Climbing and Baptizing

Our sweet niece, Madeleine, was baptized this weekend, so we all headed to Columbia for the big event. What a big girl she is now; and we're blessed to have her not only in our family, but in the family of God. She taught Shepard how to climb steps--!! I arrived to find him about four up--and stood behind him the rest of the way. He climbed about 15 steps completely on his own. I didn't know he could do that. I'm pretty sure he didn't know either as we haven't really encountered steps yet. So...when we visit Nana and Pops later this month, we'll definitely be taking that baby gate!
In other news of climbing, just this morning he was in the bathroom with me while I tried to do something with my not-quite-short and not-quite-long hair to beat the summer heat. He was banging the plastic hair-rinsing pitcher against the side of the empty tub. No problem. I looked away for about 10 seconds to secure a bobby pin and saw his little tush in the air followed by feet. He sat up inside the tub looking quite pleased with himself. So...he can get into an empty bathtub too. We usually keep that closed off in any case, but I think I've got a climber on my hands.

Snuggles with Uncle Justin



Madeleine called out from the kitchen, "Aunt Shelley, I think you need to come in here and take a picture of this!"
She knows a good photo op when she sees one!

 Aunt Jessica (who clearly rules--see onesie for clarification) took some great pics of Shepard with his Uncle Justin and cousin Madeleine. Shepard had a blast walking all around their house and trying to make friends with Max the dog (Max was not really interested in having a new friend, by the by). Other than an unfortunate incident with a marker, it was super-fun to be with the whole family and celebrate.

Has it really been 8 months?

Look ma! No hands!

Here we are, perched on the edge of spring. The little guy is growing by leaps and bounds...and also seems to want to PERFORM leaps and bounds these days. He has figured out that he has some mobility and can do a combo roll-scoot-pull-army crawl maneuver to make his way around the room. His curiousity is through the roof, as he wants to touch and taste everything he can get his hands on. And boy! Is he making the reach for EVERYTHING.

My house has never seemed more scary. I found myself crawling around on all fours the other day to see what he's seeing. Let's just say, we might want to address the colony of bunnies under our sofa. And I don't mean Easter.

Toothless Grin. Looks like me (mom) as a baby here.

Last week, Shepard finally got the stomach bug and was a little pitiful for a few days, so I was able to stay home and cuddle him and make sure he got his rest. He graciously gave a touch of it to both Jerod and me, but this one didn't seem nearly as virulent as Jerod's Christmas bug. Shepard has bounced back and has taken on the appetite of a 15-year-old boy. His food intake has nearly doubled in the last three days. He's making up for last week I guess. Jerod said that he fully expected to check on him this morning and see that he'd grown two feet in the night!

We still have a few weeks before our 9-month check-up, so no new stats on his height/weight just yet.

We've definitely had some good visits recently with uncles, aunts and grandparents. We're so blessed to have such a wonderful family.

Here are some recent pics of Shepard hanging out on the floor.


Nothing like a new pair of kicks for the spring.





Still no teeth, but I seem aware that they're on their way!