Catching Up, Kinda Sorta

Hmm, at some point I had all sorts of plans to blog more about our trip to Texas, celebrating Esther's birthday in Missouri, our trip to the beach, and a few other things I can't even remember right now.  I can blame the death of our previous laptop for some of that; perhaps I can blame our ongoing basement painting project for the rest.  Zach and I have spent many of our evenings after the kids go to bed downstairs with paintbrushes in our hands but we are nearing the end. It WILL be done before he goes back to school. :)

But there are at least a few things I want to put in writing (should I say put in typing?), if for no other reason than that I will know where to look when I eventually get around to finishing Esther's baby book.  (Which is another project I'd like to finish this summer...or maybe I should say I'd like to finish by the end of 2011 and raise my chances of success.)

• Esther started pulling up while we were on vacation with my family.  Then she immediately climbed an entire staircase.  She has gotten steadier every day since then so we expect first steps pretty soon.
• Esther's first tooth popped out on Wednesday.  That's a day shy of 13 months. Finally!
• Esther gives Zach and I kisses when we ask for them.  Big sloppy ones right on the mouth.  This, I think, is my favorite thing ever.
• Esther is into EVERYTHING she shouldn't be into.  She loves to pull Austin's school supplies off the shelf, pull down the toilet paper roll, play with Daddy's alarm clock, pull up on the floor lamp, touch the dishwasher when it's open...sweet but busy is my girl.

And what about Austin?  He is getting more independent, which is good on the one hand as he has always tended to be a needy child, but scary, too, as he wants to just head outside on his own when he feels like it (we live on a busy street so bad idea) or pull entire gallons of milk out of the fridge by himself heedless of what he may knock down in the process.  "Ask first" we say over and over these days.  Parenting Austin continues to be challenging, to say the least.  Statements of unarguable fact such as "You put the bag in the stroller" are met with responses like "It's not a bag, Daddy" many times a day.  (This was an actual example from last night's outing to the mall.)  "Do everything without complaining or arguing" was one of the first memory verses we taught Austin...let's just say we're still working on the application. :)  We are trying to use these episodes to teach Austin about the sinfulness of his heart because as he fights against Mommy and Daddy of course he is really fighting against God.  His heart seems so hard sometimes but I believe God is at work.  No doubt about it, being a parent requires a heavy dose of faith.

Okay, it's late but I'll post just a few pictures of this and that from the last month or so.

Esther's first time in the ocean.  She loved it!  Even on the days when the water was quite cold she wanted to play in the waves.

Esther's first trip up the stairs, with the gracious company of her brother and cousin.

This was at the science museum in Fort Worth.  Austin loves grocery shopping, real or pretend.  We never have behavior problems at the grocery store and he asks as soon as we go in if he'll be able to help me put stuff on the conveyor belt.  (I wish I could remember how he says that; I know it's cute.)  And at home he likes to hand play food to me and have me swipe it across my lap and beep, like I'm the checker and he's the customer.  So this exhibit was perfect, naturally.

At the pool in my parents' neighborhood. Don't know why but I love this picture.