Life with Simon Peter

Life continues with Peter. It has been a great week or so. Here are some more photos of the "early days" as a family:

Grandma and Grandpa Balog came down for some time with the little guy on Sunday (our 1st Anniversary!) Here's grandma with Peter.

Grandma and Momma loving on that little guy. He gets kissed a lot.

I mentioned last time that Grandpa B lacks no excitement for grandchildren. This is what I mean. I love it.

When our friend Christi first texted "congrats" to us last week, she asked us how much hair he had - she is a hair stylist and got straight to the important questions :) As far as we can tell, the full locks must be from Megan's side, as my parents say I did not have notable hair until I was almost 2! In this photo, Grandpa B took some liberty in temporarily shaping the sleeping babe's hair style.

The grandparents - getting ready to drive back home.

Most people who know us know that Megan can really cook. So, I have had a blast getting to be the cook for the last week. I cook every meal. Well, except for the meals that are brought to us nearly every day by our great family and friends. (We are really blessed in those regards). On Monday, however, I got to cook dinner. I started us off with a lemon coriander consomme with basil garnish. I was so proud of my work. Megan said it was quite good in her opinion (which is worth more than mine because when I am proud of my cooking, I am bound to exuberantly like it!). The funny thing about the consomme is that it was the water I had drained off the pasta and green beans I was cooking. Even once I told Megs that, she still said it was tasty :)

Tuesday night's dinner was really great. Jay and Cassandra brought over homemade lasagna. That really hit the spot. Jay and I split a really good beer. We had french bread, hand-picked string beans, and a peach blackberry pie that Natalie made. We sure had it made. Jay and Cassandra showed us awesome photos from their recent Western vacation. Very cool. This photo was the sunset after dinner and before the photos, decaf, and pie.

Not only are we getting faster at diaper changes, but we are also getting more brave with venturing out into the real world with our little strong man. This morning we went to the new Scioto Audubon Metro Park. It's downtown. It's pretty. It has a climbing wall, ducks, and a place to fish. We had a nice time. Here is Peter before we bravely attempt to put him into the Moby Wrap (a.k.a. long confusing piece of fabric that is supposed to safely support our precious child . . .)

Native wildflowers. I love the meadow feeling. Often prefer it to woods.

At this point, he is hungry. Nowadays, parents like us "know better" about all sorts of things - like pacifiers. Ha! So, because we don't carry one of those (yet), Megan gave him her pinky finger. Her poor finger was prune-like by the end. Note the fancy Moby wrap. Seems to work great, but I still love poking fun at it. Photographer's Note: I have been loving pushing some of my portrait processing past my normal comfort zone. This photo of Megs is a good example. I ended up really landing on a look that I loved. Fun to experiment.

My industrial photograph for the day - or more like the year for me. Perhaps this could inspire a Drew Jones painting?

Megan and I sat on the porch tonight and talked. It was great. Sometimes no agenda is needed, just time. We were not only enjoying conversation, but the sky was also beautiful.

The pre-sunset sky from our back porch.

Megan had a vision for our back porch to be a real living space. She made it happen and I am glad she did; it is great. I go out there in the morning sometimes and drink amazing coffee that our friend Matt roasts and read my bible. Cannot be better. Part of what makes the porch space so inviting this time of year is the impressive vegetable garden Megan has planted and tended. Here are some eggplant blossoms.

Megan's hanging fuchsia. It has bloomed for about 3 months.

Tomatoes are coming along quite well too.

The sunset was so intensely colorful that it can almost look un-natural. I tend to prefer the more pastel sunset tones, so I captured this more subtle scene on the peripheral of the night sky's main event.

Here is how colorful the main sunset was. Really neat.

Final light from our back porch. A wonderful end to the day.

Thanks for looking! More to come. We have really appreciated sharing this joy with everyone, and all the kind, supportive, and encouraging words we have received.