Happy Holidays!

We spent the holidays here in San Diego. Grandma, Papa, Nana & Grandpa came to visit. Unfortunately Brendt, Kai and I all came down with nasty cold. As I write this, Kai is sleeping in Nana's arms in the glider because he doesn't wake himself coughing when he is sitting up. Poor baby, but TGFG (Thank Goodness for Grandparents!).

Despite his illness, Kai manages to shine his smiles, winning the hearts of millions (ok, maybe hundreds), sharing the true meaning of holidays "Joy"!

Here are some new pics that we took of Kai. . . more to come soon!

Kai's latest developments:

• Kai is ALMOST crawling. Mom & Dad beware! He loves to stand too, so we're trying to encourage him to crawl before he runs.


• Kai has 4 teeth, 2 top, 2 bottom, with another 2 on the top emerging any day now.


• It's hard to tell, but we THINK that Kai might be signing "dog" and "milk". We could be imagining it, but so be it.

Has it really been a month?

Yikes! A month between posts? I'm a bad blogger. Oh well. Moving on!

Last month we went back to AZ for a variety of celebrations. First we celbrated the 65th anniversary of my granparents. Can you imagine 65 years!? Most of my family made it out to celebrate the event. It was great to see the boom of babies in the family (cousin Ayden was born 2 days after the event) and to have more time with all my mom's siblings and a lot of my first cousins.

We raced down to Tucson and celebrated Thanksgiving with the Gideons. The 8 days that Kai and I spent in Mesa really reminded me that it is nice to have longer periods of time to visit our families. A fly by the seat of your pants weekend is just too exhausting and quality time is few and far between. Soon we'll have to take a longer trip to Tucson too.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we celebrated the pending arrival of my sister's baby with a co-ed baby shower. "Babies, Burgers and Beer" was the theme complete with relay races, a baby name March Madness game, and a Nacho fountain that got a little stopped up. :-( Oh well, the beer was tasty and the burgers were superb! It's hard to believe that Katie & Josh's little lady will be here in 7 weeks! More cousins, so exciting.

Here are a few photos of the week:

Kai with Cousin Megan, just days away from delivering Cousin Ayden

Katie holding Megan & Chris's son Ayden, Welcome Little Ayden!

Katie preparing to be Queen Mum to her little princess. . .


Kai with his 2nd cousin Brett who was born the day after him!

Kai with his 2nd cousin Axenia

No time to say goodbye, hello!

In the words of the White Rabbit, I'm friggin busy. :-) Lots to do before we go to visit AZ for my grandparent's 65th wedding anniversary (yikes! 65 years is a long time), Thanksgiving (that blessed American festival of feasting) and my sister's coed baby shower (think burgers and beer, not cooing and cucumber sandwiches).

So since I don't have time to wax poetic on some fun photos we've taken in the past few weeks, I thought I'd just get them up for you all to view!

First is the photo of Mary who was kind enough to put sweet Kai to sleep at Julie's baby shower.

Up next, Kai, heading to his first Steele Canyon High School football game. Go Cougars!
Next comes the adorable Brian, son of my friend Diana, who had a blast pushing Kai all over his house in his wagon. He repeatedly had to stop to oil the tires with his matchbox car gassing station gas pump. Too cute!
This past weekend we went to our Goddaughter Kimmie's birthday party. It was at a deluxe jumper place called Pump it Up where kids can bound and jump to their heart's content. Kai got a little bouncing in, but was mostly wide eyed with the wonder of it all.
Here is a photo of one of the silly things that amuses Kai. Why do we buy toys when he is thrilled by being put in the laundry basket (honestly there is a basket under all the clothes)? Ok, maybe it helps that mommy sings a silly song when he is in the basket. Don't worry, I'll spare you my singing. :-)
And lastly, here are Kai's passport photos. Yes, Kai needs a passport, because this spring (fall there) we'll be going to our friends' wedding in Australia! Brendt and I are VERY excited to be able to make it to Sam & James's nuptials and to introduce Kai to koalas and kangaroos!

Yes, I know how ridiculous this photo is. :-) But isn't he ADORABLE! What country would turn this face away?

My little Kewpie Doll?

So I posted this photo to Facebook the other day and my friend said,

"Your baby looks like a Kewpie doll." Not knowing what one was, I did a quick Google search,

and in fact, my baby looks like a Kewpie doll! Yikes.

Mom & I Rock the Vote

Today Kai came with me to cast my ballot in this historic election. I welled with hope, thinking of all the elections to come, where I will bring my child with me to show him the importance of participating in our democracy. Our hope for him is that he will understand the power of his voice in this process and take advantage of every opportunity to express it (in voting, not in teenage defiance-a mom can wish can't she?).

On a lighter note, yes, those are clothes hanging on the wall behind me. Our polling place this year is normally a clothing store.

Yoga Moms!

On Saturday, we had a little party with a bunch of the women that I did prenatal and Mommy & Me yoga with. There were kids aged 9 months to 6 weeks, and one 3 year old named Sicilia. Some were born within just days of Kai and we've managed to stay in touch.

It was great to have people ahead in pregnancy to learn from and to be able to help those who were behind too. Now it is fun to see our kids and their development, share the joys and laugh at the frustrations.

We had a fun little potluck and we were all supposed to bring our little ones in their Halloween costumes, but it was so hot, most of us either had to alter the costumes (Reece wore his SuperMan cape and his mom wore the rest of the costume) or didn't wear them at all. Look at the beautiful Veda flower! She got into her costume on once it cooled off a bit.

I can't wait to see them all running around soon! Thanks Jeri & Andy for hosting us!

Hallo-what?

Last night Ryan and Maya came over to visit for a while before they headed out for the Halloween festivities. We had hoped to get some pics of the kids in their costumes, but it was far to hot to actually put them on. Instead they wore them more like capes. :-) We think they're cute anyways!

After the sun went down, we got Kai all ducked out and sent him around with daddy to say hello to the neighbors. Our sweet little duck was sound asleep before dad got home with him 10 minutes later and slept the rest of the night! I think he grew another inch over night.

I was amazed, we ran out of our giant CostCo bag of candy before 8:30p! More likely from greedy teenagers than from masses of trick-or-treaters. It is sad how different it is from when we were kids.

Happy Halloween!

Tonight we'll be taking Kai around to visit the neighbors, more to say hello than for any candy (I already bought too much), then we'll sit on the porch with our Patito (little duck) and wait for our trick or treaters! I just can't wait to share this holiday with Kai!

As you can tell, Kai was especially happy at this photo shoot. One of my friends put it aptly when she said, "They captured his spirit!". It is true, this is our happy little boy!

Happy Birthday El Guapo!

Last Thursday was our friend Gabe's 4oth birthday. In addition to being a great friend, Gabe is also the owner of our favorite local taco shop. His black beans really got me through the nausea of my 1st trimester and the El Guapo Burrito and shrimp taco manage to make it into our bellies at least once a week! Gabe's girlfriend Alina threw a little party for him at the shop last week including a mariachi group! I think Kai was a little overwhelmed by the loud mariachis (you'll notice his eyes as wide as saucers), but we all had fun! You'll notice that El Guapo (the handsome one) has the same shirt as El Guapito (the little handsome one), only instead of "Tacos & Beer", Kai's shirt says "Tacos & Milk".

A Great Pumpkin Adventure

On Sunday, we got up early to head to Victoria Gardens in Lakeside, CA where they have a pumpkin patch. Hoping for a farm expierence where the kiddos could play in the fields, pet some animals, and we could get some fun fall-like (ok, it's still in the 90's out there) photos. Kai did ok, for about the first 15 minutes and then his very first cold took over and he was one unhappy boy. These photos of him and his cousin Maya are from before he gave in to his sniffly nose and exhaustion. Maya had a great time running between the corn stalks, petting llamas, and pointing at goats (a.k.a. "wuff-wufss", too cute!).

Luckily his cold has pretty much run it's course and he is feeling better a little over a day later. Maybe we'll have better luck next year!

Daddy's Little Swimmer!

Hope you enjoy the pun! :-) Kai started his Infant Water Adjustment class today, but as you can see, it wasn't much of an adjustment.

He is a water baby if there ever was one! Now Brendt and Kai have a new way to spend their 8 o'clock hour on a Saturday morning while mommy sleeps. Tee hee. . .

Dress me up with your love!

It won't be long and Kai won't let us dress him up in hats or the like. For now, I'm enjoying the fact that he still will. Tee hee!

Kai's Doppelganger?

Last week I met up with a friend of mine, Marrianne and her son Dylan. Dylan is a month younger than Kai. Isn't it funny how much they look alike and how they both look shocked!

Can we bottle this please?

If sometime in your day, the world has got you down, just play this little video. It never fails to make me smile.
Hooray for zurburts!

Here we go!

Kai has reached a couple of milestones this week.

a.) His first tooth has started to emerge on the bottom front of his mouth. Yikes! Watch out for those choppers! When they're bugging him, he is apt to try and crunch down on whatever is nearest, be it a teething toy or your shoulder. He's actually been remarkably cheery for a kid who is cutting teeth

b.) He is now able to sit up on his own, sometimes for as long as a minute! Check out this video!

Thank goodness for the craftiness of others!

For those that know me well, know that poor Kai will have to go a lifetime without much of anything hand made (other than food) by his mom. This blog is about as crafty as this girl gets! :-) In any case, thankfully, other people are craftier than I. Brendt's student knitted Kai this great hat, in Steele Canyon HS cardinal red and navy blue colors, for those chilly football games. She is also working on a matching scarf that has his name on it. Too cute! We'll continue to put silly hats on his head until he realizes that he can yank them off.

Onward Scherpa!

Today we took Kai on his first hike. Always the nature boy, he has been calmed by being out doors since he was days old. If we couldn't figure out why Kai was crying, Grandma Horine would say, "Lets go tell the neighbors," and walk outside and suddenly he would go silent. So today we raced home after work to meet up with our friend Julie and we all headed over to Cowles Mountain to do a quick week day ascent of the local peak.

Kai did pretty well. He fussed after about 40 minutes in because we neglected to "top off" the baby tank. So we sat an enjoyed the view while Kai had a little dinner. As the sun was setting, we moved quickly down the mountain and Kai fell asleep to the rocking pattern of Dad's steps. I think we've got an outdoors man on our hands!

Has it been 5 months?

Today Kai is 5 months old! It has flown by so quickly, but it is amazing to look back at the photos of him, just days old. He's changed so much. Today we went to the zoo with our friends Becky & Claire. Here is Kai in front of the Bonobo Chimp Enclosure. No, Kai isn't walking, but he is standing with a little help from Daddy. He has almost tripled his birth weight and is now weighing in at a burly 17 lbs. 3 oz. and has fully embraced his own voice. Kai now includes a blood curdling screech along with M's, W's, L's, O's and H's to his repertoire of sounds.

Another interesting development, following months of drooling and chewing, is his first little bump of a tooth coming up. It still hasn't emerged, but I'm sure it isn't far off! He'll have a mouth full of chompers before we know it!

Ha ha ha

Here is a clip of some of Kai's first laughs. Clearly, we're all enjoying this good old fashioned fun.

Water Boy!

We're having a great time with this video camera (thank you Rosenbergs!). Here we've caught Kai in his very serious bath time. He loves being in the water, but his face looks like it is almost a job for him!


Michael Phelps, watch out!

I've been waiting for this moment

Call me a freak, I just don't care. This was right up there with snuggling and seeing Kai's smiles as far as things I was looking forward to with my first born. No matter how many times I play this game with Kai, it just never gets old.

No more summer vacation

The past few weeks have brought a flurry of guests. Maybe it is because school is about to go back in session, or maybe it is because San Diego is a wonderful place to be in August.

About a month ago, just before the guests started flowing (or maybe it was between guests, I don't remember anymore) I went back to work. Thankfully work is very flexible with me and I'm working on a low pressure, no travel project, so the transition has gone relatively smoothly and Kai was able to stay home with Brendt (a.k.a. SuperDad!) until just this week. Another wonderful plus is that we love our day care provider for Kai. Colleen is great, doing all the fun things we'd like to do with him if we were home, playing outside, reading books, showing him puzzles, etc. with his new friends Ella (18 months) and Lauren (2 years). He really loves to watch the girls play. Needless to say, it makes life worlds better when you are comfortable and happy with where your child is when you are away

First was a visit from my Aunt Sharon. She is wrapping up her work at the UN and took a week long retreat to the Presentation Retreat in Los Gatos, CA. Since she was in CA, she decided to swing by and get to know Kai. We tried to drag her out to tourist attractions, but she insisted that Kai was the main event. It was really fun to have her here.

Just before Aunt Sharon left, Katie and my mom came to visit. Katie and Brendt were going to a teacher conference (AVID-for those who are in the know) and Mom came out to take care of Kai while they were at the conference. We spent a lot of time ooh-ing and awww-ing over Kai as he cooed, wiggled, and smiled. Who needs entertainment when we have a little one to keep us laughing.

A week or so later Mom came back with her friend Liz. Again, the oohing and ahhing over Kai commenced. They allowed Kai to go to daycare for one (albeit short) day only because it didn't fit into their busy schedule of going to the beach, the wild animal park, and going for walks around the block. Needless to say, we were perfectly happy to pay Colleen to take a week off. Aunt Angie, joined us for a day and took some great photos of Kai, his cousin Maya, and anyone else who happened to be around these two little gems. She has always taken amazing photos, but her recent retirement has allowed for her to learn a little more of the high tech techniques. Here is the link to her photo gallery. http://gallery.me.com/ajreuser/100127

On the weekend, Jim joined us. We all had a great time, pretty much doing nothing. Funny how family can do that. We managed to squeeze in a photo shoot. One with Grandma Carol & Papa Jim. . . One with Mom (me). . .

Kai is making developmental leaps and bounds lately. He is rolling onto his side (seems to be confused about how to get that darned arm out of the way to get to his tummy) and is actually grabbing at toys. Every day brings new joys with this kiddo. Stay tuned for my favorite new trick of his!

Not falling too far from the tree. . . or the grill as it were. . .

Last night while we were watching a TV show about barbecuing ribs, Kai had the most hysterical responses. We know, we know, little ones shouldn't be watching TV, but I think Kai was picking up some tips on how to do up some quality ribs.


Here is a video capture of the comedy.

Who do I look like?

So Kai is ever changing. . . sorry it's been a month since our last post. He's moving around a ton, sleeping 7 hours through the night, cooing, and smiling non-stop. As much as our life changed 3 months and 3 weeks ago, it continues to change as this little guy grows up on us.

I thought it would be fun to see a few baby photos of Brendt and I next to a photo of Kai. At first he looked like a total Brendt clone, but maybe I wasn't just a carrier! :-)

Here is Daddy. . .

Then Mommy. . .

Who Knows! Either way, we're all having a blast!

Take Me Out...

On Sunday, July 13, Kai went to his first of many Padres games. The Kalil Greene "kid's cap" that we got is still a little big, but he'll be sporting it in no time. Dad is looking for ward to summer days spent eating nachos and hot dogs, hoping for a championship season from the Friars. Go Padres!