Two Months

 Seth is sleeping so much better now that he is sleeping on his tummy in his bassinet. 

July 6, 5 weeks old

 Giving Dad googly eyes and smiles!

July 9, 6 weeks old

 Holding his head up by himself sometimes.

July 10, 6 weeks old

 Making great faces!

July 12

 Big smiles for everyone and wearing his favorite pajamas.

July 19, 7 weeks old

 Seth got his first little sunburn when we spent the day at the lake for a luau.

July 21

 This is one of my favorite outfits for church, a friend made the onsie with the little tie on it.

July 22

 Look! I am as big as a zucchini!

July 24, 8 weeks old

 Seth's first baseball game, grandma came too.

July 27

 Watching Grandma. Seth is very social, everyone comments about how alert he is and that he is always watching people so intently.

 Sleeping on Mommy.  I just love to sit and hold him while he sleeps, I may not get a lot done, but I sure do love my Seth snuggles, I love the way he curls up and love to watch his cute little lips move as he dreams.

July 28

 2 Months old!

In this picture he is "talking." He loves to coo, gurgle, and carry on "conversations" with people.
July 28

Look how big he is! At his Dr. appointment, he was 14 lbs.

He sure is HANDSOME!

Cool Waterfall on a Hot Day

 Although it was supposed to be almost 100 degrees, we decided to spend our Saturday hiking to the waterfall at Camp Alta Mons, knowing that once we got there we could cool off.

 Clarissa hiked up the very steep path to the top of the falls with Chris.

 This is the view looking down from the top.

 She enjoyed doing something special and adventurous with just her and Dad.

 This is Seth's first hike, he traveled via Moby and slept the whole way up.

 Even Diesel cooled off in the water.

 The kids are so proud of themselves for climbing the big rock.

 The Falls, you just can't capture their beauty with a picture though.

 This was her real reaction to the cold water, caught on camera.

 A rainbow in the falls.

This was only about an hour hike.  We are planning a longer hike for the beginning of August in preparation for the Dragon's Tooth hike in September that the kids have been wanting to do since last summer.

A Busy, Patriotic Day

 Our 4th of July holiday began with Chris and Jared setting up flags around the city as part of a Boy Scout fundraiser.

 The girls enjoyed dressing up in Red, White and Blue.

 Jared participated in a flag ceremony at our church's Annual 4th of July Pancake Breakfast.

 Even Seth is ready to celebrate!

 We got everyone together for a family photo, then the kids were off with their friends for the rest of the breakfast.

 At 3pm, we had a get together with the 8 families of the adults on the Youth Conference committee for church as Youth Conference was the following day.  Many of the adults were busy putting the final touches on the planning for Youth Conference while the kids played, but then we all enjoyed a BBQ feast.

The kids enjoyed playing on a huge slip n slide, swimming in the kiddie pool, having a wet sponge water fight, a water balloon fight, eating popsicles, making up their own games, playing on the swing set, and drinking LOTS of sodas!

 Once it got dark, we headed down to the fire pit for sparklers and S'mores.

 Then the boys had fun with pyrotechnics...

 while the girls danced to our Mattson Rock Van CD.

We finished off the day by watching the big fireworks set off at Bissett Park, we are lucky enough to be able to see them from our house.  What I don't have pictures of is Jared working at the concessions stand the whole evening at the park, his first real job.  He was so excited when he found out that he earned $57 for his hard work.  We were all really tired when we headed to bed around midnight, but it was worth it.

Life With Sisters

I took Seth on what should have been a manly trip to Lowes, but I brought Amber and Krystal with us and this is what came of the trip.  Sorry son, welcome to life with sisters and let this be a warning not to ever fall asleep while they are around.

We Love the Moby

 One of the great things about having another baby is all the new stuff that is out there.  Our favorite item that we wish we would have had with the others is the Moby wrap.  Chris' sister bought us this baby carrier and it is wonderful.  Seth's tummy hurts him a lot and he has trouble sleeping during the day because his tummy pains wake him, but when he is held tight in the Moby, he sleeps, well...like a baby.

 The first time I used the wrap was at Clarissa's last soccer game.

This is what he looked like in the wrap after a couple hours of me pulling weeds in the garden, he had slipped down, but was still comfy cozy.

 Jared and Clarissa even love to wear Seth in the Moby in the mornings so that I can get some housework done.

 Seth has slept in the Moby during several summer movies at the theater, through most of the weeks we've been to church, while visiting Jared at scout camp, and even while the kids played at the creek.

The one thing we are learning is that once we get him in the Moby, we are committed.  He will sleep in there for hours, but the minute we get him out, he wakes up. 

The Little Luxuries of Life...

...like electricity.  Friday night we were in the basement watching "Tin Tin" and we were at the part where there is a terrible storm when suddenly our lights and TV started to flicker off and on.  Finally the power went out completely and we looked outside and saw that the sky was dark, the wind was blowing every which way, but it was hot and dry.  As we watched across the river in the city of Radford, we saw electical transistors blowing and lighting up the sky, it was a little scary.  So, we scrambled around the house to find candles and flashlights and as it was already 10pm, went to bed with candles for night lights.

In the morning our power was still out, so we made due by washing the dishes from the night before by hand.  The girls thought this was great fun and Krystal said, "Mommy, that was a great idea to fill one sink with soapy water and another with rinse water."  I had to laugh, they just have no idea that this is how people washed dishes for years before dishwashers.

The first time we lost power while we lived in this house, (yes, it happens quite often) it was 20 degrees outside, but Chris cooked pancakes on the grill.  Now whenever we lose power and it's breakfast time, Chris cooks pancakes on the grill.  They are the best and it gives us something to look forward to. 

There was a load of laundry in the washer when the power went out, so we had to hang it out to dry.

Clarissa and Chris spent the morning picking up branches that had blown down during the storm at our house and our neighbor's houses while Jared mowed the lawn.  After a hot morning of housework and yardwork in almost 100 degree weather and humidity and with no air conditioning, we decided to cool off at the river.

 Don't jump, Jared!

 Seth's first time in the river.  He thought it was too cold.

 It's crazy to think that only a month ago we were here at this same spot hours before Seth was born.

  We found this little spot that we like to call Mattson Cove.  We brought the clippers and cleared out the area of brush so we could have a path and a place to sit, then threw all the dead branches out of the river on the way to the waterfall. 

After a long, hot day, and still with no electricity or fans, we decided to sleep downstairs in the basement where it was cooler.  We continued to have no electricity all day on Sunday as well and ended up borrowing a generator from a friend to save all of our food in the freezer and refrigerator.  Finally, after many adaptations (like taking cold showers by candlelight) and 48 hours later, our power came back on Sunday night.

Some thoughts on life without electricity: I really enjoyed sitting outside in the evening just talking by candlelight.  I was surprised that nobody had a problem with not having access to our electronics, although we did keep trying turning on the light switches inadvertently.  Food cooked on a grill always tastes better than food cooked inside, and it's a good thing that we had plenty of food stored up because all the stores were without power as well.  I like scented candles, but not all night long (I remembered that we had emergency candles when all was said and done).  I am so glad that for 5 years we have been saving water in 2-liter bottles; because we have a well and water has to be pumped in, we don't have water either without electricity unless our neighbor who shares the well with us happens to be running his generator.  Speaking of generators, the first thing we did once we had our power back on was research buying a generator.  Finally, the two things I missed the most were fans and ice.  I can handle not having A/C as I usually keep it set around 78 or 80 anyway, but it's the lack of moving air that made things so hot and miserable.  Also, when I was hot, I just wanted a drink of COLD water, but with no ice, the water was all warm.