Keagan 2 Months Old

 Our Baby Keagan is 2 months old.
He weighs 15lb 14oz and is 25 inches long.
 As mentioned earlier he is the best baby.  Patient, happy, calm, tolerant of his brothers and sister, and the best sleeper.  He has been sleeping through the night since 3 weeks old and making my life a lot easier with the transition from 3 kids to 4.  He has just started smiling at us.  We love him.

December Temple Trip

 We try hard to make it to the Temple every month.  Since we have lived in storm lake we average about every other month

 Our Temple is the Winter Quarters Omaha temple.  It is great because there is always something to see and do while we are there with the visitor center next door.

 It is a 2 hour drive to get there but the kids are wonderful travelers and look forward to the trip.

This trip, we met another couple down there and they watched out kids for the 10am session then we came out, switched off and took there kids for the 12noon session. This picture is us taking the kids out to lunch. You can't see the babies in there car seats but the other family has twins that just turned one and we have Keagan so we were hauling around 7 kids. It was an experience.


After lunch we went back to the visitor center to see the special Christmas Display.  While we were there a group of professional bell ringers were performing.  It was so fun to watch them they let the kids come up and ring some of he bells.

The special display they had were Gingerbread houses.  People, groups, wards, and organizations had donated gingerbread houses.  This was the little gingerbread house for the kids to play in.  The bear the you see Miranda holding in the pictures is a traveling bear for her first grade class.  She had it for the weekend to go on our adventure with us.

Steven's Birthday

 Steven turned 32 on Sunday November 18th.  It was an eventful day to say the least.  We all went to church but during Sacrament meeting Jacob went out to go to the bathroom and through up all over the men's bathroom and all over Steven.  So Steven cleaned up the mess and I took Jacob home.  About an hour after Steven came home from church with Miranda and Jackson, Jackson through up all over the living room.  There were no real symptoms before all of this.  So we had a birthday dinner with just Miranda and our friend Laura

 Miranda made the birthday hats, each one was personalized.

This is what the boys were doing while we ate.  After dinner I left to take our friend Laura home and when I got back i found Miranda throwing up into a bowl, and all of the kids ended up having diarrhea also.  Needless to say Steven spent a large part of his birthday cleaning up puke and poop.  At least it was a memorable one.  Steven is a great husband, and father and I am grateful to have him in my life.

Keagan's Blessing day

 We blessed Keagan on Nov the 11th.  It was a great day and he is such a great baby

 This is a picture of Steve's Aunt Karla in the back and my mom holding Keagan.  We were lucky enough to have Aunt Karla and Unlce Rudy join us as well as my Mom and Dad.  It was so great to have family here and we had a great long weekend wiht my Parents visiting.

Here is the man of the hour.  He is a big boy and a wonderful sleeper.  He started sleeping through the night at 3 weeks old so we have no complaints around here.

INTRODUCING!!!!

Keagen Kirt Mills

Born October 9, 2012

10lb 15oz

(no that weight is not a typo, he is huge)

22 inches long

 We love this little guy so much. He has been the best baby so far and we are so happy that he has arrived.  But, I am getting ahead of myself.  My original due date  was October 1st and I had been having contractions on and off for weeks before then.  Because of the contractions we never thought we would make it to Oct 9th and have to be induced.  The picture to the right is me just about ready to walk to the hospital. (yes walk we live across the street from the hospital)  I felt so big and so ready to go have this baby.  When we arrived at the hospital I got all signed in and on the monitors and my doctor walked in moments later to break my water.  The plan was to just break the water and not give patocin and hope my body would go into labor on its own.  It did.  I started having hard contractions shortly after that.  I was doing great and able to walk around and focus and breath and relax through the contractions, but after 4 hours I was only dilated to a 4.  That was frustrating for me because I usually go very fast.  Well right after I was checked and was told I was only at a 4 I got up to use the rest room and got really really nauseous.  Apparently that can be a sign that your body is progressing allot because the nurse wanted to check me again and within 15 minutes I dilated from a 4 to a 7 and the doctor was on her way in to deliver my baby.  We were ready to go just 15 minutes

 later and I was pushing.  My experience in the past with delivering babies is that once you have the head out you feel a huge rush of relief and the rest of the baby comes out easily.  Not so with our wonderful Keagan.  I have never had to push so long and hard to get out the shoulders and the chest.  It was crazy, and something I may never forget.  I am so glad that he is here and healthy and happy.  In the end it was exactly 5 hours of labor and one very large but very beautiful baby boy. The picture on the left makes Steven laugh because of how Keagan is holding on.

The picture on the right is one proud papa.  I don't know if all husbands do this but it seems that my husband loves me a little bit more after I give birth.  He is so wonderful to me and It seems like he now understands what I have been doing for the past 9 months.  He is so good to praise me and appreciate the sacrifice that it takes to be a mother.  What a great husband and father he is.  I love you Steven

And here they are, the three proud siblings.  We are now officially the parents of 4 children. It is a little bit crazy to think about and we will see how the transition goes.  So far so good.  I love these 4 cuties.  I wouldn't trade them for the world.  Just a note about the name we chose.  If you know me well I have wanted to name one of boys Keagan since I was in high school.  I have loved the name for a very long time and it never fit the other boys.  Kirt is his middle name and is the first name of my beloved brother that past away nearly 5 years ago.  Kirt was a wonderful person and one of his best attributes was his love and acceptance of anyone and everyone no matter what.  He had a way of making everyone feel accepted and loved.  I miss him dearly and it felt right to carry on his name.

Jackson's 2nd Birthday

 My Jackson is 2 years old.  He is such a sweet boy and we are so glad that he is part of our family.  He makes us laugh and his smile is so fun.  He is now saying please and thinks that when he smiles and says please for anything he gets it (and lets face it, often he does because we just can't resist).  Happy Birthday Jackson We Love You!!!!!

 You may remember that Jackson has been a little slower in speaking and he is still behind the average. He is now repeating what we say more and trying to talk.  His speech therapy is helping, his progress is slow but it is progress.

First Day of School

 My baby girl started 1st grade last week!!  She is so darling!

 She is so grown up and so fun.  She loves to learn and loves to come home and tell me all about her day.

 On Miranda second day of school Jacob started his first day of preschool.  I have been a a very worried mother about sending him to preschool for 2 years.  I just worry but he is so ready and proud to be going to school just like his big sister.

What a cute cute boy!!!