First Haircut - October 2010

At the beginning of October, Karsten got his very first haircut. I put him in his bumbo, got out the water and succors…prayed a little…and went to work at attempting to cut his hair. Good news, he kept his ears and his hair was straight; a successful attempt.

Fun at Home

We had some excitement this summer. I went on 3 week long business trips, one each month this summer. Karsten and Ryan had lots of fun while I was gone and we all had lots of fun when I got to be home.

Karsten got this chair for his birthday and he loves it. He stands on it, sits in it, drags his toys up on it with him, and of course he loves to use it to climb onto the couch.


One of Karsten's favorite toys is a stuffed rat and one of Ryan's favorite things to do is stick toys in Karsten's shirt...so "hey mom look I am having a baby...and it has a tail"!





One day in late July we had a little rain and out came a rainbow...a feww hours later out came a goat...didn't expect that one.




A child's best friend...a box




Karsten had a little misunderstanding with a book.

Karsten’s First Oreo

Well it was bound to happen, every boy must experience his first Oreo….well I will let you judge how it went.

Karsten’s Birthday

In July we celebrated Karsten’s 1st birthday (July 15th). We had a party with each side of the family and a special playdate with Karsten’s buddies.

Here's our big guy eating his first cupcake.


Opening presents



Taking in the spoils...











Buddies








Family Party Westlakes

Father’s Day

So I know it is far from June and Father’s Day but we had a terrific day! Ryan “daddy” got lots of fun gifts that he can use to fix up the house, cook for us, and help us see in the dark…you know to scare aware monsters and stuff.

Diaper Rash/Burn Gone Horribly Wrong

In case I did not copy you on the email, please read....

Hi All-

I wanted to share an experience I had with you, so that you all might benefit from our unfortunate experience.

I am sure you have all seen the ads and in-store boxes of Pampers diapers with Dri-Max. They advertise a thinner diaper with better coverage and they are often on promotion and have great coupons.

Well I bought some and yes, they are thinner, and yes they do a great job absorbing. The problem is that they have BURNED my son's behind badly. At first I thought it might be acidic feces or a REALLY bad diaper rash - but he has had it 3 times and I have found other parents having the same issue....and it is the diaper! My son's behind has been burned very badly 3 times by this diaper brand. So badly in fact that he has spent hours crying in pain, I have had to put medicated butt cream on him (we have gone through a number of tubes because you have to practically cake it on to prevent more burns), I have had to alter his diet (to find out what it was), and so on. In other words this has been a lot of grief for a stupid diaper!

So please, do yourself a favor and do not buy the Pamper's with Dri-Max, tell all your friends too.

**Now granted, not every child who has worn these diapers has gotten burned but their are thousands of parents on Facebook with similar stories to mine. There is also a class action lawsuit that 40+ parents filed against Proctor and Gamble (who make the diaper). Plus this story has been on the news.

I have never had a problem with any other Pampers brand, in fact I love Swaddlers and I love the Cruisers without Dri-Max.

If you opt to pass my email along please remove my signature line and my contact email from your forward - I don't want to become a nation-wide chain mail author, I just want to share my experience and prevent other babies from being hurt.

Fun stuff

This past weekend we went on a little trip with our friends, Chance and Kristal, and their little guy Bronx. We all had a blast to say the least! Karsten even got to try his first watermelon and we and Bronx had a splash fight in the tub!

Videos from the past few months

One of Karsten's favorite things to do, no matter where he is, is to get into the dishwasher, he just loves to try and get stuff out.


In true Westlake spirit Karsten is also practicing his piano skills from a young age.