Week Eighteen - Four Months Old!

What a week in the life of Kai.  On Saturday he turned four months old!  Where has the time gone?  We celebrated his "birthday" with a first feeding of rice cereal (yum!), and his first front-facing walk in the stroller.  As you'll see in the pictures, I'm not sure how impressed he was with either one! 

I have felt especially blessed this week, as I know that at this stage many moms have to go back to work, but I get to stay home and be a full-time mom to Kai.  Every day I am more and more thankful that I am able to be here with him to share in all of his changes and growth.  I wouldn't miss it for the world, and I'm so grateful for Bryon's support in allowing me to do this.

I'm also feeling very blessed to have such a great baby.  Recently, it seems like everywhere we go people ask, "Is he always this good?", and the answer is "Yes, he usually is".  So, we are blessed with a cute, fun, well-behaved baby, and lots of time to spend with him.

Bryon giving Kai his first taste of rice cereal.  Hmm, not too sure what to think!

He's getting the hang of it, and apparently thinks he can now feed himself.

But, his fingers still taste better.

"All done.  Time to wipe off my face." :)

Getting ready to go out for a walk, facing forward for the first time!

 

Valentine's Day

Bryon surprised me with a fun Valentine's date on Sunday afternoon.  We went to a beach park near Sandpoint, roasted marshmallows over a fire, made smores, improvised various games with marshmallows (eg. marshmallow/beachwood baseball), and drank hot cocoa.  Then we returned to town and enjoyed some yummy sushi for dinner.  It felt just like one of the dates we used to take during college and I loved it!  Thanks Bryon.

Week Seventeen

Week seventeen of Kai's life was full of fun.  Gramma and Papa Budensiek came to visit for the weekend, which meant that Bryon and I got to go out and celebrate Valentine's day and go skiing while Kai got to enjoy some special Gramma and Papa time!  And, to top off the fun he had with his grandparents, Kai decided he was going to end the week by starting to roll from back to front.  He's been rolling from his belly to his back since November, but never the other way.  Maybe the Olympics inspired him.  The question is...is he rolling for the Canadian or the American team?

His Valentine's bib from Grandpa and Grandma Gamache.

Week Sixteen - Reading Time

When I was little, my dad used to come home every day for lunch.  After he was finished eating, he would read me a Bible story as I sat on his lap.  Since Bryon is able to come home each day for lunch as well, he has continued this tradition with Kai, reading him a Bible story from his baby Bible and often following with some Shel Silverstein poetry.  How perfect. 

Week Fifteen - Mr. Houdini

Kai is our little "Houdini Swaddle Master".  Since birth he has loved being swaddled, and will not sleep peacefully unless swaddled.  However, he has an uncanny ability to escape any swaddle we put him in.  Even experienced moms and grandmas can not swaddle him tight enough.  All of this has created great frustration in our lives.  Kai is a great sleeper and since he was just a few weeks old he has been sleeping through the night pretty consistently, but if he manages to escape his swaddle, he wakes up (thankfully once reswaddled, he goes right back to sleep again).  Thus, we dubbed him "our little Houdini".  Finally, after weeks of frustration, Bryon and I decided something must be done.  So, after some swaddle research we bought the "Miracle Blanket".  It truly was rather miraculous, for a couple of weeks anyways.  However, Kai has now mastered even the Miracle Blanket and I'm not sure what we're going to do next!  Let's hope he gains enough muscle control soon to not require swaddling!

The only other big news this week is that Kai had his first haircut.  We decided it was more than time to do away with the comb-over. :)

Getting ready to enter the Miracle Blanket.

"Guido the Burrito", all swaddled and ready for bed.

FIRST HAIRCUT!!

 Before

After

Week Fourteen

Has it really only been fourteen weeks since our little guy was born?!  Bryon and I were commenting just the other day that this has been one of the most eventful years in our lives so far.  It seems that every week has brought something new...sometimes sad, sometimes hard and often times exciting...into our lives.  It's hard to believe that a year ago we didn't even know that we were going to be parents, or have a new job, or be looking for our first home, and now we're doing all of the above.  What a joy! 

Kai is growing and changing by leaps and bounds.  This week he had his three month birthday.  He seems to be getting chubbier by the day, and his little personality is really starting to shine through.  Sadly, it's evident that he inherited some of his mother's short temper.  Just the other night he decided to throw a little screaming fit with Bryon.  A few minutes later Bryon emerged from the room and reported that Kai had gotten his goat, and believe me it's hard to get Bryon's goat!  Not many people have succeeded, but Kai is now one of the lucky few.  Thankfully though, Kai also inherited Bryon's mellowness and most of the time he's a happy and fun-loving baby.

My mom was here until Friday this week, and as I said last week it was really great to have her here.  This week she helped me finish a mobile that I've been making for Kai.  Thanks mom for spurring on to finally finish this project!  Kai absolutely loves it, and will lie in his crib just laughing at it and talking to it.  That makes the hours of rolling felt balls and stitching felt fish worthwhile.

My mom also bought Kai an exer-saucer that we found at a consignment store here in Sandpoint. (Have I mentioned that Kai is practically the poster-child for consignment stores, hand-me-downs, and homemade items?  We love that!)  Kai loves this gift from grandma and it keeps him happy while I'm trying to make dinner, dry my hair or get anything done around here :)

In the process of making Kai's mobile.

Finished!

Going for a walk with grandma.

Loving the exer-saucer!

 

The Highs and the Lows of House-Hunting

Over the past few weeks we've been searching for our first home, and it's been quite the adventure so far!  Two weeks ago we made an offer on a house, but our final offer wasn't accepted.  We were sad to lose out on a house that we thought would have been a great first house for us.  It was large enough for us to live in for several years to come, on a nice large property, and with a beautiful view of the lake and mountains.  On the downside, it needed a lot of updates.  Anyways, we moved on and the next day we made an offer on another house.  It was very different from the first one....smaller and older, but much cuter!  And, it was right here in town.  Bryon could have still walked to work, and it was only one house away from the lake.  Our offer was accepted and we were so excited that owning our first home might actually be a reality!  However, just a couple of days later, we found out that there were several problems with the title of the house.  Unfortunately there is an easement which allows the neighbour exclusive use to a third of the property, even though we would have still been paying taxes on that land (and on their guest cottage which sits on the land)!  Because of this, we decided that the property wasn't as perfect as we originally thought and just yesterday we canceled the contract.  It was sad, but we know that there is something out there for us.  We just have to be patient, which is hard for me!  Please pray for us as we make these big decisions and deal with disappointments along the way.  

House #1

House #2

Week Thirteen

The highlight of this week was having my mom come to visit.  She arrived by train at 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, and will stay until Friday.  Usually when she comes she does lots of baking and cooking for us, but this time we are letting her mainly just be a grandma.  She and Kai are having a great time reading, going for walks, playing and of course napping.  Meanwhile, I'm enjoying being able to have uninterrupted time to cook, clean and nap as well!  Bryon and I were also able to fit a date into the busy week.  January 18th was my 28th birthday, and Bryon surprised me with an afternoon of skiing followed by dinner out while my mom babysat.  What a treat!

Kai, looking all lovely in blue.

Thanks Johnny and Emily for this awesome fleece!

 

Skiing at Schweitzer.

Kai with his 28 year old mom.

Showing grandma his standing skills.

Kai loves all of his time with grandma.

Week Twelve

It's funny how once you have children, the smallest things become the biggest milestones and create the most excitement!  For us, this has been the week of the Bumbo.  For those of you who aren't parents, or for those of you who are parents from a previous generation, the Bumbo is the latest fad in baby gear.  It's a foam seat, designed to help a baby sit before they can do so on their own.  Kai loves his Bumbo, and Bryon and I are continually amused by our little "kingpin".  When he's not in his Bumbo, Kai has decided that he prefers to attempt standing.  This usually only lasts for about a minute and then he's ready to sit down and be cuddled which is good because I'm not quite ready for him to become too independent yet!

Week Eleven

This week was filled with a few last adventures in Colorado and then back home to Sandpoint.  While in Colorado, Bryon and Kody went skiing at Copper and Kai and I went along for the day to hang out.  He loved being carried around the village in his Baby Bjorn, but I think he liked his first real downhill ski experience even more.  Bryon took him on one run, complete with a few moguls, and Kai loved it.  He was happy the whole way down, and ended up fast asleep.  They got a variety of reactions on the ski hill, from "You're my hero" to "I'd kick your butt if you were my husband"!

After our very busy week in Colorado it was nice to come home and get back to a more normal routine.  Kai is now back to sleeping through the night (thank goodness!), I'm back to regular daily duties, and Bryon is back to work.  He's really enjoying his job, and we're so thankful that he decided to make this change.  Hopefully we're still feeling that way after tax season!

Kody and Bryon

Kody, Bryon, Kai and Christy

Hanging out after the big day of skiing.

Sleeping on the flight home.