weekend at Mammie's

With Brian out of town the past few days on a business trip, Kyle and I made the drive to Mammie's house for a couple of days of fun in the sun. Kyle's cousins, Harlow & Jacob, were staying with Mammie for the weekend so it was the perfect opportunity to hang with fam!

My mom's neighborhood has the most awesome water park for the kids. Harlow & Jacob loved it and we stayed in for hours while Mammie hung out with Kyle in the shade :)

that's little Jacob sitting in the water looking at us.

We also ate McDonalds, which I was a little too excited about, and spent a lot of time in the pool, where Harlow learned to swim! She started the day with floaties and ended it an olympic swimmer ;)

Oh, and since Kyle can sit up now no problem, he got his first sink bath. He loved it!

children's museum

Today Kyle and I met some friends at the La Habra Children's Museum, where Kyle did his first arts & crafts project, was unfazed by a life-size lion and rode shot gun with a bunch of chicks:

5 months

Kyle, you are 5 months old today! Here are a few things about you at 5 months that I want to remember forever:

• You are getting really good at sitting up. You still crash & burn sometimes, but you can hold yourself up and play with toys for at least a few minutes!
• Some days you'll roll over from tummy to back over and over like it's no big deal, and other days you just lay there like you have no idea what you're supposed to do and fuss until I roll you over myself :)
• In the morning, you love to sit in your Baby Einstein saucer and watch a Baby Einstein video, or sit in your bouncy seat and watch me clean the kitchen.
• You're all over the board with sleep. You're still in our room and usually wake up 1-2 times in 10-12 hours. Some nights you'll wake up at 2:30 and then 6:30, and other nights you sleep until 5 am and then don't wake up till 8. Those are my favorite nights :) We'll probably have to move you to your crib for good soon, so I'm savoring these last weeks with you sleeping so near to me. It's comforting to be able to peek over and see you sleeping soundly, and fall asleep to the sound of your breath (or snores!).
• You grab onto EVERYTHING! Your favorite things to grab are my hair (& pull), our lips, the remote control, Penny, your burp cloths and #1: my iPhone.
• It is so easy for me to make you laugh. All I have to do is open my eyes or mouth wide or say "boo!" and you start to giggle. Pretty much every time I look in your direction you smile at me, and it makes my heart explode every single time.
• This month we've gone on lots of adventures - to the OC Fair, playdates at the park, your first Angel game, your first time in the pool... it's so fun to show you the world!
• You're wearing size 3 diapers and size 6 months clothes.
• You don't need a paci to go to sleep at night, but you like to have one for naptime, in the car or when you're being mellow.
• You stay with dad 2 times a week while I go to work, and with grandma Suzie once a week. Grandma Suzie took you to music class the last 3 weeks and you absolutely loved it!

Cannot believe next month you will be 6 months old! How in the world did that happen?! I can't express how much we love you. Every day when I see your sweet smile I feel so grateful that you're my son and I get to be your mommy. It's been so much fun becoming a family together. I'm so happy!

cheese!

Kyle seemed extra happy last night after his bath so I wanted to capture his huge smiles and cute PJs! His non-stop toothless grin kills me!

fair play

Today was Kyle's first trip to the Orange County Fair with friends. He loved the zipper, corn on the cob and all the fried food! Oh wait, maybe next year ;) For now, he loved laying in his stroller and taking naps while mommy talked with her friends, sweat like crazy & got sunburned on her neck.

OC Fair tip - park across the street at Orange Coast College! You just need to buy a day permit for $1 and make the short walk across Fairview. Beats the $10 parking fee!

man's best friend in the making

Kyle has started showing interest in Penny. Up until this week, he just pretended she didn't exist. But lately we've been catching him following her with his eyes and reaching out for her when she's around.

Poor girl has no idea what she's in for!

over & out

Today was a big day for our boy! Not only does he like to sit up (mostly) on his own, he also decided that rolling over is no big deal.

Kyle actually rolled over on accident at 3 weeks old, which I happend to catch on video... who rolls over at 3 weeks? Hilarious! After this incident he decided rolling over was not for him, until today that is!

I love watching these to see the differences between Kyle at 3 weeks and 4.5 months! He's grown so much!!

a different view

This morning, Kyle didn't want to lay down on his play mat like he usually does. Nope, he decided wanted to sit up and play!

today's fun...

...taking apart Kyle's car seat to clean up a poop explosion from this morning's walk. Guess we won't be going anywhere until all the parts dry and I put it back together! Yay!

UPDATE: car seats don't really dry unless you blow dry them (or put them in the dryer I guess, but I didn't want to risk it since the tag said hang dry only). And babies don't really like the blow drier blaring full speed right in front of them. So I resorted to this while I finished the job:

thank you Baby Einstein, farmer edition!

a new place to play

We can now add Baby Einstein Neptune activity saucer to the list of places Kyle likes to hang out in around the house. I've been waiting for him to get big enough to sit in this thing, and I knew he'd love it! Lots of fun things to do. But so far, his favorite is to grab the tag.

He's still a little short for it, so we put a pillow under his feet. But he loves to grab onto all the parts, and gets a little frustrated that he can't bring them into his mouth!

PS - Thank you to Aunt Carol for this awesome gift :)

let's go Angels!

Kyle attended his first Angel game at 4 months! We only stayed for a few innings, but we had so much fun with him. He loved looking at all the people and lights. I know Brian is looking forward to many more games in their future!

Did you know if it's a baby/kid's first time at the game they get a special prize? We stopped by guest relations and they gave Kyle a certificate, sticker and rally Monkey beanie baby. And the ladies in there gave him lots of ooooh and aaaahs :)

sleepy baby!

back to work

Last night I went back to work for the first time since Kyle was born. He was home with daddy, took a bottle and went to sleep like a champ! Who needs mommy?

He also decided he wants to hold his own bottles now like a big boy... no big deal.

goodnight!

Being at work after 5 months off was actually not bad. I'm very happy with my decision not to go back to the office full-time; instead I'll be bartending 3 days/week and writing freelance so I can be home more with my baby love! Knowing he was home with daddy and getting picture updates throughout my shift made it much easier. And, it was kind of nice to be out for a few hours and making some money! I will need to adjust to getting home at midnight, though, since I've been passing out no later than 10 pm every day. I'm thinking a nap is in my future :)

4th of July

My dad (Kyle's Papa) was born on July 4, 1961... so every year we BBQ at his house to celebrate his (and America's) birthday!

Kyle was an angel all day. He LOVES to be out and about and was perfectly content sitting on my lap, watching us eat burgers and hot dogs and watching his cousins play. Even though we were having so much fun, we headed home before the fireworks started so Kyle wouldn't get scared or breathe in too much smoke. Turned out to be a good idea because he was out like a light at 8 pm! He even slept (for the most part) through WWIII happening on our block until midnight.

PS - 4th of July is a whole new ballgame when you have a sleeping baby in your house! I wanted to open the door and yell "SHUT UP AND GO TO BED EVERYONE!!!"

cutie in red, white and blue

with his Uncle Jonathan (don't they look alike?!)

our dorky family photo

loves his Auntie KK!

a successful 1st 4th of July :)

ladies man

Yesterday, Kyle and I hung out with some good friends & their babies... who happen to be all girls! Kyle didn't seem to mind. Ladies man in the making.

besitos from Jocelyn!

Mia, Jocelyn, McKenzie, Emily & Kyle

who needs sleep?

Almost overnight, Kyle went from sleeping soundly 9 pm - 6 am to being the worst sleeper to ever occupy planet earth.

This has been my life the past 3 nights:

• Kyle falls asleep around 8:30 pm. (I fall asleep around 10 or 11.)
• Kyle wakes up at 12, nurses and falls back asleep. (I fall back asleep around 1.)
• Kyle wakes up at 2. Attempt to soothe him without nursing, but will not sleep until he does. Nurses and falls back asleep. (I fall back asleep around 2:30.)
• Kyle wakes up at 4. Nurse him, no sleep. Rock him, no sleep. Let him fuss, no sleep. Wimpers for what feels like eternity and finally falls asleep around 5:30. (I fall back into half-ass sleep around the same time.)
• Kyle wakes up at 7-7:30 for the day. 

For those of you keeping track, that totals around 0 hours of good sleep for mommy. Luckily Daddy took over at 7 on Saturday and Sunday and let me sleep a couple hours until our boy needed to eat again, but now that he's back to work we don't have that luxury.

THIS BETTER BE A PHASE! I MISS MY GOOD LITTLE SLEEPER!!

For now, I'm chalking it up to the 4 month sleep regression?