Goodbye, High Six! Hello, High Five!

Or so that's what his well wishes from his teachers and friends said. As most of you probably know, Keagan was born with an extra thumb (technically, a Wassel II...or maybe III, can't remember). The doctors told us that they would wait to remove it until after his first birthday because they wanted to see how it grew, if one dominated more than the other, etc. At his check up with the surgeon at Children's just after his first birthday, Dr. Popp decided they'd take off the outside thumb and we got the procedure scheduled. They told us his surgery would be at 8 a.m. so it was an early morning for the Beards but thankfully so since Keagan couldn't eat or drink beforehand. At least we didn't have to worry about him starving all morning! We got him all checked in and got his hospital "gown" on (i.e. some cute little scrub-like pants and shirt that tied in the back). The little guy was none too excited to see all of the nurses and other strangers but he did ok. His surgery took almost an hour exactly. Dr. Popp came out to see us afterward and said he did great. Turns out that his joint in his thumb was actually not in as good of shape as Dr. Popp had hoped and he thinks he more than likely won't be able to bend his thumb at his knuckle. Jeff and I don't think he actually could do this before his surgery either so we're thinking Keagan shouldn't notice any difference. Like I told Jeff, perhaps he won't be able to palm a basketball and dunk with his right hand but all in all, we're thankful things went so well. After we talked with Dr. Popp, Keagan was awake within 15 minutes or so and we got to go back, get our discharge instructions and we were on our way home. Keagan seemed a bit frustrated with the cast that first day - trying to do things and looking at my and whining a bit when he couldn't - but was back to his old self in no time. We're so proud of our brave little guy (and can't wait to get this cast off)!

Cuddling with Daddy (and Blue) beforehand...pretty good "before" picture of his thumb

Venturing out to play a bit

Getting into his hospital gown - poor little guy was having a serious meltdown at this point

Just waiting on the doc

His little bed identification

More play time waiting for the doctor

Awake and all done! The nurse said he didn't even cry when he woke up - such a brave baby boy!

It's a smile...it's a kiss...it's a sip of wine...IT'S SUMMERTIME!

OK, Keagan can't have the sip of wine yet but he's enjoying some fun in the sun toddler-style. Pre-surgery, we were soaking up the sun and enjoying the beautiful weather here in Cbus. We spent one perfect weekend day at the zoo checking out the new polar bears, spoiled ourselves with ice cream for lunch (I blame Keagan sweet talking his dad) and broke out Keagan's little pool he got from the Hargises for his birthday. The little guy's surgery has limited his water fun but he still loves just getting out and strutting around...up and down the sidewalks, up and down the driveway, over to the neighbor's driveway, looking for doggies, watching Daddy plant flowers...the fun never ends when you're 1, I guess!

Ready to hit the zoo with Daddy (sporting his new baseball cap)

Watching the fishies

Chillin' poolside

He drinks the tub water too...we have no idea where this comes from

The cast arriving means the pool turns into a ball pit

Our little leprechaun :)

David Beckham he isn't (YET!)

So our little Dylan has taken up soccer - his first organized sport! He's so stinking cute on the field...running all around and having no idea what he's doing. We were pretty impressed though at how he didn't mind mixing it up on the field (and bit quite a bit of dust along the way) and he seems to have fun so that's really all that matters. Although I'm pretty sure he likes gabbing on the bench more than his actual game time. :)

Warm Ups

Exercising his jaws

An intimidating force at co-goalie

Get that outta here!

Throwing it in

Cheer, Cheer for Old Notre Dame

Finally, we got a chance to take Keagan out to South Bend and visit ND. The fam was looking to head out there for a visit so we decided on the weekend of the Blue/Gold Game. We headed out for the long drive on Friday, checked out the bookstore and headed to Sunny Italy for dinner. Saturday we got up and were off to the game...in the rain. At least after the game we got to enjoy a South Bend tradition - pizza at Bruno's. We shared a room with a huge group of football families and were so impressed by Kyle Rudolph, our tight end. He was taking pictures with kids, humoring some middle-aged super fan and seemed to enjoy taking it all in. So sweet! Here's to a successful 2010 season with Coach Kelly!

Being silly at the bookstore - don't they look like Dr. Seuss characters?

Love this one of us at Stonehenge

Checking out the tulips outside of the Basilica

And love this one of the boys on the way to the game :)

MaMa and the cool guy

Got to see a little bit of the game before the rain came

Keags loved the pool (look at his belly - this was post-Bruno's!)

All tuckered out

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

Easter was a little more interesting this year since Keags was a bit more into it (but not much). We started the festivities at Big PaPa's with the rest of the kids and an Easter egg hunt. Keagan wasn't that excited about the egg hunt but did enjoy the egg sugar cookies afterward (that's our boy!). Keagan got to enjoy his first Easter breakfast with the Teynors and then another Easter egg hunt and hanging at Aunt Vicki's.

Big PaPa and the kids - Adrienne, Zoe, Owen, Chase and Keagan

The kid wouldn't keep a sun hat on but wouldn't take off the Monsters, Inc. hard hat...go figure

The boys and their goodies from the Easter bunny

Happy boy (this is after MaMa had to pay him off b/c she hid an empty egg for him!)

Keagan's turn!

"Hey Ma, where's my candy?"