Kemper turns 8 months old

This is the month of blissfulness!!  Our sweet little peanut (not so peanut anymore) has turned into a dream of a sleeper and a wonderful eater and is always full of laughter (and screams as well).  It truly has been perhaps my favorite month so far in this little man's life, I think because his schedule both eating and sleeping is finally solid and predictable, and because he has turned into just this little snuggly, lovey, playful little being that he is so enjoyable to be around all the time. 

Sleeping:
WE ARE ALL FINALLY SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT, EVERY NIGHT!!  Yes, all of us.  Mommy, Daddy, Peyton and Kemper all sleeping all night long.  Its fantastic.  And I think the best part about it is that we didn't have to do the hard core cry it out with Kemper.  He just naturally progressed into it on his own.  We did first cut out any eating in the middle of the night, but literally within a week or two of doing that, he was sleeping through the night.  He still goes down to bed between 7:30 and 8:00pm and he is up between 7:00 and 8:00am.  As for napping, he is still on a two nap per day schedule, the first one around 9:30 and the second around 2:00.  He still sleeps on his tummy in a sleep sac, with his white noise machine and pacifier (although he usually spits this out relatively soon after falling asleep).  His night bedtime routine is still bath, book, bottle, song and bed.  He is also gotten really good about putting himself to sleep vs. having to be asleep in our arms before being put in the crib. 

Eating:
John and I sort of had this epiphany this month about Kemper's eating when we went back and read Peyton's blog when she was around this age.  We realized that we were being much more exploratory with Peyton than we had been being with Kemper, so we ramped it up a bit this month with Kemper.  We hadn't been giving him any finger foods yet (besides puff's), so we tried that and Kemper immediately fell in love with finger foods.  Every part of it.  Eating them, grabbing them himself, feeding himself, etc.  Needless to say, his food list has grown tremendously this month, and we are feeding him all sorts of things now, like eggs, cheese, green beans, tofu cubes (although we have some suspicion he might be allergic to soy because of some really bad, painful gas he has one night after eating it and we haven't tried it again since), hot dog (much to my disagreement!  :) ), and fruit.  This month, we used the last of the frozen breast milk and he is now 100% on formula and is doing great with it.  He has 3, 8oz bottles per day and still prefers them warmed up.

Clothing:
Kemper is currently wearing 12 month clothing.

Teeth:
Kemp has 4 teeth currently (2 on top middle and 2 on bottom middle)

Milestones/Other interesting Kemperisms:

• Said his first "word" being "dada" on Halloween this year
• Able to "walk" around now in his walker
• Able to stand up holding onto a standing toy, or the ottoman
• Able to somewhat scoot around, but not crawling yet
• Working on some sign language with him such as "more" and "all done"
• For the past month or two, he has been very active with his hands.  He is always shaking them around, moving his fingers and rotating his fists around (looks like he is really excited, but he is doing it all the time, even when not excited).
• Loves his johnny jump up still
• Loves to sit on a blanket with his basket of toys and just play
• Loves his sister who is always making him laugh
• When you go to pick him up, he immediately snuggles into your chest and tucks his hands under his body (best feeling ever)
• Screaming very loud when he wants more food (hence the reason for attempting some sign language)
• Tried turkey for his first time on Thanksgiving!
• Getting more and more curls in his hair
• Spent his first night at Grandma and Grandpa's this month
• Has a little separation anxiety and does not like being left in a room alone

  

777777777SEVEN777777777 Months old!

Here we are at 7 months old with our little boy!  It really has been a big month for Kemper with lots going on.  He continues to be the most smiley baby I literally have ever come across (he'll flash his two pearly whites for anyone that smiles at him, and even flirts with many people).  We are really enjoying watching his personality develop and listening to him try and find his voice and form words (although he hasn't said any yet).  Here's what he's been up to this month:

Sleep:
Always the most important, right?!  Thankfully this month, Kemper's sleep has FINALLY taken a turn for the good.  Really good.  Shhh!!!  I don't even want to say it out loud or even type it for fear it will jinx us!  With the exception of the week when he was sick this month (read below to see the details of that), he has either been sleeping all the way through the night, or getting up once around 4:00am to eat and then goes back to sleep.  We've continued with the 7:30-8:00 bedtime.  He has a bath, book with mommy, then a bottle and sleep.  He's still sleeping on his tummy, in a sleep sac and with a pacifier (although he usually only has the paci in for about 5 minutes when he first falls asleep and then he spits it out and is fine without it).  We are trying to wean him off of eating completely in the middle of the night, even if he wakes up because his doc says he certainly does not need to be eating in the middle of the night.  I have cut his bottle down to 4oz in the middle of the night, and will move it down to 3oz this week and so on until he isn't getting anything.  He has really become a good self soother and will put himself to sleep if we put him in the crib before he is fully asleep (both for naps and bedtime), which we are of course welcoming with open arms.  His naps are still happening twice a day and last around and hour and a half to two hours.  He still likes his music on (or at least we put it on always when he sleeps). 

Eating:
A HUGE decision was made this month to wean Kemper off breastfeeding.  I didn't think it would happen this early, but Kemper began to bite me (very hard and even to the point of bleeding once), as well as push me away most times when I would try and nurse him.  I decided to read his cues and stop breastfeeding.  In addition to his very bold cues, I began a new job at the end of this month and felt it was a natural progression to stop breastfeeding and then I wouldn't have to pump at work at a new job.  That being said, he has not seemed to care AT ALL that we are no longer breastfeeding.  He is still getting 100% breast milk for now, as I had about a month's worth stocked up in the freezer, but once he goes through that he will begin formula.  Kemper is doing really well with solid foods as well.  Here's a list of what he's had to date:

• avocado (still his favorite by far)
• banana
• applesauce
• oatmeal
• beets (loves!)
• tofu (pureed with other foods)
• cauliflower
• white sweet potato
• quinoa (pureed with other foods)
• carrots
• peaches
• butternut squash
• infant whole milk yogurt

Happy Half Birthday Monkey Man!!!

Kemper is 6 months old (well technically not for another day, but close enough)!  I've been thinking about this blog post for a couple of weeks now.  How I want to approach it, what I want to say, trying to remember the details, thoughts, feelings, emotions over the past 6 months.  If I'm being totally honest, I just now (6 months after birthing the sweetest little boy I've ever met) feel that I am coming out of the newborn mama fog.  I thought going into my second baby that I would come out of the fog earlier since I had done it before, knew what to expect to some extent, and  knew that I could get through the sleep deprivation since I had done it once before.  In some sense that was correct.  I felt like I could curb my fogginess feelings on a day to day basis in order to be present for my children, be the best mom I could be and get through the days.  In another sense I was so wrong about that prediction!!!  I truly believe that it took longer for several reasons.  Though Kemper was a very mellow tempered baby, he didn't take on the same great sleeping patterns as early as his sissy did.  Having 2 children really is double the duty!!  Even though as parents we have become greatly focused on the newborn, naturally, Peyton his continuing to thrive, grow, progress, learn, and she needs our help with all of this each and every day.  Just because Peyton's sleeping and eating (which is the main focus typically of a baby), is smooth and predictable doesn't mean that she doesn't have other needs.  While these are all things I enjoy experiencing with my children, I've also found that its more difficult for John and I to have time to focus on each other and for each of us to have some independent time.  Its taken six months for us to sort of come to this realization and to commit to making that stuff a focus on top of the kids.  Never before has the phrase "there aren't enough hours in the day" been more true.  Or should I say there isn't enough energy in our bodies to take on all that needs to be focused on every day.  Yes, that is actually the better statement.  Being ok with the idea that we can't do it all is certainly something I've had to come to terms with over the past 6 months, and that I am ok with this!  But do you know what else I have had an epiphany about at this 6 months mark?  How incredibly blessed, lucky, thankful, grateful, or any other word like the previous that we are to have love in our marriage, health in our children, and true happiness in our little family.  Its almost overwhelming to realize how important it is to have these things and how incredibly wonderful it is that we do have them.  I sincerely feel that we were meant to have these two children, one girl, one boy, Peyton, and Kemper and each other to walk through this journey of life together.  I truly feel that our family is complete and that we have exactly what we need at this time in our lives.  Sure, we may not be millionaire's, we may not live in our dream house yet, and we may not have the biggest savings account, but we do have 2 absolutely incredible intelligent, loving, thriving children and we have some have the most respectful marriage that anyone could wish for, full of love and commitment.  What more could we really ask for at this point in our lives?  WE ARE BLESSED BEYOND BELIEF!!!!!!!

Ok, off my soapbox and moving on to our dear little Kemper boy.  Its been a great month full of transitions for this little boy.  Lets talk specifics:

Sleep:
Thank the good lord that we have turned a corner with sleep...finally!!!!!!!!!!  We aren't sure if its just coincidence or not, but we did start Kemp on solids on his 5 month birthday which seemed to coincide with better sleeping.  We are now on a pretty good stretch of him waking either once or twice a night either to eat, or just needs his paci put back in.  I will not complain about that!  He is still sleeping on his tummy in a sleep sac, going to bet at 8:00.  He is still a good napper, taking 2 naps per day.  The first one is two hours after he wakes up in the morning and the second is between 1-2pm, with each nap lasting 1-2 hours.

Eating:
The most exciting thing about eating this month is the fact (as mentioned above) that we started Kemp on solids this month.  He has done fantastic with them and we know this was the right time to start him.  His very first food was avocado (as was his sisters) and he LOVED it and still does.  Since then, he has also had peaches, butternut squash, banana's, pumpkin, and most recently oatmeal.  We are making it all home made and he is already eating 2-3 meals per day!  In addition, he is still exclusively breastfed, although he is doing it less than before we started solids.  He is now nursing in the morning after waking up, around lunch time, in the afternoon and then right before bedtime (and of course usually once or twice in the night).  There have been a few times in the last week also where he refuses to nurse and wants a bottle.  Its taken me some time to get here, but I am ok with this now.  He is still getting breast milk and that is what is most important to us at this point in time. 

Clothing:
We were lucky enough this month to inherit Kemper's bigger cousin Kylan's clothes since Kylan is expecting a little sister in February.  Its so fun for Kemp to wear little outfits that I remember little Ky wearing not too long ago.  Kemper is currently wearing 6-9 month clothing (and truly is moving more into the 9 month).  This month, we've started putting the little Roebeez shoes on him as well, which are more fun for us than practical for him!

Babysitting:
Kemper had his very first night away from mommy and daddy this month with Nana and it went wonderfully!  John and I decided to have a really nice night away at Pan Pacific hotel in Seattle and dinner out at Daniel's Broiler (surprisingly one of my first experiences at a steak house!).  We are grateful for Nana being willing to do this!!

Milestones:

• Eating solids
• 2 teeth
• Grabby, grabby, grabby!
• Feet in mouth
• up on all 4's (looks like he is prepping to crawl, though he's not there yet)
• sitting in the highchair
• starting to sit up on his own, though this is not mastered yet
• screaming!

Happy Birthday to my sweetest baby boy!

Kemp has TOOFERS!

Kempers first tooth began popping through his gums on Saturday, September 7th at 5 1/2 months old.  The tooth that popped through was the lower middle right tooth, though on Tuesday September 10th, the lower middle left tooth popped through as well.  Here's to some Tylenol for sleeping, and drool rags!!

Monkey Man is 5 months old!

Wait, 5 months means almost half a year!  How can that be?  I know they say that time flies when you have children, but I must say that for the second child this is even more so the case than the 1st one.  I truly feel that just a few weeks ago we were driving this sweet baby boy home from the hospital.  We are truly enjoying him and his developing personality so very much.  One of the best things is seeing his relationship with Peyton develop.  They simply adore each other and both have the ability to make the other one happy at times they are upset.  Its the greatest thing ever to witness as a parent.  Ok, so how's this little man doing with all his development and milestones?  Read on to find out.

Sleeping:
I must address this one first as we all know with the newborn stage, this topic is of the upmost stress, trying on the patience, and inconsistent.  Weird, because those exact words describe Kemper's sleep this past month (similar to the last).  He is back to waking every 2-3 hours once again (all night long I must add).  Most of the time it seems he wants to eat, but sometimes we try and just give him the pacifier back.  To make things more difficult, we took away the swaddle once and for all towards the end of this month.  It truly needed to be done as he was getting out of every kind of swaddle every single night, as well as more consistently rolling over onto his tummy while in the swaddle, which of course is no bueno due to the fact they can't get their arms out to roll themselves back over if needed.  The first night was pretty tough.  Ultimately, after trying many, many times for 2 hours in the middle of the night, we laid him down on his tummy and he slept great that way the rest of the night. What does this mean?  Its means once again we have a tummy sleeper (as Peyton was at this age also)!  And we are embracing this and deciding to be comfortable with it since he is healthy.  We are hoping that we have some better sleep in store next month! 

Kemper is still napping twice a day.  He goes down for his first nap 2 hours after he wakes up in the morning and sleeps between 1-2 hours.  His second nap is usually around 1:30 or 2:00 and he also sleeps for 1-2 hours during that nap. 

We continue with the 8:00 bedtime routine.  Bath, jammies, nursing and then down for the night.  We usually put him down with his pacifier, but he almost always ends up spitting it out within the first hour.  Instead of the swaddle, he is in the Halo zip up sleep sacs.

Eating:
Kemp is still exclusively breastfed and eats about every 4 hours.  He has always preferred the football hold while nursing until this month where I think he has just gotten too big for that position.  Now he nurses in the traditional cradle position.  He is eating 5-6 oz of breast milk out of the bottle while at daycare.  We plan on starting solids this next month.

Clothes:
Kemper is wearing 6-9 month clothing and is growing rapidly!!

Babysitters:
So far, Kemper has been babysat by Nana, Trudy, Stephanie, and grandma.  We have yet to leave him overnight, but I think we are almost ready to do so!

Milestones:

• Kemper has become MUCH more aware of his hands this month and is very grabby with everything.  He can transfer objects between his two hands, hold onto items, and grab for items off a surface.  He also is mastering picking up his pacifier and putting it into his own mouth.
• Rolling, rolling, rolling.  Front to back, back to front, all over the place!
• NO.  MORE.  SWADDLE.
• Grabbing onto and sucking on his feet.

  

Magoo is 4 months old!

Our sweet little baby boy turned 4 months on July 22nd.  He continues to be a wonderful baby with a calm, happy, and VERY smiley personality.  Sleep continues to be great for a while, and then not so great for a while, but that comes with being a newborn.  Here's what he's been up to this month.

Eating:
Kemper is still exclusively breastfed, and takes bottled breastmilk while at daycare on Tuesday's and Friday.s  He made the move this month from eating every 3 hours to eating every 4 hours.  When he is bottle fed, he eats roughly 4oz each time.  His pediatrician gave us the go ahead to try solids at any time now, however we don't feel he is quite ready, so we may consider it closer to the 5 month mark.  Breastfeeding is still going well 99% of the time.  Every once in a while, he will get distracted or upset by a loud noise, or not want to eat for some other reason, and its very stressful for me.  Its hard for me to let go of the schedule that we have worked to get him on and just let things flow, but I am working on that more and more.  Breastfeeding is anything but black and white, and that in and of itself goes against what my personality is naturally.  I've had to work really hard to pay attention to feeding cues from Kemper, be ok if he doesn't stick to his feeding schedule 100% of the time, and just let things flow.  I FINALLY this month stopped clocking and logging his feeding times and lengths and side of breast in my phone.  That was so freeing to finally give it up and looking back I realize I should have done it a long time ago.  I have to constantly remind myself to be a baby watcher and not a clock watcher.  I'd also like to mention that when breastfeeding is going well with no challenges or anxiety on my part (which really is most of the time), I absolutely love it.  I now understand what it means for it to be rewarding and a great bonding tool with your baby.  Its such a tranquil, sweet, quiet time with just Kemper and I that no one else gets to share, and its pretty magical.  I am very proud that I stuck with it this time around (even given the big challenges we had the first 2-3 weeks).  It was all very worth it.

Sleeping:
Once again, we have been all over the board when it comes to sleep this month.  One good thing that has evened out this month is his nap schedule.  He currently naps twice a day.  First nap is almost to the minute 2 hours after he wakes up in the morning.  Something about that 2 hour mark for him and he is ready to go down for the first nap.  That nap can last anywhere from 45 min- 2 hours.  The second nap usually happens between 1-2pm and can last 1-2 hours.  Its true what they say about it being harder to keep the 2nd child on a nap schedule than the first one because you are constantly running all over the place with the older child that if you committed every single day to be home for all naps, you'd hardly be able to leave the house because there is such a short window when both kids are awake at the same time for more than 30 minutes.  Because of this, Kemper at times will get his first nap when we are out and about, though I try not to make too big of a habit of this.    Beyond napping, his night sleep has been anywhere from waking up every 2 hours, to sleeping 6 hours his first stretch and only waking up once a night.  If I had to say what his "average" night of sleep is, I'd say that he wakes up twice a night with is sleeping stretches lasting 4-5 hours.  His bedtime is always between 7:30-8:00pm and he is typically up for the day between 6:30-8:00am.  He's still sleeping swaddled, although we had an adventure with that as well this month.  He was constantly breaking out of his Velcro swaddle, and had even rolled over onto his tummy a couple of times.  We thought maybe it was time for him to sleep unswaddled.  We tried that for a couple of nights-cold turkey with no swaddle, and that did not fair well at all.  In fact, we couldn't even get him down to sleep at all sometimes with no swaddle.  We decided to look into other swaddles, and finally found the miracle blanket, which works great.  He doesn't break out of it hardly at all, hasn't rolled over onto his tummy in it, and it seems to help with sleeping in general.  Kemper is still being nursed to sleep at night, and we also have allowed him to sleep with his pacifier, though only if he needs it.  I feed him in the middle of the night if he's been sleeping 3 hours or more, however if its less than that and he wakes up, I try to not feed him and just calm him back to sleep with a pacifier, or rocking him.

Clothes:
Our big boy magoo is currently wearing 6 month clothing

Doctors Visits:
Kemper had his 4 month check up this month as was given a clean bill of health once again.  He weighed in at just over 16lbs (70th percentile), and in the 50th percentile for height. 

Milestones:
This was a HUGE month for Kemper.  He has made significant developmental strides during the 4th month.  Here's what he's been up to:

• Rolling over from front to back and from back to front on a consistent basis
• Grabbing for toys and holding onto toys
• Holding his head up without help
• He found his voice this month and certainly likes to hear it.  Even screams for fun sometimes
• Exploring in his Johnny Jump up.  He plays with the toys on it and also does some simple jumping while in it.
• laughing (cutest thing ever!), and its usually Peyton making him laugh

Kemper is 3 months old!

Our little monkey boy is already 3 months old, how can that be?  Kemper has been such a wonderful addition to our family.  He has brought out an absolutely caring, mothering, nurturing, playful side of Peyton.  She really enjoys playing with him, holding him, giving him his pacifier, and generally being around Kemper.  This three month mark has brought along many smiles from our little guy, lots of sleeping adventures, and cooing and giggles that warm our hearts. 

Eating:
Kemper is still exclusively breastfed and that is going great.  He is also taking bottles of breast milk now and has no problem going back and forth between bottle and breast.  Currently, he is eating about every 3 hours.  When he is bottle fed, he eats about 4oz at a time.  He nurses for about 10-20 minutes.

Sleeping:
Sleeping has been all over the map this month.  At the beginning of the month, we had just gotten home from Baltimore, so the time change played a bit into his sleeping. He was only sleeping in 1 1/2-3 hour chunks at a time.  This continued for a couple of weeks.  More recently, we went to Oregon and stayed in a house that was nicely cooled.  He slept amazing there!  The first two nights, he only woke up once and the third night, he slept from 8:00pm-6:15am!  When we got home from the trip, he wasn't doing as well, but seems to be settled into sleeping in 4 hour chunks.  We have tried everything under the moon to see if it effects his sleep and causes him to sleep longer (such as a different swaddle, different music, going to better later and earlier, feeding him more right before bed, etc).  It seems the only thing that we really see effecting his sleep is the temperature.  Our house is pretty warm at night right now (70-74), and we think that Kemper likes to be cooler than that (more like 65).  This month, we have also been tackling the task of getting Kemper on a daytime nap schedule.  We are trying out the E.A.S.Y., 3 hour schedule.  It stands for Eat, Activity, Sleep, and You (mommy) time.  With this schedule, he is getting 3 naps per day. We've also started trying to not let him nap in his swing, and instead nap only in the crib.  He does a pretty good job with this.

Clothing:
Kemper is wearing 3-6 month clothing currently.

Doctor Visits:
We didn't have a visit with Kempers regular pediatrician this month, but he did have the follow up ultrasound on is kidneys.  We are happy to announce that his kidney issue has been resolved on its own!  The urologist gave him a clean bill of health, and said that we shouldn't have to have any other follow ups.  The only thing to be aware of in the future is if he starts getting severe side pain, at which point we should have him re-examined.  He was also weighed at that visit and weighed in at 14lbs!!  2 lbs in 1 month!

Traveling:
Kemper has been to 4 states in 3 months!  He stared off with a trip to Maryland to see Aunt Helen and Leigh and family.  While there, we visited Delaware.  Just recently, we took a wine trip down to Oregon with John, Molly, Jeff, Trudy, Steph and Kath.  And of course, he lives in Washington.  This month, we also went over to Spokane for 5 days while John fished in a bass tournament.  The tournament was a memorial tournament named for my uncle Bill. With all this traveling, we've found that Kemper sleeps great in a pac n play!  This month, we took daddy's boat out for the first time as a family and the kids of course are thoroughly enjoying this.  We hope to have many more memories in the boat together.

Milestones:
Kemper has been all about his hands this month.  He sucks on them pretty much all day long.  Sometimes he even accidentally gags himself because he is going to town so much on them.  He has also figured out how to grab his pacifier and can sometimes even put it in his own mouth.  This month is the first time we heard Kemper actually giggle.  And of course the smile is still in full force!  No rolling over yet, but we are working on it!  Kemper enjoys playing under his jungle mat, so we are hoping that like his sister, the first toy he will reach for and grab will be the monkey!

John Kemper turns 2 months old!

Our little man is already 2 months old.  He turned 2 months old while we were visiting family back in Annapolis, MD which means he had his first plane ride!  He of course did wonderful on the plane, and mostly slept in the Ergo carrier on mommy.  Kemper has been such a wonderful, easy going baby.  He adores his big sister and she adores him. 

Eating:
Kemper continues to be exclusively breastfed.  He is a champ at this now (moms sanity thanks him for this!), and eats around a total of 8 times per day for 10-20 minutes each time.  He also takes bottled breastmilk on occasion and does great with that.  We also introduced a pacifier this month, which he loves during the day, and often helps to soothe him.  We don't put him to bed overnight with the pacifier, however.

Clothes:
Kemper is a big baby!  He is currently wearing 3-6 month clothing for the most part.  Some of his 0-3 month clothes still fit him, but I'm sure this will be short lived.

Sleeping:
We have yet to get Kemper on a daytime napping schedule.  He is still sleeping quite a bit during the day, and if I had to guess I would say he takes around 3 naps per day.  He usally drifts off around an hour and a half after he wakes up in the morning, then takes another per-lunch nap, and then another one in the afternoon. 

His sleep at night was WONDERFUL untik we got back from Annapolis.  In fact, he was sleeping 5-6 hours his first stretch at night, and then a 3 hour stretch, and then usually up for the day after that.  This meant, I was only getting up about once per night.  However, when we came home from Annapolis, the combination of him having a cold and probably the disruption in routine and time change, we have been experiencing only about a 3 hour stretch his first stretch of sleep followed by anywhere from 1 1/2 hours-3 hours the second stretch, and another 1 1/2 hours-3 hours the final stretch.  We are hoping this evens out soon!

We moved Kemper this month from his co-sleeper that was in his room into his big crib.  He had no problem making this change and seems to really enjoy his crib.  He is still being swaddled at night.  We have started a night routine for his sleeping which includes a bath (every other night), then jammies, swaddle, and nursing in his room in the dark.  He typically goes down for the night between 8:30-9:00.

Doctors Visits
This month, Kemper weighed in at 13lbs, 5oz (76th percentile), and height of 23 inches (52nd percentile).   He was also given his first set of immunizations which included Prevnar (PCV) 13, Rotavirus, Hib, and DTaP/IPV/Hep B.  He did great with his immunizations, and did not ever develop a fever or need Tylenol.  He was a bit more fussy that evening and wanted to be held more, but that was all. 

Babysitting:
So far, we have not left Kemper overnight with anyone.  He has however been babysat by Nana (while we went out to dinner and a play), grandma (for a few hours), and aunt Trudy (for a couple of hours). 

Milestones:

• Smiling intentionally (LOVE)
• Cooing and "talking"
• Can follow an object or our hand with his head and eyes
• Still working on head control, he doens't have this ability fully quite yet
• No rolling over yet!

Peyton turns 3 years old!

Our baby girl is three years old!  We are so thrilled to be her parents.  Peyton is such an absolute joy in our lives, and adds so much to our family.  She is incredibly intelligent, caring, assertive, outgoing, independent, and adventurous.  Its has been such a joy to watch her grow over these past 3 years, and we look forward to many more adventures with her.  We are so proud of who she has become!

Learning:
We've been incredibly lucky to find a thriving preschool for Peyton literally at the house behind ours.  Roxanne is her preschool teacher and Peyton has flourished in her care.  She learns singing, science, art, letters, Spanish, numers and small group activities with her classmates James, Henry, Jack, Wren, Olive, and Hazel.  After having a bad experience with another preschool, we feel so blessed for Peyton to have such a great experience with Roxanne.  Here are some skills that she has obtained over the past year:

• Able to recognize all letters in the alphabet
• Can count to 20
• Can recognize numbers up to 10
• Knows all colors
• learnes about the human body (knows stomach, ribs, esophagus, skeleton, skull, muscles, and all basic body parts)
• Sings (along with her teacher) a good morning song and The Itsy Bitsy Spider in Spanish
• Writes with her left hand and can hold a pencil/pen/crayon the correct way

Sleeping:
Peyton continues to be a great sleeper.  Her bedtime is still 8:00 and she continues to take a nap everyday for about 2-3 hours.  Something new that we recently implemented was an alarm clock for her, which has helped mommy and daddy not have to wake up at 5:30am!  The clock turns green when she is allowed to get out of bed, and can be set to anytime you wish.  Peyton has really taken to this, and is even motivated by a treat at the end of the week if she pays attention to it.  I was really worried about how Peyton would adapt to Kemper being in the very next room to her and waking up in the middle of the night as newborn babies do.  However, she has done tremendously!  Not once has Kemper woken up Peyton in the middle of the night, so its gone better than anticipated. 

Eating:
Though Peyton does pretty well with getting balanced meals that include proteins, vegetables, and fruit, I would say that she is in full toddler food preference.  What I mean by this is that its always a sure bet that we could get her to eat things like mac and cheese, hot dogs, grilled cheese, chicken nuggets, etc.  That being said she still is ok with me mixing in pureed spinach into a lot of foods, she still eats tofu, and enjoys fresh fruit smoothies made by her mama.  I have to remind myself to continue to try new foods with her, even if she says no, something I often forget to do.  Squeezy fruit packets remain a favorite of hers and are great when you're on the go.

Clothes:
Peyton is currently wearing a 4T in most clothes.  She hasn't yet gone through the stage where she is insistant on choosing what she wears, but I'm sure that stage is close.  She does often have a prefernce on her shoes and her favorites include her "Ruby Slippers (aka pink sparkly TOMS)", and her "running shoes (aka Nike tennis shoes)."

Activities:
This year, Peyton took a Gymnastics class at Cascade Elite Gymnastics.  She enjoyed it very much and her favorite things were the foam pit, summersaults, and balance beam.  She never really took to the trampoline, however.  We also recently signed her up for ballet, which she will start this July.  I would love for her to try soccer and swimming this next year.

Doctors Visits:
This year, Peyton had both Croup and Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease (along with Daddy!).  She recovered well with both conditions.  Additionally, her 2 year stats were a weight of 37lbs (92nd percentile), height of 39 inches (92nd percentile). 

Peyton's Favorite Things

• Matching games 
• Puzzles
• Paint by Water
• Caillou
• Her doctors kit
• Stuffed animals (she has tons and tons!!)
• Books
• Playing outside
• The Lion King
• The Wizard of Oz
• The Sandlot
• All of her cousins
• Taking a shower "by herself" (we are of course very nearby)
• Anything that glows in the dark (her glowbugs especially)
• Flashlights

 

John Kemper is born and already 1 month old!

We welcomed John Kemper Kirkpatrick into this world on Friday March 22nd at 3:05pm.  It was so fantastic to get a full night's sleep the night before with our sweet girl home with us and wake up calmly and rested to head to the hospital.  A complete different experience from that of Peyton's birth day.  The big surprise is that we woke up from to snow...in the middle of March!  We probably had an inch on the ground and it was coming down hard the whole way to the hospital.  The birth itself went great.  We were origonally scheduled for 10:00am, but my doctor was busy delivering two sets of twins, so we kept being pushed back and finally headed for the operating room around 2:00pm.  Kemper came out weighing 9lbs, 4oz and measured 19 inches (though I think his length was measured wrong because he was almost 21 inches at his week appointment).  My doctor told us it was probably a good idea we were only planning on having 2 kids, as I apparently had a fair amount of scar tissue.  Peyton, my mom, John's parents, and Katie were all at the hospital when Kemper was born and all got to meet him right away.  It was great having all the support around us during this special time. 

 

Eating:

It was really important to me this time around to attempt to breastfeed and NOT exclusively pump like I did with Peyton.  Although it worked tremendously well for us with Peyton, I was hoping to not sign myself up to be hooked up to a breastpump every few hours with Kemper.  The first couple of weeks of breastfeeding was incredibly difficult.  Kemper had a hard time latching on (think crying for 20 minutes at EVERY feeding until he finally latched).  However, with some excellent help from Katie as well as having a lactation consultant come out to the house, we were smooth sailing by 2 1/2 weeks old or so.  Kemper eats about every 2-3 hours and eats for 10-20 minutes.  He received his first bottle at 4 weeks old (of pumped breast milk) from his daddy and did well with it. 

 

Sleeping:

At one month old, Kemper typically gives us 4 hours of sleep his first stretch of sleep at night (although this is new in the past couple of days and was 2-3 hour stretches before that), and then a 3 hour stretch, followed by another couple of hours.  This means, I am up between 2-3 times per night to feed him.  We have transitioned into the following for middle of the night feedings: Change diaper, re-swaddle, nurse in his nursery in the dark, and put right back to sleep.  The first couple of weeks, he slept either in his cosleeper, the swing, or on John or I during the night sleeps, but since about 2 weeks old, he has been exclusively sleeping in his cosleeper in his room all night.  We try to get him down for the night around 9:00pm.  His day time sleep is a whole other story.  If we let him, he would essentially sleep almost all day long besides feedings.  We are trying to turn this around a little bit in hopes his night sleep would be affected possitively.  He does not nap in his cosleeper or crib, and instead does so in his swing, or in the car if we are on the go, or in the Lascal if we are on the go. 

 

Clothes:

Even at 9lbs, 4oz, Kemper was wearing newborn clothes the first month.  However, yesterday on his month birthday, I got rid of all the newborn clothes as he was quickly growing out of them and he is now in 0-3 month clothing. 

 

Temperament:

John and I were both a bit nervous that Kemper would have a similar temperament to that of Peyton her first few months.  She was VERY fussy and essentially wasn't happy unless she was being bounced on the big excercise ball.  Kemper is certainly more calm than that and is relatively easy to calm down and make happy.  If he is fussy, its either he is hungry, tired, or has a dirty diaper.  He does like to be bounced, but what baby doesn't?!!  We just recently in the past week started giving him a pacifier, and that can help calm him down as well.  He LOVES to suck on John's pinky finger, which almost always works to sooth him. 

 

Doctors Appointments:

At Kemper's 1st doctors appointment when he was just 5 days old, he was still below his birth weight.  Because of this, we had to recheck his weight a couple of days later to make sure he was gaining weight and didn't need to be supplemented with formula.  Thankfully, he gained weight enough that it was no longer a concern and we never had to supplement with any formula.  Additionally, he had his circumcision done at my OB's office the first week of his life.  I decided to stay in the room for this, although John did not.  I had my face right up in there and was really interested in watching.  Thankfully, Kemper was a complete trooper.  He only flinched when the initially put the local anesthetic in his skin, and after that he slept through the whole thing with no crying at all.  At Kempers 2 week appointment, he weight in at just over 10lbs.  We chose to wait until his 2 month appointment to have any vaccines given.