First Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving was our 4th together, and of course Malakai's first. It was also the first time we didn't do two in one day and that's what I was SO thankful for!

On Thanksgiving Day we went to my aunt's house where 25+ family member's from my mother's side gathered. It was last year at Thanksgiving that we announced we were expecting our baby boy. Everyone was excited to see him and amazed at how much he's grown.

During dinner he snoozed near us in his car seat. When he woke up it was the first time he'd been among so much activity for an extended period of time. By the end of the evening he was definitely overstimulated. I couldn't get him to eat until we retreated to a back room where it was quiet.

Here are some photos of him playing with his great-uncle (my mom's half brother) and his wife.

His 2nd cousin trying to make him laugh

I went absolutely crazy with the hand sanitizer. I brought an entire pump bottle and squirted as many "touchers" as I could before they got to my sweet babe.

Later Ben was messing with the camera (pics aren't great because we didn't take the nice one)

pretending to sleep while I pretend to be disgusted

my little brother and I

goofy faces

All in all it was a good time. However, it seems my sanitizing was all for naught...he's already sick. His little voice is so hoarse sounding and he's really congested, but no fever. Thank goodness!

I didn't do a photo Friday because we were gone all day. We picked up our Christmas tree and I went shopping with my mom...the pictures are on her camera so I'll have to do another post of Kai's first Christmas tree outing.

Yesterday we had a mini-Thanksgiving with Ben's parents. My mother-in-law bought a high chair on Black Friday and Malakai LOVES it. It reclines so he could sit and play with toys on the tray which he hasn't quite mastered with the bumbo yet.

After dinner Ben got these pictures of us playing in the living room.

we have entered the twilight zone

otherwise known as the dreaded "4 month wakeful period"... I was really hoping to avoid this rumored event as it seems that Malakai is always pretty "wakeful" at night. What came as a surprise was that he was sleeping longer stretches, but wanting to play at oh...4 o'clock in the morning. Not to say that I don't feel blessed that the house is filled with his squeals of delight instead of torturous screams, but being awake at all at that hour can feel dreadful.

We've been keeping up with our pedi's recommendation of having Ben be the night time soother, including bottle feedings if he just won't go down due to hunger. I don't really luck out and sleep through his wakings though. First of all, it takes ALL of my self control to not go in and help. It's not that Ben doesn't know what he's doing...he's amazing, but I'm just so hands on all day, every day that it feels weird to not be able to even peek in the doorway (pedi's recommendation, but I break that rule often).
Second, I can't fall asleep when Kai's not asleep so I hang out and listen if I'm needed in our room.
Third, depending on what time it is and if he's hungry I'm up getting a bottle ready and/or pumping to relieve the discomfort of no longer nursing at night.

It's only been about a week of this as well as adding rice cereal at dinner and before bed. We've been putting him to bed around 9pm and he'll wake an hour or two later. At first it would be every 2-3 hours, then we had two rough nights of every.single.hour. The past three nights he's been a champ at the 4 hour stretch between midnight and 4am or so and it is great to get that much consecutive sleep...but then he's wide awake.

This morning at 4am when Ben went to soothe him back to sleep he was greeted by a loud squeal of delight and the biggest smile. How is our child so cute, even at 4am? So we knew we were in for another couple hours of what we call "wakey time" (cause yes, we are those people who use disgusting baby talk more frequently than we probably should). Since Ben has to get up for work at 5:45am or so, and he's been working 10 hour days with no break to make up for the upcoming holiday I told him I'd take care of it. I knew I'd probably get some sleep later in the morning and he only had about an hour before he had to be up anyway.

So...way too early this morning I was up with my precious little Kai listening to him blow raspberries and trying to be alert enough to interact with him. The sweetest boy went back to sleep at just before 6am.

 I'm sure as soon as we get ourselves used to this, he'll change it up just to keep us on our toes, like it's his job...which I'm pretty sure it is.

I leave you with the latest photos and will be back after Thanksgiving to post photos of Kai's first big holiday and our Christmas tree outing that is planned for Friday.

Just after a bath

sitting in the bumbo and his first time in the stroller w/o the carseat

discovering the scruffy texture of Daddy's chin

photo friday

I haven't posted updated pictures in a long time which is VERY unlike me, so here are some recent pictures of us...and mostly Kai.

our first attempt at a hair style

playing with his aunt kristi

his feet finally reach the ground!

practicing that heart-breaking pout (he's not really sad, promise)

Malakai & Henry called each other to make sure they coordinated

his "Gerber baby" face

First time in the bumbo seat (borrowed from Great-Aunt Deedee)

11.16.09 4 months!

tummy time @ 4 months

no longer tolerating tummy-time

a 4 month picture with Mama

His first bite of cereal with Daddy

the aftermath :)

So obviously we just started Kai on rice cereal. I was pretty set on waiting until 6 months, but the past week or two I've been rethinking it. He hasn't been sleeping through the night and when he wakes up he constantly wants to eat, eat, eat! After talking things over with our pediatrician we decided to try it out. The first attempt was VERY messy as you can see and I'm not sure he really ate all that much of it, but he's getting better as he learns. We'll see how he does over the next couple weeks and decide whether or not to continue based on his readiness.

We're also trying something new with "sleep training" (for lack of a better term). Our pediatrician confirmed our suspicions that he's waking frequently because he's near me. My smell is a sleep distraction, it makes him think he needs to nurse. So, in addition to cereal before bed my wonderful husband is now taking the lead with night time wakings. I'm not even aloud to go stand in the doorway. Obviously, if Malakai wakes up and won't go back down because he's truly hungry I'll nurse him. I already nurse on demand and don't plan on stopping, but he gets enough during the day where he should only need one night time feeding if any.

So far things are going pretty good. I'm also committed to putting him down in his crib for all of his naps. Dr. A said it wouldn't hurt to bring him into bed with us in the mornings...which I love and will do as long as it's working for Malakai.

Yesterday I posted on The Bump about Malakai's head growth and the possibility of too much fluid. I got a lot of reassurance about it from other moms who had the same issue with their little ones and don't have to have surgery. Sounds like it's a pretty common precaution that doctors take. I'm of course praying that Kai will fall into the same category and that everything will be just fine.

Thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers. I'm not going to let myself live in worry. I'll enjoy every moment with joy and hope.

"surgery"

I can't decide whether or not I'd like to hear the worst-case-scenario from a doctor, or if I'd prefer to take things one step at a time to avoid unnecessary worry.

Let me back up.

For those of you who haven't been reading long, when Malakai was born he had one undescended testicle. It was worrisome because if it didn't descend on it's own, he would need surgery. Our pediatrician consulted with a surgeon and they had decided that he would be seen at 6 months to check in and if it was still undescended he'd most likely need surgery at 1 year. We were relieved that they would not be doing surgery on our infant, but so scared about the possibility of our son needing surgery at all.

God answered our prayers and the prayers of family, friends, and blog readers - the problem worked itself out on it's own. No surgery, not even a follow up with the specialist.

Now...

Yesterday we took Kai in for his 4 month well-baby check. The nurse did the usual length, weight, and head measurements and handed me the paper with the percentiles. As we waited for the doctor I read them to Ben. Length- 24.75 inches, 43%; Weight-17.5lbs, 88%; Head-18inches, 99%. We giggled at his length to weight ratio and one of us made a comment about his big head, not thinking anything of it.

When Dr. A came in she greeted us like normal and we chatted about a few things. She showed us the chart for his growth from his last appointments and the head circumference had shot up rather quickly. She decided to remeasure, and she still got 18inches.

I speculated aloud that perhaps the last month's measurement was off and it should have been bigger. Ben and I hadn't noticed a rapid change in his head size, and it doesn't look all that huge when you compare it to his weight.

Dr. A told us not to worry, but that based on this rapid growth and his fontanelle sticking out a bit that he may have some fluid that isn't draining properly. She told us what to watch for and said something that I keep repeating to myself every time I feel worry creeping up "It's not worth losing any sleep over."

However, we are scheduled for a follow up appointment in exactly 4 weeks to check for further growth. Apparently, when adults have this problem we'd get headaches from the pressure. But, since babies' bones aren't fused they don't get pressure, their head just keeps getting bigger. So in 4 weeks if it's significantly bigger we'll need an ultrasound to determine whether or not there is a blockage.

If the ultrasound confirms a blockage and that he has too much fluid in his head, he'll need surgery. He'd need a shunt to get the fluid moving again.

There are a lot of "ifs" about whether he'll need surgery and I feel this same sadness and worry wash over me. I keep pushing it back, praying, and reassuring myself that he'll be okay no matter what God has planned. But it still creeps in.

So...I have been given this "worst-case-scenario" and sometimes I don't want it. I think the worry would be less if I knew less and could take things one step at a time. But, I also want to know all I can about what my son needs and what to look for. Luckily, Dr. A didn't leave the knowing up to us. She believes in being open about all possibilities, but then tells us not to worry. I wish I could do that.

At this point Ben and I have decided to not share this information with any family or friends. We don't want to burden them with this same worry until we know there's something to worry about.

 I'm so glad this blog is just for my internet followers so I could talk all this out freely. And right now I'm asking for encouragement and especially prayers from those of you who do so.

sweater stocking

After reading this post on one of the dozens of blogs I follow, I really want to make one of these adorable sweater stockings for Malakai.

We originally tried to find a monogrammed felt stocking to match ours, but Target isn't carrying them this year. Ben really wants his to match ours, but after finding this adorable idea I'm really wanting to make him one myself. The things (blankets, clothes, stockings) I always loved the most growing up were the ones that someone had made just for me. I still have two stockings at my parents' place (for looks now, not for gifts), one was crocheted by my great-aunt and the other I was brought home in like a swaddling blanket because I was born just 4 days after Christmas.

My grandma & I

This oversized stocking usually had a big gift in it, but could you imagine if Santa filled this with regular stocking stuffers each year?!

Currently, there are two sleeping babies in the house and my husband is home sick from work (so really that's three babies right?) so I won't be getting a start on it today, but I'll post pictures if I do get around to it!

the face of 4 months

yet again, another month has gone by way faster than I'd like to allow.

choose laughter

oh. my. goodness!

Yesterday was a bit interesting and through it all I made the decision to take it all in stride. I chose laughter and joy over stress and anxiety. Having the power to choose my mood really made what could have been a rotten day into a funny and memorable experience.

It started out with my having to get myself and Kai ready and out the door for church all on my own. Ben had worship band practice and got a ride with a friend earlier that morning. We were going to first service at 9am (we usually stroll in to the second service at a much more reasonable 10:45am) and I don't get much practice at getting us out the door without Ben.

The sweetest boy was passed out and slept all morning while I got myself ready. I had one of those days that I know every woman is familiar with- I didn't feel great in anything I could find. I changed my outfit 3 times and stood in front of the closet trying on others with my imagination. I realized I needed to quit and just pick something so I could get us out the door in time.

Unfortunately I had to wake up Malakai to get him ready, I HATE waking my sleeping baby. I waited til the last possible moment, which was probably not a good idea since he didn't have time to wake up slowly. I got him dressed while he was still half asleep. When he did wake up he ended up kicking the canvas bin on the changing table onto the ground. Diapers, wipes, vitamins and more were strewn across the floor and under his crib.

I just laughed- and left it there. I had zero time to worry about picking it up. I just glanced over to make sure nothing was broken and leaking and went on my way.

I wish I had a video of how much I struggle with carrying his carseat and then getting it in to the car. We put his seat in the middle of the back as I've read that's the safest position in case of a side impact. It's also quite convenient for me to reach back when Ben is driving and calm him when he's mad. It is NOT convenient for getting him in and out of the car. I would post this video for you to sympathize, but mostly for you to laugh with me at how ridiculous my 5'2 frame must look lifting that 50lb thing so awkwardly.

Once we got to church I didn't have a hand free to take a bulletin from the door greeter so I told her to set it on Malakai's lap with a laugh. She grinned and complied. When I walked into the service Ben was coming my way and I immediately handed the carseat off to my much more capable husband. In doing so I noticed that the bulletin had flipped up and was stuck to Kai's face. We both had a good laugh at that one.

Fast Forward to later  in the afternoon. We had completed our errands and were hanging out with my family. MeMa was holding Kai in a standing position when he proceeded with the loooongest poo of all time. It sounded like a pot of water boiling over, for eternity.

Ben was across the house and had heard me cry out "it keeps going!" before I called him in to take care of it (for those of you that don't know, he changes almost all diapers when he's able because he's the best dad on the planet). Well- he ended up needing my help because the poo had gone all the way up to his neck...YES, HIS NECK! We've had blowouts before, but this one was epic.

We couldn't stop laughing...and yelling in panicked voices...and laughing some more.

poo. everywhere.

Ben stripped him down and tried to keep him still as he smiled and coo'd. I'm sure he felt much relief after letting go of all that!

 I was running around trying to figure out where to bathe him. Bath tub is too big, bathroom sink is too small, and the kitchen sink was full of dishes. My dad brought in a blue tub that was too dirty...I tried to scrub it and gave up. My mom emptied all the dishes out of the sink and cleaned it out while I rounded up towels.

Meanwhile- Ben's still holding a wriggling naked baby next to a pile of poopy clothes.

When we finally got the sink ready, Ben carried Malakai in and just as he lifted him up to hand him to me, pee. Little man peed on daddy's shirt and the kitchen floor. Of course, the laughter continued. Although, Ben's laughter was between grunts of irritation at being peed on.

Malakai LOVED taking a bath in the sink. I had the water going while he was in there and he kept trying to grab it. The cutest thing I've ever seen. My parents have one of those faucets with the detachable sprayer, so I started to use it to rinse Kai's back and he grabbed the faucet and tried to get it in his mouth!

We got some great pictures of his bath, but they're still on my mom's camera.

Of course, we always have an extra outfit in the diaper bag. However, later that evening he pooed through that one too. Standing on MeMa's lap in the exact same position as before. She's not allowed to hold him anymore.

So- we had a hilariously weird day and enjoyed our time with family despite the need for a whole bucket of oxiclean once we got back home.

What a difference a year makes

So I know I already posted last month about it being a year since I got pregnant, but today marks exactly one year from the day we found out that I was pregnant. We had taken a test a week prior and it was negative, we waited and still no "AF" so at 6am on November 15th, 2008 I crawled out of bed to POAS (acronyms for my message board peeps) and snuggled up with Ben while we waited for the results. We went in together to check the test and there was the control dark line that I was all too familiar with and the most beautiful very faint, but unmistakably pink line right next to it. I jumped a little and kept asking Ben, "do you think that's a line, do you see it...do you see it?" to which he responded, "I'm not sure." But I was too sure to let him be unsure and we were both convinced it was positive. We hugged and cried and curled back up in bed but didn't fall back asleep due to the obvious excitement. Meanwhile, with the passing moments that little pink line grew darker and our grins grew bigger.

I just realized that by posting this photo first, for those of you who follow me on blogger it's going to appear next to my post and may look like I'm pregnant again. haha, sorry for the fake out :)

Here are some cheesy grins and a toast. We saved a tiny bottle of champagne for this very occasion (from our anniversary just 4 months prior) and of course I'm toasting with some good ol' OJ



Here we are on the couch just a few hours after finding out.

And here is my first ever belly pictures at a whopping 5 weeks pregnant.

What a WONDERFUL and thrilling day that was. And here's the latest picture of the sweet little bundle who was just a teensie bean on that day.

Not so little anymore!

Halloween to Christmas

Every year it seems that Holiday decorations come out earlier than the previous year. I saw Halloween Candy out in August at Target this year and was really confused. I wasn't even thinking about fall, let alone Halloween!

Before Halloween was even here, Christmas decor started popping up all over stores. yikes!

It doesn't really get me excited that early...it just makes me feel like I should be getting shopping done and then sparks the conversation about where in the WORLD will we be putting our tree this year? (the previous location is taken up by furniture that used to occupy Kai's room back when it was the spare room). We MUST have one for Kai's Christmas. The living room is MAXED OUT...the dining room could be rearranged since we barely eat in there anyway...but then the decor would be mismatched with the colors of my Christmas ornaments. Yep, I'm ridiculous. Apologies for the rant.

Anyway...It's not even Thanksgiving yet and I'm already worrying about Christmas. What on earth am I going to get for my husband? How much should we spend total this year? Where are we gathering and how can we make as few trips as possible now that we have Kai to cart around?

I'm still trying to figure out if it's a good idea for us to go to the annual Thanksgiving gathering. I'm not a paranoid person, but I am protective over the ones I love. With the flu going around I'm just not sure if it's worth risking Malakai's health. Is that silly? There will be upwards of 30 people there and I don't really want to chase my child all over the place insisting that everyone sanitize. We see Kai's pediatrician on Tuesday...so I'll be chatting with her about this then.

This is sort of a rammbly blog...I keep coming back to it after tending to Henry and his high pitched squeals (not happy ones, you should hear his shrill screams, they make me cringe every time). So my train of thought isn't exactly running all that smoothly.

I'm sure I'll have a better entry after the interesting weekend we're about to have. More on that later...

bummed

Just found out that Kai's Great-Grandma (my Gram) won't be around for Christmas. I've never had a Christmas without my Gram, our family is close, so it's very new and a little strange that she'd decide to go to Hawaii over the Holidays...but I'm mostly sad because Malakai only has one first Christmas.

It's probably silly, and I'll get over it in time...but right now I'm bummed.

Kindle Giveaway!

I just entered a contest to win a free Kindle from Noobie (worth $259!) and I wanted you to have a chance to win one too!

All you need to do to enter is to click the link below

crib wars

After all the searching and researching, the money my parents spent and all the time it took to put it together  -Malakai would not sleep in his crib. Not at night, not for naps.

Since he was born he's preferred to sleep in mama & daddy's bed. I'm not complaining about this part, I've loved having him sleep with us. However, lately he's not been sleeping so soundly with us and he always gets so sweaty. Ben and I have both read up on co-sleeping/bed-sharing/whateveryouwanttocallit. It's possible that sometimes it can cause restlessness in children. Where he used to sleep best with us, we've now been having him sleep in his swing next to our bed (where he usually naps).

When I took this photo, about three weeks before Kai's birthday, I never thought that he'd sleep in the swing to the right more than the crib!


We've got some use out of the crib. When little Henry comes over he'll occasionally nap there. But he too has been on a crib strike (at my house anyway) and I've had to put him down in the swing or his carseat! You'd think there was something wrong with this crib, the one we thought was so perfect for our little nursery when we were putting it all together.

This past weekend, we decided to tough it out and just keep putting him back in the crib. No matter how many times he woke up we were determined to get him to sleep in the crib for longer than his 30 minute cat naps.

Saturday night was our first go and I honestly can't keep track of how many times we were both up soothing him back to sleep, but I think his longest stretch of sleep was 2 hours. We were pretty excited about that measly little 120 minutes.

He also napped for at least two hours on Sunday in his crib... this is just UNHEARD OF!

Daddy always puts Malakai down to sleep. On "work nights" if he wakes between whenever we went to bed and before midnight daddy is pretty much still on duty. If it's later than that, I get up and let Ben sleep. Other times when we've tried to get him down in his crib, he keeps waking up and Ben usually just brings him to bed so we can all get some sleep. Honestly, I'd stay up all night with him if it would help...but Malakai wasn't getting any sleep either and that was my main concern.

Last night was our second try and he was hard to get down at first, but he usually is. He'll fake-out and sleep for 30-60 minutes sometimes and then wake up every time you set him down. He did a bit of this and Ben kept soothing him back to sleep from about 9pm to 10pm.

Kai woke up again at 11:15pm and I got up (Ben doesn't get up once he's fallen asleep unless I shake him) and soothed him to sleep. We didn't hear from him again til 2am! THREE HOURS! I got up and fed him, he fell asleep eating and was back down by 2:25am til just before 6am this morning! MIRACULOUS! It's like something just clicked and he decided the crib is an okay place to be.

At 6am Ben was getting up for work. He went to check on Kai and he was laying awake just looking around quietly and grinned big at daddy when he spotted him. Ben brought Kai to me in bed, I fed him and we both fell back asleep. I was kind of glad to do it this way so I still got my cuddle time with my sweet boy this morning.

I'd bedshare forever if I could, but once Malakai's sleep was getting interrupted, that's when we decided it was really time to get him in his crib. Plus, Ben's sleep patterns are a bit erratic. He walks and talks in his sleep on occasion so I have to sleep very lightly to make sure he doesn't move and harm our little guy.

So- here's hoping that he continues to sleep soundly and happily in his crib and that mama can get some sleep without her little cuddle bug.

It's fall out there

One thing I'm really missing since staying home is the weather...more specifically the changing seasons outside my door. I don't leave the house much during the day since Ben has the car. And when the weather was transitioning from summer to crisp sunny fall days, Kai was sick so I didn't get a chance to go for walks and experience the changing leaves, one of my favorite things each year.

The other day was sunny and beautiful so when Ben got home we all ventured out for a walk through the park across the street and through the neighborhood. We weren't out long because the crisp air started to get a bit too chilly and I didn't want the little one to get too cold.

We took some photos of course.

This was the first time Malakai faced forward in the "moby" wrap (which isn't really moby, I made it)

He did such a great job, and I think he was really in awe of all the things he saw. He was quiet and observant the whole time.

Ben did a really good job taking one of all three of us with the bulky SLR camera...the girl in the background walked up and offered to take the next shot.



Malakai- enjoying the view


He PASSED OUT when we got home. He doesn't sleep unswaddled yet, so I had to get this photo. Unfortunately, he doesn't sleep in his crib for more than 30 minutes at a time either...it's like clock-work and this occasion was no exception.

this past week

I just noticed that I haven't updated for a week. It's been a blur of activity around here over the past week.

We had friends over for dinner for the first time since Kai was born. I always feel held back by our tiny home, but am glad we decided to entertain at our place. I love feeding people, making them feel comfortable and welcome. I can't wait for the day when we have a bigger home with room for more people. Someday I want our house to be the one that my kids and their friends are always hanging out at.

Speaking of our small house, the doorways are ridiculously narrow. On Friday night we were so excited to put together Malakai's jumper/activity center and started in the living room but realized that it would be WAY too big to move from room to room. We decided it's permanent location should be the nursery, but the bebe bean was sleeping so we postponed that activity. We still haven't come back to it. Tell me- does anyone else have the Baby Einstein Musical Motion Activity Jumper?

What do you think of it?

Halloween was fairly low-key for Malakai and I. Daddy however was at the Oregon vs. USC football game with his parents and brother. It was an intense game and Oregon won! Beforehand we took Kai to the pumpkin patch down the street from my parents' place. It's a rural area so it was very quiet and we got to take a ton of pictures, here are a few.










okay, that was more than a few. I always have a hard time picking my favorites and only posting two or three.

The rest of the weekend flew by and here it is already Tuesday. Yesterday I did laundry all day and still have enough to do laundry all day today- but instead I'll just do towels.

Next on the to-do list...finding a time to go grocery shopping and DOING IT!