let me tell you what i want

mommy and daddy have been using the baby signing time method to teach me to communicate until i learn to speak. daddy removed the audio from the clip so you wouldn't have to hear all the distracting grown up conversation that goes on during dinner and can focus on the star of the video...me.

sitting on a family treasure

my gampa and grammie have a neat little table and chair set at their house and they let us take it home so i could use it. we found out that it was built by hand by my gampa's great uncle for mommy and lula when they were little. so it's a special set that's been in the family for a long time. thank you gampa and grammie for letting me use the set. i'm enjoying eating my meals at a table that is just the right size for me. i promise to be careful with it so we can pass it on to others in the family.

a weekend of fun

this past weekend, we celebrated mommy and daddy's seventh anniversary. saturday night, they went on a date for dinner and coffee and i got to go play with eliana and her parents for a few hours.

what can i get you, ma'am?

how do i get out of this thing?

on sunday, we all went to estes park, a special way for all three of us to celebrate as a family. we had a picnic and went hiking in rocky mountain national park. daddy got some great shots of our walk around bear lake, and we marveled at God's creation. it was a fantastic day and one we will try to do again soon. mommy and daddy are already thinking of our next trip to the mountains.

getting ready for our hike

a 70-year old lady who hikes up here everyday was kind
enough to take our picture.

a look down our path

it was quite a view of long's peak.
it was neat to see lakes high up here in the mountains.

enjoying our mountain hike close to mommy

fishing anyone?

happy anniversary daddy and mommy!

i'm a big kid now

eliana and i decided to try out the "big kid" chairs and table after storytime at the library on wednesday. we had fun sitting there playing with the puzzles. i think i'm gonna like this getting older business.

A Word from Mommy

I know, I know, I just shared a word last night...but I just had to share one more fun update. O is beginning to sign. He's been doing "more" and "all done" (almost the same) for a while. And of course, he now is refusing to do either of those signs. But his new favorite is "cracker". Can you tell we're raising a carb-a-holic??!! I'll try to get video of it soon. It's a very "advanced" sign...especially seeing as how he still hasn't ever done "milk" or "eat", but can do "cracker". So fun!

A Word from Mommy

I'm sitting here writing this officially as a mom of a walker! That's right, Owen has officially entered toddlerhood. It's fun. It's exciting. And in many ways, it's easier. But I'm sad. My "baby" is walking. I just ordered our first pair of real shoes for him. And he sat in a kid-sized chair at a table playing with a puzzle today. My baby's not a baby anymore.

I am happy to report, however, that "On the Night You Were Born" still brings tears to my eyes.

P.S. I am typing this at our desk in the loft, and what wonderous thing do I see as I glance around, but the straw cup I've been searching for for two days, up on a shelf of our bookcase...a mere glimpse of just what is in store for us with a "little" one that can now reach a little higher!

washington, d.c. - day 5

day five of my trip consisted of a trip to one of daddy's favorite places in d.c., the air and space museum. there were all sorts of things to look at and i did my fair share of pointing throughout the day. we even stopped by the gift shop where mommy and daddy bought me a book titled "i wish i were a pilot". it was a wonderful day...especially since they had family rooms with baby changing stations, which made mommy and daddy happy. in the evening, we had dinner with mommy's friend, michelle. she was great with me and i gave her lots of smiles - my crabiness was on its way out.

a castle on the way to the museum

apparently, i was sleeping when we walked by this (one of
the few times you'll ever catch me sleeping in the stroller)

i can see myself!

look at that! (boy I love my pointer finger!)

super baby lifts the plane

more pointing

washington, d.c. - days one through four

here are some highlights from our recent trip to d.c. we went for a conference daddy had to attend, and mommy decided she didn't want to be left behind again. luckily, his conference was at a hotel that was all suites, so it was perfect for bedtime (if only there weren't so many sirens!)! it was really hot and humid, so i drank a lot of water, and needless to say, ended up leaking a lot! it made for "fun" memories, and a few changed plans. but we still got to see a lot.

day one consisted of a half day of travel (where i did sleep about 2 of the 3+ hour early morning flight!), hotel check-in and nap, and a lot of walking. we spent this day seeing the white house and the various memorials.

the grand ol' house...we wondered if the prez was even there??

the monument from afar

a look down the vietnam veterans memorial wall

always with my lovie close by...even with hot cheeks!

the lincoln memorial -
he really is larger than life!

the korean war memorial -
no names this time, but lots of faces

the world war II memorial - we only saw this in
passing as i was in dire need of a diaper change!

unfortunately, daddy didn't take his camera with him for any of our outings for the next three days. so here is a rundown of what we did.

on day two, we took a nice, long (& hot!) walk through dupont circle and down p street to the whole foods. we also indulged in some pitango gelato. yummy!

day three was another evening walk to georgetown for dinner and another indulgence - georgetown cupcake (from tlc's "dc cupcakes" show). after waiting in line for a bit, we all shared a red velvet cupcake. later, mommy and daddy shared cookies n' cream and banana split cupcakes. although the cupcakes were good, we were disappointed that we didn't get to see the two ladies from the show (and their "mommy"!).

on day four, we went to dinner at founding farmers with one of mommy's friends from high school, michelle, and her hubby, mark. the food was really delicious (totally the kind of place mommy likes), but i was a bit fussy, didn't really want to eat, really didn't want to be strapped into the chair, and started my diarrhea issue (of course, things like this always happen in places that don't even have changing tables!!). but other than my out-of-the-ordinary-crabbiness, mommy and daddy really enjoyed spending time with their friends and catching up.

the rest to come in another post...

more walking...and fun music

a little persistence and hard work goes a long way.

taking my first steps

mommy and i got to go with daddy last week to washington d.c. while we were there, i started doing some serious stepping (read: pre-walking). although i was taking a few steps prior to the trip, i was able to walk longer distances while we were in d.c. since we've been home, i've been practicing more and more so mommy and daddy better get ready for some serious chasing.

A side note from Mommy: I was so sad that the great shots we got of his real major first steps were of him in a disposable diaper!! Traveling with cloth is a little difficult when not staying with friends/family and having a washer/dryer handy. So we had to use the less-desirable alternative (and much less attractive!). It worked out in our favor, though, in the end, as O developed a case of diarrhea towards the end of the trip - definitely easier clean up in a sposie (but leakage was much worse since I didn't know what size to use...memories!)!