Saturday, January 30, 2010

Another Week in Keefer Country

Another week has passed us by, and I unfortunately do not have any new pictures to show for it. Sorry to all of you who visit our blog to see new pictures of the kids. Ben had an exciting Monday playing with his cousins. After they left, I found myself wondering if all two year olds have such a hard time sharing their toys or if it is just my kid.

On Tuesday Mom (Grandma Gaerte) came over and played with the kids for a few hours while I was out. Thanks Mom. When Ben woke up from his nap he asked where Grandma was and then started crying when I told him that she had gone home. He said that he wanted Grandma to come back and play with him more. He really loves Grandma.

Today I ran outside in the freezing cold with my sis. We are practicing for a 5K in February. It was cold, but it is always nice to run outside instead of on the treadmill. It was also nice to spend time with my sister. I don't think either of us would have imagined that we would be bonding through running, but we are proof that anything is possible. All those prayers mom used to pray are being answered :).

We enjoyed a fun evening with friends tonight, and they actually stayed late enough that we got to hang out after the kids were in bed. We love when this happens because our friend time is normally limited now that we have two kids. It was fun to have some grown up conversation!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Maggie is Six Months Old

Here are some six month pictures of Maggie!






It is hard for me to believe that Maggie is six months old already. Maggie has become an expert at rolling. If you put her on the floor she will roll from one side of the room to the other, and just last week she figured out how to roll back the opposite way! As I mentioned before, she now has two small bottom teeth. She is eating all stage one foods and eats three big girl meals a day. Maggie thinks her big brother Ben is so funny, and she enjoys laughing at him. She loves to play with toys and especially likes to put things in her mouth. She is sitting up with a bit of support, but will still fall backward if you let go of her for too long. The most amazing thing about our little sweetheart is that most of the time she is content and happy. If you have met Maggie you know that this is an answer to so many prayers. If you don't know Maggie I will fill you in.
Six months ago we were so happy to welcome a healthy 8lb.8oz. baby girl. When we brought her home we thought our biggest issue would be getting Ben to adjust to her, but we soon found out that was not the case. At around three weeks old Maggie started crying. We would do everything to console her and nothing worked. She would only let us hold her up on our shoulder. We couldn't hold her cradle style or she would wail. During those first few months I think I cried almost as much as she did. It was extremely hard for me to accept that Maggie was not going to be the calm sweetheart that I had imagined while I was pregnant. It was very hard to bond with a baby who seemed unhappy most of the time. After one particularly horrible night we took her to the pediatrician to see if there was something wrong. I came home from the doctors office crying, after finding out that Maggie was colicky. On one hand I was happy to know that I wasn't doing anything wrong, but on the other hand I also knew that we would have to endure even more crying. Soon after that appointment I remember telling my mom that things couldn't possibly get worse. Boy was I wrong.
At two months Maggie decided to go on Nursing Strike. I had never heard of a baby who wouldn't eat. Everyone had always told me how wonderful nursing is and how it is a blissful bonding time for mommy and baby. On a Thursday night while Bob was traveling for work Maggie decided that she was going to stop eating. She acted like I was trying to poisen her and would go up to ten hours without eating. We again took her to the pediatrician who told us it was acid reflux. I spent hours researching acid reflux in babies and nursing strikes. For the next two months every time I sat down to feed Maggie I was a nervous wreck. I would wonder if she was going to eat or start screaming and pull away from me. If it hadn't been for my Mom and sister Jess, I don't think I would have survived this time. They were both very supportive and listened everytime I called them. They also came over to the house quite often so I was spending time with someone over the age of two. Bob and I spent a lot of time praying and asked for a lot of prayers from our friends and family. I have completely cut all dairy out of my diet and that seems to have helped a great deal. We found that some babies have an intolerance to dairy and that seems to be the case with Maggie. We also give her medicine for acid reflux.
We are so pleased that Maggie is growing up and becoming such a wonderful little girl. She still cries sometimes, but not much more than most babies. We feel so blessed to have her in our lives and can't wait to see what kind of little girl she becomes. Happy six month birthday Maggie!



Friday, January 22, 2010

This week was a busy one for us, especially because we don't get out much during the week with two little ones. We started the week with a fun shopping trip with Mommy's friend Sally. I was a little worried that it would be a disaster taking both kids shopping, but with Sally's help it was actually quite fun. I can't speak for Sally though :). On Tuesday our cousin Shawn came and laid carpet on our basement stairs. He did an awesome job, and we are very happy to have stairs that no longer look like a dark pit. Bob also put up drywall and did a great job with finish work and painting! I put a few pictures of the finished product for you to see. Thank you Grandma Gaerte for helping with the kids while the carpet was being laid!
Aunt Jess and Uncle Tedd also came over on Tuesday for our weekly BL party. While the girls watched BL the boys fixed Bob's muffler. Thank you Tedd for helping Bob. The way things are going, that truck might last forever.
On Wednesday Ben and Maggie got to visit Ben and Nick's house while I had an appointment. Ben enjoyed playing with all of his old buddies, and Maggie had her first nonfamily babysitting experience. She only cried for about half of the time, so it wasn't too bad.







Here are some fun bath pictures from earlier this week. I got them in reverse order. Can you tell I am new to this blogging thing. Oh well.
Maggie's second tooth came through this week, so she now has two tiny bottom teeth. She is becoming such a big girl. She is almost six months old already!
This weekend we have two big birthday parties to attend. Both Uncle Justin and Grandpa Keefer will turn one year older on Sunday. Happy birthday to both of them. Ben can't wait to play with all of his cousins.




Sunday, January 17, 2010

Trying Out the Picture Feature

If this works correctly, this will be our first post with a picture. I chose this picture of Maggie and Ben on Christmas morning. These are the gifts they got from us and from Santa. This is our first try at posting a picture, so it might come out too big or too small. Hopefully we will figure it out so you can see lots of pictures of the kids and all the fun we have around here.

We had a relaxing weekend at home, so I don't have much to write about. However, we did enjoy the mild weather this weekend. Bob took the outside Christmas lights down, Ben got to drive his tractor in the driveway, and I enjoyed an outside run. Ben was sad that the snow was melting because he wanted to snowmobile, but we reassured him that more snow will come later. Maggie was the only one who didn't get outside to enjoy the warmer weather, but it won't be long and she will be out riding on the tractor with Ben.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Our First Blog

For all of you who have been asking us to send more pictures of our kids and let you know what is going on in our lives, here you go :). We are finally a blogging/high speed internet family! Bob and I decided to get each other high speed internet for Christmas, and I am so excited. I won't make any promises, but I am hoping to post pictures of our family and update you on what is happening with us as often as possible. We got internet today, and the first thing Ben wanted to do was watch tractors, "like those fast tractors on the computer at Grandpa and Grandma Gaerte's house." Spending mindless time watching tractors on YouTube was a nice treat after making it through a week while Bob was gone for work. On a side note, Bob made it home safely this morning, and we are very glad to have him back at home.