Santa

Now that Kyle is one... it was the true test to see if he was going to like or dislike Santa. The verdict is in and by this picture you will be able to tell! :-) We went to visit Santa at the mall outside while waiting to get his one year old pictures. On a side note he did like the reindeer...

My First Birthday!

So much fun when you turn one... Kyle celebrated his first birthday this past week. I cannot believe that the time has gone by so fast. Watching my little man from being a tiny little baby and then watching him fly around in his walker. We decided to have Kyle's party at American Pie in Taylor. It is an all you can eat pizza buffet with a party room. Most of Kyle's friends at this age are a little too small for Chuck E Cheese or places of this sort. We did arrange for Elmo to show up (Mom & Aunt Andrea) and of course he was the hit of the party. Over all the time was great and I really think that Kyle had a GREAT time!

Happy Halloween.. We love FALL!

I love fall and it is even more special now that I can share it with Kyle. We started by visiting the apple orchard and getting to carve pumpkins. We also made baby purees out of fall harvst foods like butternut squash, green beans, and sweet potatoes. All of which seem to be good foods with Kyle. Kyle is going to be a giraffe for Halloween. Dad picked out his costume from The Children's Place and it is super cute! I took Kyle around the neighborhood and did trick or treating. We went to a handful of houses and came back since he really cannot eat any candy any way. This Halloween was for moms benefit more than anything. To see my little boy all dressed up and I was able to get candy to boot! :-) Next year Kyle will be able to walk and trick or treat so it will be a little more for him!

9 Months

9 months... time certainly flies by.. :-) Kyle is getting to be so much fun with his new formed personality. Every day I can see that he is growing and learning. I can tell how he concentrates on certain things like the wheels on his cars turning and how flipping pages in his book that he is going to be a "thinker". I coined this phrase from Dr. Debbie at our 9 month appointment. Kyle is now 17 pounds and 21 inches and growing at a normal pace.

Tennessee Family Vacation (A week of Firsts)

Every year we travel to Waverly, TN to visit Pat's family. This year was Kyle's very first time to TN, and he loved every minute of it. I was a little worried about traveling that far with Kyle, but he did real well. Of course it took a couple of rest areas to get the whole thing down we did great. We left on Saturday and traveled to Louisville, KY where we stopped and spent the night a a Hyatt (of course). Saturday night we went down to 4th Street Live where they have all the night life. We took Kyle to his first Hard Rock. We did not eat there, but did buy him his first Hard Rock T-shirt. We ate at a place called Red Star Tavern outside on the patio. Kyle was able to sit in the high chair for the first time and of course thought it was a wonderful experience! He procede to bang on the table, laugh and yell. After dinner we walked around down town and just took in all the sights. We had a great night sleep and started on our way to TN Sunday morning. Kyle did well again for this leg of the trip. We arrived at our destination around 3pm. Waverly is appox. 70 miles west of Nashville. We had a great relaxing week of fun and lots of food. Kyle had his first bath on the porch in a dish pan..LOL Kyle also went swimming for the very first time and he loved it so much. He was kicking and laughing.

8 Months

Kyle is 8 months old and raring to go! He is getting around like a champ. He is not yet crawling but sure finds ways to get from point A to B. He has opened his first cupboard of course under my watch. I have started to baby proof but can already tell that I will be needing to go over things by crawling around. He sits up and plays really well and loves to travel around in his walker. He really loves to bang his toys on other toys and make tremendous amounts of noise. Our new thing is talking. We started about two weeks ago with "ba ba ba" that turned in "Bob" and into "da da da". Now he talks and just random sounds and words come out. He will be a talker that is for sure, because he can go on for hours. Kyle is enjoying the end of summer and really still loves to go on walks and swing at the park. We are enjoying everything we can because my little baby is now turning into a big boy. :-)

Summertime 2009

Summer has been great so far.. Kyle is getting more and more animated every day. He seems to be getting so big fast, but yet everyone warned me that would happen. We do not go back to the doctor until Sept. for his 9 month appointment. I know that he has grown a couple of inches and gained a couple of pounds for sure. We have graduated to stage 2 foods and still have not found one we do not like. I myself am surprised at all the different baby foods that are out there. We have even started to buy some stage threes because 8 months is coming up quick and I want to be prepared. During the summer I can and garden so I am pretty excited to get to the farm market and make some fresh veggie varieties for Kyle.

Last week my nephew, and Kyle's cousin Brody turned ONE! Happy Birthday Brody! We had lots of fun at his birthday party. There was a bubble machine and lots of toys to play with. Kyle was able to swing for the first time in a baby swing and he absolutely loved it. Brody had a Nemo themed party that my sister did a wonderful job on.






We are headed to Tennessee on vacation and this will be our first road trip with Kyle. Pat's mom has not seen Kyle since March so she has a big boy surprise when we get there. We will be stopping and staying in Louisville to break up the trip. Pat and I have done this now the last few years that we have gone down to visit, and it works out great. This year we are excited to go to the Slugger Museum and get Kyle his first engraved bat! We will post all about the vacation once we get back. This vacation will be primarily for resting and relaxing. This will also be Kyle's first swimming pool experience, we have the new baby float and plenty of sunscreen packed up and ready to go.

Below I posted the video of Kyle in the baby swing. My new mission to find all parks with baby swings!

7 Months Old

Kyle is 7 months and growing like a weed. We love eating! We are trying all kinds of new foods and loving it. We also are a huge fan of water in a sippy cup. This little boy has tons of personality, and loves to show it. He laughs out loud at most things. He is super ticklish! I mean all over too. His neck belly and sides are the worst and his feet can be depending on the time. We are not crawling yet but we can roll and scoot like crazy. It should not be very long now. He loves to play on the blanket with his stacker toys and blocks. We love to investigate all objects and put them right into our mouth.

We are sitting pretty good, but still a little wobbley. Kyle's favorite thing by far is his bouncer. We love to move the parts so the animals will make sounds and we love to jump up and down in it. He can swivel himself at 360 degrees so that he can play with all the toys. Some other things that we are really into right now are walks in the parks, reading books, and petting the dog ( or should I say grabbing hair).

Six Months Old

Kyle is six months old today and boy is he getting big... He is really starting to show his personality. I can not tell you how much he smiles and really likes to laugh. There is not too much that we cry about, just if we bump our head while rolling around on the floor or if he is hungry. He loves to play with all of his toys and is very inquisitive as to how they work. I have been told that he is a "thinker"! Now that it is getting hot we are pulling out all the new outfits since we do not fit in the 3-6 months anymore. We went to our recent doctors visit and we are now 16lbs. 15 ounces (you might as well call that 17lbs) and 25.5 inches. Doctor says we are growing at a normal rate. We can now start stage 2 foods andwe should be crawling, sitting and pulling ourselves up on things by our 9month or next appointment. Stay tuned for some of our summer adventures and future summer outings!

Time for Serious Play

We are well on our way to the six month mark... boy how time flies! Kyle is doing so many things and fast. In the past couple of weeks we think everything is funny, we roll over in our sleep and like to sleep on our tummy, and we absolutely love to grab noses and hair! We love to talk and talk and talk. Kyle is also really involved in play time. Almost every night we read and he loves to turn the pages... I am not too sure he understands what the story is about but he loves to listen. We love to play with our Fisher Price song toy (I have included a video of floor time right after a bath time) and other random toys we love to put in our mouth now! Come on teeth...:-) He starts to wave and do high 5 but his true love is his bouncer now! Take note on how interactive Kyle is with this toy... he love to bat things around with is left arm! Does this mean we are left handed? Time will only tell.....

My First Mothers Day

(Photo by Leticia Horry/Natural Reflections)


Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys
or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not
my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind
and my thoughts.
I slept all night.
Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child
so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night
watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because
I didn't want to put her down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces
when I couldn't stop the hurt.!
I never knew that something so small
could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn't know the feeling of
having my heart outside my body..
I didn't know how special it could feel
to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond
between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small
could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night
every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
the joy,
the love,
the heartache,
the wonderment
or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much,
before I was a Mom .

This poem was sent to me by my friend Kathryn and I wanted to share it with you!

Spring Time

Spring is in the Air! That means new flowers, aromatic smells, and lots of sunshine. Already this spring Kyle and I have been on a few walks, sat in the thick green grass and have done hours of rocking on the porch. I love spring and I have plenty of plans for Kyle and I this spring since it is his first. Amongst those plans I have decided that it is time to do some "spring cleaning". I am preparing for a garage sale. It will be 6 years that we have been in our house this Aug. and it is definately time to get rid of some stuff. I am excited to get some room back in our house!
It is also time to plan the annual garden. In a week or two my friends and I will venture to the nursery's to buy our garden plants. The garden is ready and just needs to be tilled. I am excited for when Kyle will be able to help mommy plant and take care of the garden. I remember doing this when I was younger with my grandparents and I know that Kyle will enjoy it too! :-)

*(Photo by Leticia Horray/Natural Reflections)

Happy Easter

I cannot believe that it is Easter already! Time sure does fly when you are having fun. We went last weekend and visited the Easter Bunny with Brody, Aunt Andrea, and Gramma. I was not sure what the reaction to the 8 foot tall bunny was going to be and truthfully I was a tad nervous. We did GREAT! The tears did not come until after and it was from being hungry, not the the big scary bunny...LOL! :-) We hope everyone has a lovely Easter~ The Chapman Family

Official Hospital Announcements

Here are Kyle's hospital picutures and official announcement or how it is viewed on the hospital website. :-)

One Potato, Two Potato, Three Potato...More

This week we tried sweet potatoes for the first time. I think it went really well all things considered. We are going to try a different array of foods and I hope that he likes them all. Pat and I both are not picky eaters and hopefully Kyle will not be either. We have tried the green beans and carrots. He is a pretty big fan of these as well. I of course have included a video of our sweet potato trial! :-)

Mirror Mirror On The Wall ... Who is The Funniest Baby Of Them All

Lately Kyle and I have been stopping by the mirror to make sure that we are looking terrific for all of our adventures. Today was truly a different day... Kyle thought for sure that he or I looked really funny! Check it out...

Kyle's Funny Faces

All kids have great smiles! Kyle seems to find humor in a lot and especially when we sing to him. Recently it is not just a smile or giggle but a belly laugh, and it is the cutest thing you have ever heard. (I of course am partial because it's Kyle! :-)) We cannot figure out if he really likes the songs or he is laughing at how bad we sing...:-) I have really realized that Kyle has some of the funniest smiles and laughes. He seemed from the very beginning to be a happy baby, and catches humor in everything that people do. The best is to see that bright smile first thing in the morning! If you tell Kyle that he is being silly or funny he will laugh at you. A childs smile can truly be a warming in your heart. :-)

My Girlfriends and Our Kids

So....I have this great circle of friends that I have been really close with since high school. I feel like we have known each other forever, all though 20 years is almost forever. We have done tons of stuff together throughout the years and made sure that we kept in contact. More recently we have had children around the same time. Now our weekend get togethers do not include "alley bowling" or clubbing, but we are now moms so it is all about the kids. I am very grateful that it has worked out like it has because its fun getting together with the kids. We will always be the bestest of friends and will definately make tons more memories but now with our babies.

Back To Work

The day has come.... Three months of course flew by, but I enjoyed every minute of it. Kyle and I bonded and had a ton of fun. We used the time to visit with family and friends and could not have asked for a better time off. I was worried that it would be awful to return to work and not be home during the day with Kyle. I think that me making it seem like it would be awful, made it better. It has been a week and everything went well. My dad came and helped us out in between the time Pat and I had to be at work. He still got to do tummy time and bumbo time, and of course ate to his little hearts content...
I upon my return had a great week. Everyone was very excited for me to be back, and yes it was nice to see everyone again. It would be great if I could stay at home with Kyle, but with today's economy and the shaky job market its just not the time to be a one income family. I have come to the realization that I can be just as good of a mom with a full time job. Its the quality of parenting and not the quantity in my opinion! :-) I definately make sure that we spend just as much time doing all the things we used to do and now weekends mean a whole lot more. :-)

Food is Good!

Kyle is now a "supported sitter" and is eating much more these days. He has more than doubled his birth weight. I thought we would try some rice cereal and see how it goes. Much to my surprise and as you will see in the video he really liked it. I posted the video to share with everyone. :-)

COUSINS

Being from a pretty large family I grew up with a lot of cousins. I remember going to family functions for holidays and birthdays from the time I was very young. During summers we would get together with our second cousins for annual camping trips and family reunions. Some of these memories still put a smile on my face. We are all a little older now and have our own families and children, but we do try to get together and see each other for holidays. Now that I am older I have come to realize how important family is. I am glad we had the opportunity to be a close family. I now want to make sure that Kyle has this same opportunity. My sister and I were blessed to have boys that are 4.5 months apart, and although they are not very old yet it has been a blast getting them together. I really hope that Kyle and Brody will have many opportunities to make lots of great memories together.

Hand / Eye Coordination

This week Kyle is really noticing his surroundings. He is using his hands to hit the toys on his rocker. It is amazing to watch his actually think, look and then hit an object that he sees. Every day seems to bring a new action. I think that it is an amazing thing to watch how a human learns the smallest things from the very beginning. The ability to react if someone smiles at you to smile back. To laugh at something that you think is funny. Stuff that I have just taken for granted are things that I had to learn too. I know that it will get complex and we will be learning algebra one day, but I will definately enjoy the process that we take to get to that point. I have incuded a little snip it of Kyle playing with his toys.

Important Things! :-)

Over the 3 months that I have been home with Kyle we were able to visit with friends and family. I thought I would share a few pictures from our travels. I am very blessed to have lots of family and friends. I am very lucky to be blessed with grandparents and Kyle is now blessed to have grandparents and great grandparents.

"The most important things in life are your friends, family, health, good humor and a positive attitude towards life. If you have these then you have everything!"

Being a Mommy

I want to take a minute to let everyone know how much I love being a mommy. I have always heard of how wonderful it is to be a mom. Now that I am one I understand what everyone was talking about. It is amazing! The phrase that I have heard over and over "you do not realize how you can love something so much", is so very true. Kids are very special, and in my case he has seemed to make life all so different. I love to wake up and see him every day. I make sure that we make every minute count. I know that it has not been very long but I know that this is really a wonderful thing. His little smile makes me laugh and his little tears almost make me cry. I know that he will turn into a big kid one day, but I have heard that this feeling does not go away. I am definately looking forward to many years of being a mommy! :-)