Mike & Erin Featherstone: 10/1/10

Eric and Courtney came out to visit two months ago. Courtney put up a few posts on her fabulous blog about the trip so I thought I would copy them and paste them here. I think the quality of the photos are better on her blog.

Featherstone Pics - Part 1 of 3 (written by Courtney)

Thursday, September 16, 2010. As promised, here are the Featherstone photos. There are about 90 of them but I'm just showing you the best. Sorry there are so many. They are just *that* good. Plus, the Featherstones are moving to Kuala Lumpur (for Mike's job - congrats, Mike!) soon so I'm sure that Erin won't get a chance to put these up on her blog (feel free to link to here, Erin).

So Andrew is 23 months in these photos. Eric and I were trying to decide whether Andrew's golden-locks were more "Queen West Hipster" (for 'hipster' definition, click here) or "Abercrombie and Fitch model." In this case, where he's rocking out what I can only assume is a vintage, silk-screened dino-shirt, he's channeling his inner-Hipster. We see A LOT of them in our area of Toronto, so I like to think that I could spot them a mile away. PS - those highlights in his hair are totally natural, no need to be jealous:

I can't believe how much Andrew has grown! This is what he looked like the last time that we saw them back in July (aha! Now I know where all my time went before Stampede; I knew that I was super busy from mid-June until now but I couldn't remember what had us running around before Stampede. Eureka!). Bath time photos from this trip to compare to the ones back from July (PS - I took these ones, so proud):

We stopped off at this amazing Tex Mex place for take-out before getting to the Featherstones (they had taken us there during our previous visit to Baltimore and I was so amazed that I requested it for this meal). By the time we finally arrived (a little stop at Target - which then had us entering Baltimore at the height of rush hour - threw off our ETA), Mike was on a conference call with Asia so the 3 of us ate without him. It was worth the traffic to get my mixed-meat burritos!

When we were done, BF Deuce (Baby Feather the Second, or commonly known as Joseph), needed to be put down somewhere quiet. Since Mike was in the master bedroom on the phone, Erin asked Eric to move the bassinet from their bedroom into Andrew's, just a short distance down the hall. When Mike was done with his call, Andrew was ready for bed so Eric moved the bassinet back into the master.

During the first move of the bassinet, I'm pretty sure that Eric bumped each door frame with each of the legs and hit the hallway walls ever 6" inches... and that was without a baby inside. Does this seem like a good idea when BF Deuce is sleeping in peace and Eric looks like this???

Careful... careful... careful...

Victorious! Eric made it without incident.

Our first picture of Baby Joseph. Just like an angel:

Featherstone Pics - Part 2 of 3

(written by Courtney)

Friday, September 17, 2010. After a very long day for us, we got back to the Featherstones to find that Erin and Baby Joseph were still awake (BF2 is 1 month old in these photos). He was pretty tired, but just like Andrew 2 years before, he perked up when his entire field of vision was filled with Eric's face:

I have no idea what it is. Andrew would be fussing and kicking around, and from the first day that we met him (at 3 weeks... gasp! I was trying to look for a link to the pictures that we had from that visit, and I think that they were taken at a time before I attempted to post everything. Another thing to add to my list of to-dos...) he would stop and stare, enamored with Eric's face. So weird. So jealous.

So Joseph was tired and fussing a little too when we got back. As usual, Eric had the camera in hand and I was the one was supposed to make faces at him to make him smile. I think that I just agitated him more. We switched. Joseph went from not happy to this in one second:

Poor little guy. It was so late and he just couldn't get to sleep (probably because we interrupted his pre-bedtime snack and was still hungry, sorry Erin!). He's even got baby bags under his eyes:

Featherstone Pics - Part 3 of 3

(written by Courtney)

Saturday, September 18, 2010. Warning. This is a big one.

Our third and final day in Baltimore started out with some photos. We had to get as many in as possible because we weren't sure when we were going to see our Feather friends next.

Uhhhhhhh... it's morning. Why are you bothering me so early? Can't a guy just have his gock in peace? (Andrew calls his milk "gock".)

Rocking the bed head and the Canadian beaver t-shirt we brought down for him (Yay to Eric for picking something so cute):

BF Deuce hanging out on the floor while Erin was making us pancakes for breakfast. Thanks, mom!

Floor-time didn't last long. When Eric recognized a chance to play with the little one he pounced (note the awesome set of pictures that I took):

More smiling at Eric's face (left). You can pretty much hear him say "Mmmm hmmm" (with attitude) in the picture on the right. If only he could snap his fingers and move his head side to side:

One month old toes:

We moved to better light in the nook. It was now my turn to hold Joseph. Look at the enthusiasm on my face - I was hoping it might rub off on him...

... I think that all it did was help him to enthusiastically pass some gas. EFFORT!!!

So it took a while and a lot of guidance from Erin to get BF2 into this position. My hair was in his mouth, his face was in my shoulder instead of over it, there was very little back/neck support, etc. It was a disaster despite the quality of these photos of him trying to eat my shirt:

The photos above were of Joseph backlit. We turned around so that the warm-tinted morning light would light his face:

He's just as photogenic as his older brother at this age:

I posted this one before as a teaser, but I had to include it again because I love it so much. The "welcome" on the wall in the background, Eric looking at J and smiling, the same "clam hold" that Eric used to hold Andrew in, and most importantly the look on J's face:

And I know that Erin isn't going to like that I'm posting these ones (because of the prominent double-chin-age) but there are just too cute not to share. I couldn't let them fall into digital oblivion. Not these expressions:

And certainly not these ones:

Finally, the best for last. This one makes me laugh out loud (seriously, it does) every time I see it because all I can see him saying is, "Hello, ladies..." in a deep, suave, Casanova-type voice. Am I right?

Thanks Courtney for the fabulous pics. You guys are the best and we will miss you. Please note we are planning on your taking Joseph's 6 month pictures out in KL. Plus we may need the bassinet moved again.