The Kieffers - Parenting

Go team!

chad — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 16:52:39 +0000

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Sports

Owen's getting his first taste of team sports through a Saturday morning YMCA program. The program is teaching kids the basics of sports, started with soccer fundamentals, and the kids are now playing t-ball.

All of the kids, including Owen, are totally into it and it's fun to watch all of the energy they put into it. Owen has played a bit of soccer with his big brother so passing and stopping the ball seemed to come pretty easily to him. I was a bit worried about bruised shins watching the the free-for-all soccer mob frantically kick at anythiny and everything they could. Miraculously, no one has been injured to date.

The kids finish up t-ball this week and will start with basketball the weekend after Thanksgiving. Watch out Kobe, D-Wade, and Lebron!

Ryan Meets the Governor

chad — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 05:39:44 +0000

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Santa Fe

Update: I was able to get the picts off the phone.

Ryan didn't have school this past Tuesday due to the mid-term election. For security reasons, schools across the country have decided that it's a big risk to have kids in class with adults coming in and out of the school to vote.

Since he was home, Amy and he came downtown to have lunch with me. We walked over to one of Amy's favorite restaurant's, The Shed. While waiting for our table I heard one of the other patron's talking about the governor and whether he called ahead when he stopped by to eat. I figured he had just left, but we wind up being seated across the room from him. I'm surprised the guy gets a meal down when he goes out, everyone in the room was asking him to take pictures with him, talking about his campaign ads, and, of course, the election.

Amy wanted to go over and say hi and had to work on Ryan to go over along with her. Ryan finally got over his shyness, they went over to the governor's table, and Ryan shook Bill Richardson's hand. Amy told me later that it made a pretty big impression on Ry who had to tell everyone about it later in the day.

If I can figure out how to get the pictures off my phone, I'll post them.

Owen turns 4!

chad — Mon, 09 May 2005 03:48:42 +0000

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It was four years ago today that Owen Patrick Kieffer entered the world. It's hard to believe that this energetic and carefree kid was a premie. Each night this weekend Amy asked me if I remember what we were doing 4 years ago. On Cinco de Mayo 2001 Amy and I were awakened at 5 in the morning by her water breaking. Blame it on Cinco de Mayo. Blame it on the full moon. Blame it on the freak drop in temperature and the snow that fell the night before. Who knows, it just happened. We rushed to the hospital here in Santa Fe where we were told that they don't handle births before six weeks from a due date. Amy was whisked by ambulance down to Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque where they gave her meds to slow down or stop the contractions. On May 6th we were a bit more relaxed and were starting to wonder how Amy would stay sane if she were forced to stay in the hospital for weeks. On May 7th Amy and I were relaxing and watching Amy's childhood favorites, the Atlanta Braves on T.V. A few friends had stopped by to check in on us. On May 8th the contractions were back and there was no stopping them. At 6:01 p.m. Amy gave birth to Owen in what was a fairly smooth delivery. We were luckier than most. Owen weighed in at a little over 5 lbs. and Amy joked that she was relieved that he didn't go full-term, he would have been huge! Owen spent the next four weeks in the NICU. He had a tube that was fed through his nose to his stomach to feed him and wore an oxygen canulas for nearly his entire stay in the hospital. He was a bit jaundiced and spent some time under the bilirubin lights. During these 4 weeks Amy and I drove back and forth 50 miles from Santa Fe to Albuquerque every day to spend the day with Owen. Finally, Owen was breathing well-enough on his own and Amy and I could take him home. Talk about a nerve racking drive! Amy and I were so nervous having Owen on our own without the medical monitors and the nurses watching Owie around the clock! A few weeks went by, those weeks turned into months, and at some point the whole bizarre experience of Owen's birth sort of faded away and we haven't looked back since. Happy birthday Owen! Check out the pictures from Owen's party.