Maccoy's 3rd Birthday Party!

Happy Birthday Maccoy! I can't believe you are turning 3! (Sorry, BreAnne this is the best picture I got of your family... !)

Here is Maccoy with the present Keaton gave him- Lotso! (If you don't know who Lotso is you need to watch Toy Story 3. It is a great movie!) :) BreAnne told me today that Maccoy has been telling her all day that Keaton is his best friend for giving him Losto. :)

I am making Keaton a small picture book of family and such for Keaton to have for a quiet book at church, and so while we were at Maccoy's birthday party on Sunday I snapped a few pictures that I thought would work great for the book. So, here is Keaton with some of his favorite people. :)

(I like that you can see Grandma's Christmas tree in the background of this picture.)

Only 12 more days till Christmas Eve... I can't hardly believe it! Slow down time! I don't want this holiday season to be over yet!

Keaton LOVES Elmo

Keaton's favorite place at Walmart. :)

The Festival of Trees

Dec. 2nd- For the 1st time ever we went to The Festival of Trees. Keaton is super into Christmas trees right now (he points at every tree he sees and says, "oooh") and so we just knew he would love it. It was a lot of fun. A great activity for our family to do altogether on a Friday night out. It even snowed a little on our way home. :)

Better late than never?

 Keaton is now 15 months old!

Doesn't he look just so cute in his Christmas snowman shirt? :) (Can you believe that it is almost Christmas?! I can't...! Where did the time go? Fall is over, and winter is here and I can't figure out how it happened.)

Here's an update an our happy little boy:

-Keaton weighs about 20 lbs (give or take), and I am not sure how tall he is, but I doubt it is too much taller than when he turned 1.
-He has 5 little teeth now (the last one just popped through his gums about a week or so ago), and boy does he know how to bite hard if you put your fingers in there!
-He loves it when we sing to him. His favorite songs are "The Wheels on the Bus," "Popcorn Popping," (which he also does the actions to) "10 Little Monkeys," and the song from "Elmo's World" (you know, "La, la, la, la, Elmo's world... Elmo loves his goldfish, his crayons too... That's Elmo's world!"
-Keaton more and more frequently not only gives kisses, but can blow kisses too.
-Keaton loves his little Elmo finger puppet and drags it around the house all day long giving him kisses and loves when we ask him to.
-He has a little truck that Grandma Norman gave him. which he loves to push around the whole house while making a "vroom, vroom" sound.
-Keaton knows what a cow says, "mooo..." and what a doggy says, "ruff, ruff...," and will most of the time tell us what they say when we ask him to.
-He love, love, loves to read books. His current favorite is "Elmo's Merry Christmas," which is a lift-the-flap book.
-He is an expert crawler now, but also gets closer and closer everyday to walking. He can walk with his cute play walker and loves to walk while holding our hands, or cruise around by holding on to the furniture.
-Keaton only has 2 bottles a day now- one in the morning and one before bed. He isn't super interested in his bottle too much anymore (maybe he never really has been), but I still give it to him because otherwise he would be dehydrated all the time... He won't drink any milk from his sippy cup (or any other cup for that matter), and he only drinks very small amounts of water and juice from his sippy cup.
-Keaton is going through a somewhat rough phase with eating (at least I hope it's a phase, ha ha!). He some days eats really well, and then other days won't eat anything at all. His current favorites are goldfish crackers of all flavors- cheddar, vanilla cupcake, and s'more- ritz crackers, easy mac, and spaghetti O's.
-Keaton is still a really good sleeper. He sleeps in in the morning, most of the time till 8 or 9... sometimes even later! And he still takes at least one good nap a day (2-3 hours long), and if I'm real lucky he will take two naps. :)
-Keaton is a real good boy at the babysitter when I am at work. (At least that is what our babysitters tell us! I sure hope it's true!)
-Keaton still has a binky, but only at bedtime and naptime. But, I hope to get rid of it completely in the months to come... We'll see. :)
-Keaton is a very smart boy and loves to play with toys that test his knowledge. He likes to put his play cookies into the play milk jug, he loves to put lids on things, and he enjoys trying to take little toys apart and try to put them back together- like his stack-able cups he plays with in the tub.
-He loves the tub.
-He hates getting dressed or getting his diaper changed.
-Keaton is a silly boy. He is always getting excited for reasons unknown to us at times, and when he does he opens his eyes super big and starts breathing fast and heavy and squealing. :) (I need to get it on camera! It is hilarious!)
-Keaton will scream a high pitched little girl scream if we scream at him first. (He also opens his eyes really, really big when he does.)
-He can be such a little stinker when he wants to be, but most of the time he is such a good little boy.

We love our "baby" Keaton so much!

Trying to put Woody's cowboy hat on his head. :) He's a cowboy snowman!

And, here our a couple of pictures from our Norman family Thanksgiving party.

The Holiday season is here and time is flying by all too fast for me. I just want it all to slow down so I can take some time to treasure it- to enjoy it more fully. But, I guess that probably isn't going to happen. But, we had a great Thanksgiving spent with Justin's family and we have lots of fun things planned for the month ahead with Christmas just around the corner. 

It's super cliche to say, but, I really do think that this IS "the most wonderful time of the year."

1 fire-breathing dragon PLUS 5 witches EQUALS

 a very fun Halloween weekend. :)

1st- On Saturday, October 29th, we went to the annual Norman family barn party! It was a lot of fun and, of course, my very favorite thing about the party this year was seeing Keaton all dressed up in his costume! We also had a great time eating yummy food, playing some really fun games, and just visiting with family that we haven'ts seen for a bit. Thanks Grandma Norman for always making this party so great!

Isn't he the cutest fire-breathing dragon ever?! :)

This is the best picture we got together as a family before our camera died...

Then, yesterday, October 30th, our fun-filled Halloween weekend continued at Justin's parent's house where we had the annual Witch-A-Leena dinner, which never disappoints. We listened to some fun Halloween music, ate lots of fun Halloween-themed foods, and just mostly had fun playing with Keaton. :)

It was a really good weekend. And I am super sad that it is over. Especially since tonight I have to work. I am so sad to be working on Halloween! It feels wrong to me to have to work on my very most favorite holiday of the year! :( Alas, that's just how it goes when you are on-call. I'm trying to make the best of it. :) At least we were able to have a super great Halloween weekend spent together with family!

Yup, we bleed BLUE!

The past couple of months have been sorta busy for us to say the least. Fall has passed us by in what feels like the blink of an eye. In fact, I have been a little sad the past week or so because I wanted to do all these fun fall activities and such during the months of September and October, but it seems all I have really accomplished these past couple of months is working, working, and more working while in between trying to catch up on sleep, not feel too stressed, and be a somewhat good wife and mom. (Sadly, I feel like I have failed miserably at doing all 3 of those things well- work, wife, and mom...Long story short, it has been a lot harder of an adjustment than I thought it would be to be back at work.)

Justin has also been super busy lately, (Here's another failing area... I have not done as well as I should at supporting Justin and being there for him during his busy time... MY GOAL: Remember Justin and Keaton before myself and my hard things.) not only with school, but he has also had quite a few job interviews with all sorts of different companies for jobs that will start in April of next year once Justin is all graduated. It's so crazy to think that Justin is that close to graduating and could possibly be starting his career soon! It's exciting and kinda scary all at the same time. A lot of real big decisions coming our way within the months ahead, that's for sure. I am so proud of Justin and all his hard work to support our family and make sure we have all that we need. He always is so willing to help me out, especially lately when I have been super stressed about work, and he never complains about all the things he has to do himself. I love my wonderful husband. He is truly such a great guy in so, so many ways!

But, one thing we haven't missed out on is cheering for our team at almost all the home football games. Go BYU! It has been so super fun to go to the games as a family this year- Justin, me, and Keaton. :) And, of course, Keaton has been a real trooper. He wasn't sure what to think of the first game, it made him cry for a little bit from all the noise, but since that first game he hasn't seemed at all bugged by the noise and just loves watching all the things going on around him.

"Good morning, mommy!"

Its about time that we have to lower the crib! (As most of you probably realize Keaton has been a little slow going on hitting certain developmental markers since most babies start standing up in their cribs way before they are 1 year old.)

I could hear Keaton in his room this morning, but waited a bit longer than normal to go and get him because I really wanted to sleep some more. A few minutes later I gave up the idea of him possibly falling back to sleep and decided I better go and get him, and to my shock and surprise when I walked into his room I found this little man standing up at the side of his crib. Standing up! He has never done that before. It about gave me a heart attack. I mean, I knew he would eventually figure out how to do it, but it was still crazy to just see him standing there smiling at me. :)

P.S. I think we can also say officially that Keaton is finally crawling! He doesn't do it a ton, but when he really wants something he goes for it and has really been doing great crawling around here and there the last few days. :) (I should probably take some pictures or video record it...)

A new season.

"Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn." 
-Elizabeth Lawrence

I think it is safe to say that fall has begun. School has started, the air is cooler, the nights are shorter, and I can even smell it- fall- more and more every day as September is quickly turning into October. My 2 very most favorite months of the year.


Fall means a lot of really fun things for us... school is back in (Yep, Justin really does look forward to and enjoy school, and I love the back to school season, even if I am not in school anymore.), BYU football games!!!, lots of pee-wee football games for the young boys in my family, hunting season is here for both my family and Justin's family, we no longer have to run our window unit ac's 24/7 :), and  it is the perfect weather to enjoy all kinds of outdoor activities (like taking long walks, and Justin would really like it if we hiked the Y... but I keep putting it off...). 


I love the fall.

And this year, as we watch the seasons change, we also have experienced quite a few changes in our small family recently...

*Justin started his final undergraduate year studying Mechanical Engineering at BYU. He is studying hard for school, the GRE, and the GMAT. And, by the end of the year will be starting applications for a graduate program that is a Mechanical Engineering/MBA all-in-one 3 year program that BYU offers. I am so proud of my amazingly ambitious, amazingly smart husband!

*Justin has also been busy working part-time at BD Medical since school started, but thinks he will  probably give his 2 weeks notice tomorrow? Because, well...

*I got hired as an on-call/prn phlebotomist at the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. This hospital is right down the street from our house. (It's the hospital where we had Keaton, and where Keaton lived for the 1st 8 weeks of his life.) I won't lie, it's a little scary to think about going back to work. I have absolutely loved being a stay-at-home mom for the past year, and although I shouldn't have to leave Keaton with a babysitter too much... it is still not my favorite idea and it is going to be kinda hard for me.

So, as much as I love the change of seasons from summer to fall I have a little bit harder of a time adjusting to changes in my life. But, these changes feel like good changes. (Once I get adjusted to them anyway. :) )

Go BYU!

Keaton in his game day shirt. :) (Darn boy wouldn't hold still... so, this picture is a little blurry, but it's the best one I could get.)

 Everyday I have to remind myself that Keaton is in fact 1 year old now. 

It's weird, it doesn't feel like that could possibly be right, or true.

But, he is. So, here's a little update:

*At Keaton's 1 year check-up he weighed 18 lbs 13.5 oz and was 28 inches long.

*Keaton waves "hi" and "bye" quite frequently now.

*Daddy taught Keaton how to give "5" and now he does it all time.

*He still can't crawl really, he is working on pulling himself around on his belly, which is a good start I think! 

*We have started to give Keaton more table foods, some he loves, some he doesn't. (He seems to have a little bit of an issue with certain textures, which his doctor says is normal for premature babies like him.)

*I guess it is time to take Keaton's binky away- Dr's orders. So now, we are starting the weening process- Keaton hardly ever needs his binky during the day, except naptime, and I still let him have his binky at bedtime. (The goal is for it to be completely gone within the next couple of months.)

*Keaton loves to talk baby talk all the time and is recently really loving experimenting making all different kinds of sounds with his tongue.

*Keaton still takes 2 naps a day (averaging about 1 to 2.5 hours long each nap... usually he has one shorter nap and then one longer nap). And, he sleeps 12-13 hours at night. :) It's great.
*Keaton STILL lays in his bouncer with his bottle propped up when it's time to eat.
*Keaton is FINALLY taking nice, good, long naps in his crib INSTEAD OF his swing!

*Keaton is getting better at drinking out of a cup/sippy cup. (To be honest I really need to help him work on it more...)

*Keaton loves babies and puppies and gets very excited when he sees them.

*Sesame Street has an animated Elmo and Cookie Monster letter mini letter learning segment which Keaton just loves and gets all excited about and dances to every time it comes on. 

*Keaton loves to dance and dances any and every time he hears any kind of music. (Even church hymns.) :)

*Keaton loves his Murray "doll" (Maybe, I should call him a monster? I don't know.) and knows who Murray is when we ask him. He also loves the "Murray has a  Little Lamb" segment of Sesame Street. 

*Keaton is a happy, fun-loving little boy, he hardly ever cries, or gets upset, and he loves and lets just about anyone and everyone hold him or play with him.

We love our sweet, super cute little boy. 

Anyways, back on topic. Go BYU! We can't wait to take Keaton to his very 1st game on Saturday- BYU vs. U of U!

$2 Tuesdays, plus IKEA

On August 30th, the very last Tuesday in August, I met my mom, and sisters, and their kids out at Thanksgiving Point to take advantage of their $2 Tuesdays that happen every August. It seemed like the perfect end of summer activity. We decided to visit the farm. Maccoy and Keaton liked looking at all the different animals. Ellsie and Landon didn't really care so much one way or another, they were just along for the ride. :) Above is a picture of Maccoy in the jail. Ha, ha, he was being pretty funny about being stuck in there. :)

Then, after a fun and yummy lunch at Chili's we all headed to IKEA to do some shopping! (Mostly just looking, but we all did our fair share of buying too...) Above and below are pictures of Keaton zonked out in the stroller while walking around IKEA. He was so very sleepy. I love his wide spread legs. For some reason he always loves for his legs to be like this while in the stroller. :)

I had such a super fun day with my mom, BreAnne, and Kayte. It was a blast getting together, especially since it isn't too often when we are all together. It was also fun being with all the kids in our ever growing family too. :) 

A celebration.

Can't believe the ride it has been.
Can't believe it's been a year.
Still can't believe he is ours.
Forever.

One happy little birthday boy!

Keaton's 1st bubble bath. :) Getting all clean and ready for his birthday party!

Isn't he looking like such a big boy? Here he is all dressed up and ready to party! Justin and I sang "Happy Birthday" to him all day and he just smiled and cheered probably wondering what all the excitement was about. :)  (And look, BreAnne, he's is even wearing shoes... for pretty much the first time in his life.)

Keaton and Murray. (From Sesame Street, Keaton loves him!)

At the park in West Point for his party. Eating his 1... I can't believe my baby boy is 1 year old!

Look, he is even kinda holding up one finger.... ha, ha. Not intentionally I am sure, but nonetheless.

"Yep, mom, I'm 1!"

"Hmmm, give me that please!"

"Yuck!" I don't know what it was he didn't like, the cake, or the fact that his hand was all messy. This face just cracks me up.

Keaton has been a little bit sick lately. I took him to the doctor the day before his birthday and the doctor says he is not only teething a bit, but he also has a majorly bad sore throat. So, he has been a little sad, won't eat, and cries a lot when we put him to bed sometimes. After his party, and back in Orem, Keaton just was so sad and did not want to go to sleep... So, I decided to sit with him in his room and put away all his super cute birthday clothes and presents away, and he just absolutely fell in love with playing with these hangers. He turned in circles over, and over, picking them up, putting them down, and hitting them together... until 1 in the morning. Oh boy!