Patrice's World

Farwell for now blogging world

2009-07-04T18:40:00.000-07:00

After several months of not 'blogging', I decided to give it an official rest for now.Kieran is officially walking, so things are always crazy in our house now.

I will continue to post pictures on Picassa from time to time. You just need to click on the link at right that says "Online photo album". There's lots of new pictures on there from our camping weekend, Kieran's Milwaukee b-day party and his Minnesota b-day party as well.

That's all for now!

Kieran on the move

2009-04-10T11:52:00.000-07:00

With Kieran on the move, little time is left in the day for blogging any more. Here's a snapshot of the past month's activities

Visitors: Shelly and my parents visited. Unfortunately, Kieran and I were both really sick when my parents were in town, so it meant for an uneventful visit. I seriously don't think I left the house for like 5 days!

From March 2009

Kieran & Dad napping.

From March 2009

As last posted, Kieran is crawling. Now, he's busy exploring the house.We have to make sure to keep all the doors closed now since he'll take off and find something he shouldn't in a blink of an eye. Yesterday, he discovered the roll of toilet paper in the bathroom and proceeded to unroll and shred it in a matter of a minute!

From March 2009

Here's a cute video of Kieran cracking up.Just try not to smile when you watch it!

That's all for now!

Kieran's Crawling!

2009-03-10T18:40:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks have been very packed with activities, hence the reason for no posting. Its been hard to keep this up while working part time from home and taking care of Kieran, so I think we'll have to go to monthly updates from now on.

So its official - Kieran is crawling. It was fun to watch him progress to where he is today. He didn't start crawling in a 'normal' fashion. Rather, he would try to get on his feet, ending up in a position most like the "downward facing dog" pose in yoga. I've been calling him 'yoga boy' for a week now. He then did a strange 'hopping' both legs forward at the same time. After a few days of that, he finally figured out that he needed to alternate his feet and hands. Now he's still a bit slow, but with his new found freedom, he's starting to discover all the corners of the house. The safety gate went up this weekend on the stairs. Still need to do some more baby proofing, but the big threats are covered. Now he's already 'graduating' to more advance skills of pulling himself up on chairs. I'm starting to find him sitting up in his crib when he doesn't want to go to sleep....stubborn little guy!

Kieran has his 9 month doctor's appointment today. He's still such a peanut. Get this - he's in the 45 percentile for height at 28" but less than 5% for weight (almost 16 pounds). So he's long and skinny, just like his dad. Doctor is not too concerned but she does want us to come in to double check his weight in a few weeks. Kieran and Syed had the stomach flu about a week a go and I think Kieran may have lost a bit a weight from that!

Let's see.....Syed feed Kieran some "real" chicken tonight (as opposed to the gross stuff in a jar - he hates that stuff...do you blame him?). He seemed to like it. We're trying to get him interested in eating more, so we're starting to try more table food. He likes lots of good foods, like broccoli, mango, sweet potato, avocado.

That's all for now!

Finger Food Time

2009-02-24T11:24:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the delay in posts. I'm trying to concentrate better during the day on getting new clients which means little time for fun like blogging and posting pictures. Kieran is growing and changing like crazy. Here's some highlights:
-He's working on eating like a big boy. He likes to feed himself blueberries, cheerios, small pieces of veggies, etc.

-Kieran is on the verge of crawling. He's scooting around like crazy. The other day, he somehow scooted himself under a chair in the living room when I turned my back.

-Kieran was waving 'bye bye' for a few days and now it seems like he forgot how. Oh well!

-He likes to suck on his toes when he gets bored.

-We had to officially put away some of his infant stuff (swing, bouncy seat) as he's getting too big and strong for them. We also had to lower his crib mattress since he's really pushing himself up now. I've caught him pulling up on some things in the living room.

-We got him this foam mat for the living room since we didn't want him falling over and bonking his head on the hardwood floor. He seems to find it a fun thing to chew on.

-No teeth yet - he's still awfully drooly and likes to chew on everything.

-Lots of fun sounds and noises...squeals, screams and all. Sometimes wish he had a volume button. He really likes to squeal when he's excited.

-He's officially had his first bump on his forehead from trying to climb.

That's about all for now.

Life goes on

2009-01-29T05:05:00.000-08:00

Sorry that I haven't posted in a while. I guess the after-holiday-blues set in and nothings noteworthy has really been going on lately. Here's the highs and lows for the past few weeks.

-Kieran got his first flu - the kind where its coming out of both ends. Could have been worse. He seemed to only throw up in the mornings all over me. And then there were the explosive poops that ended up running down his legs. I've never done so much laundry in my life! One day he was sitting on the Exersaucer when an explosion occurred. I had stepped out of the room for a moment and when I returned, I found him jumping in pooh that had escaped his diaper, ran down his legs and had collected in the bottom of the Exersaucer. Gross! We had to scrub that thing clean!

-To escape the Minnesota cold weather, last weekend, we flew to Florida. OK, not really, but we did feel the heat and humidity of the tropics at our local Como Park Conservatory (for those in Milwaukee, its like a miniature version of the "Domes"). Kieran enjoyed hanging out in the Baby Bjorn carrier and watching all the people, plants and flowers.

-After the holidays and flu, Kieran was just not sleeping very well. He had come to enjoy our late night company to help him fall back asleep. So, we started the process to 'sleep train' him again. He's getting much better. Last night, we put him to bed around 7:15, he woke up for like 2 minutes of crying around 9:30 and then slept until 5:00. We are trying to get him to fall back asleep by himself at this early hour, so we let him cry it out. He fell asleep for about 45 minutes and woke up again around 6:00. Good news is we broke him of his 3:00 am bottle last week so no more night feedings!!!

-My work has kept me busy during the day. I finally had a few more sales - yay! I'm trying to reconnect with my old clients and its going well so far.

--I started trying to work out more often - crossing country skiing once a week and a fitness class with a friend on Wednesdays. Hopefully, the baby weight will start melting off before the summer!

-Kieran hasn't really done anything new in a while. He's enjoying sitting and playing with objects around the house. He's not too motivated yet to crawl, so I think it will be a while before that happens. He's really into his toes lately and likes to pull off his socks so he can suck on them. He's working on clapping his hands but ends up just kind of slapping the tops of them - its kind of funny. Well, that's about all for now.

Happy New Year and a belated Merry Christmas!

2009-01-03T18:58:00.000-08:00

I can't believe 2009 is already here!

Well, the holidays have come and gone with lots of activity and memories. As usual, we made our journey to Milwaukee for Christmas. Kieran was a great traveler and if it wasn't for the black ice between Eau Claire and Tomah, we would have made it to Milwaukee in the normal timeframe. Since we arrived so late, we missed out on Christmas Eve mass, which felt kind of strange. I think that was the first year in my entire life that I didn't get to church for Christmas. Anyway, we shared some quiet time with my parents and brother on Christmas Eve before the whirlwind of activity on Christmas day.

Kieran got to meet all the family that he hadn't met yet on Christmas Day. He seemed to enjoy all the attention and the opportunities to be held during his naps. We visited friends and more family over the next few days and drove back on Sunday. All the while, Kieran did great! Only problem he had during our visit was sleeping at night. He was waking up ever couple of hours and needing help falling back to sleep.

I just posted a bunch of pictures from Christmas and New Years, so make sure to check them out. .

We spent some of Kieran's Christmas money on a "Johnny Jumpup" thing. Kieran loves it. I think we kept jumping for an hour straight the first time that I put him in it!

We had a few friends over for New Year's Eve. Kieran was sleeping before everyone came over, but he woke up 15 minutes for midnight and was wide awake. It was like he knew there was a party going on and he wanted to be a part of it. Kieran rang in the new year with us and then went back to sleep.

Hope you all had a safe, happy, relaxing holiday season. We're excited about the adventures facing us in 2009!

Busy December!

2008-12-16T09:29:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the delay in writing on the blog - its been a busy past few weeks! Here's the highlights:

Kieran got a new highchair this weekend. Doesn't he look like a big boy now!

Syed officially became an American citizen last week in a swearing in ceremony at the US District Courthouse in Minneapolis. Here he is holding Kieran in the courthouse building on the 15th floor - great view of downtown Minneapolis. I was surprised how simple and short the ceremony was. Never the less, Syed is excited to apply now for his US passport!

Kieran has finally figured out how to roll over! So with both sitting and rolling mastered, he's moving around and playing with greater freedom.....which also means we will soon need to babyproof the house- yikes! We still haven't even decorated the house, much less are we ready to babyproof!

Kieran had his 6 month doctor's appointment. He's still just a small guy - only 14 lbs, which makes him in the bottom 5% for weight, but with a length of 25 1/2", he's in the 20th percentile for height. Doctor says not to worry - he's growing at a fine pace.

Syed bought his first snowblower after the promise of a big snow storm this past weekend. Funny thing is we ended up only getting an inch or so of snow. He's busy trying to figure out how to properly operate it.

I've been busy with my new job. I have had a few appointments with former clients and hope to start seeing some orders come in January. All of this has left us with little time for Christmas preparations this year. I hope to do some baking this week.

That's all for now! Hope you are getting into the holiday spirit!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-12-01T17:43:00.000-08:00

Last week was a whirlwind of activity. Kieran was just getting over a cold when my parents came to visit for Thanksgiving. He is becoming much more active now that he has nearly mastered sitting, as seen above. He also is really into his toes now, although he has yet to put them in his mouth.

Kieran spent Thanksgiving day hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa while Syed and I cooked a few dishes to share for our celebration with friends. We brought my parents over to our friends B & E for their annual turkey dinner. Kieran joined in the fun, eating some sweet potatoes for dinner but he seemed to have his eye on our large plates of food! There are some more Thanksgiving photos posted in the online photo album link at right.

On Friday, my mom and I attempted to do some Black Friday shopping while Syed and Grandpa watched Kieran. I think all of us were worn out by the end of the day!

Unfortunately, the end of this weekend brought on a bad cold for our little guy. He is having his worst snotty nose episodes now....the kind where bubbles are coming out of his nose :(

We are all getting excited about coming to Milwaukee to visit for Christmas. It will be good to see everyone again. I think you'll all be amazed at how much Kieran has grown. Seems like in just the past few weeks, he has really come alive. He's constantly giggling, smiling, exploring and loving life.

Learning to sit!

2008-11-16T17:04:00.000-08:00

Kieran still hasn't mastered the art of rolling over, but he's clearly on his way to sitting on his own. To protect him, we pulled out the futon mattress and put it on the bamboo floor so that he doesn't go crashing on to a hard surface. He usually lasts about a minute now before he falls over. He really enjoys banging his plastic stacking cups and rolling his new ball.

Kieran is also practicing some new sounds. "Gaga" and "gehgeh" seem to be this week's preferred sounds.

I've been busy this past week getting geared up to sell promotional products again. Kieran has been quite cooperative with all of this, playing by himself while I'm on the phone for training, etc. I am hoping that working from home will just fall into place for us and become routine.

We had Kieran pretty well "sleep trained" by the end of last week, but somehow this weekend, it all went to hell! Grrrr. We're back to letting him cry it out, which is so fustrating. Its hard to sleep when your baby is crying.

Anyway, I posted some new pictures again in the link at right. Check them out!

Kieran's favorite things

2008-11-10T10:28:00.000-08:00

Sorry - no new pictures this week. I keep forgetting to pull out the camera.

Just like Oprah, Kieran has his list of favorite things that he'd like me to share:

Baths - loves them! He kicks, squeals and splashes with glee. We had to stop giving them in the kitchen sink because we just ended up with water everywhere. Now we use the infant tub inside the big bathtub in the bathroom.
Sitting - Despite the fact that most babies roll over before they can sit, Kieran has taken a liking to sitting, and for his age, he's pretty darn good at it. He's doing the tripod thing where he puts one arm down for balance while he uses the other one to play/grab things. Sometimes, he ends up with his face on his knees because he forgets to keep himself pr oped up, but then he just rolls to the side and plays that way. He really likes to kick toys when he's sitting, especially his stacking cups.
Questions - Sounds funny, but Kieran giggles anytime you ask him a question and end it by raising the tone of your voice. Its kind of funny to mess with him a bit. You can ask him, "who just tooted?" and he'll giggle. Or "Who's got a poopy diaper?", and you get a big smile. Or "Who's do you like better, Mommy or Daddy?"....big smile at whomever asked the question - how politically correct! "Does this make Mommy look fat?"...just a big giggle answer - he knows better than to bite the hand that feeds him.
Anything he can put in his mouth.
Drooling - we go through 2 bibs a day!
Home-made, organic baby food - We haven't run across anything that he won't eat! We're up to two solid food meals per day. I've been making most of his food and freezing it in ice cube like trays. No clear favorite foods yet.
People - Last week, I took Kieran to an event and wore him in my baby carrier. He just loves looking around at all the people, smiling and flirting with anyone who catches his eye. The stimulation was so much for him that he slept for 2 1/2 hours afterwards and that night, he slept for over 8 hours straight! Lesson learned - got to get this boy out of the house more often so that I can get some sleep!

I know there are more favorite things, but I just can't seem to think of all of them right now.

As for me, last week, I officially joined Boundless Network, a promotional products distributor company. I will be selling promotional products from home part time, which will enable me to stay home with Kieran and yet still earn an income. If you know of anyone that needs some logo merchandise, from shirts to keychains and anything in between, be sure to let me know or pass on my contact info. My work email address is pbenoit@boundlessnetwork.com.

This week, I'm a 'single mom'. Syed is in Nebraska for a few days for training for his new job. So far, so good. We'll see how tired I am by Wednesday.

Well, that wraps up my update for now. I hope all of you are doing well!

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-30T17:09:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween! Kieran is a chili pepper this year, and what a cute one at that!
We dressed him up last Saturday for a Halloween event in St. Paul for little kids. It was so much fun to see all the cute little kids dressed up. Kieran looked dazed and confused looking at all the costumes. After about an hour, he feel fast asleep.

So, Kieran's got a few new tricks. Favorite foods so far - squash, apples and avocados! Favorite new activity - squealing, either for joy or when he's fustrated. Seems to be his new way of communicating. I'm really hoping this is a short lived phase. While I'm glad he's finding his voice, the squealing can sure give you a headache by the end of the day.

Kieran is working at sitting as you can see from the photo below. He's getting stronger and better at it every day. He's going through a new phase of not sleeping well at night. He fights his naps all day long and wakes up every few hours at night. Hoping we can break this habit real soon. He has been sick for a few days, so that's probably what's been keeping him up.

I'm still staying at home with him. I'm currently job searching, with little luck so far. I'd rather stay home with this little guy, but unfortunately, that just doesn't help us pay the bills.

Well, that's all for now. Hope you enjoy Halloween!

Enjoying the fall!

2008-10-21T19:02:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, we were busy getting the yard ready for winter, which meant raking and bagging the leaves. Kieran enjoyed laying in the crunchy leaves, although we had to stop him from putting them in his mouth. Everything goes in the mouth now. He nearly always has one of his hands in his mouth. He's working on rolling over, but hates his tummy time, so he has no real motivation to roll over from his back to belly.

We're trying to get Kieran to sleep longer at night. The multiple wakings and feedings is starting to take a toll on both of us. We've successfully had a few nights where he slept 6 hrs straight before waking up, so things are looking better. He has a bad habit of waking up at 4:00, then 5:00 and then 6:00 in the morning. We're working on getting him to stay asleep in the morning.

I'm officially looking for a job. The market is tough. Despite sending out 20+ resumes, I haven't been called yet for an interview. Keep your fingers crossed that something will emerge soon.

Kieran's 4 months old

2008-10-11T18:19:00.000-07:00

Kieran turned 4 months old this week which meant a trip to the pediatrician for his wellness check up and shots. He again did a great job - very little crying. He got a clean bill of health and the official 'OK' to start introducing solids. So, we didn't waste any time to try feeding him. He's now had cereal 3 nights in a row. He quickly has figured out how to eat and seems quite eager for each bite, as you can see in these video clips.

Visit to the Apple Orchard

2008-10-07T08:36:00.000-07:00

This weekend, we went to the Minnetonka Orchard for some fall fun. Kieran enjoyed all the fresh air and activities. First we admired the apples and trees.
Then we went on a bumpy hay ride.
And finally, we ended up checking out the 'pumpkin patch'. Kind of lame since the pumpkins were already picked. As you can tell in this picture, Kieran fell asleep --just too much excitement for one little guy.

Kieran is laughing more and more these days. Blowing raspberries on this belly is a sure way to elicit these giggles. He still doesn't like his tummy time very much, but I'm sure he'll come around some day. Today, he is 4 months old. How quickly time flies! Seems like just yesterday, we were welcoming him into the world. We are enjoying every day with this little, happy guy.

I'm a PC.

2008-10-02T19:03:00.000-07:00

Need we say more? Guess who made this shirt.

Another week of adventures

2008-10-02T16:18:00.000-07:00

Kieran enjoys standing so much these days - bouncing as he stands on our laps. Despite his small size, he seemed ready for an Exersaucer. Syed picked one up and after hours of assembly, we introduced it to Kieran. He's a bit overwhelmed by all the toys, but his toes do touch the ground, so we're sure he'll be bouncing in it in no time. Here's a cute pic of him exploring the toy attachments on the Exersaucer. There's a video clip in the pictures posted in the link to the right.
A few more notable things....

-Kieran found his thumb. He's been a 'whole fist sucker' up to now. Now, he's trading off between putting his whole fist in his mouth, or just his thumb.

-I officially made Kieran really laugh - not just copy me making "he he he" sounds. He actually giggled on his own after I made some funny noises and faces. Only problem is that I can't get him to laugh again! Guess I'll have to stand on my head to get him to laugh again.

-We took Kieran for his 3 month pictures. Even though he's normally such a smiley guy, he seemed to "freeze" up. There's a few pictures that worked out but we really got better pictures on our own.

Traveling to Milwaukee

2008-09-25T14:34:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, I packed up all the essential baby items and drove to Milwaukee with Kieran, but without Syed. I quickly learned that driving that far with a baby can be very tiring and stressful, but we managed. The trip that normally takes 5 1/2 hrs took use 8, but we made lots of stops along the way to stretch our legs and get out of the car seat for a while. We visited a truck stop and watched the trucks go by. We did a little shopping at a Kmart along the way for some supplies that I realized I forgot at home (bottle brush, nuks, to name a few).

We were quickly rewarded for our long journey with lots of friends and family visitors. Kieran was able to meet his Aunt Shelly and Victoria......

his Great Aunt Judy......

his cousin Chloe......

and many more. We even stopped by his godmother's house for a surprise visit on Saturday. Kieran ate up all the attention, but seemed to be getting fussier as the weekend progressed.

On Sunday, he decided to stop eating all together! He didn't eat for 15 hours. Every time I tried to feed him, he'd cry just at the sight of the bottle. We took him into Urgent Care - they didn't know what to do, and since he was mildly dehydrated, they sent us to Children's Hospital. After waiting several hours, we saw the doctor. I guess Kieran was finally thirsty enough, so he decided to eat while the doctor was in the room. Thank goodness, otherwise, he was going to need IV fluids. Turns out that his acid reflux had gotten so bad that it likely had inflamed his esophagus so much that it hurt too much to eat. Well, after a few doses of baby Zantac, he's eating like a champ now!
On Monday, I took my parents out to Kopps for lunch. Dad thought it would be funny to give Kieran his first taste of Kopps frozen custard.
We made it safely back to Minneapolis on Monday evening. Looking forward to staying in town for a while.

We're all sick!

2008-09-14T07:14:00.000-07:00

So after last weekend's fun, we are all sick. I started out with a cold mid-week and now Syed and Kieran are sick too. This is Kieran's first cold, so to make sure that he was ok, we took him into urgent care on Saturday morning. They checked him out, tested him for strep and sent us home with the diagnosis that he just has a run-of-the-mill virus cold. Its so hard to watch him coughing - he's got this look on his face like "what in the world did you guys do to me". He was extra sleepy yesterday, but he wanted to be held, not put down in his bed. He seems to be a bit more alert this morning. Hopefully, all of us will feel better soon. The weather this weekend didn't help much - gloomy and damp. Just made you want to stay in bed all day!

Well, no pictures to post this week, but as you can image, we all look a bit tired. Kieran's eyes are red and his nose, snotty. You can picture it in your head. We'll be staying in today to catch up on sleep and get healthy soon.

Kieran's Baptism Weekend

2008-09-10T18:00:00.000-07:00

This past weekend,we had Kieran baptized at the same church where Syed & I were married. Kieran's godparents as well as my parents came from Milwaukee for the weekend, so we were quite busy with all the out of town guests! We visited Underwater Adventures with his godmother, her husband and two-year-old little girl. Not sure if Kieran really could see all the fish - he didn't have much of a reaction to them.

Anyway, Sunday was his baptism. All went well....no crying during the ceremony! Kieran wore a baptismal gown that was sewn by one of my older sisters for my younger sister's baptism over 30 years ago. He looked so cute in the dress....I mean 'gown'....he he he.

Following the baptism, we had everyone over to our house for a steak dinner, courtesy of Syed. This was our first large gathering in our new house - certainly made it feel like 'home' with all the buzz and activity!

Everyone enjoyed to opportunity to play with Kieran. My mom and dad got a special treat on Monday morning when Kieran joined them in bed at 7:00 am for some early morning smiles and coos.

With the house all quiet now, Kieran is working on getting back into his normal sleep schedule. He finally started taking longer naps and I think we've figured out how to get him to sleep to 7:00 am instead of 5:00 am- we're very excited about that achievement! We started putting Kieran in his little chair to help him learn how to sit. He's all smiles when he sits in it. The chair is still a bit big, so we use a blanket to help fill in the space. He really like playing with the toy attachment shown in the picture below. Here's a picture of him in his special chair wearing his new winter hat.

Hanging out and Getting Ready for Fall

2008-09-01T18:54:00.000-07:00

Another busy week for Kieran. We had a few cool days this week, so we brought out some of our long sleeve fall clothes. Here's our favorite onsie with a little moose. And we tried out his fall fleece jacket. He's all ready for a fall hike.

Then, we got some practice 'sitting'. He really seems to like sitting, but he's not too good at it yet. The pillows were a big help!
Kieran is becoming quite the social butterfly- he's smiling, laughing and cooing all the time now. Lots of social events this week and Kieran was quite a trooper at all of them. Thursday, we had a dinner for some Bengali friends. Friday night, we hosted friends B & E for dinner. Saturday, we hung out on our deck (below) and visited friends J & R for an evening on their patio. Sunday, Syed & I had our first 'date' without Kieran since he was born. We went to the Minnesota State Fair and enjoyed some new treats - Veggie Fries, Lefse, amongst others. And Monday, we recuperated from the busy weekend.

Tickle time with Dad

2008-08-25T10:12:00.000-07:00

Well, he doesn't exactly laugh, but he's finally a little bit ticklish.

Things continue to go pretty well. Kieran is so excited to interact with people now that he'd prefer to play instead of nap. If we don't strongly encourage naps throughout the day, we end up with a very tired and crabby little boy who doesn't want to go to bed :)

We went to a neighbors house on Saturday for a graduation party. We didn't really know many people there, but that didn't matter. Kieran was a big hit. He was 'happy boy' the whole time we were there. Everyone smiled at him and he ate it up! Lesson learned: Kieran is so much happier when he gets all his naps in. Trouble is he likes to fight us on that. Seems like we can only get him to nap if we put him in the swing or if I carry him in my sling. I guess we are going to have to keep trying to get him to nap in his crib.

I got some time to myself this week. I left Kieran with Dad on Friday so that I could do dinner and a movie with some friends. We saw Mama Mia - super funny and cheesy. On Sunday, I got to try sailing with a friend that is a member of the Minneapolis Sailing Club. I realized that day that it was the first time this summer that I had to put on sunscreen! I've been inside with Kieran so much during the past 11 weeks that I've kind of "missed" summer. I don't mind too much - we're already excited to think about camping trips and hikes with Kieran next summer when he's 1 year old. And we hope to maybe get the canoe in the water some time this fall, with or without Kieran.

Other news: Kieran's eyes are starting to change color already. Not sure if they will end up brown or hazel - right now, they are bluish hazel with some brown. He's 'found' his hands. The other day, he spent an hour just staring at his hands!

We recently signed up for ECFE classes for fall (that's Early Childhood Family Education). Kieran and I will join other moms and babies 0-6 months for about 1 1/2 hours on Wednesdays. I'm really looking forward to it!

Stay-at-Home Mom

2008-08-19T08:08:00.000-07:00

Its official! After 18+ years of nearly continual employment, I am now a stay-at-home Mom. We decided that it is in the best interest of our family that I continue to be the primary care provider for Kieran once my maternity leave ends. I gave my notice last week that I will not be returning to work in September. We are very excited, and a bit nervous, to have me stay home with Kieran. We just couldn't image putting him in day care yet.

Not much other news for this week. We continue to get to know our neighbors. We had dinner with 2 neighbors this past week and then went to a neighborhood block/pool party on Sunday where we meet even more neighbors. Its great to finally know more faces on our block. Now when we go for a walk, everyone smiles, waves and comes out to say "Hi"....ok, they really come out to sneak a peak a Kieran :)

Kieran is smiling and cooing more than ever now. Its just so hard to capture it on camera. We'll work on that this week.

FYI- I've changed the picture postings at right so that I don't have to put a new link up every time we add new pictures. Just click on the link "Online photo album" to be directed to our online album. You'll be able to see all of our pictures, old and new, from there.

Kieran is 2 months old!

2008-08-10T17:08:00.001-07:00

On Thursday, Kieran turned 2 months old, so it was time to see the doctor for his wellness visit and first set of shots. He amazingly only cried for half a minute or so after receiving 3 shots in his legs - what a trooper! He got weighed and measured - he's now 9 1/2 lbs, so he's nearly doubled his wieght since his birth. He now is 21" long. His weight and height puts him in the 5-10 percentile compared to other children his age, so he's still on the small side.

Kieran ended up with a fever after the shots for about 36 hours. You could just tell in his eyes (and his cry) that he didn't feel well. He slept and slept and slept on Friday, and Saturday, he was as good as new.

Today, Syed and I ventured out with Kieran for a late breakfast and a trip to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum to get some landscaping ideas for our yard. It ended up being too hot and sunny for Kieran so we cut the trip short - can't let him get too much sun yet!

Playtime!

2008-08-06T08:04:00.000-07:00

This week, I pulled out a play mat that we received as a gift. We weren't sure if Kieran was ready for it, but as you can see from this video, he loves it! He's all smiles as he tries to bat at the animals. He also likes to smile at himself in the mirror on the side of the mat.

Kieran has now moved from smiling to cooing. He is really becoming vocal quickly!

Another busy week....

2008-08-02T19:11:00.000-07:00

Here's this weeks developments....
I had to get a root canal done this week, which meant that we had to leave Keiran with a babysitter for the first time. I trained a high school girl--she's babysits for everyone in the neighborhood--last week in preparation. She did a great job and Kieran seemed happy with her. I was a bit nervous leaving him in the hands of someone besides Syed - I ended up calling her twice while I was at the dentist just to make sure that everything was going all right. It was such a strange feeling to leave my child behind. I had always been the babysitter, never the parent. Now the tables have turned :)

What else....Kieran eye lashes and eye brows are suddenling growing in, which really isn't newsworthy, except for the fact that his eye brows are definitely taking the same shape as his dad's.

Today, Kieran and I went on our first nature hike at Bakers Park Reserve. He rode in the sling and quickly fell asleep for most of the walk. Afterwards, we relaxed in the shade near the beach for a quick snack for me and a bottle for him. It was a gorgeous day and it felt great to be out in nature.

Smiling even more....

2008-07-30T07:16:00.000-07:00

Couldn't resist to post this cute picture. Kieran and I were going to go for a quick walk one morning. It was quite sunny so I thought I'd put on his sun hat in case the sun got into his eyes. He's all smiles in this picture. Funny thing is that about 5 minutes into the walk, he was screaming. He really doesn't seem to like his car seat (which is also used for his stroller during walks).

Kieran is smiling more now, especially in the morning. He's been struggling with acid reflux for the past week or so, which is not fun to watch. He ends up screaming during the second half of his bottle as it burns going down. He seems to be better now, so hopefully that will last.

We've been enjoying time out on the deck when the weather is nice, as you can see from the pictures that I posted this week. I added more pictures to the "End of July" pictures at right. There's a cute video clip on there as well. That's all for now.

Hanging out at home

2008-07-24T12:30:00.000-07:00

We hosted some neighbors over for dinner on Saturday. Kieran was a big hit with them. We fired up the grill despite the rain and had our dinner indoors instead of on the deck as originally planned, which meant that we were busy trying to clean the house before the guests came. Kieran helped out by sitting calmly in the sling (pictured above) as I swiffered the floors and straightened up the place.

Kieran starting smiling this week. Sometimes, its just an ever-so-slight smile and other times, its a full, open mouth, gummy smile. He definitely reserves the smiles for extra special times. Its hard to get him to smile "on command".

Kieran is definitely growing. His newborn-sized onsies are now getting too small and we are officially changing over to the next size diapers this week. He is eating every 3+ hours now (instead of every 2 hours), so we are able to get a bit more sleep these days. More of his hair has fallen out, but there already is a fine peach fuzzy hair growing back in its place.

I just posted a link at right with some more pictures. There's a few videos posted there as well. Check them out.

Things that I've learned this week

2008-07-17T08:55:00.000-07:00

I seem to learn so much everyday as I take care of Kieran. Here's this week's learnings:

1. Some babies find a swing very soothing. Others need to be soothed first and then put in the swing to sleep - that's what Kieran prefers. The pictures above are of his new swing.

2. Always bring a blanket with you or dress your kid like its December when you are going shopping at Target. The air conditioning makes it like Antarctica in there.

3. I totally understand why mothers cut their hair short. Kieran has figured out how to pull on my hair, so I will probably be sporting a pony tail for the next year.

4. Kieran seems to love the outdoors. He could spend hours in his chair or swing looking out the window. When he gets all fussy, we can often calm him down by taking him outside. Not sure if its the sound of the wind or the birds or if he is just hypnotized by the movement of the leaves in the trees, but he definitely is a nature lover :)

Here's some cute video clips from this week:

http://picasaweb.google.com/patricesyedpics/KieranWkJuly14/photo#5224011035178762418

http://picasaweb.google.com/patricesyedpics/KieranWkJuly14/photo#5224010255169701250

We finally have some furniture!

2008-07-15T16:01:00.000-07:00

This week, we bought a new couch for our family room upstairs. For the past few months, we literally have been sitting on camp chairs while we watched TV, so the couch is a big improvement for us! Now we can all sit together as a family and watch TV or just play with Kieran.

Kieran's definitely getting stronger every day. He's becoming quite the wiggle worm now. He continues to loose more hair - the top of his head is nearly bald. He's been keeping us up more at nights, but we are hoping that our swing will soon help limit the number of sleepless nights. I think I actually got 6 hours of sleep last night - that's the most I've gotten in one night in a long time!

Kieran starting to get into a sort of schedule: active and happy in the morning, followed by long afternoon naps. Guess we'll see if tonight is a good sleeping night.

Relaxing on the 4th

2008-07-08T18:34:00.000-07:00

Another busy week with Kieran! We didn't do much for the 4th of July this year. We did make it outside for a walk, despite the heat and hot sun. I bought the smallest sunhat that I could find for Kieran, but its still quite big, as you can see. We took our new BOB stroller out on the Luce Line trail by our house - a gravel trail on an old railroad bed. The BOB stroller has shocks on it, which we did get to test out on part of the bumpy trail.

On July 5th, we joined some friends in a local park for a picnic in the shade. Enjoy our pictures from this week!

Getting to know our little bundle of joy

2008-07-01T15:11:00.000-07:00

We have had a busy past few weeks with lots of visitors! Here's some of the week's highlights:

-First bath in infant bath tub went great! Second bath was a bit more tramatic for us - not only did he pee but he also must have been really relaxed in the warm water as he pooped in the tub at the end of his bath! I never knew babies do that:)

-We started to pull out some of his toys so he can look at them. So far, he loves this moose toy the best. His eyes get all big when he sees it! Maybe he's going to like trips to the boundary waters some day to look for moose!

-Being new parents, we were desparate to find something to stop him from screaming during diaper changes. A friend that has a 6 month old suggested that we use a hair dryer to dry his bottom when we change him. Between the white noise sound of the dryer and the warm air on his bottom, he loves it! I'd say we've reduced the crying by 50%, which really helps for the middle of the night changes.

-We finally bought a couch for our living room...can't wait to have a place for our guests to sit!

-Check out the new photos posted at right. I've added a few comments to some of the pictures this time. And here's a cut video clip....
http://picasaweb.google.com/patricesyedpics/KieranWk2Thru4/photo#5219211740771302946

Introducing Kieran Rio

2008-06-24T13:52:00.000-07:00

We'd like to introduce to you the newest member of our family - Kieran Rio. Born on June 7, 2008 at 9:43 am, this little guy made a quick entry into the world after 7 hours of labor. At birth, he was just 5 lbs, 1 oz. Today, at his 2 week doctor's appointment, he weighed in at 6 lbs, so he is growing fast! I just posted a few images of his first 2 weeks at right (under the section "Our favorite pictures"). Check them out! I hope to post more regularly to this blog from here on out, so make sure to check back in.

Less than 4 weeks to go

2008-05-23T08:35:00.000-07:00

We are busy trying to get some housework done before our little one arrives. We've now cut the grass two times with our new Honda lawn mower. Found out that we have a garlic mustard weed problem (its an invasive plant) and have pulled out bags of the stuff. Still have a ways to go.

The bamboo flooring installation is nearly complete and it looks great!

I've had a few more baby showers -one with former co-workers and one at work, so we are well stocked now for the baby. Just need to get everything washed and organized.

We are busy trying to figure out some baby names now - any suggestions?

Another Busy Week - 34 Weeks!

2008-05-05T18:35:00.000-07:00

This week was another busy one. Here's the highlights -

-Assembled the baby changing table/drawers

-Enjoyed the beautiful weather

-Tried out the gas grill that came with our house (found out that it is actually attached to the natural gas line to the house!)

-Attended my baby shower thrown by friends in the Twin Cities. One of my friends did henna tattoos for guests - I got my belly done. We received lots of wonderful gifts - makes everything seem more real now!

-To keep the guys entertained while their wifes were at my baby shower, Syed threw a guy's BBQ at our house.

Guess who's the pregnant one....

2008-05-02T18:36:00.000-07:00

This is the funniest picture from the baby shower last weekend. My dad's been harboring this baby for quite some time.

Weekend in Milwaukee

2008-04-29T08:18:00.001-07:00

This past weekend, Syed & I traveled to Milwaukee for a shower with my family and friends in Wisconsin. It was a very cool rainy weekend, but we all had fun visiting with friends & family that we haven't seen since Christmas. It was great to catch up with everyone.

Mom organized a shower at their house with good food as always. Gina provided some fun games including the "Busy Mom" game - I'll have to post pictures of this later. We received so many wonderful gifts -they certainly will all be put to good use soon.

Busy Weekend - 32 weeks and counting!

2008-04-21T12:26:00.000-07:00

We had another productive and busy weekend. From birth classes and a trip to IKEA to learning how to use a leaf blower, Saturday and Sunday were both jammed packed with activity. We meet a lot of our neighbors on Sunday since the weather was nice (70 degrees) and everyone was outside working on their yard. Seems like the neighborhood has a nice mix of people of various ages.

Syed rolled the first coat of paint in the hallway/dining room/living room and helped me outside bag leaves and sticks. We managed to clean out all the flower/rock beds and got a closer glimpse of what kinds of plants we've got going in our yard....I think all we have is evergreen bushes and hostas...maybe a forsythia bush or two. I guess we'll learn more in the coming weeks. We definitely have a lot more work to do outside...seems like they hadn't cut back the bushes in years as they are all over-grown and bushy.

Syed finished putting together the crib this weekend. Now its on to the changing table/dresser. We bought a few accessories for the baby room at IKEA, so things are starting to come together. Now we need to finish the trim and re-install the closet doors & shelf.

Hello Blogging World

2008-04-12T14:16:00.000-07:00

Just starting to see how this whole blogging thing works.

I got this great edible fruit bouquet for my birthday in February...yummy! I think this is the only picture of me pregnant. I guess we haven't had much photo-taking going on lately with all the house projects that we have been working on.