ALL Mommies Love Their Babies!

Whether it's a frog, bird, elk, elephant, kangaroo or human one thing is for sure -- All Mommies LOVE their Babies!! Recently Kailer and I have demonstrated this principle while acting out like animals that we are not.

This first picture is of Mommy and her little "brancher." A brancher is a baby bird that is able to move about, but not yet ready to fly. My little guys is always "on the move" but thankfully is not "flying" yet. In this particular picture, I am feeding my little chick a (gummy) worm that I 'gathered' for him (from the kitchen) to eat ... after all, chicks depend on their mommies for food and nutrients.
[As my disclaimer: I did NOT allow Kailer to eat the worm, but he did enjoy the few seconds that he got to suck on the sugary treat.]

I should also mention that we do not torture Kailer by wrapping in him a blanket so his arms are immobile. It's actually a great technique (known as swaddling) to use when he's fussy and needs to feel secure...and believe it or not he likes it.

Next is mommy with her Joey. Kailer has taken a liking to being attached to me (a.k.a. in my 'pouch') facing outward. These pictures were the first night we tried it and he enjoyed himself enough that we left him in there until he fell asleep! Today we strolled around grocery shopping and at the mall for over an hour with him in the pouch. He loves to look around and his arms are always out waiting to grab onto something that can go into his mouth, of course!

Out like a "Joey"

A Little Boy's Best Friend!

Tonight the Mayland Family was sitting on the couch, watching a little t.v. and enjoying some time with daddy before he went off to work. Dan was playing with Mesa and she barked (which she NEVER does and honestly I don't think we've "let" her do it inside since Kailer was born.) I was holding Kailer at that time and his arms pushed out from his side and I said to Dan, "that scared Kailer." In the past, little sounds like an unexpected sneeze from one of us or the dropping of a plate would literally startle Kailer and scare him to the point crying. But tonight was a whole different story!! Right after I said that I thought Mesa's bark had scared Kailer he started laughing. You must watch the video to appreciate the full-on laugh that he was doing. We have heard him laugh before, while playing peek-a-boo or making faces at him, but tonight was the first time he REALLY laughed!

Enjoy the video - everytime I watch it I laugh too and tear up a bit. The sound of his laughter warms my heart and soul ... our little boy is growing up and has now found his "best friend."

(If you are having trouble viewing the video, "refresh" your page and you should be able to view it.)

Winter Wonderland!

Yesterday morning, after being in a Winter Storm Warning with a "30% chance of snow," we woke up to a foot of snow and cold temperatures!! {Side Note: I often wonder what kind of an education is required to be a meteorologist? Seems that I am just as good at predicting the weather as they are most days.} So we dusted off the snow shovel and Dan got to work on clearing off the driveway. Kailer and I peeked out the window once in awhile and then I decided it was time for our Montana boy to experience snow first hand .... on went the snowsuit and outside went Mom and Kailer. At that point it was still snowing pretty hard and I don't think Kailer quite knew what to think about being out in this cold white stuff that was also quite bright!! Later that day we let him "feel" the snow and put it in his mouth; his reaction was what we expected with a look on his face of "what is this cold stuff?!?"

The look on his face tells me he loves snow just about as much as his mom!

This is suppose to be fun?

Rough and Tuff!

During Kailer's bath on Monday I noticed that my rough and tough little boy has his first bruise....how he got it is beyond me, but he has a bruise on his left shin. Lord knows that anything is possible with this kid; he's a mover and a shaker!! I am holding my breath because I know once he starts crawling we're in B-I-G trouble. :)
This weekend Grandpa Perino decided to come up and visit us for a few days. It was great to see him and for Kailer to get to spend some time with him. Dan is now working nights (for the next 6 months) so we had to try our best to be "quiet" during the day when we were home. Not an easy task with a 5 month old, but we managed. We are always trying to teach Kailer new things (signs, body parts, colors, number ... and the list goes on) but I also see Kailer teaching US things. For example, he has taught me that life from the view of the car seat is not acceptable any longer; dang it he's had the same view for 5 months and he's tired of it! This all translates into "Mom I know you're trying to shop or eat a meal at a restaurant, but really you need to get me out of this car seat, pronto!" He's also taught me the value of drool, after all, everything should be covered in Kailer drool in order for it to be acceptable for anyone. I'm actually beginning to think that he's starting to cut teeth, or at least that's what I'm hoping, or we're really going to have a mess when teeth start to come in.
In an attempt to give Kailer some "tummy time" (which, I believe I've mentioned before he despises) Grandpa and I put him on the floor, got on the floor ourselves and taunted him to "scoot" around by putting toys 'just' out of his reach. As you can see (and hear) in the video he wasn't overly thrilled about it, but he did end up scooting across the living room about 2 feet. Then I look at the video and ask myself, "Why am I pushing this issue?" ... he'll be mobile soon enough!

Kailer in his UW outfit - after this football season, he may want to turn it inside out!

Grandpa and Kailer

As always, when family leaves, it was hard for us to say good-bye. With any luck we'll be able to make a trip to Wyoming in the near future.

Ghosts of Halloween's Past.

Halloween is hands-down my favorite holiday! Who doesn't love the opportunity to "be" somebody they're not for a day? I vividly recall Halloween in the past - from bobbing for apples as a young child (or for potatoes when we were in college ... apparently apples were too expensive?), waltzing through the grade school halls in our costumes, trick-or-treating and winding up at my Uncle Joe and Aunt Lina's house, to one year being so proud of my sister and her friend Melissa for their unique M&M costumes. Halloween has always been a memorable holiday and this year has proven to be the same.
After putting Kailer down for the evening on the 30th Dan and I got out our carving and scraping tools and got elbow deep in pumpkin "goop" (yes that is an "official" Halloween term for the inside of pumpkin). After debating what we would carve into each of our pumpkins (I chose a bat with a pumpkin and Dan chose a spider), we finally decided and got right to work ..... two hours later we were done! The only thing left to do was bake the seed - YUM!!

On the morning of the 31st I hear Kailer waking up and usually it's with a stretch and a whine of "mom come and get me," but on this Fall morning I hear him wake up with a laugh! Not joking. I go to get him and when he sees me he smiles and coos; I am 100% positive that he knows it's Halloween and he's excited as his mother. I had been wanting to put his costume on him for days - okay, maybe more like weeks if you ask Dan - but I have held off until this morning. Dan kept telling me that I was worse than a kid on Christmas morning. That's quite possibly the truth too. Finally, my anticipation has gotten the best of me and I tell Dan that I "must' try on Kailer's costume before we go to the mall this afternoon, in case I needs to "tweak" it in any way.
After getting my little guy dressed, I laugh out loud, he is the cutest little boy I have ever seen on Halloween day!! Now I am super anxious to head to the mall, to meet up with friends, and show off our baby.

We arrived at the mall just in time to meet up with our friends for the start of the Trick-or-Treat parade. There were a TON of kids there and Kailer sat in our arms and took it all in. I think he really enjoyed being out and about and seeing everybody all dressed up! We got home around 6, took more pictures of Kailer and then answered our door for all of the spooky little ghosts and goblins that came for their treats. Finally around 9 p.m. the crowds outside were dwindling down, as was our candy bowl, so we shut off the lights and settled in to watch the new Friday the 13th.

All in all it was a wonderful holiday and I can't wait for next year to make more memories with Kailer. I hope everyone had a very Happy Halloween!!

As Bad As Hot Coffee!!

Yesterday morning while I was juggeling getting Kailer changed/dressed for the day, eating my banana for breakfast and herding the dog around the house I got a phone call from Dan, "You should read the article on Yahoo! about Baby Einstein." Yeah, I ask, why? Needless to say Dan didn't have much more information than "I should read it," and that was enough to strike my curiosity. So I finished getting Kailer dressed, polished off my breakfast, put Mesa in the backyard and anxiously moved to the computer to read this article that involved one of my son's favorite things ---- BABY EINSTEIN!!

Now I don't know how many of you read the article, but apparently there are some parents in this world who feel the need to sue Disney because their children are not "true einsteins" after watching the video series! Yes, you read that right, there are actually people out there who truly believed that if they sat their child down in front of a t.v. for a 25 minute video their child would become a genius. Now that's sad! Honestly, that's as bad as suing McDonalds because their coffee is hot.

Needless to say, Kailer is still watching his videos and I suspect that by the time he's 15 he will have won the Noble Prize and we'll make a special "thank-you" to the Disney company. :)

My Little Genius Reaching For The Stars!!

For the Love of Sweet Potatoes!!

For the past 2-3 weeks we have been introducing Kailer to "solid foods." We started with rice cereal, which was not a big hit and after tasting it myself, I can see why. I then decided to move onto oatmeal, which went down "okay" but still not a huge success. So as a last attempt to see if Kailer was ready for solids, I got him some bananas, sweet potatoes and sweet peas. Needless to say, thus far these have been a hit! We haven't tired the sweet peas yet, but he thoroughly enjoyed the bananas and sweet potatoes. As you can see in the video, he's enjoying them and even helping me with the spoon. We've been wondering for quite some time now if Kailer is going to be a "lefty" and now I really am beginning to wonder since you can see he reaches for my hand with his left hand. I guess we would be okay with that (do we have a choice?), after all there have been eight left-handed presidents, Michelangelo and Raphael were lefties, Babe Ruth can be added to that list along with Bill Gates, Neil Armstrong, and Einstein (Don't forget, Kailer LOVES Baby Einstein. :) ) ... and lets not forget Kailer's Uncle Mark - all of whom have left their imprint on today's world (Yes, Mark, we believe that you have too)! So with time we will know if he needs "special" scissors and more elbow room at the dinner table.

Enjoy the video of our little bald baby enjoying his potatoes. Dan keeps telling him that his "hair is filling in nicely." It cracks me up everytime he says it ... though he is starting to get his hair back. Thank God, too, because daddy seems to think it's my fault he's bald. Good thing he hasn't seen many of my baby pictures or I might have to live up to his claim. Ha! Hey - bald is"in" - right?!?