Summer is Over

Summer is over and I've gone back to work. Khalil has returned to daycare and has a runny nose already. It doesn't take long. Since he's turned one he has added a few new words to his vocabulary. He knows the words: balloon, good morning, eat, dog. Speaking of dogs...he absolutely loves them. We often go walking around the neighborhood looking for them. This has helped us meet several new neighbors and their dog friends. I bet Khalil would really love a dog at home but I'm not ready. So we will keep visiting. Doug gave Khalil his first haircut. I saved some hair too. He liked it at first but then he started to scream so we made it a two day process. Khalil loves to dance. I think he has his daddy's moves. He is very much looking like my Father. He has even stolen my father's childhood nickname from me. I guess we are passing it along.

Over the summer we went to California to visit Aunt Tiffani. We visited the zoo and Splash Pad in Gardendale. We went to Panama City Beach. We enjoyed reading time at the library and even got in a few playdates with friends. We also celebrated Father's Day and attened Cayson's birthday party.

before the haircut begins

curious but not complaining

"I've had enough!"

after the haircut

Happy Father's Day

at the zoo's splash pad

me and my buddy Cohen

me and my buddy William

"I changed my mind. Take me out!"

Mommy got in so Khalil wouldn't get out. "Hey, I paid for 10 minutes!"

the carousel was fun

"Open this gate! I want to ride again." And we did :-)

"What do I do here?"

"Black ones too!"

chasing the peacocks

"Khalil wake up. We are one the beach." How is this for a first beach experience? I hiked a mile for him to fall asleep and miss the whole thing. (in California)

wore out from the park in Cali. We both loved it!

First Black Rodeo

at the pier

my airplane pilot

Splash Pad in Gardendale

Panama City Beach

the gang

the kids

I had fun digging with Uncle Patt

the Mitchells

me and mommy

After Khalil wakes up he sits by the gate until we come free him. Sweetness! He wakes up so quietly sometimes that he is there longer than I prefer, but he is patient.

playing in Daddy's shoes

Party Time!

Khalil's birthday party was on Saturday, June 11th. We had the party at home. My Dad came over that morning to help Doug finish putting the swing set together. It had been a week long after work project. The theme for the party was Sesame Street - brought to you by the letter K and the number 1. He had a great time with everyone over. Friends that came were: Zuri, William, Caison, Cohen, Keenan, Cayson, Brett, Arniya, Aysia, Avion plus grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Party activities were: the swing set, sand and water table, legos, sprinkler, playdough, paint, and blocks. We ate CiCi's pizza, chips, and cupcakes. Thankfully Khalil took a two hour nap before he party and woke up at the exact party starting time. It was perfect! So he was able to stay awake the whole time without getting tired or cranky. However he did act up during the group picture. He was not a big fan of sweets so we didn't get the cake experience we expected but we had fun.

Smash cake

Pizza time yummy!

Trying a cupcake

The best group photo

Birthday banner with a picture from each month

Swing set was a big hit

Cupcake Cake

Playing with the toys from the cake the next morning

The next morning - "I think I will try this cake again."

12 Months

Khalil celebrated his first birthday on June 6th. Since school was out we hung out all day. He had several visitors come over to wish him a happy birthday. We got him a swing set since he loves being outdoors. In addition to Legos and a Sand and Water Table. He got a Cozy Coupe from Mimi and Grandaddy. He also got an activity learning center that connects to the tv from Nonna and Grandaddy. Everyone is surprised that he is such a good walker before turning 1. He is full of words including: no, stop, dog, dada, mama, bird, uh oh. He is still keeping his clothes size equal to his age - 12 months currently. Size 4 diapers. His 12 months stats are weight 22lbs 3 oz, height 29.75 inches, head 18.5 inches.  Khalil has 7 teeth. Four at the top and three at the bottom.

a birthday visit from Grandaddy

Sand not so sure - Water a winner!

Loving the Legos

Cozy Coupe

Sporting my birthday shirt

Our First Sign

Khalil has learned how to sign "milk" in sign language. It's really cute and can be confused with "bye-bye". But if no one is leaving you can bet that he is asking for milk. Yesterday I was trying to fed him a snack. He kept spitting it out which surprised me. And then it happened he started signing "milk" repeatedly. He has done it a few times before this but this time I was able to catch it on video! I gave him his bottle. After drinking some he threw it over his head and started signing "milk" again. So I got out the camera and this is what happened...

Later on when I interrupted his milk drinking to change his diaper. I laid him on the bed and he started signing it again. Of course we had to go get it so he could drink it while he got his diaper changed. I have been pretty consistent with the sign "milk". Now that he has picked it up I'll have to start being consistent with other signs.

11 Months and Mother's Day

Khalil is now 11 months old. This is the month for teeth. He has two at the top and almost two at the bottom. Teething means we have restless nights sometimes. A day or two before teeth show up Khalil is tossing, turning, and whining all night long. It wasn't until 4am that it clicked with me to give him Tylenol. Afterwards he is sleeping soundly all over again. If I could just remember earlier, life would be great. He is still working on perfecting his walking techniques. He officially crawls on his hands and knees instead of doing the army crawl. Recently he started feeding himself at the dinner table. Next to go is the bottle. We have to make the trade to the sippy cup. Sadly most of his cups aren't really spill proof although they say they are. This is kind of annoying to me because I don't want milk everywhere. He happily drinks juice out of a cup so I don't think the transition will be too hard. *fingers crossed*

Mother's Day was pretty awesome. Although I got a few cards last year this was my first official Mother's Day with Khalil outside of the womb. I started celebrating on Saturday. We went to Another Broken Egg is Mountain Brook for brunch. It was great just to be with my guys. We hung out all day. On Sunday we had brunch with my mom at O'Charley's. This was my first time trying their breakfast. Later on we went to Doug's grandmother's house. His mom was there so we spent the evening with them. I got new tennis shoes for Mother's Day. Great partner to go with my recent workouts. I also got a spa gift certificate from my oldest sister Tiffani. She is too sweet. It's for the spa at Ross Bridges. Hopefully Doug and I can get a getaway weekend and use it.

 

Mission Accomplished

Well wouldn't you know that Khalil would get walking accomplished before he turned 11 months. He barely made it, just three days before. Of course he doesn't do it all the time but he does surprise us and take off walking across the room. Afterwards he sits down and says "yay" while clapping. This is an exciting milestone. I've already started installing baby safety tools - plug covers, cabinet stops, etc.

Spit Bubbles, Teeth, and Steps

Since my last post about the exciting things that have happened Khalil has added to the list. He has actually added two new things and enhanced one. He has now taken four steps. He really wants to walk. He takes off so fast; you can tell he is nervous. He will walk from the coffee table to the couch or from the table to Mommy or Daddy. Sometime he just stands there looking like he wants to run. Then he will sit down real fast and crawl.

Over Easter weekend I could see the whiteness behind his gums on the top right side. I watched that tooth all weekend. Finally when I picked him up on Monday from daycare I could see that it had emerged from behind the gums. He is so fascinated with it. He keeps his hand in his mouth. I guess now that they are finally starting to come in there will be no more chewing on Mommy's chin.

The coolest thing Khalil has started to do is make spit bubbles. He is as fascinated as I am. He makes noises while he is making the bubbles. It's too cute! I will have to get a video. I wonder when you're supposed to tell your kid to stop playing with spit. As of now we are all enjoying it.

An Eventful 10th Month

Earlier this month I realized I didn't blog on Khalil's 10 month birthday. I decided to blog towards the end of the month so I could talk about all the wonderful things that happened during the month. In honor of his 10 month birthday I would like to list ten NEW things he's accomplished this month.

1. Perfecting the Tiger Woods "Yes" fist pump
2. Eating table food
3. Standing alone for short periods of time
4. Taking two steps alone
5. Signing the word "milk" in sign language
6. Using the index finger to point and pick up objects
7. Putting lids on containers
8. Patting people to get their attention
9. Smiling on cue for the camera
10. Throwing things

I'm looking forward to seeing what else this month has in store. I'm in the process now of planning a birthday party. We are less than two months away from being 1. I'll give you a hint about his birthday theme. His invitations say, "Khalil's birthday party is brought to you by the letter K and the number 1". Can you guess?

A Day with Thomas

riding the train

Thomas



Riding Thomas

 Sunday, April 4th Meagan and I decided to take the boys down to Calera to spend a day with Thomas the Train at the Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum. The weather was so nice, over 80 degrees. We arrived around 11:45. Our train ride was at 12:45. By the time we got unloaded out of the car and picked up our tickets it was close to riding time. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my stroller! This meant I was going to be carrying around my 20 pound baby. Not so fun. Khalil had refused to eat breakfast before we left so he ate it on the train ride. He was very calm and seemed to enjoy the 25 minute ride. They had a lot more activities there than I was expecting. I felt completely unprepared. Not only did I forget the stroller I also forgot to bring cash, which meant I had to use the ATM there and pay the $5 fee. I hate fees. But anyway, they had a petting zoo, mini golf, imagination station, live music with a sing along (The kids played the instruments.) You could even take a picture with Sir Topham Hatt. Of course Khalil's favorite spot was the Legos in Imagination Station. While we ate and enjoyed the live music Khalil insisted on trying to walk around. Of course he fell several times. On the last fall he hit his head on the ground. I had to go get ice from the first aid station. I concluded that he was being so clumsy because he was sleepy. Since I didn't have his stroller for him to take a nap I decided to leave. He slept all the way home (about an hours drive). Poor baby was just hot and tired. But we had fun up to that point.

A Trip to Children's

I went to Vegas with my sisters, Tiffani and Jaimee from Friday to Monday. Friday morning and afternoon we hung around the house and relaxed from our busy week. I was leaving for Vegas at 6PM so we needed chill time together. While I was in Vegas Khalil stayed with his Daddy.

Saturday was Wii day with the Mitchells. Khalil and Doug went to Doug's parents to have a fun day of playing the Michael Jackson Experience on Wii. They were out there from around noon to 9pm. Khalil was able to play, dance, and have a little fun with them while I was gone. When I called to check on him they said he was a little cranky, clingy, and not eating a lot. I think we all assumed he was missing Mommy a little bit.

Sunday Doug had flag football games. Khalil was supposed to stay with Nonna, my mom, but she had bronchitis so off he went back to Mimi's. While he was there they called to say he had a pretty bad cough and wanted to know if he could have cough medicine. He was also still cranky, clingy and not eating very much. Since he's not supposed to have OTC cough medicine yet, I suggested they rub him down with Baby Vick's. He took a very long nap afterwards, which was good. He was still sleeping when Doug arrived to pick him up.

Monday morning Doug dropped Khalil off at daycare and went to work. When I arrived at the Birmingham airport my first order of business was to pick him up of course. I got there around my normal pick up time of 4. Afterwards we went out to Nonna's to swing. We had purchased him a toddler swing for Auntie Lorynn's swing set. Since he didn't get to use it on Sunday I decided I would take him to enjoy it. While we were at my mom's house I noticed that Khalil was very lethargic and wheezing. I called the pediatrician which of course was closed. The afterhours nurse said I needed to take him to Children's Hospital. Off we went to Children's Hospital to get a breathing treatment. Doug had let him sleep under the fan while I was gone which I believe had something to do with his cold getting worse while I was gone. Of course the doctor said a fan shouldn't make a difference but I don't believe her. Khalil was seen right away when we arrived because he was an "orange". They give you a color based on the severity of your situation when you check in. The colors are green, yellow, orange, and red; red being the most severe. By this time he also had a fever. When the nurse gave him Tylenol he vomited all over the place. They diagnosed him with bronchilitus. After the breathing treatment, Khalil went to sleep. We had to sit and wait for paperwork and a prescription, which of course took FOREVER. Now that he had had his treatment no one seemed to being moving fast anymore. Apparently there is some sort of problem with PEEHIP insurance and the Children's Hospital Pharmacy. Children's can't get approval through PEEHIP. Apparently they didn't notice that that was the insurance I had and kept trying to run it. We waited for an hour just to get the inhaler and still left without it. We finally left the hospital around 11pm. Needless to say I didn't go to work the next day. Khalil and I got to hang out again. I took him to his pediatrician for a follow up and found out he had double ear infections. The doctor said Children's doesn't treat ear infections unless they are severe. Crazy! I mean if we are already in there what harm is it to give me a prescription. I want you to know that they looked right in his ears too. With an antibiotic and an inhaler he was good to go on Wednesday. He went back to daycare and I went to work.

Dragon mask

Playing with the cords

Kisses from Mommy

All better...now let's go to bed