Things hoped for

We are so glad to be a family of three! In case anyone reads this who hasn't heard (T in Baltimore, have I lost you in my irregular posting?), Baby H's arrival into the world was awesomely smooth. SHE (!!!!!) did great, and is now progressing in normal 8-week-old style. (Basically, she cries a lot, sleeps a lot, and eats a lot. But she's really cute, and we'll go through a lot to see her smile during her 20 happy minutes a day.)

During my time in the hospital (and even before), I dreamed of taking H to the apple orchard/farm/fall festival place with E this October. I figured even if we just took a picture of a screaming baby with a pumpkin, it would be a success. Even better- we had a happy and well rested baby (and parents as well rested as we get these days). We overdid it a bit- we were still paying the price two days later of spending six hours that evening trying to get an overtired baby to stay asleep- but it was a beautiful, picture-perfect time.

We walked in the orchard:

and even found a few left over for H to "pick:"

My favorite spot:

E getting the best apple:

We had a picnic lunch, but there aren't pictures of that- we all ate, even baby H, so there weren't any spare hands for the camera. It was peanut butter and jelly, in case anyone was thinking we actually live a story-book life.

We made baby H take advantage of the photo ops:

(I like the grumpy bunny =)

And even walked down to the pumpkin patch. It was overrated, but we got this picture:

This was the conclusion we were looking for all those long weeks. It feels great.