Kirsten and Mark

Whew, this has been a busy week. I may need to start posting more often in order to keep from writing a novel. Brit had several firsts in the past week, and I had a first today.

My first…an earthquake. Los Angeles (well, actually most of Southern California) felt the effects of a 5.8 magnitude earthquake this morning around 11:45. Brit and I were in the living room when it started shaking. I didn’t think anything of it at first because sometimes we shake a little when a big truck goes through our alley, but I quickly realized there was no truck and this must in fact be an earthquake. So, I jumped up and stood in our hallway doorway. Brit had no idea anything was happening and just hung out in my arms. Mark pointed out it probably felt like it always does to him when we hold him–a little bouncing and swaying. Only a few items fell, and those were things that weren’t on really sturdy ground to begin with. It was a little bit scary, especially when my phone didn’t work, but the internet did, so Mark was able to IM me and make sure we were ok.

Interestingly enough, we’re the Emergency Preparedness reps at church and we just had a stake meeting Sunday about getting everyone prepared. The hard part is motivating people to actually do something, but I think this event may be just the thing we needed to make people realize it’s serious.

And, now to Brit’s firsts because they’re super cool.
First, on Saturday he had his first “solid” food of mostly liquid rice cereal. He didn’t hate it, but really wasn’t a huge fan either. I need to get a different spoon because since it was so liquidy it barely stayed on.

First Bite

I’m not sure about this, Daddy save me!

Ok, not so bad.

And our favorite: Mom, seriously, what are you doing? I kind of hate you right now.

That first feeding wasn’t too bad, but subsequent attempts haven’t been very successful. He now turns away from me when I try to put the spoon in his mouth. Not good. Another reason I need that other spoon…the food is in the handle, then you squeeze to get it out, so it’s less messy and he may think it’s cooler.

Another first–Sitting on his own. He’s been close, but always topples to the side or front. But, at church on Sunday he was sitting on a blanket and actually stayed up for a couple of minutes! Eventually he did fall forward, and as a bad mom I didn’t catch him quickly enough so he face planted onto one of his toys. Mark heard him screaming inside the chapel. Sad!

I’m really upset that I missed this one….but he rolled completely from his back to his front. He’s been rolling onto his side like crazy lately, but just coudn’t get over far enough to get his arm out. Well, yesterday I was in the kitchen and he started squawking like he was upset. I figured he’d scooted himself somewhere he didn’t want to be, so I went to help him out and he was just finishing the roll and extracting his arm! Could the stinker do that earlier when I’d been playing with him and he’d made an attempt? NO! Then, this morning he did it again. Now diaper changes are super fun with him turning all the time.

Here’s a cute pictureto break up all the words:

yes, it’s meant to be sideways ’cause that’s how he was laying.

Brit is a born water baby–just like his mom! We went to a free swim class to try out the school, and he loved it! There were 5 other babies and moms and the instructor was great. We sang songs and did motions in the water, and Brit just kind of did it. During each song there was a part where the baby got their face in the water, and he loved it…or, at least he didn’t cry or make a face or anything. He just came up and was fine. I liked being in the pool too. It’s been a long time for me. I think we’ll put him in the lessons when we get back from our trips in September.

So, he’s been busy this week. If he keeps up this pace he’ll be walking by next month! He’s so animated and “talks” all the time. It’s lots of fun having him around and see all of his developments.

More shots today and Brit was a trooper. He screamed and cried while the nurse did them, but after I picked him up he calmed down, and actually fell asleep as soon as we got in the car. Thank heavens! We’ll have to see how he does the rest of the day, but I think he’ll be fine. He’s been trying to roll from his back to his front, and he actually did it (except for a stubborn arm that stays stuck) while waiting for the doctor.

4 Month Stats:
Weight: 14.3 pounds (34%)
Height: 26.25 inches (88%)
Head: 16.25 inches (23%)

Apparently he got taller and skinnier than last time, so the doctor said I could start him on solids (rice cereal) and ssee if that helps. He does seem to be hungry a lot lately, and is definitely strong enough to hold himself up. He also lets me know he’s done eating now by trying to sit himself up, so it won’t be a problem knowing when he’s done. And, when we’re eating he’s very interested in what we’re doing and tries to put things in his mouth. He loves to try getting the food on my plate too. I’m not sure I want to start that yet though. It’s another sign that he’s growing up and I don’t like it. He’s barely 4 months, so I may hold off for a couple of weeks. Feeding them “solids” is just so they can get practice eating anyway, since you just start out with a teaspoon a day…I’ll see how I feel about it and let you know what I decide.

Lately we’ve been sitting him up and he does pretty well. He can sit for a few seconds on his own before toppling to one side, or tipping over in front. He’s getting better though, so I don’t think it’ll be long before we actually call it sitting on his own.

The other day I was trying to find an outfit, and put this dress on the bed where Brit was sitting. He immediately reached for it, tipping over in the process. So, I sat him back up and gave it to him, and he was overjoyed! With such big smiles and giggles I had to get the camera.

Over the weekend we went to a couple of parties. Brit had fun in the swings, though they’re still too big for him. I just love this outfit too! He looks so adorable in it.

We also went with our friends Paige and Maverick to this thing called Glow in Santa Monica. It was a night time thing where people created interactive “art” works. There were probably a 50,000 people down around the pier and on the beach area. It was crazy! Unfortunately, they didn’t have as many cool things as we expected or hoped. But, Mark did get some cool pictures. I’ll post a few, but He’ll probably post more on his site, Mark.KirstenandMark.com.

This is water with light projected on it.

This is some big white balloon looking thing in a cool shape.

Look closely and you can see Brit. He has a glow necklace on his head. He enjoyed the first part, but fell asleep before it was over.

I finally got around to getting a couple videos off the video camera and getting them posted here. Enjoy!

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Our lives haven’t been too exciting in the past week. But Brit has lots of new tricks that are fun. He really doesn’t like to be on his stomach for too long, and doesn’t like to roll over. It’s like he’s forgotten how or something.  Sometimes when he’s on his way over he stops himself and makes sure he stays on his stomach.

He tries to roll from his back to his stomach though. He reaches for toys and things to the side and only needs a little push to get over. But, the biggest “on the move” moment was when he scooted 180 degrees! I put him on his stomach facing one direction and dangled a toy to his left so he would try to roll over, but he started moving his arms and legs instead and ended up facing the opposite direction. I should have gotten pictures, but was too busy being amazed. He’s always kicking his legs and pushing. Sometimes we find him in a completely different position than when we looked last. We’re sure he’s going to be a swimmer or a track star.

Brit is practically a genius too. He’s already getting the concept of “object permanence” which doesn’t really start till 7 or 8 months. It’s the concept that when you can’t see something you still know that it exists. I showed him his ball and then put it under his burp cloth so it wasn’t visible and asked him where his ball was. He immediately reached toward the cloth and tried to move it. I thought it was a fluke, so I did it again and he reached out and touched the ball under the cloth! So, we tried a different toy. He did it again! This was a couple of days ago, so I tried it again today and he still knows what he’s doing. He kept reaching for the cloth to take it away–and actually succeeded in pulling it all the way off once. Then, I just put the cloth down with nothing under it and he didn’t reach for it at all. He looked around for the toy.

Every once in a while I get this still….It’s my favorite! He just looks like an angel.

I love 3-day weekends. Not that it’s too different now that I’m home all week, but it’s nice that Mark is home an extra day and we get to spend more time together. We had a busy weekend, with lots of pictures.

Kind of last minute, Mark and I decided to have a little BBQ on the 4th since we didn’t have plans and wanted to celebrate in some way. My friend Leslie also came for a visit. I picked her up in the afternoon of the 4th and around 5 our friends came over.

Brit looked super cute in his patriotic outfit. I just love this little guy!

I enjoyed actually using the dishes we got for our wedding and entertaining. I don’t do it very often. I think the last time we used some of those things was at our house warming party two years ago.

We had quite the spread, and some very full guests. Good thing we had Jared there to help eat through it all.

Perhaps our hamburgers and buns were a little too thick.

Hudson is catching up to Brit. We think he’s a little taller now. They didn’t scare each other too much, but Brit did cry when the dads paired them up for a “Baby Death Match” It consisted mostly of staring at each other. Luckily the moms intervened and made them friends again. I think this may be Brit’s first actual smile for the camera specifically….if not, we’ll pretend that’s what he’s doing.

Brit liked my friend Leslie too. She’s a nanny, so she was really good with him. It was great having her here for the weekend. I haven’t seen her since Thanksgiving. We had a lot of fun catching up and touring LA.

We–well, some of the people at our party–played Guitar Hero–Aerosmith, and the Wii Fit. That was quite the hit. It’s fun to play the little games and do the exercises. And, we needed it after the big meal.

While other people were around we decided to get a family picture too since we don’t do that very often. yes, Brit looks mad, but since he’s so cute in all his other pictures I chose the one where Mark and I look the best.

Later, we did see the tail end of a local fireworks show by walking down our street a little bit. Brit wasn’t fazed at all. He just gazed up at them with a curious look on his face. Thank heavens he isn’t afraid of them!

We’re thankful that we were able to celebrate with our friends and to be able to celebrate the 4th at all. Despite all of the problems going on in our country, we’re thankful to live here and have all of the blessings that we do.

I just had to post these too. I know it’s not very nice to get out the camera when your child is crying, but he has the cutest/saddest pouty face. We keep trying to capture it, but have thus far been unsuccessful. In this one he has the same expression as when he was born.

My what big eyes you have….

First–thanks to everyone for your comments and support for Sprout Shell. We really appreciate it…now that people have heard of it, we’ll concentrate on getting them to remember it!

Brit had his first trip to the beach last weekend. My family was in town, so we of course went to the best beach around, Newport. It’s worth the drive in my opinion.

He had a cute swim suit and matching shirt, and a super cute hat to keep the sun out of his eyes. But, since he’s not supposed to have sunscreen yet, we kept a light blanket over him too.

When we put him on the sand he didn’t even flinch. I was expecting a reaction of some kind, but he acted as if it was just the carpet or something.

We wanted to get him in the water a little, but he fell asleep and we had to go before he woke up. That will be for the next trip.