13 months

Lewis is 13 months-old today. Still very hard to believe he's getting so big. The funniest thing lately has been his maneuvering of his walker push toy. When he first got it, he was so slow and struggled just to hold on & push it ahead of himself. This week, he figured out how to turn it around so he's able to get all over the house without the help of another person. It's been kind of nice! He's so proud of himself to be a little more independent. Along with this ability came locks on all the cabinets, which rather upset him. We did leave one that he can get into, but his freedom is certainly more limited!

Here is a rather long video of some of his maneuvering. If you saw him in those early days you'll be more likely to appreciate his progress!

a movie, dinner, & miniature golf

Well, it has been a social kind of week so far. On Sunday, Justin and I got some time away to go see the latest Harry Potter flick. Despite having read the book, we both it found rather dark and scary! We send special thanks to the grandparents (Shepherd side) for looking after Lewis. It is an exhausting job these days. Fun, but exhausting! :)

Then on Monday, we had the Bashams over for dinner. Simon is one of the happiest babies on the planet. Even when he got really tired, he basically konked out before getting very upset at all. He and Lewis had some interesting banter back and forth earlier in the evening. They were pretty entertained by that for a good while.

We took some photos. These are the best we had! It's hard to get 2 moms and 2 babies all looking the same direction at once. This one is Laurie and I distracted by the other's boy.
















Simon, happy to get his picture taken, and Lewis, tired of sitting still for more than 2 minutes.
















Cort capturing the moment.
















Then today, Justin and I had another date out on the town at Bowling Green's own Beech Bend Park. We caught the "after 4 p.m. special" (half price of gate admission) and played a round of Gold Rush Golf. Here's us taking a break on the course. Lewis had a date of his own with Miss Jeanne Logsdon. Thanks, Jeanne, for giving our boy a good time!

first steps

Today, after sleeping in until 10 a.m. (which is amazing in itself), Lewis took his very first steps! Since he does not crawl or pull himself up, he has a long way to go to make walking less painful (it's a long fall when you don't know how to sit down!). But we are still so proud and know he'll just get better from here. Here's the video of some of these early steps:

summer fun

Lewis has had another fun week. My friend, Jeanne Logsdon, came over one day. Lewis really enjoyed her company. It was great catching up with her, especially since she'll be going back to school soon (she teaches at McNeil Elementary).





















Lewis got to swim some more too. He returned to Grace Boyer's and enjoyed her little pool this time. There were a couple of exciting moments when Lewis took a dive under the water. He came up coughing and choking, but recovered well (more quickly than his mama for sure!) and was splashing around again in no time.

He then fell forward into the water several minutes later, but surprisingly kept his head up and was almost swimming with relatively good form! It was not until I pulled at his legs to get him out that he went back under, but he held his breath and didn't swallow more water. The experience made us proud of our boy, and gave us hope that he might be a good swimmer!

Lewis splashing with Grace
















Lewis stops to smile for the camera while Grace pours water back and forth between her Cubs hat and a bottle (you should try it, it's fun!).

















Sumatra has recovered well from her surgery. She is playing and running around like any 13 week-old kitten would. Here's an updated pic of her standing tall:

cat's in the cradle
















We have had a busy weekend! Our old friend, Gabe McKinney, was in the area helping his lovely girlfriend, Megan, find a place to live near Vanderbilt where she'll be studying this fall. It was fun catching up with them and remembering some crazy days gone by.

On Sunday, we celebrated my sister Ellen's birthday. Lewis enjoyed playing a little piano with his Grandma Martha and cousin Will.
















We got to see Nathan & Abigail McBroom after the party for a little while. We forgot to take a picture of the happy newlyweds. It was nice to catch up with them, but we hope to see them more often now that they are closer too. On the way home, Lewis entertained himself by touching his toes. His flexibility never ceases to amaze us!





















Finally, today we took Sumatra to have her surgery at the humane society. She is really cute, but will not be able to reproduce her cute self anymore! To keep her from running around crazy last night (and protected today post-op), we are using the playpen as a kitty home. She seems to like it really well, and Lewis likes that he can see her through the mesh walls.






















Lewis seems to be changing his schedule somewhat this week too. Several days recently he has taken one 3-hour long nap in the middle of the day, which is a shift from his two 2-hour long naps routine. We are all getting used to this change, but it could be really nice once the adjustment is made. He's certainly growing up.

video: lewis playing with the cabinets

This is not the most exciting video, but it certainly captures our lives at present. Though it is called "Lewis and the magnetic farm" he only plays with his toy for a small fraction of this clip. If you love Lewis, like we do, you'll appreciate his new love of cabinets. :)

toys and kitty cats

This week has been relatively laid back. We've had a few old friends drop in, but otherwise Lewis has been getting very aquainted with his magnetic farm. This was one of Lewis' birthday gifts, and it's a pretty creative concept. There are 5 animals, split in two pieces each. The goal is to get the two halves of the same animal in the right spots, at which point you get to hear the sound the pink pig makes, for example. Lewis is able to cruise all over the kitchen now with the help of various chairs and even just holding on to the cabinets. He's like spiderman holding on to walls even and inching his way around the house. He is starting to explore his world more and more, and loving every minute of it.


























The other news is that a cute, little, gray kitty has adopted us. We returned home from being out of town to find this kitty in our yard. We took pity on her and fed her a few meals and so we have decided to keep her. She's really sweet and friendly. We're not sure whether we will bring her inside or not. She is about 12 weeks old (according to the fine folks at the humane society) and so she is quite rambunctious. Either way, we'll provide her a good home. We're calling her Sumatra.

12 month stats

We went to see the doctor this morning for Lewis' 12 month well-baby check-up. He got some shots, which he still does not enjoy! But otherwise seems to be developing nicely. Here's his updated info:

Weight: 22 1/4 lbs.
Length: 30"
Head: 48.2 cm.

Right around the 50 percentile, except for his big head. There's a shortage on chicken pox vaccine right now, so he'll have to pick that one up at his 15 month visit.

Currently his favorite foods are yogurt and turkey ham. He's become quite picky about vegetables, but if it's alternated with yogurt (or mixed on the spoon), he will get them down. He's also loving goldfish crackers too. Who doesn't right? He wants to walk all the time, especially if a big person is willing to give some assistance. Otherwise, he'll hold onto furniture or his handy walker training push toy.

Still no hand gestures, though he acts like he wants to clap, so maybe that is coming. He'll probably say 'hi' and 'bye' before he learns to wave. The piano is one of his favorite "toys" right now too. It's one of the only things he likes to do while sitting these days. Maybe he'll be a musical genius like his dad. :)

first successful swim/foxhole tour

Over the weekend, Justin was gone to Cornerstone and the band played some other shows ending in Louisville on Monday. Lewis and I decided to go to Louisville for a change of scenery. He took his first trip to the Gap Outlet. We stopped at a rest area so he could walk around with Aunt Ellen.





















This also happened to be his first trip with his car seat turned around facing forward!





















We also went to see my step-sister, Leah, and her kids, Will and Mallory. They have a pool so Lewis got to have a real swim for the first time. He cried for about 15 minutes, and whimpered for a while after that, but eventually he was laughing and playing with his keys like usual. He seemed to warm up to swimming right along with his body temperature in the water.
















having fun.
















That night, Foxhole played at The 930 Listening Room at Sojourn Community Church in Louisville. This is a fantastic venue, so if you have a chance to see some live music there, take advantage of this special place!
















I tried out the "Sepia" mode on my camera.
















Here's a video of the full song "Torrents" that we posted a small clip of last time.



We're still catching up on sleep since then. Happy 4th of July!!