May 2012

May was a very active month!

At the beginning of the month, we hiked as a family in our second annual March For Babies, to support the March Of Dimes!  With your support, our family was able to contribute $700 to our team (the INOVA Fairfax Hospital Center NICU team), which raised a total of $27,513!  These donations help the March of Dimes fund research and programs related to premature birth and birth defects, and help bring comfort to families with a baby in newborn intensive care.  Thank you so much for helping us support this organization!

The weather was mostly beautiful this month, and we enjoyed lots of walks, hikes, and bike rides with Mommy and Daddy.  We went to the farmer’s market, hiked around Meadowlark Garden near our house, and explored the Cross County Trail.  We even had lunch in our backpacks for the first time, while hiking on Sugarloaf Mountain, in Maryland, with our friends! 

As always, we had fun playing together at home!   We love watching the squirrels eat “helicopters” on our deck while we eat breakfast and lunch each day. We also had fun playing at music class each week, going to friends’ birthday parties, and playing with our playgroup friends.

On Mother’s Day, we got to go play with Mommy at the park – SO fun!  And we got to talk to our Grandmas and Grandpas on Skype that afternoon, which was the BEST, because we really miss them!

Then for Memorial Day weekend, we went on our first family trip to Shenandoah National Park to hike and enjoy lunch out in the great outdoors for two days in a row! We saw so many pretty waterfalls and beautiful views on our hikes. And at night, we had lots of fun exploring our room and having dinner at Big Meadows Lodge.  What a wonderful adventure we had!  Back at home, we got to go on a fun bike ride with Daddy on Memorial Day!  Wheee!

Mommy and Daddy really noticed on our hiking weekend that we keep growing (and getting bigger and heavier!).  We also had lots to say!  Christopher loves to hum and chatter while we hike.  And we both love to make the sounds of all the animals we know!  We like to try saying almost anything we hear, and can say so many things now, that Mommy is losing track of how many words we know!

Please see post below for photos and video from this month. Enjoy!

With Love,

Katharine and Christopher

May 2012 Video

May 2012 Photos

May 2012, a set on Flickr.

April 2012

Spending Easter with our families in Ohio was the highlight of the month, (see our previous post for more details), but after we got home, we had a busy and fun April!

We went on some fun hikes with Mommy and Daddy, and got to see neat things at Meadowlark Gardens; lots of pretty trees and flowers, new people and dogs along the Cross County Trail; and the animals at the National Zoo!  We got to help Mommy and Daddy out in the yard, and learned how to dig in the dirt with our shovel and trowel. We went to a friend’s birthday party, and we had some friends over to our house for playdates too!

We have been doing such a good job using our forks and spoons and sipping out of cups, that we also got to start using our new big-kid booster seats! So now we get to eat right up at the table like big kids, and we’re so proud!

And Mommy and Daddy are really surprised by how many new words we’ve been learning lately! Mommy’s having a hard time keeping track, but she thinks we’re learning about 5-10 new words a week. We love to say Hi and Bye-Bye to everyone and everything now (“Hi kids, bird, sales lady…..” “Bye-Bye store, balloon, dog”). And instead of throwing our fork or spoon when we’re done eating, we can now let Mommy know, by putting them in our plate, saying “Ah – Done”. We love to show off our new words and use them to get the attention of the grownups we love!

And we love to play outside, and explore all over our back yard! We both got great, supportive new shoes, and Katharine got some new inserts for her shoes, which is making it even easier for us to climb up and down, and really take off after things that are interesting, like bubbles or butterflies, or just checking what’s going on over in our neighbors’ houses!

Photos from the rest of our fun adventures are in our April Gallery. You can copy and paste this into your browser to see it, and if you’ve seen the Easter photos already, you can just scroll over and start with the ones you haven’t seen yet.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp;jsessionid=C971C9AC79A9EB967DAB3F467342CBF2.ecom104_main?sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharee-_-Images&token=4808876841105%3A1110688009&_requestid=287660

Also, we are very much looking forward to our second annual March For Babies Walk next weekend, May 6. We are excited to see some of our friends and nurses from the hospital, and are very glad to be raising money to help support families and developments which help babies grow big and strong, like we have! We are so grateful for everything they have done for us, and we are very proud to be walking as part of the Inova Fairfax Hospital Center NICU Team.

You can visit our pages to get more information or make a donation if you would like to contribute.

Here is their site... http://www.marchforbabies.org/s_team_page.asp?seid=1751339#team_roster

If you would like to read our posts or donate to our fundraising goals, you can access our pages by clicking on our names in the roster. You’ll find us under “Keller, Andrea and Katharine”, and “Keller, David and Christopher.”

Thank you so much for considering this worthy cause!

Love,

Christopher and Katharine

Easter Trip, April 2012

We had so much fun on our trip to Ohio for Easter!

We stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Keller for a few days at their beautiful new home! It was so fun being able to go everywhere, with no safety gates keeping us in or out! It was nice to meet people and see old friends again at church on Palm Sunday. We played at Kaleidoscope Park, which was so cool because the steps were just our size, and the playground was made all of wood. We had a yummy and fun dinner at the Taggerts’, and got to eat out of our very own bowls with spoons for the first time. And neither of us even tried to throw or turn over anything, because we so enjoyed eating at the big table with everyone! (A few days later, Mommy started letting us use forks, and we love feeding ourselves now. We’re even trying a few sips of water from a cup, which is still pretty messy!) We had fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa and some of our new toys, and even got to go see the Easter Bunny, although we did NOT want to sit in his lap or be in a picture with him.

And then we stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Sturgeon for a few days. We had so much fun when the weather was warm enough to run around outside, try the slide and sandbox, watch the tadpoles and fish in the water, swing on the swings, and chase the kitties around. And inside, we were able to get that Zoe dog to sit down with us and even take a few naps nearby so that we could get close for pats and cuddles. We had fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa, and our Aunt Mike and Uncle Robyn. Our cousins Katie and Sam showed us how to color Easter eggs – we just watched this year, but we paid close attention, so we’re all ready for next Easter! Katie and Sam also made a great Easter egg hunt for us, and helped us find them. We even learned how to fill a piñata and then break it open!

We had so much fun exploring and playing with everyone, and can’t wait to visit again! And when we got home, we went on a fun “Easter” hike with Mommy and Daddy (really the day after Easter) to see the pretty tulips and animals at Meadowlark Garden.

We had the best Easter! Here are some fun photos of our trip! There were so many, we thought we’d share them now, and share the rest of the April photos later. You can paste this link into your browser to see them. Enjoy!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp;jsessionid=3CE0CE9FB333CC4D48D018FD78627C01.ecom202_main?sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharee-_-Images&token=9530107541105%3A2032884786&_requestid=74873


Love,

Christopher and Katharine

Marching For Babies 2012

We are pleased to share that the Keller family will be participating in our second annual March For Babies on Sunday, May 6. The walk is 4 miles, which kick off at Reston Town Center.

Our experiences with preterm labor and premature birth inspire us to support the March Of Dimes. Born at 29 weeks and 6 days, Katharine and Christopher were 3 pounds, and 3 pounds 5 ounces. They needed surfactant to protect their developing lungs, air support, critical lines, feeding tubes, blood transfusions, and light therapy, and lived in isolettes to help them maintain their body temperature. They lived in the NICU for their first two months of life.

At nineteen months old now, they are almost 27 pounds and 21.5 pounds, and are healthy and happy, walking and running, and beginning to share their thoughts with us using new words all the time. As our children grow, and as we meet more and more families whose kids were born too small or too early, we realize even more how blessed our family was to have benefited from the research and treatments made available when the kids needed them.

We are proud to be walking in the March For Babies as a family, and are so thankful for your support. David and Christopher are walking as a team, and Andrea and Katharine are walking as a team.

We are signed up with the Inova Fairfax Hospital Center NICU Team. You can visit our pages to get more information or make a donation if you would like to contribute. Here is their site...

http://www.marchforbabies.org/s_team_page.asp?seid=1751339#team_roster

If you wish to donate to our fundraising goals you can access our pages by clicking on our names in the roster. You’ll find us under “Keller, Andrea and Katharine”, and “Keller, David and Christopher.”

And finally, here is some additional information about the organization and the event:

Every day, thousands of babies are born too soon, too small and often very sick. I'm walking in March for Babies because I want to do something about this. And I need your help.

The mission of March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality.

Your gift will support March of Dimes research and programs that help moms have full-term pregnancies and babies begin healthy lives. And it will be used to bring comfort and information to families with a baby in newborn intensive care.


Thank you, with love,

Katharine, Christopher, David, and Andrea

March 2012

March was marvelous! At 19 months old, Christopher is 26 pounds, 13 ounces, and Katharine is 12 pounds, 8 ounces. Mommy can’t believe that we’re now closer to being 2 years old than 1 year old!

We made the most of the beautiful weather (the warmest March in history) by getting out for long walks and playing in the yard. We’re becoming much more independent walkers and are literally starting to run around and enjoy exploring and playing in the grass. Katharine was a little hesitant to try walking in the grass at first, but she is really getting used to it now. The early bloom has been fun for us to see all the birds, flowers, and leaves on the trees. And the warmer weather has given us lots of opportunities to play out on the porch, where we can sit at our table, ride on our toys, and watch the birds, squirrels, and neighbors.

We also had lots of fun playing indoors at our table, working with puzzles, books, stacking cups and blocks, drawing, and learning to cut shapes out of modeling clay. We finished our music class this month, and had lots of fun playing with our friends at playdates. And we had SO much fun celebrating with our friends Dylan and Ryan and Molly and Andrew at their 2nd birthday parties!

We got our first balloons this month, and enjoyed pulling them down and watching the float back up. “Up” and “Down” were two of our new words this month, as well as “Go, Go, Go”, “Open”, and “Out” (the last few associated mostly with getting to go outside). Christopher also learned “bell” and “loon” for his favorite new toy – the balloon!

And we had fun celebrating St Patrick’s Day by sharing our balloons and other toys with our friend Zach, and his mommy and daddy.

At the end of the month, we took a trip to see “the bunny” at the mall. Fortunately mommy took a few pictures while we waited in line, because the photos in the bunny’s lap were a no-go. And we did some explorations with eggs! Mommy let us break open our hard-boiled eggs at breakfast so we could learn about them. And we practiced at home with our new egg baskets, picking up plastic eggs and putting them in.

We had a wonderful trip to Ohio for Easter, and will share more about our adventures in the April blog and gallery. Photos for our March gallery can be found by copying and pasting this link into your browser. Enjoy!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp;jsessionid=3EDB76CD57C82626020460D02F2803F7.ecom304_main?sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharee-_-Images&token=7809023541105%3A76629411&_requestid=80439


Love,

Christopher and Katharine