Summer's End

Summer has ended and I've been back at school for 3 weeks now.  We enjoyed our summer, full of lazy days, morning walks, swimming, weekly play-dates with Ginger and Lucas, and sweet corn...lots and lots of sweet corn.  Although I was happy for a little more structure to my days, I'd rather be home with my sweet little, giggling boy.

On a walk with Daddy

Some days Joshua and I stayed in our PJ's most of the day and played on the family room floor.  When we got tired of that we'd feed the cats, sit on the porch, and check the garden.  Then it was back inside for more games, singing, and of course eating, sleeping and pooping.  Other days we were more productive and drove to the park to take a walk or even sometimes a run when I felt motivated.  Generally Joshua fell asleep, but I enjoyed getting out of the house and exercising a bit.  With as hot as it got some days we had to get going early so Josh didn't get over-heated.  It was those days that we "took a dip" as Andy likes to say.  We tried setting up our pool that we had set-up in Eureka.  Unfortunately, it didn't survive the move and storage very well.  The liner was mouse chewed and a few parts were missing.  Luckily we found the same pool on sale and decided it would be a good buy.  Once it was set up, the three of us enjoyed cooling off on those triple digit days.  As long as the water was warm, Joshua enjoyed  being held in the water and floating around.

On one of our last morning walks

                                          

After the first few weeks of summer, I started going a little stir crazy and decided to start planning get-together with 2 of my friends from school and their babies.  Both of their kids were born in May and they too were feeling confined to the house.  We enjoyed getting together at each other's houses and having lunch.  The kids even played together; well as much as infants do.

Joshua and Ginger playing

Lucas, Joshua and Ginger

Sweet corn has been Andy's life this summer.  With the drought, the summer began with watering his 3 acres of sweet corn almost every day.  Once the corn was ripe he started setting up his stands to sell.  Now he gets up early to pick corn and get his stands set up, checks them  mid-day and brings them in in the evening. His business has been very successful, other than getting robbed a few times, and the corn is delicious!  In addition to Andy's sweet corn, we have a large garden at home that is producing an abundance of vegetables.  With the heaps of tomatoes we've made enough pasta sauce to last us through the winter (and the tomatoes are still coming!)  We also have carrots, basil, potatoes, zucchini, jalapenos, butternut squash, watermelon and pumpkins.  We have really enjoyed the fruits of our labor.

     
School is back in full swing and going pretty well.  I've had the opportunity to teach on my own a little more this year which is nice.  Also, I only have 7th graders on my caseload so I don't have as much curriculum to keep track of.  Andy's mom is watching Joshua again this year, except at their new house instead of at our house.  Josh has gotten used to being there and will now sleep in his crib there and doesn't cry as much when Andy drops him off.
                                     
At this point, Joshua is now 7 1/2 months old.  He is very close to crawling and is good at holding our hands and pulling himself to a standing position.  He loves to laugh and unfortunately watch TV.  We've started turning the TV off more while he plays.  Andy is trying to teach Josh to high-five and clap.  We're relieved that he has become a little less of a mommy's boy and often wants to be with Andy instead of me.  Unfortunately Joshua has reverted back to not sleeping through the night.  He wakes up at least once at night, but after eating will generally go right back to sleep.
                                         
I can't believe how much Joshua has grown in size and personality.  He is such a happy little boy and I can't wait to see what new things he will do next.