Guess who

Karsten is going incognito today - we had to take Scott's K-State hat with us to Gail's, then when we were in the car, he spotted the sunglasses and wanted them on as well.

The sunglasses only lasted a few minutes, but he wore the hat into Gail's.

This was on our way home - Gail said he wore the hat for most of the morning and put it back on in the afternoon after his nap.

We're also helping him remember to say "GO CATS" when he has on the purple KSU hat. So glad college football season is almost here!

A cough

Karsten has had a cough and runny nose all week, and it's been getting worse as the week goes on. Since we're going out of town for the weekend, I wanted to get him in to see the doctor before we left to make sure the cough wasn't anything to worry about.

We were able to get an appointment with Karsten's doctor shortly before lunch. We got in as soon as we got there (I LOVE that about our pediatrician!) and once I convinced Karsten that he shouldn't be scared (I think he thought he was getting shots), he was ready to visit the doctor.

She listened to him breathe (although it was hard to get him to stop talking long enough so she could hear), and she thought she heard something in his chest that sounded like pneumonia. She said she wanted to send us over to Children's Mercy to get a chest xray. That was not at all what I was expecting to hear and was a bit scary.

After the doctor finished talking to us, Karsten got to choose a sticker from the nurse. He found a Thomas the Tank Engine sticker in the basket and got very excited. I put the sticker on his shirt and he took off running down the hallway to show everyone his sticker. He stopped several nurses and said 'HEY! Look my Momas ticker'.

Off we went to Children's Mercy to get the chest xray. He showed several more people his 'momas' (aka Thomas) sticker along the way. Thankfully my mom met us at Children's Mercy to keep us company (and bring us snacks!) while we waited for the xray. Plus, since I'm pregnant, I couldn't go in with Karsten to get the xray and they wanted a parent to help him stand still and hold his hands up. I stood outside the xray room and heard him say 'where my mommy go? want my mommy!' So glad my mom was there otherwise he would have been more scared.

We waited for a few minutes for the xrays to be read, then the doctor's office called us to let me know that the xray showed virus markings rather than pneumonia. WHEW - but that also meant we just had to let this darn cough run its course.

The nurses at Children's Mercy were fantastic - Karsten even gave one of the ladies a hug before we left!

We had planned for my mom to pick him up today since we had our 3D ultrasound so we decided Karsten would just go home with her for the afternoon. Karsten said 'Want rock in mama's big chair' - and with that they were off to have a good afternoon because as you can see in the picture below, he was still ready to play despite the cough.

Sneak Peek

We had a 3D sonogram this week that gave us a sneak peek into what this baby is going to look like when he arrives in November. We had a 3D sonogram when I was pregnant with Karsten and were surprised at how much he looked like the sonogram pcs when he was born!

3D sonos are always this orangy color - not sure why. The sono technician told us that the noses are distorted because of how she can turn the images, so don't pay too much attention to his nose!

He was all crunched up in a little ball with his feet and hands way up by his face. He didn't want to move them away from his face so we could get a good shot of his face, but luckily she managed to get a few!

Here is a good view of his face.


Another view of his face. We compared these to Karsten's sonogram and newborn pics and they definetely look a lot alike!


Here is a good shot of his foot - it was likely near his head. :)


A little hand all curled up.


This picture of his face isn't too clear but you can see that his toes are above his head!


We also asked her if she could tell if he had hair. She looked at the back of his head and sure enough, we could see hair!

Can't wait to meet this little guy!

Shades

Karsten loves wearing my sunglasses, so when I found these (fashionable 90's shade of electric blue) sunglasses when I was cleaning and organizing this weekend, I knew they were perfect for Karsten.

When he put them on this morning, Scott and I were laughing at how cute he looked. He said 'Me cute and fun.' Hilarious - no clue where he comes up with these things!

Catching up

Sorry friends - I've been an absentee blogger lately. It's been a bit busy here and I'm woefully behind on blogging.

Now for the excuses: This baby is still making me uber tired all the time so it's not unusual to find me asleep watching tv shortly after Karsten falls asleep. Also, it seems that our house is at 'that age' when lots of things decide to break. So rather than spending my evenings blogging, I've been researching new air conditioners, dishwashers and garage door openers. The good news is that we now have a wealth of knowledge about these topics, so feel free to ask. :) My fingers are crossed that the rule of 3 holds true and nothing else will break!

We're also working on Karsten's new room - hoping for the big unveil sometime in September. Stay tuned!

I'm going to fill in some missing blog posts with the cute things Karsten is doing these days.

More things he says

I recently had a birthday, so Karsten heard people wish me a Happy Birthday several times. He quickly caught on and would say 'Appy bird day mommy'. Then, Scott taught him how to sing Happy Birthday and he now has a favorite new song.

We were getting dinner ready the other night and Karsten climbed into his chair at the table while Scott and I finished getting ready. We looked over and Karsten had his hands together like he was saying grace before dinner; however, this is what we heard 'Appy bird day to you, appy bird day to you, appy bird day dear mommy, appy bird day!'. It was SO hard not to laugh out loud as he was praying/singing because we didn't want to interrupt him. When he got done, he tapped his hand on his chest a few times like he does when he watches me make the sign of the cross after saying grace. Hilarious.

We were driving to Gail's one morning and were talking about his 'daid daid' (aka band aid). He's become quite a big fan of daid daid's and since he's an active little guy, there's never a shortage of bruises or scrapes that could use a band aid. This band aid had a red car and yellow car on it. I said something to the effect of 'wow, aren't you a lucky boy to have TWO cars on your band aid?'. He said 'Yes, and tute (cute).' I laughed and said 'you're lucky AND cute?'. He happily said 'yep!'

We were getting ready to go to my parents house last weekend and Karsten was excited. Madison was running around excited because she heard someone mention the car and was hoping she was invited. Karsten ran up to Madison, took her face in his hands, got really close to her face and said 'puppy, want go to papa and mama's house? excited?' Madison was so excited to go in the car I don't think she minded how close he was.

Picnic

Ever since Karsten turned two, he's been more interested in pretend play. It was as if someone flipped a switch and he started to pretend. It's been great to see his creativity as he comes up with scenarios and ideas.

Lately, he's been using a container to 'make' us applesauce. He'll tell us to be careful because it's too hot so we'll blow on it then we can 'eat' it. He's also made coffee a few times - he usually 'makes' his coffee and tells us its for Gail. Guess he knows that Scott and I are not coffee drinkers.

The other day, Karsten grabbed his quilt and put it on the floor. Then he grabbed the snowman coasters that he's been using as plates and told Scott to sit down and have dinner with him. We told him that was called a picnic and he said "OH! Yes, pinic".

Not sure what they're eating here, but when Karsten finished he said 'mmmm, yummy dinner'. :)

Here he was sharing his dinner with Scott.

Can't wait to see what else he comes up with in the future!

I draaaaaw

We are combining my craft room with Scott's office in order to make room for the baby. When we found this big pad of paper hiding behind a bookshelf, Karsten wanted to draaaaw.

So many colors, which one to start with?

O's are Karsten's favorite thing to draw.

I thought the big paper might be a good way to practice his letters (see the K) - nope, drawing o's and lines were far more interesting. :)

Things He Says

I wanted to share some of the cute and entertaining things Karsten has been saying lately. The picture isn't related but I just thought it was cute. :)

• 'Mommy, no talk my daddy' - he'll say this when Scott and I are talking, usually at dinner. He often follows it up with 'Talk me Mommy".
• At church the other day, there was a guy sitting in front of us that had a huge tattoo on his arm. Karsten saw the guy's arm and said "UH OH MOMMY. That boy BIG boo boo on arm". I said ok and tried to distract him with a toy, but he was intent on making sure we knew. Again he said 'UH OH MOMMY, BOO BOO'. Unfortunately, he doesn't yet have a whisper voice so the guy definitely heard him but didn't react at all - oops! :)
• When Scott walked into Karsten's room this morning to wake him up he said 'Morning Daddy'. I can't think of a better way to start the day!
• He loves to sing 'Happy Birthday' and pretend to blow out a candle at the end of the song.
• When we clean up toys before bed, we sing 'Clean up, clean up, everybody do your share'. He's started to sing along and it sounds something like 'keen up, keen up, budddy chair'.
• He came to the chiropractor with me the other day and you can see the adjustment table from the waiting room (odd, I know...not my favorite thing about that office). Karsten said 'Mommy, what that boy doing?'. I told him he was making the lady feel better. When it was my turn, he said 'Mommy, what that boy doing you. okay?' I told him I was getting all better and he kept asking - my answer obviously wasn't convincing.
• My nuvi will ding when there is traffic information to be aware of. There is a lot of construction going on near our house, so as soon as we get on the highway, the nuvi dings. Karsten says "What that noise Mommy'. I said that means that there are tractors ahead. Not sure why I chose those words, especially 'ahead', but now when he hears the ding he says 'tractors head mommy?'. LOL
• If you tell him he can't do something right now, he'll say "In a mimute?". Hmmm, think we say 'In a minute' a lot? :)

Such fun - I love hearing what he's going to come up with.

New Saying

When Karsten had a stomach bug a few weeks ago, he learned the new phrase "I no feel well". He was reminded of this phrase when I was under the weather at the end of last week with a cold.

While I was getting ready this morning, he said "Mommy, I no feel well." I said "oh no, where does it hurt". I was expecting to hear 'my tummy' or 'my head' or 'my ear'....nope, he said "my toe hurts". After I kissed his toe, he said 'I all better now mommy.'

This afternoon in the car he said 'Mommy, I no feel well". He says it in such a a sad little voice that I instantly worry and try to think what the problem might be. When I asked where it hurt, he said "need big kiss from Grandma". After we called Grandma so she could blow him a kiss, he again proclaimed that he was all better now.

Tonight at dinner, again he said 'I no feel well'. We asked what was wrong and he said 'Need more noon-noles' (aka noodles). LOL we laughed and tried to see if anything hurt, but nope, seems like he just wanted some noodles.

I can't wait to hear what he's going to come up with next. :)

Happy Birthday Elam

Hard to believe that little Elam is already a year old. It seems like it was just my birthday last year and I was on the way to the hospital to meet my birthday twin!

Check out Jen's cool decorations - don't you love the signs, especially the ones on Elam's highchair?

Jen made Elam's cake - I love all of the colors. He wasn't so sure about what to do with the cake, but he eventually dug in and seemed to enjoy it.

A big fistful of cake!

Jen made me a supersize cupcake for my birthday - so sweet of her!

Karsten enjoyed perusing Elam's presents. He was a big fan of this mini four wheeler. He sat on it and quickly figured out how to make it go. It took a lot of negotiating to get him off of Elam's new toy.

Elam was checking out the tractor toy that we got him. Gail got Karsten this tractor for his first birthday and he still plays with it regularly. It's a hit!

Look at that adorable birthday boy!

Yay - they all looked at the camera! What a cute pic!

He's a talker!

Ever since Karsten was a tiny baby we would talk to him - when we were driving in the car I would talk about what I saw around us, I would sing to him, we'd talk about what we were doing when we'd eat, what we saw on a walk, etc. Luckily, Karsten picks up new words very quickly and has a very good vocabulary. We understand most of what he says; however, we still do some translating for others when he chats. :)

Sometimes it seems like he chats non-stop (Scott seems to think he gets this from me - LOL) yet we love to hear all of the funny things he comes up with. I love to hear his little voice.

He also really likes to talk on the phone and he thinks that all phone calls are video calls. I guess that's our fault since we used to do video chats on our phones. Now, if we call someone on our phone, he'll hold objects up to the phone to show the caller. It's too funny.

When we talk on the 'big phone', he HAS to hold it himself. I apologize in advance to any of you who may be on the other end because he often bangs the phone on the table, drops it, or turns it over and over. It can't be a great sounding call from the other end.

Apparently we hold the phone on our sholder like this more than I realized because each time he gets a phone in his hand, he tries to hold it like this.

Talking and looking into the screen on the phone, convinced it's a video chat even though he can't see anyone in there.

Playing with the buttons on the phone while he talks. If we try to reclaim the phone he says 'no Mommy, my phone. Me talk .

Lil Pumpkin's First Quilt

If you've been reading the blog for a while, you probably remember seeing the beautiful quilts that my mom has made Karsten. Now that there's a new baby on the way, she's hard at work to make bedding for the baby's room and somewhere found time to make this beautiful quilt. It's the baby's first quilt! The photograph doesn't really do it justice, the blue and green colors in the quilt are beautiful!

Hat Boy Hat

You might remember that Karsten saw a guy wearing a cowboy hat, and has since wanted a hat boy hat. Gaga thought Karsten 'needed' a hat boy hat as well, so she set out on a mission to find one for him.

The package from Gaga arrived in the mail today and Karsten was excited to open it. Madison was also excited to open it because she smelled that Gaga included M&M's (aka M's) in the box.

I'd say the hat boy hat is a hit - he loves it!

He has some space to grow into the hat, so he'll be able to wear it for a while! Scott and Karsten are looking at some of the other goodies like the little tablet Gaga also included in the box.

Karsten even 'wrote' Gaga a thank you note for the hat boy hat using his new tablet.

He wore the hat boy hat as he played for the rest of the evening!

Having some of the M's that Gaga sent. It's apparently a rule that you eat M's out of the bowl that Gaga sent using a baby spoon. :)

Play-doh

It's been so miserably hot here and unfortunately, Karsten always wants to play outside after dinner. When the daily highs are 105 or even 110, the temp cools down to the upper 90s after dinner. Still not weather for playing outside.

I've never been a big outdoorsy gal (shocker, I know), but being pregnant in this heat has made me dislike being outside even more. I try to go outside as little as possible.

We're playing different games each night to try to keep Karsten's mind off of going outside. Luckily, he has all sorts of fun new toys from his birthday to play with. He's enjoying making stuff with his play-doh. He's getting the hang of the scissors and is a big fan of rolling out the play doh.

Simple pleasures

When I picked Karsten up at Gail's today, I was greeted by Jayden (one of Karsten's friends) showing me his band-aid. Then Karsten walked up, holding his the leg of his shorts up and showed me HIS band-aid. He said 'daid daid on my boo boo mommy'.

Gail explained that one of the boys got a scratch on his leg and wanted a band-aid. When the other boys saw him getting a band-aid, they all wanted one too. Whatever makes them happy! Karsten was thrilled with his band-aid. On the way home he told me about how it was red with a white one car and 'mommy no touch my daid daid'. LOL.

As soon as we got home, Karsten had to show Daddy his daid daid. Cracked us up - he walked around like this holding up his shorts for a while. He even showed Madison his daid daid.