Tuesday, October 4, 2011

8 months old!

Happy Late Birthday to Kai!


Wow.  Where did the time go?  I remember so clearly the smell and the feel of those first few days home with our new twincy little baby.  It was cold and white outside but so nice and cozy in our under construction house.  The last few days I have been catching little sniffs of the coming cold weather scent that is so distinctive and have found myself immediately brought back to those precious first days.  My sweet little Squeaker all bundled up and snuggled in, family in every room of the house filing it with love and giving support.  I was so excited, so invigorated and completely blissed out!
I hope I never forget those days.  They already seem so far far away.
So, what's new in the life and times of Kai?
(Note:  I wrote this blog a few weeks ago and never got around to finishing it!  Ha ha.
Well, I'll post it anyway.  Maybe I'll put in a new one for his 9 month birthday next week.)


(These were all the topics I was going to post on!)
life update, work, nanny
So close to crawling
2 teeth and one on the way
biting
sleeping issues
full babbling
words
chasing kitties friends?
sitting
food!




Giving Kisses!


First family trip to the fair.  Kai LOVED it!  We stayed up way past bedtime and he never made a single fuss.  The highlights included watching a flying trapeze act, older kids running around playing with balloons and light sabers and the best was the "Old MacDonald Farm"  He saw chicks hatching, a big piggy nursing her piglets, mini sized goats (Kai's fave), Geese, Alpacas, baby quail, a cow and a row of 7 ponies being fed by small children!  We stayed in the animal house for quite sometime.  Kai was completely wrapped up and in awe of the ponies, the goats and the piggies.  
In fact, watching the little piglets nursing on their mommy, he looked up at me with wide inquisitive eyes.  I told him the piggies were nursing.  He then excitedly signed "nurse" for the first and, so far, only time.  It is the one sign we have used since he was tiny.   He will respond to me when I use the sign to ask him if he wants to nurse, and has done so for a few months now, so I know he knows it.  He has also picked up and used a new sign I taught him... "light", his favorite thing in the world.


Mama's little man.





This stick is for you!
(I swear Kai said stick a couple weeks ago!  He repeated it after me twice, while playing with a stick (ok, he's always playing with a stick, but...) Jon thinks I'm an over eager mommy and just heard what I wanted, but I wouldn't have expected to hear him say stick.  He also thinks that I didn't 'really' hear  Kai say avacado, but I heard it!  So it was a little baby tongue and pacifier garbled...)
Joking aside, Kai has been heard saying Hi, Dada, Mama (though not as clearly) and today he said Yum!  My little genius!



Hanging with Xena at Rach and Dan's place this weekend. (Good friends of Jonny's from Seattle days)  It was a lovely trip.  We visited with wonderful folks, ate incredible food, played with some very fun older kiddos and two lively little kittens!  We sat around a fire, watched the sunset, had a sleepover and even took a ride on the very fun lift machine to see over the distant hills.


More fun with sticks. : ) 
Doesn't he look so innocent here?  I can't get over that face!






It took us a little while to figure out the sideways manuver.   At first we thought that scooting 2 feet was tuckering the little dooda out.  But then we realized he is actually pausing to get a better view!  With his head turned to the side, he can see above him with much less effort than craning his neck.  Another favorite pose for our munchkin is to lay himself backwards over our laps, arms, shoulders and just check out the world upside down.  Again, his eyes actually open wider this way and he gets an unrestricted view.  Smart little cookie. ; )  It does make me wonder what seeing the world through his eyes will bring to his life and his being that is a little unique.  Perspective colors everything...





Workin' on it...


Oh yeah!


I know I'm cute.


Raspberries and scooting... King of the multitasking!



These following pictures are from about 5-6 months old.  One of these days I plan on posting an entry detailing our fun filled trip out to the west.  Here are a few of the cute portraits from that era, you know, just in case I don't get to that post.  :)


Kai and Beau.  Best Buds!
My dad's Mum made Beau for me when I was a little person myself.  
It is the one toy I still have from my childhood. 





There was this great noise he made for a few weeks... this was the face that accompanied it.


Back before the teeth... when I still let him chomp me and I thought it was sweet.  Awww...
Not anymore!


A little privacy please!



Kai's little cousie Cora.



HA!


This one is 7 month old bum!

Friday, August 5, 2011

We're back! New video.

After a long absence and SO many new and fun skills... Kai is back on his blog.  
Many of you were lucky enough to be graced by his snugly playful presence this summer.  Even still you will be amazed by his new mad skills.  I do plan and hope to post our back log of Kai pics and videos for everyone to catch up.  (Visits out west, lake swimming, new sounds, sitting, scooting, eating solids...)
But for now, I will give you an up to date peek of my little pride and joy.  Hopefully this will calm the overwhelm of how much I really need to catch up!

Sorry for the silence and with out any more ado...


Have I mentioned how cute his little buns are?!

Friday, May 20, 2011

Videos!!!!!! First day to today...

A long time coming, but oh so fun!  Enjoy.  (Videos at bottom of page)






This week Kai has had a few more firsts.   As you will see, he has started playing in his jumper.  He loves it!
He laughed out loud for the first time yesterday.  He discovered his voice 3 days ago and has been babbling and making the cutest little noises (over and over again).  And today... he started to squeal just to hear himself.


Kai in his Baby Bungee Bouncer first time!

Kai bouncing II

Kai bouncing III

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoQrt3spYwk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vaspL_-VPQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGaqUKg0_nw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob2iz0G0Vtg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=754AwWEVmW8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7x_PIQuT3k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP8byhNZkMQ

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Congenital Ptosis

As some of you know, Kai had an appointment yesterday with an ophthalmologist to check out his "sleepy eyes".  Yes, it's cute, but he really is WIDE awake here.

Kai had a fun time at the doctor's office.  He loved the doctor when she was playing with toys for him and making funny noises.  But then she betrayed him by putting drops in his eyes and making him hold still.  Poor kiddo.

 The visit turned out just about as we expected.  Kai has a condition called congenital Ptosis (tosis).  It just means that he can't open his eyes all the way.  The levator muscle in his eyelids are either missing or very small and weak.  Supposedly the muscle just didn't develop correctly.  He has been opening his eyes with his eyebrow muscles and compensating for his narrow field of vision by tilting his head way back.

Testing showed that his vision has not been affected thus far, but the doctor believes it probably will be sometime within the near future.  That is because his eyelids sit at different levels of openness.  His left side is heavier than the right.  This can lead to a change in the shape of the eyes and an imbalance that will affect his vision.  We are scheduled for another check up in two months and will continue to monitor his vision.  As soon as any deterioration is noted, Kai will need to get surgery.  Ideally he would wait till he's 3 or 4 years old because then he would only need one surgery.  The doctor thinks that he likely will need to have it sooner than that and then need to have it repeated when he's older.  :-(

 The procedure seems quite interesting... They will create an "eyelid sling" out of silicone or fascia from his thigh (if he's older than 3).  They weave it along the lid, over the lashes and then pin up the loose ends of the silicone/fascia into his eyebrow muscle.  As a visual, it will be somewhat of a triangle shape.  After it is done, he will be able to lift his lids using his eyebrows.  He does this already, but the doctor says it will be much more subtle than what he does now and he will actually be able to open them.  It worries me that his expressions will be different than they would be, but the doc says they adjust well and learn how to make the expressions they want to.

We have a little more research to do and we hope to talk to the surgeon to learn as much as we can.  We will keep everyone updated as we learn anything.  For now we have a cute sleepy baby!

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

I'm so big!

I am changing so fast! I have just started reaching out and grabbing for the things that I want. This includes not only my toys, but my parent's hair, daddy's beard and chest hair and kitty tails! It is so fun! I can even coordinate holding long toys like my giraffe by the legs and getting the head into my mouth. You can see in my picture that I am practicing using my red spoon.

Today I realized that my kitties are real living creatures who roam around and interact with me, not just fuzzy tails in my face. The jury is still out on whether I like them or not, but they do have cool eyes and long fluffy tails.

I am trying really hard to roll from my back to my tummy, but I've only gotten there once. I am an old pro at rolling tummy to back. That is unless I'm tired. Then I just get mad.

A couple of times this week I sat up all by myself for about 5 seconds at a time. My balance is getting better an better.

Lately my tummy has been feeling so much happier. I still have reflux, but it doesn't burn anymore since I've been taking my yummy medicine. I even enjoy nursing most of the time. :o)
Sometimes I fall asleep at the breast and now and then I even goof off! Mommy doesn't mind. She's just happy I'm not crying. Well see how long that lasts. She does seem to get pretty upset when I use her as a teething chew.

Did I mention I'm teething too? Not so fun.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Watch Kai grow with us!

Greetings beloved friends and family!  We finally got on the band wagon and started Kai his own blog.  Click to follow his journey through babyhood and beyond.

Baby dreams

Day One. 

Still sleeping...

Oma and her little Rupurl.

Sleep?  No, but he's sooo cute!

Proud Grandmas

Look what we found!

Best Buds

Nice cheeks!

My Angel

This is the life!  Snuggly baby, cuddly cat, red pants, red wine and meatball!
What could ever compete?

Still sleeping...

Little Big Foot

First smiles.


Bath time fun.

Attack of the Killer Hands!

Uncle Jeremy loves me.

Perrrrr

My little Gnome.

Just after a Mira massage.

First night of bar hopping.

First bonfire

Aaaa.

Ohhh

Eeee

Rubber Ducky...

You're the one

Boo



That's what I'm tellin' you.

Our little elf.

Daddy's angel




My little friend

I love my Grammie!

WeeHee!

Fun in Brookfield





I just discovered my toes!

tee hee

Duh?

Venturing outside in early spring.