Sunny Saturday

I love this time of year. The weather is simply perfect, giving us ample opportunity to spend lots of time outside. And that's exactly what we did Saturday afternoon. We ran some errands and then headed to the park. It was actually a bit warm out with the sun beating down right at us but I knew that once the cold hits, we're going to miss the warm weather. As usual, the majority of the time was spent on the swing. It's Josie's favorite thing to do. She was all smiles with the wind in her hair and Elmo in her crotch (she wouldn't let us take Elmo so he went in the swing too.) After swinging, we tried taking her down the slide a few times but we didn't get much of a reaction out of her. I don't think she gets that yet. So Jen took her around the play area while I snapped a few more pictures.

My plan was to lay out in the grass for a little bit and play but no sooner did we lay out the blanket we turned right around and packed it up. She was starting to get fussy for dinner so we got a move on and left. But not before I got a few good shots of my big girl, standing all by herself!





















Exhausted ..

America's Oldest Fair

Fat guy on a scooter, rebel flag apparel, bearded women, mullets, single mother with way too many kids. If you've ever wondered where you can experience all that in one place in less than a span of 10 minutes, then head over to your local Walmart. Now, if you wanted to go on some rides, eat an endless combination of fried stuff, listen to country music all night, and get up and personal to a llama, then where would you go? To the annual York Fair of course!

And Josie got to experience her first York Fair last night. Boy did she have a great time. She laughed and screamed and threw herself around in her stroller the whole time. I'll admit, I didn't have much desire to go at first, but once I got there, I quickly realized how much fun this probably is through the eyes of an 11 month old. We didn't stay long since it was close to her bed time; basically we made a loop around the arena and stopped only to eat. I do wish I could have stayed longer because events like these create endless possibilities for memorable candids.

Labor Day Weekend

We didn't do a whole lot Sunday or Monday, mainly because we were still tired from a long but fun Saturday. What did we do Saturday? We finally made a long overdue trip down to VA to see some important peoples. It was a day filled with driving, eating, feeding, changing, more driving, shopping; the works. Our itinerary wasn't much different than our usual VA trips except for the fact that we left a little earlier and stayed a bit later. We don't get to go all that often so I wanted to make the most out of the day and make sure that everyone got to spend as much time with each other as possible.

Josie did very well. She slept the whole way down, and again on the way to lunch. We first stopped at Uncle Dan's who got her a bunch of new toys to play with. After about 3 min she lost interest and went after his collection of remotes. It was really nice out so we decided to hit up the park that was across the street from Dan's house. I got some great shots of them at the swing and on the slide.

Then it was off to dim sum with my parents and brother. Josie ate pretty much everything that we put in front of her. She didn't seemed bothered by the loud and hectic environment. Usually when we take her out, we're always worried that she'll start screeching and yelling for no apparent reason. At that restaurant though, no one would have heard her.

After lunch, we took a stroll over at Tysons Corner and did a bit of shopping. And I must say, the mall was a big hit. Josie was, literally, at the edge of her seat the entire time. She pointed and laughed and had a great time looking at the people, the stores, and everything else in between. We left Tysons and spent the remainder of the afternoon at my Grandmother's house with the rest of the family. We stayed and went out to dinner with everyone and then left right from there. Up until now we'd leave prior to dinner so that we'd get home just in time to put the baby to bed. But now that she's older, it's nice to be able to stretch the day out a tad every once in a while so that my family can get as much Josie time in as possible.

Right after dinner, we changed her, put her in her pj's and off we went. Mommie gave her a bottle and she was asleep in no time. She stayed sleeping the whole way home and I was able to transport her from the car into her crib without disruption. All in all, it was a lot of work, but it was well worth it.

M.I.A

Hi! We're back, again. Sorry for being m.i.a for the last few weeks. It's been extremely hectic both at work and at home. I've been trying to get a few side projects wrapped up but fell behind and missed the deadlines that I had set for myself. As a result, I had to reprioritize and set aside less pressing matters. Unfortunately, updating the blog went into the mix and it took a hit too.

But we're caught up now and are moving foward. Josie has been growing up so fast before our very eyes. She hasn't gotten sick in quite a while and for that we're thankful. For those who haven't seen her lately, she has stretched out a bit. She's still putting on the LBs but she has shot up quite a few inches. Her top teeth (a total of 4) are coming in faster than her bottom 2 ever did. I'm convinced that she'll be able to eat an entire Chipotle burrito with me sooner than I had originally anticipated.

Oh and she's getting loud, especially when she gets excited. She clearly enjoys the sound of her own voice, and admist all the screaming and jibber jabber, sometimes, we can actually make out a real word or two. It's going to be so cool once she can talk. But before she talks, she'll be walking. And she's getting really close to doing it on her own. Right now, she can walk really well if we hold her by her arms, or if she has something to hold on to. We think she's really going to take off once she figures it out. She already tries to take off on her own now, but ends up face planting most of the time.

So now that you're all caught up, it's picture time. They're not really in any particular order. Just ones that I've shot over the last few weeks. Enjoy!











Oh noes! The rice is attacking me!


Sporting the pink Skin's jersey. Go COOOOLEY!


All ready for the big game. Might as well get her used to the frustration and disappointment of being a Redskins's fan while she's still young.




New sneakers ... courtsey of Uncle Denny & Aunt Sammi!


And what do we do with new sneakers? EAT EM!














Strike a pose!

And we're back

It's been a crazy past couple of weeks here at the Lau's residence. Two weeks ago, Josie ended up sick again. She had a bout of what's known as hand/foot/mouth disease. It's a viral thing that causes blisters, fever, and loss of appetite. Jen had to keep her home all week and we were told that Josie wasn't allowed to return to daycare until her fever and blisters went away.

In usual Josie fashion, being sick meant round the clock attention (yes more than the usual amount.) Mommie took the day shift, and I took the night shift. She wouldn't eat much and she couldn't sleep for more than an hour without waking up, drenched in sweat. It was important for her to get her rest and stay hydrated so that meant staying up with her throughout the night to feed her and put her back to sleep.

Eventually though it did work itself out of her system. By the end of the week she was back to her normal self. It was really good timing because we ended up having a great time at the Corn Roast.