The Kecks

A Couple Videos

2010-02-11T01:42:55Z

It’s been a little slow around here while we get ready for Baby #2 to arrive. We’re busy trying to get the guest bedroom converted into Lauren’s new “Big Girl” bedroom. How many princesses can you put in one room? I think we’re on our way to finding out, although we’re trying to do our best to make the room decor last a little longer than her Disney princess obsession. And because moving furniture in one bedroom wasn’t enough fun, we’re also going to try and move ALL of the furniture on our upper level over the course of two days as we have the carpet replaced next week. Should be interesting. Anybody want to help move a piano? I don’t think Steph and Lauren are going to be much help.

Lauren seems to have passed another milestone over the last few weeks. Regardless of whether you are a friend, family or a complete stranger, she’ll be more than happy to drop her pants to show off her new princess underwear she is now wearing full time. There was a lot of talk in the house about #2 over the past 3 weeks and it wasn’t in reference to the new baby. After a few lucky breaks for Mommy & Daddy, she appears to be on her way to earning the title “potty trained” (knock-on-wood).

In the meantime, as you can see in the video, Lauren and Koda have slowly started becoming good buddies. Lauren is finding new ways to play with him every day and Koda is slowly realizing that she does more than just drop food on the floor. I’ve also started taking Lauren skating on Saturdays because, well let’s face it, we only have 4 more years until the next winter Olympics. After the first trip, I left thinking perhaps we’re still a little young. However after our third time out, she really seems to be getting the hang of it and seems to really enjoy it. Especially when she knows there is a hot chocolate waiting for her at the end.

Week 29

2010-01-13T19:58:31Z

Less than 12 weeks to go until we meet baby #2! My check-up on Friday went well and aside from a nagging cough and sleep interruptions, I’m feeling good and happy to be in the third trimester now. I don’t have any inclination regarding the gender of the baby; since I was positive Lauren was a boy, I’m not even going to throw out a guess. The heart rate was 140 bpm; looking back, Lauren’s was 135 bpm around this time, but Josh thinks I’m carrying lower this time, which indicates a boy by an old wives’ tale. Check the baby poll in if you’ve got a guess for the gender and arrival date!

Lauren has become more interested in my growing belly and likes to pat it and say hi to the baby. She’s not patient enough to leave her hand there long enough to feel any movements, though. She’ll say it’s a baby sister or a baby brother depending on the day, but every time someone asks her what we’ll name the baby, her reply is “Dora”. Whether we bring home a boy or girl, the baby’s name will unfortunately be a disappointment!

Hollidazzle Parade

2010-01-03T01:21:39Z

First Haircut

2010-01-13T19:54:16Z

At 2 1/2 years old, we figured Lauren was ready for her first haircut (and the fact that her hair was looking pretty scraggly). It was more of a trim since I didn’t want to cut off the natural curl and, thankfully, the curls remain. We were a little nervous about how she would behave so we went stocked with toys and treats. Once we walked in, we realized that the place was definitely equipped to handle their clientele- Lauren was very satisfied to watch a movie while they cut and styled her hair! She talked about her haircut for days afterward and now when I blow-dry my hair, she wants to have hers done, too.

Ultrasound

2009-11-16T21:07:51Z

We got our first look at Lauren’s little brother or sister last Friday. We’re happy to report that the baby looked healthy and appears to be right on track for 20 weeks, weighing in at a whopping 13 ounces. For those of you looking to get the inside track on guessing the baby’s gender, the heart rate was 133 BPM. Unfortunately just like it’s big sister the baby was a bit stubborn so we didn’t get many great views and there wasn’t a detailed 4d image to print so we’ll just have to settle for these B/W images and be thankful that the baby is healthy. We were told by the ultrasound technician that even if we had wanted to determine the sex of the baby she would have been unable to given the position of the baby. However she looked pretty proficient at her job and I think she was just trying to help us not go back on our decision to keep it a surprise.

Baby #2

2009-11-16T21:07:08Z

If you haven’t heard by now, we’re expecting again! Baby #2 is due March 28th and so far it has been an uneventful pregnancy. I’ve been feeling good, just tired, and this past week I’ve been feeling definite kicks and movement of the baby. The ultrasound is Friday so we are looking forward to seeing the little one and we’ve decided to keep the gender a surprise again. Lauren will occasionally ask if there is a baby in my tummy and pat my growing belly, but she has no clue what she is in for- hopefully she loves a brother or sister as much as she loves her baby dolls!

Lauren had a fun Halloween- although she told her daycare teachers that she was going to be a dinosaur, she didn’t seem to mind her Snow White dress. She was very excited about all the candy but has mostly forgotten about her stash… we’ve found that a couple peanut butter cups before bedtime does not help her settle down to go to sleep!

Halloween Preparations

2009-10-31T04:39:19Z

We had some fun carving pumpkins and making Halloween cupcakes with Lauren last weekend.

Great MN Get Together

2009-09-14T03:56:32Z

Lauren made it to the MN State Fair for her third year and it wouldn’t have been complete without a picture of her in cheese on a stick cut-out! We spent almost a whole day there, longer than we anticipated, because the day was so nice and Lauren was having such a good time. Besides introducing her to cheese curds this year, she also chowed down on corn-on-the-cob (one of her faves this summer), a caramel roll, Sweet Martha’s cookies (mostly just picking out the chocolate chips), a Pronto Pup, and a strawberry malt. I was amazed that none of it came back up when Josh took her on the Tilt-a-Whirl, although they both looked a little queasy when they got off the ride! Lauren didn’t have much fear when it came to the Kidway rides, but a couple of them made me a little nervous. She also really liked the birthing barn and had fun petting a baby chick and baby duck.

Big Girl Bed

2009-09-09T06:04:13Z

I don’t think we know exactly why, but last week we decided to transition Lauren to what we tell her is a “Big Girl Bed”. Maybe it was the traveling we’ve done this summer and the realization that Lauren is quickly out growing the pack-n-play crib. More likely though it was that strange desire to knock off another milestone in Lauren’s development so we can feel like we know what we’re doing. Similar to that desire to see her crawling or walking; followed by the realization of how much more supervision each milestone requires. So of course I envisioned weeks of putting Lauren to bed only to have her climb out telling us she isn’t ready to go to sleep. The first night we put her down and sure enough an hour later not a peep. Three more nights and still nothing. Maybe it’s the fact we really didn’t change beds, but simply removed a side of her crib and replaced it with a small guard rail to keep her from falling out. Either way I’m sure the fact that I’m typing this out and publishing it, means I’ll be awakened in the middle of the night for the rest of this week by two little eyes whispering the words “I wake up!”

Lauren vs The Mosquito

2009-09-08T20:09:03Z

This is what happens when you take a leisurely walk around the block and fail to realize that your daughter is keeping up remarkably well because she’s being carried by a mosquito attached to the side of her head. The photos are from the following day when Lauren got the brunt of the swelling. Daycare called and asked if we wanted to pickup Lauren after she woke up from her afternoon nap and couldn’t open her eye due to the swelling. Luckily a little benadryl did the trick and even started working before I had a chance to grab the camera. As you can see in the second picture, we figured that if she isn’t able to fulfill her dream of becoming a princess in a Disney movie there’s always the chance of a career in Ultimate Fighting.