First overnight visit=Date night for mom and dad!

Karsen has his first overnight visit without mom or dad around and I think he loved it! My parents agreed to take Karsen for the evening and overnight, so Bruce and I could enjoy a slice of life as it was before Karsen. Grandma got some great pictures with Karsen.

Here Karsen is enjoying some dinner! Clearly he was annoyed they were interrupting his meal for a picture.

This kid always has his mouth on these rings. We have a set at our house, and thank goodness Grandma has a set too!

The weather was crazy nice that afternoon, so they went on a walk!

Again, always has something in his mouth. 

Sometimes, plastic lids are more fun than all those fancy toys!

Taking a nap on the floor while grandma decorates the Christmas tree. 

Bruce and I spent the first part of our "single" life at a movie. We havent done that in quite some time (mainly because I hate going to movies...people are too loud and stuff) but we went to see Mockingjay Part 1 and it was REAL good!!! We then came home and Bruce made dinner while I sat and watched. Haha. Trust me, that was quite relaxing! Look at how fancy Bruce got!! He made scallops, swordfish (yum!!), mushrooms and asparagus. It was super tasty!!!

We both went to bed at 9p and probably got the best nights sleep either one of us have had in quite some time. The next morning we woke up, headed to breakfast and then back to my parents house to pick up the little guy. It was so nice to have a small break but I sure did miss the kid!!

MB

Growing up

Karsen had his 6 month appointment on Monday and it was an exciting time. Of course he got his normal shots, but we also had a few good conversations with the pediatrician. I had two big questions I needed to ask before we left. 1) Can we start solid foods? (spoiler alert...we already started BUT I wanted to really make sure it was ok...basically I wanted to hear what she had to say) and 2) I dont mind him waking up once per night...scratch that...I DO mind, but I know it could be worse...BUUUUT should he be waking? Shouldnt he kind of be sleeping by now?

The answer to my first question is what I expected to hear...the fact I was feeding him finger foods was probably no good and I should smash up the food before he feeds himself. Eh...thats kind of the answer I wanted to hear, but kind of not. Oh well. I still prepare the sticks of veg as normal, but I do smash them a little so they might be easier to eat. I DO NOT ever feed him myself and he doesnt get purees.

Question 2. Yes he should be sleeping through the night...is what she said. She said "He is a very healthy boy and he most certainty does not need to be eating in the middle of the night." She said "If you are comfortable with it, he needs to learn to self soothe otherwise you will be getting up with him until he is 5+ years old." YIKES! No thank you! But I am hopeful we all know what "self soothe" means...yea...Cry it Out. Ugh. I wanted to avoid CIO like the plague, but if it needs to be done...better now than later. Right now he isnt too mobile so he cant stand up in the crib and scream. Ugh.

Let's focus on question 2. I REAAAAALLY didnt want to do CIO but I just knew it had to happen so I annoyed my friend Lauren, all evening Monday night in preparation for the night ahead of us. I even did some research on my own so I could be mentally prepared for this switch. Even though it was Bruce's night to get up with Karsen, I knew there was no way I could sleep through it so I would be there with him through it all. To our surprise, Karsen slept from 8:30p until 6:30a the next morning. SAY WHAAAAAT?! We were both shocked. Did Karsen hear us talking about and decide it wasnt for him...so he just slept the whole night?! No no certainly not. We were convinced it was because of the shots he got earlier that day at his appointment. No way this would happen two nights in a row. Tuesday night comes and goes and sure enough...he slept from 8:30p-5:30a...but ooooh, 5:30a was really early, and technically that was only 9 hours. Doc said he should be getting between 10-12 so Bruce said "just let him figure it out." Sure enough, 20 minutes of tossing and turning and the kid put himself back to sleep until 7a! WHAT. IS. HAPPENING?! Night number 3...certainly we cant get lucky enough for this to happen on its own 3 nights in a row, but sure enough, we put him down at 7:45p last night, and he woke at 6:15a this morning. Bruce and I are not holding our breaths...we are SURE this cant last forever. I am hopeful it is a new trend, but I cant believe we might get off this easy. I have told my kids at school to pray for us...as well as some of the teachers. Haha. Anything to avoid the CIO method is ok by me...but I am sure we will have to deal with it at some point.

The good news though?! He still has those lovable cheeks!!

Until next time!

MB

6 months!!!

If you are friends with me on Facebook or Instagram, you know I have been hitting the pictures pretty hard lately. Oops. This kid is just so happy and smiley...how do I not share?!

Today, Karsen turns 6 months old. It seriously feels like yesterday that I was in the hospital with him telling him all about this older fur brothers, and his grandparents. Now he is talking (cooing, humming), rolling over, sitting up, starting finger foods and laughing up a storm! Below are some pictures over the last few weeks.

Over the weekend of Nov 21-23, we packed up the CRV with Karsen and the pups, and headed to Little River for another visit with Grammy and Papa! It is so hard to believe that the last time we were there, Karsen was just getting good at tummy time, and now he was sitting up and loving life! Karsen spent a lot of time hanging out on the floor and playing with his toys. He was fairly annoyed that I was bothering him to take pictures. Haha.

He loved hanging on Papa's belly for some of the trip too!

On Saturday afternoon, we made the trip over to McPherson to have dinner with Aunt Jeanie, Uncle Dave, Cousin Missy, and her son Owen. Karsen had a great time and it was clear that Owen enjoyed playing with Karsen. As you can see from the picture, Karsen has more than his fair share of toys to keep him busy. 

This last picture I HAD to take to show how exhausted Karsen was from the fun weekend! He slept the entire drive home (3.5 hours) and hardly made a peep. He had a great time from the weekend!

On Sunday, November 23, we started Karsen on solid finger foods! We decided to skip the purees and oatmeal and dive right in to solids. Of course, Karsen has no teeth, so we are starting with veggies that are steamed so they are super soft and he can gum them. So far, he has swallowed none of it, but he is having fun trying out the new textures and flavors. Below are some pictures from the first couple of sittings. We are only feeding solids in the evening, but soon we will add a breakfast sitting. We started with carrots, but now he has had sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and some turkey!

Karsen got sick about a month after the first time he came down with a bad cold. Luckily, the cold wasnt as intense as the last time, but we still had to get to the pediatrician office for some help clearly his nose and lungs. This time, we were sent home with a nebulizer to give treatments at home. Ugh. Such a pain. Luckily, we are just giving them to him as needed (which is usually right before bed) and because of the loud noise it makes, he tends to fall right to sleep. I guess it soothes him!

Now that Karsen is able to sit up on his own, we went grocery shopping and decided to leave the carseat in the car. He sat up in the cart with a little assistance from my coat. We just wanted to make sure he was good and wedged in there. The second grocery trip didnt require that kind of help! He is growing up!

This is just a picture of my happy dude! Clearly I was doing something too funny because he was just giggling and laughing so hard. I love that toothless grin!

Karsen had a blast celebrating his first Thanksgiving! He got to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa playing on the floor and he was eating up all the attention! He also got to experience more than just carrots. We sat him at the table and he "ate" sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and some turkey! Of course he swallowed none of it but he enjoyed sucking on them and getting a feel for their flavor. 

This last picture pretty much sums up the excitement of the day. He was passed out after everyone left for the day. 

Whew. Picutre overload. Maybe if I wrote a post more often than once a month, there wouldn't be SO many in one post. 

I am so excited Christmas is right around the corner! It should be a fun time with the little man. 

Finally, here is Karsen's 6 month picture! His shirt says "off to Grandma's" because he is headed to Grandma and Grandpa's for his FIRST overnight visit!! Yahoo!!!

MB

Creeping up on a half year old!! Woot!

Almost 6 months old!! I. CANT. BELIEVE. IT!!!! The closer we are getting to 6 months, the more research I am doing to begin BLW (baby led weaning). I am getting so excited I can hardly stand it. This method of introducing solid foods really focuses on the baby feeding themselves solid finger size foods. A lot of the foods are steamed or baked so they are very soft but still able to be picked up. Obviously the kid doesnt have a single pearly white, so the soft texture will be to his advantage. I was hoping to actually start BLW this week but Karsen had another breathing episode this last weekend that prevented us from getting started. Almost one month to the day and he got sick again...coughing, runny nose, and struggling to breathe. Luckily this time we were a little more experienced so we took him to the pediatrician and they sucked his nose, and gave him a breathing treatment of Albuterol. His numbers improved drastically after the breathing treatment but as his chest would become more stuffy, he would struggle some more, so we were sent home with a nebulizer and a prescription for Albuterol. In the beginning, we gave breathing treatments every 4 hours and then as we noticed he was getting better, we could spread out the treatments. Now we are giving him a treatment once in the morning and once before bed. Soon, we will be able to stop all together...until he gets sick again. At least if he gets sick again, we have all of the tools to prevent it from getting REAL bad like it has here in the most recent past.

This weekend we are heading to Little River to visit Grammy and Papa. It should be a good time! I know Karsen always enjoys seeing them!

Here are some pictures we have taken of the little guy! I do still love those cheeks!

He has started giving me the "why are you interrupting me, mom?" look...

He loves playing around with dad!

And he is always chomping on those hands!

Too focused on the TV...

This picture was sent from our daycare lady, Chris. She has been SO AWESOME with Karsen and it has been a fantastic experience. She is the best!! 

Karsen update

Just some pictures of our little guy! It is so exciting now that he is sitting up all on his own! After we get home from daycare for the evening, we feed him and then prop him up on a blanket on the floor and he just sits there and plays with his toys for quite a while. I am thinking I will start him on solid finger foods next week. I cant believe he is old enough for me to even talk about this...

One side note about this Pooh onsie...this was Bruce's onsie from when he was a baby! It is blue velour and Karsen fit into it perfectly!

23 weeks

I didnt know what else to title this post, so I just figured I would use the number of weeks Karsen has been on this Earth! I seriously dont refer to him as "23 weeks" when people ask because I am fairly certain I would get a harsh eye roll if I said it...otherwise someone would be thinking hard about how old 23 weeks is...

We have finally gotten back to a semi-normal schedule since Karsen hit the growth spurt at 3.5 months, then spent that time in the hospital. Ugh. It took us FOR-EV-ER to get back to waking just one time per night. Thank goodness it is back because I was seriously so freakin tired! Of course, just as I get so excited...Karsen decides to wake twice last night for middle of the night feedings. Oh well...for now, I dont mind it because it is just once in the last few weeks...but if he starts this up again full time, I will be one unhappy lady...

Karsen celebrated his first Halloween on Friday!!! It was a good time, but I have to be honest, one of my least favorite days. Thank goodness for a friend who had a costume her son wore last year...otherwise, Karsen would have had NO costume. I wasnt too motivated to find him something. Luckily, Ive already got a costume for him for next year...also, from a friend. My mom went to pick him up from daycare on Friday afternoon, and she brought him to school so I could show him off. He was a big hit! After Bruce got home from work that day, we headed out for a nice long dinner away from the house, to avoid the trick-or-treaters. Maybe next year I will be in the mood to pass out candy, but not yet this year. After dinner, we ran across the street real quick to show the neighbors and she took a family picture of us while we were there. He was such a cute cow!

Karsen got to attend his first wedding last weekend! He did a great job during the ceremony but it was clear that the reception was his least favorite. More than anything, I could tell he was just so overwhelmed with all of the activity and noise. We spent about 30 minutes in the reception, then Bruce and I took turns with him out in the commons area of the hotel. Poor little dude. Oh well. It was fun dressing him up in a button down shirt. He looked real sharp!...without looking too overdressed.

Karsen has also started doing a much better job of sitting up on his own. The best is to see him start to tip over but he has learned to kind of catch himself! It is exciting times!!

Earlier this week we moved the straps up in his carseat and now they are high enough where the infant insert can be removed!!! He looks like such a big baby in the carseat now. It is hard to believe we started here and are now to this point!

Karsen really enjoys hanging out in the Bumbo in the mornings while Bruce and I pack our lunches and have breakfast. He is such a happy, smiley baby in the morning!!