Almost 7 months!

Kyler is almost seven months old now, where has the time gone. I've added a few recent photos so can see the changes in mr cutie. The most obvious to me is that he's excelled at the Lea School of Smiling. So, what's he "doing" now? Well; grabbing everything, rolling over in both directions, kind of improving on the crawling, starting to climb on things, vocalizing more (he's a hoot when trying to put him to bed). Oh, and he talks in his sleep...cute except for the time.

Happy 4th of July

Kyler celebrated his first fourth of July in Saudi Arabia wearing a classic red, white and blue outfit supply by his Grammie - even at 9,000 miles away she still supplies the majority of his wardrobe.



Kyler is now so interactive - smiles and giggling, sitting and playing with his toys, jumping nonstop in his Johnny Jumper, and rolling over continually. (We have yet to master having him turn his head to the side after rolling onto his stomach leading to potential smoothering issues once his arm and neck strength gives out but we are in early days). He also loves playing with and sucking on his toes, chewing frozen pacifiers, and drinking out of small Chinese ceramic tea cups filled with water :-)

We've also started him on some solid foods - rice cereal with canned vege's and fruits for now but next week we will try oatmeal and massed avocados (we hear these are definite baby hits).

He now also takes baby swim lessons once a week with his fav friends from playgroup. Still a little unsettled by the submersions but has done it a few times and enjoys blowing bubbles. Bath time is another favorite activity now with his big boy aquapod - he can spash in the water for long periods of time!

We are also celebrities in the neighborhood - mainly Scott taking Kyler and the three pups for walks every evening although Lea started yesterday for the first time with everyone together too.

Will try to be more active for upcoming posts!!

June Posting

I did it again, drafted a post and tried to view it, thereby losing the entire thing. Ouch. I will just leave with these photos of Kyler and friends.

Maybe a couple of photos...

I'll add of photos now, these are more recent, taken after our return from repat. We'll add others in the coming days with a description of location and event.

At long last update...

Oh my gosh, is it May 19th already? We've been to the States to show off the little dude, five weeks of "mostly" fun with a bit of baby hauling across the country. I always wish for more time in Michigan just relaxing but I admit we were pretty spoiled for most of the trip. Plenty of help from Grammie (is that what June wants to be called?) and Grand Aunt (Carolyn).

So we're back in Saudi now, the first couple of weeks were "challenging" to say the least. We managed to completely goof up Kyler's perfect sleeping pattern. He was back to front as far as days and nights and Lea had to stay home the first week (while nursing a horrible cold) to help him through it. With a bit of time he returned to his schedule and once again slept through the night.

We are now joined by Lea's Mom June and brother Anthony (aka Harri) for the next three weeks. Again, its been great being spoiled, June has the monitor at night to watch over Kyler...shear bliss. I will add pictures shortly, I'm running out of time at the moment. Look for them tomorrow.

Easter Bunny

Kyler met the Easter bunny a few days ago! He thought it was pretty cool and didnt even cry! He figured he would take advantage of it here since there wont be any bunnies to take photos with in Saudi....

St Patty's Day

Kyler's first St. Patty's Day - both the Grammie and the Gram Aunt bought him an outfit so we swapped out half way through the day!

First Flight and Meet the Family

On March 11th Kyler took his first airplane rides. Since he was still small enough he got to ride in the bassinet fixtures that attach to the plane walls. This flight's bassinet consisted of a cardboard box draped in cloth - nothing but the best on Northwest :-)














After arriving into Detroit Kyler was greeted with much anticipation by the Grammie, Gram-Aunt and Uncle....then eventually the great grandma

Up in Lights

We had a recent photo shoot with Kyler when he was 6 weeks - here are a few of the 217 shots we had to choose from!

Horsey Trip

Just a couple of photos of our trip to Riyadh to see Tosca. She's our horse and we sent her down to a stable to meet up with a very nice stallion. Kyler enjoyed his second trip to Riyadh, he's getting to know the town pretty well.

Kyler Smiles

It seems Kyler enjoys his chair. When he was a bit younger he didn't have the neck strength to hold his head up while sitting so spending time in the chair wasn't nearly as fun. I'm pleased as punch that the video up-loaded, perseverance is the trick.

February Post (retry)

Ouch, that hurt. I posted a new blog and the update failed. Okay, its just like losing that Word document you spent all morning writing...suck it up and start again.

Hey all; Kyler is one month old, and yes, as friends have told us...time flies. Kyler's now been to Riyadh to be registered with the Greek embassy (and stayed at a very nice Sheraton). He's been for his first walk with gal pal Sasha and who could forget his first disco party where he wowed the ladies.

Pictures from left top; Lea & Kyler on walk 3Feb09, Sam & Sasha (same walk), Kyler and Mom 3Feb09, Go State!, Kyler in Riyadh and "Baby Burrito".

In the days ahead we'll be going to our first new country (albeit Bahrain) to exercise Kyler's new multi-entry visa. Maybe Lea will let me take him to horse store, its good to cultivate your equine fever early.

This weeks firsts!

This week was a week of unique firsts for Kyler - first bath (not sponge), first passport photo (see photo - a bit of a challenge given we needed his head looking straight on, eyes open and not crying while he was placed on a white piece of cardboard!), and first trip to Riyadh (in addition to his US passport we needed to register him with the Greek embassy).

Sleeping Diary

I almost hate to write this but its been great. The last two nights Kyler has slept at least seven hours at a stretch. The first night I was so intent on waking if he needed to be fed that I could only dose. Although sleeping he kept up his small grunts and coos until the alarm went off.

Last night, different story, he slept soundly and I only woke to check on him around 2 A.M. Lea says he slept until 6:30, after going down at 10 P.M.

I'll add more photos tonight, and will try again to add a video. We want to capture his grunts, pretty funny hearing him muttering.

More Week 2 Photos!

Kyler is 13 days old...

Days and nights at home are spent in the family bedroom. Adults, dogs and babies are all welcome. Kyler likes to start getting ready for bed about 7:30-8:00. He's changed into his night time onesy, has a nappie change and gets ready to have his pre-sleep snack, which is about as large as every other snack. We're pretty happy about this because it allows him to sleep until after 12:00 A.M. (normally).

People have asked us how the dogs behave around Kyler. I hope the photo gives some indication. The two females love him and Nour, our female yellow lab, is very protective of him already. You can just make out Luna on the right. She is so black that its often difficult to capture her on film. She performs a manuever we call the periscope with Kyler, trying to stretch her neck as far as possible to smell or lick him while "more or less" staying where we told her to stay.

More Kyler

Awesome, he slept 6 straight hours last night. By midnight he'd been un-settled for three hours or longer. Then, out of nowhere he eats well, get swaddled and settles himself. Did I say awesome?