A Night Apart

On September 28th, more than ten months after DM graced our lives, Matt and I finally mustered up the courage to spend a night away from him. We drafted a wordy how-to list on DM, kissed him, and made the short drive South to the picturesque town of Hastings. Matt and I spent the night at the historic Rosewood Inn and it was a fun and relaxing night. We are both extremely grateful to Erin and Carole for showering our boy with TLC and for giving us a night of uninterrupted sleep after some 300 uneasy nights. It was wonderful(!) but we were glad to love up our little one in the morning.

Hanging in Ezie's Kitchen

We spent this morning in fun, relaxing fashion just hanging out with dear friends in their kitchen. Christa and I drank tea and caught up, Ezra strummed on his guitar and generously shared his toys (carefully selecting baby friendly ones for DM), and Desie explored his surroundings along with his thoughtfully selected toys. A lovely morning, thanks C and E!

Warm Weather Visitor

We had a visit from a dear friend of Grandma Carole's today. Diana Bergen came all the way from Tucson, AZ to spend some time with DM (ok, in the interest of full disclosure she also attended a wedding) and DM greeted her warmly. They practiced his clapping, tapped out a tune in his tummy and looked at pictures of Matt as a baby. Great to see you, Diana!

Spoonman at 8 months

Our little guy turned 8 months old yesterday! He's looking more and more like a "kid" than a "baby" every single day.  He's taken a particular affinity to spoons, so we thought it would be appropriate to have him hold a spoon as his first prop in a monthly picture.

Garage Sale Saturday

With Matt off playing golf this morning, DM and I took the opportunity to hit a couple garage sales. We browsed for almost an hour and finally came upon this little gem. Well worth our one buck I think.

Happy Seven Month Birthday to my Tongue (plus Caffrey) and a busy week

A few days ago DM began to use his tongue to garner some laughs.  He stuck it out once and I laughed audibly.  Since then the tongue creeps out and elicits variations on that reaction  Oh, the EXCITEMENT! 

For a few days now, every other smile has been accompanied by a long, happy tongue/smile much like the one above.  

Desmond has been especially cheerful this week.  Maybe it's because we had a very social week (he seems to be an extrovert).  On Monday, he hung out with Grandma Carole, Wednesday brought us a walk with one of our favorite friends, Emily, plus a trip to Rochester to visit Uncle Darrin (and Grandpa Gary - surprise!) and Papa who has been working down there for a few weeks. On Thursday we had lunch at the Midtown Global Market with Erin and Clara from our ECFE class, a fun and productive visit with Grandma Jacqui and Grandpa Gary (finally finished a sewing project), a quick stop at the Whelan house along with a stop at Grandma Carole's and Grandpa Jim's house, and on Friday we enjoyed our usual Friday Fun Night with Kris and Colin Mitchell.  A lot of fun and social time this week.  

Summer is so great!

Hoppy Easter - April 8, 2012

We celebrated our first Easter with DM.

It was a beautiful day. We took our traditional Sunday stroll to Starbucks and followed that up with some silliness. Thanks to Grandma Carole for the bunny ears. They gave us a few good chuckles. Caffrey insisted he be part of the fun and games. And who are we to deny him? You're welcome Caffrey

For lunch, we drove to the east side of Lake Harriet and shared a meal with Auntie Erin, Uncle Justin, their lovely friend Christine and her two charming daughters. There was even an Easter egg hunt courtesy of the Reazter Bunny! DM had a great time watching the little girls hunt for eggs, wore himself out, needed a nap and, no doubt, dreamed of colorful eggs.

Playing the Ponies

Today was a cool, rainy day. It would have been a good day to stay home, stoke the fire, play on the rug and have a long nap. We did none of these things.

Instead, we piled into the car and headed to Shakopee to watch the horse races. It's become a tradition for Team Hynes to visit Cantebury Downs on Memorial Day Weekend. And today Matt and I were glad to have DM with us. Better than that, he liked it.

We saw the usual sights: the paddock, the valets, the lines at the betting kiosks, and the regulars pouring over their programs. There were some unique events this year though: the rain and all the children we noticed. I was afraid DM would be the only babe in arms but not so. Little ones were all over the place. And DM must have been good luck because we left with some winnings. Thanks Desmond!

In the first picture, that's the "place" (Matt's horse) and the "show" (my
horse) in race #6 (Caffrey's favorite number).

DM in Jordan and Albert Lea

On the last day of March, Team Hynes drove to Jordan (the town, not the country) to see Grandpa Gary being recognized by Catholic United Financial for his contributions. Congrats, Dad! In addition to seeing his grandparents, DM met his (great) Aunts Eiko and Chris and (great) Uncles Jim, Andy and Bob. DM was greeted with smiles all around and was very pleased to meet these fine folks.

A couple days later, DM and I drove to Albert Lea with Grandma Jacqui and Grandpa Gary to visit his (great) Aunt Mary who has been under the weather. We went to Mary's favorite restaurant, Dairy Queen (she's got good taste!) and took a car tour of the town where Mary and Grandpa Gary grew up. It was an absolutely beautiful day - sunny, warm and breezy - and very nice to spend time with Mary.

6 months!

We've been criminally behind on posting pictures/videos/updates to the blog, so it may shock you to see Desmond's 6 month picture on his actual half-birthday!  Here are a couple from this morning, including one with little D in his gangster lean and a shot of the little guy eating his first real food, an avocado!

 

Farewell Logan Ave

Desmond won't have any memories of his brief time on Logan Avenue, but the most important event in all of our lives took place on that street, in the bedroom at 5317, to be exact - DM was born in there. On March 19, we finished packing and said farewell to Logan Ave. We had help from our friends and family (thanks Shevlins, Erin and Carole, Jacqui and Gary) and, of course, the movers were helpful (when they weren't breaking our desk or lawn mower). The move was exhausting, as you can see, but we made it through the tough parts and managed to do it with smiles and a few laughs.

We'll miss you 5317, our garden and, most of all, the friends we made in the neighborhood.