Long time no post...

So, if you forget your user name & password, does that mean its been too long since you've last posted? I say yes!

Well, for those of you who don't know, *someone* turned 29 last week on Wednesday. And we're not talking dog years, so you can exclude Jetta & Baylor, and my birthday is February, but thank you for suggesting it was me. I look younger, don't I.

On Saturday, Maren's sister's boyfriend (no, that's the end; going no further) took some photos of us 4 (plus some of the 2 dogs) with his "fancier-than-point-&-shoot" camera that we have. They're nice. Even the ones with me in them.

pictures of Asher

Eowyn & Asher

Asher Records (John Asher Records)

...was born at 10:33pm local time in Germany. Mommy was in labor for about 4 1/2 hours or so with him. He was a big boy, 4310 grams, or 9lbs 8oz., and 53 cm, or about 20 7/8". His head was 36cm, or about 14 1/8".

Maren wanted to name him Asher. We were looking at Hebrew, Greek, and Roman names mostly and settled on that. We decided on his "second" name as John, after my dad, but we thought it flowed better as John Asher, rather than Asher John.

Comparatively, Asher is about 450 grams, or 1 full pound, heavier than Eowyn was, and 1 cm longer.

Asher slept a good part of the day, and didn't even eat from about 1am or so right after birth last night until almost 1pm today. He & mommy are doing well. I have pictures on facebook, and will load some here later.

Eowynisms

We're celebrating today. No, not because a baby's been born, in fact he hasn't been, but because Eowyn is finally saying her name correctly. No longer is she "Eowa", but now "Eowyn", and sometimes "Eovin". But she's dropped the final "-uh" for "-in".

So here are some other words that she says, first word, then the translation:

Oma--Oma
Oma--Opa
Ani--Annika
**kissing noise**--Kirsten
Nate--Daddy
Moo-ma Auto--the movie Cars
Moo-ma Poppy--Mary Poppins
"Oonie"--Uri, or Ur-Oma (great-grandma)
Bodish--fertig (finished)
**happy surprised gasp**--Nutella (as in, walks over to the cupboard, points, and *happy surprised gasp*)

Last blog Pre what's-his-name

Maren was at the doctor today. The Lad (who shall remain nameless...since Maren & I don't have a name for him yet) is already bigger than Eowyn was when she was born, is still 2 weeks from delivery, though the doctor tried to help "jump start" the process for Maren. We'll see if that works. I was just going through and reminiscing about old photos of Eowyn. Hard to believe that's been over 2 years now.

We like the area we live in, very pretty and our cameras don't do it justice, but far from work, and we'll be looking for something else in the springtime.

Here's some recent photos.


This picture was in a German Burger King. I thought it was awesome they used a photo of Green Bay Packers. I was so excited about it I told them I played for Green Bay before I realized what I was doing.


Jetta, 16 months. And now much faster than Baylor.


Eowyn found some wild black berries.

Another new video

We found Eowyn walking around in her mommy's shoes...notice how she reacts when she realizes she's being filmed...this cannot be a good sign of things to come.

New video

This was a couple of weeks ago after not seeing me for about a week.

more pictures

Update

Well, we've been in Germany for about 5 weeks now and haven't posted very much...so here it goes !
Eowyn has been having lots of fun getting to know her Oma and Opa (grandma and grandpa) and her aunts Kirsten and Annika.
The weather has been nice and sunny even here in Germany so we've been playing in Oma and Opa's yard a LOT ! It was warm enough today to pull out a brand new little pool that Eowyn was supposed to get for her birthday (Thanks Oma and Opa! ). She was ok with wearing her new swim suit bottom but refused to wear the top...Even though the water was pretty cold Eowyn had a blast playing and splashing in the pool and playing with her new buddy, an inflatable penguin that came with the pool
Later in the day she "helped" Opa water the flowers in the yard and had to be changed again...
A couple more big announcements. I had another ultrasound this week and the dr. is now 100% sure that the baby is a boy ! He was not shy this time around. In other news, Eowyn used the big girl potty for the first time today ! She has been pretty proud to announce that "I pooh-pooh" but usually it has been after the fact...until today. I got her on the potty really fast and she actually went! Then she wanted to sit there forever. I kept asking her if she was done and she kept telling me NO! I finally had to pull her off and distract her with something else.
So, it was a big day for her.

Nanny

Maren's screensaver has random pictures that we've loaded onto the computer. Today, Eowyn saw cousin Natalie's picture on the screen and called out "Nanny!" (not because she's stupid. she just can't say "Natalie" yet.)

It's a boy?????????

Maybe? Frau Doktor today was pretty sure, but not 100%. He(?) had his(?) legs tucked under, the umbilical cord was there, he(?) was sitting at an odd angle...the whole thing looked like doppler radar to me. Maren's convinced, but I could see Eowyn was going to be a girl, this just look like a massive blob.

If its a boy, we'll name him Winthrop Norbert. Anyone with that kind of name is bound to be rich. Picked on, but rich. If its a girl, it'll be Natalia Rosa. But why does that have such a familiar ring to it.......oh well.

By the way, it was hotter here than in Marshall, TX, today. Probably much less humidity.

Eowyn's first Nutella Broetchen

Eowyn has been enjoying some good German bread. She loves the crusty French bread you get at restaurants. This morning I went to a bakery to pick up fresh rolls (Broetchen) for breakfast.
Here are a few pictures of her first German roll with Nutella.

We're here

We're in Germany. Just thought I'd post here very quickly. We're tired, but Maren's family is here, the dogs are grateful to be out of the kennels, and we're wired.

We'll post pics of us in Germany (i.e., giant beer steins, lederhosen, and bratwursts) as soon as we can.

more pictures

ok, this might be overdoing it a little...but here is the last batch of pictures from today.

more pictures

Here are some more pictures of Eowyn playing on the mall playground and on grandpa's school bus.

Eowyn's first professional haircut

This is my first post so I'm sure Nate will edit if after I go to bed...
I won't try to be funny or witty but I do have something the masses are screaming for...new pictures.
We are staying with Nate's parents in Michigan and went to the mall today to get Eowyn her first professional haircut. She didn't want to sit in the chair by herself so mommy had to sit in the chair and Eowyn sat in mommy's lap. Then we had to bribe her with a sucker to sit still. The lady took about 2.5 inches off! I didn't know her hair had gotten that long. Of course we think she looks super cute with her new big girl hair cut. After her hair cut she got to play on the playground and climb around on some gigantic fruit and furniture. She loved it.
Once we got home grandpa stopped by to let Eowyn play on his school bus. The dogs were in the backyard but decided to jump the fence and hop on the school bus as well.
Enjoy the pictures of our girls. It will probably be a while till we post again since we are leaving for Germany next Wednesday.

"Bee-bah"

Eowyn is learning new things. For example, if she bangs on the windows after we tell her 'no', Mommy puts her in "time out." She doesn't care for that too much. And what's inside a Krispy Kreme box, or at a McDonald's drive-thru window (or, as Baylor refers to it, "The Magic Window of Smelly Goodness"). She loves those!

We've been trying to teach her to say "please", but "please" was seemingly too difficult to say. So, we decided to try the German variant, "bitte" (bit-tuh). She picked it up quickly, but it sounds like "bee-bah". Tonight, we ordered pizza. Maren ran to get it along with some allergy medicine (who knew Domino's carried Zyrtec?!..."Yeah, I'd like a pepperoni thin crust, some cheesy bread, a 2-liter, and throw in some parmesan...oh, and can I get a box of Dayquil?"). When she got back (I'm sure Eowyn recognized the box), Eowyn threw her toys down & ran to her chair shouting "bee-bah bee-bah bee-bah!"

We're also learning to throw a ball. Eowyn's aim seems to be improving steadily. In completely unrelated news, Daddy's reflexes are improving drastically out of sudden necessity.

Speaking of learning, we had someone look at our house yesterday, and while I was at rehearsal last night, they stopped by again. We learned that its Baylor, not Jetta, who about rips through her crate when people come into the house.

more Kaiserslautern

For anyone interested, here is the weblink to the theater where I'll be working.

http://www.mwrgermany.com/KL/theater/production_history.htm

They'll be performing "Lucky Stiff" opening May 28, so Maren and I will get to see a show that's up and meet the people who work hard and volunteer their time there.

And for my fussball-loving friends who are curious, no, we have no interest in adopting 1. FC Kaiserslautern as our new "home team." That'd be like moving to Texas and immediately becoming a Cowboys fan.

The end of Texas.

Dear family & friends.

God sees fit to bring a new chapter into our lives. In May, 2009, I will no longer be a professor at East Texas Baptist University. Instead, I will become the "Theatre Specialist", or artistic director, at the community theatre on the army instillation in Kaiserslautern, Germany. This will put us 1 1/2 hours from Maren's family.

There is no telling how long we will be there, though should I do a good job, I could have this job as long as I want. However, we are committing for 3 years at the minimum. To our friends in the US, we will miss you dearly, but we hope to have a large house for you to come and visit us. To our German friends & family, we can't wait to share our lives with you again.

To my students I leave behind: I love you all dearly, and these last two years have been some of the most memorable moments in my life, and I will cherish them forever.

Live big.

Finish.

More September

So, with Eowyn, most of you know how the timing was incredibly stressful: had just graduated, were buying a house, moving to a new town, starting a new career, problems buying the house, new job was 3 1/2 hours away from our hospital, blah blah blah.

So obviously, this time will be less stressful, right? We'll have the opportunity to plan things better, be more efficient, enjoy everything in the comfort of our own home (except the birth, because that'd be gross...), right?

So, in the first week of January, my October production of All My Sons (October 2008) was invited to a professional theatre festival in Poland! That's our university students going from September 20-27 at the festival (plus travel dataes). We'll be in Czestochowa, Poland, and for my Catholic friends, that's the town of the monastery Josna Gora with the Black Madonna (beautiful place. I had the chance to tour it Dec. 07).

Guess when Maren's due??

September 23!!!

September!

Big news for our family in September. Maren will be giving birth to our second child!

More to follow later, but it'll be mid-September!

Assorted pictures

like father, like daughter...


Christmas dress


sitting on the dog


too cool


opening christmas presents


Maren's 28th birthday (November)





Eowyn & Natalie...you think these two won't be getting into trouble together one day?? (October)