A New Toy!

Our son is going to be walking before we know it!

For christmas he got this activity table-

- which, I am quickly realizing, is going to teach him how to walk. He just LOVES it!! Most of the time, he squeals the entire time he's playing with it.

Just because I love those blue eyes!!

Broccoli Everywhere!!

One of my clients told me that it is good for babies development to let them "feed themselves" and play with their food every once in a while.......I am not sure why I thought this would be a good idea. Let's just say we will not be doing this again anytime soon- but I will say that Kallen had a blast!!

I found these sweaters at Childrens Place the other day for $5!!! I couldn't pass them up!! Kallen just loves his uncle Jacob.

Snow!!

I am a little late in getting these on but here are some pictures of last weeks storm! I just LOVE big storms!! I am not sure why...maybe it's just the excitment of it all or because it means extra family time. I think most of my excitement is because I feel like storms give us a small glimpse of God's power. Perfect white crystals that glisten in the sun, then dance and swirl in the wind, only to land in beautiful formations. It is just amazing!!

Baby Food

One of the decisions I made while I was pregnant was that I was going to at least try to make most of Kallen's baby food. I experimented and made a couple batches in the beginning, then got lazy and bought a whole bunch, but last week I decided to go back to my original plan. The reason why should probably be because of nutritional value, but anyone who knows me knows that it is not really my personality to look up all the little facts about what vitamins and nutrients are in different foods. Honestly, I was just getting really sick of constantly running to the store to get more baby food. So I spent the last two days trying to keep Kallen busy with other things so that I could whip up a bunch of food for him. Here is the website I referred to: http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

Last year for christmas I asked for a food processor- anticipating that I would one day be making baby food. I had no idea how much I would really use it. I throw almost everything in here and it comes out instant food for Kallen!!

Here is what my refrigerator looked like by the end of the day. I only have 2 freezer trays so these containers are just waiting to be frozen.

I found these trays at Babies R Us. Each section is 1 ounce so it makes it super easy to just pop out a cube and warm it up!

Here are the bags of "delicious" food just waiting to be eaten! :P

Foods I made this weekend:
Sweet Potatoes
Apples
Pears
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Blueberries
Spaghetti Squash
Carrots
Pears

8 Months

Ok, I slacked off last month so I wanted to make sure and get an 8 month update on here! I am absolutely LOVING this stage- it is probably my favorite so far! (although it is keeping me extremely busy- you can't take your eyes off of this little boy for one minute or he is into trouble or putting something in his mouth) Here is what Kallen has been up to:

- Weighs in at 17.4 lbs

-Crawls all over the house

-Has one tooth on the bottom and

one more just breaking through next to it

-Is completely weaned

-Sleeps through the night....FINALLY

- Loves banging on things (drummer maybe?)

- Has moved up to his "big boy carseat"

You know it's time to lower the bed when....

.....when you hear a ruckus, and check the video monitor to see your baby standing up grabbing for the camera. We rushed upstairs to find Kallen sitting there, camera in hand, with the biggest smile of accomplishment on his face. He was seriously so proud of himself! Needless to say, we lowered the bed. :)

And it all begins....

Well, it was inevitable

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we knew this day would come

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I was just hoping he would know the word "NO" before it came. I guess I know what I will be busy doing for the next several days....or weeks...or months. :P It's ok though, I love it that Kallen is exploring things!! It is soo fun to watch him study different items and put it all together. I can only imagine what this world looks like through those sweet little eyes!

I will say that Daddy would be proud to see what movie Kallen chose!

And he's off...

Kallen has been working on crawling for a while now...so we have just been waiting for him to put it all together. It has finally happened and I am now realizing there's no turning back. Gone are the days where I can just set him down with a toy and know that he'll be right where I put him. Oh boy, here we go!!

Sober

This is what a tired, teething, sick Kallen looks like. Poor little guy! I was trying to get him to eat but he kept sticking his fingers in his mouth and then rubbing his eyes. He has been running like a faucet for a couple days now .......watery eyes, runny nose, constant drool. I felt his tooth pop through last night so hopefully he will be on the mend now.

Aunt Karlz

This is Aunt Karlee! She is going to school at DMACC in Ankeny for nursing and is only 15 min. away from our house!! She has been watching Kallen for me the last few Thursdays so I can go to some dentist appointments. Kallen loves it when his aunts come to see him...he seems to feed off of their attention! :)

You can tell Kallen is getting busier because I have had a lot less time to blog lately. I am still hoping to get a 7 month update on here but until then this is the biggest thing he is doing lately. He is not really crawling yet, but he will get up on his feet like this and rock back and forth. And even though he is not officially crawling, he still manages to find a way to get around the room and into EVERYTHING!! Today I was in the kitchen and I noticed that Kallen was all of a sudden very quiet....I peeked into the living room to find him happily munching on his puffs. He had managed to get all the way across the room, into his diaper bag, and opened the bag of puffs. What a little stinker! :)

Aunt Stephy

I just love having my sister here in town! She lives in an apartment just a mile from our house, and works as a nanny for these adorable kids (plus one more who is in kindergarten) in West DesMoines. We have been working out at our house in the mornings so Kallen gets to see her everyday! Not to mention playdates with the kids, and countless shopping trips at Jordan Creek! I always hoped that my sisters would stay close and I love it that we are all within 15 min. of each other! Stay tuned for Aunt Karlee tomorrow!

Happy Halloween!!

We didn't go trick or treating this year, but one of the swimmers gave us this adorable little costume so I couldn't resist. He made a pretty cute litte tiger but was not a big fan of his costume so we did not leave it on for very long. At least we tried!

Yumm!!

Kallen is just learning how to feed himself! This makes it so much easier when he is whining for food and I am in the middle of something. He is also getting extremely close to crawling. I think our lives are about to change drastically....yikes!

6 month update!

Today Kallen finally had his 6 month check up/ shots. This was by far the hardest round of shots for all of us. Kallen knows what pain is now which made it extra hard to watch. :*( Poor baby!
He weighed in at 16.2 lbs which left him in only the 25th percentile and he is 25 3/4 inches long which is also the 25th percentile. I gotta be honest..I really expected him to be bigger than that. Kallen was so small when he was born, that he seemed to grow and gain weight rather rapidly (he doubled his birth weight with-in the first 2 months). Because of that- I tend to expect him to continue to grow at that rate. He has always been a little under for weight but his height is usually above 50%. Oh well.
Another thing that I am noticing is that Kallen seems to be loosing his interest in bottles and gaining interest in table foods. Right now he is eating 5 bottles a day and I am lucky to get him to eat 4 oz. each time. Everyday around 4-5 I have been feeding him baby food and he will wolf down 2 oz. no problem! He also whines the entire time Shawn and I eat wanting to try some of our food. I think he will probably drop bottles a little early and go right into foods. Maybe that will finally fatten him up a little!
Anyways- we are LOVING this stage!!! Here is what he is doing this month:
- says "ma, ma, ma" when he is hungry or wants more food
- rolls all over the place
- loves to throw and bang on anything near him
- has mastered sitting up and is now starting to lean forward to rock on his knees
- I never know what position I will find him in when he wakes up..he is ALL OVER his bed
- LOVES to bounce

Sleeping Buddy

The other morning I was trying to get ready for work, so I just layed Kallen down on our bed, gave him his little turtle, and left him alone hoping he would fall back asleep. At first I was a little thrown by the turtle moving, but then I just burst out laughing when I walked back in the room to see this. I am not sure why it struck me as being so funny, but it did.

6 Months Old

Uncle Jacob

My parents had tickets to the Iowa State game on Saturday night so we hung out with "Uncle Jacob" for a while. Kallen just loved him!! He is really starting to interact with other kids and it is soo much fun to watch! Jacob did a great job of entertaining Kallen and was very patient with him....what a great uncle!

Hyperactive Child

Does anyone elses child do this while they are drinking a bottle? Or is ours just a little crazy? Sometimes I wonder if I should be a little concerned.

5 months!

 

Our little boy is 5 months old already! I can't believe it. This month has been a month of milestones so far...Kallen decided to skip rolling over and go right in to sitting up, he will roll from tummy to back but never back to tummy, he just decided that he likes his cereal, he is working on his first tooth, he had his first plane ride and visit to the ocean (he did not like the ocean very much), he puts himself to sleep, and he is making lots of new sounds!! This is such a fun age (other than the teething)! I am guessing that by 6 months he may be crawling- when he is on his tummy, he has been getting up on his knees but hasn't figured out how to coordinate that with his hands- we'll see what happens. I am totally NOT ready for him to be mobile yet.

Water Baby!!

Anyone who knows Shawn knows that it is very important that Kallen likes water. Well, based on our time in the pool this weekend, I don't think we have anything to worry about. He instantly LOVED the water!! His little arms and legs went crazy and he even decided to put his face in a few times! I think we have a future swimmer on our hands. :)

Sassy Seat Update

Well, we are not quite getting the idea of the sassy seat yet, but we did find a very cute little friend to look at and talk to. :P
(I need to learn not to talk on these videos...you know when you think you have a cute video and then you play it back and hear your voice...ewww)

Here are some more pictures...as if you needed to see anymore pictures of my son. What can I say- I'm a proud mamma. :P

Cereal....not so much

At our last appointment, Kallen's doctor told us we could try to start cereal anytime now. I really like her philosophy on cereal:
Cereal has absolutely no nutritional value, it is just extra calories, so the main purpose of it is to prepare the baby for baby food by getting them used to eating from a spoon and sitting in a highchair. So she recommends that you start by spoon feeding your baby cereal each night at the supper table. You will know your baby is ready when you give them the cereal and they swallow it, if they spit it back out wait another week and try again. I guess I have just never had it explained to me this way...I always heard of people putting it in their bottles and I was never sure what the purpose of it was. This makes a lot of sense to me!! I guess it is pretty obvious that I am totally a first time mom and am just learning as we go. :)

Obviously Kallen is not quite ready for cereal yet, but the expression on his face made it totally worth the try! :P We'll try again in a couple weeks. :)

Is it possible??

Well, the last couple of nights we were out of town for a wedding so tonight was officially night #2 of Kallen's new bedtime routine. We read him a bible story then I carried him up to bed, tucked him all in, turned on the monitor, and headed downstairs -gearing up for what I figured would be at least 5 min. of crying. I couldn't believe it when I turned on the downstairs monitor only to see my little boy lying there in bed just quietly playing with his blanket. After a couple times of pulling the blanket over his head, getting it stuck, and me running up to "rescue" him he just quietly drifted off to sleep...not a peep out of his mouth. I was totally amazed!! Could it really be this easy?? Only time will tell, but I can only hope that this was the first of many more nights like this to come!!

1st Night Down!!

Well, the first night of Kallen's new bedtime routine went pretty well (all things considered). I was gone at worship team practice for most of it, but I did get home just as Shawn was laying him in his bed. Shawn said he was wide awake and smiling when he layed him down, but by the time I walked in Shawn was just sitting in his room humming while Kallen layed in his bed. We decided we better leave the room so we went downstairs to watch him on the video monitor. As soon as we were out of the room he started crying and we decided to let him cry it out for 5 minutes to see what would happen. (longest 5 min. of my life!!) I then, ran up to his room to give him his pacifier and calm him down a little bit. After I did that it did not take him long at all...basically by the time I made it back downstairs to the monitor he was out. I really missed rocking my little boy but I will survive!! :P
Next step...stop the 2-3am feedings. He has slept from 8pm-6am several times so I know he can do it...now it is just a matter of stopping myself from just getting up, feeding him and going back to bed. We will give him a few nights to get used to his new bedtime routine and then we will start the next battle. :)

Where did my newborn go??

"Well my mom says now that I am 4 months old I have to go to sleep all by myself"

We went to the doctor yesterday for Kallen's 4 month appointment and 2nd round of shots. He weighed in at 14.7 lbs 241/2 inches long which put him in the 50th percentile for both. He is getting to be so much fun!! His new favorite things are: his exersaucer (sp?), kicking his daddy (he just laughs and laughs), playing with mommy's hair, pinching people's skin, and trying to roll over. He is also learning to reach out his hands towards what he wants which has been really fun and helpfull!!

The doctor told us that at 4 months you reach the point where habits really start to form so if we want to break him of anything now is the time. I have enjoyed rocking my son to sleep almost every night since he was born, but...I suppose it is time to let that go and establish a bedtime routine. So- starting on Monday we are going to let Kallen put himself to sleep for bedtime and naps. I think this will be harder on me than him. :)

Happy 4 month Birthday!!

Ok, so here is last months picture:

We sat nicely, smiled for the camera, held the tiger's hand.

What a nice little boy!!

Here is this months attempt at a good picture:

First we chew on the Tigers arm,

Then we wrestle the tiger down,

Oh, I think I am sooo funny!

Can't wait to see what happens next month! (haha)

Growing Boy!!

Today Kallen discovered a new way to move! He is just dying to be able to get up and go...he will lay on the floor and get so frustrated that he can't follow us around, so he will cry until one of us picks him up and moves him. I guess he finally decided to take matters into his own hands...you can't really see it very well in this video, but he takes his legs and scoots himself around in a circle. Hopefully that will keep him satisfied for now until he can find a new way to get around.

Kallen's laughter may be the best sound I have ever heard!! He is laughing a lot easier these days but you have to catch him in just the right mood. I am not sure why but his laughter usually ends in crying...maybe because his parents get too carried away with trying to make him laugh that we go a little overboard in the end.

I can't believe how fast our little boy is growing! I feel like it was just yesterday that we brought our tiny little baby home from the hospital, and now he is a chubby little boy that is developing quite the personality! Being a parent is soo much fun and I can't wait to see what the next few months will bring!!

Check out Kallen's pictures!

So we just got Kallen's pictures taken and I LOVE them!! The link to see them is timelessimagesart.com - click on portraits, then click on slideshows, and they are under Kallen's name. The lady did an awesome job! She had done my sisters senior pictures and they turned out great so I figured we may as well use her too. I really don't plan on spending this much money on pictures all the time, but I decided that for his first baby pictures we could go all out! If anyone is looking for a photographer I HIGHLY recommend her....her name is Donna Rayne and her studio is called Timeless Images Art in Adel.

DeBoef Campout

I am a little late in posting this, but a couple of weekends ago we loaded up our car and headed over to Lake Red Rock to attend the DeBoef Family Camp out. Shawn's dad is from a large family and every year they come from all across the United States to spend time together and camp! Grandpa and Grandma DeBoef have created such a neat heritage and it has been such a blessing to become a part of this family. There are 12 children, 60+ grandchildren, and 60+ great- grandchildren -all of this from a woman who said she did not want to have kids and a man who said he did not want to get married. :)

We were a little apprehensive this year, not knowing how Kallen would do with staying in a tent but he did great! The weather was awesome and Kallen actually slept the best that he has in a while!!

Kallen with his Great Grandpa and Grandma DeBoef

A little bonding time with Daddy

Playing with Grandma Deb and his cousin Alydia

This is the strangest bug I have ever seen(it looks like it's straight out of a cartoon)....does anyone know what this is??

Kallen spent most of his time laying on a blanket under a tree playing with his toys. Here he is meeting his second-cousin Cayla.

Sassy Seat

Last week we decided to try out Kallen's "sassy seat" that he got from his Grandma Deb. It says it is for babies 4 months and older, but we like to think that our baby is advanced. (haha) He loved it!! He didn't really understand the concept of bouncing, but he loved being able to "stand" and would twirl himself around in circles. And of course, as you can see in the top picture, his favorite thing was chewing on the side. Kallen is at a stage where he chews and gnaws on EVERYTHING!! This usually leads to large amounts of drool and very soaked clothing. I am not sure if this means teething or not...it seems a little early to me...maybe he is just getting ready.

3 months!

Here is Kallen's 3 month picture compared to his 2 month. Our little boy is growing up so fast and developing such a fun personality! He is still a layed back, happy boy and every day he seems to find a new sound to make! :P We didn't have a doctor's appointment this month so I'm not really sure what he weighs, but he now wears 3 month clothes. He is not rolling over yet, but he's definately trying...and just last week he started giggling!! It's probably the best sound I have ever heard. We are so blessed to have such a fun little boy and I can't wait to see what all he will be doing next month!

Kallen goes for a swim!

Kallen went for his first swim in the lake this weekend! At first he didn't know what to think- but after he got used to it he was having a blast until mommy made him get out because she was scared he would get a sunburn.

diapers, laundry, and the list goes on

I find my self often wondering when my pre-pregnancy brain will return. I am starting to think it is gone forever. Now in order to remember everything I need to get done- I have to lay it all on my bed, then one by one I check things off the list. Here is an example:

Planner- call some of my clients, Bowl- eat breakfast, blanket-do the laundry, bills- who wants to remember those?, bottle of water- so I remember to drink sometime that day, Laptop- return some e-mails, Baby- probably should remember to take care of Kallen

I also am finding it amazing how excited we can get over a dirty diaper. Kallen had not had a dirty diaper in over 4 days and I was getting a little concerned so I called his doctor who gave us some things to try and told us to give it one more day and then bring him in. You can imagine my excitement when he had a huge blow-out a few minutes ago...haha. We immediately texted Daddy to let him know. The picture above is Kallen's face after I changed his diaper.
Wow, life has really changed!

Grandparents and Cousins!

This past Sunday afternoon the weather was AWESOME and Shawn's parents stopped by with Alydia and Brant! We had a lot of fun just hanging out in the sun, playing miniature golf, then ending the day with some pizza.

Shawn's parents with their grandkids

Alydia finally decided she would hold Kallen for the first time!

Brant giving his cousin some love

Ok, well here is this month versus last month. I don't really see as big of a difference this time. Although I can tell he is a little longer and developing a little bit more of a personality.