First Day at the Beach

Hey everyone! We had an exordinarily exciting past week. First, Michael got his first tooth in. It finally poked through the gum last Thursday. (Sorry no pictures yet. If you try to open up his mouth, he sticks his tongue out so you can't see anything.) I don't think it means much to him yet, but his parents are pretty proud. --And, it's funny with all the extra saliva in his mouth he's been making lots of raspy-gurgling sounds which are soooo cute!



For the last few weeks, he's been struggling to get up on all fours and is now doing really well getting up and down and wobbling back and forth, but he hasn't tried to move his hands while he's up yet. Instead, he's finally learned to use his feet to scoot on his belly. He hasn't gone very far yet, but I think within the next few weeks, he'll be able to get from one end of the living room to the other.



We have a keyboard we keep down on the floor for him to play with and he loves it!!! He uses his hands, his feet, his nose, and will even use a random plastic toy to bang out the most unique melodies. We're absolutely certain he is a child prodigy and are planning on signing him up for piano lessons as soon as he learns to use his fingers independantly. :)


Also last week, we had to deal with the most horrendous smell coming from our refridgerator. After several calls and visits from the apt. maintenence folks, we finally got a brand new refridgerator put in a few days ago. Our best guess is that a huge rodent of some sort (it was way too stinky to be a little mouse) got caught underneath and died. Anyway, our whole apartment became unbearable to live in so we spent as much time as we could out of it.



Friday night, Michael and I met Matt down at the U of H and he showed us around campus. Michael loved watching the fountains!



Last Saturday, Matt took the day off and we headed down to Galveston where Michael got his first taste of the sea --literally! He loved the sand (playing in it and eating it), but the waves kind of freaked him out. But it was a fun adventure for Mom and Dad too. We stayed on the beach to watch the moon and stars appear and enjoyed watching the crabs come out and dance across the sand.




Matt and I would love to back, but I think we'll have to wait until after Michael is past the crawling and "let's stick everything in my mouth as fast as possible" stage.





Sunday after church, we headed straight over to my uncle Eddie's house and spent the day with his family. It is sooo nice to have family close by! Unbeknownst to us, we moved into some apartments right next to the neighborhood where my cousin Tina lives. We're within walking distance so we've been enjoying going on morning walks together.



Just a cute picture --Michael helps out with the laundry.

What a month!!!

What an incredibly busy month we've had! So much has happened, I don't know if I'll be able to fit everything in, but here it goes ...




With Matt quitting his job at the end of July, we had a little extra time to spend as a family, so did some fun things around Austin, including going to beautiful Zilker Botanical Gardens. This was where Matt and I took our engagement photos in the middle of winter 2007. As pretty as it was then, it is glorious now at the height of summer! Matt and I loved it, and I'm sure Michael would have too if he hadn't slept through the entire thing.









We were also able to go down to San Antonio to celebrate Matt Sr. completing the bar exam. After three years of dedicated study, it was a joyous occasion for the whole family! I also think it helped me put Matt going to law school into better perspective. --Yes, it will be three hard years, but there will be an end!






The week before we moved, my brother Jeremy came down from Ann Arbor with his family for a visit. We hadn't seen them in over a year so it was a lot of fun being together. It was especially fun to have Michael meet his cousin Hunter who is just 6 weeks older than he is.

Michael caught his first cold from his cousins, a time I had been dreading. But thankfully, it was a pretty minor case of crusty nose and, with all of them sick, I could just let him interact with his cousins and not worry about it.



One of the days they were there, we all went to Inter Space Caverns in Georgetown. Matt and I had fun toting Michael around in a carrier. We were pretty amazed that he didn't fuss at all. I think he's so interested in seeing new things that it never occurs to him to be scared.




Over the weekend, we had a family reunion of sorts. My brother Joel came down from Ft. Worth with his family, Alison had gotten home from Provo the week before, and Stephen came up from San Marcos. So, everyone in the family was there.




All five cousins! This was a fun shot to take. Try getting five active little kids to all look relatively happy and in the same direction all at the same time. If it weren't for digital cameras, we would have gone through a least two rolls of film.

After our week of fun, Monday the 11th, we got down to the work of moving. With lots of help from our family (including Jeremy and Megan on vacation) and members of our (church) ward, we loaded up a huge 24" moving van. Looking at the inside of the empty truck, I didn't think we would even come close to filling it up. But, we ended up using every bit of space. Who knew we had so much stuff?!



Tuesday morning we headed for Houston in a caravan. Matt drove his car (noone else could drive a manual), Jeremy drove my car, Alison drove her car (so Jeremy would be able to get back), and I got to drive the truck (I felt like quite the trucker mama). Matt's dad and brother, Ben, met us at our new apt. to help unload, along with my uncle Eddie who lives in Houston and some missionaries from our new ward. This is what we had to face after they unloaded. Two weeks later, we've gotten settled in fairly well and it's starting to feel like home.



Michael has been amazingly cooperative with all the changes and Mom and Dad being stressed out. He really is an amazing boy. We just celebrated his 6 month birthday with lemon cupcakes, of which he got to enjoy a few crumbs. Also on his half-birthday, he had his 6 month check-up with a new pediatrician here in Houston. Always the ladies' man, he made quite the first impression by peeing in her face as she was examining him!



During the past month, Michael has become quite adept at sitting up on his own and is enjoying playing by himself more. (This makes life much easier for me.) He loves bathtime and trying new foods. (He's liked pretty much everything he's tried except strawberries.)



I believe his most favorite passtime of all, however is still sucking on things. He's moved beyond his binkey now to sucking on his feet, his shirt, and anything else within reach.

Smoked Texas Barbecue!

AND... I've also been expanding my companies. Here's my latest Texas Barbecue variant. They sent us some ribs, sausage, and brisket which was absolutely delicious. We fed some to Jennie's dad, the LDS Missionaries, and a few others. It was too much barbecue for us to eat all at once. The brisket was really the most amazing thing, you could cut it with a fork it was sooo soft.

Off to Law School

Well, I've done it. I'm going to law school. I got my acceptance letter in June and I've been working hard to get ready for it ever since. My Austin Search Engine Marketing Company, Apogee-Search is obviously sad to see me go, but that's life. I really hate to leave the SEM world, this has been my best job ever! It's been an interesting decision to make - leave the best job you've ever had for something that might not be as exciting... but could be even more so!

At any rate, we're moving to Houston, the Galleria area. If you want our address just call/email us. School starts August 25th. It's been interesting getting our loan situation all squared away in this rough economy. I told Apogee I was leaving before they were secured, and we're still waiting on the last 1/3rd to come in, but at last we've at least gotten the bank to accept our faxes.

4th!

Michael celebrates the 4th! He has loved playing with the balloon Nana got him for Independence Day. It seems to get more fun for him as the helium has escaped and he can actually grab hold of it. We spent the 4th of July weekend with Matt's family in San Antonio. They were kind enough to watch Michael for us while Matt & I went out to dinner Friday night, and we loved spending all day Saturday with them.






My nephew and niece, Cole and Kylie, came to visit Nana for a week. Michael and I had lots of fun with them at the Georgetown library one day. The children's room there is a magical place for kids --even without the magic show that was going on.





This past weekend we got to spend the whole day with Dad! Due to a martial arts injury, Matt made an appointment for acupuncture and Michael and I accompanied him. It was really cool to see them stick the needles in. (No, there was no blood involved!) The needles they use are hair-width, and Matt didn't even feel a lot of them go in.




Next, we had a picnic lunch under a gazeboo overlooking a beautiful goldfish pond. (Sorry, I didn't think to take a picture.) Then we headed down to UT campus and toured the Natural History museum. Michael thought the dinosaurs were okay, but most enjoyed the beautifully colored rock specimens they had. Next, we walked over to the LBJ library to see several exhibits there, including a space rock (pictured) and some amazing presidential gifts from around the world.




It's been a while since we've made a picture of all of all three of us together, so here we are in my parent's front garden.

Cute Pictures

Just had to share some cute picutes.




Watch out world, he's mobile! Michael has learned to roll from his back onto his tummy.



Michael discovers his ears!



First experience with "solid" food. The picture doesn't reflect it, but he really seemed to enjoy his very watery rice cereal.



Yeah! I was finally able to catch some pictures of him smiling.

First Father's Day!!!

We just had the honor of celebrating Matt's very first Father's Day as a father! And, you'll have to let me brag a little bit here) he's a great dad who loves his little boy. They have great fun together singing, dancing, making faces, and, of course, napping.




At the end of last month, we were able to go down to Matt Sr.'s graduation from St. Mary's Law School in San Antonio--the culmination of three long years of dedicated study. Way to go!!! The whole family was there to celebrate, and we enjoyed a wonderful afternoon visiting.









Michael is incredibly camera-shy. He has a beautiful, bright, big smile, but he goes stoic as soon as he sees a camera. So, I haven't been able to get any good pictures of a big smile, but here's a half-smile I was able to get.




Right now, he's in the process of learning to roll over. He can get from his back onto his side with his hips facing the ground, but he hasn't quite learned how to get his shoulders over yet. He's a little more tolerant of tummy-time now and we're expecting he'll be scooting from one end of the living room to the other before long. He's also learned to suck on his lower lip if his binki is unavailable.