Garden Update

A photo tour of the garden since the last update. (Most recent are first.)

The haul this morning. Can you guess what didn't come form the garden? :)

Overflowing parsley. When I see people buying it at the store I always wish for a way to give them some of ours! The basil is also growing back after I picked it clean for a couple of batches of pesto and freezer storage. Thanks for the good ideas!

A couple of new peppers. (We ate the one on the left for dinner tonight.)

"Say cheese" face. (I think she looks like Josiah in this pic...)

She is fun :)

Proud of our harvest.

After picking, she wouldn't put them down. This was coming back from the mailbox.

And when I finally had her put them on the counter, she was ok with that for about a split second. Then we had a teachable moment :)

First baby watermelon. This guy is a little bigger than a softball now. While he is growing nicely, we have been told that the first frost will come before it ripens.

Tomatoes starting to ripen!

The very first picking.

It took a couple of months, but the watermelon vine finally took off.

Parsley earlier on.

Baby pepper.

First turning tomatoes.

Vines are loaded!

The first pepper we picked- the first real fruit of the garden!

Counting Stars

Ever since I saw shots like these, I've been dying to try photographing the stars myself. Digital photography has changed the name of the game somewhat, essentially making night sky photography possible for regular guys like me. As a result, the practice has exploded and the world is filled with people who will gladly show you how it's done.

So my friend Jason Peterson, himself a budding semi-pro photographer, and I picked a warm night with a new moon and tried it. We left the house at 2:30 in the morning with Nick's camera, my new tripod, all of Jason's gear, and some snacks- headed for the harbor.

Everything about the weather was perfect. The sky was clear, the air was so comfortable, and the beach sand made a soft bed to lie on while the exposures took. So we started snapping, experimenting, and marveling at a God who could make all this. We set cameras to take emposures for 10 minutes so we could layer the shots on top of each other and made star trails. We photographed each other photographing things. We stood in front of the cameras with our phones lit to see how they would light us up. We painted the beach with a flashlight. It was great fun.

Here's a little of what we got:

Funny Faces

This impromptu photo shoot made us smile. We thought we would share the fun with you :)

Bubbles! (Go Get 'Em!)

Sarah has discovered, and loves, bubbles! We play with them outside most days now. Ever since I first blew bubbles for her a few months ago and shouted, "Go get 'em," she has shouted that nearly every time I've blown them. Then, of course, she goes and chases them.

But more recently we've found some bubbles that come in a spill proof container, which means she can hold and attempt to blow them herself. She can't quite blow them just yet, but she sure does like to try!

 

 

Close to getting it

Happy 3 months, Josiah!

Here we are again! Monthly updates really do come around so quickly. We are now a quarter of the way through Josiah's first year. Dave says that it feels like he has been part of our family forever, while I feel like we have been home from the hospital about a month. Most people who don't know us assume he is much older than he really is, because he is such a big boy. The funny thing is that he is proportionally big, so he doesn't seem to have as many rolls as Sarah did even though he is much larger. We love our growing boy!

Weight: ?
Length: ?
Head: ?
Diaper: size 3
Clothing: 3-6 month, but this is mostly because my heart can't bear to move on to 6 month and leave all these cute little man clothes behind!
Likes: smiling at Sarah, being talked to, fans, bath time (including splashing), chewing on things, drooling
Dislikes: being startled, Sarah crying (he cries too...then mayhem ensues)

Schedule: Ahh, routine. How we do love thee. The day after his 2 month check up, where we saw he had gained a pound a week since birth, we moved him from a 3 hour to 3.5 hour schedule. He woke up early for his first feeding for about a week after the change, but made the move from 6 to 5 feedings without too much fanfare. In the last few days he has somewhat naturally moved to a 4 hour schedule and I am all about that! This is what we are doing right now.

7 am: Wake and nurse
7-8 am: Wake time
8-11am: Nap
11am: Wake and nurse
11-12 pm: Wake time
12-3 pm: Nap
3 pm: Wake and nurse
3-4 pm: Wake time
4-7 pm: Nap
7 pm: Wake and nurse and back to bed not much later
9:30 pm: Dream feed and right back to bed

Fun things: Josiah is becoming somewhat conversational, which is super fun. I love to see his little personality developing. He also likes it when I sing, which means I have a fan club of one! I'll take it :) He is super drooly, or as Sarah likes to say, "Baby dripping!" I don't think he is teething, thankfully. We swaddle him with both arms out right now. I haven't tried lately to drop the swaddle completely. The one day I did try he let me know he likes a little something over his legs. Message received, buddy! He is already beginning to grow out of his transportable, nap anywhere stage. It hasn't stopped us too much and he gets so much sleep otherwise that we don't hesitate to miss a nap when we need to. Ice cream runs are important! For a few weeks he wouldn't take his pacifier, but for the last few days has accepted it again. Whew!

Next appointment: Friday, September 7, 10:50am (changed from the last monthly update)

This is Dave's favorite outfit on Josiah

In his fishing hat at village day (his being-woken-from-a-nap look)

At 12 weeks

Happy boy!

Dave named this picture "What up, Josiah"

Shout out in the neighborhood newsletter!

Sometimes a boy needs two thumbs

Sometimes he really needs two thumbs!

I think this looks like a shirt Dave would wear

Sometimes Sarah asks to hold Josiah :)

"Sometimes I need to air my neck out..."

"...because there is no circulation under all my chins!"