Happy 15 Month Birthday!

Today marks the 15th month of the arrival of our little Kai-bug. It honestly seems like it was just yesterday that we were in the hospital with him and now here we are 15 months later - and oh what a joy it has been. Little Kailer has turned into quite the little boy, and a talkative one at that! I'm told often, "Boy he sure has a lot of words for no older then he is." Some examples of the things he says are, "Puppy, airplane (while pointing to the sky), choo-choo, papa, mommy, daddy, please, more, me-me (for banana...I know, I can't figure that one out either), potty, beep-beep, snackie, hot, stuck, baby, book and cookie." He has a handful of words that he signs and will try to imitate every word that is said to him. It's been such an amazing experience to watch him grow into a little boy. It as also been a huge relief for him to know some sign language; it has definitely helped to reduce the level of frustration on both our parts.
One evening we were hanging out in our bedroom and Dan was lying up on he bed and Kailer said "up-pea" (Up Please), so we lifted him up and he played around a bit. When he was getting toward the bottom of the bed, we told him that he needed to come back up or he was going to get stuck. Well, of course he didn't listen and the next thing we knew he was between the foot-board and the mattress...

At first it was kind of fun....

Now, he's had enough!

See Kailer, we told you so! :) "Happy Birthday" to our little monkey - we love you more than you can ever imagine.

Little Green Monster

Where to start? It seems like my blogging life has been washed away by the move and now house projects. Every day seems to bring something new into our life that needs to be done and sadly enough, at the end of the day the last thing I want to do is sit in front of the computer.

Yesterday, however, was a bit out of the norm for us because it literally poured rain from about 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Kailer and I were able to sneak in a trip to the Farmer's Market before the skies opened up, but that was about it. So we came home, put on some comfy clothes and spent the day playing in Kailer's toy room, making a strawberry-rhubarb pie, and really just enjoying each other's company.

By the time Dan got home (I may have forgotten to mention that he is temporarily working day shift Friday-Monday ... which has brought on a whole new element to my "schedule"), Kailer was in full-on hyper mode and we grabbed the camera and got some much needed pictures of the monkey. Our "August" folder of him is looking pretty bleak this year.

Who knew a little green monster with a spatula could be so photogenic?!?
"Uh, it wasn't me!"

"Yes, I know I'm not suppose to stand on the furniture, but c'mon you're the one that keeps taking pictures, DAD!"

Self-portrait?

"You take 1 more picture and you'll see what mad looks like!"

"Biiiite!"

When we left our house in River Rock, we also left a garden that was finally starting to take off, but for a "small fee" (o.k. the price of a new house!) we inherited a small "box garden" that honestly will probably produce more than our bigger garden would have.
So much to our delight, our newest garden is flourishing with cherry tomatoes (one of our favorites!) and often times I'll pick off a few red ones and pop them in my mouth while I'm watering .... one morning we even caught Daddy (as he was coming in from work) popping a few in his mouth.
But, more recently "farmer Kailer" has taken to saying "Biiiiite" (he elongates the /i/ sound when he says "bite") and then pulling tomatoes (red or green) of the vine, putting them in his mouth long enough to break them and release the juices and then he says, "icky" as he's holding it out to me. Needless to say, our harvest is diminishing faster then we had anticipated! :)

Kailer carrying the watering can for Mommy.

He appears as if he's going to be watering, but in truth, I'm pretty sure he's scoping out the biggest juiciest tomato to quickly turn into "mush"!!

Alive - Breathing - Not Extinct!

I'm writing this in hopes that the handful of "faithful readers" haven't given up on me and completely disregarded the fact that we even have a blog any longer. Not having internet for nearly 3 weeks along with buying AND selling a house in that amount of time has made me somewhat of a crazy, exhausted woman! Thankfully life is settling down for us and our house is starting to feel more like a home every day.
Below are a few pictures of Kailer playing in the rocks under his (not yet completed) swing-set. Our lot is a little bigger than 1/2 acre now, so there's plenty of room for us to spread out. Slowly I'll get pictures posted of the house, yard etc.
The first week, or so, of being in this house Kailer was "out of sorts." Every time I'd put him down he'd cry and it broke my heart at times because I knew he was really unsure of where he was. Since then, he's adjusted and has even managed to pretty much master climbing up and down the stairs with toy, blankets, etc.

It seems there's been so much going on with our lives and this move, but I wont bore you with all of the details, but I will try to do a better job of keeping the blog updated.Kailer and his Dad enjoying a summer evening in the backyard.

Fillin' up the 'ol bucket with rocks.

Whatcha think, Mom - should I climb the slide??

"Pop-a Tee" Mystery

As parents, I feel that Dan and I have done a pretty good job of understanding the wants and needs of Kailer's since he's been talking. But for the past 1.5 days we've been struggling to understand what it is that Kailer is trying to get across to us when he says, "Pop-a Tee." He's been saying it in many different context, so we haven't been able to associate it with anything in particular and for the most part he hasn't been frustrated that we weren't understanding him. So I kind of figured that he had learned a couple of new sounds and was just enjoying what it sounded like to him when he said them out loud.
So tonight, after returning a table we borrowed for our yard sale, we were all outside enjoying a summer evening when I said to Dan, "We should be enjoying a popsicle right now." The second I came out with them in my hands it was like a light switch went off in my head, "Pop-a Tee" meant POPSICLE!! Sure enough the second he saw them he was saying, "Pop-a Tee, Pop-a Tee." Needless to say, Kailer was quite happy that we finally figured it out!! :)
In addition to having popsicle breaks during these past few weeks when the weather has been quite hot, we've also been in the process of packing up our house and getting ready to leave our 1st home; it really is bitter-sweet. We've had so much going on in our lives this summer and less than a 2 days before I was scheduled to leave for my week long trip to WY we got a full-price, cash offer on our house and the guy wanted us out in 2 weeks!!! Needless to say, we countered for 3 weeks and thanks to my wonderful husband (who packed religiously while Kailer and I were in WY) we're going to be out in under three weeks. I wouldn't recommend that to anyone, it's a lot of pressure and lately I've felt like we're going in every direction but forward! But we're coming to the end of the packing and I'm looking forward to having a calmer life for awhile; if that's possible?

Kailer helping us pack??

Thank God for this $5 LeapFrog train I picked up at a yard sale a few weeks ago. It's provided Kailer with hours of entertainment so we could get some packing done.