Kellen at Two Months

Kellen learned all kinds of tricks this past month! Our favorite is smiling:
We all love to earn those smiles, and even Mason will occasionally sit next to Kellen to try to coax a grin from his brother. If he is able to get Kellen to smile, Mason will exclaim, “Kellen Coot (cute)! Kellen Coot!” I love those moments.

(Mason took it upon himself to share the doughnuts with Brother. Kellen was delighted.)

Kellen is incredibly strong for such a little guy. He particularly loves to demonstrate his strength by busting out of his swaddles like the hulk. It is amazing. No matter how well we tuck those little arms in, he finds a way to sneak them out.

It’s not that he dislikes his swaddles. He loves being wrapped up all cozy. See:
Happy as can be. I wrap him up and then he snuggles into my shoulder all ready to be rocked. He really does drift off to sleep better when he’s all swaddled up.

But then when I go to get him when he wakes up, this is what I find:


(Please notice K’s spiffy collection of pacy’s. I usually stick a handful in there before bedtime, all the easier to find in the dead of night to tide him over while I make a bottle.)

He simply cannot be contained. Little Houdini.

He is just so CUTE as a little baby burrito. I also especially love his man gowns. Oh so convenient for middle of the night diaper changes. I don’t generally adore nightgowns on men, but this particular gentleman can certainly pull it off.

“Oh this ole’ thang?”

Kellen is the most patient, happy baby. He truly is. I am continually amazed at what an even-tempered little guy he is. He is a good sleeper, good eater, just overall easy-going baby. He amazes me every day with how mellow he is.

Kellen is also a BIG baby. He’s 95th percentile for length, 65th for weight which really surprised us considering how tiny Serena is (barely five feet tall!). Kellen is already wearing clothing that Mason didn’t fit into until he was four to six months old. Crazy! He’s just a big, healthy boy who keeps growing out of clothes faster than we can rotate them out of his dresser. I keep telling him to stop it, but he just keeps right on growing.

Kellen is also still amazingly bald. I would say his baldness is one of his most defining features. I love his little peach head ever so much. So very soft and kissable.

Poor baby had a terrible six week rash. We were using all kinds of sensitive products, but our doctor said it would just have to go away on its own and eventually it faded as quickly as it came. It’s completely gone now and he’s got perfectly smooth baby cheeks again.

Goodness, how I love our Kellen Kiddo.

Those Cute Brothers

I love that my boys have each other.

The other day Mason was asking over and over to feed Kellen a bottle. Spencer was home to help monitor the kiddos while I took a picture, so I agreed that he could finally feed Kellen. We got Mason all settled in on the couch with his arm propped up with a pillow and put Kellen in his lap. Oh my goodness. The look on his face as he fed Brother was so very sweet. He was just beaming as he watched Kellen eat. He kept looking up at me with a big smile and then looking back at brother in fascination. It was just for a couple of minutes because then Mason was ready to be up and running again, but it was one of those magical moments where I just felt so very lucky to be their mama.

Mason is a good big brother. He loves to check on Kellen, and asks where he is if he doesn’t see him where he expects him to be. He loves to give Kellen gentle kisses on the head. He considers it his duty to supply him with pacy’s (sometimes whether Kellen wants one or not).

Kellen is already quite interested in his big brother. He will crane his neck as far as he can to watch what Mason is doing. Sometimes Kellen will grin at Mason when the two of them are sprawled side by side on the floor. I think it’s only a matter of time before Kellen’s going to be trying his darndest to keep up with Mason!

There’s just something so special about seeing the little ones you love most in the world, love each other. 

Mason Turns Two!

I can’t believe I have a two year old! Bah! Crazy! We’re having a birthday celebration next week when family comes into town so we didn’t open presents or have cake or anything yet, but we tried to do some fun things on Mason’s actual birthday. We started the day right by making a trip to Krispy Kreme which is one of Mason’s favorite places. Spencer came home early from work so he could be there when Mason woke up. Mason heard the garage door and was chanting “Daddy! Daddy!” so we opened the door and sang Happy Birthday to our big boy. Mason can’t manage to say “birthday” yet so he ran around all day saying, “Happy Dappy!” Happy Dappy indeed.

We scooped him up and took him to Krispy Kreme in his nammies and bed head, since it was more fun that way.

Kellen was also thrilled about the trip to Kripsy Kreme. After all, what goes better with doughnuts than formula? 

Later in the day we made a trip to the park. Which, granted, we go to the park all the time, but it IS Mason’s favorite place in the world after all. 
Even though it was a simple day, it was a really really good day. It was just nice to be together doing some of the things Mason loves best.

Now for some updates on the Mason Bug. It’s going to be a long one, but I figured that grandparents and birth family will maybe like hearing some of the details. So here they are :).  First up, I wanted to write down some of the things Mason loves most at two.

Mason loves reading. We try to go to the library every week to check out a new stack of books, and Mason gets so excited to help pick out stories. He will sit still for as long as we will read to him which is amazing to me because he is such a busy body and doesn’t have an attention span that long for most other activities. One of the first things he does in the morning when he wakes up is pull a stack of books off the shelf to read to himself until I come get him. And frequently he’ll fall asleep reading to himself too.
Mason is a stuffed animal hoarder lover. This kid will take every stuffed animal he owns to bed with him. He carries as many as will fit in his arms all over the house from room to room. And Monkey still has to come with him every time we go anywhere. It is rather adorable that he loves cuddling with his soft toys so much. I think I will really mourn the day that I go check on him after he’s asleep only to discover the stuffed animals are still cleanly tucked away in their various bins and resting neatly on shelves. His current two favorites seem to be Monkey and “Reno” (Reindeer).

Mason is my good little helper. He really wants to be doing whatever I am doing. He loves to go with me everywhere, even if it’s just running errands. He likes car rides and just cruising along in the shopping cart at the grocery store. I’ve never met a kid who likes to “go” more. And when we’re at home, he loves to “help” me with vacuuming, dusting, folding laundry, or (his personal favorite) unloading the dishwasher.

He also likes to help Daddy and is never so excited as when Spencer breaks out the toolkit to assemble or repair something. He loves to hammer away alongside his dad. 

But perhaps his favorite time to be helpful is when we are baking. Mason so enjoys helping make treats. It’s kind of our Sunday tradition to make something tasty together after naps. The second Mason see’s me get the mixing bowl out, he hollers with joy and starts pushing a kitchen chair toward the counter chanting, “Help! Help!” Mason loves to carefully dump the ingredients we measure out and gets this intense look of concentration as he stirs the confectionary delight (no doubt spilling copious amounts of flour and sugar over the edge of the bowl). I have to admit, baking with a toddler is not easy. Especially because he often succumbs to the urge to stick his hands in the batter or dough. But it makes him so happy to help that of course we can’t refuse his assistance.

Mason likes wearing our shoes and tromping down the hallway. He also loves wearing hats and if he doesn’t have a hat handy, he’ll make one out of underwear or a bowl or whatever else is handy. 

He loves “watee” and is downright obsessed with milk. There are sippys of water all over the house at any given point. It kind of reminds me of that girl in Signs. That is so Mason. Several cups of water in every room at all times and yet when he asks me for a drink I can never seem to find one! So I get him a new cup. And then they breed like bunnies under the couch and somehow the next thing I know… Sippys are everywhere! He is certainly well hydrated. 
One of Mason’s favorite pastimes is looking at pictures of himself. We cozy up on the couch with a photo album quite frequently. He also loves watching videos of himself. Luckily for him, we take pictures and videos pretty often so he has lots of material to choose from.
Mason also loves his brother. I love that the first thing he does when he wakes up in the morning is run down the hallway whispering “Baby, baby, baby” all the way to Kellen’s bassinet. Then when he sees Kellen he yells, “Hi Buddy!” at the top of his lungs. Kellen usually sleeps through this cheery morning greeting, but I love so much that Mason extends it. I also love that Mason always wants to give Kellen gentle kisses on the head. 

Oh, and it is very adorable the way Mason says his brother’s name. When he’s excited, the way he says Kellen sounds like “Cull-Een.” This makes Spencer and I laugh hysterically and when Kellen is having a harder moment (like trying to party at four in the morning, for example) Spencer and I will jokingly say something like, “Come on COLEEN it’s time to sleep!” So cute. I could listen to Mason saying “Kellen” all day.

Some Most Favorites:
Movie: Cars. Though he still doesn’t usually sit still for more than the first twenty or so minutes. He still loves Elmo too, but we only have two Elmo shows.  
Book: Hmmm probably any of his Curious George books. He also loves his Goodnight Elmo book. And he loves “I Love to See the Temple.” He is very obsessed with temples and loves to point them out on church materials. He also thinks that the castle at the beginning of Disney movies is a temple and is quite excited to point it out whenever he sees it.
Food: Cereal. A close second would be bananas with peanut butter.
Dessert: Ice cream.
Color: Blue.
Outfit: “Nammies.” He would wear nammies all day if I would let him.
Toy: His Mickey car.
Song: “Potcorn popping” or “Wheels on the Bus.” He also loves country music, much to his grandpa’s utter horror.
Game: Hide and Seek
Other Favorites: Buckling buckles, pushing buttons, balloons, bubbles, football, wearing socks on his hands, closing doors, climbing onto tall things, cuddling, dancing… 

Least Favorites:
1. Having to stop playing a fun game to go potty.
2. The car wash.
3. Automatic hand dryers.
4. Being quiet in sacrament meeting.

Cute things he says:
Cone= comb
Hone= phone
Poon= spoon
Nammies= jammies
Reno= reindeer
Gassy and Rocky= Calista and Roxie (names of two of his little girl friends ha!)
Watee=water

We sure do love our little TWO year old! He is the most cheerful, affectionate, energetic little boy and we’re so grateful he’s a part of our family.

Elephant Nursery in Aqua and Ruby

I thought I would post some pictures of Kellen’s little nursery! The boys rooms are my favorite rooms of the house and where we spend a good chunk of the day. We have some of Mason’s toys in Kellen’s room to keep him busy (and out of trouble) when I’m changing or feeding Kellen. Admittedly, the floor is usually strewn with books, toys, and clothes (especially socks since Mason is obsessed with them and goes through about a dozen pairs a day). But this is what the nursery looks like when it’s all tidied up.

Above is the quilt I made for Kellen. We were also VERY excited about that extremely large elephant. We found him at Costco and Mason steals him every chance he gets and wrestles him to the floor. The little elephant is one of Kellen’s special toys. Serena has a matching one that we gave to her on placement day. We take his picture with it every month to show how much he’s grown!

(1 week)

(1 month, already chunking up!)
The other beautiful quilt you see there was made by Mason’s birth grandma. Pretty much all of the furniture is from my parents and was used by Mason when he was a baby. And that cute little outfit hanging up in the corner there? That’s from my Mom. She knit those little long johns using a pattern she made up herself! …Or maybe she bought it at Target. It is my favorite outfit that Kellen owns and he wore it for family pictures. Long johns on babies are adorable, for pete’s sakes.

Here are a few detail shots of the room:

Those frames are one of my favorite parts of the room. I don’t know why, but I do love a cluster of blank frames.

I made all of the artwork hanging on the wall. I was going to post the digital copies, alas, they were saved to the computer that died. I still want to put up a few more photos, but here’s what is on the wall currently:


The cute little elephant at the bottom is from Serena. She picked it out for Kellen because she used to have one just like it. Josh picked out some of the books sitting on Kellen’s shelf. He loved Dr. Suess when he was little and so he picked out a few of his favorites for Kellen. It makes me really happy that when I look around Kellen’s room I see pieces of the many people who love him.  

I think that about concludes our tour of Kellen’s little abode. Maybe I’ll have to post pictures of Mason’s big boy room next.

Kellen’s Story: Arrival

This part of the story has been the hardest part for me to write. It’s hard to know how much to share without sharing too much. But I think it’s finally ready for me to hit publish.

February 19th started out as a fairly ordinary day. Kellen’s official due date was in early March, but Serena’s doctor thought that Kellen would probably come early, so we were kind of expecting him to come any day. We had our bags packed, house cleaned, nursery set up, and everything all ready to go for when the time came.

Wednesday morning we were out running errands when we got the call from Serena telling us she had been admitted to the hospital! She had gone to the doctor for her regular check up, when they discovered that the baby was pretty much on his way! We rushed home and hurriedly loaded bags in the trunk, grabbed snacks, cameras, and placement day presents, all while making phone calls to the friends and family members who had agreed to help out (watch Mason, puppysit Lizzy etc…). Within about twenty minutes or so, we dropped Mason off at our friend’s house and we were on our way!

We got periodic texts as we drove several hours to the hospital. Serena’s labor was progressing so quickly that we wondered if we might miss it. But things slowed down right as we got to the hospital and we were happy to see that Serena was doing well and was fairly comfortable when we first got there. We had fun chatting with her and her Mom while we waited for Kellen to arrive.

I know this picture is a bit blurry, dang it, but look how happy she looks! That girl is one tough cookie, let me tell you.

Well, we waited and waited. Finally the time came for Serena to push and, bless her heart, Serena pushed for over two hours! It was very humbling, to say the least, to be in the delivery room watching her struggle to bring Kellen into the world. Serena is such a strong girl, but it was hard to see her in so much pain. Because Kellen was face up, labor was not progressing and they decided to do a C-section. Serena invited me into the operating room, so I suited up:

I didn’t dare watch what was going on on the other side of the sheet because I didn’t want to risk passing out, but I got to see Kellen when they first held him up all wrinkly and new.

I met Spencer in the nursery and our smiles quickly faded as we realized that Kellen wasn’t doing very well. He was not breathing on his own and we watched as nurses struggled to help him. We must have looked on the verge of tears because one kind nurse came up to us and told us not to worry. She said that there weren’t any doctors or nurses running, so that was a good sign.

Looking back, it’s weird to me to think about just how long we watched the nurses try to help Kellen. It was like time was suspended. When we were talking with Serena the next day, and piecing together the events of the previous night, was when I realized just how long we had watched Kellen struggle. It was a period of a few hours, but at the time we were so consumed by the present moment that time just seemed to stand still.

Finally, we were told that Kellen was going to have to be transferred to another hospital. This was alarming for several reasons. Of course the primary concern was for Kellen’s health and condition. But secondly it would have meant that Serena wouldn’t have gotten the time in the hospital with him that she had planned on since they would be separated. Of course, this was devastating. She asked for Kellen to get a blessing, and her dad came to the hospital and he and Spencer gave Kellen a priesthood blessing. Kellen’s condition began to improve rapidly and, one of the nurses commented on how it was like he was a different baby entirely. Kellen was able to stay where he was, but he did have to remain in the NICU for forty-eight hours. We were so grateful that he was doing better.

We stayed in a hospital room “overnight” meaning we only slept in there a couple of hours/laid in bed awake waiting to finally be able to meet Kellen. Finally, Thursday morning the three of us went to the NICU to finally hold Baby Boy. It was so good to finally hold him and see for ourselves that he was doing better. He was cute as a button, but poor little guy was all covered in wires. At one point, he even had an IV in his head, but even though the nurses reassured us it wasn’t any more uncomfortable in that part of his body, it just looked scary..





That first day, Spencer got to give Kellen his first little bath. Kellen had quite the audience through the NICU window! Though you can only see a couple people, there was a whole little crowd of Serena’s friends and family who had come to the hospital to see her and Kellen.

Serena and Kellen were in the hospital for over four days. We spent a lot of time at the hospital cuddling Kellen and visiting with Serena. We tried to find a balance of spending time with them and enjoying their company, but letting Serena have time with Kellen and an opportunity to rest and recover. We mostly felt very honored to be included and tried to be supportive as we could be but also give the appropriate amount of space. We were able to meet several friends and family members who came to visit Serena, and were touched that we got to meet people that were special to her.

(Kellen with his birthfather, Josh)

Kellen’s birthfather and his family also spent a good amount of time at the hospital, and it was wonderful to spend time with them as well. I have many good memories of all of us crowded around the hospital room just visiting and admiring Kellen. Spencer and I both agreed that those times with all of Kellen’s birth family were so special. It was very touching to watch Kellen be held and cuddled by various birth family members. He is loved by so many people.

The hospital staff were truly awesome. We had many conversations with Serena about how nice many of the nurses were. There were a few nurses in the NICU that we especially appreciated because they were so sweet and so good with Kellen. Most of the nurses seemed familiar with adoption situations like ours (in fact there were at least two other adoptions that took place at that hospital during the time we were there) and I think their understanding of adoption made the whole hospital experience run more smoothly for everyone.  

We were so grateful that we got to have that time with Kellen and his birth families in the hospital. Serena let us be a part of a very personal, very sacred time of her life and that meant everything to us.

Eventually it was time for us to go home…