Austin

Josh had some time off last week, so we finally decided to take a trip up to Austin. We've been wanting to go for a couple of years because we've heard it's a great place for camping and outdoors. Plus, we didn't want to leave Texas without seeing the capital city of our state. It wasn't a long trip--just Thursday and Friday--but we had a good time and enjoyed what we saw.

On Thursday, we first toured the capitol building and learned a little more about Texas history. I was surprised by how many women have served as governor, senator, etc., even way back in the day when that wasn't too common.

Austin has a big park called Zilker Park. There are a number of things you can do within the park--swimming, hiking, etc.--but since our time was limited we just went to the Zilker Botanical Gardens.

We camped for the night at McKinney Falls State Park, and I decided that it's very deceptive here. I know it's almost November, but believe me, it is still very warm here this time of year. During the day it's usually in the high 70s to mid 80s, and I know it cools down at night, but I'm usually sleeping in my warm apartment. It's true that Austin is probably a couple of degrees cooler than Houston, but even Austin was very warm during the day while we were there. As a result, I was not expecting to freeze while we were camping, but I did. Fortunately, Eli seemed to be warm and just fine, but Josh and I had a long, cold night. I guess I need to get me some warm footsie pajamas like Eli has. It also didn't help that there was a burn ban, so we couldn't start a fire. I'm used to having a fire while camping. Anyway, we did enjoy the experience, even though we were cold.

The cold night on Thursday, however, turned into a hot day on Friday. We went hiking in the park and saw a couple of small waterfalls, an Indian cliff dwelling, and tons of turtles. We had some other things planned but decided to keep it a relaxing day, which it was. Overall, it was a great trip!

(P.S. He's not actually eating the pear. He just likes to bite on it because it soothes his gums.)

Growing Up

Eli doesn't like sitting around. I was told that he would probably sit on his own before he'd start crawling, but I guess Eli is determined to be different. He can sit up for a little while, but he soon topples over. On the other hand, he has carpet burns from moving faster and faster across the room and into the next. We really have to watch him carefully. I think he'll learn how to sit from crawling rather than learning how to crawl from sitting because when he is in crawling position, he sometimes leans back far enough that he is nearly sitting on his own. Go figure!

He's also understanding cause and effect a little better. We have a mirror in his room on the floor against the wall. He used to lunge into the mirror all the time trying to get at the boy in the mirror. I tried to help him understand that he would never reach the boy and would only get hurt instead. I think he's finally catching on because he doesn't really lunge forward into the glass anymore, though he'll still stare and occasionally lick the mirror.

His form of communication has changed too. He still has high pitched squeals, but he has added deep guttural sounds, what we like to call "monster" noises. Just recently he has been showing off his command of specific sounds such as the "ga" sound in the letter g and the "ba" sound in the letter b. He also seems to understand some of what is being said. He will respond and turn his head when I call his name, and when I tell him I love him, he will get a sheepish grin on his face. The best is when he gives me a very tender look and makes a specific noise that he only makes when he's looking at me that way. I'm probably reading too much into it, but it's as if he's saying I love you too.


Finally, he is sort of eating solid foods. We started with rice cereal, but he doesn't really seem to like it. He will eat bananas and carrots a little better, even though half still ends up on him rather than in him. That's all we've tried so far, but we will be adding others as we go along. I knew it would be a messy process, and I was right, but he does look really cute in his bib and high chair. He lets us know quite forcefully when he's sick of being in them. Remember the little baby Jack-Jack in the Disney movie The Incredibles? When Eli has had enough, he exhibits characteristics similar to Jack-Jack's superhero powers. He'll always be my angel, but he lets us know how he feels.

Hurricane Ike

I'm not going to include any photos with this because I'm sure the damage has been seen all over the news, but I wanted to share my thoughts and our experience during the hurricane. Basically, I don't really want to go through another hurricane again, although that's the risk we take living in Houston. If Ike was just a category two (though nearly three), I certainly wouldn't stick around for a four or five. For those who like adventure, it must have been a blast. For those like me, it was pretty scary. I couldn't sleep all night and realized that ear plugs are a necessity in our emergency supplies. Because it happened during the middle of the night and our power went out like everyone else's, we didn't see a whole lot, but we heard a ton. Banging, popping, creaking, crashing--you name it. I was just praying the whole time that our roof would not suddenly rip off. Eli was a little frightened when the eyewall first began hitting us, but we were fortunate that he slept through most of it.

When the worst of it passed, immediately around us the damage consisted of broken branches and fallen trees, ripped off shingles, broken fences, downed power lines, hanging traffic lights, and broken signs. We were thinking that wasn't too bad given what we had heard. Keep in mind that we couldn't see anything on television because of the massive power outage. All we had was a little battery-operated radio. It wasn't until Wednesday or Thursday that I actually saw the extensive damage to Galveston and the Bolivar Peninsula.

Of course, the worst for us and the millions of other Houstonians was (and still is for many)probably the lack of power. We were very fortunate that we never lost our water. The pressure was low for the first couple of days, and we were told to conserve, but we were still able to shower. Granted, it was a very cold shower, but at least it was a shower. I was preparing to revert back to my mission days where bucket baths were the norm.

I did, however, have to revert back to the candles and flashlights and lack of air conditioning. I was painfully reminded of how uncomfortable heat and humidity can be without AC. But once again, the Lord blessed us by sending a cold front, so the heat was only bad for the first two days after the hurricane. Once the cold front came, we opened our windows and doors and cooled down a bit. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes then became a problem. Poor little Eli!

One of the families in our ward that Josh home teaches got their power back the day of or the day after the hurricane and allowed us to use their freezer for our frozen goods. That was a blessing! We then put our refrigerated goods in our freezer that Josh had previously filled with ice, and most of our refrigerated items kept okay in the freezer until we got our power back on Wednesday afternoon (a great gift that we were given on my dad's birthday).

Even as I write this, there are many people without power still, even in our ward. Our church building still does not have power. Meetings were obviously cancelled last week, and I hear that they're trying to get a generator so that we can at least have sacrament meeting tomorrow.

Despite the problems, I have counted many blessings that we have received amid the chaos of the storm and its aftermath. Our lives were unharmed. The rain didn't linger, so we didn't get as much flooding as we could have. A cold front came in. Damage could certainly have been worse. Most of our food did not spoil. We never lost our water. Our power came back fairly quickly compared to many others'. Unlike many other emergencies and natural disasters, we were given warning of the hurricane's approach. We were given service opportunities. We got to spend more time with each other. We have a better idea of what we need in an emergency but were prepared for almost everything. We received word that Eli's cousin, Sophee, was born.

Random Thoughts and Photos

I wanted to show a few more pictures of Eli that I thought were cute and/or funny: http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/456459.a6c2a719489/overview He's really trying to crawl; he gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth. I find him half way under the coffee table or his swing, etc. It probably won't be too long before he makes me chase him down. He also loves his jumper right now. Josh and I find ourselves laughing as we see him jumping like crazy in it. Furthermore, he must be teething because he tries to chew on everything--coasters, coffee table leg, the hard part of his pacifier, etc. He's also showing signs that he's ready for solid foods. I have to be careful when I'm eating because he reaches for almost everything I eat. I'm going to wait a couple more weeks and then try him on rice cereal. He'll be six months by then. Wow!


Well, it looks like Hurricane Ike is definitely headed towards us. Whether we get a direct hit or not, we will certainly see a lot of rain and wind (and possibly tornadoes, they say). I sure hope the power doesn't go out. Fortunately, we are prepared, but I really don't want to use what we've prepared for. I went to the grocery store this morning to do my regular weekly grocery shopping. The stores were crazy. I'm glad we have our food and water storage and don't have to worry about that at the last minute.