Fixing Papa

Keaton went to visit papa in the hospital quite a bit when he had knee surgery a few weeks ago.  We thought it would be a good experience since he will be visiting mommy in the hospital soon.  But I'm not sure he will connect the two experiences.  There won't be a bridge with stairs that he gets to walk over with a cane (over and over and over).  And he probably won't be totally obsessed with his blower and bring it with him to the hospital.  He will get to take advantage of the endless supply of food that can be ordered from Swedish (Mommy also plans on ordering as much as she can because once she gets home room service is over).

 

Once papa was home he was also a good helper. He made papa some foot cookies to help him walk better. 

 

Keaton brought his blower over to papa's house to help him with a giant tree that fell over...and was surprised to find that a neighbor was nice enough to cut it up a few days later.

 

 

We are glad that papa is moving around quite a bit better and seems to be recovering quickly.  We keep hoping he follows doctor's orders so that this is the last time he has to have this surgery.  "Dr. Keaton" did leave his doctor's orders at the hospital and is ready at any time with his doctor tools to help fix papa.  And his tools are quite appropriate (hammer, nails, etc.) given the giant incision of stapes papa has down his leg.  The traditional things like stethoscope, blood pressure pump, shot, etc. that came in his doctor kit won't work on his crazy papa!

 

Got a Southern Accent from my Boston Relatives????

Last week Keaton's Grandpa, Nana, Aunt Eileen, Uncle Steve and cousin Wyatt were in town visiting.  For some reason Keaton is now pronouncing many words with a southern accent which makes no sense...a Boston accent maybe, but Southern??...

We all had such a great time with them and got to do so many fun things.  I didn't participate in all the outings but I think this captures most: Woodland Park Zoo, Lincoln Park, Museum of Flight, Pike Place Market, Monorail from Seattle Center to Downtown, Snoqualmie Falls, Seattle Waterfront (where Keaton got his very own Totem Pole), Ballard Locks.  They did a lot more than I would have expected given size of the group that included two toddlers.  We often split up during the day but always came back together at night since everyone wanted to watch the world series...and the Red Sox winning the world series!

Keaton and Wyatt got along so well and had so much fun together.  It was so wonderful to see the similarities and differences between them.  They made it a whole week with no major accidents/injuries which was very impressive given the high energy level that never stopped. 

We had two firemen for Halloween.  Keaton was a bit more spooked than I would have expected when we went trick-or-treating at the West Seattle shopping area, Westwood Village.

 

But he sure did make a handsome fireman and would certainly be "Mr. October" in any fireman calendar out there.

 

 

We got a couple group pictures, which is wonderful since we don't all get together that often.  However now that we know Uncle Steve's parents have a swimming pool we will probably be back this summer!

 

I was happy to make it through a meal at the Cheesecake Factory without going into labor. The last time I ate at that restaurant I went into labor with Keaton the next day so I was a little concerned. 

 

They all made it home safely and Keaton/Manny are recovering from their absence and TJ from the embarrassment of driving a mini-van.

Second Time Around

I thought it would be interesting to see how months 3, 6, 9 compared the second time around to the first.  Luckily I have been very good about keeping pictures very organized so it was easy to dig up the ones from Keaton.  The first picture is my pregnancy with Keaton, the second picture is pregnancy with baby #2.

3 Months: I was a bit heavier to begin with so I had more of a tummy the first time.

 

6 Months: I definitely popped sooner the second time around.  Didn't stop me from putting on a bikini and going swimming :).

 

9 Months:  I'd say I'm about the same but the baby is definitely lower in pregnancy #2 which is usually a sign the baby is getting ready.  I've been convinced the entire time I was going to be early (was 1 week early with Keaton) and am guessing by mid-Nov the little guy will be here.  Of course this also means my children will have Husky birthstone colors (purple & gold) which is not ideal for a Cougar grad! :)