Lots of 'firsts' this weekend

Kaio had several 'firsts' this past week/end. Besides his first trip to Greece (as it was for me and Jason as well) he also had the following 'firsts':
- First hair cut - his bangs were in his eyes and bothering him. Jason held him and I cut his bangs. He was very interested in grabbing the scissors, but after distracting him with a calculator (yes, regular toys don't always do the trick anymore) he kept still and I cut his hair:
- First top teeth came out - He now has 3 teeth (and the 4th is almost out). This explains his crankiness in Greece....
- First (non-family, paid) baby sitter - Jason and I went to a all day concert (John Mayer, Sheryl Crow and Eric Clapton) at Hyde Park and Hannah (a babysitter recommended by one of my friends) took care of Kaio from 2pm until 11pm. He did really well and she seemed to have enjoyed it as well.
- First x-ray - the GP recommended to take a x-ray of his thorax to check on his lungs since he has been wheezing and coughing for 2 months now. The results will come out in 7 days.

He is crawling all over and mastering in getting wherever he wants to go. He is starting to pull himself up on his crib, furniture and us. He is babbeling and experiencing with his voice, hands and us too! He loves to open his mouth and say 'waaaaaa' and touch his mouth on our arm... so it goes 'wawawawawawawawa' (just like a little indian!) Absolutely adorable!

Pictures from our cruise

Hey everybody; we hope you're all having a great start of the summer! We've sorted through our best pictures of the trip to the Eastern Mediterranean and you can find them on our website. Enjoy!

Greece!

We had a great holiday in the Mediterranean! Greece, Turkey and Cyprus are beautiful and we all enjoyed our 10-day vacation together.
It was the first time on a cruise for Kaio and I and it was great to see several places but still have a 'consistent' place for Kaio to sleep and feel comfortable. At the end of the day we would relax in our cabin, which Kaio seemed to really enjoy - having mommy and daddy on the big bed playing with him - he would crawl to me and hug and 'kiss' (which is more a open mouth bite at the moment) and then crawl and play with daddy. In the evening he was always so tired that he would go to bed without making a noise and sleep until the next morning.
It was very hot and we tried to keep Kaio comfortable, which included putting on as little cloths as possible, some pool time and ice cream! He absolutely LOVED this last one!
He got a lot of attention from the people on the cruise (staff and cruisers) as well as people at the different cities we went to. We were surprised to see several 'local' people come up to Kaio and talk to him, make funny faces or stroke his head. Kaio loved the attention and was all smiles to everyone!
He 'practiced' his crawling and was moving all over! Luckily not too fast (yet) but it allowed him to reach toys and 'things' he wanted to play with, without having to cry for us to give them to him.
It was great to spend so much time with Kaio but we (Jason and I) also had the opportunity to go and have nice meals, go for a drink and watch some shows while Kaio was sleeping in the cabin (they had a phone system which allowed us to check in on Kaio by dialing to our cabin)
Kaio is teething again, which resulted in a couple of cranky moments. But we could easily distract him and he would be smiley again! Because of the teething he also did not eat that well (besides the sweets, for which he always opens his mouth) He also does not seem to enjoy the baby food in jars, so I ended up improvising and mashing baked potatoes with veggies and cheese to taste more like the food I make at home.
Below are a couple of pictures:
1) Jason and Kaio in Ephesus, Turkey - a very hot day but absolutely amazing place!
2) Kaio and I in Kusadasi, Turkey - Kaio's first ice cream.
3) Kaio and I in Santorini, Greece - also a very hot day, we stopped to have a refreshment. Santorini is absolutely gorgeous!
4) Jason and Kaio in Mykonos, Greece
5) Kaio 'driving' his car on the cruise
6) Jason and Kaio in Limassol at Curium
7) Kaio and I in Limassol, Cyprus
8) Jason, Kaio and I in Rhodes - my birthday!
9) Jason and Kaio relaxing in the pool in Rhodes

Father's day pictures

Although our little one wasn't feeling 100% on Father's day, below are some pics. And as you can see, he was still amazingly cute and adorable!
1) Daddy and Kaio leaving our house - sun hat and sun glasses
2) Daddy and Kaio - picnic in the park
3) Kaio making funny faces/poses
4) Daddy checking Kaio out with our handy mirror (and Kaio checking daddy out)
5) "How cute am I!?!?!?!"
Jason has been such a great daddy! Kaio absolutely loves Jason! It is adorable to see Kaio's huge smiles when Jason arrives home. Kaio also adores touching Jason's unshaven face, his cuddles, his 'rough playing', his smoothies, bath time...
Tomorrow we are off to Greece!!! We are so excited and happy that both Jason and Kaio are feeling much better! (it would have been very unpleasant if we had two sick boys on the cruise!)

Maybe not so drinkable sparkling wine

Last night we finished father's day 'well' - We called our dads, played with Kaio, put him to bed and sat down for a JAP and sparkling wine.... untill then, everything fine. At midnight I hear someone being sick, I run to Kaio's room but he is asleep... Jason spend all night in the bathroom being very sick and Kaio couldn't let daddy feel miserable alone and also was sick a couple of times during the night! (luckily Vinny and I kept our food down!) We're not sure what is happening but Kaio will go to the GP today. I just hope they recover before we go on holidays on thursday!

Jason's first father's day!

Today was Jason's first father's day! Last night, while I was preparing Kaio's last bottle of the day, he was sick and threw up all over the kitchen (pretty much the whole day's food). Throughout the night Kaio had to vomit a couple of times and I was afraid we were not going to be able to go anywhere with our sick baby! However, Kaio woke up in a great mood, had breakfast and was ready to play. We played and let daddy sleep in on his first father's day (only because it is his first one!) and went to get some eggs and milk. We made some yummie pancakes and a nice pot of strong coffee for Jason!
We headed out to Hampstead Heath (a huge park north of London). We had a nice picnic and walked around. On our way back we stopped in a coffee shop for a piece of cake. While I was ordering Kaio threw up all over Jason, himself and the coffee house floor and chairs. We had no spare cloths for anyone. We decide to go home with our sick little guy, but while on the tube, he had to make mommy part of it all and threw up all over mommy and the tube floor! (luckily he did not target anyone else!) It was a bit funny, the three of us, all puked on and smelling like it!!! When we got home we took a bath together. I think it will be an unforgettable first father's day for Jason. We will finish the day with a nice bottle of British sparkling wine (which I got at a British winery, yes - it's actually located in Britain and they do produce wine and sparkling wine and - it is drinkable!)
We have started brushing Kaio's teeth. He loves it and giggles while we try to brush his two teeth! It's adorable. But then again, pretty much everything he does is adorable!

Pictures of our weekend in Belgium

Below are some pics from last weekend in Belgium:
1) Kaio with funny hair style - done by Lucas! (who was camera shy this weekend)
2) Kaio and Ana Julia in PJ's
3) Kaio is a happy baby in the morning!
4) Mommy, Opa and Kaio, ready to go for a walk
5) Kaio with Omi (mommy's Aunt)
6) Kaio with Moeke
7) Kaio with Peter (Ana Julia's and Lucas's dad)

CRAWLING

Kaio is crawling... not the full blown 'crawling-everywhere-and-everything' crawling, but definitely moving forwards to reach things!!
We knew he was very close to crawling since he gets into the crawling position all the time, but most of the time he would just balance back and forth... then yesterday, when I went to pick him up at daycare they said - 'show mommy what you did today...', but he was tired and we went home. After a quick nap and some food he was ready to show me his new trick. I put him on his play mat (a nice frog play mat Oma gave him this past weekend) and put my cell phone (he loves it!) 1.5m away. He first looked at me and started complaining (in the hope I would just give it to him....) but I just encouraged him and showed him the lights of my cell phone (not being cruel, just teasing him). He got on his knees and hands (he was sitting) and did a couple of 'steps' forwards, fell on his tummy, looked up and the cell phone was still too far for him to reach, he got on his hands and knees again and crawled a couple of steps more until he reached it!!!!!
So amazing.. our little guy is crawling!!!!

Another weekend in Belgium

This past weekend we went to Belgium again. My parents were in town and it was a great opportunity to have Kaio hang out with his niece and nephew. Pipi Kaio, Lucas and Ana Julia still love playing around and sharing toys. (Kaio is more 'aware' of them and was very tolerant of all the pushing around, jumping on him...) It was also cute to see them share their sandwiches, cookies, water, etc. They took a long nice bath together on Saturday night! So adorable!
Kaio definitely recognized Oma (he opened a big smile when he saw her) and he did not cry when he saw Opa (he actually smiled slightly) He was very easy going and went smiling to anyone who wanted to hold him, including Omi (my aunt), Moeke (my grandma), Peter (my brother-in-law, dad of Lucas and Ana Julia) and Lucas and Ana Julia (who constantly wanted to hold him - they came to my parents house at 7am on Saturday and didn't leave until we left, Sunday evening)
On the Eurostar outwards, Kaio behaved really well. He slept a bit, ate his dinner and played... when we got at my parents house he fell asleep and slept really well.
Kaio did have a bit of a melt down on the Eurostar back to London. He cried, and nothing Jason and I did could stop it. After a 10min cry he stopped and was much better, although a bit cranky! I think he had a very busy weekend, a new environment (again), the heat and just being tired made him have "a moment".

Pictures of Los Angeles

Kaio was SO happy to see Jason when he arrived home from the airport. He instantly started smiling and opened his arms to go to Jason. It's so great to see how he recognizes us and is happy to see us!
Kaio is doing the 'chicken wing' thing. He holds his hand or a toy in front if his mouth and flaps his arm like a chicken and saying 'awwwwww'. It sounds very funny and is adorable!
Here are some pics of the weekend:
1) Going to the beach in Manhattan Beach - Kaio and mommy are very happy!
2) Kaio and mommy at the beach
3) Kaio and Jason having fun at the beach
4) Kaio couldn't get his eyes off the waves
5) Kaio with Ava - she is posing nicely for the pictures, Kaio making baby faces...