day 3 of this amazing adventure.

mitchell is doing really well. already latching, passed the hearing test, peed on dad, and is going all the things a little fella should do, including crying to let us know he’s hungry/angry/lonely/bored. the trick is figuring out which one is which, but we’re learning and, being my boy, he’s (not really) patient. kerri is doing an amazing job, and i’m really lucky to have such a natural mother as my wife, otherwise i would be more lost than i already feel! the hospital, doctors, nurse, and other staff are all amazing, and the whole experience (even with all the scary stuff going on in hospitals with the flu and everything) has been so supportive that it’s allowed us to work our way in to this life transition. i can’t wait to go home so that our friends and family can spend some time with him (as long as they all have their flu shots!) and to dress him up in his halloween outfits (all 10 of them…that’s mom, not me). pictures for sure to follow!

this is right before we got scolded for violating the 2 visitor rule in the hospital. the 6 people on the left were all waiting to see him (and that wasn’t even everyone that was there)…

he’s a little past his due date, but i think he’s just giving them time to get their season on track…

the one good thing about junior not being here yet is that it gives me more opportunities to work with the maternity shots. sure, that’s great for me. for kerri, um, not so much. actually, we’re both pretty anxious at this point. we’re a few days past his due date, and there are no signs that he is even really thinking about coming out to meet us.

in any case, here is another batch of shots from last week!

last weekend was out one year anniversary. we celebrated with dinner at the restaurant that catered our wedding, and sunday kerri had a surprise for me.

i had no idea what it was. i knew we were going up to estes park, and that we had to get up there early, which meant we had to get up REALLY early. out the door before 6 with the camera gear, swing by starbucks for the drive, and on the road. we get to estes around 8, and park at  the visitor center, where the surprise is revealed.  a morning with landscape photographer and guide james frank.

it was an amazing time. we went in to rocky mountain national park, starting off at the lake where i proposed to kerri. we talked photography, landscape composition, where to shoot, when to shoot. of course, i left the house without any polarizers, which is requirement #3 in the landscape photography world, but made the most of it and fortunately james shoots nikon so i borrowed one of his lenses since we didn’t have any matching filter sizes.

here are a few shots we got out of the trip.

another unbelievably thoughtful gift. i’m not quite sure how she keeps outdoing herself, but she does!