47 Weeks!

In case you've lost track, today is Kyle's 47 week birthday!! The only reason I know this is because we still do the weekly photos, which forces me to track his age in weeks. But I think this little Monday photo ritual will come to an end in 5 more weeks, when he hits the big "1".

Not much is new on the Kyle front...he is just a very happy/easy little fellow! But I fear he's on the cusp on transitioning to one nap a day. Some days he takes a 2+ hour "non-nap", where he just plays happily in his crib but doesn't actually sleep. I feel pretty certain that one mid-day nap would be plenty for him at this point, but I'm not ready to give up one of those two windows of "downtime" during my day. Heck, he's only been on a regular 9 and 1 nap schedule for about a month...I should get to enjoy it for a little longer, right?!

Alex Benes!!

Seeing videos of Evan the future American Idol inspired me to dig out this video of Alex, doing his best Elaine Benes imitation :)

Swinging!

I forgot to post about our fun afternoon at the Carpenters on Wednesday! Jared loved swimming in the pool (in between rain showers). He executed several cannonballs flawlessly but couldn't quite nail the flip (all his attempts resulted in painful-looking backflops!).

And Kyle had his first outdoor swinging experience and loved it! He was very impressed with cousin Rachel swinging/pumping all by herself beside him. He started wiggling his little piggies all around, like he was trying to imitate her (or it could just be his usual piggy wiggling).

Very fun afternoon capped off with pizza and yummy dessert treats...thanks Carps!

Fun with Nonnie!

Kyle had a fun visit with Nonnie the last couple days. He liked showing off his "big boy" crawling (no more army crawling) and reading stories with her. And we all enjoyed a post-dinner walk around the neighborhood last night. And then he seemed surprised and happy to see Nonnie was still here when he woke up this morning! Kyle's so lucky to have two wonderful grandmothers :)

10 Months!

In honor of Kyle's 10 month birthday, we had some professional photos taken (the one above was our favorite). And we got lots of copies to give out to anyone who wants one!

Here's a quick rundown of Kyle at 10 months:

• Just within the last couple days, has graduated from "army crawl" to real crawling (reverts to army crawl when he excitedly chases after Benson...must think it's faster). And sorry Ca for the delay in communicating these milestones :)
  
• Weighs 23 lbs 2 oz (72nd percentile)
• Sleeps from 7pm to 5:30ish every night (wish that was more like 6:30ish...).
  
• Eats three "meals" a day...a jar of Stage 2, a yogurt, and a bowl of multigrain oatmeal (still nurses about 4 times/day too)
  
• Favorite game is "fetch"...he throws a toy and then fetches it, like a puppy dog! Especially likes playing fetch on hardwood/tile, because it's louder.
• Still just the one tooth (and it hasn't made much progress in the last couple weeks)

And that sums up little Kyle Smiles at 10 months :)

A Long-Overdue First

So as of a couple days ago, Kyle had never set foot (or stroller) in a restaurant. As a newborn, he wasn't the kind of baby who would sleep obliviously in his carseat while being carted around, so we didn't attempt it those first few months. And as he's gotten older, he clearly likes to be "on the go", so we couldn't really envision how we'd keep him content (stationary) and enjoy our food simultaneously.

But yesterday, we gave it the old college try. We met Grammy at Vivian's, a VERY casual cafeteria-style restaurant (ideal atmosphere for our first attempt). And it went about as we envisioned...Kyle was fidgety/fussy, but not hysterical. He liked looking around when we first got there, enjoyed the jar of food that we brought, and was amused by the red balloon that Vivian gave him. But other that that, he was pretty restless. Oh, he also perked up when Marti popped in after her workout...he hadn't seen her for a few months, so he was excited.

It was a fun "first" and yummy meal (thanks Grammy!), but it confirmed what we already knew...dining out with Kyle is just not very enjoyable at this stage. So we'll stick with takeout and occasional date nights for now.

Fun with the Fairbanks!

We had a fun visit with Jon, Kristen and Conor yesterday. After a rainy start to the day, the afternoon was gorgeous! So we BBQ'd and sat out on the deck and visited. Kyle enjoyed throwing Conor's cars around (and Conor was a very good sport to allow it!). Once the bugs started getting bad, we went inside and the boys had fun playing with their daddies.
After a few happy photos, we got a little greedy and tried to get a group shot. As you can see, Kyle and Conor REALLY enjoyed this photo shoot...

This Past Week...

We've had a busy and fun first week of Jared's vacation. Last weekend, we kicked things off with a visit from the Hardy family. It was the first time that all seven of us hung out together! And the three little people (a.k.a. Kaelyn, Madelyn and Kyle) were very well-behaved and allowed us adults to catch-up. The best line of the afternoon was when Kaelyn said that she wants to be a mommy when she grows up :) And judging by the skilled way that she fed Kyle his puffs, I think she'll be a really good one!
Then Wednesday night, Jared and I had our first night out together since before Kyle was born! We went to Mohegan Sun and had a fabulous Mexican dinner follwed by some blackjack. After being down over $100, we ended up "in the black", which is always a great feeling. It was a really fun night...thanks Grammy!

Yesterday, we had a fun visit at the Toscanos. As usual, we were spoiled with a delicious dinner, followed by a yummy birthday cake for Jared!

And today, we trekked up to southern NH to visit Nonnie and her friends. Bob prepared a fabulous meal for us and we had a fun visit. Kyle dunked his little feet in a pool for the first time and seemed to like it (as much as he could like anything at that point in his sleep-deprived state). As usual, Kye didn't nap on the drive up, so he went over 8 hrs without sleeping...yikes! He slept for the first half hour on the way home, and then just screamed for the rest of the ride (not fun when you're stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the Pike!). As you can see, Kyle liked grabbing Nonnie's hat...
Whew, I think that about covers it! Looking forward to a "down day" tomorrow, with lots of naps (for Kyle and maybe us!).

Surprise!

Kyle and I surprised Jared today with a visit at work during his lunch break! Kyle got to meet lots of his coworkers, and they all really liked him (one even offered him a job!). Unfortunately, the only time he cried was when the owner of the company held him (c'mon Kyle, don't you know that you're supposed to kiss up to the head honchos?!). I had never been to his office before, so I like that I can now put a face to all the names. And the best part about today is that Jared doesn't go back to work until August 3rd (combination of vacation and company shutdown)...YIPEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

If you look closely...

...you can see Kyle's tooth! This was his 40 week picture yesterday...another 10 days and he will have been alive for as long as I was pregnant! A part of me can't believe that he's already 9 months old, yet another part of me thinks that our pre-Kyle days seem like sooo long ago. And I can honestly say that there is absolutely nothing I miss about the pre-Kyle days.