Chloe Belle is 2/3 of a year old!

Baby Girl is 8 months old today. It's so hard to believe that she is 2/3 of the way to 1 year old.

Developmentally, this is how sister shakes down: Chloe is just shy of 16 lbs. She is still wearing 3-6 month old clothes and 1/2 of them are too big for her. The other day I had her in a dress that was falling off her shoulders...Camdyn wore the same dress at 12 weeks of age. Chloe is still riding in "the bucket" in the car and we'll be moving her to a big girl car seat soon. Chloe has officially cut one tooth (bottom right) and the 2nd one is just breaking the surface. She is drooling everywhere, she has a bit of a rash on her face, and she's been a bit cranky. She hasn't run a fever yet, so that is a good thing!

She is eating some solids. Rice cereal, oatmeal, carrots, green beans, and peas are the foods that we've tried so far, all organic of course. She loves them all! We are holding off on fruits and sweeter foods for awhile. I want baby girl to love her veggies first. I love preparing all of Chloe's foods. Not only does it look better (her peas are the prettiest shade of green) but it tastes better (I've tried it and it tastes just like veggies) but I'm sparing her all the preservatives and other "crap" they put in the store bought foods. I'm finding that it really isn't that much work and it's actually enjoyable and rewarding!

Chloe isn't quite on the move yet, but she is getting there. She reaches all the way forward with her little hands and rocks back and forth and then sprawls out flat on the floor. It won't be long now until she is crawling in full force (I'm guessing by this time next month, if not sooner). She says "dada" randomly and is almost clapping her hands, but not quite. She loves to play with objects that are new to her, my coin purse, shopping bags, my glasses case, cell phone chargers, she finds them all fascinating. As for Chloe's temperment, she is one chill baby. She goes with the flow, rarely cries (only when she's really tired) and she is an absolute joy. It's funny to me that I once described her as tempermental (check my post in July) cause 8 month old Chloe is anything but that. I couldn't imagine an easier baby....she sleeps pretty well, eats well, and loves socializing.

I feel so blessed that she is part of our family and I can no longer remember what life was like without her. The infant days are so fleeting. It won't be long until I'm blogging about first steps and first words and that makes her infancy all the more precious....just stay a baby for a little longer, Chloe. Mommy isn't quite ready to part with that part of life yet.

Camdyn FLIPS out!

Camdyn went to gymnastics last Saturday and the class was deserving of a few blogging blurbs.


Here's Camdyn walking on the beam, sporting her Jane Fonda head band and leg warmers (yes, it dropped down to 75 and the leg warmers were completely necessary). Ironically, Flash Dance music was playing in the background....kinda funny. She is not scared of the height of the beam and walks rather quickly doing her "leg kicks" across it.



Chloe was chillin on the floor and cheering her big sissy on...okay, so really she was just drooling

Camdyn's teacher gives her a pep talk before attempting the flip and Camdyn is more interested in the big girls who are doing their floor routine next to her

Camdyn jumped up in to this position on the bar by herself....IMPRESSIVE!

Tuck and Roll baby...Tuck and Roll!

And for the final step....

Wa-La! Camdyn did a flip over the bar!


That was fun! Aren't you digging the shutter speed on my new camera? I couldn't have captured that with the old one!

The Annual Halloween Photo Shoot

Ahhh, so Halloween has passed and now it is time to gear up for my favorite time of the year! This year we managed to squeeze in 3 separate trips to Pumpkin Festivals, Boo Fest trick or treating, the Harvest Festival Parade at school, Carved a Pumpkin, Roasted Pumpkin Seeds, and then the main event - Halloween get together with friends and Trick or Treating. I took sooo many pictures and I couldn't post them all. Thanks for having us over, Jessi. We really enjoyed ourselves...next year if you could do something about the heat, humidity and mosquitoes, I'd appreciate it! :)

The best part of Halloween is watching it through the eyes of your children and...feeling like a kid again :)


Camdyn with Miss Vanessa & her Best Friend (on most days) Madison. Camdyn adores Miss Vanessa and was hanging all over her during the Harvest Parade. They are so adorable!


Family Photo from the Pumpkin Patch...it was sooo hot! I miss the cool fall weather, apple trees, hot apple cider, fresh doughnuts, pretty leaves this time of year...unfortunately, by the end of November that feeling is gone and Florida weather suits me just fine.


Every Halloween Season for the past 3 years, I've taken Camdyn to Sears to have her photos taken in her costume. It's a tradition for me and a hallmark event where I can compare the pictures every year and see just how much she has changed (plus, I get a reminder of what she wore). So, this year due to a snafu with the tutus I ordered online, we did the pictures on November 1st. I was a little stressed over this since our last photo shoot 3 months ago was really stressful; Camdyn wasn't cooperating, Chloe was crying and I was so frazzled. This time around, the opposite happened. Camdyn was so well behaved that Chris said, "What's wrong with her? Who's kid is this?" That's a good thing! Cam smiled and posed and did her best not to scare Chloe. Chloe sat upright (for 1st professional shoot) and smiled and just looked absolutely adorable. So, the pics turned out better than we expected, we spent more money than we had intended, and we just enjoyed ourselves. This 2 kid thing just may be do-able after all!

Look at those cheeks!

Sleeping Beauty and her fairy godmother

Heaven Sent - what a gift!

I can't get over how big she is getting...she looks like she is ready for Kindergarten!