Tuesday June 29, 2010

AGAIN!

After going to bed so early last night, Kai popped up and down all night long. I thought for sure he'd sleep until his normal morning wake-up time after all of that, but I was wrong. He was up bright and early at 6am. (Finn was up even earlier than that....don't ask!) So, I knew he needed a nap today. The problem is that Finn's nap schedule does not match Kai's at all. So, when Finn went down for his noon nap I tried for 45 minutes to get Kai to go down. It didn't work. Once Finn woke up, I drug both boys outside and had Kai run and play hard. The plan was to have him take a short nap with Finn at 3:30pm. At 3:30pm we pulled ourselves back inside for naps and then I got distracted. (It was a 1/2 hour distraction of pulling the crib apart to find the model number and then freaking out that our crib had been recalled, calling Reid, etc.) By the time I got everything back together and ready for naps it was 4pm. I told Kai to just give me a couple of minutes to put Finn down. I was surprised that he didn't follow me, but wasn't too worried. When I came back from Finn's room, this is what I found. This is on the floor in the master bedroom. Poor buddy was exhausted!

One Tooth

Can you see it? Doesn't it look like there's going to be a second one any day now?

"Not Uncommon" Feet

A couple of months back, I really noticed Finn's feet for the first time. I have no idea how I didn't notice it before, but I figure with everything else he had going on his feet were the least of my concerns. I made a mental note to ask the pediatrician at his 6 month appointment, but then quickly forgot. So, a couple of weeks ago I placed a call to get recommendations for a pediatric dentist and also asked the nurse about Finn's feet. As I explained to her what Finn's feet look like, she was stumped and said that she would speak with the doctor. I really just wanted to know if we needed to bring him in before his 9-month appointment, or if it could wait until then. After a couple of hours the nurse called me back. She relayed the doctor's message that it could wait until his next well-baby visit and that what I had described was "not uncommon". She said they would keep a watch on it. Hmmmm.....well, we've been watching and this is what we see (I'm sorry the pictures are a bit blurry. It's hard to take pictures of wiggling feet.):

From the top, his 2nd toe appears to have been stuck on after the fact. It's shorter than the middle toe and sits on top of both the big toe and the middle toe. I've joked that Heavenly Father finished and realized he only had 4 toes and so he just shoved another one on top at the very end.Looking at his foot from underneath, Finn appears to have only 4 toes. In this picture you can see some of the 2nd toe but it's because I was holding his foot tight to hold it still. But, the point is still there.....he only has 4 toes!

I just bought him his first pair of shoes and I'm wondering if that will help a bit. But try putting socks on this poor kid.....that second toes always gets stuck!

Monday June 28, 2010

Quote of the day:

Sitting at the dinner table Kai asks, "Momma, can you please build a strong family?"

After a 1/2 second pause in which I don't answer because I'm trying to figure out what the answer should be, he repeats, "Momma, can you please build a strong family?"

I answer, "Sure Kai. How do you build a strong family?"

Kai: "With a Lego Man!"

Ten minutes later, this was Kai. It was only 6:15pm.


Reid came in and took this picture for us and then picked him up, took him to his room, changed his diaper and clothes and put him into bed. Kai slept through the whole thing (only occasionally opening his eyes to look at Reid and then letting them roll back to sleep.)

I'm not crazy this time!

Finn had a bad night Saturday into Sunday. A really bad night. In fact, we stayed home from church yesterday because I just couldn't get moving in the morning. I was hoping that it was because he was getting a tooth, but when I looked Sunday morning, nothing. He even grabbed my finger and gnawed on it, and not a tooth to be had. Last night, just I was taking him up to bed, he grabbed my finger and bit it. There was definitely a tooth! So, one tooth down and I think there will be another here shortly. Both are on the bottom. So, I guess it's time to say goodbye to his cute gummy smile and hello to finger foods soon!!

Kai's Gymboree Class

I have been wanting to find a social outlet for Kai and had been looking for classes for him. We have decided not to do preschool this fall (a decision that I'm quite happy with actually) but I did want him to try some sort of once a week class so that he could learn how to interact and follow instructions. I offered Kai a gymnastics class and was told "NO!". So, we looked at Gymboree and he was very excited about a music class. As I was going to sign him up for a trial music class he saw an advertisement with kids holding balls. All thoughts of music left his head and he only wanted to take the "ball class". So we signed him up for a trial Sports class where they teach basketball, volleyball, etc. Wednesday was our trial class and Kai was SO excited all day. In fact, when it did come time to leave for class, I lost Kai while I packing the diaper bag. Turns out he had gone to the garage and was waiting by the car! We got to class only to find out that this month they are learning GYMNASTICS! Ugghhh! Poor kid. Kai had a great time at class and enjoyed all of the fun toys that there were to play with. He didn't really interact with any of the kids, just the parents on the sidelines, and he certainly didn't follow instructions, wait in line, or take turns, but he had a blast!

Playing around before class

The obstacle course at the very beginning of class

The free-for-all and just moments before he got knocked over

"Touch your toes"

After class and the only dinner he would eat (ice cream, strawberry
sauce and whip cream.....Yumm!)

Mom's Input: While Kai enjoyed himself thoroughly, I was disappointed with the class. There were about 15 kids in the class (turns out there's no enrollment limit)and 2 instructors who couldn't seem to see more than 4 feet in front of them. The kids that waited in line and took their turns (all 4 of them) got both teachers' undivided attention. The remaining children were running free-for-all around the entire gym. At one point in the beginning I stepped in (holding Finn) to try and help Kai figure out what he was doing. One of the teachers saw me, and "helped him" for the next two minutes and then it was over. One hour of Kai running free in a mini-toy heaven. Of course he had a good time. The teachers were even completely oblivious to the other bigger boy that knocked Kai over. Yep, not a happy momma! I was actually quite upset and shocked that it was a "drop-off" class. No one was watching him at all and they would have had no idea had he just ran right out. Imagine if I had just dropped him off! At 10 minutes before the hour was up, the instructors decided it was time for a potty break. I stepped in and asked Kai if he wanted to leave. He didn't and quickly asked me what they wanted him to do so that he could stay. At that point he started following instructions a bit and participating slightly in the class. I got a couple of good videos from that. But, we will not be going back to class. I'm disappointed because I'm not sure where else to look for classes for him. I think I'm going to take a break for a couple of more months and maybe once school is back in session these types of classes will be less crowded. Let's hope so!

So glad I dropped the mattress!

When Finn woke up from his afternoon nap today, I was in the middle of changing Kai's diaper.  It took just a couple of minutes to finish the diaper change and then I went to get Finn......and this is what I found!  I knew he was close to figuring it out, but I was still quite surprised to see him standing up there and just grinning.  When he saw me come into the room he began to shakily start to "cruise" along the side towards me.  He's not even 8 months old yet!  Should we start taking guesses as to when this kid will start walking??

A slight balance check...what a cute face!

So proud of himself!

Volume 1

I have spent hours upon hours working on turning our blog into a book.  I finally feel ready to publish volume 1.  If you'd like you to take a look, go ahead.  And if you're interested in finding out more about Heritage Makers, let me know.  I LOVE it!  I just wish I spent more time doing it.  :)

What was that again?

While reading from our Book of Mormon for Families this morning, we were reading about the kingdom of God.  Kai was listening, but mid-verse cut me off.  He pointed to the picture on the opposite page of the daughters of Israel (a sketch of 4 women) and asked "Is this the king of the God?"  How could I not chuckle?  And how in the world do you explain the concept to a barely 3 year old??  One day. 

Our first family "hike"

We must confess that after living in Colorado for over 2 years, we have done very little in the way of exploring.  We've often talked about it, but have found that the 8-month winters and small kids just don't mix well and really limit our time to get out and about.  Even though Finn is still quite little, he is a much more even-tempered baby than our previous one was.  He's pretty much always happy, even when he's tired, or he's easily distracted and made happy.  So this year we resolved to get out and see a bit more and do some exploring.

Memorial Day this year was a perfect opportunity.  We still haven't replaced our grill (we found it was inoperable when we arrived in CO) and so we needed to go out for burgers anyway.  We stopped at Smashburger for lunch before heading out to Ute Valley Park to explore.  It was our first time at both places.  Unfortunately, we have a hung jury on Smashburger, but Ute Valley Park got thumbs up from everyone!  We covered ourselves in sunscreen while in the parking lot, I strapped Finn into the Baby Bjorn with a hat and blanket to cover him up some more, and we took off on our "choose your own adventure" afternoon.  There were so many trails in the park that we didn't see all that many people.  We would cross paths occasionally and so we knew they were there, it just didn't feel crowded.  At one point I saw a path that looked like it offered more shade and so we decided to go that direction.  We ended up at a little creek with grass and animals and rocks.  It was a perfect place for Kai to look around while I gave Finn a bottle.  Kai thoroughly enjoyed exploring until a fly started buzzing by and then he decided it was time to leave.

Both on the way into the park and on the way out, Kai picked up as many rocks as he could.  At one point early on in the hike, he actual slipped and landed flat on his tail still holding onto his rocks in each hand.  It was pretty funny!  And he had a great patch of dirt on his bum.  Too cute!  He even made up a song about rocks on his way back to the car.  It was a fun family outing!  Here's to another one soon!

The slip onto the bum while holding both rocks.

Dirty bum.

 Very tired Finn.

The end of our path.  The rock was the shady spot where 

I stopped and fed Finn.

Kai's lizard friend.

 Kai's ladybug friend.

 The view of Pike's Peak.  Can you believe this park

is right in the middle of the city??

Look What Finn Can Do!

Finn started crawling yesterday. He figured out that the moves he has been using in his crib for the last several months actually work on the floor, too. He doesn't like to go too far, but if a toy, or momma, is just out of reach he'll do a couple of little scoots to get there. I took a video of one of his earliest attempts, but wasn't sure I was going to share it because it took him quite a while to get going. And then later I was trying to take a video of him standing up, and he ended up coming to me instead. So, here's that video. He just does one little scoot, but you get the picture.

It would seem that this week has been a big week for Finn, a tooth, crawling, etc. However, for the life of me, I can't find his tooth again. I'm positive I saw it earlier this week (about Sunday through Tuesday) but there's been nothing now for three days. I asked Reid if I had imagined it, but he had never taken a good look. I know with Kai that his teeth would come and then drop back down again, and so I don't know if that's happening with Finn or if I've just lost my sanity. There's nothing that even looks like a tooth has ever even been there. So weird, I have no idea what to think!

There's a tooth!

Finn's first tooth made it's appearance on Sunday.  Well, really only the tippy top of it, but it's there.  As is normally the case when teeth first appear, all attempts at a picture have been futile.  But I imagine in a couple of weeks, there will definitely be something to show.