Sit! Stay! Roll Over!

WOW - this morning he finally did it! He rolled over. Ken called me as I walked into the office this morning to tell me that after several days of rolling onto his side with only his arm at his stomach preventing him from laying 100% on his stomach Kieran has learned to get onto his stomach.

Ken walked into Kieran's room this morning and found him lying on his stomach with his arms above his head. Ken's going to have him practice this new feat a bit more today on his playmat. It's a little disconcerting because it means he can get on his belly but may not be able to roll onto his back again. I'm sure he'll master that soon too.

OK to work.

Enjoy the Holiday

We're having a nice Memorial Day weekend - I hope you are too. Today we're headed to a friend's house for a BBQ and tomorrow we'll just kick around the house. I've got a bit of work to do, but nothing that should take me away for the whole day.

No real news, Kieran is laughing up a storm - a sound that is so addictive we do just about anything to make him laugh. He loves when people move their heads around in a circle but after about 20 times, you get really dizzy. He's also getting close to rolling from his back to his stomach. He's not 100% there yet, but I'd venture to say any day now.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Tall Man, Little Head

He was a champ with his shots (I chickened out and left before they gave them to him) and is doing well today.

He now weighs 12 lbs 15 oz (12th percentile), has a head circumference of 15 3/4" (5th percentile) and is 24 3/4 inches tall (45th percentile). He jumped from the 20th percentile to 45th in height. So weird.

OK back to work. He's fine, might start solid foods soon. We're probably going to have to switch his forumla and I'm going to be stuck breastfeeding/pumping until he's at least a year old unless I stop producing milk. The doctor said any breastmilk I could give him was better than none. Oh well. No wine for me for a while!

All Kinds of News

Ken had some good potential meetings last week. More on that as it becomes truly relevant.

Kieran has his 4 month pediatrician's appointment tomorrow. We'll find out about starting solid foods, how we can help him poop, whether I will keep breastfeeding and more. I'll blog about it tomorrow or Wednesday if I can.

Last but definitely not least, our friends from college, Joshua and Beth, are expecting their first child in September. They are both very excited and nervous. The funniest thing is that I was just starting to pack up the maternity clothes that I had. Most of which was given to me by my sister-in-law who is short like me. Well, Beth is also pretty short and was asking me about clothes (where to find them) and I was so excited to be able to "pay it forward" so-to-speak.

OK back to work.

Our Four Month Old

Holy crap he's four months old today. I don't know that I ever really anticipated him being anything other than a cute little blob, but he's starting to be a little boy.

For the first time today he hurt himself. He was playing with Ken and while he was smiling and laughing he head-butted Ken. He started crying right away. After a minute I had Ken hand him to me and he started smiling and laughing again. I think he was actually milking his hurt with Ken a bit. Little stinker.

Big things going on for us right now. Ken is going to go to the AILA conference (that's the American Immigration Lawyers Association) in Orlando, FL. I'll be at home with Kieran that week. I'm both excited and nervous about being there 24/7 for the little man. Plus the fact that I'm not sole caregiver anymore.

Ken's working hard to launch a law firm and trying to get a job working for someone. Whichever one makes us money first wins :-). He does this while taking care of Kieran all day long. It's very impressive.

Not much else. Ken sold his motorcycle on eBay (we got more for it than we had hoped) and we've got a few other things that will follow it on the big yard sale on the web. I keep saying to Ken "It's so weird. We're parents!" To which he laughs and responds "I know." I think he's agreeing with me. It's weird. But we're enjoying it. Love to all.

Poor Little Pooper

We had a slight scare yesterday when Kieran had some blood in his stool. He wasn't acting cranky or anything and it was a very hard poop. After reading Baby 411, we decided we wouldn't freak and would call the doctor today to find out what we could do to help.

This morning the doctor's office told us to add some apple juice to his diet. Just a few ounces a few times a day. This should help him move everything through his system. It's both exciting and weird. It'll be the first non-formula/non-breastmilk thing he gets. I'm waiting to hear from Ken what his reaction to it will be.

I'm also a little concerned because I don't want to be adding much sugar to his diet. He's finally napping well and I hope that the extra sugar won't wind him up too much to go to sleep. His nighttime schedule has been a bit strange (he'll fall asleep at 7:30 and wake up at 3am then the next night he won't go down until 8:30 but then wake up at 1am) but he's still only waking up once during the night.

I guess we'll see. His 4 month appointment is on May 22, so just about a week away. I'm sure the doctor will have some additional information for us on solid foods, etc at that time.

The update....
His reaction to something other than formula or breastmilk.... a widening of the eyes. That was it. Ken's not sure if he's that interested in the juice, but we'll keep giving it to him so long as he keeps drinking it (and if it helps). Otherwise it'll be back to the drawing board...

And in other news, I am the worst mother alive.
On Mothers Day, we went to meet up with my brother, his wife, their kids, my mom, my dad, my stepmom, my grandmother and my grandfather. I was in a complete tizzy to get out the door on time as we had 4:30 pm reservations at a place in Columbia and I knew that they likely wouldn't seat us until everyone was there. In my scramble to get out the door quickly I forgot something... bottles. Meaning unless I dropped my blouse that kid was not getting anything to eat. Well - Zadie to the rescue! Darleen had a great idea - what about Aunt Joni? So, Darleen called and she had a spare bottle. Thanks Aunt Joni, Dar and Dad for saving me from having to try and breastfeed in public.

On that note, Ken & my brother had a very funny conversation about this. While my dad was gone to get the bottle, my brother came to our end of the table and asked where dad had gone off to. We explained and I said "If all else fails, I have breasts." meaning that I could breastfeed if I had to. Ken added "She does, I've seen them." My brother turned an interesting shade of pink and said he didn't want to hear anymore. Ken turned a slight rose and laughed, saying it's not what he meant. I'm still giggling about both of them getting embarrassed. I'm a girl, I have girl parts. I have a kid - my husband has therefore seen my girl parts. Ah well, boys are funny.

New Photos

I just can't believe how much he's grown. It's weird because I see him everyday with all the little changes but when I think back to how little he was when he was born... wow. He's over 12 lbs now (more than double his birth weight).

So, as I've been promising forever and a day, here are some new photos of Kieran.

Here he is with a smile on his face.

Here we have him in his "iPood" tshirt. This was actually the first time he sat forward in his stroller, hence the dubious look on his face. I LOVE his t-shirt and I was glad that he was able to wear it before he grows out of it - he's really growing fast now!





Finally, we have this image of Kieran wearing his hat. Ken loves this hat and everyone who sees it says how cute it is. Not my favorite hat but his namesake (middle name - Michael, my stepfather) loved hats like this too. I guess its ok then.

Happy Birthday to Mom!

Kieran has finally decided that napping is not the tool of the devil and is sleeping during the day for about 2 hours. He'll wake up periodically but seems to be able to put himself back to sleep. It's much better for Ken who can now get some work done on his business plan/apply for jobs/post things on eBay, etc. Hopefully this trend will continue.

The downside - his napping time is 11 am - 1 or 2 pm. Which means that if Ken wants to do anything he has to do it either in the morning or the afternoon. There is no going to lunch or anything like that. But I guess we shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

On a separate note, Happy Birthday to my Mom who turns [item deleted] today. Mom you are an inspiration to us and just be thankful that we're finally out of the stage where you get one gift for mothers day and your birthday.

Love to all - blog again soon.

It's Ever-Changing

Trying to blog a little each day as Kieran has little changes each day.

He is now scooching around. He's not crawling, but put him on his back on his playmat and he'll push with his feet and roll on his side until he's 180 degrees from where he started. The other day, Ken had him on the mat, ran to the restroom and when he returned, Kieran wasn't on the mat anymore. He had a moment of panic until he realized that Kieran had scooted himself underneath the rocking chair.

Had a nice time this weekend (and Kieran cooperated very nicely) going to a few wineries with my mom, brother, sister-in-law, and grandparents. We were celebrating my mom's birthday (mom, I won't say the number here) and had a really nice time. Kieran was Mr. Smiley all day and slept a bit in the car during our trip from one place to the next. He only got grumpy on our way home from my brother's house, but it didn't last long. He even went to bed almost immediately after coming home.

I'm hoping that he didn't use up all his goodness over the weekend and continues to be good for Ken today. That's it, nothing else exciting. Back to work.

Ken Has Un-Officially...

PASSED THE MARYLAND STATE BAR!!! He's pretty excited and will be calling folk today. He's in complete shock though I had absolute faith in him.

Today is THE Day

Ken gets his bar results today. I'll be calling everyone and notifying them either way. (Probably will also post for fastest info checking). We won't know until late today (after 5pm Eastern).

For those who want to call and give Ken a pep talk - don't bother. He's not going to be answer his cell phone, email or IM until he knows. He understands that everyone is wishing him well and want to bolster his spirits, but he's pretty stressed and just wants to be by himself for now. Don't take it personally.