Our Lives Are About to Get Interesting!

We had a momentous occasion in our apartment yesterday. Yes, you can guess it...Joshua took his first step by himself! I definitely do not consider him to be walking yet, but we were so proud of him! I stood him up in the middle of the room because he gets very excited and starts giggling. Peter and I were cheering him on, and then all of a sudden he took a step...and then a face plant! We really weren't too concerned that he had just smashed his sweet face into the carpet because we were so excited about his step! Needless to say, Peter got the video camera out so we could recreate the moment. Peter had to leave for work and I kept working with Joshua all night long, this time prepared to catch him if he fell. So it became a game of taking a step and then falling into mom's arms. Eventually, he took two steps and fell into mom's arms...and then three steps! Here is a video from my camera...it is really not a good video at all (I will try to get a better one soon) because I had to stand Joshua up and then scoot back really quick to video him, and then be prepared to catch him. But for our family, I think you will enjoy seeing this!




Joshua's inspiration for taking a few steps may have come from our experience earlier in the day. I decided Joshua needed a little culture, so we went to the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas to hear Aldine High School's concert band. Peter's aunt is the band director and they were there for a contest. After driving around downtown for a while searching for the Meyerson, we finally made it to the concert hall just as her band was taking the stage. They were really incredible! The last high school concert band I have heard was Northwest Academy's 30 piece band...their sound did not quite fill up the room like this 5A public school did. The Meyerson is so beautiful...it was just neat having Joshua there. On any other occassion, I wouldn't have dared take him to the Meyerson, but there wasn't anyone else there besides the bands competing. Joshua really loved the way his voice carried through the very open, three story lobby. He kept testing to see how far his voice would carry! Here is a picture of him with his Great Aunt B!


Here is B directing the band...

Weekend in Austin

We spent this weekend in Austin, celebrating the wedding of our good friend, Laura Kelly and her new husband David Quintanilla! It was such a beautiful wedding and Laura was an incredibly gorgeous bride! Unfortunately, I was having such a good time at the wedding, that I have no pictures of Laura and David...I will have to get one from Kristin or Janelle, who were also at the wedding. Here are some fun pictures of our weekend in Austin...there are a lot, so get ready!

Peter and Joshua at the rehearsal dinner. It was at Sorriano's, a great Mexican food restaurant that David's family owns. If you are ever in Austin, you should go there for dinner. It has a beautiful patio and almost a riverwalk feel to it.

Laura, the bride, on the eve of her wedding.

The Lewis Family...Kristin was the matron of honor, and Todd performed the ceremony.

Ella and Joshua asleep on their daddy's laps after a long night!

We stayed in the same hotel as the Lewises and Hartsfields. It was fun to wake up and let the babies play together. In fact, Janelle and Peter opened the doors to our rooms (directly across the hall from each other) at the same time...Ella and Joshua saw eachother, started talking and crawled to meet each other...priceless!

Laney decided that she wanted to be in her diaper like Joshua, so she crawled right out of her pants!

We were able to stop by the State Capitol on Saturday afternoon. It was such a beautiful day, so we took lots of pictures!

Joshua sitting in the rotunda of the Capitol.

When we were leaving the Capitol, we saw all of these people taking a tour on scooters...we all agreed that we want to do that next time we are in Austin!

There was a mariachi band at the wedding...Joshua enjoyed sitting and listening to them (and trying to eat the grass).

Easter Bunny vs. Santa Claus

Yesterday, on an impromptu trip to the mall, Joshua and I met Kristin and Laney. They played in the storybook play area, ate lunch in the food court, found a cute baby boy spring outfit, and randomly found the Easter bunny! I was so excited that the Easter bunny was already at the mall, because that meant cute pictures of Joshua. After all, he loved Santa and was such a sweet 7 1/2 month old sitting on his lap, reaching up to feel his beard. Well, 3 months make a difference, because he was not only not interested in the bunny, he seemed a little frightened. The bunny stood up off of his throne to say hi to Joshua and Laney, and Joshua immediately started to whimper. To Joshua's credit, it was an hour past his usual naptime, so he was very sleepy. All of that explanation for these cute pictures! By the way, Laney was very happy to meet the Easter bunny!

Joshua & Laney in front of the balloon flower garden!

Holding hands...Kristin and I decided we would include this picture in their wedding slideshow :)

Joshua has a renewed love of his tongue lately.

Spring Break Goodness!

As a student, I always loved being off of school for Spring Break. Since being out of school, I was able to go to Honduras with my church two years during Spring Break, but several years I have had to work. There is something sad about having to work when the rest of the people your age are vacationing and having fun. Well, this year has been amazing. I wouldn't rather be any other place for Spring Break than at home with my little man. Peter has been able to take off several days to hang out with us, too! That has really been the highlight of my week. Here is a pic of my boys in their flannel pjs.



Peter's mom, aunt, and sister came up to Dallas for only about 24 hours this week. But we made the most of our time. Diane had heard about a little diner in Irving called Mama's Daughter. It is like a cafe you would go to in a small town, with good home cookin' and lots of it! We decided to feed Joshua some mashed potatoes. After his first bite, we decided his reaction was so funny that we had to video it (you may have to look closely for the eye twitching).

Joshua pushing Laney!

It was not a mean push...
It is so fun watching the babies interact at this age. Last night, we got together with Kristin & Laney at Janelle & Ella's house. Ella has a toy that the babies can push and walk behind. I decided to try to let Joshua walk behind it, and he took off! Later, Laney was wanting to sit on it, so we put Joshua behind it, and he started to push her. It was very cute. Laney was so content just sitting there, and Joshua had a blast pushing her. I was so excited about videoing this moment, that I didn't stop to think that I had my camera facing the wrong direction...again! So, I'm sorry that I keep posting videos that are sideways, but I don't know if we are going to be able to recreate this moment. (Yes, the video stopped abruptly because Joshua was about to dump Laney out!)

Ava's 1st Birthday Party

We had a great time celebrating Ava's first birthday. She was a precious birthday girl and LOVED her cake! They had a petting zoo set up in their front yard with lots of baby chicks, pigs, guinea pics, goats, a turtle, a llama, and a horse. It was so much fun watching the kids play with the animals! I think Joshua was a little overwhelmed by all of the activity, but he did enjoy "petting" the goats.

Ava taking her first bite of icing...

Joshua being introduced to the llama...he got lucky because there was a rumor that the llama was spitting on babies!

This was taken immediately after Joshua received a kiss from the goat.

Visiting Daddy at Work

Joshua and I took lunch to Peter on Thursday...Joshua enjoyed being in the "construction trailer" and seeing the blueprints and hard hats in his Daddy's office.

He's a Brave Boy!

We went to the park with Janelle & Ella, Kristin & Laney on Thursday. It was such a beautiful day and we went to a very fun, new park. There were baby swings, a great slide, and lots for them to climb on. Usually when we go to a park, we hold on very tight to Joshua as he slides. For some reason this time, I just let him go. He loved it! He wanted to do it over and over, and he would even push himself to go down the slide. Here is a short video so you can see the joy on his face! I can't figure out how to rotate it, so you have to crane your neck to the right!

Babyproofing Needed

Joshua has gotten to the point where he is exploring our apartment constantly. He follows me from room to room, and stops long enough to open all of the cabinets in that particular room and pull a few things out. Here are a few of the day-to-day adventures and spills he has had in the last week.

While cruising around the ottoman, he lost his balance and fell against the foot of the couch...you know it is a hard fall when you can hear the smack of his head against the wood. He is a champ and only cried for about 20 seconds. A bruise appeared seconds later. I was sure it was going to turn into a full-fledged black eye by the next day, but somehow it just stayed pink.

The culprit...


The result (look closely at the corner of his right eye)...


When I am in the kitchen loading the dishwasher, Joshua loves to pull the bottom drawer in and out, in and out, in and out...you get the point. He managed to get his hands on some of the utensils. He is truly a man after his Momma's heart, because he pulled the ice cream scoop out and licked it for several minutes hoping to get any leftover drops of icecream. He hasn't actually tasted ice cream yet, but he will love it when he does.



Here is Joshua sporting his Dallas Mavericks shorts and chewing on the rattle. Kristin and Todd, huge Mavs fans, gave these to us before Joshua was born. Who knew that they would be on a 16 game winning streak when he was able to wear them...go Mavs!