Family Pictures

One of our good friends took family pictures for us last week and these are a few of my favorites. For a great photographer in the Boerne/San Antonio area, check out JustBePhotography.net. Thanks Kristin, you did an amazing job!

Oldie but Goodie

This is one of my favorite pictures from Trip's infant photo shoot. I just can't believe he is 9 months old! This seems like just yesterday and at the same time years ago.

A Hill Country Christmas

A Few Shots of Trip in his winter hat in front of the Christmas tree.

Trip all bundled up before we headed out to the parade.

Some shots of the Main Square in "downtown" Boerne. Our little Main Street was all lit up for the holidays as well, but I couldn't get a good shot. Each weekend in December, Boerne has "Dickens On Main" (http://www.dickensonmain.com/) .... There are lots of fun activities including a Christmas parade the first weekend in December, carriage rides, Christmas music at the Main Square, and gingerbread house decorating. At the parade there is also great food ... turkey legs, sausage on a stick, funnel cake, hot apple cider and cocoa, and of course it wouldn't be Texas without some good ole Tex Mex during the holidays! Last year I was about 7 months pregnant and we went to the parade with our good friends Whitney and Max Jodry. We missed having them this year, but were able to spend time with some of J's good childhood friends, Park and Will (pictured below).

The boys spent the weekend grilling steak, fish and shrimp, making chili and brewing some beer. The outcome of the home brew is still to be determined. Currently it is fermenting in Trip's closet :)

Paci Head

These are some pictures of Trip before we headed out to the Boerne Christmas Parade. He has become quite the pacifier addict and I had a hard time snapping a shot of him before he plugged it right back in his mouth!

Thanksgiving 2009

We accidentally left the camera at home but managed to get this cute picture of Trip on Thanksgiving from J's iPhone. He wore one of J's baby outfits and looked particularly adorable in my opinion. He was especially enamored with the big fire in the fireplace - he is sitting in front of it in this picture. He sat in front of the fire for a good 30 minutes waving his arms and talking. Despite not feeling very well, he was such a good boy all day. J and I were very proud and thankful parents!

Blue-Eyed Boy

Back in the Saddle

With some new found time on my hands, I decided to start taking Trip walking/jogging three days a week. The colder weather and a friend from church who holds me accountable have made this commitment much easier! I think Trip really enjoys these morning outings. Below are a few pictures of me and Trip bundled up in our cold-weather gear Monday morning.
Don't you just want to pinch those chubby cheeks?

Little J

This is a picture of J with his dad when he was around one year old. I think that Trip is looking more and more like J ... especially the hair!

Sleepy Boys

8 Month Update

(I measured and weighed Trip myself this month, so I'm not sure how accurate these stats are)

Height: 28.25 inches (75th percentile)

Weight: 21.5 lbs. (75th percentile)
Looks like: He is looking more and more like J to me ... but most people still say he is a mix
Development: Sits, Rolls as his form of transportation, scoots on his back (I'll post a video of this), can balance on hands and knees, yells like an Indian, gives hugs and kisses, reaches for mom and dad, has had a few moments of separation anxiety from me but only if he is really tired
Likes: Loves "Lamby" and "Monkey Tate" the best, Mom's hair, playing anything with Dad, the blue Direct TV box that bounces around on the TV screen when it is idol, the slide show of pictures that plays on J's computer when it is idol ... Still loves the Jumperoo
Dislikes: Anything that requires work ... sitting, tummy time, having to try to get to something that is out of his reach. Now that he knows how to reach for us, if he is doing something he doesn't want to be doing, he will fuss and reach for us to pick him up. It is very cute and also very hard to resist! I also think he is in the "frustration" stage of pre-crawling. I can tell he wants to get up and move, but he still doesn't know how to accomplish that.

Favorite Moments: Trip's primary form of communicating at the moment is yelling ... Loud! It sounds a little like he is really upset, but he isn't, he's just using his voice. So, when we are out in public and he is yelling, I get a whole lot of stares. The other day we were at Wal-Mart and he was sitting happily in the front of the cart, reaching for things as we went down the isles and just yelling. I'm afraid that I've gotten so used to it that I don't even get embarrassed anymore. Another funny yelling moment was on my way in to San Antonio for a friend's son's birthday party. I left the house just in time to get stuck in the 5 o'clock traffic and a 30 minute trip turned into an hour. So, I turned on some music to try and pass the time. After turning on the music, Trip started yelling in the back seat. Each time I would turn the music up, he would turn the volume on his yelling up!

Aunt Anna

My sister, Anna, and her boyfriend, Peter, came down for a short visit this past weekend. They were so patient and flexible with us, which we were thankful for after some busy weekends. Of course, their primary reason for making the drive was to see Trip! We also enjoyed a few good meals, and just relaxing together at the house. I wasn't very good about taking pictures, but here are a few ...Anna and Trip ... he kept closing his eyes because of the flash on the camera
Trip and Peter

Trip napping with his Aunt Anna.

Pumpkin Patch Baby

First Halloween

These are the only pictures I got of Trip in his Halloween costume on the actual day of Halloween ... In his carseat on our way to a friend's house. I took these on my cell phone, so the quality isn't the best.

Trip with his friend Mattie ... the top part of his tiger costume didn't stay on for long! Luckily he had a cute pumpkin shirt on underneath. He's upset in this picture because I was making him play during nap time :(

Here are a few shots I took of Trip right after he got his costume about a month ago. He is posing with his friend Riley, who is a chicken. Things started off great ...
But soon, Trip became what we now lovingly refer to as "Grumpy Tiger"!

The Grumpy Tiger cheered up pretty quickly after he shed his tiger coat!

4 Year Anniversary

So, I am a little late on this post, and I'm sorry to say that we failed to take a picture ... but J and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary a week ago on Oct. 22. Thanks to our good friends, Ben and Lindy Walker, for taking care of Trip for the night, we were able to enjoy a relaxing dinner and a movie for the first time in a very long time. After much discussion, J and I decided against doing anything extravagant this year. We both agreed that spending some good 'ole down time together was what we were both sorely in need of!

It is hard to believe that I have only been married to my wonderful husband for 4 years. A lot has happened - We got a dog; bought, remodeled and sold our first home; moved to the Hill Country; started a business; and had a baby - Just to name a few of our big moments! I cannot imagine being married to a more loving and supportive man ... And of course, he keeps me laughing too!

tuckered out

By the end of a long weekend of fun activities Trip was all tuckered out.

HJK3

Trip wearing one of J's old outfits with his initials embroidered. So cute!

Lamby

Trip has recently discovered an affection for this huge lamb stuffed animal, which we have named "Lamby". When we tell him to "give Lamby love" he will rest his head on Lamby or sometimes give it kisses. These are a few pictures of Trip loving on Lamby. I hope he gets attached to a smaller stuffed animal, because I am not going to be lugging this gigantic one around for the next 5 years!

Friends, Pumpkins and Broken Down Cars

My mom and I drove to Austin Friday afternoon to visit my best friend Johanna and her baby girl, Ainsley. We visited the pumpkin patch down the street from their house, and snapped some really great pictures of the kiddos. We tried to get a good one of the 4 of us, but the babies would not cooperate!

I love this picture of Trip standing up on the pumpkin. I got some other really great shots, so I will post a slide show shortly.

On the drive to Austin, my car made some funny noise and just as we were getting into town, the "check coolant" light came on. After leaving the pumpkin patch, we drove to a nearby gas station to fill up on coolant, but the man who helped us said that our coolant was not low, so there was probably some other problem with the car that we should get checked out when we got home. About 10 minutes later, my car overheated at the corner of I-35 and Cesar Chavez. Triple A towed my car from Austin to Boerne (96.2 miles ... just under the 100 mile limit!). Because we had Trip with us and his car seat, J had to drive to Austin to pick us up.

Mom, Trip and I took advantage of the beautiful weather and took a taxi to Guero's Mexican Restaurant where we enjoyed margaritas at the outdoor bar and listened to some great live music. J met us for dinner before we all headed home. My mom had been saying she wanted to see more of Austin, so at least she got her chance!

And in case you were wondering, the fan in my car was broken and I should be getting it back sometime today.

Monkey Trip

Saturday we went to the "Haysterical Haymaze" at Fabra Elementary School, just down the street with some friends from church. Of course, we couldn't miss the opportunity to dress Trip up in his monkey costume!