First Picnic

I took Koze on his first picnic today. It was just what we needed...a little sunshine and relaxation. Spring is definitely here and today was so beautiful.

Four Months

Koze is FOUR MONTHS OLD. ALREADY! Hard to believe that he once weighed only four pounds and could barely keep those eyes open. Now its all I can do to get him to fall (and stay) asleep. Which is fine. We continue to practice our tummy time and have added sitting up to the mix. He's actually quite good at it...his balance needs some fine tuning but he is definitely a strong boy. What amazes me is how strong those little legs are. He can fully support the weight of his body and again just needs to get the balance thing down.

He continues to talk to and smile at inanimate objects. I had him in his stroller the other day and thought/hoped he was sleeping and when I checked him he was looking up at the pattern on the inside of the stroller with the most adoring smile. So so funny. I left him alone to bond with his stroller. Man do I love this kid. And apparently he loves his stroller. Which is actually great because the weather is getting nicer and we are taking walks almost everyday. Its wonderful.

We are all settled in to the Swenson's. And I am so happy and relieved and thrilled to be here. They are a wonderful, warm, loving and funny family. We are blessed.

School starts this coming Monday...I'm so excited. Maybe a tiny bit nervous too. Koze will be hanging out with TVA while I'm in classes on Mondays and Wednesdays. I'm completely torn about leaving him during these times. I know that Theresa will take great care of him and they will have a lot of fun together. And I think that a few hours to myself each week could be a healthy thing. But it still makes me a little bit sad.

Lately when I put him down to do something that requires two hands, like cleaning up or cooking, he follows me around the room with his eyes. Which makes my heart melt a little bit. I love our relationship. This whole bonding with your kid thing is turning out to be pretty cool.

another favorite

Story Time

Koze loves to tell stories. (he's like his mom in this way)


...his stories are always very exciting...


...so much so that he often throws up..


...and I help him by finishing the story...


..and they lived happily ever after...


the end.

some of my favorite moments

Koze, you are growing and changing so much and so quickly. I love watching you become more aware of and respond to the world around you. I think if I had to choose a word to describe you right now it would be "EAGER". Your three favorite things seem to be 1) movement - especially bouncing 2) Food - not at all surprising considering that I'm your mom and 3) People - you have definitely shown that you are most content when surrounded by a lot of people, Even if its a handful of noisy toddlers screaming and crawling all around you while you sleep quite peacefully.

At your last dr appt on Thursday you weighed 12lbs 13oz which keeps you in about the 90th percentile. So big. I'm staying more on top of your tummy times and as we know - you rolled over for the first time last week and are doing great with holding your head up and moving it around. And you are smiling more and more these days - usually at me or someone else that you love, but sometimes its the clock on the wall or the chandelier over the kitchen table. You don't discriminate between the living and inanimate objects.

I am increasingly happy each day that I have you in my life. You are wonderful and I love you.

mom

He ROLLED OVER!

At 8:14am today. This is him celebrating right after the event took place. Marcy came upstairs to celebrate with him. :)

3 Months 3 days

This has been a very full month...it's been good but also a little hectic. We had a bit of an upheaval in our living situation and have been staying at the Ellis-Dewey residence for the last couple weeks - which has been great except that Ellis and Dewey have been on the east coast for half of that time and I have to say that I enjoy this place SO MUCH more when they are here. And so does Koze!

So we moving in with Marisa, Peter and Simon in March and are very much looking forward to being their roommates. Simon is such a cool little guy and I'm glad that Koze will be hanging out with him over the next several months.

I have taken a lot of pictures over the last month but because of moving all over the place I don't have the ability at the moment to post any of those but will get them up soon enough. But here is my little 3 month update:

Koze is becoming so much more aware of his surroundings...He spends a lot of his awake time staring at things like curtains, lights, anything hanging on a wall and FACES. My favorite times with him are when he first wakes up in the morning. He stirs around for a little bit, stretches a couple times and then opens those adorable eyes. Then we talk for a few minutes - I ask him how he slept and how he's feeling and let him know what we're planning for the day and he coos little responses to a lot of what I say. He really is a great little conversationalist for being such a little guy.

And there has been music - he really does like classical music and mozart. He also likes soft and pretty guitar music. One song I play a lot for him is M Ward's Chinese Translation. When he hears something he likes he gets really quiet, opens his eyes a little wider and turns his head toward the source of the music, which is usually my laptop. I think my favorite song to listen to with him is Never Had Nobody Like You also by M Ward. We listen to it at least twice a day and we DANCE. So much fun.

Last week Koze went to see Dr Neuman for his well child check up. He weighed 11lbs 13oz and is in the 95th percentile. And a good 2 weeks before his 3 month birthday he started growing out of the 0-3month size clothes and is fitting quite comfortably in the 3-6 month size - which kind of blows my mind because while he is 3 months old he was also TWO MONTHS early. I stopped explaining to people that ask how old he is that he was early after a couple times of being told that he looks about the right size for a 3 month old. I guess that drinking coffee while I was pregnant didn't shrink my baby's head after all - a lady on my bus told me it would when I was about 5months pregnant.

During that visit with Neuman we also decided on a plan for vaccinating Koze. This is one reason why I LOVE LOVE LOVE this Dr. She is completely supportive of me as a parent wanting to do what I think is best for Koze. She listened to my concerns and was totally fine with taking quite a few of the vaccines out of the mix entirely and waiting until he is much older to give him others. There are 3 that we are going to do in the first year because there are fewer incidents of bad reactions and because Neuman has had patients that have gotten sick, right here in Portland, that were not vaccinated. So I feel good about it - although he did have his first shot on Friday and it was a pretty rough night. I ended up giving him Tylenol, which I'm not a fan of for him or myself, but it was to the point where it was necessary. And after he had it he calmed down within just a few minutes.

March should be another busy month - getting settled into the swenson's and I will be starting school so there is lots to do in preparation for that.

Well he's awake....time to get back to being a mom.