cousin time

I LOVE that Kyle has a cousin pretty close in age. Jacob is 20 months older than Kyle, which seems like kind of a lot now... but I have a feeling when these 2 are 4 1/2 and 6, or 10 1/2 and 12... or 20 1/2 and 22 that they're going to be best buds!

Jacob already likes to teach Kyle about stuff, and loves to give him hugs and kisses. Today he was showing him his Buzz Lightyear and some of his toys, and then demonstrated how to crawl. So cute.

8 months

Kyle, you are 8 months old! Here's some fun facts about you at this age:

• You learned how to sit up from laying down, but for some reason you only think you're capable of this while in your crib at nap time. You haven't yet figured out that you can do this outside of your crib - hilarious.
• You're teething again! I see a little white poking through for a 3rd bottom tooth. Lots of drool happening, but no pain yet as far as we know.
• You love the swing at the park! I take you almost every day.
• You still don't sleep through the night, but we're (semi) OK with that. You go to bed like an angel at 8 pm and don't usually wake up until 4. I'll nurse you, and then right back to sleep until around 7. You've skipped your night feeding a handful of times, so I have a feeling you might actually outgrow it yourself. 
• You still nap like a champ - once at 10 am and then again at 2:30-3 pm.
• Now that we've given you a couple of fruits (apple and banana), you are GRUBBING. You're up to 3 meals of food a day. Yesterday we did: oatmeal with banana for breakfast, peas with apple for lunch, and avocado and yams for dinner. Grubbed it all up. Your favorites are apple, avocado, banana, carrots and yams. Next up is pears, spinach, and broccoli...
• You like drinking water out of your sippy cup and are really good at doing it yourself.
• You still want to stand at all times. You're not showing too much interest in the classic crawl - you're all about pulling yourself up (usually by grabbing mom or dad's hands) and standing as long as you can. You think you're such a big boy when you do that!
• You're into peek-a-boo with a blanket. We'll put it on your head and you love to pull it off and laugh.
• Your hair is still red and it's getting thicker! When we brush it after your bath you have an actual part - so cute.
• You make lots of funny sounds, especially a low grunt and you think you're so hilarious. You'll stop nursing for a second to grunt at me and then smile and go back to business.

I think you're going to do lots of fun stuff in your 8th month and we can't wait! Love our big handsome boy, Kyle Martin! 

more snuggles please!

When will my baby want to snuggle again? I miss it. He used to be most comfortable on my chest. When he was 0-3 months old, I would actually let him sleep there from 4-8 am so we could both get some sleep. But now that my big boy is 8 months (today!!) and I only let him sleep in his crib, my snuggles are long gone. 

At night, when I'm singing him a song in the dark next to his crib right before bed, sometimes he'll lay his head on my chest or shoulder for about 3 seconds and I crumble into a million pieces... then he'll reach his hand up and claw my eyes out. Or grab my nose and pull. Or get my lip and practically rip it off my face. 

Right now we're laying in bed watching a Baby Einstein video, and his legs are resting on my arm and he's moving them around gently. I guess for now these are my snuggles! I'm loving every second but I can't wait for him to come give his mama a big hug and kiss one day. Or maybe lay his head on my chest/shoulder/stomach without causing me simultaneous bodily injury. 

ready for launch

Commander Kyle is ready for his 1st Halloween!

pumpkin head

Kyle's "red" (aka orange) hair and round noggin go perfect with the pumpkins, don't ya think? :)

change of routine

I tend to fall into routines without thought, and this is something I want to change. I've come to realize that 2 things that make me happy and that I genuinely like to do have fallen to the wayside: reading and exercising. 

I need to remind myself that just because I'm a mom doesn't mean I don't have time for these 2 activities. I probably won't be able to go to Barry's Bootcamp on a Tuesday evening or try out different gyms (since I'm closely watching our budget and don't like to leave Kyle on the reg), but I definitely have time to fit in an exercise video or a jog with Kyle a couple times a week. 

It's kind of hard when I try and fit everything I want to do into the window of nap time - especially when there's work to be done. And especially if I'm feeling extra tired (or lazy), sometimes the minute Kyle falls asleep I just want to sit and stare at the wall for 10 minutes.

When I was pregnant I started reading "Where'd You Go, Bernadette" by Maria Semple and I was LOVING it! I stopped at about 30% and now I think I need to start over because 8 months later I honestly can't remember what it was even about. I just remember loving the format - e-mails, letters and various correspondence strung together to tell a story. It was hilarious and so clever.

So today I'm reminding myself that just because I've gone without these 2 activities for the past 8 months (yes that's correct - I haven't worked out AT ALL since Kyle was born) doesn't mean this routine needs to continue. Starting tomorrow! ;)

life update

Kyle turns 8 months on Wednesday. 8 MONTHS! What?! He'll be 1 before we know it. Last night after Kyle went to bed, Brian and I were watching a rerun from last season's How I Met Your Mother. [For all you HIMYM fans: it was the one where Lily and Marshal decide to let Lily's dad babysit Marvin.] At the end of the episode, they showed a montage of Marvin with his grandpa through the years - leading up to his first day at school - and I lost it. I was ugly crying on the couch for a good 10 minutes. I guess the mommy saps hit me when I least expect it.

The past couple of weeks have been pretty uneventful. Kyle got over his cold and we've settled into our family routine, and I'm loving it. I love that I'm home with Kyle most of the week, but still have a chance to work outside and inside the home. Our days are filled with making/eating solids (both successfully and unsuccessfully on the making and eating fronts), lots of playtime, running errands and walks with Penny. Kyle's naps have been epic (1.5 hrs in the morning, 2-2.5 hrs in the afternoon), giving me lots of time to do some work from home and still have a chance to get some relaxing/housework in. Most nights, Brian has been getting home in time to feed Kyle his veggie, give him a bath and get in some playtime/reading before his 8 pm bedtime. Life is great and I'm feeling extremely blessed.

Here's some pics from the last couple of weeks with Kyle:

carrots!

All he wants to do is STAND!
At all times.
But he still needs help getting there.
He pulled himself up on the coffee table once, and it didn't end well. 

I'm trying to get the hang of making food.
This week, I did green beans, zucchini, carrots, sweet potatoes and squash.
Yesterday, the green beans went in the trash but the carrots were a success.
His tastes change every day.
 I still need to figure out freezing/storage.

Too cool for the swing.

Bath time with dad!

Kyle decided he liked sucking his thumb for 2 days,
but I think he forgot about it.
He hasn't done it in a few days now.

Family night at Mammie's house = playtime with cousin Jake.

Still trying his hardest to crawl to Penny. Soon!!!

bath soap: a public service announcement

A bit of advice for all mommies-to-be: take back all the baby soap and shampoo you get at your baby shower! This is the bottle we've used with Kyle since he was born! Nearly 8 months later I still have a bunch left. We gave him a bath every other day until he was about 5 months, then a bath every night and this little bottle is still going strong!

I think I received about 15 bottles of various types of baby soap at my baby shower, and I was storing them in Kyle's closet until just a few weeks ago when I realized that the amount of soap I had taking up valuable closet space would last him until kindergarten :)

the yuckies

Kyle has his first real cold. He felt fine on Saturday until he went to bed; he fell asleep at 8 pm like normal, but 3 hours later he woke up with a crazy stuffy/runny nose and couldn't breathe out of his nose. This resulted in a restless night for Kyle & sleepless night for mommy. The only way he could fall back asleep would be for me to suction out the snot (as he fought me and cried like crazy) and rock him upright until his nose cleared up. This would help him sleep for a little while until it stuffed back up again. Rinse & repeat.

Sunday night we fared a bit better - his nose seemed a lot clearer, and he was so tired from the night before he actually got a good night's rest, which was great for both of us. The worst part has been seeing my sweet boy under the weather, and how much he now despises me touching any part of his face, since I've been constantly having to wipe away all the yuckies.

I was so thankful that I'd just gone through all of Kyle's stuff and organized his "first aid basket" in his closet, so when he woke up sick I knew exactly where the snot sucker and boogie wipes were. It reminded me of some of the stuff I still need to get in case of other types of emergencies, like Tylenol & pedialyte.

I'm also debating going out and buying a humidifier. I was on the fence when I was pregnant if I needed one for the nursery or not, and opted not to buy one since most of my mommy friends said they didn't use one until their baby was much older. I'm reading how they can help keep baby's nasal passages clear (and also provide white noise for the room), so I think I'll go check them out.

perspective

Thursday night, all day Friday, all day Saturday, most of Sunday... that's how long I was stuck lying flat in bed until my back felt better. No work, no picking up Kyle, no playing with toys, no taking walks, no giving him a bath. It hurt to roll over, hurt to stand up, hurt to walk, hurt to cough and hurt to laugh. When my back goes out 100%, it's the worst pain I've ever felt... and that is saying a lot now that I've had a baby. This time, it was out about 85%.

While I had to miss 2 days of work, I'm grateful I was able to return to work for my Monday shift and was pleasantly surprised that the pain was mostly gone. I was moving a little slow at first, but after an hour or so I was walking and moving around great. By today, I was feeling almost like new.

It's amazing what a few days without good health does for your perspective. I was home with Kyle all day today and took care of him by myself for the first time in 6 days. We went for walks, we played, we snuggled, we danced, we got stuff done around the house (well, I guess I got stuff done while Kyle napped & entertained himself in his pack 'n play). And I was genuinely grateful for every minute. I smiled every time I picked him up, and every time I stood up without pain. It was one of those days that I appreciated the sun, my family, my neighbors, my lunch, and especially my health.