It’s been an eventful few weeks for the Kaiser household since my last post, and I’ll post some pics and stories from our adventures soon enough. But first I wanted to share about the days and hours leading up to Halleck’s arrival, before we became a family of four.
A few things about my pregnancies and my babies (given the current sample size of two that I have to go off of):
I carry pretty small. With both Eli and Halleck I gained maybe 17 lbs.
I get false contractions toward the end. Clinically, it’s called Braxton Hicks, but I call ‘em annoying as all get out. With Eli, I had false contractions for a good two weeks prior to going into labor. With Halleck, I was plagued with Braxton Hicks for at least six weeks. That means that I would have regular, consistent tightening of all the muscles around my belly every time I did any physical activity. It was exhausting, both physically and, toward the end, mentally. It’s tough when you know labor is approaching, get all the physical signs that things are moving forward, but know that it’s not really labor yet. Gah!
Despite being saddled with these contractions, I stayed pretty active through both my pregnancies. There’s video of me and ‘Outlaw’ at 32 weeks pregnant skiing down a black diamond called Challenger at Big Sky, MT. I was on alpine skis by that point, because there was no way I would have been able to buckle my own telemark boots, but I was still tearin’ it up Incidentally, the weekend after Big Sky, I was bed ridden with Braxton Hicks. Yeeaaahhhh, maybe Outlaw didn’t like the skiing as much as I did…
So here’s a couple of pregnancy pics of my last month with Outlaw:
Pregnant belly: 36 weeks (one month to go!)
39 weeks (just days away from delivery!)
I don’t love having pictures taken of me and my pregnant belly. And Nathan never really thinks about taking pictures, so I had to ask him to take these. Not the best quality, but you get the gist.
The day that I went into labor was a gorgeous, sunny, warm day in Seattle. Since I have Fridays off, I’d spent the day running errands. BORING. So I’d hoped that Nathan would be up for enjoying the evening with our toddler and dog. I loaded up Galt in the truck and headed downtown to pick up Nate and Eli.
What I didn’t realize was that Nathan was immersed in work, and he wouldn’t be able to mentally distance himself from it until he realized that THIS IS REALLY GO TIME!!!, which didn’t happen until hours later.
Instead, we (the entire Kaiser clan, including Galt) hung out at Nathan’s office while he tried to eek out a few more minutes of productivity. The truck sat in the load/unload zone, and the kid was getting antsy. Galt loves the office and couldn’t have cared about going anywhere else, except that he might have had to go to the bathroom.
Finally, around 6 p.m., I asked Nate if we could get going. Reluctantly, he agreed, but he noted that he’d be back that evening because he had SO much work to get done. We headed out and decided to grab dinner at the Spaghetti Factory. We even got to sit in the train! Eli had fun, and so did we.
Coloring the Spaghetti Factory menu
Even if Nathan was absorbed with work, he knows how to enjoy time with his kids. Or at that point in time, kid. Little did we know that this would be our last evening as a family of three But yay for me who was about to not be pregnant anymore!
We welcomed Halleck Michael Kaiser on April 14 at 4:29 in the morning. He arrived healthy, lively, and with a full head of hair! He’s just a smidge over 7 lbs 0.9 oz, and 18.5 inches long.
We’re reveling in this time, getting to know each other, and celebrating his arrival with family and friends.
Eli was especially sweet as he met his younger brother:
Um. Remember that Baby brain entry that I posted a few minutes ago? Yeah, here’s another piece of evidence that I’ve got massive baby mush brain: This post has been sitting in “drafts” for a solid month! So here it is. Only 1 month late:
It’s not even Valentine’s Day, and it’s been a rockin’ February. Actually, the end of our January was pretty rockin’, especially since we had a weekend with friends sans Eli. (He got to spend a long weekend with Grandma and Grandpa. I was a success for all!)
Theme for early February: Brunch and Dinner
After surviving Whistler, we headed home and—gasp!—stayed there for a couple of weekends. I filled our time with social engagements, nice dinners, long chats with family, and visits with friends.
February arrived in Seattle like a Spring day. The temperatures hit 60 degrees multiple times, and it was sunny, gorgeous and warm. I’m sorry to say, there were also multiple sightings of “50 degrees shirts off guy” and “pale pallor tank top girl,” but everyone managed to enjoy themselves just the same.
We enjoyed a very special (and only a little belated) Chinese New Year’s meal with my folks. Eli got a special “hung bow” from his PoPo and GungGung containing money for his savings account.
Gung Hay Faat Choy!
And we enjoyed another dinner with our favorite 13-year old baby sitter and his family (truly, it was his family that we were excited to visit with) as a ‘thank you’ for watching Galt during our epic Whistler weekend.
We took brunch over to baby James’ house, and enjoyed dining with his folks while he drank lots of milk. Nate tried some of Randall’s home brew, and Eli might have had a sip as well.
Mmmm... beer...
We hosted another brunch with Eli’s “O.G.”—his “original girlfriend” Sydney—and had a great time catching up with Syd’s family, welcoming her aunt and uncle back to Seattle from NYC. GOOD LUCK with the house, Gus and Emma!
Eli gets a kiss from his "O.G."
After his 1st kiss, Eli's left dazed while Sydney thinks, "Ain't no thang!"
Weee! I love it when Sydney and her family comes to visit!
Eli shows Gus his new smartphone. It's the latest technology...
February’s gonna cap off in the most amazing way. We’re off to Big Sky, MT, soon! It will be our 5th trip there and what’s shaped up to be the best and most-held tradition in our family—our annual President’s Day ski vacation with the Houchins’! I’m sure I’ll have stories, pictures, and video galore! Stay tuned!
Blah, blah, blahhhhhhhhh. My brain is mush. Or at least, that’s how I feel these days.
I’m in the midst of my 34th week of pregnancy. Wha-hoo! I had to look at the calendar to figure that out, and I’m further along than I expected! That’s cause for another Wha-hoo!!! 34 weeks along means a few things:
I’m only 2.5 weeks away from “full-term” (which is at 37 weeks).
I could deliver this kid anytime (YAY!!!), but it’s a safe bet to guess that he’ll come sometime within the next 4-6 weeks.
I’ll start seeing my doctor every week from now until Outlaw’s arrival.
It’s now a struggle to put my socks on and tie my shoes.
I’m TOTALLY counting down, but dammit, my pregnant baby brain can’t hold the numbers in my head, so I end up recounting and recounting, and finally, look at the calendar (as evidenced by the beginning of this post).
What used to be a fun place to jump and kick is now pretty tight quarters for Outlaw. He only has enough room to stretch and do these little round kicks. He’s big enough where this does not feel good to me.
You may be a close friend or family member who recalls that I don’t enjoy being pregnant. If you know us personally, you’ve been clued in to that fact. There are some women that glow and relish in the fact that they’re growing a little munchkin inside of them. I would outsource the duty, if given the choice.
And I don’t have anything to complain about. I’m pretty tiny, as far as pregnant women go. There are folks who see me on a regular basis that are just realizing that I have a protruding belly (and therefore, am pregnant).
You can kind of see my pregnant belly. This is from Chinese New Years at the end of January. (Red-paper envelopes filled with good luck money!)
Nate swears that you can’t tell even from behind, but I think my waddle gives it away. Oh yeah, that’s one more for the bulleted list above:
I’ve started to waddle when I walk. My back is arched, my steps are wider, and I sometimes feel like a duck. Ugh.
Wait, was I telling you that I have nothing to complain about? Oops. While that’s true, I obviously complain. Mostly to Nathan. He’s a trooper for constantly listening to me… or drowning me out… or ignoring me while making it seem like he’s listening to me. Anyway, I know I have nothing to complain about. I played soccer until I was well into my 4th month (I think I quit after 18 weeks, because the season ended). I skied into my 7th month (President’s Day Weekend in Big Sky, MT was an epic way to draw my ski season to a close). I didn’t stop drinking (just curbed my alcohol consumption), and I didn’t stop going to sushi restaurants (just ordered more veggie sushi and California rolls).
So now, I’m just waiting. And chasing around a toddler. And occasionally walking the dog. And trying to get lots of sleep. And sometimes dealing with Braxton Hicks (aka fake contractions)—boo! But overall, it’s been good.
So until Outlaw comes, I’ll just keep waiting. C’mon, Outlaw, c’mon!
Yee haw! We're in Montana! (Can you see the baby bump? Can you?)
I'm drawing your attention away from my belly by all my accessories.
Our January ended with a trip to Whistler with friends, Tony, Alex, and Marina, sans Eli (who spent a long weekend with Grandma and Grandpa). I will have fond memories of this trip for a long time.
Fresh powder, even at 2 p.m.? YES PLEASE!!!
But we’ll be laughing about the calamities that could have ruined the trip for a long time as well. It’s not like we were there for a real trip or anything that could be called a vacation. We left on a Friday and returned on a Sunday. But between Tony’s passport expiration and emergency replacement, no tuna fish for the tuna casserole, and the telemark ski boots left at home in the basement while the skis arrived safely with us, we had a lot of obstacles to overcome. And we did We had a marvelous time. Tony got a new passport out of the deal, we ate smoked salmon casserole which was even more yummy than tuna casserole, and we found the only store in Whistler that rents telemark ski boots.
Tony made a bet that, after a day of skiing, we'd all be in bed by 9:45. Time stamp: 9:15.
Cheers! Apres ski!
Surprise! The Otmans and the Kaisers find each other in Whistler!
Ann, Marc, and their kids Lucio and Nico are our "Whistler" friends cuz that's the only place we've ever seen them!
Only because he’s changing so quickly am I writing another post. Partly, this is a set of milestones, and partly, this is to help Keith and Susie decipher Eli’s words while they watch him for the weekend.
Yay to a kid-free getaway, and yay to grandparents!!!
Toddler adventures
Eli climbs the magazine rack in his Halloween dog costume
Since my last “Eli update” post, we’ve had quite a few toddler adventures, including our first visit to Urgent Care at Children’s Hospital. A few weeks ago, we picked up Eli from daycare and he’d had an ‘incident.’ Apparently, he was climbing a magazine rack and tumbled off of it, hitting his eye. We took one look at his face and figured that he’d earned his first shiner. None of this necessitated a trip to Urgent Care, and Nate wasn’t even concerned enough to show me or bring home the incident report from school. He just told the teacher that it would be fine, and we went on our merry way.
But an hour later, as we were home feeding Eli dinner, Eli started projectile vomiting. Uh-oh! That’s not supposed to happen! Immediately, Nate and I started thinking about a possible concussion. We checked his eyes, we looked up ‘head injuries’ on the Children’s Hospital website, and we called the nurse’s line. As could be expected, the nurse helped us come to the conclusion that you don’t want to take any chances with a possible head injury. Even if the bruise was under Eli’s eye, he may have bumped his head and nobody realized. Better to go into the Children’s and get him checked out. So we did. And Eli was a trooper.
Turns out, we were “lucky” enough to have the onset of a cold/flu bug coincide with a tumble at school. Lucky us! Nate, me, my folks, and our dear friend Marina got to juggle Eli while he stayed home from school, sick and clingy, for the rest of the week. He got better just in time for the snow to fall, so we had even MORE days at home with him. With that much time together, we got a pretty good handle on Eli’s newfound communication skills.
Eli’s verbal words and signs
As I’ve noted before, he says “no” very clearly.
He can also say “up” very clearly, but usually he’ll just stand at your feet, hold up his arms and grunt. We ask him to say “up,” but his vocalization depends on his mood.
He’s gotten into this habit of pointing, grunting with a “ehhh! ehh!” and crying when we say “No,” or “Not now,” or “I don’t understand what you want.” Sometimes, he’ll cry himself into a fit, and it’s funny and annoying at the same time.
Most often, he’s asking for his Lovey or his Binky. Both have achieved proper noun status in our household.
For whatever reason, Eli’s named his lovey “Rah” for rabbit. It amuses me to no end that Nathan and I and everyone who deals with Eli on a regular basis calls the thing his “Lovey” and he’s decided to call it “Rah.” I guess it’s because he rarely eeks out more than one syllable, and his likes to know that “Rah” goes “hop, hop, hop” like all other rabbits. He does this on occasion—makes Lovey hop around—and it’s totally adorable.
“Bi” stands for “Binky,” and to this object, Eli’s grown more attached that I would like. He asks for his “Bi” all the time, but he only really uses it for bedtime and sometimes naptime. If we’re not diligent in keeping it out of sight, he’ll insist on having it in his mouth. In the morning (6 a.m.—much earlier than we’d prefer), he’ll wake up crying and asking for it. We’ll hear him wail, “Waaaaa! Ahhhh! Bi?” over and over until one of us decides to get up. He’ll give it up willingly once we sit him down for breakfast, but if he sees it after he’s done eating, he’ll ask for it again.
Sometimes, he’ll ask to be read to by pointing to the pile of books and saying, “book!” This would be hard to decipher without the pointing, because he doesn’t enunciate the “k” very often, but Eli loves to have stories read to him and I’m thankful for that!
Eli’s food vocabulary isn’t very large, but he’s a really good eater. When you ask him if it’s time to eat, he’ll often repeat “eat!” eagerly. And he’ll tell you pretty quickly if we wants something that’s not yet in front of him.
“Da!” – Eli will point to what he wants and you can hold up items until he agrees… Or you can just place something in front of him. You’ll know quickly enough by his adamant response if he doesn’t want it.
“Nana” or “Ana” for banana, which he’ll also sign for. (Holds up an index finger and runs his other finger up and down it, as if he’s peeling a banana.)
“Apple” – but usually what he wants is pineapple. I guess our visit to Hawaii when Eli was 6 months old has a lasting impression on him…
“Cheese” for, surprise! cheese – but he doesn’t say this too often.
Cookie – While not spoken, Eli signs for this quite often. Eli holds one hand open and points at his palm with the index finger of his other hand.
“Mil” for milk – The sign for this is opening and closing one’s fist, like you might be milking a cow.
“Jue” for juice – We try not to give him this, and if we do, it’s extremely watered down. But my parents give him watered down juice every Wednesday, and if he sees us drinking some, he’ll ask for it.
“Wa” for water – Eli’s sign for this is a pointed index finger hit against his cheek a couple of times. He asks for water more than he asks for milk.
But there are plenty of Eli’s words that could be confused with his request for water, so watch his body language. “Rah” for one, sounds a lot like “wa.” After he’s done eating, or even midway through, Eli will often ask for “a wra?” and he’ll wave his hand. He’s asking for you to wipe his hands clean. He’s definitely his mother’s child!
Favorite foods
This kid eats just about anything (thank goodness we have a good eater!), but here are a few of his favorite things:
Eli tries pistachios... and likes them!
Greek honey yogurt (or any flavored Greek yogurt). We find the thick consistency of the Greek yogurts more toddler-feeder-friendly than regular yogurt. But he likes those too
Dry cereal, especially when he can dip the pieces in the yogurt. Cheerios and Puffs work really well.
Fruit. This kid really loves his fruit, especially bananas, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and mandarin oranges (like satsumas or clementines). He’s less a fan of pears and apples, but a lot of that depends on how they’re cut.
Eggs, especially scrambled. There have been times where Eli’s eaten two scrambled eggs, plus yogurt, plus fruit for breakfast. It’s as if his stomach just expands to fit whatever he puts down!
Pancakes and waffles. These are special occasion breakfast foods, but over Christmas, we made these more often and even gave Eli some maple syrup to dip. He LOVED it.
Rice, especially with some sort of gravy. Amusingly enough, he love Thai food with rice.
Pasta. When I was pregnant with Eli, my favorite thing to eat was Mac’n'Cheese. Even the gross Easy Mac would satisfy my craving. So it should be no surprise that Eli likes pasta… of all kinds!
Recognizing animals and body parts
In my last “Eli update” post, I shared a video of Eli sharing some of his animal sounds. He’s kind of over giving animal sounds on call, but he’ll do it if he’s in the mood. Rather, he really likes pointing at the animals that he knows while you call them out.
He does like to make his Rabbit aka Lovey go “hop! hop! hop!” which can sometimes sound like “hup! hup! hup!” and could easily be confused with “up! up! up!” His hand motions for this are index finger pointed and moving his hand around like he’s hopping. He’s not quite dexterous enough to get two fingers up in the air like bunny ears, but he’s working on it.
We’ve been working with Eli on naming his body parts. He has some of them down pat, but he still gets confused on cheeks, lips, chin and ears. He’s a pro at pointing to his nose, he really knows his teeth (because we brush them every morning and every night), and he knows his head and hair pretty well. He can usually point to his eyes, and he definitely knows his feet and his toes. His where his tummy, arms, elbows and knees are remain a bit fuzzy in his mind, especially when they’re covered in clothes!
Naming body parts will probably be a fun exercise for us for many months to come.
Until next time…
OK, are you tired of reading yet? Are you even still with me? I’m tired of writing, so, until next time!
Some of the Seattle area got hit with snow over the MLK weekend. Ballard was given a pass except for a few flurries… until yesterday. To be perfectly honest, I showed up for work on Tuesday feeling a little left out. North of Seattle in Everett, folks were hunkered down. In South Seattle, Beacon Hill was complaining of treacherous sidewalks. Even a few miles east of Ballard, there was plenty of snow on the lawns and sidewalks. Heck, even Downtown Seattle had more snow than Ballard… Sunday we ventured Downtown for our friend’s 27th birthday dinner by REI and saw snowmen on the side of the road!
Ballard didn’t even have a trace of white. But that all changed on Wednesday, early in the wee hours of the morning. Outlaw woke me up around 4:30 in the morning (one thing this pregnancy has plagued me with is insomnia), and after a second of lying in bed wide awake, I realized that there might be something to see outside our window.
Outside the Kaiser home at 5 a.m.
Outside the Kaiser home at 7 a.m.
YAY! SNOW!!!
I sat and watched the snow flurries accumulate while feeling sorry for the all news reporters on the highways and overpasses who were broadcasting with up-to-the-minute, inch-by-inch tallies. And then I went back to bed, strategizing how we might sneak away to go skiing the next day…
I have never in my life played hooky from work to go skiing… until yesterday. And it was SO. WORTH. IT. My legs still ache from all the powder tele-turns. Very rarely does one experience fresh powder at the Summit at Snoqualmie, but we did yesterday. And I’m blissfully dreaming of the terrain at Mission Ridge that we’ll get to experience this weekend. YAYYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!! Can you tell I’m stoked?!?!
Even better? Next weekend, we’re going to Whistler with some friends. Thanks, Mom! For a perfectly timed condo reservation, cuz the snow is falling hard, and I can’t wait to take advantage of it! Eli is going to spend the weekend with his Grandpa and Grandma (Nate’s folks), and I’m going to enjoy a kid-free, winter-wonderland weekend to the fullest.
But what of Eli and the snow, you ask?
He LOVES the snow.
"SNOW!"
"Huh. I just slid down, and I liked it."
Wheee!!!
Trying to walk
Wednesday, he walked around all day saying, “SNOW!” which sounds a bit like “no,” except with a very nasally “n.” You can easily tell the difference between “SNOW!” and “no” by his body language: finger pointing outside with joy on his face vs. adamantly shaking his head from side to side. It brings Nate and I never-ending joy to see how much Eli likes playing in the snow.
Today, with the help of my dad (Eli’s Gung Gung), we all walked to the park and did a little sledding. Eli liked sledding on Nate’s lap much more than on my dad’s lap.
Eli does love his dad
"This is gonna be FUN!"
Sledding with Dad: Part 1
Sledding with Dad: Part 2
Sledding with Dad: Part 3
Victory walk
The snow is STILL falling after 2 solid days.
Seattle is getting restless with cabin fever. We never have snow that continues to fall for more than 2 days. Seattle isn’t sure what to do with itself, and the city has literally been reduced to pedestrians, snowmobiles, and cross-country skiers.
We may get a lot of crap for the entire city shutting down, but I’m still enjoying myself.
And who knows, maybe Snopocalypse 2012 will continue a bit longer. It doesn’t matter to us though, we’re off to the cabin tomorrow in our sturdy 4WD truck.
Incidentally, the weekend after Big Sky, I was bed ridden with Braxton Hicks. Yeeaaahhhh, maybe Outlaw didn’t like the skiing as much as I did…
