My Loves

Ok. 2/3 of my love. No wait... only 1/2 of my loves because I am definitely going to count Darby. 

These kids, they are growing up WAY too fast. 

H has become tall, lanky, and every once in a while displays some teenage behavior that I am just NOT ready for.  I will catch him out of the corner of my eye and think "that is not my baby. that is not my little boy. when did he start to look like a big kid?." If you ask him, everything is in 2's. He slept for 2 days, Christmas is in 2 weeks, and he grew up in 2 days.

He has only been in school 3 days so far but I can already see a difference in his play and what he does. He is more apt to sing along to a show or when music is on.  He is also nicer to A. He tells her that he missed her and helps her take her shoes off and climb up & down. He is a much happier boy during the school year than during the summer. 

He loves all things sporty, tractors and firemen. He is going to be a fireman for Halloween and we are all excited about this. He is going to rock it and will actually want to wear his costume. We are going to start him in sports in the next year. Just have to figure out which sport it will be; baseball or soccer. 

I am struggling with him though. He whines and cries at the drop of a hat. He hates to clean up but LOVES to make a mess. He is, in a word or 2, a young kid. He is really a great kid and our issues are my patience. I worry that I am not showing him love in the way he needs it.  I am going to get the 5 Love Languages book for Kids to help me. My biggest fear is that he will grow up thinking I love A more than him because her & my love languages are similar so it is easier for her to feel my love. So, I am working on loving him as he should be.

A, what a stinker. She will be 2 in a few short months and is a lover of life. She wakes up every morning happy to see the day. Usually, the first thing she will say is "See-ral!!!" She loves to eat cereal for breakfast and always stops by our room to say good morning to daddy before she makes her way to breakfast.  She continues to work her magic in making both JJ & I feel like her favorite. I envy her ability to make everyone feel important and loved to her. 

We are working on her coordination. She still has a hitch in her right leg when she runs but I have noticed that she is starting to run faster. I think all those races with H down that hall are starting to pay off. This girl loves to run, though. She would run all day of she could. 

She is becoming quite a verbal little girl.  She can express herself very well and even said a 6 word sentence the other day. It didn't make the most sense (something about monsters) but she put 6 words together and was able to convey what she wanted to say in a round-about way. 

She still has a love to Elsha (Elsa) and all things Frozen. If she is upset or doesn't want to do anything, just sing "Let It Go" and all is right with the world again.  She loves to dance. She has learned to speed up or slow down her dancing to the beat of the music. I am seriously starting to think about enrolling her in dance next spring to encourage this love. 

A loves H; thinks he hung the moon.  Anything that H does, she has to do right along with him. H has learned to use this to his advantage (as any kid would) but A does not seem to mind taking the fall for his ideas. As long as H wants to play with her, she is a happy girl.  They play very well together and really enjoy each others company most of the time. 

These kids of mine, I think they are pretty great. I am not always the perfect mother but I love them to the moon and back. I think that JJ & I are doing a great job with them. I hope that we continue to help them grow into the amazing people that they will become. 

Big Girl Bed

A is 22 months old and we transferred her to her big girl bed. Well, I should say that we have decided to start the transition. This is earlier than H was moved to his big boy bed but he was in his transition bed way before this. If anyone was ready for a big girl bed, it was Anns. She would climb up into H's bed and tuck herself in and pretend to sleep. 

JJ, being the very protective father that he is, thought that the fall from the full size bed would be too much for her. So, he came up with a good solution. We have blown up our queen sized blowup mattress so she can get used to not having the rails from the crib; if she does fall it won't be so far.

I don't particularly like the way that her room looks right now. I hate that there is no headboard but I know that this is only temporary. I am giving her 2 weeks in this bed and then she will get her the headboard into place.  I know it shouldn't bother me since this temporary but I just don't like how unfinished her room looks. It will be much better once we get everything in place.

When we first got her bed into place she immediately climbed up and tucked herself in. She loved it from the second that we set it up. 

I wasn't so much worried about her sleep as I was about her loving the bed too much to sleep. I should have known that both JJ & I had nothing to fear. She won't leave her bed until one of us comes to get her. She will lay in bed and read a book or just sing to herself until she falls asleep. Even when she wakes up, she lays quietly and will call out every once in a while until we come to get her. 

Her first night in the bed

She did fall out of bed her first night but it was only once. She somehow rolled off the bed and got her head stuck between her bookshelf and the bed. She was really good about it though. As soon as I got her back into bed, she told me nite-nite and went right back to sleep. 

Both H & A are loving the big girl bed. We will have snack picnics on her bed and just lay around.  We read books in her bed, have parties in her bed and take turns pretending to be asleep. It has really been fun for us to all get to hang out on her bed. 

The perfect winters day

Today was a day I had waited for for over 15 months. The weather is unseasonably warm (high is 81) and Florida's Snow (what I affectionally call Pollen in the winter) made a thin yellow blanket on top of everything. And the Keitzers could be found outside!  

I was on one of our adarondack chairs reading a book while the kids played. Together. That's right. Not only were we enjoying the warm winters day with enough breeze to be comfortable but H & A were playing together in the backyard. 

A is finally old enough to walk around so I am not freaking out about her crawling in dirt but she is still young enough to think everything her brother does is amazing and worthy to copy. H loves having someone to boss around but is kind enough to choose activities that A can play along with. 

 

One moment I hope to never forget is the two of them spinning in circles laughing. H looks at me with a smile and said "I spin in circles with my sister!" This is the very first time he has called her his sister and it made me feel like we were finally a family. I needed H to acknowledge the relationship to make it complete. 

She sees and she does

She has seen H ride this car transporter around the house and insists that is the only way that she too will get it from point A to point B. 

I love that she thinks H is cool enough to emulate. 

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).

{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. 

{This Moment} & a Favorite

{This Moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment in time. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

I recently stumbled upon this video by Sara Bareilles and I love the song and the video. I used to "Kelly Dance" in high school to embarass my sister and this reminds me of that dancing. 

I leave you with this video to start your weekend. Enjoy!



Kelly

A is 10 months old!!

A Cakes is 10 months old! She has grown by leaps and bounds this month and it close to walking. This blows my mind because H crawled for 2-3 months before even making attempts to pull himself up or walk. 

H started school this past week which has been great for A & I. We actually get to spend a few house just the 2 of us on a consistent basis. I am really treasuring this time because I was not home with H while he was young so I was not the one to work with him on crawling and talking during the week. I am really just enjoying getting to know the day to day of her personality and watching that change. 

Weight: 17 lbs and 1 oz so she has gained a few ounces this past month.

Sleep: She continues to sleep through the night! She is a great sleeper. The other day I put her down to sleep and she wasn't tired. I stood outside her door for a few minutes and watched her crawl around the crib, stand up and try to reach things. It amazed me that she wasn't crying. She entertained herself until she was ready for bed. H is almost 3 and still cries every night. 

Talking: The usual Mama and Dada but I don't see it directed at either JJ or I purposefully yet. 

Teeth: No new teeth. I think another top tooth is starting to make its way down because she is drooling a lot but it hasn't shown itself yet. 

Eating: She still prefers the stage 2 baby food. I have been pretty lazy and the only solid food I have given her is bread. I plan on working on that this month.   

Right or Left handed: Pretty much only uses her right hand. 

Eye Color: Still blue. Pretty sure they are staying a deep blue with some hazel around the pupil. 

Crawling: Last weekend she started to finally crawl off her stomach and within a day was pulling herself up and walking along couches and tables. My mom says that I didn't crawl long and I can see A walking soon because she does not like to be left out. 

Nicknames: A Cakes, Baby (thanks to H), and Anns BaDans (thanks to my neice C) and now Strahan Jr because of the Strahan like gap between her front teeth

Bestfriends: She still idolizes H. If he thinks that something is funny she is laughing right along with him.  Darby (our dog) is also her favorite. Oh man, if Darby comes anywhere near her, she gets the biggest smile and laughs. 

Darby & H are definitely going to be the first things that she really walks to.

She and H have started to play together more and I love watching him actually pay attention to her and have fun with her. I think that they will be good friends. 

Personality: She is very particular. I have watched her look through a whole box of legos just to get one specific lego. It blows my mind that at 10 months she knows what she is looking for and will look until she finds it. 

She is becoming very specific with the toys she plays with. 

She is starting to love music. Any song that is played she moves her feet and when it ends she will try to sing. She has discovered a recorder and loves to play it. 

She is my little love bug and I can't wait to spend more time with her. 

I hope you have a great Wednesday!

KK

{This Moment}

{This Moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment in time. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

Happy Friday y'all!

KK

A is 9 months old

Oh, Dear! My baby (my last biological child) is 9 months old! That means that I have to start thinking about her first birthday. But before we start planning the future, lets take a moment to look at her pretty hair (that has some major red highlights in the sun), her blue eyes and her gap toothed smile. All of these melt my heart and she knows it. 

We had a rough month. She has completed cutting all her teeth but man it made her very unhappy. We had glimpses of what she is going to be like as a teenager and I am not looking forward to that. She squeals/yells at us when we leave the room and she doesn't want to be left alone. It is actually ear-piercing.  

Look at that face. Does it say "get the camera away from me" or what!

She has really started to assert herself. H has spent the last 9 months taking toys away from her so now that she is mobile, she goes after all his stuff. She is pretty smart about it. She waits until he is distracted by something else and then makes a beeline for a toy he just finished playing with.  It annoys the poop out of H but there isn't really anything that he can do about it. 

Weight: 16 lbs 14 oz (24%). She is a skinny minnie but I think that is because she is scooting around so much! 

Height: 29 inches (90%). She is so tall that she is in 12 month sleepers because her toes poked holes in her 6 & 9 month sleepers. 

Sleep: She is finally sleeping through the night and has been for about 2 weeks. It got to the point where she would only wake up once a night and eat 2-3 ounces which means that she wasn't hungry. We decided to make her cry it out. She was clearly ready to sleep through the night because she only cried 1 night and has slept through the night since. 

Talking: She is making a lot of consonance. A lot of "Bababa", "Dadada", "Mamamama". She also yelled "GoGo" at me while I was running the other day. I appreciate that she is learning new stuff but I don't like my 9 month old scolding me because I am not running fast enough. 

Teeth: She has 6 teeth. 4 on the top and 2 on the bottom. She has a wonderful gap between between her two front teeth that we are hoping fills in as more teeth come in. 

Eating: She stopped eating baby food for a while but are back. She drinks about 3- 8 ounce bottles a day and then has 3 jars of baby food and some finger food for snacks. Banana is her favorite.   

Right or Left handed: Nothing definite yet but I am pretty sure that she will be a right handed person. She rarely uses her left hand. 

Eye Color: Still blue. I think that they are going to stay blue which makes JJ & I happy because we want someone in the family to have an eye color other than brown or hazel. 

Crawling: She is army crawling like there is no tomorrow. She speeds around the house all day. She does not let anything stop her. She has started getting up on her hands and knees and rocking so we feel like actual crawling will come soon. 

Nicknames: A Cakes, Baby (thanks to H), and Anns BaDans (thanks to my neice C) and now Strahan Jr because of the Strahan like gap between her front teeth

Bestfriends: She idolizes H. If he thinks that something is funny she is laughing right along with him.  Darby (our dog) is also her favorite. Oh man, if Darby comes anywhere near her, she gets the biggest smile and laughs. 

Darby & H are definitely going to be the first things that she really crawls or walks to.

Personality: She is becoming such a ham. If she wants attention she will suddenly start talking and smiling. Everyone comes running when she does that. She has also started to pose for the camera. 

- Take a look at the next picture. The first one shows A as I started to take pictures and then the next one is when it starts to dawn on her that the camera is out and the last is when it fully clicks that I am taking pictures. 

- That girl can turn it on when she wants to!

She kills me!

I put her hair in a ponytail for the first time and it was fantastic. Not as great as the pigtails but super cute.

So, that is my little girl at 9 months! I can't wait to see what she has grown into at a year old!

KK

Watching My children sleep

I am one of those mothers that cannot fall asleep until I know my babies are safe and sound. 

It started from day 1 with H. I, as many new mothers, would sit there and just watch him sleep. I loved how perfect and peaceful he looked. Even in those first few hours I knew enough to enjoy those peaceful times. 

H has never been a good sleeper.  I take that back. He is a great sleeper, he is just the worst at falling asleep. No matter what we did, he never learned to sooth himself to sleep.  Even now, at two and a half years old, he often cried himself to sleep.  So my habit of looking in on him became a nessecity for my sanity.  After listening to your baby scream himself to sleep, you kinda need to see him in a happy, calm place. I need to see his sleeping smile and the way he curls up on top of his blanket instead of under it.  I like to see if he has fallen asleep clutching a toy or book. Without fail he manages to play with a toy or "read" a book while crying and screaming for his bad (who has just spent the last 30 minutes reading to him and putting him to bed).  

My Mom gave him a little wheelbarrow and he had to sleep with it at nap time.

So, every night before I go to bed, I sneak into his room and just love on him. I silently pray for him and send him happy thoughts while he dreams. Because he has a hard time falling asleep, I am careful not to touch him.  I don't want to wake the beast so late in the evening.  I did that a few times when he was younger and I just had to kiss him or move a lock of hair.  I eventually learned my lesson.  I do feel that he can sense me and my outpouring of love in those quiet moments and these thoughts are what get us through the days when the terrible twos rears its ugly head.  

Enter my precious baby A. She is a marvelous sleeper; as long as you don't count those 4 days where she only slept in 45 minute stretches when she was 3 months  old. Spoiler Alert: she was crazy hungry and formula for a few days solved that problem.  She rarely cries when you put her down to sleep.  She buries her face in her blanket, plays with a book or snuggles with her giraffe (Jewel Jr.). 

I always go in to check on her after I check on H. She is a pretty light sleep and invariably wakes up when I come in. I don't know if she doesn't care or is just that easy going but age will stretch and snuggle down to go to sleep.  She never falls back asleep right away. She will lay there with her eyes closed and move her little hand on her blanket or her face while I watch her.  After a few minutes she will roll onto her back and smile up at me.  That is my cue to kiss her on her forehead and head off to bed. She in turn rolls back on her side and falls fast asleep.  I like to think that she gets as much enjoyment and peace out of it as I do. 

I have rarely thought about myself as a sentimental person but now I realize watching them sleep is my way of treasuring them and being sentimental about the day that has already past and that we will never get back. 

Do you watch your kids sleep? Do you have any other ways that you try to preserve their childhood in your head?  Also, if you have any suggestions on ways to ease a toddler to sleep, please pass them on. We need to break him of this habit. 

KK