Kai's 1st Birthday Party

Who Needs Toys

Hi all,

I know it has been awhile.

Over the past month Kai has grown so much as you can see by the photos. He has started pointing to all sorts of things. His favourite things to point at are ceiling fans, dogs, books, flowers, spoons and of course Mum and Dad. I am amazed at what he has taken in. He has started swimming lessons and he is nearly walking. He can stand upright for approx 5 seconds by himself before he sits back down, I think he will be walking by his 1st birthday.

We are all well. Getting stuck into the garden before Kai's birthday and planning a herb and vegie garden. Can't wait. Here are a few of our favourite photos taken recently.

Kai has a room full of toys, but what he enjoys most is playing with a cardboard box full of balls, the vacuum cleaner or just turning his toy trucks upside down and spinning the wheels. I have decided he isn't getting any more toys..well not for a while.

I was considering an activity table, but he would be more interested in the vacuum cleaner. At least I can clean the floor and he thinks its a game.

Goodnight
Kelly

Weeks later, same old thing.

Hay.

Yes, so we went to Toogoom again last weekend.

Kai enjoys the beach very much and has grown especially fond of eating sand. He doesn't like the taste but apparently the third times a charm. He's also starting to say dog over and over and crawl over and over the dog. She doesn't mind as she can see it won't be long until he can throw her ball and then she won't need us.

The gardening is finally starting to pay off as all sort of flowers are bursting forth and the tomato plant I didn't plant is getting heavier. There is always something to be done and it's nice to be able to enjoy doing it. Frankly, i'm now quite used to getting excited at the idea of foodstuffs rotting in a pile down the back.

I think Kelly is less bothered by Kai getting up at 5.30 now than she was. He started doing it around the same time that I started my new job. I wake up at 4.45 but i'm quiet I swear.

Thanks for your time,
Evan.

Going to Toogoom

Hay
Been feeling a bit crap the last 2 weeks, so it will be good to feel the sunshine on more than my right arm. I'm a courier now for Toll as my last job up and left. To top it off, i started my new job sick and i still am. I guess the 5.00 starts don't help either but it's good to be working still.

Evan

The crabs here are huge

Hay

It was our second Anniversary on the 5th so we went out to Woodgate again since we liked it so much the first time. This was Kai's first time to the beach and by all accounts he enjoyed himself. He just commando crawl right off the picnic blanket after our little dog's ball. The sand didn't even bother him though he thought it a little salty.

Since we do the traditional gifts, I gave Kelly a lovely set of pj's and she gave me a hammock. Both 100% Traditional.

Kai's teeth have finished their first run. He has been left with his two front teeth on the bottom and his top right front and eye teeth. He wasn't too happy about it. I've let him think he's finished the poor little guy. He even has a cold at the same time.

On to better news, Kai has started to stand up. In fact he will complain noisily if he is left to sit. I have to find a way to balance the DVD player, amp and playstation on top of our flatscreen. From now on we can't have nice stuff.

The worse thing is that he has farther to fall. It's not pretty but he'll bounce back up.

Here is the gallery:

(Above - Wherever I go they'd shout "Hello".)

(Above - "Say, I think Dad's going to sit down here.")

(Above - "He is. Abandon Picnic!" )

(Above - See ya.)

(Above - Give yourself a hand for sitting up.)

All is fun and games here.
More soon.
Evan

Hello all of you,

Just us, checking in again.
Big news this last week is that Kai has begun getting in his teeth.
The first ones are shown below.
He is generally upset and a bit out of sorts but has not lost his appetite.

Also the little guy is loving story time. When I start reading in another room, he knows what I'm doing and he comes a' crawling as fast as he can so he can laugh and turn a page.

Kelly and I are still rummaging in the garden, cleaning up the mess it had been turned into by the last owners. Plants are getting ripped out, trees are chopped down and things are turning up that we never knew were there before.
Like an electrical socket and a toilet.
One of those works by the way.

Tomorrow will be another special day in our life. Our Anniversery.
We'll be heading out to Woodgate again but this time Kai is out Kelly's belly and can appreciate the sun, sand and the kite with his wide blue eyes.

(Above - I think I took this photo at, you guessed it, two thirty.)

(Above - “And knew all niceties of the sock and buskin” (Byron).)

We hope this post finds you all well.
All of you new and old.
Love,
Evan.

Excuse me, coming through.

Hey there strangers,

I know, I know. Long time no readie readie.
Perhaps I can explain. As you might have guessed from the title of the last post, Kai has spoken.
Mum was his first word. Well, more of a Mum-um-um-um.

Kelly had always told me that Kai would say Dad first because it was easier to pronounce but I just think she didn't want to be disappointed. Oh, don't feel sorry for me, Kai has said Dad too. It's just usually preceded by a heck of a lot of Mum-um-um-ums.
Only the one Dad.
Right at the end.
You have to listen closely to hear but it's there, I swear it.

Kai has also begun to crawl. It's not a completely off the ground movement but it sure is a quick one now. He loves nothing more than bypassing all his brightly coloured and musical toys to get to the DVDs/DVD player/Heater/Speaker wire/Vacuum/Guitar/Dog bed/Sleeping Dog. At least Kai has the common decency to let us know when he is about to crawl towards something he shouldn't have by cackling very loudly.

The little man can also clap away now and slap his belly on command (If I slap my belly first, if we've had a shower, if I give him some talc)

Kelly and I are both well and are happily adjusted to our new home. There is always work to be done on it and it's great to have had what I like to think of as a practice house first.
Laern form yuor mastikes and all that.

It's lovely getting stuck into the garden now we have one and really hacking out weeds like that marvelous bush of lantana that we had. Two weeks on since I pulled it all out and the area's nearly been taken over by ferns that were nearby. At least we don't feel too rushed to complete projects in a flash. We're not in any hurry to go anyway else.

Here are our freshest pics:

(Above - This is what happens when Kai wakes up now.)

(Above - If this was a jar, he'd be in a bit of a pickle.)

(Above - And you know it.)

(Above - Love's his Dad.)

(Above - Love's his Mum-um-um-um.)

The little boy is over eight months which is exciting and from here on in, we'll be looking very closely at his progress.
Which will probably be straight toward the dog's water bowl, as laughter fills the air.

Take care,
Evan.

Mumumumum

The King of Swing

Hi

All is well in our household, our little man is finally sleeping through. Hooray. We can finally stop shuffling around like zombies. Dropping his night time bottle was pretty easy, we just offered water instead of milk and two nights later he didn't bother disturbing us and just kept sleeping.

Kai is also eating more and more these days. We bought a baby meal planner and recipe book by Annabel Karmel. Our friend, Theresa, recommended it to us and it has been fantastic. We have given Kai so many interesting foods that I would never have thought of. We have tried pureed apples and cinnamon, peaches, raspberries, strawberries, avocado, cauliflower with cheese sauce, spaghetti bolognese and salmon. We have added different herbs for flavour like fresh basil or parsley. It's as much a pleasure watching him enjoy his food as it is eating his leftovers.

As well as sleeping through, Kai is almost crawling. He can get up on all fours and rock back and forth and shuffle forward about 1/2 a metre before he gets frustrated and rolls over. He is such a determined baby, he won't give up until he gets what he wants.

Evan's Mum and Scott came up a few weekends ago and brought along a lovely present for Kai. It was great to have had them stay over and spend some time with Kai, as we all know how fast little babies become little boys.

Sincerely,
Kelly.

The big sipper

Hello again,

Well, give it a week and Kai will be into meat. He already eats so much puree at a time and he was getting into porridge yesterday. No more rice cereal, give the kid some wheetbix.
Now we complement his food with some water in a sippy cup and a rusk which Kora, our dog, hangs around waiting to steal.

Other than his feeding habits, he has just started to pat stuff with his hands. He is still a happy little man, waking in the morning to play with his toys and giggling. He is a lot easier to put to bed as he very quickly goes through his grumbling then nods off. We did have two nights where he slept through but last night, he went back to the routine midnight feed.

Now the pictures:

(Above - Kai thinks this toys sucks, Thanks Sindy)

(Above - Matter of fact, i've got it now. Loves his sippy cup)

(Above - Maybe he dreams of crawling)

Kel and I are happy by the way. We've spent a bit of time in the garden raking, clearing trees and pruning. It's a lot more fun here because the garden is so established. We planted one cycad in our old garden and it never took off. There are at least eight big cycads here and still counting. I'm constantly amazed by it all.

We're still unpacking and furnishing the house, which we are taking our time with as we want to get the right feel. We can't wait to paint over the pink walls especially since there are no tongue in groove boards to gap fill. If you remember, it took almost as long to gap fill those two rooms in the old house as it did to paint them. Thank goodness we didn't have to do the whole house after all.

There are a lot of reasons we are very glad to be here.

Take care,
Evan.

We're alright where we're supposed to be.

Hay there,

Bet you wondered where we had gotten to.
Well, I can tell you this. It's a damn sight better than our old house.
This place just feels like home and we are so pleased with the peace and tranquility.
Honestly, since we've been here we have watched less TV and eaten nearly every breakfast and dinner on the deck. Those times we haven't is usually when the fog has rolled in and we don't want to lose our little toes to frostbite.

Kai loves his new room. It has a skylight so he has even more reason to stay awake and ferret around during the day. He's just getting into creeping around and now seems to take the bumps his rolls usually lead him too.
He powers through his fruit and veg these days with gusto, even after a bottle full, and we have weened him of his dummy. He only had it to get to sleep but when it would invariably come out during, he would wake up soon after.

I present these as exhibit A:

(Above - This garden is a bit of a step down)


(Above - This picture could do with a bit more polish)

(Above - Oh, what the deck, Kelly & Kai and Grandma & Little Bobby)

(Above - What are you pier'ing at?)

(Above - Liss, Cam'el and Ev)

Glad you could catch up on what's happening with us and it will be a lot easier to keep posting now this one' up.
Maybe i'll even throw in a bit more humour.
Evan.

Moving is such sweet happiness

Hi

Kai is going great these days and so are we.
I mean, yes, he still ferrets around at night after his bottle sometimes, but I think that it's just him teething. It's no wonder that his teeth are coming through though as he loves his tucker.
He started with the bland rice cereal and has since moved onto the bland parsnip (not a hit), as well as pumpkin, sweet potato, carrot, pears, bananas and yogurt (all are loved).

It's getting colder up here for Kai and it is many a morning that I wake up and find snow balls where his hands used to be. Hopefully his new room will be better insulated as it is in the center of the house.

Speaking of our new home, we will be moving this weekend and officially living there on Monday. Kelly and I are so excited to be finally living somewhere we know we'll be proud of. Plus, the place is so darn private and it has a deck, so I can watch and wave as Kai goes careening down the terraced gardens on his bike. I would rather that kind of danger than basically a Highway outside our front door, as we have now.

Some more pics for your perusal;

(Above - Feeding himself his pumpkin, carrot and swedes (they ran out of germans.)

(Above - Bring those toes to your nose.)

(Above - So we are agreed then. Let's shake on it.)

(Above - Looking very chipper this one)

Can't chat now,
packing stuff.
Evan

Up periscope.

Hello
As you can see, little Kai has begun sleeping on his front and if Kelly and I are any indication, he should continue sleeping that way well into his teens.
He has also become more accustomed to lifting his head up and pushing his chest off the ground when he's on his front. You can always expect to see Kai like this when he wakes up from his slumber.

(Above - I couldn't pick just one)

Now, Kai is really paying attention to his surroundings, loving the fact he can hold his head up and take everything in. He's not crawling yet but he has the slow rotation down pat.

We think he's in the very, very early stages of teething but maybe it's just grumpy baby syndrome.
We have started him on solids as for the last few weeks he has looked at us eating and he has smiled and gummed and salivated profusely. He seemed to like his gruel but he hasn't had my Carrot Cake yet.

(Above - So close and yet safari.)

Kelly has started work again and Kai is passed along to Kelly's mum or my sister on those mornings. Their help is immeasurable though I have a feeling they don't mind the task so much.

It's only two weeks until we move and Kelly and I can't wait. I mean, we literally can't.
We spend more time driving past our new home than we do in ours. We have even bought an outdoor setting already, picked out a couch and are choosing new colour schemes.

The great move is coming,
Evan.

Hello

Love,

Evan, Kelly & Kai.

He's testing for weaknesses.

Hay

It's amazing watching Kai develop. He weighs 7.24 Kilos and is 68 cm long.
Just last week he stared blankly during peek-a-boo but now he gets it and gets the giggles good. Plus the little boy is rolling.
If we put him down, eventually he'll roll over, whether to get closer to something or not. He does it so often that it is only after he's on his tummy that he realizes sometimes that he doesn't want to be on his tummy. He squawks out for help because he can't roll back and when we set him straight, he smiles and then rolls back over. He'll even accidentally roll too far and go off his rug onto the floor but that's okay since it's made out of Pine and that's a soft wood.

As you may have guessed, we're moving.
Our new home is in a peaceful area of Maryborough and has a garden you have to see to believe. Nearly all the work is done (pink walls) and we know that it will be such a lovely home for Kai (and us) to grow up in. We will let you all know of any more details as we become sure of them.


As you can see the cot is more of an amusement park these days than just somewhere to sleep.
He is usually happy to explore his cage but will squawk out for help when he gets stuck. Usually when he is on his tummy or (and) up against the bars.

May we all be so adventurous
Evan & Kelly