Two Months

What a difference a few weeks make!!! Over the last month we've had the pleasure of watching Kieran hit some milestones, become more and more of his own person, and of course worked through a few rough patches as well. He continues to be a delightful baby and although we are ages away from a reliable schedule he has become more and more predictable. Basically Kieran nurses, is up for 1 - 2 hours, takes a nap for 30 minutes to 2 hours, then wakes and we start the whole process over again by nursing. He is now sleeping in the crib in his room (as opposed to a swing in our room) and has gone as long as five hours straight of sleep at night, but more typically is around 3.5 to 4 hours.

Around the five week mark he developed a rash like thing all over his face and seemed really cranky. It was definitely more than your typical baby acne. His pediatrician recommended mild soaps, extra laundry rinses, special lotion and all of the other stuff we were already doing regularly because of Reed's history with allergies. I had been eating dairy so I asked about eliminating that and the Nurse Practitioner agreed it might be a good idea to see what happened if I went off of all of Reed's allergens. Well the good news is our clear skinned, happy baby returned in about a week's time but that means I've had to maintain a pretty special diet. In the coming weeks I will probably start to add one allergen at a time back into my diet to see if we can isolate the trigger(s) and go from there.

 

Kieran loves to stand supported and will bend his knees and then push up - "jumping" with our help. He thinks this is the absolute best and is also really fond of laying on his back and staring at ceiling fans and lights. He dislikes being held like a baby and would rather you carry him draped over your shoulder or with his butt against your hip with him facing out.

Monthly Statistics

Weight: 11 lbs 10 oz

Height: I'm going to leave this to the nurses and will have an updated number next month

Clothing Size: 0-3 month or 3 month outfits and pajamas.
Kieran likes: Being held, staring at anything on the ceiling or hanging above him, his car seat, taking baths, looking in mirrors, the baby carrier, Mam pacifiers, bouncing, and nursing

 

Kieran dislikes: Having a wet diaper, having his clothes changed/taken off, not being able to move his arms in the swaddle, and being held like a baby.

 

Nicknames: Kier, K, K-Man, Kierito (thanks Shannon), Buddy Bear, and Birdy.

How Kieran is sleeping:  He has been going to bed around 8:30 or 9:00pm and sleeping for about 3.5 or 4 hours (waking a little after midnight). He nurses, I change him, and he is back asleep in about 30 minutes total. He then wakes again about 3 hours later and we repeat the process, and then again 2.5 to 3 hours later, waking somewhere around 6:00 or 6:30 am. During the day he is awake usually for stretches of 1.5 hours and then naps for around an hour, averaging around 4 "naps" a day. He now sleeps swaddled in his crib at all times unless he falls asleep in the car seat, carrier, or in our arms while we are out.
Favorite Moment: Watching his face light up when he gets a glimpse of a mobile, fan, mirror, or toy is great and his squeals of delight are so neat.

 

Milestones:
12/09/13 Grandma and Grandpa babysit during our work Christmas party - this is the first time both Mom and Dad have been away at the same time
12/14/13 Kieran goes on his first road trip - accompanying Grandma and Mom to the Central Coast
12/16/13 Kieran begins reaching out for objects
12/18/13 We hear K's first squeals and squawks
01/02/13 Kieran spends all night in his own room

 Favorite Photo Shoot Outtake:

Christmas Day

If you didn't notice in the previous post it will start to be obvious with this one . . . with each successive Christmas celebration I took less and less photos! Before I get to Christmas Day I guess I should wrap up Christmas Eve. We got home gave the boys quick baths and put them in matching pajamas (I know, I know, but they looked so cute).

Reed really got into the idea of Christmas this year. We talked about the baby Jesus, did an activity based advent calendar, and read lots of stories about Santa Claus and his reindeer. He was sooooo excited to leave Santa some snacks before heading to bed.

Christmas morning Reed woke at his normal, early, time and wanted to check out what Santa had left him. He even told us he had heard a sound during the night and he thought it was probably Santa. He was a little disappointed that Santa hadn't eaten every last crumb off of the plate we left him, but quickly got over it when he saw the goodies in his stocking. Mid-morning Nonna and Pepe came over to say hi and play with the boys. Pepe was a sweetheart and took our annual "pajama pictures" for us.

We put Reed down for an early nap, tried to pick up the house a bit, and got ready to head to Uncle Mark and Aunt Penny's. We got to hang out with everyone and I ended up having two free hands most of the afternoon as the kids were passed around.

Reed and Grand-Aunt Laurie

Kieran and Auntie M

Grandpa and the Kiddos

We had a great dinner, sitting at the kids table with Reed, Kieran, Annaliese, Grandpa, and Kari. After dinner we did a White Elephant style gift exchange and then got on the road. As we drove to Jon's Aunt Margie's house Reed pleaded to just go home. We debated on if we should even be dragging the boys to another spot, but decided we really wanted to see everyone. As soon as we got there Reed made a bee-line for Nonna. He went back and forth between the two of us for about 30 minutes and then it was like a switch flipped and he was super talkative and interacting with everyone. We participated in another gift exchange and Auntie P took over Kieran duty for awhile.

We would have loved to have stayed longer, but decided that we should get the boys home. This year was another great "Christmas Marathon" for the McClartys. I think the only thing we would change is being able to spend more time with everyone!!!

Christmas Eve

The morning of Christmas Eve we went to Nonna and Pepe's for breakfast and to exchange gifts with them as well as Auntie C and Tio. There was an abundance of food, presents, and love. We had a great time and I even remembered to get a few family shots in front of the Christmas tree.
**Adorable Outfit credits: Reed's was a Birthday gift from G-Momma and Kieran's is a hand-me-down originally gifted to Reed by Pepe and Nonna**

After Christmas round 1 we dashed to Grandma and Grandpa's for round 2. Reed was super excited to play with Annaliese, G-Momma, and Grandpa outside. We all ate lunch and then the kiddos went down for naps. They both took fairly short naps so we started opening presents before dinner. This turned out to be a really good idea as there were a TON of presents and it took us quite awhile!!! Reed was only into gift opening for about 2 seconds and instead decided to play with his new barn and Annaliese's tea set and let Mom and Dad do the gift opening instead. We were all spoiled rotten by one another and finished the night off with the wonderful tradition of G-Momma's minestrone soup for dinner.

Two Birthdays equal a Christmas Sandwich

I've talked about it in years past, Nonna's Birthday is December 24th and Papa's Birthday is the 27th. This makes the week of Christmas even busier for us, but the celebrations are always wonderful. We decided to celebrate Nonna's a few days early this year and enjoyed a quiet evening with a delicious meal prepared by Pepe. Reed and I made special cupcakes (allergy friendly) for Nonna and he was pretty excited about the lego candles he picked out for them. I was busy walking the platter into the family room and completely failed to see Kieran's reaction to the flames. I'm so glad Jon got a shot of his expression, it's priceless.

On Friday we headed back to Nonna and Pepe's to join Papa, Gran, Benny, Aunt Di Di, and TJ to celebrate Papa's Birthday. This year we didn't make it to Gran and Papa's to celebrate Christmas so we exchanged Christmas gifts before dinner. TJ was also a big hit with Reed, reading a bunch of books with him. Pepe outdid himself with a delicious dinner and we all enjoyed spending time together. After dinner Reed helped Papa open his gifts and blow out candles on his pie. His experience opening gifts apparently has translated to a new job - wine opener!

Catch-up: Introductions

Before I attempt to recap all of our Christmas festivities, I thought I would share some pictures of the people Kieran has been introduced to over the last couple of weeks. There are quite a few other friends and family that have had the pleasure of meeting him, but I've put being a Mom ahead of being an amateur photographer so unfortunately that means some moments haven't been captured - I guess they'll just have to come back for another visit!!!

Two weekends ago Kieran, Grandma, and I made a speed run to the coast for the afternoon to surprise Aunt Kari for her Birthday. Kyle and Kari are expecting #2 in February so it was so neat to share Kieran with them and think how once again these cousins are going to be so close in age. Annaliese was really into helping me with Kieran and was a great diaper changing assistant and car seat buckler!

 

The next day we were happily surprised to find out Tio's Mom, Marty, was going to be joining us at dinner. Of course she had to get a little K-Man cuddle time in herself.

Then last week a few of our out of town friends were home for the Holidays so we had dinner with Clint one night and Jon organized a soccer game and football party on Saturday. Baby Eden (and Mason and Laura) came by and I actually remembered to snap a picture of the future classmates together.

G-Momma got into town over the weekend so on Monday the boys and I headed to Grandma's house to spend the morning with her (and Kyle, Kari, Annaliese, Peter and Laurie).

We jumped around quite a bit on Christmas but I was able to capture at least a few of the important introductions that took place. Kieran got to meet his Great Papa Dean and Hunky Greg's girlfriend Jackie.