First Steps!

Guess who took her first few steps with no holding on today?!! Ok easy question, but how exciting! Sawyer has become a bit of a maniac in the last few days with all her crawling around, exploring, and now she's even getting adventurous enough to try a few steps on her own. We noticed the last two nights that when she's in the tub she stands up with her toys and forgets that she's not holding onto anything - so she would stand for a little bit all on her own before plopping down on her booty. I thought that was exciting, but today she was walking along the couch and took a few steps away from it to get to me. She used to hold out her hands and grunt at us saying, "come on - i'm ready to go somewhere". But no grunting today - she's getting so adventurous. Once we did that, we started trying to get her to walk a few steps back and forth between mark and me. All in all I'd say she did a good three steps on her own. Not bad for our little 10 month old. I know...nothing crazy, but after a VERY long day at work, this kind of made my day.

Tonight I am home working on some laundering. Sawyer and I are leaving tomorrow night to drive to Buffalo, and I figured it'd be much easier to pack once everything is clean, and Mark and Sawyer are both out of the house. Excellent procrastination/organization skills I think. For a nine day trip and a wedding to boot, it'll be tough to pack light, but we'll see what we can do. Fingers crossed the weather is nice so Sawyer can show off her swimming skills. I can't wait for her to get together with her cousins...she's the youngest of the group but I think she's now at a great age to play with all of them. Think she's going to love it...and i'm counting down too.

Hugs and....well Hugs

One of the absolute best things Sawyer has demonstrated she knows how to do is give hugs. While we haven't yet mastered kisses, I am really not sure they can be better. Right now Sawyer gives hugs when she gets up in the morning, when she wakes up from naps, and sometimes in the middle of playing just because she feels like it. Mark often gets Sawyer out of bed first thing in the morning, and when he brings her into our room she always gives me some nice long hugs...and it's safe to say - I love it.We started the weekend off not so great. From Wednesday night through most of Friday Sawyer had a temperature of 100 - 102. She wasn't acting sick aside from the occasional runny nose, and when she decided to puke on me in the midst of patty cake (whoops)...so we're pretty sure she had a virus that has now run its course. But she's been temperature free all weekend and having fun. On Saturday, after I went for a run with a friend, and most of Chicago, out on the lakefront trail we decided we too needed to take advantage of the beautiful weather we had going. Off to the pool we go! Sawyer, Mark and I hopped on the bus and made our way up to our friend Lauren's place where she graciously let us use her condo pool. We got their midday and the pool was crowded, but despite all the skinny minnies in their bikinis, Sawyer got most of the attention from the guys and girls surrounding the pool. Sawyer was the only baby there, and we had the pool itself pretty much to ourselves. She LOVED the pool - she was smiling and talking and kept putting herself on her stomach - even putting much of her face in (to be followed by coughing when she tried to drink). We didn't stay long, and ended up in the air conditioning at Rock Bottom across the street for some food before heading back home on the bus. The bus itself was a bit of an adventure for our girl - she loves people watching, and was enjoying herself with all the waves she got. That was all we had in us for Saturday, but Sunday was another great day. As you can see, we went to the zoo! We were much smarter this time, and got there right at 10am when it opened. It turns out the zoo is crowded then too, but it worked out fine for us - we saw most of the animals - the lions, giraffes, and apes were probably my faves. Unfortunately the polar bears (my usual fave) were all inside - I think avoiding the sun/heat. We were a bit skeptical as to how Sawyer would do, but she seemed to like the animals - she would point at them so we atleast knew she saw them. She preferred to be walking or carried rather than in the stroller but overall i thought she was good. On the way home we stopped for some ice cream - her third time trying it. It is safe to say Sawyer is a huge fan of ice cream. I got her and I one scoop to share - it was clear she would prefer to have the whole thing herself, and would make noises, open her mouth, or grab my hand when she was ready for more...which was often. All in all, we had a pretty great weekend. The countdown has officially started for Sawyer's and my departure to Buffalo on Friday night - we want to be on vacation!

Where We At?

Ahh summer. My excuse for not posting in awhile...that and Mark and I have been surprisingly busy at work, and lazy all other times. After our whirlwind of trips and me out of town twice for work, we kind of dropped off the radar. Sorry people. Today you are in luck because Sawyer had a high fever last night and this morning, and so i'm home from work with her. I typically don't have the computer and camera in one place, so here's some pics I took on spaghetti-o night. Girl loves her some spaghettios. In other news, Sawyer hits the 10 month mark this weekend. I can't believe how big our girl has gotten. She crawls on her knees now (as opposed to her previous gimpy one legged crawl), says Mama and Dada for me and Mark, and though she doesn't know how to say them seems to know what Ball and Book mean. She still refuses to try and walk on her own (freaking out if you try and make her), but can circle the coffee table and music table quite quickly. So we're still walking her around the house, which we think caused Mark to pull something in his back...so i'm on Sawyer duty full time. Still only have two bottom teeth but are working on the top ones now. That aside, we're just counting down to our weeklong vacation in Buffalo for some fun on the beach, Al's wedding, and some Sawyer and mommy time. Rocking the double wave below...because i deserve both hands, not just one... Waving to Dada... Seeing there are more spaghettios in the bowl....

what are you talkin about willis?

Hey Youuu Guys...

Our little chunk went to the doctor today for her 9month appointment (2 weeks late), and weighed in at a nice 21lb 8 oz and is now 28 inches, 90th and 75th percentiles respectively...(hence the Goonies reference to Chunk in the title for those of you not in the know) Sawyer was extremely talkative while we were there (talking to the wall at a very loud level - so they heard her before her appt started) and wanted to walk so they were quite happy with her development. We may go to an eye doctor sometime in the next few months if her right eye keeps running to check if it really is her tear duct, and see what we should do about it...but other than that they seemed happy. In other news, we did not make it to the zoo this weekend - we tried, but the parking lots were all full so we drove there and turned around and went out to lunch by our house. We'll go another day right when it opens so we can miss some of the crowds. We've had a good weekend though, and took Sawyer out to lunch again today before the doctor. She continues to show her love for blueberries - she gets them at every meal and eats every last one. During dinner yesterday we taught Sawyer how to do "So Big". Our little mimic continues to impress us with her ability to pick this stuff up quickly. My real favorite though is when you sing "If you're happy and you know it..." she starts clapping her hands. I don't know if this is from us singing it, or if they do it at school too, but I love how she knows what to do before you get there in the song. Other than that - I'm headed to the airport shortly for my trip to Vegas for work. Since I couldn't convince Mark to bring Sawyer and join me, they'll be hanging out here together till I get back Weds night.

Teach me to walk...

Back in Chicago life is getting back to normal. After some rough nights of sleep Sawyer is finally getting adjusted to being home and back to sleeping through the night with no issues, although Mark did find her around 4am last night trying to stand up in her crib. She also slept in till about 7:30 which was nice so we forgave her. It's been a pretty uneventful week of work and daycare although the weekend looks to be fun...going to hit up the zoo tomorrow, pool, and doctor for 9 month check-up. I can't wait to see Sawyer's stats because I feel she looks so big just in the last week. We spend much of our time walking Sawyer around the house and outside. She now insists on walking part of the way home from daycare as well - thank god grandma bought her some shoes in baltimore - you wouldn't believe how scuffed up she's gotten them already.

5 cities in 7 days...

...this is why I haven't posted in awhile (for those of you wondering where i've been). Sawyer, Mark and I have had quite a week. It was a bit of a whirlwind, but laying here on my couch in Chicago, I'm glad we made it work to see everyone we wanted to.

We started out last weekend by taking a trip to Buffalo for Al's wedding showers. Had a great time staying with Sue and Jeff (again), and seeing my mom and Sawyer's aunties. The trip went by pretty quickly so i'm looking forward to our return trip in August for the weddings when we have more time to relax and swim with Sawyer's cousins. I flew home to Chicago on Sunday night without my girl, who went with my mom to Baltimore - turns out that Mark and I both needed to travel to Texas last week, and my mom graciously helped us out since we were already in buffalo together. After being home for 9 hours from Sunday night to Monday morning I was back at the airport headed to San Antonio. First trip for me to this city, and it wasn't bad. I took advantage of some of the freedom and worked out and went out to eat. Thankfully it was a short week because I missed my girl. Flew out to Baltimore on Thursday evening and Sawyer and I flew back to Chicago on Friday morning. Sounds crazy just writing about it, but after Mark picked us up from the airport, we stopped off quick at home and then drove to Michigan for some 4th of July festivities. So not only were there five cities in 7 days, but Buffalo, Chicago, San Antonio, Baltimore, and Manchester aren't so much close to each other either. Needless to say i was pretty tired, and spent some of Saturday happily napping.

So enough about that craziness, the best parts of the last week were getting to see both the Wallace and Harris families. Sawyer got to spend some much needed time with both sets of grandparents, and see many of her cousins. As for Mark and I, we were happy to finally be in the same city as opposed to crossing paths in the air. We hit up the beer tent at the 4th of july festivities in manchester for some half gallon jugs of beer (no joke - they're actually served in half gallon milk jugs), played some tennis, and took Sawyer to Dairy Queen..all in all just had some fun together. All said and done though - today was probably my favorite day. We got home from Michigan midday after a great ride home, and got Sawyer's pool set up on the roof, grilled some food, and hung out just the three of us. It was a perfect summer day, and one we're looking forward to repeating since July has a lot less planned than June did.

Some interesting things (to me) that I learned this past week - Sawyer had never before seen a lawn mower, and when I took her outside to say goodnight to Jeff while he was mowing the lawn, she had the most curious look on his face as he was riding by. Also, Sawyer had never been to the grocery store before. We have taken her to stores, but I never really thought it was odd she hadn't gone to a grocery store - my mom did think this was weird and took her while in Baltimore, but people - we live on the third floor and i shop every 2-3 weeks - it's way easier for mark to stay home while i shop. PS - mark and i took her to the grocery store today and i don't intend to do this again soon - she wanted to walk the whole time. At any rate, I've also fully realized Sawyer is a quirky little girl - she's done a number of these things for awhile, but thought i'd share - (1) she rolls her bottle back and forth while she drinks, (2) she rides in her car seat with her hands on the carrying "bar", (3) she taps things with her thumb, (4) she is a total mimic - i've mentioned before she learned to point, clap, wave, stick out her tongue, click her tongue, and make other noises, but on our car ride she seemed to be mimicing my singing (her future in singing looks iffy), (5) Sawyer has a big belly laugh and she busts a gut at the oddest times/strangest things - the letter G really got her going while we were singing our ABC's over and over again the other day, and (6) just these past few days, she throws loud, crying fits if you try and make her sit/crawl as opposed to walk while holding your fingers or if you dare try to let go of one hand. These are all things I find endearing, but they also can really make me laugh.

Flying High on the 4th of July

We moved the circus to Manchester this holiday weekend and dad and I took to the skies for a hour or so. The Aeronca just got a tune up not so long ago and was running like a champ. It's got the name "Patches", but that was a touch of the previous owner.

We flew over the house and after a few circles mom finally came out to wave. Erin was a little tired at that point and was napping so we finally moved on to scare some deer...