Conversations with a ceiling fan...

The last few days, Kellan has learned how to coo on command. He can now decidedly talk when he wants to and at 5am this morning, I woke in the dark to him having a long-winded discussion with the ceiling fan. This discussion lasted until 6am at which point the cuteness was overwhelming and I had to turn on the light and take some pictures.

wall hooks

I've been looking for sassy wall hooks for Kellan's room and came across these on Grass Roots Modern. I'm going to COVER his wall in these. (hooks by Curiosite)

My husband is groovy...

I've said this before so you've probably already heard it but I was not one to dream about marriage and children when I was growing up. It wasn't until I met Kevin that I wanted a husband, and it wasn't until we were together that I even considered having a child.

What I've confirmed now with Kevin, having watched him over the last eight weeks, is how crucial complete faith in your partner is especially once you have a kid.

It's one thing if you and your spouse don't see eye to eye on what movie to see or how to spend your Christmas bonus...but when you raise a child, you darn better be air-tight with how your spouse is going to parent because there is nothing you can REALLY do to change their instincts or non-negotiables. You can go back and forth about better ways to do a few things but at the heart of it all, you will only have a strong marriage if you completely trust that your partner is going to do it right, even if their way isn't what was initially your way. (I imagine this is key in what makes divorce hard on families is that you have to co-parent with someone you no longer believe in...I can barely imagine leaving Kellan with a babysitter much less someone I had daggers for.)

I have lucked out in the husband-and-father-of-my-child arena. I believe in and support everything Kevin wants for Kellan. It melts me to watch him come up with his own ways of getting a crying baby to calm down, I appreciate the perspective he has on where we will send Kellan to school one day or how deeply important it is to Kevin to have the baby baptised (and I'm not Catholic!)

I don't mean to say that there is not room in a marriage for discussion on fundamental topics. It comes up in our marriage all the time; we talk about our different religious beliefs and how we will share "faith" with our son...we acknowledge that we both grew up in very different family structures and how will this translate to lessons we pass on to Kellan?...but it is these differences between Kevin and I that make me feel so confident in what Kellan will be exposed to. This only works though if you adore the key things that make your spouse different from you...because every piece of your spouse is going to be part of your child's life. And in the spirit of wanting the best for my child, I'm not surprised that Kevin was the partner I chose.

(gush)

This is what I wake up to every morning...life is good.

Boys Rule!

Eric & Owen, Kevin & Kellan at Arcadia Farms brunch on Labor Day (LOVE how Kellan is looking at the Damko boys like "y'all are BIG!")...and we can't forget about the mamas! (Owen was studying Kellan like, "boy, you're TINY!")

8 weeks...

Here is Kellan's 8 week portrait. I love that I get to be this kid's mom. He recently discovered his feet and can spend an entire half hour watching them as he kicks them back and forth. He takes absolutely nothing for granted. The other day he caught sight of his finger and moved it slowly to his face until he poked himself in the eye. I laughed, he cried.

Shout out to Michigan!

Will (Power)

Last night we had the Gnirk family over to meet Kellan and their not-even-2-year-old Will is awesome! It was so fun to see what we can expect with Kellan when he gets that big. Will has so many words and can tell you what he wants, what color things are, can draw a circle...it's adorable. He crawled up into my lap at dinner and reached up to me for a pick up (melts your heart). He's also incredibly mobile which left Kevin and I whispering in bed last night as we fell asleep about all the kid proofing we need to do around here. It's so fun to have a network of friends with kids. We capped off the evening with Will playing with the hose and a much needed bath after he got covered in mud!

Getting Clean

We have decided to get rid of all our household chemical cleaners...no more 409 or Mr. Clean. We're going au naturel. Where we need it, we use Method cleaning products.

I read this great chapter in the Healty Child Healthy World book that basically makes the point: if you hide chemicals under the sink from your kids because they're dangerous, why do you then let them play on the surfaces where you use the chemicals? Great point!

Our grandparents and those before them lived in clean homes that were made so with natural household ingredients that you could ingest if need be. They had less allergies and cleaner, safer air to breathe...all good things we want to give Kellan.

Did you know that natural cleaning ingredients will run you 25% of the cost of chemical cleaners?

This doesn't mean we're going to be dirty! Check out this great "witches brew" all purpose cleaner you can make using stuff from your pantry!

1/2 teaspoon washing soda (substitute Borax or baking soda if need be)
1/2 teaspoon Castile soap
2 cups hot water
16-ounce spray bottle

Follow this up with a "basic vinegar rinse" of equal parts distilled white vinegar and water to kill mold and bacteria! The vinegar smell will disappear when it dries.

Cheap Diapers = Cute Photo Op

Kellan's diaper exploded AGAIN today and he had to get in the bath. But then he just looked so cute in his sheep towel, I was glad it happened.

lyrics and rhymes for children...debatable

I find the following lyrics and rhymes crazy. I sing to Kellan every day and have a list of songs I go through. I always forget lyrics or rhymes so I had to look up a few and realized some songs are just ridiculous. They're either scary or they just don't make sense. Here's a few of our favorites:

Humpty Dumpty:
"...had a great fall...couldn't put Humpty together again."
(Humpty dies in the end. DIES, people!)

"Boom boom, ain't it great to be crazy?"
(this is the actual title of a song.)

Hush Little Baby:
"...and if that horse and cart fall down, you'll still be the sweetest baby in town."
(What does one thing have to do with the other? There is no "cause and effect" here.)

Jack and Jill:
"...Jack fell down and broke his crown..."
(crown is Old English for HEAD, not crown like a King would wear. So the lesson is if you go up a hill, you'll break your head.)

London Bridge: (this one takes the cake)
"London Bridge is falling down, falling down...
...iron bars will bend and break...
...here's a prisoner I have got...what's the prisoner done to you?...stole my watch and broke my chain..."
(the song just goes on and on with catastrophe. No matter what building material they use the bridge falls, the prisoner gets sent to jail because no one has enough money to set him free...it's a mess.)

My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean:
"...Last night I lay on my pillow, last night I lay on my bed,
last night I lay on my pillow and dreamed that my Bonnie was DEAD."
(sheesh!)

Nobody Likes Me:
"Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, guess I'll go eat worms."
(So if you're a loser, go eat something gross because then you'll be a gross loser.)

Rock a Bye Baby:
"...when the bough breaks the cradle will fall,
down will come baby cradle and all."
(I'm sure everyone has thought of this one.)

Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly:
(you know she swallows a horse and dies in the end, right?)

and lastly, Three Blind Mice:
(we'll give you the whole picture)
"Three blind mice,
three blind mice,
see how they run,
see how they run.
They all ran after the farmer's wife
SHE CUT OFF THEIR TAILS WITH A CARVING KNIFE
did you ever see such a sight in your life
as three blind mice?"

(I'm better at humming anyway.)

Cheap Diapers...won't do THAT again!

A friend asked me a few weeks ago what I spend my days doing with Kellan at home. It's funny when you try and answer a question like this because you look back at all the little things you do with an infant that eat up an entire day...eating, sleeping, diaper changing...not exactly glamorous, right? But sometimes it's the very simple things that make something hilarious happen and take up more time than you ever expected.

We attempted to save some coin buying "budget" diapers. 6 bucks for 50 sounded pretty good. Until this morning when Kellan did a #2 and I went to change him...routine, so you'd think...but not so much.

(skip to the end if you're eating breakfast)

Poop had exploded out the top of the cheapo diaper, covering his back and somehow made it's way up to his neck! I know I am an "exaggerator" but this was serious business...baby poo is not your average substance...it can look like a natural disaster. I'm peeling his onesie off of him and holding him at arm's length as we scurry to the sink, all the while Kellan is looking at me like we're playing a game. Upon further inspection, the sink isn't going to cut it so I run him a bath...which he finds delightful even though I have to run the water twice so he isn't sitting in poop-water, and I look down only to find my own shirt now covered in you-know-what.

LOVELY.

A half hour later, we have a clean diaper. Albeit one of the cheap ones that I'm crossing my fingers makes it to lunchtime. I think we've learned our lesson that there are some things that are worth top dollar...Pampers, here we come!

Sofia Izumi has arrived!

My cousin had her baby yesterday...a girl named Sofia Izumi. She and her husband live in Japan so we have to celebrate from afar but we send a BIG CONGRATS to her and husband, Tom. Welcome to Sofia, from (your second cousin?), Kellan and the whole Cooney clan.

7 weeks and starting to smile

Kellan has started to smile...he doesn't have much control of it yet so I try to encourage him by getting SUPER excited when he looks at me and gives a grin. Which then of course startles him and we lose the smile. But I caught it this morning!

My Sun...

6 week portrait

Dear Daddy...

I want to you to know how good a daddy I think you are. Here's a top 10 of rockin' Daddy things you do:

10. You wake up from a dead sleep in the middle of the night to change my diaper so I sleep better and so mom can stay in bed.

9. You come home from work everyday at lunch time to see me and hold me with one hand while you eat with the other. This is a talent mom still has yet to master.

8. You try to use all my baby gadgets no matter if I like them or not just to try and get me to stop crying. (one day I will give in to the Baby Bjorn, I promise...but good luck with the swing. It's lame.)

7. You're a die hard about tummy time and for that, my head has stayed perfectly round. Mom's big on this one.

6. You are the burp master. I know I can always count on you to get one out of me. You could teach mom a thing or two on technique.

5. You're really patient with me crying roughly 75 percent of the time you hold me. It's not you...it's my addiction to breast milk. The time will come when I'm on solid foods and we'll be more simpatico, you and I. Until then, it just looks like Mom is my favorite.

4. You came up with the solution to get me to fall asleep in the bassinet and stay in there the night through. Mom thinks you are a magician. Thanks for getting me to realize that night time is for sleeping. I know this wasn't easy, especially having to go to work the next day while mom and I got to take naps.

3. You make dinner, clean the house, walk the dog and keep mom emotionally intact all so i can stay in her arms eating as long as I want. This is HUGE (a la my aforementioned addiction to breast milk.)


2. You include me. While mom advises to let me stay sleeping in my car seat at brunch or in church, you always make an effort to wake me up to participate. Mommy secretly loves that you do this because then I'm not always sleeping in my baby pictures. (I may be crying instead but at least I was awake to make memories.)

1. You love me. I can tell. Thank you for all the kisses and hugs, tummy rubbing, photo-taking and video recording. Thanks for bath time and tummy time...doing some of the "mommy" things when mommy is tired and doing the "daddy" things that little boys need their daddies to do.

I love you, too.

the newness of everyday

It's hard to pick, but one of my favorite times of the day with Kellan is the morning when he first wakes up. He grunts and yawns like an old man and looks around the room like he is opening his eyes to the world for the first time. He cooes, telling me about the crazy dream he had the night before. His sounds are all so sweet and intimate, just above a whisper...I even lean in to listen to him breathing. It's this special hour where he seems aware of everything and is in love with all of it. He looks at the curtains like they are full of magic and stares at me like we're about to go on an adventure, as if he's waiting for my cue of what should be our next move.

If I had it my way...

I am convinced Kellan does not like sleeping on his back and this is why he doesn't sleep at night. Kev discovered that he loves tummy time in more ways than one. He likes his tummy rubbed and patted. He likes being held tummy side down, likes laying on his tummy and napping (supervised of course) on his tummy...oh if he were old enough to lay him on his tummy at night. One day.

Visiting Aunt Bridget's school

Today we went to the W.P. Carey School of Business at ASU to see Aunt Bridget who is enrolled in the Executive MBA program there (we're VERY proud of her!) They had an awesome cook out for all the families of students and we got to see Bridget's classroom and hang out spots and met her awesome classmates who already adore her...they were all so friendly and it looks like she is having a blast over there.

Kellan wore his jungle onesie and a special little cow bib to dress up for the occasion.

5 weeks

...and I wish mom would stop counting now so I didn't have to get into this pose every week.