John Kemper is 10 months old!

Our sweet baby boy has turned 10 months, and just 2 months shy of 1 year old.  I never dreamed it could have flown by this fast, and I have already found myself trying to cherish little moments more and more as I know they won't happen for ever.  The other night, he fell asleep in my arms in the rocking chair, which hasn't happened for several weeks and I never wanted to let him go.  I would have rocked him all night like that if I didn't need to sleep myself.  Love those special times between my children and I.  Its equally as touching to witness John have these moment with Kemper and Peyton like the other night when John (who was holding Kemper) was smacking his lips, and Kemper was mimicking him.  John just about melted when Kemper did that.  So sweet.  John and I have sort of named Kempers personality thus far as being a sensitive, but daring boy.  He is pretty aggressive with what he is willing to try physically, but emotionally he is quite sensitive.  We love an embrace everything about this sweet boy and cherish all the unique differences him and his sister have.  Its one of the beauties of having two children and seeing them develop their own individual personalities.

Sleeping:

Kemper continues to sleep through the night, every night going to bed between 7:30 and 8:00 and waking anytime from 6:30-8:30.  He is still sleeping in a sleep sac, with his white noise machine going and with a pacifier.  He still does a great job putting himself to sleep and often prefers is vs. being rocked to sleep.  He continues to take 2 naps per day, one around 9:30 and the second around 2:00, each lasting 1 1/2-2 hours.  We are feeling so blessed to be getting wonderful sleep with both our children!

Eating: 

We have become pretty adventurous with what Kemper eats, and we pretty much give him anything and everything that isn't a choking hazard (and of course no peanut butter still).  We worked tofu back into his diet with no problem, so I don't think he has any sort of soy allergy.  Some of his favorite foods currently include tofu, scrambled eggs, beets, cheese, and all pastas.  We mix pureed spinach into lots of his food as we did and continue to do with Peyton.  Kemper has enjoyed every vegetable we give to him, and eats lots of them, but he does not favor fruit at all.  If you put a cooked beet and a banana in front of him, he would always pick the beet.  We are working on it with him, and he will eat them, just not nearly as readily as vegetables. 

Kemper is still taking 3 bottles per day, from 6oz-8oz each.  We are attempting to work in sippy cups with him, but he hasn't been too hot on them yet.  He is making some progress with them, so we'll continue to offer them to him.  We made an effort his month to NOT feed his bedtime bottle to him in his room, and instead do so in the living room with all the lights on, noise going, etc. in an effort for him to not make a habit of needing to be fed a bottle before bedtime.  We will next work on cutting out this night time bottle and instead give him that milk during dinner. 

Clothing:

Kemp is currently wearing some 12 month clothing, but mostly 18 months.

Milestones/Big Events:

• "Touchdown" arms in the air
• Crawling on 12/30/2013
• Going from laying down in the bath to sitting up on his own
• waving bye bye
• bottom tooth to the right of his two middle teeth popped through
• right canine tooth popped through
• pulling himself to standing-everywhere!
• Fell out of crib onto hardwood floor.  The day before this happened, he had learned how to pull himself up in the crib in his sleep sac.  We already had the crib lowered to the middle level, and had talked about the fact we should probably lower it all the way.  I was at a Seahawks game with my mom and John was watching the game at his parents.  We had Katherine over to babysit, and she put him down for a nap and all of a sudden heard a big thump and a huge cry from Kemper.  John raced home and checked him out, and he was ok, but certainly a scary moment for us all!  Needless to say, we lowered the crib all the way immediately.
• Working on saying "uh oh" and "all done"

Starting to think of his first birthday plans!!!

9 Months old he turns!

These months are truly just flying by, but I must say I am enjoying Kemper and this two kid thing more and more each month.  We've hit the sweet spot in terms of fun in sleeping and personality with our little boy.  I am loving this age because he is hitting developmental milestones so quickly all the time and lots of them, which keeps it entertaining and so enjoyable to witness.  Here's what our little prince has been up to the past month.

Sleeping:
We are still in sleep heaven over here at the Kirkpatrick household.  Kemper continues to sleep through the night, every night, usually lasting about 11 1/2-12 hours per night.  His bedtime routine remains the same with bath, books, bottle, song and bed.  He has continued on his really good streak of putting himself to sleep vs.  needing to be rocked to sleep both for naps and nighttime.  He is still napping twice per day, once around 9:30 and the other around 1:30 or so.  His naps last about and hour and a half to two hours.  He is still sleeping in a sleep sac, and goes down on his tummy.  He's become quite the mover while he sleeps.  He rolls onto his back for a while, then back onto his tummy, tucks himself into corners, then spreads back out.  Quite different from how his sister slept at that age.

Eating:
This month, we have pretty much been giving Kemper anything and everything in terms of solid food.  He really enjoys chicken nuggest, chicken ravioli, cheese, scrambled eggs, green beans, and cooked carrots.  Fruit has been a little more tricky to get in him, but he gets some banana, some pears, and some applesauce.  He is still taking 3 bottles per day, morning lunch and bedtime.  They are anywhere from 6-8oz.  We are attempting to introduce sippy cups to Kemper, though he hasn't quite grasped onto them yet.  We still have not attempted tofu again since his gas experience with it over a month ago, but I'm sure we will try that again soon. I also want to try rice, bean, lentils, etc.

Teeth:
Kemp has 2 lower middle teeth, 2 top middle teeth, and his canine teeth on both sides are about to pop through.

Doctor Visit:
Kemper got a clean bill of health at his 9 month check up.  He weighed in at 21lbs, 10oz (77th percentile), height at 28.5 inches (45th percentile), and head circumference at 46.5 (84th percentile).

Clothing:
Kemper is wearing 12 month clothing, but is quickly approaching the 18 month clothing.

Milestones:

• getting up on all 4's and thinking about crawling, although not actually crawling
• Army crawling
• Pulling up on his knees in the crib and the bath
• "So Big" with his arms up in the air
• LOVES his uncle Todd
• Trying sippy cups, doesn't have the hang of it yet
• For Christmas, he really just wanted to eat all of the paper
• Eating lots of finger foods on his own

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.