The semester has started and I am BUSY! The fall semester is always the worst at work because there is so little turn-around time between when I receive the students' study abroad applications and when these need to be sent to the overseas university or program. Also, the students who work in the study abroad advising center don't start until this week, so that leaves it up to the full-time advisers and grad students to cover the advising center in addition to taking our regular individual appointments. Needless to say, I have not been able to get much done. Because we are still in the process of fine-tuning our new website for the office, I have had to put in hours on the weekends and nights. Oh, and then there are my classes, which mean lots of reading and writing. Poor Kiefer and Roel don't get to see me much, I'm afraid!

Kiefer isn't helping my exhaustion much because he likes to wake up very early in the morning (5:30 or 6:00). I hope he starts sleeping a little longer soon! He goes to bed at 8:00 and when he's at daycare he refuses to nap. I'm really sure that it is not healthy for him to sleep so little! During the weekend, he takes a nap in the morning and the afternoon. Roel and I are sure that he naps at home because we are boring. At daycare, he's afraid he's going to miss something, but what could he possibly miss at home?

Before summer ended, we had some fun! We went to two 1st year birthday parties for Kiefer's friends. At one party, he had a great time with the other babies, splashing around in the pool and playing in a little tent. At the other party, he decided the birthday girl's car was really cool and spent most of the party wanting to "drive" the car.

We went to the trolley museum in Shelburne Falls, MA. Kiefer had a great time riding the old trolley and seeing the old train. After the visit to the museum, we walked across the Bridge of Flowers. Kiefer thoroughly enjoyed touching (and sometimes pulling) all the beautiful flowers. His favorite part of the day was probably eating some blackberry frozen yogurt!

Last weekend, we took Kiefer to his first fair. We went to the Franklin County Fair, which is only a 5 minute walk up the road from our house. It was very nice not to have to worry about parking. Roel took Kiefer on his first carousel ride, which he didn't really like. Kiefer didn't cry, but he didn't look very happy. Next, I took him down the long slide, which he enjoyed a lot. Kiefer has finally figured out how to hold our hands and walk along aside us, so he spent a good amount of time holding my hand, walking around the fairgrounds and taking it all in. He enjoyed the baby animals. He got to pet a calf and he got to see ducklings and bunnies, too. After dinner and a few more rides, we decided it was time to head home so we put Kiefer back in his stroller. He fell asleep almost before we could buckle him in. The fair was fun, but tiring for him!

At his 15 month appointment this past week, we learned that Kiefer weighs 23 pounds 9.6 oz (10.7 kg). I was shocked because I was certain he weighed more. He seems so heavy when I'm carrying him around! He is 31" tall (78.7 cm) and his head circumference is 49.5 cm. He's in the 25th percentile for his weight. 50th percentile for his height and 95th percentile for his head circumference. We already knew he had a large noggin... so that wasn't a surprise! At his appointment he got two shots and he was MAD at the nurse. He cried and cried and after she left the room he pointed at the door she just exited and continued crying. Poor little guy!

Kiefer is looking forward to seeing his Tante Paula and Oom Frank on the 28th when they come to visit for a couple of weeks. Chasing after Kiefer will be a good preview to what awaits them in a year in a half with their little boy is Kiefer's age!

Luv,
April, Roel & Kiefer (the little soccer star)

The summer is coming to an end... I am certain I can smell autumn in the air. The nights are cool and the days are pleasant. I am not certain I am ready to start classes again in just two weeks. I have to keep reminding myself that these will be my last two classes EVER!

Kiefer has been having a great time walking all over the place. We bought him his first real pair of shoes two weeks ago. We went to Target, and found a cute brown pair. We put them on his feet and put him down to see how he did walking in them and he just took off. He didn't care that the shoes were attached together with an elastic string. He was thrilled!

I do have to complain a little, though. There were two huge racks filled with adorable toddler girls shoes and one 1/2 stocked rack of so-so boys shoes with only a couple pairs that I considered cute. Why don't they make more cute stuff for boys?

The same day he got his shoes, we went to Laura & Deana's to hang out with them Bonnie, Cindy, their significant others and babies. We had a lot of fun catching up and Kiefer and Vivi kept us all busy as they were into everything. Vivi was happy to see her friend Kiefer again and she was so cute giving baby Catherine and baby Bennie kisses.

While Kiefer is very good at walking/running now, there has been a mishap or two. On Friday, Aug 8, he got his first goose egg. He was RUNNING around the housewith his truck, took a corner too quickly and hit his head on the bottom stair. I didn't know where exactly he hit his head until about a minute later when I saw the giant goose egg! I put a couple of ice cubes it while he watched Thomas the Tank Engine (I needed some distraction or he wouldn't let me near his head with ice). I thought it was going to turn everyshade of the rainbow, but I could barely even see it the next day! Whew! Kids are so resilient.

We have been visiting our favorite orchard, Clarkdale Fruit Farm every weekend now. They started selling peaches a couple of weeks ago and we have all been enjoying them. Kiefer will eat a whole peach in one sitting. I usually cut them up for him and he likes to use a fork to eat them. I am convinced that he inherited Roel's aversion to dirty hands. Since we now let him have a fork some meals, we're now fairly certain that he is right-handed! Hurray! So while he still looks so much like Roel, he does have my brown eyes and is probably right-handed like me.


Oh! We now have neighbors living in the other side of our duplex/condo. We had gotten so used to it being empty that it was a little strange at first to hear some movement through the walls, but our new neighbors are quiet. She's a nurse at a local assisted care facility and she had a grown son and a daughter who is a senior in high school. We have more new neighbors down the road and they have 3 kittens. One is rather brave and runs right over to Kiefer if he sees us outdoors. Kiefer is very gentle with the kitty. I think he learned to be gentle with Holly's (our day care provider) dogs. Mr. Oliver never really lets Kiefer get close enough to pet him.

We received some exciting news last Friday (August 8th). Roel's sister, Paula is engaged. Frank arranged for a limo to pick her up from work. It took her to a house he rented for the weekend. After a wonderful dinner, he got down on his knee, took out a ring and proposed. They plan to marry in September 2009! Congratulations! We're very happy for them!

Love,
April (& Roel & Super Kiefer)