Meet me in St. Louis

Where to begin? This past weekend Owen reached several new milestones, we heard exciting baby news from several friends, and we flew to St. Louis to visit our good friends Joe & Cate. All this was too much excitement to fit into one post, so I'll start out by writing about our trip to St. Louis.

We hadn't seen Joe & Cate since they moved from Charlottesville to St. Louis last May (which also meant we hadn't played bridge in all that time), so Elaine and I decided we needed to squeeze a trip to the show me state into our busy spring. Thankfully, Joe's mini vacation before starting his radiology residency coincided with one of our free weekends, and we jumped at the chance for a visit.

Joe & Cate's new home is adorable, but our favorite part of the whole tour was this little unfinished room in the attic, which is going to be baby Mettenburg's nursery! That's right, Joe & Cate are expecting a baby on October 1st (or as Cate likes to say, late September since October sounds so far away). Elaine had suspected for a while based on a few clues Cate let slip, but that was only fair given how early Joe & Cate figured out that Elaine was expecting.

The exciting news gave Owen a chance to break in the parents-to-be. He wasted no time sharing his adorable side with plenty of smiles, and not one but two developmental milestones! Leaving his endearing "beached whale" scooting phase in the past, Owen took his first few legitimate crawling steps. As if that weren't enough, he also perfected sitting up from a prone or supine position. We've known for a few days that he could do this, since we've found him sitting up in his crib at night, but he finally demonstrated his new move in front of us.

The rest of our quick little trip was filled up with delicious food, torrential rain, Owen's first visit to a zoo, and plenty of bridge. The next time we'll see Joe & Cate will be at the beach, when Cate should be showing, and Kaden can chime in on the parenting lessons.

(click here to see all the pictures)