My Firstborn is 3

H is 3 today. At 11:14 tonight, he will have officially been on this earth for 1,095 days. It is crazy to believe that I have been a mom for 1,095 days and I think that I rocked it most of the time. 

It is crazy to believe that this little guy who cried so much his first 6 weeks that JJ & I thought we were going to get divorced from the stress has turned into this fun loving guy:

We are so blessed to have him as a son and our first born. 

H, you are sensitive (in a good way) and gentle. You do not shy away from your feeling or expressing them.  You are all boy. You love to kick the soccer ball, throw the football and pretend to be a fireman.  

You have grown so much in the last year. School has made you incredibly social, brought out your imagination and so smart. I hope that your love of school does not fade for a long time.  Your verbal skills continually amaze us. You can count to 16 and you LOVE to count. 

You have made your father and I so happy and brought laughter, love and tears into our lives. I see you growing up to be a fantastic big brother, friend and someday a wonderful husband to a sweet little girl. I am already praying for you to choose a woman who can treat you as well and love you like your father and I do. 

We love you with all our hearts. 

This Killed Me

I was doing laundry the other day. A completely normal task. A task I take for granted that I get to do with relative ease. I normally don't really pay much attention to anything else while doing laundry. I wish I hadn't been paying attention on this day. 

I walked into H's room and just stopped in my tracks. This is what I saw:

A very messy boys room that had been cleaned but one thing was forgotten, Blue Bear. That killed me. It killed me to see Blue Bear forgotten. Really, tossed aside and then forgotten. 

You see, Blue Bear has been a constant companion of H's since he was able to move. Blue Bear would sleep with him, come in the car with him and play everything with him. I was so used to seeing Blue Bear everywhere that H went. But, it seems, not anymore. 

This is telling me that H is growing up. He isn't relying on stuff like Blue Bear for comfort anymore. He is moving around so much and too fast to worry about bringing a bear along and I know that soon he won't be worrying about bringing me along to things anymore either. 

My little boy is growing up. Next Tuesday he will be 3 years old. He can count to 16 and has recently started calling us Mom & Dad, not Mama & Daddy. Blue Bear was just the first of many clues telling me that he is slowly pulling away and is definitely not a baby anymore.

Haven help us. If I am freaking out over him not using Blue Bear anymore, imagine what I am going to be like when he learns to drive or goes off to college. 

Oh, well. Fare you well Blue Bear. You were a great companion and I hope you enjoy the keepsake box I put you in. I know that when H has kids they will love you like he did. 

H as a big brother

H is really coming into his own as a big brother. He is starting a care about A as well as tell on her more. 

It cracks me up how much he loves to tell on her but he also loves to play with her and show her how to do things. 

The other day A had pulled out part of H's measuring tape and was really frustrated that she could not get it to go back in. I asked H to show A how to use his measuring tape. He walked over to her, picked up the measuring tape and said "You put your thumb here and help is slowly slide in with your other hand" while demonstrating what to do. 

This is the first time that I have asked him to show A how to do something. The fact that he did it without complaining and was so kind about it really amazed me. For the first year of her life, H wasn't too excited about now so to now witness him treating her like a person and being nice to her really made me happy. 

I am incredibly grateful that I am able to watch my kids grow up and become friends right now. 

A talking (a post with no pictures or videos)

A is finally talking. Around her one year check up, she was saying "Ba" for ball, "Bah" for bath, "Ga-Gi" for Darby/doggie and "Buh-Bye" for bye. She says that last one with an extremely southern accent. 

Our pediatrician was a little worried because she was not making the "d" sound or saying "Mama" or "dada". One of the reasons that Marty was worried about her speech was that little A was underweight. My little bit was 95% in height but only 5% in weight.  This is a big issue because babies mental growth and development feeds off their fat. If they don't have fat (like little teensy eensy A) they will be slow to develop and may miss big milestones.  At her 12 month appointment she weight 17 lbs 11 ounces. Because of her weight be had to go back in 6 weeks for a check up

So, after that appointment she wasn't allowed to drink anything but whole milk and we pushed a lot of pastas. After 6 weeks we took her to the peds and she only weighed 18 lbs 2 ounces. That is about a 7 ounce gain in 6 weeks. They wished for more but Marty said that she wasn't too worried since I am on the slender side. 

9 days after that appointment, we had to take the kids to the peds because it appeared that H came down with Hand, Foot and Mouth. (I will post more on this, when thinking about it doesn't make me want to vomit). While there, they weighed A and she had gained 11 ounces in the 9 days from the last appointment. Since then, she has been putting on weight but is still slender. 

That being said, after her one appointment and her weight gain, she blossomed. It really is true that babies development depends on fat stores. It wasn't until she put the weight on that she started talking and walking.

Now, she is not talking in paragraphs or about to write a novel but she has added "Mama" and "Daddy" to her vocabulary. She pretty much only says mama when she is upset but, man, this girl loves to say Daddy. She said mama for the first time on Christmas Eve and around New Years Eve she started to practice her Daddy. She says it like "Dai-ee" and will say it over and over all day long.  JJ loves it. He pretends like it doesn't make his day but he smiles like crazy when she does it. 

She babbles constantly. The other day we were on a walk and she turned around in her seat and babbled to me the whole time. She could point to stuff and laugh at stuff that she said. She is a talker and really trying to get her point across. I love to hear her babble and practice saying words. I have a strong feeling that she will be more talkative than H and have a desire to really talk sooner than he did. 

So, now A is walking, talking and just being a 14 month old. She is growing up and being awesome.

A is FINALLY walking

So, around 8 months old A started to pull herself up on furniture. We were all so sure that by 9 months old she would be walking. Her 9 month birthday came and went. As did her 10th month, 11th month, 12th month and 13th month.

If this was my first kid, I would have been crazy worried but since she was the 2nd I was a little more relaxed. She was making all the motions so I knew that she had it in her to walk. She either didn't want to or was too scared to try. I mean, she is my child, so she was probably waiting until she was an expert at it before she showed it off to the world. 

Finally, around the middle of December, she started to take a step here and a step there but no real consistent attempts to walk.  So, one day I started to bribe her to walk. I would stand a few steps from her and hold my phone in one hand and a remote in the other. She would very timidly take a few steps. A few days of that and she still wasn't trying to walk on her own. 

Then... one day she woke up from nap and started walking and never looked back. 

It amazes me how she could just turn the corner during nap time. Before nap time, I was forcing her to take 2 steps; after nap time, she stood up on her own and took off around the house. Mind Blown!!!

So, now at 14 months, we have a full blown walker and she could not be happier. She refuses to sit down to eat. She will take her food in both her hands (like the shoes in the video above) and just walk around the house with a huge grin on her face. 

H is excited too. He wants to play with her more. Just this morning I was drinking my coffee and reading when I overheard him say "come on, lets go play in my room" and they both got up and walked away.  Just warmed my little heart. 

So, that is HUGE for us and we could not be more excited about the journey we have really embarked on now that we have 2 full fledged walkers (well 5 if you count JJ, me & the dog).

Heart Attack Noles

Oh Man! What a game. I bleed Garnet & Gold and am normally very optimistic but that game had me more nervous that my wedding day (and I had to medicate myself to get down the aisle) and gave me about 50 new gray hairs. 

Yesterday started out warm and got colder as the day went on. JJ had a fire in our fireplace and I was bundled up on the couch under my FSU blanket by 1 pm. 

The kids were on fire all day long. H was so excited and ran around the house yelling "Go Seminoles!" even though he wasn't going to be awake for any of the game. 

We realized yesterday, thanks to the cold weather, that our kids were really lacking in the late winter FSU apparel department. Well, H is just lacking in the FSU apparel department period. A has a new FSU shirts and onsies but poor H only has 1 FSU shirt that gets worn A LOT during football season. We plan to remedy this during the off season so that our kids are overly prepared for football season next year. 

Doesn't little A look so good in a hat? We are going to have to start buying her more hats!

The first half was killer. We looked awful and just could not get in a rhythm to save our lives. We made costly mistakes and our touted secondary was leaving Auburn guys open all night long. We were lucky we weren't down by more than 18.  My blood pressure was up so high that I visibly had more color in my face. I wish I had snapped a picture because I actually looked really good. A nice flush in the checks. This is something that I have yet to master and recreate with makeup.

I applaud Jimbo for calling the  fake punt. Momentum was not swinging our way and our guys needed to get hyped. I really think that was THE turning point of the game. If we had punted and given Auburn the ball, we probably would have gone into the half down 28-3. That is a tough deficit to overcome. 

The second half was MUCH more enjoyable to watch (in fact, I have already watched the second half twice more this morning).  Offense made some adjustments and were actually able to move the ball which gave the defense a much needed rest. 

The last 4:42 of the game really almost gave me a heart attack.  Having 3 lead changes and 24 points scored in the last 5 minutes of the game is crazy. I didn't think we would pull it out. I had lost faith but I am sure glad that our boys didn't. They fought hard and overcame the biggest deficit in BCS history to win the game. 

 

I will say that I disagree with the defensive MVP of the game. PJ William played great and the interception was exactly what we needed when we needed it but I think Timmy Jernigan played his heart out and single handedly kept Auburn from running up the middle on us. The poor guy was playing with the flu, that's right, the flu and had a crazy impact on our D.

Ok. Before I end this post I am going to go on a slight rant. I have been so annoyed this week (well the past month) listening to people talk about how great the SEC is.  There are good teams in the SEC but there are some bad ones. HELLO... UF went 4-8 with a losing season for the first time since like '79. Yes, in the best the SEC has had the best team in the nation but this was a new season with completely different teams. The SEC is top heavy. They have some great teams at the top and then it falls off.  So, I am annoyed by all this SEC hoopla and then today I turned on the TV and "The Herd" was on ESPN. I listened for maybe 3 minutes and this guy was completely trashing FSU. He said that this game didn't show that the SEC sucked (Which I have yet to actually hear someone say) but that the ACC was just this awful.  That FSU didn't deserve to be in the game because if they had been in the SEC they would have had a losing record. Excuse me?!?!?! The ACC might not be the best conference (no one is claiming they are), but we killed everyone in the ACC. We deserved to be in that game and proved it. It wasn't pretty and we could have played better but I have to say: Auburn played a great game. They made very few mistakes. FSU looked awful in the first half. In my opinion we didn't even step on the field to play until the second half. All that being said, Auburn played great and we played not great and we won the game. Imagine what the game would have looked like if Winston and the receivers had been playing lights out the whole game. Suck on that SEC. I just want people to stop saying that we would do nothing against the SEC and that we suck. If we suck, then the SEC sucks because we just beat the SEC champs. Team of Destiny? Team of Destiny to Dominate! Ok. End rant!

I am proud of our boys. FSU won the first BCS National Championship and the last. That is pretty cool to be able to say.  I am proud of our boys and proud to be a 3rd generation FSU graduate.  GOOOO NOLES!!!!

BCS national championship

Today is the day! The National Championship game is tonight at 8:30. The Keitzer household is so excited that JJ took today and tomorrow off work. 

We plan on tailgating in our backyard (don't judge) with our awesome (and homemade) cornhole boards and some friends who, although are not FSU fans, have come over to support us and talk us down from a ledge should it be needed. 

 

  

Aren't those the classiest and most beautiful boards you have ever seen.

It has been a roller-coaster these last 4 months as a Florida State Seminole fan. It was always fun to watch the games but the drama off the field did not feel good. 

I will be glad once the game starts. I always feel anxious leading up to the game. Heck, I can feel my pulse start to race right now just thinking about the game. 

So, hopefully tomorrow I will be feeling like this:

But it am very aware that I will probably feel like this:

To me, FSU is like Da'Bears. They just continue to break your heart at the worst possible times. 

Anyway, enough pictures of Florida State. If you need me to night. I will be pacing the living room or backyard with a Vodka & Tonic in my hand and trying no to wake the kids!

GO NOLES!!!!!!

{This Moment}

{This Moment} - A single photo - no words (but i can never not say something about it) - capturing a moment in time. A single moment that makes the ordinary into something extraordinary. A moment that is not to be forgotten. 

A is such a ham when the camera is turned her way.  And has a CRAZY gap between her teeth. Her orthodontist is going to love us.

A's First Birthday

A turned 1 on a Tuesday so we decided to have a very low-key party. I kinda feel bad about this because we threw a big party for H's first birthday and we didn't do anything for A. But, that is 2nd kid problems. 

We started the day with a nice relaxing bath. Both kids love their baths so they would play for hours if I let them. 

Then, it was just a regular day until dinner time. 

We have grandparents and great grandma's over for a shrimp and grits dinner. We didn't even try to give A shrimp but she rocked the grits.  I made cupcakes and Steve brought a cake. Mom had made the mistake of giving A an apple core right before we did cake, so she was not interested in anything but the apple.

After she blew out the candles, she just sat there looking at her cupcake. I finally had to smash her hands into it. She looked at her hands and then just went back to the apple core. 

After dinner we immediately opened presents. A still is not walking so Aunt Kristin got her a great stroller that she can push around to practice her walking. 

 The stroller came with a baby that giggles. This was a huge hit with H. He named it "Baby" and has been taking care of it ever since. 

JJ & I don't really believe in going all out for first birthdays so we gave her a small toy from Barnes & Noble that has balls, a hammer & xylophone. I didn't think it was all the great but look at her face... she loved it!

Her Uncle Conor got her some books which is just perfect. A absolutely loves to be read to. If you are sitting on the ground, she will grab the first book that she finds and crawl into your lap and just sit there until you start reading. 

After opening presents, we wanted to give her some time to play and unwind before putting her to bed so she & H decided to play with NiNi's phone. I think this was the hit of the night. I don't know why we even bother getting kids toys when there is an iphone around.

As every mother says, it goes by so fast and I can't believe how much she has changed in 365 days.  These next 2 pictures were taken 365 days apart pretty much to the minute.

That girl has a lot of hair and still teensy eensy.

I have this habit of giving the kids a kiss and wishing them Happy Birthday on the minute they were born on their birthdays. H was born at 10:14 pm so he is always asleep but I haven't missed one birthday yet. A was born at 6:41 pm so we were all able to tell her Happy Birthday on her birth minute. I get such a thrill and a bit teary eyed whenever I do this. It is my way of acknowledging them and the massive impact they have had on my life at the moment that their true life changing nature began. 

In her first year she has started saying "Buh" for bye and "Ba" for ball and bath. She is cruising and hopefully will start walking any day now. She is a sweet little girl who loves to cuddle and loves her dog. She worships the ground that JJ & H walk on and I hope that never changes. She is very good at sharing her love and letting everyone know that she loves them.  

Overall, it was a great birthday for JJ & I; I think A would agree. It was nice to have such an intimate dinner. Every one got to hang out and see A and spend time with her on her first birthday. 

We are excited to see what the next year holds for this sweet face!

Halloween 2013

This is the first Halloween that we have participated in.  Our first family Halloween, in 2011, H was 9 months old and we kinda thought it was stupid to pay for a costume just for pictures and candy that we are going to eat. Our second family Halloween, in 2012, A was 8 days old. To say that we were not in the mood to go out is an extreme understatement. H wasn't in school or around kids so he didn't really know about Halloween so we didn't feel like he was missing out on anything by not participating. 

This year, with H in preschool, we knew that it would be talked about and that he needed to at least experience it. So, I got 2 inexpensive costumes from Old Navy; A monster and an owl. 

A few days before Halloween, we got a pumpkin to carve. Neither JJ nor I really enjoy carving pumpkins but I knew that H would like it and I really wanted to roast some pumpkin seeds. 

H had a great time helping JJ with the pumpkin but by the day after Hallowen that bad boy was rotting. Stupid Jacksonville and being warm in October. I think next year we are going to let the kids paint them and I will just buy pumpkin seeds. 

We were going to go over to Casey & Sarahs to hang out and let the kids play but Audrey was sick so back up plan was Mom & Dad. We hung out with them and let H ring the door bell and say "Trick or Treat" for the first time. 

He loved it! H was all about Halloween until he realized that he had to wear the costume. It took me telling him that we would have to go home and he wouldn't get any candy for him to decide to put it on.  But, boy howdy, are those kids cute.  

Since H & A go to bed so early, we were only able to go to a few houses but H was so polite. Kinda blew my mind. Without any prompting, he would say "Trick or Treat, please!" and after he got the candy he would very kindly say "Thank you. Good Night" and walk away.  It worked out really well that we only went to a few houses because H still got enough candy to last him the few days until he forgot all about Halloween and candy. I actually had to throw some away. And by throw some away, I mean eat it :)

(Please take note of the pink Halloween bucket. H was able to pick between orange, blue, green and pink. He choose the pink one and I absolutely love it!)

A was extremely unimpressed by the whole thing and just wanted to take the stupid costume off and go to bed. 

I think that our first Halloween was a huge success and can't wait to go next year when both H & A can actively participate and enjoy it.