Fall Festivities

October has been so much fun. I have been enjoying all the fall festivities with lots of opportunities to dress up Cambry.

We went with some friends to a fall festival last week. Callie Beth, Jack, Cambry, and Max had fun playing with the ducks in the pool.

Then, of course we had to get the traditional pumpkin pictures. I think we got some great ones but it did not come easily. She cried at first, and would not let go of her doll, but we used it to get some good smiles out of her.

I recently joined our neighborhood mom's group and they had a Halloween party that we went to. Thanks to Shannon for letting us borrow Avery's adorable cupcake costume. I just love our little cupcake!

Ha, look how thrilled she looks here to be all dressed up!

These are my friend Joan's cute little kiddos.

Little cupcake going down to slide.

And she will still get to wear this cute costume one more time on Halloween and I am looking forward to seeing all the other cute little costumes as well.

First Piggies

She barely has enough hair to pull up but I am counting these as her first official pig tails. So cute!

I used the small clear plastic hair bands and they worked pretty well - at least for a bit before falling out.

Another Pinterest Fail

Ok, this is not exactly a "Pinterest Fail", but might as well have been. I didn't find this idea on Pinterest (although it's probably on there), but I had this great vision in my mind.

I thought it would be really cool to take a picture of Cambry sitting outside with fall leaves falling around her. I was imagining something really awesome, like the picture below.

We set her on the ground, then dropped leaves above her head.

Nailed it.

Asheville

We just got home from a wonderful vacation to Asheville, North Carolina. It was our first vacation of just our family of 3.

We left on Thursday morning, and had a direct flight to Greenville, South Carolina which was just under 2 hours. Cambry did great! She seemed nervous at take off. She ate yogurt melts and drank water, but then she just sat super still on Greg's lap clutching a water bottle. She stayed like that for a few minutes and ended up just falling asleep. She slept for an hour and a half and then was happy the rest of the flight.

                   

We drove to Asheville which is a little over an hour from Greenville. Asheville is a beautiful small town with an Austin feel. It really felt like fall with the colorful trees, the view of the mountains, and the cool air. The weather was absolutely perfect.

We toured the Biltmore, which was very interesting. People told us you could spend a couple days there, there is so much to see. They were right, it is huge! Although we only spent one day there since our trip was short. You aren't allowed to take pictures inside but we got some nice ones in the gardens and trails on the property.

We walked around downtown at some point every day. There are cute shops, places to eat, and often times live music.

One day we went to this place that had a corn maze, pumpkin patch, hay rides, etc. Cambry is a little too young to really enjoy it, but we had fun.

"Hey, take a picture of me frolicking."

"Well take one of me frolicking too."

We went on a couple of hikes while we were there. We rented this hiking carrier and it worked out great. I think many cities probably have baby equipment rental companies that you can rent things out - from cribs to car seats to a tub of toys. The one we used was just a family that runs it out of their house. They were very nice and easy to work with.

We got a suite at the hotel we were staying at, which I definitely recommend if you can. A not-as-nice hotel with a suite would be better than a standard room at a nicer hotel, in my opinion. But even with a suite, things aren't perfect. The first night we were up for about an hour and a half because she woke up crying and would not let us lay her down. Then she was not tired at all and just wanted to play. We ended up letting her sleep with us, which we have never really done, and now I know why. She moves so much! The other nights she did better though.

Cambry is so laid back and go with the flow. She was overall a very easy traveler. We had a great trip and I hope we get to take more before we have to buy her own plane ticket!.
 

Waco Visit and Jill's Shower

(Cambry, Me, Nana, Hollyn, Jill, Mimi, Michelle)

Last weekend we went to Waco to visit Greg's family and to go to Jill's baby shower. I had to steal her pictures to post because we forgot to bring the memory card for our camera so we didn't take any pictures.

(Aunt Geri with Cambry)

Jill's baby boy is due December 26th. I cannot wait to meet him. I am so curious what he is going to look like and be like. Will he have blonde curly hair like Hollyn? I am praying that this little boy likes to sleep :) This will be Cambry's third boy cousin.

Cambry had so much fun with Hollyn this visit. Cambry would chase Hollyn all around the house, and then Hollyn would come after Cambry and she would squeal and laugh. It was so cute to see them interacting.

The guys went fishing while the girls were at the shower. Then afterward the guys took Hollyn to the park, Nana stayed home with Cambry, and Jill, Michelle, and I went shopping. We went to a couple "junk" stores and to a great children's resale shop. Anyone know of any junk stores in Houston? The kind with all the cute shabby chic stuff? How is Houston so big yet I can't find any of those stores. I know of Texas Junk store but that is not exactly what I am looking for. 

We had a fun time as usual and I am looking forward to Baby Anderson's arrival in December!

Monthly Photos: Month 10

Time seems to be speeding up now. My little 9 month old is already 10 months! But I am so thankful for these past 10 months. I feel like I am always reading things on blogs or other places about such heartbreaking stories of people losing babies, so I just feel so grateful for each month that I have had with this precious one. And what a fun age this is! Once again, this is my new favorite age. Let's she what she is up to...

Size: She was a little over 20 lbs. when she was weighed at the doctor's office a few weeks ago. She wears around 12 month clothing, and size 3 disposable diapers.

She is looking at a video on the Ipad - 1 second of being still, yay!

Likes: Being chased, dogs, crawling everywhere, feeding herself grapes (cut into pieces) and Cheerios, pulling up, stroller walks, turning book pages faster than you can read, chewing on shoes, opening and closing doors, and pulling out all the tupperware from the cabinet.

Dislikes: Naps sometimes...can't really think of anything else she consistently doesn't like.

Working on: We still try to teach her baby sign language for milk, more, and all done. No response yet.

Eating: She eats mostly puréed fruits and vegetables. However, her favorite foods are grapes, yogurt, and cheese. She is not a huge fan of green veggies, but will usually eat them when mixed with other fruits and veggies. She doesn't seem to like meat yet. In addition to baby food I nurse her 5 times a day.

Sleeping: Bedtime is between 7:00pm and 7:30pm. Sometimes she wakes up around 5:00am or 5:30am and will go back down after I feed her until 7:00am. Other times she wakes up between 5:45am and 6:30am and is up for the day. She takes a morning and afternoon nap. They vary in length from 30 min to 2 hours.

She has 6 teeth - 4 on top and 2 on bottom.

She is crawling everywhere up on all fours, no more army crawling.

She is pulling up a lot all around the house.

She babbles a lot. She said her first word, Dada, around 9 1/2 months. although she doesn't know what it means.

I don't know if I ever included this, but she drinks through a straw sippy cup. She has been doing this for a couple of months now. She couldn't do the regular sippy cups but could do the straw.

She has been very good lately about being dropped off for childcare at the church on Sundays and when I work out during the week. The teachers are all so sweet and take great care of her.

She is a very easy going and happy baby. Especially in the evening we have so much fun with her. She laughs when we chase her around the house. She loves for you to come get her. She will crawl away but stop and turn around to make sure you are still chasing her. I thank God all the time for such a sweet and wonderful gift!