Keaton at Four Months

On Keaton's four month birthday--he finally rolled over. I wasn't actually concerned about it kind of taking forever... but it's nice that I know he can do it now. Here's a video of one of the first rolls--and if you watch it, please mute it because I sound like a weirdo the whole time. Please.  My favorite part is towards the end where he grabs part of his mat to pull himself the rest of the way. Roll, you clever boy. (That's for Christina.)



We had his four month check up a few days ago--and it went well. Shots always break my heart, but less so than things like polio. He's a short fellow--only an inch taller than Braden was when he was born! He's holding his own on weight--we're getting to the point where my babies thin out and stop gaining weight, so we'll see how he does!

Height: 24" (9%)
Weight: 15 lbs, 3 oz (46%)
Head: 42 cm (64%)

About a week and a half ago, Keaton took a page from the Finley playbook and decided to not sleep well at night anymore. One night he woke up SIXTEEN times.  Finley was terrible--I ended up letting him sleep with us and essentially feeding him all night, which meant he didn't take a bottle at ALL while I taught. It was miserable. We're trying to be more proactive up front--because he's already showing less interest in eating during the day. It's so so hard to stick to your guns when it's the middle of the night and you are tired!



But apparently the "four month sleep regression" is a thing--due to the fact that babies start moving through sleep cycles at this age and don't know how to put them self back to sleep when they wake up. Except for my sweet Braden--he has been a champ sleeper forever because of the thumb sucking. So--hopefully this will be a short battle and he'll be a great sleep again SOON.



Not too many other updates for the little man--Finley is starting to show more interest in him. Braden is not. Keaton's still a happy smiley guy--and is even doing a bit better riding in the car. Sol said he was sad today when he saw me leave the room, which of course makes me happy. I like that I'm his favorite--because I know eventually daddy will be.



And here's a tiny collage of how much bigger he's getting!

Preschool Thanksgiving Feasts

Tell me the truth--is there anything cuter than Preschool Thanksgiving Feasts? I don't think there is. And let me tell you, a 2 year old class and 4 year old class are very different. Let's start with Braden.



Well, he basically had no idea what was going on. I let him eat five cookies and then he refused to nap for the first time ever. He willingly wore his turkey hat... and kiiiind of participated in their song. Kind of is probably being generous. This is video is terrible for quite a few reasons: it's long, Keaton is crying during it, I'm bouncing up and down to keep him happy which may make you nauseous, and it's two year olds "singing". That was your warning.



Yes, that's him wrestling one of his friends and literally running circles around the two year olds standing in line and participating. I don't even know.



Finley's was a bit more of a production--he had a much more elaborate costume. I think this is him defending the teepee in his class. He's a "native anerican" in case you can't tell.



I was a little surprised how quiet and reserved he was during the song since he tends to overshare in class and he loved singing the songs at home. It was still very sweet.  It was so fun to get to see both kids in their element. We're looking forward to conferences next week and hearing a little more about how school is going from their teachers!

Keaton Likes to Laugh

Things that make Keaton laugh.

Looking at him. Not looking at him. Putting his shirt on. Tickling him (obvi.) His brothers. Laying alone on his play mat. Talking to him. Being in his general vicinity.



And if he laughs too much? Hiccups. Which he doesn't mind, but we feel terrible about. We have to be careful about making eye contact with him for too long, because it almost always leads to hiccups.

I don't really understand how to use GIFs

First off--Braden's surgery went well! Yesterday had its ups and downs--he was pretty confused coming out of anesthesia and would say, "Help, eyes!" Which was pretty heartbreaking. But currently he's eating a waffle and climbing on the table, so we're doing pretty good.

So. I'm always impressed and entertained when people write posts and use GIFs. I'm not going to pretend to understand how to use them correctly. But I'm going to use some anyways... because Sol and I went to the Justin Timberlake concert. And even though we were pretty close to the stage, we don't have any amazing photos or videos to share. Although here's a picture of us. You can totally tell we are at the concert, right?

I think we kind of loved it for different reasons--Sol was hoping that someone would recognize his God given dancing skillz and offer him a job as a back up dancer. And I just liked to watch things like this happen:

Vic shares our enthusiasm for JT--he just seems like a fun guy. And relatively smart. I love watching him on Fallon or SNL or like anywhere. We were hoping for some of this:

Or this:

But it did not pan out.  Either way, it was a fabulous concert--and well deserved by us. It was our first time to leave the kids with a baby sitter since we moved to PA--so we went ahead and went big. We were about 14 rows back. So almost uncomfortably close to Mr. Timberlake. We were maybe a little old to be there--it was a lot of 20-something girls. And two awkward middle school boys beside us. But seriously, we had so much fun. We can't ever go to another concert because I'm not sure how it would compete. Basically, at the end of the concert JT was pretty much like this:

And we felt like this:

So there you go. Some GIFs.

Braden's Eye

You may recall from about a year ago--we've been working to get Braden's eyes corrected. He has intermittent exotropia, so his right eye tends to wander out frequently. We tried patching, drops and not patching--and nothing really helped.



So the little guy is having surgery tomorrow (Thursday) to correct it. It's sad and scary--I wish I could explain to him what's going on, but it's probably better that he has no idea. We've been told it's fairly simple--about an hour long procedure. They said most kids are back to their regular selves the next day, so we're hoping he rebounds quickly.



I'm also hoping it improves his overall demeanor. He's quite a passionate fellow and tends to get frustrated when things don't go his way, so I'm hoping some of that will get better when his eyes work correctly. I have to hope for something.



So if you think of us, say a prayer--that Sol and I would not be terrified and that neither would Braden. We've been told the anesthesia has an amnesia effect, so hopefully he won't remember much of it. Finley had surgery on his Achilles when he was about three months old (before I felt the need to blog about ev.ery.thing) and it was just scary and sad. So please pray for our boy! We're looking forward to him being able to look at us with both eyes!

Little Fox

Ok. I saw these little fox pajamas at Old Navy and they had to be mine. I mean Keaton's. Sometimes I feel like he needs something to wear that no one has pooped in yet.



He was kind of a fox for Halloween too--and I knooooow he's only three months old, but in nine months, he may have a new brother. I'm just kidding. In nine months he may have a fox birthday party. Foxes are so trendy right now--hopefully that trend continues for a bit longer!



I just love him. I love the big eyes and big smiles and the drool spots on my shoulder. XOXO.

Peter Pan and his Shadow Halloween Costumes

There's pretty much an abundance of Peter Pan at our house most of the time. It started with Finley's Peter Pan birthday party in April and continued into our Disney trip. I was planning on just having all the boys be Peter Pan for Halloween, and then I suggested to Finley he could be Peter's shadow, and he was so excited. I was totally surprised he went with it!



I pretty much just remade Finley's Peter Pan costume (that Braden is wearing) in black.  We put some of Sol's black socks over his shoes, black mittens on his hands, and I bought a black masky thing at a Halloween store to cover his face. It was kind of annoying, so he just wore it for a few pictures.



I would have loved to get pictures of them doing shadow-y things... but I'll take playing on the slide.



They had a lot of fun trick or treating! Braden wanted to go inside every house and was generally discontent with the whole process--until we let him eat candy. Finley liked trick or treating--but his favorite part was after we got home and he got to pass out candy. He took the job super seriously and LOVED it. Extrovert.



Keaton was supposed to be a Lost Boy/Fox... but it was a hot costume, so he didn't wear it for long. He did wear his fox pajamas as we trick or treated, so I think that counts.



Here's the past four Halloweens in case you have some time to kill!

Halloween 2012
Halloween 2011
Halloween 2010
Halloween 2009

Octobers and Running

In case you missed it... it's fall and it was October. (I started writing this post in October, and now it's November. That's the pace things get done around her currently.) Anyways, you can tell it's fall because the internets are exploding with OMG PUMPKIN SPICE LATTES AND BOOTS AND SWEATERS. Which are all nice things (I've never had a PSL and the baby weight isn't doing me any favors with the sweaters) but for, me Octobers (and Novembers!) mean marathons and running. If you've been on Pinterest like ever in the last month, I'm sure you came across this Anne of Green Gables quote, which I think sums up the way the internet feels about fall very well.

The fall after Finley and Braden were born I ran marathons--Marine Corps after Finley and Richmond after Braden. They were slow, lovely marathons. Races where I wasn't trying to qualify for anything, just trying to get myself back in shape and get running.  I began a struggle with my Achilles during my training for Chicago last year and hoped that taking time off during my pregnancy would be the push it needed to completely heal so I could get back to running.

That did not work.

I started physical therapy in September and it's been a long (expensive) process that I'm hoping is over soon. I really do feel like things are getting better--I've run about four times so far and my longest run was running for two minutes three times! Extremely humbling for a girl who has ran 8 marathons.



What is probably helping the most is Graston--which is a very painful technique where they rub a metal bar into the part of your body that is injured to try and reinjure it so that he reheals correctly (or something like that). It hurts. But I think it helps. (Pictured above: the Graston bar and my shoes, complete with year-old Chicago Marathon tag I can't bear to part with.)




I'm registered for the Philadelphia Half Marathon in two weeks... and am NOT running it. Sadly. I'm too broken. And I'm actually considering maybe not signing up for a marathon for the next few years (it almost pains me to actually write that down) and work on running some shorter distances and doing more varied activities. It's a lot of time to train for marathons, and trying to do it with three little ones is tough. Luckily, Finley is getting the hang of riding his bike, so we are on the precipice of being able to take out the double jogger and Finley on his bike for runs.

So that's the running update. There is very little running, but there is a very large running shaped hole in my heart. I do need to start doing something, because I have a whole closet full of clothes it would be nice to be able to fit into one of these days...