Sisterly Love

Maddie has turned out to be a great big sister. She has adjusted just fine to having her home taken over by McClellan, all her things, and all the noise!

As you can see, she was pretty curious the first day we brought McClellan home. Back in those days McClellan really didn't notice Maddie much.


Well, things have changed, just a little! McClellan now rolls and scoots all over the place to get close to Maddie!!

Maddie is a trooper and allows McClellan to pull, squeeze and "pet" her-which is really more like pinching.

And yes, even some "kisses" are shared between our two girls from time to time. Don't worry, we only let it go on long enough to hear McClellan bust out laughing!

Feeding McClellan

McClellan has been more than eager to start eating "solids" - so far oatmeal, green beans, butternut squash and some Happy Baby Green Puffs made of kale, spinach and collard greens.

She is convinced that she can do it all herself and needs no help-she actually does pretty good, getting the spoon in her mouth, but we haven't yet tried giving her a spoon full of food. I'm not quite ready to clean up the mess that would no doubt follow.


~Green beans were a hit!!



~Her first "puff"-big hit!!

~We put the sippy cup down in front of her and she picked it up and knew just what to do with it!

~Her first exposure to butternut squash wasn't exactly a hit.

~Showing her obvious displeasure at the site of butternut squash being on the menu again.

~She seems to think that she's ready for the "big stuff" already!

Stay tuned for more taste test results! Today I made her pumpkin, spaghetti squash and spinach and froze them for later...should be interesting to see what she ends up liking!!

6 months old already!!

McClellan is 6 months old today! Not only has this past month flown by but we are having a hard time believing that 6 months ago we were meeting our little girl for the first time-how can it have gone by so fast? It's annoying that I say that every month I'm sure, but honestly, I swear every month goes by faster than the last!

Her big news for this month is that she's eating food now-well oatmeal so far anyway. I'd planned to start her on avocado but ended up starting with oatmeal instead. Oh well. So far, so good. McClellan practically attacks the spoon when I start to feed her-needless to say she has no problems eating at all. She was more than ready!

No crawling yet but she's getting up on all 4's, rocking back and forth and doing some scooting
backwards-it's the funniest thing! She rolls all over the place and is so hard to keep in one place for very long now.

Our monthly photos have become more "challenging" as the last thing she wants to do is sit still!

Have you voted yet?

Are you sick of the typical politician?

Are you looking for some real change, not just a slogan?

Are you ready for total cuteness 24/7?

Then cast your Vote for McClellan!!

Trick or Treat!!

McClellan's 1st Halloween!!


We had a great day-bagels and coffee at Mike's in the morning followed by errands and then home for some football & relaxing. We put McClellan in her costume and took about a million photos, then headed to the neighbors for her one house of Trick or Treating.

They agreed, she's the cutest pumpkin in the patch by far!



She was so proud of herself in that puffy little pumpkin costume!

Look at all that candy! She was pretty interested in those little "fun sized" yummy treats, but NO, she didn't get to try any.

But on this night...she ended up with oatmeal instead of candy. We celebrated McClellan's first Halloween by starting her on some oatmeal. I was going to start her with avocado but didn't have any so oatmeal it was!

She has spent the last couple of months watching our every bite so she knew just what to do with her first bite-Matt leaned in with the spoon and her mouth was wide open.

And then Lil' Miss Independent decided she'd try it on her own...and that was cute, but not very productive.

Oatmeal was a HUGE success & McClellan's first Halloween a memorable one for sure!!

I'm not doing so good at this...

working, outside the home, mom-thing.

I hate it.

Enough said.

Cutest Pumpkin in the Patch!

Today we went to May Farms (www.mayfarms.com) for their Harvest Festival.

Matt and I had actually gone before a few years ago and had a blast. We said then that when we had children we would definitely be back!

Well, we meant it and McClellan had her first experience at May Farms today! She loves being outside and loves watching everything around her. She takes it all in-from the sites, the sounds and even all the different textures. She loves feeling *everything* and today was no exception. She had dirt, rocks, pumpkin vines and all sorts of things in her hands today!

Ahhh...I couldn't be any more in love with this little girl!!

McClellan loved the little goats in the barnyard & this one seemed to really love her!

I wasn't sure how McClellan would like the barrel train ride-but she loved it!! She squealed the whole time and we couldn't stop laughing! Each sharp turn and big bump seemed to only make her like it more! She's going to be our little adventure girl!!

There she is!! The cutest pumpkin in the patch!!

Love my little pumpkin!! She was so fun today!! I've dreamt of days like this and finally, they're no longer dreams!

"WOW-this pumpkin is even bigger than me!"

Being the cutest pumpkin in the patch is hard work! She's worn out!