He did it!

Happy 11 month birthday to Judah! In celebration, he walked today! He has been taking a step or two and then falling for about a week now so we've been watching him closely. Today we were at Beth and Will's for a play-date and all of a sudden Judah picked up a ball and walked about four feet while trying to shove the whole ball in his mouth. I think the distraction helped =) I will try to get a video of this newest trick as soon as I can!

Today was also good because Judah and I were saved (from having to deal with car trouble) by our friend Phillip! I drove over a piece of a downed limb in our neighborhood thinking it was much smaller than it really was. Luckily it didn't do any damage! It did however get wedged in the undercarriage, unbeknownst to me until I was running errands and it started to sound like we were dragging something. I pulled into a grocery store parking lot near our house and, sure enough, there was a LOG under my car! I can do many things, but there are things in my life that I choose to delegate. Car problems are on the top of that list, usually to Forrest, but really any capable male will do. And just at the right time Phillip comes walking out of the grocery store, innocently thinking he was just making a quick run for chips when actually he had been sent by God to get the tree out from under my car =) He was super gracious about helping and was even polite enough to pretend like I wasn't crazy when I started talking about having to delegate certain things in life and being capable and not wanting to get my cute new pants dirty... He got the log out, and I got home in time to put Judah to bed before major meltdown, and the car is fine. Yay! and thanks Phillip!

We're off on vacay tomorrow to visit DC and go to our cousin Maren's wedding in Philidelphia so we'll catch up on the blog when we get back.

Makeup and pearls...

I realized again tonight that although I live in Florida, I am still definitely a Northwest girl. I went to a ladies' night at a neighbors house and showed up in my cutest jeans and flip-flops and my favorite sweater (yes, it is in the high 60s tonight) and I was seriously under-dressed. When I think about going somewhere, the idea of wearing a dress doesn't cross my mind unless it is an event held at a church: wedding, funeral, maybe a church service if it is a special occasion. Not that I don't like dresses, because I do. I just like my jeans more. I need to learn to err on the side of formality, but honestly that just rubs me the wrong way. Why would you put on a bunch of makeup and pearls to go to your neighbor's house? I don't get it. At least I wasn't wearing a Goodwill t-shirt I suppose, but maybe I will next time =)

Chickenpox! maybe...

Since I last posted we've had lots of fun:

We had Forrest's whole family in town and spent the week in a condo at the beach. And I mean IN the condo, since Tropical Storm Fay decided to visit too and brought bad weather with her. We (and by we I mean Olivia, my soon-to-be sister-in-law, which explains why Bethany is also featured) got some cute pictures though =)

B & Judah playing "Gopher Bash"

Have you been drinking?

I knew he was being too quiet!

The whole fam! (From the left: T, Av, Mama, me, Amber, Eli, For, Papa, B, & Olivia)

At the end of the week of visiting with the family, my in-laws left on their move to Africa! They are in Botswana where Mike is working with UPenn at the national hospital there as an attending and will start traveling to regional medical clinics starting in a few months to help the docs there. Lynne is being wonderful help to everyone, as usual, and currently trying to get their life in Gabarone all set up. We miss them but it has been wonderful to be able to e-mail and Skype!

After the fam left, we got a great but short visit from Casey and Carlos. They are moving to Corpus and stopped by on their way home from house hunting leave. We love them!

Judah got to try sour cream for the first time while C&C were here. We were trying to keep him entertained through dinner, and he loved it!

After all that excitement, our next visitor was the shingles. Yep, right on my side, itchy as hell, but going away already which is a relief. And, to top that off, Judah woke up yesterday with what looked suspiciously like a chickenpox on his little face! I was pretty sure of my home diagnosis (thank you google images) until today when he has yet to show any more pox. I know I should be happy that he isn't sick, but mostly I feel a little annoyed at myself for keeping both of us home yesterday from church and this morning from my first MOPS meeting. For those of you who know me very well, it was a big step for me to join MOPS. Now I'm sad that I missed the first meeting and mad that I'm sad about MOPS! Argh!

For a little perspective, I went and read my father-in-law's blog and while it didn't make me feel much better, it helped me to whine about it a little less =)