Grandma comes to visit!

We had such a great time when my Mom came to visit. She got here the day after Ainsley was born and stayed for 2 weeks. We sent her on a trip to Paris for the day since we can't leave the country yet since Ainsley doesn't have her passport yet. While she was here we also took trips to Gartenschau (Dino Park), downtown Kaiserslautern for some shopping (twice) :), Trier, Barfusspfad (Barefoot Park) and an antique market. It was over 90 degrees outside almost the whole time that she was here, so needless to say, we tried to do as much as we could but spent a lot of time inside. Brayden and Ainsley loved having their Grandma here!

Brayden Turns 3!

Hard to believe that it's been 3 years since this little ball of energy entered our lives! He's such a big boy now and so much fun to be around. He continues to love trains, cars, trucks and basically anything with wheels. He can count to 20, knows the alphabet and letter sounds, and can recognize all of letters and numbers 1-12. He loves to eat pasta, chicken, fruits and vegetables. He even loves to eat broccoli...crazy kid! :) His favorite movies are Toy Story, Cars and anything Thomas the Train. He also likes to watch Sesame Street, Handy Manny and Super Why. He is going to preschool this year on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9-3 at Children's Learning Academy. It's so amazing how much he is like a sponge right now and picks up everything. We had a party at our house with his friends to celebrate. On his actual birthday, we took a trip to Gartenschau (Dino Park) with his Grandma!

Welcome to the world Ainsley Mae Keenan!

On August 10th (her due date), we welcomed Ainsley Mae Keenan! I went to the doctor on the 9th and the doctor said that basically I could show up to labor and delivery that day and they couldn't turn me away. I was already at 5 cm and having some contractions off and on. Luckily, I was able to come home, get ready, get my bags and go back to the hospital later that day. As we were leaving the housing base, we saw a lot of traffic backed up at the gate. After waiting a few minutes, Jeff got out of the car to go talk to the MPs (Military Police) that were at the gate. He was told that there was an incident on base and they had to stop all outgoing traffic because they were looking for the suspect. Apparently being in labor will get you out of the gate! :) After Jeff told them why we had to get out of the gate, the MPs immediately started telling all of the traffic lined up behind us to back up. We had to back out of the outgoing lane and they stopped incoming traffic so that we could go out the entrance. We received so many dirty looks from people that were stranded, but obviously I had a good excuse! :) I finally got admitted to the hospital around 7 p.m. after being in the triage room for a few hours. August is a busy time for babies and they didn't have a room available for me yet. Hours later, at 12:45 a.m., Ainsley finally arrived at 8 lbs, 2 ounces and 20.9 inches long. Everything went great and we were so happy to meet her!

Brayden came to the hospital the next day to meet his sister. He was very curious, but didn't really want to hold her or touch her. It took him a few days to get used to having her around. He randomly asked me "Mommy, I hold her?". I placed her in his lap immediately and he even gave her a kiss. He is proving to be a great big brother!