introducing...

Benjamin Joseph
May 9, 2009
1:06 AM
9 lbs.
22 in.

The last pregnant picture of Mom!
First photos with Mom & Dad


Wondering what the heck is going on
Meeting Papa for the first time
Sweet sleeping boy
Getting some love from big brother Daniel

Ready to go home!

daniel's new room

With a new little one on the way, we decided to move Daniel up to a "big boy" room, complete with big boy bed, and let his little brother take over the nursery. Of course, we couldn't make this easy so it also involved moving our office (I won't show the before-and-afters of that adventure). Fortunately we were able to enlist the assistance of Papa Joe and Grandma Rita, otherwise we never would have finished (thanks guys!!).

After all the moving of furniture, the next step was painting! We decided to have a little fun and let Daniel get in on the act. He has kind of an abstract, modern art approach.

He's a very hard worker, though!


Daniel also delighted in helping assemble his new furniture.



Here's the final product. We still need some decorations, but overall we think it turned out great!


Daniel has adjusted pretty well to his new bed and the new-found freedom of being able to get in and out of bed himself. We've had a few battles of wills (i.e. putting him back to bed 15 times before he finally fell asleep), and most nights he still gets up once or twice before he nods off. But he seems to like all the space, and has an ever-growing collection of "friends" that he brings to bed with him (currently his dog, snake, and frog are the regulars). He's definitely turning into a big boy!

christmas fun, part 4 - the aquarium

On the day after Christmas, we decided to take a trip to the world's largest aquarium. It was the first trip to the aquarium - ANY aquarium - for both Daniel and his Great-Grandpa. I think it's safe to say that both had a great time (as did the rest of us)!

From pretty much the moment we entered the building, this is the expression Daniel had on his face. He was fascinated. SO much to see!
This big tank of colorful reef fish was one of his favorite attractions. He just kept watching and pointing, and when we tried to pull him away to get a family photo, it was a no-go. He had much better things to do. By the way, I LOVE this picture with his reflection - thanks Rita!
The best family photo we could muster, this one in the tunnel under the tank with the whale sharks.
Papa's trying to tell Daniel about something, but the fish are too interesting to pay much attention!
The otters were another favorite of Daniel's (and I must admit, they're my favorite too). He had a great time watching them swim and play, and we were lucky enough that one of the keepers came in to feed them while we were there, too.
Finally, what trip would be complete without a photo with the aquarium mascot, Deepo? Daniel was so cute, he ran away the first time he saw Deepo, but then decided he was pretty funny and ran back to get a better look. You can see he's still kind of skeptical here.
We had a fantastic day. It was so much fun for Mike and I, as parents, to see the aquarium through Daniel's eyes - the wonder and amazement. We've been several times before, but this was definitely our best trip yet, and we look forward to taking Daniel (and eventually his little brother!) back in the future.

photos from the beach

Silly siblings Daniel with Great-Grandma
The happy couple
Pensive Ashley
What a good-looking crew!
Aunt Lissy and Daniel
My handsome (little) brother
Daniel with Grandma

happy birthday!!!

one year ago today

Daniel's due date was one year ago today - August 1, 2007. I was still at work, since Daniel hadn't made any attempts to leave his comfy home yet. Mike and I decided to meet up for lunch, under the pretense of celebrating Daniel's "hypothetical" birthday. We met at a little Asian restaurant a couple of blocks from my office, and sat down to a nice lunch of Thai food. About halfway through my Chicken Masaman, I felt something. Something warm and wet. Yes, that's right, my water broke as I sat there eating my lunch.

I must have gotten a pretty funny look on my face, because Mike immediately said, "what is it? Are you okay?" I replied, "I think my water just broke" and we realized that we were about to have a baby! Luckily, there was no embarrassing gush when I stood up - I don't think anyone in the restaurant realized what had happened. We left our meals half-eaten, and Mike ran the two blocks to my office to get the car, while I sat on a bench outside and waited (I wasn't about to walk that far). Apparently, Daniel had realized the party was for him and decided to try to make an appearance. We thought for awhile that he might actually arrive on his due date, but he ended up missing it by an hour and 52 minutes.

So, jumping back to the present from that little trip down memory lane, we decided to commemorate the anniversary of his almost-birthday with a trip back to the same restaurant for lunch. Boy, was it different this year! We did manage to sit at the same table, but this time we needed a highchair for the amazing little boy who's grown so much in a year I can hardly believe it.

Here are a few photos. As you can see, Daniel really wanted to eat with chopsticks. Daddy tried to help him, and that satisifed him for a little while.
But he really wanted to try it himself. He made a valiant attempt, but I don't think his hand-eye coordination is quite up to the task of chopsticks yet.
We also re-visited the bench where I waited for Mike to get the car. Hard to believe that Daniel fit inside me a year ago!

a giant frog in our backyard

And it's trying to eat my son!
We're trying to beat the heat so we bought a fun little kiddie pool for the backyard. Daniel wasn't sure what to think at first, especially the sprinkler on the front.
But he decided it might be kind of fun, and definitely better than sweating in 90-degree-plus weather.
But eventually he was ready to be rescued from the jaws of the giant frog.
And he settled in for a snack of animal crackers - take that, froggy!!

feeling left out

The poor kitties. Ever since Daniel was born their lives just haven't been the same. Lately they've been complaining that they never get any blog time - it's all Daniel, Daniel, Daniel. And they're right, they're pretty great kitties and they deserve some attention too. So here are a couple of the latest kitty photos (yes, once in awhile I do still pull out the camera for pictures of the cats!).

Here's Licorice perfecting his yawn. He's had lots of practice at this over the years.

And here's Taffy, relaxing in one of her favorite spots.

summertime

Just a few photos of our cool cat rockin' his sunglasses on the 4th of July. He managed to keep them on for all of 5 minutes, a new record. You can see how he felt about it though!





He also got a haircut this past weekend (as you can see in these photos it was getting kind of long again), but I don't have any photos of his new clean-cut look yet.

11 months old...

... and won't sit still!

I've been trying to take photos of Daniel sitting in the same spot on the sofa every month, so I can see how much he's grown. That was really easy in the beginning when he was little and non-mobile. Now, it's nearly impossible because he tries to dive off the sofa as soon as I sit him down. This is probably the best one I managed to get!

Here are a couple of the outtakes.

"Here I come!"

"Well, if you won't let me dive off the front of the sofa, I'll just have to go over the back!"

And finally, this is what he really wanted to do! (Don't worry, Daddy was holding his feet so he didn't fall on his head.)
He just continues to grow and become more of a little person every day! He still loves the cats (too bad they don't feel the same about him), he eats everything in sight (seriously, at some meals I think he eats more than I do), and he knows how to wave, clap, and give a high-five. He's ready to take off walking any day now, and he sure has a lot to say (although we're not smart enough to figure out what he's talking about yet). We're looking forward to more adventures as his first year draws to a close!