Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween!

We wrapped up our Halloween festivities with a bang yesterday and today! Chris came home with treats for his girl's yesterday. For as long as we've been married Chris is AWESOME about bringing me flowers, dropping me little notes, and doing other RAR's (Random Acts of Romance). I just LOOOOVEEE that he is now including Chloe in that. He came home with a beautiful and festive bouquet for me and a bunch of colorful balloons for Chloe. They were her first balloons and she was so curious and ultimately in love with them.

















This morning we had breakfast together and then carved a pumpkin in our back yard. I gave in and used a stencil so it was half cheating, I'll confess.











Then we set up camp in the front yard with hot dogs, chips, cupcakes and candy for us, the neighbors, and trick or treaters. Of course our little cupcake LOVED seeing all the people and costumes. We even managed to get all the kids on our street together for a picture.











I can't believe how fast time flies. Last Halloween I barely had a bump and was just days away from finding out the gender of our baby....


















This year, we loved dressing HER as our little lady bug....

More Fall fun...

Fall is in the air....for Austin that means we finally have green grass and temperatures just under 80. Whooo Hooo! Ok, maybe a bit cooler than that but I realize that at least a quarter of our blog stalkers would call this weather summer. Geez, must be nice.

Anyway, with Halloween just around the corner we've been doing lots and still have somethings coming on the calendar for Chloe's first Halloween. Last Saturday we went to our local YMCA for a free Halloween event. Chloe loved seeing all the kids in their costumes. We got a free pumpkin and we walked the "Spooky Path" which would have been much spookier at night. I'm sick that somehow a really cute picture of Chloe and Chris got deleted off our camera. Here's one with me:

















Next, remember these cuties?













Four short months later Chloe and her friend Lily are barely able to sit still for a picture!










For Chloe's 7 month birthday Grandma Sally sent a surprise. Here's Chloe attempting to open it!




Last weekend we had dinner with our dear friends', the Holmes'. Kirby and Meredith are really special to us and we treasure our time with them since they have four kiddos of their own and are very active at our church. You may remember their only daughter, Hannah, as the beautiful flower girl from our wedding. Anyway, Pierce is their youngest and Chloe was very taken with him and I think Pierce appreciated someone who thought he was smart, funny, and very grown up! He helped feed Chloe at dinner and kept bringing her some of his old baby toys to play with. He was so gentle and sweet with her. After dinner he was showing her how he played with his toys. She thought it was HILARIOUS. After 5 or so minutes of belly laughing I realized I should be getting this on camera! So, while this is the almost done laughing laugh you can still see how much our little Cupcake lovessss Pierce.

Afternoon with Dad!

Chris had a half day on Tuesday because of some work he did on a weekend a few back. What a treat for Chloe and I!! Family time is so precious to us especially as I continue to see signs that our baby is growing up fast.

We started by going to a baby day showing at the movie theater. We saw Where The Wild Things Are. Then we decided to go on a long walk to get frozen yogurt at a new place in our neighborhood (only for Chris and I!). On the way back, we stopped at the park for some fun. Chloe LOVES being outside and this time of year we actually can enjoy the outdoors without sweating like crazy. We introduced her to the park swing which she loves and then we just let her play on the turf and watch the bigger kids run around. Here are some pictures, click for a larger view. When she has her head down she is trying to crawl. She'll put her head down, think for a few minutes, push up and rock, then fall over and laugh. It is so darn cute and has made me remember to laugh at myself when I stumble!

In the meantime please pray for my Brudder and Kari! My nephew is due any day and Kevin has the flu! He's on meds but we're praying the baby won't come until they are well. I'll be so sad for my Brudder if he can't be at Kari's side for the delivery.

Our lil' pumpkin

Last weekend Gigi and Papa came for a visit and we headed out to Sweetberry Farms for a festive Saturday with our little pumpkin. Other than some serious mud it was so much fun! We've decided going to a pumpkin patch will be an annual McNally/Craxton tradition so look next year for Chloe's cousin to be in the pictures too!

We took lots of pictures, bought a couple of pumpkins so I can make Chloe festive baby food, and then we did the cornfield maze. It is in the shape of Texas and we had to wonder through the maze looking for Texas lakes. It took us over an hour to get through it and we were thankful the weather was cooler and not too sunny!

Here are Gigi and Papa with Chloe:
















Next we let her sit on the cutest stack of baby pumpkins. She wasn't too sure about that:












Then we let her stand with the pumpkin sign. Standing is her new favorite trick so she was all excited for this picture! Check out her infamous tongue out!












Finally we let her ride the tractor. She LOVED this! So much that at one point she slipped a little. We all gasped fearing she would fall off. Chris grabbed her to push her back on the seat and with her death grip on the steering wheel, she manage to pull the wheel right off! We roared with laughter while putting the tractor back together!













Finally, here is a shot from inside the maze and an overhead of the maze from the farm's web page!

7 months...they're slipping by!

Chloe turned 7 months on Sunday. I momentarily decided if I didn't post it, it wouldn't happen. Along the same lines, I stayed up entirely too long in the middle of the night the other night admiring her precious baby feet. I just can't believe how fast this first year is going. Each moment is so precious and I just can't get enough. In fact, twice this week I've even gotten her up from a nap because I figured it had been long enough and I missed her too much!

Anyway, here are a few Chloe updates since 7 months did happen and I can't stop it:

- She is still eating lots of new solids. Firsts for the past few weeks included: chicken, green beans, and plums. She loved the plums, tolerated the green beans and fake choked with disgust on the chicken. We aren't giving up on the meat yet because if she doesn't take to it I'll have to start on the nasty baby cereal fortified with iron. Since my rule thus far has been I won't put it in her mouth if I don't put it in mine, I'm really keeping my fingers crossed for the chicken. It's organic and local...sooo yummy. She'll learn, right?

- Physically she is still active and strong. Her latest thing is pulling up on anything with her favorite being me. If I would sit on the floor and let her stand balanced on me all afternoon she'd do it and babble my ear off in joy. As cute as this sound she does not discriminate where she practices her standing so in the tub last night and on her changing table this morning she was not as cute. Well ok...she was still cute but I was scared. Guess she got her Dad's wide streak or her Gigi's obsession with climbing.

- She loves to play with toys that light up or play music. She'll make a musical instrument out of anything including spoons, whisks, and toilet paper rolls. She also loves to explore. If I hide her favorite rattle from the Bethel's in a pile of clothes it is JOY for her to dig around and find it. She is sooo proud when she does and expects me to say YEAH!!! really loud. She also LOVES watching me put on make-up (finally a sign that she'll be a girly girl!). She gets really quite and consintrates on each move. When I raise my eyebrows to curl my lashes, she raises her eyebrows. When I open my mouth to put on lipstick, she opens her mouth. It's adorable! Oh...and then she wipes her hands on my lips to see what it is I've put on thus making a mess of us both. Sigh.

- She also loves for me to read her books. Her Baby Einstien Mirror Me book is still her favorite but she will let me read anything to her (even magazines if I'm in a pinch!) My most favorite new trick is that she is recognizing a few objects and colors. Mostly red and banana but I LOVE that she actually seems to know what they are. I can't wait for her to keep taking in the world around her.

- Finally, she still loves to kiss....open mouthed. For the longest time it was just me. Then she open mouth kissed Gigi once. She has not kissed her Daddy - I blame the scratchy scruff on his jaw. It was always sweet though a little sticky. A few weeks ago however, she decided more people than me were kissable. In fact multiple boys in her little class at my bible study were the subjects of this realization. They had to "remove" her to a younger room because with the swine flu rampant in Austin they didn't think open mouth kissing was germ free. Yikes. For those who can't picture it, I recent caught her trying to open mouth kiss her bear. I'll post the picture below. Guess I'll have to start working on that...most parents say no to things like the stove, climbing stairs, or biting. Around the Crack House it'll be "No french kissing, Chloe!" Here's her 7 month pictures, the open mouth attempt with Mr. Bear and a link to the previous months for those who like to see the succession.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=71362&id=710737489&l=17e40bf129

Catch up...

Yikes! So I was talking to Sally today and she mentioned the videos of Chloe. It was then that I realized I have not updated our blog since the video slam. Oopss! Things have been super busy around here and Chloe is so active that sitting down to upload pictures isn't as easy these days. Here is a quick catch up of all that's been going on around here:

Chloe has a new hair style. We can't wait for pigtails but in the mean time, here's a high pony to make my old cheer friends proud! She will also make a musical instrument out of ANYTHING. This includes scrapping a rattle on the wall because rattles alone are for babies...but rattles along a textured wall are cool (my Dad will cringe at this!), drum sticks on empty cans (parents watching close by, don't worry Grandma's) and of course, my most favorite instrument: zorbitting on mom's chest in public. When all else fails she just turns her head in and makes loud zorbit noises on my chest letting drool drizzle down my shirt and fill my bra. I am sooo a mom that I even allow that but "she likes it" (that was for you brudder!).


















She is still doing a great job with solids. Our petite one eats like a horse. Hmm, eats a lot is still thin....sounds like HER DAD! Geez. She loves fruit...peaches, pears, blueberries and apples mixed together, mangos and bananas mixed together, and mangos. She also really loves butternut squash, sweet potatoes, swacolli, and zucchini. We'll be trying some new things soon but for now she is just eating those up!















A few weeks ago my Dad's cousin, Karen, who I am named after was in Austin for a business meeting. Between our schedules and hers we actually managed getting together. Here she is with Chloe:














Chloe is finally taking a liking to shoes. I would have been so sad if my daughter wasn't a shoe girl! This precious outfit came from one of my Mom's students and with the matching shoes it was too cute! I LOVE baby feet and now baby shoes!!!