Yesterday, Max and I got to go up to Edmonds and have a crepe breakfast with my friend Lisa. I’m pretty sure Max’s favorite part of breakfast was eating the whipped cream on the side. Afterward we went to the beach. Max play for hours! I asked him if he wanted to put his feet in the water and that was a no go.
He had a great time throwing rocks into the water, climbing under logs, watching other kids and looking at trains and boats.
We are happy to announce that we are expecting baby Keeton #2 in late July! Max will be about 27 months old when número de dos arrives. We’ll see how that works out for everyone. We’ve decided to wait to find out the gender of our baby until we meet him or her. We did this with Max and it was fun for us. However its fun and exciting whenever anyone gets to find out the gender of their baby. And if you’re reading this and pregnant I want to know what your having! 
Max’s true feelings revealed regarding having a sibling.
So what is this fifteen month up to? Well, lots. He keeps pretty busy.
Here are the stats:
Height: 32 1/4″
Weight: 24 lbs.
Head Circumference: 19″
Teeth: 9.5 (8 in front and 1.5 molars)
Likes: riding in his bike trailer while I pull him on my bike (he eats, drinks, plays and reads in his trailer), play at parks, watch other kids play, watching the neighborhood out the front window, watching and talking to the neighbor kids next door, chase Sprinkles, give hugs and kisses, taking baths, riding his toy horse, petting and being around dogs
Dislikes: trying any new foods, having his diaper changed, having his clothes changed and shots
Signs: Max signs “all done” and “please.” We find both to be super helpful!
Words: duck, all done, uh oh, bye bye, bird, bottle, and his favorite “woof!” Whenever he sees or hears a dog in a book, in a car, way off in the distance before anyone else sees it he barks. He definitely understands a lot more than he can verbalize in something we can understand. For example: If we tell him to go get his shoes – he does.
Here are some recent pictures:
Here is Max at his Grandma and Grandpa Keeton’s with an official Snoqualmie Police Department tattoo.
Max’s Uncle Mac gave him this safari hat. I think its the cutest!
Max is now able to reach the edge of the dining room table where daddy left his wallet one day.
Max really likes us putting this popcorn bucket on our heads and putting it on his.
Happy fourth anniversary Kelly!
Kelly and I both forgot that today was our anniversary. I also shared with Kelly that it feels like we have been married for a whole lot longer than four years!
Do you like yummy bread and cookies? Of course you do! Then you should come down to Kent to Coeur D’ Alene Baking and pick some up tomorrow!
6701 S. 216th Street
Kent, WA 98032 ~ All Breads: $2.50 ~ All Cookies: $3.00 ~ Fridays Only 9am – 5pm
Some of the delectable items they have are:
Bread: Cookies:
Whole wheat sourdough Triple Chocolate Chunk
French & Wheat Sub Rolls Molasses Chew
Cracked Wheat Lemon Ginger
Whole Wheat Peanut Butter
Marble Rye Trail Mix
Vegan Chocolate Chip (So good! And I’m not vegan 
FRENCH & WHEAT 6″ SUB ROLLS ON SALE TOMORROW!
ONLY $1.00 PER PACKAGE (6 pack)!!!
Great for Sub Sandwiches, French Dip, or Personal Pizzas!
Kelly and I love their sourdough cannonballs. I like to put chilli, stew or chowder in them – YUM!
Last Saturday I was gone for a few hours attending a memorial service with my sister and parents. When I got home this is what the living room looked like.
We hope everyone had a very merry Christmas. We spent some time with both sides of our family and went to church at SVA (Snoqualmie Valley Alliance svaonline.org.) SVA did my favorite Christmas thing. At the end of the service we all lit candles and sang Silent Night. It was really beautiful. All in all we had a good Christmas. It was especially fun having two babies at the Keeton Christmas.
Here is a picture of Max and his cousin Grace with Santa (The sergeant- Grandpa Bob). He borrowed his department’s Santa suit so we could get a picture of the kiddos with Santa. So cute! Grace has grown so much since the last time I saw her! She is getting cuter and cuter.
On Christmas morning we opened a few presents at home just the three of us. Wouldn’t you know it but Max got me some presents! A magnetic calendar for the fridge and a long sleeved, white, v-neck shirt. He really read my mind with those gifts. He is quite the prodigy.
Max stood himself up on a bag full of gifts all by himself! Yes, that’s a remote control rat that he has. Were you expecting something else?
Max has the best head for sticking bows to. #1 its large. #2 the stick-um of the bows adheres perfectly to the scarcity of hair.
We stuck a ribbon to Max’s cute little baby bottom. He is staring at his beloved pots and pans in this pic.
Max playing with his toy from Cousin Grace. He really likes that thing.
(This is not baby Jesus.)
This year in preparing for Christmas I have been thinking and wondering how Kelly and I can incorporate Jesus into Christmas. Growing up I was way more focused on Santa and presents and I would like to downplay that and focus more on Jesus. I know that having Max is the reason behind this and I’m glad. Today at MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers – Max is a mopette we talked about Christmas traditions that families do. I’m not sure yet which ones we’ll choose to do and some are more about Jesus than others but they all seem fun:
- Make Jesus a birthday cake and sing him happy birthday on Christmas Day (His birthday
- Stretch Christmas out through the month of December read Christmas books, watch Christmas movies. My favorite Christmas movies: Elf, National Lampoons Christmas, Home Alone, Scrooged, Love Actually, Miracle on 34th Street…
- Make a Jesse Tree. (A what…?) Yes, a Jesse Tree. You take a little tree and your kids can make ornaments for each day in Advent. You also read a verse on each day. Its really cool!
- Have your kids earn money to buy presents for their siblings, family and/or friends. Then take them to the dollar store to pick out gifts. This way they will perhaps be even more appreciative of the gifts they give and receive. They may also move beyond thinking of what they want to what their sibling wants and they will get to see the other person’s joy when opening the gift.
- On Christmas morning before opening presents read the passage from Luke 2 about Jesus being the ultimate gift to us from God.
- Give your kids three gifts because Jesus received three gifts and Jesus. The first is a heart gift (something they really want), the second is a mind gift (book, game), the third is a body gift (clothes, shoes)
- Another idea is to just give one big gift to your kids that they can all enjoy. For example a trampoline or swing set.
These are just a few ideas from the women at MOPS. What are your Christmas traditions? I would love to hear from you.
I hope you and your family enjoy a very cozy Christmas filled with the joy of Christ’s love.
Max is seven months old! Crazy huh. His newest and most exciting development is crawling! He started crawling about a week before he turned seven months. And what did he crawl after you ask? Sprinkles? A cool toy? Mommy? Daddy? Oh no our little boy crawled after a cardboard paper towel tube. He just loves those things. So now with him being very moble we’ve been busy baby proofing. Kelly installed a sturdy baby gate at the top of our stairs and we’ve done some other stuff. Some new foods that Max has tried lately are: peaches (thanks Betty), apricots and pears. He liked them all. He does sometimes make his “this tastes icky” face when his food is served to him warm. He still just has the two bottom teeth and I haven’t felt any more coming in and I’m just fine with that! Max doesn’t seem to sleep very well when he’s teething so neither do I.
Taking his monthly picture is becoming more of a challenge now. He doesn’t want to stay put. He wants to crawl off the couch or grab the camera. I gave him a bowl to keep him in place.
Yum – bowl!
Getting ready to move!
Isn’t his hat hilariously adorable?! Aunt Kelly got it for him. 
I find it interesting and frustrating how Kelly can fall asleep in a matter of seconds and sometimes it takes me hours to go to sleep. He told me he can just shut his brain off (what?! So not fair!) My strategies for trying to go to sleep are writing down what’s on my mind (a list), praying, read, try to sleep in our guestroom. Last night I was particularly wired. Kelly and I went to bed and I tried to fall asleep but my brain wouldn’t cooperate. Here’s our conversation after it had been quiet for less than five minutes.
Katie: Do you think Sprinkles has enough water?
Kelly: Waaah! I was totally asleep. I feel like you you just yanked me back from sleep.
Katie: Sorry I was just wondering if Sprinkles is out of water since we moved her food and water downstairs and I don’t see it as much. I just don’t want her to die of thirst.
Kelly: Are you serious?
Katie: Yes…anyway I feel chatty (I proceed to chit chat about not very important stuff and Kelly fell right back asleep.)