Fun observations

Our family has noticed a slow return to normal life after holidays/new baby/traveling/vacation from work. My New Year's resolution is to try to be a bit more present to my children and enjoy them as they grow. Since Joey was about 1, I didn't have to play with either of them very much MJ and Joey entertained each other. I really have enjoyed playing with them more and watching them. Here are some things I noticed...

Joey loves Sheila:
He now realizes that pink pacifiers belong to Sheila. Of course, I can't stop him from giving her kisses all over her face, so really keeping germs from spreading is going to be tricky. Fortunately, no one has been sick yet. I can't recall why his shirt was off for this picture. Judging by Sheila's pjs, my guess is Joey got cereal all over his shirt.

Joey's affection for Sheila is pretty deep and I need to watch her carefully. Once I left her on the loveseat while I carried a box downstairs. When I returned, Sheila was up on Joey's lap. I asked MJ if he picked her up, but he was in a different room. Sheila was quite happy being held by Joey, but he really can't do it on his own. (the above picture was staged and I put her in his arms).

Boxes and brothers are fun:
Mario got a new office chair, and the boys got a big box. The boys are very entertaining when they play together. Joey tries to imitate MJ, but really just likes to play around other people. This week we have been working on talking rather than pushing to get what we want. Of course, they slip up. Such as when they were fighting over some Fisher Price Little People. I saw some arms flying and reminded them to behave. Then I saw Joey wrap up MJ from behind and pull him backwards away from the toys. It was a pretty sweet move.

MJ is a big helper:
MJ helped feed Sheila today some of Mommy's milk in a bottle. This is our "just in case" preparation... she may only get 3 bottles a week (and it really wasn't a whole feeding) but just in case I'm away from her and she is starving, I have some milk frozen and ready for her. MJ was very happy to help. Of course, he couldn't do this alone, but really loves taking care of Sheila. The video of this was pretty cute as MJ explained how Sheila doesn't drink the same milk he drinks...like what we buy from the store.

Our growing kids

Sheila is already one month old and I'm trying desperately to keep her little. Fortunately, we have a large family and babies are born all the time, so I can imagine how fun Michael and Sarah are having with Michael Jr right now. (Keep the pictures coming!)

Here is cute baby Sheila when she was 10 days old (I'm so sad I didn't include this in our Christmas letter)
2 week old Sheila

1 month old Sheila
Yes our baby is 1 month old. She weighs 10 lbs 14 oz (90%). She is 22 3/4 in long (95%) which makes her the tallest baby we've had at 1 month... she is even taller than Joey, they must have measured her wrong. Head 15 1/4 (90%). She loves to babble and coo with her daddy.

So as not to forget the other members of our family - here is how everyone else is doing. Mario seems to love pictures of our kids being zombies watching TV...here they all are watching Wall-e.
MJ and Joey love the new GeoTrax that Santa brought for Joey. MJ has already created a few scenes straight out of action movies going on in his head. This is the second of two scenes where little people are hanging on for dear life. As you can see, if the man falls off the train, he will get eaten by the large lady bug in the background (which MJ mysteriosly claims is his "shop vac")

Mario has been working on the boys' football skills. MJ is pretty good, I'll have to show a video soon. Even Joey likes to get in on the action.
MJ is quite the conversationalist. Yesterday at lunch we had a long discussion about God. He asked, "Does God protect us?" "Does God play with us?" "Does God have angels? Does He have sheep? Does God have cows?" (why?) Because MJ saw a cow in the church the other day (little nativity scene by the alter).
Joey does not talk as much as MJ yet, but is no longer a silent giant. He has passed the adorable age of cuteness with quiet compliance. However, we still think he is cute. He's also starting to stand up for himself when his big brother tries to control him (sometimes MJ gets confused and thinks he's the daddy who can tell Joey what to do).

Baptism recap

We are so happy that Christian and Suzanne were able to be at Sheila's baptism during this busy time of year. We were even able to pull more family together to have a proper celebration for her. We are blessed that so many family members gave up their holiday time to celebrate with us. So, despite a few annoyances with paperwork, a slightly cranky priest, and a "drive through Baptism" as Suzanne called it, I think we had a good time.

Our family waiting for the priest to arrive.



The whole party outside (it felt like a Spring day in December). We still love our new fence.

Sheila and Natalie
I liked this picture of my brother Bobby holding Sheila (if you look closely you can see "Life" written on his shirt).
MJ liked holding beautiful Sheila.
Happy grandparents of 2 grandsons and now 2 granddaughters... the tiebreaker is coming this April.

The Farm

After Christmas, we traveled 3 1/2 hours or so up to my grandparents house near Allentown, PA. There the whole Keppel side of the family was gathered (my grandparents, their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren). I think there were 29 of us (with #30 on the way from Bobby and Suzanne).

This is our crew just from my dad's branch.

We drove up Friday and returned Saturday afternoon. Sheila has joined her brothers and so far seems to be a pro at road trips... here is a picture of all 3 of our kiddos sleeping on the way back. (You can't really see Sheila, but she's in the seat on the right where the mirror is).

The 12 days of Christmas

It has been quite awhile since we have posted, and there is much to catch up on. Since I've found this is a nice "diary" or sorts for me to look back on, I have to go back and fill in the gaps before I forget.

First, here are a few pre-Christmas posed pictures for our Christmas cards (which are going to arrive late).


The Keppel side of our family tricked into town from St. Louis for Christmas starting Monday the 22nd. It was nice to have a bigger house to host our whole family. Things went pretty smoothly and we even survived another visit to the ER on Christmas Eve. As we were preparing for the 4pm Christmas Eve mass, Mario and MJ were wrestling a bit and then I heard an "Ouch, my arm" We did not hear a "pop" but MJ was acting as if his elbow was dislocated. Since we recently experience nursemaid's elbow with Joey (and my mom had seen me with it several times) we were pretty sure what it was, but were annoyed to have to go to the ER to take care of it. But off to the ER we went, MJ protesting the whole way b/c he remembered spending last Christmas Eve in the ER with a horribly high fever/dehidrated... it was not fun. I stayed back with Sheila and Joey, but my mom, Mario, and MJ were very quick at the hospital. The hospital gave him lots of gifts and a stocking. We missed Christmas Eve mass, but continued on with other traditions.

Christmas morning, MJ and Joey were ready to go (not too early). We only have MJ by the tree, b/c Joey took a look at the presents (and was excited) but proceeded to the kitchen to get himself some cereal first.

Our camera got lost for the present opening (but we had several others on hand). Here is Joey at the end of the morning playing with his awesome new Geotrax train set.

Sheila needed a little help opening her presents, but otherwise seemed to enjoy her first Christmas. And I enjoyed having a newborn baby to celebrate Christmas with.

Our Keppel family.
Bobby, Suzanne, Kathy, Dave, Erin, me
Joey, Mario, Grandma & Caeli, Papa & Sheila, and MJ
Joey finally got in the picture taking mood.
Our Christmas baby.

Expelled

We just saw it last night. If you have not yet seen it, it would be worth checking it out.

This is how we do it

I believe the Kaza's had posts explaining the phenomenoms in their lives, so here is one that I have discovered about our family.

We have adorable babies (of course, I'm not biased) in the winter and therefore, colds and flus are all around us. Often a few family members are sick at the time of the baby's arrival. In this case, it was Sheila's entire family with some sort of cold.

I get some form of prolapse, try to take it easy, can't lift much...but fortunately, God blesses us with content babies who prefer to be held, but also enjoy cozy chairs. I have some crazy burst of energy about a week after the baby is born. In this case, it took Mario and I out on a date (with baby Sheila). We went to Outback (what nursing mom wouldn't want steak?) Sheila was a really great date. We almost forgot to take a picture, but got this fuzzy one of us afterwards.

Then at about 10 days after the baby is born, I get hit with a wave of achiness and fever... oh yes, I have mastitis again! Thank goodness my midwives believe me and prescribe antibiotics over the phone. I lay in bed for 2 days straight. This time, everyone else was sick too. Sunday was quite a site a our house. Mario and I slept nearly all day (because his cold hit him hard that day), but spent it in the family room so we could be half-vigilant. I think MJ was the only one who didn't nap on Sunday. Sheila was an angel and just let us sleep.

Now, I am at least feeling better, while coughs and sneezes are still around us. And in the end, we still have a pretty cute kid.

Oh yeah, and it IS Advent! We've been trying to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas by having a newborn around to love and hold. We do have Christmas lights, but they are incomplete and not to our satisfaction...pictures will come soon. Cookies are not being baked in abundance (which really, Christmas can go on without them... site the Grinch) but more will be baked at some point. Meanwhile, we bought Christmas Captain Crunch from the store, and since we succesfully got rid of sugar cereals in the morning, the boys thought this was a HUGE treat. We wish we had the camera when Joey took his first bite. He got the yummy cereal in his mouth, and as soon as he realized how good it tasted, he had the biggest smile on his face.