Check out my cheeks!

C'mon, you know you want to pinch my cheeks. Go ahead. No one's stopping you...

And growing...

Just a quick update today... We went for a five, count 'em, five mile walk on the trail this morning because the weather was so unbelievably gorgeous today! Cool mornings and then it gets up to 75 in the afternoon. After a satisfying nap, Chris and I packed up and headed to our breastfeeding group at the hospital. Our "little" boy is now 14 pounds! We did a before/after eating weight check and Christopher ate 4 ounces which apparently seemed like a lot to the lactation consultant because she said, "Well no wonder these legs are so solid." We also met two other moms with my same doctor so the three of us chatted for a while... Christopher is now fitting into his 3 month-old outfits which is good because he was just busting out of the newborn ones. He is also becoming so alert and will focus on things for a much longer time each day. Today he was looking at the other babies in our group, especially this one older boy who was standing up with his mom's help. Chris must have been thinking, "Hey, I want to do that too Mom!" Anyway, tonight Chris gets to hang out with Daddy for a boy's night in while Mama goes out to an open house for a local mom's group... More pictures are coming soon!

Out all day

Well, yesterday was quite the day for Mr. Christopher. We were out for a long time and he got to experience the best that Legends has to offer! (For my east coasters, Legends is a big outdoor outlet mall here with shops, restaurants, sports teams, etc.). First we went to have lunch at Granite City (doesn't it seem like we always go here?). Chris slept through the whole lunch until it was time for his lunch as we left the restaurant. I mastered feeding him in the car (thank goodness for tinted windows) while everyone else went to the bookstore. Then, of course, we made a stop at Cabela's for Grandpa Turick. That place is like heaven for him so we all kind of tagged along for a while. They have a really cool fresh water aquarium with HUGE catfish in it. So Brian took Chris to check out the fish. We let Chris know that this would be the first of many trips to see aquariums! He was somewhat interested in the fish, but was definitely ready to move on. Nancy bought him a great camouflaged onesie (wait til you see that picture!) and some small stuffed birds that make the actual bird calls. We were in Cabela's for quite a while and eventually Chris decided it was a good time to take a nap...Our company is leaving today and it has been so nice to see everyone! We are especially grateful that Christopher got to meet his great grandma...

Great Grandma's Visit

Isn't this the greatest picture!!! Great Grandma (GiGi), Grandpa Turick and Nancy came to visit for the weekend and they have been having so much fun getting to know Christopher. Chris and I made a surprise visit to the airport yesterday to pick them up (they were expecting Brian) and Christopher was just staring at his great grandmother when he saw her for the first time. It is so cool for us to see him with her, his only living great grandparent. In a previous post, I mentioned that children seem to have this connection with each other. I think that is also the case with older people and babies... We all just hung out at the house yesterday, with Nancy and Nanny sharing stories of raising their children and everyone taking turns passing Chris around. Then they all made dinner for us (courtesy of groceries from our new Price Chopper!!! Yay it finally opened!!!). Today we are planning on going up to Legends to have lunch and we might drop Grandpa Turick off at Cabela's for the rest of the afternoon as that store is like heaven for him. Anyway, more updates later!
P.S.--Yes, we did survive the tornado warnings the other day. Nothing in our neighborhood but some serious storms did pass through!

Toto?

Okay so you know how I was complaining about all the rain we'll be getting from Ike this weekend? I was just rudely awoken by the tornado sirens going off (only the 2nd time since we've lived here). Come to find out, there are 2 tornado warnings for Johnson County. Don't worry people, we'll be fine. All the houses here have basements! Another first for Christopher.

40 Days and 40 Nights

Will it ever stop raining here? There's a huge cloud mass sitting over us right now and to top it off, we're going to get the remnants of hurricane Ike this weekend. I thought only those crazy east coasters had to deal with hurricanes! Anyway, not to be forced inside by this weather, Christopher and I took a trip over to Lee's Summit, MO to visit a little store called Happybottumus (great name isn't it?). It's a great baby store although once again my husband would classify it as "hippie retail." They sell cloth diapers (no we're not there yet!), organic clothing and those aluminum water bottles. But the reason we went was to get a different kind of wrap called a Mei Tai. The sling was bothering my back if I wore it too much and mei tais are more like front carriers. (Check them out at www.babyhawk.com) I tried it when we got home and it is mucho comfortable and Chris looks so cute in it! You'll have to wait for pics because as talented as Kasey is, she hasn't learned how to use the camera yet... Anyway, Christopher is 8 weeks old today! Flying in for the occasion tomorrow are Grandpa Turick, Nancy and great-grandma Nanny. We can't wait to see them!

Retail Therapy

What to do on a rainy day in Kansas...When I looked out the front door, it didn't appear to be raining so I got us both ready to go in the car over to the trail for a walk. Come to find out, when I opened the garage door that it in fact was raining very hard. (Perhaps I should make a trip to the eye doctor?) Anyway, we were all dressed up with no place to go so we went for a little drive. Mommy stopped at Starbucks (the pumpkin spice latte is back!) and again, Chris was not happy there. Maybe he prefers independent coffee shops! Once we got on the highway, he actually fell asleep so I just kept on driving until we got to Babies R Us. Now usually, Chris does not like going there but today he was a happy shopper. Thanks to Brian's team at work, we got some warmer clothes for fall, a new bouncy seat for downstairs, and a great new toy to occupy him in his car seat (it really worked!). Here is a picture of one of his new outfits. I'm sure Brian will accuse me of turning our son into a hippie but too bad. :) He'll have to buy Chris something with a corporate logo on ot to balance him out!