2 Weeks of Rapid Development...and rapidly going...

Well, the word rapid really does describe Kegan's pace in life now. The last week and 1/2 we have been BUSY GOING places and Kegan and been busy crawling...getting better and better EVERY DAY and FASTER...yeah...I think! Ha! Kegan is definitely getting crawling down. Pretty much now - if he sees something he can go and get it...this includes cords...any kind of cord. Needless to say I have tried to hide a lot of them (all sockets have been covered up for quite a while) and I have become a good a good sprinter. It really is a lot of fun to have him crawling...to see what his eyes have been investigating the past 9 months and now he can finally go and see it close up.
Kegan is getting curious about the world around him and noticing things he has never taken interest in before. An example: the light switches. Just yesterday I walked about the light switch and turned off the light. The next thing I new a little hand flew up in front of me and was trying to push the switch up and down. He loves to stop and try them out, now, every time we pass one.
New things he has learned to do, besides improving his crawl: Pull up on things to stand (We are going to have to lower his crib, again, because he likes to protest his nap by pulling up in his crib and standing...it will be lowered tonight.), claps to music (He now claps with open palms and not his fists. Kegan will also now start clapping is you sing "If You're Happy and You Know It..." and "Patty Cake" - so cool!), and he sort-of has fed himself with a spoon (Yesterday while I was taking the food to his mouth he reached up to take the spoon in my hand so I let him help me take the food to his mouth, then I just let him have the spoon. He actually kept putting it back in his mouth, so I helped him rake up some green beans and he would take the spoon into his mouth. Granted this was all right before he started using the spoon as a drumstick, but I was still proud. He repeated these skills today...so I think it is a skill that will stick around.).
Oh yes - he is about to get 2 more teeth. This process seemed to start at the middle of last week with very swollen gums, then at the beginning of this week his gums started to open where the teeth would be, so we should soon see some teeth poking out.

Ok - on to pictures and a review of the past few weeks. Last Monday, Aug. 20th, Kegan got to go for his first cotton picker ride. He was, once again, fascinated with everything going on and stayed very content and happy for a long time. Below is a picture of Matthew and Kegan up on a module builder. There is a piece on top that goes up and down, and back and forth to compress the cotton and Kegan LOVED watching it move around. He stared and stared whenever we were close to it.

Daddy and Kegan standing on the picker - so tall!

Ok, Kegan is ready to drive!

"See Dad, I can work the orange lever with lots of buttons!!!" (Kegan was so excited about the buttons he saw - too bad none were for him to push.)

"I could help you drive, dad."

"Or, I could just drive it by myself!" (Doesn't he really look like he is concentrating?)

"Second thought, I think I will just sit here and look out this BIG window!"
(This is what kept him entertained the longest. He enjoyed looking at the cotton and all the moving parts to the machine, right below him.)

Mathew and Kegan sitting down in the cotton. It was a VERY hot day out there. Thank goodness for air conditioned tractors!!!

Before I start telling about our travels, I wanted to play this video of Kegan's car song. He has been singing this tune in the car, for the past few weeks, right as he drifts off to sleep...only in the car though, not at the house.

Tuesday morning Kegan and I drove up to go see his Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Kyle. It was so great to see them and I could tell they really enjoyed being about to see Kegan...even though he did spit up, multiple times, on their new carpet. Thank goodness Uncle Kyle was quick with the cleaner! We had a great time with them. I do believe Aunt Lindsay spoiled him though - she loved to hold Kegan whenever she could, and he gladly let her, when he was not showing off his new crawling skills! Uncle Kyle even got in on the action - I forgot to get Kegan's bumpo to feed him in, so Kyle held Kegan while I fed him his dinner - so sweet! The next morning we had to head out, to come home and repack for the next day. We had a great time with them - too short - but nice visit...and I wish I had pictures to show, but did I remember to get out my camera...no....

Thursday, we headed up to Pasadena to spend some time with my Meme and Poppa before heading to Houston for Karsyn's birthday. My meme is just getting over surgery and I think Kegan was the best medicine and therapy for her and the best pick-me-up for my Poppa who has had to be "nurse" while Meme recuperates. It is wonderful to get to see him interact with them - such a blessing!

Kegan had been smothering Meme with lots of "kisses" when I snapped this.

Kegan and and Poppa are chatting about something.

Here is a short clip of Kegan crawling for Meme and Poppa, at their house.

Friday afternoon Kegan and I headed over to Aunt Wendy, Uncle Nolan, and Karsyn's new house. Kegan and Karsyn were so excited to see each other. They just talked and squealed back and forth- Wendy and I were laughing. It really seemed like they were having a conversation about something. Below is a picture of them continuing to talk and laugh about whatever they were saying.

After eating we headed to the play room while we waited for Grams to arrive. Here Kegan is crawling RIGHT UP TO his momma!

Cousins playing together. This toys has some buttons that you can push to play different music and they were really enjoying that feature. Karsyn was even dancing some!

Grams made it so Both kids had to share her lap while they played the maracas. I think I am going to have to get Kegan a set of these. He loved them!

Playing at the play center, again. Look at how he is standing! Grams is not holding him...he is doing it all himself.

Here is a cute picture of them playing in the bath. I know, neither of them will be very happy with this when they are about 12...but it is cute now!

Saturday morning bottle times two!

After their bottles we packed up the cars and headed over to Debbie Rutherford's house for Karsyn's birthday. (Since Wendy and Nolan moved they did not have a house, per say, that was party ready so Mrs. Rutherford offered her house for the party.) It was a swim party, so Kegan of course thoroughly enjoyed himself!

Below is a picture of Kegan, with my Aunt Betsy, playing with some balloons. He is still so fascinated with them.

The birthday girl enjoying her YUMMY cake. Happy Birthday Karsyn!

The birthday girl and her guest (minus 2 infants). Do you notice something in this picture? Kegan is EXTREMELY out numbered!

We had such a great extended weekend getting to celebrate Karsyn's 1st birthday with her and getting to see some of our family!

Sunday evening we headed home and went straight to visit dad in the fields. Kegan was SO excited when he saw Matthew. He started smiling and squealing - too cute!
Back up for a ride in the picker.

After spending some time with Matthew, we headed home to unpack and sleep! It was a great week, but it wore us out!

Monday, (the last day I took pictures this week - till I took the time to save all my pictures and clear my memory card today) we did have some interesting excitement - an impromptu field trip. We were at the park with some other mommys and babies when a fire truck came rolling up. (It was there because someone had called in 911 when they saw a drunk man sleeping in the park - hmmm...not such good news. Anyways, they got the man to leave.) After they had handled the problem they let all the kids look around at the fire truck and take pictures in it. This is one picture a friend of mine snapped for me. SOOO CUTE!!!

As I stated at the beginning of this entry...things have not slowed down this week and Kegan has quickly discovered new talents and new things to discover. I will try to get an updated video of him crawling and clapping to his songs, a little later.

Still working on a method...but he is moving

He's getting better! Wow...what a difference one week can make in the life of a baby. Kegan is still going through different methods of crawling 1. The traditional crawl
2. The hop - he kind of bounces more so than fluidly moves
3. The inchworm - he pulls up his feet, then stretches out his arms and body flat, then pulls up his feet again...and so on
4. The foot drag - he pulls with his arms and pushes off with his right foot, while his left foot really just goes along for the ride
No matter the method, he manages to get to where he wants. Last night at a Sunday School party Kegan was going to town just crawling all over the tile going after this little orange ball that kept rolling away form him. I was so impressed!

Kegan also has a new favorite "thing" this week - he LOVES wheels. He stares at them on trucks, tractors, and lawn mowers (ones sitting on the showroom floor...not ones that are working), and he plays with them on his toy tractors and he played with one on a rolling igloo the other day. I don't know what it is...but he is fascinated! How great it has been to see such joy and inquiry over such an everyday concept to you and me...but something new and different to someone just exploring their world for the first time!

Before I show the videos I have of him crawling...I wanted to show some still shots of Kegan's great crawling "poses".
Looking up while in a crawl.

Check out those strong legs and arms...such determination in his face!


Here Kegan is crawling to none other than the cheapest toy he has...an old tin throw away cook pan...he loves the noise and shine.


Matthew called and was talking on the phone and Kegan kept trying to crawl to it and get it...it was real sweet and an great time to capture him crawling (he is not always cooperative with me trying to video tape him).


The rest are just some cute pictures from last week and today.

Kegan and Mommy went to run errands with Daddy on Thursday.
Look Mom...I can drive!

Daddy...Grandpa...are you looking at me, too?

Thursday night we went to another farmer's fields to go see this new concept picker (for those who care - with this new picker, the farmer never has to stop to dump the cotton, it is bailed up, like hay is, inside the machine and then dropped out the pick...very cool to watch). Here we were wasting time and sat Kegan in the wheel of one of the tractors that hauled some of the bailed cotton around. Aren't those tires huge...he looks so little inside the BIG rims!


Matthew and Kegan are sharing some dinner on Saturday night. Yes, Kegan did crawl over to his daddy to get that french fry...the child is VERY motivated by food...haha...and yes, Matthew's hands are that dark from dirt!

Yummy...how should I go about biting into this???

This is how I have seen daddy do it...yummy!

This afternoon, Matthew went out to the fields to start picking...yea!...and Kegan and I hung out around the house. I think Kegan is going to get his next tooth soon...he is chewing on everything and loving his cold teething rings. (He was "helping" me fold laundry here.)

Still being such a good helper with the laundry...he was fascinated with the laundry basket. Isn't he so cute...I love all his expressions!!!

With Mathew busy picking cotton this week, Kegan and I will head to visit his Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Kyle for a night and then head off to Houston for his cousin Karsyn's first birthday. It is going to be a good week!!!

9 months today and he is up up and away...sort of

Well Kegan has been a VERY busy boy the past week and a half...working on a combine...traveling to Plano...Courtney's wedding...learning how to blow raspberries/bubbles...flying home...and on top of all of that FINALLY starting to get a hang on this thing called crawling!

Let's start back at the first weekend in August where little man got to ride in a combine (it is what is used to harvest the grain) with Grandpa, Angela (one of his mommy's friends who came to visit for the weekend), his mommy, and then also with his Grandma.


Kegan and his grandpa concentrating on their job.


Monday Kegan and I road on a 7 1/2 hour road trip to Plano with Angela. I must say, Kegan did WONDERFUL in the car. He kept to pretty much the same nap schedule he is on and when he was awake would talk to himself, look around, and play with his toys. I was so proud of him. (I have to admit, I was a bit worried about that long of a car ride...he is such a trooper!)
Once we got to Plano, it was go, go, go. One of my best friends, Courtney, was getting married this past weekend, so we were busy going and doing wedding stuff and he actually did very good and just went with the flow of every day. I know I am just so blessed to have such an easy going baby. Below is a slide show of pictures from my mom's camera (I was not good about getting mine out) - it is all the pictures she took, so some are probably not the best...but they are all very cute and you can see all the places Mr. Kegan got to go. You will see some in there at the Herman's pool and you can tell the little man still LOVES the water. Cute story from that night - Mrs. Herman lit some "torches" to keep the mosquitoes away and Kegan was mesmerized by the fire and just stared at it. Then all of a sudden he leaned back, like he was taking a big breath in, and started blowing raspberries in the direction of the flame (he was in the pool looking up at them). It was so funny! There are also lots of pictures of him in attempts to crawl. Enjoy the slide show. (I believe you can manipulate it for how fast you want the slides to go.)


Below are a few pictures I did take with my own camera that are not duplicated in the slide show.
First, a picture of Kegan and the bride, Mrs. Courtney Alford. (She loved Kegan and he loved his "Auntie Courtney" - she had him laughing a lot of the week!)

Next is probably the cutest series of photos of Kegan getting caught in the act of trying to sneak some candy from Gram's candy tray.

Hmmm...what is that up there in the basket?

OOOOO...CANDY!

Now...if I can juuuuuust reach out far enough...

Oooops...well at least I got my piece of candy!

This next one is of Kegan laughing at his Grams as he goes for the candy...again!


The next two pictures were at the wedding in what became the "baby corner". The first picture is of Kegan and his new little friend, Jonathan (I grew up with his daddy, Michael, in the youth group, at church) and Shanna, Michael's very sweet wife, and me. Both boys were looking at the camera. I was so proud! (I think there was about 3 or 4 people holding up toys and making noises to get them both looking...but hey...the kids did great and they both look so handsome!)
I thought this was a cute picture of them - such expression. Kegan looks like he is saying "Please stop with all the pictures!" and Jonathan is hanging in there like a champ...eyes open and facing the cameras...just trying to keep up his pose...haha...too cute!


Monday morning Kegan and I flew back to Corpus - no layovers or lost luggage...nothing...just a smooth flight - yeah!!! Then, Monday evening Kegan actually made some moves that looked like crawling. Matthew had been telling Kegan all week to not crawl till he got home and his daddy could see him...Kegan minded his daddy very well! The first video is vary short. It was was taken on Monday night and I think he was a bit tired.

The second video was taken on Tuesday and is longer and shows Kegan's wobbly, somewhat of a crawl, a little better.


He still is trying to get his method down, but continues to get better and more daring in his attempts. I will keep trying to snatch more videos of him, to post.

Celebrating Daddy's Birthday and a Little More Fun

Saturday was Kegan's daddy's birthday and Kegan got to spend the entire day with him to help Matthew celebrate. That morning Kegan and Matthew played for a while and then layed down for a nap, while I was finishing some stuff for Matthew's birthday dinner. I just thought this was the sweetest picture when I walked into the bedroom...awww!

After a good nap we all went riding around the farms with Grandpa. Kegan has on his John Deere hat and is ready to go! Grandpa then treated Matthew, Kegan, and I to lunch. Well, Kegan had his own special lunch of pureed food...but he did share some ice cream with his Grandpa. Now...what part of lunch do you think Kegan liked most?!?

Saturday night Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Stephani and Uncle Josh, and even Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Kyle came over to the house to help celebrate Matthew's birthday. Now, I know the evening was supposed to be about Matthew...but who do you think got most of the attention...Kegan ate it ALL UP!

Daddy, Kegan, and Mommy at dinner. Doesn't he look like such a big boy joining us for dinner around the table? (Kegan had actually already eaten his meal he just sat there and ate puffs...or whatever he could get his daddy to sneak him from the table.) Doesn't Kegan look like he is giving a goofy grin in this picture?

Daddy and Kegan. Rando -Doesn't Kegan look real tan in this picture? All those swim lessons gave Kegan a nice hint of color.

For dessert we did not have a traditional cake, but rather some banana pudding...which Kegan enjoyed sharing. In the picture below Kegan has some pudding on his chin and the face you see being made (squinched up nose) is his, "I want some food, please...and by please I mean NOW!" It is really quite funny. I will try to catch it on tape some time.

Ok...sorry the next picture is sideways, but I showing it to show the green sheet of paper - Kegan wrote 'Dad"...sort of. I held his hand and made it move, while he held the crayon...close to writing it though...right!?! Kegan also decorated his daddy's bag with this footprints.

Sunday was a good day at church, and like always the nursery ladies bounced out of their seats and rushed over to see who could grab Kegan first. It is so funny to watch those ladies. They literally race over and if one gets Kegan first the other one stands behind her and talks to Kegan and starts playing with him. That little man is such a charmer! After church we went over to the Setliff's to spend more time with Kyle and Lindsay and the rest of the family...Kegan went over to get spoiled some more...haha.

This week we have just been running arrends and getting some things done around the house and yard.

Monday, Kegan did get in some great playtime. Here Kegan had taken the majority of his toys out of one of his toy baskets and then rolled his head in the basket while he was playing - so funny - he was content as could be.

I also got out this bird that flaps it's wings, jumps around, and moves it's beak while it sings, "If Your Happy and You Know It..." and Kegan seem very mesmerized by it. He just sat and stared at it at first then he reached out and grabbed the flapping wing and then went for the whole bird. After a while Kegan even started flapping his wings. I had a good laugh from it. Here are two pictures and 2 video clips of Kegan with this bird! The lighting on one video is better than the other, but they are both funny.

Wednesday morning Kegan joined his mom and dad at floral nursery as we chose some new flora for our front yard. Kegan did such a good job and just looked around at all the flowers - did not fuss a bit! Kegan and I then went to get my oil changed - once again, he did not fuss a bit for the entire hour we were waiting for my car to finish. We just played and he stayed content and happy till the last few minutes, then a new person walked by and waved, and Kegan turned up the charm...again. He is already such a flirt. Finally, poor guy had to wait again while I was getting my car inspected and he made more fans as he sat there and giggled while we played. For what could have been a LONG day he did WONDERFUL!

Today, we played around the house some and waited for some men to come put new grass in our yard. Once that was done, we of course had to go out and sit in it...and play in some of the water being used to water the grass. Needless to say, by then end of all that, we just stripped him down and hosed him off. Kegan loved it!

Look at those dirty feet...

...and that dirty seat!

Right before he got stripped down. He has grass on the face to prove he had been working hard.

One last bit of new news from today. We were sitting on the floor in the living room playing and I had placed my water bottle up on the coffee table. Kegan spotted it and decided he wanted some and he pulled himself up to his knees. Sooo...he is not yet crawling...but he is starting to try and pull up on more things (he has been grabbing on to me and pulling up for a while, but never onto a table.)