The not-so-much-a-vacation California experience

Heaven gained an angel on November 18th. Scott's Grandma Parsons passed away from a quick fight with lung cancer.  She was one incredible lady and she influenced so many people's lives.  She is terribly missed already...

We flew out to California on Wednesday November 20th for her funeral.  Her viewing was on Thursday and her funeral was on Friday.  It was a terrible reason to get all the family together, but it was good for everyone to be reunited... I hadn't met a lot of Scott's family before.  We enjoyed seeing Grandpa Parsons and the rest of the family and being able to reminisce about the past.  

During her funeral, I learned many amazing things about Grandma Parsons.  She was the most selfless, loving woman.  She was the cleanest woman I knew.  She was not judgmental, and she was always there for her grandchildren.  I loved that about her.  One thing stuck out to me most, however--I loved how much she and Grandpa Parsons loved each other.  I learned that they were each others' first loves and held hands for the first time at ages 12 and 13.  I think that is so sweet.

Here are some photos from the dinner after the funeral:

The sign above everyone says, "All Because Two People Fell in Love."

While we were taking photos, Grandpa Parsons went for a long, much-needed drive so we weren't able to get a photo with him.

After all was said and done, we had one day to explore.  On Saturday, a bunch of the cousins drove to San Francisco.  I had never been there so I was excited to check it out.  

We first went to China Town and ate at this yummy Chinese restaurant.  Then we went to the Golden Gate Bridge.

It was super windy on the bridge, but it was so fun and extremely beautiful!

We headed home on Sunday.  It was Kaiser's first airplane experience, and all in all--he did well.  We had a layover at LAX both ways.  On the way there he fell asleep for a lot of it.  

He cried for about 5 minutes and of course that felt like an eternity.  On the way home, I couldn't have asked for a better baby.

It was nice for Scott and I to spend more than 1 day together.  But it was an awful excuse to get to go.  Grandma Parsons, you will be terribly missed.  We are glad that we now have another wonderful angel looking down on us!

Rice Cereal?

Shortly after Kaiser turned 4 months old, we began to experiment with giving Kaiser solids...

We started with a little rice cereal...

I don't think he liked it.  Hah.  We wondered if maybe he just needed to get used to eating off a spoon, so we kept trying.  This was always his response. 

At a football game a while back, I let him have some of my banana.  He loved that and would probably have gummed the whole thing if we let him.

He is also a fan of apples :)

Since then we have given him peas, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, and baby oatmeal. He seemed to really like those!  He has also tasted some fresh pineapple, and a couple licks of jam and chocolate syrup :)  He has eaten everything great since that yucky rice cereal! I don't think we will be giving him any of that anytime soon...

Kaiser's FIRST haircut!

On November 10th we gave Kaiser his first haircut!  He was 4 months and 10 days.  His hair was getting super long, and slightly out of control :)  I loved it of course, and didn't want to cut off the long beautiful locks!  But Scott thought that it was time.  So we cut it!  We cut at least an inch off all over his head. 

Here are the before and after photos.  They are the best I could do!

It's sad how much older he instantly looked.  It might be a while before his next one :)

Kaiser's FIRST Halloween

For Kaiser's first Halloween, we decided that he would be Batman!  At first, I was thinking Kaiser should wear a cute, squishy, fuzzy costume...but as we were looking, I couldn't find what I wanted in his size.  So when Scott found Batman, we decided to go with that.  And we are so glad we did!

Isn't it so cute?!

The night before Halloween, Scott tried it on Kaiser for the first time and he came to visit me at work!  I couldn't stop laughing because he looked adorable in it!

We showed him himself in the mirror and he made the funniest faces like he didn't recognize the baby behind the costume :)  He just kept staring at it and trying to grab one of the bat ears.

He was definitely a hit!

*Family Pictures*

In October, we decided that since we hadn't gotten any family pictures taken since Kaiser was born, we had better do some!  So we had a little impromptu session in my parents front yard :) We also were able to get a few of Kaiser at 3 1/2 months.  Here they are-- our first family photos!

4 Months!

Wow! Kaiser is 4 months old now!!

I can't believe how fast the time is going!

He had his 4 month check-up on November 6th, and he is a healthy, happy, fast-growing baby!

Here are his stats:

Weight:  15 pounds 13 ounces -- 60th percentile

Height:  25 1/2 inches -- 60th percentile

Head:   42 1/2 cm --50th percentile

He normally would have had 4 shots--but his doctor was nice and gave him a shot called "Pentacel."  This had 3-in-1, so that was really nice!  Here's the before and after:

Poor baby.  But he only cried for about a minute or so, and then went to sleep.  When he woke up he was his happy little self.  He played to his hearts content all day :)  Such a good baby!

Here are some fun things about Kaiser:

-Clicks his tongue with his mouth open--it's so cute!

-Laughed for the first time on Tuesday, October 8th

-Rolled over from tummy to back for first time on Wednesday October 16th

-Rolled from back to tummy on October 26th

-Loves books

-Sleeps for about 9.5-11 hrs a night

-Loves bath time and loves splashing

-Has started holding up his own bottle

-Still loves to be naked

-Grabs his feet and holds onto them

-Plays with his toes all the time

-Loves to see himself in the mirror

-Loves to be in his jumper

-He has started scratching things

-He stares at the tv.  He loves watching football and baseball :)

-Is doing much better in his car seat

-Sticks his fingers and fists his mouth
-Loves the vacuum

-Drools constantly

-Is moving constantly

-Always has a smile to give, even if he is tired

-Sticks his hands out to grab toys/objects rather than swats at them

-Doesn't want to miss anything!

-He will only take 30-40 minute naps.  Occasionally he will take longer.  Once in a blue moon :)

-He still rubs his eyes when he is tired

-He loves to watch little kids

-He sits up with little assistance

-Rarely cries, unless he is sleepy or hungry

-Sits well in his bumbo.  Sometimes when we get him out, his legs get stuck

-He wears size 3 diapers

-His hair is so long and cute.  Scott wants to cut it but I can't bring myself to do it yet

-He wears some 0-3 month clothes still, but mostly he is in 3-6 months clothes

Kaiser's Blessing

Scott blessed Kaiser on October 13th. He did such an amazing job. I am so grateful for Scott and for his ability and willingness to bless Kaiser. It was truly a perfect blessing, and I am so proud of him.

Since our church doesn't start until 1:30, we were able to spend the morning together with our little family.  Kaiser was such a happy boy all morning. We put him in his precious blessing outfit, (thanks mom and dad!) fed him, and set off for church.

Right before his blessing, Kaiser started to get sleepy and fussy so Scott stood up with him and tried to put him to sleep. Sure enough, right after Scott started his blessing he fell right asleep. (We were both secretly a little nervous that he would fuss through it!)

I have never heard a more beautiful blessing.

It was a perfect day. Kaiser couldn't have been or looked more perfect. Our families and friends were so supportive to join us on his special day. Perfect.

Our cute little family :)

I love Kaiser's blessing outfit so much!

We are so blessed to have Kaiser in our family.  We love him so much!