Thank You, Mrs. Cow

At first glance, nothing about the pictures above looks out of the ordinary. Kaiser has been successfully drinking from his sippy cup for a month or so now. However, there is a big distinction between these photos and previous ones: what's inside the cup. For quite a while, I have been giving Kaiser a couple of ounces of frozen breastmilk at lunch and at dinner, in addition to nursing him three times a day. Well, as I anticipated, last week our supply ran out. Since we were just two weeks out from Kaiser's first birthday, I decided to go ahead and start him on cow's milk.

I had a sneaking suspicion that this transition would not be a difficult one, and thankfully I was right. On Friday night I added two ounces of whole milk to our last two ounces of breastmilk, and I'm pretty sure Kaiser thought he had died and gone to dairy heaven! He downed the mixture in no time. The next day I filled up his cup with six ounces of pure whole milk, and, low and behold, he did it again. I even gave him his milk cold (sometimes you have to warm it up a bit at first to better match the temperature of breastmilk), and he had no problem with it whatsoever. Here's the little machine chug-a-lugging:

I am continuing to nurse Kaiser first thing in the morning and after his afternoon nap. I had planned to do so until he turned one, but we'll see; I may hold on just a couple more days...or a week...or two. Though it's not always been easy, and there has been more than one time I wished we were finished, I have loved nursing my baby boy and have treasured so many sweet moments with him when it's been just the two of us together in his glider. I am happy that he's taken so well to his new form of nourishment, but this transition is a bittersweet one!

Spittin' Image?

One year ago today, I was anxiously awaiting the birth of our sweet son and wondering what he would look like when I finally met him face to face. This post was a byproduct of that waiting and wondering.

Ever since Kaiser was born, everyone has said that he looks just like his daddy. Obviously, I am pleased to hear this; I married a very handsome man. And, every once in a while, I can see it too. Kaiser will smile a certain way or raise one eyebrow at me, and it's like I'm staring at Brett. But I have to admit that, most of the time, I have a hard time seeing that he looks like either one of us. I don't know why; I can totally see resemblances in other people. What's wrong with me? :)

Anyway, recently Pops looked at some pictures of Kaiser and said that he saw a lot of me as a baby in him. (Really? Me?) And, after spending hours editing our family pictures, Nat said that my boy had my eyes. (Aww, shucks.) Since Kaiser is approaching his first birthday (gulp), I decided to bust out a couple of pics from 1982 to see just who he's resembling these days...

1-year-old Daddy

1-year-old Mommy

What do you think? Did Kaiser get the best of both of us? :)

Kaiser's First Sleepover!

Well, last night marked a big milestone in the life of our son. It was Kaiser's first to be away from Mommy and Daddy. That's right, we left our baby boy. All. Night. Long.

Several months ago, we found out that some Christian singers who we love (like, love love love! love) were going to be coming to Geneva College, which is about 50 minutes away from us. Brett and I immediately knew that we would be there, but we weren't yet sure who would babysit the boy. Well, a couple of weeks ago, our friend Amy said she'd be happy to keep Kaiser, and that since it would be so late before we got home from the concert, he could just spend the night at their place. YAY for a sleepover with his buddy! This plan worked out great; since I watch Koen on Wednesdays, I just dropped off both boys at the Melders' around 5:30pm. The kiddos started eating dinner right away, and Brett and I left from there.

As you can see, Kaiser was truly heartbroken when we said goodbye...

"Yeah yeah, you guys have fun. I'm busy eating here."

Check out Mommy's big ole kiss mark. :)

I have to admit, it was really, really hard to leave my baby boy knowing that I wouldn't see him again until the next day. I knew we'd have to do it sooner or later. I knew we were leaving him in Amy's incredibly capable hands. And I knew the night apart from him would just make me love on him all the more this morning. But it was still hard. I'm pretty sure I was more than a bit glum at the beginning of our ride to the concert, even though I was extremely excited to be heading there.

And why, you ask, was I extremely excited? Well...

The musicians we love most, Shane & Shane, were in town performing! And not only that, but they are on a Christmas tour. And:

Night with Brett + Shane & Shane + Xmas music

= One happy girl

Do you know the Shanes? If you answered "yes", you understand why Brett and I were just about ready to pee our pants as we entered into the field house at Geneva College. If you said "no", let me enlighten you: They are quite possibly my most favorite singers in the entire world. If I were to only be able to listen to one artist's/group's music every day for the rest of my life, it would definitely be them. I can't get through a single album of theirs without at some point being moved to tears. I have a big, fat crush on their amazing voices. (And I think Brett has a big, fat man-crush on their amazing voices, too.)

Okay, so enough gushing. It's important to say that the Shanes weren't the only talented ones who performed last night. We first saw Phil Wickham open for David Crowder about three years ago, and he is crazy good, too. My one hope was that he would play the song "True Love", and last night that wish came true. Goodness, that song messes me up!

Mr. Wickham

Shane Bernard jumped up on stage and sang "Divine Romance" with Phil.

Then Shane Everett joined in.

So come to find out the tour was having bus issues, and the Shanes and Phil were the only ones there for a good hour or so. During intermission the rest of the band and Bethany Dillon, Shane Bernard's wife, pulled in. In addition to some Christmas songs, Shane & Shane played some awesome ones from their new album and a couple of our favorites from past ones.

The full band.

Bethany sounded lovely despite having a rough day on the road.

Because I love y'all so much and know you'll enjoy a little Christmas music, here are a couple of videos to give you a taste of last night's awesome experience. I so wish I'd had the huge memory card that I lost with our camera; our backup is way small and doesn't allow us to save much before it fills up completely! Sorry for the poor quality on the last clip, too. I was trying to conserve space!

"Silent Night"

"O Come O Come Emmanuel"

"O Holy Night"

Well, what do you think? Amazing? Yeah, I thought so. Needless to say, we had a blessed night of worshipping our Lord and Savior together, and we also appreciated the opportunity to spend some time together sans kidlet. That doesn't mean we didn't miss him horribly, though. I texted Amy a couple of times for updates, and it sounded like things went okay, but not just fantastic, for the little man after we left. (I guess that's to be expected for a first time away from home without Mommy and Daddy?) He scarfed down dinner and had fun playing for a while with her and Koen, but as the time for bath and bed drew nearer, he began to fully understand what was going on and got a bit sad. :( Poor baby. After being put to bed, Kaiser did a little more fussing than usual and then finally waved the white flag and fell asleep. He did great, though, and slept until I came over at 7:30am this morning! You better believe I was ready to creep into my guy's room and give him BIG hugs and kisses!

Getting his wake up call.

Happy to see Mommy?

Happy to see Mommy!

After nursing and eating some breakfast, we just hung around Amy and Koen's since they were hosting this week's playgroup. Kaiser logged some time in Koen's awesome third floor play room. I can't wait until our basement is complete so that he can spread out and have a blast with all of his toys in the space down there!

Doing some shape-sorting.

Trying out Koen's push toy.

He hearts this ball-slide-thingy.

"Hmm...maybe it's not so bad here, after all."

Amy and Koen, thank you so much for letting Kaiser have his very first sleepover with you. We are forever grateful for wonderful friends like you who care for him so much, and we love you loads!

Spoons

Today I am thankful for the simple pleasure that plastic measuring spoons provide for this sweet thang...

Baby Safety 101

A little over two years ago, Brett did a month-long away rotation here in Pittsburgh. When he got back to OKC, he had something special to give to me. Now, at that point, we'd been trying for months and months to get pregnant, to no avail. Amidst the frustration and sadness of seeing nothing but negative tests, Brett's heartfelt gift made me smile. In fact, it did more than that. It made me laugh out loud.

He had been shopping in a bookstore here when he came across this book and knew we had to own it. Because, let's face it, having kids is hard, and new mommies and daddies need all the help they can get. I don't know about you, but I'm all about looking:

• confident
• capable
• experienced
• not idiotic

I bet you're dying to know some of the wonderful nuggets of wisdom this book has to offer. Well, wait no longer...

Anyone who knows how big our child's head is realizes this just isn't possible for us.

Brett tried this. It didn't work so well.

He didn't try this.

C'mon, babies need turkey on Thanksgiving, too!

Umm, eww.

Again, eww.

We'd totally do this, but Berkeley would be ticked we stole her cage.

Is the example on the right not the correct way to use the SwaddleMe blanket?

Replace the air horn with a camera flash, and that's all me.

That is the exact face Kaiser makes when he and Daddy play chess.

Thank goodness we read this book, otherwise I never would have known to buy a car seat.

Is there a better way to get a baby past airport security?

I believe the "don't" here involves wearing sweater vests.

We fully intend to start Kaiser on a strict workout schedule after his first birthday.

A must for any baby's nighttime routine.

Plenty of water, plenty of sun. Yes, we all know how to grow babies.

Of course you shouldn't dry a baby in the dryer. But it is nice to get the wrinkles out.

Doughnuts > shoes. This is simple American logic.

Babies love rum. That's a fact.

Is it bad if it's Baby Einstein or Praise Baby?

I long for the day Kaiser and I can share stories and laugh over a steamy latte.

I feel like doing this sometimes when my little stinker won't cooperate with the camera.

This may be acceptable if a mini-snorkeling set were involved.

All joking aside, this is the only one where I have done the "NO."

Everyone knows the 2nd drawer is the sock drawer. The top one is for babies!

C'mon, we're living on a resident's salary. We can't always afford to pay a Pitt student $10/ hour to sit on her rear while our baby sleeps!

Needless to say, this book was a lifesaver for Brett and me. I can only imagine what kind of mistakes we would have made without it. :) We highly recommend it for any first-time parents.

Happy Birthday YaYa!

Rumor has it this beautiful lady has a reason to celebrate today:

And her grandson Kaiser J would hopes that she has the best birthday yet!

Mom, you are an amazing woman. Your strength, determination, and love for others inspire us. We couldn't ask for a better YaYa for Kaiser; the affection and pride in your voice and your eyes when you interact with him melts our hearts. Thank you for loving us like only a mother and grandmother can. We wish we were in Oklahoma to celebrate with you, and we can't wait to spend time with you here in Pittsburgh very soon! We pray you have the relaxing, fun birthday that you most certainly deserve. We love you so very much.

Movin' On Up...

...to a new car seat! We've been talking about switching out Kaiser's carrier seat for a convertible one for a couple of months now. I don't know his exact weight because he hasn't had a doctor's appointment since his 9 month checkup, but I'm guessing that he's pushing the 22 pound limit of his carrier. Plus, the seat has become more and more snug for Kaiser's growing body, and we felt like he could use the extra room.

Of course, deciding upon this big purchase was not easy. So many options, so many reviews to read. Once again, the blog world came to my rescue. I had been eyeing the Graco My Ride 65 for a while, and upon learning that three other bloggy mommies whose opinions I highly regard had chosen it for their babes (all born within a couple months of Kaiser), I was sold. The huge benefit of this seat is that we can keep the kidlet rear-facing until he is 40 pounds, which is the highest limit available. Since it's up to five times safer for him to ride this way, we'd like him to remain in this position as long as possible. And with his mirror, new cup holders to hold a toy or two, and more room to move his arms and legs, I think (hope?) he'll stay content facing back for a while. Here's the big boy all strapped in and ready to drive to church earlier today. Doesn't he look safe and comfy?

I can hardly believe that nearly a year ago, we were bringing home a car seat filled with this little muffin. It totally blows my mind that our little man was ever this teeny tiny!