Baby Kicks

Last night I was finally able to feel the babe kick. I bent down, said, "Kick, [baby's name], kick" and she obliged with a couple of strong ones. Melody has been feeling internal kicks for weeks now, but finally, at 24 weeks, it's a little more real for me.

Baby Game

I just set up a Baby Game. Go put in your guess for birthday, weight, and length.

http://www.expectnet.com/games/ALTHOUSE

Name guesses can be emailed to me directly!

So Says Erin 6

After a few hours of trying on flower girl dresses complete with tiara, Erin has to get back into her street clothes and says with resignation in her voice, "Back to regular Erin."

This was the eventual dress choice.


But this was Erin's favorite.



This was the original choice, but sadly it didn't come in the right color.

Great Falls

Last Friday, David Z and I went hiking at Great Falls National Park along the Potomac River. I had never been there before. It's a pretty cool place with lots of trails and views of the rapids and gorge.

Random Pictures

Here are some random pictures from the last month. I'm not going to try and explain them.

It's a GIRL!!

We had our mid-pregnancy ultrasound this morning and found out we are having another girl. She's healthy and active. She also has long thigh bones, so I guess we may have another tall one. Here are just a couple of the pictures we got. They are clearer in person.

Profile of her head

Head and arms and belly

One Year Ago

One year ago today I had spinal surgery (microdiscectomy) at Georgetown University Hospital to fix a ruptured disc in my lower back. I was in varying degrees of pain that progressively got worse for 8 months. I constantly had pain down my right leg and always stood at an angle to try to alleviate the pain. But immediately after the surgery all the leg pain was gone and it has never come back. I now stand and walk correctly and only occasionally have a stiff back.

Anyway, I just wanted to acknowledge this milestone. Also, Happy 1st Birthday to Djemba!

Candy Collecting

Erin had a good time collecting candy from our neighbors this year. We only ever take her to neighbors on our street, so she never gets too much candy. She likes giving out the candy at home. Most of the night we stood around with our neighbors waiting for kids to come by. We had far fewer kids this year than last year, so we had more leftover candy. Erin was a mermaid princess. Melody had bunny ears. Tim was Tim.

Mason Neck

We went to Mason Neck State Park today. It was a little cool and windy along the river, but it was
really nice and colorful. Erin fell asleep on the way there, so we loaded her into her too-small-for-her stroller and started walking. She soon woke up and enjoyed the fact that she didn't have to walk. We ended the day by eating dinner at the excellent Tubby's Chili Parlor where we had great cheeseburgers and concretes.

See all the other pics
HERE.

Videos

Here are two videos from the past week. They are just Erin jumping around.

The Pumpkin Patch

Melody and Erin went to the Pumpkin Patch on Monday. They had a great time on the slides and pretending Erin was in jail.

See all the pictures HERE.

So Says Erin 5

"I'm going to be a princess when I go to heaven. Jesus will like that. I'm going to show him my dance."

October Pictures

We've been pretty busy these last few weekends. We didn't take too many pictures, but what we have is here.

The first weekend in October we drove down to Harrisonburg to the Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale. We saw old college friends and got some great apple butter and Brunswick stew. We also went to the Green Valley Book Fair and got some cheap books.

Dad & Mom A. and Krista came down for Columbus Day and we went to Arlington Cemetery and the Natural History Museum. It was a long, hot day of walking.

Last weekend we headed up to PA for an annual auction at Hinkletown Mennonite School where Melody's mom is the Administrator/Development Director. We got a few odds and ends and ate too many baked goods!

Finally, on Monday, Erin and Melody baked some cookies.
Even more baked goods! Yum.

So Says Erin 4

Erin: "I like weed."
Melody: "What? You like weed?"
Erin: "No. I like Weed!" (Reed, Melody's coworker's son)

I didn't think we'd have this discussion until much later, if ever.

So Says Erin 3

Whispering to Melody, Erin says, "I want to tell you a secret. I wish I could have a chocolate tree." (Dora reference for those not in the know.)

So Says Erin 2

As Aunt Mindy was carrying Erin on her back, Erin says:

"I'm heavy, isn't I? Isn't me? I don't know what to say!"

A Tree and Another Video

We planted a crape myrtle this week. Hopefully it will disguise our less than fantastic front lawn.

There are more angles and a couple of pictures of Erin on the picture site, here.




And now... some more excellent videography by yours truly. And more "Spanish."

Heartbeat

On Friday we finally got to hear our new baby's heartbeat. After searching for a bit, we heard the quick, rhythmic thumping at about 160 bpm. At least for me, this thing is finally real. For Melody, it's been real every time she looks at a vegetable and is no longer hungry. Erin kept asking why we were there. But, she also was poking Melody's belly button and, when asked what she was doing, replied that she was trying to get the baby out. So at least she's understanding.

Random Videos

This video starts out with Erin speaking Spanish. Please excuse the jelly face.



This video has Erin playing with the splatter cover from the microwave.

Random Stuff

So, clearly, I am not very good at writing a blog on a regular basis. That may have to do with the fact that my life isn't the most exciting one out there. :-) Anyway, here are some random thoughts.

- Erin's newest name for a sibling is "Yoohoo." It would make it easy to call him/her, for sure.

- Erin wants us to stay home from work everyday, but also threatens to put on her crocs and walk across the street to Ms. Stacie's house 30 minutes before she's scheduled to go over there.

- Paco and Nina, our new neighbor's chihuahuas, are very cute and playful. They bark a lot.

- Erin thinks she can speak Spanish. She cannot.

- I'm more than halfway through watching The Office, Season 3 on DVD. And I am ready for the new season to start on Sept 27.

- We have had The Pink Panther from our Blockbuster Online queue sitting at home for about a week waiting to be watched. I hear it's pretty good.

- I planted grass in our front lawn this weekend. Again. The lack of rain this summer killed my last attempt.

- I shouldn't be blogging at work, so I will stop.

Here we go again!

Yes, that's right! A new, little Althouse will be joining our family next year. April 3, 2008, to be exact (or as exact as a due date can be!).

Melody is doing well, but very tired right now, especially with school starting up again. We've told Erin about the fact that a baby is coming, but I don't think she really gets it or remembers after a day of not talking about it. So, she doesn't have a clue. But she does want a sister and a brother, whose names change daily and range from both named Erin to Scrubba (brother) and Bubba (sister).

Anyway, bookmark this site or subscribe to the RSS feeds (see the "Posts (Atom)" link at the bottom of the page) to keep up to date on the latest Althouse Adventures!

A few new pics

I posted a few new pictures from the beach that were still on the camera. See them here.

Birthday Pictures (& more)

Erin turned 3 on August 19 and we had a little party to celebrate. She requested a pink cake with a pony and Dora. Her big gift this year was a bicycle. She still needs to work on pedaling, steering, and looking up all the the same time!

We also went with Tim's family to Rehoboth Beach the week after her birthday and Erin had a great week there.

You can see pictures from the birthday party, the beach, and some from freezing corn at our picture website here.

Vacation Ending

Our week at Rehoboth Beach is coming to an end. We had two good beach days, 1 OK beach day, and a lot of rainy days. Thankfully we ended the week on the good days.

We took Erin on rides at the boardwalk tonight. She has been terrified of public toilets all summer and has been using the plastic potty we keep in the back of the minivan. But tonight we parked far away from the boardwalk and Erin had to go. We gave her the choice of going home or using the real potty and riding on rides. After many tears and one failed attempt, she finally did it and was able to ride the rides. Her clear favorite was the paratrooper ride.

We'll have some pictures up next week once we're home. Internet here is spotty so I don't want to try and upload them now.

A quick story from the beach today. Dad was holding Erin out in the water, which was quite calm at times. Suddenly a large wave came up and Dad lifted her up as high as he could. Everything went under except Erin's head. When the wave passed, Dad had no shorts! And another wave was coming! Fortunately he was able to pull them up enough and get over the next wave. It was quite a site.

So Says Erin

"Telly is a messy mess. But, for Ernie I have words of praise. Thank you, Lord."

Sunday night

Tonight at our small group we studied the second half of Philippians, chapter 1. Paul talks about his imprisonment and how to live is to show the world Christ because Christ is in him, and to die would be great because he would be with Christ. This reminds me of a book I just finished reading called "The Heavenly Man." It's about one of the founders of the Chinese house churches. He and the Chinese Christians have suffered tremendously as they have sought to spread the love and salvation of Jesus Christ. Brother Yun often speaks of these words as he was being tortured in prison. Yun and the Chinese Christians feel a call to be missionaries in the countries between China and Jerusalem, where Christianity began. They call it the "Back to Jerusalem" movement. Many of these countries are in the Muslim world and they know that the persecution they have suffered over the last 40 years has been the training they needed for this difficult and dangerous work.

I urge you to read "The Heavenly Man" and/or "Back to Jerusalem."

Friday night is finally here!

Our VBS finished up tonight. And we are all 3 tired. Erin went to bed very quickly and I'm not sure why Melody and I are still awake.

We were blessed with 4 nights of 30 to 35 kids. They really had a fun time. Hopefully they learned some Bible stories/lessons and will share them with their families. We hope to see some of them at church on Sunday, too. (This is a picture of Erin and her friend Michaelah.)

Our church is looking for a 12 passenger van since the old one has finally quit on us. If anyone knows of a good used van (not 15 passenger), let me know.

New pictures

We have some new pictures from July through today. These include our trip to Michigan.

http://picasaweb.google.com/timandmelody

New Hope's VBS

Our church is running a Vacation Bible School this week. On Monday we had 9 kids. On Tuesday, 30 kids. And we're running out of space! I had to run to Michael's twice to get craft supplies since the kids just kept coming. Erin is really into it. She loves the music and singing. And her friend Michaelah came last night so she was all happy. Anyway, we'll see how the rest of the week goes. It happens to be the hottest week of the year. Supposed to be 101 today. The activities center we are renting has AC, but with 30 kids and 10 adults, it doesn't really stay too cool.

Back from Michigan

We're back! We spent a week in Michigan (17 miles south of the bridge to the UP) with Melody's family and had a great time. I started and finished the last Harry Potter as well. Erin had a great time and did amazingly well on the 14 hour trip to PA. Mobile DVD players really do work wonders!

Now it's back to the grind. But another vacation to the Delaware shore in 3 weeks!

First Post

So, I am going to try and start this blogging thing. I don't think it will be a daily thing because I don't really have all that much to say. And my life isn't that exciting.

I'm not going to explain who I am because anyone who reads this already knows me (Tim), Melody, and Erin.

You can go see pictures of our life at http://picasaweb.google.com/timandmelody.

Until next time.