For the Grandmas!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Trout loves his Mom!

Trout loves his Grandma!





Trout is not so sure if he loves snow

Halloween!

Last swim for 08?

We took a quick hike up Spring Creek over the weekend to let Betty get in potentially her last swim for a bit. Snow is dusting the higher peaks around Steamboat Springs, the leaves have mostly fallen and the sweaters have come out of storage.

Trout loves his backpack! He's also getting increasingly close to walking by himself which is cool and terrifying at the same time. If he walks anything at all like he crawls we're gonna have to pad the house 3" deep in foam.

1 year after Trout's due date!

Of course we consider him a 14 month old now but he was only SUPPOSED to pop out a year ago on Oct 15th. He's doing well except for a tendency to get chest colds (and pneumonia once) which isn't all that surprising an issue with premies and their tender little lungs

I see a lot of rose in the little fella, which is probably a good thing

Cuz otheriwse he'd have this to look forward too...crazy Alford-itis

Out of sorts

Transition to fall has not been kind to the Alfords so far with all of us fighting colds, pneumonia, strep, loss of daylight, ear infections, the death of our good friend Matt Chesaux, work stress and the general blahs. But we soldier on nonetheless, hope to finally rent out Das Chalet this week and look forward to the flakes falling here in Steamboat.

The local leaf colors have been amazing but we're having a tough time motivating out to the trails. Just not feeling our oats of late...

Fever dream in UT on the way to Las Vegas. We may be stumbling (what's different about that?) but roll on anyways, looking forward to Halloween (I think we've got a cat costume lined up for Trout...hmmm ironic), date night tomorrow and much more lasagna, acorn squash, bean stew, candy corn and other goodies of fall. Rose made a killer apple pie we're been nibbling away at all week (she makes the BEST crust) and it can't be too long before homemade pizza, meatloaf, Pork 'n Torte Especiale and other rib stickers hit the dinner table again...

Tour of the old stomping grounds

Quick stop by Das Chalet to mow and straighten up in hopes of renting it out this fall. Place looked great, beautiful day in the mountains!

Thence to Hygiene to visit Grandma Penny and Dan, and Apple the bear-chasing cow. We stayed in the trailer for the night...cozy

Good morning. No, no we didn't sleep well at all. Somebody is teething...

Grandma Penny shows off her massive wooden block collection. Trout loves visiting the farm!

Week of firsts!

Rose got out on her newly completed Redline for her 1st cyclocross practice session, learning how to do a running dismount, lift her bike over a barrier and then jump back onto the saddle, as quickly as possible...

Then the whole family got out for our 1st run with the baby jogger, and 1st run for Matt in at least 3 or 4 years. Of course it decided to rain as soon as we started but still fun to run together (heck do anything together) and plan some upcoming sports outings

Trout then learned to wave bye bye/hello and waved at Mamma for the 1st time...unfortunately he also caught his very 1st fever and had to stay home from daycare today. Only got up to 101.5 and he seems to be improving quickly but we got a taste of what he would be like if he actually slept as much as they recommend in the baby books, like 16 hrs instead of his normal 9 or 10

Trout also surmounted his 1st step, a single but still impressive. He can go up and down and in true Alford fashion going down he leads with his head...

Da boys!

Occasionally Rose realizes just what she's gotten herself into. The boys hanging out in their underwear will usually do it. It's days like these that daycare doesn't look so bad and the 60 hour Moots workweek seems like a good chance for Matt to get caught up... Love you Mamma! Thanks Squash-blossom!

Mom makes the paper, as a photog

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26273923/?GT1=43001

Happy Birthday tooooo youuuuu!

Morning serenade from Pops

Singing Pooh balloon baffles all...

Sea turtle from Grandma Penny leads off the cavalcade of presents for little Trout, so many we had to split it into two days so as not to overstim the little fella

Sweet wooden rattle from Pop & Mo

Let's make some noise!

Ice cream you call it? Hmmmm intriguing. Milky sweetness with hints of oak, blackberry bramble and regret...

Happy Birthday Trout Shadrach Alford!

3lbs 15 oz

23lbs! TSA got his one year checkup yesterday and he's in the 55th percentile for his weight, 95th for his height of 33" AND 97TH for his big fat melon. All his developmental milestones are in line (crawling, trying to stand up, pincer fingers for the CHeerios, etc.) so today we get to party! Yeah! Feels like a huge milestone for me and Rose as well, getting him thru his first winter without getting sick, seeing his growth catch up to (and then surpass) his peers, seeing him so happy and interested in what's going on around him, very social. New challenges ahead (like daycare and that dreaded 1st cold) but now we're a bit more confident that he (and we) can handle it. Huge thank you to all the grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and cousins who helped us thru preganancy, the NICU and Trout's first year, nice work everyone!

BirthdaY bOY

Someone is turning ONE year old tomorrow...

Gotta get cleaned up! Trout loves bath time...getting out of bath time, not so much.

Grandma Shirley in the house

Taking Betty for a swim on her birthday yesterday...lotsa birthdays (all of us) and anniversaries right now

Alfords and Everests at the Spring Creek ponds

How about some soursop smoothie Trout?

Bring it on!

Happy 3 Year Anniversary!

As Rose said recently it feels like we have been together forever and yet our wedding day seems like it was just yesterday. Such a great day! Thank you Rose for 3 of the best years of my life and I'm looking forward to many many more! Unfortunately I lost our camera but we just returned from a good trip to MA to stay with Pop and Mimi. Trout learned to crawl, and has been a terror ever since, we took him swimming a ton, ate a lot of ice cream, stuffed ourselves silly with sushi on Rose's birthday, did some hikes, watched the Tour and generally tried to relax and soak up some of that eastern humidity. Pictures wouldn't do it justice anyways... Pop and Mimi are great, Alford looks super and the house is really comfy and cozy now. We made a quick stop by Mom and Dan's in Hygiene as well and they are doing great too, just back from HI and with slowly fading tans. Rose and I are so grateful to everyone who has helped us out, shared the load and given us advice over these first few years of marriage (and parenthood). We couldn't have done it half as well without you. We are hoping that as Trout's first year comes to a close (he'll be one in two weeks!) our lives will start getting a bit back to normal and we can establish a little better balance for the years to come. New job, new house, new town and newborn has been a lot to handle over the last year...thankfully he is really cute! Good job Rose!!

Steamboat Summer Weekend

Trout's going to see ALL his grandparents in the next few weeks but here's a couple snaps for all the Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and bros (yo Kurt!) out there on Trout's hard hard lifestyle

Picnic in the park with Moms and Pops

Swing!

More swing!!

Rose has been toting him around in the Chariot more and more and Trout's neck no longer looks like it will snap under the weight of his little helmet (and huge knoggin)

Lunch of sweet potatoes in Lil Toots Park right off the bike path

Art Faire, or as my boss calls it "Crap on the Lawn". Krafts with a 'k' but they did offer funnel cake and we picked up a much needed ceramic garden gnome to replace our kidnapped Gnome Chomsky, gone missing from right off our porch...

Drinking some homemade rootbeer on the banks of the Yampa

1st Swim! Trout took to it like a champ. Very serious in his splashing

He's a bouyant little swimmer, could be the melon head (like father...)

Must splash!

Splashing is crucial!