We're off to shop for second car...ugh.

New Cousin!

Landon Nelson Beck was born on August 11, 2010. He is 8lbs 10oz and 21.5 inches long. Congrats Jenn & David!

A Little Help

New Toy

I spent 3 1/2 hours in the ER with Kai last night, but you'd never know it now. He took a pretty nasty fall and hit his head on the corner of a table-like toy at Patty and Mikes. He seemed to recover quickly, though the welt on hi forehead was HUGE and PURPLE. Yesterday morning he woke up and the welt had subsided and we were relieved; until he started vomiting. Vomiting like the Exorcist vomiting. I was at work, but when I got home I got to see the carnage. Because he didn't have a fever or any other signs of illness except general fussiness, I called the nurse at our clinic. She was confident that I should take him into the ER. Jon and I were both gunshy, not wanting to be those parents who freak out at every little thing, but like I said Exorcist vomiting. Once we got to the ER he seemed to improve in spirit and he was eating crackers...by the time we saw the doc 3 hours later he seemed totally fine. They were going to do a scan, but since we live 5 minutes from the hospital, the dr. and the supervising dr. agreed that if he vomited even once more to come back immediately for a CT scan and to check on him during the night. I did. Several times. Obsessively. He's totally fine. But now he has diarrhea. Ugh.

Kicks

Here are Grandpa and Grandma Beck on the day of Kai's birthday party!



When Bev and Harry were here a couple of weeks ago they had the luck of catching Kai's first steps. Bev was insistent that Kai needed good quality, well fitting shoes- and she even paid for them! We tood Kai to Stride Right (I remember when Patty told me how much shoes were here when she bought them for Addie I thought she was nuts) and picked him up some 6Ws. Yup, he's got his mama's feet. While $50 seems like a lot for those little canoes, he should be wearing them for at least a couple of months.

One and Walking

Man did we have a big week. Kai turned one on July 13th. His big partay was on Sunday the 18th. Grandma and Grandpa Beck (recently dubbed Grandma and Grandpa Illinois) were on hand for the event AND Kai's first steps. Living several hundred miles apart means they miss a lot of these milestones, so that was awesome for them to see. This weekend my mom is taking Kai for THREE NIGHTS while we have our annual Sugarloaf friends weekend. I'm still nursing once or twice a day, so it's a little tough, but everyone reminds me that it's tough on me and that Kai will be fine.

ECFE has a potluck picnic for all of the kids from all of the classes in a park in St. Paul. It was madness. With bubbles. And noodle salad. What wasn't expected was the ridiculously creative hippy foods that our snotty ECFE parents classmates made. I mean, maybe they are kinda cool after all...


Jon and I took Kai to the Como Zoo the Saturday before Fathers Day. Como just opened its new polar bear enclosure. After we saw the big cats, Kai started signing "cat"!

Sugarloaf for Cruisers

Jon "parenting" Sugarloaf style:


We had the fortune of hooking up with Kristin and Sam (since ENGAGED!) for a hike at Gooseberry and supper at the pie joint in Castle Danger. It was 2 1/2 hours of awesome followed by a good meal and 4 hours of driving home late....ugh. Still, worth it.

Florida!

The annual charity golf tournament for Noah (Kai's middle name is Noah after him) was a fantastic excuse to visit Al & Cindy in Florida and have them meet Kai. They are perfect hosts and even went so far as to accommodate us with a pack n play for Kai. Plus, who doesn't love putting the kid to bed and then relaxing poolside (monitor in hand)?


Aaaaaaaand, we're new at this. Next time we travel we'll take pictures of something other than Kai. Until then, enjoy this picture of Cindy and Kai specifically designed to make Aunt Gayle jealous. But then, we also were in charge of her husband and son for the weekend, so who really was jealous is up for debate.


We got to meet LINCOLN! Alli and Paul had us over for dinner in their home in Fort Myers at the end of our trip. We threw some food together and rushed through a quick evening baby-style. He's adorable and they are fantabulous parents. Now, if I could only finagle a master bath for myself and assign Jon the "other bathroom," my life might be so sweet! Thanks, Al!

At the end of the trip we took two nights to be a family on vacation. Kai was good natured and flexible, as usual. He was a bit indifferent about the ocean, but he did like trying to eat insects out of the sand.

For future reference, I'm drawing up a formal sign up sheet for grown-up time. The mid-afternoon swap for free time was awesome. I posted to Facebook from the tiki bar and Jon drank Miller Lite (I know...) in the cabana we rented on the beach, while the other hung with Kai.





Oh, and apparently my child is a saint; no one around us on either flight had any trouble with him. I'm pretty sure the boob gets some credit on this one!

First Video of Kai "Crawling"

Sorry about the quality. My Droid apparently had something on the lens.

We're starting to pack for Florida on Friday morning, I'll have lots to share after that.