Chick days

What did you find Keagan?

Sorry, Hannah you are behind mom's hair!

Jeff stopped by with the kids this weekend so we could visit the chicks at the local feed store over my lunch break.  This is Hannah's favorite time of year - where the stores put chickens in front of her nose.  Let's not talk about the one time Hannah actually killed something - yes, it was a chicken...so she thinks this is soooo much fun. But, to be honest I am not sure which kid enjoyed themselves more.  Hannah kept trying to put her head in the cage while Keagan kept trying to climb in with the chickens.  It basically took both of us to keep the kids from getting us kicked out of the store.  What a fun spring this has been:)

Hannah - isn't this fun, Let me have a better look

Hello Chicky, Chicky

Keagan trying to climb in with the chicks!



Must love dogs!

Well I should know better.  I typed up a long post about this topic and left for 5 seconds to grab Keagan a biscuit.  He loves to type on the computer and when I got back, my post was gone.  So here it goes again...

Keagan smiles so big when he is walking...and getting into trouble!

When I was pregnant with Keagan I was afraid that he would not like our animals or worse yet get allergic to our other kids.  Luckily someone was listening when I ordered a pet friendly kid.   Keagan loves all of our animals but JC our tiger striped cat is still his best friend.  Eden, my calico, will play with him but is not afraid to box him if he gets too rough.  Thank goodness she is declawed.  Delilah, Jeff''s cat still doesn't let him pet her, but if he pulls a toy along or gets out the" kitty stick" she is the first one to interact with him. 

JC watching over the little man.

Giving JC a hug

Maybe JC isn't so happy about being woken up...

Eden enjoying the comforts of the stroller

Delilah...where are you, Keagan has the kitty stick out

Now Hannah is still Keagan's protector but she doesn't want him to touch her.  This is getting harder for her to evade now that he can walk after her at any given instance and runs after her in the walker.  Just the other night Keagan and Hannah were running through the kitchen playing get the dog.  Poor Hannah, she just seems ragged some nights from trying to stay away from him.  In  the following pictures it took all of Hannah's love for me to sit still for the pictures and ran away as fast as she could once it was over. Keagan loved the chance to pet her, or should I say grab her whiskers and yank on her hair.  Hopefully the will find an understanding....some time soon.

What is going on Mom ?!?

Help - says Hannah!

Keagan is enjoying this!

Now for as much as Hannah doesn't want him to touch her, John's dog - Christy - another Golden Retriever loves it when Keagan comes over to play.  She lets him crawl all over her, he sticks his fingers up her nose,  grabs her paws and she couldn't be happier.  We couldn't ask for a better friend for Keagan.  His favorite game with her is climbing Mount Christy and she just sits there like the most patient dog in the world. 

Yeah...Keagan is so happy to see Christy! 

Christy is giving Keagan a kiss while he climbs Mount Christy

There go the fingers up the nose!

2 Goldens for the price of 1

I am going to touch your paw Christy

Now, not only does Keagan love playing with our animals, but he loves the activities that come along with having the pets in the house.   His most favorite activity is playing with the dog's water bowl.  We know there is trouble around the corner if Keagan is being quiet as he has found a water bowl.  He loves to get his hands wet and stomp his feet in the water.  Now we are getting smarter and minimizing the wetness of the house and dumping out the water when he goes to play with it.  That doesn't stop Keagan from playing with the bowls as he just stands on them to get a better view. I am not sure how Keagan would pass the day away if  he didn't have the water bowls to play with.  His other favorite activity with the dog is taking her out for walks.  It has been in the 60-70's here this last week and so we have been packing Keagan along in the backpack for the hikes.  This makes both Keagan and Hannah happy.  Hannah gets "hoppy" when she sees the backpack and Keagan starts hyperventilating which is Keagan speak for being extremely excited.  Although Keagan doesn't use words to communicate just yet, he talks to me the whole trip and just couldn't be happier!

Using the water bowl to get into even more trouble - eating dirt!

Let's go Mom!

We have to have the backpack slighly elevated or Mom can't get off the floor!

Ten Months

Do you see my 2 bottom teeth?

 Dad is so funny!

I can't believe that Keagan has now been out of my tummy longer than he was in my tummy.  10 months is a great time full of lots of activities - most of them involve walking around in some shape or form.  But now that he is so mobile, pictures are becoming harder to snap.  No longer will he just sit there and smile for the camera.  Now it is a joint production with Jeff and I taking turns with the camera or jumping up and down like a monkey to get a smile for the pictures.  Keagan thinks it is great that he gets both parents running around at the same time. 

Toys are required for Keagan to sit still for pictures!

Action shot! Keagan loves to put the balls in their place.

What are you doing up there mom?

Not only is the walker fun to walk around with, it is fun to walk around on as well.

At 10 months old the last time we weighed him on the dog and cat scale he was still holding just a little under 20 pounds.  We are a little surprised he hasn't crossed that 20 pound mark yet, but not surprised as he is trying to walk more and more each day.  He is just a little energy ball and up until 3 days ago he was eating the same amount.  Now Keagan has always eaten baby food for Jeff better than me.  I think Keagan looks at me and sees milk bar.  But with dad, its - "whatever he feeds me I need to eat or I might go hungry."  I actually have tried to increase his protein and bought him some tofu last week.  I tried to feed it to him but he thought it was quite fun to throw it on the floor after tasting it.  After telling Jeff this story, Jeff asked how I cooked the tofu because maybe he would eat it if we prepared it differently.  Little did I know that you need to cook tofu before you eat it.  I don't like the stuff due to its consistancy so I have never had it in the fridge before.  Fast forward to yesterday at the sushi bar.  I gave Keagan my tofu from the miso soup and he devoured it.  The waitress even brought him his own bowl and he just thought it was great.  I guess Keagan is learning at a young age, that his Mom is not a very good cook!

Do you see the white tofu on the floor?

First Steps ?!?

I am not sure when you are officially supposed to count those first steps, but last night he made some big steps by himself with no coaxing from mom or dad.  So I am going to count it.  He was standing at our big chair and saw me in the kitchen.  He decided to walk to me...and made it about 5 steps before he fell on his face.  Luckily he is a good natured kid and just laughs off the falls.  Of course I tried to set up the video camera to capture the moment on tape.  There are some steps on the tape but they are scripted.  Unfortunately I have been using the video camera and regular camera so much during his life that he know what that little beep sound means.  He stops what he is doing and comes over to the camera for a close up.

For more pictures and to view photos books that I have made check out my Shutterfly site at
http://bringingupbabykeagan.shutterfly.com

We are learning!

I am proud of what we have learned in the last 9.5 months about raising a child.  I don't think I had changed a diaper in over 20 years before Keagan came along and the learning curve has been steep!  Once I managed to figure out how to change the diaper, next came figuring out what size he should be in.  Jeff and I thought they should stay in size as labelled.  For instance the Newborn diapers said up to 10 pounds - so we assumed that you kept them in the Newborn diapers until 10 pounds.  Little did we know - the #1 diapers started at 8 pounds.  Now the problem with diapers that are too small is that you have leakage issues.  And believe me - we had a lot of them when he was first born...We thought it was because he was pooping and peeing every 2-3 hours.  Now, that I am an experienced parent - I now know that it was because we were supposed to have him in a larger diaper.  Larger diapers keep the mess in much better.  (We learned this again and again when we would move up a diaper size and when he would get into the next weight category, the diapers would overflow...you would think we would catch on a little faster) So fast forward to this week.  We have moved Keagan into #4 diapers and tonight the poop was contained!  We are so proud that we knew to move up a diaper size.  It is amazing what you think are big accomplishments once you have a child! 

Michevious Smile..Do you think he will sit still for his diaper change?

Running..maybe not from the diaper this time

Keagan's new prision -self imposed even.
Maybe it is because he feels bad about squirming around!

Now, if only I could really figure out the clothing issue I think I would be set.  Keagan has not gained much weight in the last 3-4 months as he has been crawling, walking and scooting around like a mad man.  We have been a little slow on baby food as he doesn't seem to like vegetables very much and fresh fruit is not in season right now.  Anyway...I digress.  All of the sudden it seems as if I can't get him into some of his sleepers.  I swear they fit 5 days ago, but now it is a struggle.  Both mentally and physically getting him into his clothes.  He squirms around so it is next to impossible to strap the diaper on him, much less get his legs into some type of clothing.  It is funny how I used to think snaps were the best thing.  I mean when you have a little baby just lying there, I used to think - why do you really have to undo the zipper all the way.  It seemed so hard to get both legs fully out of the sleeper.  Now I want to throw all of my snappy clothes away.  I need a zipper to finish the job in less than 5 seconds before he gets up and tries to run after the dog or the cat or well just to run.  Forget undoing all those snaps on the pants.  If I can't stuff his little legs down the holes, there is no way I am going to have time to sit there and match up all the snaps.  I think I understand why I am having a harder time finding larger onesies.  You just can't make the kids sit still for the snaps.  There is no market because it is almost impossible to accomplish this task.  See...I am learning.