12 month check up

No more "Age: 0" for this dude!

I was all down with this one thing until this morning when Mommy was all "Oh we have such a busy day today Kelly ..." then she tried to slip past me this little tidbit: They make babies come back to the doctor when they turn one!

Say whaaat????

The good news -- I am huge.  I am 31 3/8 inches tall, 21.8 pounds, and have a 19 inch head.  That's 90th percentile in height and head circumference, wooo hooo!  The doc talked to Mommy about some ways to make me food to drink and we will see if I like that better.  She wasn't worried about my not wanting to eat, but said we need to make sure my Ironman levels stay high.  Mommy says she said just "iron" but I know better.

They also talked about my allergies because appart from my skin being all sorts of annoying I am like a total snot factory lately.  Daddy says he totally understands, and given how often he sneezes and blows his nose I am betting he does get it.  But I will point this out, no one takes the snot sucker to his nose.  Maybe that would help him?

Can we go to Ikea, like, NOW?

Anywho, I was having all sorts of fun playing with the doctor's bead thing (I checked the tag out, they have it at Ikea and I am totally making the parents go get me one!) and listening to them talk about how I am a walking rock star and all that when my Spidey Sense started to tingle.  They were discussin' vaccinations.  I know that is just some fancy pants word for poking my leg but it was too late to escape, I can't reach the dang door handles in the office.

I will give them this, they were honest about it because usually they are all "this won't hurt a bit!" but I don't see them getting stabby on their leg fat so we all know that is just something they say, not mean.  But today the lady who gave me the shot said that the MMR one straight up hurt.  She apologized a bunch of times, and was quick about it, then Mommy cuddled me and got us out of there, so it wasn't awful but I wouldn't say I liked it!

On the way out I saw a fish and asked if I could play with it, which I thought was a totally reasonable thing to ask since they had just shot some painful goo into my legs.  But Mommy said you don't play with fish like you do with dogs or toys.  Says who?!

how about some pictures?

Hello followers of the best baby on earth!  There is so much to update its not even funny. So lets just cut to the chase and start in on some of the biggies about yours truly.
 

First off, I am even more fabulous and adorable than I was when last we posted.  I have been very busy learning how to be more mobile so I haven't really had much of a chance to let mom post here.  I am trying to walk, and I can manage a couple steps at a time.  But then I do the math and realize the amount of energy I am using to move and the speed at which I can actually go makes crawling a bit more effective still.  I actually love to climb and am currently working on an escape plan from my crib, play pen and the "cage" I play in while mommy types for me.

I still fall asleep sometimes in random places, and (sick woman that she is) Mommy likes to try to take pictures of me to giggle at and share with others.  Take this for example:

That is my bouncy.  It is all sorts of awesome!  I can bounce, spin, and play with toys all at once!  But it is also kinda comfy, and a guy can get worn out playing like that ... so sometimes I take a little snooze.

Well donchya know the second I fall asleep Mom is all up in my bizness with her camera takin' pictures!

I guess she felt bad and thought I looked uncomfy, so she tried to help me ...

But I really didn't need any help, I was comfy enough.

I really think snapping a picture at another angle was a bit unnecessary thought.

I also have some new friends!  I love watching little bits of TV sometimes while Mommy pretends she has other things to do.  Whatever.  So I loooooove Sesame Street, Little Eisensteins, and Jake and the Neverland Pirates. I got a new car seat because I was just too big for the baby one, and I love to play with toys.  But the baby in the mirror?  Yeah, he's still there and we talk all the time!

 Sometimes my parents need put in their place.

I allow them to think they are in charge and everything, but I mean, really, come on.  We know who's the boss of this place.  Here I am telling Mommy that mornings are not the time for talking.  They are the time for feeding babies and being very quiet.  She says I am just like Daddy in the morning.

As for food ... ahhh, I have such a complex relationship with food.  You see, I really do like milk.  A lot.  I have tried so many kinds of baby foods, even ones Mommy made and ones from the store ... but I really was kinda not into it.  So we tried other stuff too.  I like tortilla chips, but I don;t really eat them because they are all crunchy and the texture drives me batty.  So Daddy and Mommy tried regular soft tortillas.  But I wanted to play with it, so Daddy made it into a hat.  Which was confusing. 

 

They tell me not to play with my food, then they do?  What is up with that?!  I like to paint with baby food whenever I get the chance, here I am with bananas!

But I do like to eat paper, and some people (ahem MOMMY!) get all bent out of shape about it.

Who makes a baby cry like that?!  What a meanie!

Anyway, thats enough of an update for now.  I am pretty super awesome and everything as you can see.  My first birthday is coming up so fast and I will be a one year old then.  Cool huh?  I sure think so!

there was a baby in the car!

While waiting for my brother to get out of school in the line that takes for-ev-er, I made an amazing discovery. It seems the family has been holding out on me.

Mommy keeps another baby in the car.

I know, right? How could they not tell me this?!

There I was trying to decide if I would just fall asleep or if I wanted to scream out my frustration with having to wait in the car for Micah to get outside when I saw him. At first I froze, couldn't be sure if he was a friendly baby or not. But then I realized he was sizing me up too. As I sat there staring at him for a second I realized he looked like a really nice guy. We both just stared for a second but finally I got excited and realized that maybe this is a baby I could play with. In my excitement I squealed out a hello ... and he did too. Right at the same time!

So then I laughed because that was funny.

And he did too.

And so then I started talking to him. His mommy had buckled him in to one of those obnoxious car seats too, and he was waiting for his big brother to get out of school, and it was hot for him. Just like me!! Seriously, I was feeling all of that also.

After some bonding over how uncomfy our car seats were and how we were excited to see our brothers (who were both named Micah by the way) I decided I could trust this other baby. So I showed him my toes and told him how much fun they are. And you will never believe it, but he showed me his toes also!

Turns out he loves playing with his toes too. He likes to suck on his big toe just like me, and he said that he gets frustrated sometimes because he can't do that while buckled in. I feel the same way.

Later on we went on a drive in Daddy's truck and it turns out the baby goes there too! We talked some more then too, but both of us were pretty sleepy, so we just napped. I figure when I take Mommy out for some errands today I may get to see him again. I hope so, he seems like a nice baby.

did you know I have a thumb?

I don't think I have it all the time. Most of the time I have fingers, and while they are good to have for a lot of stuff, they are not good when I just want to suck on something. I wind up gagging myself.

But thumbs ... aaahhh they aren't long enough to gag me. Mommy says baby hands were designed that way. That's pretty forward thinking if you ask me.

The only problem is that, well, I can't find them very often. I am told that will get better, but in the mean time, it sure is fun when it works.

Mom was able to snap a picture of me before I noticed her. This was the first time it worked, see how happy I am?

:)

I. am. in. love.

Two awesome bits of news for you:

First, I am now twenty weeks old! I am getting so big and strong now!

And you should be able to guess the next bit of awesomeness from that picture. Do you see the love of my life, the new toy thingy I have now?! My Gramps and TT got it for me and I would sleep in it if the parents would let me. Seriously, it is the most awesomest awesomey thing ever. It is full of toys for me to play with, chew on, and smack. And if that wasn't enough to make a baby's heart go pitter patter: I can bounce in it too, and I sooo love bouncing! Mommy said she wants to take more pictures of me in it, so those will be up soon but I couldn't hold it in any longer and not tell you about it! :)

P.S. Apparently we never shared this, but here is the 19 weeker:

Oopsie!

attack of the Momdar

I have been really busy lately, and I think its freaking my Mom out. Daddy, he doesn't freak out, he just gets me. Of course, I haven't tried to give him a heart attack yet, I have tried (and apparently succeeded in) giving Mommy a heart attack a couple of times.

So you all know I can roll over from my tummy to my back right? Well everyone keeps telling me the next thing I am supposed to do is roll from my back to my tummy. I think these people are sick in the head if they actually think I would want to roll to my tummy. I hate tummy time. That is H-A-T-E it. Why on earth would I put myself there?! So anyway, while they are all driveling on about how I am supposed to roll over like a puppy I decided to work on something else in secret. Mom caught me though, I swear she has eyes in the back of her head. I was silently working on my new skill when her Momdar (that's Mommy Radar) went off signalling her of potential danger. She turned around and in that really strained voice that I know means she is trying not to pop that vein in her neck she said "Oh Kelly what are you doing?" The second time I did it she caught me on film ...

Yeah, I am working on sitting up. Truth be told I have been exercising in my car seat for a while now. I figure the buckled in straps are sort of like resistance training. Well in my rocking chair I am only strapped in on the bottom half, none of this five-point-harness nonsense. So between using my body to get it rocking and using my big head for weight and momentum I was able to pull myself up into a sitting position. It was soooo cool. Seriously, for that 45 seconds I was a free baby, even if Mommy was right there with her scaredy cat voice. But then Mommy said it wasn't safe. She said that I wouldn't necessarily be able to stop myself from moving further forward. She only let me do it a second time because she was curious to see how I had done it. Then she took all the joy out of my life and switched my rocking chair back to a non-rocking chair. I can't make the darn thing move at all now. She did let me sit up with my Boppy later, which was nice but a bit less thrilling. I gave her my best "how could you do this to me face" but all it did was make her giggle and take yet another picture.

Sigh.

Well at least there is no supposed "danger" -- picture me doing those finger quotes cuz I am doing them in my mind -- in the other thing I am having fun with right now. I have a swing that used to belong to my big brother. It has these things on it that Mommy switches out so I never get bored with them. I even get to take my gloves off sometimes and play with them and it is so fun!

While Mommy may be a real killjoy about some of my more daring adventures, I do love just cuddling with her especially right after I eat if my reflux isn't being annoying. It is my fave place to sleep.

just the coolest discovery EVER!

Okay so I know I have hands, and I get how they work about 80% of the time. The other 20% the things seem to go rogue on me and smack me in the face, but that is another story.

I found my feet.

Seriously, these are almost better than hands. First off, Mommy doesn't put them in socks nearly as much as she does with my hands. I think this is because I haven't figured out how to scratch my itchy head with them ... yet. Soooo working on that. But she lets me keep my feet bare most of the time, except every now and then when she has these "cute" shoes she has to foolishly try to make me wear. I don't like shoes, and personally I have noticed she doesn't wear shoes often so I think its mean to try to make me wear them. But I digress, the point is that I can usually get the shoes off in like 37 seconds now, so I am able to play with bare feet a lot. I can reach them most of the time and I have even tried sucking on them -- which incidentally tickled a lot.

So my thought for the day is this:

Feet.

Best. Toy. Ever!

two for the price of one

Today is a biggie, I am not only 13 weeks old but I am also officially three months old too!
We celebrated by buying me a Bumbo. I love it! I get to sit up like a big boy, without anyone holding me! I get a little offended that my parents seem to think I shouldn't run around and climb things yet, but I figure we can wean them into accepting it one thing at a time. I love sitting up all by myself, and while I can't quite do it without my Bumbo yet I am working on it.

It didn't take me long to decide that the Bumbo needed some modifications. So I worked on it ...

But Mom caught me.

She doesn't get it, she called it "breaking" but Daddy gets it, its not breaking when you make it better. I was going to put it back together, I just was wondering how it worked cuz I saw Mommy had to assemble it. Anyhoo, the old lady took the tray away from me saying I was gonna hurt myself, psh, whatevs Ma.

We also celebrated the 4th of July since my last update, here is how handsome I looked then:
For those of you following the news about my head: I am getting lots better there too. Mommy gives me glove-free time during the day because my hands get hot and I get sick of not being able to move my fingers much, but the ol' scalp is healing well. Maybe I will have an infection-free head soon? Who knows, I sure hope so.

Well that is really my only update for now. I am excited because my Gramps and TT (that's my Mommy's parents for those of you who don't know) are coming back from a trip to Hawaii soon. I hear they got me some goodies while there so I am hoping for some good stuff. I like things that spin or that I can chew on ... think they found anything like that? I also will get to go on my first plane trip sometime soon to meet my cousin Emma. She isn't ready to make her grand entrance yet, so we aren't going just yet, but I am excited to meet another baby and see my Iowa family!

yellin' at elephants

I have this spiffy chair, it rocks and vibrates (the parents think it "fools" me that I am in a car, HA!). But it has these animals on it too that dangle so I can play with them. The turtle and the lion are okay, its the elephant you gotta watch. That little bugger is a real devil and I have to yell at him sometimes. So here's me layin' down the law ...Clearly, I am quite the authority figure.

keepin' them on their toes

My parents must have had the most boring lives in the world before I came along. Seriously, it is exhausting thinking of things I can do to keep them on their toes.

I had to go back to the doctor yesterday because Mommy and Daddy thought my cradle cap was a bit much. Cradle cap is really common, and not something that you have to go to the doctor for usually, but Daddy says I am an overachiever. So I took regular cradle cap, and with my sensitive skin made it a really nasty case. So nasty I itched it, and since I am still learning how to use my hands I itched it a little rough. This left me with a few little scratches on my head, and open cuts can easily become infected ... poof, I have Impetigo! It got nasty enough that Mom called and insisted that my "cradle cap" needed to be looked at by a doctor.

Sigh, so we had to go back to the doctor. You can see some of the yellow funkiness on top of my head in the picture. We aren't sure if its a staph or strep infection -- really who cares, the medicine is making it go away!

I got some medicine for the infection, which I have only had to use twice so far and it already looks about a million times better, but they had to weigh me again. Seriously, I think I should be allowed to stay dressed for that! But I weighed a whooping 14.6 lbs, which means I have gained an entire pound in 3 weeks! That is amazing, even the doctor said so!

While we were there she and Mommy talked a bit about my gagging and choking, which has not gotten any better. I decided to help out a bit and had an episode right then and there. The doctor got to see it, and she told Mom to start giving me a medicine twice a day to help lessen my reflux. I may have super bad reflux, I may have trachea issues, I may have both, but all of the above are treated with this medicine. I haven't noticed a difference in taking it yet, but I have only had two doses, so we will see how it works. It tastes pretty good, so I won't complain about it!

Lastly, I wanted to show you this picture of me with my Froggy. Daddy bought me Froggy a while ago, but now that I am learning how to use my hands I like to play with him a bit more. Sometimes the Frog really makes me mad, and I try to get him. But, since I am not so good with hand eye coordination as of yet I really haven't been successful with this. So I usually wind up just swinging away and getting mad, it makes Mommy giggle so she took a picture of me. I think I look intense, she says I am cute. Whatever, I say to-may-toe you say tom-mah-toe!

bugs & spit

Two of my favorite things lately are my bugs and spit.

My Mom had a ladybug pillow pet before the beginning of time (she got it like 4 months ago, being that I have only been around for 2 and a half months this makes it a very long time ago in my humble opinion). Since I first laid eyes on it I loved it! It is so brightly colored its exciting to look at. So the parents bought me one of my own! Its a little buggy, but I haven't really let mom have hers back yet, so I have two now! I love sitting in my Boppy and looking at them, but since I also am in the process of discovering these things attached to me that everyone calls "hands" I am also learning to use them on my bugs. I like to touch their faces, and I hit and kick them a bit too. They make me laugh, and I talk to them almost constantly.

My second fave thing lately is spit, and boy do I make lots of it! I am a spit factory. Everyone makes funny faces at me, and sometimes they stick out their tongues. Well I like this so much that I am trying to do it myself. As it turns out, I drool a tad. I am also working on my raspberry-blowing skills. I can get the tongue out, drool, and I have even once made the sound on accident (it scared me so I stopped). But I try to do it all of the time! If you stick your tongue out at me and make noises I will totally return the favor and love every second of it! Its my new favorite game! The down side is that I get really wet a lot. Mom started putting me in bibs because I don't like changing my clothes and we were moving through my wardrobe even faster than normal. Now I just swap out bibs, which annoys me less and makes the washing machine a bit happier.

So there you have it, I am a big boy now because I love spit and bugs!

look how big I am now

Lots of pictures are being taken of me regularly because I am a famous baby with my own devoted paparazzi (I call them Mommy and Daddy). So here we are catching up again with some of my fabulousness of the last three weeks!

My last "age" post was for seven weeks old. Well I have matured quite a bit, above you can see me at 8 weeks. I was tired because my parents bought me a new toy! They actually went to the store a couple of times to make sure they picked the right one out for me, its a baby mobile. I love watching things move so they spent a little extra and got the Cadillac version that had spinning parts, dangling parts AND even projected a picture, all while playing music, making nature noises, or a heartbeat sound. However, turns out they could have bought the cheap one because I don't give a hoot about all of that, as you can see below I just love the motor where the sound comes out!

Seriously, I love that thing! Mommy rolls her eyes and says someday she expects to find me clinging to the side of the crib with a screwdriver trying to get inside of it to see how it works. Daddy just smiles and plans to by me a set of 'em when Mom ain't lookin'! I just laugh because they are both silly enough to think I haven't already tried it.

Moving on, I also turned 9 weeks old, and again I was pretty tired.

Do you have any idea how much growing do each day? You'd be poopered out too! But to bring us up to date ...

That one is probably my best yet. Mommy acted totally ridiculous, so I had to laugh at her and she caught me smiling. Aren't my eyes amazing? (I know, I know, I am so humble!) You can also see that I am getting much bigger. I have a spare chin now!

fascinating stuff

Mommy noticed that I am really quite fascinated by her ladybug pillow pet. Its quite interesting to look at in my opinion.