Child of God

Colby's baptism was yesterday. He's now 10 weeks old! He still has his own look, but people comment that he looks like Jake. He wore Jake's christening outfit. The Schmuckers stood in for Sandy and David as godparents. Poor Dad was under the weather all day, but toughed out the ceremony. Brother and Sister were excited and Mama was proud.

Jake got a shiner, actually 2 shiners that you see in these pics. The first he got in the bathroom @ Burger King. He came out wailing with a big goose egg on his head! I asked him about what happened as I applied ice to his bump. Through tears and some sucking of air, he told me about his urgent need to go potty and his pants being down around his ankles, then demonstrated the pee-pee dance he was doing when he lost his balance and hit his head on the toilet! I tried not to laugh! A few days later, he was weaving through tables at breakfast at a hotel and cracked his head on the corner of one of them - same spot, big goose egg again, with a little blood this time. Both whacks were in the same spot - his right temple. But now the blood is all draining down his face and it looks like he has a huge black eye. Hope it heals up for our family pics in a few weeks! He's playing Tee Ball, now, and doing pretty well. Haley is playing soccer and is still in gymnastics and piano. We're lining up what activities we're doing for the summer. It'll be new and great for Mom and kids to actually be home for summer fun!

We saw Grandpa Keating in Saratoga Springs last weekend. He was there for a SGM conference, so we shot up there over the weekend and were able to see him Sat. afternoon/evening. We also ran into him at the Battle of Saratoga site on Sunday where he was on a staff ride. S Springs is a great little town with lots of restaurants, shopping and parks. Haley and Jake ran around and played in the natural springs there. The weather was gorgeous!

Feeling Blessed

It is really wonderful to have so many friends and family who have brought us dinner, dropped off baby gifts and offered support and love with our new bundle. Thanks to Aura's mom who came out for crunch time (birth). And I had to get a picture of the kids wrapped in their blankets made by Aunt B. Thanks to all!

Columbia or Bust!

News from the Keating Krew: Aura got accepted to Columbia University! She'll start her Master's in Computing in Education in the fall. It fits in as well as such an undertaking can: classes are online and program can be spread over 5 years. Wish her luck! (And send money, ha ha!)

Who Is This Kid?

We're still trying to decide who Colby looks like. We dug up some of Jake's newborn pics. We had forgotten how he looked then and were surprised at the similarities. Man, though - Jake had some honkin' ears! I think they're the same size now as they were then! Jake left, Colby right.

Colby Ryan is Here!

Our little bundle arrived Saturday, February 16 at 2:34am at Keller Army Hospital! Well, he wasn't really soooo little - 9lbs., 4oz. and 20.5 inches long! Labor and delivery were long, but not traumatic. Mom and Dad went to an OB appointment Friday morning. Mom had her hospital bag prepped, was showered with full make-up and hair done just in case this attempt at talking the docs into inducing was successful. His ultrasounds had him weighing in over 8lbs. already 5 days earlier, so she was anxious not to let him bake much longer! Mom had been told, "No" to inducing several times already, but things had progressed enough to tip the scales in her favor. The Keatings were admitted! Read on if you want the details...

As it happened, Mom started contracting on her own by the time she was hooked up to the monitor. They started the Pitocin drip around 10:40 to help things along. There were steady, but not too uncomfortable contractions for several hours. Finally around 4:30pm, the doctor decided it was time to break the water to hopefully speed things up. Mom got her first pain management, which was just in time. It was an Intrathecal, which is like an Epidural, but instead of having a drip through a line in the spinal column, it's a shot. The thought was that things would progress quickly enough to have this baby before the 4-hour life of the shot. Colby wasn't ready. Mom started feeling pressure and increasing pain from about 2 1/2 hours into the shot. Colby wasn't descending yet and dilation wasn't close to where it needed to be. Mom got an Epidural to ensure she wouldn't get stuck at the end feeling everything like she did in Germany with Jake! It's a good thing, too, because Mom didn't make it to the pushing phase until midnight! We pushed for over 2 hours when Colby finally decided to descend.

He's a pretty good-looking baby (no bias, I'm sure), because he didn't stay in the canal long. No cone-head. And he doesn't have Daddy and Jake's ears :-). He has quite a bit of hair, which is dark with light reddish-blonde tips. It looks he's had it frosted! We really aren't sure who he looks like, but the consensus seems to be that he favors Aura's Dad. But then again all babies do!

One More Week!

That's all we have until Baby Colby is due! Jake is very excited to have a little brother and Haley is looking forward to playing Little Momma with the new baby! I didn't work all week and have thoroughly enjoyed prepping for baby, baking cookies and putting my feet up! I haven't had much success in convincing the doctors that we should maybe induce before this kid gets gi-normous. 2 weeks ago he measured 7lbs, 6oz. Jake was 8lbs, 13oz! I have an ultrasound Monday, so we'll see if we can add some meat to my argument! Pun intended.

Ryan was made the Battalion TAC, which is just another hat he has to wear. It has kept him pretty busy, so far. There have been some formal cadet functions the last few weeks that I have missed, due to my condition. I am definitely at the uncomfortable stage!!

Things have settled down after the holidays. The kids have started lessons at the ski slope - Jake is skiing and Haley is snowboarding. They love it! The weather didn't cooperate last week, but it's snowing now. Hopefully this week they can pick it up again.

Our Christmas Miracle

I am happy to write about this, now that all is well. We had quite the scare on Christmas Eve. Ryan's Mom and Dad visited for the holidays. They had a hotel room, but were going to stay overnight with us for Christmas Eve/Morning. The kids, Grandpa and Ryan were playing on the couch and watching the Grinch when Ryan's Dad went into Sudden Cardiac Death (we now know that's what it was). He kind of seized up, then slumped over. Ryan administered CPR for a minute, then scooped him up as I was calling 911 and stuck him in the car and drove him to the hospital. So many things happened just right that night. The hospital is virtually across the street from us. And had they been at their hotel or at home in the boonies of Oklahoma, we'd have lost him for sure. The folks at the hospital shocked him 5 times to get him back. He was flown to a hospital off-post with cardiac specialists once he was stabilized. We spent the next week worrying, praying and hoping as he struggled with memory issues and some drug-induced dementia. He did get progressively better, with one setback when he went under anasthesia to have his defibrillator put in. By the time he was cleared to fly home, he seemed mentally the same. His chest hurt like heck when he coughed or moved the wrong way and he tired a little more easily, but he's now almost good as new!

His heart was healthy - the muscle is fine and there are no blockages. He's the healthiest man I know for his age! SCD is some sort of electrical short or arrythmia that is difficult, if not impossible, to predict. It may never happen to him again. If it does, his new machine will give him a shock to get things going. SCD has genetic roots, so we're investigating what we can do to have Ryan tested.

Thanks to everyone for all the prayers and best wishes! We believe in the power of prayer and are blessed to have such great family and friends!