He's awesome!

At 3 Keaton is...

-almost completely potty trained! (We are still working on #2, but he very rarely has accidents during the daytime.)
-sleeping in his big boy bed like a pro and has a great bedtime routine down (finally!) that we hope to keep up once baby sister enters the picture... :) (Currently, Keaton goes to bed right around 8-8:30 and sleeps until about that same time the next morning which is really nice.)
-a busy boy who loves to play, especially with his Dad! His favorite toys are his train, his race track, and his basketball hoop.
 -very, very smart! Keaton knows all of the alphabet by sight- each letter AND its sound! He can even tell you what letter most words start with as long as you help him make the sound of the letter at the beginning of the word! He can also spell his own name!
-sometimes too smart. We have to be careful what we say/talk about in front of Keaton because he listens to/remembers seemingly EVERYTHING we say!
-quite the little singer! He loves to sing primary songs, listen to music, (and dance!) and sing along to any song he knows from the ipod/radio or from some of his favorite TV shows. (Currently he really loves Team Umizoomi and Max and Ruby.)
-still napping. Sometimes. Keaton seems to be in the in between stage of almost not needing a nap, but yet still is way happier/better when he gets one... I wouldn't be surprised if in the months to come Keaton decides he is completely done napping... that will be one sad day for sure! ;)
-struggling with nursery. Which makes for some rough Sundays. But, after crying/throwing a little fit for a few minutes he calms down and then seems to do just fine and ends up enjoying himself in the end.
-such a happy, good, mild mannered child. Always has been.
-very excited to become a big brother! He asks almost daily lately when baby sister will come and he tells us he is excited to help give her her binky and blanket when she cries.

We love our 3 year old! He really is quite awesome!

1 week left- the bump!

38 1/2 weeks

Crazily enough my time being pregnant is quickly coming to an end! In just one more short week our baby girl will be here! The doctor told us at my appointment yesterday that our baby girl is looking good and growing enough to stay put inside me until I either go into labor, or until Sept. 3rd when my c-section is scheduled for- whichever comes first. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I will go into labor on my own!

It feels extremely surreal that our baby girl will be here in just a matter of days really... it doesn't at all feel real. I hope we are ready! (I hope Justin and I can come up with a name we both agree on by then...!) I have loved being pregnant and feel so blessed that this pregnancy has gone so well. (Yes, maybe a few little scares along the way, but here I am, almost 39 weeks pregnant and everything is just great!) I'm actually feeling a little sad to not be pregnant anymore. I have loved being pregnant. Yet, I am sooo very excited to welcome our baby girl into our family! Justin and Keaton are both very excited too!

Have we mentioned...

how much we LOVE  the missionaries!

A picture of Keaton and Justin with (from left to right) Elder Thompson, Elder Van Dam, and Elder Oates. It's transfer week and when they came over for a quick visit last night we had to snap a quick picture with them in case any of them would be leaving before we would get a chance to see them again.

Keaton's 3rd Birthday!

This past Saturday, August 24th, this crazy, silly, amazingly lovable, super smart little boy turned 3! And our whole day was devoted to him! We just can't believe our little Keaton is 3 years old!

First thing in the morning Keaton helped me make his birthday cupcakes!

And then we headed to Walmart for Keaton to get a quick haircut and then pick up a few things for his little birthday party! Keaton has recently started hating getting his haircut. I usually help Justin do it just at our house, but last time was such a bad experience (for all of us!) that I decided to see if having someone else do it might not be as bad? He was all smiles before while waiting for his turn... but when it came right down to it and the super sweet lady helping us pulled out the cape and the clippers... Keaton immediately started crying and cried the whole time! Poor boy. I felt horrible! Luckily, the lady helping us was super nice and super fast and although Keaton did cry a lot he held pretty still on my lap through most of it.

Here he is after it was all over and he had finally mostly calmed down. I told him to smile so I could get a picture of him and his new haircut and he managed this small smirk. Ha, ha. Well, at least it was over! (Too bad his hair grows sooo fast- just like his Dad's- and will most likely need another hair cut in another month of so...)

After Keaton's "nap" (He hasn't taken a great nap the last few days and his birthday was no exception... I tried and tried for over an hour to get him to lay down and at least try to take a little nap, and after about 2 hours he finally fell asleep... but by then it was just about time to get him up for his party! That boy!) we headed to the park for Keaton's party!

(Besides being super upset after waking up from his too short of a nap...) Keaton was such a great birthday boy! Keaton was soooo happy ALL DAY LONG and just seemed to feel so special that it was HIS birthday and so excited that he was now 3! He was incredibly excited about the birthday hats he picked out at the store and loved wearing his throughout his party. :) (It was also such a nice afternoon at the park- the perfect type of summer day- not too hot or humid- and of course we really love all the green surrounding us here in Maryland! It was the perfect night for a little outdoor party.)

Keaton and the missionaries- Elder Beckstead and Elder Carr- all sporting their birthday hats! I love it!

Keaton's present from the missionaries!

Keaton and his little friend Lily. We didn't really know who to invite to Keaton's little party, but we knew he would love it if the missionaries and his little friend Lily and her mom (and my friend) Erin came. Crazy party right! Ha, ha. It was perfect actually. We ate pizza and sang "Happy Birthday" and then had cupcakes! Keaton opened his present from the missionaries before they left and then we continued the party by watching Keaton open all his other presents! He was spoiled rotten! :)

Happy Birthday Keaton!

Weeks 36-38- the bump.

36 weeks

37 weeks- FULL TERM!

38 weeks

Another 3 weeks have come and gone and I'm still pregnant! Baby girl has been doing good and passing all of her tests (non stress tests and biophysical profiles that the doctor has had done twice a week for the past 4 weeks). I won't lie, even though I am loving how close of an eye they are keeping on the baby, going to the hospital twice a week can be exhausting! And, it has also been somewhat of an emotional roller coaster as each time I go in, even though I feel mostly confident everything is probably okay, I still sometimes wonder- will something be wrong this time? But, once again I am really grateful that my doctor is being so great about making sure our baby girl is doing okay! 2 weeks ago they measured her again and they estimated her weight to be about 5 lbs 9 oz- a little over a whole pound bigger than the previous 2 week growth check (she was measuring about 4 lbs 6 oz)! She is still lagging behind in growth as far as percentiles and averages go, but she made enough progress for the doctor to feel confident that she could keep growing inside me a bit longer!  

Celebrating 5 years!

On August 22nd, Justin and I celebrated 5 AMAZING years of marriage! How I love this wonderful man of mine! I am so blessed to have him by my side through thick and thin, happy and sad, and every time in between on this wonderful adventure called life.

The O's game- Mormon night!

Last weekend we rode the "train" down to the Baltimore Orioles baseball game for Mormon night!

Keaton was soooo excited to hold his train ticket and kept asking when the person was going to come and punch it! (Like they do on Dinosaur Train. :) )

Oh and look who we ran into at the game! My cousin Elder Child!!! 

It was so fun to see him and meet his companion, Elder Jensen. We are so proud of Elder Child and are so happy that he is having such a great time on his mission and can tell he is being the best missionary he can be!

Such a fun night. :)

12 on 12: August

1=> Keaton's new fav- his rocket ship key ring from his trip to DC with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Curtis, and Aunt Miryka. :)
2 and 3=> Keaton playing with his mini race cars on the zoo slide.
4=> So true, right? And, just what I needed to read on this particular day.
5, 6, 7, and 8=> Love him. So in love with him!
9=> Clean make up brushes. It had been way too long.
10=> Update on the blog about our visit from Justin's family!
11=> Dinner. Frozen pizza has been a staple around here lately...
12=> Debating whether it is worth it to bend over and clean up Keaton's choo-choo train... nope!

MORE visitors!!!

We have such a wonderful family! We have been so blessed to have so many visitors since we have been living away from Utah! This past week/weekend (August 7th-10th) Justin's family (minus Mckell, who had school! BOOO! We missed you tons and tons Kell!!!) came to visit us after spending the week in South Carolina together to spend some time where Curtis served his mission. It was so much fun!!! We only wish they could have stayed longer!

Keaton and Curtis reading scriptures before bedtime. Keaton LOVED being with/playing with Curtis! They were such great buddies and it was so fun to see them both together again after Curtis being away for the past 2 years!

At The Cheesecake Factory. YUM!

And, the yummiest part- the cheesecake!!!

Running with grandpa and Curtis through the halls at the mall. :)

Curtis getting comfy in the chair I really wanted to buy. He's crazy... :)

Keaton getting a little massage!

 Keaton and grandma playing the Wii at Best Buy.

 We LOVE our family!!!