My BLUE baby!

Kayden will no longer let us feed him any pureed food....argh! It has been very hard but today he refused to eat any at all, spit anything pureed out, except his yogurt, which is good b/c I want him to keep eating that. So he had blueberries as part of his dinner and loved turning himself blue! Guess he loves blueberries like his grammie!

11 months old!

Yep he is one month away from the big 1! He changes so much everyday it is hard to keep up with all the new Kayden changes. This month brought his 3rd plane ride so far and he was a champ on the plane! He got to visit grammie and gramps and play with their doggies and crawl in the pretty green grass and rough house with his uncles. He had lots of new foods from all the relatives trying to sneak food into him without mommy seeing, he had oranges, ice cream, chocolate, raisins and I'm sure alot more I don't even know about. He loves his finger foods now and doesn't really want us feeding him anymore but we continue to try. For breakfast he is usually having a half of a banana with a tbsp of cereal, some fruit and cheerios. Lunch is usually a yogurt with a tbsp of cereal added to it (his favorite flavors are banana, vanilla, apple and blueberry), a piece of cheese and some fruit. Dinner is some mixed veggies he feeds himself that has carrots, peas, corn, and green beans in it (yes he'll eat green veggies but only if they are NOT pureed!),some protein, some sweet potatoes or squash, some fruit, and some ceral. Getting the pureed foods and the cereal in him is becoming more and more of a battle. His main source of liquids is still his breastmilk, he does get his sippy of water throughout the day but his milk is still 90% of what he intakes liquid wise.
Kayden is an on the move baby now, he cruises along everything and can stand for periods of time without holding onto anything....he still isn't so sure about that but he can do it if he chooses or if he doesn't realize he is doing it! Yesterday we went to the park and he didn't want to kneel on the grass so I put him down and he stood long enough for me to walk to the wagon, get the camera, get the camera ready and take several photos of him standing like a big boy. So he can do it, he just doesn't know if he wants to yet;-) Last Thursday he took a step when he was standing a couple different times and he has done it a few times since, he stands, takes one step and then on his second step sits down on his bum. He just isn't so sure he can do it on his own yet. He walks holding onto one hand/finger and that gives him the security he needs right now. He speed crawls to whatever he wants and follows me around the house yelling "mama" if I get too far from him. He loves to play chase, I'm gonna get you, peek a boo, and where is Kayden are his favorite games. Dancing to his toddler tunes is his favorite way to start the day, he moves and grooves and looks adorable, I've tried to get it on video several times but as soon as he sees the camera he stops and poses for it or comes to steal it from me so I'll keep trying! But as soon as he sees me going toward the stereo he starts to do his little "bounce", too cute! Swimming is another new favorite, when we first started swimming lessons he wasn't so sure about the whole thing but now that the water is warm he loves going in our pool and playing in the water and floating in his floatie, which makes mommy happy because I can get some sun! Books continue to be a favorite and he loves to go grab a book and turn the pages all on his own now.

Waving hi and bye are fun ways to enter and leave a room now, he gets a big grin on his face when he waves and thinks he is so cool. And he will wave to let me know he wants to leave too, on Saturday we were at a friend's birthday party and it was past his bedtime so he decided to start saying goodbye to everyone before mommy knew it was time to go....he was telling me! If we are at a playdate and he is playing he has to find me in the room and wave just to know I'm still there and then he goes on his merry way;-) He has made his own sign for "no" and uses it all the time, even if we are telling him no he uses the sign....so we know he knows the meaning of "no" but does he listen.....sometimes;-). I'm trying to use no less frequently and redirection and arranging the environment more frequently, I don't like saying no all the time and I don't want him to think his mom is the "no" machine so now that I know he knows what no means, I will try and use other techniques more often. He loves to clap and claps on command, when playing patty cake, and when he is listening to music. He is also attempting to say lots of words now and loves to repeat things and jabber in his little sentences, dada is now a frequent sound in our house (he also loves to say car and doggie) and this makes daddy so happy! He had to wait awhile but it came! Last night we were swimming in the pool and he wanted the pool thermometer, so he was reaching for it and going "uh, uh, uh". So I said "crocodile" and he started mimmicking me with what sounded very close to crocodile, so I gave him the croc, let him check it out for a minute and he stopped the "crocodile"-then I threw the croc and he started reaching for it and saying "crocodile" again.......that night I was telling Kyle and he didn't believe me so I told Kayden to say it and it took him a few tries and he started saying it for daddy too! (of course it isn't a clear "crocodile" but his best attempt at an approximation;-)
One more month baby boy and you will be the big ONE. I can't believe it has been 11 months since I met you! You are my favorite person and I love watching you grow! XOXOXOXOXO

BIG Waterslide!

Today was Memorial day and Kyle and I didn't have any real plans, other than running errands so when Christa called and said they were spending the day at the Wild Horse pass Sheraton and wanted to know if we were busy we decided it sounded like alot more fun that going to Leslie's pool supply, Linens N things and the other random spots were going to stop. We met Christa, John & Tula at the pool area of the resort and Kayden was having so much fun he even skipped his afternoon nap (other than the quick catnap on the way to the hotel), the first time that has ever happened! And he didn't get super cranky like I had imagined he would. Jaclyn & Tatum came after Jaclyn was done with her class too. He loved going in the pool with the sprays with his daddy, and the beach entrance pool where he could play with his toys & his friends and he even got to go down a big waterslide with daddy and I. The first time he went down with daddy, he almost got dunked but daddy saved the day and kept him above water. So the next time I took him down because he was reaching for the stairs of the slide and really wanted to go again. He had tons of fun and felt like such a big boy going down the slide! It was so fun spending Memorial day with friends! Thanks John and Christa for such a fun day!

We went to the zoo, zoo, zoo!

How bout you you you! Today we took Kayden to the zoo, we figured we should go again because we have had rain the past 3 days and it was below 80 degrees today, an oddity in May in AZ! It is amazing how much more he was into the animals than even in February the last time I took him. He was talking to and pointing to the iguanas, the elephants, the baboon, the tiger and the giraffes. He loved looking for them and once he found them could examine them for as long as we'd stay. We took him to the petting zoo too and he LOVED petting the goats. It was hard for me to let him pet them because goats aren't the cleanest animals but we washed his hands right after we left the petting area. His eyes were so big while he was petting them and he loved watching the "big kids" running around the goat area. And he said "goa" for goat, over and over. He has books that have goats and lots of other animals in them but hasn't ever said goat before but today the actual experience of seeing, petting, smelling, & following the goat around motivated him to say "goat" over and over. In college I learned the main dividing factor between social classes is real life experiences, many urban kiddos that are low socioeconomic satus have far fewer real life experiences than kiddos of other social classes and because of this their vocabulary level suffers greatly, for example they may have never seen a cow and no matter how often they see a picture of a cow or read about a cow it isn't as stimulating as seeing the cow in person. Kind of like if you are trying to learn to ride a bike, reading about a bike and seeing pictures of a bike isn't nearly as important as actually getting on the bike and riding it. Today I saw that in my little guy first hand and it made me so happy that the #1 advice I have always given my parents I work with is "give your child as many real life experiences as possible". It is so true and so important!
So I walked away realizing that even though the weather is going to be super hot, Kayden & I are going to have to get up early and head to the zoo and petting barns and other places where he can have those real experiences that are so important for him........tell me again why I live in the desert and have to take my baby to the zoo in 110 degree heat??? The good thing is, the zoo opens at 7am in the summer, lucky us:-)!
Oh yeah-pardon the non-matching hat! Kayden is no longer keeping any hat on that doesn't have an under the neck strap so that is the only one that we had in the car that he couldn't yank off, so we had an unmatching cutie today;-)

I'm gonna get you!

MNO!

The mommies-Tierney, Brenda, Maria, Christa, Jaclyn, Megan, Adrienne, & Amy

MNO is mommy code for "Mom's Night Out". Everyone knows I never leave Kayden and I love having him "attached" to me wherever I go. So I never really thought I'd be "into" a mom's night out, when others did it I just thought it was great for them but not for me. So about a month ago our mommy group had a MNO, Christa and I decided to give it a try and then she ended up being out of town so I was on my own. Kyle ended up getting home late from work that night but I "had to go" to give another mommy back her camera before we flew home to NE and I dropped in at the end of MNO and to my surprise had fun. So when the next one was planned for this Friday I decided to go again and had a blast. I did worry about Kayden a bit and if daddy was able to get him to sleep without his num nums but whenever I checked my phone there weren't any missed calls so I didn't worry too bad. The girls in our group are such great mommy's and it is so fun to get to know them outside of mommyland a little and to remember that their is life past 7:30pm! The surprising part is I don't think we mentioned the babies once while we were out, I think everything else was covered but we left the babies at home for the night! Getting home to Kayden and him waking up and wanting to nurse still made me so happy and I was actually glad he woke up for some snuggles but girl time was alot of fun! I love our mommy group, I'm so thankful I found it, so thankful Christa was the organizer and is so great at it and so thankful Kayden has all these wonderful women in his life and tons of little babies to grow up with! Muahh girls!

Doctor Appointment Yesterday

My happy boy! He was playing with his new favorite toy, his pull duck!

Kayden with his floaty he can't drink the water from the pool!

Kayden finally went in for his 9 month well baby visit yesterday. He had an ear infection, a cold and then the tummy flu so we hadn't went in for our visit yet. His new stats are: Weight-20 pounds, 12 ounces which puts him in the 25-50th percentile range; Height-29.25 inches which puts him in the 50-75th percentile range and his head circum-47.5 centimeters which puts him in the 75-90th percentile range (we always knew he had a big head;-) He has stayed in about the same percentile range except for his weight at 6 months was in the 50-75th range and now is the 25-50th range, but the doctor said he isn't concerned at all because babies often do that when they get so mobile. He said he is extremely healthy, active and ahead on the developmental charts-go Kayden;-). Kayden was really good during the appointment, laying on his back for the nurse to do the temperature, listen to his heart and lungs and weigh and measure him (he will never lay on his back for me to change his diaper!!) and he jabbered up a storm to her and the doctor. When the doctor was doing his stuff he was fine until he had to look in his mouth, he didn't like that at all and let Dr. Salek know it! Afterwards Dr. Salek asked him to "give me 5" and Kayden did his sign for "no", so Dr. Salek tried again and this time he did his sign and turned his head away from him. Dr. Salek couldn't stop laughing at the fact he was "snubbed". As soon as the dr left I asked Kayden to give me 5 and he did it right away, as if to say, yeah I'll do it just not to that guy!

105 today!!!

Water please!!

All the kiddos at the party

Kayden and Madelyn.....notice Kayden's red cheeks!

And we were at a park!! I know.......we are crazy desert people now! When we were in Nebraska whenever it was over 90 you were either in a pool or in the AC and today we were at Madelyn's first birthday party at Pacana park in Maricopa. As you can see my little man's cheeks were flushed and he couldn't get enough of the water! If Kyle or I were holding him and had a water bottle he had to be drinking out of it 90%of the time. The other babies didn't seem as affected by the heat..maybe it is because his mommy and daddy don't have desert blood;-) Kayden had fun watching Madelyn open her presents and helping her "break them in". Madelyn also gave out cute bibs for party favors that her mommy made....I think I might have to order some from her, we will see if she takes orders;-)

Nebraska Trip

Kayden, Daddy and I just got back from Nebraska! It was Kayden's 3rd plane ride so far and he was a champ on the plane. Kayden and I flew out on May 7th in the morning and Daddy flew out on Friday May 9th-so Kayden and I were on our own on the way there. Kayden was the "good baby" on the plane and the baby right behind us cried most of the way. Every once in awhile Kayden would look back and they would play with e/os hands and she would stop, it was cute, almost like he was wondering what was wrong with her. I felt bad for the baby's mom but was happy Kayden was being good! We sat next to the window, had an empty seat and then there was a man at the aisle, it was so nice not having someone right next to us. After what felt like a long time I asked the man how much time we had left and he told me an hour and a half........I was SURE he was still on a different time zone or something! So although Kayden was great on the plane, it did take alot of energy to entertain him, alot of books, snacks and songs! When we arrived Grandpa was there to greet us at the baggage claim and I had to leave Kayden with him and run to potty.....Kayden was not happy about it and cried big tears, he did it again when we stopped for lunch at Jimmy John's and I ran out to get his highchair cover and left him with grandpa. He slept most of the 3 hour drive to Kearney which made the trip not so bad. But a 3 hour flight and a 3 hour drive is a long travel day for anyone, much less a 10 month old! When we got to grammie and gramps house he loved all the attention, the big doggies and being able to crawl-but he didn't want mommy to be out of his sight!

He did end up warming up to everyone, but mommy still usually needed to be in sight or gone long enough for him to not miss me anymore. He loved the guys this trip, much to the dismay of the girls! His Uncles were his favorites, along w/ grandpa and pretty much any other guy! If Auntie Janine had him he would hold his arms out to go to Uncle Dan, or if Dan wasn't close by he even decided he'd rather have the caterer hold him than Janine! I know.....she cried;-) I guess he was letting them all know that the only woman in his life for now is his mommy;-) The doggies were favorites as well. He started saying "goggie" for doggie and would look for the doggies as soon as we woke up and played with them until we went to bed. He loved pulling on them, standing up next to them, crawling under them, taking their toys, pretty much anything he could. And the dogs were great with him! Never once did we have to worry that he might be in a sticky situation with them. I think he might need a big doggie of his own.......

New foods were a big part of his trip! Everyone wanted to feed Mr. Kayden and they all wanted to give him foods his mommy had not decided he needed yet. Uncle Kurt gave him his first orange, Uncle Mark gave him some cracker with cheese in it, Uncle Ray let him dip his finger in the chocolate fountain and eat it (this was by far the most difficult for me to stomach!!!), Aunt Janine gave him a part of a cinnamon roll, Grandma gave him raisins and a tiny ice cream cone just his size and she tried to give him a dum dum sucker which I quickly said no way to (I had an organic sucker in my diaper bag from when I had a sore throat and let her give him a lick of that to satisfy her need to give him "crap"......I think that is everything, but as you can see it was a battle mommy wasn't winning. It felt like everytime I turned around they were feeding him something else! But he did okay with all of it and I guess I'm glad they listened when I said NO CAKE until his 1st birthday! They made sure to tell me what a stick in the mud I was several times a day. Maybe it is a good thing we live in Arizona and they all live up there, I think I'd have a soda drinking, cake eating 10 month old!

Kayden had to adjust to others bathing him, feeding him, rocking him to sleep, all things he is used to mommy and daddy doing but everyone else wanted to experience. Some went well-he didn't mind people feeding him, but bathing was a different story, Uncle Mark and Carrie did the first bath and he screamed the whole time. On Saturday we drove into town to meet Grandma and Grandpa Hingst for breakfast and to pick up daddy. We had a nice breakfast and then went to Target so they could spoil Kayden a bit before they drove back to Milford. Saturday night daddy, mommy, Uncle Mark and his girlfriend Carrie, and Uncle Ray went out for a bit and we got a call from Grammie and Auntie Martha saying we had to come home because Kayden refused to go to sleep w/o his mommy. I said Grandma could suffer for a bit since she is never around to babysit! When we arrived home Auntie Martha was cuddling with Kayden in bed and he did finally go to sleep for her but she said he wasn't too happy he didn't have any num nums before sleepy time. Monday night Grandma and Mark and Carrie all watched Kayden for Kyle and I so we could go out to dinner......Kyle thought it was great being able to eat dinner without tending to Kayden, I kind of missed my little man.

Sunday brought Mommy's first Mother's day and Erica's graduation from Kearney Catholic. Auntie Martha, Grammie & I went to Starbucks and then over to Janine's to help finalize the decor for the big party. We all went to Erica's graduation & then spent the day watching Erica "act like she was there" (Janine-you can't live that one down now;-). It was a great 1st Mother's day, being with Kayden all day and my mom and my Aunties and other family members. It's crazy though how old Erica graduating made me feel! Next summer will be my 10 year reunion and Erica just graduated. Going back to Kearney Catholic was so different because it was mostly new teachers and the kids were no longer little brothers and sisters of my classmates graduating, it was now a whole new crop of kiddos. So strange!

It was a great trip and so nice to be back in Nebraska in the springtime and see all the green grass and trees, tulips and daffodils;-) It made me really wish I had a big green backyard for Kayden to crawl in but I guess that is what he has his grandma and grandpa for because his mommy and daddy decided to live in the desert! Oh yeah & how could I forget Kayden got 4 more teeth while we were there!!! I had thought he was being antisocial but I think it was that he was in pain and wanted his mommy. On Saturday he decided he liked everyone a whole lot more, so at first I thought it was that Kyle was there and he had been worried about his daddy before but then he was laughing and I saw the 3 top teeth (a fourth is trying to come through) and another on the bottom had all popped through! He now has 6, almost 7 teeth!