Kiley is two months old this August, and time is flying by. She is still on the small side, like her parents, and is in the 12th percentile for weight verses other babies in North America. With our country’s fascination with carbs without exercise, maybe that’s a good thing? At nine pounds and five ounces, she still weighs less than one of her cousin’s birth weight! She is 22.5 inches long (46th percentile) and is still growing, so no one is concerned about her.

Kiley has had quite the bout with acid reflux problems and pains with intestinal gas. Combining the problem, I call them gassid pains. That leaves her in pain, which equals crying a lot of the time. In a comical side note, Laura looked up the symptoms of reflux online, and found that our little baby girl displayed all 12 of the signs. She was scheduled to get a upper gastrointestinal study done, but the test was cancelled because we knew she obviously had reflux. Canceling was fine with me, because it would have involved drinking barium and then getting x-rayed. I get x-rays all the time at 40,000 feet above the north pole, so no biggie there, but getting Kiley to drink barium was going to be a feat we didn’t want to try and accomplish.

The screaming, even after taking “gassid” medicine, has been tougher for me to take than I thought it would be. However, every time I want to get overly frustrated about it all, I think back to a sad visit we had at Skyline Chili the other day. We saw a family enter with a young son who obviously had lots of problems, both physically and mentally. They loved him and treated him just like any other kid, but I know they’ve had a rough time getting to that point, and I wonder what the future holds for both him and his parents. Will they care for him his whole life? Probably. Kiley on the other hand, was born about as healthy as she could have been. Despite her screaming, that too will pass, and that is what I have to focus on when she’s wearing cranky pants.

Laura was able to go to a reunion party with all of the other parents in our birthing class. Kiley was well behaved, and was obviously the cutest one there! A funny story from one of the other parents went like this:

“When our son was born, the doctor looked him over and said, “Ten fingers and ten toes! Oh, wait a minute, NINE toes!” He was missing the pinky toe on his left foot. I went out to the waiting room to tell my family we had a baby boy. I said, ‘It’s a boy!’ and my brother says, “With ten fingers and ten toes!” I said, “Well actually, NINE toes!” Oh well, we love our little guy.”

Gus has really taken to his younger sister, even though she already out weighs him and gets lots of attention that he used to get. We really work at making sure our little guy isn’t left out and gets the attention he needs and wants. It’s really funny when Kiley and I are lying on the floor together working to strengthen her neck to be able to raise her head. She hates it and cries because she wants to be held or be on her back, where it doesn’t take so much effort to look around. Gus will walk in and nuzzle right in between me and Kiley. He seems to know exactly where to be so I can’t make eye contact with her. That’s when I have to stop and love on my little chorkie-dog a bit. He’s almost as needy for attention as Kiley is.

He has become quite protective of his younger sister, too. Our friend Stacey was over, and Gus loves her to death. How much? We have a pee-pee accident each time she arrives! Anyway, she was playing with the baby and Gus decided he didn’t like it and started to snarl at her with a growl. Laura had to put him outside to take a time-out and calm down. I wasn’t there, but I was beaming with pride when Laura told me that Gus was trying to protect little Kiley, or as he sees her: the newest member of the pack. A few weeks ago, Kiley was sleeping upstairs in her bassinet and Laura let Gus in from the yard. He burst in, running from room to room, sniffing and looking back at Laura. She asked him many times, “What’s wrong, buddy?” He ran around like a crazy dog until he headed upstairs and found her sleeping. He sniffed her to make sure she was really Kiley, then headed down to the couch and laid down to nap. We’re positive he loves her as much as we do!

We made another trip to Texas and both Kiley and Gus did great. Once again they both slept the whole way down and back. We were able to spend time on the water at Lake Palo Pinto and get some pictures while at Katie and Scott’s lake house. Kiley has now flown more than most of Laura’s family, and we are hoping that the constant experience of it will make her a real pro someday sooner, rather than later. She also tolerates her baths a lot better than her furry brother does. That is, until it’s time to get out. Gus loves being finished, and Kiley hates the ending, with the cold air on her wet body. She is enjoying playing in her little play gym, and it’s a delight to hear her laughing in the mornings as she plays. She is in the best mood in the mornings and it’s amazing how a cry can become a laugh, or vice vera, so quickly. During the day she naps, plays, eats, and repeats. It’s just another day in the life of a two month old.