Catching Up

My lack of posting in August was due to three things:

1. We didn't really do many "blog-worthy" activities in August. In fact, we were pretty boring.
2. My camera is giving me problems. You know how much I like to include photos with my blog posts, so blogging just isn't as fun without pictures.
3. I am lazy.

Here is a quick synopsis of our August.

On the 9th, Jim and I got to attend Antiques Roadshow when it came to Grand Rapids. We randomly won tickets and Grandma Sheryl came up for the weekend to babysit Lena. While we are glad we went, it wasn't as exciting as we had expected. Our tickets were for the last entry time of the day, and therefore we had to wait in line the longest. We got in line around 4:25 and didn't get into where the appraisers were until almost 7. Once in there, we could tell the appraisers were tired and lacking any enthusiasm they might have had earlier in the day. One man told us he had been there since 5:00 that morning. So we got very short, dismissive appraisals. Nothing we brought was worth much, but that didn't bother us. We went more for the experience than to have our items appraised. One thing we were most looking forward to was doing the Feedback Booth. This is the part at the end of the show where people hold up their items and say things like, "My item wasn't worth anything, but we sure had fun!" When we finally got over there, they had closed the booth down for the day. :( So our only chance of being on tv is if they were indeed filming as we stood in one of the lines. It looked like they were, but hard to tell. They said that Grand Rapids would get three episodes and that they will air sometime between January and May 2009.

Between the 20th and the 25th, Lena mastered first crawling, then sitting up. It seemed to happen so quickly. She had been trying to sit up for a really long time and then one day I see her sitting up on her own. Now diaper and clothes changes are infinitely more difficult as she tries to sit up constantly while being changed. We are learning very quickly how mobile she has become and that we need to be watching all the time. She can crawl across the room to one of our library books and destroy the cover in the blink of an eye! We have also learned that she enjoys eating newspapers (especially crossword puzzles), remote controls, and cordless phones.

Lena turned six months old on the 28th. Wow, it goes fast! Unfortunately, in the middle of the night the night before, it became apparent to me that she had come down with her first cold. She went to the doctor and he confirmed that. Not much you can do, just work on snot control and pray she gets over it soon. Even though she is snotty and coughing, it doesn't seem to be bothering her too much. She is still pretty much her happy, smiley self.

Except, that on the same day, Thursday, she also cut her first tooth. That bothers her sometimes. And now she has a second one coming in as well. All these big things are happening all at once!

Aunt Hilary came to visit Labor Day weekend. We had a nice time. Friday night we went down to the "Music in the Park." It was the last one of the summer. Lena had fun bouncing around on Aunt Hil's lap and about 3 different little girls came up to see Lena (she is a total kid magnet!) On Saturday we went swimming at Gary and Cheryl's, then had dinner at the home of some members. On Sunday Hilary took us out to eat in Caledonia before she headed home. We had lots of fun and can't wait to see her again!

I also took a video of Lena dancing to the music. You will have to bear with me, however, because it is sideways. So tilt your head! Sorry, now I know not to do that! Duh! Oh, and don't worry, this one's only like 30 seconds.

So, that was our August. I think we have the camera issue solved (we think it was the specific batteries we were using.)

I didn't send out an email with August pics because there were only five. Here's the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/aseleener/August2008