Newborn - 3 Months... 8/20/02 - Kieran Ravin Patel was born today!  look at pictures here!21.5" long, 7lbs 8oz. 8/24/02 - Kieran is doing wonderfully. His big brother Spencer is a great help and cares about him very much.  Already Spencer helps throw diapers away and brings his little brother his binky.  The hardest part of this sibling relationship (for now) will be to get Spencer to NOT share snacks and cheerios and such, since he may not understand that Kieran cannot handle foods like that. 8/25/02 - Last night Kieran slept very well...so well, that mommy had to wake him up to feed him. Who knows how long he would have slept if we let him.  8/28/02 - Kieran's first doctor visit! Kieran was seen by his pediatrician today.  He's in good health and has gained 12 oz. since he was born.  Most babies lose weight the first week. He's doing very well with breastfeeding and going through lots of diapers... lots, and lots of diapers!  Mommy and Daddy had forgotten what it was like to change them every 2 hours. At least they smell like fresh baked bread. 9/6/02 - Kieran's sleeping a lot. Kieran is doing a great job at night.  He usually needs to be woken up or will just fidget a little when it's time to eat.  He won't cry and wake up Daddy when he has to go to work in the morning.  He probably could sleep through the night, but he has to eat about every 3 hours.  9/20/02 - Another doctor's visit today. Kieran had his 1 month check-up today.  He now weighs 10 lbs. 4 oz. and is 21.5" long. They said he was only 20.5 last time (as opposed to Arnold Palmer Hospital's numbers) but oh well.  He's still grown an inch.  He's been a little sniffly lately, as we've all had colds at home.  The doctor said that Kieran has small nostrils and that he will sound more stuffy than he really is for a while. He also got his 2nd Hepatitis B shot.  He turned really red because it hurt him. But, other than that, he is doing great and growing beautifully. 10/11/02 - Kieran is such a happy baby! He smiles a whole lot, and makes lots of baby sounds like goo's and gaa's. He follows daddy with his eyes very intently... slow and deliberate. :) He has taken a few baths with his big brother Spekky.  Spekky will help wash Kieran and to even soap him up.  Kieran definitely has a different smell than Spekky.  Both are baby smells, just different. Kieran is sleeping a 3-4 hour stretch at the beginning of the night and every 2-3 hours after that.  He still doesn't cry for food. He's just rooting and wiggly until Mommy realizes he's awake and hungry again. 10/21/02 - The 2 month check up: Kieran had four vaccinations today after his check-up.  These included Hib, Polio, Hepatitis B, and Prevnar.  He weighs 12 lbs 3 oz and is 23 and 1/4 in. long.  We were told that his outtie bellybutton should get smaller by the time he is 4 or 5 years old.  Also, the doctor agreed that he has sensitive skin and may be allergic to wipes.  We'll just keep washing him up with water then.  10/22/02 - Transition to the bassinette. Last night, Kieran slept for the first time in the bassinette for real.  When we brought him home from the hospital, we tried to put him in there but he kept fussing, so he's been sleeping in our bed ever since.  Mommy decided that Kieran was ready to move to the bassinette, along with his pillow and blankie made my Aunt Kendra.  He slept a 6 hour stretch, so he's improving on how long he's going without eating now.  Yeah for Baby Kieran! 10/25/02 - The 8 hour stretch! Wow!  Kieran did an awesome job last night!  He slept for 8 hours straight before needing to nurse again!  (FYI-Both Kieran and Spencer slept their fist 8 hour stretches the night that they were 2 months and 5 days old.  Isn't that something?!?!) 11/12/02 - The 9 hour stretch! Kieran's getting even better at sleeping through the night.  He's been a little gassy lately, so he does need a little rub or a binky once or twice, but is doing well with waiting to nurse until the morning.  Yay for our baby boy!
	3 - 6 Months... 12/04/02 - Flipping time and more stunts... Kieran is getting stronger and working out his muscles more and more each day.  Today, he flipped from his belly to his back while playing in his gym.  He has been holding his head up steady while on his belly for long periods of time to look around - a different point of view.  He is also doing little push ups, as well as recognizing his name.  His favorite little games: he loves to rub noses (since day one!), loves his feet in his face, and he loves to rub his hands on your face and then on his face, too. He laughs so much and makes so many silly sounds.  He's definitely into faces. He's still working on his nighttime habits.  Sometimes he fusses a little too early for Mommy (6:30 a.m.) and eats at around 7 or 7:30.  Hopefully he will start to go even longer so that he can start to sleep in his own room soon. 12/23/02 - 4 Month doctor visit...He weighs 13lbs 14oz. and he's 24.5" long.  He got 4 shots: DTP, Hib, Polio, and Prevnar. Kieran was very good for the shots.  He only cried at the second shot for a short while, but soon he was smiling again.  12/26/02 - Time for rice cereal...Kieran had his first tastes of rice cereal today, and he loved it!  Every time mommy took the spoon away to scoop up more, he would get antsy, because he was anxious to keep eating. He didn't even make too much of a mess at all.  He did a great job.  After his taste buds were introduced to rice cereal, we brushed Kieran's gums-- have to teach him early the importance of good oral hygiene.  It was definitely a new sensation for him. 12/28/02 - First cold...Oh, our poor baby has been diagnosed with his first serious cold.  He's had a high fever and a little bit of a cough.  We're hoping he doesn't catch Spekky's flu.  Kieran hasn't been too cranky for being sick.  What a good sport. 01/04/03 - New foods...Kieran ate bananas for lunch for the first time.  Till now it's only been rice cereal, formula and mommy milk.  He ate the bananas all up. You'd think he ate them before.  We couldn't feed it to him fast enough.  Kieran ate squash for dinner.  It's not as yummy as the bananas, but he still ate all of it without a fuss.  01/11/03 - New flavors, new adventures...Among the new tastes Kieran has been introduced to lately are applesauce, peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, and carrots.  We get the feeling he has a sweet tooth, as bananas still seem to reign as his favorite food so far.  The bib is getting a bit messier at times, but all in all, he's doing a great job trying new foods and he's being a great sport about it. 01/16/03 - Flippin' Baby! Kieran just learned to flip from his back to his belly. 01/20/03 - Kieran leaves Mommy and Daddy's room...Kieran slept in his own room for the first time. He slept from 11pm to 8am.  WOW!  He only woke up once for a very short period of time (10-30sec) then went back to sleep. 01/27/03 - He can hold it...He was holding his bottle on his own tonight, like a big boy... baby boy. 02/20/03 - Sitting up and other fun stuff... Kieran sat up by himself today for the first time for a long period of time, and on more than one occasion throughout the day...Mommy has to sit behind him, of course, but he loves playing in this new way...He feels more like a big boy! We got the walker out of the attic today and Kieran loves it! It's his own play domain now, with his favorite rattles and his Snoopy toy.  We love to take the walker outside on the patio, too, while he plays--a touch of the outdoors... Our growing boy is holding his toys and transferring them from one hand to another.  He loves the rattle that Miss Suzanne got him, as well as his Snoopy rattle, and Snoopy "action figure."
	6 - 9 Months... 02/24/03 - 6 month check-up...Dr. Mary checked our little boy out today.  Kieran weighs 15 lbs 7 oz and is 26 inches long.  His head circumference is 17 and 3/4".  He was doing fine until his shots, of course.  He got Hib, Prevnar, and DTaP shots.  He is a little cranky and has a low-grade fever.  My poor baby.  He just needs some extra love tonight. 02/27/03 - The unexpected weaning...Mommy knew it was coming soon, but not this soon.  Kieran officially weaned himself away from nursing from Mommy.  Mommy was sad, but that is just a part of Kieran growing up... 03/09/03 - Kieran likes...Kieran is definitely showing preferences to things now that he's getting older. He still loves to play with faces, and he also loves: his diaper changes sitting up in the bath in his bath seat to chew on Snoopy and Mogli apple cranberry baby food water in his Snoopy cup sitting on Daddy's shoulder's hats on his head kisses on his neck and tummy 03/18/03 - Kieran's hair has finally grown enough that it was in bad need of a trim.  Mr. Ben's niece, Miss Jennifer, did a great job.  Kieran was very cooperative.  We'll see if he can keep up the good behavior next time.  Too bad he can't get a lollipop for doing an awesome job. As Spekky says, "He's too little.." 03/19/03 - WOW! Kieran was just extremely hungry today! He just kept eating and eating and eating! He even had 2 bowls of rice cereal.  We couldn't believe it! Where does it all go? Oh, yeah, we know: in the diaper! 03/29/03 - Today was Kieran's special day in the Church.  He was baptized my Fr. Ennis.  Brian and Suzanne are his godparents.  They really love Kieran, and we feel blessed that we have them as our friends and examples of good people to help Kieran grow in his faith, and help guide him as he gets older.  We had a beautiful baptism, followed by some cake at my parents' house.  Our Kieran was so good during the baptism.  He cried only because the towel in his face bothered him, but we think he really was fine with the holy water.  Kieran even held Fr. Ennis' hand during parts of the ceremony.  Aw! 03/31/03 - Other tidbits of information: Kieran has learned to cry for a little bit on his own in the crib and then get himself back to sleep.  He still wakes up early, though, at around 7AM.  He doesn't really drink much of his bottle, just a couple of ounces and then whines for a bit and goes to sleep.  But he loves to go to bed early usually.  Yesterday, he slept from 7:30PM til 7:30AM.  Wow! Kieran is sitting up on his own with more stability.  We still don't want to put him in a highchair yet, but he can sit in the swing at the park--and fall asleep! "Where's the teeth?" We don't know.  It seemed that the bottom ones were coming out soon, but now they seem to be stuck! We're still waiting and keeping a close eye on his gums... Kieran is babbling many sounds, including "dada", which makes Daddy proud.  He likes to say, "eoh", "vada", "bop", and he squeals a lot, too.  He is very vocal.  He gets that from his Mommy. Kieran has great control of putting his bottle or his binky in his mouth.  He has great dexterity, and it seems as if he's even showing a tendency to be right-handed.  Mommy has a feeling about that anyway. 05/03/03 -Kieran must have missed Mommy a lot while she was in the hospital because of her gallbladder emergency.  He started saying, "mama, mama" and Daddy got it on video on the digital camera. Mommy felt really special that day. 05/09/03 - Kieran's bottom tooth has finally broken through.  You can see the other bottom tooth ready to come out, and the 4 top teeth are looking pretty ready, too! 05/14/03 - Kieran seemed to really want to eat something as he watched Spencer and the girly cousins eating stuff besides baby food. So I tried to give Kieran some Cheerios, for the very first time! He made a weird face about it at first, but he's learning.  Even though he has the pincer grip down with other things, he still is picking up the Cheerios with his whole hand.  He needs some practice, that's all. 05/18/03 - Kieran is not very fond of being on his belly, but we've been working with him to try and start crawling.  He has finally gotten the idea enough that he pushes off of his feet, bending his legs, and pushing himself forward to grab something he wants. YAY for Kieran!
	9 - 12 Months... 05/21/03 - 9 month check-up and other feats: Mommy is a little bit worried today. Kieran hasn't gained too much weight in the last three months, even though he eats a whole lot. He only weighs 16 lbs. 13 oz. and is 27.5 inches long. He is in the 25th percentile for height, but he was way higher than that before.  His head circumference is 17 and 3/4 inches.  The doctor wants Kieran to come back next month for a weight check.  I hope he starts gaining more.  He seems to eat plenty: rice cereal in the morning, bottle afterwards; stage 2 baby food for lunch, bottle afterwards; bottle for nap; stage 2 dinner, bottle afterwards; bottle before bed.  She said she wasn't too worried about it. But Mommy worries anyway. Whenever Tia snaps her fingers, Kieran tries to copy her.  He really looks like he's snapping his fingers, except without the sound.  He loves it! Kieran makes so many sounds and copies many inflections as well.  Mommy thinks he's going to be a big talker. We think he's saying "dada", but we're not sure yet. We bought Kieran a baby toothbrush, now that his bottom tooth is poking out.  He loves to brush his teeth and gums! He gets so excited! We've started brushing his teeth/gums at night now. Kieran now sleeps with his blue bear blanky that Abuelo gave him when he was born.  His blanky has a big bear head, which is great because Kieran is SO into faces and loves to hold the bear's face in front of his own. 05/31/03 - Daddy's teaching Kieran stuff too... Today, Daddy taught Kieran how to drink from a straw.  In no time at all, Kieran was sucking up the water.  I think he really likes to drink from a straw... definitely likes it better than the sippy cup.  Perhaps it's because of his travel bottle with the tube (Podee).  This is one of the greatest inventions for infants made in recent years.  Lately he has been doing the 'all done sign'.  He looks like he's screwing in light bulbs with both hands.  essentially showing you the front and back of his hands.  He's also waving goodbye when Daddy leaves for work.  He usually cries when mommy leaves.  Kieran loves.... loves.... loves Dora the Explorer (as did Spekky).  Kieran gets all giddy when the "we did it" song comes on.  06/17/03 -=Kieran was laying on his belly on the floor one minute, and the next minute, he was just sitting up like nothing. We kept missing him doing it for a while, but then finally caught him in the act! WOW! He learned that quickly. We never even saw him attempt it before! 06/22/03 - We are learning that Kieran is picking up on things pretty quickly. For a while, he's been standing while holding on to things, but he never tried to pull up to stand. Mommy would have to get Kieran up there, and then he would stand for a while. Today, Kieran pulled up to stand on his own by using the couch and also Spekky's fire truck. Talk about balance! 06/23/03 - Kieran only gained 3 oz. in the past month and weighs just 17 lbs. Dr. Janarious said she is not worried because he is acting fine, eating enough, and seems healthy otherwise. It may just be that he is thin because Daddy was so skinny when he was little, too. Kieran never even really had any baby fat or rolls. So we'll see how he does at his 1 year check up, where they will order bloodwork anyway at that time. In the meantime, she gave us some drops for his eye because it was a little infected (that was a surprise to us!) and we are trying to fatten him up as much as we can while still keeping him happy. At the park this evening, Kieran ate sand for the first time. Maybe Hazel told him she loved it when she was little. =) He loved it, too! 06/25/03 - Kieran's hair was getting WAY too long! So we paid a visit to Mr. Ben today and he took care of Kieran's long locks. Now he has that Caesar hair cut. He looks like a bigger boy. He didn't fidget or cry much at all. He was so quiet and calm. At the end, he started to get restless, but we think it was because he was tired and it was past his naptime. He still did a great job! 06/26/03 - Climbing fun! Kieran tried to climb the stairs at Ba and Dada's tonight. Mommy was right behind him, with good reason! 06/30/03 - Some updates: Kieran has TOTALLY gotten the crawling motion down! He is crawling VERY quickly, too. It's amazing what a fast learner he is! The two bottom teeth are fully exposed now, which makes it easier to brush them. He loves brushing teeth time. We sing to the tune of the Wiggles' "Hey there, shaky shaky..." and he laughs and opens his mouth up nice and wide. We seem to have found Kieran's special friend, puppet bear. that GigiBa brought down from Panama City. Kieran holds him, hugs him, laughs at him, and has him sleep in his crib now. Awww. Kieran does a great job clapping his hands now when you say, "YAY!!!!" He gets so happy and excited. We must thank GigiBa for the smartest purchase for Kieran EVER: Smarty, the Robot! Kieran LOVES him. He squeals in delight when he plays with him or when he hears his silly songs. At naptime and bedtime, it's tough to get him to stop looking to the side to see Smarty on the other side of the rocking chair. You turn Smarty on and Kieran will come from the other side of the house in a matter of seconds, laughing and screaming! Kieran is eating cheerios, goldfish, and he loves bananas and pears. He hates chicken so far and is not into the green vegetables. He does love carrots, sweet potatoes, and squash. He just started eating grated mozzarella and cheddar cheese. He's also had a little bit of yogurt. I have to introduce some different foods, because his love of those vegetables is making his skin a bit yellow-toned. Kieran takes his short nap in the swing still and does great at napping in the afternoon, usually for about 2 to 3 hours. Mommy made him a special CD with favorites from Dan Gibson's Solitudes. Kieran knows the routine for nap time and falls asleep quickly. The sounds coming out of Kieran's mouth are pretty funny. He says "mama" and "dada" and mimics many sounds you make. He makes sounds of surprise, such as "uh?" and "oh?" and he does "ba ba ba ba ba" with the back of his hand on his mouth. Ba taught him that, as well as to blow bubble with his spit and to blow raspberries on your skin. It sounds so funny. Kieran winked today and smiled. When we wink, we say, "I love you" all the time, so he is learning how to respond and tell us he loves us, too. How amazing. We are so proud of our boy! 07/16/03 - Guess who's making his way around the house holding on to whatever he can? My, can he get far! 07/17/03 -Now our "K-Pup" is standing on his own. He does this for a few seconds at a time. When he suddenly realizes what he's doing, his bum just plops to the ground. "PLOP!" 08/01/03 - New words, new deeds... Some of the sounds and words that Kieran is saying now include: "mama": Mommy "aga": agua "dada" and "daddy" "boom!", and he says this as he pulls his hand down over his ear, then laughs "ta": Tia "uma": Elmo Kieran is very verbal. He mimics inflections and will make many sounds while you talk to him. If only we knew his own private language! Kieran is our Mr. Pointer. He loves to point at people and things that interest him. Our days are full of his pointing to something and us identifying it for him. I know he knows such things as: mailbox his picture is him Daddy's car balls his room Spekky's room bath Speaking of baths, Kieran LOVES bath time. We can't get him in the tub fast enough sometimes. He seems as if he's about to just dive in head first! It's so sweet to watch Kieran share right now. Sometimes he will bring his binky to your face so you can use it, or he will offer his bottle/formula to share. He will fake us out when it comes to his Cheerios and Goldfish, though. Telephone! Kieran understands how to play with the phone. If you say "hello?", he will put it up to his ear and laugh. Then, when you say, "bye bye!", he will put the phone down on the ground. Kieran definitely understands when we tell him "no." His thing right now is to turn the big screen on and off. We have to tell him "no" sternly. Usually he will listen and crawl away from the tv. Sometimes, his feelings get hurt and he will look at you with his sad little eyes. But he still knows that what he's doing is a "no no."