He's here!!! Isaac Michael Grove, born May 1st, 8 lbs 11 oz, 22 in

The boy at age -6 weeks.

Holiday Horns

When my Dad and I get together, we try to make a point to a play our horns. Cecilia captured a couple of our Christmas Day duets. While this post is primarily for my Dad to enjoy, anyone else is welcome to subject themselves to it as well.

Its A Boy!

Cecilia and I went for our second ultrasound today. While I will not be displaying the proof here, it was made evident that we are, in fact, having a boy. More importantly, the nurse and the doctor told us that, by all indications, our son is very healthy, and developing exactly as he should be. In fact, when the nurse pointed out, after taking the appropriate measurements, that our baby's brain is normal, I informed her that we are not going for "normal". She quickly conceded that she had made a mistake-- our baby, as it turns out, appears to be extraordinary in every way possible-- just as I expected.

Photographs

Due to a serious lack of photos thus far, I decided to throw in a bit of a haphazard timeline of photos from about 8 months ago until sometime close to the present. In the event a complete stranger or someone we have lost touch with is looking at this blog, these photos should get you basically caught up with where we are at in life-- I stress basically.

signing our marriage license

husband and wife

honeymooning in Costa Rica

living in Philadelphia

preparing for our first baby

Thanksgiving

While we missed being back in Indiana for Thanksgiving, Cecilia and I were thrilled to have Martha & Jesse in town from the Wednesday before Thanksgiving through the following Sunday. For those of you who don't know who Martha & Jesse are, Martha is Cecilia's younger sister. Martha and Jesse got married a couple months after my wife and I; and, it just so happens that their first child is scheduled to be born about a month after ours. So, to say that we have a couple things in common may be a bit of an understatement. Anyhow, we had a great time. A few highlights, for me anyway, would be the fires Jesse and I had in the back yard nearly every night after our pregnant wives went to bed (There is almost nothing better than sitting around a fire and sharing good conversation with someone you really like to share time with), the Thanksgiving meal the four of us shared at Maggiano's (Despite being at a restaurant instead of our mother's, aunt's or grandmother's house, this was a terrific meal), and the Thanksgiving Day Parade in Philly (not Macy's, but a pretty impressive parade). It was really good to spend the holiday with Mart and Jesse-- we will be looking forward to their next visit.

Hyde Porch

After an already long week of traveling, seeing family, dealing with sickness, and trying to cram a week's worth of work into two days, I drove up to Hyde Park, NY where Cecilia and her parents had already arrived at Mrs. O's (my mother-in-law) sister's and mother's homes.  I got to meet Cecilia's grandmother for the first time, as well as her uncle and cousin, along with seeing three other cousins and her aunt, whom I already know.  I also got to visit the famed Hyde porch and stay in Cecilia's grandmother's house.  This is a place my wife spent a lot of time as a child, and has many fond memories. Cecilia was very excited to see her family; and, we had a great time with them.  Before we headed home, we stopped in Poughkeepsie, right next to Hyde Park, and had dinner with my brother and his wife-- this was also great.