Keegs is so proud of MaMa

Keegs is becoming a regular on the WNT staff these days. The girls all clamor for him - "is Keegs coming"..."he is such a cutie".... Maybe this is the reason my son is such a flirt. Well, buddy, don't get used to it....take the good times when you got 'em. And be sure to enjoy all the shower time you get with the team! My friend Eric McDemus once lobbied me to no avail to be the "LatherBoy" for the Boston Breakers. Keegs - you got it made, bud.

Above are some pictures of KJ and mom after her scrimmage at Home Depot Center. It was the first time that MaMa played the entire game after coming back from her rehab. She looked great out there and Keegs welcomes her to the sideline with a big ole smile after the game. Oh, and Keegan is no the proud owner of a vintage "Sobrero #15" USWNT jersey....just like DaDa wears to every game (MaMa is trying to get me change my jersey....I guess the stained armpits give it away that the jersey is some 5 years old; but heck, it's seen over 50-some games and is currently on a 40+ game unbeaten streak - can you tell I'm superstitous?).

And MaMa is super happy about the new vintage wear...not only does it bring the Sobrero name back, young Keegs has switched his allegiance just in time for the upcoming World Cup 2007 in China! Good thing because the USA plays Sweden in group play. (maybe we'll break out our 2nd favorite country's home colors for a non-US match in honor of Uncle Jan and Auntie Karin, Keegan's Swedish Orebro-based grandparents).

Keegs & Noah...and soon his new friend Justin Lim

As mentioned below, we heard from our Hawaiian friends today. They have 2 sons, Noah and Justin (only 3 weeks young). Kee-ga (as known to Noah) loves playing with Noah....and we're hopeful that someday we can visit their family in Hawaii. We're sure going to miss them in Boston!!

My First Memorial Day in SoCal

Just another classic day for the wee man. We made a big leap forward this morning at 530am, when DaDa fed KJ his bottle. Keegan held the bottle himself and actually checked to see if my hand - by moving his hand on top of mine then pulling it back - was sneakingly assisting in the early morning darkness. He figured me out and was determined to feed himself...pretty cool. Not if he could only get the bottle, mix the formula, get back in his crib, and sleep until 8am! Ok, we can't ask for too much from a 10-month old...but he did sleep until 815am this morning (on mom's day off...he must have known she needed the sleep!).

Top 3:
1. going to Fashion Island shopping mall in Newport Beach with MaMa and Nonni. Keegs is always great with people, but we had no idea he loves water shows...ya know, the kind where water flys from one hole to another in a pond (this happened to be at an outdoor mall and had more kids astonished by flying water than were surprised to find out that Barry Bonds was doping...exactly, even a 10-month old could tell that a cranium shouldn't triple in size after the age of 35!).

2. Puff the Magic Dragon - a cool moment for me in the car (of course a GMC, as PaPa wouldn't have it any other way) on the way to Fashion Island. We were all signing Puff to Keegan, a song that my mom sang to me during my early years. I actually chose Puff as the mother-son song for our dance at my wedding....only to hear that everyone thought my mom fed me pot brownies as a child...ha!

3. Tickle Fest - Keegs' hearty laugh is something to make any parent melt. In a once a night ritual after bathtime, KJ gets a couple of big ole raspberries in his armpits while being changed. He bursts out with a huge laugh, squirms around, and looks at you as if he devilishly wants another one. Just classic. If you don't think this tickles, just try it. Kate did it to me but while I laughed I realized she was busy pulling armpit hair out of her teeth...don't try this at home.

In a small attempt to memorialize Keegs' youth on Memorial Day, we stopped by a kiosk at the mall. The owner makes some pretty cool clay impressions of baby's feet and hands, complete in all different patterns, sizes, colors, etc. We picked up a sweet surf board (to remember his time in SoCal) with his tiny feet on it - it's going to look great and KJ was a natural posing on the ceramic clay (as he always is in front of a camera).

Thoughts:
I started to read Freakonomics while Keegs slept in the car today. Very fascinating the way these to economics professors stripped away the obvious in our every day lives and used economics to unsurface some really odd, but cool findings. Today's take away is that everything basically comes down to incentives: the creation, structuring, and monitoring of actions to get a person (or people) to do what you want them to do. More to come on this as I work through the book....

529 accounts - We opened up KJ's first investment account this evening, a 529 educational account. These college investment vehicles are great ways to save money for school, defer taxes, and receive state tax breaks. It was weird to fill in the box - "estimated year of college: 2024"...it seems so far away, but no doubt it will be hear before too long.

MaMa and Nonni had ice cream today but I turned it down because I'm growing increasingly lactose intolerant....and it would have been a very long (and difficult for the passengers) ride back to Hermosa had DaDa indulged.

Oh yeah, and we also got an invitation to Hawaii today from our friends the Lims! Jill, Jon, Noah, and Justin are returning home for 1 month after graduation and would love to have us join....maybe MaMa and DaDa will have a chance to tour Mauna Loa again in a helicopter...that was cool.

Hollywood....here I come! Or so my Uncle Kelly thinks....

One of the funniest emails I've received in a long time came from Uncle Kelly. He compared Keegan to a budding actor - see below...

KEEGAN: MOVIE STAR OF THE NEXT GENERATION????????? ANYONE?

See attached and compare side by side.

:)

K

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Dear Uncle Kelly - you'll be changing my diapers during Christmas '07...can't wait to fill up on Babushka's crummel torte and Mud Pie Kopp's custard....with love, Keegs

26 May 2007

Despite having a little cold (I feel so bad for him with those teeny lil nostrils; the lil guy is teething again, #9 coming through), Keegs is quite a flirt. He made eyes at the waitress -complete with implants- at Rocky Cola Cafe. The blueberry buckwheat pancakes weren't enough to keep him entertained - guess he's still waiting for the factory to reopen.

Top 3:

1. Where is daddy? So da-da gave in and got a hair cut (all of them - see above) for the first time in 3 months. Needless to say, the high school soccer rocker mullet wasn't fitting despite hanging with the surf crowd in Hermosa Beach. The Wisconsin Waterfall ceremoniously stopped flowing at Floyd's (an old school-like, but new barber shop concept - seems like a nice business model). I walked through the door to a puzzled KJ wondering what happened to his daddy. Mom could only say "thank you...it looks so good." (compared to what...a circa late '80's Cedarburg High perm job?). Keegs crawled over to me, paused, and grabbed my hair and smiled. I think he liked it too ;-D

2. 99 cents - America has long said that you can't buy anything worthwhile for $1.00, but I disagree. All it took was a trip with PaPa to the 99 cent store...and $13 later...Keegs was the happiest kid in the world. He is now the proud owner of a new drum set (so he can practice for his favorite girl at music class (see yesterday's post), and wondered how his dad made bubbles float around his head. For 99 cents, I would buy a truckload of the stuff to see Keegs smile the way he did today.

3. Piano anyone? Now that he's able to stand on his own for a considerable amount of time, Mom put the legs on his music player (it really is an ADD maker wrapped in fancy colors). While Nonni, PaPa, MaMa, and DaDa watched in amusement, KJ played his first tunes at the piano. Watch out Uncle Kelly!

Thoughts:

"Never confuse movement with action." - Ernest Hemingway

"The only type of partnership that works is one based on shared vision and values." -Charles Koch, founder of the world's largest privately-held company.
.......(I find this to be true, either in business or personal relationships, with family and friends alike.)

25 May 2007

today had many funny moments and a couple of firsts to it. besides the two monsters "stinkies" (wave hand feverishly in front of nose to signal 5-alarm fire) that keegs left for Nonni and I, we laughed a lot today.

top 3:

1. miller high life lite vs. simulac bottle: clearly the beer of champions wins this one. i staggered the bottle and beer about 5 feet away and 10 feet away, respectively, from keegs. at bedtime, his always grabs his bottle...but not tonight. he sized up both liquids, made his way for the milk, stopped....and ventured past it towards da-da's cold "soda", as we call it. a classic and defining moment.

2. keegs patting a girl's behind while the two of them play the drum at music class. enough said here.

3. open mouth kisses for da-da. in front of everyone at music class, the happiest kid in the room races back to his dad, through a maze of legs and kids, to land a big sloppy one (complete with oval shaped open mouth and 8 teeth gazing at me) on his dad. a great fatherhood moment.

couple of other firsts - introduction to iceberg lettuce...nibble, nibble, sniff, look at it for 10 seconds, suck on it...toss on the floor at Cal Pizza Kitchen......and drinking out of keeg's favorite straw an ice cold glass of water....i think his teeth are still frozen after drinking 2 mouth's full before realizing the glass was full of ice!

The Birth of a Baby Blogger

This is the first ever posting to a new website tracking my son's life. Born to Kate & Chris Markgraf on 7/18/2006, Keegan Jamison Markgraf has blessed us with hours of happiness and laughter during the last 10 months and 6 days. I will use this post to track the every day happenings, the list of firsts, the absurd, anything I want to share with my son, and the of course "Top 3" moments of the day list. To my son, with love. Da Da