2 Months Old & Happy Halloween!

And perhaps my favorite:

Fall In New England!

Here in the city it's still pretty green. But with signs of fall beginning to appear Shannon and I have been anxious to see the leaves. Last year at this time our car had just broken down and despite many hours of working on it in our garage and several trips to the mechanic there was really no redeeming it. This year, with a working car in our hands, we have been so excited to get out of the city to see the fall leaves in New England!
Our ideas started w/ just a short Saturday afternoon drive to somewhere close like Sleepy Hollow. But the combination of perfect fall weather, leaves peaking up north, and an unusually easy weekend for me, Shannon and I found ourselves on Friday evening leaving for the weekend! It was very spur of the moment and we had our concerns but it turned out to be one of the funnest weekends we've had!
I picked a place on the map on Friday, made a reservation, and off we went. We stayed at Lake George, NY in the Adirondack Mountains on Friday night and woke up to more color than I've ever seen! I'll post pictures of what we saw, but I wish there was a better way to convey how amazing the scenery was. The town of Lake George, like the others in the area, was in the process of closing for the winter. The hotel where we stayed, the log pancake house where we had breakfast, the beds & breakfasts on the lake... everything was shutting down. McDonald's included! Where you would normally see "OVER 2 BILLION SERVED!" we found "See you in May 2009!". I get the feeling they don't contribute all that much to the other "2 billion served".
From Lake George we wandered our way into Vermont and traveled south on little tree-covered county roads and made a stop at a pumpkin farm before reaching Massachusetts. Vermont was a little post-peak, but North NY and western Mass were amazing. At this point we were expecting to head back home to NJ. But we'd been wanting to visit some friends of ours at Yale University in Connecticut so we headed there instead. Dinner with them turned into an extra night in CT before making the short drive home Sunday morning.
And Ashlynn was SO, SO good! She was nearly silent throughout the drive, but was sure happy when she was finally out of the car seat for good. Check out the video. Family keep wondering if she's losing any of her hair. As you can see it's still there, but she's got a funny Stevie Wonder-esque habit. You'll see what I'm talking about when you watch the video. If she keeps this up she'll have a real good bald spot on the back of her head.

1 MONTH!!!

Ashlynn turned 1 month old yesterday. Yeah, this is big time! This first month has flown by and she's been SO MUCH fun. Being first-time parents we have little to compare her to but we've been surprised how amazingly good of a baby she is. This parent thing is cake! What's all the hype about?!

Just kidding. We have had a few moments. These last couple of weeks she's had a few things that have prompted concern. The biggest one being a lingering heart murmur. But after visiting a couple doctors including a pediatric cardiologist they determined that it's a condition that will heal itself over the course of the next couple of years. Overall she really has been an amazing little girl. From those who are more experienced parents/grandparents we keep hearing that we've been completely spoiled by her. Well Shannon and I have decided that we are both completely, 100% okay with it.

Some of her newest developments: 1 - Discovery of her own voice. So far this mostly means she finally figured out how to cry (darn!). We were enjoying her not knowing about this yet. But she's just barely beginning to use her voice for other things, too. My schedule allows that a few days a week she and I get to hang out while mom sleeps in. (See, told you we were lucky). While I was reading this morning she was laying on the floor and, for the first time of which I am aware, tried to let out a few coo's! And development #2 - SMILES! We can't wait to see more and more of these. She started looking at us and smiling about a week ago. They're still kind of sparse, of course, but when she's fed and rested we're working hard for these!

So here are some pics of her first month. Shannon even caught one yesterday of her smiling! We love her!

Here She Is!

Our daughter finally made it this weekend! Ashlynn Dianne was born Friday night at 7:10 out here at Hackensack, NJ. She was a pretty big girl measuring 8lbs 6oz. and 21in. long. She's beautiful, but I know what everybody who sees her pictures is thinking; Either they gave us the wrong baby at the hospital or the mailman had something to do with this . Believe me, I'm glad Shannon and I were both there when she was born or we, too, would be doubting the competency of the nurses. And as for the latter... interrogation is still in progress. So in order to appease my mind we found baby pictures of both me and Shannon, too, in hopes that we (or any of you) could say "she's got Shannon's nose" or "she's got Sean's... hmm... well...?" Just kidding.

Anyway, we are so excited to have her. Since we got home from the hospital last night Ashlynn has continued to be her sweet content self and Shannon is gradually recovering. Nonetheless, I think Shannon would agree with me in saying that last Friday was the best day of our lives!!! Not that our wedding or certain other experiences were any less significant, but that Ashlynn's birth not only created a new love within us but reminded us of how much we love each other. That was an overwhelming experience I don't think either of us expected. We are SO, SO happy to have her! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHLYNN!

Beach Day

We went to the beach recently. I don't need to say much, the picture says it all. I knew she used the last of the sunscreen on me, but It would have been helpful to know that she RAN OUT of sunscreen long before the job was done! See the zig-zag down my back made by the last of the lotion? You'd think she did this on purpose! Ouch!

Here's To Summer!

So we were waiting to update our blog until we got back from a little weekend vacation that we were planning at the end of May. As you are all hopefully aware, May is long gone. But as soon as we got back from that trip we were surprised with the opportunity to go a few more places, too. So we haven't had internet for about a month. Now it's back to real life - school and all- as of last week. So here's to summer!!!:

... Massachusetts/Rhode Island

After 7 months we finally got a car again in May so we were anxious to take advantage of a car and a summer break from school to see a few parts of New England. So we found a surprisingly cheap but decent place to stay on Cape Cod, MA. And we loved it! Neither of us had ever been to Cape Cod, and we had each only been to Boston once before. We enjoyed beautiful scenery, huge empty beaches, perfect weather, and attending the Boston temple: It was so relaxing and so much fun! Oh yeah, while we were there I HAD to have a lobster dinner. There were tons of little shacks lining the roads advertising their lobster and seafood. We went to a restaurant on the harbor in Hyannis. For some reason, though, when I ordered the lobster I only had a lobster tail in mind. You know, the way most people eat it... in the west anyway. Well out here the tail is just the beginning. They serve the tail, the head, and everything in between. Oops! What I ate was good, but what I saw inside turned me away from ordering another one for a while.

Even more than Cape Cod, though, we loved the day we spent in Newport, RI on our way home! Newport is an old, beautifully maintained, and very wealthy victorian town set on really pretty, rugged coastline (that is, rugged on East Coast standards). While walking around such enormous mansions Shannon was sure we had walked into the setting of a Jane Austin book. Rhode Island is awesome! And since it's only 3hrs or so from home we'll be back!