Thursday, July 26, 2007

Auntie Annie visits from North Carolina!

It's hard to believe that it's already been a month since Auntie Annie's visit -- and I'm just now posting photos! Sorry everyone! The photos have been hiding out in our laptop. I finally took time tonight to pull the photos over to our desktop where I do all my posting.

Ann (Rob's sister) putting the moves on Sam. He just melted in her arms.

Sam's first bath! He pulled off his umbilical cord and chucked it across the room (no kidding!) a day or so before Ann arrived, so we figured that was his way of telling us that he was ready for a deep cleaning. But he had second thoughts once he got wet...

Tummy time! Sam loves mirrors. For the first few weeks, he slept in a playpen bassinet that faced a full-length mirror. One day we caught him looking at us in the mirror! Maybe that's normal, but it seemed pretty amazing to us. In the photo above, Annie's giving Sam a back rub. She's a speech therapist and she works with PT's and OT's, so she's picked up on all the tricks to keeping babies happy. Who knew that babies like massages?!

A group photo courtesy of the camera self-timer.

This is a photo from Easter weekend that I stole off of Ann's camera. Everyone went in different directions this Easter, but Ann, Nancy, Michele, and I were able to get together for a few hours at Susan's home. Nancy left before we thought to take a group photo. Sorry Sug!

We had a great visit with Annie and hope we get to see her again before Thanksgiving! Maybe it's time for Sam to take his first plane ride...

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

family fun

We had a great time last weekend with Aunt Susan (Rob's sister), Uncle Ron, and cousins Landon & Payton coming to visit.

Landon poses with the big guy as we get ready to head up to the Friday night concert on the square. Each Friday evening during the summer, our local arts association organizes a concert. Some shows are great... others, well, aren't. But it's always fun to get outdoors and enjoy some music. This particular Friday night featured local blues band Deadwood. They were great. They're usually just a trio (lead guitar, bass, and drums) but a few songs featured a blues trumpet player -- probably a Truman student. Since I played trumpet back in the day, I really enjoyed it. Too bad I didn't think to take a photo of the show!

Aunt Susan helps Payton hold Sam. Check out Payter's new glasses! At first, he wasn't quite sure what to think of Sam... but before the weekend was over, he was hanging out with him non-stop.

Landon's grandparents on the Zartman side found a toy guitar that Ron had as a kid. That's inspired Landon to become a guitar player. He spent a good part of the weekend strumming an old classical guitar that my mom used to play when we were kids. Mom would be proud.

It's almost bedtime! Well, for Landon and Payton anyway. Sam sleeps whenever he darn well pleases. Just kidding... Sam's a good sleeper for being 2 months old!

The highlight of the weekend for the boys was Saturday afternoon at our local aquatic center. Landon went down the slide about 50 times, Payton had lots of fun playing, and Michele ran into several students who were really excited to meet our little guy.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

my dad's tougher than your dad

They haven't really given each other any good eye contact since they were born (3 days apart). But here's Tobin and Sam eyeing each other in their first stare-down. I'm proud to say that Tobin blinked first.

Clockwise from left: Dora (Tobin's big sister), Wendy, Michele, Isabel (Can't see her, but she's at the bottom of the slide. She belongs to some friends who are addicted to seeing Harry Potter movies on opening day), Jeremy, Tobin (blinker), Sam (stare-down champion).

leaving our mark

After already donating thousands of dollars to our alma mater in exchange for tuition, room & board, and eventually degrees, it was a little hard to swallow giving them $100 more to buy a brick. But... we finally caved in and left a little something to make the family proud:
Good thing only 4 of the 6 Gasaway kids attended Truman -- we almost ran out of space!

Here's a shot of the courtyard where the bricks are laid. It's right outside the newly renovated Magruder Hall (a.k.a. Science Hall). That's Michele & Sam hanging out by our brick.
And here's a shot of what used to be the Catholic Newman Center on Truman's campus. It was struck by lightning and completely destroyed by fire on Wednesday, May 30th -- the day we came home from the hospital with Sam. We must've been exhausted... because while we remember the strong storm, we never heard the fire sirens. We heard about the fire the following day from our good friend Wendy. She saw the flames from her hospital room (the same room that she and Michele shared for a day).
We weren't involved at the Newman Center, but we did go to a few dances there during our college days. It's sad to see the building destroyed. You can check out more photos here. Hopefully they'll be able to rebuild soon.

Saturday, July 7, 2007

a day at the park

City parks are one of the best reasons to live in town -- especially if they're within walking distance. When we were young, I remember visiting my grandma in Greenfield, Iowa and being amazed that right across the street from her house was one of the best parks known to man. I'm sure in reality it was just a skimpy little park with some old swings, a beat-up see-saw and a rusty merry-go-round. But when you're 4 or 5, I couldn't imagine anything better. We didn't visit Grandma Ehm that often, but I always looked forward to seeing her and playing at that park.

Today we live just a few blocks away from one of our city parks. Michele and Wendy are already making a routine of going on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. The other day, I rode my bike and met them there after work, and we took a few photos (with our new digital camera!).