So sweet.

I just balled my eyes out. there was a literal puddle on my table because of these blog posts...
if you are brave and love children read these posts.
I don't know these women but i love their stories.

A beautiful birth story:
http://enjoyingthesmallthings.blogspot.com/2010/01/nella-cordelia-birth-story.html


A lovely life journey: (read her Jan. 22nd entry in particular)
http://www.kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/

Uh Oh...

Keegan is a little explorer! Recently his favorite thing to explore is the bathroom. It gives me the heebie geebies imagining him crawling in there and playing on the toilet seat. Gross. One would think it would make me keep that place a little more clean but so far not so much. who has the time and motivation to clean when you're chasing a little crawly guy everywhere?

I was waiting for the day this would happen:

So Innocent.

He's been eyeing that toliet paper for some time now. scheming for the right moment i'm pretty sure. At least the roll was towards the end otherwise that would have been a biiig mess! what cutie.

Lately Keegan has loved crawling and pushing things with him. Cars, boxes, anything that can slide. It's really cute. I wonder when the amazement of the changes he is going through wears off. Like when will the day be when him pushing a toy around be normal? Right now it's delightful. so i'll enjoy it while its "new"

We had our annual Campus Crusade Winter Retreat in Sisters Oregon this last weekend. It was alot of fun. The students planned this one and it turned out really awesome! Most of the weekend was spent with students sharing how their lives have been transformed with the love Christ or sharing what they have been learning in life and the Bible lately. Keegs and I were only able to stay and listen to a little bit of it cuz he was loud and distracting but it was fun to spend time with the students. He LOVES being entertained by them. Specially the Erickson brothers. :o)


AND our annual Staff Hunt which is more like a hide and seek in Sisters. I wasn't as creative this year as the years past. I dressed Keegs up as a girl thinking that might throw people off a bit... it was weird to go into shops and refer to Keegan as a girl...i like my boy. no more dressing drag for him.

Smiley Eyes

Lately Keegan has been doing this face a lot. hilarious. I can't figure out when he does it or if it means something. I think he does it as a "thank you" or maybe just a giddy happy face whenever he gets what he wants. He does it A LOT while he's eating. I love it.



My Mom made this beanie and jacket. The beanie was intended for me but my head is a little too big for it, so i thought i'd see if it fit keegan one day before we went for a walk. It's a little big for him and made him look a bit like Strawberry Shortcake. Or princess toadstool.



At winter conference we had an amazing room, it had a full hot tub. Which was amazingly fun to have but made it so that we had to jump in the tub whenever we needed to give Keegs a bath. Isn't he cute?




In other news Keegan started signing this week! The other day we were in a store and he waved at the cashier! A real floppy goofy arm wave.

Then later that day when I was feeding him dinner he looked up at the chandelier lifted his arm and very slowly and (i think) intentionally did the sign for light. We have been doing that sign for a long time. He loves looking at lights and recently started pointing at them. It was fun to see him actually do the sign for it instead of just pointing!

AND THEN today after I took him out of the bath I did the sign for "all done" and then almost immediately after me he did something that looked like the "all done" sign too! Iwas so excited i did the sign again and he too did it again! We're communicating here! I am so excited and proud! I can't wait to sign more! And I am desperate to see if it will help with his whining.

Santa and Painting

I didn't realize how much of a traditional lady I am until we got to the mall and found out that their not-so-santa-looking santa cost a ton of money and we decided not to go through with it. Later in the parking lot i was nursing Keegan and got a little sentimental about the whole deal and started crying cuz their lame santa cost $20 for one photo! After a lot of calling my mom and looking at the other santas on the internet we decided to bite the bullet and pay the money for the memories and go to the awesome santa at the macy's in downtown portland. i grew up going to this santa. It's pretty cool they have a whole "santa land" down there you can walk through and then after seeing santa they stand you next to a big screen and you get to see all the many shots they took of your little one, create your own packet and even get a cd of your photos. sooo much better that the OTHEr santa. psh. It was so fun to go back to where i went as a child with my own child. He liked santa. He likes pretty much all strangers. until he realizes his parents aren't holding him...he almost cried but he held it together. way to be a man Keegan.


Keegs got a lot of great presents for christmas! He's loving his band in a box that Grandma O got him. He's big into making noise. This toy below is a stand and play toy my mom got him. Also a fav,

We got him finger paints for Christmas. He made his first masterpeice the other night. it was so fun to watch him get all messy. We hung his art in his room. It's pretty good!

Thank God for nontoxic paints!

It was a great first Christmas!

oh mom...

I've been waiting 8 months in anticipation for this little guy to move, now he's going crazy. He won't stay still when I change him, i have to totally pin him down to get a diaper on him. Today he was going from sitting, to crawling, to his knees, to standing over and over again. He's a monster!! haha While i was putting clothes on him i caught myself saying "will you hold still!" I couldn't believe after so many months of craving his moving independance that those words came out of my mouth. I've got a bad case of the "the grass is always greener"

Anyhow here are som cute shots of Keegs moving around and in cute "long john" onsie with even a button butt!

We're Crawling!

It's kind of funny that I've waited for this day for what seems like SOOo long and now that it's here it doesn't feel as amazing and exciting as i thought it would. BUT It's here and it IS exciting and so cool to see Keegan changing and gaining independance and confidence. To see him make a decision and go for it. I love being able to see what he is thinking by seeing where he goes! Soooo Keegs is crawling!!! Here's proof. He started inching two days ago and then yesterday took some great strides. Today he doing an occiasional crusing. It was fun to celebrate thanksgiving and have the family here to see his brand new trick!

Cloth Diapering day 3 and 4

So. I finally used the Fuzzibunz!
I had some ladies in my Mommy and Me class help me figure out how to fit it well. They are so cute! I wasn't able to get the full wear out of them for Keegan because both times i've used them, Keegan was ready for a nap. So he napped in them and they withheld the naptime great but needed to be changed shortly after.

A few tips on washing that i've discovered so far:
1) Don't worry too much about stains, they come out! Even if they turn a tinge yellow the sun will get the rest out. Crazy? but True.

2) Just take out the inserts and throw them in the washer. No need to pre-soak the diaper or insert. The first couple days I was soaking and ringing out the insert. I know it sounds gross but for some reason i didn't mind doing it. (I didn't even wear gloves...eww) I guess not being grossed out is a mother-thing.

3) After wash, try an extra spin cycle. If the inserts are still damp ring them out, and then put them in the dryer. I was doing about two dyer cycles and then i decided to ring them out by hand. SO much faster to dry after that.

4) Don't dry the outter diaper in the dryer. They dry super fast on the rack/line/whatever you use. Plus it helps with overall diaper life and from keeping the velcro to fray.

5) If you have one size diapers don't forget to unsnap them to full size when drying. It may add an extra step when stuffing them comes along but they dry faster in full size.

6) Purchase more than six diapers. Six was a good number to start and test drive in. Seriously now, I think I'm sold on the whole cloth diapering idea, I just need more diapers so I can do laundry less! (www.weebunz.com)

7) If you have a Diaper Champ, no need to get a "wet bag" for home. They work like a charm and keep the smell in! I love my Diaper Champ! You can keep one hand on baby and use the other to put the diaper in the pale with one swift motion. No lift and twist stuff like the diaper genie. AND no special diaper liners, just a simple garbage bag! woo! I will invest in a wetbag for traveling though, no stink=my friend