So much learning going on!

Kai has had two firsts, or maybe three this morning. First, he learned to clap all by himself and he's awfully proud of that! Second, he's figured out how to get to his knees in his crib (see picture) and I'm afraid that he's excited about that too! Who knows how much longer I'll have before he's terrorizing the entire house!

I have a video that I have to share. The other day Kai was practicing standing and here's a little of what happened. Watch this video first then go on to the next post and watch that. He's adorable and we love him so much. Oh, and he actually does wave occasionally. At least he's done it a few times this morning...so that might be our other first. I can't tell if he's trying to wave or give the sign for milk, but I think it's waving. At least I hope so or he's really hungry right now!



Okay, just checked...I think he was signing milk! I just got out his bottle of juice and he was so excited after he got a sip that he started to clap. After every sip, he clapped. And now he's tugging on my pants, so I better go play. Hope you all enjoy!

Watch this video second!

After Kai fell in the previous video he came crawling like speedy Gonzalez over to me. Isn't he just adorable!!



There's no cuter face, don't you agree?

I've been tagged!

So, I've been tagged which means I have to post 10 random things about me and tag 3 other people. Beware everyone!

1. I rarely make it awake past 10:30pm. It's like my body is still in synch with my mission schedule and I crash. But I guess if you asked my college roommates, they would tell that you that I never made it past 10:30 before the mission either!
2. For the life of me, I can't figure out how people have a kid and keep a house clean. Let alone cook dinner, etc when the baby's around. Therefore, Reid and I eat dinner every night after Kai goes to bed, making dinner sometime around 8pm. Reid's a good sport!
3. I get very uncomfortable in large groups, somewhere around 7 or more.
4. I'd love to get up early every morning to workout and study my scriptures, but the thought of setting an alarm always stops that thought. I can't stomach the idea of having yet another noise beyond Kai's crying and.....oh, I better stop there.......waking me up.
5. I've never been comfortable with my body. There's always some flaw somewhere. But doesn't that make me just a normal woman??
6. Most of my Sunday School lessons are prepared after 8pm on Saturday evenings, or early on Sunday morning.
7. I love going on vacation. Traveling on the open road or sitting on the beach--whatever we do, let's just go!
8. Every car accident I've ever had has occurred in a parking lot at speeds of under 5 miles an hour.
9. My brother teases me and says I'm a blond in disguise and I'm the only person he knows who could get lost in a parking lot. (You'll have to ask him for that story because he thinks it's a lot funnier than I do!)
10. I LOVE tax season. Filing our taxes is always a highlight every year. The numbers, the math, finding loopholes...it can't get any better than that! (except this year, as Reid has decided that with everything that happened this year, selling a house, buying a house, having a kid, receiving relocation assistance and whatever else, we need to make sure to see a real tax person. What a bummer!)

Crawling

We took some video this weekend of Kai crawling around. Hope you all enjoy!

Our first video blog

This is Kai getting ready for bed on Wednesday. If this turns out okay, I'll add a few more videos. Happy viewing!!

The dish ran away with the spoon

Okay, maybe not. But the week definitely did run away from us. We have had quite the eventful week and Kai has been quite a trooper. I'm so proud of him and am excited that he seems to be handling outings and minor schedule interruptions much better than he did when he was younger.

Monday was the only day that we have stayed in the house. Since then we have been running--maybe it's because I enjoy driving the new car so much?! Who knows?! Anyway, Tuesday we had lunch with a sister from the ward and had such a good time visiting. Poor Kai missed his mid-day nap and was exhausted. We finally had to leave when his grumpiness was hitting an all-time high. But who could blame him?? It had been five hours since he'd woken up from his last-nap and he was missing his toys! And Wednesday we made a relatively quick trip to Wal-Mart for some groceries and supplies for Thursday's enrichment and we (mostly Reid) did some marathon straightening up for the home teacher that visited us that evening.

Yesterday (Thursday) we had Kai's 9-month check-up. On the positive side, he's happy, healthy, and developmentally doing well. On the slightly concerning side, his weight has dropped from the 25th percentile to the 3rd percentile. He weighed in at a mere 16 pounds 2.5 ounces. So much for my goal of 17 pounds! I wonder how much of it had to do with his food strike that lasted for two days prior to his appointment. I guess I'll never know, but what I do know if that we need to get him eating. The big concern is that he may not be getting enough milk from nursing. So, I'm to pump after every nursing session to try to stimulate more milk. We're also expanding Kai's finger-food diet in order to find other foods that will entice him to eat. Yesterday after refusing his baby food lunch, he ate tortillas and cheese--almost a quesadilla! It was fun to have him eating in his chair while I was eating my lunch at the table. The other thing that I have decided to do is to make the B-I-N-K-Y disappear. I figure if he doesn't have that to suck on, he may nurse for longer and help with the milk production. It's now been over 24-hours since the aforementioned item has disappeared and he's doing fairly well. Yesterday's morning nap was the hardest with almost 40 minutes of sobbing. By the afternoon he was so tired that it was only 30 minutes. And by bedtime he was so wiped out that there was no crying at all. Even the two times he woke up last night (around midnight and five am) were pretty much tear free. I have replaced the missing object with a new one--his blankie and am hoping that he'll form an attachment to that that will be soothing for him.
One last item of note...the frog is in the closet--literally! After spending a good 45 minutes on Monday repeatedly having to push the buttons on the frog to get him to sing and light up, we have benched the poor Tad. Maybe when Kai is older and can figure out how to push the buttons himself, we'll pull the poor thing out of his dark abyss. So for now, it's farewell little Tad.

Mama and Yaya

Another weekend has gone, and once again we were relatively productive. For those who know my vision, you'll be happy to know that I visited an eye-doctor and got a new contact prescription, since I hadn't been wearing them since I had Kai only 9 months ago! For those who don't know my vision, that's probably better. :)

The weekend was full of mama's from Kai and we have many theories as to what he's trying to say. We just don't know which theory is right. At first, Reid thought that I was mama (makes sense) and that he was yaya. (very cute if you ask me) But as the weekend progressed, he started to think that mama might actually mean "I want" or "more". Both are also very good theories, since Kai seems to say mama whenever he wants anything, ie. a toy that's a bit out of reach, cheerios, milk, more of whatever fun game we may happen to be playing. All I know is that I hope he will soon figure out that mama is a name and that I won't be spending the next two years hearing mama anytime he wants anything. It's cute now but.......

We're still looking forward to his check-up on Thursday. And between now and then we hope to be just as productive as we were this weekend. Wish us luck!

Happy Valentines, Anniversary, Birthday and 9-month day!

Hopefully everyone enjoyed their Valentine's Day!! Especially my parents who were celebrating their 31st wedding anniversary. I also have to say Happy Birthday Mom! Can I also admit, I'm glad that Valentine's Day is gone so that I can change the blog back to normal colors?? The pink was a little much!

For our Valentine's Day yesterday--and Kai's 9-month day--we took a family trip to (drum roll please) a restaurant! While this does not sound very exciting to the common man, for us it was the first time in months that we had eaten out together (Arby's doesn't count in my opinion). We ate at the Elephant Bar and had a very delicious meal. Kai sat in his high chair and ate cheerios and puffs while drinking apple juice. It really was a nice time.

We went to playgroup this morning and had a good time, but poor little Kai has been all thrown off in his nap schedule. He seems to be sleeping soundly for now, so let's hope it continues. Sending our love....

Transitions and Decisions

It feels as if it has been weeks since I've posted instead of only four days! Good grief we've been busy. Saturday our new car had an appointment with the dealer and needed to be dropped off by 9am. So at a little before 8:30 we all loaded into the two cars and we were off to the south side of the city. Since we were heading that way we decided to get in shopping that we hadn't done in a while. That included a trip to Babies 'R Us for gates and other baby safety gadgets, Bed Bath and Beyond for all kinds of random household items that we needed/wanted (a key chain rack for instance), and Target, because Target's fun and there isn't one nearby. I think Target had to be my favorite stop of the day. After all of that shopping, Kai and I didn't return home until almost 3pm and Reid was still an hour behind with the car and a stop at the furniture store. Geez, I'm exhausted just thinking about it!!

Sunday was another busy Sunday and we were once again late! The 9 to noon schedule does not seem to be working for us as we have been late every Sunday this year except for two. The problem is that Kai takes an early morning nap and if he doesn't he'll be cranky during church and while he may make it through sacrament, he'd never make it through Sunday School. And since I teach Sunday School.....we can't have that--Reid would have no where to take him. We were spoiled in our old building with the "daddy room" and "mothers' room". So, instead, Kai takes his nap in the morning and we pull him out of bed right around 9am. We always end up about 15 minutes late, right in the middle of sacrament. I hate missing sacrament, but I can't figure out what else to do. Hopefully as Kai gets older this year, that nap will be a bit more flexible and he won't be so cranky first thing.

Speaking of getting older, he certainly is. Right after Christmas, Kai successfully made the transition from 4 naps a day (little ones, of course--it's Kai!) to 3 naps. And now it seems he might be getting ready to transition to 2 naps. I can't say I'm thrilled about it, because I know I'm going to lose the already precious time I have to myself, but I'm glad he's growing up. Maybe. I'll have to think about that a little more.



Other than that, the playgroup hits full-swing this week!! I'm so excited! Cheers went up in our house when I heard the news. The only thing is that the group is meeting at 9:30am. To understand my dilemma, please see the second paragraph up. :) If we can barely make it to church at that time, with all kinds of stress, can I really try to push him to a playgroup at the time?? And honestly, the playgroup is more of a selfish thing for me right now--I need socialization!!! So, I guess I'm going to take each week on a case-by-case basis.

Well, that's just about it for us. Kai turns 9 months old tomorrow--can I say WOW?! His doctor appointment is next Thursday and I have been hastily trying to fatten him up. I would love to see him weigh in at 17 pounds. Poor kid is so little--I think it's adorable, but I'm trying to look at the long term issues that being little can have. So, I'm stuffing him full around the clock. He doesn't really seem to mind, as long as it's Cheerios and Puffs. Buon' appettito tutti quanti!!

PS. It's almost 60 degrees today and tomorrow the high is 22 with snow!! Welcome to Colorado!

"Mama" and more

From the moment I walked into Kai's room this morning, I knew the word of the day was going to be "mama". He was so excited to see me, he kept repeating it over and over and over again. It was a lot of fun. We went through our little morning routine and then as normal we proceeded to go wake up daddy. But today, he didn't want me to put him down on the bed and he wouldn't even turn to look at Reid. The commotion of little Kai saying "mama" and fussing when he was put down, woke Reid up. I finally got Kai to turn around and look at Reid and guess what the first word/sound out of his mouth was??? "Hi!" Reid responded by saying "Hi" and I just sat there flabbergasted. Of course, I'm sure Kai had no idea what he was saying, but nonetheless it was absolutely adorable and the timing was impeccable.

Other than "mama" Kai has become quite good at "yaw yaw" or "yeah yeah". In fact, Reid has started calling him Mr. Yaw Yaw because that seems to be Kai's favorite sound. He also does "baba" and "rar rar". What a cutie!

Today was the first day when I really looked at Kai and saw an older baby. I can't believe how big he's getting and how much fun, too! We've reached the stage where he can start to get into things I don't want him in and so it's been hard to say "No" and take things away and watch his little sad face. I never knew it was possible to love someone so much. It's true what they say about a mother's love. We've been blessed with an absolutely wonderful little boy--and I'm sure all parents feel that way, at least I hope they do. But despite that, in our biased opinion, Kai's the cutest and the best!

Kai (7mos) and his cousin Owen (9mos)

Other Noteworthy Events

Colorado should be nicknamed the land of Subaru Outbacks. Everywhere we go we pass about 50 per mile! Okay, so it may not be that many but it's definitely a very popular car here. And we understand why--the 4-wheel drive can't be beat. In fact, as we were preparing for the move we knew we'd need a new vehicle and the Outback was the car we had settled on. So, without further introduction, here's the newest member of the Jones family.



I'm sorry you have to view the car in it's native habitat, the garage, but everytime it's sunny out I forget to take a picture and today it's snowing again. Oh well! Anyway, we love this car!! It's been amazing. You can't tell in the picture (because I was on the garage stairs) but the car has 9 inches of clearance underneath. In the Wal-Mart parking lot last week I was parked next to an SUV and it was actually sitting higher off the ground than the SUV. Pretty neat! I do miss my little Jetta, which we traded in for the new vehicle, but it's so nice to actually be able to fit Kai's car seat in without having to lower the handle. (The Jetta's ceiling was so low that the car seat always hit if I had the handle up!!) And this is the first brand-new car I've ever bought--which is also exciting! But probably the best part of the deal is that we've still managed to stay away from car payments. And who can argue with that?!

As for Kai, he's on the move! For several weeks we have been asking ourselves, "Does that count as crawling?" And last week we decided that for sure he was crawling! So, looking back, I'd say he started crawling around the 20th of January or so. When he's motivated, he's quite good and can go just about wherever he wants, given time. He's not on his hands and knees yet, but he's close. For now, his crawl is a combination army man/knees and elbows type crawl. Whatever works, right?! Today as I was sorting through papers, he decided to come over and help. Little stinker was too cute to pull away. So here he is surrounded by my papers.



I think if you asked Kai he'd tell you that life was grand, and who am I to argue with that?

The Sweetest Things

This last week, Kai has been beyond adorable. We're having so much fun together and laughing every day. There are several things that I just don't want to forget.

**Babbling--Kai has started to babble and it just melts my heart. We're hearing "BaBaBa" and every once in a while "MaMaMa" is creeping in. I love it! He also will copy me making a raspberry noise. His isn't very good but it's so cute the way he tries. He ends up with drool all over!

**Singing--It's obvious now that some songs have become quite familiar to him. For example, last night he was very tired and in the bathtub he started to get grumpy. To cheer him up, I started to sing "I love you" (yes, the Barney version). He LOVED it!! On my second time around he started to sing with me as loud as he could. We then went through just about every song I could think of and he was so excited, smiling, laughing, and singing along.

**Reading--Kai has decided that books are the best thing ever! Not that this is a surprise, considering that we're his parents, but it's been so fun. While eating had been a challenge, we have found a new distraction that makes it much easier--a book. I sit him in the highchair with his favorite book and he'll get so into turning the pages and touching everything that he eats almost without protest--even meats and veggies! It's so cute to see an 8-month old reading at the table like the adults.

**New games--Kai has discovered 2 new games that are especially endearing, the "Wee game" and "Give me 5". The Wee game originated with us taking his socks off by counting to 3 and then pulling real quick. He liked this so much that he now takes his sock, stuffs it in his mouth and while biting on it, stretches it out and then lets go. I, of course, count to 3 for him and say "Weeeeee!" The Give me 5 game is just that. I was trying to teach Kai to give me a high five by holding out my hand and saying give me 5. When he touches my hand I respond with a "Cha-ching! sound that he loves. Now anytime I hold up my hand and say "Give me 5!" he grins and reaches for the hand and just lights up when I say "Cha-ching!"

**Looking for Mommy--Kai is quite familiar with the door to his room, at least he knows that's where Mommy comes from. At the end of naps, or occasionally at night, he can be found on his tummy with his hands firmly holding the top of the bumper to pull it down so he can peer out at the door. It's so cute to come into his room and see him just waiting for me.