Five Months

At five months, you are starting to become very playful and interactive.

Gung Gung and Po Po were leaving the morning of your 5-month birthday, after a short visit.  They love to take cell phone pictures of you!

Your UltraSaucer is your favorite place to pass the time.

Ashley at two weeks

In continuing to go through the photos on our hard drive, I came across a little photo shoot that Nancy did of Ashley right at two weeks of age.

Her eyes hadn't really turned brown yet.

Taking off her clothes for this shoot really woke her up, but 18 minutes later she was sound asleep.

Grandma knit this hat for her.  A little too big at the time!

Taking apart a Medela Pump in Style

There is a link on your right to a great post from the user "Robb" on Democratic Underground, showing how to disassemble and sterilize a Medela Pump in Style.  Well, as I was going through old photos tonight I came across a few of Nancy following the instructions in that post!  This was back on April 26th-- yes, Nancy was taking apart and re-assembling this thing despite having a week-and-a-half-old baby at home-- and I'm happy to report that the used pump we bought is still functioning well.

Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Lens

Most of the photos of Ashley that we post are taken with a Nikon D5000 and a Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Lens.  (An exception is our trip to Maine-- those photos were taken with a little Canon point & shoot.)  We are beginner photographers, and a lot of our photos show this.  In particular, some of our posted photos are a little blurry as they were handheld shots at pretty slow shutter speeds (sometimes 1/10 or slower).  The Nikon 35mm is Nikon's cheapest fast lens that has a built-in autofocus motor, and does give us pretty sharp results if we are willing to let our ISO creep up a little in low light.

I've been going through some old photos tonight, and I found a bunch that I took the day before Ashley was born.  I had been playing with the camera, trying to learn how to use it properly, in preparation for the big day.  A series of photos at different f-stops shows that the lens is pretty soft, though certainly usable, at f/1.8, but sharpens up nicely at f/2.8 and beyond.  More interestingly (for a beginner photographer) they illustrate the depth of field at 35mm from a few feet away at different f-stops.

f/1.8, 1/1000s (these are all handheld so please don't mistake these for a scientific test)

f/2.8, 1/500s

f/5.6, 1/125s

f/11, 1/40s

f/22, 1/13s

A couple of newborn photos

It's been a busy 21(!) weeks since Ashley was born.  I started going back through our photos of her tonight.  It is so hard to believe how small, and well, newborn she looked.

These two photos were taken on April 23rd, when Ashley was 8 days old:

She doesn't even fill up the whole breastfeeding pillow.

She would always wiggle at least one arm out of her swaddle, even as a little one.

Easily Entertained

Babies are fun!

Ashley likes...

Visiting other babies:

and looking out the window:

4 Months Old!

 This month you:

• have lots to say.  And mommy & daddy love to listen to you tell us all your stories
• sleep on your tummy all the time
• grab toys, your feet, mommy's hair, books, and anything else you can get your little hands on
• have started laughing.  It is the most wonderful sound to hear.

Portland, ME

At the last minute we decided to head off to Portland, Maine for a quick getaway.  Here are some of the things we saw/did:

Walked along the funny rocks that look like driftwood at Two Lights in Cape Elizabeth after enjoying a delicious dinner at The Lobster Shack

Hiked up Bradbury Mountain

Enjoyed the amazing "Throwdown Crabcakes" at The Lobster Dock in Boothbay Harbor.  The sangria wasn't shabby either!

Checked out the Portland Headlight

3 Months Old!

To celebrate your 3-month birthday we took you on a little getaway to Portland, Maine to enjoy some lighthouses, lobsters & LL Bean!

At 3 months you:

• smile like crazy
• like to flip over onto your side to fall asleep
• are sometimes on your tummy when mommy comes to see you in the morning :o
• suck on your fingers alot now, which makes it harder for mommy & daddy to figure out if you're hungry or not...
• are mommy's little "squirmy wormy" :)

Ashley's First: Swim

Lucky little Ashley had her very first swimming experience in the warm wonderful ocean waters of Turks & Caicos.  She seemed to really enjoy swimming.  Many times she actually fell asleep while we were in the water!

Ashley's First: Hotel Stay

At the Sheraton attached to Toronto's Pearson Airport:

4 Generations

Ashley is the first grandchild for both of our families.  She is also lucky enough to have both a maternal and paternal great-grandfather.  I think it's pretty special to see 4 generations of a family together.

4 Generations of Christopher's Family:

4 Generations of Nancy's Family:

Ashley's First: Flight

It was a 10:55pm flight from Toronto to Calgary.  Since Ashley normally sleeps at this time, she just slept the whole way while mommy watched movies :)

Playdates

At this age playdates often look like this:

and this:

Babies are so much fun!

Ashley's First: Dim Sum Lunch

2 Months Old!

Happy 2-Month Birthday!  I love you twice as much as I did last month.  In actuality, probably way more :)

You certainly have changed alot over the past month:

• mommy & daddy love to see your more frequent smiles and hear your coos.  After we hear you coo we often coo back and say "do it, do it" to try and get you to do more because we love hearing them so much
• diaper changes are actually not that bad anymore and sometimes you'll even smile during them!
• wet/dirty diapers and clothes that go on over your head don't seem to bother you as much these days

Red Egg & Ginger Party

To celebrate Ashley's 1-month birthday my parents hosted a Red Egg & Ginger party at their house.  It turned out great!  It was an open house style event on a Sunday afternoon, which worked well since there were lots of little kids in attendance and it didn't conflict with the popular June wedding season.  Around 100 people showed up! 

Ashley loved meeting everyone.  She was a perfect angel the whole time (no spit up or diaper explosions thank goodness!).  Everyone took turns holding her and she didn't cry at all - even when my mom cut a lock of her hair and rolled the red egg over her face!  I am so proud of my little girl.  I loved showing her off :)

Ashley's First: Passport Photo

In preparation for upcoming travels, we needed to get our little American baby a US passport!

Taking a passport photo of a newborn baby certainly presents some challenges.  Instead of torturing some poor photographer, I thought it would be easier to take them at home.  It certainly was an exercise in patience!

Here are some of our outtakes:

Visit from Grandpa and Grandma