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!