Look Who's One!

I simply cannot believe that an entire year has passed since this little darling has joined our family!

We celebrated by inviting Grandma and Grandpa Poulsen and Grandma and Grandpa Crandall (and Desi and Clay).  I am really good at keeping 'parties' small.  :)

The cake should have taken about an hour....4 hours later, and covered in frosting, I was done with cupcakes AND cake!  After 3 lbs of butter 2 lbs of powdered sugar and a pound of cream cheese, I was ready to wash my hands and have a bag of carrots.  Lots of sugar!

I need to be better about getting pictures of WHO came and celebrated with us!  Gene and Camille also came for BYU-I graduation but we were very lucky to host them for a day or two.  They were troopers, putting up with Keetley waking up at night, and our wild indians! 

...Uh, mom, I a mess!  What do I do with this?!

 She ate the ENTIRE cupcake by herself.  And when Tanner gave her another and I took it away, it was melt-down city!  She was definitely on sugar overload....poor princess had a tummy ache all night long.

Keetley is fairly easy going...Not walking on her own yet, but cruising along the furniture...which is just fine with all of us!  She finally crawls on hands and knees, and babbles as if she's telling stories....no 'real' words yet, but we'll get there...in due time!  She does like to climb though!  Below, Tanner took this picture of her after she had climbed up on our window seat.  She LOVES looking out the window, watching her brothers, the squirrels, birds, or neighbors walking by.  She pushes the child rocking chair over to the window, and will clap on it to get her brothers' attention.  She's a fire cracker!

Oh, sweet Keetley, we're SO glad you belong in our family!  We can hardly wait to see what the coming years will bring, yet cherish your sweet and calm disposition.

You are finding new independence, and this summer is sure to be a fun one!

Time does not stop

I often think that if I could just 'freeze' this moment, all would be right with the world....but time does not stop.  Nor will it ever.

Keetley is growing up much to quickly!  She's only 10...wait!  11 1/2 months old!  

Some day she'll be our little dancer.  She just realized she can stand for a moment before toppling over.  

I am thinking the baby legs are much cuter with just the baby and not the whole outfit.  Hehehehe!  Ruffles, piggie tail, and all!  

I know that she is doing as she should be...but I'm SOOOOOOOOOOO not ready for my baby to be learning how to walk!  She's too little.  She's too sweet.  She's not yet one!  

That's it.  I want time to stop RIGHT NOW!  

Six months already

October 10th marked her half birthday, but I'm trying to get back into the swing of blogging...  

This baby girl is growing up much too quickly!  

She sure is a petite little darling though!  Weighing in at 13 lbs and in the 5th percentile for height and weight, I'm trying with all my might to put some weight on her.  She is a good nurser, but not a fan of baby food...yet!  

Rolling all around is getting easier for her, and she loves to do pikes (trying to sit up from laying flat on her back) but cannot sit on her own yet.  She might start crawling before she can sit, as she is the PLANK master!  

She has her big brothers, daddy AND mommy wrapped around her little finger.  We will do anything for the little princess. 

Her giggles get us all giggling, and she never cries....except for the last few days, as she hasn't been feeling well.  I'm having so much fun making bows and headbands, and even painting her nails. 

Keetley is a snuggler, loves holding her sleeves with her fingers and examining them, and has recently found her toes.  Bath time is her favorite part of the day, and I am so happy she loves being in the water so much!!  I love that when I nurse her, or when she's really relaxed, she plays with her mullet on the top of her head.  She has also recently started playing games with us with her tongue...we stick our tongue out at her, and she does, too...it always results in laughter!  

I walk the kids to school, then walk to pick them up, and she is the Queen of the stroller.  She doesn't like me to lay the seat down, but prefers to be sitting up, watching everything!  She's very mild mannered, and is such a joy in our home.  

We love you baby girl!  

Sweet Blessings

Ryan gave Keetley a beautiful priesthood blessing in our Sacrament meeting today.  She has already proven to be a light in our lives, and to those around us.

The beautiful dress that my aunt Camille knit for her fit perfectly!!!  And she was pretty much an angel all day.  

My mom made this blessing quilt for her, and I am in love with it!  It's so intricate and delicate and spunky at the same time.

We had so much support and felt the love of our families on this special day.  They all joined us at our home for a luncheon after our meetings, and it couldn't have been a lovelier day.  The weather was warm, but not too hot, and the kids had fun playing with cousins!

I'm so blessed to have these beautiful blessings in my life!

Little Princess

How does the time go by so fast?!

Keetley is 8 weeks old!  Already!!!

Forget about the perfectly posed pictures each month.  Forget about having time to get the camera out at all...I'm lucky I snapped this one of her, with how busy these darling kids keep me!

She absolutely LOVES her bath time!  She has never cried or even screamed during a bath, and is so happy and content to play in the water.

I used my 'spending' money (when I do alterations, I keep that moolah for frivolous things I want) to buy a play mat with the toys that hang above for the baby to play with.  We never had one for the boys, so this was a definite splurge.  Keetley LOVES it!!!  She bats at the toys and smiles, and gets silly little looks on her face when she concentrates really hard on the hanging toys.  And technically speaking, the boys play with it, too...so...nobody is left out, really.

She weighs just under 10 lbs.  Crazy to think that Kortlen was born at 9 1/2 lbs, and she's just now reaching that milemarker at 2 months old!  She's about twentieth percentile for weight, and sixtieth percentile for height.  Tall skinny thing!  But she's a GREAT eater, and is growing those fat-rolls on her legs like nobody's business.

Keetley loves to hold her head up.  She has always had a strong neck and is very observant.

She sleeps quite well, often from 9pm through the night till 8 am. She'll wake up for one feeding in the night, which is to be expected. Her naps are also going great!  While I haven't really stuck to a tight schedule for her (let's be honest, I often don't know if I'm comin' or goin' or even what day of the week it is!), but when she naps each morning and each afternoon, it's for 2-5 hours.  And I'm okay with that!!!

Needless to say, we're so happy our little princess has come to join us in our home!  She puts a smile on everyone's face, and we simply cannot get enough of her!

Loving this girl!

And more pictures by Stevie.  ♥♥♥

Here's my favorites...

And now I need to pick a favorite to print and hang on the wall!  Impossible...Impossible I tell you!!!'

Thanks so much, Stevie!!!!!  

Celebrating the Birth Day

I got brave, and asked my dear friend (there's nothing she DOESN'T know about me now!) if she'd consider taking Birth Day pictures of Keetley.  Luckily the stars were aligned, she was in town, had help with her kids, and we had a pretty good notion of what time Keetley was going to arrive...so Stevie showed up right in time to catch some pretty great moments. These are some of my favorites!!!  

Ryan and I have this *thing*.  He drops me off at the hospital, gets me comfortable, then leaves to do whatever it is he needs to get done....in this case, it was work.  I called him around noon, letting him know it was 'about time' and he dutifully came back to the hospital.  Works well for him (hello, paycheck) and I don't have to entertain OR share the TV remote.  :)

This one makes me laugh!   Before he even cut the umbilical cord, he texted his family!  LOL!  oh, technology.  So wonderful, and yet, so annoying.  LOL!

When I found out Ryan had texted all our family to let them know of the Keetley's arrival but that he didn't include a picture, I QUICKLY had to remedy the situation....again....technology.  LOL!

Thank you so much, Stevie!!!!  I'm so glad you were able to capture some great moments in the delivery room on Keetley's special day!  You've now seen it all.  If we weren't best friends before, we are eternal friends for sure after this! 

{love}

I should be sleeping.  You know, getting rest while she's getting rest....

But I can't stop looking at her beautiful little perfect self.

I'm in love.

And so are her brothers.

And her daddy.

We simply cannot get enough of her!

Simply Smitten {Keetley Ann}

She's here!  Keetley Ann made her graceful arrival into this world on 4.10.13, at 2:41 pm.  After snuggling with mommy for a good hour, she weighed in at 6 pounds 10 ounces, measuring 20 inches long.  She's our smallest baby by far, and we are simply smitten with her!

She's perfect in every way!  Beautiful button nose, dimpled chin, long fingers and the most beautiful pink lips a girl could ask for.  I think she resembles Taylor's look the most, but she's definitely from the same mold as her brothers.  Speaking of which....

Out of all the pictures at the hospital, this one ^^^  has got to be my favorite!  I am sure I caught Taylor off guard, because he and Tanner are very excited to have a baby sister!  Kortlen shared in the same excitement for about 2.5 seconds....I think having a sister is going to take some getting used to for the little guy!

My mom is so wonderful!  She came up the night before I was induced, and has pretty much taken care of everything while I was in the hospital.  I worked hard to get my house picked up and cleaned up before she came so she wouldn't have to worry or stress, and could just play with her grandsons, but I came home to an even MORE spotless house!!!  She took my boys home with her (thanks for babysitting, Clay and Deseret!!!) and they'll return on Sunday.  The break and quietness has been nice (I've been home for 4 hours) but I'm starting to go a little stir crazy.  LOL!  Time to catch up on sleep and maybe read a good book.  I miss them, but I don't miss having to bend over and pick up after them!  :)

: : : Labor and Delivery : : :

Keetley's labor and delivery were by far my easiest! I don't even need to give a simplified version of it, because it was so amazingly perfect!

Showed up at the hospital at 7 am for induction.  Painted my nails while Ryan grabbed my bag from the car and parked, and the nurse set up the bedding. Was started on an IV and pitocin right away, and by 10 am had the anesthesiologist prepping me for an epidural.

After Kortlen's "I am woman, hear me roar" natural birth, I was all game for making Keetley's arrival as painless as possible.  The epidural was so great, I was numb from my nose down.  Not even kidding!  By 2:15-ish pm baby was ready to come, I was ready to get her here, but the doctor was in another delivery.  My nurse (the same one who held my head in her hands during Kortlen's delivery and told me to stop screaming and BREATHE!!) turned off the pitocin and we all just sort of waited.  and waited.  and waited.

At 2:30 ish my doctor showed up, said I could push...so I did....twice...and she stopped me on the third push because baby girl had arrived!

Keetley was alarmingly purple to me!  The doctor laid her on my abdomen, and we got her warmed up.  She let out a few little squeaky cries, and we got to cuddle.  We tried nursing for a while, and at one hour old, the nursery nurses weighed, measured, and cleaned her cute little self right up!

Stuck two little bows in her dark head of hair, swaddled her and we are so in love with her!  Pictures of her shortly after birth are coming....(Thank you, Stevie!!)

: : : Where her name comes from : : : 

My grandfather had a sheep and cattle ranch up Echo Canyon, near Heber, Utah.  We called it Keetley, after the man who had settled the area (google Keetley, Utah).  In 1989, the ranch land was found to be the perfect location for a reservoir to service the area, and long story short, was sold.  Our family spent MANY summers there.  The majority of summer photographs of our childhood were taken at Keetley.  We played in the "Witch House" and fished for moss in the ditches, bathed in the freezing bathroom, and babies got baths in the kitchen sink. We rode the rolling hills to move the livestock, or go with grandpa to change the water.  Keetley was the place of Crandall Family Reunions each 24th of July.  We'd sit in the shade of the humongus tress, play with cousins.  We would beg for a cousins old enough to take us to look for fool's gold in 'the mine' up the road....always gathering more rocks in our pockets than I'm sure my mom wanted in the washing machine.  It was a place of many cherished memories.  I'm so excited to have given our beautiful daughter such a meaningful name.

Her middle name is in honor of Ryan's mother (Edytha Ann) and grandmother (Anna Maye) and just so happens to have a little bit of my own name.