Pics

Some pics Aunt Liesbet took:
1) As if his cheeks are not big enough, he now blows them up even more. You can also see his eyes are starting to turn light brown/green/greyish
2) In the Baby Bjorn looking and smiling at me!
3) Vinny goes on Kaio's chair and sits on his laps, mostly with his behind towards Kaio's face. He does not seem to mind at all!

Kaio's first cold - cured with Guinness??!

Kaio had is first cold. He started coughing a bit more then normal on friday and on saturday morning he was sneezing and coughing heavy. For two seconds we considered not going to Dublin but we decided to take our chances and went. He was great!!!!! He was such a joy throughout the whole trip. On the plane he slept te whole time, he would take naps or look around with us at the museums and cathedrals and at the Guinness tour he slept the whole time until we had a pint in the bar. Actually it might be the Guiness pints I had that helped him over his cold - "Guinness is for strenght". (here with Daddy at a pub checking out the Guinness pint!

Here with mommy at the Guinness restaurant... he is breastfeeding under the cover... (after mommy had half a pint of Guinness!) Kaio adapted nicely to our schedule. He would take long naps during the day (his cold probably made him sleep more then normal), be awake and happy (mostly to feed or when we were walking around). He was in his baby bjorn and pram and it allowed him to look around and sleep when he wanted. In the evening we would go out to dinner and he would sleep in his pram. He slept in a crib in our room and did great! (even allowing us o watch tv without being woken up)

The weather was also very nice (apart from tuesday, the day we travelled back) and saw all of Dublin.

It was a great anniversary trip and it showed us that we can do city breaks with Kaio!
With mommy at the pub

5 year anniversary

Yesterday was our 5 year anniversary! Time has really flown by! 5 years have gone by - we now live in London, have a beautiful son and continue so happy together! Jason is such a wonderful husband and now that I see what a wonderful dad he is, I love him even more!
We went out for a drink (while Liesbet took care of Kaio - who was sleeping). Jason surprised me with some champagne and a jewelery box. He got me a Sapphire stone, which is Kaio's birth stone. We have another little stone - a Tanzanite - whice we got when we were in Africa while celebrating my 30th birthday. The plan is to acquire some memorable stones and later on make a ring from it!
Kaio is coughing and sneezing a lot today... it might be his first cold! Which is not ideal since we are going to Dublin tomorrow! (part 2 of our wedding anniversary celebration) But it was bound to happen - he is 4 months and has not had any colds in the british winter!

Kaio - Daddy time

The last couple of nights, Kaio and Daddy time have been so much fun (I can hear it from our bedroom but I don't interfere). When Jason gives him the bottle at 10 -10:30 he has a whole sequence, which includes getting a glass of water in Kaio's room (for me to drink if I have to give a night feed), turning on Kaio's mobile and un-swaddeling him (so he wakes up), changing his nappy (so he is well awake) and then feeding him. Kaio is such a joy. He 'talks' and smiles to Jason and is a true sweetheart. He even goes back to bed without making any fuss! Jason really looks forward to the night feeds. But sometimes Kaio is upset to be woken up and cries. (mostly he is a happy camper!)
Kaio has also been having 'giggle attacks'! He really laughs out loud when we play with him. It is so adorable and more frequent every day. He also is smiling a lot more then before.
Kaio has been having a couple of strange nights - he wakes up a couple of times during the night, even though he eats 7.5oz at his last feed (10:30pm)and should not be hungry. He may still be a bit confused with the time difference and all the extra attention he got in the US.

Aunt Liesbet in town

Liesbet arrived on saturday. She will be staying with us for a month! Kaio went straight to her arms when she arrived and he smiled.... however, within seconds his pouty faces appeared and he realized she was not his mommy and started crying! But after a couple of hours he was smiling at her again (and not crying right afterwards). This is similar to what happened when we were in CO with grandma and grandpa... he seems to need some minutes to get used to other people. Which shows that he knows who Jason and I are, since he, most of the time, doesn't start crying when he sees us!On friday I bought him Oma's Christmas gift. It's a bebe pod. It's a specially designed seat to support babies that can't sit by themselves yet. It helps them to get stronger to evolve to that point and it allows them to sit and look around, which is what Kaio loves to do (he is now getting bored in laying in his playpen for long period of times... he wants to see things!

Babies

Yesterday 6 of the antenatal class moms came together for tea! (and carrot cake ;-) We were all so amazed how our babies are all little individuals now. We have been meeting since we were pregnant and the first couple of months of our babies they were all very similar: they slept, filled nappies, wobbled there heads and when we, the moms, met, they did not participate at all. Now, they are looking around, holding toys, smiling, etc. And you can see the different personalities. It is so nice to see Kaio growing up with all these babies! And it is great to exchange information with all the moms.
Kaio was looking around and very interested in all the noises and movements (he has always been a very attentive boy). He was not that smiley (he was too busy checking everything out!) I had to feed him and the other moms were jealous in how fast he eats (most of them are still taking 30 - 45 mins to feed while Kaio is done in max. 15min)
Kaio is one of the bigger babies (he is one of 3 boys out of 12 babies), however another baby boy, Oliver, who is 3 weeks younger then Kaio is huge!! He is almost 15lbs!
Since Kaio behaved so well on the plane, we did book our next trip. We are going to Dublin for our 5 year anniversary. We will be going from Saturday the 26th of January through Tuesday the 29th.

Xmas pictures

Below are some pictures of our holidays in Colorado.
1) Our family (I know, Vinny is missing!)
2) Xmas dinner with grandma, grandpa, Aunt Carrie and Aunt Donna
3) Kaio with his stocking
4) Kaio smiling
5) Smiling at Grandma
6) Kaio and Daddy having fun!
7) Kaio and mommy in the snow on new years day (at Grandlake)
8) One of his Xmas presents - a bouncy seat

2nd round of immunisations :-(

Today Kaio is 15 weeks old! 3 1/2 months! It seems so long ago that I gave birth but yet he is still such a tiny little guy. He got his second round of shots today. Again, it broke my heart to see the huge needle go into his little leg - TWICE! After the first shot he cried and I had to hold him tight to me so he would have some kind of comfort.... just to have the second needle go in his other leg. I really hope he does not think I am causing him the pain! However, when we got home and I placed him in his bouncy chair he smiled at me and now he is taking a nap! Next month (a couple of days before we go to Brazil) he will get his 3rd round of immunisations, which will be 3 shots.
He was weighed and measured and her are the figures:
- weight - 6.2kg (=13.7lbs) - slightly below the average for his age
- height - 61cm (=2ft) - also a bit below the average for his age
Kaio and I are still a bit jet lagged and has been waking up at 4am, instead of sleeping through to 5 - 6am (how he used to do before we went to CO). It's still great that he is sleeping from 10:30pm until 4am, however I have been unable to fall asleep after the 4am feed and I feel tired throughout the day. Tonight I may go to bed after dinner.
Kaio has been eating really well. We switched to a bigger bottle for his night feed. He now is eating around 230ml (8oz), which caused a major "explosion" the other night. He pooped while eating and it went through his cloths, on Jason's pajamas and on the sofa Jason was sitting on!
I will post some pictures of our holidays later on today.

back home!!!!

We are back home! The trip went great. Kaio behaved really well and only had one cry spell, on the trip from Denver to Chicago, which did not last long. He also was a true joy during the layover and slept without making much fuss! On the plane to London he slept really well and was woken by 'breakfast' being served, 1hr before landing! Kaio has been so happy and smiling and giggling a lot. He also is using his hands to grab things and it is cute to see how hard he focuses to grab a can of soda or our wallets, or anything that catches his eye. (he loves red, so anything with red on it he stares at and wants to grab)
A couple of weeks ago he would try to put his entire hand in his mouth, now he is able to put his thumb and index finger only.
He is still drooling a lot and making 'bubbles'. Hence, the reason why grandpa gave him the nickname of Kbubbles (the first two letters are his initials). We are using on average 2 bibs a day!

Going back home

We had planned to go to the mountains in Colorado for New years, but on the 31st they closed several roads in the state and we ended staying in Colorado Springs to greet 2008. It was very low key, specially compared with last year in Punta del Este, but it was nice and relaxing. On the 1st we drove up to Winter park where grandpa Steve rented a cabin. There was a lot of snow (around 1 feet) and it was beautiful!!!! We went to see Aunt Boo and Bill (whom have a cabin up there). We had a great time while doing some shopping and walking in the snow. Kaio loves the snow (he loves white) and handeld the cold really well (he started using a new bear outfit since the other one is getting too small!) Kaio slept the whole trip to the mountains (3hrs) and was a bit difficult throughout both nights we were up there (waking up every 2 -3 hrs). However we just stopped swaddeling him and started using a sleeping bag (since he was kicking the blankets over his head). Yesterday, back in Colorado Springs, we swaddled him again and he slept really well.
Today we are flying back to London. It will be a night flight, so hopefully Kaio will sleep well. We are sad to be leaving and had such a great visit with Grandma, Grandpa ant Aunt Carrie! (but we are also looking fwd in getting Kaio back in his routine..... and sleeping through the night again!)

Kaio's first Christmas

Kaio received SOOOOO many gifts. Aunt Carrie was so generous and bought the cutest outifts and toys. We also got several reading books (including one in portuguese). And because the dollar is so weak, we have been shopping a lot! The prices and quality are great, so we bought cloths for the next year!

Jason and I got a nice 1 hr massage each from Grandma, Grandpa and aunt Donna (Grandma's sister). Which was great to start our holidays in Colorado! We also received tickets to go to a local zoo for their Christmas lights show. It was great! Grandma, Grandpa and Carrie baby sat Kaio and Jason and I had a proper date - we went to the zoo and then had a nice meal at a local restaurant! Grandma has also been taking care of Kaio while Jason and I go shopping!

We have been up to Denver twice. We were unable to go to Denver on Christmas day (we had planned to go and have lunch at Aunt Lou Anne's) but it snowed and the roads were not good to drive (yes, we had a beautiful white Christmas!). We went up to Denver to meet more family on the 26th. On our way up we stopped at the outlets and Kaio behaved really well! We also went up to Denver to meet up with some of our friends at a Mexican restaurant and Kaio was, again, a perfect little baby. The only time he started crying a bit, our friend Carrie held him and was able to sooth him instantly (she is a neonatal nurse!)

Kaio has discovered his hands. He touches everything and grabs things (sometimes he takes his dummy out of his mouth and then starts crying!) He also likes to play with both hands and tries to put his entire hand into his mouth. We have been using bibs daily (not only for feeds) since he is drooling so much. He seems to be growing by the day!

We arrived!

We made it to Colorado! It was an "interesting" trip, but overall very good! It was a day flight so it was nice that our fellow travellers sleep was not that much disturbed by the few cry spells Kaio had. He took several naps (in the crib provided by the airplane as well as in mommy's arms). Both Mommy and Daddy were also able to take naps and eat. Once we got to Chicago we had only 45min to catch the next flight and there are no sign of Kaio's pram. We contacted several people and someone guaranteed they would bring the pram to the gate of our next flight.... well, they didn't! (and at the end our flight was delayed 2 hrs, but we were not able to go back once we went through immigration) It took several phone calls to finally get the pram delivered 3 days later. Luckily they did not misplace the car seat, otherwise we would have a problem to get Kaio from the airport home! Kaio slept the entire flight from Chicago to Denver. He had no problems with pressure on his ears with take off or landing and he was not that interested in the tv on the plane (which I was hoping would keep him entertained!) When we arrived in Denver (around 10pm) He was a bit sleepy but he was so happy to meet grandma and grandpa! On the way home from Denver to Colorado Springs he was really hungry and we had to stop at a gas station to feed him, but he behaved really well on all car trips. Kaio has been a sweetheart and just melting everyone's heart with his 'oohs and aahs', smiles, giggles, etc. Grandma is getting on the floor to get smiles from him everyday and it is cute to see how he is recognizing them! He has been 'talking' a lot! One of the best christmas gifts he got was a similar bouncy chair he has back in London. (the first day I held him a lot and my arms were feeling it!)

Ready to go!?

Tomorrow we are heading out the Colorado. We are packing today and getting everything ready. We are flying out tomorrow at 11am. We are flying business class and are very excited in having some extra leg (aka baby) space.
We went to weigh Kaio today (he was 12 weeks yesterday) and he weighed in at 5.9kg (=12.8lbs). The midwife said he is doing well and right on track for his 'age'.
We are taking 5 passports to travel (that's 1.7 passports per person!)! We don't need his brazilian passport to travel to the US.
Below are some pics of our little one:
1) Trying out a new hair style! He likes it but mommy is not so sure about it!
2) After a 'meal', sitting up right... looking around and burping... he loves it!
3) After a walk with Vinny, in his bear costume.
4) His new hat that keeps his ears warm! His expression says everything - 'Mommy I look silly'
5) Pretty frog... (he is getting a massage and he likes to stare around. My mom gave this beautiful towel!)

Filling the days!

Several people, specially non parents, ask me how I fill my days. Well, when I stop to think about it... how do I fill my days? And how does the day just go by and suddenly I am sitting to have dinner with Jason? Here is a rough 'routine' that we have been following:
- 7ish: Kaio wakes up and Jason gets him. He changes his nappy, puts on his 'day' cloths (warmer then the night cloths) and takes him downstairs to 'play'.
- 7:30 - 8ish - I snooze in bed for another 30min - 1 hr after Kaio wakes up. (this depends upon how hungry Kaio is, how early Jason needs to go to work or how badly I need a shower!)
- 8ish Kaio and I 'eat' our breakfast. I sip on a delicious chai latte Jason makes for me every morning and Kaio has his 'regular' breakfast.
- Between 8:30 and 10 Kaio takes his first nap of the day. If the weather is nice, we go for a 1 hr walk in nearby parks with Vinny. (Kaio goes in the Baby Bjorn). If the weather is not nice, he takes a nap in his playpen.
- 10:30ish - Kaio has his brunch
- 11 - 1230ish we 'play'. He loves to talk to me and responds well when I read my book out loud to him. (he also smiles and giggles)
- 12:30 - 1 pm - second nap. Mostly in his bouncy chair or playpen. If I need to go to the store or run any other errands, he takes a nap in his pram while we are out.
- 1:30pm - Kaio gets his lunch
- 2pm - Kaio is swaddled and I put him in his room for his longest nap of the day.
- 4 pm - most of the times I need to wake him up at 4 since he is in such a deep sleep. We 'play' for a while (sometimes he wakes up in a bad mood and then I need to settle him a bit before he feeds)
- 4:30pm - Kaio get's his afternoon snack
- 5 - 5:45pm - we ;play' or we start preparing dinner or cleaning the house a bit. I hold Kaio in one hand and have my right hand free to do things. He loves to go into the different rooms and look around. He is very curious and sometimes gets bored just sitting in his bouncy chair or laying in his playpen.
- 5:45 - 6:15pm - he takes a nap, just to take of the edge... this is when I start getting everything ready for his bath
-6:30pm - we start his massage, which is followed by a bath. Recently, I started to read for him before his massage. At the moment he doesn't understand anything, but with time I want to make it a habit of having a 'reading moment'
- 7pm - I take him to his room for dinner
This is when my day with Kaio finishes. Jason gives him a bottle at 10:30pm.

1 week to go!

In one week we will be heading to the airport by now! We are excited to go and spend Christmas in Colorado and excited that Kaio will meet his other grandparents and other Hall family members.
It will be an interesting trip. I am sure our little one will do great on the plane, but just to be safe I got some Calpol night. Which is a mild analgesic and makes the baby drowsy. (I had used the normal version for when he had his shots.) One of my friends also said not to stress too much since babies are babies.. they cry. Everyone on that plane was a baby one day and cried.... so, if they give the evil look.. I will give the same one back! I am also interested to see how he will adjust to teh time difference. Between London and Colorado there is a 7hrs difference. Hopefully he will continue sleeping through the night (he is sleeping 6 - 7 hrs in a row!)
The girls night out was a lot of fun! We did try not to talk about the babies. But, no matter the subject we started talking about, we always ended up relating it, in some way, to our little once! It seems Kaio is one of the most smiley baby of all. While the majority of the babies smile 3 - 4 times a day, Kaio seems to be always smiling when we talk to him. And since the majority fo the babies of the group are girls, Kaio is also one of the biggest babies! I was one of the last once to go home. Several moms had to rush home to feed the little one... we, as usual, had a bottle ready for the 10:30pm feed.
Jason has found a new way of making Kaio giggle away. He holds Kaio facing forwards, I come and talk to him, at his level, right in front of Kaio and he giggles, it's absolutely adorable!
The weather here has been great. It freezes during the night, so all the fields are white and frozen, but in the morning the sun comes out. Our morning walks are just great. Beautiful fields and fresh air. (Vinny does not enjoy the cold grass though!)

All cheeks!

Kaio seems to be aware of everything around him. He follows us when we walk away from him, he looks at objects that are meters away and loves to be carried around the house looking at different things. He is also able to entertain himself for 30 min in his playpen or bouncy chair (it used to be only 5 mins). When we go to say 'hi' while he is 'playing', he opens a big smile when he sees us! It's adorable.
He also had his first 'cryles'. Which is when he is crying, we come in front of him and smile at him, he then stops crying and smiles for 5seconds and then goes back to crying. It is so cute, he doesn't seem to know what expression to have and mixes it up!
Tomorrow I am going to go out with the girls from my antenatal class. (no babies! The daddies are in charge of the babies!) It will be fun and interesting to see whom of us will 'run' home first to check on their baby!
I have been feeling good. I am so in love with this baby and with our new live as a family, it makes me so happy! I have been thinking about the duration of my maternity leave and going back to work. The plan is to stay home until Kaio is 6 months. Then he will be ready to wean, start socializing more with other babies and I will be ready to go back to work. Well, that has always been the plan... However, now that Kaio is becoming much more of a actual 'baby' and he seems to do new things every day, I am afraid I am going to miss out on so much when I am at work. I am still planning to go back to work but maybe negotiate something part time. My current job does not allow a part time position and I still want to feel challenged at work, so.....????? I will have to have an open talk with my supervisor and see what her thoughts are. I will leave that for after we come back from Colorado.
Latest pics from this past weekend:
- Friday afternoon Jason had the afternoon off and we went to Winter Wonderland in Hyde park. It was great (even though Kaio is still a bit to small to appreciate Santa!). We are now facing him forward in the Baby Bjorn, this way he gets to 'check out' the world better. Although he does not like the cold wind in his face!
- Going out for a walk at Wandsworth Common (a local park) - One of the first times he was not crying after we put on his jacket and hat!

He is just perfect!

This past wednesday (two days ago), when Kaio completed 2 1/2 months he surprised us with sleeping through the night for the first time. He went to bed at 7pm, we woke him at 10:15pm for his bottle (at which he barely wakes up, he just downs 130ml of milk) and then he slept until 6:45am!!!! I had to look at two clocks to make sure I was seeing right! Then I rushed to his room to see if everything was okay. (he was smiling and ready for his breakfast). The following night he went to bed at the same time and slept until 5am, and then for another 2 hrs. And last night he slept until 6:45am again!!!! We are so excited and hopeful this will continue!
We also have a pretty nice schedule (of naps, playing and feeding times) during the day, which probably helps him sleep so well at night! (the 'going to bed' routine - massage, bath and a feed - is also very helpful for him to go to bed without making a fuss)
Now I need to start sleeping through the night again. I wake up several times during the night thinking I hear him and it then takes a while before I fell back asleep. I have been sleeping so lightly that every little noise wakes me up.
Kaio is so big now that he is barely fitting in his pram. We will soon have to change the position of the pram to give him more space. He is also getting annoyed just laying in the pram, he wants to look around and see everything when he is awake.
In two weeks we will be at Heathrow on our way to Colorado. We are so excited to visit grandpa and grandma Hall. It will be an interesting to see how Kaio will enjoy his first plane trip!

Temper tantrum, smiles....

Today Kaio had a major (for his size) temper tantrum at the grocery store. He woke up from his nap while I was in line to pay. He looked around, smiled at me and started crying within 2 min from waking up. I gave him his dummy and that worked for 30sec. While I was packing the groceries he started crying very hard.
Several woman asked if he was hungry. He had eaten 30min earlier. So, no he was not. But to avoid having to say - 'no, he is just acting up a bit' I said - 'yes, starving!'. Many people seem to belief that the only reason a baby cries is when he is hungry - well, I can assure that is not the case with Kaio!
I was not able to sooth him and he started to choke on his saliva. Outside the store I took him out of his pram and held and talked to him. After 2 min he was calm. I put him back in his pram and he was back to being a happy baby!
But apart from that, he has been a happy baby. He loves to smile and interact with us.
A couple of recent pictures:
- smiling at daddy - his eyes are starting to become greener
- tummy time - not interested in strengthen his neck muscles, but he loves his fist
- Vinny and Kaio - Vinny definitely knows who Kaio is (sort off), but Kaio has not really knowledged Vinny yet! (on this pic you can also see how the hair at the back of his head is starting the get finer...)

First set of shots!

On Tuesday Kaio had his first shots (or as they call it here - immunizations).
First they did a full check on him. Everything is great. He is right on target with his weight - 5.4kg (=11.9lbs) and has not grown since 2 weeks ago (which makes him now right on the average height for his age, since previously he was bigger). The shots - I have given injections to many animals and some react more then others. Not even with the cutest little puppy did I struggle (with the exception of some 'wild' horses) I can honestly say that seeing that big needle go into Kaio's little cute baby legs (twice!!!) made me tremble and almost made me cry. He cried hard and it was a painful cry. I was able to sooth him by holding him tight against me and he fell asleep in 3 min! He slept all afternoon! When I was feeding him at 6pm he bursted into a painful cry when he was kicking his legs (he does this to help gas exit the 'other end' while he fills his tummy!) and, again, the only way to sooth him was holding him tight against me.
But the next day he was back to his normal self!
Kaio has been doing great. He is 'talking', smiling, following objects, touching and holding things, etc, more and more. He is very alert and it seems harder to get him to take a nap during the day. (it's like he does not want to miss out on anything!) - below is a pic of one of his favorite spots to take a nap - in his bouncy chair looking at his panda and frog before he snoozes off!)
Kaio has discovered his hand/fist. He puts it in his mouth at least a couple of times a day! Today he even spit out his dummy and put his fist in his mouth to sooth himself!

Pub life

This Sunday we went to a typical English pub for a typical Sunday roast! There was a soccer (or as they say here - football) game on TV. Kaio behaved very well and attracted some drunk guys that thought he was cute (waw, thanks!). He was just perfect until the entire pub got super excited about a goal their team had made. Kaio was breastfeeding and started crying because of the loud and sudden noise! I guess with time he will have to get used to that.
We had a very nice weekend and it's great to see how much Jason loves to spend time with Kaio during the weekend (even when he is fussy and crying). Kaio has become much more attentive and can follow objects and people easily. He stares at all kind of shaped and colored objects. He smiles all the time and recognizes our voices. However, he also smiles and does not seem to mind strangers!