He's On The Move!

Weston crawled for the first time today!! We were beginning to think that he wouldn't crawl and just go straight to walking because he LOVES to walk holding our hands. On another note, we happen to be at Andy and Andrea's house and it seems that whenever we are here he starts doing a new developmental milestone. Here are two videos of this exciting event. In the first one you can see that at first he moved with one leg straight and the other bent. By then end of the night he was moving with two bent legs.

We are hoping that this will inspire Gianna to move:) For now, she is perfectly content just sitting where she is and stretching as far as she can to reach what she wants!

LaVoy Family Fun

This week we got to spend some time with Michael's side of the family and Weston got to meet some more aunts and cousins. We had a great time in Wisconsin Dells staying at the Chula Vista Resort. Weston absolutely loved the indoor water park, and I think if he could of had his way he would have stayed in the water the whole time! I also think when he is older he will love going on the slides with Michael (I will be happy because then I won't have to go on them with Michael anymore).

Cousin Tyler, Aunt Veronica, and Cousin Mae

We hung out in Necedah for the rest of the week, and I think it is safe to say that Weston can now sleep through anything! He got lots of practice sleeping through noise:)

Weston on his first four wheeler ride.

Weston and his cousin Leo- Can you tell what side of the family Weston gets his eyes from?

We then ended the week by going to a wedding where Weston got to show off his new suit:) I must say he looked mighty handsome!

The new Mr. and Mrs. Parker

Happy Easter

Our first holiday back in Wisconsin was busy but fun. Weston got to experience dying Easter eggs, finding his Easter baskets and eggs, and meeting/seeing lots of family. We spent the first part of Easter at my Grandma Luebke's house and then went to Necedah to spend the evening and night with Mike's family. Overall, it reminded us of what we missed when we were away from family.

Dying Easter Eggs with Grandma and Daddy

Finding His Easter Basket From the Easter Bunny

Weston finding his Easter basket at his Great Grandma Luebke's house.

Great Grandma Luebke made Weston and Gianna sock monkeys:)

Weston with Kendra and Aubrey

Weston was happy finding one egg during the LaVoy egg hunt.

Weston didn't eat any candy this Easter and he doesn't have any teeth yet, but I decided to start introducing his toothbrush to him. When he was born he got a set of brushes for different stages and he loves the one that is made to massage his toothless gums:)

Finally, for those of you that have not already heard, Michael accepted a job offer from Catholic Knights (a financial services company). He will be working in La Crosse, so that means we will be living and looking to buy a house in the La Crosse area. It will be a little while before we officially start looking for a house, but we have started to scope out houses on the market and neighborhoods where we may want to live. One day when we went out looking we found Weston his own street:) There is also a Weston street in San Angelo and we meant to take a picture of Weston by that street sign before we left, but we forgot. Oh well, I guess that means we will just have to go back and visit!

Oh, and one more thing, Weston has entered his fascination with clapping stage and Michael has even taught him how to give a high five:)

Short and Sweet

I am really not in the mood to write much, so I will make this post very short and to the point.

Weston is getting good with his pincher grasp. He even sometimes tries to pick up the printed objects on blankets:) Check out the video to see his skills.

More and more we are hearing that Weston doesn't look like a baby, but he looks like a little boy. I think this picture captures that well.

Weston is also making some progress towards crawling. He likes to go forward from the sitting position and has made it onto his hands and knees a couple times.

8 Months

Weston turned 8 months old yesterday! We can't believe how time flies. He continues to bring one of the greatest amounts of joy to our lives. I guess if I could pick one thing to define him right now it is that he has a fascination with walking while holding onto our hands. However, while we think this is adorable, we really want him to crawl first! Hopefully, he will soon- he has made huge strides just in the past couple days, but unfortunately he face-plants more often than not. The good thing is this doesn't phase him:)

Now, I will let Michael take over the keyboard and update you on his job situation. (No, we don't know where we are going to live yet.)

Ok, this is Michael typing now. I'm a bit new at this, so hopefully I don't totally blow it!!! I went all the way through the State Farm candidate career path to become an agent. The final step to become an approved candidate was to prepare a business plan for an agency and present it to a panel and then answer 11 interview questions. The interview process took about 2 hours total.

Later that day I received a phone call from my career coach, and she told me that I didn't make it through. That's the bad news!!! However, she said that the panel was extremely impressed with my business plan, and I came across as "very intelligent, professional, innovative, hard-working, driven, and goal-oriented." She stated that they would like me to try again, maybe six months down the road or so, and that I should use this time to work under an agent to gain more experience and build more capital. These were the areas they thought I needed to grow in, which I completely agree.

And so, what seemed like a brutal rejection has really turned out to be a huge blessing. It opened up a lot of doors for me to find a new job. I've personally called about 60 agents inquiring about their job opportunities. Several of the area executives, as well as some of the agents, have helped to get my name and resume around. As a result, I have talked to about 8 agents who are interested in hiring and I've already met with one. I am also still talking to the representitive from Catholic Knights (another insurance company) who sounds interested in hiring me. I will meet with him next week.

Right now, I am going through the insurance pre-licensing course to make myself more attractive and competitive to agents. I'll be done with that next Wednesday and then I will take my exam some time next week. So, in short - no job yet, but plenty of prospects!

Also, Maria wanted me to mention where I am with my degree. I've made huge strides in the last couple of months. I haven't taken any courses through the college because we had too much going on during this time, but the military offers a lot of opportunities to take free tests for college credit. In the last few months, I have taken probably about 15 tests and passed about 10 (most importantly, I passed my math test which I was dreading!) Anyway, after all of my test results came in, I added them up and realized that I only need two more classes/tests to get my degree. I'm gonna sign up for the classes this semester and hopefully get my degree by the end of the summer.

So anyway, that's the latest news with me. I just looked up and realized that I typed a lot, so hopefully I didn't bore you to death.

New Faces and Places

Slowly but surely Weston is meeting more and more of his family! His Great Uncle John, Great Aunt Lisa, and Cousin (well, actually first-cousin-once-removed if we are being technical) Brianna came for a visit a little over a week ago. My Aunt Lisa helped me discover that Weston just doesn't seem to like the taste of his baby food- plain and simple. We have discovered that he prefers food in pieces he can put in his own mouth! We are finally making progress in the solid food area- yeah!

This past weekend we went to Necedah and had a great time introducing Weston to his Pipi and some of his aunts, uncles, and cousins on Michael's side. We also learned a fun new game called Speed Scrabble (Benj and Mary you would really like this one). Of course, Michael was great at it and I was terrible, but that is how is goes with any kind of word game between us.

Weston and his cousin Stephanie

We also got to meet the newest member of the LaVoy family- Mae Ann Boyles! She was so precious and served as a reminder for us of just how much babies change in a few short months! We are already forgetting what it was like having Weston as a newborn.

Weston meeting his Pipi's horses for the first time.

Weston with his Pipi

We even got to see more snow while we were there.


Finally, Michael introduced Weston to the Hardwood Floor Luge.

We Are Ready To Be A Family Again!

Well, I feel like I have come as close to being a single mother as I want to be! Weston and I are both very ready for Michael to join us in Wisconsin!! I am lucky to have the help of family here, but sometimes there in only so much they can do when Weston only wants me. However, I feel like I can't really blame him for his "mommy neediness" because I am the only thing familiar with all the new places and things he is experiencing. Speaking of new things, Weston got to experience his first wedding last Saturday.

At the wedding he tried out some dance moves on the dance floor, but I think his Daddy needs to show him how to really move on the dance floor:)

Weston still doesn't like eating baby food, but he has taken a liking to Cheerios and is quite good at picking them up and putting them in his own mouth.

This week Weston and I got to spend some time in Chippewa Falls with Andy, Andrea, and Gianna. We had a great time and got to see their beautiful new home:)

While we were there Weston learned a "new trick" (as Mary says). He has figured out how to pull himself up! Check it out-

Also, while we were there winter reminded me what I was missing in Texas. Weston and I got to experience some very cold temperatures and I must say- I didn't enjoy it! (I couldn't even warm up inside- hence the jacket in the picture.)

Here is our attempt to have a life outside of babies- Weston brought me back to reality before we could finish our game of dominos (Andy probably woke him up because he was losing so badly.) Oh well, we really wouldn't have it any other way!