pioneer day picnic

We celebrated Pioneer Day by going to Brian's company picnic. It was Baby Ender's first real outing, and the biggest trip he's made yet!

Poor Ender's head is about half as big as it needs to be to fill his hat.


We dyed the whites of his eyes to match his outfit.


On the banks of the beautiful and deadly Hudson River.


The cuteness of those socks almost compensates for the dreariness of the river.


Ender behaves better for Mommy than Daddy in pictures.


Nothing says naptime like a party shirt!


He was so sleepy he missed the barbeque.

he's finally here!!!

We are pleased to announce the birth of our son, Ender Coleman Rasmussen! He was born on July 9, 2008 at 10:45am, weighing in at 7lb 5oz, and a lofty 19.5 inches. He’s healthy and perfect, except for a minor cleft palate, which the specialists say can be easily fixed in about nine months. Otherwise, Mom and baby are doing very well. Amy has three months off of work to recover from her c-section and to get to know our new little bundle of fun.


Our parents flew in to meet the new baby. This is Amy and her parents at Liberty State Park a few days before we went to the hospital.


Amy about to begin the induction.


The induction failed, so we decided to do a c-section instead.
Amy was obviously thrilled.


Who is that masked man?


The first picture ever of Baby Ender!


This is the icky medical photo. He has meconium in his hair, blood on his blanket, and umbilical cord in a clamp next to him. And yet, he looks so serene.


The new family!


Taking a nap under the warming lamp. They made him stay there for what seemed like forever before taking him in to see Amy.


Mommy finally gets to meet baby.


This family picture is a lot better than the operating room one.


An Ender burrito, or Enderrito.


His little hat says I'm from The Birth Place At Holy Name


Baby Ender wheezing and making funny faces.


He has a squiggly ear on one side, which you can really see here, and sideburns that give Elvis himself a run for his money.


Happy grandparents holding their second grandbaby.


Shhh... you'll wake the baby.


The happy new mom.


Amy during the famous wheelchair ride to the car at the end of the hospital stay.


The young man in his car seat on the ride home.

ahhh! what is that?!?

Amy and I went to a mall a few weeks ago where they had one of those photo booths out in the hallway. Amy thought it would be fun to have me take a picture with Ender, so she stood on the seat, hiked up the shirt, and this is the result:
There were two things we didn't realize at the time. First was that we would be required to choose a graphic border for the picture. We chose the border that we though was the most Jerseytastic. Second was that there was a little screen on the outside of the booth that showed what your picture looked like. As we were struggling to pose so you could see me and the baby, some teenage girls walked past, noticed the picture on the screen, and one of them screamed, "Ahhh! What is that?!?" for the whole mall to hear.