First Steps!

I don't have any pictures of it, but Grant took his first steps on Sunday night! I set him a couple feet away from me and held out my hands, which I've done a few times over the past couple weeks. He'd always stand and smile, but then reach out with his arms and try to grab my hands before taking any steps (or else he'd decide that crawling to me would be much easier!). But on Sunday night, he actually took two tiny steps before lunging towards me! He's done it a few times since then. He's barely bringing his feet off the floor, but I think it still counts! We've gotten a couple of his tries on video. He's still very apprehensive, but I think he's so proud of himself when he does it!

Here are a couple of very unrelated but funny pictures from the past few days:

Hanging by his legs while he plays with Daddy:
More pictures playing with Daddy:
Stuck between the couch and corner table!Pulling books off of his bookshelf; one of his favorite activities:

Window Pics

Grant has a really cute Alabama jersey we got for him while we were there visiting in April. He has SO many Alabama clothes, and no A&M clothes that fit him right now (hint, hint, Mom and Dad!). So every Saturday, he's decked out in some kind of Alabama outfit for the football games! He was standing by the window a couple weekends ago and I got some really good shots of him....it is definitely true that natural light makes pictures so much better! And this happened to be the day that Alabama beat Tennessee 41-17, so Dean said that Grant is going to be wearing that jersey for good luck until he's a teenager!

Trip to town

We have been having such great weather here over the past week, and Grant and I both love to be outside! It's just fun to do something different, so we've had some of our most fun times yet these past couple of weeks.

First, last Tuesday, we went up into town to have lunch with my friend Karen, who works downtown. Grant has been downtown once or twice before, but he was only 4 months old the last time we went. So this was the first time he really noticed everything around him. He loved walking down the streets and looking at everybody, and he kept rocking back and forth in his stroller, as if saying, "mom, come on, you're going too slow!" He looks up and smiles at people, and just loves all the attention he gets. Anyway, we went to lunch at an outdoor restaurant, and he did okay.....it's very hard keeping him occupied and happy sitting in restaurants these days, but I think it helped that we were outside.

After we left downtown, I let him sleep in the car while I drove around and ended up at Central Market (one of my ALL-TIME favorite places!). We got out and walked through Central Market (he enjoyed getting some free samples, just like mommy!), then walked from there over to Pottery Barn and some of the stores over in Highland Village. Then we went back to Central Market on our way out and bought some dinner to take with us.

Since Dean was in a training that day and would be gone until after 9pm, I thought it would be fun to go to Hermann Park (where I used to go all the time, and where Dean and I got engaged) to eat our dinner. Again, Grant had been there once before, last Christmas when he was only 1 month old! He LOVED it.....we walked around the park and watched some ducks, then ate dinner on the grass next to the reflecting pond. The only thing he was unsure about was the little passenger "train" that runs around the park....he just stared as it went by the first time. Then a few minutes later, he heard the siren and held on tight to me, looking to see where it was coming from. He still just doesn't quite know what to think about it....

We also met a really nice couple named Deborah and Julius, who stopped to talk to us and kept trying to get Grant to take his first step....Deborah just knew that he would walk to her! Of course he didn't. But he did enjoy the attention....of course!

We had SO much fun....it's just nice doing something a little out of the ordinary like that. I can't wait to go back up in another few weeks or so. I think we will make a "mommy and Grant" trip to town every once in a while.

Chasing the duck:


He hears an airplane and looks up at it:
There it is! He has been pointing to things a lot lately; he'll just hold his hand out towards whatever it is he sees. I'm not sure if he's pointing or trying to wave. He notices airplanes so much now because we live just behind an airfield and have planes flying around us all the time!
Mommy and Grant eating dinner:

More pictures of Grant and Evan

It's taken me a while, but here are a few more pictures of Evan and Grant playing while we were in Bryan visiting. They both loved this toy train that my mom bought....it beeps and chugs and then starts moving, and they were intrigued by it!

They both love to play with shakers (what baby doesn't?!) and kept trying to grab them from each other!
Evan looks like he's helping Grant get the "hat" off of his head:
Leah and me with our boys:Grant and Evan sitting together the next morning in their pajamas:
Evan is eating, and Grant wants some of it!

High school reunion

We went to Bryan for my high school reunion this past weekend. I was unsure how I would enjoy it, and was afraid it would be extremely awkward. But it was actually a lot more fun than I expected! Of course I hadn't seen many of those people in the past ten years, but I was surprised how everyone looked pretty much how I remembered (or maybe it was just because we've all aged, so they still look the same age as me and we all look 10 years older!). But I found that I was genuinely happy to see all of those people again....it's a little bit weird, because these are people I saw almost every day for four years (some much longer!), so it wasn't just like seeing an acquaintance after all that time. I found that it was easier than I expected to talk with them as if no time had passed.

Here are some pictures: Dean and me before we left (by the way: we forgot our hanging bag at home, so we had to make a trip to the mall after getting into town to buy some clothes!)With Laurel, Whitney, and Sarah (I was in Kindergarten with Whitney and Laurel, and met Sarah in 3rd grade):
With Ashley (my neighbor and friend since Kindergarten):
Unfortunately, that's all I took while we were there! And I was sad that a few of my close friends weren't able to be there, but it was still good to see everybody.

Here are a couple more from the weekend (more to come in another post):