Thanksgiving and beyond...

As we gear up for Christmas and New Years, we didn't want you to miss out on Kai's first Thanksgiving and 5th month birthday. He spent his first Thanksgiving at The Edgar's home with his great grandma and great aunts and uncles who he had not met. It was a wonderful feast mostly prepared by Teresa. With a little turkey in my system that night, after nursing Kai, he slept through the whole night and even slept in the next morning until 7. :o) Wish I could have turkey every night! lol

Kai turned 5 months earlier in December and we just can't believe how much he is growing! He continues to amaze Eli and I every day. He is still a talker! (Must get it from his Auntie Shelley...ha ha). More recently he has learned to turn over from his back to his front and he is scooting all over the house. He is really doing great with tummy time. We even joke because he does lots of push-ups, planks and crunches. So of course we know he will be a natural athlete...lol We are looking forward to the holidays and spending it with our little man.

Constantly Changing

Bath time hoodie

First attempt at eating rice cereal

4 months old

Wow, Kai turned 4 months old a couple of weeks ago and we can't believe how time has flown by. He is now 14.1 pounds and is 25 inches long (yeah, we still don't know where the height is coming from..lol) He is really becoming such a curious little man. He has learned how to make raspberries and loves to show off with them. He constantly is reaching for things and putting them straight in his mouth. We ventured into rice cereal over the last couple of weeks and he seems to be doing well with it, well what little of it that actually makes it into his mouth and stays there. One of his favorite things is bath time! He loves sitting in his little bath and playing with the water, oh and he is fascinated with the sink faucet.

This weekend we had our first big sickness. Poor little man was fighting a fever on and off since Thursday and we ended up at the Urgent Care on Saturday night. Well, it turns out he had Roseola. All is good now, he does have the rash still but is back to his normal, happy self. Yay!

First Halloween

Kai had a full day on Halloween. First, he had baby class where he got to spend an hour with a group of his friends singing, playing and doing tummy time. Then we took him to a small get together where he was so curious to see the other little kids in costumes. Yet, it didn't keep him from falling fast asleep at exactly 8:30 (his usual bed time).

Talking, Exploring, Visiting

Our little man has become quite the talker and explorer these days.

Kai exploring Daddy's face

This past weekend, Kai took his first trip to Orlando with us. He was such a popular guy and had many visitors. It was a great weekend as he got to spend time with lots of family and friends.

Kai with his Great Grandma

The Family

3 Months!!!

Wow, our boy is 3 months now and we have seen some new things and it has been fun. He sits up in his Bumbo, he burps on his own, he occasionally laughs, he grabs things, he loves to smile and talk, and he shows more playful tendencies by hiding his face (like peek-a-boo) in my chest when you talk to him. Oh and he loves to stand-up.



He is now almost 13 pounds and he is 24 inches long, which is 36% of his dad's height and 40% of his mom's . His memory is getting stronger and he knows Jen and I just by our voices. His nails grow very fast, it seems like everyday we have to cut them and the last time I accidentally got a little bit of his skin. He made sure I was aware of what I did and I felt bad the whole day.

Kai is off to school....

Last week Jen went back to work and here are pictures of Kai's first day of infant care. It was hard for Jen to drop him off after being with him every day for 10 weeks. I went along for this milestone in all of our lives.



Here is a view of the class room where Kai will be spending most of his days.
It looks like he will have fun while we work. Let me just tell you, childcare is not cheap...



Each infant has their own crib in the class room. When you drop him off you have to provide him with a mobile, 3 changes of clothes, enough bottles for the day, diapers, wipes, etc.... we even bring some toys from home so that he has something familiar.

TWO Months Old Today

So our baby boy grows to be a bit older today and he is cuter than ever. He is talking a lot these days, or at least trying to, and every now and then he honors us with a smile. The tough little guy got his shots yesterday which was hard for Jen and I to watch but he took it like a champ. The first shot really didn't phase him much, but after the next 2-4 shots he screamed as loud as he could for about 20 seconds, then it was pacifier to save the day.


I cannot explain the joy he brings us but I must say that it is hard. Especially for Jen at night... He's up every 3 hours and there are times where he is up in between. It also seems like 5 am is his internal wake up time which is when i take over before I get ready for work.

A week from Monday will be our hardest task... Jen goes back to work and Kai starts day care. We are a bit nervous and trust me it will take a while for us to get use to it.

Constant Change

Kai is 7 weeks old today! We have had a busy couple of weeks. Last week he had some special visitors come in from Ohio (his Auntie Shelley and cousin Maddy). He had a blast hanging out with them. He even got to attend Brendon's 4th birthday party. He continues to grow and change daily. He has to be 10 lbs. now. It is so amazing to see how "advanced" he is. He has been enjoying plenty of tummy time and baby yoga with mommy.

Making Milestones

Kai turned 1 month this week! Time sure flies by. We continue to watch him grow more alert and active every day. Just watch the video Eli posted. How can you not love the little man, just look at those eyes. :o)

New Video

So here is one of the latest videos of little Kai. We happy to report that his cone head is gone!!! Enjoy.

3 Weeks and Growing

Well, it's been just over 3 weeks since our little man was born and every day is a new experience. Eli and I continue to just adore him. He seems to be going through some kind of growth spurt (at least we think so) because he is constantly hungry. Needless to say, I am not getting much done this week since there isn't much time between feedings, including sleep. Kai is changing little by little. He continues to be very alert and is really beginning to have more mobility. He is quite strong! He holds his head up, has a pretty tight grip and is already trying to use his legs and stand. Although it has been very challenging, we wouldn't change it for anything. Actually, we were saying just the other night that it doesn't seem real still. It is as though we borrowed him and someone is going to come take him from us. lol Kai also had a special visitor this past week, his Auntie Maddy! He has enjoyed staring at her and spitting up on her. lol I can't say she enjoyed the spit up as much though. :o)

Look Out Tom Cruise!

Kai's first Video!!!

1 Week old

OK, so the first week has been crazy, with issues at work keeping me from enjoying this weeks activities I have a taste now what a journey this is going to be. Doctor visit came back with a great bill of health for the little guy whom I will now refer to as Awesome. Awesome still has a bit of a bump or cone head if you want to call it that, from the traumatic labor he had to go through to meet us. Other than that and a few run ins with gas after eating, he is perfectly healthy. We are all getting use to the schedule of eating, sleeping and pooping but his mother is clearly the hero in this journey so far. She is up every 2-3 hours feeding awesome and I try to take over in between since I don't produce milk. Today, I actually almost saw my first pee fountain when I was changing the diaper but I shielded it with his diaper, so it was a close call.

Awesome has meet a lot of people lately but for the most part he is not getting out much and our visitors to the house are limited. My mom and aunt did come down to help out a little, which was great.

I wanted to show you how many diapers he goes through in a weeks time. This bag has around 100 diapers in it. talk about a carbon foot print... This is just one week from one baby, think about 1 million babies born, that's crazy, that's China.

Lastly, Bruiser seems to be adapting well. He does request attention and I am doing my best to hang out with him when I can. I think that is helping him with the transition. We will see as time goes on.

Welcome KAI ELIOT!!!!!

There are days in history that demand our attention at least once a year in honor of whatever it is that we celebrate. On this day, July 4th, 2009, Jen and I along with our friends and family, find ourselves coming together for not just the fireworks celebration that we have been accustomed to. We are honored to come together for the beautiful gift of life. 8lbs 1oz Kai Eliot was welcomed 3 days early, and for a 5' nothing wife of mine to carry a 8lbs baby boy is an impressive and powerful display of how the female body is a miracle in itself.


We arrived at the Hospital just before 8 am and by 10am our big little boy was ready to enter the chilly hospital room where he would make a husband and wife also become a mother and father. From my perspective, this was probably the most amazing thing i could witness as a human being. from the talks of when we wanted to start a family, to the physical changes I witnessed a female body go through, to the child birth education classes, to even the long partnership of dealing with contractions and finally labor. It was the single most rewarding thing I have experienced ever and have to thank Jen for letting me be a part of it.

A week and half to go...

Well, this week we hit our 38th week and we are now less than 2 weeks away from the actual due date. The ladies at the office had a shower for me this week and it was another nice shower with lots of goodies. We are moving along and trying to wait patiently. :o)

WE ARE NINE MONTHS

So this week I think it has been a bit hard on Jen. She has been noticing that he is heavier these days and it is taking more energy to move around. The doctor said that Kai is around 6.5lbs and will grow around another 1.5lbs in the next 3 weeks. We'll see soon enough. Other than that, he is a healthy baby from what the doctors are saying and we cannot wait for him to meet us.

Jen has been working out in our pool lately which is great for her because it is low impact. At least one of us is using it!

Baby Room

While Eli was out at the race in Philly, I decided to finish the baby room. No one told me how hard it was going to be just to put together the mobile for the crib. :o) Needless to say, with the loads of laundry and everything else, it took all day on Saturday. I got most of it done, but had to wait until Eli could help me on Sunday to really finish it. Now it's the waiting game to see when the little man will actually arrive. lol

Philly Dragon Boat Race

This weekend was another event filled weekend for the Rivera household. Eli left on Friday and headed up to Philly for another dragon boat race. Unfortunately, since I am no longer allowed to fly, that left me home. :o(

However, the trip was worth it. HydroBLADES went up there and took the entire race to bring home the gold with a team best time of the year of 2:02. Way to represent!!!

Babylicious BBQ/Pool Party

After the baby shower, we took the festivities back to our house where the men joined us in the celebration. It was truly a packed house with lots of people, food, drinks and fun! At one point, Milton counted 21 cars in the driveway...and believe it or not it was a baby celebration and not a keg party. lol The kids had fun in the pool, almost all the food got eaten, and of course it wouldn't be a great house party without a little rock band to wrap up the night. Way too many pics to post, so go to the link and enjoy: http://picasaweb.google.com/elirivera/KaiSShower#

Baby Shower

This weekend we had the baby shower hosted by my sister, Teresa. She did an amazing job with the games, expert tips, and food. It was perfect! It was celebrated with so many wonderful friends and family from all over. I honestly couldn't have asked for more! Thank you all for being here to celebrate such a wonderful event with me and for all the amazing gifts! They will definitely come in handy!