Maddox ( and Kennon :) ) get a Swing Set!

So we had BBBIIIIGGG happenings here this weekend. The swing set arrived on Thursday from homedepot.com on a pallet in, I think, 100 pieces!! Eric worked all weekend putting it together and it looks so awesome! It proved to be a bit difficult to get started due to the many number of pieces and possible configurations but once he got going Eric made quick progress. Thank goodness he has some construction sense or he might still be out there working as I type this at 8.30PM!! We called in our buddy Tim to put the last big beam up that held the swings and after that it was just a few finishing touches and it was done. Eric had an extra set of hands several times throughout the weekend. Each time he would get a part done Maddox was there to 'inspect' it which literally meant to TRY it out. She had perfected climbing the ladder and going down the slide much before the swings were even up. It is complete with a climbing wall, steering wheel, sand box (which we don't have the sand just yet) and telescope. She played on it today just the slide part and the monkey bar swing part for a couple of hours and literally wore herself out. Enough that she had to take a second nap!! She hasn't done that in about 2 months. We had gotten in the routine of just taking one BIG nap but she was so tired from playing on her new FORT she needed to rest. I am CERTAIN this play set is going to give us HOURS on HOURS of entertainment. Thanks for all the GENEROUS Maddox birthday money to go towards this great addition to our family. It will be treasured for many years to come. The fun has only begun. We finished the weekend off with grilled turkey burgers, roasted ranch potatoes and acorn squash. I tried to tell Maddox the ranch potatoes were 'fries' but she wasn't buying it. I think she is pretty convinced that fries are rectangular in shape and come in a bag handed out a window :) Hey, what can I say she is an American girl! We gave her broccoli instead which she gobbled up!! Oh and by the way she learned to CATCH a ball this weekend. SO COOL! Eric taught her. Tuesday at Kcare Kennon and Maddox are going to the pumpkin patch!! Well, not really but apparently they set up a pseudo pumpkin patch on the playground and let the kids come out and pick out a pumpkin, even the infants!! Then when we pick the kids up on Tuesday afternoon they have decorating stations set up for you to help your child decorate their pumpkin. They are supposed to dress up in either farm animal costumes or in farm type clothes. I'm excited because Grandpa Jim and Grandma Jean just updated both KTK and MLK's wardrobes with brand new Carhartt overalls which will be perfect for going to the 'farm'. Thank you Grandpa and Grandma...perfect timing!! I think it will be so fun for them. Again, we are so happy that the kids are going there. There is one more video I couldn't get to post. Stay tuned for another one at a later date!! Off to bed....

My Little Hat Man

The kids and I pretty much stayed inside today with the cool breeze outside which gave me the opportunity to click off a few photos. KTK really seems to like snoozing, and even sleeping at night, in his hat. We figured out he does better sleeping at Kcare with it on too. So I thought I'd show you what he looks like with it on. I don't know if it gives him a feeling of security or what. But, whatever works. Honestly now that I"m looking at the photos, it sort of looks like he has someone's underwear on his head. Rest assured it isn't!! KTK is LOVIN' the bumbo and we even got out the Exersaucer today. You can see it in the background of one of the pictures. He actually liked that too. His trunk stability in the bumbo is really good now and he loves to sit up and look around at all of us milling about the kitchen. He definitely still needs some work on his trunk control in the Exersaucer. I had to use a blanket to sort of prop him up but, he seemed to like it. Maddox was quick to say 'MINE' when I brought it up from the basement. But, I quickly redirected her and had her TEACH KTK about all the cool rattles/toys on the tray. The PJs he has on in the pictures are 6 months, and they are not any too small. I SWEAR he grew during his nap today ( which he pretty much took in his crib....YIPPY). And, I think his eyes got more blue while he was sleeping too!! I haven't enhanced them at all on the computer. They are really that blue...so odd!! Where does he get those things. He is loving cereal and is doing great now with getting it back in his mouth to swallow. He could actually go without a bib now, he does so well eating it. AND....this has seemed to make him be able to make it through the night! He has slept from about 8 or 9 till 4 or 5am which is significantly better. THANK YOU KENNON!! So as we add more foods to his diet hopefully that will continue to add minutes to his sleeping pattern. Maddox is a singing fool!! She loves to sing all kinds of songs, most of which she learns at Kcare. She has been doing a good job of entertaining herself while I feed KTK. Generally she'll get herself a book and read a-loud....the Maddox version!! It is really cute. We have tons of books and have been reading to her for so long she has most of them memorized in her own Maddox words. I love to hear her, music to my ears. Maddox learned to JUMP with both feet today. She has been working all week on it but using something to hold onto so she could launch both her feet off the ground at the same time. But today she woke up from her almost 3 hr nap :) and hopped down off the bed and said JUMP and she did it...both feet went airborn at the same time. HOW COOL. Definitely a milestone. I know they work on this sort of stuff at Kcare. Tuesday they had a tape line on the ground and were practicing walking the line for balance and coordination etc. Well, KTK needs a bath.....!! The cereal has made him a little constipated so he has gone from pooping several times a day to having just ONE major blowout that generally gets all over him and his clothes. So he is due to get a full bathin'. Take care....love ya! PS the swingset gets delivered tomorrow ( in pieces)! A big project for Eric this weekend.

4 month check up for KTK

We took Kennon to Dr. Anderson on Wednesday for his 4 month check up. He weighed in at 14.2lbs and was 25.5 inches long putting him at the 50th percentile for length and 14th percentile for weight. I have to admit I was surprised that he was only at the 14th percentile for weight. He seems so much heftier than Maddox ever was. Who knows! ( could they have read those darn graphs wrong...probably not) Dr. Anderson said he looked good and he didn't have any concerns. He recommended starting cereal and said that his almost constant nose stuffiness could be do to allergies or maybe just small sinuses. He didn't recommend any type of nasal spray or antihistamines just yet. But, we may want to re-visit that at his 6 month appointment. He said some babies are just born STUFFY! I think KTK is one of those. We are hoping he will outgrow it in the coming months. We are also hoping that the cereal will help him get through the night without a feeding. Although, I gave him a little cereal Wednesday night for dinner and he was still up at 2AM. UGH. But, he really didn't actually swallow all that much. He is still figuring out how to get it to the back of his throat to actually swallow. He seemed to like the cereal though and got kinda aggravated that I wasn't scoopin' it too him quick enough. So hopefully that's a good sign he'll start to really like it. He did sleep last night from about 8.30 till 5AM so that is good. He just isn't consistent with his sleeping at night, unlike how Maddox was at this age. I don't think Eric and I realized how good we had it with her starting to sleep almost 12 hours a night at just 10 weeks of age. Kennon is still super happy during the day and really loves playing with rattles, chewing on his burp rag or blue bear, batting at things hanging down in front of him and most importantly watching Maddox play, eat, sing, move about the room etc. He is super interested in her and she in him. If he is crying she is VERY concerned about him and wants to help out. AND YES that is her in the pictures below with those darn snow boots on....and on the wrong foot!! She has recently been obsessed with her purse and dangly bracelets from Great Grandma Reta. SUPER CUTE. She carries them around and even shares them with KTK. Although I don't think he really thinks they are all that cool since they don't jingle or squeak :) Maddox has been doing really well at Kcare. She rarely has any crying fits when we drop her off and is happy happy happy when we pick her up. She is napping and eating well there and is learning so much ( I feel like I write that every week....but it is so true). This week they made a POST OFFICE in their classroom and are talking about the mail. They asked parents to bring in junk mail for them to sort, 'mail', write on etc. How cool! Everyday I am so thankful that we are sending our kids there. It was a super hard decision for Eric and I but we are happy to have made it. I can only imagine how much more advanced KTK is going to be having been there since he was a baby! KTK kinda has a girlfriend at Kcare. Her name is Keira and she was also born in June. Friday when I picked him up Miss Lisa ( one of our favorite teachers in the infant room) told me they just sat and played with each other for like 20 minutes...smiling back and forth, touching each others hands feet etc. How cute! And she is a cutie!! When we left I took him over to her and he looked right down at her and smiled as if to say " see ya next week chickie"!! So cute. He is sleeping better and better at Kcare. I finally gave them a hat to put on his head for his naps. It is sorta cold in there ( which I think keeps germs to a minimum-or maybe this is wishful thinking) so the hat helped him stay snugly and has given him a few more minutes of sleep each day which is good. He is taking all of his bottles well, and we are gradually trying to increase the number of ounces he is taking.
Tonight Eric and I are headed to the Hawkeye game. Grandpa Jim and Grandma Jean are headed over to watch to the kids. We are looking forward to getting away for a bit. Hoping the Hawks actually show up to play tonight :) The picture of KTK in the high chair is just after his first bowl of cereal. He originally had both feet up on the table as if to say 'thanks mom....I'll just kick back with my full belly'. Of course when I got the camera out he only had one foot up. AND YES....we do have some boy bibs around!! I'll get some down from his dresser so he can have more appropriate feeding gear!! Have a good week.

A FANTASTIC weekend

Eric, Maddox, Kennon and I have had a great weekend, despite the ol' Hawkeyes chalking up another 'L'. Eric and I both managed to get good workouts in both Saturday and Sunday, which is always a bonus. The weather has been great so we spent a lot of time outdoors including ANOTHER trip to the zoo today. Today Maddox got to feed the giraffes, which was quite the experience. They apparently eat romaine lettuce leaves because that is what we got to give them. It was really fun....!! They are huge and Maddox was a little afraid but Eric stepped in to help out. We got a good view of the new baby giraffe and we got to see the bobcats, something we haven't seen before. All the animals were out including the 2 big black bears, and the 3 lions. The coolest part were the gibbons apes. The apes are always there but today they were making these crazy noises. We actually thought it was a bird when we pulled into the parking lot but it was the apes talking to each other. They call it 'duetting' and it apparently increases their family bond and stakes their territory. I got some video. The kids were really good and it was a fantastic family outing. Kennon has turned into Mr. Hands Man. He eats his hands constantly...or the burp rag...or his blue bear blankie thing. He loves to chew on his hands AND he is loving sitting upright now. We started using the BUMBO last week and he is really diggin' it. He loves to be part of the family and likes to sit up in it while Maddox, Eric and I are having dinner. He is still a bit wobbly in the trunk but is even better this week compared to last. He is so dang happy most of the time, super smiley and loves to laugh and talk to himself. And I discovered this week he likes to be naked. If you let him lay on the changing pad naked ( well, with a diaper) he'll just chat away for what seems like forever. It is so fun!! I know Maddox did stuff like that, but it is SOOO hard to remember. He is still getting up one time during the night but we see Dr. Anderson this week for his 4 month check up so I'm hoping he'll give us the ok to try some cereal to see if that will get us out of the 1am feeding. He HAS been napping in his crib lately though. We are trying to get away from the swing. They don't have swings at Kcare and he is having a hard time napping there, so I figured I should try to wean him from the swing at home. Friday at Kcare he took a 40minute nap, the best he has done so far. Most of you know Maddox went poo poo in the potty at Kcare on Thursday. She didn't repeat her actions on Friday but she still sat on the potty several times. She is learning so much. We are sooooo happy with Kcare. It is so fun to read what she works on/learns/does at Kcare each day ( they put a poster on the door in the afternoon spelling out all the things they talked about during the day) and then ask her about it at night during dinner etc. She is a smart cookie and is very good at being stubborn as well!! She LOVES to stomp her feet in frustration at us fairly regularly. Last weekend we went to the Garden Center and picked out some pumpkins. Maddox had a good time roaming around, picking out her pumpkins, and going in the hay bale maze. We are hoping to make it out to the actual pumpkin patch sometime before Halloween. Take care for now.