Outer Banks Vacation!

Pop with 4 of his 5 daughters.  First day was HOT HOT HOT! We caught the end of the heat wave!

My boys and their cousin, Dylan!  They had so much fun together!

Grandkids and Pop Pop with his 69th birthday cake!

Hatteras Light House...the tallest one in the U.S.!  There was thunder so we couldn't go up.  So we came back another day!

My sister April and her family!

Jack Jack and Ty Ty!

Just chillin' on the beach!

We went to the "Digger Dungeon" one day and who walks in......the driver Dennis Anderson!  What are the odds...it was fun that we caught him!

All the kids and men went on a real monster truck ride!

There were tons of old and new trucks there!

Cute pic of my sister Meg and her kids!

Look Mom...I am as tall as a monster truck!

We stopped by the Wright Brothers museum and monument where the first flight took place!

Ike with Jack and Tyson.....so precious!

Making homemade ice cream on the deck!

Digging in the sand

We finally got to climb the lighthouse!  360 degree views

View from the other side with Tiff and Meg

Looking north toward where we were staying in Avon.

Such a fun trip!  I highlighted most of what we did with these pics.  We spent most days at the beach and took one or two days for sightseeing.  We had pretty good weather most of the time.  There were a few days of thunderstorms and heavy downpours but they were isolated and we still got time at the beach pretty much every day!  We have more pics on our water camera so I need to look through those! 

It was Ike's first time on the Outer BAnks so I'm glad that after about 10 years of marriage I was able to take him to one of my favorite vacation spots growing up.  My Pop has a beach house there we were able to meet up with most of that side of my family for a fun week!  The long travel days there and back were hard on me but the boys did pretty good overall on the airplane so I can't complain too much!  They had so much fun with their cousins and didn't want to leave!  I even got to see two of my dear friends that live there now. 

The only think I didn't like.....and living out west I forgot how much....were the mosquitos and humidity!  I can definitely do without those two things!  Other than that it was so fun and I really missed the WARMER ocean waters.  THe pacific is SO COLD!  Swimming in the atlantic was heaven compared to what we have here! I will be excited to go back in another few years!

6 Months



Yeah....downward slope!

Blurry but Jack's face cracks me up!

I am so excited to be on the downward slope of this pregnancy!  I was really hoping to enjoy every part of it but that just hasn't been the case.  I guess the older we get the harder it is to be pregnant.  Plus, having two kids now makes it a little more difficult too.  Mostly, I just hate my moodiness and short-temper and these DAMN veins! I have to wear support stockings every day or it is sore and gets a little swollen.  At least it is only one leg but I just pray they mostly go away like they did last time.  I had some at the end with Jack and they got better the minute I had him but they weren't this bad so we will see.  Other than that.....he just sits really low (like all my boys have) so I feel a lot of pressure if I stand too long.  Oh the joys of pregnancy!  I am trying to enjoy this summer but will be excited for school to start in a little over a month so that I can get back to a little easier schedule.  It will be helpful near the end and I can nap while jack naps. I have my 6 month appointment on Thursday so I will get the results of our ultrasound last month.  Hopefully this baby is growing like Dane did and not our big boy Jack!

MONTHS 4 AND 5

Here's the 4 month belly pic.  I started having problems with vericose and spider veins which I didn't expect so soon.  I thought maybe near the end like with Jack but the saying is true that these things get worse with each pregnancy.  So I get to wear "cute" support stockings in hopes that these things go mostly away like last time.  They do help though, so I can get over the granny look!  On a good note...about week 15 we found out we ar having our 3rd BOY!  Very exciting although at first I was surprised because I really thought it was a girl.  Guess my intuition was wrong this time!  Sometime between weeks 18-19 I started feeling him move so that is very exciting and makes everything more real!

Month 5 Belly!  A few weeks ago I had a lot of hip pain so I figured my hips were stretching and preparing for the baby to pop out and I know by this time next month there will be a huge difference.  I usually have a lot of growth throughout this month so we will see.  We had my 20 week ultrasound today and in a few weeks I will find out how his growth is.  Let's just hope he is growing more like Dane than like Jack.....mama would like a smaller baby this time around please!  Still wearing the support stockings and they are not going anywhere.  Total weight gain so far is about 12 lbs so I am right where I want to be right now.  Trying to fit in workouts gets harder as I get bigger but I try to get some weights in once a week if a I can and do walking or swimming on other days whenever I can fit it in.  We have a very busy summer planned so the next two months will fly by!

3 months

I like to take belly pics each month to compare growth in my pregnancy.  Here is 3 months...a few days shy of 3 months.  It doesn't seem like much but I like to start taking pics when I notice a difference! With Dane I didn't start taking pics until about 5 months because I wasn't showing until then.  With Jack I started showing between 3 and 4 months although it was pretty easy to hide until the 4th month still.  I guess I am following the trend of showing just a little earlier with each pregnancy.  I usually pop out pretty good between 5 and 6 months so we will see if this time I follow the same trend.

Nausea is pretty much gone.  If I eat too much at once then I feel a little unsettled....but that's just a good excuse not to overeat I guess!! I am hoping now to just enjoy this pregnancy from here on out!  Well, I will be able to enjoy it more and relax after I find out the sex of course!! Some friends told me about an ultrasound place in Newport Beach that does scans as early as 14 weeks for a great price, so I think we may go sometime in the next two weeks.  That will be fun.....hopefully the news will be PINK....but I haven't been able to get a clear feeling about it this time around.  With the last two I was pretty sure I was having boys and I was totally happy about that.  Two boys in a row was easy....but now I would like to try my hand at a girl.  It's out of our control and we will be happy (and done) no matter what.

BUN IN THE OVEN

Good news!  I am pregnant for the 3rd and FINAL time!  I have always thought that 3 would be my number and I wanted this last one about 3 years apart from Jack and we are pretty darn close with a due date of Nov. 1st.  I am hoping for an Oct birthday though so we can have Halloween parties!  Although I had forgotten this because it hasn't been celebrated in quite a few years since he passed, but Nov. 1 is also my grandpa's birthday so that would be cool too!  So I am 10 weeks along and things are great now but we did have a little scare in the very beginning with some unexpectec bleeding which freaked me out pretty good because I never had that with the other two.  I went to the E.R. and while I was there the bleeding stopped but I was still put on modified bed rest (ha ha...for me that is tragic) and a follow up was needed since they saw a small spot of blood in utero with the baby.  I took it SUPER easy for about two weeks and then I gradually started doing normal things again as I felt up to them. Since I never had any cramping, and the bleeding never came back, I never did the follow up until this week when I had my regular scheduled first appointment.   Although I felt strongly that things were ok (plus the increasing/continuing all day nausea was a good sign) it was still a relief to see and hear the heartbeat.  We also got our first pic of our little one...pretty good one since I was already 10 weeks.  So we are off and running and very excited for the next 6 months!  I am also feeling a little better I am hoping sometime in the next week or so the nausea will be totally gone...it usually happens close to 12 weeks for me.

I also talked to my doc about my almost non-existant labor with Jack and how, even though it is 6 1/2 months away, I am concerned I will get to the hospital fast enough this time around.  She said I will just need to go in when labor starts and let them know how fast my last labor was so they take me seriously, but we still have a while to worry about that. 

So since this is my last planned pregnancy, I really want to make sure I document it well like the others and of course I am hoping for a girl....almost everyone in my family is....except for Ike!  He just doesn't think he has any girls in him.  I know the real reason though is becasue he is just intimidated by girls and all the things he has to deal with in worrying about them as they grow.  They are just different than boys!  If it is meant to be then it will be and I will be happy with another boy too....but I would really LOVE just one girl....so this is our last shot!  Sometimes I try to analyze my pregnancy so far to see if it is any different from my last two and since it is still early it is hard to tell.  Some things are the same and some are different.  I'm really not showing yet so I can't tell if I am carrying high or low (my pants sure are tight though and I have retired some already).  I carried low and right in front with both boys.  It literally looked like I had a basketball under my shirt!  The nausea has been a little different....it was more intense in the beginning.  I did not want to eat anything and when I did it HAD to be whatever I was craving right at that second which meant a lot of special lunch trips out with Jack. Then the last few weeks have been more similar to what I remember, being average/mild but lasting all day. (Can't remember if it lasted all day last time though??)  I have had some similar food cravings (salty stuff) but then some other cravings that were different.  This week I have had cravings for cinnamon rolls, potato salad, and cucumbers in vinegar (i know, sounds wierd but I actually like that normally too....it is a Keim family thing).  Two major differences that I can tell are that I have a majorly heightened sense of smell.  Strong smells are not good for me and I have a hard time changing Jack's dirty diapers!  Good excuse to start potty training....if he would only get on board!  The other major difference is that I feel a lot more crabby and short tempered.....maybe because of the stress in the beginning and the all day nausea.  Sorry my family has had to deal with that but they have been really good and Ike has been very understanding.  Hopefully that time has passed though (the crabbyness...not the Ike being understanding thing)  LOL! 

Here is a pic of the baby at 10 weeks..........head is at the bottom and feet on top!  I swear the baby is covering HER face with her hand too....I say HER because maybe it is a girl and she already doesn't like her picture being taken!!  LOL!  Wishfull thinking!

My Baby is TWO!!

At the end of November my baby Jack turned TWO! He is such a joy in our lives and has a fun little personality. I tell Isaac all the time he has such an easy going "middle child" personality!  Guess that means he will be having a younger sibling sometime in the future.  Don't know when yet...but eventually.  Jack can be very determined at times and has his typical terrible two tantrums.  Here are some pics and little facts about our little Jack in this stage....

JACK LOVES HIS DADDY!

THIS PROPERTY IS A BOY'S DREAM!  RIDING THE QUAD WITH UNCLE JIM, DANE, AIVREE, AND ARIA

JACK'S FRIEND AND AND OUR NEIGHBOR ARIA

ANGRY BIRDS HAS BEEN A HOT GAME IN OUR HOUSE THIS YEAR

HE IS ALWAYS MAKING MESSES WITH FOOD AND GETTING IT EVERYWHERE!  HE LOVES TO POUR OUT LIQUIDS!  AND HE WILL EAT ALMOST ANYTHING!

HE LOVES THE CAROUSEL!  HE SEEMS TO HAVE NO FEAR AND RODE HIS FIRST ROLLER COASTER IN TOON TOWN AT DISNEYLAND LAST WEEK.  HE LOVED IT!

CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF THOSE LOLIPOPS!  TYPICAL JACK....SHOVES FOOD IN HIS MOUTH AND WE HAVE TO MAKE HIM SLOW DOWN.  HE HAS A HEALTHY APPETITE!

SUCH A SWEET BOY.  LOVES HIS BLANKET AND HIS THUMB AND LOOKS LIKE AN ANGEL WHEN HE SLEEPS!

When he wakes up I ask him if he had a good nap and he always says YES!   Although he seems peaceful above, he occasionally wakes up in the middle of the night SCREAMING and it can be hard to calm him down.  Don't know if those are night terrors or what but it is not fun!  Luckily Dane is a very heavy sleeper and doesn't notice at all even though he is in the next room! 

I used to sing two songs to Jack when he went to bed or took a nap but about 2-3 months ago he started saying "NO MOM" when I began singing becasue he knew it meant going to bed.  (Or maybe he just thought my voice didn't have a good lullaby tone...who knows).  I still try sometimes and maybe one day he will let me sing to him again....it's funny though!   

He is also very good talker now and is pretty easy to understand most of the time! 

When we are at Dane's basketball games he stands between Ike and I and grabs our heads and pulls them together next to his....he thinks it is so funny!

He loves to help out and clean up if we sing the clean up song!  Too bad he is usually the one who made the mess in the first place!

He loves to put on our clothes.  He is getting the hang of it and can put on shirts.  Sometimes he will walk out with Dane's shirt on or even funnier...someone's underpants on his head (clean of course!)

We just got rid of his bottle last week.  I wanted him to stay a baby a little longer but it was time and he only asked/cried for it twice but it wasn't hard to get him interested in a cup instead since all the big people in the house use one.   Now he doesn't even drink that much before bed which I'm hoping will make potty training easier!

We are working on potty training casually right now....he goes a few times a day in the potty but by the summer we will hit it hard I think. 

He is becomming very independent and likes to do almost everything himself!

WHen I ask him if whe wants a baby sister or baby brother he says.....sister (so does Dane)  Let's hope their wishes come true!

I wish I could remember more right now but if I do I will add info as it comes to me. 

I love this kid and I can't wait to see the kind of man he will turn out to be! (Him and Dane)