots of fun, family, and love.

Hanging out with Grandma at the cottage 

"There is a big lake to play in, but I still love being in the pool!"

Not sure about the boat ride or the life jacket...

...but now he loves it!

Such a serious little man in the morning...

Thinking hard about something

Hanging out at the lake with his family, with his sail boat in the floating hipp

"I get into my food, Mommy!"

"What--do you think that I should get out of the pool?"

"Silly Mommy--I just blow bubbles"

Big smile!

Duncan just hanging out in the grass while Kyler continues to splash in the pool

"After 4 large poops, Mommy is taking a big risk letting me skinny dip now!"

Kyler -- Week 35 (7/14/12-7/20/12)

So it has been a long time since we have worked on this blog, and as tempted as I am to just give you an overview of what has happened the past couple of months, I see this blog as a bit of a "baby book" for Kyler and do not want to shorten what is a big part of his exploring days. A lot has happened to us recently--and, really, since before Kyler has been born--and I have been writing a journal about what Kyler has done or experienced every single day of his life. So I am always able to go back and see what has happened during a given time frame, even when I get behind on my blog.

For Kyler's 35th week of life, we were busy with travels yet again. We returned from Ann Arbor on Saturday and discovered that while in the car, if you turn on classical music, it calms Kyler and will eventually put him to sleep. When we returned to west Michigan, he again loved being in the pool just as much as ever, even seeming to have a renewed interest in splashing and kicking the water coming out of the jets. Sunday we went to a new church, but had to take the "old" car seat along to give him a place to sleep during church. He was pretty fussy, but fell asleep right at the beginning of the sermon. I don't think it said anything about the pastor.

Monday brought Ryan's and my 7th anniversary, which we spent going to Costco and hanging around with repairmen fixing my parents' hot water heater. While at Costco, Kyler got a new friend: Cade A. Bear (a.k.a. Bear A. Cade), which has helped to block him from trying to get to stairs. Kyler had fun hanging out with Grandpa and Grandma while we went out for our anniversary to San Chez Tapas Bistro, but he did not want to go to sleep for them. He got to hang out late into the night and laugh as Grandpa and Grandma played "volleyball" in the living room. Guess he thought that was pretty funny.

The rest of the week brought new foods (asparagus and egg yolk), and we found a new friend in his window well that set the monitor off all night long--a trapped little bunny (see the video below). We also started to dislike the jumperoo because of it meant confinement. With the water heater broken for much of the week, we spent a lot of time giving Kyler baths in the kiddie pool outside. On Friday morning, we headed out to Lori's family's cottage and played by the beach. KayLynn and Kyler had so much fun playing together. It will be fun to see what they are like in a couple of years. 

Cousins playing in the kiddie pool with adorable hats

KayLynn is such a loving little lady!

In the pool with Grandpa--happy as a clam

Just looking cute in the pool--a place he has spent a lot of time this summer

"I love my fish toy, but I see you taking my picture, Mommy!"

A thoughtful picture...I think there were butterflies he was watching

Just another happy boy picture :)

Playing in the water, looking for toys

Rolling with his "homey" Cade A. Bear

Kyler -- Week 34 (7/7/12-7/13/12)

We had a lot of fun catching up with so many friends this week! We started out on Saturday visiting Ryan's college friends and former Be Nicholas Bé bandmates. Kyler also thought that this would be the time to start a new milestone--CRAWLING! He had been rocking back and forth on all fours for quite a while, but when Mommy put down her cell phone, it was just too much of a temptation, and he had to go forward! Of course, nothing on the ground is safe any longer. Along with crawling, church is becoming something that may be changing very soon. We never really found a home church in Bourbonnais, and now that we are looking in west Michigan, Kyler is getting to the point where we might have to try putting him in nursery soon. Church on Sunday at Mars Hill with the family was busy, with Kyler going from person to person and then getting really loud hiccups during the message. This caused me to take Kyler to what I deemed, "Baby Road" on the far side of church, where a lot of people were walking with their kids. Kyler also got to show off his splashing and love of water to his Daddy; he will even voluntarily put his face in the water without crying. We saw the return of our wonderful little sleeper this week, and Kyler started to copy his Dad's fake laugh, which sounds a little bit like a funny cough. One morning after Kyler woke up early, he snuggled in bed with Daddy and took a nice nap curled up in Ryan's arms. Ryan decided this was the perfect morning to head in to Calvin a little late. I don't blame him a bit.

On Wednesday, we headed out to the east side of Michigan to visit our old stomping grounds, where Kyler could meet so many of our dear friends. We stayed at our friend Melissa's house on Wednesday night, enjoying a dinner out to Red Robin together. On Thursday, Ryan began two days of work at the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology, while I took Kyler to the University of Michigan Department of Anesthesiology to see many of my wonderful former coworkers. I really miss my old job and the wonderful people I got to know there, but being a mom is a better job than almost anything I can think of. I truly feel very blessed to be able to stay home with Kyler and spend my days teaching and loving him. After a wonderful visit with great  friends, I had to bring Kyler to one of the Ann Arbor places we miss the most--the Cupcake Station. Oh, so many cupcakes, so little time...

We spent Thrusday and Friday night at Paul and Kellie's house. Kyler was able to hang out with his superfriend Ben, who was really great at having a little boy invade his space. Friday brought more friends (Laura, Simon, and Amos) to meet and play with Kyler. We went out to Chili's for lunch to celebrate Kellie's birthday. Kyler was clearly starving before his lunch, so he chomped on the menu for a while. The highlight of Kyler's week (at least according to Ryan) would be visiting our old softball team and watching them in action. We miss so many people from Ann Arbor, but we are thankful that Kyler got to finally meet them.

"This is the biggest tubby ever, Mommy!"

"Watch, Daddy, I can kick and splash!"

"I get so excited that I get water in my eyes..."

"...a lot! I love to splash!"

"I am so hungry, Mommy--where is my lunch?"

Superfriends!

"Okay, I know that Batman doesn't fly, but I'm cute enough to pull it off, right?"

Kyler -- Week 33 (6/30/12-7/6/12)

Our first week in Michigan had a lot of ups and downs. We had a great time having family come and visit over the weekend/holiday, hanging out in the pool and grilling outside. The downside to the week was that Kyler was not sleeping well at all. He normally goes to sleep around 8pm and sleeps 11-12 hours straight with two nice naps during the day ranging from 1-3 hours each. This week, Kyler wouldn't nap, nor would he go to bed peacefully and stay asleep. There were some nights that he did not really go to sleep until after 1am, but then he would sleep in until almost 10am. We thought that maybe it was just adjusting to a new location, but he had been to Grandpa and Grandma's many times before without much trouble. Kyler's top front teeth had come in, but we noticed that two other top teeth were also coming in. So we thought that all this difficult sleeping was just related to teething.

Monday night Kyler was up most of the night despite being very sleepy. He would sleep in our arms, but the instant you put him down in his crib, he would wake up screaming. Tuesday morning he felt really warm, and we found out that he had a 101 temperature, along with a sudden runny nose and lack of appetite. After talking to Aunt Sue (who is a pediatric nurse), we headed to the med station to get a check up, which revealed that Kyler had an ear infection. The poor kid had not really gotten sick since he was born, so this was a new experience for all of us. As we kept giving him antibiotics, his naps and sleep returned back to normal, albeit slower than we had hoped for. The 4th of July fireworks also did not help our sleeping, which brought Ryan to the decision that he now dislikes this holiday the most.

Eating sweet potatoes

"You are letting me have my own spoon!?"

"Oh, how I love my spoon!"

Happy 4th of July, everyone!

"I took pictures, Mommy. Can we go in the pool now?"

Kyler -- Week 32 (6/23/12-6/29/12)

So this week, after about 11 months of living in Bourbonnais, we left Illinois to return to Michigan. We started off the week with having Uncle Bob and Aunt Dawn come to visit us for the day. We had a great time seeing them and ate a great dinner at Jimmy Jo's BBQ. The next day, Uncle Charlie and Aunt Britani came by to see us on their way back to Evansville. Kyler showed off by rolling all over and getting up onto his knees. We took them out to our favorite place for breakfast in Bourbonnais: French Toast. Kyler slept through much of the meal, but it was great to visit and enjoy awesome food. On the way home, we ended up stuck behind the Bourbonnais Friendship Festival parade, which seemingly blocked every single one of our routes home. We all started having little meltdowns in the car, but eventually we made it home.

The last few days we were in Bourbonnais, we discovered something new for Kyler: Baby First TV. For those of you who have never watched this channel, it has tons of kids programs that are very short, so that it constantly changes for little ones. As much as Kyler loved to see it, there were some shows that we thought were just so silly, and we could not help making fun of some of the characters. Kyler also ate carrots for the first time and really seemed to like them. At the end of the week, he started eating bananas, and other than the bananas causing a bit of a backup in Kyler's digestive system, he really seemed to like them.

Moving day was a really big day, but Kyler took it all in stride and worked on perfecting his ability to sit up on his own. We had a lot of fun watching him stare at everything around him from a sitting position. For nap time, we actually had to set up the pack and play in the bathroom because that was the only room that did not have items to be moved. Kyler seemed to like it, but it was so funny how cramped the room was, besides the fact that it was the bathroom! When we arrived in Michigan, it was too late to go in the pool, but Kyler had a little fussiness before going to sleep. Ryan ended up staying behind in Bourbonnais for two extra days so he could finish up the Anatomy & Physiology class that he was teaching at Olivet.

Thursday and Friday involved some adjustments to Michigan and living at Grandpa and Grandma's. Kyler did not move into his own room until Friday night, but the upstairs nursery was great until then. Kyler's biggest adjustment was definitely the pool. At first he did not know what to think of it, but soon he was splashing and smiling amidst all his floating toys. We even gave him a bath outside because of the warm weather. I think that Kyler has already become more of a water lover than his Daddy.

Hanging out with Uncle Bob and Aunt Dawn

Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na...Batman!

Watching Baby First TV...as long as it was not "Harry the Bunny"... Mommy hated that show. 

Kyler was helping with stuffing the diapers... He loves to help with laundry

Trying to stay out of the movers' way

"Where did everything go?"

First day in the pool--he loves it!

Tubby time outside! Loving this too!

"Hey--put down the camera, and give me food!"

"Am I too young to jump off the diving board, Grandpa?"

"Well, maybe I will wait a few more years, but I love the water."

Kyler -- Week 31 (6/16/12-6/22/12)

So this was our last full week before our move up to Michigan. Kyler had a great time celebrating Daddy's first Father's Day. He loves his Daddy, and as you can see in the pictures, he wants to spend a lot of time with him, even if that means they watch sports or work on the computer. We also took a walk as a family through Perry Farm for what might be the last time. Later that night, Ryan was going through videos of Kyler's first week, and we were amazed at how much he has grown. Kyler was also very interested in seeing himself and was flapping his arms when he saw himself and heard his parents voices on the computer (see the video below).

Kyler had a lot of other new accomplishments this week, including turning 7 months old. He tried squash and yogurt, both of which he really liked. His 3rd top tooth started coming in, bringing his total of teeth up to 5 (3 on the top and 2 on the bottom). We went to Target and found little people superheroes, which Ryan did not need much convincing to get. Kyler has been skipping his morning nap and seems to be down to 2 naps a day now. Kyler loves music, and our little guy really loves a toy he got from Darin and Kim, which we like to call the "boom-pillar." It is a caterpillar that plays 5 different classical melodies. The sippy cup has also been brought out more often to work on trying to drink water, especially with the weather being so hot.

Lastly, we got to spend more time together as a family--unexpectedly. Ryan's office did not have AC for most of the week, so we got to share our daily activities with Daddy as he worked at home. It can be really distracting when you are trying to write lectures with a little boy laughing in the other room, but I don't think that Ryan minded it.

Our Little People Batman--Kyler looks very focused on his "Dark Knight"

Hanging out with his puppy and Daddy

Watching baseball with Daddy with his star blanket toy

"I am not sure this hat fits me, Daddy"

Daddy checking his email while Kyler watches YouTube videos

"I love when Mommy lets me play with the remote, but she takes the batteries out...or we end up with strange things on the DVR."

Trying to learn to crawl, but all he can do is go backwards and rock; "boom-pillar" is close at hand

Licking his yogurt bowl clean--yummy!

"Wow, this makes lots of fun noises when I bang it on things and throw it!"