Belated 28 weeks

Me again! I wanted to write Kasper's 28 week post before he's 29 weeks. I write these posts as much for myself as anyone else because I like to look back to see how much he's grown. And MY how he's grown.

K was a total trooper during the move. (So was Lois - she was made to live in Eden Prairie.) I think Kas had a bit of a growth spurt late last week and this weekend because it seemed like he was constantly hungry. He was waking up 3-4 times a night and would eat ravenously. It made for some sleepless nights and reminded me of the newborn days. The nursery was the first room we painted so we could set up Kasper's crib and changing table and get him back into his familiar surroundings.

It's been so fun to watch Kasper play in his new house. With all of the carpet, we can just plop him down and he plays for hours. He is a very reliable sitter now and always wants to be sitting and playing.






Here's a nice look at the deck from the other side of the sunroom. We need to get a table out there for grilling! And I don't know if I mentioned it in the previous post but there are no stairs leading down from the deck so it's perfect dog and soon baby containment.


We spent our mornings in the sunroom this weekend.


Eating cereal



Now that we have the room, I broke out the highchair for the boy! It actually straps onto one of our kitchen chairs. Sigh. My little baby is getting so big.



K is up to 3 meals a day. I'm still not so great at introducing new foods every 3-4 days but we've added oatmeal, squash and applesauce. At daycare, Kasper is eating at least 15 ounces of milk a day plus breakfast and lunch. I feed him dinner when we get home. I think he's finally getting the amount of food he needs to grow. He's getting noticeably heavier and looks more filled out. I don't want to jump to conclusions but I hope that he wasn't going hungry at the old daycare. Ugh. He's eating well at daycare, sleeping well at daycare. His teachers love him and never miss an opportunity to tell us so. His interests at daycare include but are not limited to: dancing, going outside, being on his belly and looking at the other kids. These are some of the notes on his report cards. I am so in love with this place. I'm happy he gets to spend time with other kids at a place he really enjoys.

So, Kasper is doing awesome. He becomes more and more of a little toddler every day. In fact, I think he's going to CRAWL soon.

Stay tuned.

I'll leave you with some pictures of Kasper and Lois from Sunday morning.














Lois has had enough. Bye Lois.




Could you die from the cuteness?

Moving Day!

Hello again! We're back to having all of our technological comforts. What a crazy couple of days we've had! Obviously the closings went smoothly last week and we are now in our new home. Rob and I took Wednesday off to do the final packing and then load up the U-Haul. We had our final walkthrough for the new house in the morning and ended up being shown around by the sellers. I think they were still there on purpose to meet the people that were buying their house. They are older and are downsizing to a condo. We walked all around the house and yard to learn all the quirks and I got a gardening lesson as Mrs. Seller is a wonderful gardener.



We got basically everything packed up and a nice group of Rob's friends and family showed up after work to help load the truck. We completely filled a 26 foot U-Haul as well as 5-6 cars! Adding to that all the stuff completely filling our 10'x10' storage unit and I don't know how we had room to live in our little 800 sq ft house!

Our first closing was at 10 am Thursday so we had to be completely out by then. I had to bring the baby to daycare in the morning and was so nervous we weren't going to make it so we had my sister and Rob's Dad and Carol come over for the final push. We made it out but just barely.

One last look:


Yes I cried. I cried as I locked the door behind me. I sobbed all the way to the closing and I cried and sniffled through all the paperwork. I was embarrassed but was assured that it happened all the time. I just couldn't stop thinking about how that house was there through the most important events in our lives so far. We came home to that house when we got married. We brought Lois home to that house. We brought our first baby home to that house. I couldn't stop remembering those newborn days with Kasper and how I was home for 4 months with him in that house. Wah. I just love that place.

We went right from the sale of Emerson to Costco for lunch then to the sale of Oak Ridge. Fun fact - I grew up on Oak Ridge in Sioux Falls and now my kids get to grow up on Oak Ridge in Eden Prairie. We signed all the papers, got the keys and headed "home." The feeling of buying a new home is not unlike taking a new baby from the hospital. Like, they're just giving us these keys? And we can go right in the house?

Anyway, without further ado, here are move-in day photos of the new pad.













One of the basement


It's not an exhaustive collection of photos, but it gives you a good idea of the main living space. There is a bedroom in the basement that I haven't taken a picture of yet.

The layout of the house is wonderful and open but it's a little outdated. The previous owners must own stock in light yellow paint. We've already done some painting of a couple of the rooms which has made a big difference. The sunroom is by far our favorite room in the house. It doesn't have A/C which has been difficult when the temps are in the high 90's but there's a fan so it's bearable. There are 4 (!!) sliding doors in the sunroom which can be thrown open to make it very airy and there's a separate baseboard heater for use in the winter.

So that's the new place! We're busy making ourselves at home. It sure is different to have so much room!

I'll post house updates as they happen. I have big plans, of course. And I'll write Kasper's 28 week post separately. Lots to say.

Internet hiatus

We're in the new house!! But won't have Internet until Tuesday so I'll have to wait to update until then. What a mess!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

27 weeks

Relatively short post today. Lo siento. (Gotta brush up on the old Spanish if I'm going to be able to talk to Kasper.)

Another busy week. Maybe this one felt busier because it was only a 4 day week?

I already wrote about K's first days at his new daycare. It has continued to go well there and I'm still very glad we switched. After the first couple days, I mentioned that he sleeps in his crib at home, so on Thursday they tried him in a crib for naps and he took 2 1-hour naps Thursday and Friday! I don't know how they're doing it because we are struggling with naps at home. He continues to take in at least 15 ounces of milk while he's there which is crazy to me. I think he's even starting to fill out a bit. Basically, we love it.

They sent me a picture from jersey day and I just have to include it here. I blurred out the other kid's faces for privacy (or just to make them all look super creepy) but you'll have to trust me that none of the kids facing the camera are smiling. Expect one. Maybe the one who has a Mom always pointing a camera in his face? Could you just die looking at that cute little peanut in the pink jumper smiling away? I did.


On Friday when I picked Kasper up, his teacher said the babies went on a walk in a buggy and the teachers that hadn't met K yet were all gushing about how cute he was. It made me proud he was mine. And when I was getting him all strapped in, a couple teachers came out to say goodbye and make gaga faces at him. He already has the reputation of being such a smiley, happy baby. Sigh.

We've been hard at work packing away - we are now on a mattress on the floor - but we've also managed to have a little fun. We went to our very first peanut party on Saturday! It was very fun and very delicious. Especially if you like peanuts! Kasper got his very first sunscreen mohawk. (I know I'm all face here.)


And his very first coffee stout - taking after his mother for sure


After the peanut party, we drove up to St. Cloud so Rob could go to a bachelor party. I had to stay home with the kids but they were on their best behavior, so it wasn't so bad. It was fun for Kasper to practice his sitting on carpet! These milestones are so fun. I remember when I was really rooting for Kasper to roll over and now he does it all the time. Then I was encouraging him to sit up and now he can. I'd better not hint to him that he can crawl soon.









I don't know if it's all this development or what but going to sleep has become a major battle with Kasper. He seems to need to cry it out for all naps now and the majority of nights. Once he's asleep for the night, he sleeps until morning but going to sleep is rough. Ugh.

This morning/early afternoon, we met up with my good friend Jess to take some 6 month pictures of the boy. She's the one who took those amazing pictures of Kasper when he was two weeks old. My was he little! We got some pics then met up with her husband at Bravos for lunch. After lunch, it was time to head back to the Cities to get ready for the week and to do a little more packing. Our last weekend in this house. I'd better keep busy or I'll get too sad.

Have a great week!

Daycare update

Kasper is now on day 3 at his new daycare. What a completely different world! The teachers are all very professional and sweet. The first day, I handed him off to a teacher and he cried! That was the first time that happened! He stuck that bottom lip way out and cried! It broke my heart. One of the staff called me after his morning nap to report on his day and said that he perked up when other kids showed up and was having a great time.

K is now on a daily schedule. He starts the day with a hand wash (they wash the kid's hands multiple times a day) and then breakfast. There's a binder in the room where you can mark which foods your child has eaten so they avoid feeding anything new. Since we started apples yesterday, I marked it in the book and they now mix his cereal with applesauce! After breakfast, they have circle time where they play instruments and sing songs. At 10 am is nap time. Apparently Kasper has been sleeping in a swing because he won't sleep in his crib. He'll get there eventually and since he's sleeping an hour in the swing, I won't push crib naps yet. He's still sleeping well at night. After naps, they have lunch and then go play outside or take a buggy ride! 1:30 is nap #2 and after that nap, the kids have some free time to scream around the room! The infant room goes up to 1.5 years, so there are a few walkers in with the babies.

It really is a refreshing change from the last place and my fear that they wouldn't show affection to Kasper never really happened. Yay! So far, K is eating 15 ounces of milk at his new daycare and 2 meals vs 9-12 ounces at the old place. I wonder if there were more reasons to why he is so skinny. We still have to work on the naps, but I think it's just difficult for him to relax when there's so much going on. He's a very social kid.

We missed jersey day yesterday, but we'll get in on the next theme day in 2 weeks. I can't wait to hear what it is. And the sign this week is "music".

So anyway, things are good and I'm so glad we made the switch.

(Isn't that picture cool? I found the instructions on pinterest and wanted to try it myself. I think I need to pick a photo with more dark colors next time, but it's still neat.)