Things That Happened in July:

Here are some things that happened to our family in July:

* Eric finally learned to crawl. It's a sit-scooch crawl, but definitely a crawl. He likes to have one foot planted and then kind of drag the back foot...I think he likes to have that foot planted so he's more stable and can go from crawling to sitting more easily. It's pretty cute!

* We took Eric to his first baseball game (The Sioux City Explorers - they won 13-0). We sat in the bleachers and Eric was so good. There were also fireworks after the game, though they took forever to start. He was very patient and then when the fireworks started, he couldn't take his eyes off of them. I don't think he was too crazy about the noise; he kept laying his head on my chest and I covered his other ear with my hand.

* We celebrated our first 4th of July with Eric. We went to Storm Lake, to the Star Spangled Spectacular and got to spend time with a couple Grinnell friends. We saw a parade and walked around the festivities before heading back home. It was a really fun day!

* Eric said "Mama" in reference to me and since I responded so positively, now he does it all the time, whenever he wants me to do anything for him. We also think he said "Grandpa" a couple times, but we're not sure. He may have been just mimicking us. :-)

* Eric met his Uncle Axel for the first time. I don't think either one of them knew what to think of the other!

* Eric had ice cream for the first time and LOVED it. He just kept wanting more!

* My Babi Rose passed away and we celebrated her life in a very nice funeral. It was AMAZING that Eric got to meet his great-great-grandmother, even though he won't remember it. I can't wait to teach him about her, and I know that he brightened her life.

* Eric rode in his big-boy umbrella stroller for the first time. We took him to Amana for the afternoon to have a little family time, since we'd been apart for about ten days. It was really nice to have some time together, just the three of us during a difficult time.