Fall Is Coming

Ahh, fall has officially arrived with the opening of the NFL season this weekend!!! There's something so fall-ish to me about turning on the TV and seeing football games on every channel. Just another reason that fall is my very favorite time of year!! Another reason is that fall is apple season. I LOVE apples, but only when they're hard and don't have a mushy texture. Fall is primetime if you're an apple. I've been looking for good apple recipes so I'm hoping to get some good things cooking. Unfortunately Georgia doesn't seem to grow many apples, so we'll have to duplicate the apple orchard experience at Kroger. Might look weird to take a bucket in, but whatever. Apple picking is very fall-ish.

OK, I just have to rant about Fergie again for a second. If you've read our blog before you probably know that Fergie is one of my favorite people to rant about, but I just can't stay quiet any longer. Have ya'll heard her new song "Big Girls Don't Cry"? This is possibly the worst song I've ever heard. There is a line in the chorus that says "I miss you/like a child misses their blanket." This is not a joke. When I first heard this song on the radio I had to listen again in case I heard it wrong. But no, I unfortunately heard it right. I thought "Wow, whoever wrote this song is really digging deep. That lyric is the most pathetic thing I've ever heard." THEN I found out that this song is sung by none other than FERGIE, the pop star who is the worst offender of all in my opinion. To say that she sunk even lower in my estimation after hearing that song is a serious understatement. Fergie, first you were spelling in your songs, but now you're singing about your BLANKIE?? Can you possibly be any more juvenile? Wow. I apologize for that rant, but I felt like I could stay silent for no longer.

Howie is doing very well. I posted some pictures of him playing with his toys and having fun being a baby. The one of him looking at the outlet is in our bathroom. We give him a bath every night because he loves to get wet for some reason, and so he was resting on the counter by the sink before we put him in the tub, and he got fascinated with the outlet. It doesn't take much to make a friend if you're a baby. Right now Howie is laying next to me, making all kinds of baby sounds and shrieks. It's soooo precious!!! He's growing so fast.

Have a great day!!

Happy Weekend

Last night Josh and I had the pleasure of going to a banquet hosted by a local ministry called International Link, which networks with internationals in the Augusta area who are here for a variety of reasons. We served as table hosts, and we ate with 7 Chinese people. Most of them spoke English well, so it seemed like we were understanding each other pretty well. There were two women who live here with their families, and both of their mothers were here visiting from China. I got a big kick out of these older ladies. Neither of them spoke any English, but my favorite part was watching them eat the American food. We were served chicken and rice casserole, vegetables, fruit, and a roll. They both speared the roll with their forks and picked it up and took bites off of it that way. It was sooo funny!! They were good sports to try the food... can't say that I'd necessarily reciprocate in China. We had a lot of fun!! I learned that Chinese people don't eat butter or many sweet things or coffee or french fries or cheese, and they have way more fruits and vegetables that you can't get here... on the whole, Chinese people blow Americans out of the water in terms of healthiness. Way to go, China. Howie enjoyed spending the evening with some good friends from church.

We would like to make a huge announcement, right here and now... drum roll please... Howie slept a whopping 8 HOURS last night. Yes, that's right, folks. Our favorite little wide-eyed baby slept like a champ. Howie, here's to you, Buddy. Thanks for the great night.

Well, I guess that's all the updates for now. We wish you a great weekend!!

Random Updates from the Desch Household

Probably not the picture that you were thinking you would see when loading our blog. No, Howie has not grown 8 legs. This is a chilling photographic record of the spider Josh faced off with outside of our apartment. For the details on this horrific event, please consult Josh's Real-Life Stories from a First-Time Dad. Just looking at that picture now makes my skin crawl.

In less disgusting and disturbing news, things have been going well in the Desch household. Howie is growing by leaps and bounds... he weighed in at 13 lbs 6 oz at the doctor last week!! I guess all of that stuffing his face with milk that he does each day is working. I'm sure that every new parent has "Wow- I'm Really A Parent" moments, and I've already had several. I experienced my latest in the course of reading... drumroll please... parenting books. Yes, I'm reading parenting books. The esteemed James C. Dobson has found a place on our shelf with his book Bringing Up Boys. Another book on our nightstand is Making Your Kids Mind Without Losing Yours, by Kevin Leman. These books were given to me by my mother, and I'm actually finding them very useful. Granted it's a bit early to think about Howie minding (seeing as he's only 2 months old... "Howie, I told you NOT to spit up again!!" Oh wait, that's crazy). But this parenting know-how will come in handy before we know it.

I am currently obsessed with watermelon. I guess I've always liked watermelon, but for some reason my liking has escalated into an obsession. Maybe this was something pregnancy-induced. We've had a watermelon in our house at most points for several weeks. There's something about the watery but firm texture that just makes me crazy. I could honestly eat the whole thing at one time. A few weeks ago Josh came home from work to find a watermelon cut in half, with most of the middle gauged out. If you've ever cut a watermelon, you know how much work it is. The juice gets everywhere, you have to cut all the fruit off the rinds and throw them out... it's a little time consuming, and when you want watermelon real bad, you just have to set into it with a knife and your mouth. No time for formalities here. There are few foods that I would shamelessly put my entire face in and just eat away, but watermelon is definitely one of them. I would also dunk my face into a pool of Laffy Taffy, but that's another issue.

Howie has this blue bouncy vibrating seat that he just loves. We put him there when we're eating or cooking or doing dishes, and he thinks it's great. In the last couple of weeks he's started taking an interest in toys and and batting at them with his hands. The chair came with a little bar of hanging toys that we left off for the first several weeks because he wouldn't have cared about them, but I put the bar on a couple of weeks ago. There are four little toys that now hang over Howie's little seat, and then this tag on the side that has all of those stupid mumbo jumbo warnings, like "Don't Let Your Child Operate Heavy Machinery While In This Chair," or "Don't Let An Elephant Sit on Your Child While In This Chair." For some reason, Howie loves playing with that tag as much as playing with the other toys. It's really funny to watch him bat at the tag while this enticing rattle gets no play. I love how babies can find anything amusing.

All right, here's several pictures of life in the last week. I'll tell you about them in order.











1. Howie's battle wounds from his first round of shots. The Sesame Street bandaid may make it look fun, but Howie would tell you otherwise. To his credit, he hardly fussed. Already taking it like a man.
2. Photographic record of Howie's FIRST golf cart ride in Peachtree City this weekend! Already hitting the paths. Only in Peachtree City can you take the family for a spin to Kroger on your golf cart.
3. Howie learning to push himself up and hold his head up. Hard work for a baby. All of those brains in there make it heavy.
4. Howie with Nana and Bible Bill, having some grandparent fun.
5. Howie lovin' on his paci. Whoever invented pacifiers deserves some kind of Nobel prize, seriously.
6. Howie dressed in one of his more manly onesies.
7. Papa reading Howie one of the heavier philosophical works, B Is For Bear.
8. "Heeyyyy, Mama!! Are you SEEING this??"
9. "Yeah, that's RIGHT!! I'm holding my WHOLE HEAD UP!!"
10. Giving Howie very early driving lessons in hopes that he won't be a typical teenage driver.

Well, I guess that's about all the updates for now. Thanks for reading!! Have a great week!!