New Camera and Watson Pics and a Video

Prolegomena (it means 'first words'):

We finally have a new camera (finally is too strong. Our other one broke less than 2 weeks ago).

It is an amazing story really. We were blessed with a good price from God's gracious hand. The short story is that the one I wanted was at Costco. I looked on-line and could not find an uber-bargain. Walmart had the same one for $100 MORE!

I got it at Costco and they only had the display model. So... we played bargain boy. I won. They gave me 20% off and extended the warranty for another year. Blogging shall continue.

For those in Corry: Please tell others who want to view LOUA (like Stephanie and Josh, etc) that they should send me an email and I will add them: nleshelman@gmail.com

Today's blog:

Here is a short video of Watson crawling. He is getting super cute and now has 4 teeth. There is no talking yet, but he is beginning to pull himself up onto things. That is fun to watch. Pull up... tumble.

Red eye reduction off. Oops.
The hat is from Scarlet Stitch. It is actually one that was made for Paige's baby, but he is not here yet, so Watty can wear it.
Mama and Watson downtown. We went to walk downtown, but the wind was so rough that we left after 5 minutes. We did get a good cup of coffee from Beaners though. I had a cappuccino and Lydia had a mocha latte.
This hat is Owen's. It is also from Scarlet Stitch. You really need to buy something from them, they are great!

I think that he looks a lot like Anna. Anyone else?

Watty is All Smiles

Watson is getting so big! We cannot believe what being stuck in the house all winter can do. He has started getting out of that fat baby stage and heading towards the little toddler phase. Of course, we all know he still is a baby- but he sure is growing fast!

He has two teeth now which are really cute. He is also starting to creep on his own and sits up. He also is trying to crawl- knees up.. but it is in vain. He is not ready yet.

Here is a hat that Tammy Anderson of Scarlet Stitch made for Anna. She thought that it would be cute to have her little brother wear it.
I love the blue eyes with the blue PJs. He has great big eyes!
Here is a 'hey ladies!' smile.
And a great big smile again! What a guy.
We all love him quite a bit. It is hard to imagine that love grows in home- the more there are- the more to love!

Some Watson Pictures for Your Enjoyment

Here are some Watson pictures for your enjoyment. I have been somewhat negligent because we have been putting the files onto Lydia's laptop or into an external hard drive and they are not as readily available. Sorry. I will try to do better. So today, I took my flash drive and took some things from Lydia's laptop and transferred it to mine. Yeah! Watson pictures.
He is a very happy baby. His personality is great. Lots of smiles and coos. Anna and Owen were quite happy as babies as well- but Watson seems to have a very optimistic outlook on life.
Now, he is not the skinniest of our children. Actually he weights at 4 months what Anna weighed at one year. We are comforting ourselves with the 95/95. He is 95th percentile for weight and height. There would be serious issues if he was 95/30!
He has been trying to roll over and show us his abilities. So far he gets stuck on his fat rolls! When he is on his stomach though- he really enjoys it!
The boys love to snuggle and nap.
What are we thinking? Who knows... we will see what kind of little guy you will grow up to be.

Two Dog Night?

Any visitor to our home knows that we are not wasting our hard-earned money on heating this house. We recommend that people wear socks and a few layers of clothes when they are here.

Side note, I remember my dad telling me about one of tenants who ran up a heating bill that was more than his rent for the month. When he went to the apartment to confront this person on his need to keep the apartment over 75 degrees, the tenant answered the door in an undershirt and shorts. Needless to say, my dad put a lock box on his thermostat without haste!

So how do we recommend that our company stay warm? Lydia and both lend out sweatshirts, socks, and wraps to our frigid guests. But what do we do? We have dogs to help heat our sleep. The old story goes like this- when it is cold it is a one-dog night. If it is unbearably cold, it is a two-dog night. We rarely are too cold in bed.. it is getting out that is chilly! But, it seems that Watson has no need for both Sam and Sedgwick. Old fat Sam is warm enough for him!

The Chapbook Cafe Beginning the Chilly Months

Winter is coming and that means hours of lounging in book stores sipping lattes. It also means reading magazines for free and parousing children's books that we will not purchase at the bookstore, but order off of ebay. So is the ways of a free economy. Owen enjoyed a mocha-steamer, also known as hot chocolate.
Anna also enjoyed some hot chocolate, she only drank about half of hers though. She is a tiny thing and is not able to drink 12 ounces of yummy delicious hot chocolate. (Owen, of course, was able to drink all of his!)
Here Owen is reading Parson Avery's tales of Thomas on the Island of Sodor. At one time, Rev. Avery wrote the Thomas stories as a way to promote Christian virtues.
Anna and Owen also played at the Thomas Table. It is the first time that we have been to Schuler in a couple of months. The Thomas display had 3 8x11 signs warning of all the recalls because of lead based paint. I thought that they should stop doing recalls and just set up the Thomas section under the headings of 'regular' and 'leaded'.
We enjoyed a good cookie with our drinks as well. Chapbook has GREAT chocolate chip cookies, but the cakes are never too great. The atmosphere is very nice there though- big pained windows, stone fireplace, chess players, good art on the walls. It is one of our favorite hybrid bookstores/cafe's in town (not that there are too many to choose from!)
Lydia always looks through a pile of books. She usually leaves with a list of ISBNs that she will look on Amazon and Ebay for over the next couple of days. A week from now we will begin receiving packages from the letter carrier. The residual effects of a nice mocha have lasting implications!
In the winter I get a double mocha. In the summer I usually get a mocha smoothie. Today was the usual. It was quite tasty and gives enough energy to write into the night!
Watson was quite the darling. He slept the whole time. I am sure that if he was awake, he would have been offered a mocha too!
In time son, in time.

Little Watson Watches Papa Write A Sermon

Anna has informed us that Owen and Watson are going to go to papa's school when they are bigger. She claims that they can be preachers and that she can be a talker. Here I have explained, in simple terms, some of the steps to move from exegesis to homiletics. I am not sure how interested he is though.

Some New Watson Picutures

Here is Anna snuggling with her little brother. She wants to do this quite often.
Here is one where we are breaking the rules of the Academy of Pediatrics. Do not try this at home:
Enjoying the pillow and a little drool.
Elfkin ears... just like Anna had.
To the right.
To the left.
Ahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are all falling!!

Whata Weekend With Watson!

This was a very special weekend for our family. Besides Watson getting baptized, we had some special visitors as well.

Here is Mrs. Lanning giving Watson a kiss. He is in the very special baptism gown that she made out of Lydia's wedding dress. All three of our children were baptized in it and we hope that it will stay in our family for generations to come. Maggie spent the weekend with us. She slept in the boy's room and Owen had to crawl in with her at 8AM to make sure that she did not sleep the day away.
Here is the Grand Rapids Commission of the RPCNA. We had a long weekend of examinations, family interviews, and hours of great Christian fellowship. James Faris was unable to be in this picture, but he is on the Commission as well.
Here is a goofy picture of the smiling Eshelman women. It looks like Brian is trying to snuggle up to my mom... but I assure you that this is not the case!
Here is another of Linda with Watson. She deserves two pictures since she made the dress. Today is Linda's tenth 40th birthday as well!
Here is Rev. Lanning with us. He has had the privledge of baptizing all three of our children. I cherish the pictures of him with them after the baptism. He gave a moving sermon as well as on Jesus's view of children. It is worth listening to again.
And one of the family. Watson was the picture perfect baby through the whole baptism. He slept the whole time!
* * * * * * * *Sorry, Bruce, no turkey pictures as of yet. I will get the video for Watson and make sure he memorizes all of the tips. You will have to take him hunting though... I gave it up after grandpa dropped me in the river!

Tante Heidi ist die beste tante in der ganzen Welt!

In my last Saturday evening, I forgot to put up a picture of Tante Heidi. I must say, that I am quite ashamed since she is ALWAYS there for us for love and support. Heidi has been there for Anna and Owen's delivery and I know how much she wanted to be there for Watson's birth as well. We understand, work is an honorable thing. She made sure to check in every few hours as well as kept up-to-date on the blog while she was at work. I have heard that her fellow employees were quite interested in the unfolding of event on LOUA as well!

We are so grateful for her love and support. Her love for our family always shows in her kindness towards us.

Here is Heidi with her niece and nephews. Anna does not look too impressed, but Owen sure is infatuated with Watson.
Anna remained unimpressed for this photo as well, but the love is there.

"We love you Tante Heidi!"

"Wir lieben dich Heidi, kommen bitte, uns wieder zu sehen real bald! Wir können nicht warten, um dich in Frankfurt zu besuchen!"

We are Home

We are home. It feels good to be home and waiting for things to get back to 'normal'. I love how the hospital will let a post-partum woman leave the hospital so quickly. 'Back in the day' women stayed for a week, Lydia had the baby YESTERDAY. It is good though.

Heidi and Irma came to see the baby yesterday. They spent the night at the Marriott and Anna wanted to spend the night with them. This came as a huge surprise, but we allowed her to. She loved it. It is good to see that as a new child comes along, the older one is ready to move onto bigger milestones.

Irma brought Watson a really great Hummel. It is of a little boy who is a doctor.

The subtlety is amazing with her!


Below is a cute picture of little Watson sleeping away. It is funny how much anticipation comes with a new child, yet there is so much sleeping in the first month or so... babies are much more fun when they start acting more... human.
Here are the three amigos in the car. Three car seats. Wow.
Here are the pictures that dog lovers expect and dog haters despise. The famous meeting of the new baby. Sedgwick could care less.
Sam was hoping it was table scraps.
As we began to settle in for the night, about 9 PM, our phone rang. I chose not to answer it since we were trying to get the kids to sleep. Immediately my cell phone went off. It was Pastor Lanning. I grabbed it and heard, "well, are you up for a short pastoral visit?"
I was honest, "well no, we are all quite exhausted and I am getting the kids to sleep."
Rev. Lanning said, "I am at the front door."
"Okay, hold on."

It was a good visit though. He read Psalm 138 and prayed for all of us. We are so tired... we need it!

Psalm 138
I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee.
I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.
All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O LORD, when they hear the words of thy mouth.
Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the LORD: for great is the glory of the LORD.
Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.
The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.

12:36 PM

Here is my little buddy. I have not slept yet and find myself to be a little nutty. The kids came to meet the baby and are so excited to finally meet him. Paige came to visit the baby. She had the children over night and they were happy to be with her. She said that Owen woke up in the morning and said, where is Bill?
Here is Anna holding her brother for the first time. She is going to be a big helper.
Here are my kids!
Owen holds his brother for the first time.
And what is his name? His name is Watson Truth Eshelman.

Where is Lydia? Room 4424.
Phone number to her room: 391.7331.