Family Update

Well it's time for another update on our little family....so here goes!

MR. KEEGAN
Mr. Keegan turned 7 months old on Feb. 24 and celebrated his 1st Easter with both families. He got a cute easter basket filled with stuffed animals and a little soccer ball. He loved seeing his grandparents and aunt Neena and Uncle Paulie!

SLEEP
Well Keegan's been going ok at night and only getting up once since March 1st! We were thrilled b/c he did not get up until around 4-5am! Now that was a record b/c we had a very rough 8 weeks prior with getting him to stay down after 8pm. It was very tiring to say the least so getting up once is awesome!

Since Easter Monday though, Keegan developed a high fever that went away after one day. However, he was very cranky, irritable and just miserable for a few days and I had no clue why though? I think it could be teeth but I don't see any poking through. I felt badly b/c he got so cranky it was almost screamish. I had to hold him a lot which usually calms him but it didn't help much. Poor guy!

As for his naps, he is getting better at staying down longer. Mon-Wed of last week, Keegan did not nap longer than 20 mins and was just miserable!!! However, on Thursday he napped a 1 hr nap, a 3 hr and 12 min nap and then got so cranky and irritable one hour later that he napped on Josh for 40 mins!! So that kind of told me something was brewing. Anywho, he usually goes right down for his nap on his side sucking his thumb...it's priceless!! We're going to keep him swaddled at night though until his naps start getting longer and better...or until he starts fighting the swaddle at night. Right now, he doesn't mind it at all!

EATING
Keegan is still nursing but only for about 5-10 mins and is satisfied. He'll take about 6 oz from a bottle if we give him it but not sure how much he is getting from me. I think he's getting enough b/c he's kind of on the chunky monkey side! :) He also is eating cereal, fruits and veggies. He had pears for the first time on Easter Sunday and then homemade applesauce last wed which he did ok with. He kind of made funny faces prob b/c it was a bit tarty. Keegan also started his first try at a combo of bananas, grape and plum fruit yesterday (sunday) which he seemed to like. He really likes carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, green beans and peas are ok, and loves all fruits. He's definitely not a picky eater!! Keegan will eat one 2 1/2 oz container usually without a problem. Mommy's a good eater too so he must take after her! ;)

NEW TRICKS
Keegan's rolling like a pro now and does little baby push-ups for weeks now. He can get his knees under his belly but can't quite make that first crawl move. He tries but usually just plops on his belly. He loves to play on his blanket, play with his little turtle toy, foam letters, the toys that dangle from the playmat, burp clothes, caterpillar amongst others. He also loves the exersaucer and the jumperoo which he started jumping in on Easter Monday. He also loves to play with his big sister Mia who just loves her little brother!

WORDS
So no clear words yet but he can say "a da a da a da". Mia said the same word right around this age. I'm hoping he says Mama next! :)


MISS MOBILE MIA
Well Miss Mia is once active little girl!! She loves to play in her playroom, play dress up, play with her foam letters, build with the legos, loves her stuffed animals especially her easter bunnies and baby lamby. Mia loves to play with balls, playdough and mommy and daddy too! She also is a great big sister and LOVES Keegan! She keeps him busy by giving him toys and playing with him. I love it that I can tell her to go play with Keegan in the jumperoo while I get her something to eat/drink or whatever. It's nice! She's a great little mommy!

Mia is a funny girl too. She knows how to dress herself and will put on different clothes at night. We'll get her up in the morning and sometimes will have diff PJs on andddddd no diaper! She'll put on a swimmie (not sure where she finds them b/c I have them put away. There must be one in her drawers) and then put her PJs back on. She's a riot! Mia also takes off her pants and will go potty all by herself!! I usually will ask her to go but sometimes she'll go by herself! Then i'll here her say "Wipe me please!" It's cute! She also is funny b/c she does not sleep in her big girl bed, but on the floor! She used to sleep on her comfy chair but since she tipped it over and got a boo boo a few weeks ago, we took it out. She now sleeps on her floor with her blankets...or as of a few days ago, on top of her stuffed animals. :)

So diapers are almost a thing of the past here. Since a few weeks ago, Mia wanted to wear big girl underwear and has been in them since! She does great during the day and has had only one accident (during her nap on that first day). She goes to sleep/nap with a diaper on but she ends up taking it off and putting her underwear on just as of a few days ago. She's always dry in the mornings and after her naps too. Mia's doing great with underwear and let me tell you how nice it is to not have to change her dirty diaper anymore!

Mia is one great sleeper too and still sleeps about 12 hours at night. Some nights it takes her a bit to fall asleep but we have no issues with her. Her naps are sporadic but are pretty good too. She'll nap about 2 hours like she's been doing since she was one. It's nice!

MOMMY AND DADDY
Josh and I are doing great and loving our little kiddies. They definitely keep us busy and on our toes! We enjoy how well they interact and can't wait to see how they do when Keegan's a bit older. Should be interesting!

Josh is moving over to a new company (his group at intel was sold to a company in Italy...no we're not moving to Italy!) and he will be going to Italy for 3 weeks in April. He will no longer be an Intel employee and will still be able to work from home (phew). Everything is staying the same and instead of a 3 week vacation, all the employees are getting 5 (due to the lack of "perks"...he got great ones with Intel)!! That is going to be nice!!

I am just about down to my pre-prego size for a couple months now. I hardly have time to go to the gym and never have gone this long w/o being active. It stinks but I am going to try to start running once the weather get warmer. I'm just too busy during the day to go to the gym that is a bit of a drive to get to. I'm going to be quitting there (I do not like the infant room employee whom was very rude to me) and going to the little gym they will be having in our clubhouse here. I just want to get back into shape like I used to be before Keegan was born! :)

All else is very well here and we are looking forward to the Spring and warmer weather!

My twin is coming here April 3-12th and we can't wait! I can't wait to see the babies together again! Should be fun!

Hope you all are doing well too!

Love,

The Carrolls

1st Fever, Jumperoo

Keegan had his first fever Monday afternoon. It reached about 102.5 (ear) and was probably higher rectally. We gave him some meds and it took it down, along with a bath. He did well that night though thankfully and the fever went away the next day.

We took out the jumperoo for Keegan this past Sat and as of Tuesday, he is jumping a ton in it!! He loves it just like Mia did!

Naps not going well....

Well Keegan's been deswaddled for naps for 2 1/2 weeks and they were getting better and a bit longer. However, since this week, they have not been good. Monday they were no longer than 18 mins and he was just cranky! Tues, they didn't really improve much and today, they improved to 30 minutes but he was still cranky and miserable. I am not sure why he has been so cranky this week b/c he did pretty good for the past two weeks with having shorter naps. I was able to play with him on the floor or put him in the exersaucer for a bit. This week though, he cries when I put him down and just doesn't seem to be himself. It could be teeth, who knows! I just think he needs to work on staying asleep when he rolls on to his back when he sleeps on his side. He wakes up and gets all screamish. I'm sure he'll get used to it but it's just taking longer than I expected. Oh well! :)

1st Easter

Keegan had his first Easter last Sunday and got an Easter basket full of stuffed animals and a soccer ball. He enjoyed having our families over and loved showing them how he can "almost" crawl! He even had his 1st pears on Easter which he loveeed!
He went to church with me, Josh, Mia, Uncle Paulie and my parents and slept in my carrier. He just loves the baby Bjorn!! Overall, he had a busy day but did very well!

Keegan's 6 Month Baby Well Appt

Keegan had his 6 mo appt last week and here are his stats:

Weight: 17 lbs 11oz
Length: 26 3/4 in long! WOW!

We didn't give him his shots and are still holding off on them b/c of our research. My twin is doing the same for her baby and we just feel safer w/o putting all that "stuff" into his little body.

Keegan is also still on Zantac although my doc isn't increasing his dosage and wants to ween him off of it since he is doing better with sleeping at night (only getting up once since March 1st! WOO HOO!) and now spitting up much. However, lately he has been spitting up and I may have to call my doc to have them increase the dosage if he keeps throwing up. Sometimes it's not a lot but then other times like today, it was a ton. We'll see though. He may be fine w/o upping the dose.

I told my doc is he sleeping better (finally as of March 1st!) and only getting up once at night. I am loving it, but am still pretty pooped. BUT it is not as bad as it used to be and I am thankful for that. It was a rough 5 months but we got through it!

Keegan is also rolling a ton and since yesterday, has lifted his belly off the ground and was on all fours (hands and tippy toes) when he was on his belly. He is getting closer and closer to crawling! Watch out!!

Mia is also doing great as a big sis! She is not hitting anymore and just today, I saw her feeding keegan peaches!! I was in the kitchen for a sec and keegan was playing on the living room floor. When I turned around, I saw her feeding Keegan the peaches I left by him! IT was too cute!! She did great though and got most of it in his mouth! I should have taken a pic but it was too late. She said, "I was feeding keegan mommy!"
Gotta love it!

That's it for now! I think Spring is coming to DE! :)

Keegan's deswaddled for naps!

Well Mr. Keegan has been fighting the swaddle since last week during his naps and so this past Fri, I decided to not wrap him up for his naps. I knew it was time and eventually we'd have to face it...so may as well do it now I thought. Well, it was very very hard at first but he has improved greatly since. He now sucks his thumb on his side while he naps and it's just the cutest! Keegan still protests his naps especially when he touches the bumper or is against it (when his head or feet touch it)...he gets all mad as if trying to say get me away from this thing! We had issues too with him rolling right over as soon as we put him down (w/o the swaddle). He would get livid and scream. It was tough!! BUTTTT we are over that and now just dealing with him touching the bumper when he is against it. We've been doing increment "checks" and it's been going very well. It's called controlled crying and it does work if you stick with it religiously. We have and we've seen a great improvement thankfully! It took him an hour and 11 min to fall asleep for his 2nd nap today but he finally fell asleep and has now been sleeping for an hour and 20 mins! PHEW!! I knew he can do it! It's just going to take time and I just have to be patient. :)

All else is going well with keegan thankfully!

Mia's in big girl underwear!

Since yesterday, Miss Mia decided she wanted to wear her Dora underwear. She put them on when she was napping and she's been out of diapers since. She has done very very well in them and hasn't had any accidents...yet! Today she did pee and poop in the potty and then put her underwear on by myself. Since our trip to CO on Feb. 16th, she's been doing very well with going potty in the potty but still went in her diaper. However, since she's been in underwear, she's been great and really loves it. So far, so good!

Sleeping well, finally!

Well Keegan started sleeping a lot better as of Friday night...phew!! I'm not going to hold my breath but I do hope this will be permanent! We got back from CO on Feb. 22 and for the first two nights he did pretty well...I was surprised that the trip didn't mess him up. Well I spoke to soon b/c for the past week (and the week in CO), he gave us a hard time with staying down longer than 2 hours when going to bed. It was like back to the drawing board. We got through it though and Fri night, he showed a significant improvement w/ sleeping from 8pm-3:35am!! He only got up then b/c he was against the bumper. He then slept from 8pm to 2:25am today and only got up b/c he was against the bumper once again! Little stinker! Ya think he wouldn't be able to move around so much b/c he is still swaddled, but he does! Anywho, we def love the time we have together at night now since it's all new to us! Let's hope this continues b/c I do love getting my overdue sleep. :)