Steps!!!

SHE TOOK STEPS!!! My big girl!! She had me almost in tears today as I stood her up and she would walk to me then plop on her bottom and clap for herself! Now technically she took steps last week Daddy was holding her hands and she was going really good and Daddy let go and she took two steps before falling flat. These were momentum steps though, and she only did it once. Today she had no momentum she did it all on her own power!! I stood her up as far from me as I could reach and let go of her (she started the last couple days just standing or slowing sitting down) then I would scoot as far away as I could and see what she would do. About half the time she sat or would just stand there, then finally two steps!! I did it again and she did it again. Finally I decided I have to try and get this on video, so I got the camera out set it out and then pressed record. I stood her back up and she took many steps!!! I tried again to see if she could/would repeat it, but she was getting tired of my new game. I turned the video off put it where she could not get to it. Then tried again I stood her up and called her to me, she turned and walked towards some of her toys! My little girl can walk!!!! Now as soon as I learn how to get the video off the camera and onto the computer I will post it, until then just know she's cute and wobbly!!

trying...

So Joy has discovered the art of walking with her push toy, walking holding someones hand(s) and walking along a wall, but not walking all on her own. We imagine it won't be too long though. I will try and post it as soon as she does.

This month has been a little crazy! I can't even remember all that has happened. We have been to Moody Gardens Palm Beach a couple times, we continue to Monkey Around allot. \

The big events were I went away for a night and left Dad and Joy alone! They both survived and are still on speaking terms with me and each other. I had a great time with my cousins. We decided when our Maw Maw passed away we wanted to be able to get together on occasion, and waiting for our Dad's to help us would mean never doing it. So we took it upon ourselves and have a cousin's weekend each year. Last year we went to Galveston. This year we went to Salado Texas, which we loved! It's a great little town in the middle of hill country. Basically it's one street lined with all kinds of shops, Antiques, crafty stuff, Texas stuff, etc. It was a good relaxing and fun visit with the cousins and just generally nice to get away.

The other big even this month was a visit from my friend Mary, her boys, and one of her nieces. We had a great time, we went to Moody Gardens, did the beach, the Aquarium and the Rainforest. Then we went to the real beach (so her niece could see Galveston beaches are not really white sand and blue water). When we got to the real beach Michael (Mary's Youngest) William (one of the twins) and Joy were all sleeping so since I am very familiar and not a fan of Galveston beaches I stayed by the cars while Mary, Holly and John Morgan trekked to the beach. While sitting there taking to Rob on the phone I was looking at my tire and saw a nice big tear in it. So I called AAA and about an hour later they came and changed the tire to my donut. Then we did a short tour of the rest of Galveston and came home. That was a full day plus some! Friday Mary took her crew to visit her Aunt Ruth and then we met up with them at Kemah where we rode the train and watched the kids in the fountain. Then we said our goodbyes around 1:00 and Mary started to Dallas and I went to buy a new tire. That night around 9:00pm Mary gave me a call as they had just dropped off Holly and were on their way home! Yikes that was a long trip!!

This month we also helped my sister Vicki move from her house which they are renting to the work house. Then on Tuesday Rob went back over to help Marty with some stuff and after they were done they played some basketball with some much younger guys and Marty came home hurting. By the end of the week Vicki convinced Marty to go to the doctor (same one she went to when she broke her foot) and his Achilles Tendon is detached. He is having surgery on Wednesday (tomorrow). This is not helpful as many things were left undone at their home in Katy. So we went back and helped with a garage sale on Saturday and Rob helped with a few things in the house that needed fixing. Marty's Aunt and a family friend were there to help.

For the future... Tomorrow I start work at the church's Preschool/Mother's Day Out program. I will be working MWF, except the next 3 days are teacher work days so I will be there all 3. This means Joy will also be attending MDO on MWF. I will let you know how it goes!

We all know what is coming on the 19th! I am both excited and nervous. I look forward to her getting older, although I am loving her as a baby! I know I will love her as she grows, but it's hard to imagine her getting bigger. She is a sweetheart and I do love how she is now, and know I will love the person she grows up to be! As I have time I will update

been awhile...

Wow, it's been about a month since I last gave an update so I guess one is due. We have no new milestones we reached this month. She weighed in at 17lbs2oz on the 19th, which is 8 oz more than the month before. So she is steadily gaining 8oz a month now. From what other moms with kids the same age this is impressive as most of them are not gaining allot of weight at this time, if any they seem to level off when they begin crawling. Anyway that is our weight for now. Joy has also started to cut her "top I-teeth" if your keep count this will be 4 teeth, and if you know which ones those are, yes she is cutting these before the middle ones. She's a little odd now with her bottom middle two and the top one out from the middle two.
Activities this month... I had a friend from college come and visit for a week. We had a good time did a few things around town, but mostly just hung out. Joy and I also took a short trip to Dallas to visit with my friend Mary and her 4 boys, twin 2 year olds and the newest member of the family Michael, who is 3 months old, and of course the big boy Lynn (her husband). Joy was a little jealous as Michael has a ton more hair than her. She tried to pull it, but otherwise had no care for the moving doll Mom kept playing with. She did enjoy the two very active boys who would run past her and sometimes grab a toy and either say Giechael's or Mine (Geichael being their very cute mispronunciation of Michael). We enjoyed sitting back and watching the four of them figure each other out. I think we scared the boys because when I first arrived with Joy I met Michael but the twins were sleeping. Then Mary and I took a quick trip to the outlets and when we came back the boys were awake and Michael was asleep and they called Joy Michael, but could not figure out how he had grown and changed so much during their nap. Silly boys! I did forget my camera so I have no pictures of that visit. I was impressed I remembered everything for Joy!
We are also very happy to have a consistent group going for play dates on Thursdays or Fridays. We are the youngest at this time, but we are having a great time and love playing with the other kids. I think I have found my mommy group niche.
Our big news for the month is Joy has a new toy for her 10 month birthday she got a walk behind toy, which she loves! We don't encourage it too much, but we will help her get up and "walk" around the house a little. She has some bad steering issue (she learned from her Mom). but she is loving it! She hasn't yet figure out the walk with Mom or Dad holding her hands yet. I am sure it will come soon enough!

I know what you really want is pictures so here you go...Joy Finally let go in the pool since I got her in the float and the water is warmer she is much happier to go swimming!

One day I look down for Joy from the couch and I see she is climbing IN the coffee table, I quickly got the camera not sure if she would be happy or sad by the time I got back, but she seemed to enjoy her short stint under the table! I am glad I got it on camera, she has only tried one more time to do this again, but decided against it half way in!

Crawling, Cruising and July 4th

Joy has become an expert crawler. Because of this we are trying to get out of the house more, so that she has things to do and I don't go crazy. I got Rob and I Moody Garden's Membership which we have already used twice, and love! We also got a zoo membership which we have used once. I hope to go again soon, just want someone to go with us. More local and less extravagant we have rediscovered the library Book Babies time where we can go and sing any M-Th at 10:15 (which is often right during our nap which is why we can't make it all the time!) We also discovered a play placed called Monkey'n Around, which was allot of fun. I took Joy after lunch with Dad other day and she enjoyed crawling all around exploring the different toys. She was a hit with the owners child too! The owners daughter kept wanting to find the baby and when I fed Joy her bottle she wanted to sit right beside us! I enjoyed it and look forward to going back (until Joy is 11 months she is free).
Joy has also mastered the art of cruisin'. She really likes the long bench/window seat in the kitchen. She will crawl to the far end and then cruise her way back to the living room. Sometimes she gets stopped, but most of the time she makes it all the way! She also will cruise around the coffee table, and across the Entertainment center. If she wants to she will get there!
Our Fourth of July was a long day, but Joy had a good time. My mom and Grandmother along with my sister came over and Rob grilled us hamburgers in the rain and flood of our backyard (what a wonderful man). My mom then helped with the seat cushions we (she) is making for the bench seat in the kitchen. Joy played around with everyone. Grandmother even brought a special handkerchief to play peek a boo with Joy. Joy still is unsure what to go with her Great Grandmother.
My sister and I love fireworks so we wanted to go see some, we knew Joy might not like it, but the plan was go park somewhere and just leave her in the car while we sit on the hood or something. Anyway we found what is said to be a great place to see Kemah Fireworks, and settled in. We got there around 8:30. We found out around 9:00 that the fireworks start around 9:30. Well Joy began to get fussy around 9:15, so we left and came home no fireworks. Well I say no fireworks, however they are legal in my neighborhood so we got to see some through the trees in our neighborhood, also we saw some on the drive home, but we did not get to see a whole show of fireworks. Oh well, maybe another year.

My Little Parrot Shadow

Well she learned to crawl a little over 2 weeks ago! I can't believe it! Since then she has decided she doesn't have to be in the room with Mom and Dad. She can strike out on her own and we will follow. However I have also noticed that when I leave a room she will watch and either try and follow or be content where she is. So I sometimes have a very slow shadow! I encourage this as I enjoy having her follow me around and see what I am doing, and since she is so slow if I am just running to do something I am usually back before she has gone too far! My favorite though is when I am getting us ready to leave for somewhere it's easier to do our bags and her in separate trips so I get the bags ready and then I take them out to the car, and open the garage door. When I come back she is sitting by the door waiting for me! It's great she knows we are getting ready to go and I no longer have to pry a toy out of her hands or bring it along! She hasn't yet figured out how to bring something with her when she crawls!
Her other new trick this week she ha sonly done twice, but I think she is working on developing this. She will mimic something I say. The first time she did this she had woken up from her nap and was playing in the crib, I went to get her and she backed away from me, I guess not wanting out yet. So I told her okay I will leave then, and I walked toward the door and said Bye Bye while waving. She then waved her arm (something she does most of the time) and said ba ba in the same tone as I said Bye Bye! hmmm?!? The second time was similar in that she mimicked the tone of what I said. Silly little girl!

Okay here is the video of her pulling up...



Here is the video of her crawling it's from the first day she crawled and she has sped up since then, but still pretty slow!

A week of milestones!!

Okay so last week on Monday she pulled up (see previous post). Then on Wednesday she decided to crawl! I got a little video of it and we are currently working on getting that video and the video of her pulling up on here for everyone be patient Rob's in charge of this.
Since Wednesday she really hasn't crawled any further than where she would roll last week and occasionally she reverts to the rolling because it's what she is better at. I will keep nagging Rob for the video.
This weekend Joy went to the zoo for the first time and we went ahead and got a year pass for me which means I can go anytime free with one guest (anyone can come) Joy is free since she's under 2, let me know if you are interested in going with us!

Joy liked watching all the people oh and the animals too!

Baby Mac and his Mommy! Mac is actually about half a month younger than Joy!

Wow! What's that creature?

Mommy & Joy on the Merry go round riding the Okapi
(a strange Zebra Giraffe mixed animal, it's real we saw one!)

Last but not least tonight at dinner we were at a local BBQ place (which we love) and I didn't have any spoon foods for Joy so we were just giving her puffs and cheerios like usual, to entertain her she plays with them on the table and occasionally we would spoon feed her one (yes spoon feed her a puff it works!) Well recently she had been trying to self feed these but with little to no success, then tonight we are watching her and talking and we notice that she not only has it in her mouth, but she has managed to get her hand out without the puff stuck to it!! YEAH Joy!!
So in review since last Monday she pulled up, crawled, went to the zoo and fed herself!! Wow what a week!

My big little girl!!

So today Joy took her afternoon nap as usual, and I caught up on email and actually caught Geneva online and got to chat with her. I hear Joy wake up and think nothing of it I usually let her play by herself a little before going to get her. As long as she is happy I like to finish what I am doing, and at the time I was chatting with a friend I never get to chat with.
So I finally break off the conversation (don't worry Geneva she was only in there a couple of minutes awake) and go to check on her cause I hadn't really heard her in a little bit. I open the door scan the bed and I didn't see her! I then start scanning the floor where has she gone (know this is happening in the seconds as I am walking across her small room to her crib). I look back in the crib after not seeing her on the floor thinking I just missed her in a corner, and sure enough I had missed her STANDING in the corner!! I guess in her playtime I had given her she decided to sit up then that wasn't enough fun so she decided to stand! I praised her (although not as loud or happily as I wanted to since that scared her last time) she then lifted her hands off the rail she had been holding so well and fell hitting her head on the other side of the crib. She was fine, and I was till proud of my big little girl.
Later today Rob and I were watching her play on the floor in front of the tv and she reached up and got a good hold on the base of the entertainment unit. She managed to pull herself about 3/4 of the way up then lost her grip on the unit. down she went for Dad to catch her. We then figured she wouldn't try again tonight, but we kept watching her. Eventually she did decide on the other side of the unit to try again and this time succeeded. She managed to stay up for a small photo shoot from Mom and then she toppled again. Dad then got the video camera and managed to catch her getting up one more time before she tired out and had to go to bed!
What a big girl she is now she can pull up!