Yes, we know....we haven't been updating the pictures every week--(it's been almost a month!) but we've been extremely busy and the kids have been passing colds, ear infections and a garden variety of other viruses around over the past month.  Also, Keeley caught conjunctivitis at school last week.  At first, it was very difficult getting the drops in her eyes--but then she was okay with them.  After five days, we thought we were safe and that Kaelin and Aidan didn't catch it...but they did.  Neither Keeley nor Aidan caught Kaelin's chicken pox last month, so we were lucky there.  We'll get some pictures up soon, we promise!  For now, this is a good time to take a peek back at old pictures to see how quickly they all have grown!!

Aidan is almost 9 months old.  He's crawling everywhere and crawling very fast!  Turn around for one second and the little bugger is in a different room.  He's also had a few games of chase with the girls.  We've found him a couple times under the kitchen table or standing up peeking in the toilet in one of the bathrooms.  When we call his name, he just gives us a big wide grin--he knows he shouldn't be under there!  He picks up even the smallest particles and puts them in his mouth to explore (even though we are vacuuming every other day now!).  Of course, he ends up vomiting and Mommy does investigative work with the vomit to see what it is he ate.  We'll have a room full of toys and he'll find the one object (like a plug in the wall) that will intrigue him the most--it's like he knows the items that are off limits and purposely goes for them to keep us on our toes!  Aidan pulls himself up to standing with just about everything, including just a wall.  He'll then start to walk around the object by himself.  He's also standing for seconds at a time by himself without holding on to anything.  He still loves to "walk" and "run" when holding on to someone's hand--he's even doing it while only holding on to one hand.  He is still babbling tons (mamamama, dadadada, babababa, etc. etc.).  He's clapping to the words "happy" and "clap", waving goodbye to the word "bye" and mimicking noises like patting his hand on his mouth while saying "ahhhhhh."  He's trying to learn peek a boo, but for now, he just puts both hands on top of his head and bows his head.  He's gained back the weight he lost from being sick and is back up to about 23lb now.   We are trying to grow his hair back out so we have to put it in a band all the time. He hates that, and we often get comments like "what a beautiful baby girl."  So...we make sure to keep him in little football jerseys when we go out now.  All of the teachers at school still comment on what great baby he is, always smiling and laughing.  UPDATE:  March 27, 2006:  Just this last week...his first two teeth are emerging--both at the same time.  He's also rolling his hands to the song "wheels on the bus", he is purposely dropping things and saying "oh, oh", and he is playing peek a boo with his bibs and face cloths.  He is also climbing up stairs all by himself!  All just in the last week!!

Keeley and Kaelin are doing great.  We still continue to be amazed at the funny things they say all the time and the questions they ask us.  Keeley has been excited to spell words lately and she is also adding numbers.  She still loves art and the teachers at school are amazed at her drawings.  Keeley has really emerged as a leader in her class at school.  All the kids look up to her and Kaelin does too.  When we asked her what she wants to be when she grows up she replied "I want to fly into space on a rocket ship all the way up to the moon, and then I'm going to take off my astronaut clothes and be a doctor."  We are trying to teach Keeley to be a better eater--the rest of the family will be done with a meal and Keeley is still chewing on her first bite...she could sit at the kitchen table for over an hour and just be chatting and singing away.  Although, she does have her favorites which go down quickly (like broccoli and mashed potatoes and oh, yeh...chocolate and cookies go down very easily too...).  At least we know she'll have strong bones...she loves to drink whole milk from when she gets up until she's ready to go to bed.  Kaelin is still the most adventurous eater we know.  She'll try just about anything we put in front of her! She's also very good eating with chops sticks lately!  Kaelin is learning to count and is up to thirteen.  Her language skills are getting better every day too and she's putting sentences together.  She's recently begun to play a very tiresome game of "I want Daddy to do it" then Daddy comes to help her and then she says "I want Mommy to do it"--then back to Daddy.  This back and forth could go on for hours.  She's very possessive about her baby Darlene and takes very good care of her--and of her pillow which is her comfort item whenever she gets tired.  We can't believe our little baby girl will be two next month!   The girls have a great sisterly bond--they love and adore each other sometimes but fight like cats and dogs other times.  I think we are in store for about 18 more years of that!

Upcoming birthdays & events include:

• March 5 Auntie Erin and Auntie Kelly's 37th Birthday
• March 26th Uncle Brady's 32nd Birthday
• April 13th Kaelin's 2nd Birthday
• April 25th Mommy's 35th Birthday