Walkin'

It's been so nice here lately, we had to get out and enjoy the evening. For me to say that you KNOW it must be nice...I am definetely NOT an outdoor person. It was cool enough that I thought Karsten should wear a hat - plus I know he would look adorable for pictures. :)

We made it all the way around the neighborhood and Karsten enjoyed the ride. Now that he's a little bit bigger we sat the back of his stroller up a bit so he wasn't just staring at the sky, he could look around a bit. He seemed to like this much better.

How cute am I in this hat Kenna gave me?


I caught the end of a smile here

Chilin' in the stroller

Madison loves taking walks

Hat hair!

Swaddling is important

We put Kasten to bed last night in a lil sleeper with feet because we didn't want to wake him to change him into a onesie so we could swaddle him (he gets hot easily so a onesie is perfect with the swaddle). We thought it would be a good test to see if he still needs to be swaddled. At 3:45am this morning we had our answer when he woke up crying. Typically Karsten sleeps at least from 12 to 6. I think we willl continue the swaddling for the forseeable future. :)

Check out the onesie Scott changed him int at 3:45am - appropriate huh. (It says Night and has a pic of an owl).

Busy Day

Today Karsten and I had a busy day. We went to lunch with Liz and Jill, then we went to the Sprint store to get a new phone since I accidently washed mine in the washing machine, we stopped at Sonic for happy hour, then later in the day we went over to Chuck and Shannons for dinner since Scott had back to school night.



This one cracks me up

Guy time with grandpa

Checking out the toys on the swing with grandma

Smiling at theadorable monkey shannon got him

Overalls

What is about a baby in overalls that's just so darn cute? They just look like little people, which I love.

Check out the patches on his knees - cause obviously he needs reinforcement there lol


Grandma showing Karsten how to stick out his tongue

We're still learning

I started this post around Karsten's 2 month birthday but never went back to it....oops!

We had fun putting together the list of what we learned during Karsten's first month, so I think we'll make it a monthly tradition.

I still can't believe he was born two months ago. A couple with a small baby sat next to us at church on Sunday. I chatted with the woman and we each asked how old our babies were. She seemed surprised that Karsten was only two months old and I was shocked that her baby was 5 weeks old. Was Karsten really that small only 3 weeks ago - how is it possible that he grew and changed so much in just one month?

*Karsten sleeps better at night if he is swaddled - the official pajamas are a white onesie so he doesn't get too hot in the swaddle.

*We are very thankful Karsten sleeps 6-7 hours at night.

*Taking a road trip with a baby is possible; however, it requires packing up your ENTIRE house. Did we use most of what I packed? Nope, but at least we had it.

*Putting a bib on him before putting him in the carseat makes cleaning up spitup much easier.

*Always have a bottle ready in the diaper bag. Its tricky but its possible to walk aound Target or a grocery store feeding him a bottle.

*Moving a bouncy seat to our bedroom makes it a LOT easier for me to get ready in the morning (or afternoon, whenever I get around to showering).

*You can give apple juice to a consipated baby. Poor lil guy.

*Be thankful for each family and friend that gets to meet Karsten.

*We're getting to know him better and anticipate what he needs.

*Just when I'm starting to get the hang of being a mom, my maternity leave is drawing to an end. :(

*Friends reruns are still awesome! We watch them every day.

*Having lunch with friends and playing at Grandma's house makes the days fun for us while Scott is at work.

*Karsten HATES to have his nose suctioned out when he has a stuffy nose. Can't say I would enjoy it too much either!

*Singing and talking to Karsten in the car can make him stop crying. So can the lil yellow lion hanging from his carrier.

2 months old!

Karsten went for his two month checkup yesterday. He now weighs 13lbs which is in the 85th percentile! Any problems he had gaining weight are definetely in our past! This would explain why it seems like his carseat is getting heavier! He also got two inches taller and is now 23 inches tall which is in the 50th percentile.

He got shots at this appointment - he was a little trooper and only screamed for a minute or so after he got the shots. The nurse did them so quickly I was able to pick him up and calm him down right away. As a reward for his bravery he got two Bugs Bunny band-aids. He's showing them off in this picture.

Jacks!

The wife of one of Scott's coworkers made this beautiful quilt for Karsten. The pattern is called jacks. I love the polka dot background fabric and all of the bright colors of the jacks. We are going to have fun using this quilt to help Karsten learn his colors.

Thanks Marva and Chet - we will cherish the quilt always!

Be Thankful

Last week was a tragic week of losses. It all reminded me that we need to be thankful for everyday with our friends and family becuase you never know what tomorrow holds.

My great uncle Bill passed away last week. He was 89 and had had a great, long life. He was a kind, generous man who will be greatly missed by our family and his friends.

Last week I learned that a friend I went to elementary school, junior high and high school with, Jared Pearce, passed away unexpectedly. I had lost touch with him over the years and heard of his passing via Facebook. Such a tragic loss - he had a whole life ahead of him. For it to be cut unexpectedly short is not fair. My thoughts and prayers are with his wife and family. He was a great guy and will be missed by so many.

If you live in KC, you probably saw on the news that Tom Murphy from Sprint passed away when a boulder fell on his car during their family trip to Colorado. I remember meeting him at several KC IABC events, he was always so kind and willing to help others in the industry. What a tragic loss for his friends and family.

Take time today and be thankful for your friends and family.

Karsten Rocks

When I was pregnant, my friend Karla gave me a "Boy Moms Rock" necklace which I love. She said this adorable onesie would be the perfect complement to my neckace - I have to agree, it's too cute. I was going to get a picture of him and I together but spitup required a wardrobe change for Karsten - that picture will have to wait until next time.

Sing Butterfly Sing

Karsten is starting to notice more of the toys on his playgym. Tonight we put him in the playgym and he was able to hit the butterfly to make it sing! We like to think he realizes that tapping the butterfly makes it sing - who knows if that's true yet. :)

Karsten Baptism Weekend - Part 2

The baptism was after the 4:30pm mass, as usual Karsten did a great job during Church. He had a bottle and was napping until Shannon and I changed him into his baptism outfit. Wearing the outfit to church just seemed like asking for spitup or a diaper failure to happen before the baptism.

We lucked out and were the only baptism that evening so we had the church to ourselves. Father Pflumm did the baptism - it was very nice. Karsten decided he had been quiet long enough and cried for a while during his baptism, except when water was poured on his head, he seemed to enjoy that part.

After baptism, Chuck and Shannon hosted a BBQ at their house. It was nice to have everyone together and get a chance to chat with everyone and for everyone to spend some time with Karsten.

I'm realizing I should have posted these as the bigger size....sorry bout that.

During the baptism.

Scott and I and the godparents all touching Karsten as he is baptized.

Scott and I with Karsten - he wasn't too happy during the baptism but perked up a bit for pictures. That's my boy! :)

Jen, David and Eden with us

Gaga with us

Kevin and Melissa with us (cute pose huh!)

Both sets of grandparents with us

Father Pflumm and us

Kevin and Nancy (godparents), Father Pflumm and Kelli and David (godparents) with us.

Not sure what I found so funny in this picture, but I love how Karsten is looking at Scott.

Karsten's Baptism Weekend - Part 1

I've been the absentee blogger lately - I have a ton of pictures to post and am a bit overwhelmed at the prospect of catching up. :) I think I'll start with this weekend and work my way backwards.

This weekend we had Karsten's Baptism. We had lots of family and friends in town to help us celebrate this special day - thank you to all of you who were here, we really appreciate it!

The festivities started on Friday night when Gaga, Kevin, Nancy and Michael got into town. Karsten was sporting his Nebraska gear and his "Someone in Nebraska Loves Me" bib in honor of their visit. Scott will quickly remind you that Karsten didn't even make it to dinner time in his Nebraska onesie before he spit up on it - he takes that as an editorial comment from Karsten about Nebraska football. :) He looked pretty cute in red, and his lil jeans were adorable.

Karsten and Gaga (his great grandma) meeting for the first time. This is a rare shot because it was challenging to get her to look at the camera rather than Karsten!

Turn your head to the side for this one - darn blogger. Karsten is enjoying the swing at Grandma and Granpa's house.

Karsten and great aunt Nancy.

Karsten and Gaga chattin'

Grandpa proudly admiring Karsten's Nebraska gear.

Peas on Earth

On one of the hot days we had recently, Karsten decided it was time to try out one of his new outfits that had a matching hat to keep the sun out of his eyes. He looked adorable in the hat - you could tell he wasn't used to having something on his head because his eyes went crossed as he tried to look at the brim of the hat. He didn't wear the hat too long, we'll have to work up to that. :)

Happy Birthday to Me!

I had a wonderful first birthday as a mom. The day started with Karsten and Scott bringing me a pancake breakfast in bed and flowers and cards. Then we all had a leisurely day together relaxing and hanging out. We ran a couple errands then we took Karsten to his grandparents house for the evening. We met Jen and David for dinner at Blanc then went to see Julie and Julia. Dinner was yummy - I had been totally craving their sweet potato fries and they didn't disappoint!

My flowers and wonderful cards

Scott always has to touch the water - these fountains at Town Center were too cool for him to resist.

We had gelato while we waited for our movie to start. There is this great little courtyard outside the gelato place.


Jen and David


Jen and I in front of the cool fountains

Meeting Friends

Colleen and Matt came over tonight to meet Karsten. They were on summer vacation when he was born and this was the first time we were able to get our schedules to agree. It was great to see them and catch up - it had been far too long! They also brought us some yummy custard - a perfect finish to a great visit!