Over the River and Through the Woods...

...to grandmother's house we go. Remember that song from elementary school? Well, it's true this week for me and Austin. We are leaving tomorrow to spend about a week with my mom and dad. (And you do indeed cross a river and go through some woods to get to the Pittsburgh airport.) We are excited about spending more time with Grandma Susan and Grandpa Russ but sad that Daddy doesn't get to come. It is likely to be quite a busy week--I think we will be making a lot of trips around town to introduce (show off) Austin to various friends and relatives. Only natural with a boy this adorable.

Pictures, etc.

Wow, it's been awhile! Not much has been going on around here, I guess. We STILL don't have our car back; "about a week" apparently means something different to the folks at Aamco than it does to us. (They've had our car for two weeks as of tomorrow.) So we've been walking a lot: downtown, to church, to the grocery store...I feel pretty healthy.

Austin and I have settled into a nice little routine since Zach went back to work. I am trying to learn to manage my time better during the day, especially while Austin naps. I have found that printing my weekly calendar (I love Google Calendar) and then making my to-do list on it is a good strategy for me. I like crossing things off.

Okay, the title of this post said something about pictures so here we go. I have been trying to remember to take plenty of pictures...I know someday I will want to see Austin doing things that seem ordinary now.

Still not rolling over, although he comes close.

IUP pride

Enjoying a little naked time while we try to clear up a diaper rash

My guys were all ready to cheer on their teams last Saturday. Must have worked; USC and MU won their games.

Thanks for the super-cute onesie, Aunt Megan! We got lots of comments on it and people wanted to know where you got it.

First Food

We gave Austin his first real food on Saturday, if you can call rice cereal real food. (Zach said it reminds him of the fish food we fed our fish when we were younger.) Here's how it went:

As you see, he made some funny faces for the first few mouthfuls, but then he figured out how to suck the cereal off the spoon and the process improved considerably. I've thickened it up gradually since then and he seems to like it all right. So here we go...it'll be burgers and fries for my big boy before we know it.

One-Car Family, But Without the Car

A few weeks ago we took our car to get its annual state inspection. It passed, but the technician noted that it was a little sluggish shifting from first to second gear. We had noticed the same thing just the day before. He suggested we get it checked out, said maybe it just needed a transmission flush, maybe it needed something more. So we had it checked out this morning at Aamco. (Is "double A, M-C-O" in anyone else's head?) Turns out our transmission needs to be rebuilt. According to the diagnostic computer, the transmission is having trouble shifting from all the gears. (We haven't so much noticed because I bet it has been several weeks since we drove more than 35mph. Such is life in a small town.)

Besides the monetary expense, which is nothing to sneeze at, we are now facing the slight hardship of being a zero-car family for the next week or so. Fortunately there are few things in Indiana that are not within walking distance, and it's a nice time of year to need to take a lot of walks. We can walk to church. We were planning to go out to lunch for my birthday this weekend, so we can just walk downtown. I can walk to my Bible Study. Zach can walk across town tomorrow to pick up our CSA veggies. And when walking is not an option, such as my Women's Club meeting tonight, it is not hard to find a ride. No one seems to mind driving 500 feet out of their way to pick you up.