A Book Recommendation

A few weeks ago my friend Erica recommended this book on her blog. Since Erica and I have shared many book recommendations in the past and because I trust her judgment I put my name on the hold list at the library for Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand.

Erica was right - this book is excellent and an incredible true story. Hillenbrand spent seven years researching and writing this book and it shows. You feel like you are reading a novel, but it is a true story. I don't want to say too much to give anything away, but you will be changed by reading this book.

It was the kind of book I always wish I had on vacation, one that keeps my attention and that I really want to read. If you're heading away on vacation anytime soon this may be a good option for you.

Garden Bounty

Since I posted my last blog post about our jungle garden, we've actually seen some fruit of our labors. We harvested our first tomato on Monday and then two zucchini yesterday. With the tomato we made a wonderful caprese salad with basil, fresh mozzarella and olive oil. Yum! (Shout out to Aldi for having fresh mozzarella balls for wayyyy cheaper than Kroger! I heart Aldi.)

Liam happily eyeing the first tomato

The best summer salad!

Liam is not so sure about the green garden veggies

We also had our first major garden mishap with one tomato plant getting top heavy and toppling the cage over. Of course this had to happen at 10:00 at night when I was getting ready for bed...

So Rob and I were out back with the mosquitoes and a ski pole and clothesline and Rob wearing his head lamp trying to create a makeshift stake to hold the plant upright. It felt like we were on an episode of the Amazing Race trying to work together to complete some kind of weird challenge in the dark. We finally managed and the clothesline (no ski pole was necessary for this challenge after all) held overnight until Rob got to the hardware store for some real stakes. Then I noticed tonight the other plant has given up and fallen over...

Next year we're going to do a lot better with several things in our garden! Namely, buy bigger tomato cages...!

Jungle Garden

In the past month and a half or so, we've gone from having a garden like this...

to this!

I think Rob and I were a little overzealous when it came to our garden and even more naive about how big tiny seedlings will get. We planted two tomato plants, some zucchini and butternut squash, one garden bean plant, basil and cilantro all in our three by six raised bed. Even since we took this photo our squash has moved further out into the yard. I think we need to measure how much it is growing by the day.

We've enjoyed our garden so far even if we haven't seen the full harvest yet. We are hoping for some tomatoes here soon. We've had a few beans and plenty of basil which we made into delicious pesto.

And my flowers are doing wonderfully too and all coming up pink which I love. Pink cosmos and zinnias to start with and then the morning glory is just starting to bloom. It loves climbing the fence and the gate.

Starting out with seeds...

To now (and even more since I took this photo a few days ago)

Rob mentioned the other day that when we (hopefully!) have a larger yard in the future that it would be fun to put in a big garden. I agree, especially if our garden always does as well as this one!

Liam | 9 Months

On Wednesday we went back to the maternity floor at Bloomington Hospital for the first time since Liam was born to visit friends who had their second baby. It definitely did not feel like nine months had passed since I was pacing those floors in labor!

But surprise, nine months have flown by and we have a happy, healthy little boy to show for it. This past month he made tremendous leaps in development, which, I keep telling myself is good, but wow, he is in to everything and very mobile now. I have to keep a constant eye on him to make sure he is not getting into trouble. He no longer does the army crawl at all, but now crawls fast on all fours. His favorite thing to do though is stand up and pull himself up on everything. This has of course resulted in some bumps and bruises as he hasn't quite figured out yet how to get down once he is standing. I am trying to find the balance of protecting him, while allowing him to explore and play and yes, fall down sometimes so he can learn to get back up and not be dramatic about falling down. He is also cruising on furniture and will take our hands and "walk" around a room very happily. I still think he will be an early walker, but we'll see.

Standing up on everything

He still loves to eat and is trying out new foods almost every day. Anything soft is up for grabs to him and he knows when it is time to eat. He is still eating baby food, about five jars a day. We go to the doctor on Wednesday for his nine month checkup so I am anxious to see what he weighs now.

Every time he eats black beans, a favorite, he looks like he has a five o'clock shadow.

For the most part, Liam's favorite toys are not toys - plastic cups are still a big hit. As is paper, my clothesline (I have to take it down every time I use it and I store it in my kitchen where he has found it), clothespins, books, a wooden hammer and my newest find, a toy drum. I bought it new at a garage sale on Saturday. It is one of those drums that is hollow inside and you can pull off the lid an there are other instruments - jingles, a tambourine, shakers, etc. - inside. So far he has only found the drumsticks which, much to his father's disappointment, did not elicit sweet beats on the drum, but rather drool as they went right into this mouth. Everything has to go into his mouth. We are slowly working on training him which things are not mouth worthy.

Most of the time he is a pleasant, happy little guy, especially when he has had a good nap. We are enjoying more laughter, papa chasing him, more understanding of words and just more fun all around as he grows up. It is a joy to have him as our son. And here are his nine month pictures from today. Like I said last month, this paper sign thing is not working out so well!

He does this a lot with his arms. Either he is praising or he is saying "all done!"

Before the sign is spotted...

Spotted! "Give it to me mama!"

"How fast can I get this in my mouth?"

"Success!"

Double Wedding Weekend

Years ago, back when Rob and I were much younger (ha!) and had more energy we attended three weddings in one weekend. One on Friday night and two on Saturday. That was a lot to juggle, but nothing like this past weekend where we participated in my brother Luke's wedding on Saturday and attended another wedding on Sunday all while trying to take care of Liam (and our sanity) along the way. I was especially thankful this weekend for my wonderful in-laws who came early on Saturday and took care of Liam the rest of the day. He was in excellent hands!

The weekend was all so fun and I wouldn't have done it any other way. I will say though that watching my baby brother become a husband and put a wedding band on his finger made me cry a little, but they were happy tears. I love Logan so much and am so thankful that they are married and she has joined our family. We wish you many happy years!

Since I was in the wedding as a bridesmaid I didn't get many pictures, but I'm anxious to see some of the photos my cousins Dave and Heidi took for them as their professional photographers. I know they got some great shots. But until I get some of those, here are just a few off my camera.

The beautiful bride Logan getting ready to meet her groom. All day I kept thinking she looked like she walked out of a magazine!

I l o v e d my mom's hair. She looked lovely all day too!

Our family. One son married, one to go on August 27th.

Our little Bedinghaus family. I loved Liam's outfit (thanks to my mom). Yellow bowtie and black Chuck sneakers = adorable.

His toy of choice - a water bottle.

I posted this photo so you can all see Logan's gorgeous birdcage veil and headpiece. So elegant.

Best in-laws ever!! (Lauren and Kayla that includes you too :)

After the wedding we took a trolley car from the church to the reception at Baker Street Train Station in downtown Fort Wayne. Here we are on our way toward the streamer tunnel outside to the trolley.

Here you can see the trolley car in the background. No one thought about how hot it would be inside, but it was fun to ride in.

Cutting the cake.

The party went late in to the night with lots of fun dance moves, but eventually we crashed in bed and got up Sunday morning to drive over to Elkhart, Indiana to attend the wedding of Audra Lehman and LT Newland. Audra is the daughter of dear friends of my parents from their college days. They are a wonderful family that we have been privileged to spend time with over the years, so it was with extra joy that we celebrated Audra and LT. The two weddings were different, but each reflected the couple beautifully. Audra and LT got married in her home church and then had a tent reception (for 350 people!) in her backyard. The weather was perfect for them and reminded me so much of the evening of our tent reception three years ago.

Wedding number #2....Liam looking a little dazed.

I didn't get many photos of the beautiful bride, but here they are about to be announced into the tent.

The wedding had a simple, vintage feel to it, complete with Jones Soda in glass bottles...

romantic candleabras, mirrors and lace for the centerpieces...

and even a chandelier hanging from the center of the tent. As the night went on the tent glowed even more.

One of my favorite photos from the whole weekend.

Their "getaway car" was this vintage '54 Packard in marine green. We thought it would make a nice backdrop for a family photo, but you really can't see the car anyways! And our family isn't quite complete because obviously Luke and Logan had already left for their honeymoon in Cancun.

Liam fell asleep in the car after a few minutes and when we got back to the hotel he didn't even stir in the bright elevator or in our room with the lights on and Rob and I talking. He was pooped. Today he slept until 9!

We loved celebrating with the brides and grooms this weekend and are already looking forward to Ben and Heidi's wedding at the end of August. Thankfully there will be just one wedding that weekend...