1 Year Old

I swore I wouldn't be one of "those moms" who constantly gawked at how quickly their baby's first year flew by, and welled up with tears as they looked back on pictures of their wee little one...

But you guys, how the heck did this year fly by so fast? And how is my baby already so big?! Where is my little snuggly munchkin? He has been replaced by this 1 year old who thinks he is going on 13!

Baby Kay isn't so much baby anymore. He is as expressive as they come, and will flash you the cheesiest smile you have ever seen as soon as the camera comes out. He capped out his first year with a whopping 3 teeth; the third having only made its debut 2 days before his birthday. Kaymond loves to walk, with some help still, but this week he has started letting go of the couch or chair supporting him and toddling across the living room to us. I still can't get over the sight of him *walking* towards me all on his own!

Kaymond's favorite thing in the world right now is tangerines. It's a little difficult to get him to eat anything else. He knows where the fruit bowl is on the counter, so whenever he decides he needs a tangerine, he'll crawl over to the counter, stand up and point at exactly where the bowl is. Today we were at the grocery store looking at some bagged salads, when he started squirming out of my arms like crazy. I followed his gaze and lo and behold: boxes full of tangerines. He wasn't too happy with me when I told him those weren't for us and we had to leave.

Kaymond also loves his cornpopper toy (those little push toys that make a loud popping sound  and bounce plastic balls everywhere inside a clear bubble), his dump truck, and blocks that he is starting to learn how to throw. He also still loves looking at his reflection and gets a kick out of seeing us out the side of whatever window or blank screen he is checking himself out in.

He's still saying "dada" a lot, "mama" a bit, and "nana" anytime food is around that he wants to eat. He's added pointing and saying "dat" to anything he wants to take a closer look at.

For Kaymond's birthday we had a Golden Birthday Party since he turned one on the 1st of the month. I had a lot of fun putting it together, but can already tell that the end of every year is going to be one heck of a marathon through Christmas, New Years and his birthday. Yikes! Thank you to all the friends and family who came to his birthday celebration though. It was lots of fun!

We took the above two pictures at my SIL's with a lot of help from her! I just love his little smile in this picture.

Kaymond got a big bag of ball pit balls for Christmas. We put them to good use on his birthday!

His favorite part of the night: playing with an empty Solo cup. Go figure...

Don't let the frosting on his nose fool you, this kid wanted nothing to do with smashing his cake!

Cheeser! He eventually ate one tiny piece of cake and then was done! 

In other news... Ray and I do actually try to have a life beyond baby. Ray with more success than me probably. :) Ray is traveling to Boston soon to give a presentation at an independent game designers convention. He submitted an abstract a while back on his idea, and was recently informed that his topic was chosen! I'm so excited for him and so proud of him for doing this. It's a huge nod that Ray has talent in *good* game design and ability to share that knowledge with others. Way to go Ray!

Here's to another fantastic year! Cheers!

11 Months

Can we just start with... holy Hannah how is my baby almost a year?!

Glad we took care of that.

At 11 months, Kaymond still has 2 teeth, still weighs 20 pounds, but has grown probably 2 inches. I think he is still short for his age, but maybe he is catching up?

He loves walking with our help more than anything. He can walk with his walker, but we still have to follow and steer for him, so usually we just give him our hands. We've started having him try with us only holding his tummy. It usually ends with him falling forward, us catching him, and him in peels of laughter. Everything is a game, until you stop or take something away- then he grunts and screams his frustrations at you... until the next game starts!

He has become much more expressive with his face. Just the other night during dinner, he started being goofy and making faces then blowing raspberries at me while I was trying to feed him.

Although they aren't perfect, Kaymond also has about 5 words he tries to say. Mama, Dada, Hi, baba (bottle), nana (banana). They come out when he sees us, or the object, or sometimes he likes to wave and say hi to his cute reflection in the sliding glass door.

We can't wait to celebrate Christmas with our little man. So far he loves looking at the tree, but doesn't like touching the pokey branches.

Ray is doing amazing things with Build Up, and having tremendous success. Every new event he takes it to brings more opportunity. We're so grateful for this exciting journey!

That's all for now. The next few weeks will be full of fun for our little family!

Popeye face!

Rays grandma made this sweater for him when he was a baby.

Working on sharing.

He does have a neck!

10 Months!

So October was a big month for our family. Kaymond continues to grow like a weed. He started pulling himself up to standing on everything he can possibly reach. If we sit on the ground, he loves climbing all over us. If we stand behind him and give him our hands he will walk all over the apartment until he gets to something he wants- then he'll lean back and plop onto his little bottom. He has started giving kisses, and waving hello as he says a sweet "hi!"

Our camera charger went MIA for 4 months, so he was very confused when the camera came out and the flash started going.

I will just never be able to get enough of this face!!!

At the end of the month we had an exchange student from Japan come and stay with us. He was so adorable, and we had so much fun showing him around Utah. Kaymond totally loved him and would follow him around the apartment. If Yuki ever went into his room and closed the door for a bit, Kaymond would crawl down the hall, and start banging on the door and whining.

We all went to a local farm and had fun going on a hayride, doing a corn maze together, playing in the corn pit and finally picking out pumpkins. It was a lot of fun and a perfect fall activity. We also went on Kaymond's first train ride! He loved it, especially the nap at the end.

Who is faster? Kaymond getting the corn into his mouth, or Mom trying to keep the corn out of his mouth?!

Loving his first train ride. 

His current favorite place to stand as he tosses puzzles and books to the floor.

Yuki brought Kaymond a kimono and a rattle. I don't think Kaymond appreciates the kimono yet, but he loves the rattle!

For Halloween, we had two different costumes. During our ward party, Ray and I dressed as Masterchef contestants, and we put Kaymond in some slacks and a button down shirt, then sprayed his hair into place to be a miniature Gordon Ramsay. On actual Halloween day, I took Kaymond to work with me and dressed him as the sweetest Mickey Mouse you've ever seen. He ended up sleeping through the entire costume parade, but when he woke up afterwards he had fun cruising the emptying hallway.

Masterchef is life.

Also right at then end of the month, Ray's first 1000 copies of Build Up finally arrived from the manufacturer in China! It was a long, stressful wait, but they got here just in time. This coming weekend Ray will have a booth at a very popular Christmas Gift Show. We are so excited to see the success this game will have. He has already sold a few copies to people who have been anxiously waiting for this shipment. It's been such a long road to this point, but I'm so proud of Ray for his creativity and dedication to this project. No detail has been too small for him to look at, and he has done every single aspect himself (minus of course the actual production of 20,000 colored blocks! we don't need another episode like that time in Germany).  If you're interested in buying a copy of Build Up and supporting Ray in his incredible journey of becoming a game designer, head over here!

Anxiously waiting as the games are unloaded.

Family celebration! They're finally here!

One happy man. 

 As you can see, we've been busy... And things are only going to get busier as we gear up for Thanksgiving with family, Kaymond's first Christmas, shortly followed by Kaymond's first birthday. We're looking forward to everything happening the rest of this year, and especially what it can mean for the coming year.

Love,
Us

Why Is 6 Afraid of 7?

Because 7, 8, 9!

Haha, woops. I missed the last few monthly check-ins. The end of our summer and beginning of fall have been crazy busy for our family! And while many times I remembered I still needed to update the blog, it just never happened. I'm a firm believer in 'better late than never' though. So here I am.

At the end of July, into the first week of August our family got to go to Texas to visit Ray's brother and sister and their families. It was lots of fun to spend time with them and see our nephews there. Kaymond did really well on his first flight, and slept through each take off and landing. He always woke up about 20-30 minutes into the flight, simply because he wasn't used to being held during his naps- he really wanted to roll over! Kaymond turned 7 months while we were in Texas. The beginning of the downhill of his first year. Yikes!

When we flew back from Texas, I started work the next day. It was harder than I thought it would be to go back after my summer with my baby. But things have gotten much easier. During that first week of school, my mom flew out to stay with us and spend some quality time with her grandson.  I was so glad that Kaymond got to spend time with his grandma! I also got to spend some time with my mom getting pedicures, facials and massages... come on back anytime you want Mom! ;)

In September, Kaymond turned 8 months old! The whole month just flew by. I'm still reeling that it is actually October now. September was a big month for Kaymond. He began crawling everywhere! It's still an army crawl, but don't let that fool you. He can get anywhere he wants in our apartment, faster than you expect every time. Kaymond also started feeding himself finger foods. He does not like us feeding him with a spoon anymore, we have to be really quick with the spoonful of purees or he will grab the spoon- and then good luck getting it back! We're still doing purees, because he's still missing his mouth about 50% of the time. :) Clean up is always a blast! Right now his favorite thing to eat is cantaloupe. Just tonight he ate 4 large chunks! Kaymond also cut his first 2 teeth in September. The bottom front teeth finally came through. He now loves grabbing our hands and biting our fingers before we remember there are teeth now!

That brings us to now. Today he had his 9 month well-check where he clocked in at the 67th percentile for weight, and 3.5 percentile for height. Still our short, fat little baby! The doctor said  he is thriving, which is of course just what I wanted to hear :) Kaymond's independent personality is bubbling out more and more every day. The best example may be his binky: we are no longer allowed to put his binky in his mouth. If we do, he will spit it out, pick it up, and put it in on his own. Sheesh, what must our future hold with this child? We love him to pieces and are grateful every day he is ours!

Ooo, model baby. 

7 Months

7 Months

8 Months. So dramatic. 

I love all his many facial expressions.

Annnnnndd... 8 months marked the awareness of "Hey, I can get this thing off of me!"

By 9 months I couldn't even get him to leave the sticker on long enough to snap a picture. "I've got better things to do, Mom!"

Our last resort- he used to be stuck if we sat him down. But now he's mastered transitioning from sitting to his tummy, so placing him on his bottom only buys us a few seconds before he is off again!

I will forever love this picture. 

For the sake of having a picture of his 9 month old face, here is a picture of Kaymond preparing to devour the cheerios I'm about to put on his tray. 

Happy Half, Little Man!

Baby Kay just turned 6 months yesterday. I can't believe how quickly time has flown by. He has grown so much, and 6 months from now he will only have grown 10 fold more! By now, Kaymond is rolling in both directions, and sitting pretty much by himself- I stay close for the occasional dive he decides to make. He has also discovered his toes and his new favorite thing is to suck on them while he's in the tub. He doesn't have any teeth yet... sort of... he's definitely teething and there is the tiniest corner of a tooth sticking out- but it's on his upper gums way back on the side almost behind his canines it looks like! I still can't believe it's there, but every time I rub my finger over his gums, lo and behold! Teething has made him a drooly, fussy mess. But he's definitely still our happy baby.

He loves being "tossed" in the air- we never actually let him out of our hands, but it sends him into peals of screaming laughter. He also loves going under sheets and running his fingers and toes over the light material hanging above him. When we lift the sheet up and let it float back down onto him he just squirms and giggles like crazy.

He loves sleeping on his tummy now, which was scary at first ("back is best!" kept repeating in my head) but  he is so much more comfortable that way and instantly started taking 2 or sometimes even 3 hour naps. Which means I finally have more time to take care of my responsibilities while he naps!

Since his birthday is a holiday, we imagine we'll probably be celebrating a lot of half-birthdays for him. We'll see what he wants to do. But this time I decided we'd do just a small half-party for him. We had a few friends and family over to grill and go swimming with us. We ate HALF hot dogs, in HALF buns, with grapes and carrots all cut in HALF, and we topped the evening off with a HALF cake. It was lots of fun, and a great excuse to get out into the lovely outdoors-which is another thing Kaymond loves.

Last but certainly not least- he sleeps through the night EVERY night! Yay!!!!

Kaymond loves his aunt!!!

My Big Boy! Sitting up alone and wearing his first sunglasses.

Couldn't get a smile until the girls showed up ;)

All our half foods. On half the plate.

Tiredly eyeing the cake. We've tried a little bit of solid foods, and so far he is not really enjoying the new textures. 

By the time cake got pulled out- he was exhausted- can you tell? I snapped a few pictures and then fed him and put him to bed and he was out like a light! A very full day for our little half-a-year old!

Lastly, this is my new favorite picture of Kaymond!!! I cut up two pool noodles and put them in the tub with him in an effort to keep him distracted and happy with something new to do!

5 Months

Kaymond is an extremely precocious 5 month old. He loves being held, but always wants to face out so he can keep an eye on everything in the room. He has also decided that he no longer enjoys lying on his back, and will fuss until we help him roll to his tummy. Then he just holds himself up and surveys his surroundings.

He can roll from his tummy to his back- and from his back he can roll up onto either side, but has yet to make the final kick that will push him all the way to his tummy. He drools all the time, but is starting to spit up much less (yay!).

He makes tons of noises including: babbling, blowing raspberries, high pitched screams and squeals, grunts, and a new fussing sound that makes us think something is wrong... until we look at him and he cracks a huge, toothless smile! Little man has definitely figured out how to get our attention quickly when he wants it.

He kicks his legs and waves his arms almost constantly. When I pick him up and hold him facing me, he'll push his hands against my chest so he can hold his head up and swivel it from side to side. Anything that makes a noise immediately captivates him. Which means when he eats it has to be silent right now- I hope that doesn't last too long! When he takes a bottle, he can hold it on his own with minimal help. He loves holding onto our hands and intensely inspecting our fingers as we wiggle them in front of his face. Just today he has found his toes! He is trying hard to sit up on his own, but can usually only make it about 10 seconds before he tilts off to the side. During these sitting spells though he likes to reach forward and grab onto his little pudgy toes.

One of my favorite things Kaymond has started doing is sucking on his lips. It makes his cheeks bunch up and his mouth go into a thin line. He makes a funny little sound that makes me laugh- which always makes him smile and giggle too. Other things that make him laugh are: tickles, being held in the air, peek-a-boo, and silly noises that we make to him.

We read books every day. He just got a new book called Noisy Diggers that has buttons that make the sounds of bulldozers and dump trucks. Whenever I push the button he gets very excited!

He is almost sleeping through the night every night. Sometimes if his routine gets thrown off during the day we might have one night feeding, but for the most part he has taken really well to his crib, nursery and sleeping soundly.

Ray calls him our "Little Gorilla" because of his short, stocky legs. He is definitely one solid kid as he is quickly approaching 18 pounds.

No neck!

He is starting to be able to rotate himself in a circle while he's on his tummy.

chinS