Summer weekend

We have found a new house! We spend 2 weeks looking at several types of places (all within the same neighborhood we currently are) and found a lovely 2 bedroom ground floor flat. It is bright and has a open plan kitchen/living/dining room and leads to a nice garden. The bedrooms are of great size (Kaio will get to have his own little patio). It's on a nice, quiet street off Northcote Road (a street full of restaurants and stores). We move in 3 weeks.
I am going to change jobs in a couple of weeks. It is a great career opportunity for me, but I am also aware it might require more of my time (=less time with Kaio). But Jason and I will make it work. The plan is still that Jason takes Kaio to daycare in the mornings and I will pick him up in the afternoon.
Here are some recent pictures:
1) "I am bit upset, but I'll look cute for the camera..."
2) I turned my back for 1/2second and he burst into a cry, thinking I was leaving him behind. Still love that cute pouty lip!
3) We have bee trying to get a pictures of Kaio's smile to show off his 4 teeth together. No luck so far, but here you can see how big his bottom teeth are and... Ho adorable he is!
4) Daddy blowing in Kaio's face and Kaio not really knowing what to do with it....
5) He loves playing with the vacuum cleaner extension...

Little teeth!

Both Kaio and I have recovered from last week's cold! We are both sleeping much better. (and, consequently, Jason too!)
Kaio has started to get into the habit of biting, and since he has 4 teeth, it really hurts and leaves a nice mark. He is smart enough not to bite himself but tries to get my fingers in his mouth. I have to really force myself not to laugh (since it is darn cute!) but he is starting to get the fact that when we laugh he does 'good' things and repeats them!
He is starting to have 'separation anxiety' when we drop him off at daycare. When we get to daycare he is all happy and smiles at everyone, but once I sit him down and leave the room he bursts into a cry. Most of the time he stops after a couple of seconds and is easily distracted by a toy. He continues to react very adorable when I go and pick him up at the end of the day: He sees me, opens a big smile and start crawling in my direction. Once I pick him up, he hugs and kisses me. (with his mouth open - so I get all slobbered on! I love it though!)

Standing!

Kaio is now pulling himself up on anything and standing with one hand. He does not seem to have any fear and will have to learn some lessons the 'hard' way. But he has been able to go from standing to sitting a couple of times also.
Today we met up for lunch with a friend who has 6 month old Evan. Evan is 22lbs! He is a nice chubby baby. Kaio is tiny compared to him. He is 4 lbs lighter then Evan but 4 months older!!!
Some pics of the weekend:
1) Kaio still has the big eyes.... and always a smile for the camera.
2) He loves to stand next to his bouncy chair and play with the toys (it seems not that long ago, he was this tiny baby, loving the vibration of the bouncy chair)
3) My beautiful sleeping baby!

First 'fight'

Kaio had his first 'fight' at daycare. I went to pick him up and I was warned that 'it looks worse then it actually is'... He had a bite on his cheek!!!! Kaio is very independent and he is content in playing by himself, which he was doing this particular day. The carers were busy with the crying babies... an older baby (1 -2 yrs) wanted Kaio's toy and tried to grab it from him. Stubborn little guy didn't want to hand over the toy, which made the other baby angry and resulted in him biting Kaio.
Kaio has been pulling himself up on furniture and bigger toys. He also stands up easily in his play pen. He still falls once in a while and luckily he wears a diaper!
1) Standing in the playpen but very interested in a toy
2) I am going for the toy...
3) Bite mark on his cheek
4) Kaio and Vinny...

Moving, moving...

Kaio is all over the place now... and he is going so fast. He is also having to learn (sometimes the hard way) that you can fall and hurt yourself. This morning he climbed on a cardboard box and was happy to have 'conquered' it. We applauded and encouraged him, although, my first reaction was to take the box away since he might hurt himself, but I also know that he needs to learn and experience things! After we continued getting ready for work, we suddenly heard a 'boom' and Kaio crying... as I had predicted, he did hurt himself. He fell from the box and hit is head on the gate. But after holding him tight and distracting him, he stopped crying. (so, nothing too serious)
I have noticed that he crawls to things he wants to play with and he seems to know when it is not his toy, because he looks at me and seeks my approval. If it's okay for him to play with it, I smile and he smiles back and continues playing. When I look at him seriously and say -'it not a babies toy' he looks seriously back at me and seems to expect for me to take it away from him (he holds on to it very tightly or he puts it in his mouth)
The other day, Kaio had his first scrambled eggs for breakfast. He first was a bit surprised in getting something savory for breakfast (Normally he has fruit, cereal and milk) but then he ate the whole thing!
We have this new routine in the morning - Kaio wakes up, I go and get him and the three of us 'play' together in our bed. He seems to love to hug and play with us and is in a great mood. It's an amazing way to start our day!

VIDEO!!!

Jason had some time this weekend and was able to put the following video together:

first attempts at crawling

It's absolutely adorable to see how he has mastered crawling in a couple of weeks. He is also pulling himself up on furniture to stand and with support, he takes a couple of steps!
Kaio tried scrambled eggs for the first time this morning. Initially he looked puzzled having a savory meal for breakfast (normally he gets cereal with fruit) but then he ate everything!

Fun Summer activities...

Yesterday we met up with some of the girls from our antenatal group. It's amazing to see the babies grow up together. It's also interesting to see how different they are. Kaio is one of the few that are crawling, but then some of the other ones are clapping their hands, waving, etc. We laid down some blankets and sat in the garden with some nice strawberries and cherries. The babies loved munching on all of them. It's cute to see them play/interact. It's easy for Kaio because he can crawl to any toy he wants (even when it is in another baby's hand! Which did not amuse one of the girls, who pulled his hair... I guess he will have to learn it the hard way ;-))
Today Kaio and I went swimming at my gym. He loved it! We spend 45 min in the pool. We practiced 'jumping' in the pool, swimming on his belly and on his back and I also dipped his entire face under water. He was very shocked with this last one, but after spitting out some water he was all smiles again! He really seems to enjoy it and I want him to get used to swimming pools for when we go to Brazil at the end of the year!
Kaio seems to be putting on some weight and he has some nice round cheeks! He has been eating really well! Let's hope he keeps it up.

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...

Skinny, but on track, baby

We had the 8 month check up today. Since his last check up, 2 months ago, Kaio has grown 5 cm (putting him on the 25ht percentile for height) but he has not put on any weight (he is still at 7.3kg and at the 2 percentile for weight). This concerned me, but the health advisor guaranteed he was doing great! She observed him play, role, grab, scoot and 'speak', she asked about his eating habits and said he was totally on track with all the developmental milestones and will probably just be a skinny baby.

Kaio has been adorable and so close to crawling... his preferred way of sleeping is on his tummy with his (cute) butt in the air!!! I had a hard time picking the cutest pic:

Jason comes back tomorrow! We both miss him very much and can't wait to play Kaio's favourite game ('GRRRRRR')

Los Angeles

Last week we went to Los Angeles. Jason had to be there for work and I had to go to the US because of my greencard requirements (same old story...). It was great and we enjoyed the mini break!!!!!
Kaio adjusted really well with the time zone difference of 8hrs. While in LA, he was waking up at5ish, which is pretty good taking in consideration the big time difference. This early start allowed us to enjoy more of each day (always trying to look on the positive side of things...).
The first two nights we stayed with Kim, Tom and Ava. Ava is 15 months and was very sweet with 'the baby', Kaio played with her toys and she was very nice in sharing everything with him. Kim has tons of baby experience and it was great to exchange ideas.
The other two nights we stayed at a hotel, which also worked out nicely since it was closer to LA.
We were able to catch up with several friends, do some shopping, eat tons of Mexican food and relax a bit! Kaio was very well behaved and we got so many compliments in how gorgeous, sweet, smiley and well behaved he is (Lot's of 'big eyes' comments....)
On Friday we went to the Bris (the Jewish circumcision ceremony) of Nathanial - Justin and Sam's 8day old baby. Looking at little Nate made me remember how Kaio used to be... so tiny!
Kaio did really well on both flights, although the flight back was a bit more of a challenge since I was by myself and the baby crib the airline provided didn't allow Kaio to roll on his belly (which is now his preferred way of sleeping) so, he slept on me throughout the flight.
While in LA we fed him jars of baby food. He was not a big fan, he clearly prefers the food I make for him. Although he did not eat that much of the savoury, anything sweet he would eat with no problem. He is now eating cookies, pieces of bread, cheese, fruit, etc... it's cute to see him eat food we share with him! He is getting really good in using his fingers to grab food and put it in his mouth.
Last night (our first night back in London) Kaio went to bed at 8pm and woke at midnight. I then brought him in bed with me, and we slept until 8:30am!!!! (I actually had to wake him up) It was the first time he slept with me in the 'big' bed and it was nice. I just need to make sure not to make it a habit!
Kaio is very close to crawling. He is on all fours and rocks back and forth! He scoots around and gets to the toys he wants easily!

Pictures

Some pictures taken this weekend:
1) Pretty boy! (big eyes!!!!!)
2) Smiley baby - if you look well you can see the two little teeth!
3) on the floor, playing, trying to crawl.... (mommy on her belly, on the floor taking pictures of him!)
4) Doing push ups!
5) Kaio was kicking and Vinny insisted in laying at his feet - he got kicked a couple of times but was a good sport and just took it on - the worst is yet to come for Vinny!!!
6) He loves to bang his hand or toys on anything! Here he was banging and playing with a box of formula!