Communication Breakdown

Hey all. Sorry for the communucation breakdown. Our normally fervent blogging activity has diminished in recent weeks due to the upheaval from our normal routine in Austin and our (ongoing) move to the heartland.

We are sad to be leaving Austin, but Illinois sure is nice in the summer. Urbana-Champaign is a nice, quiet town with a lot of parks and about 100 thousand people - greater than half of which are affiliated with the university. The city is also decidely less ghetto than many towns of similar size in the South, so we have that working for us. We have found a nice house to rent in a good neighborhood and, when I move the rest of our stuff up there this week, I'll be sure to take some pictures and post them.

For those of you who missed it: Gabby and I have finally transcended the pathetic salaries of graduate students and, with the winds of recently-earned Ph.D.'s behind our sails, we are now earning the slightly less pathetic salaries of postdoctoral research associates. To think, 10+ years of a college education and we're still not in the 6 figures. The payoff is, we have some of the coolest jobs in the world, and we look forward to going to work everyday.

But enough of my fiscal tomfoolery. The real news concerns our lovely daughter Maggie, who continues to immeasurably enrich our lives every day. Gabby has informed me that she now says "ca" whenever she sees cats. Adding this to "da-da-da-da" and "muh-muh," it is clear that her lexicon will soon expand to include two (and perhaps three) syllable words. We are waiting anxiously for her to begin talking and I have a feeling that it will start happening really soon. Below, I've posted a few pictures from our last trip to Gran and Papa's in Houston.

First, a few from Chuck-E-Cheese:

Next. The many faces of Maggie:

Finally, a couple of videos. She is now old enough to be coached into doing impossibly cute things.

And the Grand Finale - entitled: Bad Gran

#94 Nanny share

#94 Nanny share....DONE. I am going to mark this one done. When our friends, Jack and Roxanne, lived in Austin we helped each other in babysitting. Hopefully, we can meet some nice couple up in Illinois.

64. Take Maggie to the aquarium

64. Take Maggie to the aquarium....DONE. Not sure if I mentioned this was part of my 101 list, but I blogged about it earlier this month. Scroll down if you don't remember.

You ask, "Why is she mentioned this crap again?" Well, another item my 101 list is to blog about my accomplishment of each goal :) Get it now.

46. Back up computer again

46. Back up computer again...DONE. Okay my computer is on the fritz so I finally backuped (is this a word????) all my junk and bought a new computer. Yay! When I bought the computer I received a free ipod touch. Score.

#31 Move to another city

#31 Move to another city....DONE. We are going to mark this off my list b/c I am leaving Monday. My parents are here to help assist packing all our junk.

Ten on Tuesday

1. Maggie was trying to convince me to let her drive. What? I drive my cozy coupe all the time.

2.Two weeks ago, we went to visit Gran and Papa. We decided to introduce Maggie to the ducks that live in the neighborhood pond. So Gran and Papa gave gave us some bread to feed the ducks.

Although, the ducks did not get to eat all the bread due to my hungry baby.

Here is better proof:

3. After returning back to Austin, Maggie and I hit the road again to meet up with her cousins (Jack, Alice and Audrey), Gran and Papa at Seaworld.

Once again, Maggie loved the dolphins.

A little relief from the heat. Although we did luck out and it was not scorching hot. Those are some sharks behind Gran and Maggie.

Maggie was star struck. The seaworld penguin was trying to interact with her, but she was not having it.

Maggie took a nap and missed the ugly armadillo running around.

4. Maggie got her 1st bloody booboo (not counting when I made her bleed as a baby when I was cutting her nails). She got her foot caught in this rope fence and fell.

5. Hangin' out at Starbucks. Yum. Attempt #1 to take pictures of Maggie making faces. FAIL.

6. I tried (AGAIN) to take some photos of Maggie doing her funny faces while driving, but I missed them. Instead I got these weird faces.

7. The Thibodeaux family made their way to krause springs. I loved it and this is one reason why I am going to miss Austin :(

Some butt action because it is soooooo cute.

8. Maggie started enjoying the slide. But in this heat her legs get sticky so it doesn't go down so easily. Hopefully in Illinois she can slide down effortlessly.

9. Two weeks left in Austin. I don't remember how to actually work :)

10. Just because its hard to get 10 random thoughts. Here is my cutie (just in case you didn't get enough photos of her ;-P)

My funny girl

Maggie has been kissing and hugging on demand for a couple of weeks. I could about die from cuteness. I try and get tons of hugs and kisses because I never know when she is going to stop wanting to be near her mommy.

I like to say she is blowing kisses, but she is just making one of her many silly faces.

Playing with her feet in the car seat is a classic Maggie

She loves going up and down stairs and ramps. For real. I always have to carry her away and she normally fusses/cries a little when I do.

Beach Time

To finish up our CC trip we made our way over to the beach. Once again, Maggie enjoyed herself.

Here are all the girls cheesin' it up for the camera.

She was a little braver than I like. She just did her own thing, which included going towards the water with no supervision.
Luckily, I had my Mom
and Dad to babysit :)

Our princess. High tide was coming in and Maggie didn't want to get off the chair.

Relaxing in the shade.

Texas State Aquarium

Yeah yeah yeah. I know. I am not doing a great job with keeping up with the blog. Anyways, two or three weeks ago we went down to Corpus Christi to visit Honey and Grandpa. It was the last trip to CC from Austin :( On Saturday we went to visit our friends who live in and around the water. Maggie seemed to enjoy her visit.

First up....dolphins. I was quite surprised when I realized Maggie actually enjoyed tracking them swim from one side to another.

Chris is showing Maggie a few hermit crabs. She's probably thinking there is no way I am holding that.
Although it did look like Maggie wanted to touch the alligator.
Ta Ta.