Happy Birthday Dear Scott...

Scott turned 4 today. All day yesterday as we were talking about "tomorrow" being his birthday, I was remembering where I was 4 years ago. Oh the memories :)


Our 4 year old boy is still a big guy... weighing in at 39lbs (76%) and standing 42 inches high (85%). He had his check-up last week and did get one shot. He was quite a trooper. I think the nurse was a bit impressed. He decided he wanted it in his leg, tensed up big time as she gave it to him and relaxed completely instantly, when she was finished. Never said a word about it. Until we got home and he reminded me that I said he could have his last Winnie-the-Pooh lollipop from Disney World.

Scott still loves to be outside... sometimes he just wants to run like crazy all over the backyard, sometimes he sits and draws with chalk, or plays with his trucks, but usually he wants to play ball, and frequently it's baseball. We are now progressing towards running the bases after batting (which is why he got a set of bases for his birthday... a story in itself) and playing catch (with his glove he got for Christmas.) He's getting better at batting and is doing more tracking the ball than swinging and counting on the pitcher to make contact. He still gets totally stressed out after a few misses or after something doesn't go his way- still the same Scotty Boy we love. He has gotten much better at handling himself, when he gets frustrated, but he's still got a long way to go. His other motor skills this year are running and using his arms, rather than running with his arms out flapping in the wind and hopping on one foot, which he's improved to hopping on either foot (he's especially proud of these skills.)



He's also been working on small motor skills and in the past 3 months has really gotten into writing. Yes, the boy who would spell his name for anyone, but would NOT even attempt to write it will now write his name... and just about anything else you ask him to write (letter by letter.) Waiting for meals in Disney World he spent a lot of time just writing letters all over the kids menus with Grandma (she's probably a biased reference, but she was impressed.) Now that he can write letters (or rather, is willing to write letters) he's been writing all his own Thank You notes and sometimes can copy what I have written, which is a lot easier on me than sitting there and telling him after every letter what comes next.

Scott is still a book-worm. He keeps very busy most of the day, but does love to be read to. He's started doing some reading. Mostly memorization at this stage. I've been having him help me read, which means he gets to read 2 or 3 words... so he knows a handful of sight words well (the, and, I, a, big.) He knows all the letter sounds and is starting to try and figure out phonics some. I've got a book from the library we are starting to work through. He's very interested right now, so we'll go with it. Meanwhile, my brain is occupied trying to figure out his learning patterns and what will work for him for homeschooling, when the time comes (what an abundance of materials to choose from!)

He's a sweet little boy most of the time. He went through a very aggressive stage for a few weeks in the fall, but seems to have come out of it for the most part. He likes to take care of people... yes, he's a firstborn, he likes to be in charge and boss people around (particularly Blaise.) He has an imaginary friend, Picky, he tests a lot of things out on her. Her parents both work all the time, so he has to fill in for her daddy sometimes. When she's not here, Scott makes frequent phone-calls to Picky to say I love you. He always talks in this really cute, matter-of-fact, I'm important, tone of voice. Oh to hang on to these cute days forever.

This morning, when he woke up and I told him, "Happy Birthday!" He told me that no, it wasn't his birthday yet- he didn't have any cake :) He's had his cake and is asleep after informing Blaise and Daddy that he's 4 now and he still can sleep in this bed and, "even though I'm 4 now, this shirt still fits on me." Wow, I love that 4 year old boy and I thank God everyday for the blessing his is in our lives... our helper, our joy, and yes, the source of plenty of struggles :) We love you Scott.

6 Months!

Baby Michael is 6 months old already! Can you believe it?

We were actually in Disney World for his 6 month birthday... so I'm going to write this now, about a week later than the date stamp says it is :) But here's a picture from the day he turned 6 months (and I suppose this will have to serve as his Sunday picture for that week too.)


He's grown up so much already! We won't know his official stats until next week, when we go for his check-up, but I'm guessing he's taller than his brothers were and weighs less than Scott did and more than Blaise. He's a big boy, already wearing 12 month clothes, comfortably (which was nice, since the Mickey outfits we had fit him for Disney.)

Physically, he's a strong little guy, like his brothers were. He can sit up and play for a long time. He enjoys being on his tummy and is close to crawling... but not yet. He scoots around a little bit and sometimes uses his head and knees. He can get up on his knees... he's just got a little coordinating to figure out before he "crawls away!" He can roll from tummy to back, but hasn't figured out how to roll back yet (he's close there too... he stretches and arches his back way way back when he's on his back and it's just a matter of time before he accidentally flips himself back onto his tummy and realizes what he's done.)

Oh, and he grows a ton of hair... fast. Here it was a week before our Disney trip...

And then we cut it... he looks like a whole different boy now. We've gotten pretty used to it already though and it grows so fast, it's already back over his ears and needing another trim!


Michael is a happy boy... most of the time. He loves people and wants attention. It was amazing in Disney how he wanted to interact with whoever happened to be beside him (unless he was tired or hungry.) He made friends on EVERY bus and in EVERY line. He doesn't really like to play by himself and wants to be entertained much more than either of his brothers did. Fortunately, he doesn't care too much who does the entertaining, me or the brothers... as long as the brothers aren't being completely wild!

Food... he reminds me of Scott with his passion for food. He's very good at eating Cheerios. That was all I would let him have before Disney... baby food is just not convenient enough for me to want to have to have it in Disney World. He survived and got to try a few new things in Disney. We suspect his rash back in November was from milk. After I cut milk out, it cleared up and it doesn't seem to flair up with cheese or anything. I was thinking about having a little cereal and milk just to see if the whole thing had passed yet, but... some unnamed grandparent and daddy types gave him some of a napoleon and a taste of cheesecake and probably a few other delicacies behind my back in Disney and he did develop some minor spots... so I'll hold off on my bowl of cold cereal for a while longer. That said, Grandma did buy him some banana puffs, which he loves. And now that we are home he's into the sweet potato and the apples that I cooked before we left in our fancy new babyfood machine Michael (I mean I) got for Christmas. Yes, he's going to be a good eater.

We are so thankful that this little man has joined our family and for all the ways he challenges us and helps us all grow with him. Thank you Jesus for baby Michael :)

Out Of and Into

Michael is finally growing out of 3 naps a day. You would think having a baby who sleeps 3 times a day would be a good thing, but for whatever reason, I've always preferred the 2 nap stage- I can never remember to put them down for the third nap anyway. He's growing up so fast! He's even eaten 3 Cheerios now- seems to me like a very weird first food, but we're going to skip cereal altogether this time (oh, I'll probably make him some oatmeal, but it'll be the real thing, not baby cereal) and we're trying to hold him off on solid food until post-Disney World. I figured he could play with the Cheerios (I only give him 4) and then he wouldn't feel so left out at meal times. It's worked like a charm so far- he was the last one at the table at dinner tonight and still happy! Plus, he's getting to work on figuring out his pincher grasp.

Scott is growing into the "why?" stage. I think it actually started a week or 2 ago, but I only picked up on it a couple of days ago. Why are there a lot of days until Disney World? Why did Daddy help setup at church today? Why does Michael go poop in his diaper? Why? Why? Why? I usually turn it into a question back to him and then he says, "I don't remember." For the record though... there are not a lot of days until Disney World- 13 and counting. Cullen started packing today.

Christmastime is Here

Okay, so it's actually already past. Which Scott is quick to point out... yesterday as we were driving in the evening he saw some Christmas lights still up, and informed us that they needed to put their Christmas tree away because Christmas is over. I told him all about how I used to leave up the decorations until the end of January, just because I like them so much it's hard to put them away after such a short time. Now we have lots more stuff in our house and little hands to try to keep away from things... January 1st is a good time to put everything away.

So backtracking... we had a nice December. Had our birthday party for Jesus... but didn't take enough pictures (it was busy). We had initially had 16 preschoolers RSVP for our party (that's a lot by the way.) Sadly, a bunch of them got sick that week and a couple ended up heading out of town a little early... so we had 7 at our party and it was perfect. The kids had a great time and it was easy to give them each a candle on their cupcake. Cullen (the architect) made a really sweet stable scene so we could play pin the star in the sky over the stable (okay, now I'm hitting myself in the head, I can't believe I didn't take a picture of it!) The game was fun. The first little guy pretty much got the star dead center over the stable where I had said was the goal. We think he could see through the hat. Our ground rule was that those under 2 didn't need to be blindfolded... but Sarah wanted to wear the hat. Blaise refused to play at all- no idea why? Scott, not surprisingly refused to wear the blindfold (it was just a winter hat, southerners would call it a tobogan) as did one other boy. We collected birthday presents, in the form of food items, for a local children's home. The boys and I might start volunteering there regularly soon, we had a nice time delivering the gifts the following Monday (see the blog about Monk-chips.)

After the party, we had an empty stable, with an empty manger, and lots of stars in the sky (well mostly strung along the top of the stable like Christmas lights.) We spent the rest of the days leading up to Christmas making people to fill the stable out of footprints. We made angels, shepherds, sheep, Mary and Joseph, and we used Michael's footprint to make the baby Jesus. It was really cute... and I'm mad at myself for not taking a picture... hopefully it will survive the summer in the attic and I can get a picture next year.

We took a road trip one night to Riverbanks Zoo to see the lights before Christmas. It was fun, but we're not sure it was really worth the drive there and back. The lights were nice, Scott got to ride the carousel and the boys got to see Santa. It was really funny, because they are used to Disney Character greetings, who don't talk to you... they just wave, give high-fives, hugs and blow kisses. Scott and Blaise were both a little startled and confused when Santa wanted to talk to them, and actually expected them to talk back. Scott wouldn't even tell Santa that the thing he most wanted for Christmas, the only thing he asked us for, was cookies. (Apparently he has an obsession with cookies.) The trip to the zoo was kind of odd, because most of the animals were not out. We saw the lions. They were sleeping. Then we also got to see the bears, they weren't sleeping, but it was kind of dark. Next year, assuming we don't have a zoo membership, we'll find a neighborhood much closer and just drive through and look at lights.

Cullen's parents arrived on the 23rd and we had a very relaxing, pleasant visit with them. Grandpa took Scott and Blaise, by himself to Harbor Freight (a cheap hardware store). They came home with real tape measures and spent the rest of the day on Christmas Eve measuring everything... Blaise said, "20 pounds" every time he measured anything. The tape measures have now been removed to the shed for when they work out there with Daddy... Blaise cut his hand on his somehow... and for some reason, he doesn't notice when he's dripping blood all over the house (he's a boy?) For the record, it was 2 minor cuts, but they bled a fair amount until I saw them and put bandaids on them. We went to church for Christmas Eve and although things ran a little late the boys all did well.

Christmas day, they woke bright and early, they rushed for their toys... no, just kidding. Michael woke bright and early (he was adjusting to the crib,) and disturbed his big brothers who were excited enough they actually woke up. We brought them into the living room and Scott observed that there was stuff in his stocking... not sure he was really pleased about it at that point. After reading the real story of Christmas and remembering what the real gift is, Scott and Blaise both enjoyed opening their presents this year... no one had to chase Blaise around and "help" him open presents. Michael... well most of his presents got opened in his sleep... and I don't think he minded. I finally got my wish and we slowed down and opened things one at a time. I like the chance to see what everyone is getting and to get excited about handing out gifts.

We had a quiet day at home testing out all the new things and just having fun playing together. Then we made a really nice dinner for ourselves. Yum.

Saturday we headed over to my parents new house for Christmas with my family. It's funny how we tend to fight over who gets to pass out gifts first. Dinner was yummy there too and I was impressed with how unpacked my parents managed to get in less than a week.

All in all, Christmas was a wonderful time with family this year... the only ones we missed were Cullen's brother and family. (And I missed my Grandma lots.)

Our Christmas Card

Merry Christmas
Luke 2:4-20 “... she gave birth to her firstborn...”

Happy Birthday Jesus

We are having a birthday party for Jesus, complete with cake and presents this year. Wonder how you can give a
present to Jesus? After our party, we’ll be taking all the gifts to a children’s home nearby. As Jesus says “A new
command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34)

To celebrate his birthday and bring a smile to the face of our God who came to us as a little baby and really did have a
birthday just like we do, think of a way you can love others as Jesus loves you this Christmas. We wish you a very
joyful celebration and pray that the guest of honor blesses you abundantly in 2010!

(On the back)
2009 News from Fort Mill, SC

· We are officially “Mouse-heads!” ~Disney World January 2009~
· Scott turned 3 - February 16, 2009
· There was a big birthday celebration (for Cullen) with the Keen’s- the boys love their cousins.
· Cullen is now a licensed architect, still with RPA and enjoying the work.
· Blaise turned 2 - May 7, 2009
· Our 5th Anniversary - June 12, 2009, was spent in Maryland with family.
· Introducing MICHAEL JUSTICE KEEN Born July 24, 2009
· October- more travel for a long over-due visit to NY. Fall in NY = apples!
· Now we’re in the midst of memory making with our 3 little boys this holiday season.
For more detailed updates, see our blog - http://thekeens.blogspot.com

Cookie

Lately Scott has been giving out nicknames. He calls Grandma "Marshmallow," and himself, "Cookie." Blaise is also "Cookie." Suddenly Cullen and I found ourselves being called "Peanut." Oh, and Michael is "Peanut" too. Then when he was talking to Grandpa they added, "Cheerio" to the list of names, so that's Grandpa. At Jesus' birthday party he called one of his friend "Cookie" and I had to reassure the little guy that that was a good thing.

This morning as we were eating breakfast I was talking to Michael and called him something silly (I forget what) and Scott said, "No. He's Peanut." This whole conversation reminded me of when I was little. Jessica was "Peanut" and I was always quite jealous of her for having a fun nickname. I think officially my nickname was Dingbat and Mike was Wingnut (though really Mike was Mikey Boy.)

We have a few fun names we use for our little Michael on occasion. I started out calling him "boo." It happened because I often play peek-a-boo with him during diaper changes (even from the first week)- he's just so happy and sweet during diaper changes. Being Disney fans, "Boo" doesn't really work for a nickname for a little boy. Cullen was quick to point out that "Boo" is a girl. My opinion on that one- whatever, "Boo" is a very neutral nickname. Anyway, "Boo" has evolved into "Bug-a-boo." And I also call him "Buck-a-roo" occasionally... I guess I have a thing for the "oo" sound? From the beginning (beginning being the day we decided we would name our next son Michael) we were set on avoiding Mikey Boy as a nickname, though we do catch ourselves calling him Michael Boy sometimes... it just slips out, you know we have Scotty Boy, and then it happened that we also have Blaisey Boy (okay, that one is just a little odd, but we do use it.) It is also our intention to avoid Mike... we know it's inevitable, but we don't have to call him that. It will be fun to see what we're calling him a couple of years from now. Anyway, here's a picture of Peanut. This was actually before Christmas, he was helping me with laundry... originally he was sitting up in the corner of the basket talking to me, but he was playing and managed to wiggle into the bottom.


Scott and Blaise started out with many nicknames too... I know I've posted about it before and maybe I'll find the post and link it (but realistically, probably not.) The ones that have stuck for Scott are Scotty Boy, and his Grandma calls him Charlie Brown (and sometimes just Charlie.) The ones that have stuck for Blaise are B and we do call him Blaisey Boy sometimes. Buddy and Dude (with the prefix little or big) are used interchangeably for all 3 of them. Here the the 2 big dudes.

Now on to try and post at least some of our December adventures... we'll see how far I get.

3 Boys = 3 Funny Things Today

#1 We dropped off Jesus' birthday presents and the boys happened to get to meet the Chic-fil-a cow while we were there. Michael cried... kind of like Blaise when we got on the metro in DC after the zoo, he was in the front of the stroller facing strangers and couldn't see us. So when we got in the car I had a little discussion with Michael about how Mickey Mouse is big too and while it's okay to be afraid of the cow, you gotta love Mickey. Scott started talking all about giving high-fives to Mickey and his friends and he named several of them. Paused for a few minutes and says something like, "Yeah. And we'll give high-fives to the Monk- chips too." Took me a minute and I was totally confused, but apparently Mickey's little friends (Chip and Dale) from Pluto's Christmas Tree short are Monk-chips.


#2 We wrapped all the presents last night and put them under the tree. This afternoon I left the boys coloring to check email and such... realized it sounded like they were done coloring and headed back into the other room to make sure the crayons got put away and the presents remained wrapped (Scott has already identified at least 2 with his name on them). Blaise was standing beside the tree with an ornament in his hand and when asked what he was doing promptly told me, "It jumped right off." Then continued, "like this." And started jumping... he was mostly being serious until I couldn't keep a straight face. Cullen says it must be time to get "The Fib From Outer Space - VeggieTale."


#3 During his bedtime nursing Michael has started making this moaning sound... he's trying to be funny and it's the cutest thing. He moans a little (which I think is just his talking with a mouth full.) Then he comes off and grins at me and even giggles a little sometimes, once he has my attention. He's cute :)

Fascinating Feet

I realized I never updated this after Michael's 4 month check up. That was 2 weeks ago. He's healthy. Still tall, 80%, 25 1/2 inches - but I get at least 26 inches every time I measure him at home... infant measurements are such guesswork. He's thinning out, just like Blaise did. He was only 14 lbs 9 oz when they weighed him, 45%. He was a trooper, he wimpered for a second and was easily distracted after his 1 shot. He does have some ugly rash stuff going on on his arms (and a little on his legs and feet too.) It's kind of a mystery rash- responds well to hydrocortisone creme, but never really goes away completely. Anyway, the doctor suggested it might be a sensitivity to something I'm eating... we're cutting back on milk :( After a week of no milk products, it seemed to help, but still wasn't completely cleared up. Now we're adding back in milk products and just not drinking milk. Oh, mystery rash go away! On the bright side, Michael couldn't care less about it.

In other news, he loves his jumpy jump, as expected. Is still fascinated by his big brothers. Tries to crawl with his head and his knees and yes, he does actually get his knees up under him already. He sits up in the boppy for much longer now. In fact he can sit up completely by himself for a little bit too... because he's become fascinated with his feet! That always helps the sitting up. He tries to pull the soccer ball off his shoes to put it in his mouth. He also tries to put his toes in his mouth and instantly grabs his feet during diaper changes. He's mostly a happy guy and getting better during meals too. He really wants to eat and totally tries to steal my food. You should have seen him grabbing for my cookies at church on Sunday- he knows.

The sleep news... he is sleeping now and he made the battle easy. The night we decided Cullen would get him when he fussed, he just slept right through, like he knew and has slept mostly through the night since then, waking sometime between 6 and 7am. When he does wake up Cullen just goes in a picks him up for a second (and he doesn't calm down at all). After Cullen leaves the room, he's back asleep in about 2 minutes. On Sunday, when he woke up at 5ish and Cullen went in there, he looked at Cullen and totally screamed as loud as he could as if to say, "No, not you, I want the mommy!" He promptly went back to sleep minutes later. Now he's already to sleep in the big boy room on Christmas Eve, when the grandparents are in his room :)

A Birthday Party

I wanted to do this last year, but wasn't sure the boys were really big enough to understand it. (That and I wasn't feeling that great during the month of December last year.) Anyway, we are having a birthday for baby Jesus in a couple of weeks. I'm excited about planning it and Scott and Blaise, who both love birthdays and parties are also excited. We picked up a few things for our party while we were out today and Scott asked me, very sincerely, "How old is Jesus?" I told him that he's pretty old... but we're just going to put 1 candle on the cake. Actually, since Scott and Blaise think that candles are essential to birthday cake, I'm thinking 1 candle on each cupcake.

Can I Drive?

After grocery shopping, we stopped to fill up the gas tank. It needed it after the last leg of the drive home. As I got back into the car Blaise started the following conversation-

B: Mommy, can I drive?
Me: Right now?
B: Yes, can I drive now?
Me: Um, no. Maybe when you're 16.
B: Ok, when I'm 16 (of course, his pronounciation of the word 16 was entertaining.)
S: I can drive when I'm 16 too.
Me: Sure, Scott, you can drive when you're 16 too.
S: I'm going to drive Daddy's car when I'm 16.

Apparently, they are serious about this whole driving thing and have already been doing some thinking about the details. Yikes.