Kyler -- Week 38 (8/4/12-8/10/12)

This week involved a lot of moving, unpacking, and mischief. Saturday was a busy day of moving into the house, which also brought out the favorite toy of the moment, the Stride-to-Ride Dino! He loves to push it around on his knees, but gets a little frustrated when he falls or gets stuck. Kyler also found another "new toy" -- the carbon monoxide detector. I thought letting him push the button and having that shrill noise go off would deter him from pushing it again, but to my surprise, he thought it was great. We had to put a baby gate up just to keep him from pushing the button non-stop and having us all lose our hearing.

We celebrated Grandpa's birthday, and all Kyler seemed to want do was play with candles or pull on KayLynn's hair--oh, what a boy! Kyler found out how much fun playing in Duncan's dog bowls can be, and we had many large puddles and wet bottoms to prove it. He also got into the new cupboards as we unpacked, tried to climb a ladder while drapes were being hung, and learned he can push the slider open if it is unlocked. Kyler also thought that this would be the time to start standing up in his crib and chewing on it. I definitely think that he is a challenge now that he is getting into everything, but it is still fun to see him exploring and learning new things.

We did have a great time with visitors coming to see the new house,  and we even took them swimming. Kellie, Ben, Julie, and Levi all had fun swimming and jumping in the water while Kyler napped. Next year he will be able to join in the watery fellowship. Kyler has found Great Grandpa's tractors at Grandma and Grandpa's house and has loved pushing them around while making noises. (How do kids know how to do this? No one ever taught him that!) He tried cottage cheese and millet this week as his new foods, and we moved into the house on a rainy Friday. Kyler's room was the first one done and even has a great paint job!

"What do you mean I have cottage cheese on my face?"

Vroom...

Playing with Great Grandpa's tractors

I think Great Grandpa would have loved that he plays with these

"I found a new place to hide, Mommy!"

The new dino toy--a soon to be favorite

"I'm riding on my friendly dinosaur..."

Helping Grandpa put together the storage shelves--I hope he takes after his Grandpa in handiness

Holding the ladder for Grandma--what a good helper :)

Our New Home

So after being married for seven years and renting the entire time, it has been wonderful to finally own our first home. As mentioned before (in Kyler -- Week 37), we closed on our home August 3rd and began the week-long task of moving in and "Kyler-proofing." We finally stayed over night in our home a week later. There have been many projects completed already, but many more that we are going to get to in the near future. It still does not seem real to us, but we feel truly blessed to be in a house where we can raise Kyler!

Checking out the house for the 2nd time with our family and our realtor Bob

The back of the house

The front of the house

The Bebej family is home!

Kyler -- Week 37 (7/28/12-8/3/12)

This turned out to be another busy week, but with big excitement at the end of the week--finally getting the keys to our new house! Kyler tried some great summer fruits, starting with peaches and then watermelon. He likes to feed himself, even if that means he wears more of it than is going into his mouth. We had a lot of fun enjoying the weather outside, with Kyler exploring the grass while we washed cars. He was not sure of what to think of it, but then got the courage to crawl across it and taste a few blades of grass.

With all this outdoor activity and feeding himself, Kyler has had to get his hair washed a lot more than he used to. He hates to have water run in his eyes, which seems to be the only time he does not like water. We figured out that the best way to wash his hair is a two-part process of washing the back of his hair while he is sitting up and then draining almost all of the water and have him lay down in the tub so that we can wash the front. He was not so sure about laying down in the water, but we kept the water level so low that even his ears were out of the water, and we were able to make sure the water stayed out of his face.

Kyler and Duncan are becoming even better buddies. Kyler now is pulling up on everything, but his favorite thing to pull up on or chase is Duncan. One day while I was getting dressed, I heard Duncan barking and I found Kyler playing with his dog toys and Duncan holding his "Flippy Flopper" frisbee out for Kyler to get. Oh, a boy and his dog--what fun they will have in the years ahead! Kyler has been getting into everything, and we had to use the large Costco bear as a barricade to keep him from trying to go down the stairs. Now we just need to get moved into the new home and put up some gates!

Riding the new toy Mommy got him at a garage sale

He loves to get into things and push things around

See the mess in the background? Hurricane Kyler in full force. 

"What's up? I'm eating my watermelon!"

Classic Kyler grin

Clearly very animated--and a great tooth shot! Angry gums soon produced more teeth, too.

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?"