Rice Cereal

Karsten got his first taste of rice cereal this weekend and he seems to be a fan! It took a while for him to get the hang of how to eat it, about halfway through his first meal he was doing really well! We'll keep feeding him rice cereal once a day for another week or so then increase it to twice a day!

I'm ready - bring it on!


Wearing quite a bit of the rice cereal - this could be because I'm not so skilled at feeding him yet.


Helping out with his own spoon.


All done - ready to be cleaned up

Woo hoo - rice cereal is yummy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We enjoyed spending time with family and being thankful for all of our many blessings. Karsten had a wonderful first Thanksgiving - as I'm posting these pictures, I noticed that I didn't get a family picture of Scott, Karsten and I. Oops! I will make sure I get one of those at Christmas! :)

Karsten is chewing on his sock in this picture - because he just had his foot in his mouth. It's one of his new favorite tricks.


Karsten's friend the monkey. They're almost the same height.


Grandma talking to Karsten. Note the pumpkin and pecan pies in the background...YUM!

Karsten playing on one of Grandma's quilts. He loved looking at the bright colors.

Grandma and Karsten on his first Thanksgiving.

Karsten and I.


Grandpa and Karsten playing on the floor. Madison thought that Grandpa was on the floor to play with her.

A TOOTH!

Karsten's first tooth came in over the weekend! It's not all the way in but it's definetely broken through! He was a little crabby toward the end of last week, but nothing too bad - hopefully we will have the same luck with the rest of his teeth.

No pictures of his tooth - it hard enough to sneak a peek without a camera involved! When you put your fingers in his mouth he thinks they are a fun chew toy.

First Haircut

Today was a big day for Karsten - it's his five month birthday AND his first haircut. There has been quite the debate for some time now about getting his haircut. The rational side of me knows that he needed to have his hair cut so it wouldn't be in his eyes, but the mom side of me said 'he's just a baby, he doesn't need a haircut and lose that baby look'.

Finally his hair was in his face so much I couldn't argue anymore. Luckily my former hair stylist Stephanie had an opening and was able to cut his hair. As a supermom of four I knew she would do a great job and I trusted her completely!

Hanging out in the chair waiting to begin.


Stephanie cutting his hair. Scott wore a cape and held Karsten.

Taking a break from the haircut - he started to get a little crabby.

Holding still is hard work - plus he was getting sleepy.

Big smiles for Stephanie!

Stephanie and Karsten

The final product. Just a trim - he still looks like a baby, not a big boy.

What we know now - Month 4 and 5

I enjoyed putting together the lessons learned lists for months 1-3, so we're going to keep it going. Month 4 obviously got away from me, so I'm combining months four and five.

*Those belts on swings and bouncy seats are for four month olds, not one month olds. Karsten is learning to arch his back and almost get out of the seats!

*When one of us has a stuffy nose, it's inevitable that the other two will get it.


*When your baby can roll from back to front, it's time to stop swaddling him.

*When you stop swaddling him, he will wake up earlier on the weekend. No more sleeping until 9am for us!

*If you put him down while he's awake, he WILL fall asleep! Karsten sometimes cries for a minute or babbles to himself, but then he rolls onto his tummy and is sound asleep.

*Be careful when you let him chew on your fingers after his first tooth comes in - it is sharp!

*Coordinating our calendars is very important - making sure if one of us has an evening activity the other one can pick up Karsten.

*It's okay to take him to the doctor for a cough, even though she says it's just a cold. It made us feel better.

*Holidays (Halloween, Thanksgiving, and soon Christmas) have new joy as we look at it through Karsten's eyes. Everything is new and exciting to him!

*There's still never enough time in the day to get everything done. There's always an unfolded basket of laundry - but it's way more fun to spend time with Karsten.

*Teamwork continues to be so important - it helps us get things done around the house, get work done, get out the door in the mornings, etc.

*Who knew our dishwasher really could run every day. It never did before we had Karsten!

*Babies R Us is no longer a scary place to go - it's a fun destination!

*Time passes way too fast - how is it possible that he was just a tiny baby and how he's so much bigger.

K-State Football

Fall means college football, so we are watching K-State play Nebraska tonight. You may remember last week Karsten wore his Nebraska shirt. Not today - it's all K-State!

Scott and Karsten were playing on the floor then laid back to watch the game a bit - before we knew it Karsten was OUT! I guess he was worn out from all that fresh air at the park today!

A walk in the park

We lucked out with another beautiful fall day. Kelli, David and the boys were coming to town for Kenna to take their family pictures so they stopped by for lunch. Since it was so nice outside we decided to tag along and walk in the park. I'm so glad we did - it was a beautiful day. I think they got some great pictures!

Karsten and Aunt Kelli


Love Trent's toothy grin!


The rocks in our backyard provide endless climbing fun for Taylor


Taylor and David posing - practicing their moves for Kenna


What a beautiful family!



These stones in the lake were so fun for the boys to play on. It made everyone a bit nervous - one slip and in the lake they would go!


Karsten riding along enjoying the view


Sportin' his hat from auntie Jenn

Karsten was getting antsy in his stroller so we took a short break on this bench.

Kenna hard at work - I think that's going to be an adorable pic of brotherly love!

On another break from the stroller - this time at a playground. Soon enough Karsten, soon enough.

Such a happy little guy - he's all smiles.

It was getting a bit chilly so we got bundled up.

David holding Karsten for the first time. Karsten couldn't take his eyes off him!

I'm Stuffed!

Thanksgiving is coming and Karsten hopes everyone has a great holiday!

Jumperoo

Karsten has such a great time in the exersaucer at Mrs. Gail's, we decided it was time to get out his Jumperoo. After a lengthy assembly process he got to try it out and he has so much fun! He watches all of the toys until he gets his hands coordinated to grab it.

Construction time...

Go Huskers or Go Cats?

All of my extended family lives in Nebraska, so Karsten received plenty of Nebraska gear when he was born. He's always happy to support the Huskers when the Wildcats are not playing.

My parents went to the KU-Nebraska game on Saturday so Karsten gave in and sported his Nebraska attire. K-Stat was also playing that morning so he had to support them as well - thus the K-State bib.

Gobble Gobble Burb cloth

Check out the adorable burb cloth my mom made Karsten. It's almost too cute to use!

I still can't get all of my pictures to show up rotated correctly.