baby steps

today we had a lovely visit with some old friends. samantha, chris, francesca, & baby to come. they came for lunch since we had not seen them since last year. we know samantha from when we adopted kona. she adopted kona's older sister, kira who passed a few years ago. kona loved his sister kira, and they were the best of buds. we had such a sweet deal with samantha & chris. whenever either of us would be away for an extended period of time we'd dogsit each other's doggies. saved on tons of kennel costs =). since kira's passing we hadn't seen much of each other. and now with them moving out of chicago, it'll be harder, but we'll make a concerted effort to see each other. francesca will be two soon and she's already exhibiting the older sister characteristics with asher =). it was sweet watching them play. asher certainly has much admiration for older kids. whatever francesca was doing, asher wanted to do. whatever francesca was playing with asher wanted to play with as well.

we had a nice fulfilling lunch of ribs from smoque and sat in the living room to chat and watch the kids play when in an instant, asher took three steps, count 'em folks 1-2-3!!!!! baby steps towards samantha who was holding a brightly colored bag. did we have our cameras handy? of course not, take our word for it, he did take those steps. at least we had witnesses =). our little guy will be walking before we know it. stay tuned folks, we'll have footage of the event =).

it was a great time with them and we hope and pray they have a successful move and a blessed, easy, quick, less-pain filled (notice i mentioned less pain, cuz we moms know there is LOTS of pain during delivery) delivery with baby #2. we love you guys! thanks for visiting with us. we can't wait to meet baby and see your new place!

use the force

these just crack me up...

the force is strong with this one

and with this one

gotta love moments like these...

we survived!

we had a great time at connecticut visiting with family. we traveled with mateo, jon, and helen and it was great fun. mateo and asher had tons of fun with each other. asher did fantastic on the flights going and coming. we had tons of cheerios, new toys, and lucky for us our flights were timed around his nap time so he was sleepy.

we got the "oh no" looks when people saw asher, assuming the worst of course. but when we arrived at our destinations, there were the litanies of "you were such a good baby" from those previous evil eyers. we prayed like crazy that asher would feel comfortable and enjoy the flight and the different sites to see and people to meet. it was great. would we travel far and away again? mmm not any time soon. i'm so glad we did it. asher surprised us and it was a pleasant surprise...

pics here of our lovely trip.

and a video of the two mahguts (as my dad would call them)

travels

anxious...who me? a resounding YES! why...well, we'll be flying to connecticut to visit family for a long weekend. so, flying with a hyperactive 9 month old and 2 year old would make anyone anxious. even though the flight will be 2.5 hrs long, it's long enough to drive asher crazy. little guy can't sit still period. light a candle, say a little prayer, throw coins in the fountain, and wish us well =). i'm sure he'll amaze us and be just fine, i'm praying =).