First Steps

Mark today on your calendars because Charlotte took her first steps! As with crawling, she took them in the evening shortly before her bedtime. We are so excited about this milestone and are quite glad she waited until we made it home to Daddy!

Leaving Today

Around noon today, Charlotte and I will make our way to the Detroit airport to begin our long journey to Bahrain. With two connections, the total time it will take to get to Chris will be around 21 hours. Please be thinking about and praying for us today. We both have little colds and Charlotte is teething. This is causing her to be fussier than normal and her "normal" is not fussy. Charlotte has never done well with sleeping if she's not in her crib. On the way to the states in June, she only slept 5 hours the entire way. I had Chris's help but now I'm on my own - with a cold. Please pray for God to give me patience!

I'll get an update on here when we've made it back safe and sound, Lord willing.

More Pictures of My Sweet Girl

I don't think Charlotte has had this many pictures taken of her since she was a newborn, and I have taken A LOT of pictures of her these past 10 months! Here's some pictures I took of Charlotte at my grandparents house yesterday. Enjoy!

And we also got some four generation pictures. From left to right: my grandma, my mom, me, and Charlotte. I love these!

Sneak Peek....

I am excited to share a sneak peek photo that my sweet friend, Nicole, took of Charlotte. If you want to see a few more, please visit Nicole's blog. I've seen all the pictures she took and they are amazing. I can't wait to share some more with you soon.

The Great Indiana State Fair

So today my parents, sister, brother-in-law, two nieces, myself, and Charlotte went to the Indiana State Fair. I love going to the fair every year that I can and always have a great time. This was Charlotte's first fair, or second if you want to be technical since I went last year when I was pregnant. From pony and elephant rides to corn dogs and honey ice cream, we had a fun filled day even if it was ridiculously hot and humid (really, it was ridiculous). Nothing says Indiana like our state fair. I'm always so proud to be a Hoosier when I go, and no matter where I live, Indiana will always be home. Here's some pictures from the day:

I'm proud of my mom because she got 2nd place on her key lime cake recipe! She also won 4th on a smocked dress she made for Charlotte. Go Mom! Maybe now she'll believe us when we say her cakes and sewing are amazing!

Charlotte being pushed by my niece, Savannah.

A picture of my beautiful niece.

Ice cream...er, formula...on her chin. Yeah, that's what it is....formula....

Savannah on a pony ride.

Savannah taking a elephant ride.

Sifting through rocks and dirt looking for semi-precious stones.

Charlotte playing with a John Deere toy tractor. That's my girl!

Dad in front of the elephant ears stand. Mmmmm!!

The theme of this year's state fair was "year of the pigs". This was made entirely out of canned food and will be given to a food bank after the fair ends.

This was the winning gourd/pumpkin at the state fair. It was judged by weight.

Eating some lovely Indiana corn. I will fight you if you say that your state has better corn than mine.

10 Month Photoshoot and Update!

Charlotte is officially 10 months old! She turned the big 1-0 on Friday but I didn't get to take pictures until today. And I have good news for all you Charlotte lovers out there. Her 10th month of life is a bonus month for pictures, because yesterday my dear friends Nicole and Dan took some pics of Charlotte, too! Yay! I should have those pictures within the next couple of weeks, but until then, you can enjoy the pictures I took of Charlotte tonight even though I can guarantee they won't be even half as good as Nicole's! In other words, Nicole is so good that I shouldn't even have bothered taking some pics of Charlotte tonight, but I was wanting to post some 10 month pics right away since I was so slow in getting her 9 month pics up. By the way, if you want to see what a good photographer Nicole is before you see the ones she just took of Charlotte, you can visit her website here.

As a 1o month old, here's a list of what Charlotte is doing:

• Crawling everywhere and walking along furniture. It wouldn't surprise me if she's walking before her 1st birthday.
  
• She eats table food now but still takes a bottle after her meals. She is still an excellent eater and we've yet to find something she won't eat. Her favorites include cheese, broccoli, green beans, bread, and blueberries.
  
• She can drink out of a sippy cup, and thanks to Grandma P, she can use a straw!
  
• She's in 18 month clothing and weighs around 23 pounds. When we went to the doctor last week, they didn't get her length, so I guess I should do that myself sometime.
• She can clap her hands.
• She can wave bye bye.
• Besides the two teeth she already has, she is currently working on 6 others. One of six has broken the surface on the bottom and the others are close behind!
  
• She can say dada, mama, and baba (bottle), but I think baba is the only word she really understands what she's saying. She loves to talk but it's all gibberish!
  
• She can also recite all of the U.S. president's in order. Ok, maybe she can't quite do that yet. But my baby will be a genius, you know! ;-)
  

Here's the 10 month photos I took of her: