Beach, e-Friends, and Steps

Crazy, random title, I know!  I haven't posted in a while so this will be a mish-mash of updates and pictures. First, a week after Andrew's birthday we hit the road and went on our first vacation to Ocean City, NJ. We rented a beach condo with my parents and brother. It was a great week with perfect weather. Andrew did quite well. He's a king of routine so it took him a bit to warm up to not being at home and get comfortable with his surroundings. I was worried about him sleeping in the pack n' play in the same room with us, but there was a huge closet that we stuck the pack n' play in and just kept the sliding doors open half way. It worked PERFECTLY! At first Andrew cried a little bit but it only lasted a few minutes. He slept great but woke up early (5:30-6) almost every day. Once I was up I didn't mind because we were out walking around and then got to the beach nice and early every day. Andrew *kinda* liked the sand and water but was mostly happy crawling around in our beach tent we got. I definitely think he'll be a totally different kid next year when we go back. We hope to make this an annual trip.  Here's a few pics from the beach/vacation:

He loved to bury himself in the towels in the tent. lol

 My brother and Corey thought it would be fun to bounce the ball off Andrew's head. He loved it!

 On our way home from the beach we stopped to visit (and meet for the first time) a great friend. We met on the bump.com when we were pregnant. We paired up to be "labor buddies" so we could update the board when we had our babies. She was due at the end of July and I was due mid-July. Leading up to our due dates we became quite close, emailing each other almost every day. We agreed to text each other when either of us went into labor no matter what time of day. I was still hesitant to text her at 3am when I was heading to the hospital, but I did anyway. Imagine my surprise when she texted back almost immediately. I apologized for waking her up but she responded that she was already awake, timing contractions! To make a long story short, we ended up having our babies the same day less than an hour apart! Her husband ended up updating the message board! LOL! What an amazing experience to go through with her. Since then, we've continued to email and go through the first year of motherhood together. We were so excited to plan a meeting!  Here are a few pictures from our visit.

Holding hands! Andrew looks like a monster next to her because he's got about 6 lbs on her!

Reading a book together. Aww!

Here we are with our babes! So hard to get a good pic!

Finally... steps.  Yes, steps as in walking steps. Andrew took his first unassisted steps on July 21, while we were on vacation. No one saw but me. I started freaking out and got so giddy. However, he refused to do it again while we were there. Once we got home he started back up, but again only when I was around. Finally, a few days ago he took 6 steps to Corey. Ever since he's keeps doing more and more. Now lots of people have seen the steps. He's even trying steps when I'm not there to "catch" him. I say that because he loves to lean into me and fall when he gets close enough. I hope to catch a video of it soon so I can post it. It is SO cute and he is just so proud of himself. :)