Christmas journey, part I

We have about a billion photos from Christmas, so it will probably take me a while to go through them all and post the good ones. Here's a start.

Christmas break consisted of a tour of the Midwest.

Our first stop was to Clinton, OH, where we stayed for a couple of nights with Uncle Chris, Aunt Kim, and Joshua.

Joshua greets Sean upon our arrival.

Sean says hi to Norton, who did not like our two kitties in his territory for a couple of days (Oliver & Maggie were shut in a bedroom, but once Norton found out about their presence, he was trying to get in the room all weekend).

Grandma S. and Sean reading a Christmas story.

Here are Joshua and Sean in their Christmas pajamas from their Great Grandparents Natale.

Here's the family in front of the tree. I'm not sure why Sean looks so bored, he got plenty of toys, books, and clothes!

Dad opens a gift with super special wrap!

A new hat (or helmet?) and gloves from Grandma and Grandpa Spoonhower.

Christmas Eve Eve dinner.

We dressed Joshua and Sean in outfits their dads once wore. All I can say is WOW. Anyway I'm glad we did it when we did and didn't wait any longer, because the boys were a little too big for the outfits. I accidentally zipped a bit of Sean's neck into the zipper, which he did not appreciate. So then I decided to go with the casual, not-zipped-all-the-way look.

Collar up for extra style!

Congratulations to the Vnaks!

Baby boy #3 has arrived!

Meow Meow Meow Meow

Sean's new favorite game:

Cinnamon Ridge for the Holidays

Wrestlemania!

My money is on Mr. Sean.

A few videos

Sean likes to play peekaboo with Dad.





Sean plays the piano very well for a 7-month-old. The other day he was also singing along!

December photos

Here are some photos from the past few weeks.

I was trying to play catch with Sean by rolling balls toward him, but I don't think any of them made it back to me. That's ok though, he was having fun!

Check out the awesome outfit that Grandma Spoonhower saved for Sean from when Jeff was a baby!

Here is the view from our balcony the morning after the first big snowfall of the year (mind you, a big snowfall around here is any accumulation at all - here I think we got maybe two inches).

Since we have the stuff from a 3-bedroom house with a basement crammed into an 1,150-square foot apartment, we thought we had no room for a Christmas tree this year. Until, of course, we realized that there was a blank wall above one of our couches. So, now we have a Christmas tree! Isn't it beautiful?

Here we are playing on the floor.

I have an advent calendar above the sink that has a Bible verse for each day until Christmas.

More playing on the floor....

I have a few videos to upload, so I will post those soon....

Thanksgiving

We had a great time in Webster last weekend. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Spoonhower for the great food and great times! We had a lot of fun.

Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Natale were happy to see Sean (and vice-versa!).

Here are the two new dads with each other's boys.

I think this was one of Sean's first tastes of banana, if I remember correctly. We are loving the new faces we get to see whenever we try something new!

Sean and Josh spent some quality time together on the kitchen table.

Sean likes to show everyone how big his mouth is.

Sean was fascinated with a clementine - Jeff took some funny video that we will watch someday, including little squeaking noises from Sean's gums. He's really been chomping lately.... today we saw the beginnings of his first tooth coming through! He's been a little fussy but not too bad. We're hoping he's a tough guy and won't complain too much when each tooth comes in!

Apparently there was some sort of wrestling match, but I missed it since I was washing dishes from dinner. Sean also somehow lost his pants. Oh my! Again, we have video to watch later that may better explain this....

Tummy time!

More quality time on the kitchen table.

photo dump

Here are some photos from the past few weeks. We went to the birthday party of the son of one of Jeff's coworkers. It was at a place called My Gym. It was a lot of fun! Sean was the youngest one there, but we were glad to be invited. The only bad part was that a bunch of people got sick from the party. So, a few days later, Sean was very sick for three days. Then I was sick for three days. It was miserable. I think the last time I was that sick was when I got the flu - that must have been ten years ago. Jeff came through clean, thank God. He took care of us!!!

Anyway here we are at the party.

Sean loved the swing!

Ah, home sweet home... here's the tree in front of our apartment. This was last week. It still looks good but this was at its peak.

Since Sean is now six months old, and the vomiting and diarrhea are over, we started him on some solids! Here is his first taste of barley cereal.

I'm not so sure he liked it.

But it was fun!

Sean still loves to play the piano. I think the Hungarian Rhapsody is a bit beyond his level for now. Someday he'll be able to play it, I'm sure!

That's it for now. We are driving to Rochester tomorrow for Thanksgiving. Hopefully Sean will do well traveling on a long car ride to an unfamiliar place and being around a lot of people.... as long as he is able to sleep somehow or other, we'll be ok! I'll post pictures / videos next week.... Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Happy (half) birthday!

Sean is now six months old. Wow how time flies! Unfortunately he's been sick the past couple of days, so he's not quite himself. I did however manage to snap a few photos today. There are some from the past week or so as well.

Trying to steal my Guinness (this was last week).



Chomping on a toy.

There's a bunch of black vultures (and by a bunch I mean upwards of forty at times, I try to count them) that hang out nearby. They are huge! At first we thought they were hawks, but then I did a bit of research and found out that black hawks don't live in Maryland, and then the mask-like face of the vulture gave it away. They are fun to watch flying around.


Sean wasn't too interested in the vultures.

Looking a little glazed still from being sick (this is from yesterday).

Sean can roll over pretty well now, both belly-to-back and vice versa. He's also pushing himself up more and more, although he can't get up on just his hands and knees quite yet. He also sits pretty well but still needs a close eye since he flops over every once in a while, so I don't have any good pictures of him sitting.


A typical day for Oliver and Maggie.

Mid-afternoon nap.

Halloween 2007

Whenever we end up leaving Cinnamon Ridge, we'll explain these photos to you:

Visit from mamaspoons

Here are some photos from Grandma Spoonhower - she came to visit a couple of weeks ago. (Wow, that was a couple of weeks ago already?)


We celebrated Paul's birthday at good ole' Cinnamon Ridge.

Speaking of Cinnamon Ridge...

(Courtesy of Jeff)

At Oregon Ridge Park.

Bedtime stories. (Sean, you're supposed to be looking at the book, not the camera!)

Sean with Grandma Spoonhower.

Not sure why we are both leaning our heads to the left.

Here's Sean's hangout spot in the kitchen while I make dinner. The only problem is that sometimes his toys end up in the cat food/water bowl. Eww.

Sean loves kisses! (Well most of the time, anyway.)

Happy baby.

That's it for now, more to come soon!