Mommy and Baby Yoga

Ommmmm...Ommmmmm... Simply bend your front leg to a 90 degree angle, place your 20 pound baby on your hip, extend your left arm out in front of you and relaaaahhaaaxxxx... (Go ahead Brian Reagan fans, you can laugh now). Christopher and I embarked on a new journey this morning at a little yoga studio not far from our humble abode. We joined six other mommies and babies for our very first "Mommy and Baby" yoga class. The ages of the babies ranged from 7 weeks to 8 months and it was very laid back and relaxing. You kind of just do some poses around your baby and then include them in other poses. So I did down dog right over Chris and then he got to do a "swinging baby" triangle pose. He really enjoyed this one! My favorite pose was the "happy baby" pose--picture Christopher lying on his back with his feet in the air, grabbing his toes--and then picture me doing it. Now I understand why he lays this way all the time! The best part for everyone was relaxation pose where we leaned back against a big cushy pillow, elevated our legs, held our babies and just, well, relaxed. I still feel pretty mellow from that one. Aahhhh... I do have to apologize for slacking off in the blogging department for the last couple days. Perhaps it is my old age kicking in, but more likely it was the gigantic pile of clothes on the floor waiting to be washed from our trip. We are currently preparing for our big New Years night out at Matt and Jaime's house tonight which, if we're lucky, Christopher will sleep through. (CJ's new year's resolution: "Learn to sleep when it's dark outside.") We are looking forward to this evening's soiree and wish everyone (especially those of you on the snowy east coast) a very happy and safe new year... Oh and here is a new picture of our two best buds...

The Happy Traveler

Well, we have returned to the ice and snow of the great plains from the tri-state area, and what a wonderful trip we had! Hopefully, all of you had as wonderful a holiday as we did. Not knowing what to expect from our first plane ride with little Christopher, we prepared for all possible scenarios and situations but everything went very smoothly. Christopher tried to convince us that we should take a trip every month based on his stellar behavior on our flights and visits to both grandparents' homes. On both of our plane rides, he charmed those around him with his big smiles and received compliments about what a good traveler he was. Even with a 3 1/2 hour delay returning to Kansas City, Chris was a trooper. As we waited in the airport for our plane to take off, he took a 2 hour nap that allowed me to savor my last cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee (waahhh!) and finish my new book. There was another cute little boy behind us on the plane ride home so he and Chris kept each other occupied by discussing the trials and tribulations of teething in between bottles and catnaps... Christopher's first trip to NY and NJ was awesome and he thoroughly enjoyed seeing familiar faces and meeting new ones. If I wrote about all his experiences, it would take all night so I'll just say that it was fun for our little man and his parents to be back home (our real home). Some of the highlights include Christopher's baptism at St. Gregory's, opening his first Christmas presents, standing through the entire Christmas Eve mass, playing with all his grandparents, seeing a holiday concert at Ally's elementary school, and much much more! Of course we took nearly one hundred pictures so I'll just put some of them down below for you to enjoy. I am also in the process of uploading them all to Kodak Gallery so you can get to see them all. Here they are!

Over the river...

...and through the woods and in an airplane and over Shea Stadium... to Grandmother's house we go! Well we're off tomorrow for Christopher's first trip to the east coast. It's funny to me (being from New Jersey myself) that when my son grows up and someone asks him where he's from, he's going to say Kansas. And then everyone he meets from the Northeast will have visions of cows and windmills dancing through their heads. Anyway, we hope to expose him to some real culture over the next week as well as the correct way to say "orange" (go ahead all you people from Jersey, say "orange"). We are looking forward to our trip and hope that we have everything packed that we need. Of course, now that there will be like a foot of snow in NY, I guess we should bring some boots! It's definitely going to be an adventure but we are up for the challenge. Now if only we could find a way to sneak Kasey into our carry-on bags... While we are on our trip, I most likely will not be updating the blog so I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy holiday! We will take as many pictures as possible while we're home and then give you all a book to read when we get back. Check back the week of the 28th for stories of all our adventures!

All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth

So we're not just getting one lower tooth breaking through the lower gums of our little boy... That's right folks, both lower front teeth have decided to make an appearance for the holidays and they are officially driving Christopher crazy. You wouldn't know it from the look on his face in this picture above but he is both teething, suffering from a cold, experiencing lovely gas pains, and he has now gotten his very first ear infection. So just try to figure out when he is crying at night which issue to tackle first! I don't quite know how Chris maintains his joyous demeanor in the face of all these discomforts, but thank goodness he does. And I can't say it enough--thank goodness for Kasey. When she is home, Christopher has a running monologue on her behalf. It doesn't bother him that Kasey just looks the other way when he is talking to her. He has no self-esteem problems anyway... Back to the ear infection, he started grabbing his right ear yesterday and sure enough, when we went to the doctor this morning, it was infected. This should really make our plane ride extra fun on Saturday. Hey Jack, can we get a private jet back to New York please? More importantly, when Chris was weighed today, he was up to 19 pounds, 2 ounces. Any NFL teams looking for a linebacker?

Sniffles

Well, our poor boy has the sniffles and his parents are learning how to comfort a baby who is all stuffed up. Actually Christopher goes from having a stuffy nose to one that runs out of control and back again. We spent some of the morning locked in the bathroom with the shower running on hot to loosen him up a bit. He is handling it like a trooper and is pretty much smiling through it as usual but it is hard for him to breathe when he is sleeping, even in the car seat. I'm sure his recovery will go smoothly, especially when we board the germ infested plane on Saturday! Oh well, we have to build up his immune system sometime... I have escaped today and Chris is with a new babysitter for a few hours. I've made my second trip of the day to Starbucks before I go pick up Kasey and head home. I'll admit that it is nice to get out and usually I don't feel too bad about leaving, but today I really miss my little man especially with his little cold. Oh I guess I'll get over it. I actually got to run some errands that I've been putting off for weeks! Anyway, we'll be heading home soon to NY/NJ and we're all getting very excited!

How things change

Wow, when babies are 4 to 5 months, things seem to change so quickly! I'm sure experienced parents will say that things change very fast for the rest of a child's life but for now it seems like Christopher is doing new things every single day. For example, he has gone from kind of sitting up but tilting forward, to completely sitting up straight! Of course, he still occasionally takes a spill but he thinks these spills are great fun. Maybe that is because I cheer really loudly when he tips over... Anyway, he makes all kinds of new sounds and is more interactive with people than ever. For example, at church this weekend, he was totally smiling at all the old ladies who came up to him and we danced at the end of the service (don't worry, there weren't many people left in the church) when the band played a song from the Charlie Brown Christmas album. He was fascinated by the grand piano, guitar, and drums that were so loud. Here are some pics of Chris as he tries new things...
Here he is blowing raspberries: his new favorite sound.


Look out Daddy. You have competition when it comes to push ups!


Chris with his new (yet used) toy, the Happy Apple! (And notice how much he is sitting up!)


Who said bubbles are only for the summer. We bought some at the store and had fun today!


He's even "reading" the cards people send him.

Saturday Morning Fun

This morning, Mommy and Daddy had to attend a baptism class at our local church so Christopher got to spend the morning with Dan, Mary, Tristan and their puppies. He had a wonderful morning watching Saturday morning cartoons (Beauty and the Beast--Tristan's favorite--to name one) and checking out all of Tristan's plush toys. We have a stuffed Christmas Snoopy but the one Tristan has is way cooler, what with its flashing lights and music. Being the awesome photographers that they are, Dan and Mary took great pics of Chris and then printed them out by the time we returned to pick our little man up. While he was there, Dan was helping to teach Chris how to crawl and walk... Speaking of that, yesterday I had Chris on his stomach for a while and he was turning and moving and for a brief moment, he pushed up onto all fours! Slow down! Not yet! Looks like we might have to babyproof the house sooner than we thought. He is also making all kinds of new sounds, one of which has become his favorite--he puckers his lips and blows raspberries. It's so funny because spit goes flying everywhere so he always has to have a bib on... Anyway, as usual, Christopher is Kasey's biggest fan and here is more proof...

To all our East Coast readers: one more week!

Party Animal

As if we didn't have enough fun yesterday morning at the Parkside Cafe, we later attended the third annual Jeff and Kay Christmas Party in the evening. Jeff and Kay are our neighbors who live behind us and they host a wonderful party every year. Kay decorates their house so beautifully every Christmas and they invite everyone on their cul-de-sac plus some of us on Sunset to enjoy the festivities. It was like heaven for our little boy, who got to stay up past his bedtime, because there were kids everywhere! He had a blast hanging out in the "kids room" downstairs where there was a tree set up with a train set around it. He was enthralled as he watched the train go round and round the tree. The older kids loved that he was sitting with them too and they were all trying to get him to wave as it went by. Needless to say, all that fun made Christopher a very tired boy and we made it home just in time for him to eat and fall asleep... His first tooth is slowly but surely emerging (emphasis on the slowly). It must be bothering him because he will occasionally break down and start rubbing his cheeks and biting his fingers. But he is generally taking it well. He is also starting to sit up a bit. This is funny because he sits and leans forward with his hands next to his legs and balances himself for a bit. But every once in a while he'll tilt... tilt... tilt... and then boom, he crashes onto his side. Somehow, though, he ends up on his stomach and he is all smiles! Today we hit the trails again with the jogging stroller. It was slightly treacherous because of the leftover ice and snow so we took it very slowly. There was a point when I wish I brought my skates with me but the jogging stroller helped me keep my balance! All the bumping over the snow and ice put little man to sleep and we returned home after a run well done.

At the Parkside Cafe

After a quiet morning at home, Christopher and I headed over to the Parkside Cafe for some coffee and socialization. This place is really great because the playroom is always full of kids and moms who stay at home with them. You can literally go up to any mom and start a conversation that can last hours. Today, Jaime and Olivia met us over there and we talked with a couple other moms and swapped kid stories. Christopher and Olivia were busy looking at everything in the room while their moms were chatting away. I noticed Christopher making mental notes as he watched the big boys running around the room. One of them was standing on top of this play equipment in a way that the equipment most certainly was not designed for. I thought I heard Chris whisper "So that's what boys are supposed to do when they learn to walk, run and climb!" There were also these little barrels that went in the playhouse. I'm pretty sure they were supposed to be used as seats but as creative kids always do, these two boys were throwing them, Donkey Kong-style at each others heads. Ahhh, so this is what we have to look forward to! To distract our little boy, I put him down for tummy time and he focused on some constructive play. After our play group, we made our way to the UPS store to mail our Christmas presents to Grandma. We tried to find a box that would fit Christopher, but they said I couldn't ship him. (I'm just kidding, I promise!). Anyway, while I was paying for the box, Chris was talking up a storm and saying how excited he is to see and meet everyone back on the East Coast!

Down with Lil' Kasey Moe

Dear Grammy,

Why do I have to share this house with another cute dog who speaks English? It is not fair! I will take down Lil' Kasey Moe if it's the last thing I do. Ha ha ha ha!

Love,

The REAL (one and only) Kasey Moe

I was just about to...

If I was going to write a book about motherhood, one of the chapter titles would most certainly be the title of this blog. I'm pretty sure every mom (or woman for that matter) will understand the feeling of just getting started with something when your child (husband or dog) asks you to do something or demands your attention immediately. You think to yourself, "I was just about to _________ (eat lunch, take a shower, update the blog... you fill in your own blank) when Christopher (or your child, husband or dog) _____________ (woke up, started crying, chewed up a book...again, you fill in the blank." Today, I had just put Christopher down for a morning nap and decided that I could most certainly get in my Power Yoga workout. I brought the monitor down just in case and began. About 30 minutes into the workout I noticed movement on the monitor screen and saw the dreaded red lights flash. "I was just about to move into triangle pose" when this happened. So I ran upstairs (another workout in itself!) and readjusted my boy and got him back to sleep. Now, it's back downstairs to resume yoga. Two minutes later, I'm running back up to put the pacifier back in Christopher's mouth. Long story short, this happened 3 more times before I said, "Forget it! Looks like we're doing yoga together this morning buddy!" And that's what we did. The moral of this story is: moms always need to be flexible.

P.S.--Exciting news! Yesterday I felt the tip of a tooth emerging from Christopher's lower gums. Today as I was changing his diaper, I pulled his lip down and actually saw the top of his lower right tooth popping through! So whoever guessed that the lower right tooth would be the first, reveal yourself!!!

Breakfast with Aunt Chrissie

Well, Christopher has been blessed with having VIP breakfasts lately. The other day it was Santa. This morning we made a trip to the Marriott to have a buffet breakfast with Chrissie who was in town for business. CJ has not seen her since he was 6 weeks old when she and Jason came to see us. Obviously, he has grown much bigger since then and Chrissie was getting a nice upper body workout by holding our big boy. Our visit was brief but wonderful as usual. Aunt Chrissie had to get to the airport to catch her flight back to Chicago. Hopefully she will be able to leave KC on time because it just started snowing here pretty hard. Everyone here is freaking out about the snow but in reality we'll only get a couple inches. On our way back from breakfast, Christopher started crying in the car but when we got home and I took him out of the car, he saw the snow and stopped right away! He just watched quietly as the white stuff fell in front of him. I can't wait until he'll be able to actually play in it!

An afternoon with Sierra

Yesterday afternoon, after Christopher was well rested from his big morning with Santa, my little sister, Sierra, came over to play with our big boy. For those who don't know, I have been involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters of KC and Sierra has been my little sister for over 2 1/2 years now. She has been so excited to see and play with Chris for a while now and yesterday she got her chance. Aside from cooking and art, one of Sierra's great loves is playing with babies! When Chris woke up, Sierra got the chance to feed him a bottle and he took it from her like a pro. After he was done, she read him a story about monsters and made him laugh by tickling his tummy. When we brought Sierra back to her house, she got to sit in the back with Chris and keep him company which he absolutely loved. It was a fun afternoon for both the big kid and the little kid! Today, we finally returned to church and figured we would go to the early service. Well, I guess it's been a while for me at least because I thought the service started at 9:30 when, in fact, it started at 9. Oh well, we made up for it by staying after for doughnuts. Chris slept through the whole service except he would stir every time the band started playing or people started clapping--then he would fall right back asleep... After church, we went to Babies R Us and picked out a cute little outfit for the baptism in a couple weeks. It was a busy morning for the family! Now we will veg and watch some football.

Breakfast with Santa

Ho... ho... ho! Today, the Kansas Wogloms went to a castle out here on the prairie and had breakfast with Santa Claus. We met Dan, Mary, and Tristan at Renee Kelly's, which is a catering place located in this castle-like building, and had a great buffet breakfast and introduced Christopher to the man who brings the presents. When Santa asked what he would like for Christmas, Chris requested a Red Ryder BB gun. For some reason, Santa remarked, "You'll shoot your eye out!" and said he would bring a stuffed animal instead. Our little man did very well with the big guy in red and was not freaked out at all. Of course, he's probably still a little to young to realize or know any better but we'll take the smiles while we can. In honor of this first meeting, Christopher wore his "My First Christmas" outfit along with his own Santa hat. He enjoyed seeing his friend Tristan as well and is always curious to know what big boys like him are up to. Tristan wasn't a big fan of Santa but had fun exploring the restaurant with his parents. Here are some more pictures of our morning...


And then, of course, someone (with four legs, a fur coat, and a tail) was not happy that we went to see Santa without her so she took all of Daddy's sodas out and shook them up! I think she just wanted to be included on the blog today. Here is the evidence...

Baby it's cold outside

This morning, the temperature was about 20 degrees, 17 with the wind chill, and sunny. I know what you're thinking... perfect day for a run! Well, at least that's what I was thinking. I rounded up the Bionic 3 and bundled us all for the chilly weather: Christopher in his new fleece, Christmas Story-like snow suit from Grandma (see below); me in Brian's red running fleece; Kasey in her permanent and stylish fur coat. We folded up the jogging stroller and headed for the trail. I'll admit it was a bit frigid but Kasey and Christopher didn't seem to mind. Little man seemed content to observe everything through the all-weather shield and Kasey is never bothered by freezing temperatures. In fact, she scoffs at the dogs dressed in sweaters and booties. We went at a blistering pace (ha ha) and the stroller moved along the trail with ease. Even when we encountered a few big bumps, they didn't affect Christopher at all. My team of running companions went for 3 miles and then somehow we ended up at Starbucks for Mommy to get a well-deserved Peppermint Mocha. Later today we are off to Cabela's to finish our Christmas shopping (gee I wonder who we're shopping for there?). Enjoy the weekend!

Here is my little man getting ready for our run!

Happy Weekend!

Yay! It's Friday! Hope everyone has a great weekend. I know I will! Love, Christopher...

Off-Duty Mom

Today, Christopher got to spend an extended period of time with his favorite babysitter, Ruth. Ruth has been over with our little guy several times now and they always seem to have a great time together. She told me that he was laughing up a storm and although he didn't seem to want to take a long mid-day nap for her, he has currently been sleeping almost 2 hours. Where was I you want to know? Well, let's see... first I went to Starbucks and actually sat down with a book rather than rushing through the drive thru in the Mommy mobile. After an appointment, I met Brian down on the Plaza for lunch and then did a little Christmas shopping... kind of. After last week's trip to the mall, I am totally digging being able to buy non-maternity clothes. And finally, FINALLY, after more than a year, I returned to Ann Taylor Loft today and got a dress to wear to Christopher's baptism. As you can see from the picture above I also got stockings for us to hang from the mantle with care. I figure, we have a fireplace, might as well make it look festive. Finally my day was made complete with a trip to the dentist for a cleaning (how exciting!). I used to dread the dentist but going through childbirth really puts things in perspective and it didn't seem all that bad. As nice as it was to have a little time to myself today, I did miss my little Christopher and I am looking forward to when he gets up. But... we're not going to rush things.

Muscle boy

Just a brief update today... Christopher is just growing and changing every single day. His new thing is pushing himself up with his arms really high. He's actually able to get the entire part of his upper body up off the ground! It looks like he is doing a push up. (He must be inspired by all the times he has watched his parents workout with the 30-Day Shred!). He's also rotating his body when he is on his stomach to try and get things. Right now I'm watching him completely turn his body around to try and get his little "Colors" book. He is very determined and keeps reaching for it but he's not quite there yet. Of course, when he gets it he's probably going to put it in his mouth, but we have a few years before he needs to be reading it!

Trouble with a capital K

I know this blog is supposed to be about our son but somehow our other "child" keeps trying to steel his thunder. We were out this morning meeting with a woman at church about Christopher's upcoming baptism and, therefore had to leave Kasey at home... alone... to do whatever she wanted. Well, yesterday I had placed several wrapped Christmas gifts from Grammy out under the tree to set up a little scene for Christopher's Xmas card picture (I will not be giving any previews; you'll all just have to wait until you get your cards.) Silly me thinking Kasey would leave these alone while we were out. Apparently, said dog just couldn't wait until the holidays to open everyone else's gifts. She especially wanted to know what Chris got, so thank you Grammy for the Tom Chapin CD. She also wanted to show our Santa Claus Snoopy who is top dog of this household. While no stuffing was spilled, it looks like Snoopy was tossed around a bit, for he was passed out on the rug with a black eye and some scratches. It looks like Kasey will be going to Pawz at Play tomorrow to work out some of her energy!

A Story By Kasey

It was a dark and wintry morning. Not a creature was stirring in the house.. except for the little creature with a stinky diaper who's voice could faintly be heard through the monitor at Mommy's bedside. As she always does, Mommy got up to tend to the stinky diaper boy in the other room. Since I had been in bed since 7 PM the night before, I felt it was time for me to relocate to the living room to give my humans the hint that it was time for my potty break and breakfast. I'm not quite sure why they didn't immediately get the hint and take care of my needs but I will not complain given the amount of leftover turkey I've received in the past five days. Anyway, after the stinky diaper was disposed of, Mom finally came out with the creature who was wide awake and smiling at me. She requested my presence downstairs and opened the door onto the cold morning. I stepped carefully out onto the patio so as not to make my little paws uncomfortable. As the door closed behind me, what did I see but the silhouette of my favorite animal in the whole world sitting quietly on my very own snow covered lawn! It was a bunny! Forget the cheap dog food my owners feed me--this was the breakfast I had been dreaming of all night! I had to be stealth. With my front paw drawn up and my tail extended in true pointer fashion, I set my sights on my prey. Carefully I focused and then... I took off!!! Bounding down the hill, I went flying after the bunny and just as I was about to grab it in my mouth, it darted off out of reach and escaped through the slats in the fence to safety. Wascally wabbit! I will get you next time. You have a lot of nerve venturing into my backyard. Oh well, I guess I would have to settle for a breakfast of kibble one more time.