Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween everyone! Claudia is napping while we get ready for a fun Halloween. First we plan on going to the pumpkin patch in Memorial Park, then go visit Rachel & Tip's haunted house, pay a spooktacular visit to Aunt Debbie and Uncle Matthew, then we will go to Gram and Grandpa's for some trick or treating! Claudia is already having a great day. We read Curious George and the Halloween Costume Party, ate some bewitched oatmeal and now we are taking a Sleepy Hollow nap. We will post pics from today's festivities later. Happy Halloween!

Picture Me Strollin'

daddy and CC getting ready to stroll

daddy & CC swingingCC enjoying the evening air

Last night we went on an evening stroll and it was really spooky looking outside, but it was nice & cool, so it was a great walk. CC loves to go on walks and this time we put her in the baby carrier instead of the stroller. We think she liked this even better because Daddy could swing her, which made her squeal with delight!

Creme Halloween Party

all the babies of Pouponnière 1
Me and Claudia with Alberto and his mom, Mila

Claudia and her bestie from Pouponnière 6, Juliette

The very hungry caterpillar, CC... gimme that squash!

CC, me, Haylie & Haylie's mommy

Today was also Claudia's Halloween Party at Creme de la Creme. As you can see, Claudia dressed up like a cute little caterpillar. To get into character, we read The Very Hungry Caterpillar this morning. The party was so much fun and it was hilarious to see all the babies in their little costumes. We went "trick or treating" around Creme and Claudia got lots of toys and nutritious snacks which mommy & daddy ate, since Claudia was full up on squash. There were lots of appetizers and desserts at the party and it was great to visit with all the other parents. It was pretty fun to finally see all the babies with their parents. Claudia's first Halloween party did not disappoint... now we can't wait for Halloween!

Squish Squash!

our little squash eater
squishing the squash

wait, how did this spoon get in my hand???

Today we gave Claudia her first solid food, aside from rice cereal. We started with a lovely pureed squash. She was very suspicious of this new substance, but after a few bites, she realized she really didn't like it at all. But, being the good girl that she is, she humored her mom & dad by eating about half of the serving, squishing her hand around in it and finally flinging it around the room with her spoon. She is getting pretty good with wielding that spoon too. In the last picture she is cutting some eyes at it, though... suspicious utensil! We are going to give her squash for one more day and then move on to something even more exciting ... like peas. Good job, Claudia!

The Golden Age

Yesterday CC had her 6 month doctor's appointment with Dr. Ho and unfortunately had to have the next round of vaccinations, or as we call them "porcupine pokes." Here is a pic from the appointment. She was already upset because it was her naptime, so the pokes did not go very well and she was really sleepy the rest of the day. On the plus side, she now weighs 15 lbs, 1 oz & is up in the 30% for her age! She had been hovering around 20%. Thanks to the Prevacid, she is finally keeping food down! She is 25 1/2 inches tall (50% for her age) and her head circumference is 17 inches (70% for her age!). Apparently, everything's going to feed her big brain! I still can't believe she is 6 months old! She is doing so much now... sitting up, smiling, laughing and interacting. As Dr. Ho told us, this is the "golden age" of her infancy!

Music to My Ears!

Her little piano arrived & she has been having a blast with it. Once we showed her how it works, she got very excited & proceeded to play some tunes. She plays it sitting up & also on her belly. We have to usually hold the piano because sometimes she really starts hitting those keys & the baby piano goes flying. She's very passionate about the music!

Pearly Whites

Today Claudia had her first teeth brushing! Now that she has teeth, we will be cleaning them every night before bedtime and possibly every morning as well. She is a very good sport about the whole thing. At first she didn't like it & thwarted Daddy's brushing efforts, but once we got started we think she actually liked it. The brush is super soft and the toothpaste is just for babies. We will keep you updated as more teeth arrive!

Windy City Weekend

This weekend I made my way up to Chicago for a fun friends weekend. Rachel and Ryan moved up there last January and so we (me, Logan & Andrea) finally made our way up for a visit. This was my first time to be away from Claudia, so I was pretty nervous about leaving, but she had a great weekend with Daddy & also spent the night and Gram & Grandpa's. I arrived in Chicago on Friday and the first thing we did was eat some real deal deep dish pizza... it was delicious! Next we went to Second City, a legendary comedy club where all the greats from Saturday Night Live got their start. On Saturday we toured around the city, visiting Grant Park, strolling down the Magnificent Mile, went to the top of the Hancock Building, went on the architectural boat tour down the Chicago River and Lake Michigan, and lots more fun stuff. I had a great time catching up with Rachie, Log & Andrah and I miss them already. However, it feels great to be home with my little CC!

Stepping on Leaves by CC

Here is Claudia's first arts & crafts project. It's entitled "Stepping on Leaves." She did this yesterday at Creme, with a little help from Miss Rosa and Miss Lejeana. They dipped her little feet in brown paint and let her stomp on the leaves. She had a blast making it and, as you can see, is very proud of her first work. This one's going in the scrap book!

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

Today we send many happy birthday wishes to Grandpa! Claudia can't wait to tell you happy birthday in person this weekend and show off her new tricks... which include scooting, sitting up for approximately 2 minutes ... and, of course, eating birthday cake. She is her mother's daughter, after all!

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!!

Willkommen zu Hause, Marc & Jenny!

Tonight we had dinner at El Tiempo with Marc & Jenny Merrill. I had not see them since before we took the bar in Louisiana, so it was so great to see them! They are living in Germany right now, but they are both from Texas. We hope that they come back to Texas ... Houston to be specific! Claudia had so much fun visiting with Marc & Jenny. She was also a perfect little lady all during dinner. She just played with her toys and looked around the restaurant. Dinner was yummy & it was so good to catch up with the Merrills!

Movin' on up! CC is 6 months old today!

Claudia officially graduated from Pouponniere 6 at Creme de la Creme! Now she is in Pouponniere 1, which is a 6 to 9 months group. Although she is excited about moving to the new group and learning new tricks from some older babies, she definitely misses Miss Kaylon. She looks pretty mopey in this picture. I tried to tell her we are going to visit Miss Kaylon and that she is right across the hall... but she was still a little bummed. Luckily Miss Cindy is moving with her from Pouponniere 6 to Pouponniere 1 ! I can't believe my little baby is 6 months old today! Sniff, sniff.

Sloppy joes & sloppy tigers...

Tonight we had dinner at Aunt Debbie & Uncle Matthew's and enjoyed some yummy sloppy joe's while we watched a pretty sloppy first half of the LSU / Florida game. I can't believe how many penalties the tigers have racked up. How hard is it to not line up in the neutral zone? Anyways, Claudia had fun checking out the pumpkins and visiting her family... but the princess needed to get her beauty sleep so we just came home & will finish watching the game here. Come on, Tigers!!!

Cookout at the McGraw's

Today we hung out at the McGraw's house and had so much fun visiting with everyone. Don and Kelly have officially moved to Houston so we got to welcome the new Houstonians! Audrey and Claudia had a great time playing together, as you can see. The shish kabobs were fantastic, the weather was fantastic (it actually felt like fall!) and I'm already missing everyone. Good times!

Woo hoo, it's NOT the flu!

Yesterday CC came home with a fever & a few other suspicious symptoms... cough, runny nose, crummy appetite. This morning she still had a fever so we took her to Dr. Ho to make sure it wasn't the flu. Luckily, her test came back negative, so it's just a cold. CC got a flu shot while we were there. She's doing much better now & feels more like her happy self!

Gramday Wednesday

On Wednesday CC stayed home with Gram instead of going toCreme. Gram took pictures & it looks like they had a great time! After work, Grandpa came over too. CC was so excited to spend the day with her grandparents. They are on their way to Louisiana right now to visit Grandpa's family in Gainsville. Safe travels & see y'all soon!

What tiny teeth you have!

Yes, folks, those are two tiny baby teeth you see. Claudia's bottom two teeth have popped out and we suspect there are two more waiting to pop out up top. We can tell her gums are bothering her, but she doesn't seem to want to chew on any teether toys and forget about the Baby Orajel. She truly detests that stuff. I will post pics of more teeth as they surface.

We're not old ... yet!

... and so went the theme of St. Frederick's 10 year high school reunion.

On Friday night there was a tailgate at the Warrior's football game... which they won, yay, Warriors... followed by a cook out at one of Russell's classmate's house. On Saturday night there was a partay with a great band and a hilarious slide show showcasing memorable high school pics.

There were many funny pictures of Russell ... by the way ... did y'all know Russell cultivated a giant afro his senior year? Yeah, I didn't either. CC is definitely going to have some blackmail pics to use against Daddy in the future!

Moving to the country ... going to eat a lot of pecans!

Here are a couple of pictures from Mer Rouge. Claudia woke up bright and early on Saturday morning, so we took her on a little walk through the pecan orchard at Russell's house in Mer Rouge. It was absolutely beautiful and CC was amazed at all the green grass, trees and blue skies. She doesn't see much of that in Houston! It was the perfect country morning ... until we started getting pelted with pecans that started dropping out of the trees and onto our heads. We took cover so CC wouldn't get clobbered with a pecan on her precious little head.

Sitting up is much better than spitting up!

This weekend we also practiced sitting up. Claudia is getting pretty good at staying up, but she still gets wobbledy and, when she does, someone needs to be close at hand to either catch her or ease 'er down slow. We're thinking she'll have it mastered in another couple of weeks. Yay Claudia!

Claudia's First Piano Lesson

While we were in Shreveport, we discovered that Claudia likes to play the piano... and she also likes to dance on the piano as well. Memaw and I played a few duets with the little lady. Russell and I are going to get her a little play piano and see what she thinks of that!

Our Tour of North Louisiana

We just got back from a wonderful family weekend in Louisiana! First stop was Shreveport, where we visited Memaw. Memaw made Russell his favorite chicken and dumplins' so he was in heaven. Claudia had a great time playing the piano and playing peekaboo with Memaw. Next we ventured to Oak Ridge for a cook out at Russell's grandparents' house. Claudia had a great time watching LSU (narrowly) pull out another win and visiting her great grandparents & Aunt Jerelyn, Mama Kate & Grandaddy. On Saturday we went to Russell's 10 year reunion at St. Fred's in Monroe. On Sunday we left Mer Rouge & headed back to Houston. What a wonderful trip!