DMV, some steps, and some words

Just for the record, there is no good time to go to the DMV – at least not where we are at. We tried on Friday and both DMV locations had ~2 hour wait. So I decided I would try again this morning…run over the moment it opens, get in, out, and off to work. I arrived 15 minutes before they opened and couldn't find parking. It took me an hour and a half to even get a number, and then another 2 and a half to get service. Total time being helped (at counter behind mysterious divider wall in waiting room): 8 minutes. Needless to say, I hope that Nikki has much better luck when she tries the DMV.

Other than the DMV fun, we have continued to try to get settled in here – and, more importantly, to get Gavin settled in. He still isn't sleeping through the night. He tosses and turns all night, waking up quite often. This has been the biggest challenge lately, and it is taking its toll on all of us (well, not him, as he is his usual cheery self in the mornings). We have tried several methods and techniques to help him out, but non have quite taken hold yet. But we're hopeful, and so we keep trying.

He has started to walk a bit more. We're up to about 12 steps and a couple changes of direction. But he is still wobbly—at times he looks like he's about 5 beers along.

He's also started to pick up a few more words. When he really tries, he can say several things (or say close approximations to them). But he definitely understands far more than he is capable of vocalizing. Soon he will be talking our ears off.

Of course, one of the great frustrations is when he repeats something perfectly the first time and then doesn't even attempt to say it again, no matter how much we try. Like the other night, he was swinging at the park and he repeated, "Oh, yeah." For the life of me he wouldn't even try to say it after that. Not even the "Oh" part. He just went right on gibbering to himself . . . If nothing else, at least he was enjoying the conversation he was having.

Still settling in...

Sorry for the delay in posting, I've been in new faculty orientation all week and a bit too swamped to post. But hopefully things will get a bit better as we go forward, or I may have to get Nikki to start posting to make up for my shortcomings.

Things are still hot here. We are now in the second hottest year in the history of Central Texas. But that heat doesn't seem to phase Gavin. He perpetually wants to play outside, and it is all we can do to limit his outdoor time to mornings and evenings when its not as bad. Of course, the other night it was still 95 degrees at 10:30pm, but at least the sun wasn't out, which meant less chance of your face melting.

Shifting gears a bit, it was recently brought to my attention by one of Nikki's wonderful Aunts that I missed a golden opportunity to make a big hoopla over Nikki's most recent milestone birthday. For those who don't know, Nikki officially moved out of her 20s on August 15th. In a few weeks I will be joining her at this milestone, but until then I jokingly am married to a "cougar."

Beyond that, not much is new here. We recently had Gavin's 1st year photos taken (as you can tell from some of the images here). Thanks to both Aunt Sherry and Aunt Laura for their recommendations for using Portrait Innovations, those folks were fantastic and we got some really great shots. We will be sure to disperse the photos to as many people as we can the next time we see everyone. Until then, please enjoy these digital stand-ins.

(NOTE: The images included here are some of the proofs we didn't choose to turn into pictures . . . there were just too many good ones.)

The latests...

Still hot. Record 35 days straight of 100+ temps. Already third hottest year in the history of this area.

Still have things in boxes. But we are making a pretty good dent in the remaining things. With a little luck, we could at least have all the boxes unpacked by Monday.

Beyond that, we celebrated Gavin's first birthday a couple days ago. Thanks to everyone who called or sent emails or ecards and to everyone who sent birthday cards and birthday gifts. Gavin really enjoyed opening his presents. And it turns out, it was the packaging peanuts in Uncle Travis and Aunt Sherry's gifts that made the biggest splash (see video below).

Gavin's Aunt Laura comes in late today, so I'm sure we may stumble into some adventures here over the weekend...hopefully we can go see the famous bats take flight at the bridge on Guadalupe St. in Austin. Supposedly, millions upon millions of bats take up residence under the bridge for half the year and at night they all fly out to hunt (bats fly out for 45-60 minutes). So that should be fun. But checking that out may depend on the weather. The other night it was still 95 degrees at 10:30pm.

Oh well, I hope you enjoy the pictures and video.

Hot in Austin!!!

Sorry for the absence in posting, I simply have been too busy unpacking and whatnot to get to the computer. Plus, we're not quite up and running in terms of the internet service yet…there is apparently quite a wait to have these things set up (one industry, I guess, that is clearly still doing well during these tough economic times).

I will get some photos up soon, once we get the internet, but for now a text-only blogpost from my phone will have to suffice.

Just wanted to say that we are all here and things are as we expected for this time of year…EXTREMELY HOT! The 7-day forecast has the coolest day at 101. Dry heat or not, that's hot. But we are managing. The house is still full of boxes and items needing to be put away, but we are making progress. Gavin's Grandpa Joe has been here all week helping out (both with Gavin and the unpacking), which has been a huge help, and Grandma Nancy arrived today so we should be able to make some serious damage this weekend…especially since it is too freakin' hot to go anywhere that isn't air conditioned. Luckily, all the major shopping areas (and there are a ton of them) are air conditioned…so we can go get lost in IKEA for hours.

I will work on getting photos up when I can. We should have internet service after the 12th, so I will post some of Gavin's 1st Birthday pics then (if I don't get a chance to do so before).

Stay cool, literally.