18 months

Kane has his 18 month check up a little over a week ago. My has that experience changed. First thing we do when we get back to the room is get undressed, so that Kane can be weighed and measured. He started freaking out the moment I started to strip him. By the time we got to seeing how tall he is, he was whining and not being very cooperative. The stats that we got got were:
Height = 32" (40%)
Weight = 22lbs 6oz (10%)
Head = 19" (60%)

Kane continues to be consistently tall, skinny, and has a big head. Although not as much as before. He has started to talk a bit more. He consistently will say "Mom, Dad, Ball, Hello, More, All Gone, Nose (sounds more like no) and Shoe (which is just a sh sound)." He can be prompted to say a few other words like Ashlyn.

His favorite things to do now include playing in the cozy coupe, driving around cars and tractors, putting money into a bank (which he is doing as we speak although he just found a sand rake and so now all the coins are all over the floor). He keep us on our toes.

Fun videos.

Kane had the most fun in Chicago chasing the pigeons. His latest favorite thing to do is hide in things.

Since my tech guy has put in a new filter at school I can't access my blog at work. I really don't make much time at home to work on it. Here are some random shots form the past month or so.
If you look closely in the Cozy Coupe photo, you'll notice that Kane has taken the seat of his toilet and put it on the seat in his car. Who knows???
The wet picture of Kane was when Mom was out washing windows and there was a big bucket of soapy water, which Kane decided to stick his head into. I couldn't get the camera fast enough when he still had suds on his face.
Grandpa Gordon and I went up to Chicago to go on a bike ride. For the most part Kane thought it was fun, except for when his helmet fell over his face. We rode over to China Town from Navy Pier. Grandma got some nun chucks for Kane, which you can now tell him to go and hit Mom or Dad. He wasn't too impressed with the Chinese food, but when we went to the Billy Goat on lower Wacker, he really liked the cheeseburger.

More random summer shots

Here's a picture of Matt drinking his free beer at the Budweiser plant in St. Louis.
This picture is just too funny of Mom and I.
We went to Brookfield Zoo with Grandma T and Mike. We all had a really good time, even though it was incredibly hot.

Kane loves his yogurt. He also loves to get it all over everything. You would think as he aged, his eating skills would improve, but such is not the case.




Grandma Aupperle got us tickets to see a ball game at the Corn Crib. Kane wanted to run around more so than watch the game, but I wasn't complaining.

We hung out with Ms. Ashlyn when her Mom and Dad were on vacation. Kane attempts to say her name, but only gets out the "Ash" part. He can at least point to her picture.

We're here.

We're still here. Things have just been crazy since I took my class up in Chicago. After I came back, there were only 3 weeks of summer left. Kane and I made the most of our time. Although the two incredibly dirty pictures are actually what Kane looks like when he comes home from Beth's. Him and Tanner love to get dirty. He really likes to drive the little care around in the dirt.
We went to the State Fair with Grandpa Gordon for the second year in a row. I don't really know what Kane enjoyed the most. Maybe the corn dog. He really liked the FFA petting zoo, but was too much of a wimp to pet anything. I guess out of everything he enjoyed all the animals the best. I personally enjoyed the Illinois Wine Tasting Tent.



This is Kane's idea of helping Mom get her classroom organized.

The year has started off really well. It's kind of like I never left, except all the kids are getting bigger.

Slacker.

So all this week I have been taking a class up in Chicago, leaving the boys at home. From what I hear Kane is alive and well, so there's nothing to worry about. Matt is probably going crazy by now. I would think that Kane is a lot more tired at night because he's been going to the sitters. So I should be working on my homework and what am I doing instead? Procrastinating! I've been reading different birthing stories and I've decided that I need to share mine. So, here it goes.

It was a Wednesday, not my favorite day of the school week, but not a bad one either. I remember being in my morning class teaching 6th graders. I just remember having some really strong contractions. Strong enough where I had to sit down. I didn't really think that much of it because they went away. I kept working and just felt a little strange all day. Starting around 5pm that night, I was having contractions about every 5- 6 minutes. They weren't horrible and weren't really getting all that closer together. Well, they kept going. They still weren't really getting any more closer and intense. We watched tv and passed the time. Around bed time they still were about the same as they were before. So I told Matt to go to bed and I was going to sleep (haha) on the couch. I passed the night away attempting to sleep and giving up and turning on the tv and try ing to sleep some more. I think around 3 or 4 am we finally decided to go to the hospital. We go to the ER and walk up to the maternity ward. They check me and I'm only a 1. Great.

I didn't want to be induced, so we decided to go home. Matt needed to go into work and just take care of a few things before he would be gone for a few days. I went to Bob & Kristi's because it was only a 15 minute drive into town as opposed to 25 from our house. I stayed there over the morning and got into their giant bathtub. Don't forget that my contractions have continued to be 5-6 minutes apart this entire time. I want to say around 1pm we decided to go into my doctors office to get check and see if I had dilated any more. The answer was not really. I was not at a 3. We decided just to stay because eventually this baby was going to come out.

We hung out in the hospital room and my mom brought Matt Arby's, while I was completely annoyed by the stupid heart rate monitor that was digging into my stomach. It was the most uncomfortable thing ever. It was bothering me more than my contractions. In retrospect, I wish I would have been walking around a lot more. At this point I was really tired because I did not sleep the night before. I really think that would have helped my labor progress more quickly. Anyway, my doctor had been in and out of the room around 8pm she was ready to go. At that time I think I was dilated to a 5 or so. I was still dead set on not having any drugs. She broke my water and that really sped things up. In 2 hours I went to a 10 and finally felt the urge to push. The only problem was that Kane was not facing the right way. Mid contraction, Dr. Weaver flipped him the proper way. I think 3 or 4 pushed and about 10 minutes later Kane was finally here. Matt was quite the trooper through the entire experience. I think he ended up being more involved than he had intended. He lived to tell the story.

I was dead set on not having drugs, and even after Kane was born the nurses kept trying to get me to take tylenol or something. I just don't get it. My body felt like someone had hit me with a truck the next day, but it wasn't unmanageable. It is hard to describe how tiring and physically exhausting the birth process is. Maybe I just have a higher pain tolerance that most or maybe I'm just that stubborn. If anything I was more exhausted than anything. Hopefully next time the process will be a little faster.

Finally! I found the cord.

It's hard to believe the 4th is already done and over. I love this picture. Kane looks so mischievous.
This is Kane's favorite past time.
One pic of our many family bonding times before the big wedding.
What can I say? Crack is wack!?!?!
Kane has a little tent that he likes to play in. I was in the kitchen and he got very quiet. To my surprise this is what I found inside. Who knows where the balloon came from. Your guess is as good as mine.