Hot Summer Days

The summer has finally arrived and we have been forced to live in the bedroom, because it is the only air conditioned room in the house. Kaleb has been doing okay and the heat hasn't bothered him too much. I think he actually likes it because he gets to just wear a diaper. Sunday was a quiet day, we met Cara and Jeff for breakfast and then walked down to Harvard Square to relax at JFK Park. Rich came over and met us at the park and we went and got some ice cream. We came back home and that was the end of our quiet weekend.

Keeg

EDIT: Google has come up with another amazing feature to Picasa photos. You can now link photos to locations on a map and then view photos on the map and all sorts of cool things. If you want to check it out click the link to view the album and there are a couple places where you can view the photos on a map.

Sunny Saturday

Not much to report, since my last entry. Kaleb went in for his four month check up and the doctor says he is doing really well. He weight 10lbs and 12 ounces and was 22 3/4 inches long. So he is really progressing well. He also had some more vaccinations which he didn't really enjoy too much. He also was extra sleepy and not himself the day afterwards, which was tough including the evening following the shots when he just screamed for about twenty minutes.

Yesterday Jennifer had to work again so I brought Kaleb up to Amesbury so my mom could watch him while I worked. He slept almost the entire time and didn't wake up until 11:45AM. I ended up leaving around lunch time and went to a espresso/wine bar in downtown Amesbury. I loved it and can't wait to go back once we move up to Merrimac. It is a place called J. Bucks and is located in the building that used to be the railroad station. The place is huge and was perfect, now I just have to hope they don't go out of business.

Today we didn't do much besides walk out to Alewife so Jennifer could go shopping for something to wear to a bachelorette party tonight. It was a real Boston party with stops at some of the hipper clubs in the city. I think it is great that she is getting out there and taking some time for herself, it is a huge part of staying sane and keeping touch with yourself.

Okay, I think Kaleb just woke up so I have to go check on him.

Have a great weekend everybody!!!
Keeg

EDIT: I almost forgot, Kaleb touched his feet with his hands for the first time. I included the photo, but it is a little fuzzy, sorry about that.

Please Stop Teething Me

After the super buy weekend we thought Kaleb's fussing was just because he was tired, but we are beginning to think more and more that he is now teething. We aren't certain, but he is definitely touching his mouth more often and has been chewing on his pacifier more often than he has been sucking it. Apparently it isn't unheard of for a baby to be teething at four months. Luckily he has to go in for his four month appointment tomorrow so we should know for sure. Its been two months since his last appointment and he is almost twice as big as he was then. We are looking forward to finally getting answers to questions we have been curious about for weeks now, such as cradle cap, teething, the flatness of the back of his head, the pace of his overall development (cognitive and physical) and the recent green poo.

The other big thing happening tomorrow is my longest stint flying solo with the little man. Jennifer has to go to school two day this week, tomorrow I am on duty and Friday my mom will be watching him. I am a bit nervous about the milk situation, because he hasn't consistently eaten from a bottle yet and if he doesn't take it tomorrow it will be a long, loud day. He took one from me tonight though without much trouble, so hopefully it will go well.

Kaleb continues to perfect his hand eye coordination. Today he hit his beach ball for the first time and also swung at a couple other toys. Its amazing how in the last few days he has gained even more personality. He is looking around more than ever and really enjoys going outside and checking out the sights, actually taking him outside is like magic, because it really calms him down. Okay its getting late and I have a long day ahead of me, so I am going to bed now.

My First Father's Day

My first father's day was super busy and involved lots of driving, but it was wonderful. I woke up bright and early as usual and got a couple lovely cards from Kaleb and Jennifer along with some great framed photos. I then tried to get back to sleep, but by the time I was back in dreamland it was time to get up and get going. We were in the car by 9:45 and at AppleBee's in Sturbridge by 11. We had a lovely dinner with the Riebe's and hung out for a couple hours before going to Old Navy. It wasn't a very successful visit, but Kaleb did get his first pair of shoes.

We got back in the car, this time accompanied by Auntie M and drove up to Amesbury. The Amesbury agenda included a Father's day dinner at my dad's, a pit stop at Hodgies and a quick visit to see my mom. All went well, I could type some details in, but I really want to watch tv with my wife right now so you are going to have to imagine how it all went. The one thing I have to point out is that Kaleb was exhausted for the entire day, which really effected his demeanor. He was really fussy and not on his best behavior, but Jennifer and I fully take the blame for that problem, since over the past few days we have dragged him all over god's green earth.

Finally, today I put Kaleb in the pool for the first time. It was really just some basic testing of his tolerance of the pool since it all occurred from the steps, but I did lower him into the pool. He was a bit unsure at first, but once he was wet he was pretty cool with it. I am thinking on Friday I may just have to jump in and get him in a little more.

Keeg

Another Big Day for the Little Man

I made it an early day at work yesterday and Jennifer, Kaleb and I went for lunch at the Grand Prix cafe. We then came home and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. However, Kaleb did make some more progress with objects. Today he was in his pack and play and was swatting at a dangling toy. He batted it around for a good ten minutes. It is the first time he has ever swung at something on purpose. He was so very excited and kicked his legs like crazy. We are both very proud of his progress.



Today we went to the Fells for a brief hike, before meeting Megan, Jamie and Jamison for an afternoon at the Charles RiverFest. Here are the photos:

Poop in my pants I did

While looking through some of the photos today we noticed a slight resemblance between Kaleb and Yoda. Kaleb recently lost some of his hair and the hair that remains on the top is relatively sparse and coarse, just like Yoda. He also has ears that are a bit pointy like Yoda and his cradle cap also looks a lot like the top of Yoda's head. I suppose you should judge for yourself though.



Today was another milestone of sorts, when Kaleb became the Lord of the Rings. Jennifer bought him some rings (links) to play with and yesterday he kind of grabbed on to them, but today he not only grabbed on, but flung them around a little bit. It is the first time he has ever held on to something and tossed it back and forth. He almost moved it towards his mouth, but stopped at the last minute. Here is some video of that for you to see.

Dirty Diaper

Not much news to report this morning. Kaleb was nursing and as usual was pooping away at the same time. All of a sudden Jennifer goes "ewww" and starts looking at her hand. My first reaction was to grab the camera and take a picture and then since I had volunteered to change him pre giant poop explosion I took him over to get changed. I think the hardest part about it was trying to change him without getting poo all over the changing table. After a lot of struggling with Kaleb and tipping him on his side I successfully removed the nightgown and then got the diaper off without one drop of poo on the changing table. I really have come a long way with diaper changes over the last three and a half months.


Here are a couple videos.

Kaleb Howling


Kaleb Swinging at the Bunny

Some Photos

Another busy weekend was had by the Sands family of Somerville. On Friday we all went up to Newburyport while I had my stitches removed. Once back in Somerville we went to see a Jose Mateo Ballet performance. Kaleb was fantastic, I put him in the Baby Bjorn right before the show and walked him around until he fell asleep and then he slept through the entire show. He did wake up at one point when the applause was extremely loud, but immediately fell back to sleep.

On Saturday we all slept very late and stayed home for most of the day. In the afternoon we started to get ready for Lan and John's wedding. Auntie M came over to babysit Kaleb while we were at the wedding. We did our best to tucker him out before we left with a nice warm bath followed by a feeding. Apparently he slept for quite a while after we left, but once he woke up he wasn't having anything to do with the bottle and then screamed for a good half hour. Fortunately for Auntie M he passed out, but not before he pooed all over her, so much that she had to change. When we finally made it home at around 11:15 he was still asleep and was ready to eat. The wedding itself was really great, we are very thankful that Mes was able to take care of Kaleb so we could enjoy ourselves especially because we knew he was in good hands.



If you can't tell from the photos the wedding was really amazing. Lan looked beautiful in her dress and John looked so happy. The meal was great, the band was top notch and all of the venues were second to none.

Today we spent most of the day at home. I worked alot, but did take a break now and then to play the wii or to catch a breath of fresh air. We had Cara and Jeff over to play with our new game Mario Party 8. We battled up until the end, but luck was not on our side and we lost by three stars.

Keeg

Scooper Bowl 2007

I got an email from Melissa wondering if Kaleb, Jennifer and I wanted to meet her at the Scooper Bowl. I finally got a hold of Jennifer late in the afternoon, because she was at mommy/baby yoga and then shopping at the worst Target store around. We decided that ice cream would make for a perfect dinner. I came home a little early and we made our way into the city around 5:00. It was a bit chilly downtown, but it didn't stop me from breaking my previous record of ice cream cups. Today I downed 16 cups of ice cream total and that was even considering the fact that Ben & Jerry's had some random non-chocolate based ice cream flavors. Not only did I break my record, but Kaleb also got to attend his first Scooper Bowl. We were kind enough to give him a few tastes of the yummy drippings at the bottom of our empty cups. He seemed to enjoy the few drips we gave him which is very encouraging.

Kaleb was also weighed again at yoga class and with his onesie on he weighed 10 pounds and 6 ounces. He seems to continue to gain a half pound a week. He is growing by leaps and bounds. The other big change with him is his recent babblings. Tonight we made wolf noises to him and he kept making similar noises back to us. It was really funny to watch him move his lips and then belt out a loud howl.

Keeg

Brief Update

Not much to report. LiveJournal is finally working again so I was able to post the full entry from the weekend (see below). Last night we once again put Kaleb down in his bassinet at nine to get him more used to going to bed early, so far so good. This morning we gave him a bath to help clean him up after he had poo all the way up his back. He didn't seem to care and actually got a kick out of me showing him the messy onesie.

I came home a bit early from work to spend time with him and we had a great evening. We went for a couple walks, the second walk started out slowly, because we kept stopping and chatting with people. It gave Kaleb a chance to really go crazy though, he was jabbering so much and kicking his legs. It was hilarious, I will be adding a video to this post later.

EDIT:


I just updated KeegSands.com so it will display the actual livejournal because there was a problem with some of the photos and slideshows not showing up. So in the future just go to Keegsands.com

Keeg

100,000 Miles

The weekend started off a bit early because I decided to take Friday off. We ended up sleeping in until around ten, which is crazy late, but once up we moved quickly and were in Portland by one. The goal of the trip was to first of all get out of Boston and away from work, but also to pick up some Dave's Insanity Salsa. I know it seems silly, but it is the hottest I have ever had and it can't be bought anywhere else that I know of besides the internet. We went to Le Reux found the salsa and then went for lunch at the Crooked Mile cafe, our typical lunchtime destination when in Portland. We shopped around for a little while, before returning to the car. Once we were underway I called Jennie and we met her for ice cream in Wells. We caught up with her for quite a while and then continued towards Amesbury. We stopped in at my moms while Kaleb ate and then made it back home.

Saturday I woke up bright and early, well at least early for me nowadays. I had to get up because it was the annual Agawam River Canoe trip. I picked up a mocha and made my way over to the Back Bay to get Amy. We made it down in record time and met up with everybody else. The logistics of the trip had been worked out before we got there, but all the components were still in transit. Once everything was in place we set out after the first cranberry bog, which helped cut out a lot of the bushwhacking. It was a very humid day, but there was a nice wind to balance it and kept it cool. I was partnered up with Amy and while we did struggle a bit, due to my terrible driving skills, we did make it in one piece. I did manage to fall in at one portage, but luckily all of my stuff was on dry land at the time. The highlight of the trip wasn't my fall though it was when Kelly managed to get the kayak stuck sideways in the rapids and then capsized sending her thirty feet down stream. She was alright, but I have to say it was crazy to watch. We emptied the water out of her kayak and all continued on our merry way to Wareham harbor. It was another great trip, I can't wait until next year.




Today required another early morning and I was in worse shape than yesterday. We needed to go down to Connecticut for Kaleb's postponed baby shower. He was supposed to have one in Connecticut, but since he came early it was never able to happen. It turned out okay because now everybody got to attend a meet Kaleb party instead, which I think everybody benefits from. There were a ton of people there, so I won't bother naming everybody. A fun time was had by all especially after they all indulged in some apparently strong margaritas care of sir. Kaleb as expected was passed all round and he handled it fairly well, although somewhere near the end he started to get fussy. We ended up settling him down and he slept until right before we had to leave, so we were able to feed him and he made it home without waking up. All in all a fantastic week, with lots of activity and not much sleep. Thank god the work week is about to start. Oh yeah and on the way there I passed the 100,000 mile mark on my odometer. Not bad for only having the car for 4 1/2 years.