Sal and Sus to Collierville

Susannah desperately wanted to sit in her bumbo this morning.

Susannah and I headed to Collierville last week for the second time.  If you don't recall what happened the last time we flew from VA to TN, you might want a refresher to understand why I was slightly nervous about this two-leg flight.  Not to mention, I dreamed the night before we left that Susannah got Ebola on our flight.  Despite my nerves about a potential mommy-and-daughter breakdown and contraction of a mysterious disease, Susannah did EXTREMELY well on all flights both there and back.  She entertained the masses, and I can honestly say that we had a good time flying.  And she did not get Ebola.

Our time in Collierville was so much fun!  Hudson and Holland were staying at PopPop and SuSu's house over the weekend, so we had tons of fun cousin time.  Katie came in town a couple days after us, and Eric and Lauren returned from their weekend excursion; so we all got to spend some much-needed time together!  We severely missed Pete and Brian though.  I got some overdue time with a few of my best friends from college, too, so that was bonus.  The trip went by way too fast, but we are so thankful that PopPop and SuSu will be coming to see us -- along with Figgy, Pops, and the Gilberts -- next week for Susannah's first birthday party!  (I can't even talk about that yet...my baby!)

Susannah also got 2 new teeth sometime in the last 2 weeks...not sure when they actually popped up, but they are there and are not small.  Four on the bottom now!

AND EVEN BIGGER NEWS!  We figured Susannah would start walking in Collierville after watching Holland walk all over the place; she did not.  She waited until we were in the airport heading back to VA to take her first step!  And she took another one when we got home that evening!  And she has not taken another one since!  

Now for the good stuff: the last few weeks in pictures!

All smiles

Sweet Holland!  

Susannah going topless (she got tomato all over her shirt) while she and Holland play with all the gourds SuSu got them  

PopPop and SuSu took Susannah (catgirl), Holland (Robin), and Hudson (Spiderman) to Scare on the Square.
 

Craft time with Aunt KK and Huddy!

Just a-swingin' in the backyard

Playing with Aunt KK (aka Fake Mom)

Yes, even after kids, we do still remember how to get dressed up and go out on the town!  Soooo thankful for girl time with my bests, Allie and Amy.

Back home and hanging out with Charis, our pastor and his wife's 3-month-old.  Sus is telling her all about cow's milk and solid food.

After watching Charis in her bouncer, Susannah has a newfound love for that thing.  She is seriously obsessed.  Loves sitting in it, bouncing in it, burying her face in it, and crawling all over it.

This baby has randomly decided she very much prefers drinking a bottle on her own terms.  Works for me!

Recent Pictures

We don't have too many fun or funny stories from the past few weeks, but that - of course - does not mean that life hasn't been fun!  Susannah can stand up on command now, which is adorable (pics below), and she loves her new bird-sisters.  We have to call them all bird-sisters instead of chicken-sisters because we have more than just chickens these days.  Pete came home with 3 new chickens AND 5 ducklings a couple weeks ago.  They have been such fun to watch.  

Here are some of the recent pics I've snapped with the fancy, new camera my Sweet Pete bought me.

Helping Daddy, but having no clue she is assisting him in limiting her access to the content of our cabinets!

Loves her chickens

3 of our 5 ducks!

Our new chickens!

"Can you stand up, Susannah?"

"Good girl!"

Loves anything that she can open/close (books, doors, cabinets, drawers, etc.)

Watching football with Daddy in the adorable pink and camo sweatshirt Aunt Chipley Gordon and fam got her!

FaceTime with Aunt KK.

11 Months This Week!

Susannah Girl turns 11 months this week!  It's hard to believe that in just a month she will be a whole year old... Truly wild.

Recently, Susannah has shown us that she can stand up unassisted, she can stand on the fireplace, she can stand on the dishwasher, and she wants to stand on every other raised surface in the house.  She's climbing on most everything that she deems "climbable" these days.  The dishwasher incident almost caused me to go into cardiac arrest actually.  I had only looked away for maybe 10 seconds to begin digging my hands into raw meat for our dinner preparation; when I glanced back over my shoulder, there was Susannah, standing on the door of the dishwasher with a steak knife in her left hand (in the REE-REE-REE position) and the other hand flailing in excitement of her accomplishment.  I did not pause to wash my hands or grab my camera for obvious reasons.  Needless to say, we no longer leave the dishwasher open when she's in the room.*

Lots of pics from the last few weeks:

Learning the art of crawling into laundry baskets.

Her first wagon ride with our buddy Asher, who is exactly one week older than our girl.

We stopped at the Gilbert's on our way to Harrisonburg.  Charis was feeling a little under-the-weather, so she drank some warm green tea and insisted on wearing oven mitts to protect her hands.  Smart girl!

Chilling with Aunt Chip at the farm

No sunglasses are safe with this girl.

We spent one afternoon at a pumpkin patch in Harrisonburg--Susannah loved every second.

Playing in Gabe and Kara Karns's fish pond in Columbus, OH, where we finally met up with Daddy after his elk hunt!

Clint, Gabe, and Pete with their babes.

Me, Rebecca, and Kara with the same babes.

We need to hire a 3-yr-old to bathe with Sus every time she bathes.  She had so much fun in there with Raelyn!

Walking around town with the Karns's.

We hung out with Asher again yesterday, and I think Susannah might be starting to like him a little too much... She's either whispering sweet nothings or going in for the kiss!  Yikes!

Nightly "couch time" routine with Daddy: crawl from far end of couch to side table, grab any item off table, sit back on couch and play with item for 3 seconds, crawl back over to table to retrieve new item.  Repeat.

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*It's important to note that our cutlery is on the top shelf of the dishwasher--a level she had not been able to reach until the day she grabbed the steak knife, of all cutlery items available.