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 ##########

Keep everything out of arm's reach!

At the end of January Ky had a great time visiting his Uncle Adam & Aunt Liz in Indy. It was a long car ride, but Ky did pretty well. On the way there & back he slept most of the time,while mom and dad tried to navigate the crazy new toll system in Illinois. (We only missed one.)

Ky had fun showing Uncle Adam and Aunt Liz how much he had grown. He demonstrated his ability to eat lots and lots of food, with no signs of getting full. He also showed them how he could stand holding onto furniture, and how he can get in the crawling position but will not stay there. He also received some great new toys. Slobber/chew proof blocks and a hippo from his great Godparents (aka Mama & Papa) Vander Heyden. Ky did have issues when Adam wore his baseball cap. (see above photo)--good thing he removed it. Aunt Liz was good to him and let him play and even eat the newspaper. Their new house is really nice. We enjoyed seeing it and all the things they have done to make it home--kudo's Adam and Liz on the Master Bedroom walls, I am inspired...If i had taken a pic, I would have blogged it.

During our time in Indy we were also happy that we had the chance to see Tori (my college roommate) her husband and her new baby-Wesley. Wesley is 5 months (in the pic) and as tall as Kylan--but much thinner. He also has alot more hair than Ky. Speaking of which, the debate is still out on what color hair Ky has. There really still is not enough to tell. Sometimes it looks blonde, sometimes red, and sometimes light brown. I think it is going to be like his dad's, but only time will tell.

So after the trip to Indy we celebrated Debi's B'day at our house. We had a very nice time when Pop's and her drove up for the day. We had brunch and just enjoyed chatting. The next day we watched the superbowl with our friend Mark. The picture of Ky in the Red hoody is from that day. Ky decided he wanted to be cool and sag his pants like all the other cool boys do. We tried to explain to Ky that most of the cool boys don't wear vinyl pants under their jeans--but he just wouldn't listen.

The biggest event after the superbowl was Ky's new discovery that he can use almost anything to pull up and stand. He is now a very serious cruiser. As long as he sitting close to something, he will pull up and walk around. So now we are seriously moving things around and out of his reach at his height level. Boy--sometimes it is hard to keep up with him. It is amazing the things he finds!

That should wrap up this entry...I know I am behind on blog entries--but I am already working on the next to catch up. Stay tuned to the next blog entry which will reveal Ky's expanding vocabulary.

I've got Teeth!

Kylan has had an adventurous last couple of weeks. Two of his bottom teeth have popped through. I am figuring this is why he had a crabby spell earlier in the month. They aren't out enough to be visible in pics, but I am sure they will be soon. His food choices have also rapidly expanded with these sharp incisors poking through. MMMMM Teething crackers....

Ky is still rapidly learning about the world around him. He played in the snow and made his first snow angel. He also ate snow--we made sure it was not yellow. He really likes snow. YUM YUM!!! By the way this was the first snow that stuck on the ground since the day we moved. So this is really the very first opportunity Ky has had to see what snow is.

Kylan has mastered waving "HI/BYE" now. He will often accompany the wave with "IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII" (No h's or b's) And another favorite past time is eating his feet, whenever they are not socked. YUM! No crawling yet....it is really frustrating for us as parents to have him crawl all over us, but refuse to crawl on the floor by himself. Perhaps he is more of a mountain climber. We are always putting him on the floor on his tummy, but he just rolls over. Occasionally he will even get up on all fours and sometimes he will actually be on his hands and feet (no knees), but that will soon be followed by him rolling over or reaching over to one of us so he can crawl (literally) into our laps.

So I should probably explain a few of the pics. Kylan has been wanting us to dress him up like "Skeletor" for months. --NO--I am not lying...he is always grabbing the outfit in his closet...We finally gave in. He had a lot of fun in his glow-in-the-dark costume. And yes, he did go "ROAR".

Kylan also does get occasionally tired of all the attention he receives when he goes out for a night on the town. The "Cabbage Patch Doll" comments can be a bit much. So he chose to go "incognito" for one of his nights out. Unfortunately, it appeared that he actually received more attention, and people recognized him as the "Cabbage Patch Doll" he is anyway.

And lastly, Ky got to meet his second cousing Desmond at his Aunt Lisa's and Uncle Ryan's birthday party. They really had a good time playing with blocks. Ky was quite intrigued by Desmond's mobility, yet had no desire to venture out on his own.

Stay tuned for next week's posting...a weekend with Uncle Adam and Aunt Liz...

Ky's New Year pics

Pics to come...
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KY's new year

Well Ky got off to a great start with the new year. We went over to a friend's to celebrate--and Ky refused to go to sleep. He insisted on celebrating the new year as well. So he went to bed about 1:30 in the morning on the drive back home.

We are still expecting Ky to start crawling or something any day now. If in a seated position, he will try to grab onto something to pull himself up....He also is now starting to "cruise" when he is standing (walking on his own while hanging onto things.) Often times his attempts to stand turn into lunges where he is on his hands and knees. If he can just figure to move his hands and knees alternately he will crawl. Usually he does one or the other and just ends up sprawled on the floor and then he rolls to his back.

Shortly after the new year Ky came down with a cold. He was very cranky! Life was rough. Thank goodness my mom came and visited us for the new year. It was great to have her. Kylan really took to her quickly and seemed to forget his crabbiness. (It had been 4 months since he last saw her.) Kylan showed Grandma all the many noises he can make with his mouth. And Grandma showed Kylan that she could bark like Bear. Ky loved it and would laugh each time she barked (the things people do to get babies to laugh.) Ky also smothered grandma in kisses...

Once Grandma left Ky went back into his cranky spell. He is frustrated, now that he can pull himself up, he always wants to be standing and moving---but I don't want him doing it unless I am there to make sure he doesn't fall into something (he will forget to hold on at times and fall.) So after talking to some mom's I invested in a exersaucer. I spent a whole $2.50 at the Salvation Army for one (I love the salvation army!) This exersaucer is so cool! Granted it was a bit dirty when I got it (must have been sitting in someone's garage)--but a little soap and some lysol, a laundered seat-- and it looks as good as new. The exersaucer allows him to stand and jump--it has little springs in the legs...also it is not overwhelmed with toys--like a lot of exersaucers are these days. I can put various toys in the little compartments for him--and it seems to do the trick--for a short while anyways...and then Ky wants out and he wants to cruise on his own....Please God let him crawl soon!

Lately Kylan has discovered his tongue. I find him sticking it out. Man--he has a long tongue. I am going to get a picture of him doing it soon.

Dad is having a lot of fun with Ky too. Especially now that he says "DA DA" on a regular basis. Of course Ky has no idea what he is saying, but his father enjoys responding to him whenever he says "Da da da da..."

On Jan 8th Ky went in for his 6 month physical (even though he is 7 months now). We are no longer allowed to make fun of his weight. Ky weighed 20 lbs on the dot, which puts him in the 74th percentile.....20% less than before. The doc said that based on rob and my heights, Ky should be somewhere around the 70% so now he is on track. He is also 28" (80%) and doing extremely well....she was surprised to find that he could already pull himself to standing.

Over this weekend we had an incident with my car. I am not going to go into detail right now..but at some point in the future I do want the opportunity to look back at these pics and laugh (probably will be several years.) So for now, we cannot close the driver's side door. The tow truck comes for it tomorrow...and I am sure it will be a pricey repair.