An Easter to Remember

     Spring came and went in about three weeks for us! But we made the most of it and decorated for Easter! Because we live in a country that does not celebrate Easter, we cannot just run out to a Hobby Lobby, Target, or any other store for decorations: SO we had to make our own. Some girl friends came over and we had a craft night.

Kristopher's first Easter basket (I made the chicks and the eggs)

Lexi's Easter basket! The hits of the basket were the doll and slinky

     Now that we are in a new language program we have more control over our class schedule. So, we chose to take the week of Easter off! To celebrate we took a trip to Abu Dhabi, UAE. We are so thankful to have friends who let us crash with them!

     Our weekend started off with a relaxing night of catching up with our friends. KG did not sleep so well that night. Not sure if it was because he does not like sleeping in the same room with us, or if it was his new teeth that were popping through! That's right, my 9 month old baby has 6 teeth! Even though we were running on little sleep we jumped into a full Saturday, complete with a 2 yr. old birthday, an Easter Egg hunt at a local park, and an AMAZING Mexican dinner beside the Gulf! 

Easter photos taken by B. Galloway

     On Easter Sunday we got up early. But let's be real, we had 6 kids under 6 yrs. old in the house, so no sunrise service for us! But we did head out to the beach nice and early. KG was so excited to be able to play in the water. His favorite part was playing in the wet, muddy sand. It was his first time to eat a mud pie! Alexis really enjoyed swimming and playing in the sand. We had a pretty scary moment, however, when she stepped away from the shallow pool were the kids were playing and into a drop off! I am so proud of her because she didn't panic! She was fighting to stay afloat. I think it scared me the most! At the end of the day she told me, "mom, the water was up to my eyes. But daddy saved me! He's my hero!"She was not afraid to get back in the water, either! My tough girl! Hans had some fun too! He jumped off a bridge into the water. So the old saying, "would you jump off a bridge if your friends where doing it?" was brought to life! 

A wonderful morning at the beach

     After the beach (and a quick trip to IKEA because it was on the way back to our friend's house) we enjoyed a lovely Easter brunch. Homemade waffles, out-of-this-world quiche, turkey bacon, fresh watermelon, and peeps were on the menu! It was perfect! 

     We said our good-byes and left to return home for one night's rest and had plans to drive to another city to see more friends. But KG had different plans. A few weeks ago we noticed some sores that kept bleeding. (I am sure you are wondering where these sores are. It's only natural... all I will say is that it is in his diaper region. You can use your imagination. I mean, I know one day it will be my job to embarrass him, but he is too young now. haha)  We took him to his pediatrician to get them checked out. He told us he was unsure and to come back if it kept happening or got worse. Well, on our drive home KG started getting super fussy. We stopped to change his diaper and thats when we saw more blood! It was at this point that we decided that we needed to go back to the Dr. So we spent Easter night in the Urgent Care. And sure enough that Dr had no clue. She was alarmed enough, however, that she requested that we return first thing the next morning to meet with a specialist. Easy for her to say! For us to do this we had to wake up rather early in order to crosses two borders. But of course we did it because we want the best for KG! One Dr lead to another, and today we found ourselves back at the hospital meeting with a surgeon. Basically whats going to happen is that the sores need to be taken care of and we need to figure out the next steps. The big problem is that all the Dr's are concerned that Kristopher has a blood clotting disorder that has allowed the bleeding to last this long. He has signs of anemia because of blood loss... and today he had to give five tubes of blood to be sent away for tests. My little man was so brave, though! We go on Saturday to get results of the blood work, and the surgery is scheduled for Monday morning!

My poor little guy has had a rough day!

      Really, doesn't it seem like we had quite the break from school?! Well, not only was our cake iced, but we got sprinkles too! The past two days we have had bad sand storms! If you looked out our windows you wouldn't think we had neighbors! But if the sand blowing in through all the cracks in our unsealed doors and windows was not enough the heavy rain that followed it last night really made for a fun adventure! We spent until about 1:00 AM trying to stop the leaking muddy water! Life is keeping us on our watch this week. How was your Easter break?

     OH YEA, I forgot! I cut all my hair off! I have wanted to try the pixie cut for years! I finally got the guts. Verdict: I love it!

recap of months 7 & 8

Geez! Yesterday Kristopher turned 9 months! And I have yet to do a post about months 7 and 8... fail. Well, here is a brief recap and some fun pictures of our silly KG.

Growth: I don't really notice much in growth, but I know that he must be growing because he is reaching the final stages of being able to fit into his 6-9 month onesies. He is weighing in about 20 lbs and 27 in.

Sleep: For the most part, KG slept great the past two months. He kept a fairly consistent nap schedule. But the past two weeks have been pretty crazy as he has three teeth coming in up top! Poor guy is so miserable! He gets upset at the pain. He balls his fists and shakes his head! And I guess the pain is what's waking him up so often. Oh, and he is not sleeping because he uses night time to practice his new physical skills...

New Tricks: Yep! He has learned to pull up on pretty much everything! It started with his determination to get toys from Lexi's toy box. He worked at it for a few days, and then he figured it out. Now there is no stopping him! KG has also figured out how to sit up from laying down.
He lifts his chest up and looks like he will do a proper crawl, but then drops back do to belly crawl. Maybe its because he knows its faster? I don't know, but I do know I am ready for him to crawl on his knees because right now the necks of his onesies are being so stretched!
Kristopher also loves to wave at people who wave at him. It's cute. I can't call him a social bee (butterfly is too girly) because he gets shy around new people. He is a mommy's boy. He cries when I leave the the room and watches the door until I return to him.

Eating: He eats EVERYTHING! Sometimes I don't think he even takes the time to taste. Its crazy to watch how much he can eat at one time. He has tried local food that was a little spicy and he loved every bit of it! Also, we found his new favorite food: Oranges! We had to pry the peel out of his hands after he ate the insides and you would have thought we pinched him or something! He was SO upset!
We are still trying to be really careful of how much dairy he consumes. And I am terrified that he is going to find a stray peanut on the floor and put it in his mouth. (Alexis LOVES peanuts and snacks on them. We try to keep her in the kitchen but we have found her smuggling them into the living room.) It's hard learning to adjust to allergies. I have not had peanuts now for 8 months and sometimes its a real challenge not to start chowing down on a pb&j sandwich. We are praying that he outgrows these allergies.

KG in his new swing! Lexi trying to push/pull him

Likes: Kristopher really enjoys being outdoors. Hans hung a baby swing outside beside Alexis' and KG loves swinging beside her. They laugh at each other! Now that he can sit up with confidence we have started letting him take a bath with Alexis in the big bath tub.  He loves to pour water on his head! Bath time is one of his favorite things! He practically leaps out of my arms into the water.
Oh, and he likes to play with doors. He likes to swing them open and closed.

Dislikes: Like I mentioned above, he does not like for me to leave the room. And I am certain that he is not too keen on teething...

Favorite baby item: The Jumpy Swing that hangs in the door frame. He gets so excited to be in it.

He's not sure of puppies... likewise, they see him as a hairless pup and are afraid of him!

Christmas in Thailand

      Christmas of 2012 was an amazing one! We had the chance to go to Thailand to visit with Hans' parents! We had so much fun! Here are a few photos from our trip. Sorry there are so many. We crammed as much as possible in the 10 days we were there. It was also KG's first Christmas! 

Top Left: KG's first Christmas outfit
Top Right: Our Christmas tree at home
Bottom: family Christmas picture

     Here we are on the airplane. I was rather nervous about flying with two kids. It was a little crazy at moments... like when all of our tray tables where loaded with those obnoxious food trays and Lexi decided it was time to go to the bathroom! KG only slept for maybe 10 minutes in the little bassinet, but thankfully he slept for a couple of hours in Hans' arms. Overall, he did great for his first flight. Lexi enjoyed having her own little TV and playing with her little animals on the floor (we had bulkhead seats! A must for kids!) But, poor Alexis really struggled with her ears during landing. My heart broke for her because I couldn't take it away, and she didn't understand what was going on. The airports were a breeze. Its amazing how you get to skip in line when you have kids!

     Our first few days were spent at Grandma and Grandpa's house because we all had the stomach bug. But we really did not mind because Grandma had her house decorated like a Christmas wonderland! Alexis loved playing toys and reading books with Grandpa. We got to catch up on some needed rest and enjoyed playing Phase 10. 

Christmas day was so nice. Alexis was thrilled to see that Santa ate the cookie and drank some Coke! She also loved opening presents. KG mostly just ate the wrapping paper. After opening presents we ate a really yummy feast! 

Christmas Morning

     A few days after Christmas we went to the Sanphran Elephant Ground and Zoo to see crocodiles, monkeys, tigers, and of course ELEPHANTS! And finally I got to cross riding an elephant off of my bucket list. Alexis loved the tigers. I think she would have climbed all over them if we had let her. 

It's a little hard to see in the picture, but Lexi is holding the tiger's tail!

    

     Hans and I went to Bangkok a few years ago to help with Disaster Relief after a cyclone. Traveling the city with little kids, was a bit more adventurous than that time! We had to fight to get all of us on the sky train, and I am sure Grandpa was getting tired of hauling the double stroller up and down several flights of stairs. But he was a good sport! KG loved being around people. He smiled at everyone and made many friends. I am sure there are several Thai women (and an entire Japanese tour group) who have pictures of my kids on their phones! 

Playing baseball in the courtyard

     We loved spending time with Grandma and Grandpa! And I think Grandpa enjoyed having Lexi be an excuse for being able to eat lots of ice cream! Oh course, Lexi did not mind one bit. She loves sweets.  Our time was wonderful! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for letting us stay and make new memories with you!




 I know this is almost two months late! But I'm trying! I want to post a few more to catch-up and then I will go back to posting more recent things :) thanks for your support!

KG is 6 months

Ah! I cannot believe I have gone so long without a post...

So much has happened in the past two months. We have had many adventures. But, I will get to those posts in a few days.  Got to start somewhere, and why not with KG's turning 1/2 a year?

6 months stats:
Height: 27.2 inches
Weight: 17 lbs
Clothes: 6-9month onesies, 9-12 month pants, and 12 month PJs

Our very big baby boy has kind of hit a plateau in his growth. It's a good thing, I guess, since he was growing like crazy for several months.

Sleep:
Finally! We have a schedule. After our little vacation to Thailand (will post about this next) he started taking routine naps and sleeping much better though the night. Also, a big milestone: KG has started sleeping in his own room! We were keeping him in our room, mainly because we could not find the power cord to his baby monitor. Lame excuse? We did not want to spend the $ on another monitor. (those things are already overpriced!) and our walls of made of concrete so I was worried I would not hear him wake up in the night. (this is on top of the fact that I sleep with my good ear buried in a pillow) Also, we kind of liked having him close to us. Not going to lie, however. We are enjoying having our room back again! No more tip-toeing around in the dark at 8 pm!

Eating:
Ok, more truth: because parenting is a learning process. I think I thought that the BLW was a sure-fire method of feeding a baby. But KG gagged his way through many of his "first foods." I don't know if it was because I was offering him the wrong things, or if it was because he was so eager about eating that he was trying to devour everything he could get his hands on! We quickly learned that he was not ready for crackers or bread. I was really discouraged. I really did not want to give him only pureed food, but there were a few times that was the only solution. Then, it clicked! He was so determined to eat that he worked out how to manage food. So far his favorite combo is mashed potatoes and strawberries.
He has backed down on nursing, too. Most days he nurses 5-6 times. We have offered him water and little bits of juice, but he does not seem interested.

Likes:
Playing with his sister's toys, and being silly! KG has the best since of humor; always laughing at the right times :) He is a happy baby and he only really cries when he is hungry. Oh, and he loves being NUDE! In between diaper changes/ wardrobe changes he flashes a huge grin, rolls over as quickly as possible, and starts scooting like his life depended on it!

Dislikes:
He does not like not being included! He gets really flustered if he is left on the floor while others are doing things. Also I don't think he knows he's a baby.
I thought I was going to put shots here, but I took him to get his 6 month shots and cried for a second and then he LAUGHED!

Baby Items we are thankful for:
the BOBA baby carrier. We used it a lot this month! I carried him all over Bangkok in it, and also took him mountain climbing!

Big News:
Crawling! Ok, so it is more like scooting/arm crawling, but he is quick! Gone are the days of being able to place him on the floor while I do a chore. Nope, now we much keep an eagle eye on him at all times! He loves getting into the electrical cords. And of course his new found skills really bother Alexis because now he can get her toys. He is still not sitting up yet. I guess that will come with time?

Firsts:
first time on a plane (he did great!)
first time to Southeast Asia. He now has been to 3 countries
first Christmas
first time on a boat
OH! and his first time "driving" a car! Yes, and a Range Rover at that!

Kristopher Graham,

       The first 6 months of your life have been quite the adventure! Not going to lie, buddy, the first two months were a little overwhelming! You rarely slept, ate pretty much non-stop, and wanted to always be held by only one of your parents. BUT you knew what you wanted and went for it. We admire that about you! You are such a motivated little baby. We love watching you discover new skills! You got so excited when you learned to roll over both ways, and you were giddy when you learned you could scoot! Let's not forget the time you finally got to eat real food; we have never seen a smile so big! Your smile, ah, your sweet smile...you smile with your entire face when you smile! You flash those little white teeth and show that cute little dimple in your cheek! Makes us want to smother you with kisses! You also have the best sense of humor! You love to laugh and seem to always know when to do so. WE love you little buddy! Can't wait to see what the rest of the year has in store! May the adventure continue! 

With so much love,

Mommy and Daddy