Well the summer flew by in a blur. We were ridiculous about posting... er...
not posting, I guess. I blame it on being pregnant... I'm allowed right? The first trimester of this pregnancy seemed a whole lot worse than when I was pregnant with Asher. I was EXHAUSTED... like all the time! Also rather nauseous. At this point of my last pregnancy I'd gained almost 8 pounds. Due to having to make myself through much of those sickly days, I'm currently negative four pounds this time around. Poor Eric kept asking how many more weeks until I was done with the 1st trimester. Thankfully that is all well behind us and I'm already into the 5th month!
I got so far behind on everything we were up to this summer that I just kind of gave up on getting in posted, but there are so many fun memories of things we did as a family, milestones in Asher's little life, etc. that I didn't want to NOT get it recorded, since this blog is my personal resource every few ...er 6-8 months when I actually carve out the time to put something in his baby book. Did you know there is a company (ies?) out there that will print your blog with pictures in a nice format so you can have it bound on paper as a family scrapbook? Totally need to look into doing that annually or something. Anyway...
June
*Most importantly we found out baby #2 was on the way over Father's Day weekend! Nothing but joy and thankfulness over that one!
*Asher got his first hair cut. I cried in my car in the parking lot of the hair salon BEFORE we ever went in. It was just that I couldn't bear to cut off his little curls. Our good friend, Jodi, cut it for us though and it wasn't anywhere near as horrible as I had feared. She was great with him (which I never doubted) and it was actually so much nicer to have the crazy gone. But now three months later, we're in desperate need of another hair cut and I'm getting to see those curls again, so I'm relieved to know they weren't cut off for good. :)
This, folks, is what I cried over...
Much less crazy, and still super sweet...
*Asher and I took a Mommy and Me swim class at the Y with our good friends Paula and Ethan. Asher learned to LOVE water, to not mind having water splash in his face, to blow bubbles, to put his head back in the water, and to jump in from the side, among many other early water skills. It was a lot of fun for both of us, and we've enjoyed the pool many times over the course of the summer! He's almost TOO brave for my liking in the water now.
* The garden Rhonda bought for me and helped me plant as a Mother's Day/birthday gift bore it's first green beans. I was sooo excited to have my first produce, and then... rather disappointed when week after week, I collected the exact same number of green beans you see here before you. Yes, every week or two, I cooked and ate my four green beans, and learned an important lesson that two green bean plants will not on their own enable one's whole family to eat green beans in one sitting... ever. :) Eric has promised to build me some larger container gardens for next summer so I can plant a few rows. Watering a little more often might have made a little bit of a difference though as well... ;)
July
*July took us out to Rapid City over the 4th of July. We camped with Lyndsey and Brandon (and Emerson!) up in the Hills and spent time with Grandma and Grandpa Dobbs visiting all sorts of fun places (like Story Book Island!). Eric also got to scuba dive with his dad while we were camping!
*We also splurged a bit and bought ourselves a van! This purchase proceeded our public announcement of our pregnancy and many had growing suspicious because of it, but I promise, I'd been nagging Eric to go look at them with me since our trip home after Christmas. I'd told him I absolutely wanted one before our camping/10 hour road trip over the 4th. That didn't happen, but not having it just may have convinced him. :) We bought our Honda Odyssey the very next weekend, and we've loved it so far! ;)
August
*Grandpa Dobbs came to visit in early August just to go to the Iowa State Fair with us... well that and to see Asher, of course. :) We had a blast as always at the fair!
*August was a bit of a whirlwind as well, because Eric was in charge, yes, you heard me, in charge of our church's 150th Anniversary Celebration! Yes, Eric, who's been at the church for 6 years tops, but all that aside, he did an AWESOME job, the entire weekend full of events came together smoothly, and fun was had by all! Here's a few pics to show off all his (and his committee's) hard work! And a HUGE thanks to Grandma Anderson, for coming up for the weekend to help us with Asher so we didn't run ourselves completely ragged!
The committee planned a fun carnival complete with inflatables, face painting, free popcorn and cotton candy, carnival games, a dunk tank, and free dinner. They drew quite a crowd! :)
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| Asher loving the bounce house! |
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Asher waiting in line to throw bean bags. :)
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After the carnival there was more adult/family geared entertainment: a Christian improv group, FishSticks, performed and Eric Samuel Timm (painter/speaker) er, well, painted and spoke. :) Both were AWESOME. Eric also helped organize a very meaningful church service the next morning to "Remember, Rejoice, and Rededicate" our church body. Below is a pic right after he'd introduced the past members of the pastoral staff who returned to share memories of the church. He and his committee really did a great job! :)
*Lastly, and I think we'll be mostly up to date, Asher and I took a trip down to Clarinda to see MY grandmas (and mom!) because Eric was off on a business trip and my dad was off fishing in Alaska! Unfortunately my Grandma Anderson was on a cruise to Bermuda (lucky duck) but we had a great time catching up with my Grandma Herzberg and Asher adored hanging out at his grandma's house!
While home, Grandma took Asher to one of our friend's farm, where he got to hold puppies, pet goats, feed chickens, collect eggs, and sit in a tractor. One of the many highlights of the weekend for him! :)
Busy playing with great grandma Herzberg!
After all of that crazy summer we were blessed to have a quiet Labor Day weekend at home with just the three (four!) of us resting and relaxing! We also look forward to all the fun that Fall will bring, including some cooler weather, and God-willing a trip up to New York soon to see Eric's Grandma Dobbs (along with a quick visit to the nearby Niagara Falls)!
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I wrote this post originally over Labor Day weekend, but never finished getting the pics added. September flew by, and we actually just returned from our trip to NY and Niagara! So keep your eyes out for that post as well! We'll try and get it up sooner than later!
Grandma and Grandpa Anderson also stopped in for a short visit mid-September as well and took Asher to the zoo. We'll see if we can't get a few pics of that up as well, because like I said... this blog really ends up being more than anything a family scrapbook for us!
Signing off, The Dobbs
