Ready or not, here comes fall semester...

Time flies when you're...hard at work, apparently.

The fall semester is rapidly approaching--for Jess, classes start this Tuesday, for Andy the following week. (Jess is teaching and working on her own research/attempting to progress towards an actual degree, and Andy is taking classes, working as a TA, and preaching on a rotating basis.) So, not surprisingly, it's crunch time for both of us, trying to get done all of those things that for whatever reason we didn't do earlier this summer in order to get ready for fall. And, also not surprisingly, Simon has not miraculously learned to be self-sufficient for these times when Mommy and Daddy have lots of work to do.

But enough about our stress--its much more entertaining to give an update on our wonderful baby boy, who will be 8 months old tomorrow!

Here he is, hiding out in his very own blanket fort, built by daddy and crazy uncle Pete...

...who, with another accomplice, also built a grown-up sized blanket fort that pretty much took up an entire room.

(Khalil guarded the entrance to the fort)

These days, Simon is full of energy. While he is generally an easy-going, happy baby, he's also what you might call an "active" baby. Occasionally I'll see someone in church with a baby, sitting calmly in their lap, playing quietly with a toy...not our Simon. He seems to be moving at all times. Perhaps a video will help explain what I mean:

Simon's Activity Level (45 seconds):



Simon is not crawling, though he has started to locomote in his own unique ways. If sitting on the floor, for instance, he is likely to spin around and around in a circle, moving from toy to toy. He is showing his determination to get to things beyond his reach, however, so crawling is definitely on the horizon, as this video shows:

Getting Ready to Crawl (16 seconds):



He has 6 teeth now, with a couple more on the way, we think. His most recent new food is avocado (he liked it, to our surprise) and before that we introduced him to cheerios, which he enjoys picking up and examining. For a while that's all he did with them--pick up and examine--but he has since figured out that they are also quite tasty, and is now quick to put them in his mouth.

It took a few days to conquer the 'how to pick up a cheerio' problem--at first he would accidentally poke them with his finger, and they would scoot across the tray--how frustrating!

As a closing note, yesterday was our 4th anniversary (we'll be celebrating on Saturday). Happy Anniversary Andy!

Moving Day

We have photos! Here are a few from moving week...and a video of Simon, just because :).

Wow, just $7 to rent--what a great deal! Is the baby included?

Do you think I could replace Vanna White someday?

Our living room in St. Paul, just after moving...

...and a few days later--much more livable!

Shake-a-Shake (44 seconds):

Moved.

Hello from Saint Paul, Minnesota!

We have officially relocated. Thanks to many helpers leading up to moving day, on the day itself, and for several days following, we were able to get everything moved on Wednesday, and much of it unpacked already.

For those of you in the Twin Cities area, we're back in our old house, so stop on by sometime :). It is good to be back, I think...though personally I'm a little too mired in half-unpacked boxes and worry about the upcoming semester to be feeling really good about it. In a way it feels like Northfield was a nice vacation from our 'real lives' and that now we've been transported back to reality...and even if you're ready to end a vacation, its still never fun to return to work, school, projects, etc.

Our camera is out in plain sight, but the cable I use to download photos is a little more elusive, so we can't share any of our photos with you. We can share this adorable shot from our friend Jen, who graciously doubled her baby-load for a day so that we could get some serious unpacking done--thanks Jen!

Zoe (5 months) and Simon (7.5 months) taking a good look at each other

Packing Up

As you may have noticed, our blog posts have been rather sporadic lately. It's been a busy summer, with Andy finishing up his internship, and Jess home with Simon all day and trying to get work done during naps and after bedtime. And now, sadly and not-so-sadly, its time for us to leave Northfield, call the internship experience "done" and resume our previous lives in St. Paul--well not exactly our previous lives, as we now have a baby, of course!


We'll be moving next Wednesday-ish...as in, the stuff will go Wednesday when we have a U-Haul, and we'll have a day or two to wrap up any loose ends before we actually need to be out of our current house.

It's been a fun few weeks here, though. Weekend before last we had a bouncy castle party, thanks to Pete's inspiration. While we weren't so sure about the idea at first, it was a blast--bouncy castles aren't just for kids, as it turns out :).


Simon is over 7 months old now. This past week, he's been working hard on getting teeth in--we thought it was the top two front teeth, until we took a closer look and saw that FOUR top teeth were all about to break through! The third cut through the gums today, and hopefully the fourth will be soon, because he has been a little crankypants...when he's not being charming, that is. He's increasing his babbling vocabulary daily, it seems, if you catch him in the mood to talk. If you try to coerce him into babbling for you, he often decides he has better things to do!


Jess's folks were here this past weekend for a visit. That gave Andy and I a chance to start thinking about a packing strategy while Grandma and Grandpa got re-acquainted with Simon.

That may be all for a while from us--see you on the other side of the move!