Diaper Rash Escapades

Knox had a visit with the pediatrician today for a serious case of diaper rash.  Unfortunately, she recommended he remain diaperless "as much as possible".  Knox is enjoying this naked parade much more than I am though.  The cuteness makes up only so much for having to clean up behind his messes...

The dogs are very interested in his backside...there has been a lot of sniffing.  

I took all the rugs up in the house to make things easier for me...I guess it's a good thing that it is 100 degrees outside- he's certainly not cold with no clothes on!

Adventures in eating...

Eating time at our house has become quite the event.  I have decided to try and be relaxed about how messy mealtime gets, so I have been letting Knox feed himself (the best he can) and it has been quite amusing.  So far, his favorites are bananas and spaghetti- not at the same time of course but both equally messy :)

Knox is 9 months!

 

Nine Month Stats

Weight: 22 lbs. 5 oz. (80th percentile)

Height: 29.00 inches (80th percentile)
Head: still really big (90th percentile) - Knox's pediatrician said it could be a family trait and then proceeded to measure both mine & Kyle's heads.  I won't say whose was bigger- but the conclusion was that 'yes' Knox got his big head from his parents :)

Knox is doing great and is thankfully in excellent health! He is crawling, pulling up and cruising.  He is getting into EVERYTHING and is go-go-go all day long.  He takes two good naps of about 1 1/2 each and sleeps from 7pm-6:30ish am.  Not bad!!  He is starting to be able to stand on his own for a few seconds, but I think we are still a ways away from walking.

 

I get this face a lot :) 

Our Spokane visit...

Well, our summer of vistors and travel has almost come to an end.  Last week we flew to Spokane to spend some time with Kyle's family and meet the newest addition- McKenna Grace.

This little angel sleeps all the time!  

McKenna was born on July 28th

We got to meet McKenna when she was only a week old.  It was so fun to just be in Spokane and hang out with the fam.  Our nephew Marek loved having his cousin Knox around to play with and Knox LOVES being around people so it was a win-win!  

Marek & Knox are almost exactly 13 months apart, so hopefully they will be great buddies in the future. We went swimming and spent a lot of time playing in the cool 80 degree temperatures while we were there.  It was such a treat to be able to be outside during the day again.  The sweltering heat of Austin has made us housebound for the past few months so even getting to go outside is awesome! 

It has been our tradition for the past four summers to go to the Oregon Coast every August with Kyle's family.  We are really looking forward to getting to share this tradition with Knox- he will be such a lucky kid to get to spend a week on each coast every summer with different sides of his family.  The Oregon Coast is dramatically different from the North Carolina Coast, but both are wonderful in their own way.  We weren't able to go to Oregon this year, because of sweet little McKenna, but we did make a day trip to Lake Coeur d'Alene in Idaho.  It is about an hour drive from North Spokane where Kyle's family lives.   

The water was pretty chilly, so no one really did any swimming, but it was fun to just enjoy the scenery. Kyle spent his summers in Idaho growing up, so he was excited to be able to take Knox to Idaho during our trip. We also got to spend a little time with Kyle's grandparents, which is always special for the great-grandparents to see their great-grandchildren.  Knox & Marek are both favorites with Kyle's grandparents! 

Kyle's mom with her 3 grandkids in less than 2 years!! 

It was a great week but we are happy to be back at home now and getting back into the groove of things.  My parents are coming to visit this weekend and that will bring our crazy summer to an end!

-Stacie 

8 month photoshoot

Knox is on the go now! He is crawling everywhere and fast! I haven't taken many pictures of him lately because it is hard to get him to stay still. I was able to get these few right after his nap, so he was still a little bit groggy.  

East Coast and back again...

 

Well, it has been about a month since I last posted.   To say we have been busy is putting it lightly.  After my mom's visit, Kyle's mom came to stay with us and then we left for the East Coast for two weeks.  Knox & I spent a week in Virginia hanging out with my family and then Kyle joined us and we all went to the North Carolina coast for week at the beach.  It was fun to spend a whole week with my brothers and parents and to get to take Knox to the beach for his first time.

A "vacation" with a baby is not always a "vacation" but that is the beauty of vacationing with family.  We had lots of extra hands to help out with Knox- so Kyle & I got to spend lots of time relaxing on the beach with a book. It was glorious!  Knox was quite a trooper with all of our travels, but he did start a liking for waking up at 4:30 each morning to start his day. So, Kyle & I got to take turns going for early morning walks on the beach with him.  Although it was not our wake up time of choice, I will definitely look back on those mornings we had together as special.  But, thank goodness that he is sleeping later now that we are back in Texas!

Knox & his Uncle Kibbo

Knox & Dad hangin on the beach 

Grandma & Grandpa

Toes in the sand

The entire family 

a little family time

a rare family shot of all of us! (I am ususally behind the camera)

our little sand monster

Knox loved the ocean! 

we were watching him :) 

the beach bottle

 

Grandpa & Knox on the beach

Going to the beach with my family will be an annual family tradition and we are excited that this is something that we will get to share with Knox each summer.  The week Knox & I spent in Virginia before the beach was really special too.  Knox got to spend time with his great-grandparents who loved getting a chance to see him again.  

Knox & Great-Grandma Charlotte

I also got to spend some extended time with my younger brother Justin. He is going to be a junior at JMU this year and it is always fun to get to hang out with him.  He's an awesome brother and a great uncle to Knox!

Fro-yo with Justin

Possibly the most special part of my trip though was getting to spend some uninterupted time with my best-friend Katie.  I always see her when I am in town, but usually it is just for a few hours and she is the mother to two young boys- so it is always a crazy time. But, this time she was in Richmond for a work conference so I got to see her for two whole days sans children! It was amazing! We went out for drinks (like adults) and were able to have complete conversations! We drove around all of our old haunts together and reminisced about our middle school and high school memories.  

Me, Knox & Katie 

We truly had an amazing visit but we are happy to be back in Texas and back in our routine again.  I'm learning that with a baby routine is key! 

Our summer excitment is not quite over just yet though.  Kyle's sister, Heather, had a baby girl last week and we are leaving on Saturday to head to Spokane to get to meet our new little neice!  We are very excited about the trip! I'll post again when we get back. 

-Stacie 

The Summer begins

Summer has officially started for the Sale family.  My mom finished her last day of school (she is an elementary special ed teacher) and hopped on a plane to come and visit us last week.  This is the start of our summer of visitors and travel.  We have both grandmothers coming to stay and then we are also traveling to Virginia, North Carolina and Washington State to visit them as well- it's going to be a crazy summer! 

We had a lot of fun with my mom in town.  Knox is starting to get to the age where he has friends with birthday parties.  So, we went to a really cute birthday party for his friend Avery while she was here.  We also did some exploring around town and spent a lot of time at the neighborhood pool.   It was a good mixture of relaxing and entertaining.  

I had heard about 'Mayfield Park' before but had never gone. So one morning we loaded up and headed down there.  It was a really beautiful park that has roaming peacocks- they are amazingly beautiful and surprising loud.  It was an interesting experience! 

-Stacie