Boo Boos

OK, I almost forgot to post the worst day of my life. The day Kellen got his first boo boo, and it was ALL my fault.

We were at church about a month ago and Kellen and I were in the middle of our usual routine. We attend church in Riverside, at Sandals, and arrive early so Colin can serve at the coffee cart first service and then we attend second service. I usually hang out with Kellen during first service and then he goes to Flip Flops, the children's ministry during second service. Depending on whether or not he wakes up before we leave, I usually leave him in his PJ's nurse him and then he gets dressed and fed some cereal after we arrive.

This particular morning, I got him dressed and put him inside his "Jeep" umbrella stroller. I figured it would be easier and cleaner to feed him in a chair then just in the back of the Outlook. I wasn't planning on moving him so I did not strap him in. BIG mistake.

He was eating fine and the morning was going great until a giant beetle looking bug started flying around us. I sort of freaked out and moved Kellen in his stroller to the side of the car. The beetle followed us! As I was ducking and running around, I pulled the stroller back with me to the back of the car, and that is when it happened. Kellen flew out of his stroller and onto the pavement. It all happened so fast that I didn't even realize that he wasn't in his stroller. I turned around to seem him, face down on the ground. He hadn't made a noise yet. One of those moments when they want to but can't breath. I ran right over to him to pick him up and he let out the loudest scream he's ever done to date. I held him in my arms and put my hand over his head. I tried to calm him down. His face was covered in black asphalt and a bruise was already started to develop in the middle of his forehead. He calmed down a little and a few Flip Flops workers came over to see if everything was OK. They helped me get some of my stuff and we brought Kellen to the nursery. Amanda, a church employee and friend, brought me an ice pack for Kellen's face. I sat in a rocking chair and put the ice pack on his head and he let me leave it there for quite a while. We gave him some Tylenol and he seemed to be OK. By this time it was just the two of us and my mind had time to wander.

In between my continuous apologies to my poor little boy I was thinking about possible brain damage and concussions. Someone had informed Colin of what had happened and he arrived just in time to distract me from my thoughts. But, unfortunately as I tried to describe to him what happened they began to flow. Tears down my eyes while I recalled what had just happened. It was just as awful to think about the second time. It wasn't comforting to know that Kellen was still extremely mellow in my arms.

Fortunately, he is fine. The marks on his face in the picture above were horrible, but they have since healed. The small reddish purple mark above his eye, we later realized, was from the curb. He was very close to hitting his eye, and I was EXTREMELY thankful that nothing happened to his sight.

I don't like "Boo Boos," and with him being a boy I know there are plenty that will probably come. I just hope that they aren't my fault. Is it wishful thinking to hope that he never gets hurt again? :-) Probably.

Another one comes through

As of last week, another tooth finally came through. He now has 3, all on the bottom. You can barely see the newest addition. However, the top two right in the front are going to come through any day now. They are pulling so hard on the gums!! He doesn't complain much, but he has been waking up early, I think it is because his teeth hurt. Sometimes he goes back to sleep, but most of the time he will only go back down after a little milk and cuddle time. I don't mind, I love cuddling my little boy, it is a very precious time between the two of us. As soon as he is done eating, he puts his head on my shoulder and relaxes his entire body. I'm such a lucky mom, he is so much fun.

I'M MOBILE NOW!!

As of about a week ago, Kellen has become a crawler. Within the last few days he has really started moving!! I can't believe how fast he is growing up! Every morning when he wakes up I look at him and say, "Did you get bigger in your sleep?" My nickname for him is, "Little Boy," but he is growing so quickly, he is outgrowing even his nickname!

He still only has 2 teeth, however the top 2 right in front are so swollen I wish I could just make them come out. They have been troublesome for him, but I know he tries not to complain. He is such a good boy. We love him so much and are so blessed to have him in our lives. He brings so much joy to each day.

Today when I was feeding him some cereal, he was making so many different facial expressions. He is way cooler than me, and I laugh at some of the things he does. He likes to blow in my face, and when he eats his cereal he makes a little noise when I put it in his mouth like he is saying, "mmmm." It is so cute. He still takes 2 naps each day, and does very well sleeping through the night. He loves his bed, and he loves taking baths. He splashes all around and I usually put a towel over my legs so he doesn't get me wet while I sit and watch him.

I think we are going to head down to the pool tomorrow to try swimming on our backs, and going

under water a little more. There was this really cool video I saw on youtube (I made it one of my favorites) that shows the progression of babies learning to swim from 6 to 16 months! It was incredible! Kellen loves the water so much, I wonder if he would be interested in learning to swim kind of early. I guess we can always try.

We just recently went on a camping trip to Mammoth, I will try to upload some pictures tomorrow for everyone to see. We had a good time.

Camp Adventures

July 26th to July 31st were the dates for this years cross country camp. Kellen and Colin came along with me. This was Kellen's first experience with "camping." He stayed at the campsite pretty much all day, and then he had a cabin for his pack in play bed time. Here are some of the photos I took at camp.

To the left, he fell asleep on a hike. He enjoys the motion I guess and the fresh air.

The dirt wasn't really the best place for him to play, so I brought his blow up pool and put some toys in it. It kept him busy for a little while. Kellen was part of the "blue" team, that is why he is wearing a blue bandana.
He was so exhausted on one of the trips from the cabin to the campsite (a whoping .8mile drive) that he fell asleep in his old carseat. So, I left him in the chair. He slept for about 20 minutes.

This was at dinner time. He enjoyed eating his greens and chicken, so much he wanted to make sure that everyone saw him.

"Hi Ma! I'm ready to go for a ride." We used the passanger seat in the old ghetto van as a changing station. I'm sure it's had worse on it. It was a quick diaper change.

This is a picture of Kellen's first time bowling, we went to Lake Gregory on Wednesday and Kellen watched us bowl. He wanted to rub the ball for good luck. I bowled a 166... not much but sadly, my highest score ever! Thanks buddy!

Check out my attached youtube video to see him playing in the food tent at camp!

A day at the Beach

Today was Kellen's 7 month birthday already!! SO, Jess, Kellen and I headed down to Oceanside Beach for some nicer weather. It was roughly 106 in Lake Elsinore today around 11am so we took off to enjoy the 82 degree temperature with a slight overcast. The water was nice and it wasn't too crowded until we were getting ready to leave.

Kellen was a little bit of a sour puss when we arrived. He ate a little and we walked down to the water and he wasn't having any of it. I tried again later and we sat down in the water and he was still angry. I sat down next to him for a few minutes to see if he would calm down, and no luck. When I got up my butt was all muddy so I figured that maybe he would cheer up if we rinsed off in the waves. Still no change. He refused to nap in his cool little tent and so we hung out for a little while and then Jess came out with us to the water and he finally cheered up. He was so happy that he giggled when I dropped him down to kick the waves! So, I went back and got the camera and video taped him and took some pictures.

First try down to the water, still a little hesitant.I'm the King of the World!!

Yeah, I like the water now!

I got sand all over my face!! I almost put it in my eyes!!

My first trip to the beach from Mindie Gilliland on Vimeo.