We share a room with a cricket. We awake to it's chirping in the mornings. This has not improved my opinion of crickets.

I have grappled with myself over what to call this post. I have decided on

"It's the same shirt as last time and the last time she wore (or will wear) that shirt"

I recognize somewhere deep down inside of me that it couldn't possibly be the shirt. What shirt would make a person do that. None... it's ridiculous. But there is a part somewhere even deeper inside of me (the same part that forces me to wait inside of public restrooms for someone outside to open the door) -- a much stronger part of me I might add -- that doesn't care if it couldn't possibly be the shirt. It was, as the title said, the same shirt as last time and that's enough for me. It's pink (devil of a color) and terry cloth.

She wasn't wearing shorts to sleep (yes there is another part of me that recognizes that could be a big part of the problem) it's hot in our house so sometimes she's just in a t-shirt. I, once again, was napping nicely when I heard Jane make a noise in the other room. I, once again, went back to sleep for who knows how long until I heard her again. Eventually I woke up and went into her room and endured a real life flashback of the last time she took her diaper off and spread it on herself, the crib, the air... I'm breathing it in... Fecal Matter in my lungs... fecal matter everywhere... once again.

So below are some of the pics from our trip and an update below that.

	a very 'jane' expression'
	i like corn on the cob
	huh? also a jane expression :) (jane and 1 of cousins, wes.)

So short update....

Jane has taken her first steps. The first one was Last week (august 13) and then multiple steps just as we were about to leave her Papa Gary and Grandma Aurilla's house. 4 at a time!

We had a great time in washington with Dan's family. Jane got to play with all of her cousins and grandparents once she relaxed a little and got used to the surroundings -- she was loving having all the space to move around. Then we went to oregon for a week for intereviews and to see my Amber's brother and his wife. We took jane to the beach for the first time. She was incredibly skilled at spraying as much sand as possible while crawling, seriously violating Uncle John's "no sand on the blanket" rule. She also injested a few handfuls of sand as well. Pictures to come.

We took her to the zoo in oregon. She especially liked the sea lions, monkeys and elephants. She even said "kitty" when we were looking at ocelots (i'm not sure I would describe that as quite a 'kitty' but we're not being picky) It was really fun to see her get so excited around the animals.

And aside from pooing in the pool, peeing all over me in the airport, eating too much oregon sand and washington mud and taking a few dives through chairs and over cousins it was a relatively 'event' free vacation.

Well things are going great. Some quick updates on Jane...

She said her first word (not counding mama and dada and plthpbs)

It was "doggy" and for those of you who doubt we waited until she clearly anunciated (sp?) the syllables while looking at a pic of a dog. It was so cute. She loves dogs. I know i'm going to end up giving in and getting her one. It's adorable

We went to the fair last week to go to the demolition derby but it was way too loud to have jane in there so I left with her and went to see the animals. She was petting the goats and letting them lick her fingers and toes. Adorable.

She's standing on her own now and thinking about walking. She's stepped a couple times into something but does not support herself afterwards.

She also likes too dance (bounce up and down) when we turn the music on or sing songs (especailly the race horse one... the name slips my mind)

And she learned to high five today. I'm not sure that's on the same 'milestone' level of walking and talking but it was awesome.

Anyway we are doing well. Looking forward to going to washingto and oregon next week!