Walkin' & Talkin'

Cullen's vocabulary has started to EXPLODE since his first word. He now officially says hi, dog, Dada, baba (we think he is actually trying to say Mama), and look. In addition to his words he still constantly mumbles his adorable gibberish.

Two days ago he took his first step. He bravely took three steps from the coffee table to the sofa. On the same day he pulled up on his toy chest, took a few steps, and then took a nose dive into the floor. As of this afternoon he can walk all the way across the living room. It's CRAZY! We figured it would take a week, or a few weeks for him to start walking long distances. We were SO wrong... He grins from ear to ear, and giggles his funny giggle as he waddles from place to place. It's so adorable.

On Saturday we took Cullen to Gymboree @ Discovery Park in downtown Houston. Our friends, Cody & Kristy, came w/ us and brought their little girl Lily. She is two weeks older than Cullen, and they play really well together. We've dubbed her as "his girlfriend". Anyway, we took the love birds to Gymboree. The kids had a ball! I've attached some photos of our day in the park- ENJOY :)

Tomorrow morning is Cullen's first day of "school". We've decided that instead of scurrying to find a nanny that we are going to see how he does at day care. It it works out- GREAT, and if it doesn't then it buys us time to find someone to come into our home. I'm anxious to see what happens.

Look Who's Talking!

Cullen said his first word while we were on vacation. He will now wave at people and say "Hi!" The week after vacation he said Mama, but I'm not counting that word, because he only said it once when he was really hacked off. So, his official second word was dog. He started saying gog, and by the end of the day it was dog. He's so smart :)

Month of Firsts with a Side of Infectious Disease

July was a month of firsts for Cullen. It seemed like he starting doing all kinds of new things all at once. He's growing so fast, and we're loving every minute of it!

Cullen has cut all four top teeth, and by the 31st it looked like he was cutting the final two front, bottom teeth. Teething wasn't too bad, but I'm glad it's almost over with for the time being. Cullen is also standing alone. He will pull up on someone and stand all by himself for up to 30 seconds. He'll be walking any minute.

We took Cullen on his first vacation to Florida this month. He was pretty good on the flight over there, but coming home was a little more difficult. We had to sit in an airport for 4 hours, and it was difficult keeping him busy for that long. He LOVED Captiva! This child loves swimming. He had a ball in the pool with Maw Maw, Paw Paw, Uncle Sam, Aunt GG, and us. We took him to the beach, and he enjoyed trying to eat the sand. I took him down to the water, and a tiny wave took him out...I expected him to pitch a fit, but he set up and started laughing. Nathan enjoyed putting Cul in the Baby Bijorn, and taking him fishing. I have some of the most adorable pics of this.

We also had our first illness this month. I took Cul to the doctor for poopie problems, and we left with a diagnosis of the Chicken Pox. So, for the past week we've been quarantined to the house :( Apparently, he caught the little boogers at either church nursery, or YMCA Gym Scoot class. He had a very mild case (MAYBE 20 spots), very low fever, and really didn't seem all that bothered by them. I'm just glad that we have this behind us before school starts.

Well, I've made the difficult decision to go back to work come Fall. The PERFECT job came my way, and it would have been silly to pass it up. So, we've decided to send Cullen to daycare on a temporary basis until he's 18 months. We have him on the waiting list at a local Christian school, but he can't go there until 18 months. I just hope there's an opening for him, because I really love this little school.

It appears that August is going to be just as busy w/ him starting daycare, and me going back to work. I'll keep you guys posted on our milestones.