Welcome Jackson!!

On Wednesday October 31st, 2007 at 10:42am, Jackson Xavier Brandt came in to this world!! He was 7lbs 8oz and 19" long at St Vincents Hospital. Words can't describe the feelings that we have for this little guy. We are truely blessed. Here are a few photos from the first few days. We'll be sure to post more...you can bet on that!

precious jackson in his mother's hands

Only a few minutes old...and these parents couldn't be more elated!

Grandma is pretty happy right now

Our boy Johnny came by to say hi to Jackson at St. Vincents! It was great to see him.

aww man..the closeups are the best!

Anniversary #3 and a Birfday!

sooooo....on September 18th, C and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary, yippee!! She surprised me with a foot massage and then some great eats at Carlisle's, one of our favorite restaurants. She's looking good isn't she!

getting ready for some foot rubs in the pearl!

and some tastey dessert at Carlisle's!

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...Forward to October 8th...B's birthday. Took the day off and went to Byway's for breakfast and then to Lovely Hula Hands on Mississippi for dinner that evening.

a few windows down from the Byway. Nice profile if you look close.

then later on to dinner at LHH with a few surprise guests. It was nice to share with some friends...

Lean in a biiiiit more Oli....

Portland Baby Shower ( Sept.30th,2007)

Our friend Jo helped us pull together a nice little afternoon soiree at our place before our family of two was about to be three! It was nice to spend time with some of the friends we've made since moving to Portland a little over 2 years ago!

the Car Club

so our friend Nick had just recently finished restoration on a 1966 Volvo p1800s, and we thought it might be a good idea to go for an official drive with the boys. So Nick, Stuart ( mutual friend and colleague of Nick) and I met at 8:30am on a Sunday at a nearby coffee shop.

Nick's sweet ride!

Stuart enjoying the view from the drivers seat

Hayley:Honorary car club member and mascot baking in the sun.

Oh, did I mention that we never went for a drive, but hung out for about 4 hours shootin the $hit. Good stuff if you ask me. Don't want to rush things....

The Baby's Room (September 2007)

After numerous weekends sorting through the stuff in our "office"/glorified closet and spending lots of time at Goodwill, we finally got the room ready for action. It went like this. Weekend 1: paint the far wall. Weekend 2: put down the carpet. Weekend 3: build the gigantic IKEA storage cabinet ( this spilled into following weekend..arggggh) Weekend 5 or 6: put together crib and changing table!

layin' that first paint line on the far wall....

...and wrapped in up in 4 hours flat!

sooo...these squares just kinda line up like so...

We had to rig the light switch because the cabinet was going to block it. We used home depot paint sticks stacked and glued and painted to make a highly effective light switch extension. Kind of ridiculous, but it works quite well!

Our boy Johnny helped assemble and put in place the ikea cabinet.

HUGE help John! Thanks again!

We mean business...Johnny's wife beater says it all.

C showing off the new changing table

Christine's mom pulled the whole thing together and cranked out some fantastic curtains!