A Little Perspective...

This is Keegan now:

pardon the blurriness; AJ was taking the picture himself.

And this was Keegan a year ago:

It never ceases to amaze me how much of a difference one year can make; especially in the life of a little boy. It is like night and day.

AJ on the other hand never seems to age at all. Personally, I don't think that's very fair, but I guess that's just the way things are.

It's Potty Time

Yep, that's right. AJ and I are now embarking on a journey into unchartered territory (at least for the two of us). We are starting to potty train Keegan (and for those of you who really don't want to read a post about pee and poop, I totally understand, and feel free to skip the remainder of this post).

Keegan learned the sign for "potty" forever ago, but I don't think that he really made the correlation between the sign and actually doing it until recently. He's been telling AJ every night for the past week or so when he's been in the bath that he's needed to go to the bathroom (and to be fair, AJ has been telling and showing him for months how "big boys" go to the bathroom). So, AJ started taking him out of the tub and sitting him on the toilet and Keegan's loved it! Apparently he's a little backward, since he loves to poop on the toilet and he's really good about telling us when he needs to now (especially since I've begun bugging him a billion times a day about whether he has to go or not), but he doesn't really tell me when he has to pee, which is why he's still in diapers for the moment. Personally, I think some of the appeal was that daddy would give him high-5's every time he did something in the toilet, and I gave him a dum-dum today, and that he got to use his special green soap to wash his hands when he was done, but it's a start and we'll take what we can get.

That being said...for my readers that have been through this before, I'm looking for any words of wisdom, advice, suggestions, etc. that you can give me. Since he's already used to sitting on the toilet we aren't going to get him his own separate one (because I really don't want to have to empty it to be honest) and are just going to get a step stool to help him get on the toilet. I have been told to not use pull-ups, as they tend to provide a safety net for the kids sometimes, and a friend of mine did the whole "7 days with the kid being buck naked from the waist down" way, and it worked, but she has wood floors and I have carpet everywhere so her messes were a whole lot easier to clean-up. We did go out and buy him some "big boy underwear" today, but I'm not sure he really understood what we were buying, or what it means. He is only 20 1/2 months, afterall. So, what's worked for you? What didn't work? I'm all ears.

So, I'm a Slacker...

What can I say, I've been slacking a little on the whole blogging lately. We've been busy, but not necessarily with anything earth-shatteringly important to talk about, and it's been hot (seriously, bring on the fall weather already...or at least what passes for fall in California) and I've been trying to keep Keegan occupied and busy and then I fall into bed each night and then think "oh wait, I wanted to blog today" right before I fall into a semi-deep sleep for 3 1/2 hours (yes, Camden is actually letting me sleep that long...HURRAY!!).

So, in order to make up for the lack of posts I will at least post some pictures, because really, that's probably all anyone who reads my blog is looking for, and to be honest, my brain isn't totally functioning right now, at least not enough to compose complete blog posts (hence the long run-on sentences. It's a good thing I'm no longer in school and being graded on this).


I love this picture...despite the fact that it's part in shadow and part in bright sunlight I love that Keegan is so gentle and loving with his brother. This was early one morning and Keegan just laid his head down on the pillow next to Camden. So great!!! We've been lucky...I'm well aware that it could have ended up very differently for us having had two kids so close together.


Keegan wanted to "hold" his brother (personally I think he was stalling and trying to put off bedtime), but only daddy could help him, so mommy snapped the picture.


This is what happens when AJ gets Keegan ready for bed. In the first picture, Keegan has AJ's socks on his feet and is pretending to call his dad on the phone (who just happens to be standing in front of him taking the picture). The little half smirk/grin is what makes me laugh the most in this picture. The second one is of Keegan signing the emotion "scared". It's one of the greatest signs that he does. He might know a lot of non-useful signs (I mean, really, does he need to know how to sign "skunk" or "rainbow" right now?), but the signing has been fabulous because he can still tell us what he needs, although he has definitely become the little chatter these days.


AJ had been looking for months on craigslist (seriously, greatest website ever!!!) and he finally found this one. He's had to restain it (and it's actually not totally restained yet), and they just put it up about a week ago, but Keegan loves it, and it means I don't always have to take him to the park when he wants to ride the slides and swing on the swings. There is a bonus to having a big backyard.



So I braved the zoo with both the boys about a week ago. Keegan had been asking to see the elephants and I wanted to make good on my promise to take him. Camden pretty much slepth the whole time, and Keegan was how he always is at the zoo...happy and friendly and wanting to look at everything.



I realized as I was going through my pictures for this blog that I have very few pictures of Camden. I guess what they say is true...you take more pictures and video of your first baby than you do of any subsequent children. Poor Camden...I guess I better get on that, so that I have pictures to put in his album. He was a little grumpy when I took this, but it shows how big he's gotten. At his 1-month check up he weighed in at 11 lbs and was 22 1/2 inches long. He's totally a little porker, but I love it.

Time Flies...

So, I'm still alive. I can't believe that it has been two weeks already. Seriously, it blows my mind. Just over two weeks ago, I was lamenting the fact that time couldn't pass fast enough and now I want it to slow down just a little and let me catch my breath (and some zzzzz's while I'm at it).

We have been busy...it really is different this time around. I was terrified to take Keegan anywhere after he was born. Maybe because he was my first, maybe because it was winter and colder, maybe because I didn't seem to be feeling as good as I do this time around...who knows. I just didn't want to take him out and about for quite some time. Not so much with Camden, to the point where I actually feel a little guilty that he (Camden) hasn't had nearly as much snuggle and relax with Mom time as his older brother did. I was ready to take him to Sea World the day after we got home from the hospital (thankfully, smarter heads prevailed and AJ convinced me to stay home). Camden has however, already made it to his first football game, which really, is there a better "first outing" than that? Thankfully the Chargers won, and Camden and I got to enjoy it all from the comfort of an enclosed box which was relatively quiet, while Keegan and AJ watched from the seats that were much louder (their choice, I might add).

We have been spoiled...no one more so than Keegan. He has had lots of play time with his cousins (thanks to Becky being here with Aiden and Reilly and helping keep Keegan busy and preoccupied) and a TON of unprecedented one-on-one time with his Dada, and he has loved it. They went to the zoo, to the pool, to Sea World, to the aforementioned Charger game where he got to stuff his face full of potato chips and popcorn (a treat he had never had before but one that he instantly fell in love with). He danced to the music played at the game, he clapped and cheered whenever anyone did something great on the field and he clutched his little football tightly in his hands the whole way home. Now that AJ is back at work full-time this week, Keegan has had to adjust to the slower pace of life that mom has to lead right now, but he is adjusting (even though he still asks for "dada" roughly 20 times a day).

We have been well-fed...or at least Camden has. My little porker (and yes I can call him that) has already put on a pound since he was born and is currently weighing 9 lbs. 12 oz. The doctor has said he is looking great and seems to be doing just fine. While I don't think that he will put on as much weight as Keegan did that first month (the kid went from 9 lbs. to 12 lbs. in 4 short weeks), Camden is not shy about eating to his belly's content. Unfortunately for me, that means dinner is usually a bowl of cereal at 10:30 at night because I really don't want to warm up dinner and eat a full meal that late. This however, has helped the pregnancy weight already start to come off (Hurray!!!).

(We have also developed a nasty case of baby acne, which thanks to the heat and, apparently, all my excess hormones, means new photos might be a few weeks coming. so these will have to do for a while. Any help on how to clear this up quickly would be greatly appreciated).

We are adjusting. For the most part, Keegan is doing great. He gives his little brother lots of kisses and doesn't like when Camden is crying. He is willing to help fetch things for his mom (most of the time) and is usually pretty gentle and careful around Camden. There are the rougher moments, like when Keegan has decided that his brother is done eating and tries to pull him off my lap, but that is to be expected. I just have to make sure that when Camden is sleeping (which is does quite a bit), Keegan gets my full, undivided attention. So far, it has helped keep the relative peace in our household.

Thank you all for your well wishes and comments and phone calls and help (seriously, Becky, I can't thank you enough for spending as much time with us as you did and for keeping Keegan busy and occupied...we miss you and the girls already). I will get back to all of you one on one eventually...unfortunately, it may take a little while.

Love you all!!!