Gobble Gobble!

Joseph would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. He wanted me to tell everyone to:

This picture was taken while he was eating his oatmeal and peaches. We have to give him his own spoon when we feed him because he is obsessed with his spoons and tries to take the one we are feeding him with. Unfortunately, he has caught on to our trick and now just wants both spoons. This was him after getting a hold of both and double fisting his breakfast.

We have a lot to be thankful for this year...the biggest is our perfect son!

From our family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving!

Where's Waldo

As some of you may have noticed, several weeks ago I added a "Visitor Locations" tracker to our blog. This is a nifty little tool developed by ClustrMaps that allows you to track how many visitors have come to your blog and from where. I find this highly entertaining mainly because it reminds my of "Where's Waldo".

Thus far, our "followers" have been of the ordinary sort: family and friends across the U.S. However, I am proud to announce that we went INTERNATIONAL today -a small dot has appeared in Kuala Lumpur.

Given the rapid expansion of our following base and our highly interesting life, I can only expect many more dots from around the world to appear very soon! Stay tuned and blog on my loyal followers.

He's got sitting skillz!

We have been working with Joseph on his sitting skills for quite awhile now. Around 5 months he started to tri-pod sit and I expected he would be sitting easily on his own by 6 months. He sort of just stalled out at tri-pod sitting for awhile. I think his impediments to sitting are a) his large head that takes a lot of work to balance and b) his love of rolling. He is impatient to sit for any length of time because rolling the length of a room is way more fun. He seems to be finally mastering his sitting skills.

This morning he sat on his own for 5 plus minutes while he chewed on a basket:

Then when we went to Target today, he sat in the cart, instead of his carseat, for the whole trip. By the end, he was tired and pretty much laid down in the seat, but we got a good 25 minutes out of him in the sitting position.

While at Target, we bought him a new toy to promote his sitting skills. A little ball that sings the alphabet and makes animal noises when you spin it. Joseph has quite enthralled this his new toy and it served its purpose - encouraged him to sit for an extended period of time.

Until he leaned back and fell over into his hamper of toys.

One note on his new toy - each letter has an animal associated with it. When the ball stops on the letter, its says the letter, the name of the animal and the sound the animal makes. I know "X" is a pretty hard letter but the animal for "X" is a X-ray fish. I mean, is this really an animal? "U" is an umbrella bird - which I really question the validity of that animal as well. I think a mythical character like unicorn would be more appropriate. And "N" is a newt. My first thought was "The best they could do for "N" was newt???" But then Rich and I started thinking about it and couldn't think of another animal that starts with "N". Who knew??? You should hear the noise that a newt makes - we can't figure out what in the world it is.

FAIL!

Recently, Rich and I discovered a really funny blog, called the Fail Blog. Everyday they just post funny, ironic pictures of all types of failures. Rich and I have slowly gone through the entire blog. Here are some of our favorites. We were showing them to my in-laws last night (who are in town for a visit) and were laughing until our stomachs hurt...so we thought it warranted a blog entry.

SPELLING FAIL!

MORE SPELLING FAIL!

PRODUCT DESIGN FAIL

ANOTHER PRODUCT DESIGN FAIL

FAIL TO THE PERSON TAKING THIS PICTURE AND NOT WARNING THIS WOMAN!

SOMEONE SHOULD HAVE INFORMED THIS GUY WHEN HE WAS MAKING HIS FAKE I.D. THAT YOU DON'T GET TO HAVE YOUR PICTURE TAKEN WITH YOUR GIRLFRIEND DOWN AT THE DMV.



HOW DO YOU MAKE THIS MISTAKE?

WTF? REALLY, JUST WTF? THAT'S ALL YOU CAN SAY.

FUTURE "MOM OF THE YEAR" AWARD WINNER

(If you can't see the text under the picture it says "Melissa Williamson, a Bullitt Avenue resident, worries about the effect on her unborn child from the sound of jack hammers" This while clearly smoking a cigarette)

BY FAR, OUR FAVORITE FAIL!

Wild thing...I think love you!

Like all expectant parents, Rich and I spent a lot of time imagining what Joseph was going to be like when he was born. I was convinced he would look just like Richard, a blond little boy (Richard was way blond as a baby) with bright green eyes and have my personality. He would be a quiet little boy who liked to read and snuggle with his mommy. He'd be quite studious and just have a sweet little nature about him. I was wrong....dead wrong. First, he looks just like me...dark hair (although not as dark as mine) and dark brown eyes and he has Rich's personality through and through.

I have heard many stories about Richard as a child and quite frankly, they scare me. To say he was a bundle of energy is an understatement. I have heard stories about Richard getting bored waiting in line for something and just turning himself in circles over and over again until he got dizzy and nauseous. Richard is still pretty persistent at age 30. His mother would whisper in his ear after he fell asleep to "Please, please be a good boy tomorrow". Well, welcome to my future...my child is WILD!

Today's examples of wildness include, but are not limited to:

* When holding him and opening up the refrigerator, I could hear him smashing his hands into the items on the door of the refrigerator. Only when I closed it and looked at him, did I realize he had picked up the ketchup bottle (mistaking it for something that looked like a bottle) and was attempting to suck it. When Rich got home tonight, I re-created it to see if Joseph would do it again. He did and here are the pics to prove it:

(You will also notice my other wild boy, our cat Porter, sticking his nose in the refrigerator)

* While feeding him his oatmeal, he decided he had enough of sitting in his chair and proceeded to scoot his rear all the way to the bottom and try to kick the spoon out of my hand. I gave in and stopped feeding him, but went to get a cloth to clean his face. When I came back, he had flipped himself in the chair and was attempting to pull himself up in it. Pictures of this series of events below: * Diaper changes and clothing changes are what I imagine trying to tame a wild horse is like. He flips, he kicks, he screams, he cries. Lately we have found one thing that helps is to give something he can stick in his mouth and chew on. A baby brush from his changing table seems to be doing the trick. We have about 2 minutes before he tires of it and throws it off the changing table.
So I have just resigned myself to the fact that I have a wild thing...but I love him and wouldn't want him any other way (well maybe an hour of non-craziness a day would be ok)!

After dealing with wild boy all day, I needed some Mommy time. Lucky for me, I had dinner plans with my friend and former co-worker, Melissa. Melissa and I have spent way too much time together. We have spent many long nights and Saturdays sitting together in an office as big as a closet with no windows (clients don't really give auditors prime office space). We have travelled to the WORST places together for work. Our client had a plant on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. The eye of hurricane Katrina went right over the plant and the whole area was destroyed. About 2 months after the hurricane Melissa and I had to go down to take an inventory of the plant for the year-end audit. There were no restaurants or hotels open and many of the employees were living in trailers in the parking lot of the company. The company had a FEMA trailer set up for all the consultants who were coming in and out. Guess where we stayed? We shared a FEMA trailer with a tiny microwave to heat up some soup to eat, a shower that had scary cold pink tinged water, and tiny little bunk beds that we curled up in when the heater went out at 2 am. The bright spot was the tiny TV and satellite hookup that allowed us to catch the O.C. (we were sort of obsessed back in 2005). Melissa and I have shared a lot of personal ups and downs in the 4 years we worked together and she is one of a few things I really miss about my job. It was so nice to sit and catch up for 2 hours over dinner and wine.

This is the only picture I can find of Melissa and I from my baby shower. I hate this picture - why I let people take my picture at 8 months pregnant is beyond me. Lesson learned for baby #2.

A Legend Retires...

As many of you know, I was a four year member of the varsity Track & Field team at Georgetown University where I was coached by the legendary Frank "GAGS" Gagliano. Yesterday, GAGS retired from coaching after 45-years. While I can never repay GAGS for everything he gave to me, I wanted to briefly honor his legacy.

I was a good runner in H.S. having finished runner-up in the NC State Championships and top-25 at the National Championships, but hardly the caliber of a Georgetown runner. For those of you that don't know, Georgetown is one of the most storied collegiate Track & Field programs having produced 22 Olympians, 20 National Champions and more All-Americans than can be named.

GAGS gave me the opportunity to be a part of this incredible program, but ultimately gave me so much more - a degree from a prestigious university, a job that provided for my family more than I could have ever dreamed possible, a wife and now a son. In short, he gave me a future that I would have otherwise not realized.

In return, all GAGS asked was for me to compete to the best of my abilities. I was certainly not the best runner he ever recruited or coached, but he always treated as such. In many respects, he was a second father to me and I loved him for that.

GAGS retired from coaching Georgetown in the winter of my junior year to accept a position coaching the Nike Professional team in San Francisco. My running was never the same. While Crystal will tell you it was because I met her several months later (and that is true), it was also because I couldn't (or wouldn't compete) the same for another coach as I did for GAGS.

GAGS was misunderstood by many. He was from the Bronx and had a gruff, intimidating presence to him. However, for those lucky few that had the privilege to truly know the man - he was nothing more than a big teddy bear at heart.

I leave you with the following tribute video (you need to turn off the playlist at the bottom)…

Election Reflections

I have slowly been working on this post for a few days (I warn you its long). I haven't been able to sit for any length of time to finish it because Joseph has been a little bit under the weather. Between a mild cold and vaccinations on Tuesday (which he never reacts well to), he's been a bit fussy and clingy the last few days. He hasn't napped well either - I've pretty much had to rock him for most of his naps - so not a lot of spare time to blog.

You will note that there are no pictures of me celebrating the big Obama victory on Tuesday night. There are two reasons for that. First, somewhere between the media calling Ohio for Obama and waiting for the west coast polls to close so the media could officially call the election for Obama, Rich fell asleep. He mumbled something like "I'm gonna go to sleep, wake me up when they call it, I wanna see Obama's speech" and then fell asleep. Second, the celebration was pretty muted. It was not the long drawn out, anxiety filled night that I had experienced in 2000 and 2004. Once Pennsylvania was called right after 8 pm, I relaxed and just waited for the rest of the votes to come in. So it was not the crazy night Rich was looking forward to. When they officially called it around 11 pm, it was no surprise and no jumping on the couch ensued (which was my reaction when Florida was called for Gore in 2000 - which I had to take back an hour later).

I have spent the last few days thinking a lot about this historical election and here are my somewhat jumbled thoughts:

On Obama's Win:

As the mother of an infant, I know the feeling of looking at your child and wondering what he/she will do with their life. Will they be a doctor, a teacher, an artist? Will they be famous and make millions or live a quiet, simple life? No matter what Joseph decides to do, I know that because of his gender, his race, his socio-economic status and the education level of his parents he can strive to do whatever he pleases. The only barriers standing in his way will be those that can be attributed to his own character. I can't imagine being a parent and looking at my child and knowing that no matter what his/her talents are, there are barriers standing in their way simply because of their race or socio-economic status. Certainly electing Barack Obama allows a much larger number of parents to look at their child and have the same hopes and aspirations as I have for mine.

But there is still work to be done. I hope eight years from now we are celebrating the first woman elected President (Hillary NOT Palin!!)so that my future daughter(s) know that they too can achieve the highest political office in the U.S. I can not really at this point imagine the U.S. electing anyone of non-Christian faith. In certain parts of the country, Obama had to spend money just to reassure people he was not Muslim - as if being Muslim would have disqualified him from being President. As someone who describes her religious beliefs as "agnostic plus" (I believe in a benevolent, omnipotent God, but not one of any particular religion), I know if my son should choose to follow my religious beliefs, he could never be elected to political office. Being a Christian seems to be a litmus test for your moral character. Additionally, should Joseph someday come to be and tell me is a homosexual, I am afraid that would be a major barrier to him holding political office in most places (more on this issue later) and that makes me sad.

Certainly Obama's election says a lot for the progress we have made on racial issues, but I do not believe that we are in a post-racial society. I witness racism constantly. It's certainly more covert than overt in today's society, but it exists. I have heard racist comments made by my family and there are racists in Richard's family. I have heard neighbors and co-workers say things I am ashamed of. My resolution from this election is to stop tolerating it. I don't want to hear a racist remark from a friend, a neighbor or family member and just ignore it. I want to speak up and let people know that those comments are not acceptable to me, especially around my child. Maybe in that way I can play a small role in the continual progress we are making on racial issues.

On Michelle Obama:

I have a serious girl crush on this woman. From the minute she hit the spotlight, I admired her intelligence, sophistication and poise. I also feel like I can identify with her. I love Richard and we can be pretty competitive when we want to be, but he's the breadwinner in our family. He is the one in our family with the career success and I have no interest in taking any role in that besides giving advice and listening when he is frustrated. I did pretty well in my career pre-baby, but it was never my thing. I have always known my life would center around my husband, my home and my children. I want to bake cookies, do crafty projects and walk the kids to school. I will never compete with Richard in the corporate world. I have talents to use but I will find my own areas to excel in - volunteer activities and the PTA, most likely. I guess from what I have seen of Michelle Obama - I sort of imagine this is the relationship she had Barack have (this is all pure speculation, obviously).

Michelle is crazy intelligent - Princeton undergrad, Harvard Law, top law firm job (I don't claim to be even close to as intelligent as she is, but I do think I am fairly smart). She has been successful in her career and probably could be as successful as her husband in politics, but when asked what her priorities will be as first lady, she has repeatedly said her main job is "Mom in Chief". I imagine she is proud of her husband's success but jealous in no way. She has her own work to do and doesn't really need a role in his administration to use her talents. I think she will be a very different first lady than Hillary was. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE Hillary - and if a first lady wants that kind of involvement, more power to her! I just can't really relate to the competitiveness that must exist in the Clinton's relationship. I think Michelle Obama is a great example of an intelligent, ambitious woman who still wants her family to be priority #1.

On the passing of the gay marriage propositions:

I noted in my Presidential Endorsement post last week that I am a huge proponent of gay marriage so you can imagine I am pretty disappointed by the fact that all the propositions to ban gay marriage passed. I don't know all the legal ramifications of these propositions passing and am not well versed enough on the intricacies of the issue to give any great legal argument, but I can tell you in general my thoughts on this issue. I truly believe the gay rights is the next major civil rights battle in this country. Two people, no matter what gender, should have the right to share their life together and have the same privileges under the law - the tax benefits of being married, the right to make health decisions for one another, the right to inherit an estate without paying the inheritance tax, etc. I can't imagine how this destroys the sanctity of marriage. I think Britney Spears' 3 day Vegas marriage and a divorce rate north of 50%, has taken care of that already. A constitutional ban on gay marriage being put up to popular vote seems preposterous to me. I have heard so much about the "will of the people" and how Americans don't want gays to marriage. Quite frankly, I DON'T CARE!!! The south didn't want to be integrated either. If we left that up to popular vote, I'd be drinking under a water fountain that says "Whites Only" even now. The government's job is to protect the rights of ALL people, including those on the margins of society and even when most Americans do not agree. I hope that in the next few years legislators step up and pass gay rights legislation even when its unpopular. Hopefully twenty years from now we are talking about how far we have come on the equality issue for homosexuals.

Well that pretty much sums up my thoughts on the election. Its been a crazy ride and I would be lying if I didn't admit I am having a little bit of withdrawal from the non-stop coverage. I am looking forward to inauguration. I wish I could be there. I made it to the 2001 inauguration of bozo the clown...there were so many protests and it didn't have a very friendly feeling. It was also ridiculously cold and they had shut down the subway and we literally walked over an hour from campus to the capitol and then back. I imagine this year's inauguration will be a little more joyful.

The blog can now return to the Joseph-centric website it was before...

Election Night Update #3 - No Words

I started this night off on a lite hearted note, but must now say that I am simply left speechless by tonight’s events. As a person that grew up in the south and having graduated from the first high school in the United States to bus minorities , my experiences told my heart-of-hearts that the U.S. was not capable of electing a minority president...not now and not today. I'm honored to call myself an American tonight. Once again we have hope - hope that not only are all people equals, but that my children will have a better future than I. For that, I'm forever grateful. Godspeed.

- RH

Election Night Update #2 - "I gottsa do my research..."

Because only dorks drink wine on election night
(what, you didn't have election parties in college?)

Even the cat likes politics...

Consulting with Momma C (and cat) about state of poll results...

"I'm Going to Throw Up Count": 5

"Me Likey the Results" Count:: 3

Election Night Update #1 - "I should eat, but I can't"

Anxiously awaiting early results
















Because one CNN isnt enough...














Independently verifying CNN results (on excel)...






















...and the pain begins!

















"I'm Going to Throw Up" Count: 5

"No doubt exists that all women are crazy; it's only a question of degree.”

Crystal mentioned several posts ago that I didn't know how to blog. To clarify, I certianly know how to blog (give me a little credit)...but I just never had anything of note to blog about. Well, that will all change tonight. While Crystal has explained her affinity for elections, she has not fully defined the person that she transforms into every four years. Words can not do it justice and, therefore, I will be posting pictures throughout the night documentating my lovely wife's transofrmation from a sane person into what can only be described as a political lunatic. In the mean time, I leave you with the following pictures illustrating her likely reaction if Obama wins and if he does not...

IF OBAMA WINS...

IF HE DOES NOT...

Stay tuned throughout the night for actual pictures.

- RH

Announcing my endorsement for President

Today, I would like to announce my endorsement for the President of the United States. My endorsement won’t make newspaper headlines and won't influence any voters, but I decided if Joe the Plumber can hold a press conference to announce his endorsement, I can certainly issue an official endorsement on my blog. Unlike Joe, I promise not to offer my opinion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict shortly after my endorsement. I’ll leave negotiating the intricacies of foreign diplomacy to the experts….something Joe should have considered doing as well.

Below is a list of the issues that were important to me in my decision as to who to endorse:

• I'm staunchly pro-choice. While I may never choose that option for myself, I do not believe I have the right to make that decision for every woman, in every circumstance.
• I’m pro-gay marriage. I see most arguments against gay marriage as religious ones and given my belief in separation of church and state, I see no reason why civil institutions should bar homosexuals from marrying and benefiting from the legal advantages of marriage. Churches can make those decisions for themselves. It’s my personal right to not belong to a church that teaches against homosexuality (and I never will!)– but churches have the right to teach any doctrine they please.
• I’m against the death penalty. There are too many inconsistencies and prejudices in our judicial system to believe that everyone being sentenced to death is guilty. If one person is wrongly sentenced to death, the cost is too high
• I believe in universal health care. As a family whose bread winner is self-employed, losing our health care scares me. I worry our family is one major health issue away from having our insurance revoked and spending all our savings to keep someone in our family healthy. We have done well saving money in the past and still I worry, so I can’t imagine being poor and having this worry.
• I’m ok with higher taxes for the wealthy. I believe in a society that takes care of those less fortunate among us. Sure, the welfare system has its pitfalls and you can find all sorts of examples of abuse of this system, but you can also find examples of people who were able to make it through tough times and turn their lives around with the help of the government. It would be nice if we could leave this work up to charities and neighbors taking care of one another, but research shows the wealthy give less (percentage wise) to charities than the middle class…so you can’t count on it. I guess I believe there are a lot of greedy people out there who would rather buy another luxury car than help out someone in need in their community. So bring on the higher taxes...I'll happily pay them for a candidate who I agree with on all other ideological matters.

And so with that being said, I am sure it will come as a great surprise that I am endorsing Barack Obama for President of the United States.

I sort of live for election day every four years. I am sort of obsessed with politics. Our TV is perpetually on CNN these days. I am not really sure where my interest in politics started or how I became a staunch Democrat but I have been as long as I remember. I remember being in 6th grade during the 1992 election and hoping so hard that Clinton would win. I vividly remember consulting my magic eight ball several times on election day and that night, I excitedly sat down with my homework, which was to color in the U.S. map based on the electoral results and being so excited when Clinton won.

When I was in the third grade, my parents took my brother and I on a trip to Washington, D.C. I LOVED it! We visited every monument, historic site and tourist destination in the city. Our hotel room overlooked the Washington monument and I would fall asleep every night looking at it. I went home with a children's book of the Presidents and wore out the pages, reading it over and over. I checked out a book about the First Ladies from my elementary school library at least 10 times before heading off to middle school. On this trip, we visited the Georgetown University campus and at age 8 I declared that is where I would be going to college. I wore my Georgetown sweatshirt until I couldn't fit into it anymore and cheered on the Hoya basketball team from that day forward. Ten years later, there I was checking into my dorm at Georgetown University. To say Georgetown is a political school is an understatement. Being there for 4 years only heightened my love of politics. And here I am today, watching CNN all day, constantly online looking at the latest polling and hoping and praying this election turns out the way I would like it to.

I already did my part. We voted early on Friday. We had heard lines were running around an hour long, so we got in line about 2 hours before Joseph's normal nap time. The poll workers told us it was about an hour and 15 minutes from the end of the line.

This is Joseph's face as he sees how freaking long the line is!

We waited, we waited and we waited some more. At the one hour mark we weren't even close to being inside the building (where the line continued to snake along before actually making it to the booths). Here is the last picture before we actually got inside.

We're looking a little bored, boys!

At 3:00 we hit Joseph's nap time but we were inside the building and about 20 minutes away from voting. There was no turning back at that point. Joseph was fussy - so Rich walked around and around and around with him. Around 3:30 we finally voted! Two votes cast for Obama. In fact, we voted straight Democratic tickets (well except Rich voted Republican for Lt. Governor because he went to high school with the Republican candidate's daughter and thinks he is good guy). We were way past nap time by the time we left. Joseph fell asleep in the car on the way home...tired by his first experience with Democracy.

This was not Joseph's first trip to the polls, a few days before he was born, we took him to vote in the Democratic primary. Granted, he was inside my belly...but that counts!

This is my third time casting a vote for President. I've never known the feeling of seeing the candidate I support win. I'm hoping the third time is the charm. Either way, Tuesday night will be a late night.

Joseph's First Autumn!

This time of year provides a lot of opportunities to take cute pictures of Joseph and basically make him do ridiculous things for our entertainment. We took full advantage of every opportunity to do autumn themed events and got lots of pictures to prove it.

Last weekend my mom was in town and we visited the pumpkin patch to pick out the most perfect pumpkins to decorate our front porch. We put Joseph in the middle of the pumpkins and tried to get a few pictures. He mostly wanted to suck on the pumpkins and the picture below is one of the few we could get where he would actually look at us. Being a typical mom, I worried the whole time that some massive pumpkin was going to fall on top of him.

My grandmother sent him a really cute pumpkin outfit. She seriously went to every WalMart in the Albany, NY area in order to find one in his size. We took several walks in the chilly fall weather in the last week and dressed him in his pumpkin suit to stay warm.

At this time last year, I was just entering the second trimester of my pregnancy and I remember seeing pictures of one of my best friend Erin's little boy (also named Joseph) who was 5 months of the time. His crazy parents had hollowed out a pumpkin, cut holes for his legs in it and stuck him inside. I loved it and decided in a year we would be doing the same thing with our little one. So here is our Joseph in his pumpkin. He tolerated it for a few minutes but mostly enjoyed attempting to eat the pumpkin.

On Tuesdays, Joseph & I go to a Music Together class for infants. There are about 10 babies ages 4 months to 10 months and we dance around and play instruments for 45 minutes. Mostly the moms sing and play instruments while the babies put the instruments in their mouth. It's a nice break from our regular routine and it wears Joseph out. He promptly falls asleep on the drive home (we usually don't make it out of the parking lot before he's asleep) and takes at least a 2 hour nap afterwards. This week the babies were invited to dress up so we put on his monkey outfit and headed to Music Together...

Last night was the big conclusion to the autumn events...Halloween. We had big plans to go and "trick or treat" at a bunch of friends houses, but it didn't quite work out. We ended up spending 2 hours in line waiting to vote (more on that to come in a future post) and Joseph's nap schedule got totally messed up. He ended up being cranky in the evening. We made it to one friend's house before we called it quits and just walked him up and down our street, visiting some neighbors.

We did make it to one friend's house, a former co-worker of Rich's who has three children. This couple seriously hit the jackpot in the cute kid lottery.

For left to right...Chris (the Dad) with Charlotte Reid (a doggy), Neely (a peacock), Wilson (a Jedi knight) and Joseph & I. Joseph took an immediate interest in Wilson's light sabre. Neely is the most outgoing child you will ever meet...she will talk your ear off. We had seen them when I was 7 or 8 months pregnant and she had spent a good long while patting my tummy and "petting the baby". When Rich reminded her of that incident, something clicked and she started laughing and jumping up and down pointing to Joseph saying "that was him in the belly". Too cute!!!

I would like to note that while we were visiting Joseph decided to have not one, but two, blowouts in his diaper. It is not easy to change a baby's completely full diaper in a car when that baby has a monkey costume on. This did not help his level of fussiness and we headed home.

We visited with neighbors including Miss. Kay, who refers to Joseph as "her boyfriend".

We also visited Caroline, Joseph's future girlfriend (he likes older women - she's two!), who was dressed as Raggedy Anne.

Our friends Anne & Burr, who have no children, also came over later in the evening with wine! They spent a little time playing with Joseph but we put him to bed and enjoyed spending time with our friends. They kept talking about the new bars and restaurants that had opened downtown and Rich and I felt totally lame! We love our new life as parents and early bedtimes and wouldn't trade it for anything, but sometimes we are reminded of our old life before Joseph and it seems so foreign to us.

Overall, Joseph's first fall was a complete success! Now we move on to Thanksgiving and Christmas...