Keegan Unplugged and other stories

Keegan takes a Liking to the Camera

Keegan Takes a Liking to his Fingers

They Call Me "Blue-Eyes"

Keegan Feels How Soft his Gift from Uncle Mark, Aunt Heidi and Co. is

What a week! We started off the week with a visit to Great Grandma Shary's new apartment. This visit happened to coincide with the beginning of what would be a nasty windstorm caused by the remnants of hurricane Ike. While we were there the power went out so we decided to head home lest we get caught in the middle of the wind. There was already some damage and many lights were out so we hurried home dodging things flying across the interstate. We made it okay though Suzanne's door handle was glad to be free of her grip. Our electric was already out, though we do have a gas range (installed a month ago) and a gas water heater. Since it was nice outside we opened our windows and fared pretty well. We cooked up the food we could and when we realized it could be a few days before we got power back took some food to Grandma and Grandpa Shary's for temporary storage. We ended up spending the evening Monday with Grandma Shary and Tuesday with Grandma Boyle and Aunt Krista. Wednesday afternoon our electric was restored and we went back to our routine and started preparing for the open house. I must say that Keegan probably didn't notice any of this. He was still fed at the usual time and got an extra day with Mommy and Daddy on Monday as we both stayed home from work. The only complaint I think he may have had was that he didn't get his carrots and bananas for a couple days.

Mommy and Keegan by Candlelight

As an addition to the rice cereal, we have started adding something new every week or so. Keegan has tried bananas which he seems to tolerate and carrots which I think he really likes (the rice cereal isn't so bad with the carrots, if I'm honest). He is actually opening his mouth when the spoon gets near and is just as good at blocking with his tongue when he is done. This goes for the bottle as well. We used to be able to sneak some in, but now he knows he can prevent that from happening. For the most part he is doing well with the slids and this week we plan on trying pears.
This weekend we had an open house just so people could stop by and see everything we have done to the house. We had a good turnout and Keegan got to see his cousin Peggy again. It is just amazing because they both can tell the other is a baby and they just look at each other and talk to each other and and reach out to each other and it might just be the most amazing thing in the world. They also came the closest to having what you would call a play session (video forthcoming post haste) that they have so far.

Keegan and Peggy Playing! (But distracted by the camera)

We finished the week with an open house to see cousin Nick off to boot camp and Keegan got to see much of his family again. He doesn't mind being passed around and gives smiles to everyone. I hope all our babies end up as easy going as he is!
As a last little note, Keegan is getting very good at sitting up. Literally every day he shows improvement and I don't think it will be long before he adds crawling to his repetoire.

Gramma Boyle and Her Family

The Old Keegan and the Sea

Alright, you got me. Keegan isn't old and there is in fact no sea in this tale. The closest thing to a giant marlin would be Keegan. This is just a little video of Keegan kicking in the water in Tom and Mary Lou's pool. He has since translated this into the bathtub (video is in post production). I'm sorry to say we lost the video of him doing laps all by himself, but we'll try to reproduce that footage in the future. Queue video...

The Tale of Keegan and the Rice Cereal

I will let the video do most of the telling. He is getting better about eating his rice cereal and even helps us out every once in a while. We are also starting to mix in banana and carrots and will slowly introduce other foods into his diet. Enjoy this feast for the eyes, ears and perhaps even the soul...

Sooo Big!!!

Well, there's no doubt about it - Keegan's parent's are slackers with updating the blog! We have had a busy, busy month, but we are going to make a renewed effort to keep everyone stocked with smiley-Keegan pictures!


To begin with, we had our four-month checkup at the doctor's. Keegan was 25 inches long and 17 pounds 10 ounces. He is a handful of rolly-polly arms and legs, not to mention the chubbiest cheeks ever to wobble on a baby's face...


The week after our doctor's appointment, we started feeding Keegan rice cereal. Our doctor suggested we start this since he was eating a full 10 oz bottle at night and sometimes acting like he could eat more. Keegan was very dismayed that we were not putting a soft nipple in his mouth. He would grab at the spoon of cereal (because everything gravitates to his mouth) and he would pull it into his mouth and then choke on it a little bit because he has not yet learned where his gag-reflex kicks in. However, he has mastered the get-the-food-all-over-my-face essential baby skill.



Keegan has started to lay on his stomach for longer periods of time before he gets tired and upset. He has the cutest face when he looks up at you from the floor. He is constantly kicking his legs and squealing. Sometimes he startles himself by the sounds he makes. He is also starting to sit up on his own. We have to sit behind him to make sure he doesn't lose control and bonk his head...

The family all traveled over to Athens and up to Canton to help Laura, Sean, and Peggy move into their new house. It was a crazy hectic weekend, but we love the character of the new house, and the front porch is to die for...



When we returned home from our trip, Keegan managed to catch the worst cold he has had so far. He ran a low-grade fever for a few days, had a bad case of runny-butt, stuffed up his nose completely, and vomited on the nice lady at preschool. Keegan was miserable; he couldn't eat or sleep, and he was truly fussy for the first time in his life. Jeremy and I took a few days off work to stay home and nurse Keegan. It took a lot to get him to eat a full meal because he would get so frustrated trying to suck and breathe through his nose. And we changed his outfit at almost every diaper change because diarrhea doesn't color in the diaper lines... But he is slowly working his way back to health - the only symptom left is a small cough. Unfortunately, all of the other babies and teachers at school contracted the same cold, so let's hope Keegan built up enough antibodies to stave off another infection!

We had a few weekends of family time where Keegan got to spend some good time giggling and getting over his cold ...

Finally, we had a rushed weekend for his baptism! My sister, Catherine, was able to come into town from Phoenix for Labor Day weekend, and I was thrilled that she could be there. Jeremy's sister, Krista, is Keegan's godmother, and my brother, Steve, is the godfather. Keegan did very well during the ceremony - he listened intently to Deacon Harry for a while, then he got a little fussy during the extended prayers and readings, but he fell asleep by the closing words. Even two weeks after the dunking, Keegan's head still smells like the annointing oils they used.





We just had an extended weekend visit to Jeremy's Aunt Mary Lou and Uncle Tom's house in Alabama. We'll put our newest pictures online later this week...