LIFE (Feel Free to Just Peruse the Pics!!)

Doug reminded me the other day that our blog is like our own little family history and that I've seriously neglected it lately. Life keeps going and this year has gone by in a flash! So much has happened since I last wrote, I'm just going to cover the highlights. So here goes. . .

• I had 2 surgeries on my foot over spring and summer and was in a wheelchair for about 3 months - NOT fun!

my pretty pink cast!

At the time, I thought my foot would NEVER heal, but I'm happy to report that all is back to normal now:) It took about 6 months total, which was like an ETERNITY for me, but definitely taught me to be grateful for two healthy legs!

• trip to Utah over fourth of July weekend

Keegan took this one!
Me & the kids with my grandparents

We took a short trip to UTAH over the fourth of July weekend. Doug went HIKING with some friends from Albuquerque and me and the kids VISITED with my grandparents. I also got to see one of my DEAREST friends from Orlando, Tiare, who just had an ADORABLE little baby boy. While I was there I also arranged a mini-reunion of ORLANDO kids that now live in Utah. My friend CHERI hosted and six of us with our families came. It was really nice to CATCH UP with all of them!

• Happy birthday to Keegan!

We didn't officially have a party for Keegan's birthday this year, but invited over some of his closest FRIENDS for cake and ice cream. He's so BLESSED to have great friends here in Albuquerque and I feel LUCKY to know and LOVE all of them and their families. THANKS to all who made his birthday SPECIAL!

Things about Keegan at 7 years old:
*He's an AMAZING brother. He wanted a baby for so long and since Kaia was born, his life is complete. He loves that little girl like CRAZY and it melts my heart to see him with her.
*He STILL loves CARS! Maybe it's something he'll never OUTGROW, but since he was a baby, he's been fascinated with ANY & ALL cars. He knows cars way better than I do. It's funny because he'll know what kind of car all my friends drive, even when I don't!
*He loves to BUILD things. Again, he's so much better than I am at building AIRPLANES or cars or houses or BOATS with his Legos, K'Nex and Tinker Toys. I'm amazed at some of the things he builds without any instructions or guide.
*He's still such a GOOD boy. He's really HELPFUL around the house and ESPECIALLY with Kaia. He still loves to CUDDLE, which I'm grateful for! He loves MUSIC - we hear him singing QUIETLY in his room almost every night. I just LOVE him a TON and am so thankful he's my little boy!!

• Rocky Point with the Doug's family (minus Doug) in late July
• 

Bridgy and Kaia
Keegan and Tristan
cousin pyramid
sweet girls in the morning

• Dave's family stays with us a beautiful double-rainbow during the storm
• 
  playing in the rain
  

Kaia and Bella seeking shelter from the storm
playing peek-a-boo :)

Doug's younger brother, DAVE, had a podiatry rotation in Albuquerque for the month of AUGUST. Since his FAMILY isn't going to get to see much of him this YEAR, they came and stayed with us. It was really nice for the kids to have their sweet cousins around to PLAY with. KAIA and GAINES were so cute together! At first, Kaia just kind of MAULED him - she would climb up on his back and use him as her own personal little TRAIN :) But after a while, Gainers got USED to her and they started to have lots of FUN. They played PEEK-A-BOO, followed each other around the house, and ROCKED out on the drums! Since almost all of Keegan's toys are CARS, Bella developed quite a fondness for them! She and Keegan set up TRACKS and raced cars; they also liked setting up all our throw PILLOWS and jumping over them. It was SAD for all of us when the month ended. Kaia even woke up the next morning and was looking around the house for something - I think she missed her little CUZ :)

• Keegan starts the 2nd grade!

I can't believe he's already 2nd grader

• Labor Day in Spar

We ALWAYS have so much fun in SPAR! It's absolutely BEAUTIFUL there and we love being able to SPEND TIME with our good friends the Drakes and the Rices. The kids FISHED and HIKED and just enjoyed being in NATURE! I shot a GUN for the first time in my life - it was actually pretty FUN:) Lots of THANKS to the Rices for sharing this AMAZING place with us!

• Papa visits

Dad came for a week in September to meet little Kaia and spend some time with Keegan. The kids LOVED having him here as always! He even had time to read a couple of books while he was here. I told him how great The Book Thief is and Doug talked him into reading Manhunt, which is also really good. We're so grateful to him for coming out and always LOOK FORWARD to his visits. (I forgot to take pics until the last day of his visit and it was past Kaia's bedtime, so she wasn't very cooperative - dangit! But I love this one of the 3 of them. Dad's expression is PRICELESS!)

• Kaia turns 9 months

I love this picture of her with sweet potatoes on her face and her cute little teeth showing!

Weight: 17 lbs, 12 oz - 25%
Height: 27.75 inches - 50%
Head: 45 cm - 75%

At 9 months, Kaia could say mamma and dadda. She was standing up on her own, except when Doug tried to make her; then she would go all rubbery-legs and just sit down! She LOVED to jump, jump, jump and still lit up whenever Keegan came into the room. Doug taught her how to give HUGS and WRESTLE. Her hugs are short and sweet, but since it's pretty much the only time she sits STILL and cuddles, we all LOVE it (especially Daddy). Her version of wrestling is just growling and digging her face into Doug's shoulder, which is HILARIOUS! We're teaching her some SIGN language, so when she's all done with her meal, she'll WAVE her hands and say, "ah dah." It's pretty much one of the CUTEST things I've ever seen! She also loves to play PEEK-A-BOO and already has a BESTIE: the little girls she sees every day in the mirror! (see video above) She started WALKING at about 9 1/2 months and hasn't looked back. (see above video, again!) It's so funny to see her walk because she's just this TINY little thing. She really does bring so much JOY into our lives and we LOVE her guts!

• Happy birthday to Doug!

Doug's bday this year fell on a SATURDAY, which happened to be super BUSY for us. So we had dinner and CAKE with our friends, the Foutzes, on Friday night. Doug got a new TENNIS RACKET, some BALLS and lots of CHOCOLATE! Saturday, we took him out to LUNCH for his official BIRTHDAY and that night, he went to the UNM football GAME with a good friend, Seth. Happy 36th, old man!!! We sure do love you :)

• Balloon fiesta

We decided to go to the BALLOON FIESTA this year since we haven't been in a while. Keegan has always wanted to see the GLOWDEO, so we went that night. Unfortunately, there was too much WIND, so it was canceled. We were a little disappointed, but ate some YUMMY, highly fattening FOOD, watched the FIREWORKS and went home. We found out the next day that we could go again for FREE, so Keegan and I went and FINALLY got to see the balloons LIT UP in the dark. We all had a really good time :)

6 Months Old (a little late)!

Kaia turned 6 months old about three weeks ago but this is the first time I've been able to sit and write about it. I just can't believe how fast it has gone by. She is growing up like crazy and learning new things every day. Here are her stats:

Height: 25.5 inches, 50%
Weight: 15 lbs, 2.5 oz, 25%
Head: 43 cm, 75%

Some fun facts about Kaia at 6 months:

• Watch out world! She's mobile now and into EVERYTHING!!!
  
• She thinks her brother is HILARIOUS! Any time he even walks in the room, she laughs.
• She's fascinated by her hands - she studies them constantly, moving them from side to side and opening and closing them.
• She's ALWAYS happy, seriously the happiest baby I know.
• She loves giving kisses - big, open-mouthed, slobbery kisses!
• She's a total busybody. If she's not sleeping, she's moving! It's impossible for her to sit still.
• She loves attention. If you're not giving it to her, she'll fake cough or yell, "eh, eh"!
• She hasn't met a food she doesn't like, although she does seem to have some faves: bananas, pears and sweet potatoes.

We love her to death and can't imagine our world without her in it! Happy 6 months chiquita!!!

Summer Fun

So far our summer has been really fun. Keegan is a lot busier than we meant for him to be, but he's enjoying himself. He went to a basketball camp the first week of summer and really improved his game! The other teams finally realized that he was one of the stars on his team and starting sticking to him like glue - he still managed to get off a couple shots!!



He's also doing swim team at one of the local pools. I totally didn't prepare him for it though! They pretty much just get in the pool and do laps the entire hour. It's really tough but we're going to try to stick it out. We'll see how it goes. . .

Doug is helping to coach soccer again this summer. They only have one game a week with no practices, which is really nice. The World Cup is inspiring Keegan to try some new moves and last week he scored two goals :)

Some days, we decide to just chill out at home and take a break from all the busyness. It's nice for Kaia to be able to nap in her own bed! Today was one of those days, and we invited one of Keegan's best friends over. They play so great together! They played in the sprinklers, made a mud pool, had a picnic and then did some sidewalk art, (which is my FAVORITE kind since there's no clean-up involved!!) Yeah for fun summer days!




Also, we're pretty sure Keegan has a future in the long jump!

Memorial Day

soooooo sad that Triston had to go home!

3 out of 4 ain't bad!

the "mud pool"

Quinn and Dani came up to visit for Memorial Day weekend! We ate lots of yummy food and Keegan and Triston played non-stop. Kaia was just dying to keep up with the big kids. She wanted to be wherever the action was and thought little Bridgie was fascinating! It's so nice that Quinn and Dani are just 5 hours away and we loved having them. Thanks for coming guys - can't wait for your next visit!!

just threw this one it because this little dress just kills me - so cute!

From the time that Kaia started sitting up, she started trying to move around. It's so funny, because she'll be looking at something right in front of her and try to get at it, but scoot backwards instead. She's gets pretty frustrated, but we're pretty sure she'll be crawling soon enough.

Growing :)

What a busy week!

We've been pretty busy the last couple of weeks and I wanted to share some of the highlights -

1. Kaia got her ears pierced! I was totally nervous about taking her in and feeling like a cruel mommy, but she was a total trooper! She only cried for about 5 seconds, which made me feel better about my decision to do it. And I have to say that she looks adorable with her tiny little pink czs :)

2. Doug & his siblings ran the Ragnar Relay del Sol! I'm so impressed with the Gooch brothers, sisters & 2 cousins. They ran a 202 mile race over 24 hours. There were 12 runners on the team and each had to run 3 legs of the race. Everyone was exhausted by the time they finished, but it sounded like they all had a good time. Yeah for the Shufflers!

Doug kickin' it old school

attacking a hill

3. Grandpa Gary Gooch celebrated his 70th with all of his children. After the race, everyone got showered and headed to Garcia's in Phoenix for some yummy Mexican food. The family shared some memories of Gary over the years and some tears were shed, although most of them were from Kaia, who had had enough by that time! She screamed something fierce for the last half hour or more of the dinner :(

4. Kaia Rowan Gooch was blessed by her daddy. We figured it would be a great time to bless Kaia since most of Doug's brothers and sisters would be able to attend. Kaia was kind of touch and go all weekend. She was just a bit overwhelmed by all the people, so I was a little afraid that she was going to cry all the way through her blessing. By the time we got to church, she was okay, but then she heard everyone singing the opening hymn and it made her sad. I took her out thinking that I had until after the sacrament to get her calmed down. Turned out, though, that she was on right after the opening prayer. Doug came running down the hall and said that it was time. She still wasn't very happy, but there was nothing we could do. Doug took her up there, and she stopped fussing completely! She was a little angel throughout the blessing, which was a relief to both Doug and me. Doug still talked as fast as he could, but thanks to his sisters and niece, we have a record of her blessing. (Thanks to Mimi for the beautiful dress & Grandma for the darling blanket!)

sweetie pie

totally relieved!

our little fam

everyone at the blessing

see those cute earrings?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Me & my sweet little valentines

Keegan made me the valentine necklace that I'm sporting in the pic - he did such a great job! He even gave me a dime, (you can see it taped to the middle of the valentine), which he thinks is pretty much the best present you can get! Actually, he told me he wanted to give me a dollar but he couldn't find one, so he gave me a dime instead. He's such a sweetie :)

I just had to throw this picture in, because she's so stinkin' adorable! It really is so much more fun to dress little girls than little boys.

Growing so Fast!

Kaia's growing so fast - I can't believe it! She's starting to smile and coo & she has the sweetest little voice :)

Work that Poo Out!

When I woke up this morning, Keegan was at Kaia's bedside singing her a little song. It went like this, "Work it out, work that poo out. It's just a tiny poo, so don't you cry. Just work it out, work that poo out." How nice for Kaia to have a cheerleader for the difficult times in life! :)

Catch Up

Things have been hectic around here since Kaia's arrival, but now that we've settled in a little bit I figured I would update the blog. I always love the Christmas season, but this year it was even more special since we had Kaia. Keegan got some really great stuff and a visit from Mimi, which is a special treat! My mom, "Mimi", came out on Christmas day and left on New Year's Day. It was really nice to have her here to help out with Kaia and play Wii Sports with Keegan! We even got to take a trip to Old Town, where Mom got some great deals on southwestern jewelry. We were all sad to see her go.

Gary and Sharee also made the trip out from Tucson in early January. They could only stay a couple of days, but we loved having them. (Except for the time when Grandpa beat Keegan at Wii bowling - then Keegan was a little bit upset, but decided to forgive him with a peace offering of some Junior Caramels!)

Now that Keegan is back in school, we've settled into a groove. I'm back to playing volleyball and am slowly getting back into working out. I went to my first salsa class this week, which I've missed like crazy! Kaia is such a good baby - she sleeps for 6 hours at a time at night and takes formula from Doug when I'm at my volleyball games. She's up to 9 lbs 8 oz and can almost fit into the 0-3 month clothes that I've been dying to put her in!

happy New Year!

Mimi with the kids

daddy & daughter

Keegs with his loot

ready for combat

Pics of Kaia

My friend, Holly Randall, took some newborn pics a couple of weeks ago. Kaia was NOT cooperating! But thanks to lots of patience from Holly, she got some really cute shots. I think Kaia pooped on 4 blankets by the time we were through :) Check out the pics here.

Our New Addition

so tiny

precious!

he loves to hold her

doesn't she look like a cute, grumpy old man?

sweet, sleepy smiles

Kaia Rowan Gooch arrived in this world at 5:42am on December 16th, 2009. She weighed in at 6 lbs. 15 oz. and was a little beaten up when she got here. Even with a slightly black eye and swollen nose, we could tell from the start that she was a cutie pie! She's absolutely perfect now and we all adore her. She already has Keegan and Doug completely wrapped around her tee-tiny little finger and I'm not too far behind. She's proven to be a better sleeper than her older brother, which helps me to be a happy mom! We all love to just watch her. I swear I spend hours every day just staring at her! I love to see the cute, fleeting expressions on her face as she sleeps. She also has a trademark horsey noise that she makes all the time which cracks us up. She's such a sweet little girl and is a great blessing in our lives :)

Merry Christmas from the Gooches!

Keegan has been going around singing this song like crazy, so I figured I'd share it with everyone! Merry Christmas :)

A New Era

As I prepare for the arrival of our new baby girl, I can't help but think of the chapter that is now closing in my life. I've been the mom of just Keegan for the last 6 1/2 years. It's been so amazing having him all to myself! It's such a privilege to be his mom. He's so sweet and loving and has pretty much always been a "momma's boy." Even though I know that's bound to change, (which will break my heart!), I've loved every minute of it. We never planned to have such a gap between kids, but now I feel so lucky for the time that we have been able to enjoy little Keegan. When he was a newborn, I told Doug that it wouldn't be fair for us to have any more kids because there was no way that I could love anyone else as much as I love Keegan. I really believed that then. I know now that's not true because I already love our new little girl a ton and I haven't even met her yet. I'm sure that the old saying that the only thing that grows when divided is love will prove to be true. But before litte Kaia enters our lives, I want Keegan to know how much I love him and how I will always treasure the years that we've had just the 2 of us.

I Accept Defeat!!!

How is it that SO MANY of my friends have their babies EARLY? It's like their bodies can't wait to get the LITTLE SUCKERS out! I've heard so many stories of just doing THIS or THAT and going into labor shortly thereafter. I totally BELIEVED that I could do it. After all, I'm not asking for MUCH - I just wanted to have her a little early. And it's as much to benefit HER as me - who wants a birthday so CLOSE to Christmas? There's no way she's COMFY in there - I know I'm definitely not comfy out here! ANYWAY, I've decided to accept DEFEAT. There doesn't seem to be ANYTHING that I can do to persuade her to come out a little bit early. BELIEVE ME - I've tried it all, from spicy foods to evening primrose oil to red raspberry leaf tea to sex to pumping. I even tried sprinting and squats and lunges the other day! This man in the park looked at me like he was afraid she was going to just FALL OUT and he would have to come to my aid. I have to ADMIT that I'm conceding more EASILY than I usually would. The REASON for that? On Tuesday my midwife told me she'll induce me on my due date - BLESSED WOMAN!!!

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Thanksgiving with Friends

the feast

our little family

Andrea, Karen, me & Jamie

fun in the pool

Jamie with the kids

This year we couldn't travel to Tucson for Thanksgiving because I'm too close to my due date, so we decided to spend the day with friends. Scott and Andrea got this club house up in the mountains for us to use for the feast. It was beautiful! There was an indoor pool, a gym, racquetball, big screen tvs, a game room, and Andrea and I even found a massage room (where she enjoyed a much-needed massage at the end of a wonderful but exhausting day)! Several families came up and everyone contributed to the delicious meal. Jamie entertained the kids while we got things ready and then the eating began. Afterward, everyone played games and swam. It was so nice to have such a great time even though we weren't able to be with family this year! Thanks to everyone for such a nice holiday :)

P.S. For those of you requesting pics of the belly, there it is! Large and in charge at 37 weeks!

3rd Place - Not Too Shabby!

Keegan had to decorate a turkey to be judged by the other first grade classes a couple of weeks ago. He had all kinds of ways that he wanted to do it, and then my friend suggested that we use candy, and he loved the idea. He figured out what candy to use and then arranged it all, but he couldn't use the glue gun, so I was the one who ended up with the tedious job of gluing each M&M into place. He won 3rd place and $2 worth of snacks at school. Now - what's my prize?? :)

our masterpiece