Portraits of Joe, by Katie.

A couple of weeks ago, my dad and lovely stepmother Katie Cooney came up to visit us from San Jose. Joe had been under the weather for a couple of days, battling high fevers that we thought must be roseola, but the characteristic rash never appeared.

Steve was out of town, and I had been taking care of a sick baby all by myself for almost 48 hours before they arrived. Which is to say, Dad and Katie arrived to a very frazzled mama, and a fussy baby boy.

But Katie is a professional photographer. And hot diggety, she is good. She took a whole CD of gorgeous photos of my baby boy Joe. You would never guess from these photos that Joe was feverish and fussy. Instead, she made him seem like a pensive, shy, thoughtful baby! (Note: In real life, not so much!):

And this:

Gramps and Joe!:

And then Steve came home. My boys:

And my personal favorite:

 Omie and I look pretty good too! (Omie, get your snout out of that ashy chiminea! Ooh, I just noticed Crouton's little snout in the bottom right corner. Counting mine, there are three snouts in this photo!)

And then she got all fancy - Joe in black and white, with soft focus! (Katie, could we do one of me like this? I want to look like an old Hollywood movie star!)

 I could look at these all day. If this is Joe in a bad mood, just imagine what Katie could do with a baby in a good mood!

Thanks Katie!