Surprise!

Jared and I had a GREAT day yesterday, all made possible because of a phone call I received while Jared was outside doing yardwork on Saturday. His softball buddy (a season ticket holder) called to offer us two tickets! At first, I told him I'd call him right back, after I went outside to check with Jared. Then the wheels started turning and I thought it would be a great surprise for Jared. First, I called Grammy (who was hiking Mount Wachusett at the time) and confirmed her availability to watch Kyle. Then, I arranged to pick up the tickets, while I was out running errands Saturday night. And finally, I planned out my various "lies" to make it all work!

Jared thought we were heading up to MA to pick out bathroom fixtures for our new house. We dropped Kyle off at Grammy's house and headed out. I had put the tickets in an envelope and wedged it into the map on the passenger side door pocket (I was driving). About 20 minutes into the drive, I asked Jared to look at the map and see how far down our exit was on 495. He pulled out the map and saw the envelope, which had his name spelled wrong (Jarrod) in disguised handwriting so he wouldn't suspect anything. When he opened it, his reaction of confusion/disbelief/excitement was priceless! Totally made my day!! Surprises are so fun when they work, for both the surprisee and especially for the surpriser!!

And of course the game was awesome! It was a great win and AMAZING weather...felt like we were in Miami, not Foxboro!!

Halloween Fun on Lowell Ave!

We had a fun Halloween in Holden yesterday with Nonnie, Grammy, the Carpenters, the Pelletiers, Nance, and Marti! Our first stop of the day was Ottoson Way, to show Nonnie our lot (and now foundation!)...things are really moving along! After a yummy meal at Grammy's, Kyle proudly became the 3rd generation Lowell Ave purple dragon costume trick-or-treater (thanks Evan!). It was a very fitting costume for Kyle, as he's been practicing his scary dragon sounds since he was about 3 months old! The weather was perfect (except for the 10 second sprinkle), and Kyle enjoyed having Nonnie pull him around in the wagon...a dragon in a wagon! We were so happy that Nonnie was able to share in the fun (and chaos) of the day! And amazingly, Kyle slept the entire car ride home...first time that's happened since he was an infant!!

13 Months and Excavation Complete!

Now that Kyle's 13 months old, he thought it was finally appropriate to sprout his other bottom front tooth (4 months after its partner!). You can barely see it, but I felt it with my finger and it's there. So that's his big 13 month news. He's also not the great eater that he once was. He will still eat anything but loses interest very quickly and becomes fidgety and looks around like he wants out of his highchair. That's usually about the same time that he starts throwing his food on the floor. So feeding him has definitely become more challenging, as we knew it would. But I'm sure that he's somehow still getting enough. We've added meatballs and chicken nuggets to his "protein" rotation (along with eggs, and a yogurt everyday). And we even tried giving him black beans, which he liked, but let's just say that his diaper the next morning was like nothing I've ever seen before...

And as you can see in this picture, our lot has been cleared and excavated! The footings should be in by the end of the week and the foundation shortly after that. We can't believe how quickly things are moving...so exciting!!

And what a GORGEOUS day it was today!! Jared, Kyle and I took a walk tonight after dinner...it was almost dark but still so warm. If only every day could be low 70s and sunny...

Yesterday's Highs and Lows

Yesterday was filled with highs and lows.

First the highs...

• Kyle slept until 7:45am!!
• We went apple/pumpkin picking, and they still had Macouns
• We got lobsters for the games, 3 each...yummy and full of meat!!
• It was a beautiful day (which helped make one of the lows a little easier...)
  

And now for the lows...

• The Red Sox morphed into the Sox of old. Maybe next year...
• The Patriots let one get away
• And the low of all lows...I was locked out of the house for over an hour yesterday afternoon! We had just put Kyle down for a nap and Jared left to get the lobsters. I planned on working until the Pats game (while watching the end of the Sox game)...this was one of those days where I basically had every minute accounted for, so it was not a good day to lose an hour. During the commercials before the 9th inning, I decided to put our pumpkin out on the front steps. As I was positioning it, the wind blew the front door shut (locked). I wasn't overly worried because I knew we had a spare key under the deck. So for basically the next hour, I rummaged around under the deck looking for that darn key but to no avail. And the worst part of this ordeal was that I could hear Kyle crying hysterically in his crib...of all naps for him not to play and fall asleep...very sad/helpless/frustrating feeling :( Eventually he fell asleep, Jared returned, and all was well (except for the shock that Papelbon blew the 2 run lead!!). And of course Jared looked under the deck and found the spare key in about 10 seconds...
  

Apple Picking

We went apple picking today at a nearby orchard and were very pleasantly surprised by the abundance of Macouns still on the trees! I absolutely LOVE Macouns and thought we had missed the brief window that they are available. But I guess it was a real bumper crop this year, as we picked 10 lbs in about 5 minutes! Kyle had fun gnawing on an apple (although he wasn't able to break the skin) and he also enjoyed probing apples on the trees with his index finger :) Our neighbor and his 3 yr old son Jack joined us too, which was fun. Maybe we'll go back to this orchard next weekend to pick out our pumpkin (and to stock up on even more Macouns if they're still available!). And what a GORGEOUS day it was today!! It makes me sad to think that days like this are numbered...

And Kyle was great during the Pats game today...played independently for the 1st half and napped for the 2nd half, so we got to watch the game (great win!) with little interruption. The only negative of the day was that Kyle's head cold seemed to peak today, which made nursing near impossible because his nose was 100% blocked. This is his first cold in a while and I had forgotten how sad/frustrating it is when he tries to nurse and can't, and then becomes hysterical with real tears :( He wouldn't drink milk from a sippy cup either, so he basically went the entire day without liquid. But his bath tonight cleared him up a little though and afterward he nursed for a while, which was a relief because we were worried he was dehydrated. My cold peaked yesterday and I feel a lot better today (except for a bad cough). And amazingly Jared still hasn't caught it, knock on wood...

Kyle's 1st Birthday Party!

Kyle thoroughly enjoyed his first birthday party! Ironically enough, his least favorite part was the birthday cake. He did NOT like having frosting all over his hands (as is evident in the photos!). And he didn't particularly like the cake itself...too sweet maybe? The smiling cake pictures are a little misleading...the smiles were the result of me playing peek-a-boo with him (not from eating the cake).

Kyle was not the only one who had cake issues yesterday. I had ordered a Winnie the Pooh cake (that was actually shaped like Pooh) earlier in the week from a local bakery that my co-worker highly recommended. So I was really excited about it until the bakery called at 8:30am yesterday morning to tell me that their oven was broken. She said she tried baking it three different "ways" (whatever that means), but it kept burning. Not wanting to chance it by waiting for her repair guy to show up, we just got a boring cake from Big Y (although I'm glad they came through for us, because they said they usually require 24 hr notice). So the cake wasn't anyone's favorite part of the day!

But aside from the cake, Kyle had fun amidst all the activity and got lots of new toys to play with. The "family only" size party was perfect for this stage...Kyle wasn't at all overwhelmed and just went about his business, with brief pauses here and there to interact with his guests :)

And Kyle had his 1 year check-up on Thursday and, as usual, checked out great! He's 24 lbs 6 oz (75th percentile) and 31.25" (90th percentile...do you think he'll be tall??). And I'm pleased to report that he is now sitting down by himself more often than not, including once in the crib!

One Year Old!!

It's so fun remembering this time last year...the anticipation and then the indescribable joy when Kyle was (finally) born. Definitely the most life-altering moment of our lives, and it DEFINITELY altered our lives for the better! I can't imagine life without our little "sonshine". So here's Kyle's one year rundown:

• Weighs 24 lbs 1 oz (not sure what that translates to in percentile because the online calculator that I had bookmarked is no longer functional...another site has it around 65th percentile)
• Stands and "cruises" holding on to furniture but not walking yet (and unfortunately for Mommy still not able to go from standing to sitting in his crib!)
• Knows a lot of his toys by name and will get them when we ask "where's your giraffe" (or coin, or car, or Mickey, etc)
• Makes sounds on command, when we say "do motorboat" or "say dada", etc
• HATES going for car rides...very miserable little passenger after about 45 minutes :(
• Likes his daily walks (morning with me and evening with Jared)
• Still (sort of) takes two naps a day, although sometimes one of them is very short or non-existent (just plays happily in his crib, which is just as good!)
• Goes to bed at 7pm every night and wakes up around 6:30ish (although it's been 5:30ish the last couple mornings...ugggghhh!!)
• Since we let him "cry it out" right around 6 months, he has NEVER woken up in the night!! Sleep is a WONDERFUL thing :)
• Eats anything/everything that we give him (all healthy stuff!)
• Still nursing but we plan to introduce cow's milk soon (and partially wean him). He hasn't taken to the sippy cup yet, although we've only given him water in it, so maybe milk will be more appealing.
• Has 3 teeth (two on top and one on the bottom)
• Watches no TV/videos (and never has). We're not opposed to it now like we were when he was a newborn but just haven't felt the need for it...he's pretty easy to keep amused!
• His favorite game in the whole world is just throwing/chasing his plastic coins around (preferably on the hardwood/tile, where they make a louder noise).

Can't think of anything else other than that we love him more than anything in the universe!!

Scary Grass

Apparently, grass can be very frightening to babies who aren't used to it! We took Kyle outside tonight to see if he wanted to crawl around in the grass, something he hasn't really done possibly due to my overparanoid fears of lawn chemicals (which we haven't used in over a year!) and deer ticks. He has sat on grass a few times before (without much reaction), but for some reason when Jared plunked him down tonight, he was TERRIFIED...shaking and crying with real tears...poor little guy :( We were quickly able to calm him down by talking about Benson and making our "bow wow wow" doggie sounds, and he eventually came around and was enjoying himself (although he was content staying put, not wanting to crawl around). We'll have to do this more often, so that he gets used to the apparently strange sensation that is grass!

And over the last few days, Kyle has finally figured out how to feed himself finger foods that won't stick to his index finger. He now picks up his finger foods the "right" way and shovels them in his mouth (most of them make it into his mouth, but some still end up on the floor or depths of his high chair). He seems to eat anything and everything we give him...did peas and plain whole wheat pasta yesterday and he LOVED it. And he eats whole bananas in one sitting. Very good little eater he is. Can't wait to try cow's milk this week!

One other random Kyle tidbit is that he now pulls himself up all the time (and cruises a little bit), but he hasn't mastered how to go from standing to sitting. Sometimes he just plops down. But other times he gets really upset and reaches down toward the floor but is too scared to try to sit. Like tonight, we had to go up to his crib twice because he was standing and became hysterical (second time he had a poop, which we changed). Hopefully he masters this taken-for-granted skill soon!

Mango and Edamame

We finally introduced Kyle to some finger foods other than puffs today...mango and edamame! Very different tastes/textures, but he loved them both and got antsy if too much time passed in between bites. He tried to pick them up using his index finger method but realized that wasn't going to work. So he instead grunted, which was his way of telling us that he wanted us to feed them to him (which we did while also getting his hand in on the action). And I'll cut him some slack on the mango...VERY slippery (even Jared and I had trouble picking it up), but the edamame is a perfect/easy little finger food for him right now...he just needs to use his thumb along with his prized index finger and he'd be good to go!

As a side note, edamame does not need to be salted and covered in chocolate to taste good...it is delicious raw! We bought a bag of it frozen (for Kyle) and sampled some. It is really yummy and very high in protein. Definitely will be stocking up, as I see it quickly becoming a healthy/easy dinnertime staple for us (as well as Kyle).

Speaking of yummy, Jared should be home any minute with lobsters, as a last hurrah for the long weekend!

Pool Time!

Jared wanted to get in one last swim before the Carpenter pool is closed for the year (I can't believe summer is really over!!). So we went up for a visit yesterday afternoon (after waiting over 2 hrs for Kyle to fall asleep for his nap, which never happened...only happy playing in his crib). As usual, Jared commenced his swim with a dramatic cannonball entry into the pool. The loud noise and splashing upset Kyle, but he recovered quickly and allowed Daddy to hold him in the shallow end.

Jared did a great job of very slowly getting Kyle wet, so it didn't shock his system all at once (because the water was pretty cold, with all the cool nights). Eventually, he was in up to his neck and for the most part was enjoying it. This was his first real "swim" (we had only dipped his feet before this). We probably let him stay in too long though, because he was shivering by the time we got him out. But he seemed to warm up quickly and had fun playing with his cousins' toys (but NOT Alex's school bus!!).

And Jon made us the most FABULOUS dinner...wonderfully seasoned grilled steak, homemade lobster rolls, corn on the cob, and a delicious salad. I completely pigged out, and enjoyed every bite! I'm not usually a big meat-eater, but boy was this steak yummy...I think I ate more beef last night than I had all month!! Thanks Carps for a fun/yummy visit :)