First Steps!

On Saturday, July 24th, Merrick took his first steps. For weeks I watched him drag his push cart around the house like a pro and I just knew that he could walk if he wanted to. Jeremy and I would try to have him walk between us and he would take a step here or there, but mostly he would only walk when he was holding on to something.

Saturday he was being even more bold than usual in his cruising so we decided to try once more to get him to walk. The result, his first steps. While we did capture this great moment on camera, I can't post it here so I will have to settle for pictures taken later.

He is such a natural. Look out world, here comes Merrick!

Bed Head

When Merrick woke up this morning he had the craziest bed head. I could not help but snap a picture. I started thinking about how quickly he is growing up and the new things he is learning everyday. With all the posting about vacation it has been a while since I have had a chance to blog about Merrick. So, here is a little about Merrick at 10 1/2 months.

He now says seven words- "mama", "dada", "nunu" (no no), "daw daw" (dog), "Lala" (Lola), "uh-oh" and "maw" (more).

He loves to explore cupboards and drawers.

He crawls so fast and sometimes his hands can't quite keep up with his legs.

He loves his push cart and will walk with anything and along anything. He is really close to walking on his own but is not sure of himself enough to try.

He loves books, cars, and balls, but he loves grown-up toys like cell phones and computers even more.

He is an eater. He has not met a food that he does not like and he would eat all day if we would let him. He loves to steal bites when someone else is eating. He will come and stand by you and stomp his feet or say "maw" until he gets some.

He likes to make silly noises with his mouth and will sometimes imitate you if you sneeze or if you blow raspberries at him. He has also discovered squealing and will belt out an ear piercing happy squeal out of nowhere.

He likes to go and be out. He is such a people person and is almost always happy and making friends with strangers.

He loves all his family, but he particularly loves being around his cousins.

It seems like Merrick changes everyday and I have a hard time believing that the one year mark is just around the corner. My baby is growing-up so fast.

4th in Cali

We were home from Oregon for about five minutes when we decided it was too hot and we needed to get away again. Luckily for us Jeremy's family was going to southern California that weekend and we begged to come along.

It was a short trip. We left Friday after Jeremy got off work and came home Monday, but the time we did have was cool and relaxing. We spent most of our time at the beach. The weather was a little too cold for swimming, but I would have taken cold over the Arizona summer heat any day.

We went to four beaches in three days. We spent time at Balboa Island, Corona Del Mar, Sunset, and Huntington Beaches.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the beach.





Leave it to boys to think that digging a big, giant hole is fun.




Isn't this picture of Merrick in Uncle Garret's sunglasses and with food all over his face the cutest thing you have ever seen?


We spent the evening of the 4th of July on Sunset Beach. We had a view of the fireworks from Long Beach and Huntington Beach. We were close enough to have a good view, but far enough that we could not hear them, which Merrick appreciated. I think we all had a great time. Even Merrick got into the 4th of July spirit.

Week 2 Oregon

I am way behind the times now. In an effort to catch up I am going to try to condense an entire week of vacation into one post. Following our week in Long Beach, Washington, we head south to spend a week at my parents' house. The drive was a fun-filled three hours of crying and puking, but we made it.

Our first full day in Oregon was Father's Day, Jeremy's first Father's Day, but since the puking continued the celebration was put off until Monday. We had a great family dinner with ribs, homemade mac and cheese, fruits and veggies and apple pie and brownies.

Father's Day celebration aside, the rest of the first three days was dedicated to law school visits. Jeremy saw three schools in three days and on the last day we all went down and spent the day in Eugene while he was at University of Oregon. That trip was an adventure, but I would rather not get into that now.

Here is a picture of Merrick and I next to a fountain in beautiful downtown Eugene.


While we were in Oregon the weather was AMAZING and we spent a lot of time outside. One day all the cousins went to a park around the corner from my parents.

Here are some pictures of Merrick with his new friend from the park.




On Friday, as part of Jeremy's Father's Day present, we went to a Portland Beavers baseball game. All the kids, including Merrick, loved watching the game and eating ice cream.



They all also got to meet Lucky, the mascot. Most got a ball signed, but Maude didn't have a ball so she got her hand signed. Merrick wanted to keep his distance, but did tolerate a picture.



I think Merrick really enjoyed being outside, spending time with cousins, and feeling like a big boy. He even learned how to climb stairs and how to ride his cousins ATV.


So that was the week in a nutshell...and what a great week it was.

One Last Thing

We left Washington over a week and a half ago and I am still blogging about it, so one last thing and then I will move on to the second half of our trip. Every time we left the condo we went passed this little bike shop and got to look at all the different types of bikes that they had to rent.

We decided that the best way for us all to get to go was to rent a surrey. For those of you who have never ridden a surrey let me tell you they are fun, but a lot more work than you might think. Also, if you feel like you are about to fall off and get run over by said surrey then you are on right.

Despite the hard work, we did have a lot of fun. Jeremy and I were unsure about putting Merrick in the seat on the front, but he just thought it was the greatest thing ever. One thing about our boy, he likes adventure.

Let me also just preface the pictures by saying that they are not great and I know a few people that will not be happy about them going up, but I can't help myself.