6 Months Old Today

Kiernan did great at the doctor today. He was the star of the office. All the ladies were commenting on how cute he is and how handsome he was dressed (of course courtesy of my sister). He is doing great and doctor gave him a great report. He wants me to get him eating more food. I got to figure out a way to get KK more into it. He says by next visit I need to get him eating all the 1s and 2s. I got a ways to go. He takes about three bites and he is done. He is taking to the formula though.

Stats:
Height: 26.25 cm
Weight: 16lbs. 4oz.
Head: 43 cm


Looks pretty good! I forgot to get the %s. Sorry Ash!
I got a new camera for Christmas. Yay Me!! I have been messing around with it and testing the new capabilities. And I figure why not try it out on the cutest little guy in town. I have seen some cute Christmas pictures from photographers on Pinteressst. So I am such a wanna be photographer that I thought I would try it out. Look at my cute bubba. I still need to work on the lighting and the camera stuff but it is super fun doing so many photo shoots. I have seen one where they give the baby a Xmas ball off the Christmas tree but this year I did not put any of those one the tree so I settled for a snowflake. This one is not as cute as the one that was posted on the site but I am working on it.

6 things I love for 6 months of life

1) When KK is ready for sleep, he likes to be cradled like a baby and a blanket over his head. He is the lightest sleeper EVER but if you get him in this exact position he can sleep through his brother's basketball game.





2) I love when I give him a spoonful of food (any food!) and he always taste it and acts like he is going to throw up and makes this gag face.





3) I love when I get right in his face and he places both hands on my creeks. His hands are always super hot and it warms my face.





4) I love in the morning at 6:30am when I bring him into my bed and nurse him and he falls back asleep in my arms.





5) I love when someone else is holding him and I begin to talk and he turns to look for me. He must know where his mommy is at all times.





6) His smile!! Ohhhh.... and his laugh too!

Half Way There...

I can't believe that six months is already gone by. I have had a lot of ups and downs of being a new mommy but I am so happy to have Kiernan in my life. This winter KK is sporting beanie-visor hats. I LOVE them and think every baby needs one in their wardrobe. My sister is obsessed with clothes but none of her kids have one. Guess she doesn't agree. But look at how cute. He thinks his mommy is crazy.He still loves to take baths. He stays in there forever and kicks his legs at the water. He has gotten better about having to get out and get clothes on. He use to scream but now he has toughened up and allows me to get his clothes on quickly and without crying.Kiernan is already sitting up basically under his own power. He balances pretty good and plays on the floor his his toys for about 20 minutes before he gets tired. He even sits up really straight.When he starts to get tired he slowly starts leaning forward until he face plants into the ground.He is such a trooper because the dogs are obsessed with him. He just closes his eyes and lets them lick. I constantly have to tell the girls to back off but KK just looks at them and laughs. All they have to do is walk by him and he starts to laugh.They also have been caught having a staring contest.He plays on his back with all the hanging toys but most of his time is spent rolling onto his tummy.And finally...... We have a tooth poking through. I think with the looks of that tooth, I am going to retire breast feeding. I gave it a good run but I think my milk is producing enough to feed my hungry boy. He seems to fill up better on formula and sometimes it is just easier to bust out a bottle rather than a boob. Last night, Kiernan slept through the night again. I feel like a million bucks today!!

H@me Depot

As we were walking through the store I am enthralled by all the Christmas decorations. They are everywhere. I am seeing what decorations I cannot live without when I hear Bill from across the store yell, "Summer, hurry come here!!" He is waving his hands in a panic. I hurry over thinking he has found the greatest decoration ever when I stumble upon him setting up the boys for their picture with Santa. Since when is Santa at Home Depot? All the boys sat down and we snapped a picture. No it is not great but it sure does beat standing in that long line at the mall. Plus it was free. Now that is the kind of Santa picture I am all about. :)

Sleeping Situation

So I have come to the end of my rope for little KK's sleeping pattern. I was losing sleep and I have never been so tired in my life. Everyone under the sun has been giving me advice to get him to sleep and nothing was working. Same ole' story. This weekend I made it my mission to figure this kid out. I am the adult here and so I should be in charge, right? KK wakes up every 2 or 3 hours. I am not a good sleeper so once I get back to bed it takes me a moment to go back to sleep so I feel like when I finally get back down, he wakes up and I start the whole process over again.
So I started Friday night and began the "let him cry it out". This was really a LONG night for me. He would wake up at his usual 11:30pm and cry. I went in put his paci in and hushed and patted his butt for one minute and walked back out. He screamed bloody murder for the next five minutes. I went in again put his paci in, flipped him over and hushed/patted for the next minute. The first battle was for 30 minutes. Finally after 30 minutes of wrestling, he went down. Then he woke up at his usual 2 or 3 hours and did the same. I did breakdown and feed him at 3. Super hard first night.
Saturday I was told try formula. Ya know, thicker and can fill baby up and make him happy. In KK's defense it was a rather unusual night because we went down to the riverwalk and so it ended up being a late night. He did the usual routine but seemed to shut it off a little quicker and only woke up twice. But the problem was the 6:00am wake up was for good so it made me really cranky.
Sunday came and everyone has told me I have to sleep when he naps. KK is almost 6 months old and I have never done this. But today when we got home from church and Gavin's bball game, I laid down and fell asleep for 30 minutes. I felt so good when I woke up. By 7:30pm KK was totally ready for bed. (I also have been trying to hold him to 8pm) Really, I'm trying everything. But he was ready for bed so I took him in and loaded him up with formula. He gave a little fuss but them went soundly to bed. AND THEN......... he slept soundly til 5:30am. That is right guys.... He Slept Through The Night!!!! I went in and grabbed him and hugged him. I was so happy. I took him into my room and nursed him back to sleep and he slept til almost 8:00am. I feel like a new woman today. I was completely breaking down and I feel completely rejuvenated. Now let's hope I can make this a habit for him.

MIA

Kiernan is growing like crazy. Every time I look at him I think something has changed. I worked really hard over Thanksgiving to try and get him on a better sleeping and eating schedule. I tried to stick to the book and make me be the boss of him. I did not think I made much progress but I had to keep him home today from daycare and he has been amazing today. He has ate like a champ and slept like a champ. Maybe I did something right???!! He also only woke up once last night which is a change from his usual every three hours. Ash and I got to hang out some for the holidays. It makes me sad at how little we get to hang out since we decided to shake things up and have three kids a piece. I mean really no wonder we get anything done in life. Every chance we get we drag the kids out and take pictures. You can tell by each expression on the kids face what each one thinks of our camera.

Finally we have tried to get ready for the holidays. KK has gotten some new gear to wear. The Xmas tree is up and beautiful. The outside lights are struggling but are somewhat up. Shopping has started and for me basically complete. I like to get it done. Bill will ALWAYS wait til the last minute and then think we have to run out and buy, buy, buy. We will see what the next month holds.

Look at this cute lil' holiday filled outfit. LOVE IT!!! His teacher at school has taught him to stick his tongue out. Right now it is super cute but guess at some point I will have to teach him that this is not nice. But for now I will enjoy how cute he is.....

Did you do any shopping on Cyber M@nday?????? I DID.........

Rollover

That is right...... Little man has officially rolled over. This afternoon he fell asleep in his car seat. I of course tried to gently get him inside and execute the perfect transfer. I failed and he began to cry. I thought he was really tired so I let me cry for a few minutes. When I could tell he was not going to calm himself down and go back to sleep, I walked back in and sure enough he was looking right at me. He started laughing. Such a cutie!!

Sleeping Not so much....

Well my little Kiernan was a champ last night. He went down at 7 and woke up at 3 for a feeding. Awesome..... But when I got back to my bed I could not fall asleep. I tried everything. I had such anxiety and had my to do list rolling in my head. I wanted to make sure that I take care of work stuff in the morning. KK will be at school so I can get everything done!! Problem was I couldn't turn it off and go to sleep. I am also going on an ACTS retreat and I am giving a talk so I had that playing through my head as well. Thinking of all the things that I needed to get ready for that weekend. Making sure I leave enough milk for my baby. He has been a big eater lately. Then I was thinking about the baptism and that I hope everything goes well. I hope the boys will get to come. I was thinking about Halloween and that I haven't even tried on KK's outfit. I thought about the pile of laundry that is getting higher and higher. Plus we had company this weekend so I thought about the huge pile of dishes that need washing. I thought about if my boys love me. And if my husband thinks I am a good wife.

All these thoughts randomly piled in my head and the end result.... I NEVER went back to sleep. Bill's alarm went off at 6:30am and I told him go back to sleep, I'll get Gavin to school because I am up already. Finally heard Kiernan at 7. What an awesome night of sleep. Too bad his mommy didn't sleep like that. I have found since he has started sleeping in his crib that I really have to wake up to go to the opposite side of the house to get him. Then I sit there for 15 minutes and by the time he is ready to transfer back down I am ready to go. Guess I'll try again tonight.

Doctor Visits Galore

Kiernan had his 4 month old check up this week. Life has started to get a little easier these days. I feel like I am getting a hold of this mommy thing. Kiernan has been extremely happy lately and sleeping pretty good. He started on rice cereal and seems to gobble it down.
Height: 24.5 31%
Weight: 14.8 58%
Head: 41.5 28%

Doctor said he looked great. I can really tell he is putting some pounds on him. He is talking all the time and really is alert at what is going on. He is putting his butt in the air so I am thinking he will be rolling over soon.

Then Thursday morning, we get a call and Gavin is sick. He comes to our house and seems to be playing and doing fine. I keep asking if he thinks he needs to go see the doctor and finally he tells me he does. I make an appointment and they say to come right away. We get there and wait. and wait. and wait. We wait in the lobby.... and then in the room. Both boys became extremely irritable and started fussing. Yes both boys. I had KK in my left arm and Gavin in my right. Gavin started crying and wanted to leave. I finally convinced him to fall asleep and she would come.
KK passed out in the doctors office and Gavin finally falls asleep on the table.

Finally some quiet time to myself when in walks the doctor. A quick test and sure enough... STREP!!! Off to wait at CVS for the prescription. I mean really will this day ever end. Finally got them home and they both took long naps. Gavin took his meds and is already feeling better. I love antibiotics.

4 Months Old

Well tons of pictures but never could get the exact perfect shot on Saturday, his 4 month old birthday so I will share some I took during his 4th month of life. He is such a ham. I just love him.

He is talking all the time. He seems to be getting a little less fussy these days.

I took him to get professional pictures Sunday and they turned out amazing. The lady really was patient and got some cute ones. Kiernan slept in his crib last night for the first time. He did pretty good. He went down at 7:00pm and woke up at 12:00am, 5:15am, and 7:00am. Pretty good for his first time. He also started day care today. He is going on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. I feel like I can be back in the adult world again.

Gavin's playing Soccer

Gavin started his soccer career. We put him on the same team as tee ball. He seems to like it. Since it is CYO they must pray before their game. Gavin bowing his head.

Ready for kick off.... We did find out through this that Gavin is the fastest kid on the team. He isn't really interested in getting the ball but will be the first to chase it.

And of course... Gavin's #1 fan ready to cheer him on.

KK likes the morning games much better than the afternoon games. But he is very serious about cheering for his brother.

Three Months Old

I was counting down the days til he was three months old because I couldn't wait to do the photo shoot. I am still trying to figure out this camera and I am not being successful. Kiernan had other plans today. He was Mr. Cranky. So I tried and tried to capture the perfect picture but failed. I got some pretty good ones but not that perfect one I had been dreaming about for the last thirty days. Kiernan is definitely a handful for me but I am doing the best I can. He talks or coooos all the time. Sometimes I feel like we are having an actual conversation. He absolutely loves the bath and when Mudge (the dog) licks his face. I think he has figured out who mom is now which makes me smile. He is still not a great sleeper. Anything can wake him up. He only goes about three hours during the night. When he goes more I feel like I just can't remember what time I got for his last feeding.

KK is super strong with his head, neck and legs so I thought I would try out the bump0. He gets restless after about two minutes but that gives him enough time to get use to sitting up.

He cousins absolutely love him. Today I dropped him off at Grammie and Poppy's house because I had an errand. The kids had to go to choir. I picked KK up before the kiddos got home and Mom and Dad said they kept asking where was KK and why I had to pick him up. I love to see those kiddos love on each other. Makes me smile.

Finally, KK went to the nursery at church for the first time on Sunday. He is in Miss Hadleigh's class. I went to Sunday School and then church. My sis and I were sitting in church when we see the director walking around the sanctuary. Ash and I look at each other and we know she is searching for US!!!! She finally spots us and comes over and points to...... ASHLEY! Looks like Kiernan was doing fine but Miss H was missing her mommy. We quickly got up and gathered the kids and headed home.

Handmade by Grammie

My mother is so talented. She has been making the girls clothes and they look fabulous. She says boy clothes are a little harder but she just can't leave the boys high and dry. She finished a John Deer*e romper for my little guy. Kiernan looks super cute in green if I do say so myself.She even accessorized it with tractor buttons. She even puts a tag inside that says "Handmade by Grammie". Seriously love her! I will save this outfit for my friend Krystal!! Her husband had a tractor for his groom's cake at their wedding.

KK's first time at Port A

Ready for the beach. What makes me think they are NOT excited about it. KK spent most of the trip with this look on his face. He wasn't into the water, the wind was too much and he wasn't even trying the sand. Maybe he is still a bit to young to enjoy my favorite place in the whole wide world.

Roy and Gavin were extremely busy. They jumped waves, skim boarded, built huge holes to try and fill with water and relaxed a little bit.

He got a little hungry out on the beach so I wrapped him up in a towel and the next thing I knew he was snoozing.

Bill and I had a lot of fun sitting and talking. We took turns playing with the kids while the other entertained KK. Bill is not a water person at all. (I know is he human?) So I get roped into heading out in the waves with the boys. I was okay with that because on land the boys were digging holes. Really?? No thank you!!

Seriously, the holes were the talk of the trip. They had to have separate holes with no bridges together. It had to have a valley headed towards the water. The only thing I can think of is that this is fun for boys.

KK finally couldn't take it anymore. We turned on the car and placed him in front of the vents. He seemed to be in heaven.

On Sunday, John, Lisa and Jacqueline came down to hang out with us on the beach. We set up shop and spent the whole day out there. We had such a good time.

Bath Time

Kiernan LOVES the bath. Sometimes when he gets really fussy at night, we put him in the bath and it seems to calm him down. The only problem is getting him out because he doesn't like to be cold. He screams until I can get his PJs on and wrapped up in a blanket. Bill normally gets in with him. Loving the whale bath tub. He normally pees as soon as he hits the warm water.

WHhhoooaaa Daddy. Easy on me.

Testing out the camera on this shot. Pretty cool that you can see the actual water stream. Happy Friday!!! So glad it is a long weekend. I needed it!

30 years since birth

Well today is my 30th birthday!! I am actually looking forward to my thirties. I feel like I am wiser and understand the world a little better. I feel like I know what I want and can align my life accordingly. This feels good. I am a lot different than I use to be and this is a GOOD thing! Bill has taking care of me for the past week or so. Numerous gifts, dinners, a few surprises here and there, a day out golfing, calls from the boys and a final bday dinner planned tonight. It has been good. I wanted to take pictures with ALL of my "kids". These little babies are my life and each one is so special to me. It started in 2007 when my baby niece was born. I knew love but was overwhelmed with how much I loved her. Along the way I acquired some step boys and my love kept growing. My sister blessed me with another niece and a nephew. Finally I was blessed with a my own little boy. WOW I am enjoying every minute with all of them. Every thing they say and do makes me smile. So for my birthday I thought I needed some updated pictures with my babies. Mom and Kiernan
Aunt Mashure, Jillian, Hadleigh and Rocco

Mama, Roy, Kiernan and Gavin

My whole gang

SHOTS!!!!! and Stats....

Kiernan had his two month appointment today. He was going to get three shots. OHHHHHH..... mommy was so worried because when he had jaundice they couldn't get his foot to bleed so they kept squeezing him. Kiernan was screaming and I swear I almost hit the nurse. I was ready to be strong today but Roy had his administrative day at school. He wanted me to attend and I wanted to get all the information on Middle School. It has been awhile since I have been around it. I went and helped get his gym clothes, figure out his locker and of course grab his four huge textbooks. Bill and Gavin took KK. Bill said he did great and looked great to the doctor and of course he did in fact scream his head off.

Height: 57.2 cm (32%)
Weight: 11 lb 15 oz (55%)
Head: 39.3 cm (32%)

I tell ya.... I am questioning the head because I feel like his head is huge now and I have a lot of trouble getting his shirts over his head. So now I just need to monitor his fever and make sure he doesn't have a reaction. Now I am just praying for a peaceful night tonight.

2 Months Old!!!!

How quickly time flies..... My little man turns the big "2" today. We have had a rough two month stretch. He has had tummy problems from the git go that makes him rather fussy. Our last time at the doctor the home remedy of peppermint tea was discovered. He has been a totally different baby since then. He is still a grunter. He has even rubbed off on his older cousin because now Hadleigh is doing it. Kind of funny but my sister is not so trilled about it. I have had a lot of time to get use to being a mommy and it is such an honor and a great feeling. I can see what all the fuss was about. Having your own is just AMAZING! I finally told myself I had to stop and enjoy him because he is growing so fast. I am so busy with juggling work, taking care of all house chores and of course trying to play with the older two boys that I was not taking the time to just hold him and look at him for my own enjoyment. I have been doing that a lot more and he just seems to be a little bit happier!

He has been smiling like crazy lately. He doesn't exactly do it on cue but seems to be happy.

I have good nights and bad nights with him. Right when I think he is sleeping great he has another bad night but for the most part is getting 4 or 5 hour stretches. He has started to cooo and get out some type of sounds. He is giving me much bigger burps which I think is helping his stomach issues. Only problem these days is he is such a LIGHT sleeper. Not a good combination when I have three other boys who slam doors, talk loud and just plain forget there is a little one around.

Finally, the only sadness that I have today on his two month bday is that my sis has gone back to work. UGH!!! :( He are super close and have seem to gotten extremely close this summer. ( I think it has to do with me becoming a mommy!) We talk all the time and I absolutely adore her kiddos. I won't get to see all of them as much now. Hopefully we can still find some time in our busy schedules.

1 vs 3

So I took on all three kids this weekend while Bill was on an ACTS Retreat. What a totally draining task. I think my sister is a saint that she can manage three children at one time. Oh and did I mention hers are all under 4. No thank you!! So Friday night we headed over to mom and dad's and went swimming. My first time I was able to be in the pool post baby. It felt so good. I have been jealous all summer of all the swimming that I can't participate in.
The next morning we headed up to Ashley's school to help get her room set up. We were there by 8:30am. Super MOM!! Worked long and hard and then returned to mom and dad's for some afternoon swimming. Then last night we hung out outside and raced remote control, gas powered cars. REALLY?? Gas powered cars? That's right!! Gavin just learned to ride a bike.

And then me and KK hanging out watching his brothers. What a life?!?