Trip to New Jersey!

This weekend, Danny took his first long trip in the car. We drove four hours to see Grandma and Granddude in New Jersey. (Yes, at my suggestion, my dad has now changed his name to Granddude.. which I think is awesome!) Daniel slept most of the way, which was a big relief! He loved all the attention... and hardly cried all weekend since there was someone to hold him all the time!

Granddude and Danny get reacquainted


Danny sports a cool new outfit. He's already grown out of all his newborn clothes!


Cool socks for a cool baby...


Uncle Aaron met Danny for the first time on Friday evening. It was also the first time he'd held a baby! He did a good job.


Jay and I got to meet Aaron's girlfriend Stephanie this weekend. She is such a nice girl, and goes to Seton Hall (Go Pirates!)


Stephanie and Danny in the kitchen getting ready for a delicious meal!


Mmmm.... Rebekah's black bean salsa really hit the spot!


Grandma and Danny enjoying time with the family at lunch


Rebekah and Jason are hittin' the bottle early!


Obviously they set a bad example for Daniel...


"Do as we say... not as we do, Danny..."


Such a cute little angel...


Some rare pictures of me with Danny (I'm usually the photographer!)




We had a big rivalry game this weekend... The Cowboys vs the Redskins. Dad is a lifelong Cowboys fan, and Jay is a lifelong redskins fan. Here Granddude tries to bribe Danny into becoming a Cowboys fan by buying him a Cowboys bib.


Jay isn't too happy about this development. Don't worry, the Redskins won the game!


Aaron could care less about football and plays Spore instead. I'll have you all know that he used the creature that I created to dominate the game!


On the way back, we took a photo to commemorate Daniels first trip to a New Jersey rest stop! We wanted to give him the chance to get out of the carseat, so we stuck him in the Baby Bjorn for a while. Let me tell you... eating a Whopper with a Baby Bjorn on isn't as easy as it sounds!

Happy 1st Month Daniel!

Danny's first month drew to a close last week! He is getting so big. We went to the doctor, and he weighs 10.6 lbs and is 23 inches long! I can't believe how much he's growing.

We're going to New Jersey this weekend to see my family. Yay! They're going to be suprised at how big Danny is! At best, it is a four hour trip.. so we need to be able to give Danny a bottle if he gets hungry on the way and the next rest stop is 20 miles away! Therefore, I started pumping. Its an interesting process! Here is Danny with one of his first bottles. Its fun to watch Dad feeding him! I'm sure Jay enjoys getting to share this experience with Danny.



Its starting to get cold outside! Danny sports his cute hat and blanket as we get ready for a walk around Crofton Parkway. We live on a 3.4mile loop. We've been walking it with Danny a few times a week. He loves it!


Danny still loves his "jungle gym"!


Hey! Where'd all my hair go???


Special thanks to Kitsie and Granddad who came over on short notice so I could go buy some pants! None of my pants fit me, and all of my maternity clothes are shorts and skirts. Its getting cold, and with the trip to New Jersey coming up, I needed some pants! It was Danny's first time being left alone. He slept on Granddad the entire two hours I was gone!


Lina and Ricardo came to visit last Friday so they could meet Danny! It was so great to see them! Maybe Danny will pick up some spanish??




Danny is already cutting his first tooth! (lol.. just kidding, that's his milk blister falling off. I know, its gross, but its funny looking b/c it looks like a tooth)


Daniel steals Dad's napkin off his lap during dinner...


Maybe he should've used that napkin to catch some of the spit up he so graciously bestowed upon his father later that evening!


Faster than a speeding bullet! (Or just mom's poor camera skills)


Mrs. Farrisi made Danny this cute dog! She knit it herself! Such talent in that family!

Welcome to the Jungle...

So I'd like to say thanks to Aunt Rebekah for giving us our jungle-themed playmat/gym. Daniel loves it, and especially loves the toucan... he'll stare at it for 1/2 hour at a time.. which thankfully gives mom the chance to do some other things every once in a while! (Like eat lunch)

Hey! Its a toucan!


There it is again!


Mom and Danny watch Mythbusters together


Danny doesn't seem to enjoy mythbusters as much as Mr. Toucan.


We often lovingly refer to Daniel as our "little old man" because as you can see, he is losing all the hair on the top of his head. He is left with a ring around the sides and back of his head. He looks like Friar Tuck! Some people say that if a baby's hair falls out, it will grow back in a different color. I wonder if its true!?


Here's another blurry cell phone picture... the weather has been so nice this week (in the 70's) that Daniel and mom sat outside on the patio for a while!

Things are growin' at the Cleary household!

Well, this week has been a week of growth...literally. Not only did I harvest 20 tomatoes from my backyard.. (yay!) but Daniel now weighs a whopping 9 lbs! Guess Mom is doing a good job in the feeding department!

Yes, they're small, but I got 20 of them! Thanks to Emily Gaffney for providing the tomato plants. We've enjoyed eating the basil too!


Daniel locates his hand, and chows down...


Danny looks like a little Buddha as he assumes the almost lotus position.


Mom and Danny watch the Today show together on the couch in the morning...


This week Daniel started 'eyeing' things up... including the mobile above his swing!


Uh... apparently our little chunky monkey has hit the bottle... I mean breast... ONE too many times...


Stacey and Ryan came to visit last Friday. It was so great to have them over! Ryan is so active and cute. I can't believe how big he's gotten, b/c I remember how tiny he was when he was born! It was also cute to watch him try to chew on Daniel's head.. (he's teething!)

Cell Phone Pictures

I finally decided that I'd better download some of the pictures I've been taking with my cell phone over the past 3 weeks! The camera is never around when I want it, but my cell phone always is!

This picture was taken during Danny's second week home. My, what a strong neck you have!



This is Sachiko.. she was a big help to me last week. I'm lucky to have such great friends! Danny loves Aunt Sachiko!


A sacred moment... sleep! Shhh! Don't wake him up!


Daniel stretches out on a hot day when we turned off the AC. He got really fussy a few hours after this picture was taken. We finally figured out it was b/c he was hot. DUH!



The next three pictures are me trying to capture Danny's first "intentional" smiles. He smiles at me when I talk to him! Catching a baby smile with a cell phone is no easy task! It took me about 10 attempts to finally get a few decent ones. Of course, no picture can do the real thing justice. He's so cute!