Keagan's First (White) Christmas!

Christmas was extra-special this year. Betcha can guess why! Because we had a WHITE Christmas! And because it was Keagan's 1st Christmas. My parents and brother and sister came into town to help celebrate and we had a wonderful visit. Keagan was a pretty good boy (minus the times he was whining due to teeth and a cold) and gave lots of love to every member of the family.

Lots and lots and lots of presents...

 Can you spot the baby amongst the presents?

 Keagan LOVES his new chair!

All present-ed out...it didn't take long! 

Dad's favorite gift: a train engineer hat!

 Keagan smiled at Grandpa every chance he got!

SOLIDS!!  Sweet potatoes! Yummy!

Or maybe not?

Snuggle time with Gramps

Grandma Time!

 So sweet! (he gave Grandma lots of open-mouth face kisses! his new thing)

Lovin' his Aunt Hannah!

Three Happy Dudes!  (I can see genetics at work here...can you?)

Playing in the Snow on Christmas Day!

Wes and the dogs enjoyed the snow!  We got about 3 inches!

Merry Christmas!! Such a wonderful weekend! 

Santa Clause is coming to town!

(well, Santa came to town a little early at Keagan's school....)

Happy Half Birthday!

Six months ago my life changed more than I ever could have anticipated.  Six months ago I was on my way to work, but had to go to a doctor's appointment first.  Six month's ago I was told that we would be having a baby today, not tomorrow, not next week.  Today. Well 6 months ago, today.  Six months ago my life changed in the most dramatic way and I look back on it with tears of joy.

Can you believe Keagan was born 6 months ago?  I cannot!

We are celebrating Keagan's 1/2 birthday today!  We celebrated with shots.  Whoo hoo! (I got one, too, to make him feel better.  But I don't think it helped him out.)

Keagan is definitely the light of our lives.  He is hilarious and has the most amazing facial expressions.  He loves his mommy oh-so-much, but is pretty fond of daddy, too.  He is starting to take preference to people, and show displeasure to being held by others.  He is not scared of Santa, which surprises me.  But he is scared of Dunker (the MSU horse mascot...pics to come to prove this).  Very scared of him.

He loves my right shoulder; loves to snuggle it, loves to eat it, loves to lay his head on it.  He does not like to be held like a baby, unless it is by me and I am getting ready to feed him.  But if this is the case, I had better make it snappy in getting his meal going, or he gets mad.  He continues to LOVE Kung Fu Panda, and does not stray from this movie (we have tried to introduce Finding Nemo, he could really care less).  He will crane his neck to watch Kung Fu Panda, even turning his head upside down!  It is so funny. We now use catch phrases from the movie in our daily conversations! (welcome to parent-hood)

Keagan has finally made a habit of rolling belly to back, he is learning to roll back to belly but hasn't mastered this yet.  He is sitting with support, and finds that he can reach his toes pretty well in this position.  He still loves bath time, and daddy and mommy get soaked every time.  Bath toys seem to increase the amount of water that escapes the tub.  He continues to love his reflection.  He likes to take medicine, and helps the dropper into his mouth.  He sleeps about 10 hours straight at night. 

He HATES the booger-getter with a passion and gets so mad when you come at his nose with it.  I wondered when this would happen as he used to enjoy (?) it!  He doesn't particularly like to have shirts pulled over his head, you'd think he would be used to this but he still complains.  He doesn't like to be left alone. He doesn't nap well at daycare, but his teachers still love him! 

Stats:  17lbs 9oz (50th percentile for weight)
           27.25" long (75th percentile for height)        

Sneak Peek

The other day we had pictures taken for our Christmas card and Shawna got several really good shots!  She also got this shot, which is hilarious!  Every time she takes our pictures there are some funny "outtakes."  I am lucky enough to be friends with our photographer and she sends me the funny ones that we obviously won't put up on the wall.  But they are definitely blog-worthy!  (reminder of this picture from Keagan's 3 month pics)

Oscar couldn't resist giving his brother some love!

Every Christmas, my Grandma Gail sends us a box of goodies!  It is always fun to open and sample everything!  This year we decided to open the box in front of Keagan (he loves to watch us do everything!).  He got ahold of the baggy of caramel popcorn and if I didn't know any better, I would guess he wanted some!  Sorry, buddy, it will be a couple years!

 Keagan will be 6 months old in less than a week! (WOW!) and he is now doing all kinds of things, something new every day.  Here is a sneak peek of one of his new things, he's found his feet!

 Baby's First Christmas ornament (He was born to be a Wildcat!)

Oscar has found a new bed: Keagan's Boppy! 

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Keagan's first experience with snow!  We tried standing out IN the W. Kentucky Blizzard, but he couldn't keep his eyes open for the picture...too windy and cold.

A Christmas Carol

It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas when its mighty Founder was a child Himself. ~Charles Dickens


Benton is a v.e.r.y. small town.  We do have a Wal-Mart, but that's about it as far as chain-stores go.  At first, I wasn't thrilled about living in such a small town, but I was reminded tonight just how very lucky I am to live in such a small community.  The city of Benton has many delightful events, mostly centered around the downtown square.  At Christmas time, they have a "Dickens Christmas" where townspeople dress up in the era of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" and hand turn downtown Benton into an old-tyme Christmas.  This year Keagan and I bundled up and went back in time!  It was very neat, there was even a live nativity and Santa Clause!  The best part was running into friends and enjoying a Christmas-y evening with hot cocoa, kids, and fun conversation.  Unfortunately my camera was misbehaving so I didn't get any good pics (don't worry folks, it is back up and running!).  Luckily, my friend Christy has an i-phone with a flash camera so she was my photographer for the night.  (Thanks, girl!!!)

 Meeting Santa Clause for the first time!  Keagan was a good boy: he smiled up at him and they stared at each other.  Pretty sure Keagan is on Santa's "Good" list!

The live nativity had live animals!  At first Keagan was very interested in watching the horse!

 Sleepy boy...guess this is what happens when snuggled up next to mommy!

A couple nights ago, Christy and her son Quinn watched Keagan for me so I could go with Tassie and Stacey to see the  "Legally Blonde" musical.  It was my first girl's night out and I really enjoyed myself!  It looks like Quinn and Keagan had fun, too!  Christy sent me this picture, I thought it was sweet to I had to post it!

Bah Humbug!  (but not really.)

Thankful for...Pumpkin Pie?

I love Thanksgiving!  I love the food and the family gathering and the lack of expectations that typically comes with Christmas.  It is just a wonderful time to be THANKFUL!  This year we obviously have so very much to be thankful for.  Our baby boy is oh-so-healthy and it is hard to tell that he had a tough start in life.  Our marriage is as strong as ever.  Our health is good and we have good jobs.  Our puppy is still quite the pup and is learning to accept Keagan into the family.  I honestly couldn't ask for more. 

Ok, maybe one thing...Pumpkin Pie! I didn't get any pumpkin pie this Thanksgiving.  This is because we celebrated with Josh's family, and for some reason none of them eat/like pumpkin pie.  I don't quite understand it, but have learned that it just won't be a part of the feast.  (Thank goodness for Christmas, as there WILL be a pumpkin pie and I won't be the only one to eat it!)  Josh HATES it, and makes this god-awful face when I mention pumpkin pie.  It saddens me!  It just isn't Thanksgiving without Pumpkin Pie.  But I have stumbled upon something that has helped me get through this issue...

Those of you who know me know I have a thing about "Limited Edition" anythings.  I need not go into detail about this drive to buy anything with this phrase on it, as I have done this already in an earlier post.  I have gotten better about buying nonsense Limited Edition items (i.e. candy) since having the baby, but the other day I came across this:

And I HAD to buy it. 

Now, Ladies (and gentlemen), this is not the lowfat version.  So it is kinda like eating a pumpkin pie as far as calories are concerned.  It also tastes like it.  I spread it on a toasted bagel for breakfast and then I zone out for a few minutes and all is right in my world.  The baby's crying? Nah, that's a figment of your imagination...take another bite of pumpkin goodness.  ...  The dog needs let out?  Nope, you're sure you just did that, he's fine...back to the pumpkin bagel.  Sigh...it really is that good.  

If you, like me, missed out on your pumpkin pie this year, go scouting for this amazing stuff.  It really is heaven in a tub.  

On a different note (c'mon, you know there isn't a post without a baby in it anymore!):   

Celebrating Brotherly Love

(not staged...we couldn't get Oscar down, he is cropped out of the other pics!)

Keagan got his first duck call this Thanksgiving, and I think he already knows how to use it!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!