like a champ

Our perfect little Keegan had his first bottle tonight in preparation for my return to work. He handled it, well, perfectly. Didn't seem to even notice the difference (sob!). So I guess this means I really have to go back to work. Can anyone think of another out? Only 11 days of summer left. I'm getting desperate here.

home sweet home

We're finally back! I've never been so glad to be back in Florida with all the heat and humidity in my life. We took three days to drive up to the Outerbanks, but drove back straight through. That means we were in the car...with the kids...for 15 hours! The boys were great. They napped, ate snacks, and watched movies. Poor little Keegan on the other hand. He just hates his car seat so much and cried from the South Carolina/Georgia border all the way home. Seriously. After a few hours you just become desensitized to it. He slept 14 hours that night, so glad to be out of the car and back in his own crib.

listening intently

Whatever he's saying, it looks like it must be very important.

teach your children well

Like father, like sons. Jay won, and took Lee's money...again.

DUCK 2008 OR BUST!

Get ready Allison's, 'cause here we come!

playing with fire

The kids were in awe with those little sparklers...a first for them. That crazy Brit again. Do we know him?
Watching our amateur fireworks from the "safety" of the car. Despite how tired my kids look, they couldn't get enough of our fireworks shooting up high into the air. Later, the cops came by to confiscate the illegals. Luckily we were just finishing up and they left to pursue other dangerous criminals on the beach. However, it was the highlight of the night for all the kids who still can't stop talking about the police coming to our house!

back to the beach

I say "back" to the beach because I forgot my camera the first day, so we had to go back and get pictures!

Keegan did this the whole time...both days! What a dream baby!

food, family, and fireworks

If you read this post you already know a little bit about our Fourth of July. Here are some pictures to go along with it...

7 weeks & chubby cheeks

What can I say? The boy likes to eat!

Baby Rule #1: Never let the milk bottles out of sight. Sleep on top of them if at all possible.

wish I'd have thought of this

The smartest woman (it must have been a woman) invented this: the bumbo. It's this little rubber seat thingy that lets baby sit up before he can sit up on his own. Now Keegan can see the world around him (and watch and learn how to be a knucklehead like his big brothers)! Worth every penny. Actually it was free though. Thanks Steph!

two-year tradition

Before I was born, my Uncle Jimmy and his wife, Melissa divorced. As a result, my cousins moved with Melissa to North Florida. Over the years, we gradually lost touch until finally reuniting at my cousin Sarah's wedding in 2001. Now, as adults, we've developed our own relationship with this side of our family, living just three hours away. A relationship we value. One we plan on continuing. And one we feel would make our grandparents proud.

Melissa and Keegan

My cousin, Sarah, and her family

July 4, 2007 (watching fireworks at Ponte Vedra Beach)July 4, 2008 (Logan, Gavin and that crazy Brit about to watch fireworks from the rooftop of Melissa's condos, Via Mare)

baby soft again

Look at that gorgeous skin! His, not mine. LOL. After three long weeks of "prickly heat rash" followed by a nasty case of cradle cap, we are finally just about in the clear. Keegan's baby soft skin is back! For those that are wondering, cradle cap generally just looks like really bad dandruff. Sometimes though, it spreads to the face, neck, ears, etc. And then it's really gross. At one point, I thought I'd never see his beautiful baby skin again. His ears and neck were covered in this bumpy, yellow wax-like substance. It smelled bad and oozed out his pores. Strangers would say, "what a cute baby you have"...and then they got closer. I owe a special thanks and shout out to Karen Allison, Jay's aunt and a faithful blog reader (see link to her blog on the sidebar). Her frequent visit to my blog and reading of this post, allowed me to treat it quickly and get him on the road to recovery.

looking into the future

11 days from now from now we'll be doing a little of this...

...a little of this...

...some of this...

...and a LOT of this!

Duck 2008, here we come!

happily ever after

We took our first road trip as a family of five this weekend. We headed over to Jacksonville beach to visit my cousins for the fourth of July (I'll post pics of our trip later). Jay and I considered it a little dry run for what's to come -- we'll be driving to the Outerbanks (13 hours!) in a couple weeks. The older boys were good. Keegan hates the car. He starts screaming even when he thinks we're about to get in the car, but again, that's another post.

So, Logan got bored along the way and decided to write his own story. It went something like this:

Once upon a time there was a girl and a dragon...(some other parts here about the their adventures that I can't remember)...and then he ate her happily ever after. The End.

Finding normal

Keegan is six weeks old today. He fits right in with our family and somehow it seems like he's always been around. And a good night's sleep seems like something I haven't known in a very long time.

A six-week maternity leave is kind of the norm in America...unpaid, and yes, you can use your sick leave. After that time, the woman is expected to jump right back on her feet as if nothing happened. As if life as you knew it hadn't just been completely turned upside-down. Of course, in other countries, a woman might get 12-16 weeks off...paid! In some areas, the government even assigns a nanny to help for the first several weeks. She cares for the baby and does laundry too!

I've never understood how an American woman can just pick up and head back to work, on the rebound from a life-altering, exhausting, exhilarating six-week "vacation". I certainly couldn't do it. Hence, the disproportionate number of babies being born to teachers (or school psychologist, in my case) during the months of April, May, and June. The philosophy: If you're very fertile (obviously, we are...well, we were...took care of that!), and if you do your math just right (we do), you can time your baby so that you work the majority of the school year and then have the entire summer off to bond together (and recover).

But mentally, my six-weeks are up. Six weeks...42 days...is kind of the magic number in OB/GYN land. You can work out again, have sex again, and...according to America...go back to work again. So, I have to say goodbye to days spent holding the baby on the couch watching Real World marathons (and Denise Richards, and Living Lohan, and My Super Sweet Sixteen...) and hello to diet, exercise, and moving on with life.

Fortunately, Keegan's a great baby. And so, through a week of trial and error, I've realized that if I get up early in the morning with Jay and feed Keegan, he'll go back to sleep for a glorious two hours. If I'm lucky, the boys will sleep for at least one of those hours, allowing me to drink coffee, blog, sort laundry, run the dishwasher, and work out! I have then accomplished a days worth of work all before 7:30am.

Of course, it doesn't always work out that way. This morning, I ran on the treadmill while watching Little Einsteins and taking short breaks to heat up mini-waffles or break up a fight over who had the matchbox car first. But at least we're finding something resembling normal again.

He smiles

...because the milk is near!

reconnecting with my little fishies

Whoo hoo! I got to go somewhere without Keegan (No, my trip to Publix last week didn't count)!!!! This week Nana kindly offered to watch Keegan for the day so I could take the boys to the local pool. It's at the same place where we take gymnastics, so the boys see it every day and constantly beg to go there (Mama! We've been SOOOOOO good. Can we go swimming?). It also happens to be next door to Nana's house, so we drive by it pretty much on a daily basis. I can't blame them for wanting to go though -- it's a little kid's dream! It has a kiddie play area where the water never gets too deep, a cool water slide (which the boys are unfortunately too short for), and built-in water guns you can use to shoot all the dry Mommy's and lifeguards! Needless to say, they had a blast and I was able to have some much-needed time to reconnect and have some fun myself.