God Bless Texas

It was cold in Austin! 

Winter in Texas is the perfect time to get out of the house, so we were excited to take some time off for a weekend in Austin, the capitol of our fine state.  Our dear friends from Virginia Beach, Jordan and Wes, met up with us in between their sessions at the Verge Conference for church leaders that was held in Austin over the weekend.  This was our first time in Austin, but it felt like a little slice of home in the middle of Texas to us west-coasters....welcome all ye bearded, patchouli scented, baby wearing, liberal hipster, fair trade promoting, dreadlock sporting,  coffee drinking hippies...."Keep Austin Weird" is the unofficial motto of the city, and it certainly reminded me of Portland.  But with a Texas twist.  At one point we witnessed two flatbed trailers full of men dressed as cowboys driving past.  The people were friendly, there were families everywhere, and the city was clean. We had a great time, especially at the farmer’s market that was open on Saturday.   We taste-tested tamales and tacos, listened to French music, and were serenaded by both banjo playing and an ode to Texas Independence Day, which happened to be Saturday – a celebration of Texas’ independence from Mexico...even though it is now dependent on the United States.  Oh, Texas. 

In the meantime, Jack Jack turned 15 months.  This has been a fun month full of lots of growth, and I’m starting to feel more like that mom you always see running after her toddler in the movies.  She’s still not walking, but she can really move with that one-legged crawl.  While we were in Austin, she figured out how to climb down the stairs (we spent about an hour going up and down stairs in the parking garage), kissed several doggies on the lips, and successfully pointed to her ears and feet when prompted during our car ride home.  She’s starting to parrot us a little when we talk, so we’re going to have to watch it….  New words added to her vocabulary include “box” and “wow”.  Her favorite things to do are take baths (she is really into this right now and can spend over an hour filling up measuring cups under the faucet and drinking water from them); cruising around and grabbing things off couches, bookshelves, and chairs; opening and closing containers; and taking things out of boxes or bins and putting them back in.  If those aren’t all a recipe for disaster, I don’t know what is!  

Look at them cheeks!

She loves to be around other kids, especially at church, where she gets to play with play-dough, eat snacks, color, and listen to stories with the big kids.  She loves going to the playground and climbing all the steps to the top of the play area.  Usually she’ll just sit at the top of the jungle gym, walk around a little holding onto the edge of the wall, and generally get in the way of everyone trying to walk by until I coax her down the slide, but it’s great entertainment.  

Fun on the playground at Sea World

We just finished out last music class session, and it was cool to see how she’s changed since we started at 7 months old, when she would only sit in my lap and suck her thumb.  Now she’s grabbing instruments, crawling around to other mommies, waving and clapping her hands.  And sometimes sitting in my lap sucking her thumb….  

Always with the thumb

Playing in mommy's bed

15 months!

Walking with Daddy!