Spring?

Could Spring be arriving, finally? We had a wonderful week of beautiful, warm Spring weather and then suddenly Winter returned for another cold spell. The entire Keller family is ready for Spring around here. During the wonderful weather, we tried out the kids' bikes they got for Christmas!



We also went to the park with the Vines and fed the ducks bread. It was funny to see the kids reaction at ducks for the first time, luckily they weren't afraid. Unfortunately they wanted to go swimming with the ducks!




Jack & Maggie discovered the back of the couch- where they learned they can see out the window. In the morning when I drive to work, they wave to me and when I come home, they are waiting for me and watching all the other cars driving home.


Recently Maggie has learned to not only point out all sorts of things, but also to count (just a little), remembering where things go, and sing "Bumble-bee". She also understands fully well what "time-out" is, and will even sometimes put herself there when she knows she is in trouble. Unfortunately she is still biting...something we are trying to be very stern about.

Jack has also learned to count, and although he isn't naming the parts, he is pointing out facial parts like eye, ear, nose, etc. He has a wicked sense of humor, especially playing keep away and fake-out. He will sit with his milk and say "All done" then when I go to take his cup he will snatch it back and laugh. It's a constant back and forth game that he finds hilarious! He does the same thing about getting out of the bath tub.

The tickets have been reserved for our big California vacation this summer! The kids are taking their (Daddy's too) first trip to Disneyland and they finally get to meet the rest of the Hennings family!

Day In-Day Out

As chaotic as life seems to be sometimes, I realized the other night how blessed we are as a family. We are healthy, we have 2 beautiful, wonderfully spirited children, and we are happy. I had a 3-day weekend thanks to President’s Day, and then ended up home for an extra day…making for a nice 4-day stretch with my family. Friday night was a normal, “quiet” night. We played, laughed, ate dinner, danced around, and then slept happily in our beds. Saturday the kiddos spent the afternoon and night with their wonderful Grandparents while we tiled our kitchen backsplash. After 9 hours of hard work it is finally done! The tile was supposed to be up before the babies were born, in fact the weekend I went into labor back in June 2009, was the weekend Brian was going to do the tiling. But “life” got in the way. Here we are about 18 months or so later and it is DONE! Pictures to come… Sunday after picking up Jack and Maggie we stopped at Manna Cupcake in Lebanon to try and say hi to one of the NICU nurses from UC, but she wasn’t there. We still got to enjoy a yummy cupcake though! Afterwards we headed home and were greeted by Wilma who was unusually excited to see Jack and Maggie. She chased and played with them in the family room, which was a complete first. The rest of the long weekend was fairly normal. And I soaked up every minute of it!

Last night while rocking Jack and enjoying the small amount of alone time I get with him each night, I sat and thought about how much has changed over the last year.

A year ago my babies were, well, babies. Neither kiddo had teeth nor were they crawling yet. We could put them in one spot, and they stayed there. Jack was learning to sit with boppy assistance and Maggie was discovering her toes and rolling onto her belly from her back. They were sleeping longer, but not through the night. They were swaddled when sleeping. They loved their swings. They loved their jumperoos. They couldn’t talk.

Now…they have tons of teeth. Maggie is cutting many right now, two of which are molars. We brush our teeth at night during bath time. Jack loves brushing his teeth. Not only do they sit; they walk, run, jump, climb and never seem to stop moving. They crawl, but only when playing because they think it’s funny. They sleep through the night! The swings, jumperoos, and stationary playmats have long been packed away. They talk, sing, and mimic all day long.

What’s the same? They still love to cuddle, especially when tired or not feeling well. They smile so wide, it makes everyone else smile too. They are sweet, happy and the joys in their Mommy and Daddy’s lives!

Constant motion

Jack and Maggie are officially toddlers! And they seem to be in constant motion from the time they wake up to the time they go to bed! Which means, they finally sleep like champs. The day has finally arrived where we can say "Time to go night-night" and lay them in their beds. And... they go to sleep. I seriously wasn't sure if we would ever get past the crying it out stage...but we made it!

They are also climbing machines! They have discovered climbing onto little chairs to look out the window and will stand there waiting for me when I get home from work. They also push the chairs around the kitchen chasing each other. Recently they also discovered they can climb up and "help" at the counter. Maggie has figured out how to climb up the back of the couch and look out the family room window. She loves cars! And will say "car, car, car, car..." over and over and over.

"Car!"


Outside!



What I see when I pull into the driveway


The most recent and dramatic change, Maggie has said "bye-bye" to her pacifier , except for when sleeping. We weren't sure how it would go down, but she did great! We took it away cold turkey a couple of weekends ago, and she now only gets it when she goes down for a nap and for bed at night. No fuss at all! And since she has stopped having the pacifier, her talking has really increased! She sings, babbles, talks and has picked up a lot of her communicating. Jack has noticed and is talking a lot more too.
One last look at Maggie with her pacifier...


So happy!


Another new thing we are working on is plates, bowls and silverware. Some days they do great, and others well...










Life seems to be always in constant motion as well, but we've been fortunate to be back to good health again. Spring is right around the corner and we are really looking forward to getting out and about in the warmer weather. June will be here before we know it and California, here we come!

18 Months!!

*note- Maggie was sick on her 18 month Birthday. Poor thing looks miserable in this picture and just wanted me to put the camera down and hold her!

I'm finally getting this posted...my babies are 18 months and no longer babies!! They are toddlers, and have officially entered the toddler phase. Here are their stats and some updates on all of their newest and greatest!

Maggie- 18lbs. 4oz. and 30 1/4"

Don't let her petite frame fool you, she makes up for it with a full spirit! Goodness, what isn't Maggie doing anymore. She climbs everything! Onto the dining room table, onto the couch, up onto the toy bins to get to the top of the toy cabinet, onto any chair, and just yesterday...she learned how to LEAP out of Jack's crib! She is talking more and more almost each day. She enjoys repeating words and asking "what this?" constantly. She has begun to start playing with her toys, and starting to understand the "pretend" play. Her newest fascination is body parts (eyes, ears, nose, etc.) and clothes or shoes. She will pick up an item and try to either put it on herself or another person. She recognizes a lot more too, and seems to surprise us by what she knows quite often. We can give her simple commands and she can follow through, which is pretty fun to watch. Unfortunately, (or fortunately) Maggie is also strong-willed. She knows how to throw a fit and tries to get what she wants by doing just that. We're trying time out, but she hasn't seemed to pick up on it yet. Some of her common words Mama, Dada, dog or Wilma, mil (we're still working on the "k" to make it milk), all done, bye-bye, bed, night-night, shoe, eyes, head, hair, and on and on and on... :)

Daddy got us this really big Care Bear during one of his book shopping trips!


Hat


Wearing Mama's boots


Jack- 10lbs. 4oz & 30"

He is our active man! Seriously I don't think he stops moving from the moment he wakes up until the moment he goes to sleep- and even then he moves around in his sleep! He is still our sweet little cuddle bug. He has learned to hug like his sister and gives the sweetest hugs at the most random of moments. He has also recently learned to throw! It started with balls, and has moved onto anything he is holding. And he is getting pretty good at it too! He loves to be chased, especially by Maggie. And with that, he also enjoys playing peek-a-boo. He seems to be doing better with the fits, but he is still having a hard time being left alone to play. If we leave the room to do something, he will get rather upset. Along with that, whenever we try to tell him no or use time out, he just sits and laughs or smiles at us, which makes the whole process that much harder. His vocabulary isn't as far reaching as his sister, but he is certainly doing better. Some of his words are Mama, Dada, doggy, bye-bye, mil (just like Maggie) and ball.

Gimme that camera!


Hi!


Jack was happy to turn 18 months!!


Both kiddos have struggled with an awful cold this winter and cross our fingers, they are finally both healthy again. Their routine has returned to normal and the bed-time return has leveled back to normal. I love coming home and their greeting me at the gate downstairs. Often Jack beats Maggie to the gate and just stands there grinning from ear to ear, stomping his feet in anticipation of my coming down to say hi. Then Maggie demands a big hug and kiss. It is probably one of my favorite parts of the entire day!

We are trying to start using utensils. It works really well for pudding! :)

Gimme them glasses!

What happens at Granny & Poppy's...

"The other night the first kid readied for the tub peed all over the bathroom floor. Me & Granny put him in, then started cleaning up the puddle. Maggie got tired of waiting around..."

Christmas 2010

We had a wonderful Christmas this year!

Christmas Eve we went to Grandma & Grandpa's house to open presents.



Then headed to the Korzep house for dinner and more presents! Maggie was very into the present opening concept, whereas Jack was more interested in the paper and boxes.


The one and only family photo we took.


Uncle Ted & Aunt Katie have a riding horse at their house...and Maggie loved riding it!



Christmas morning we had our own family Christmas, just the 4 of us.






Jack & Maggie got a kitchen with food for Christmas!


Then later in the day we went to the Russell home for Christmas with the family. It was a nice holiday!