http://keepingupwiththekeeseys.blogspot.com/

Anyways, we’re finally in our house!  That is the main reason for lack of updating..we were packing up and when we did move, we didn’t have internet for nearly 3 weeks.  That was awful and I realized how addicted I am.  It’s ok though, I don’t mind being addicted..there are worse things I could enjoy!

The move went well and we’re feeling settled.  We’ve gotten the majority of our new furniture and are working on a few more things.  We’ll be getting a new bedroom set (king size baby!) in the next two weeks and we’ll also be getting another chair for the living room.  We need to hang more pictures but I think we’re trying to figure out what we want to hang and where.  At the apartment, I didn’t care where things went but I don’t want to go putting holes in these walls unless I’m positive the picture is going to stay/look good there!

We love the neighborhood.  The people we’ve met so far are very nice and there are sidewalks all over which makes for good walking.  It is also very family friendly and there are kids everywhere.  We’re in walking distance to the library and they have a cute little playground which is young toddler friendly.  So, all in all, we like things so far!

Jack is doing well and has adjusted wonderfully.  I think he likes the extra space to run around and the extra space to make more mess, haha!  He’s getting so big and is so much fun.  He says ‘yes please’ or rather ‘es pweese’ and is working on thank you and your welcome.  I think he may have said a few more words but, honestly, it’s so hard to tell sometimes!  He’s very good at communicating though and totally gets what we’re saying.  His mouth is suddenly bursting with teeth so that’s a good thing.  I was worried he would be one of those ‘one tooth at a time’ kids since he only had 4 teeth for the longest time.  I’m looking forward to getting this part over with and I hope his 2 year molars won’t be too bad!

We’ve learned that he may have a peanut allergy.  About 2 weeks after he started eating pb, I noticed hives around his mouth and on his hands one day.  I gave him pb the next day and the same thing happened.  He hasn’t had it since and will see an allergist in June.  If he does have one, so far it’s mild and I hope it stays that way.  Better yet, I hope he can grow out of it.  In the mean time, he seems to like soy nut butter so he eats that now.  Makes me happy since he doesn’t eat protein in meat form so he can get some this way.

Alrighty, that’s it for now!  I will post pictures soon, hope everyone is doing well!

I can officially say we have a walker now!  He’s been “walking” for nearly 2 months but it hasn’t become consistent until the last 2 weeks or so.  Jack would often drop down after a few steps and just crawl where he wanted to go but he’s getting more and more confident these days.  I put him down in a furniture store the other day and he was walking all over the place!  It’s really so cute but I soon realized I shouldn’t have put him down.  Of course he didn’t want to be picked back up, haha!  I can see the tantrums starting soon now that he has this new found freedom.  I love this stage though, challenging but so much fun.   Here is a video of him walking (for you Jaimee!).  This was a month ago so he’s not very sturdy but he’s so cute and proud of himself.

When it comes to his grass phobia..he’s getting better, yay!  I wasn’t sure when he would take to it and, thankfully, he’s getting better and better with it everyday.  I know the walking has helped and I think he also sees all the other kids running around and having fun so he wants to join in too.  We’ve had a beautiful weather week so we took advantage and went to the park a few days.

Walking with Daddy

Back in the swing!

Two little boys on the slide, haha!

We’re loving this awesome weather after the winter we had!

Jack isn’t saying any words yet but he definitely understands most of what we say to him.  He knows the words bottle, grapes, yogurt and crackers and gets very excited when I ask if he wants one or some of them.  He gets excited and hurries into the bathroom and stands by the tub when we ask if he wants to get into the bath.  He also gets excited when I ask if he wants to brush his teeth!  If I ask him to get certain things he’ll go and get them and bring them back to me.  It’s very possible he has said some words but that we just haven’t understood any yet.  He loves it when we fake sneeze and mimics us with a little “aaach” when do it.  Jack loves books and is always bringing them over to us to read to him.  I love that.   I loved reading and being read to when I was little and I love that he gets all nice and comfy and sits STILL to be read to.  Of course I think he favorite part is turning the page but he’s starting to point to things and babble too.  He is just changing so much everyday and it’s truly amazing!  He’s turning into such a little boy with his looks and actions and it’s fun to watch.  We are blessed!

In other news..meaning house news, we are coming along nicely!  Settlement should be by the end of the month.  We are so excited and very ready to get out of this apartment.  I know I’ve said it before but we are being run out by Jack’s toys and we have absolutely no storage for anything.  All of the things we used when Jack was a baby (bouncer, infant carseat, swing, activity mat) are lining the walls in his room and boxes full of his baby clothes are piled in his closet.  Plus, we’re ready to get rid of the Ikea furniture and decorate.  Another plus will be getting away from the downstairs neighbors who slam doors and whose smoke comes in our sliding door/windows when they’re puffing away on their porch.  Ugh, yuck.

We stopped by for a visit today so we could get some measurements and were very happy to see the granite had been put in the kitchen!!  We’ve changed our minds 3 times on what we wanted before we finally chose this one and we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!!  Things are tying together nicely.

Close up..

This is the upstairs hall bath..

Master bath!

Again, this is something we changed our minds on several times before settling on this tile.  LOVE how it turned out, it’s my dream bathroom right now.  If you notice, there’s a cable and electric outlet on the wall next to the shower.  Dan wants to put a small flat screen tv in there, haha!  It’s silly but I’m not complaining if it means I can watch the Food Network and HGTV while soaking in my tub.

That’s what I have for now.  Tomorrow is Easter and I hope everyone has a great day!!  I’m hoping to get some good pictures of Jack with my parents and my grandmother so will post them.  Happy Easter!

We really don’t have too many issues with Jack, he’s generally very good, but for one, he’s an extremely picky eater.  He did awesome with purees but went way downhill when it came time to solids and finger foods.  He’s never been a huge eater, always seemed to be content with the amount he’s eating and never seems extremely hungry.  I guess he’s still that way but I wish he would branch out a little.   I know he should be off of formula by now but I feel he does not get enough nutrients from what he eats on a day to day basis to be completely off of it.  This is what he’ll eat all the time:

cheerios, graham crackers, fruit (grapes, apples, pears & bananas), yogurt (the kid LOVES yogurt), sweet potato fries

Here’s what he’ll eat sometimes..it’s a hit or miss:

grilled cheese, mac’n'cheese, pasta with red sauce, apple butter sandwich

Here’s what we’ve tried but he wants nothing to do with:

Any veggie..pureed/whole/nugget, meat of any kind, peanut butter and jelly, eggs, pizza, mashed potatoes.  Basically anything that could be called an actual meal he throws off his high chair.

He refuses most things and just throws them on the floor.  I always end up going with sweet potato fries and yogurt for dinner because it’s a gaurantee he’ll eat those.  How do I change this??  Will he most likely end up a normal eater?  It’s so frustrating!!  I know they say to try everyday and eventually they’ll start eating something new but, honestly, it becomes a bit ridiculous when it all ends up on the floor and I’ve wasted my time.  I don’t want to be a short order cook!!  Any tips/advice is appreciated!

Another issue we have is switching his formula/milk (I am in the process of switching him to milk despite him not eating much else..just taking a bit longer).  He’ll drink water out of a sippy with no problem, he loves his water.  I put his formula/milk in one and he gets mad and throws in on the floor..he won’t touch the thing.  I end up putting it in a bottle because I want him to eat something.  I know it’s not a rush to switch him right now but he’s 14 months, it’s time to retire the bottle!

I feel bad because I know it’s a comfort thing for him and I do enjoy the snuggle time.  It’s the only time he’ll let us snuggle him so it’s nice.  But he doesn’t even hold his own bottle, refuses.  It’s actually cute and funny because he’ll lay on me with is lovey on one hand and the back of his other hand on his forehead as if he’s saying, ‘it’s a rough day’, ha-ha!  If we let go of the bottle to try and get him to pick it up himself, he throws it and cries and will only drink if we hold it.  It’s kind of hard not to laugh when he does it because it’s so HIM..our little drama ‘king’!  Any tips on this?  Am I just being a mean mom by wanting him to be off a bottle?  Be honest!  I’m not to the point yet where I’ll only offer a sippy and if he drinks, he drinks..if he doesn’t drink, he doesn’t.  But if it lasts another 2 months, I will be!

Sorry that was all so long!  I feel like I think about all this stuff out loud to Dan all the time (and I say that because Dan doesn’t have any suggestions on how to change any of these things so he’s basically just my sounding board..much appreciated though!) and just keep repeating myself.

Other than these two things, Jack is doing super.  He’s still a little wobbly on his feet so will choose to crawl when he feels like it.  The walking is getting better though, he just needs to learn to pick up his feet!  I love his little flirting ways when we’re out and about, he hams is up for the attention.  He’ll talk loudly for someone to look at him and when they do, he gets all bashful and smiley and tilts his head to the side.  He’s become one of the most outgoing babies in his Gymboree classes.  He’s come a LONG way since his first day where he cried most of the time and seemed scared even though I was with him.  He’s actually the loudest one..hmm, I wonder who he gets that from, ha-ha!  Definitely NOT me!

And, just for the fun of it, we put Jack in his swing last weekend for a few minutes.  Surprisingly the thing still swung with him in it and he actually seemed to enjoy it, ha-ha!  The size difference always amazes me!

Jack was 2-3 months here and busted out of his swaddle..I can’t believe he was ever this small! 

Here’s the big boy last weekend..he’s not looking like a baby so much anymore!

In other news, the house is coming along!  Drywall is up and they’re in the process of putting the siding and stone on the outside.  Cabinets should be going on later this week.  We’ll be going to take a look and will take some pics of the inside..even though it looks boring right now.  If we stay on this timeline settlement will most likely be sometime the last 2 weeks of April, yay!

Hmm..let’s see..January ended with me turning 31.  Ugh.  Turning 30 didn’t bother me but, for some reason, turning 31 was a bit tough to swallow.  Maybe it’s because I’m officially  IN my 30′s now?  I’ve come to grips with it but still feel weird when I say I’m 31..does it ever change as you get older?

February started off rough with snow storms and sickness.  We were supposed to have Jack’s make-up 1st birthday party but we were hit with nearly 3 feet of snow and I was hit with the stomach flu.  Poor boy never got his big celebration but I’m sure he’ll be ok.   Dan ended up with the flu a few days after me and we were hit with another 2 feet of snow.  Fun times!  THANKFULLY Jack didn’t really seem to get sick?  He had some really messy diapers that week but seemed ok otherwise and never threw-up..knock on wood!!  Other then all that, we didn’t really do too much else as the weather was horrible and everyone was out of sorts.

Here are some pics of the snow and Jack..

Aftermath of the 1st 2010 storm..(once people cleaned up a bit)

Getting Jack out in the snow!  He wasn’t much a fan.

2nd lovely winter storm..

While dealing with bad weather and sickness, we’re also have a house built!  I know you all know that though but aside from getting a few days behind with the storms, things are going well and they’ve pretty much caught up from the days they had to miss.  If things stay on track settlement should be around the middle of April and we can hopefully move in by the end of April.  It’s all so exciting and it’s fun to be getting to this stage.  We’re both OVER this apartment and are ready to have our own place.

This is the most recent picture of the house.  They’ve since added all of our windows and doors.

In other news, to help get through the winter blues, I’ve started taking Jack to Gymboree classes.  He takes a music class and a play & learn class.  He loves it!  It’s fun to see him interact with the other babies his age and it’s nice to get out of the house.  I wish we would have done this sooner.

Jack is doing very well and is such a boy, ha-ha!  He started taking steps the day after he turned 13 months and he’s gotten better and better everyday!  It’s true when people say they’ll do it when they want to.  Before, there was no way we could get him to try..no matter what we did.  One day I had him holding my fingers while he was walking and he just let go and took a few steps.  It was so exciting!  I could tell he was proud of himself and he keeps getting more and more brave.  He’ll still drop and crawl super fast if there is something he really wants but he’s been walking more and more and it’s the cutest thing.  I love his little legs.   I’ll have to get it on video soon so you all can see the cuteness.

I haven’t heard any distinct words from him but sometimes it seems like he copies what we say by the tone and how many syllables he uses.  He loves his babbling conversations and could go on and on.  It’s the coolest thing to watch him process things and try to communicate with us.  He’s turning into such a little boy.  He’s a defiant and stubborn on though and that is starting to come out..he will most definitely keep us on our toes!

The day I realized I had to move the flour bag, ha-ha!

More updates to come..hopefully I’ll be better at staying up to date.

Only about 30 minutes old..

And now he’s learning to brush his teeth!

What a difference a year makes!  It’s really crazy how fast time has gone..I know I say that a lot but that’s because I really can’t believe it.  Sometimes I just wish I could hit rewind and go back to when he was a snuggly little newborn but I can’t.   But, I CAN enjoy all that he does now and be proud of the little boy he’s becoming because it is a lot of fun.

I haven’t picked up on any words yet but he’s becoming more and more vocal and it seems like he’s trying to figure out how to get certain words out.  He’s hugging things and is really good at ‘sharing’ his toys when we ask for them and loves to put his toys away and promptly dump them back out.  It’s fun to see the wheels turning in his head when he does this.  He’s not walking yet but he has taken a few steps here and there!  In the mean time, he’s completely content using his walking toys and crawling to get around.  He’s a speed crawler so I’m not surprised he’s in no hurry to walk..why be slow learning to walk when he can zoom across the floor on his hands and knees?  Ha-ha!  Such a stinker.   We’re going to try Gymboree this week so I’m hoping that seeing a bunch of other walkers will motivate him to get going!

I wish I had party pictures but both him and I were sick last weekend and all this week.  We canceled and rescheduled his party for a few weeks from now but we did try to celebrate a little on his actual birthday since he was feeling a little better!

Here’s the poor boy the day before he was supposed to have his party.  This was how he looked ALL day, he’s not just squinting from the flash.  I felt so bad for him.

On his actual birthday we wanted to see what he’d do with his cake!  He really was not impressed.  Don’t ya love the hat?

His nose is scrunched up here as he picks some of the icing off..definitely not my kid, ha-ha!

I had to stick his hand in there because he just kept picking at it..seriously??!!

I also sort of made him try it because he wasn’t putting any near his mouth.  It looks like he liked it but he actually gagged when he tried it..I’m hoping he likes it better at his party in a few weeks!

The aftermath!  I don’t know what we were thinking to do this in our living room..with carpet!  (We have no dining room and our kitchen is too small.)  Thankfully clean up wasn’t too bad!

Love you baby boy!

In other news..they’ve started building our townhouse, yay!!!  They broke ground a little over a week ago and poured the foundation last week.  The lumber should be arriving this week, crazy!!  It’s all so exciting although it makes living in this apartment harder..I just want to move!

Just so you can see the difference..

My squishy baby with jet black hair..

And a few from today..my crazy almost toddler with everywhere hair!

Of course, I think he’s a cutie no matter how his hair is but he DOES need it cut..I hope he cooperates!

Oh, and while I’m talking about his birthday..I practiced his smash cake the other day.  We’re just having cupcakes (thanks Dan’s grandmother for making them, we appreciate it!!) so I made him a giant cupcake cake to rip into.  I’m very happy with how it turned out..so cute!

The bottom is actually white chocolate candies melted and mixed with some food coloring.  You smooth it into the cake pan (after the cake is baked and you’ve cleaned and wiped the pan) and let it cool and it pops right out.  Trim up the cake bottom and it fits right in!

We had a great Christmas and even decorated the apartment!  I originally didn’t want to because I feel we’re so cramped with all of Jack’s toys and such but Dan talked me into it.  Did you hear that?  DAN talked me into it?!  Ha-ha!  Usually it’s me doing the ‘talking into’ so I had to take advantage of it.  He said we would probably regret it if we didn’t get a tree and decorate for Jack’s first Christmas and he was right.  I’m SO glad we did.  We went and got a tree and busted out our decorations and Jack has been great with them.  Aside from trying to eat cotton ‘snow’ sometimes, he’s done really well and hasn’t messed with anything!

Jack helping put his first decoration on the tree..

Being silly with Daddy

Our pretty tree!

The cutest Santa ever

This is the most I could get him to look up after the picture above..he just kept playing with his stocking.

Such kissable cheeks!

We had a fun playdate with Allie and Kristen..they are so stinking cute together.

We had a great time seeing and spending time with our families.

Jack with my brother, David..

With my cutie nephew, Jasiah..

Me with my best cuz, Kristen..

This is the best family picture we could get that day, ha-ha!

Dan with Emma (Kristen’s little girl) and our niece, Journey

It was the end of the night and the kids were tired but we had to try and get a good pic!  They’re all so stinking cute.    The two other boys are Will (in the front and he’s Kristen’s little boy) and Gabriel, our nephew.

On Christmas day we spent the day with just the 3 of us, in our pj’s all day.  It was very nice!  We didn’t feel like traveling around that day and are looking forward to having Christmas and inviting everyone down to our place next year!

A few days after Christmas, we went to Dan’s grandparents.  I was bad and actually didn’t get any pictures of Jack on Christmas day (we didn’t have any presents wrapped for him) so took some pictures of him here.  He really doesn’t care about opening presents yet but I’m sure next year will be different!

Look at those teeth!

Opening his present from his mom-mom (Dan’s mom)

“Yay, I love my new toy!  Thanks mom-mom!”

Dan and Jack with Ryan (his cousin) and his little girl, Carson.

Dan’s grandparents with the babies

We had a good time!

Can’t believe Christmas is over already and tomorrow starts 2010..crazy!!

In Jack news, he’s doing really well!  He’s only 17 days from turning 1, I’m in denial.   He’s started doing a lot more lately like standing up on his own and hugging things.  I LOVE the hugging, so stinking cute!  He’s so sweet.

Hugging his cookie monster..

Awww..

He’s also getting his 2nd top tooth so that’ll be 4 so far.  Jack is babbling up a storm and is really good at saying daddy.  It seems like he’s trying to say other words but we haven’t figured anything out yet.  He does like our Christmas tree though and when we say, “Where’s the tree?”, he’ll point his arm to the tree and babble.  He DID say it one time but it came out, “ree”, ha-ha!  He also can’t point yet so just sticks his whole arm out to whatever he’s trying to tell you about.

It also seems Jack is testing his boundries more and more.  If we say no, he’ll look at us with a little grin and try again.  Little stinker.   Thankfully he’s pretty good though and seems to figure it out quickly.  I know that may not last but hopefully he’ll stay a good little guy!  We get a lot of compliments from the people we have our house appointments with saying how well behaved he is and such.  We’ve had some pretty long meetings and he’s done really well if kept occupied with something.  It feels so nice to hear good things like that..makes you feel like you’re doing something right.

I just can’t believe how quickly he’s grown and how much more like a toddler he gets everyday.  He’s such a little man!

The second thing keeping my mind of blogging turned out to not be a good thing.  I’ve debated whether or not I would mention it on here but felt that our friends/family would want to know and would want to support us.  I try to keep things on here light hearted and don’t really go into personal things too much but sometimes you’ve got to get it all out.

We’ve been trying to add to our family but have not had luck so far.  I am beginning a second miscarriage in about 4 months.  The first one was really early (about 5 weeks) and this one is still early but a little further along.  I should be over 8 weeks but the baby stopped growing just over 6 weeks.  We both really thought this one would stick so were very sad to find that it’s not.  I honestly feel bad being upset when there are people that go through so much worse than that to have a baby.  It’s hard because I have so many questions..why would this happen two times in a row and why would this happen after I had a great pregnancy with Jack?  I know it just must not be time to add to our family but it’s hard to accept.  We chose not to tell anyone this time around because it was hard to tell people about the miscarriage the first time.  Even though we weren’t initially going to tell anyone this time, it feels good to get this off my chest.

Instead of dwelling on the ‘whys’ of this whole situation, I’m trying to focus on the positives.  I’m using this as my time (and sign) that I need to take better care of myself..get healthier.  I also have an energenic and happy little boy that demands a lot of my time and attention and I’ll gladly give that to him.  I feel grateful and blessed to have a wonderful husband who is loving and supportive and to have a little boy who is full of smiles, giggles and hugs (a new thing for him!).  I just pray that when we do get a chance to do this again that we’ll be successful and that I’ll have a healthy pregnancy.  It’s so easy to take for granted.  Sorry for being such a downer!

The not so good is that Dan had a random seizure nearly two weeks ago.  It’s weird because he’d felt completely fine and we had a nice day!  We had been in PA visiting some friends and got home at a reasonable time.  He came to bed late since he had coffee later in the day and wasn’t tired.  I woke up at 4:30 to him shaking and, at first, I just thought he had a charlie horse or something like that.  He didn’t respond to me asking if he was ok so I turned on the light and he was really pale and just shaking.  Trying to make a long story short, after hitting him, smacking him and yelling at him (and getting no response what so ever), I called 911 (this was all in about a minute time span).  It was probably about a 15 minute time frame from when I woke up to the EMT’s getting there but it felt like forever.  Thankfully he had stopped convulsing and had come to a bit by the time they got there but he was extremely groggy, confused and had no idea what had happened.  Off to the hospital he went.

I went to the hospital when my mom got here and he was totally fine.  It was like nothing had happened.  This started off a week of doctors appointments, tests and trying to figure out what caused this and if he should worry about it happening again.  So far things are good and he’s feeling well.  All the tests have come back normal so far also..very good.  It’s  just the weirdest thing and we’re hoping and praying it doesn’t happen again.  It was really the worst thing I’ve ever seen a loved one go through.  I felt so helpless and hated that I was unable to help him.  Worst.thing.ever.  Please keep him in your prayers!!

On with better things..we had a nice Thanksgiving!  We stayed with my parents, went to Dan’s grandparents Thanksgiving afternoon and were at my parents that evening.  I love being close to everyone and love that Jack will grow up seeing his grandparents on a fairly regular basis.

We have a few Jack updates..

He has his two bottom teeth and just sprouted one of his top teeth.  The other one should be making an appearance soon I’d imagine!   Since the one top tooth popped out he seems to like grinding his teeth, ugh.  Give both Dan and me the chills, ha-ha!  Hopefully once he gets used to them he’ll stop.  He’s still not really into trying to stand on his own (tries every now and then) but has been cruising along all the furniture.  He used to pull up then drop down and crawl if he wanted to be on the other end of the table or couch.  Jack is also figuring out his shape sorter and it’s awesome to see him figure out what goes where.  His little tongue sticks out and he looks so serious..I can see the wheels turning!  He also plays ‘catch’ by rolling or throwing a ball in our direction but will gently place it in our hands if we hold our hands out..love that!  And his newest thing is holding his toy phone up to our ear after we hold it up to his.  When we hold it up to his ear, he gets a big smile then grabs it and holds it up to our ear.  It’s really amazing to see how much they learn just by watching and observing!

So, aside from Dan’s seizure, things are good..we can’t complain.   We’re just looking forward to the holidays and more time with friends and family!