FINALLY!

Drumroll please...  Now presenting the all-new Kellan, with a TOOTH on the way!

We were feeding Kellan dinner the other night and discovered the budding tooth on his lower gums

Here's a close-up:

See it on the left??  Just in time for his one year birthday, too.

♪ "All I want for my birthday is a tooth in my mouth... a tooth in my mouth... a tooth in my mouth..." ♪

It's been awhile since the last blog.  We've all had colds recently, in some form or another, so the battle for health continues.  Currently, Kellan is doing pretty well, however (knock on wood) - he's not even that fussy with the new tooth coming in.  Perfect baby!

Kellan is still climbing all over the place.  Actually, as Mommy is typing this, he is standing in his crib, refusing to go to sleep.  At least he's not upset... 

 

He likes to stand at the gate at the top of the stairs

He likes to climb on Daddy, too 

 

(Special note: today is Daddy's birthday - Happy Birthday, Daddy!!!)

And Kellan's started blowing raspberries in the air all the time

 

Look at those lips!  Definitely from the Salter/Gray side of the family.

Mother's Day Weekend 2010

Last weekend was jam-packed with fun for the Gray family.  First, on Friday, Parametric (where Jared works) hosted a BBQ at the Mariner's game.  We were right next to the bullpen, and you couldn't have asked for a brighter, sunnier day to enjoy a game!  The only "downer" was that Daddy forgot to pick up Kellan's diaper bag on the way out of the house.  Since we didn't have any food or diapers for Kellan, we couldn't stay for the game.  Still, it was fun while we were there! (Plus, we got Ken Griffey, Jr '95 Slide Bobbleheads for being a part of the first 30,000 fans)

Kellan, taking it all in (it was his first trip to Safeco Field)

Check out that view! (of the FIELD, guys...)

Put me in, Daddy - I'm ready to play!

"What's that crowd? I can't heeeeeear yooooooooou..."

Jared works with some very fashionable people.  Jeff Brown is definitely near the top of the list.  Kellan couldn't believe Jeff had a hat AND sunglasses.  He just loves accessories (Kellan, that is).

Tracy, Jeff's wife, knows the key to capturing Kellan's attention, too (a bumblebee necklace).

Saturday had been heralded as THE day to enjoy the outdoors, so we packed up and headed to Seward Park to bask in the sunshine.

We weren't joking about Kellan's love for accessories - he threw a bit of a fit after we took Daddy's sunglasses away.

Reflection time with Daddy (the perfect antidote to a temper tantrum)

 What do you do when Mommy gives you a flower to look at?

Well, first you study it...

Then CLEARLY the next thing is to put it in your mouth.

(Don't worry, we didn't let him eat it)

It wasn't a "swing" type day, apparently

Then came Sunday (aka Mother's Day).  A totally lazy, totally sunny, totally wonderful day!

It's pretty obvious why Mommy considers herself a very lucky woman...

We decided to take advantage of the fabulous weather and head to the Arboretum.  We had Kellan's stroller, but it wasn't exactly the "off-roading" type.  Still, you couldn't tell based on Kellan's reaction going over all those bumps! 

It's Mother's Day everyday when Mommy and Kellan are together!

P.S.  A couple of updates:

- Kellan is totally over his hand, foot, and mouth disease.  Hooray!

- He's begun to pull himself up to a stand in his crib.  This is exciting, but at the same time, Kellan can't seem to help doing it over and over and over... especially when he's trying to fall asleep and in the middle of the night when he wakes up.  We're (desperately) trying to teach him how to sit down in the hopes we won't have to wake up every time he pulls himself upright.

- Kellan's been eating a TON the last couple of days.  Is he going through a growth spurt? (maybe he's teething, ha ha!)

- He's definitely learning to talk.  He uses mama, dada, bah (for ball) and buh (for book).  He even occasionally says "hey" while waving hello!

Climbing, Standing, Crying, and Looking Cute

Kellan has been doing at least one of the four actions listed in the title of this post at any given time during the past couple of days.  While recovering from HFMD (see last post), he's filled most of his time with trying to pull himself up to a stand.  Two of the other actions (standing and crying) are the most common results of his efforts.  See below.

Kellan uses Mommy and Daddy as a pseudo jungle gym by climbing into their laps and trying to pull himself up to their shoulders (he's quite persistent)

Notice the crazed look in his eyes - he's always fired up about getting on his feet!

Once he gets to a standing position, it's all a matter of celebration... in this case, by hitting the top of the ottoman and sticking out his tongue.

Hit! 

Tongue!

Hit!

Tongue!

Occasionally, Kellan struggles to reach his goal of a stand, as shown in this pic:

And other times, he just plain fails.  It's very upsetting (as you can imagine)

 But as mentioned, he's also been looking cute (though that's really just been a daily ritual since birth)

Please notice the several different toys in the photo.  He gathered as many toys as he could into his lap, then couldn't decide what to play with first (he must get that from Mommy).

Also notice his hair flip on the right side, which is impenetrable to straightening or smoothing of any kind.

What's more fun that a ride on Daddy's shoulders?  Not much according to this smile!

Mommy loves this look of Kellan's - slightly mischievous, with a distinct twinkle in the eyes.  Like he's about to let out an Ernie laugh (from Bert & Ernie on Sesame Street).

He's always so innocent and peaceful in the morning... angelic as can be.

By the way, we're clear to take Kellan back to daycare tomorrow.  Yay!  He's doing much better and the rash is nearly gone.  Though he could still be contagious, the caregivers/teachers are going to work doubly hard to sanitize anything Kellan gets his mouth on before allowing another child to play with it.  Ha!  I wonder how many dishwasher loads they'll have each day? (my guess is at least 3)

Our Little Trooper

Last Friday, Kellan just wasn't himself.  He was irritable, wasn't sleeping well, and wasn't smiling nearly as much as usual.  He started eating less, and we noticed his gums looked a little swollen.  "Could it be??" we asked.  Is he teething?  He was drooling so much more, had a slight fever... But no.  It was not teething.

Our poor little guy has hand, foot, and mouth disease.  Ugh!  He developed a rash all over his body (looked like roseola), except for a few bright red spots on his hands that seemed to turn to tiny blisters.  We didn't notice any sores in his mouth, so we assumed he must be having an allergic reaction.  Took him to the Children's ER just in case - thankfully!  The doctor looked in his mouth using a tongue depressor, and lo and behold, there were small clusters of inflamed sores at the back of his itty, bitty throat.  OH!  I felt like such a terrible mommy.  Here we were, thinking he was being a bit "dramatic" about the teeth he was about to get, but instead, he has been dealing with a painful condition that will last 7-10 days.  That's right.  A week or more!  So, no daycare for Kellan until Wednesday at the earliest.  And we're knocking on wood that Mommy and Daddy have averted the illness (though it's unusual for adults to contract the disease).

Even though he's been struggling, however, Kellan's chipper attitude hasn't been completely lost - he still flirted with the nurses and doctors (even the males) at the hospital, and he's still babbling, laughing, and playing... just less so.  He's even eating pretty well, considering his condition.  He's our steadfast little trooper!  Let's hope his healing time is on the short end of things.