Leaving :-(

Today we are leaving Brazil! We had a great vacation and we´ll miss everyone! Kaio has gotten so used to everyone spoiling him and I will miss having several pair of hands helping.
Kaio is eating at least one ´meal´ a day. He seems to prefer sweet things (just like his daddy, he has a sweet tooth!) and his favorite seems to be papaya. He also has gotten into a nice schedule/routine and I am hoping he will continue like that once we get home. Kaio loves the garden. Oma did the ´plant therapy´every morning, taking Kaio around the garden and letting him smell and touch different plants, herbs and flowers. We had several barbecues for different groups of friends for them to meet Kaio. He behaved really well and everyone loves him! (and from my own experience, it is not difficult to love this little guy!)
Kaio is playing so nicely. He grabs toys easily and is entertained by them for several minutes. Some toys, very rarely, he puts in his mouth, although he prefers the dummy and his fingers to suck on! He is a pro in turning over and he loves to sleep on his side. He also loves to 'grab' our faces and touch our nose, mouth, cheeks and eyes. Below are a couple of pictures:

Eating very well!

Kaio started solids 10 days ago. He has been doing so well on them. He normally gets around 70ml of expressed milk with rice cereal mid-morning and a fruit juice (papaya, apple or orange) with rice cereal in the afternoon. I have found out that he prefers his food a bit chunkier (harder) then the milkshake consistency I started with. He eats very fast and really well. The first couple of spoons he normally makes a funny face, but then he just eats away. Yesterday we were at the mall and we sat to have a refreshment. I had a pineapple juice and he seemed very interested, so I gave him a couple of spoonfuls, he loved it!
Here in Brazil, people love children and we have been approached by several people to hold him, talk about him, etc. Yesterday, at the mall, we went into a store and all employees (all women) stopped what they were doing to gather around him. He was all smiles and he was the center of everyone´s attention. One of the ladies held him, initially he was fine and smilling, but when he saw Jason and realized he was not being held by his daddy, he started crying.
Yesterday, Jason and I had our 4th date without Kaio since he has been born. We went for a nice meal and drinks while Oma took care of him. It was very nice!

Mid-vacation

Kaio recognized Jason when he arrived. It was adorable to see him look at daddy and open a big smile. (Oma was preparing us and saying that at this age they may not recognize people... she mentioned that when Karolien was 7 months and she went to Belgium for a month, when they returned to Brasil, Karolien did not recognize dad). But when Jason arrived, Oma held him at eye level, behind the glass, and Kaio looked at Jason for 5 seconds and then opened a huge smile. When Jason finally was able to hold him (after picking up his luggage) Kaio was all smiles to daddy, and he has been ever since!
Kaio has been in the swimming pool a couple of times. He loves to ´step´in the grass and look at the flowers and plants in the garden. He is also able to look and follow birds flying in the sky.

Daddy arrives today!

Jason arrives today in Porto Alegre. We are anxiously waiting and I am very curious to see Kaio´s reaction when he sees daddy again!
Today Kaio rolled from his back to his tummy! (at 6:15am). He wanted to look at one of his toys and he threw his legs first, laid side ways for a while and then turned his upper body. He seems surprised every time he rolls from one to another but is able to entertain himslef for more time after he rolls to a different position.
Kaio has been having some kind of pain... we first thought it was ear pain, but we now think he is teething. He is drooling and chewing on his hands and some toys much more then before!

Soon to be reunited...

(guest writer)As I sit here in London, packing to get ready for my journey to Brasil, I've been transferring some pictures from the camera onto the computer. Last weekend London had beautiful weather - sunny, and around 15 degrees C. Because their bags were packed and there was a bit of time to kill before heading to the airport on a warm winter day, Annelies, Liesbet, Kaio (and myself!) took a stroll through Wandsworth Common. Here are a few nice pictures from that fine London afternoon
Also, here is a picture of Kaio displaying his mastery of sucking on his fingers :)

Finally, I'm very excited to go to Brasil today! It's very difficult to describe how much I miss little Kaio and Annelies. This has certainly been the longest we've all been apart since Kaio was born. I'm bummed that I couldn't see him flip over for the first time this past week...but now Kaio has had more practice doing it and hopefully wants to show off to daddy! :) And now, only 24 hours of traveling and I'll be down in Porto Alegre! (and I've heard that there will be a churrasco (barbeque) waiting for me; I can't wait!

Lots of love,

-Jason

Rolling over.. eating solids.. such a big boy!

On monday morning I left Kaio on my bed for a couple of seconds so I could get his cloths. I put him on his tummy and when I turned around he was on his back, looking at me! He rolled over for the first time without me seeing it!! I put him back on his tummy and slightly turned to close the drawer... again, I looked at him and he was on his back! So for the third time , I turned him to his tummy and did not turn away... and he did it! He threw his upper body first and then his legs! So cute! Unfortunately he has not done it since. He is turning to the side (to look at his toys) when laying on his back, so soon he will be rolling around!
On tuesday we started some solids. I mixed rice meal with my breast milk and Opa gave him his first spoons. He first accepted it well but then he noticed that it was not ´mommy´s milk´and he started crying. On tuesday pm we also gave him several spoonfulls of mamão juice (papaya), which he really liked - he has daddy´s sweet tooth! His facial expressions are priceless -he frowns his forehead and licks the spoon. I make ´yummie yummie´noises and he smiles, he spits a bit out but swallows the majority!
Kaio is adating really well. Yesterday we also went to have lunch and left him with Teresa. She has worked for my parents for almost 10 years and is great with children. I have to confess that I was a bit nervous since we were going away for 2 1/2 hrs, but when we returned he was taking a nap and Teresa said he behaved really well. He always smiles when he sees her.

BRASIL!!!

We arrived in Brazil on sunday. It was a long trip (24hrs in transit) but Kaio behaved very well! He slept well, played nicely, smiled at everyone and was a perfect little traveller (several people complimented how wel behaved he was during the flights!)
When we arrived in Porto Alegre, Oma, Opa and Ward were waiting for us. Kaio opened a big smile when he saw Oma, so I left him with them while I went to retrieve the luggage. When I came back he was crying with tears and all. Opa had taken him from Oma and he did not recognize him and started crying. Throughout the day he would cry every time he saw Opa, however the next day, after a good night of sleep he was all smiled to Opa.
It has been very hot and Kaio has been sweating a lot. I started giving him some extra tea so he does not get dehidrated. It is so cute to see him sleep naked (with his nappies on!). He loves to look around and explore this ´new world´.
He also has been sleeping really wellduring the night. We put him to bed at 7:30 and he sleeps until 4am, eats and then sleeps until 7:30. I have been getting some good nights of sleep.

More shots

Today Kaio got his 3rd round of immunizations. This time he got three shots. It, again, was heartbreaking. He cried at each shot, just to allow me to sooth him and then get another needle in his leg! But just like with the last set of shots, he was not much affected.
Kaio has been such a joy (as always) but now he pretty much smiles every time he sees me and we can make him giggle very easily. He loves being lifted high in the air and then come towards our face. He also when you suddenly come eye to eye with him. He first 'jumps', surprised, but then giggles.
He is very close to sitting up and rolling over. He is also very interested in everything around him and follows people or cars passing by. He also notices Vinny often and follows him when he walks around. (at home and in the park).
Kaio is almost back to his night schedule (sleeping through the night). Jason feeds him at 10:30 and then he wakes up at 6 for a feed and sleeps again until 7. He is now feeding every 3 1/2 - 4hrs and is eating less since he gets very distracted while feeding)

Ambitious?!!?

This past saturday we overestimated our little guy a bit. We went to a traveling fair in the afternoon (we are looking into some trips) and from there we were planning to go to a nice restaurant to celebrate Jason's promotion. We decided to do this because Kaio was so good while we were in Dublin and we were able to go have dinner every night with him asleep in his pram next to us! Well, we got the timing wrong and he actually woke up when we got to this really nice restaurant. We sat down, I grabbed him from his pram, we ordered water, looked at each other and knowing we would not be able to enjoy our 3 course meal since we would be rushing and having to alternate holding him between us, we just ordered the bill (of the bottle of water we had).
We got take away, went home, put Kaio to bed, opened a nice bottle of wine and celebrated over candle light. It still was a lot of fun! So, thanks to Kaio we actually didn't spend a lot of money on a nice meal (always looking at the positive side of things ;-)

So talkative

Kaio has been making so many diferent noises. Often we leave him in his playpen (where he has several toys hanging above him) and you can hear him 'chat' and make all kind of noises from the other room! When we go and stand above him, he opens a big smile and starts talking to us! He seems to have so much to say. He also loves listening to us. Sometimes, when he is crying I place him in his bouncy chair and start reading out loud a book or newspaper and he almost instantly stops crying and listens very atentive. When I read parts of the book, looking at him, he opens a huge smile!
In little over a week we will be flying out to Brazil. We can't wait. Kaio loves being naked and kicking around... which will be possible in Brazil since it is nice and sunny! It will be so nice to see Oma and Opa again (he has changes so much since the last time they saw him, 3 months ago) meet uncle Ward and all my friends in Brazil. Well, even with 3 passports, we may still have some hick-ups going to Brazil. Brazilian law mandates that any brazilian child under 12 years, when travelling with only one parent, should have a 'authorization letter' from the absent parent. To get this, however, we need to go to a notary, to the consul, etc etc and we don't have time to do this. We can't use his US passport, since he would need a visa for that. (which also takes time and is expensive) So the best option is to travel with his belgian passport since it does not require a visa!!!
Just like his mom, he is already facing dificulties regarding his nationalities (as he also is experiencing dificulties with his name!)

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!)