Now we're really movin'

So those first two steps Dargan took a couple weeks ago didn't get repeated for a while. He took lots of opportunities to practice standing, but didn't have any interest in going from Point A to Point B without holding onto something.

Over the past two weeks, he's gotten really good at standing up without pulling up on anything. Then just this weekend, while we were in Virginia at a hotel, he decides to just let go of the table and wander across the room towards us! Real walking!

Took a few tries, but we eventually got some steps on video...

What a champ!

We took a trip up to the southwestern tip of Virginia this weekend to ride the Virginia Creeper rail trail. Drove up Friday after work, met with some friends in Bristol, VA for dinner, then stayed overnight in a hotel.

Ahhh, mountains.

Knife fights at dinner are funny!

Bathroom picnic after Dargan went to sleep

Our original plan was to ride from Alvarado (about 7 miles from the Abingdon trailhead) to the other end in Whitetop, then return (actually our original original plan was to ride the whole thing both ways).




We got to Alvarado on Saturday morning, and it was raining.

Car napping waiting for the rain

After waiting for a while, we decided to drive ahead to Damascus (the halfway mark on the trail) and meet up with our friends to ride up to Whitetop and back. This turned out to be a good change of plans, because the full ride took us about 3.5 hours and by the end I was tired! Yes, even being "just a rail trail" it was still a challenging ride.




Dargan did really well riding in the trailer for that long (and of course Scott amazingly pulled him the whole way!)

The afternoon was spent brewery touring (what else?). We visited The Damascus Brewery (Brewery #48)...




...and Wolf Hill Brewing (Brewery #49).





More pics from the last 2 weeks...

Dinner with neighbor Aria while mom was traveling 

Climbing stairs (heavily supervised)

Talking to Grammy & Grampy on the phone

Family walk

His new big boy pajamas (without feet, in size 18 month)... they say "Being this cool is a SCIENCE"




I've tried to do a little more wrapping lately, and have done some different carries - trying to practice since I've got a couple of visitor wraps on the way soon. :)

Basic ruck carry

Front Wrap Cross Carry (FWCC)

A good seat!

Taiwanese Back Carry

Ready to roll

He likes his wrap! :)

Standing, Walking, and Climbing!

Well this was certainly a milestone weekend for Mr. Dargan and his motor skills!

I've been saying for weeks that since I'm traveling for work starting Monday the 18th, I'm SURE he will pick that week to start walking. I mean, he started crawling when I went away for a weekend, so why break the trend? Sure enough, when we picked him up from daycare on Friday, Ms. Sandy said "Oh, Dargan stood without holding onto anything today! I bet he'll be walking soon!"

Saturday morning, we were just sitting around and he stands up holding onto the couch, then looks at us, grins, and lets go! He stood for a good 4-5 seconds before slowly squatting down to sit.

Caught him (blurry) on camera a few minutes later.

He kept doing it throughout the weekend - he knows he's doing something special because he gets really excited then grins SO big when he lets go, and stands there with his hands up in the air.

In the afternoon, he stood up next to the dishwasher and I coaxed him into taking 2 steps towards me! I'm counting it - I got to witness the first steps. I'm sure he'll get better while I'm gone this week, but I'm so happy I got to see it before I had to go.

Another exciting development (not caught on camera) was that he's now figured out how to climb stairs. He climbed ALL the way up to his room for bedtime last night! YIKES.

Other highlights from the week...

Dis is my truck.

Hungry man eating a whole hotdog (with the bun!) at the neighborhood cookout on Thursday.

Grins.

So hungry! Need snacks...

Just hanging around.

Silly time!

We also had neighbor Aria's 1st Birthday party on Saturday, and her gift from Dargan was a sweet car so they could cruise the neighborhood together. Dargan thought the car was pretty awesome and had to give it a try.

He also practiced his walking by pushing the trash can around the house.

On Sunday we went to Pleasant Ridge to bike, and took turns playing with Dargan on the picnic blanket.



Now it's time to head out and let the boys have a bachelor week!

Helping me pack

14 Months

We now have a 14 month old!

Chewing on sticks. Why not?

I would report on his stats, but I have no clue. We'll just have to see at his 15 month appt in August.

Still in a good sleeping pattern - pretty much the same. Sleeps 7:30-5:30 most nights, and occasionally later if we're lucky. One nap most days of about 2 hours after lunch.

One big change: we're officially done with bottles and nursing. I nursed him for the last time on Tuesday morning before work, and we used our last bottle of frozen milk at daycare that day. I didn't intend to coordinate those two events, but it just happened to work out that way. Dargan was a little upset Wednesday morning when he didn't get to nurse, but by Friday he'd mostly adjusted. We just have to distract him with something (anything!) when we get him up in the morning and he's usually ok. I'm so happy that we ended on a positive note! Yes, I'm a little sad but also excited to have some independence back. It's a mixed bag.

The last of the stash

He's been eating a ton lately, though. It's not uncommon for him to eat a half cup of cheerios, an entire banana, and a whole scrambled egg with cheese at breakfast (for example).

I love food!

Figured out the Camelbak

This weekend we had a fun visit from the Stasulis family and their little guy, Holden. He's 7 months old, and it was so fun to watch him and Dargan interact! They would chase each other around the house, and D seemed like he was showing H how to do different things. So cute.

"Check dis out, Holden..."

#motherrunners

Mommas and sweet little boys!

Yesterday we also went to the Quest Brewing 3rd Anniversary celebration - we took Dargan to the 2nd Anniversary party last year. Might have to be a tradition! :)

Same party... one year apart.

Enjoying the live music at Quest.

A brief nap

Happy Independence Day

We had such a nice weekend at the lake with the family! Even got to see my brother for the first time since Christmas.

We headed down to the lake house (about an hour north-ish of Columbia) on Friday afternoon after Scott brought Dargan by the office for a quick visit.

"Hi, I'm Dargan, I'll be your consultant today..."

We arrived at the lake just before dinner time, and Dargan started out with some daredevil acrobatics on his "car" to impress everyone. 

Standing is fun!

Playing with Uncle Matt's Sesame Street tool bench 

On Saturday, Scott and I rode mountain bikes at Harbison State Forest in Columbia, then met up with the family for some brewery adventures.

Ready to play in the woods

First stop was Swamp Cabbage Brewery (#45) where we got several samplers and enjoyed lots of good variety - except no IPAs!

Stop number 2 was Conquest Brewing (#46) where we had more samplers that came on cool sword-shaped sample racks. 

Third and final stop was Twisted Spur Brewing (#47) which was unfortunately less than impressive. 

The rest of the weekend was spent swimming in the lake, playing ping-pong, and generally relaxing and catching up with the family.

Emptying the Koozie basket with Grannie

Everybody in the lake! And Dargan napping...

More napping :)

Silly faces with Daddy through the glass door

The difference one year makes!

Other cuteness from the previous week...

Snoozing

"Where's the car?"

Toothy grins