The stats

Kyan's 9 month Doctor's appointment was yesterday:

He was 21 lbs, 6 oz.....a 4lb, 1 oz gain from his 6 month appt.
He was 30" tall, a 3" gain from his 6 month appt.
He is in the 90th percentile for height, and 50-75 percentile for weight.

His head was approx. 18.5" (I don't remember exactly), and in something like the 50-60th percentile (so well within average range).... It just LOOKS big, Mom....

Hot Democrat on Democrat Action

This actually is not very recent, but OH SO FUNNY, and CLEARLY why Barack and Hilary should run on the same ticket

Friday Photos

Just enough Kyan to get you through the weekend...














Have a great weekend!

Food for Thought

I have been reading quite a lot lately about the various roles of motherhood, and how we are now viewed as parents. I've also read quite a lot on the advent of parent bloggers, which made me think some...(yup, that's why ther is smoke coming out my ears).

I ALWAYS wanted kids. And as many of you may know, it was a nearly 2 year road with pit stops for fertility meds that finally got us to the destination of pregnancy/my nine month bitch-fest. Nevertheless, I find myself struggling on an almost constant basis with what the role of motherhood MEANS.

I still have to work, so on one hand I must be professional and organized and courteous, even if I am still in my slippers and smell like spit up. I am also Kyan's Mama, trying to help him navigate this new world he is experiencing...Letting him explore while keeping him safe. I am also a wife......and I don't know about others, but it seems to me that I soon as I became a Mother, I took on a more traditional "wifely" role.....I clean more, fret abuot what to make dinner, try to makes Jon's life easier when he comes home and not pester him TOO much; because hey, he goes OUT to work every day and brings home the bigger paycheck. He would never ask me to do this, but I find it's the role I have taken on, anyway. WHY??

Although this revelation is nothing new to other Mother's I am sure, I am always surprised at the different roles I am expected to play, and how willingly I conform to this. I should NOT be surprised then (though I often am), at how little time this leaves for me. We live in a narcissistic world, and I hate to resort to a rant of "I need ME time!"....but at the same time.......Between work, wife, Mom.......where did I go? I used to feel very creative, always pallning projects to work on, and I just don't have the time anymore. Which is perhaps why I turned to blogging, which I use to LOATHE, and swore I'd never have one. Why? Because Myspace (have that too), blogging, etc, just seemed so self involved. A person who has their own blog?? They obviously spend more time writing about themself than actually going out and living. I started this blog with the intention that my side of the family, who is not close by, would be able to check in here for regular updates on Captain Poopypants, aka Kyan. and that if perhaps I wanted to blog on other topics, be it politics or fashion or the environment or the train wreck that is Britney Spears too, then this would of course be an excellent forum for that.

But my brain seems to cloud if I try and write about anything other then Kyan or Jon. Which makes me fear I am starting to lose some of the obnoxious views and qualities and talents that make me ME.

If you are reading, please feel free to comment: As a mother or parent out there, have you been able to maintain your "youness" , without being narcissistic? How do you do it?

9 Months Old

Dear Kyan:

Today, you are nine months old and I can hardly believe it. Time has flown by. It seems like every day, you are growing by leaps and bounds.

You sit up all on your own, and LOVE to play.....You have musical instruments, toy cars, a talking birdbath that teaches you the letters of the alphabet (no, I don't get that one either), wooden blocks, and many stuffed animals. Yet, for the last few days, your favorite toy has been an empty file folder and small pile of junk mail sitting on the floor of my office........You will play happily with the aforementioned pile of mail for at least an hour with no complaints. Once your teeth come in, I plan on using you as a replacement for the paper shredder.

You are still not crawling, and although I am tryin to work with you on this, I am beginning to think "Why ruin a good thing?" You basically stay where I put you right now...you might move a couple feet in any direction, but that's about it......So I don;t yet have to worry about you getting into the liquor cabinet and drinking all of Mommy's Kahlua.



Though I have thought you were teething since you were two months old, it FINALLY seems to be happening now.....There is a very definite bump on your lower gums (left side) that you HATE for me to touch. I am have been plying you with many a frozen banana over the last week or two so that you might have some temporary relief.

You speak very seriously in single sylablles these days......Duh, duh, buh-buh, Mama (only when you are pissed), and Iiiiieeehhhhh! I am trying to be better about walking around and naming objects as we go.



The best part about all this has been watching you grow and progress. It is SO Much fun watching you start to interact with the world. Every day I feel so lucky that you are my son.......I knew having a baby would be special, but I could not have predicted it would be so FUN.

Kyan-You make every day a joy-from the moment I wake up, I look forward to seeing your smiling face. I love you so much.....and although in nostalgic moments I wish you would stop growing, I am very much looking forward to the future and everything that is in store for us.

Love,

Mama

Happy Earth Day!

Hello, my friends-

Happy Earth Day! In honor of Earth Day, please visit www.idealbite.com , which is a website that gives great little tips to help us live in a greener world. I myself just signed up online to reduce the amount of junkmail I get, including credit card offers....Yay!

Now that we are finally in full SPRING mode, I am also drying my laundry on the clothes line outside (which Jon just moved this weekend to an unused part of our deck to make it easier for me to get to). Kyan diapers are drying on the line while simultaneously having poop stains naturally bleached out of them by the sun...Score!

In other news, Jon is apprently bucking for the Husband of the Year Award, because for the last few weeks, he has gotten up at 5am, gone to the gym, come back, gotten a bottle ready for the baby, changed the baby's diaper when he wakes up, feeds him, and on the mornings that Kyan needs it, also bathed him....while I am still sleeping-It has been VERY much appreciated.

Kyan was officially weaned as of Sunday.......My boobs are free! I feel good that we made it to just about 9 months......If work and having to have such a strict schedule hadn't made it so tough, I am fairly certain we could have gotten to a year with no problem.....but, weaning seems to be fine with Kyan-He has been such a distracted nurser the last few months that getting him TO nurse for more than a few seconds at a time was a real challenge.

Kyan is doing great with finger foods...LOVES Cheerios.....whenever he sees that yellow box, his arms flap and he lets out a high pitched shriek-we've been trying to capture the reaciton on video, but Kyan NEVER does it when we try to film it....figures.......He had raisins for the first time yesterday (soaked in water for a bit to soften them up), and LOVES frozen banana.....I think that helps his gums....Still no tooth yet, but the bump on his gums is more pronounced every day.

He goes for his 9 month check up on Monday, so I will be sure to list the stats.....Based on my unscientific method of weighing him by stepping on the scale and then stepping on the scale with Kyan, he is around 22.5 lbs right now......no wonder my arms hurt!

Anyway-Can't remember if I posted this or not, but here is video of Kyan on the swings for the first time last Friday:

Oh, oh, oh...I cannot WAIT!!!!

What gets me throught the day?

As several of my blogging friends have already done this entry from www.crazyhipblogmamas.com , I though I might do it as well......They asked: "What is your saving grace? What get's you throught the day?"

Well, my day starts when Kyan wakes up-And tired as I am (hey, I like my sleep), seeing his smiling face in the morning is better than any cup of coffee. My mornings are spent with him-feeding, dressing, playing, reading.....He goes down for a nap, and then I log in for work by 10am. From 10-12, I am working and praying the baby stays asleep. From 12-2, I am on "lunch break", eating lunch, feeding the baby, playing with him. At 2pm, he goes down for afternoon nap, and I start work again...he naps for maybe an hour, then is up and I try to keep him entertained in his crib with toys while I work until 5pm. Not the ideal situation, but I have yet to find an alternative.
So my day is mostly a series of small leaps-making it from one break to the next so I can play with Kyan. By the time 5pm rolls around, I am ready for Jon to get home, so I can have an adult conversation with someone who doesn;t scream at me for doing exactly what I was asked to do. I value our time together as a family, and nothing makes me happier than seeing Kyan and Jon play together.
SO that is the day to day.....As far as how I keep going.....What gets me through each week is the weekend...2 blissful days of not being glued to my computer..time with the baby...time to get out of the house....time with Jon (although he is usually glued to HIS laptop).
And what keeps me going in general? The knowledge that this won't last forever....Hopefully, in a few years, I won't have to work. I won't feel as frustrated and constantly under the gun, trying to keep my boss happy while keeping a baby happy. I'll be able to have some time to work on something creative...painting, sewing, writing.....and I will be able to cook better and have better meals made for my family. All the stuff I cannot find time for now....SO until the day comes when I DON'T have to work, it's just TRYING to be in the moment with my family-That is what I live for :-)

Lady Killa

Yesterday I decided to let Kyan have at it with the Cheerios box, since very time he sees me pull out the box, he SHRIEKS! and tries to take it from me anyway...so, the video is in 2 parts (my phone only takes 1 minute of video at a time) But as you can hear, I was laughing at how determined he was:
Part Une


Part Deux


We went for a walk on Saturday cause it was GORGEOUS out, so here is one of my new favorite pictures from the outing:

TGIF

Thank God it is Friday-This week has SUCKED, work wise......But, the little guy reminds me there are better things to concentrate on, so I have just been stealing extra hugs from him this week.

Here are some pics:

Grammie Pammie made this "hat" for me....


Hamming it up for the camera:


BIG smiles!


Being a goofball...


Kyan just being....himself :-)


Standing using the crib rail:


Kyan is doing really well with eating, ans continues to perfect his "pincer grasp"....I switched him from Gerber Puffs to Cheerio's, which are at least slightly more nutritious, and he seems to be loving them......Of course, I changed his diaper at a friends house, and had a bowl of cereal from all the cheerios that fell from him as I removed clothing. My kitchen is like a box of Cheerios EXPLODED in it....Thankfully, Scooter seems to like Cheerios as well.

And for something completely unrelated:
The below is "The Last Lecture" by Carnegie Mellon U. Professor Randy Pausch, who is dying of pancreatic cancer. This video has made the rounds on the internet, and this guy has been on Oprah and been interviewed by 20/20, and a book was just published based on his "Last Lecture". This lecture is not the least bit morose, but it IS amazing. While I would like to believe that if I were dying (in the near future), I would live every day to the fullest and have the biggest impact that I could, but the reality might be that the thought of never seeing my beautiful son grow up would haunt me to the end. Be that as it may, I think this lecture is amazing, and I am so impressed and amazed by this smart, funny, charismatic, and courageous man. If you would like find out more about hi, you can visit his CMU web page, where he gives updates: http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/news/index.html

The Sweetest Sound in the World

Kyan has the worlds best laugh...and I feel blessed to have such a happy baby:


I made some roasted cauliflower yesterday, and took the leftovers and proceesed it down so Kyan could eat it.....and he liked it! He's getting to taste lots of different food lately-and I am trying to make at least 1/2 his food....He LOVES apples with cinnamon. I made him a whole bunch of carrots and chicken, and my fallback food is peas and carrots, which he loves. He's even tried Veggie Booty, which he seems to like.



I am thinking teething may be soon (but then, I thought that since he was 2 months old, so what do I know?), so I got him an Amber Teething necklace. I saw one on my friend Melody's site (come to think of it, Mel, the one I ordered Kyan looks awfully similar to Galen's!), and decided to look into it. Amber teething neclaces are not meant to be chewed on. They are meant to be worn next to the skin, and heat from your skin releases trace amounts of oils (which are believed to have analgesic and healing properties) from the amber, which your skin absorbs. I figure it is worth a try-Best case scenario, it does help him through teething, and worse case scenario, it doesn't but still looks super cute on him. In fact, I ordered one for Jon as well (not that he is teething), since he always is complaining that something or another aches, and this should theoretically work on adults as well. You can see the necklace I ordered for Kyan Here, and the one I ordered for Jon here. The website is www.forfinn.com, though there are many online vendors who sell them. The ones made for babies are meant to be long enough to fit comfortably around the neck, without being long enough to be chewed on.
Anyway, here is a pic of Kyan in his necklace:


In other news, my friend Marcie is getting married in June. And guess who is performing the ceremony?? That's right, yours truly is now an ordained Minister of Universal Ministries! The Church of Becky also accepts donations....... :-) Anyway, I am excited to not only be a bridesmaid in the wedding (Jon is a groomsmen), but to have the honor of being the one who will pronounce Marcie and Chad as man and wife.

That is all the news for now!

He can't crawl, but he CAN clap!

My baby can clap!! Yes, I know...it's sad the things ai get excited about......He's not curing cancer or anything....but it's a big deal to me....



And here are some pics from yesterday:






"I wear my sunglasses at night..."


Kyan and Lily had a dance off....


Lily was just blown away by the funny joke Kyan was telling her:

On all Fours!

We're making progress, here.....Yes, it was me who put him on his knees, but when I did that before, his legs shot right back out-Now, he'll actually stay that way for up to 90 seconds....AND, he'll rock back and forth like he IS thinking about it...






Trying to chew his way out of his crib/jail

New Videos

This one is of Ky riding his friend Jojo's toy car.


This is Kyan's latest attempt at crawling:


Kyan is now learning to pick food up to eat it....he been munching on Gerber Graduate Banana Puffs all week-a nutritionally empty food if I ever saw one, but it IS helping him develop his motor skills.

And here is a clip from my newest favorite comedy show: That Mitchell and Webb Look
Behold..."The Green Clarinet of Embarrassing Truths"


And lastly.....My family will again be participating in the Annual "Walk to DeFeat ALS"......As many of you know, my Uncle Bob suffers from this debilitating and terminal disease, for which there is no cure, so this is a cause very close to my heart. While I cannot make it down to PA for the walk myself, I still wanted to post a link so that if anyone has a mind to, they can donate to my family's team, Wolfie's Warriors.
http://www.alsphiladelphia.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=403&srcid=404&frsid=534