Exciting Events

We've had lots of excitement over the past week...


First, Honey Gayle (Allen's mom) arrived on Wednesday, and Lu had a wonderful time playing and snuggling with her until she left on Friday. It's really nice to have an extra set of hands around - especially hands that love Lu and Lu loves. We can't wait to get back to Texas so that we can see family more often.





Luella unveiled a new trick just for Honey Gayle - sitting up! She can't do it for a tremendously long time, but she's able to sit for a little less than a minute before she topples over. She's pretty excited about it too, and gets more stable every time we practice.







And finally, Honey Gayle made it out just in time to miss a big(ish) snow - we got about 4-5 inches this weekend! Lu wasn't really interested in playing, so we made a quick snow angel and did a snow photo shoot. Will have to do until her little hands are big enough to make snowballs!

Happy Lu!

This picture just makes me smile...

1,2,3,4, FIVE!

We've decided to make the chair photo an odd-month tradition, and little Lulu turned five months old today! She's getting more and more charming with every day that goes by, and spent the week in DC smiling and flirting with everyone she met. She's rolling over both ways now and still talking up a storm (that is, when she's not slobbering all over whatever is in her hands... or just her hands). We're totally crazy about her.

This being-a-parent-thing is AWESOME!

DC Part Deux

I headed to DC again this week for work, but Allen was unable to go. So Muffy (my mom) met us there and had a great time (I think) taking care of Luella and seeing a few sights. We had such a good time that we forgot to take pictures, so this one from our trip home over Christmas will have to do. Thanks again, mom! Lu and I both had a great time with you.

Visitors

My brother Victor and sister-in-law Kim (aka Rainbow) brought a little sunshine our way this weekend! We had a great time showing them around Knoxville and climbing at the Obed. Luella enjoyed the extra snuggles as well!

Luella and Noah

New Year, New Toys!

Playing Catch-Up

I am aware that it has been a very very long time since we’ve posted. To be honest, at this point I’m so overwhelmed by how much we've done (and therefore have to tell you), dear reader, that I don’t know where to begin. However, I’m sitting in the airport in Philadelphia waiting for my flight to board, so I’ve decided to bite the bullet and dive in. I think the best approach is to give you a rundown of all of our activities since I last wrote, and post a few pictures a day for the next few days. Remember, you can find more Luella pics on her flickr page!

• We visited Hot Springs Arkansas and drank from the springs! The family – dogs included – walked the Grand Promenade and beautiful Bathhouse Row!
• Luella started laughing! Wow! This is a really exciting milestone. We haven’t found something yet that makes her laugh every time we do it so we spend A LOT of time these days making ridiculous faces and noises, hoping to tickle her funnybone!
• We visited Denver and Golden, Colorado and drank yummy microbrews! We didn’t get to do much besides our personalized tour of Golden (thanks, Cyndi!) because I was working so much, but it was great to see the Rocky Mountains and dream about skiing!
• We visited awesome friends in awesome Austin and ate tacos tacos tacos! We celebrated Allen’s 33rd birthday with great pals, lonestar, and moonlight climbing (climbing was Allen and Victor only)!
• We spent a lovely Christmas with our families in Greenville and Dallas, where Luella was the belle of the ball! It was fun to introduce her to family she hadn’t met yet, and she’s got some exciting new favorite toys!
• Luella had her 4 month checkup – she’s still growing rapidly and is now up to the 24th percentile in weight (12 lbs, 10 oz). She’s still a short little munchkin (3rd percentile), but has grown 5 inches since she was born!
• Luella had her first cold. It was very mild, but it totally disrupted her sleep schedule. Well, that, and the crazy travel and social schedule of the prior two weeks. Oops! This pic was taken when she was sick and we were worried.
• We had friends over for a New Year’s Day brunch and Luella hung with cute boys Noah and Ilan.
• Allen travelled to Pasadena, California to meet up with my brothers and support the Horns in the BCS National Championship game!
• I took my first work trip sans Luella - today, to Philadelphia and back in one day! I think we both survived, though it was no fun at all being so far away.

That’s all my sleep-deprived brain can think of right now. I’ll post more as I remember it, and keep watching for photos!