A wrap up...

2011 was the best year of my life so far. I can't even seem to remember what life was like before April 25 of this year, but that's just fine by me. God has worked on both Kris and my heart's so much this year. I've seen such a shift in priorities, and it's exciting. I pray that God can continue to work on our hearts, and help us to properly prioritize over 2012.

I know He has so many blessings in store, not only for our little family, but so many people around me. There are so many friends and family member's being lifted up in prayer, and I'm confident that God has big plans for 2012, and I can't wait.

This has not been the type of New Years Eve that I would have planned on, though.

Two nights ago I woke up most of the night and was super sick. I didn't go into work, but I still took Keegan Michael to daycare so that he could stay away from his sick momma, and so I could go to the doctor and come home and sleep until Kris picked him up from school. I went to the doctor, they gave me a prescription, ordered some blood tests, and I came home to sleep. An hour later, a phone call came through from Keegan's school. He had a temperature of nearly 102 degrees. I felt like such a bad momma for sending him to school with a temp, but honestly, I was so focused on NOT having him around his sick mom, that I didn't even realize that he already had a fever!

We went to the pediatrician and they gave him a Z-Pack, so he shouldn't be contagious within 24 hours. However, to be safe, we cancelled our dinner reservations for tonight at a fancy restaurant here in town. While at the doctor's, Keegan was weighed and had only gained a few ounces in the past month. Ugh! He eats SO much! So now we're busy loading him up with calories to try and beef him up and hopefully take him out of the 9th percentile... or at least help him to continue growing at a steady pace rather than continuing to slow his gaining (he had dropped from the 18th to the 9th in one month). Skinny little boy!

Yesterday afternoon Keegan came home and went down for a nap. Would you believe that baby slept from 4:00PM-6:00AM?! 14 HOURS! I did give him a bottle at 6:00PM, though, while he continued to sleep. He seems like he might be feeling slightly better, but he's still a little out of it. Here's hoping he's back to his normal self in time for church tomorrow!

So for tonight, Kris and I are getting carry out sushi and splitting a bottle of champagne and will probably fall asleep before midnight. Life is good.

Here's to a fabulous 2012.

Cheers from the Karolkiewicz'!

One of our favorite dinners in a while...

Last night I perfected one of our favorite easy dinners. So much so, that I feel the need to document it so I can refer back to it. I'm not quite sure what fancy name I want to give this made up recipe, so I'll keep it simple and call it...

Black beans and Corn Bread:

Ingredients:
1 lb of ground turkey (or beef, I prefer turkey, though)
2/3 a cup of sweet red peppers (cut up)
1 tbs of cilantro
1 tsp of lemon pepper
1 package of Jiffy corn bread mix
1 large egg
1 can of corn
1/2 cup of skim milk
1 can of black beans
1/3 a cup of shredded mexican cheese

Directions:
Brown the ground turkey with the cilantro and lemon pepper. Remove from heat and throw in the sweet red peppers. Mix in the can of black beans. In a separate bowl, mix the milk, corn bread mix, egg, and the strained can of corn. In a pyrex dish, spread the turkey and been mixture on the bottom. Top with the corn bread mixture. Bake at 375 degrees for about 30-35 minutes until the cornbread is cooked. Top with shredded cheese and bake another 5 minutes or so until it's melted. Serve with sour cream and hot sauce.

Mmmm. We LOVE this. It's so darn quick too. And makes quite a bit, so we always have leftovers, which is always a favorite over here!

Along with this, I made my own little "Avocado Salad."

For it, all I did was slice the avocado, and drizzle with lemon juice, a tiny bit of honey, and then sprinkle with sea salt. It was the perfect side dish and so yum.

Anyway, nice job, Mandy. Now you have this documented so you can never wonder why it's not as good as that one time you made it in December. HA.

Merry Christmas and Happy Eight Month Birthdayyy (sung to NSync's Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays) Ha!

Keegan Michael: You turned EIGHT months old on your first Christmas! I cannot believe it. You are growing right up, and we keep meeting milestone after milestone- and it never loses it's excitement! I am just as excited for you doing something new as I was when you were a brand new baby.

What a joy you are. You bring so much laughter and sunshine to Daddy and my lives- and ALL of your grandparents, aunts and uncles and extended family as well.

You wear mostly 9 to 12 month clothes right now. If I had to guess, I'd guess you're about 19 pounds. You don't have another doctor's appointment until next month, so I think my estimate will have to do! :) You also are finally in size 3 diapers. Big kid!

You sleep SO well. On the days we're home, you're very consistent with taking at least an hour nap mid morning, and at LEAST an hour and a half nap in the afternoon. Normally more like 2 to 2.5 hours. Mommy loves it because she can play with you when you're up, and know that she can get whatever she needs to get done finished while you nap.

At night you know it's about bed time around 6:45-7:00. Most of the time we stick with your "routine" but you do really well when we need to modify it to accomodate our plans. You typically sleep anywhere from 10-12 hours straight a night. Needless to say, Mommy and Daddy LOVE it and FINALLY feel rested after the hard time we had between 2-6 months when your ears hurt before you got tubes.

OH and BIG news in the past month...

YOU HAVE YOUR TWO BOTTOM TEETH! It was incredible because you were a little fussier- but it really didn't affect your sleep too much. You woke up for a couple of nights- but only at 10:00 or so while we were still up. Go, Big Boy!

I'm sure your top teeth are coming in soon- because you're still sticking EVERYTHING you get into your mouth as soon as you get your little hands on it.

You're still not crawling. We really think that you'll just skip crawling all together. You love to walk while we hold your hands, and you're starting to pull yourself up on everything. You just act like you think it's silly to crawl around on your hands and knees when you have two perfectly good feet! I will say I think you're a ways away from walking on your own. You just get too excited and wobbly! :)

You eat three meals a day, and in between have bottles every couple of hours. You are a big eater, but you must have your daddy's metabolism because it just doesn't seem to do anything! You love ALL baby foods. You eat the "meals" like Mac and Cheese (which is your favorite!) and Chicken and Turkey and Beef. You eat veggies like a champ and of course fruits. It's awesome that you're learning not to be picky. Your Dad and I made a concious effort to give you EVERYTHING and to make you eat all types of food because the last thing I would want would be to have to accomodate a picky eater! Ha!

We've just started giving you some table food cut up very small. You love kiwi, and you LOVE cheese. We like to give you some shredded cheese and you just can't get enough of it! It's so fun to see you growing into such a little boy rather than staying a baby. It used to make me a little sad, but instead, now it's just thrilling!

Santa Claus knew that you were a good boy this year. He brought you a new toy box for all of your toys that you got from him, and from ALL your Grandparents and Great Aunt's and Uncles! He also brought you a puppy armchair that you can sit in like a big boy, a dino push walker, an hour and a half long Yo Gabba Gabba DVD (which I'm sure Mommy and Daddy will be VERY thankful come our roadtrip in February!), and even brought you a fireman dress up outfit!

You absolutely LOVED unwrapping presents and having everyone watch you when you did that... You LOVE attention! What can I say, you come by it naturally :)

Mommy loves books for you, so she loved a few of the books that came home with us this year from all our Christmas celebrations: Your Auntie M is a preschool teacher and her FAVORITE children's book is Llama Llama Red Pajama- so she and Unkie gave you that, with a huge stuffed llama and red pajamas for YOU that your Unkie spend hours and hours looking for! What a great gift! You LOVE the rythm to it!

Also, your Grandma B gave a book to Daddy that I have read to you twice already. It's called I Know You Can. It's very similar to Oh the Places You'll Go by Dr. Suess. But, it's just a sweet little story about staying on your track and that it's okay if you have to find a new track to ride on, and that you should always be happy being a train and never wish that you were an airplane or a car. What a great analogy!

Keegan Michael... I say this every month, but what a JOY to be your mother. What a GIFT! Our God is SO good and has so richly blessed us with SUCH a sweet boy. We can already see His Hand working more and more in our lives, and already in yours. I pray that you follow His will for your life and that you will not have to be the type of person that has to learn your own lessons, but that you can learn from the mistakes of others. We love you, big kid.

Keegan got SO excited about EVERY gift he opened this year!

Carrying on the legacy of his great grandpa Bernie at the Anderson Christmas Eve party!

Its the most wonderful time of the year... I think. I dont really remember...

The title of this blog is the perfect example of my scattered brain the past few weeks. I'm not joking when I say that I'm pretty sure both Kris and I were googling symptoms of a brain tumor, or whatnot, after the sudden change in my scattered-ness over the last month.

I've misplaced everything. I wish I could implant magnets under my skin and onto my phone, keys and debit card. I'm finally realizing that if I don't do something RIGHT when I think of it- it won't get done. Super irritating!

Is old age really setting in this fast?!

On Saturday we went to Kohls so I could use some Kohls Cash before it expired. We walked around until I found something to spend this free money on, and got in the 20 something person long line. I rummaged through my purse to find the coupon on, and it was gone. I remembered getting it out and carrying it around, but apparently I dropped it. Merry Christmas to someone at Kohls, then! Enjoy your free money that this crazy lost.

From there we went to Kroger. Kris drove, but I used my Kroger Plus Card on my keychain to check out. The next day I couldn't find my keys and just KNEW the cashier didn't give them back to me. I called- no keys. Kris went in- no keys. I've been using my spare all week. Last night I finally rummaged through my purse again. There they were. Sitting right in the pocket where they should have been. I looked there about eight times, though!

I LOVE Christmas. I LOVE being a mom. I LOVE my job, and I LOVE that we have two showings ON Christmas Eve day because two families are THAT interested in our home. But- I can't wait until I get the hang of all this and can balance everything without feeling like I'm losing my mind!

Oh well. We'll make it work and laugh about my crazy brain in retrospect... (Well, AFTER I find what I'm looking for :). We're gonna try to take Keegan to see Santa tonight, so we'll make sure to post pictures on the blog soon!

But to tide you over, here's my little handsome boy:

Give a Gift of Love...!

Remember that song? I know my sister, Molly, will. "So we can give the gift of love, and the give goes on, the Father gave the Son, and the Gift goes on... the Son gave the Spirit..." Southfield Christian Christmas concerts, what, what?!

Well, first of all, I want to thank everyone for their concern, thoughts and prayers for my husband after last week's post . He's doing much better, but is definitely having to monitor what he eats closely. He's headed to the doctor on Friday- and until we hear differently, we're just assuming that it is diabetes and really watching his diet.

This blog is something on a totally different note, though. I posted a while back about my dear friend, Jacque, who has sacrificed a lot to go serve with the Peace Corp in Yampil, Ukraine. I had the opportunity to catch up with her last week for a long time- it was so wonderful! She is someone who I already view as super incredible. She's fun, smart and really inspiring. It's totally awesome because as soon as I think she can't get any better, each time I talk to her, it's obvious to me that she's becoming more and more selfless. 

When she first went to Ukraine to start teaching English, the first thing she was telling me was how hard it was because the textbooks provided by the Ukrainian government were really, really bad. She decided to put in a request for a grant through the Peace Corps to raise money for new text books. In the meantime, the Ukrainian government decided to ban the old books because of their poor quality- without replacing them. So now, poor Jacque is left trying to teach English in a foreign country (if you didn't know- which I didn't, they speak Russian there... TOTALLY different), without text books.

Essentially, the "grant" is that the Peace Corps gives permission to Jacque to list this monetary need on their website so people can make donations toward that project.

Would you please consider making even a small monetary donation? Whether it be $5.00, $10.00 or $15.00 even?

What's even better is that Jacque is not just asking for money. She's trying as best as she can to try and raise the funds herself while in Yampil. On December 16th she's organizing and hosting an American Christmas Camp where the Ukrainian kids can learn about how we celebrate Christmas in the good ol' US of A... Complete with a lesson on The Grinch!

Even if you're not able to assist financially, please start to pray that Jacque can raise enough money to supply all these students with textbooks.

Here is the link to the blog that Jacque has set up about this project so you can get to know the people that you'll be helping and praying for. If you'd be interested in making a donation, there's also a link on the right:

http://beapartner.wordpress.com/

Thank you, thank you for all of your help! :)

Last nights adventure...

If you want to call it that. More like big scary night.

But, God is so good and allowed His timing to be perfect. Last night Kris met some guys for Bible study at Leo's Lodge, and I stayed home with Keegan. I got him down for the night and sat down at the computer. I kept hearing something and realized that it was my phone on vibrate in the kitchen.

I looked at my missed calls and saw my friend Christine (whose husband was with Kris) had called twice in a row and while I was looking at the calls she called again. I got nervous and asked if everything was okay, "No, not really... Kris passed out at the restaurant and is throwing up. An ambulance is coming to take him to the hospital."

I ran upstairs and grabbed Keegan and loaded him in the car. If you're not in Lansing, just know we had an awful snowstorm last night (8-10 inches)... I made it to the end of our subdivision and got stuck. I think I've only felt that helpless one other time in my life.

I called Christine's husband, Mark. Our friend, Garrett, who is a nursing student went with Kris in the ambulance, so Mark and our other friend, Tony, came and pushed me out so I could get to the hospital...

The fastest I could go was 20 miles per hour. I got to the hospital and went back into his exam room. Poor guy was hooked up to an IV and had a big gash on his face. My first reaction was panic and trying to solve it... What did you eat? What did you drink?!

This has happened before, but never like THIS. He passed out, lost his vision, his hearing was coming and going, and he was throwing up. When he passed out he smacked his face on something and sprained his ankle...

They ran a lot of tests, initially their main concern was his heart- we know it's not that because he's continued to see his cardiologist and was just told again that his heart is working perfectly... Based off of the tests in the ER, they concur. But for good measure they're sending us to get him a heart monitor to wear for another 48 hours just to rule it out completely.

We both have a feeling that he's diabetic. His mom has Type 1 diabetes, and he just remembered that, and all the symptoms seem so similar.

He's in the process of getting a primary care doctor who can begin testing for that.

So many thankfuls from last night, though:

That this happened at the restaurant while people were around rather than while he was driving home by himself in this snowstorm;

That he has so many selfless, godly friends who completely saved the night. One friend was wiping off his face and cleaning him up and feeding him water and juice, and then went with him to the hospital. One made sure his food was paid before they left. Two came and saved me from a snow bank and then drove to the hospital in a massive snowstorm to make sure he was alright.

I prayed the whole way home at 1:30AM... My prayer was: "please let us get home, Lord. Don't let us get stuck... We done even have to get in the garage, just please get us in front of our house." And He did. My car is now struck at the bottom of our driveway, but we got home safe.

Kris is obviously not working today. But I can't get him to sit down. Please pray that they will get everything figured out soon so that Kris can start getting his body under control- because I like him a lot and want him around a lot longer... So does Keegan :)

My Mister Seven Month Boy

Wow.

Give mommy a moment to cry.

Okay, Keegan. I'm done (for now).

Not only are you such a big boy, but you're seriously the worlds kindest baby. You have your moments because, well, you ARE a baby... But you make friends everywhere you go. We hear, "Gerber Baby" from everyone you meet because not only are you my little Mr. Punkin Face, but you're SO smiley and kind to everyone!

You still LOVE daycare. Today when daddy picked you up he said you were working VERY hard in the exersaucer- you didn't even notice him!

Today you've really figured out how to walk around when daddy holds your hands. You got so excited it looked like you were running. You'd pick those little knees up so high- sometimes you were marching! So cute! Still not crawling... You get so frustrated and- okay, I'll say it... A little lazy- and just fuss fuss fuss since you can't figure out how to get anywhere!

You're sleeping through the night again. Thank You, Jesus! Your health finally seems on the mend (I literally just knocked on wood), but we're pretty sure your bottom teeth are finally coming in soon. They're SO swollen, you're tugging on your ears and a little fussier (but, no ear infection).

You're still wearing size two diap's, but I think you're about ready to move up to size three's... Plus, we have Santa diapers in size three so... :)

You are only 16 pounds, 9 ounces (little boy!), but you are an EATER! Must have your daddy's metabolism! You have about three BIG containers of baby food and about 20-25 ounces of formula a day. Big belly! :)

We love you, Keegan. We couldn't ask for a cuter or more fun baby boy. You already have a sense of humor, and a sweet spirit that I just can't get enough of.

We pray for you daily- multiple times a day, and we are so blessed to know that you are surrounded by so many other people who are lifting you up in prayer and committing to help to raise you up in Christ.

I so hope that you come to understand who God is, and the incredible characteristics that He possesses, that I pray you will develop as you grow up.

He has blessed us so much: He's given us an amazing family, a beautiful home, peace, grace, mercy, forgiveness and the gift of reconciliation. He is GOOD. Happy Thanksgiving, Keegan Michael, and Happy, HAPPY Seven Months!

Woah. Bout time for an update!

Yeah, it's been a long time since I've blogged. Life seems to be flying by at super speed lately, between work, Keegan, tons of house showings and tons of Holiday preparations (I've been smart enough to start early this year since time's flying by so quickly).

Busy is so not a bad thing. I love it because I love feeling productive and I love each passing day, but I'm really starting to wish it would slow down just a little. I can't believe Keegan's almost seven months old.

Talk about weird! But Mr. Big Kid is doing well. He talks all the time now and tries SO hard to crawl... But he's just a tiny little guy so it's hard for him! He's getting over a sinus infection (seriously this poor kid just can't get a break!) but has FINALLY gotten better at sleeping at night. Woot!

Since he's started sleeping better he's seriously SUCH a joy. I mean, he's already a joy but went from crying a little during the day, to NOT CRYING for the past 60 hours. He wakes up chatting, goes down for his nap like a gem, and does even fuss when he's hungry... Whattt?! Ha, he must know that Santa's elves start watching him about now to make sure he's a nice boy :)

I absolutely am so excited for the Christmas season this year with my baby boy... If our house wasn't on the market I'd of had all Christmas decorations up November 1st. But, alas, this year we must wait until after Thanksgiving with all the "normal" folk!

Also, on the house front: we've had so many showings the past few weeks. SO weird since it's so cold out and I always thought that the market slows down. But- no bites still. We just pray that we'll trust in Gods timing to lead us exactly where we need to be, and bring us exactly the right buyers for our house. So much easier said than done!

And now... Here's some of Keegan's 6 month photos that my friend, Mikenna, took:

Oh and for good measure, a pic of Keegan after he scooted his booty from his play mat into the middle of the living room! Big Kid!

Going on a bear hunt...

Keegan is drinking a bottle while I rock him before bed. Our new favorite story is We're Going on a Bear Hunt. It's too funny because we've read it every night for the past week and a half, and it's the only book that Keegan will stop screaming to read when he's crabby, and amazingly- sit still, look at the pictures and try to turn the pages the whole time.

I've had so much more time to pray since Keegan was born: lots of feedings and nap times, but have recently found myself questioning painful hurdles in people's lives... As silly as it is, We're Going on a Bear Hunt really reminded me of something profound: As the family proceeds on their adventure, encountering all sorts of predicaments along the way, they state over and over again, "We can't go over it, we can't go under it, Oh-no, we've got to go through it!"

They proceed to overcome all of the challenges and find that bear.

Love it. I hope that continues to be a Karolkiewicz Family favorite, and even a motto to live by. :)

Happy [half] birthday, to you!

My sweet little bitty...

You are SIX MONTHS OLD today!

I think I might cry!

You are the most amazing son and exactly who I would pick if I got to pick out who my first child would be. You have the most joyful spirit, and we feel so absolutely blessed.

You've really come out of your shell the past month and your personality is really developing. You really think you're funny (just like your Daddy! Ha!), and you actually ARE funny (just like your MOMMY! Ha!).

You have just learned how to shake your head- you don't know that it means "no" yet, but you do it to be silly, and sometimes in response to us asking you if you're silly. :)

You have also started giving hugs. When we're holding you and you get very excited, you laugh loud, wrap your arms around our necks and squeeze tight. A lot of times you have starting actually givings hugs when we ask for them! The absolute BEST feeling (I mean, I am a hugger- so you come by it naturally!).

You are a rolling over machine. All the time. And you're starting to try to get that booty up and those legs under you to crawl. You are very good at sitting up by yourself like a big boy- but you still love to lean to your right side when you're eating in your Bumbo!

You have about three big baby food meals a day- and you are getting so good at eating! When you're ready for a bite you lean forward and open wide (and then scream if we aren't fast enough between bites). Then you have bottles for the rest of the day

You still are not back to sleeping through the night... Come on, Keegy! It's been three months since you have. Needless to say, Mommy and Daddy are exhausted and have been getting by on Coffee and Claritin-D!

You absolutely love Henry the dog. You smile every time you see him and constantly try to grab him. He loves the attention... And loves to lick the baby food off of your bib :)

You are a size two diaper, and you are really starting to fill out and I absolutely love it. You're still on the smaller end if the spectrum... Last week you weighed 15 lbs, 10 oz.

You are wearing anywhere from 6-9 month close. Sometimes some 12 month shirts, but let's not push it, Big Kid :)

Here are a couple pictures from your 6 month photo shoot tonight in your diaper that I took while Daddy at Bible Study:

LOVE THAT CHUBB!!!!

Curly ribbon crisis...

Today one of the many errands we ran was to Babies R Us- other than having to pick up some necessities for our family, I got the privilege to buy baby girl stuff for my friend Amy, who is expecting baby Addy's arrival in January (Keegan and I get to visit Kalamazoo on Sunday for her baby shower!).

Baby girl stuff is SO cute.

I bought sweet wrapping paper and couldn't wait to get that present packaged up pretty... I am an extreme perfectionist when it comes to wrapping gifts, and I wouldn't have it any other way... What's more thrilling than opening - or GIVING for that matter- a PERFECTLY WRAPPED GIFT?!

I am also a curly ribbon addict. All presents look 10x more appealing with loads and loads of tightly curled ribbon on top.

Tonight while Kris was at class, Keegan and I decided to indulge ourselves by wrapping baby Addy's gift a little early... I propped him in his walker, and he proceeded to excitedly watch mommy wrap the present- tape the edges, and tie lots and lots of ribbon around it. I pulled out the scissors and began to curl the ribbon on top of the present...

With each curl, Keegan let out an absolute SOB... I don't know what it was about it... The sound?! The motion?! Not to ruin the surprise of what your gift looks like, Amy, but, really Keegy?! Each curl?!

My son, the artist...

Okay so, maybe not an artist, but I am beaming with pride! Today I called Kris on my way home to let him know I'd be there soon. "Keegan has a surprise for you when you get here. He made you something at school," he teased...

I truly thought he had pooped through his clothes majorly and that was Kris' "funny" way of setting that up.

I came home and read the report card on the counter...

"Very happy today, and I squirmed and laughed very hard when they painted my feet!"

I turned to Kris, "What did he make?!" I nearly squealed realizing that he really did make something and that Daddy wasn't just setting me up for a bag of extremely poopy clothes, and looked around the counter for the craft.

Kris ended up directing me to the refrigerator where Baby's foot prints were proudly displayed... My heart melted and I nearly cried. Two little white footprints, upside down, with smiley faces on the heels to make Halloween ghosts... The most beautiful artwork I've ever seen!

My priorities have changes these past 5 and 1/2 months, and I couldn't be happier. I'm so proud of who I'm becoming as a mom, and an adult, and I'm even more proud of watching my husband develop into the true man of our house. As we speak Kris is at men's Bible study, Keegan is sleeping, and I am relaxing-relishing in the blessings that I so do not deserve but could not be more thankful for, and meditating on my amazing God who's given me more than I could have ever imagined. He is good.

Butternut Squash Lasagna... Only the best dinner EVER...

Since I'm home with Keegan more I've become much more experimental in the kitchen. Luckily we are no longer living off of take out and frozen chicken cordon blues from Meijer (though they still make an appearance every couple weeks).

Tonight I did my own spin on a fall recipe that I found on Pinterest, and it was incredible. Kris ate three pieces in the time it took me to eat one. Seriously, so good. I will warn, though, that it does take quite a bit of time to prepare bc there are a lot of steps.

But this meal is worth it. The next time I decide to make this I am just going to make a couple to freeze as well.

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash
2 cups of skim milk
1 stick of butter
1 tsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp chopped garlic
Big handful o' fresh spinach
Couple sage leaves, chopped
Sprinkle of cinnamon
Drizzle of honey
Dash of salt n' pepper
Wheat Lasagna noodles
Bag of shredded mozzarella
Bag of shredded parmesan

Bake the squash at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

While it's baking make the cream sauce. Melt the stick of butter in sauce pan with garlic. Add milk. Once warmed stir in sage, salt and pepper and cornstarch. Once it thickens, add spinach.

Once the squash is cooked, spoon it into the blender, add a spit of milk to loosen it up, add a little honey and cinnamon and purée.

Layer the Noodles, cream sauce, cheese. Noodles, butternut squash, cheese. I, then, topped with noodles and cheese just so it looked finished.

You should have enough ingredients to have two layers of each.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Tubes it is!

Praise the Lord.

We finally had our appointment at the ENT. Keegan still had fluid behind both of his eardrums and without any hesitation the doctor agreed that he needs tubes as soon as we could get on the schedule.

He did also state what we had a feeling of: that because this is such an important time developmentally, we may see him fall behind other kids his age with his speech. He stated that at this point, we should be catching it at a good enough time where we might be able to correct it without intensive speech therapy, but also said that if this went on much longer than speech therapy would most likely be in out future.

So, we are very pleased that the doctor came to this conclusion as well.

Surgery is planned for October 27, bright and early in the morning... WOOT! WOOT!

I'm just relieved that Keegan will finally start feeling better, and HOPEFULLY start sleeping through the night again! Needless to say, these past 6 weeks have been draining for all three of us (thus it is my excuse for being so negligent of my blog lately)!

Thanks for all of your prayers for my little baby boy!

Little bitty update and some yums from this week

I put a little update on Keegan's health status on Facebook tonight, but I figured I should probably put a little more extensive one on here for anyone who cares to read some details :)

I came home from work last night and Keegan had a fever of 101.5. Which wasn't unbelievably high- but high enough to make him super fussy, uncomfortable and restless. Last night was a rough night. Keegan and I were up throughout the night, and up bright and early this morning. I stayed home from work because I called the doctor and they seemed concerned that maybe this fever meant his ear infection was not gone.

We spent the morning snuggling close, and then finally got ready to head over to see Dr. Josh (our absolutely favorite pediatrician EVER!). They checked him out- and his ears were still pretty infected. His fever had subsided, so that was good. However, they decided that we would finally be able to head to the ENT. I was super relieved because truly, I just want him to have his ears feeling better, so if tubes are what it takes, it's what it takes. We're still not sure on the date of the first appointment with the ENT, but hopefully it'll be soon :).

They did decide to give us a super strong antibiotic to try and give him some relief over the next week or so until we can get in. It's so strong in fact, that the only pharmacy in the Metro-Lansing area that carries it is over at Sparrow Hospital. So Keegan and I had quite the afternoon of errands all for his poor little ears!

And HUGE NEWS: Tonight, after Kris got home from work, he practiced rolling with Keegan, and he absolutely rolled like a mad man. He worked SO hard, and finally manage to completely roll unassisted, and lifted his head high! SO proud of him... sick and all!!!

Okay... so onto some other delicious things from this week...

I made this on Sunday for our Lifegroup- and we loved them so much, I made them again last night so Kris and I could enjoy and entire back to ourselves!

Monkey Bread Muffins:

Seriously, SO good, and SO easy. You just take a stick of butter and cut it up into 1/12's- with a cube in each muffin cup. Put a heaping teaspoon of sugar into each muffin cup, and then sprinkle cinnamon on top. Then take Pillsbury biscuits (or the off brand- what ev!) and break them up into threes or so- and fill the muffin tins. Sprinkle the biscuits with a little bit more sugar and cinnamon, and then bake at 350 degrees or so until golden brown. When you take them out of the oven, drizzle them with sweetened condensed milk.

Oh. My. Word. Seriously incredible. We have a new favorite.

Then tonight for dinner, I decided to take a recipe from Crock Pot Girls, but I kind of did my own twist with ingredients that I had in my pantry...

Bacon Ranch Crock Pot Chicken:

Mix 1 can of cream of celery soup, with a cup of sour cream, and 1/2 a package of ranch dressing powder. Mix in a little bit of milk to loosen it up. Then, add about 1/2 a cup of real bacon bits. Add 3-4 thawed chicken breasts and cook on low for 4-5 hours. THEN, about a 1/2 hour before serving, bowl up some egg noodles and mix into the sauce.

Kris and I both agreed that this would be a new regular dish in our house going forward. SO delish.



Big Kid, Five Months Old!

Okay, are me and Kris the only ones who can't believe that Peasey is already FIVE MONTHS OLD?! Do you realize that's almost SIX MONTHS OLD, which is half a YEAR old?! AHH! It's so wonderful but so heartbreaking at the same time!

And, lets just say we've been SO busy today that I haven't been able to get a "five month" picture. So, I'll use some pictures that we took yesterday, which is close enough because he may be growing fast, but not fast enough for it to make a huge difference in 12 hours :)

I'm FIVE months old, today!

Keegan Michael, this has been a full and exhausting month. We absolutely adore you, and you are such a joy- but you've had an ear infection this whole month so you're up quite a bit at night again. Poor baby. We've exhausted all of our antibiotic options at the pediatrician- if when we go back for your check up on Thursday your ears are still infected, then they're sending us to the ENT to talk about tubes. Yikes!

But, because of all of these doctor's appointments we've been able to monitor your weight. You are now 14 lbs 10 oz, and are wearing mostly 9 month clothes now. You are decently long- but still kind of skinny. Things that need to fit in the waist you're still about 3-6 month, but in length you're definitely 9 month. You had a HUGE two week growth spurt where you were eating like no body's business, and gained over a pound in two weeks. That's nuts!

You LOVE to eat. You now grab for all of our food and like to lean forward and open your mouth anticipating a bite. I don't think you have a favorite food because you love it ALL! We normally mix puree's with either oatmeal or rice, and quite frequently you eat two full containers of baby food with cereal in one sitting. BIG BOY! And you absolutely love Mum-Mum vegetable crackers. You will devour one in just a few minutes.

One thing that's super cute is that you like to lounge in your Bumbo. I forgot to take a picture- but it's so funny. You're kind of lazy and sit up straight to eat for just a couple minutes and then you lean completely to your right side and throw your body over the side of your chair and lounge and make it so hard to feed you- but boy, are you comfortable! HA!

You are now offically in size 2 diapers. We still have a few 1/2's left, but we'll put those down in the basement and save those for the next baby!

You are still a growling machine. You are very vocal, and love to sit at the dinner table or kitchen counter and chat it up while grown up's are talking. SO funny.

You love your Johnny Jump Up, your Glow Worm, and your "Key's." You've figured out how to take the rings off of the key ring separately like a big kid now, and it's so cute! You have a scooty booty- and your favorite spot is still your playmat. You LOVE it and scream for joy and scoot around 180 degrees. Super fun.

Keegan, I can't believe that every month truly does get better and better. We have good days and bad days, but more good days then bad. There is nothing better then sitting and chatting with you and having you laugh your booty off at everything I say and do just because I'm your mom. You are the best. I am nothing but confident in the plans God has for your life. You are incredibly special and I know that you have an amazing future ahead of you. Thanks for loving me so and being so easy to love in return.

We had a fantastic weekend. It was super busy, but lots of fun. We went to Art Prize in Grand Rapids and went to my parents house and spent the day with them and my Aunt Sue and my cousin Becky and her daughter Rose. Keegan LOVES them, so it was fun to spend more time with them.

Rose is hysterical, and Kris loved it because he was able to do his "magic tricks" and she really thought they were good. HA! It was adorable because when we were leaving Rose actually started crying because she wanted to go to Kris' house... Haha! SO cute.

We had a great time seeing some cool sights and reminicing about some fun times we had together. Now we're itching to get to Chicago to see them again sooner rather than later! :)

Our little family is so happy going into this week. Kris actually has Thursday and Friday off so we get to spend some family time together more than just a busy rushed weekend! So, we're excited going into Monday- because the week will be short!

Everyone else enjoy your week, too!

Here's a photo to leave you with of Keegan and his cousin, Rose watching Veggie Tales together. I adore this picture:

I should be a chef...

Not to brag or anything... :)

Ha, but, seriously... tonight I made such a good dinner. The main thing I can brag on is the chicken corn chowder that I made- all without a recipe and flying by the seat of my pants. Of course, I forgot to take a picture before we ate it. But, here's the recipe because I know if I don't document it here I will end up forgetting what I did.

Ingredients:

1 bag of buttered corn (I used one of those steam in the microwave ones)
2 small jalepenos
1 can of chicken broth
1/2 can of sweet corn
2 large chopped and peeled carrots
1/4 a vidalia onion chopped
3 chopped celery stalks
2 cups of skim milk\
3 large chicken breasts (diced)

Directions:


Steam bag of buttered corn. After cooked, place in blender with can of chicken broth. Blend. Cut and seed jalepeno's- add to the corn mixture and blend until pureed. In a separate pan cook up chicken pieces. In a large pan (big enough for soup) brown the carrots, celery and onions. Poor corn mixture from the blender in with the cooked vegatables. Add cooked chicken. Stir in two cups of milk. Add remaining 1/2 can of sweet corn. Let cook on low heat for about an hour. Season as desired.

SO YUM, and SO EASY! :)

Also, I found a recipe for an Autumn Chopped Salad on Pinterest, and I decided to do my own twist on it.

Ingredients:

Two Chopped Romain Lettuce Heads
1/2 a cup of chopped walnuts
1/2 a cup of dried cherries
1/8 of cut red onion
1/2 a cup of real bacon bits
1/4 a pear diced
1/2 a cup of poppyseed dressing
1/2 a cup of balsamic vinegarette

Directions:

Mix it all together! :)

SO GOOD. Kris and I both decided that it was the best salad we've ever had. Heads up: Anyone that will be seeing me on Thanksgiving- this is the dish I'm bringing. I call the salad! :) Ha.

You know how I said I found a similar salad recipe on Pinterest?

That is my newest absolute addiction. I cannot get enough of it. The absolute best DIY ideas, incredible recipes- and I think I've even figured out what theme I want to do for Keegan's 1st Birthday party already because of that website! Let me know if you're on Pinterest if I'm not already following you. I LOVE to see what other people love, and steal some of their awesome ideas!

what's my problem?!

Why can't I be better about actually blogging? My whole goal is to document our lives at this point so that I can look back and see what we did during these sweet times in our lives. Why am I such a lame-o at blogging then?

I think it's probably similar to SO many things that we do in life. I am the QUEEN of putting things off because I make them to be so much more than they really are. I think of "having" to do things like blog, do my devotions, go grocery shopping, etc. But I actually LOVE doing all of the above. Why do I have such a tendency to dread things that I actually end up truly enjoying when all is said and done?! Ugh. Drives me nuts.

Anyway, this past weekend I decided on a family verse for our little Karolkiewicz family. I realized that when Keegan starts fussing my little catch-phrase (you know, the one that when I keep saying it while he's older I know he'll just roll his eyes and say, "ugh, mom") is "Joyful always!" So, needless to say, our family verse is now:

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." Thessalonians 5:16-18

Talk about a lot to live up to. But I am so thankful that I don't have to live up to anything. That if I strive to live like Christ- His grace is enough. He is sufficient enough, and like we've heard so much at Riverview the past few weeks, He will "Sustain you until the end." So thankful for that grace because I would far from measure up.

I'm so happy that fall is in full swing. I will admit, I am the first person to complain when it's cold out (so hopefully I can meditate on our new family verse enough to start giving thanks for the snow and cold, too:), so I'm really relishing in this in between weather. We made our first pot of chicken noodle soup last weekend- and it got me so much more excited for cooler weather and the fun and treats that come with it.

And can I just say, since my last post a week and a half ago, I swear- Keegan has grown SO much.

Mr. Cozy. Okay, I'm not going to lie. I've been making him wear his little baby jammies just a few more times before they absolutely can't squeeze into them anymore. This is one of his little gowns- I think his feet stick out at all times, but I just can't bear to put it away yet! :) Ha.

Seriously? From the last blog post and that picture of him in this jump up... Do you see that roll under his chin?! I really don't think that was there last week... My little chubby bunny baby boo boo!!! Seriously, this kid will eat SO much. He'll eat an entire tub of baby food with oatmeal/rice cereal in it, and then cry until we give him a bowl of applesauce with oatmeal and then top all of that off with a few ounces of formula. He goes to the doctor on Wednesday to make sure his double ear infection is gone (yup, after his THIRD round of antibiotics... ugh), so I'll be excited to see how much he weighs. He still wasn't 14lbs last week, and he's ALMOST 5 months old, so I'm hopin' we break the 14 lb mark :)

Big kid has been practicing sitting up like this on his own. We have pillows behind him just in case he falls, but he just seems to feel like a grown up when he does this. He'll do this for a few minutes before he gets exhausted and keeps falling right on his face and then will screaammmm until we sit him up again so he can keep sitting like a big kid. Love seeing him grow up!

Anyway, we have a few busy days coming up, but it seems like these past few weeks have absolutely flown by. Before I know it its' always another weekend (it's fabulous!).

Enjoy your days, all. I have a feeling that I probably won't blog again as soon as I'd like too... hopefully I'm wrong, though! :)

Be a blessing

This has been a wonderful week despite the health in our household. Keegan is going on his third round of antibiotics to try and kick this infection that moved from his throat to his ears. Bless him. He passed it to his momma (aka, ME) and I'm on my fifth day of medicine and feeling just slightly better. According to the doctor, neither Keegan or I were contagious after 24-48 hours on the antibiotics- so don't worry if you've seen us this week :)

Because of the epidemic in our home we've been laying pretty low. We went up to Grand Rapids on Saturday to visit with family, but I had woken up on Saturday morning feeling pretty junky. Unfortunately I couldn't really enjoy our day because I was just out of it. Sunday and Monday we stayed home all day long and rested up trying to get me and Keegy better. It was actually a very, very relaxing Labor Day. I think if I would have been feeling better I would have been a lot less likely to actually relax!

Now to update... Here are a couple newbies in the Karolkiewicz household that I'm realizing we cannot do without right now!

First, the baby swing is officially in the basement. For some reason Keegan will NOT sit in his swing here at home, but thoroughly enjoys swinging til his little heart's content at school (daycare). So NOW, our new Big Kid toy is his Johnny Jump Up, and he just can't seem to get enough of it:

Second, my cousin, Ellen who has a son about three weeks older than Keegan introduced me to Keegan's new favorite food:

Keegan is chewing on anything and everything, and is always trying to feed himself while we eat baby food- but that's awfully messy and he doesn't understand the whole spoon to mouth thing yet. But he LOVES these! He munches and chews on them like crazy and will finish a whole cracker thing in 5 minutes- all by himself (okay, he needs a little help sometimes. Yesterday he kept trying to put it to his mouth but ended up hitting himself in the forehead over and over. HA!).

There's my boy, enjoyinnnng! 

Today we've had a great day so far. We went to Refresh at Riverview (it's kind of like a MOPS program) and it was great. I love getting to know new people at our church, and love feeling more involved, and developing a community around us. We have been so blessed by Riverview and the people that we've met there.

Today at Refresh the speaker encouraged us to dig into The Word more. She emphasized that even though as moms with young children we would love to get those extra 15 minutes of sleep- or whatnot, to make it a priority to spend time meditating on scripture. She said that if you find something to meditate on in the Bible, it will help us to get through the hard times throughout the day. I'm going to try hard to make and keep that a priority.

God has been SO good to our family, and has given us so many blessings. He's given me a wonderful home, with an incredible husband and son, and a supportive family, and now an incredible family-oriented, Christian run work place. But among all that, come symptoms like exhaustion and illness- that make it easy to put seemingly "little" things like spending time in The Word seem like a hassle.

We have been so blessed as a family, and it really got me thinking about the blessings that I bring to other people's lives. I pray that I bless other people the way that so many of my friends, family members, co workers and even people I don't even know at Riverview have blessed my life.

God is good- and our purpose in life is to bring Him glory. My way of doing that is to be optimistic, joyful always, and to celebrate and acknowledge the gifts he's given us. I'm not perfect, but will continue to celebrate the blessings in our lives to point to the Giver of all good things!

DipTacular Recipes (Blue Cheese BBQ Dip, BLT Dip and Cowboy Caviar)!

Today I'm linking up with BooMama for her DipTacular 2011. I think any guest that's ever come to my house knows that pretty much my fall-back dish is any type of dip, so when I read that she would be doing this event, I couldn't wait to read the other recipes and share some of mine. I've had a lot of success with the recipes that I'm sharing today... However, they've been SO successful that I've failed to take any pictures of the dishes before we demolish them... :)

So, first is a recipe that I made up all by myself! When we moved from Kalamazoo I got a major craving for some Kansas City Dipping Grill, and this is a pretty decently similar dip...

BBQ Chicken/Blue Cheese Dip:

Ingredients:
2 Large Chicken Breasts
1/2 Jar of Marzetti Blue Cheese dressing
1 package of Philadelphia Cream Cheese
1 Bottle of Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce
Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 Green Onion

Directions:
Soften cream cheese and place into a large mixing bowl with about half a jar of blue cheese dressing (a little more or less if you want). Mix well, and continue to mix until whippy (like that word?!). Spread this whippy mixture on the bottom of the serving dish.

Separately, thaw chicken breasts, cut up into small pieces and cook over the stove. After fully cooked add the entire bottle of Sweet Baby Rays. Season to your liking. Once this BBQ chicken mixture has cooled enough, spread over the cream cheese mixture on the serving dish. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese and top with chopped green onion (optional, obviously :).

Mmmm... it's so good, I promise.

The newest two dip recipes that I've tried I HAVE to share also.

This first one is SO easy, and SO good. I was SHOCKED that it was as good as it was, because really, when I read the recipe I thought it would either be suprisingly delish or absolutely disgusting. I'm happy to say that me, Kris and our guests have thought that it was the prior. :)

BLT Dip:

Ingredients:
1 cup sour cream
1 cup miracle whip (I use Light to feel a little healthier, or you could always us Mayo, instead).
1 pound bacon
1 diced/seeded tomato.

Directions:
Mix the sour cream and Miracle Whip. Tear the pound of bacon (after it's been cooked!) into small pieces and mix into the sour cream mixture. Right before serving add the diced/seeded tomato.

I served this with pita bread, and it tasted great because it really did taste like a BLT! Mmm. If I still had some in the fridge I would go take a bite right now just because we're talking about it and it's THAT good.

Lastly, this was my own take on a recipe that a friend had/a few I had read online.

Cowboy Caviar:

Ingredients:
1 can of black beans
1/2 can of sweet corn (drained)
1/3 a cup of fresh chopped cilantro
1/2 a cup of chopped red onion
1 medium sized jalapeno, finely chopped
1 package of Philadelphia cream cheese
1/2 a cup of sour cream
1/4 a cup of ranch dressing
1/2 a lime

Directions:
Soften cream cheese and mix with sour cream and ranch dressing. Spread evenly on serving dish. In a separate bowl mix black beans, corn, cilantro, red onion and jalapeno. Squeeze 1/2 of a lime into this mixture. Spread over the cream cheese mixture. Serve with tortilla chips and enjoy.

ANYWAY...

Keegan and I went to the Meridian Township Farmers Market this morning. He loved it. So much that when I put him in the car he continued to scream and scream. Even during the rest of our morning... :) Needless to say, he's taking a nap now. We got a few new things to try, so we'll be cooking a fun dinner tonight. I got fresh Okra, and some other goodies... We'll see how it goes!

Enjoy your Wednesday, all... We're 1/2 way to the weekend!

FOUR MONTHS OLD!!! (And some new addictions...for me, not my 4 month old!)

Well GEEZ LOUISE, Keegan Michael! Time has not flown by so quickly any time in my life until YOU came along! And by far, the BEST 4 months of both my and Daddy's lives.

We love you so much. Here's a little update on where you're at today- your FOUR MONTH BIRTHDAY!

YOU ARE FOUR MONTHS OLD TODAY!

And you are still a tiny little peanut. You are in size 1-2 diapers (they're a half size- they only fit up to 15lbs, which is perfect for you... because you're still so teeny tiny). Our favorite diapers for you right now are the Pamper's print's diapers. They're one of the few brands that have 1/2 size diapers, and they have cute little blue and green cars on them, or Daddy's favorite: ARGYLE! They're darling and you look so cute.

I'm not sure on your weight yet. You had a doctor's appointment last week for your first sickness (Bronchitis) and they weighed you then... and exactly one week shy of 4 months you only weighed 12.8lbs. I love how little you are- I feel like we get great use out of your clothes!!! :) HA!

However, you are going through a growth spurt the past few days. You've drank your entire 5 ounce bottle almost every 1.5-2 hours for the past two days. Two nights ago you were getting up all night long to eat too (ugh) but last night you were back to sleeping like a king.

More nights than not you sleep anywhere from 9-10 hours straight. Now, obviously every baby has their nights, so it's not every single night, but the majority.

You have learned two new things with your voice...

#1: Earlier this month you somehow learned how to growl. And you would growl all the time, every where we went, VERY loud. It cracked me up when we were in the middle of Kroger and I'm sure people two aisles over could hear my little baby boy growling away!

#2: You have learned in the past couple weeks how to SCREAM. No, not cry scream... Scream for joy! Even the ladies at daycare have commented how you have become very vocal... only one girl has actually stated that you scream a lot, though. I think they don't want us to feel bad. Don't worry, Happy Elephant! We don't! In fact I'm so proud of how you're learning to communicate!

You are ALMOST rolling over. Your Daddy and Grammy have been working with you A LOT on rolling- so far you're getting on your side and ALMOST getting all the way over. Sometimes you work so hard at rolling you grunt and yell and sometimes even push a little toot out! Cracks us up!

You laugh ALL. THE. TIME.

You probably laugh more than you cry. I just type that and feel so blessed. Thank you for having such joy exuding from you!

Our favorite songs are...

*He's my Rock, My Sword, My Shield
*I've got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy Down in my Heart
*Arky, Arky
*The Keegan Michael song Mommy made up when you were one week old
*Touchin' Daddy's Face (The song DADDY made up when he makes you touch his face and nose, and you laugh SO hard!)

Every day is a new adventure with you. Everyday I pray that you grow to be a man who loves Jesus with his whole heart; Who honors and respects his parents (and some day your wife, too) and who makes great choices in life. We pray for you SO much. We LOVE you SO much. You have taught us so much about ourselves in these past four months, that you will not ever understand until you are a Daddy yourself. I just hope that you grow up knowing how absolutely LOVED you are.

Okay, now onto a couple randoms that I'm addicted to this week...

As you all know I've been trying so hard to lose this baby weight. I've really been watching what I eat (with an exception being our anniversary weekend, duh!), and been having to find some good alternatives to satisfy my cravings...

Has anyone else ever had THESE babies?!

OMG. I'm addicted. They're seriously only 60 calories, but are SO deliciously chocolatey and tastey. Even Kris loves 'em.

Second, I'm sure I'm late on this bandwagon... and I may or may not have bought them for the first time because John Stamos did the commercial...

Mmmm! Greek yogurt! It is so filling! The Oikos one has 11 grams of protein.. but Kroger brand has 14! So I have it for breakfast and it keeps me so full until lunch time!

Anyway, life is so good. Just enjoying our time together! :)

thumbsucker, big boy bed and earthquakes

Well, golly.

First of all, can I just say that I sucked my thumb until I was 9?! I'm sure that's why I needed braces.

Kris sucked his fingers until he was 8. I bet that's why he needed braces, too.

Uh-oh...

Yup...

Sucking his left thumb, just like his Momma.

Part of me wants to scream because I can already feel the effect of orthodontics on our bank account just thinking about it. The other part makes me a little warm inside because he's taking after me...

Let's just say the other day in the shower I was thinking of letters that the tooth fairy could write when he loses his first teeth to let him know that any further payments for lost teeth would be contingent on him no longer sucking his thumb... Ha!

Oh and BIG NEWS...

I promised myself that once Keegan's bronchitis/cough was gone we would work on him sleeping in his big kid bed in his big kid nursery (as opposed to his tiny little co-sleeper in our room).

And last night... WE DID IT! (Well, technically Keegan did it, but I think it was a bigger deal for me).

Granted, he's been sleeping in his crib during naps during the day- but the couple of times I tried him in his room at night when he'd peek in his sleep he'd start bawling because he didn't know where he was. Last night not only did he sleep straight through the night, but he slept 9+ hours, downed a bottle at 6:00 this morning, and then fell right back asleep in his crib. I actually had to wake him up for school today!

Yup, big deal.

Also, apparently there was an earthquake today and the rumbles could be felt in Michigan.

I personally didn't feel it today, but I did feel the one a couple years back in Kalamazoo.

I was asleep, cozy in my bed and I was having a dream about my Granny who had passed away a couple of years before. I woke up to her telling me something over and over again (I don't really remember what it was), but while she was repeating it to me, my bed started shaking and the shelf on the wall started rattling...

I was terrified.

I was convinced that my Granny visited me from the grave.

The next morning when my roomates all woke up I didn't say a word to them for fear that I was going crazy... Hahaha! Well later when I saw it on the news I was extremely relieved and thrilled to let everyone know that I felt an earthquake and was obviously not crazy/being haunted by my grandmother.

Anyway, today's earth quake brought back that memory and it made me laugh just thinking about it!

Happy Birthversary (coined by my brother in law, Brad)!!!

Thirty-three years ago today my best friend and other half was born, and I could not be more thankful for him.

Two years ago today I got a husband.

And two years later, he is still amazing and fantastic.

Kristopher Michael, I love you. And will until I die. Thank you for the best few years of my life (so far), and for the most amazing gift I could ever get: Mr. Keegan Michael (well, I guess our other future children will be just as amazing of gifts... so thanks in advance ;)

Thank you for standing by me. Thank you for supporting me- no matter what I do. Thank you for encouraging my change of jobs/staying home more even though that means some things change. Thank you for learning how to be the most incredible Dad. Thank you for remaining an incredible husband through every change we've faced.

Here's how we  celebrated this weekend:

On Friday when I got home from work, we quickly changed and went out to Dusty's Cellar on our first date since Keegan was born while my mom stayed back with baby boy. We kept it quick, but enjoyed it thoroughly none the less. Mmmm-mmmm-mmmm (If you ever are in the Okemos area and looking for a fabulous dinner, give them a try)! We still are looking for a babysitter in the Okemos area (so please keep us in mind if you hear of anyone!), but would love to start going out more at least once every couple of weeks. It's important to have a little bit of grown up time!

When we got home we sang Daddy "Happy Birthday" and did presents. Keegan and I worked hard on Keegan's present the day before, so Keegan was excited to give his Dad his gift:

Keegan made Kris a mosaic stepping stone for the garden- with his little footprint in it. Mommy helped by mixing the concrete and putting in the pieces of glass. Daddy loved it.

I found a cute gift for Kris online- nickname coffee mugs! Since we found out I was pregnant Kris' nickname became Big Daddy. I always have Keegan "call" him that when we talk :) From the beginning of our relationship, though, I was Buns. That one's just kind of stuck. And NO, if you are NOT my husband you may NOT call me that! :)

Kris got me a gift certificate to the same spa that he had gotten me a prenatal massage at... I can't wait to use it, and to be able to have a REGULAR massage without having to look out for my big ol' belly!

Saturday we really did just putz around all day. We. Did. Nothing. It was rainy and gloomy, and the most perfect day to stay inside with our family and snuggle up.

But we did get a suprise at our door:

Ha! Kris' Grandma sent us anniversary flowers. Very sweet, and fresh flowers always brighten a home!

Today, however, was OUR day.

For breakfast I made Kris his favorite: homemade sausage gravy and biscuits. This time I made it with spicy sausage, and it was DELISH! After breakfast we got ready and headed to Riv.

We love our church, and it was so nice to be able to go after a few super extra busy weekends. It was great to see some friends that we haven't seen in a while, and nice to meet some new people as well.

After church we decided it was the PERFECT day for the zoo. It was decently cool and perfectly sunny. And this time Keegan was a big enough boy to look around and enjoy the atmosphere.

Toward the end of our time at the zoo, Keegs just wanted us to hold him and carry him around. He kept trying to be funny :) He succeeded!

Tonight we had a great meal. Kind of a hodge podge- but great! We made yummy wedge salads with red onion, grape tomato, bacon, blue cheese and balsamic dressings...

AND we made home made salsa. My husband's Dad had a great recipe last year and that kind of played with to make it perfect to our taste... I think this was our best batch so far! Here's the recipe:

• Boil 10 Tomatillos until they become translucent (but do not break in the water!)
• Take the cooked Tomatillos and place in a blender with a little vidalia onion and one habenaro pepper.
• Blend until smooth.
• Add about 3 tablespoons of sugar and blend some more.
• Cool and serve!

AH. So delicious. I think I need some more before we go to bed tonight :)



Happenings and Happenings

Today is definitely going to be a mumbo jumbo of all of my random updates.

First of all, the past two nights sweet Keegy is finally back to sleeping 9+ hours straight a night! Loves it!

He's on antibiotics to try and kick his bronchitis- he's still coughing quite a bit, but I'm hoping maybe by the end of the day tomorrow he'll be on the upturn. Poor boy. Momma does NOT like when he's sick. What's incredible, though, is that he's still an absolute joy. How lucky am I to have a baby that really does only cry when he's hungry?!

Keegan is belly laughing like no one's business this week. It's so fun that now he laughs really hard when you tickle him.

PLUS, he's taking his second big kid nap of the day! Normally he doesn't nap much when he's home with mommy, but this morning he took at 1 1/2 hour nap, and now he's almost at the two hour mark for his second nap! Lucky Momma.

There's been a lot to do today, because this weekend is Daddy's birthday (which just so happens to be our wedding anniversary, too!). Keegan made his daddy a present this morning- and he helped me bake a cake (Daddy requested german chocolate- yum!).

Keegan's grammy is coming tomorrow to watch Keegan, and bless her, she is going to stay after work so that Kris and I can go out on our very first date since Keegan was born! Wahoo!!! I'm sure we'll enjoy that. I cannot wait. It sure makes you appreciate the time you have alone together when you don't have much of it! :)

Oh, and we cancelled cable at our house! It's great. I realized that every night the only thing we watched was on the basic cable channels- so why spend that much money a month? It's nice to know that we still get all the same shows, but are paying SO much less. We did, however, get Hulu Plus. I'm actually watching The Hills Season 1 on it right now. So old school! But I love it!

BIG NEWS! I'm within 7 pounds of my pre baby weight! It's within reach! Personally I'd like to get about 5 pounds less than I was before I was pregnant so that after the next baby I have a lot less to work to lose! Plus I'm so paranoid about aging... I always thought I hadn't changed much in the past couple of years, but I stumbled upon some of our engagement pictures from just over two years ago... and my WORD! I look so much older now! I used to be a 22 year old who looked like an 18 year old... and now I'm a 24 going on 25 year old who looks her age! Ah.

Needless to say, I got suckered into buying a microdermabraision kit at Walmart today. I already used it :) Ha! My face looks so much younger already! HA!

Anyway, look for an update this weekend...! My baby's waking up from his two hour nap, so it's about time for this momma to get him a bots!

Sweet Memory and a Kind Reminder

This weekend we remembered a good man. Kris' grandpa welcomed me with open arms from the first day I met him, and I was kindly reminded of that this weekend. It's definitely not always easy being a second wife or entering a family that's already established.

I met Grandma and Grandpa before I met anyone else in Kris' family, and before Kris met any of my family. We had to have been dating only about a week or so, but after hearing Kris talk they insisted we come up to Grand Rapids for dinner at a nice restaurant. I wore my red dress, black peeptoe heels and my hair curled. Grandpa wore a sport coat.

After dinner we went back to Grandma and Grandpa's condo. In the kitchen Grandpa put his arm around Kris and I'll never forget what I overheard him say: "This is who you've needed all along. A little peanut for you just like Grandma is for me." Don't get me wrong- anyone that's heard us joke about Bill and Virg's relationship can't deny that at times it could be volatile. But after 64 years of marriage, through the ups and downs, there is an undeniable love there.

Those sentences touched me more than anyone could imagine. Grandpa saw what I felt from the first day I spent with Kristopher. Everytime I saw him he never stopped the flow of compliments- he was a charmer and remained that even after he passed. How could he turn on the charm from the grave, you may ask?

Through his sisters.

I'd never met them before, but SO many times during the past 3 years, Grandpa would tell me how much he wanted me to meet his sisters because  would love them so much.

I met 3 of his 4 sisters at his memorial on Saturday. Right when I needed it most, one of his sisters hugged me and said, "Everytime we talked to Bill on the phone he would talk about how we needed to meet you- that we would love you. He was right."

So, Grandpa, there are a few things I am eternally grateful to you for:

1) Always seeing what Kris and I have- from the very start, and never once questioning it.
2) Never letting us wonder how very loved we were by you.
3) For passing your class and grace in every situation onto my husband.

Your legacy continues on and you will be missed tremendously by our family.

Three years ago- all snazzied up!