Christmas with the Keeleys

Christmas 2012 was another successful holiday.  This year we did it a little different and celebrated a day early.  We treated Christmas Eve as our Christmas day that way everyone was able to make it to all of the different Christmas they had.  I don't know about everyone else, but it worked very well for us.  I loved being able to see all of my sisters and brother and not have to rush from one thing to another.  We got some great family time of playing games and just catching up on what was going on with everyone.  Although that usually didn't happen until late hours of the night since all the little munchkins take quite a bit of attention when they are still awake.  Lukas and Cade were once again very entertaining and loved getting to play with all of the toys that were opened.  It worked out well for the two of them since Reese and Lawson are still a little young to really understand what was going on.  Lawson enjoyed just hanging out and napping through some of the festivities.  He came away with some great gifts though for his first Christmas.  We shared many stories, a lot of smiles, and tons of laughs!

Soup Supper

Growing up my family participated in an annual soup supper with some family friends.  It is a tradition that we look forward to every year to get together, catch up with everyone, and eat some great food.  This year I thought it would be fun to try it out with some of our friends.  It was a great way to get everyone in the Christmas spirit and get a chance to hang out in the middle of all the holiday chaos.

It was a huge success and enjoyed by all, atleast they said they had a good time :)  I'm not sure we escaped the holiday chaos when you have a house full of 9 children under the age of 5, but they were sure having a good time.  Each family brought a different soup and then we had a couple of snacks and finger foods to go along with it.  The food was delicious and kept everyone picking at it for most of the evening.  Hopefully this will be a tradition we can look forward to each year as well.

All the kiddos eating some soup

Jordan was very proud that he got Kate to sleep like this.

I didn't get many pictures (my son was really excited that all of his friends were here and was requiring a little extra attention to keep him in control) but the two I got were pretty funny atleast. 

Lawson's Baptism

This weekend we got to celebrate Lawson becoming a member of the church and being baptized.  It was a very special day to share with our family.  God has blessed us in so many ways, and we look forward to teaching Lawson more about him as he grows.

We asked Matt and Jana to be Lawson's Godparents to help him grow in the Christian faith.  Matt had a game on Saturday so he made the quick trip all the way to Great Bend late Saturday night. It was a short stay in town, but we really appreciated him being there.

2 Months

Lawson is two months old today and his personality is really starting to come out.  I love it!  He is growing like a weed and changing everyday. 

2 months pics:

Things from this month:

• Smiling has become a normal.  We can talk to him and he will look back at you with the biggest smile.
• He is such a happy baby and will just lay kicking and cooing, especially on his changing pad.
• Lawson loves to look at all of the lights on the trees.  He will lay in his swing and just stare at them.  He has started to notice things around him.
• His blocked tear duct has cleared up so no more gooey eyes.
• Sleeping is going MUCH better.  He usually gets up 2 times a night, but will eat and go back to sleep.  The last couple of nights it has only been once and hopefully he keeps that up :)
• Lawson eats about every 3 to 3 1/2 hours.  If he takes a bottle he eats 4 oz. 
• Loves his pacifier, but it trying very hard to find a finger.  He sucks on his fist a lot trying to get a finger, but has not figured out how to open his hand yet.  I think we will have another finger/thumb sucker on our hands.
• He is wearing size 1 diapers and growing out of newborn clothes.  He wears 0-3 clothes.  They are a little big, but look better than the skin tight newborns.
• His neck is getting much stronger.  He will hold his head up for awhile but you have to watch out, he tends to head butt you if you aren't careful.
• Lawson adores his big brother.  He just lights up when he plays with him.  Lukas really likes to lay in Lawson's crib with him and play "peek-a-boo".  Lukas is getting better at understanding how he can play with him.  It is adorable and I love watching them!

More pictures from the month:

Cheesy Grin

Lawson has hit his first big mile stone..... SMILING!!  It is adorable.  We all love to sit and talk to him and see if we can get him going.  Once they start, he lays there smiling and cooing for awhile.  He started the big smiles about a week ago, but I finally caught it on camera.  I think Lukas wins for getting the most smiles out of him so far.  Lawson just adores his big brother :)

So Much to be Thankful For

Thanksgiving is getting closer and closer to being my favorite holiday.  What is there not to love.... family and food.  This year we did not get to see all of our family, but it was great to catch up with all that were here.  It is always fun to show off our new little man as well :)

Thanksgiving is a great time to think about our lives and really appreciate all that we have.  I am blessed by so many things especially the three main men/boys in my life.  I thank God for them everyday and can not imagine my life without them.  Erin is such a support to me.  He keeps me grounded and can always make me smile.  He always knows how to calm me down when I start freaking out about random things going on.  Lukas is at such a fun age and such a happy little boy.  He amazes me with the things he says and asks about.  There is no fooling him anymore :)  I don't think there is anything better than hearing your child say "I Love You" with a smile on his face.  Lawson can make me smile just thinking about him.  I love to lay and snuggle with him all day and not sure how I will survive when I actually have to work during the day.  Watching Lukas and Lawson interact has also become a favorite of mine.  I pray that they are best friends as they continue to grow into young men.

I am thankful for a home for our children, Erin and I both having good jobs that we love, our good health, and having such good friends and family.  It was a wonderful weekend of getting to see so many.  We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend as well.  Here are some pictures from ours.

Little ones at the Strube Thanksgiving

Aunt Beth got to meet Mr. Lawson

World of Sports

Lukas thought he would take the time the other night to teach Lawson about sports.

I"m a little worried it may have been too much information all at once :)

Serious Blow Out!

Lawson and I went to go visit Amanda and Kinley yesterday for a bit.  I'm afraid Lawson made a very poor impression on Ms. Kinley though.  We were literally up to our neck in baby poo!!

Too cute not to just laugh though :)

Boys in a Basket

Lukas for some reason has always like to sit in laundry baskets when I am doing laundry.  I think he sees it as a crib and likes to act like a baby.  He drags blankets into it and just lays down.  I decided to throw Lawson in with him the other day.  He was being fussy and nothing soothed him, except being with Lukas.  These two just sat there for like 20 minutes hanging out.

Eventually Lukas got bored with sitting so he decided on a new game, pushing Lawson through the house in the basket.  These two are going to be a handful someday, I can already tell :)

Lawson's Birth Story

**For those of you that do not care to hear the details, skip this post.  It is really for me to put in his book.  I am only posting because after having my own children, I love to hear other people's birth stories (kind of weird I know) so for those of you that do as well, here it is.

At my last couple of appointments with the doctor I was having some issues with my blood pressure.  It was getting high and my doctor was wanting to watch it closely.  The Friday before I was able to get it down again so he allowed me to continue working, but to let them know if I started not feeling good.  Well everything was fine until the next Tuesday.  I was at school and just didn't feel very good so I went down to the nurse during my break to check it.  It was high again so I called the Dr.'s office and they had me come in after school.  I was expecting a "stay home from work for the rest of the week" type conversation, but instead I was told we were going to go ahead and induce.  I was at 39 1/2 weeks into my pregnancy so he reassured me the baby was fine, but for my own health it would be best.  So I called Erin at practice and told him we were having a baby on Wednesday.  I was induced with Lukas as well and had a good experience so I wasn't too worried about that.

We woke up early Wednesday morning and took Lukas to my parents' house.  We had to be at the hospital by 6:30 to get all checked in.  By 7:30 they had my in the bed being monitored.  I had actually woke up a couple times through the night with contractions so we knew they had already started.  They started me on a slow pitocin drip to move it along.  I was dialated to a little past a 2.  I was feeling the contractions, but doing fine with them.  I had been disappointed in myself with Lukas because I kind of freaked out with the pain of the first one after they broke my water, so I wanted to do better this time.  Everyone kept warning me that once I wanted the epidural it would take about 45 minutes to get it so to try and plan ahead.  I have never been the woman who wanted to do it naturally to say that I did.  I am amazed at those woman actually, but the only issue I have is I'm not a big fan of needles.  I hate getting shots of any kind so the thought of a long, thick one in my spine doesn't sound real great.

After a couple of hours, my blood pressure was still very high and so we thought maybe the epidural medicine would help bring that down.  At 10:45 the anesthesiologist came to do the shot.  After being poked on 5 or 6 times with the numbing needle and the epidural itself, he thought he got it.  I did not handle this well.  I just kept telling myself it would be fine once he was done, but I couldn't hold back the tears.  I'm not sure if it was really the pain from the needles or just the thought and fear of him continuously putting needles in my spine.  The poor guy felt awful, but we thought we had it.  My legs started numbing and I was feeling a little relief.

The relief lasted about 30 minutes, then the contractions started getting stronger.  I knew that once they broke my water they would get worse.  I asked if there was anything we could do to take the edge off a little, like increase the medicine.  My nurse called the anesthesiologist to check and he recommended getting it redone.  I WANTED NO PART OF THAT!

At noon my doctor came to break my water.  He said I was at a 4.  I was starting to worry a little about how I was going to handle the pain for 6 more centimeters.  Like I expected the contractions grew and were coming quickly.  I needed something different.  I just wanted to get up, but of course since I had the epidual (kind of) I could not walk around.  My legs were numb, but everything in my midsection and uterus was being felt full force.  They called someone to come and fix my epidural.  When she got there she wanted to try a couple things first.  They checked me again and in the 15 mintutes that had passed I was at a 7.  Since I was starting to dialate so quickly, that was probably causing the sudden increase of pain.  I was trying to focus on anything but the contractions.  My husband was doing an amazing job of trying to just keep me calm and getting through it.  I can not imagine going through all of this without him.

They called the doctor and told him I was moving quickly so he came back over to the hospital.  He came in and checked on me and then went to get changed.  I was about at my breaking point and just wanted it all to stop.  Luckily when the doctor came back in the room he said I was fully dialated and we were ready to have this baby.  I had to get through one more contraction while they got the bed ready.    It took one push and our beautiful healthy baby boy was here!  His official birth time of 12:40 p.m.  Seeing him made all of the pain worth it.  It all disappeared and nothing mattered anymore other than holding our precious little man and looking into his eyes.

I thank God for the blessing that Lawson is.  He gave me the strength to get through it and the support from Erin to help.  It was an amazing experience even though it didn't go as I had expected, but I'm sure they never do.

 

One Month Old

The first month has come and gone.  Lawson is a month old today!  It is crazy to think everything that has happened in the past month.  Lawson has been an amazing addition to our family and brought us even closer together.

One month photos:

 

Things about Lawson at one month:

• At his two week appointment he was up to 7lb. 2oz.  I'm not sure where we are at now, but I know he is growing like crazy.
• He wears all newborn clothing and newborn diapers.  They are not loose anymore like they were when he was born.
• Lawson is a big fan of the pacifier.  I am curious to see if he becomes a finger sucker like big brother.
• Sleeping has been a very trying experience at night right now.  We have had a few good nights that we hope become more frequent.  Lawson doesn't seem to be a fan of the swaddle so we try not to make it too tight, but if his arms get out then he wakes himself up with his hands.
• He loves to sleep while being held.
• Eating is going very well and he eats about every 3 hours.
• His head control is getting stronger.
• Lawson handles the noise and chaos of our household very well.  I think Lukas actually is calming to him.
• The little man is quite the grunter, like all the time.  It is so funny :)
• No true smiles yet, but Lukas tries to tickle him frequently so maybe soon.

More photos of our first month:

Happy One Month Birthday Lawson!  We love you so much!!!!

Here is the link to Lukas' 1 month if you want to compare.   Lukas 1 month