Baby Pumpkin Carving Look-A-Like Contest

Check out Johnny's creative masterpiece - he carved our pumpkin to match Tad's expression!

A Taste of Atlanta

Yippee! Auntie Ash is the best!

Cool dudes.

Tad enjoyed chewing Sophie while we tasted the 60 coke flavors at the new World of Coke.

Tad continued his October social circuit and hosted Auntie Ash for the weekend. Ashley and I have known each other since nursery school, so we had a great time introducing her to Tad, catching up and showing her around Atlanta. Ashley spoiled Tad, as well as the nuggets. Abby was especially excited to see Ashley as she is on her short (very short as in 5 people at most) list of people she likes.

Humpty Dumpty

Tad has been learning to sit on his own the past week or two. After his first attempt ended in rolling around on the floor, he enlisted Abby's assistance to demonstrate good posture. Following this workout, we went to a pumpkin patch to pick out Tad's first pumpkin. It was rather chilly, even by New England standards!

Hangin' with the boys

Will there be giraffes at the aquarium? Tad's trusted friend, Sophie, comes on all of our adventures these days.

Baby foodie dining with the local celebrity chef...

Nathan, one of Johnny's best friends, came to visit us last weekend. Tad had a blast hanging out with the boys! We went to the aquarium, cooked wings on the smoker and watched lots of college football. Cristin (Nathan's wife) was sorely missed and we hope to make it to San Francisco to the visit them soon.

Johnny has become quite the gourmet chef over the past few years and one of our favorite television shows is Top Chef on Bravo. We took Nathan to Flip, a gourmet burger joint, where we spotted Blais, the owner of Flip and runner up on Top Chef two seasons ago. It's hard to tell that it's him in the photos above as his hat is hiding his signature spikey hair. We didn't want to be obnoxious and ask for a photo, so we instead exploited Tad by holding him up and pretending to take his photo. So subtle...

A Return to Summer

Uncle D and Cousin Kit


Go Yanks!

Just a spoonful of sugar... We gave Elsie Mary Poppins for her third birthday. She held a special screening on Saturday night.

Elsie is hard to catch on camera - always on the go!

Heading out for a walk on the beach.

Chewing on the strap was the highlight of the beautiful walk.

Can't wait for trips to Hilton Head next summer!

Tad hit the open road on his first road trip last weekend. He was more behaved in the car than the Frenchies... clearly we have no control. We went to Hilton Head for a long weekend with Beth, David, Elsie and Kit. We lucked out and had fabulous summer weather – close to 90 degrees and sunny! Tad enjoyed his first dip (toes) in the Atlantic and trip to Salty Dog. Elsie showed him the ropes, while Kit dazzled Tad with her crawling and standing skills. Tad enjoyed the salty ocean breeze and hanging out with his cousins.

Vroom, Vroom

When Johnny was in high school, he and his father restored a beautiful 1965 Mustang. Johnny absolutely loves the car and brought it to a car show near our house this morning. Tad enjoyed looking at all the cars and people. We even saw a ZZ Top look-a-like… the car show culture is rather interesting. Johnny can’t wait to cruise around with Tad in the Mustang.

Food Fight

Round One...

Round Two...

Tad tried solid food for the first time this weekend. We are not sure how much rice cereal he actually swallowed and digested. After the first mess, we wised up and put a bib on him for round two (quite the nail biter victories by the Irish and Eagles on Saturday!) Tad didn’t seem to dislike the new food, but was definitely more interested in playing with the spoon and, of course, chewing on his tasty piggy toes. He looked at us as if he was asking why would we offer the stinky, mushy cereal when he has his big toe and fingers to chew on?

Rockin' Four Months

Tad turned four months old on September 20th and had a week long celebration, including showing off his dance moves in the Bungee Baby Bouncer (we tried to capture some action photos above), a favorite of all his cousins, and a visit from Aunties Amy and Al. Tad charmed the ladies with his grinning and monkey tricks on his activity mat. We were so excited and appreciative that the ladies made the trip down from Boston and Connecticut. We had a fabulous weekend catching up with them. Congratulations to Amy & Tim on their recent engagement! We are so happy for you and cannot wait for the wedding celebration in Newport, Rhode Island on May 22, 2010.

Tad is thoroughly enjoying life these days. Some new favorite activities include putting anything he can find in his mouth (preferably a toe or finger), watching the frenchies wrestle (we’re a bit disturbed as to what he’s learning from them and hope we don’t get a call from daycare about aggressive “playing”) and making lots of noises. He sounds like a bird and has a belly laugh that we have only heard on rare occasion but are dying to hear more often.

Happy Birthday Bryce!

Bryce turned 3 on September 10th and had quite the baseball themed birthday bash this past weekend, complete with peanuts, popcorn, burgers and lots of Braves gear. We had a great time, except for ND’s disappointing loss to Michigan.