Our happy baby

Keanan is such a joy! He's perpetually overtired (because cat naps all day and then is up in the night), but you wouldn't guess it. He's all smiles and charm. Sweet boy!


And just like Charlie, he thinks Sissy is hilarious!

Keanan makes guacamole

Just to keep things interesting, we're trying something new with Keanan. Instead of starting him on solids by giving him pureed food, we're trying the baby-led weaning method, which basically means going straight to finger foods. The book said that the first several weeks (or even months) are more about fun and exploring than taking in any significant calories, and after our first attempt today, I can see that being the case. Of course, we didn't select the most holdable food to start with. Oh well, Keanan had fun checking it out.




And just like Ellie did when Charlie started eating solids, Charlie insisted in getting back in the highchair...

A big night

Last night was a big night – Damian and I got dressed up for a wedding (Kristin and Kevin’s) and Keanan was put to bed by one of his favorite people – our friend, Landy.  None of my babies has ever been put down by anyone other than me until they were well over a year old.  And as everyone could have anticipated, it was a MUCH bigger deal to me than it was to Keanan – he went straight to sleep with no fuss – but it’s a fun memory to have that Landy was his first nighttime babysitter.

Protecting the neighborhood

Don’t be fooled by his sweet ride, this is one tough dude.

Keanan at 4 months

Our tiny little man is already four months old…a 1/3 of a year…nearly a toddler, really!  I know every mama has to say this about her babies, but her really is the sweetest little guy ever!  He smiles with his whole body (really, if you make eye contact with him and smile, he absolutely beams and nearly folds in half out of excitement) and is SO vocal – he squawks and screams in delight…and anger, but only in the middle of the night.  Speaking of the middle of the night, in the last month, I have seen more of Keanan in the wee hours of the night than I did during his first three months of life combined. He used to be an amazing sleeper and then the wheels fell off…along with the doors, the bumpers, and at least one headlight.  He went from waking once for a quick feed after sleeping 9-11 hours, so being up 3-4 times a night and often not going longer than 3 hours between feeds.  I’m confident that he’s not hungry, but he has decided that nursing is the only way he’ll go back to sleep…and he can and will scream for hours on end until I give in.  Turkey.

Anyway, he’s definitely not suffering from malnutrition!  I got his stats when he was just a week shy of four months and he weighed 15 lbs, 13 oz. (74th percentile), was 26.5 inches long (94th percentile) and his head was in the 78th percentile.  He seems to be following a similar growth curve to Charlie, despite weighing a pound and a half more than him at birth.  At four months, Charlie weighed 15 lbs., 10 oz. and was 25.5 inches long.  Ellie at four months had already left the boys in the dust, weighing in at 16 lbs., 15 oz. and measuring 27 inches long.

For Father’s Day 2008, I had pictures taken of Ellie and one of them remains one of Damian’s favorites.  I had a similar one taken of Charlie and went this week and had one taken of Keanan.  Damian just loves the “planking” stage and Keanan is a first class planker!

 

Some other cutie-patootie pictures of the little guy:

I found these pictures of Charlie at about the same age:

School pictures

It’s January.  And I’m posting school pictures.  In my defense, the pictures weren’t taken until October…or maybe even November.

This year, the school had less traditional school pictures taken and they were SO much better.  Unfortunately, the price tag reflected the difference, so we only bought one of each kiddo.  Thank goodness for scanners.

I think the photographer did such a great job of capturing their sweet personalities!

Those are some crazy kids

The kids’ school often has fun themes – crazy socks day, pajama day, favorite sports team day, etc. – and I NEVER remember to send the kiddos in the appropriate attire.  In fact, on crazy socks day, I sent both kids without socks at all.  Ops.  So when Charlie’s sweet teacher, Mrs. Holmes, emailed last night to remind us that today was crazy hat day, I decided it was time for the Hirsts to make a respectable showing.  I don’t know if they’re “crazy,” exactly, but here are the hats…and the sweet faces under them:

Too bad Mrs. Holmes had the date wrong.