Little Baby Thornton - Week 13

Wow, another week has already gone by. Shannon is complaining that she's getting bigger. I keep telling her that she's pregnant. It's normal. She should just be glad she has an excuse (as opposed to me).

Cool things going on with the baby this week include:

1. The baby now has fingerprints.

2. The baby's head is now only 1/3 the size of it's entire body. (Luckily this is expected to decrease even more, except for the unfortunate few that seem to keep this ratio fairly constant. You know the people I'm talking about :)... ).

3. Last thing, we're now into the second trimester, which means less morning sickness for most people!!

This week is going to be great. We're both really excited about going back to Salt Lake to be with family for Christmas!!

Little Baby Thornton - Week 12

I'm loving it. There is now a recognizable baby in Shannon's womb. Alot of things happen this week that are awesome...

1. Face is now unquestionably human.

2. Eyes move from the side, to the front of the head. Thanks heavens. What were they doing on the side in the first place?

3. Ears are in place.

4. Little Baby Thornton is now the size of a lime.

Shannon's starting to feel better with longer amounts of time in between bouts of morning sickness. I keep getting more excited as the weeks go by. I can't believe how fast time is going by, although Shannon wouldn't agree. If it were up to her I think she'd like to fast forward her life to the day after birth. We're also starting to get excited about Christmas in Utah.

Preview of the Christmas Tree

We'll follow up with additional photos later, but for those of you who
can't wait (me included) here is a preview picture.

The Mother - Week 11

As cute as ever. Don't tell her I took this photo. :)

Little Baby Thornton - Week 11

Wow, another week has gone by. My personal observation is that Shannon is starting to feel better and not having nausea as much. Shannon would definitely agree. There are a lot of things going on with the baby this week. Below are my favorites:

1. The baby is getting huge!! (1.5 inches)
2. The baby is now stretching and kicking, but Shannon won't be able to feel it for another month or two.
3. Some of the baby's bones are beginning to harden.

This baby is really incredible! It's facinating how it develops and at the same time to see the effect it has on Shannon. This baby better appreciate everything Shannon is going through for it.

'til next week.

Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, Met Museum and Cloisters

Last Tuesday Shannon scored tickets for us to the Christmas Spectacular at the Radio City Music Hall. It was a really good show and both of us loved it. It was great to get into the christmas spirit. Above is a picture of Shannon with two Nutcrackers...wow, what lookers. I'd better watch out.

On Saturday Shannon and I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Cloisters. The Met was great and the Cloisters was really far away. I'm just kidding the Cloisters is definitely worth it, but take the train, not the bus, especially not the local bus. Below are a couple pictures.

Picaso:

When Shannon was getting morning sickness at the Met.

Angry faces!!!!

Little Baby Thornton - Week 10

Wow, there is a lot going on in Shannon this week. Below are some of my favorites:

1. The baby's limbs now bend

2. No more webbed feet and hands.

3. Most women are now inbetween regular and maternity wear.

4. Womb is now the size of a grapefruit (normally the size of a pear).

5. The baby's hands bend at the wrists and meet at the heart.

Shopping Trip

Below is a little sampling of our shopping trip this weekend. It was a
lot of fun. The best part is going around and seeing everything. Every
once in a while you come across a real gem like the picture below. It
makes you stop and realize, and really appreciate that in this city
where so many people are serious non-stop there are others that have a
sense of humor and don't take themselves too seriously.

The Pupose of Life (still learning, but I've had a couple good recent experiences)

I want to share a couple stories of experiences I’ve had over the last month or so. The first experience happened a week ago or so. I was in the locker room at the gym and overheard two young analysts speaking about a town that was familiar to them both. They commented on how it was a great town, a town that you could really live in. Then they contrasted it to Manhattan, what they classified as a town that was only good for working and dying. They said, “Manhattan is only good for working. You work and work and then you die here.” It was interesting and shocking at the same time to hear them discussing this. It reminded me of an experience that had happened a couple weeks prior to this experience. I was sitting in a client meeting and the question came up just how much longer the client expected to work. He answered by telling a story about his father and that he hoped to emulate his father’s example. He told of how his father was an attorney and died at the office, sitting at his board room table. This is how he hoped to die, working and sitting at the board room table.

These were two eye opening experiences for me. Experiences like these have the effect of focusing your thoughts and help you think about life. First of all, there is more to life than working, because to work and work and then die would be a terribly outcome indeed. It makes me glad to have the gospel and to know that there is more to life than just working and/or seeking after worldly things. Working hard is good, but it’s not the purpose of life. Secondly, I thought about how it would be to want to die at work. It made me think about how people like that must be defined by their work. Their self-worth, motivation and purpose in life are to work and make money. Whereas with the gospel my self-worth comes from knowing that I am a son of God with potential to become like him; my motivation comes from my relationships with my wife and family and my desire to be happy and return to live with God; and my purpose in life mirrors my motivation.

I’m glad for these experiences. Living in New York reminds me of the saying that without sorrow we would never come to know happiness and without evil there would be no righteousness.

Bauer

Oh my...Shannon picked out the cutest mini maltese puppy!! His name is Bauer and he is so cute. He's so white and furry with long hair and he has the most adorable face. I've been pleasantly surprised with how well mannered he is. The first night we had him at home he followed Shannon around everywhere and would never get more than a foot away from her. The first night he wined for about 10 minutes when we went to bed, but he's been fine ever since. Like I said, he is very well mannered and has a very good temperment. He does like to nibble on my toes, though. We'll have to get him to stop that. And with that introduction, I am pleased to introduce Bower!!!!