His bag of tricks

Sportin' his Meredith College t-shirt

It's so hard to believe that Kemper is 4 months (almost 5) old!!! He's growing so fast and learning so many new things. He's begun sitting unassisted for 10-20 seconds but then he gets excited and topples over. He also LOVES to stand up and just the other day, I was holding his hands while he stood and he "walked" a little. Hard to explain, I know he's not REALLY walking yet (I mean, we know he's smart and advanced, but I dunno if he's THAT good) but he was definitely making an effort to pick his feet up and most of the time, they moved forward, occasionally, he stepped on his other foot. I'll try to get a video, but then I have to learn how to post it, so I wouldn't hold my breath waiting on that.

His sleep, while I have a LOT to be thankful for when it comes to him and sleep, isn't always the greatest. In fact, Monday morning he was so upset in his crib for naptime when he was obviously tired that I took him to the doctor to rule out an ear infection. No EI but the doctor said he has crummy sleep patterns and we're gonna start working on that. He usually goes to bed around 9:30 and gets up for the morning around 6 but wakes up 2-3 times during the night. Most of the time, the pacifier calms him immediately and he goes back to sleep, sometimes, seeing me walk into the room and not pick him up makes him MAD. He also hates to nap. James just said the other day that Kemper should take advantage of being able to nap now cause when he gets older, he'll wish he could nap. His morning nap is great, 1.5-2 hours, but after that, I'm lucky to get 2 30-minute naps during the day. By 8, he's obviously exhausted but is fighting sleep so bad and putting him to bed only makes him mad and gets him too worked up to sleep. It's a viscious cycle.



Anyhow, back to his bag of tricks. While at the doctor's office, Kemper proudly showed the doctor one of his newest "things" - fake coughing. Yup, he sounds so pitiful. It's a cough, as my dad dubbed it, that you use when you just don't want to go to school that morning. The doctor got a great laugh out of it that morning. At first, he knew it would solicit a response from us but now, he will cough and cough and cough if we're not paying attention to him. Once you turn and look at him, he just grins at you. He's also learning that when you go to pick him up, if you hold your hands out, he'll flap his arms up and down at you as if to say "pick me up please!" (well, I like to think that the please is in that precious little head of his).

Excuse me, I'm kinda busy here....

At the doctor on Monday, she gave us the go ahead to start him on real food in 2 weeks. She wants him to have 2 more weeks on rice cereal and then we can introduce veggies and fruits slowly. He is more than ready for food...he watches us like a hawk while we eat. He grabs for the fork and our glass and we've been giving him tiny (fingertip with a little tiny bit) tastes of food off our plates (i.e. gravy, mashed potatoes, pizza sauce) and I will pull my straw out of water or tea and let him taste the little bit left on the end. He laps it all up. I'm thinking that we aren't gonna have a problem with him trying out different foods - hopefully he won't be quite as picky as his daddy!!

Weight training with Pops

Blue eyed boy

Time flies...

4 Months Old!



Can you believe it, he's four months old?! We had his four month checkup this past week which also included those blasted shots (more on those later). He now weighs 15lbs 14oz and is 26in long! Such a big, growing boy! As usual, he was charming and flirted with his doctor. The baby who fusses after about 5 minutes of tummy time acted like he was a tummy time PRO and just smiled at the doctor and pushed himself up while looking all around as if to say, "see, my mom lies, I really do like tummy time!" He laughed for her when she felt his belly and never once fussed while she examined him. He got a partially clean bill of health....




SOOO much to play with on this thing....



Kemper has a raging case of eczema. We thought it was just a few patches on his knee and elbow, but after a rash spread over his entire belly and around his neck (we thought heat rash), Dr. Fenton informed us it is yet another type of eczema. Poor little fella. It looks painful, but for now, we can't tell that it's bothering him. Most likely he'll outgrow this by school age but for now, we have to keep his skin extra moisturized and watch for flare ups. The lotion she recommended, yeah, basically like slathering him with Vaseline. Poor guy looks like he's greased up and ready for some serious sun bathing.



Baby bum...



On the topic of sleep, our great nighttime sleeper has suddenly done an about face. Waking up multiple times a night, sometimes for just his pacifier, other times fussing until you feed him. When I feed him, he eats for less than 2 minutes before falling soundly back asleep. So, this week, I'm off in search of sleep solutions to get him back into a good night routine. Most people who know me know that, a) I am NOT a morning person and, b) I REALLY need my sleep in order to function like a human being. Unfortunately, I've gotten into the habit of napping in the mornings while Kemper does. Needless to say, one day (probably in the near future), this habit will not serve me well.




Standing by himself

Ok, the shots. Three of them, two in one leg and the worst (according to the nurse) in the other leg. He took it like a CHAMP! The nurse gave him the bad one first, and his eyes got as big as saucers and he cried but before she had even started the other leg, he wasn't crying anymore! She gave him his last two, he cried, but by the time she moved out of the way and I went to pick him up, he had stopped crying but was keeping his eye on the nurse to make sure she didn't come at him with any other needles.

You talkin' bout me?!

Kemper often times spends the afternoon or evening with Grandma Rita, but this week, he got a real treat! One night while I was at VBS, Kemper spend the evening getting spoiled by Aunt Neci. Then, he got to spend Saturday evening with Uncle Allen and Aunt Tori and I think they all had a great time. I hear Uncle Allen let Kemper watch the Yankees with him and then there was a little golf talk. And, rumor has it that Aunt Tori cuddled Kemper so great after his bottle that he took a little nap on her shoulder (shh, don't tell Kemper though, I'm sure it was a total accident and he didn't really MEAN to fall asleep).

Takin' after Daddy already....

Goofin' off with Pops

Tickets are booked...

Well, our airline tickets are booked - Kemper and I will be heading back to Germany October 13th. My mom is flying over with us to help us get re-settled and get the house straight since it will have been sitting empty for a year. While I'm not looking forward to being back in Germany, I am very much looking forward to having James back home with us. August marks one year of him being gone. Honestly, most of the time, it feels like this deployment has flown by, but sometimes, it feels like it's dragging. Once the guys get back, I'm sure there will be lots of hoopla and other Army red tape that has to be taken care of as well as a Welcome Home ceremony (which, the Army likes to call a Redeployment Ceremony - that makes me feel like they're going somewhere else, so I call it Welcome Home). We'll all be coming back to the States for Christmas (15th-30th) and I'm sure that we'll be running ourselves to death over that short period of time.

Anyhow, not much new to report on the Kemper front. He's as sweet as ever. He's so cuddly and happy (most of the time) and has really perfected rolling from back to belly but has absolutely no interest in trying to get himself back to his back once on his belly. No, he'd much rather scrub his face in the floor, grunt, suck his hands then fuss until you turn him back over. :) We had to go to the pediatrician for an awful rash on his knee (eczema - he should outgrow this by school age) and while we were waiting, I thought, "What the heck, lets try tummy time" and he was loving it. As soon as the doctor walks in, he picks his head up high and gives her a huge smile. Of course, she mistook him for a baby that enjoys tummy time...I call him a showoff and a flirt. :)

Not many new pics...enjoy!

Hey, this pool stuff isn't too bad....

Thanks Beth for my new hat! :)

Precious

Sleepy

Chubby cheeks