There She Goes!

Ever since her first birthday Vivian has been toying with the idea of walking.  She'd act like she was about to and then change her mind and sit down.  She'd also hold onto your fingers and walk all around but the moment you let go, down she'd go.  The weekend before last, she finally took her first real steps - 3 of them.  After that, she practiced and practiced and is now officially walking.  She still prefers to hold onto to things for balance if she can and still crawls if she wants to be quick, but our little girl is finally walking.  Watch out world!

Picnic & Ponies

My cousin who lives in Memphis was in town visiting family with her kids and invited us to her daughter's birthday party.  It was a nice outdoor picnic that included a pony! 

My other cousin's daughters Samantha and Victoria:

I just love my girls.  There were a lot of pictures of them on the lawn so I picked a few of my favorites:

See Ya, Helmet

After switching Vivian to only wearing her helmet to bed 3 weeks ago, we had our last measurement check yesterday.  It seems we were lucky to start the helmet when we did because aside from the growth in the first 5 weeks of wearing it, she never showed any more improvement.  She's ending at a 6 which is the highest of the normal range and we're more than happy with that.  She has so much hair now you have to really be looking or feeling for the flatness anyway.  Let's just hope she doesn't go through a head shaving phase when she's older and we're all good!

Virginia Beach

Bill has to put his vacation requests in about a year in advance and has taken a week off in June each year.  He coincides it with our wedding anniversary.  This year, I found out that I was needed in Virginia Beach for work because my co-worker who was supposed to go became pregnant and was due that same week.  Bill and I decided that he and the girls would come with me and we'd make a vacation out of it.  About 3 weeks before we were supposed to leave, Bill was told that due to a urology conference that a lot of people were attending, his vacation request couldn't start on the day he asked for and would have to be postponed by 2 days.  This also meant that it was between him and one other person to take all of the night shifts.  Since we don't have anyone who can babysit overnight for us, that threw us into panic mode.  After asking numerous family members if they could babysit, we finally asked Bill's parents if they'd be willing to drive back to Ohio (they were just here for Vivian's birthday party) and they said they would.  I felt it was ridiculous that they would be driving back to St. Louis on a Wednesday only to come back on Sunday.  It's a 10 hour drive but they had to go back for some doctor's appointments.  Thank God for them that they'd do it for us. 

So with that settled, we turned to the other dilemma of what to do with our now shattered vacation plans.  I couldn't change my plans since I had to go for work so after much thought, we decided that I would fly out on that Monday (a day later than we were planning on leaving) and Bill would drive alone for 9 hours with the girls after he came home from being on overnight call Tuesday.  I was not happy to say the least.  A roadtrip with the girls is hard enough and he'd have to do it alone on possibly little sleep.  (Bill just read this over my shoulder and asked me if it was hard to write.  I told him that it was and I was getting mad all over again.  He said I should take the high road but I said no because this is meant to capture the story of our lives.  When the girls read these entries years from now, I want them to get a picture of how things really happened.)  We picked a town half way where he could get a hotel room just in case he got too tired and couldn't make the entire drive. 

When Tuesday finally came, I was so nervous for him and praying that he and the girls would be safe.  They ended up not getting in until 2:00am but they made it!  Between unloading the car and all the hoorah, we were all wide awake and it took until 4:00am to get everyone to sleep.  After that I could breathe easy and relax.  Bill had fun taking the girls to the beach, the pool and out for ice cream while I worked each day, then we'd go somewhere fun for dinner when I got home.  Luckily my meetings were done early on Friday so I was able to take the rest of the day off and focus on my family until we left on Sunday.  Vacations aren't quite as relaxing as they were sans children but there's a new type of fun to be had and we really enjoyed our time there. 

The view from our balcony.

 Bill took Audrey to see the water at sunset one night.  They aren't the best pictures but I really like them.

One day I got a text at work from Bill that said Vivian had eaten 2 handfuls of sand!  Yum.

I was trying to get a full picture of her swimsuit which was a birthday gift from her cousin Mallory.  I think it's so cute!

We found this little amusment park right off the boardwalk that was PERFECT for Audrey.  It was cheap, had rides she loved and best of all, no one was there.  She was able to just ride the rides for almost as long as she wanted.  On one ride, we finally had to ask the operator to stop it so she could get off!

My mom loved funnel cakes - she and my dad always joked that someday they'd get a funnel cake truck and drive around to all of the different festivals to sell their cakes - so I always have one in honor of her when I see them.

This ride went up into the air.  I should mention that until that day, she had never been on carnival rides before.  I thought she would freak out and cry but she didn't.

Poor Viv could only watch.

This one went high into the air too and she kept going on it.  Viv and I eventually took a turn too!

Audrey's first ferris wheel!!

And first cotton candy which, of course, she loved.

Putt Putt!  Check out Viv!

Playing on the Nook on the drive home.

Sunset.