Love Bullets

In our house, we shoot love bullets.



And no, we don't always use diaper boxes as furniture.

Sleep Training - Week 3

It's bedtime!

After Soren gets his teeth brushed and pajamas on, he spends some time quietly playing in the crib.

Then we read some books and sing some songs. And, after three weeks, I still get this:

Summer Reading Program

Check out that plane! Each banner represents 24 books that Soren listened to this summer. After he hit each milestone, we got a new banner and a new book as a prize! Mary Beth got us signed up at the end of June, a little late because I thought Soren was too young for the program. But, we've really enjoyed having a regular trip to the library each week, and we will try to keep that up.
Oh, and P.S. He hasn't just been reading the whole summer. Soren also found a new way to use the pacifier...

CSA bag: CORN!

Yes! You know it's summer when there's corn on the cob. Fortunately/unfortunately, I'm the only fan of that in my house. Pro: I get all I want. Con: I hope I can eat it all before it goes bad!

Soren Andrew - Week 36

A tisket, a tasket, a blue plastic basket

New Friend: Mary Beth

Soren's new best friend is Mary Beth. She is a librarian at Buckner, and she reads the stories at Story Time. When we go to Story Time, we have to wake up Squeaker (the mouse puppet) to read the stories with us. Then we watch a short video and make a craft. Mary Beth encourages Soren in the crafts, even though he can't really get into them yet.

Soren Andrew - Week 35

The Agapanthus Triptych

We stopped by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art to check out Monet's Agapanthus Triptych. I was super-excited, both to see the three paintings together AND to reminisce about the fun we had seeing other triptychs at the Musee de l'Orangerie in Paris. The exhibit was really interesting, but Soren was more interested in people-watching. Plus, outside the exhibit he found his favorite part of the whole museum: the vent.

Can't keep a good baby down!

The day after he turned 8 months, my little monster started pulling up on the dresser!

Soren Update: 8 months

Eight months - wow! Soren is close to 22.5 pounds, according to our bathroom scale, and he is close to 29.5-30 inches. Plus, he's acquired one more tooth on the bottom.

Soren is having fun being a kiddo. He likes bouncing in his saucer and jumper. He is sitting on his own to play, and spending a lot of time on his feet, just standing, although he has been known to take a step or two. He likes to dump his toys out of their containers, but shows no interest in putting them back, even if it is just to dump them again. Soren also loves to close books while you read to him. I pretend that it's because he can't stand how lovely the cover art is and simply MUST see it again - immediately.

Jason and I have looked into a few signs to teach him, but we haven't pursued it very aggressively. What we ARE working on is getting him to sleep on his own. We've been co-sleeping for the past eight months. I kept delaying the sleep training, blaming the fact that Jason needed to be well-rested for work. With the state emergency duty and Jason working nights, it seemed like the perfect time to start. Even if Soren and I are up all night working on getting this right, we can sleep quietly during the day, just like Daddy!

Soren's development seems to have started accelerating, albeit slowly, and I'm eagerly anticipating what next month brings. Until then...

Long weekend! or Poor Malibu!

Our weekend got started early with a flying trip to Columbia to see Erin before she took off for southern Missouri and her grown-up job. We're going to miss her!We played with Daddy when we could.Aunt L came to visit; she joined us for Farm Aid Day at the Riverside Market because (sadly)we'll be missing the real Farm Aid this year. (It's SO close! Sigh.)We had Sunday Funday at the Kerr house. Hannah was a very gracious host, and Soren also got a little Olive time. We extended our weekend to Tuesday and made another quick trip to Columbia to see family and run errands.
Whew! Now it's time to stay home for a while...

Soren Andrew - Week 34

Soren Andrew - Week 33

Soren is definitely enjoying his photo shoots more and more, especially when Daddy makes an appearance!

Happy Independence Day!

Visit Grandpa Tom and Grandma Ann

Soren alternated between wakefulness and sleep as we traveled toward Lamar to visit Grandpa and Grandma. When we got there, he headed straight for the arm chair and waited for Grandma to get out the toys.

Later, we crashed a birthday party, mostly for cake and use of the pool. Soren has splashed in his bathtub and kiddie pool in the backyard, but this was his first time in a big pool. I don't think his feet stopped kicking the whole time he was in there!I finally got to eat at the famous Chicken Mary's. We drove all the way to Kansas, but that chicken was worth the trip.The next day was full of food, naps and shopping with Grandma and Grandpa.