The first swim of the season

Kellen had his first swim lessons last night at the YMCA. We have done this every spring leading into summer since he was an infant. I've really enjoyed this time with him (and I think Karsten does too even though he won't admit it) and hope he learns to love the water like I do. BUT he was his normal cautious self and was mostly interested in watching the other kids.

It was so cute - he had his tongue stuck out concentrating really hard on what he was supposed to be doing. Hopefully we'll get him to put his entire head under water by the time lessons are over.

A visit from Nana and Poppa

This past week Karsten's parents came for a couple of days on their way home from Georgia. Kellen could not wait for them to arrive. He anxiously asked about them every day last week until they got here. PLUS they arrived with a big surprise - a John Deere Gator!

Nana and her boys.

Poppa and Keagan

Nana and Poppa took us all out to eat thursday night for my birthday dinner, bought me a chocolate cream pie and watched the boys for me while I did a little shopping. Thank you for everything!!!

Happy Easter

Hope everyone is having a great Easter! Here are some pics of the boys from this morning.

In front of their Easter baskets. Kellen was too excited about Daddy being home that he didn't even notice the basket of goodies at first. During breakfast, Karsten snuck outside and hid Easter eggs. Of course, I was feeding Keagan and he only took the video camera outside. SO I didn't get any pictures of Kellen hunting.

All decked out - it looks like he's had too much candy already this morning!!

The next few pics aren't that great - mostly because Kellen wouldn't cooperate this morning before church to take picures, and secondly everyone was tired and ready for naps.

Kellen was running from me when I was trying to take pictures. I finally cornered him in his closet.

I told Kellen to make Keagan laugh like he was doing last night - it didn't work:

Happy Easter Everyone!!!!

11 weeks old

Just a quick picture of Keagan at 11 weeks chillin' out in the Bumbo seat. He's really holding his head up well and loves looking at his hands.

Happy Easter or ????

Kellen has been quite excited about Easter. He found the Easter eggs a couple of weeks ago and Karsten has been hiding them around the house for Kellen to find. Since he didn't have a Easter basket yet, he resorted to using his trick-or-treat pumpkin to collect the eggs. I think he thought it was Halloween again.

Trying to crack open the eggs.

Mom gave Keagan and Kellen their Easter "baskets" last weekend. Since Keagan couldn't fend for himself, Kellen definitely took advantage of it. (Notice the two buckets??) When we got home, he lined up all his eggs, broke them open and took all the candy out of them. I think he's going to be a candy hoarder like I was. I always hid it and saved it (for what I don't know) until it was rotten. I'm anxious to see what he does this weekend when we have our Easter egg hunt outside. However, I hope he gets what Easter is really about. I'm not sure he understands yet but we're trying.

My Outside Boy

This weekend we went to my parents house for an extended weekend. My sister Morgan took Friday off and she drove down from Nashville to E'ville and then we rode together to Pleasant Plains. It was nice to have some company in the car and both boys traveled very well. Matt and Shannon joined us this weekend as well.

Kellen has been asking for a couple of weeks when he was going to get to see Nana and Pa and ride the tractors and combines. Well, he finally got his wish. He was outside (mostly with Pa) the entire weekend and did not want to come in and eat, bathe, or go to bed. I think the most he had to eat all weekend I could fit in the palm of my hand - seriously!!! Anyway, here are some pics of the weekend:

Pa got a new tractor recently - and Kellen got to try it out. He has a model size but was so excited that he got to ride in the real thing. He also got to try out their new 0 turning radius lawn mower but I didn't get any pics of that.


Trying out the new and improved swing set. Mom and Dad fixed up our old swing set and slide that us girls had when we were little. I remember him building that!

Trying out his new giant bubble wand. "This is how you do it Oscar!!"

Attempting to go potty off Mom and Dad's deck outside. (He was naked and getting ready for a bath but wanted to go outside and pee so I put Morgan's sweatshirt on him) And no, he didn't pee.

Laughing at Shannon and Matt's wild dog Izzy.

Finally winding down on Nana's lap after a long day and a barely there nap in the car.

We visited both sets of great grandparents while we were home. I only managed to get a picture of Grandma Dudley with Keagan.

On another note: My sister Shannon had a photo shoot of the boys so you'll have to check out her blog and her photography blog as well. There are some AWESOME pictures that I can't wait to get printed.

A Final Diagnosis

Just wanted to update you all about Keagan's jaundice. Keagan had his blood redrawn this past thursday to check his bilirubin and the Dr. called on friday afternoon to report that it was down to 7.1 Yeah!!! I'm so relieved and thankful. She said that he did have breastmilk jaundice (which is what Karsten suspected all along) but that it was the longest and highest she had ever seen in her practice. It still has to get to a normal level, but the Dr. said he would do that on his own and with more time. He should get down to normal within the next couple weeks. Thank you all for your prayers and encouraging words.

Made By Shannon

The picture doesn't really do it justice but this adorable smock was made by my talented sister Shannon. We received it in the mail last week but Kellen wouldn't wear it - until yesterday - when HK and Madison wore theirs. We had another play date yesterday and the kids colored easter eggs. They had a lot of fun and were amazingly pretty careful with the eggs and the dye.

In a rare moment, I caught Kellen sharing and enjoying Keagan's company. He has been doing much better and really starting to love on Keagan a lot. Here they are looking at the activity gym together.