Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

I was kind of curious as to what Demani would do with Christmas presents this year...it took just a day to figure it out! Here is Demani discovering one of his gifts beneath the tree, just a little ahead of schedule.

Demani's play date

Tonight we went to Mathwon's work party at his boss's house and Demani had the extreme pleasure to hang with his friend Fox and his cool parents. We had a good time out with just adults but I think Demani had an even better time hanging with Fox. Fox's dad took some fun pictures of Demani and Fox and posted them on Fox's blog. Please visit http://www.fox-albert.blogspot.com/ Demani told us on the way home that he can't wait to have Fox come over to our house so that his parents can go out too.

We have a full weekend ahead with Christmas shopping, dinner over at the pastor's house from the church we have been attending, and perhaps a movie night with Fox and his mom and dad. Our weekend is full and so are our thankful hearts.

Playing catch up

Whew! I haven't posted in awhile...and I missed saying Happy Thanksgiving! So Happy Thanksgiving. This year we went to CA to visit Mathwon's sister and her husband and his mom. It was a quick trip especially once our plane was delayed on Wednesday night and so we had to take a plane very early Thursday morning. Demani did great on all of the flights. He is a trooper! We made it safely to CA except for Demani's bag! It was run over or something and we lost a few things, including the bag. The airline gave us a new bag and we are going to send a claim in for the things we lost. We got Demani some new shoes and they are just the cutest! They squeak when he walks and seriously, there isn't too much that I would consider any cuter :) Last week an entire restaurant watched him (and listened to him) walk to the front of the restaurant! It was like out of a movie.
We had a wonderful visit with family. Demani enjoyed chasing Timo and Jason's three cats, though he had a soft spot for Jasmine. And Nanan and Auntie Timo and Uncle J just ate Demani up. Here are some pics from the visit.

Chasing Jasmine


Last Saturday we got our Christmas tree and for the first time in Howard family history we went with the first tree that caught our eyes. It may have been that it was the perfect tree or the fact that it was snowing and cold, or perhaps a combination. We went with some friends and went out for lunch afterwards. It was a great time.
Decorating (or eating the ornament, in Demani's case) the tree

We've all been battling colds but otherwise all is well as we prepare for celebrating Christmas. I am hoping to get a Christmas letter out...we'll see how that goes :)

A book sent in the mail from buddy Colin

I'm walking!

Walking Little Man

Demani took his first real steps on Thursday, November 8 and hasn't looked back! Each day he links a few more steps and stays up on his feet that much longer. It's so amazing to watch as he wobbles, steadies himself and takes a few more steps before plopping down on his bottom. He will be playing and then the next thing we know we see a little head bobbing along and he's walking! He's tricky to catch on video though...we are still trying to get a good shot of him toddling along. No worries, we'll post it on the blog before it goes national, so you all will get first glimpse! :)

Tooth number 2 at 2

Yawn. That's 2 am! Last night at 2 in the morning tooth number 2 broke through and we had an unhappy little guy who, once happy thanks to tylenol, decided he wasn't tired. So neither mom or dad got much sleep... Nothing makes you appreciate a good night sleep like being up for 3 1/2 hours in the middle of the night....

Demani and my sister shared tooth issues this week as Kendra had her wisdom teeth taken out. Here's hoping she slept better than we did last night!

Laundry Basket Climbing...A new sport!