9 months old

Keegan Orlo Schmitz is now 9 months old and is fully becoming a little person and much less blob like. He can crawl the most rapid and hilarious army crawl and gets from point A to point B in no time at all. His traditional hands and knees style crawl is in place but much slower so he frequently slides rapidly on his belly all over the house. Unless he is on the grass then he let's as little of his body touch that strange stuff a possible.
Keegan can also pull up on just about anything. Pants. Gates. Couches. Dogs. Brothers. Legs. Chairs. Cabinets. Just about anything can get him up, getting down is another story. The last two weeks have been filled with cries of frustration as he is "stuck" up. He is beginning to cruise as well. And if he is holding on to grown up fingers he can and will walk (slowly and ploddingly) just about anywhere in the house.
Keegan has two top teeth and squeal to show them off. He smiles and laughs and screeches and is generally amazing. He is also utterly and totally obsessed with his momma. If mom is in the kitchen and Keegan playing in tr family room all is well until K hears his momma's voice. Then the whining and moaning immediately begins as he extracts himself from whatever he is doing to crawl, roll, cruise or slither his way to mom where he then pulls up and cries until he is held. Over and over and over all day long. It is precious to be so loved but it is amazing how much longer it takes to get things done while holding a 26+ pound lil man. I would never actually complain about a secure attachment or being loved but I will admit that sometime I sigh in frustration of how much longer it takes to complete each task.
Summer has finally begun and it is exciting to think about all the cool things that are going to happen in the next three months by the time Keegan turns one.

Blurg

Mommy and Daddy had the stomach flu this week. Keegan is teething this week. It is my last week of the school year this week.  We are SUPER busy and moderately stressed.
Poor lil man has been waking and fussy every 40 minutes to two hours all day (and night) long making for a long couple of days and nights.  Keegan has wanted to be held all the day- he doesn't even want to practice his super speed army crawl because he feels so crummy.
But perhaps there is a light at the end of the tunnel- tooth #3 popped through today! Top tooth- a big ole chomper (and his poor gum is so red and puffy).  Hopefully it's matching tooth comes soon and he can find some relief.

Up, up, up

Because time is apparently moving at the speed of light... Keegan has mastered pulling up on nearly everything he is surrounded by. This includes people, couches, toys, his brother, his crib, pillows,..... He looks SO big standing up and grinning. How did this happen already?!

On the Move!

Keegan can crawl! He can alternate left leg right arm and then right leg left arm and move forward! It is halting, wobbly, awkward, and slow as heck, but it is CRAWLING
Way to go Mr Big Stuff- Mommy is so proud of you

8 months old

Keegan is 8 months old.  2/3 of a year has passed since Mr Big Stuff was born- and I simply can't believe it.  I feel like I look at him and he has changed and grown from one minute to the next.  My heart literally hurts sometimes looking at him as he is changing so quickly.  I fear that I am going to blink and he will be graduating from high school and leaving home.
Keegan is a big boy- and continues to grow.  He and his big brother are now in the same size diaper (size four!) and K is wearing 18 month clothes.  He is finally trying to grow some hair- I can even almost mess it up in a bath or with a wet washcloth for a minuted7.  Keegan can scoot backwards and roll like a maniac all over the place.  He loves Grayson's toys and is giddy when he can push a button and make something happen.  He is now eating solids two to three times per day- loving pears and sweet potatoes, mangoes and apples, and a variety of other fruits and veggies. He would eat puffs and rice crackers all the day long if we would let him and loves to practice pinching them with his sweet baby fingers.  He is grabbing and reaching and planning all day long- you can just see the wheels turning as he tries to plot how he is going to get whatever he has set his sights upon. 
Keegan is working hard to figure out the whole crawling thing- he can do the inch worm, he makes a great triangle with his booty up in the air, he flops dramatically forward, he does a great dolphin kick, he rolls rapidly in many directions and can spin on a dime- but he can't quite coordinate forward movement that even resembles crawling.  It is amusing to observe though he gets pretty frustrated and I don't think Keegan finds the whole situation amusing at all.
Only a few more weeks til summer break and we will all four get to spend much more time together- I can hardly wait to see my lil man more and watch him keep growing and changing- I predict a joyful few months ahead.

Keegan's Spring Pictures by Songbird Photography

My sweet baby boy, not so little anymore, growing each day and changing so fast that I cannot imagine what he will do next.  The only certainty is that he will hold my heart forever.

Seven months old

Keegan is seven months old and per the scale at Dr Jen's office he weighs 24 pounds. At first it seemed like not much was changing this month but in the last ten days he has exploded with new skills. Mr Big Stuff can roll in every direction--quickly! He is no longer safe to leave on a bed or on the floor near something you don't want him to get because he is officially mobile. He is getting ready to crawl too. He practices by getting up on his hands and knees and rocking rocking rocking - which is adorable (except when he does it over and over again in the middle of the night while crying ... Not so cute then). He seems to get frustrated that he is not moving after a minute or two of rocking and he starts to cry or whine and needs a change of position. He can sit up now for minutes and minutes if he wants to though he most often prefers to be laying down so he can grab toys and cats or roll and roll. He sleeps in his crib almost exclusively now, sometimes for six or more hours at a time- but he seems to be working on some new teeth and practicing crawling so lately he needs momma milk about every two hours all night long. Keegan is a big eater- he has had bananas, pears, sweet potatoes, prunes, rice crackers, puffs, mangos, apples, green beans- and will eat up to four or more ounces of food at some meals. He is practicing using a sippy cup at meals and is entertained enough by it at times that we can still eat out every now and then without him getting too impatient. Keegan seems to have fallen out of love with his carseat- crying and crying in the car for ages at a time. Hopefully that will pass and our happy baby will return - it is hard to listen to him be so sad and not be able to soothe him. When not in the car or frustrated practicing crawling he is still gloriously happy and shows off his precious dimples with abandon. He cracks is and himself up squealing and squeaking (and he babbles too mamamamama and bababababa). I am pretty excited about the next few months. I predict crawling and and more babbling and food exploration. Plus I only have six more weeks of full time work until summer and play time. This summer is going to be so fun!

He talks

Keegan jabber jaws already. Too cute. He says ma ma ma ma and opens and closes his mouth like a koi fish. Too darn cute!

Moving

Keegan can now roll left to right and right to left back to tummy and tummy to back in all directions. Which means that he is officially actually mobile. He can swivel when facing forward on his tummy and change directions.
Today he started pushing up on his toes and even scooting backward a bit. He can bring his left knee up by his hip and I suspect he may crawl within the next month!

All Done Swing

The swing was the answer to our prayers for sleep for quite some time, Keegan could sleep in there for four or more hours at a time- giving him much needed rest and Grayson much needed one on one time and Daddy a much needed break.  Turns out those days are over- dude is huge and even with brand new batteries Mr Swing can't swing anymore.  Guess we need to consider working on sleeping in the crib sooner rather than later ;)

Riding

Mr Big Stuff is so big that he can ride in a cart. I am simply shocked at how fast he is growing.

He sits

Big day

Today was a big day for Mr Big Stuff. Today he rolled.....& rolled...& rolled....& rolled all across the living room! Real movement across space.
And then tonight he sat. & sat. & sat. For 20 seconds or more at a time righting himself if he got a bit off balance, reaching and playing with a diaper. Sitting like a big boy! My goodness this is going fast.

Mr Giggles

Giggles and smiles and love and... big sigh

a glimpse into the future

Grayson wanted to hold Keegan, Keegan wasn't so sure he wanted to be held- what resulted was the first of what I anticipate to be MANY wrestling matches between our sons.