Almost 9 months old already!

Wow, time sure has flown by. The past 9 months have been absolutely amazing even with all of the bumps along the way. Kyler is a happy, growing, learning little boy that has taught both David and I many lessons - from patience to how much love we are capable of giving. Although our life isn't perfect, we certainly wouldn't change anything!

Here's a nice update on how Kyler is doing..

Sleep: 

Bedtime is about 10:00pm, but we are working on moving that up. Typically, he sleeps until about 3:00am and then wants to nurse. After that he sleeps until 7:00am then nurses and sleeps until about 10:00am. Sometimes he will go back to sleep after that feeding but not always. Typical get up time is around 10:30-11:00am. At around 1:00pm, he takes his first nap which ranges from 1.5 to 2 hours. His second nap is usually around 5:00pm and is 1.5 to 2 hours as well.

Usually, he falls asleep on his side but then rolls onto his stomach after a bit. Ever since he learned to roll over he has become a belly sleeper. He can be a very light and restless sleeper, but usually he sleeps fairly well.

We are currently working on transitioning Kyler to his crib, but he absolutely despises the thing and we only have one bedroom so that makes it hard when he wakes up as he can see us. Hopefully we will find a 2 bedroom apartment fairly soon..

Most of the time, I put Kyler to sleep and he really wouldn't have it any other way. He usually gets quite fussy if I'm not there, but that's another thing we are working on.

This is what I often wake up to. Love it! (7 months)

Asleep on the airplane (7.5 months)

Butt in the air (KC, 7.5mo)

Eat:


Other than breastfeeding, Kyler is now eating 2 solid meals each day. We will soon be making that 3 solid meals once we find a couple more foods that Kyler likes. Currently he has a late lunch of yogurt, some pureed fruits and some solid fruits (like bananas). He absolutely loves yogurt and most fruits - especially pears. Dinner is usually pears, if he had something other than pears at lunch, a vegetable puree if we can find one (not easy here in Finland) and we're working on adding a meat but Kyler hasn't liked any of the meat meals we have found here (so far). While we were back in KC, Kyler had a couple of meat dishes that he ate just fine but the ones here have potatoes and carrots as top ingredients and he dislikes both of those. While we were on vacation in Scotland, he spontaneously learned how to drink out of a straw and now that has become a favorite thing to do.. I'm almost convinced he would drink anything if it had a straw in it. Also, when we go to restaurants, Kyler now sits in a high chair like a big boy.

Likes: Pears, yogurt of any variety, raspberries, apples, bananas, prunes, essentially all fruits minus some lingonberry mixes (very popular here), sweet potatoes, squash, cheese, cottage cheese, smoked salmon, Gerber Graduates puffs (yogurt and other variety) and water. I'm sure I'm missing some, but it's hard when he's had so many foods.

Dislikes: Any of the meaty meals we've tried here so far, carrots, peas, potatoes, porridge (unless it's warm and mixed with a ton of fruit) and rice cereal.

Prunes (6 months)

Chillin' (6.5 months)

Chillin' Again (8 months)

Foot (8 months)

Big boy at the table in Scotland (8 months)

Play:

Now that he is mobile, Kyler doesn't mind being on his stomach anymore and actually spends quite a bit of time on it. In the mornings I lay him down on his play mat and he stares at the toys for a bit and plays on his back, but once he's woken up completely he rolls over and goes, goes, goes. His favorite thing to do is to find any lint, dust bunnies or other random things that he shouldn't have and try to put them in his mouth before we stop him. With his small hands, he can reach places that are hard to clean (and he knows these places well) or when he's being particularly crafty, he'll find a book and shove it under something repeatedly to pull out dust bunnies. He's quite smart. He also likes to try and find any cords. Anyone want to fly over here with a baby play yard enclosure?!

Kyler still loves his jumperoo and can practically jump his way out of it. He's crazy and has some crazy strong legs.. which makes us wonder why he likes to use his arms for crawling. Unfortunately for us, he's almost on the highest height setting for his jumperoo. Crazy!

As for toys, he likes lights and sounds, but really anything that ISN'T a toy is usually his favorite. He like remotes, game controllers, dials (like on our audio receiver or on a thermostat), books (crumpling pages and eating them), paper, eye glasses and of course dirt/lint/dust.. just to name a few :p. He also quite enjoys banging things together to make all sorts of noise or slamming them on the floor. I'm sure our downstairs neighbors LOVE us!

There are times when Kyler is absolutely fascinated by his hands and stares at them, opens and closes them, rolls his wrist around, etc. (see photo). He is also walking quite well with our support and enjoys making raspberries or "seasoning" as we call it. He certainly keeps us on our toes and I'm sure he will continue to do so for quite some time.

Jumperoo! (6 months)

Playmat Time (6.5 months)

Kyler LOVED his first balloon! (7.5 months)

Ahhh, my hand! (8 months)

Pee and Poo:

Just kidding.. I wouldn't really write about that on here. Though we have had some fun times from when he shot poo onto the floor and bed when he was a tiny little baby to the super icky and messy blowouts (ask my mom about this one.. she has experience from our last visit to KC), I'm sure nobody really wants to read about Kai's BM's and wee-wees. :)



Sorry it's been so long since I wrote, but based on the fact that this blog took me over a week to complete, it's simply not easy to do. I hope you enjoy all of the pictures and the update on Kyler. We will keep folks updated on when our next trip to the US will be. I will add more photos at a later date, but I wanted to get the blog up, so this is what you get.. live with it :p. For now, I will leave you with a couple of photos from Scotland.

Hey, look at me, Daddy! (8 months)

Dinner with Mommy and Daddy! (8 months)

Adapting to Life in Finland

Kyler, David and I arrived back in Finland on 21.3 and things have been pretty crazy ever since. Kyler was sleeping for about 6 hours before we brought him here, but for the first couple of weeks it was hard to get him to go even 3 hours. As you can imagine, this was rough on us (especially me, as I was letting David sleep since he couldn't help feed him anyways). Not only was he not sleeping well at night, he was crying a ton, not napping, screaming his head off anytime we put him in his crib and being an overall booger. The past week or so has been better, so we're hoping that he'll be back on schedule soon.

Since being here, Kyler has started eating solids. He didn't care for the rice cereal AT ALL and it backed him up too, so we only did that for a couple of days. We've since moved on to pears (like), peas (meh, but gave him gas), sweet potatoes (love) and squash (love). Who knows where he gets his preferences from as you won't see me eating sweet potatoes or squash :p.

We've somehow skipped over size 2 diapers in moving over here - we bought one pack before we left - so that was a bit weird. The weight range on the size 2's was 4-7kg and size 3's was 5-9kg (or something like that).. silly Europe. Other than that, most everything is the same over here as far as baby stuff goes. The cost of baby supplies (toys, food, etc) is much higher here, so most people pass their baby items down. We have been given a crib, changing table, pram (stroller), some books and other miscellaneous baby items. This has been a huge help for us and has saved us quite a bit of money so far. Sometime soon, we'll be going to the baby store so I'm sure I'll more than make up for that savings.

Our apartment is certainly beginning to feel a little small and will only get worse when Kai gets more toys. We were able to bring most of his toys that he had over here, including his playmat, which has been an absolute blessing though it takes up a good deal of our limited floorspace. Kai loves to bounce so we're going to get a bouncer/exersaucer which will pretty much eliminate any free space that we currently have. We're looking to move to a larger, preferably 2 bedroom apartment in the coming months.

As far as development goes, Kai is talking, laughing more each day, sitting up with limited help, really playing with his toys and can roll from his belly onto his back. He has no interest in rolling the other way as he HATES being on his belly. He will roll onto his side (which he loves) and if you start to pull him over onto his belly, he can do it with ease, but exhibits no interest in doing it on his own. He doesn't have any teeth yet, but we're thinking that'll change any day now - he's been a cranky droolbucket :p.

Well, I think that's about it - I'm sure I've bored you enough already :p. Hopefully things will calm down and I'll be able to post more frequently soon, but for now, enjoy these photos!

Kyler's Photoshoot

Snug as a baby in a bassinet on an airplane..

Back to Finland

Well, it's been a while since I have posted on here, but I figured that this would be the best place to announce that we will most likely be heading back to Finland in a couple of months. David is already back in Finland (and has been for 3+ weeks), but will return mid-February for about a month. After that, assuming everything is in order, Kyler and I will be flying back with him. Although it is hard to move away from family, especially now that he's been with us here for a while, moving back is the best option for our family. David's job is great and his employer is being extremely generous and helpful in getting us back over there and really, we don't have many other options as we have plenty of bills we need to pay - especially after we get Kyler's final hospital and doctor's bills.

For family in KC, if you'd like to come by and visit Kyler, you are welcome to as long as you are in good health :p. We'd love for everyone to really get to meet him before we move so far away again. Just send me a message on Facebook or something and we'll get something figured out!

Kyler is doing great - growing so quickly and learning new things almost every day! He's been a great baby so far.. hardly ever cries and minus a few little quirks he's pretty easy-going. Currently, he is going anywhere between 4 and 6 hours at night (usually it's towards the longer end when I give in and cuddle with him in bed), which is great in my mind. Since he was premature, they usually use his "adjusted age" for development and other milestones, so according to that, he's only about 5 weeks. If you consider that, he is very ahead of his age as he tracks objects well, responds to stimulation with smiles and giggles, holds his head up well, does his "mini push-ups" during tummy time, makes noises (coos and other such cute sounds) and even puts his full weight on his legs (which he's done for almost a month now!). Obviously he does other things too, but those are the biggies that I can think of and I don't want to bore you with my ridiculously long list of everything Kyler can do :p.

David gets to see him on Skype a few times every day, but it's extremely hard for him to be away from his little boy. I'm hanging in there and gaining even more respect for single mothers as well as military wives who have children. This certainly isn't how we planned for things to go, but we're doing our best to roll with it but we can't wait to all be together again!

Again, message me on facebook or shoot me an email at angela.kay.rhodes@gmail.com and we'll figure out a good time if you'd like to come hang out with the little dude before we leave in a couple of months!

Kyler update

Since he was born, Kyler has been in the NICU at North Kansas City Hospital. Most of the time he's been in there, he's been receiving some help with his breathing in one form or another, but on Saturday morning, they took him off his nasal cannula for good (we'd assume). He is now doing well breathing on his own and keeping his oxygen saturation up without having to work too hard to breathe. Other than that, his heart rate has been unusually high, especially considering that they couldn't find a real reason why it would be high. After being carefully watched for two weeks and hoping that with time would come some change, the neonatologist ordered an EKG and then today had the cardiologist from Children's Mercy Hospital come see Kyler. Luckily, everything came back normal with his heart and the cardiologist said that he would be comfortable releasing Kyler! To help his heart along, the neonatologist wanted to do a blood transfusion which occurred this evening and seemed to go over well. Now we are just waiting and hoping that he'll be home soon (which we've been told could definitely be the case).

This whole situation has been very tough on both of us (and probably little Kyler too). I could never have imagined how hard it would be to have a baby in the NICU and I really would never wish this hardship on anyone. We really can't wait to have Kyler home so we'll actually have MORE time to do things. Commuting to and from the hospital as well as planning our days around these trips is not easy and it ends up taking up almost all of our free time.

Assuming everything goes according to plan, Kyler could very well be home before the end of this week, but we're trying not to get our hopes too high. Thank you again to those sending their thoughts and prayers - we will keep you updated!

Introducing Kyler Aaron Rhodes!

As most already know, at 9:16am on 11/20, little Kyler Aaron decided to join this world (over a month before his due date). He weighed in at a very healthy 5lb 10oz and was 19 inches long.

Right after I got all cleaned up in the operating room (and the only time that he's been without any wires, tubes, etc. so far)

As you can probably tell from the photo, he was born via c-section. At about 9pm, while putting the sheets on his crib, my water began to leak though I thought nothing of it at the time and just assumed that he had simply made my bladder leak. Just before going to bed at 2am, I felt more leaking and realized that it probably wasn't just my bladder so I called the doctor and was instructed to go to the hospital where they'd test the fluid and find out if it was urine or amniotic fluid. I was pretty sure that it was amniotic fluid, but due to how early it was, I was kind of hoping that it wasn't. I arrived at the hospital at 4am where they promptly tested the fluid to find out that it was amniotic fluid and then they put me on the monitors and told me that more than likely they'd either let me labor progress or induce it if I wasn't progressing on my own. Needless to say, I was in quite a bit of shock and had to call David to break the news that he wouldn't be able to be there for the birth of his son. About that time, they brought the sonogram machine in to check his position which ended up telling us that he was feet first. The doctor gave me a few options - try to turn him (which could hurt both him and me since the fluid level was low due to my water breaking and he wasn't just butt first, but rather feet first), have a c-section at approximately 8:00am, or delay a c-section and risk infection to both baby and me so that David could possibly be there. David, my mom, the doctor and I all agreed that it was in the best interest of the baby and me to go ahead and do the c-section. The surgery went well, though Kyler sure wasn't making it easy for the doctor to get him out and at 9:16am, Kyler was welcomed into this world and began crying his little lungs out. Hearing him was absolutely magical and the moment I heard him, I knew my life had just changed forever! They brought him over so I could see him (after what seemed like an eternity) and then he was taken up to the NICU where he's been ever since.

On Sunday night, I finally got to go see him and I got on Skype so that David could see him as well. It was great to finally really see him, but I was in quite a bit of pain and it was really hard to see my son hooked up to so many machines and with an oxygen hood over his head. David flew in on Monday and got to the hospital shortly after 6:00pm. My pain got better with each day and we were able to at least put our hands on Kyler, but it wasn't until today (11/25) that both David and I finally got to hold him. I was also given the opportunity to breast feed and I'm happy to report that Kyler is a natural! Prior to today, I was giving the nurses in the NICU the milk that I have been pumping and he's been fed using a feeding tube that they put down his nose and into his stomach. With each day, he seems to be improving and we're hopeful that we'll be able to bring him home soon!

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts, prayers, gifts, etc. - we really appreciate your support and can't wait for everyone to finally meet our little blessing, Kyler Aaron! As far as visiting him goes - nobody is allowed to visit without either David or me present nor is anyone other than us allowed to hold him. I know there are a few people who would love to see him, but due to him being premature and requiring a stay in the NICU, it's just not really practical. We really apologize for this and thank you for your understanding.. many of  you will probably meet him very soon anyhow!

Tanning aka photo-therapy for jaundice

Reach for the stars :p

Wanting to get up and go hold my son so bad..

34 weeks belly!

Just because Gina is cute. :)

Gina really wanted in on the pictures.

..and I'm only gonna get bigger. Oi!

Baby Rhodes is 34 weeks!

Today was another routine appointment and everything looked fine. My fundal height is right on (if not a bit high), baby's head appears to be down, and his little heart is beating away at 140bpm. Baby is still very active though he's definitely not doing any flips anymore thanks to being so cramped. He certainly knows how to make me feel uncomfortable though with his kicks to the bladder and diaphragm. Despite that, I am already so in love with this little guy and can't wait to meet him whenever he decides to make his appearance.

This past weekend was my baby shower and I'd like to thank everyone who was there or sent their best wishes for our little baby Rhodes. So far this week I have been busy getting the nursery ready for the arrival of our little guy. There are still a couple of art projects left, but I've mostly been focusing on getting his sheets and clothes washed, bottles sterilized, etc. Although decorating is fun, it isn't quite as important as just getting everything ready for his arrival.

I know I promised a belly photo last week, but I really will get one up here (possibly as early as tonight). On another note, after this next appointment in two weeks, I'll be seeing the doctor every week which means there are only 2 appointments left that David will be missing! I can't wait until he can join me!

33 weeks down, 7 to go!

Well, there's not much new to report this week. Baby is as active as ever and really has some strong karate moves going on. With it being November, I've started playing him some nice instrumental Christmas music which he seems to love. Sometimes I think I feel him moving to the beat of the music and reacting when the music gets loud or the instrumental sound changes which is so cool!

Unfortunately for me, I think this may be the last week or so that I'm able to wear my wedding rings - as if I needed more reason for people to think that I'm a single, teenage mom :p. If I am active at all, I find that I pay for it later with back pain and swelling of the feet and hands - occasionally even my sciatic nerve decides to join in on the fun. I suppose when I think about it and realize that my body is carrying 30+ more pounds than it's used to it all makes sense though.

With David not here, I've been putting off taking a birthing class of any sort, but I think I will probably give in and at least go to the free one that NKCH gives. There's one there on December 10th that David will be here for (he'll probably be back on December 2nd), but who knows, this little guy may not wait that long to join this world.

The art projects for the nursery are officially underway, though I'm still at a loss for how to complete one of them. Several of my Austin friends are great artists and I wish they were here to help me out, but considering the cost of shipping something as large as I want, it just isn't practical.

I think that about covers it. This weekend is my baby shower and I couldn't be more excited!! I wish that all of my Austin friends could make it up, but I know they'll be there in spirit (and I look forward to seeing all of you soon, I hope!). I look forward to seeing those awesome folks that are able to make it on Saturday, though!

Baby and I miss you, David!

My long weekend with my hubby flew by. It was extremely hard to say goodbye to him even though we have plenty of experience with being long distance - though not nearly this long of a distance. Being pregnant, I'm naturally more emotional, but also I just love seeing David interact with our little boy that is growing in my belly. The plan is for David to be back here in a little over a month which is much better than the two months that it had been since I had seen him this time. In those two months, my belly grew a ton so it was fun to see David's face when he first saw my belly (and when my belly got in the way of a hug :p). While he was here we discussed names for our little guy and I think we may have picked one, but it won't be for sure (and thus announced) until he's born.

I had a routine appointment today which was pretty uneventful (not complaining at all). My measurement is still slightly ahead and I've gained about 30 pounds so far and with 8 weeks to go, who knows how much I'll end up weighing when I give birth. Our little guy's heartbeat was much slower today at 140 which makes me feel better as I was a bit worried his heartrate wouldn't go down. Maybe David's visit helped me and the baby calm down as we were both happier with him here or maybe it's just a coincidence.. who knows.

I think that's all for now, I'll post another belly photo this weekend or early next week.

Under 2 months!

With yesterday being 10/22, I am now less than two months from my due date!

Although I have limited time with my husband, I thought I should at least write a short blog post. Once he leaves again ( :'( ) I will write a longer one.  Baby and I have been enjoying our time with him and he's been getting to feel our little boy kicking and moving around a lot which is quite exciting for him. The last time he was with us, baby was definitely not as easy to feel and wasn't moving nearly as often.

This Wednesday I have a routine check-up, but with David leaving on Tuesday morning, he won't be able to come along. I really wish David could have gotten to go to an ultrasound appointment with me, but even I won't get another one of those unless my measurement gets off or something isn't seeming quite right to the doctor.

Now I'm going to go spend more time with my husband, but here are a couple belly photos!

31 weeks 3 days

31 weeks 3 days with my family (minus Bandit)