A Kyler Antczak Masterpiece

We played with chalk for the first time this week!

It's true, half of the time he spent chewing the chalk rather than drawing, but who has never chewed on the end of a pencil before?

And now, I present to you, ladies and gentlemen, his first sidewalk-chalk drawing!

An original Kyler Antczak Masterpiece!

14 months old

Crazy mamma

I wasn't going to blog again for another week because my last post was so stinkin' big...buuuut...

obviously I caved.  

  

Today, I took the picture on the right, and exactly 1 year ago, I took the one on the left.

First of all, I can't believe it's already been a year since he was that tiny helpless baby, and second of all, I can't believe how much he has grown!  Feeding him back then was A LOT easier. I just had to nurse him/give him formula every couple of hours and I knew he was getting the proper nutrition he needed. Now, however, it is so much more difficult. I find myself thinking, is that too much? or too little? has he even touched a vegetable today? What has my husband already fed him today?..etc  SOOO I created this baby:

I made it using information I found on Florida's Department of Health recommended feeding guidelines for toddlers. The list of bullets with foods next to them are examples of how big a portion is for each type of food, and the little squares at the bottom are how many portions they need (a place to mark once they have eaten a serving of that food)

I know what your thinking:

• "Either she's a crazy/obsessive mom" OR 
• "She has way too much free time on her hands."

Probably both.

Anywho, maybe I am a little weird. Okay, REALLY weird, because I printed it out, put it in a plastic sheet protector, and put a dry erase marker next to it, by his highchair so that I (or whoever is feeding him) can put check marks in the appropriate boxes, so that we know what he has already eaten that day, and what he still needs to eat in order to have a balanced, healthy diet. Today was my first day using it, and I am surprised at how much it actually helps! Maybe I should make one for myself... I eat so horribly!

-Okay, that's it from this crazy, obsessive mama-

Family Time

I realize it’s January and I’m a little late making our family memory movie for November and December, but hey, better late than never. This one took me extra long to make because I downloaded a new movie maker…so you’ll have to let me know what you think! Oh and sorry for the insane amount of videos and pics on this post.

 

While we were at our family beach house, my sister, Melanie, took our 2012 family pics for us! Here are a few of my favs:

We have really been enjoying all the time we have been able to spend together these last few weeks!

 

Here is another short video clip-it’s SO cute!

 Kyler LOVES bath time. I mean LOVES it:

Shortly after our move here to Charlotte, Schrammah threw a tea -less party (hot chocolate) for the grandkids.  Bauer (her grand-dog) even joined in the fun, this pic cracks me up:

This is the last video, and shortest! Drum roll please.....Kyler's first steps!!
(please ignore my morning pjs haha oh and that's his binky I took and held in my teeth to coax him to walk to me)

He still prefers to crawl, but is taking more and more steps everyday. It's so fun watching him gain confidence and learn new things.

Here we are

I started my new job this week (besides being a full time mommy and sales rep for Baby Lace Rompers.com).... I also take care of my neighbor's 3 kids after school. Their ages are 13, 9, and 6.  I do the whole carpool thing (it's awesome listening to three 13 year old girls conversations for half an hour-they are hilarious) I also help the younger two kids with homework, and drive them around to their various activities. The pay is awesome to say the least, the kids are great, and best of all...I get to bring my own baby along too!

We are starting to adapt to life here at our new place. There are so many fun things to do and new places to go! The weather has been good so far, averaging in the low 60's. Kyler is finally feeling better after being sick for 2 weeks, and we are hoping to get down to the beach this weekend!

Christmas, ER visit, and a 37 hour car trip, oh my!

Yeah yeah, I know I still have a Christmas background up, buuut no time to change it right now :)

 Christmas was good! We split it 50/50 with each of our families. Christmas eve night we spent the night at my brother's neighbor's house (his neighbors were out of town, and said we could use their house if my brother needed extra beds) My brother, Ben, already had about 15 other family members sleeping at his house, so we decided to go over to the neighbors, rather than sleeping on Ben's kitchen floor. LOL... Anyways, long story short, we kinds sorta lost his neighbor's cat, and somehow ended up with their daughter's nightlight in my bag? wooops! pretty sure we aren't invited back there.

We had a loooong drive across the country so we decided to take the scenic route and visit a few of our siblings along the way.

We went to the Albuquerque Aquarium...Ky LOVED it, and LOVED meeting 2 of his cousins and an Aunt for the first time too!

This is Ky and his cousin Carmella. They are 2 months apart:

Nothing is as cute as nakey baby bums! This is right before C dove head first into the tub, after Ky "gave her a boost" lol

My sister, Melanie, decided it would be fun to follow us the rest of the trip to surprise visit my parents! Me and Ky rode with her most of the way, so that I could take care of the kids, while Jared drove our car. THREE minutes after we left Mel’s house…. Kyler started barfing ALL over….clothes carseat, carseat buckles, blankets, toys…etc. I started panicking because Kyler has never thrown up before! Luckily, he had peaches for breakfast that morning, so his puke actually kinda smelled….well, I wouldn't say lip-smacking good, haha but at least it didn't smell horrible!

We thought about turning around and just leaving the next day, but I had to work, and there was no guarantee that Ky would be better by then anyways…Soooo we cleaned him up as best we could and went on our way…and...3 more barf incidents and 4 ginormous blowout episodes later…we made it to here safe and sound.

Don't be fooled...by the angelic looking picture...

ER beds are nowhere near as comfortable as maternity beds...and those aren't comfortable at ALL. lol

Somehow I managed to fall asleep while trying to get Kyler to nap.

After we got here, Kyler still wasn’t getting better and then Jared started getting sick too, so I took them to the hospital (only place our insurance would cover here) We were in the ER for 6 hours!! They were soooo stinkin’ slow! But both are doing better now :)  More updates later!