I thought I'd share a few of Erin's favorite past times:

Turning the water on and off to Mommy and Daddy's bathtub while squealing.

Pulling toilet paper off the roll (and eating it)!

Helping Mommy and Daddy empty the dishwasher. Erin loves to play with the dishes and grab whatever silverware she can get her hands on out of the door tray.

Playing in Maggie's food and water bowl.

Clearing books and DVDs off shelves.

Helping Mommy with whatever she is doing...reading a book or magazine (by grabbing it and tearing pages), writing a quick note or what have you (by grabbing the notepad or pen).

Watching Daddy get her bath ready. Erin loves to stand next to the bathtub and beat on the edge with her hands while squealing loudly.

Knocking down block stacks, emptying baskets of toys, and dropping toys on the other side of her play yard.

Helping Daddy whenever he is up on a ladder or step-stool by standing directly behind him.

So...the few people who read this blog may wonder what the heck happened to the Coopers? No we didn't fall off the face of the earth! We've been a little pre-occupied, that's all. Moving, unpacking, working, keeping up with a highly mobile child, not sleeping as much as either of us would like... Even though life is a little slower up here, time still has a way of slipping by quickly.

Moving went well back in January...we all survived, even Maggie did well (once she decided to leave the master bedroom closet and check the place out).

Our house is shaping up nicely. We have a few things on the wall and considerably less boxes now. Our garage looks like a garage instead of a warehouse, although we still can't put a car in...but I don't think that's in the plans anyway.

Erin loves her playroom and so do we. It's nice to have a place for all the kiddo's toys to call home...not that there isn't a fair share of toys in the living room, but it's nice that there is a kid zone and a parent zone if we want it or need it that way.

Our respective jobs are going well. The gas bill has dropped significantly since moving to CS. We keep wondering why the checking account balance is so high every time we go onto our bank website...not having to spend upwards of $300 a month certainly helps.

Erin continues to grow so fast! I can't believe that she's going to be 11 months old on Monday! Since we moved to CS, there have been several firsts, several new teeth, and our first family virus (a quickly moving stomach virus that took out our family in a matter of days, then stayed active in Erin in order to spread it to my parents and sister in Houston on a weekend trip). She said her first words: Mama quickly followed by Dada two or three days later. She quickly adapted to the wood laminate floors in her new house and became a speed crawler covering more territory than either of us thought possible. Unfortunately for us, crawling gave way to cruising (walking while holding on to furniture, walls etc... for those unfamiliar with baby/parent speak) and reaching for whatever she can get her hands onto...now the third shelf from the floor! Erin liked cruising so much that she has decided that she really doesn't need to hold onto anything anymore...she started free walking last week! We all knew it was coming...but I didn't think...or at least, I hoped that it would be a little ways off! (I didn't walk until I was 18 months old...so you can't blame this on me! It's R's fault! He walked at 10 1/2 months...just like Erin...like father, like daughter!)

We'll try to get pictures and videos on the site soon. I'll also try to post more often. I have not been very good at multi-tasking lately, but I will try to be better at keeping this updated.

TTFN!

I've uploaded a set of pictures of the new house! I may get them renamed to better explain what's what....but until then, have fun guessing!

This site is the first, test case for moving all of the sites I host at home over to a hosting service. There may be some periodic downtimes while migrating and testing, but rest assured, everything will be here when I'm done. That just may not be as soon as I would like it to be!

NOTE: right now, the gallery is being the problem child. hopefully I'll have it done by the end of the day (Friday).

NOTE2: The gallery should be fixed. I'm still going to be tweaking some of the configuration, but at least all the images are present now. Enjoy!

It's Erin's first picture with Santa! We went with the grandparents and one aunt to Memorial City Mall for the chance to get a picture. Erin was very well behaved, and impressed everybody! Oh, and was really cute too!

I don't normally link to random YouTube videos, but I got this one today. It's excellent!