Seven

Kepler is 7 months old, and is now closer to being a 1 year old, than to being a newborn...

On a happier note he had a great month, with his first Christmas and first 2 teeth!

Kepler weighs 16 lbs. 4 oz. and is 26 inches long.
He loves: clapping, pat-a-cake, peek-a-boo, his toys, snuggling in the morning, Jayna's hugs, being tickled, warm baths, and chewing on anything he can get his hands on.

He is starting to get more mobile, started sitting up this past week, is "talking" a lot and so far loves all kinds of baby food.

Jayna would have nothing to do with this as a baby, she thought it was so gross, and also barely ever put things in her mouth. Kepler thinks it is the greatest thing and devoured the apples we put in there for him.

So far Kepler seems to be surviving his first Edmonton winter a lot more cheerfully than everyone else in the family!

(un)interesting

I got tagged by Talia to post 6 (un)interesting things about myself. Easy enough.

1 - I have a major sweet tooth

2 - Gibb and I have started doing P90X (trying to counteract the effects of my sweet tooth), and I can barely walk up the stairs, I'm so sore

3 - I am loving 24 so far this season
4 - I haven't had a haircut in 4 months, yikes!
5 - There was a homicide on our street 2 days ago, yikes! (no, we haven't moved back to Cleveland)
6 - I miss living in Cleveland

I tag:
Cassandra, Caprice, Lindsey, Alysha, Ashley

Some other (un)interesting things that have been going on around here lately:

Jayna reading to Kepler
and giving him hugs, she can be so sweet to him

Kepler is eating like a champ now that he's feeling better and his teeth are cut

Trying to have fun inside while it's cold outside
This involves lots of books, dance parties, dress ups, and play dates

Jayna loves dancing
but she always has to wear a princess skirt and santa hat

Here she was saying "Is this fun Santa?"

Gibb built this awesome slide in the backyard, complete with steps to climb up!
Too bad Jayna wouldn't go near it, too scary. I finally convinced (read: forced) her to go down with me and she loved it.

This is how I found Kepler in his crib yesterday, sleeves rolled up, leg out, on his back (he's a tummy sleeper), and smiling. He must've been having some crazy party in there.

Lazy Sunday

We all stayed home from church today because of Strep Throat :(

We've all been so sick this year, I really hope this is it for a while, and really hope the kids don't get it this time. But we did have a really relaxing morning, which was kind of nice. Jayna helped Gibb make his
Fitzner's Famous Fat Fantastic Waffles.
Gibb loves making these waffles, usually on week-ends or whenever we're all home in the morning with not much to do, which isn't very often lately.

Jayna loves helping us in the kitchen. Whenever we start making anything, she pulls over her chair and asks to "look". She's getting pretty good at dumping stuff in the bowl, and is working on her mixing skills without flinging it all over the counter.

Kepler watching us devour our breakfast.

Kepler can't stand being left out of the action. He'll be playing happily in the living room and then realize that we're all in the kitchen and he'll cry until we come and get him. He loves being part of everything we're doing, even if it's just chilling in the high chair while we eat breakfast. This is probably partly due to his fascination with Jayna, he could watch her all day long, he loves his big sister!

You can see his 2 teeth here!

First Tooth

Kepler got his first tooth yesterday,

so we figured it was time for a visit to the dentist.

Even though this same dentist assured me that Kepler was NOT teething, despite all the classic symptoms, you know: runny nose, fever, poor appetite...

In fact he told me that he would be shocked if Kepler did get a tooth soon, since he didn't feel anything in his gums. Imagine his surprise when I called him at work a couple days later to let him know I could feel a white, bumpy tooth on the bottom!

True to form, Kepler barley gave us any signs that he was teething, a little bit of extra fussing (he's also sick), a little bit of extra waking up, but no extra red gums. I couldn't even tell the tooth had cut until I felt it. Sometimes I'm not sure that this kid is for real, he is so good!

In other teeth news, I'm proud to say that I have NO cavities (just sore teeth), which is a big accomplishment for me.

And for good measure I just thought I'd add in some pictures of Jayna hating the dentist... chair. Just in case you weren't quite convinced yet that her and Kepler are complete opposites ;)

Multiple Choice

What was going through Kepler's head while this picture was being taken?

a) I have a poopy diaper and I don't want to sit in it anymore
b) Why am I all alone in this room?
c) I'm a monkey in training
d) I can't reach any of my toys, maybe this will work...
e) Why is mommy taking a picture of me instead of rescuing me?

The answer is f) all of the above! (yeah, it was a trick question)

Proof that he actually does like this bumbo chair that we borrowed from our friends.

Direct quote from the Bumbo website:
Warning: Some larger or more developed babies could possibly get out of the Bumbo Seat.

Does this mean Kepler is really advanced, cause he's definitely not large?

Tobogganing

It was so extremely cold here this Christmas, and all month. Finally we had a day where it warmed up to around -5C (23F) so we could go outside. This was Jayna's first time tobogganing and she actually had fun, but in true Jayna style it took her a little while to warm up to the idea.

So we just let her play around in the snow for a while.

Then she finally started having fun.

She even got up the courage to go by herself once she saw Cameron and Evan do it!

(Yes, Jayna is wearing a capri and 3/4 sleeve length snow suit. It's her 12-18 month suit from last year...
we thought we could make it work for one more year, now we're not so sure.)