A Walk In the Park

Hello everyone!
President Bush used one of his many unrestricted powers to do some good last week (wait, did I just type that?): He gave every Federal employee a day off on Friday. Unfortunately, I didn't think I qualified, as I was already scheduled off. However, thanks to the diligence of our time-and-attendance secretary, I got to leave early today to make up for that presidential privilege. So, here are the results: A new blog entry!!!

Here are a few pictures of a trip to the park we took with Shea Sunday afternoon. It was warm (60 deg.), but VERY wiiindy. Shea had a blast chasing after doggies - his favorite past time. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

In other news, Jess and I should be getting our new TV today - our Christmas present to ourselves. We got the smaller one (32") to maximize the decoration potential should we decide to either put it on the TV stand or hang it on the wall. We'll send pictures either way.

We hope you all enjoy your New Years! Have fun!
Love,
Doug, Jess, and Shea

Okay, where are the doggies at? Let me at 'em!

There's one!

That's not a doggie mama, that's a leaf!

"Well you can tell by the way I use my walk, I'm a woman's man: no time to talk."

See, I'm a woman's man: No time to talk!

Okay, so I like gnomes too!

HA! I got him!

Holidays with Shea

Hello everyone!
We hope you all had a Merry Chrismas! Here are some pictures of our Christmas. We spent the day at home, playing with toys and reading books. Shea seemed to prefer the nubby ball we bought him ($3) rather than the high-tech learning toys he also got. That's okay though, he enjoyed the day.

Shea continues to absolutely amaze us every day. He seems to learn a new word every day, sometimes even 2 or more a day. So far, I think Jess and I have counted a total of 31 or 32 words that he says that are definitive and we can understand. We're working on enunciation, but we get the message. If he keeps this pace up, he'll be smarter than us in no time! I'm going to work on getting some new video up soon.

We wanted to apologize for the delay in getting you all our Christmas cards. We just them sent out Tuesday. This year's holiday theme: Procrastination. We'll do better next year.
Love,
Doug, Jess, and Shea

Mama, hurry up and get to my favorite page...I want to hear about Mr. Gump's wump!

A 7 hump Wump! Oooo!

Ah ha! I got the red ball!

I wanna be part of the Blue Man Group when I grow up...if only my mouth was bigger.

I GOT A BALL!!! Who cares about the other presents. I don't even care that they put this bow on my head.

Yeah, I've been naughty!

Faces of Shea

Hey guys,
Here are some more pics of Shea while he's taking an extended nap. Hope you like them. Thanks to Mark, I now have some music to put as background for some older video clips. Hopefully, I'll get time to edit and post them soon, but please be patient. It's tough finding the time these days. Most of you will see some of these again shortly as we send out holiday cards. We're a little late though, sorry!
Love,
Doug, Jess, and Shea

Don't I look cute in this hat, Mama?

I do look remarkably cute, I do say!

Yeah, I'm a cutie!

FISH FACE!!!

Yeah, I pick my nose. SO WHAT?

I love this picture. So innocent!

Short Man Walking

Hey everybody,
I've been trying to edit and upload some videos so you can enjoy Shea as he grows. I've got a quick clip or two of him walking around the house. He gets better every day, taking more independent steps as he gains his confidence. I hope you enjoy!
Love,
Doug, Jess, and Shea

Here he is taking the train for a walk.

Here he is walking all by himself.

The Great Pumpkin Shea

Hello again!
Thanks to growth spurts causing Shea to take 2 hour naps, I have the time to post some pics. Three posts in one day should get me through another few months of slackerness!

Every year, friends of ours host a pumpkin-carving party. One year, I carved the Friendship, last year I went generic and carved from a pattern, but this year I was inspired and tried to carve an image of Shea. Let me know if you think I've captured his essence! As soon as someone sends me one of the pumpkins lit, I'll post it on the blog, so stay tuned for more.
Love,
Doug, Jess, and The Great Pumpkin (aka, Shea)

"What is this trickery? Who's mocking me with this carving?"

"That's not a bad likeness. Handsome devil!"

"I think I like being carved into a pumpkin.""OK, it is pretty funny!"
"Yeah, I like him."
"Hi, it's me. No, not the pumpkin, the little boy!"
"Fine then, I'll just play around if you're going to keep taking pictures."
"OK, that's enough. You can stop taking pictures any day now."

Ambushed by TMZ

Hey everyone,
Here are a few more pictures of Shea. I tried to take some candid shots of us playing around, but apparently, he thought I was a photographer from TMZ (celebrity paparatzi group) and reacted like every celebrity should - by assaulting the cameraman (me). Enjoy!
Love,
Doug, Jess, and Shea

First, he was amused, mockingly displaying an angry face.

Things turned ugly when I didn't back off and stop taking pictures.

That's when he came after me, stole my camera, threw it to the floor, and head-butted me.

Hats and Such

Hey everybody,
Here's your next installment of the hat game. Shea has many hats, some he likes, some he doesn't like. In the last posting, Shea donned his pirate hat and explored the realm of pirate captain. This week, he explores what it's like to be a viking and a gnome. More to come...
Love,
Doug, Jess, and Shea

Shea tried on the viking helmet, but didn't like the horns and quickly ripped them off.
Somehow, I doubt this Norman invader would frighten anyone, even the English.

Next, Shea tried his hand at being a gnome. It seems to fit well with his personality, don't you think?

Next came the good ole' hoodie. He seemed to really like this one.
We're on top of the gondola on Cannon Mountain in NH.

More pics of a daytrip to the White Mountains with Lynn and Tobey.

Here's a trip to the orchard and it's petting zoo.
"Hey, what do you mean the pig bites? The pig in my animal book is harmless!"

"That's not a goat, MaMa. A goat is small and printed on cardboard in my book!"

Inspiration

Hey guys,
After seeing the incredible transformation of Sarah and Ian's dining room once again this weekend, I was inspired to follow through on finishing up ideas we've had for the living room. Some of you know that I bought some 3-D home remodeling software for the computer earlier this summer. I basically drew the entire house to scale so that we could play around with walls, furniture, fixtures, etc. Well, after a long hiatus, I started playing around again to put my thoughts onto the screen. Here are the results. I've been hesitant to pursue this idea because anchoring the shelving unit into the masonry walls didn't appeal to me all that much. However, we think it looks so good we should give it a try. Let us know what you think of this idea. Everything is to scale, so it should look exactly like this if everything works out. I'll probably begin working on this after I finish building the playroom in the basement this winter.
Love,
Doug, Jess, and Shea

This is one of the original orientations for the living room. The cross shelf would be above the tapestry, but I couldn't get it to work in the program.

Here's the view of the other side of the room. Don't mind the generic coffee table, as I intend to build a custom one to match the dining room table.

Promoted to Captain

Hello again!
Just a few weeks ago, Shea was running around the house plundering and looking for booty as an ordinary seaman. Since then, he has been promoted to pirate captain! Here are some great pictures of Shea in his halloween costume at the Salem Halloween parade last night. I hope you enjoy!
Love,
Doug, Jess, and Captain Shea

Proud and smiling, Shea dons his Pirate Captain's hat well!
Look at the size of that friggin' hat!

Ready to conquer opposing pirates, Captain Shea prepares to set sail (er, roll his stroller) toward fame and fortune!

Blackbeard used to burn cannon fuses in his hair to intimidate other pirates.
Captain Shea does so by demonstrating his tolerance for pain and his fondness for manflesh by eating his own fingers!

Shea rescues the fair maiden from certain death at the hands of other pirates!

Movin' On Up...

Hey guys,
Sorry it's been so long between posts. I wanted to share with you where I'll be for the next 25 years - my new office. We just got to tour it yesterday and it is...SWEET!!! For some reason, my office is right next to the Regional Administrator's corner office, so I've got the best views of all the other minions in the building. I might just have to rent out my office when I'm away. So, enjoy these pictures. "I'm movin' on up (movin' on up) to the East Side!!!" I have no idea what I did to deserve this, but I'm taking it smiling!

I'll be posting some pictures of Shea in one minute!
Love,
Doug, Jess, and Shea

My office layout. The window faces directly east, so I'll be getting some great sunrises over the ocean once I move in!

This is the view directly out of my window facing east towards Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester.

This is the view of Gloucester Harbor if you look to the right out of my window.