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 ver
y 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 we
ekend, 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 hi
m 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)
