10 months & First Easter

Well it is definite. Kylan does not like large crowds of people who "Coo" over him. It makes him cry and just want to be held by Mom & Dad. Easter was good, but Ky spent too much time crying over other people wanting to hold him. He is either a mama's boy, or gets nervous in crowds--just like his mom (either way--though I would have been a mama's girl). Ky enjoyed showing off his weight lifting abilities though as well as walking. He took some pics with his cousins before he began balling.

So what is the little man up to these days? Well, he loves to make messes. He will go to cabinets and empty them out, or just toss all the toys from his toybox. The more the merrier. We are still working on trying to get him to put them back away.

He has also become a serious wood eater. He made a MESS of his LIFETIME CONVERTIBLE CRIB (See pics above.) Yeah--we paid not too much (we did get it on clearance after all), but we did pay a decent sum of money for Kylan's crib that converts into a toddler bed, then a full size bed. Well, Ky was not sleeping so well one night, so Rob and I did the usual--let him cry. The next morning I went in to wake him and the crib was a mess. He has not limited himself to his bed either. There are several side tables he has started working on, as well as a just newly noticed bite out of the entertainment center. So what do you do with a wood eating baby, besides say no and move him somewhere else (which you can't really do when he is in a crib)?
Well I thought about it and pulled out the bitter apple. For those who don't have pets--bitter apple is a spray that tastes awful. You put it on your furniture to keep your pets from chewing on it (when they are puppies.) Oddly enough, Bear never damaged any of our furniture, so we really didn't hardly ever use it.

So I sprayed the tables and watched for Kylan when he went to take his next bite. I believe his exact words were "YUM" and then he continued. (Okay so I exaggerate a little--but the boy does say yum--and it was pretty obvious by the look on his face he liked the bitter apple.)

Ky is a pretty regular walker now. However he walks the most at home. He will walk one length of the room and then turn and walk the other. His push toys are still his favorite though because he can move faster than his slow toddle.

He's had a pretty constant runny nose for the last couple of weeks and I am smeared with his boogers by the end of the day (YUK!) I can't wait for the weather to get warmer.

What do cows and Kylan have in common?

They both like to eat grass!

HA HA!

It was so wonderfully warm, that Ky got to wear shorts and go outside and play--and he insisted on eating the grass. He would pick it and then try to put it in his mouth. While I would be emptying his hand of the grass, he would then pick it with his other hand and try to eat it. (This made picture taking very hard!) Eventually he threw a tantrum and got mad at me. I guess I am just not connected with my inner cow.

By the way, the top pic is my little boy giving me a kiss. He is the best little kisser. He will put both hands on your face and then open his mouth and drool all over your cheek. He is going to get all the little ladies with those smooches.

So Nana's B'day was last week. We had a very nice afternoon with her. Ky showed her how he was pushing his little FP toy around. He also had some very in-depth conversations with her. He is so funny when he talks to you. He will point at things and wave a hand in the air. He has some really important things to say--I just wish I knew what it was. Lately his favorite word has been "bum." You can say "Ky, what do you want to eat." He will reply "Bum." I am not sure where he picked it up from, but everything is "BUM". I never knew that Bum had so many meanings.

G'pa came over to watch some b'ball games with Ky and Rob. Ky had fun showing grandpa that he could walk. He also carefully inspected grandpa's teeth for cavities. His conclusion to G'pa's dental hygiene---what else--"Bum." So profound. My boy is a genius.

I had my first shift at the Y this week. It went pretty well. I was holding a six month baby and feeding him his bottle. Ky was jealous. So then I ended up with two babies in my lap. Ky was a bit clingy. I don't know if it was because of the new place, or because my attention was on other children--not just him. He is just going to have to learn to share mom a couple of times a week. Of course he knows that he will always be my number one bum!

My baby is WALKING!!!!

Yes he is! Not even 9 1/2 months! This kid astonishes me. 13! That is the most steps he has taken without falling. WOW! When he is walking, he is always sticking his tongue out too! Silly boy! Wow I am not sure I have much more to write than to say he is walking...

okay, well maybe a little more. So about a week or so ago I noticed that Ky was starting to let go of things and taking one or two steps before grabbing onto anything. So I started encouraging him to let go and to walk to me a few steps away. That started it--and now he is loving it. He walks kind of like a penguin. It is funny. I don't think he understands the whole bending of the knees concept. It will come soon. Short blog entry today---Just had to let everyone know that my baby is WALKING!!!

Stay tuned for Nana's b'day and a visit with G'pa

9 Months!

My Gosh! My baby is 9 months old!

WOW! The time has really flown by. IT is amazing how much they grow in such a short amount of time. My neighbor just had a baby, and he is tiny! And Kylan is so big! That first year of a child's life is just truly amazing.

I am trying to get 9 month pics taken, but Ky scratched his nose the other day, so now we are waiting for it to heal.

Okay so here is the stats. At nine months, Kylan now weighs 21 lbs 4 oz, and is 29" long. That puts him in the 63% for weight (remember when he was over 90%!) and 76% for height. The doc says all is well with him.

So here is Ky's latest. He is amazingly fast. He will zip from one side of the room to the other in seconds. He is always looking for something to push, so he can walk across the room with it. The other day he discovered the laundry basket. He was able to push and walk with it across the room. He was having so much fun and then it stopped and he fell in it! It was hilarious to me. Ky, however, did not find it funny at all.

Ky has not been talking very much in the last week either. I was told that this is natural when babies start to work on walking. I miss him saying b'nananana. Soon enough I am sure it will all come back though. But for now I am happy teaching him other things. He gives "five" now and does a much better job on patty cake. We are still working on clapping.

This week has been very warm, so we took Ky to the park and he played on the swings. He loves the swings. (I try to take him a couple times a month--at least this time I remembered the camera.) He laughs as the swing approaches you. I can't wait for it to be even warmer(and less muddy) so he can go down the slide. Soon enough--for now Bear is the only one that enjoys the slide (hmm...I should have taken a picture of that!)

So, I need to share how blessed we are. If you have kept up on the blogs, Rob and I have had a rough last few months. However, now I am blessed with the opportunity to substitute teach. I have already gone once and I look forward to more. My goal is to check out the schools Ky is going to attend--that and to start working on my "in" for when I go back--but that will be a while yet. My baby needs me at home.

Okay so more blesssings--I joined the East Side Madison Mom's Club (Stay at home moms) a few months back and have really been enjoying getting to know other moms and learning how to be a better one. I have really needed to make some friends during the day, and this has really worked out well for me. Today I needed someone to watch Kylan for an hour and one of the mothers was more than happy to help out! Thanks Lesley! I owe you one! IT is great to know that I have others to rely on. Did I mention she has the most beautiful little girl? Ky thinks she has great hair.

So blessed again, I just was offered a job at the local YMCA in the child watch area. I can work just a few hours a week, bring in a little extra money, and have Kylan right there with me (can we say social time!). Not to mention I get a free membership and now I can take classes with KY (like swim lessons) at a great discount.

Okay one blessing in disguise--I found out the local salvation army is closing. I am bummed! I get a lot of Ky's clothes there. They have great prices (ex. black snow pants in perfect shape --50 cents, two piece osh kosh sweatsuit-- practically new $1.00). I am really bummed they are closing. It was sad, the workers were crying. I go there once a week and have really gotten to know some of them so I was sad too. However, that meant big BIG closeout sale. So I got a lot of clothes for Ky for very cheap. Yeah, Ky doesn't have to go naked.

So this past weekend, Ky spent some time with his Great grandparents and great aunts and uncle. He had a pretty good time, but ended up being shy. He is really starting to deal with separation anxiety, which is common for his age. Aunt Linda was pretty persistant and was able to calm him down and hold him--and when he got dehydrated from all the tears Great Grandma got to hold him (it helped that she had a bottle full of yummy water!)

This week will be exciting for him. March Madness begins..and this weekend is Nana's birthday, but all that we will save for the next blog entry.

How 'bout some chicken? or pig?

I think this entry is more about me than Kylan. If you can't follow stream of thought--this blog entry is going to be very hard for you to read---(That's why there is the picture portion!)

We have just had a stream of bad luck when it comes to cars. So last month there was the incident with my car. The one I said I would explain later...WEll that incident was $1500 in repairs. Argh....And I will do a quick explanation--Rob did an oil change in the garage. WEll, he decided to back my car up and get it off the ramps. He had the car door open, and let the car slide off the ramps. Well--instead of pressing the brake to stop the car, he pressed in the clutch (he is not used to stick-shifts), so the car continued to roll, the car door hit the garage door and well hyper-extended the door and broke some of the front panel as well as the door panel...OOPS!!! So this is Rob's oops....here is mine...

....last week Rob and I were leaving....Rob's mom was watching Kylan...and well I was multitasking..I was rolling up my window--which I am having issues with because I don't think it was repaired properly from the incident last month--where was I...Oh yeah, I was rolling up my window, talking to Rob, backing out of the garage and searching for the garage door opener..when --I hit Rob's mom's car. Yes I did. I hit my mother-in-law's car. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!!!. I had no idea she was parked in the driveway--I didn't even look.

Now you are thinking--what a nimrod! Why didn't you look! WEll--if you were ever at our last house, when people came to visit, they had to park on the side--out of the way of the garage & driveway. In our new house, you have to park in our driveway. I am not used to having people in my driveway, and well I was just doing too many things at once--and too my credit it was dark out and Mom has a dark blue car--it was camouflaged. Mom--if you are reading this blog entry--once again "I AM SOOOOO SORRY!!!" I really wish I had hit my own mother's car. --not that i would want to hit her car--but if I had the choice I would rather damage my own mother's car than my mother-in-law's car--afterall she is more used to me damaging things of hers--not that I do that often--but I do recall breaking some things very special to her and she took it pretty well...It's that unconditional love thing....

By the way did I mention that this is the third time that Rob's mom's car has been hit in the last 11 months?....I just have to keep reminding her, I gave birth to her only grandchild--you must love me and forgive me...Actually, considering everything that has happened, she has been very cool about it. Thanks mom! I owe you one!

Okay enough rambling. So I was driving slow. My car is fine--just a little blue paint on the bumper. mom's car is scratched and has a dent by the door. Which unfortunately is why it is going to be a bit of money to repair--$850 to repair. ARGH!!! So much for saving money and following the ?BUDGET?.

AHHH!....and then if that wasn't bad enough....i got pulled over the other day. So i am driving, thinking about our budget. How can I make up for the extra expenses that we have had this year....So here i am sitting at a light, and this cop car pulls up behind me with it's lights on....so of course I am like--well I best pull over, I don't want to be in the way of whomever they are after--naughty people!....AND OF COURSE..the cop car follows me. Now I have no idea what is going on. I pull out my driver's license and I am thinking to myself--I must have a broken tail light or something...and you know how the cop sits in the car FOREVER before they even get out....Well I start praying...First I prayed that I didn't do anything wrong--and then I think--well--that's silly--if I did something wrong, it already happened and was witnessed, I need a more logical prayer. So then I start praying for a male cop. "Lord, if I did do something wrong, please let it be a male cop so I can cry my way out of it."

So out steps the cop--and it's a girl! ARGH! Strike two. So she is slowly sauntering up to my car when I realize I am wearing my red bandana. THE SAME RED BANDANA I was wearing last time I was pulled over by a female cop (why are they always girls!) and I got a ticket. OF ALL THINGS...STRIKE THREE!! I know I am dead, yet I still have no idea why I was pulled over. The lady asks me for my license and I hand it to her and she starts walking off. So now I am really confused. She stops halfway back to her car and comes back to me and says "you know why you were pulled over" And of course I am clueless--and yet at the same time this is always what they say to you when you get busted for speeding! SPEEDING!!! --yeah that quickly flashed in my head. But of course I have to play the game. "No Officer (they like it when you say officer--don't however slip and say ociffer though---cause that leads to a breathalizer---not that I have ever done that before), I have no idea--what did I do?" She then answers my question with a question (why do all cops do this?) "Do you know what the speed limit is here?" This is when it occurs to me that --YES of course I know the speed limit--but wait I just moved BACK to Madison--my license still has the Milwaukee address--SCORE---point for me!

"No officer (point 3--they like the respect), I am so sorry---I just moved here and I didn't see the speed limit." She then asks me for my new address--which I made sure to stumble on---If I rattle it off too fast she might think I have been here for a while. She then informs me that I was driving 13 over--and she walked back to her car.....

By the way during this time, I watched three other cars get pulled over. I guess there was a speed trap that I and the other sorry suckers had not seen...

Okay, back to praying...."Lord, please let her have pity on me! I wasn't paying attention! I promise to do better!" And then the whole budget comes back to me. What am I going to say to Rob---oh dear, insurance rates....Argh! Yes I did a lot of praying! Oh my goodness she took forever in her car. When she finally came back though, she gave me a verbal warning! SCORE! She said her printer in her car wasn't working so she couldn't print out anything--which makes me wonder--Was this God? If her printer had been working, I am sure she would have given me a ticket. So I choose to believe that God saw me and took pity....Thank you Lord. I will do better to respect the speed limit. AMEN...

So now...here is Kylan's entry.

Kylan has top teeth! YEAH!! they just poked through. We are up to 4 teeth! What a big boy!

He now cruises completely around the living room. He actually uses the wall and will just lean against it. This has opened up a new can of worms, since our entertainment center is open. I haven't figured out how to keep him out of it, except to watch him. One of the pics above shows him standing next to his bookshelf after he has pulled about 20 books off of it. Another picture shows him crawling up a step that we have between the family room and the kitchen. Oh yeah--and there is a picture of him in his crib, after we lowered the mattress. Ky was crying the other night and Dad went in to check on him. He was standing up and crying at the door waiting for one of us to come in. We decided it was probably a good time to lower the mattress.

The blizzard of 2007 was fun. We cancelled our plans for the weekend--to see the grandparents--and stayed bundled inside. We received about 20" of snow in just two days. Sunday was fun. It was 32 degrees. We took Kylan outside and built snowmen. We also built him a chair with an ottoman that he liked. Ky loves the snow. He likes to eat it. He tries to catch the snowflakes in his mouth. You can also see how they tickle his face, because he squints his eyes and smiles.

Oh yeah--so the manager from Ella's Deli called (see blog entry below)--turned out to be the same guy I spoke to at the restaurant. He assured me that since the incident they have ordered more glasses. He then also said he wanted to make it up to me and sent me $30 in gift certificates. I am in no rush to go back there (Better make sure they get the glasses they ordered first!), but that was the gesture I was looking for--my meal to be comped. Sorry Kel--that we didn't get you comped--but next time you come we will make it up to you.

That's all for this week.

Better keep an EYE on ME!!! (8 months)

Look real close in the top picture and you can see Ky's bottom teeth! And while I am explaining pics, the two below it is when Ky got his head stuck in a bucket. It looked painful, but he seemed to enjoy it. That crazy kid!

Alright, so lots of new stuff--as always--in the world of Ky. First of all he is really starting to talk now. Not only does he lift his hands to the sky and babble, but he is making serious attempts at words. He says Mama & Dada--though we just figured out that he thinks Mama is food. When he is hungry he comes over to me and cries "Mama." He also says "nana" for banana--though he is starting to work on the "b" so now it is starting to sound like b'nananana. He loves banana. IF you pull one out he will start saying b'nanana or nana. He says "Da" for Dog. We decided that since Bear's name would probably be confusing for him, (A dog named Bear--what were we thinking!) we would teach him the word "Dog" for Bear.

He also likes to play copy cat with making noises and playing pat-a-cake. He is so much fun!

As far as food, we feed him just about anything that isn't too spicy or unhealthy. The boy loves to eat. In fact, he has recently decided that he has taste buds. He cries when we put food in his mouth that he doesn't like. For example, we were feeding him squash--which he normally loves and he sat there and cried. We had no idea what was going on. So we gave him some banana and he was happy. Then we started alternating bites of squash and banana. For every bite of squash, he would cry; for every bite of banana, he would smile and get excited. Silly boy.

He also has a new game of zerberting (razzing) when his mouth is full of food--and then it goes everywhere. OH FUN!

So on to mobility. Okay the cruising has taken a new toll. He now steps between furniture, see fifth pic from the top. This has made our family room a new hazardous place. Yeah. I had serious issues keeping up with him. He was getting into papers, smearing the windows with his hands. Finding all sorts of new areas that he hadn't been able to explore before. So now leaving him alone for a few minutes is NOT a good idea unless he is in his exersaucer or pack n' play.

Crawling--I don't know. He does a little. He gets in the position and may move a foot or two precariously--but he just is not into it. He would rather roll across the room than crawl. And above all of course his preference is standing up and cruising.

Last week Ky had a couple of visitors. Ethan, a boy Rob and I have babysat since he was 2 months old came over for the day. I have to say that this was my first experience with what it is going to be like having multiple kids. Ky was fascinated with Ethan (now 4 years old). However, Ethan needed a much more mobile and interactive playmate. It was a constant battle on which to entertain. That and Ethan asks lots of questions. "Why is the freezer on the bottom of your refrigerator? Why does Kylan cry? Why can't Kylan eat cereal? Why, why why?" I was wore out by the end of the day. And then when you are answering his questions you debate whether to give him the real scientific answer or just give him something easier to understand. Kylan does not talk nor ask questions. My conversations with Kylan are usually initiated by me and tend to be very one-sided. All in all it was a good time.

Over the weekend Kelly came to visit. Kylan had fun with her and especially enjoyed her hair when he had the chance to grab it. We went to Ella's Deli and had the worst service ever at usually what is a very good restaurant. (See below if you want to see my letter that I sent to them.) We have decided that sooon Ky will need to conquer the state of Minnesota so that we can check out Kelly's new digs.

Alrighty...so I am posting two entries, so be sure to read the one below. I feel bad about getting behind. Anyway here is my angry letter.

Hi,
I have been to your restaurant several times in the past and have been very happy with the service and atmosphere.

However, I was there this past Saturday, February 18, and experienced the worst service ever.
My husband and I have been out to eat very little since my son was born. It is hard taking an infant out to eat. However, we had a friend from out of town over and wanted to show her one of the most unique restaurants in Madison. We knew that even though it was a Saturday evening, your restaurant usually has little wait. We arrived around 6:40 PM and waited about 10 minutes for a table. After being seated, we ordered drinks. After waiting about 20 minutes for our beverages we began to get frustrated. We did not see our waitress anywhere. After 30 minutes, I went up to the hostess to ask her about our drinks and our waitress. (30 minutes had gone by and the waitress --Jodi--server #7--NEVER checked up on us.) The hostess, found our waitress and we were informed that the restaurant had run out of glasses (does this really happen at a restaurant of your size?) and our drinks would be up immediately. The hostess also told us she would check on our food and offered us some fries to tide us over. About 5 minutes later we received drinks.

At this point I would also like to mention that several other tables around us had been cleared and new patrons had been seated and already received their BEVERAGES and FOOD, in the time we waited for our beverages. After another 25 minutes, I flagged down the hostess again. My son was getting fussy and I was wondering if it was even worthwhile for us to wait for our food (we had ordered sandwiches, fries, and coleslaw). The hostess said she would check on it. She then told us that it was being prepared then. About 5 minutes later we received our food. That means we waited a total of 35 minutes for our drinks and 1 hour and 5 minutes for our food. (And all we ordered were sandwiches!) And of course once we received our food our son became upset and cried while we tried to ?ENJOY?/choke down our food.

We quickly left, but on the way out I did speak to your manager, Alec (sp?) who apologized, but that was it. When we left I felt robbed of my rare opportunity to eat out with a friend. I also felt embarassed that I had brought my friend there in the first place. At the very least, we shiould have been compensated for our meal. I hope that you will please look further into this incident so that Ella's Deli will continue to be the restaurant I once thought it was. For now, I am not sure I will ever return to Ella's Deli unless I am assured that your service has changed.

Thank You,

Jessica Schnake

You can feel free to contact me about this incident at ##########