Kyle's Bag of Tricks

It's been a while since we've posted - I break my promise each time to get better about, but I hope that having a 10-month-old is a good excuse! Kyle continues to keep us busy and continues to amaze us with his many talents! Since our last post, he's still working on his walking with assistance of his toys. But in the meantime, he has become a super-fast crawler!! There is no more scooting around, this is full on crawling at what seems like 100mph because we turn our heads and he's cruising away! He has really developed his personality and is just a ton of fun to be around! Some of his fun new talents/tricks are:

Waving - used to wave his hand side to side, but now it's officially an open/close hand wave!

Clapping - he started to get the hang of this around Valentine's Day....but of course he mastered it while Mommy and Daddy were away in the Bahamas for a few days. We have this video courtesy of Nana and Papa:

"The Stevie Wonder" - honestly, one of the cutest and funniest things I've ever seen! I don't even remember how it came about, think it was just Kyle rubbing his head on the back of the highchair and before we knew it, when we'd say "Stevie Wonder", he'd start doing it!



Blowing Kisses - by far THE cutest thing in the world!! (end of Stevie Wonder video)

High-Five - he learned this while Mumma and Dada were away in the Bahamas - courtesy of Nana and Ellie (my godmother)

Where's Your Tongue? - we have NO IDEA where he learned this, how he figured out tongue because we've been trying to teach him "where's your nose?" and all of a sudden he'd do the tongue so now we do "where's your tongue?" and here you have it!



Peek-a-Boo - too cute!!



The list goes on! He's also pulling himself up onto EVERYTHING! Adam and I have done our best to babyproof but have determined that there is just never a 100% baby proof possibility as this little guy finds things we didn't even know were within reach!

Kyle also had the joy of spending a few nights with his grandparents at the end of February while Mommy and Daddy went on a mini vacation to the Bahamas with Aunt Kelly, Uncle Brian, Aunt Rachael and Uncle Jon! He had so much fun with YiaYia and Papou the first night and Nana and Papa the next couple nights that we aren't even sure if he missed us! haha We are so thankful for technology though because we were able to Skype with him at least once a day, sometimes twice and that helped us to not miss him as much plus it kept us up to speed with his new tricks, that he developed day to day!

To say that we're having tons of fun is an understatement, he's an awesome baby and while he has his days from time to time, we love him so much! We are crusin' toward his 1st Birthday faster than either of us could have imagined and although everyone says "it goes by sooo fast!" you never really know until you experience it for yourself! More to come, but I wanted to get some updates out, since it has been (embarrassingly!) 2 MONTHS since my last post!!

Catch Me If You Can!

So at 8 and a half months we now are chasing Kyle around! Not only is he moving around by scooting and crawling, but he's also has mastered pulling himself up and can walk around with his walking toys! This means a few things 1) our little boy is not so little anymore, he's just reaching milestone after milestone these days! 2) Mom and Dad can no longer get anything done around the house because we're always chasing after Kyle! haha Looking back, I remember saying "I can't wait until he crawls and walks, that will be so much fun.....but now, I long for the days where we laid him on the couch without any fear of him rolling off because he hadn't yet learned to roll over! Truthfully, we are having a ton of fun with him and are so proud of his many accomplishments! The other new trick is figuring out how to stand up in his crib! Goodbye bumper (we used the breathable bumper) and hello crib rail protector!

Snow What Fun!

We certainly have had our fair share of snow this winter, in fact we are right in the middle of Blizzard #3, expecting up to a foot of snow by morning! Clearly, since Kyle just started crawling and is learning to walk, he's not quite ready to "play" in the snow but we've had fun bundling him up and getting him exposed to the snow. We recently purchased a sled for him, the Emsco Baby Boggan and are having so much fun!! Our first storm was the day after Christmas and we got about 14" of snow here in Halifax, the next storm was on January 12th and we got about 10", the most recent was Thursday, January 20th where we got another 8". With tonight's accumulations we're going to have about 3 feet of snow frozen in our yard! It's been bitter cold and barely any has melted. This made sledding here at home tough, so we packed up and headed to the Cape a couple weekends ago. Kyle had so much fun playing in the snow with his cousin Garrett, Nana, Papa and G-Nana! On two occasions he's shoved his little paw into the snow and "tasted" the snow, another time he just went face-first to test it out! Here are some pictures and video of our fun in the snow!!

Just Keep Swimmin'

We've been waiting for the day that we could officially start swimming lessons with Kyle! Adam and I both love the water and it's only fitting since we loooove to spend our free time down the Cape, especially in the summer! We had to wait until he was 6 months old per the rules of the YMCA, where the lessons are taking place. We missed the last session by a week, but were able to get into the Winter Session that started January 8th. We figured Kyle would like the experience as he enjoyed a few dips in the pool last summer, and he loves his baths. But we never knew that he would LOOOOOOOVE swimming lessons this much! We're taking the lessons at the YMCA in East Bridgewater with instructors Brian and Meghan. Kyle enjoyed every minute of being in his swim trunks in the dead of winter and getting into the pool! He splashed and kicked and smiled the whole 30 minutes both days that we've gone. The videos show his excitement and we also managed to get a TON of pictures (are you surprised?)

The bad news of this is....Kyle came down with a double-ear infection and only two weeks into swimming class, the doctor has recommended that we refrain from any swimming until his ear infections are gone. We're going to call the Y and are hoping that they'll let us finish the next 5 classes in the next session. If not, we have enough swimmers in the family that we can train him on our own, but it was fun while it lasted - I'm sure he'll miss his friends that he met too!













And a couple videos to really show you how excited he was!

"Swimming with Daddy"


"Swimming with Mommy"

Hello, 2011!

We had a GREAT time ringing in the New Year down in Alexandria with Auntie Gina, Uncle Jason and cousin Jordan! It was Kyle's first plane ride and he did fantastic! We were a bit nervous because we had a couple delays but somehow everything worked out perfectly and he had a bottle right before each take-off (there and back) and slept for 95% of each flight, even through the landings! We were so excited to stay at G&J's new house, and we enjoyed a kid-friendly New Year's Eve party that started at 4pm and ended at about 8:30! The boys had a blast playing with all of the kids and the parents enjoyed the craziness too! We also got to see Mark, Kendra and Jack and get an adorable picture of the 3 amigos! The rest of the weekend Kyle and Jordan rough-housed and we even tossed them in the bath together - LOTS of splashing around and funny video! Looking forward to our next visit - is it too early for Kyle to tour the White House?






p.s. Because Kyle wanted to be just like Jordan, who got his first haircut a few days prior....on January 1, 2011, Kyle got his first official "haircut" from Mommy. Daddy kept commenting on the hair growing over Kyle's ears, so we gave him a little trim. Here's a picture to mark the event! (and yes, we did save the clippings and bring them home for his baby book!)

New Shutterfly Picture Site!

Do any of my other blogging friends find it hard to keep up with blogs about your kids?! When I started this, I thought - perfect, I'll blog when I can, when big events happen or when Kyle reaches milestones. But at, now, 8 months I feel like he's doing new things and reaching milestones almost every day!! Please forgive me, as I know I can't document absolutely everything. I'm pretty good with the pictures, and usually put a decent description of the event on my Shutterfly site, so please feel free to visit that for updates too!.
The Kacamburas Family - Shutterfly Site
If you aren't already a member and would like to be, please send me an email and I'll send along the password.

I will be posting a few more entries after this to catch up on the goings-on in Kyle's life.....(when Kyle goes down for his next nap, of course!)

Holiday Celebrations!

To say we were excited leading up to the holidays would be an understatement. Christmas is my favorite holiday and we couldn't wait to experience it with Kyle on his very 1st Christmas! We started traditions, and took LOTS of pictures! First came picking out our Christmas tree, meeting Frosty the Snowman and taking Kyle's picture with Santa! He LOVED Santa, was all smiles and Santa even asked, "Can I keep him?" Next came a mini-photoshoot so we could design our Christmas card and Kyle was his usual self - all smiles and loving the camera! I've told him from his first few minutes of life to get used to the camera, because Mommy wasn't afraid to use it! We celebrated "Thanksmas" (combination Thanksgiving and Christmas) in Natick with Auntie Robin and G-Nana, Nana, Papa, Uncle Brett, Aunt Katie, cousins Garrett and Kelsey on December 12th. Next up was Mommy's work Christmas party where Kyle got to be the little center of attention for an hour or so. Finally Christmas Eve arrived and we spent it with YiaYia, Papou and Adam's side of the family in Reading. A wonderful time was had by all, Kyle was amazed by all the family surrounding him and despite the noise, managed to fall asleep on the floor in the dining room! We spent Christmas Eve night at home, and couldn't wait to get up to see what Santa brought! Sure enough, Santa was very good to Kyle, as were all our relatives and friends, Adam and I are still, to this day, overwhelmed at the generosity and love of everyone in our family. We thank you again!! Christmas Day was so amazing, we spent it with my side of the family as we always have since not only is it Christmas, but it's also my Dad and my Uncle Steve's birthday! There are so many babies in the family now, we added 3 more to the bunch this year between Jane, Kyle and Kelsey - Garrett and Gabrielle were outnumbered by the littlest ones, but it really makes you think back to holidays without babies. I've always enjoyed the holidays but babies and kids certainly add those extra smiles and love! One thing I can say with certainty is that among all of the gifts, which Kyle enjoyed, he most enjoyed the wrapping and tissue paper that the gifts came in! (The things you wish you knew before going on a shopping spree for Christmas gifts.....) Live and learn! Adam and I look forward to continuing and starting even more traditions and celebrating many Christmas memories to come! Kyle's 1st Christmas was truly amazing! Here are a few pictures, to see the full album, please check out our Shutterfly Site: http://thekacamburasfamily.shutterfly.com

No More Toothless Grin!

So, Kyle didn't need to sing "All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth" because he GOT THEM!! On November 19th his bottom left tooth came in, and on November 28th his bottom right tooth came in! The teething process was difficult at times, you just wish there was more you could do for your baby when they're going through this. Of course, we knew it was starting because the chomping on things and amount of drool was increasing exponentially!! So with some middle of the night wake-ups, and the help of a few doses of Motrin, a mesh snack bag filled with frozen fruits and ice cubes, Kyle's 2 teeth finally came in! I have to say, we never thought we'd love anything more than that gummy smile that Kyle sported for 6 months - but this new 2-tooth-smile is absolutely adorable, too!! :)

First Words!

The days arrived that Adam and I have been waiting for...Kyle said "Mumma" (12/4/2010) and "Dadda" (12/5/2010)!! We started out with a lot of babbling and just recently he put the sounds together and at just about 7 months, he did it! The jury is still out as to whether or not he actually knows what he is saying, but all that seems to matter to us is that he said it!! He has also added "ba-ba" to his repertoire and there is a good chance that he picked that up from us calling him "Bubba" since he was born! Here are the videos to show off his verbal skills :)

Mumma....


Dadda...

Baptsim

I'm trying to catch up on the blog entries, so I'm backtracking a bit (forgive me, as a full-time working mom, blogging can't be my first priority, and as much as I try to keep it up there on the list, I lose sight of it!)

Kyle was baptised on Sunday, November 14th at Our Lady of the Lake Parish in Halifax. We are blessed to have my cousin, Jenn, and Adam's childhood friend Adam, as Kyle's Godparents. It was a really nice ceremony. Only one other baby, besides Kyle, was baptized which made for a really intimate ceremony. We had about 60 close family members and friends join us for the ceremony and a luncheon afterwards at Grille 58 in Halifax.

Here are some pictures of the day!

Halfway to 1 year?!

Here we go...one month since my last post (sorry!) and our baby is now 6 MONTHS OLD!! Where has the time gone?! I know all Mommies and Daddies say the same thing, but honestly, Kyle is growing up at lightning speed. We are still enjoying all of these moments with our little man though, and since our last post we are rolling even more - in both directions - sitting up unassisted for a minute or so until he decides he'd like to topple over so he can roll again, and being much more independent. Kyle loves his Exersaucer and Johnny Jump-Up still, and I swear he'd stay in them for hours if we'd let him! I can pretty much guarantee we'll be getting this kid a pogo stick when he gets older, if he continues to like jumping as much as he does! He does this amazingly adorable little heel click (video below) that I truly can't get enough of! He has also become ticklish too - which is just soooo funny!! (video attached) He also continues to laugh and smile, and brighten our every day with his happiness!

We're making our way with foods too! To date, Kyle has had the following foods:
- Rice Cereal (18 weeks)
- Sweet Potatoes (19 weeks)
- Squash (20 weeks)
- Carrots (21 weeks)
- Peas (22 weeks)
- Pears (23 weeks)
- Apples (24 weeks)
- Bananas (25 weeks)

Oh and I almost forgot to mention - Kyle is TEETHING!! Right below the surface of his bottom left gum, we can see a tooth making it's way up! He's only had a couple evenings where it's really bothered him, otherwise, it's just everything in the mouth! Recently we put an ice cube in his teething feeder and he loooooved it!! When we'd take it out, he'd cry for it back! Hey, you'll do whatever you can to remedy the pains of teething!

Check out Kyle clicking his heels!


Look who's ticklish!

Mommy's Milestone

On October 11, 2010 my Mommy turned 30! Apparently it's a big deal because she's been talking about it for weeks and Daddy kept saying that Mommy was going to be OLD! I don't know much about language yet but I'm pretty sure that's not a nice thing to say to my Mommy! We had a great weekend celebrating - my gift to her was that I started rolling from my back to my belly on her birthday weekend - I think she enjoyed her gift because she kept taking lots of pictures and videos! On her actual birthday, Daddy and I took Mommy to lunch at East Bay Grille in Plymouth. We had a really nice lunch and both Mommy and Daddy said I was such a good baby! I try :) Here are some pictures from Mommy's 30th Birthday lunch! I love you, Mommy, and you don't listen to what Daddy says...you're not old!

Love,
Kyle

Jump, Jive and Roll!

5 months old and Kyle certainly has been busy developing lots of new skills! He's mastered the art of growling/roaring, rolling, jumping, squawking like a pterodactyl (yes, that is the correct spelling!) and he has been a champion eater with his rice cereal and vegetables. We started him with sweet potatoes, moved to squash, then carrots and now we are having fun with peas! He's really enjoyed each and every one of them, making some hilarious faces along the way but hasn't turned his head away from any. Next up is fruit and we can't WAIT!

Kyle has been rolling from his belly to his back for about a month now, but just recently a few days before he turned 5 months old - he started rolling from his back to his belly! He enjoys this so much that sometimes he just keeps rolling along the floor! I'm attaching this one video because I can't help but laugh. He was completely content rolling along and then just started to fake cry. I could not stop laughing because clearly he was fine, as he continued to roll!



This video is of Kyle enjoying his Graco Jump N Jive Jumper! We've put him in this for a few weeks now but in the past week he's really gotten the hang of it and jumps like a little jumping bean! Certainly a workout and it's quite entertaining to watch him!!

Feed Me!

We've passed the 4th month mark and we got the official "green light" from our pediatrician to start rice cereal. It's been a week and so far so good! It took a bit for Kyle to realize what the spoon in his mouth was all about but he soon adjusted and started eating the whole serving! As we all know, cereal is one sticky mess - especially when you have a baby that is obsessed with blowing raspberries! But Adam and I still look forward to mealtime with our little guy every night! Here are a few pictures from the big event. Next up.....sweet potatoes!! :) Looking forward to his reaction to actual flavor!

Rollin'....Rollin'.....

So at 16 weeks Kyle is officially rolling from tummy to back!! He was not a huge fan of tummy time until recently where he really got a grasp of holding his head up really well. This all happened pretty much overnight. Then to our surprise, on Tuesday he completely rolled from his belly to his back and we were both there to witness it! Obviously we didn't expect it so I didn't have the video camera for that one, but we've managed to snag a few more rolls on video, here is one for you to enjoy! Now there isn't much tummy time to be had, because once you put him on his belly he almost immediately rolls over to his back. HaHa

Next up, rolling from back to belly - stay tuned!!

1st Day of School

Everyone says that babies grow so fast, but I guess you never can actually grasp that concept until you have your own. When I had Kyle on May 13th, I will admit that September 1st seemed so far away. Well, my maternity leave/summer vacation came and went and somehow my baby is almost 4 months old!! While Mommy returned to work on September 1st, Kyle started daycare. It was an emotional day - mainly for me, Kyle didn't seem to notice the change too much, thankfully! We couldn't be happier with our daycare provider - they came to us as a referral from my friend Julie from work. Her son, Matty, goes to the same daycare and she has nothing but great things to say about them! Day 1 went great - Kyle had an awesome day and I told him he may have set the bar pretty high for himself and that he had to be that good everyday!! :) I only called once around noon to check-in and he was doing great - eating, napping, and playing with the other kids! Music to a new-mommy's ears! Day 2 went just as good, as did Day 3....I'm hoping this trend continues! It was good to get back to work and into a routine - but I miss those days just hanging out with Kyle, taking our walks (and sleeping in!) But I know this change is going to be good for all of us.....or at least that's what people keep telling me for reassurance!

Here are some pictures from Kyle's first day! The last one is Kyle and his caregiver, Karen - she's been so great to him!!

Mr. Giggles

So Kyle has a new development lately and that's LAUGHING!! We've been waiting for this day since he was born - who doesn't loooove a baby's laugh?! He's done a bit of chuckling before but this was the first time he really laughed-out-loud consistently for a few minutes! It happened to be day 3 of the intense rain that we got here at the end of August, and both of us were a bit stir crazy! (Heading anywhere outside with a baby, stroller, gear, etc. in the rain is no fun!) So by about 5 o'clock we were desperate to find something to cure a crabby mood had by Kyle....and so began the "Ready....Boom!" trick which apparently my son thought was hysterical! Enjoy :)

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N.....In the Summertime!

So it's been about a month since I posted, so I'm officially labeling myself a bad blogger! But I have been quite busy with Kyle, so I'll say there is a good excuse for not blogging the day away! Kyle is now 3 1/2 months old, weighs 14 lbs and continues to get cuter as each day goes by! :) He really has developed quite a personality and I've enjoyed spending each day of my maternity leave/summer vacation with him! I am most definitely so sad to go be returning to work, but know it will be good for both me and Kyle. He's already been to daycare one day for a few hours to start to get acclimated - tomorrow will be day #2 and then Wednesday is officially the first day of work for me and first day of daycare for Kyle! I'm sure there will be tears with the drop-off - and I might be at risk for getting a speeding ticket rushing to pick him up right after school!

We certainly kept busy this summer, between trips to the Cape, running errands, daily walks, visiting with friends, weddings and road trips! Kyle made his first trip to NJ so Mommy and Daddy could attend Aunt Erin and Uncle Sean's wedding and was an absolutely amazing baby and slept for pretty much the entire car ride there and back!! We know how lucky we are :)

It would be a lot to post pics of every event on the blog - so I've made a little photobook of our recent week-long vacation down the Cape! We spent the first part of the week in Cotuit because Adam ran the Falmouth Road Race with the "Lyons Pack", and the rest of the week we were down in Brewster with the Kacamburas/Hannan clan! We had a great week and have a little scrapbook to share with all of the fun we had with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends! :)

I will try to be better about blogging more often, too!! Now that I'm heading back to work, we shall have more of a schedule in place - who makes any kind of schedule in the summer anyway?!

Keeping busy at 11 weeks!

Well a few weeks have gone by since my last post, I'm really going to try to get better (especially now that I'm - finally - done with all of my thank you notes!) Kyle is doing fantastic, as are Mommy and Daddy! Let's see, he's now 11 weeks, 3 days old. At his last doctors appointment, which was 2 weeks ago, he weighed 11 lbs, I have to guess he's at least at 12 by now, and it shows in his adorable rolls and double-chin! He has also grown in height too and officially graduated from his sponge tub to the big plastic tub for bath time!

Kyle has developed some new tricks in the past few weeks too:
...the art of sucking on his hands and fingers
...lots of "coos", "ga-ga", and squeeling
...sitting up in his Bumbo that cousin Garrett let us borrow
...hand eye coordination when he hits his playmat toys
...drinking formula for the first time! We started getting him used to formula and will transition completely within the next week. He didn't even seem to notice as his still chugs away at each bottle! Lil' piglet ;)

He is very much recognizing us now and continues to smile and melt our hearts! Adam and I cannot believe how quickly the time is going by, but knowing it's not slowing down anytime soon, we truly are enjoying every minute we get to spend with him!

Again, we spent some time down the Cape, celebrated Great-Gram and Great-Grampa's 80th birthdays, took our first trip to Natick to visit with Katie, Garret and enjoyed a visit from Auntie Robin and G-Nana!

Here are some pictures and videos from the last few weeks!

Splish Splash!

So by 8 weeks, Kyle has made his first trip to the beach, and taken his first dip in a pool! The beach was an experience - let's just say it was my first trip to the beach where I didn't just pack a towel, sunscreen and a book to read. Instead I packed up a couple towels for Kyle, his sun shade, the Boppy, hat and sunglasses for him, toys to play with, the camera, bottles, diapers, an umbrella (I never sit under an umbrella!) etc. We went with Nana and Papa down to Loop Beach by their house and stayed for about an hour. It was a nice day, and we would have taken a trip into the water but Mommy didn't feel like braving the seaweed that you had to get through first (wimpy..) so we'll try again next time. Here are some pictures from our day at the beach!

Kyle actually visited the Ocean Edge pool first while visiting YiaYia and Papou but he slept almost the entire time while we were there, so we didn't get him in the water, but he did sport his adorable shark spf shirt (equipped with a fin and all!) We figure there will be plenty of opportunities so not to worry. We did, however, get him in the water at Nana and Papa's house. They recently got one of those blow up pools that has a filter and it's a perfect addition to their backyard! We got some Kyle in the water and he seemed to enjoy it - by that I mean he didn't cry. We look forward to lots more splishing and splashing this summer! Here are some pictures, and a video, of Kyle's first experiences with pools.