Great-Grandma Hamilton turns 90!!

Caroline and I along with my sister, Laurie, surprised my grandma in St. Louis by showing up for her 90th birthday -- we almost gave her a heart attack. She cried as she was so excited that we made it in for her birthday. My cousin William also drove in from Ole Miss for the big day as well -- it was fantastic! We took Grandma to the pumpkin patch with Caroline one day and these are some of the photos. Hard to believe that she is almost 9 months. She is now scooting everywhere and is pulling up to stand to get to what she wants as evidenced by the video below.

She's a little bitty duck...

Swimming in the water....Caroline has a new "bathtub".... her very own, very large, rubber duckie. She loves it as evidenced by the pictures. She is a water baby and loves splashing and, of course, chewing on the duck. Makes bathtime all that much more fun!

Pumpkin Patch

Caroline had her first taste of fall and the pumpkin patch (though it was 85 degrees when we went!) and the pictures turned out adorable. The yellow poncho she is wearing in some of them was mine from when I was a baby. Though it was 85 degrees, we made her wear it for the pictures sake. She loved sitting on the pumpkins and, in true baby form, wanted to put all the pumpkins in her mouth. Enjoy!! (Sorry, I still haven't figured out how to rotate the pictures!!)

Looks like chocolate....

But, unfortunately, for Caroline, it is just prunes -- we'll have to introduce chocolate when she can get past the sweet potatoes and peas. Baby food, what a concept, take every fruit and vegetable and put it in a blender and then wala -- dinner is served. I learned last week when I wasn't feeling so well that the smell of those foods is not the most appetizing either. It's amazing we all ever decide we like to eat!

I guess the eating gives Caroline more energy and mobility though as you can see from this picture, she has figured out her way to crawl under the coffee table and the fireplace. The true baby invasion has occurred as Trent and I will have to "babyproof" the house.

Grass, dirt, bugs, shoes...

Thanks to Aunt Laurie, Caroline has been on her stomach since Day One... therefore, she loves her tummy time. Now she knows how to sit up and play, but always prefers to get on her belly to explore. She has now discovered dirt, grass, bugs, birds, shoes...anything that you can name that is close to the ground. She has to watched like a hawk or she will have it in her mouth in no time flat. It is fun to watch her face as she notices all of these things as they are the most amazing things ever. This video on the bottom shows her "creeping" abilities now. Enjoy!!

The high chair.... and the spoon

After a difficult start (remember Caroline preferred the spoon to the actual food), we are eating quite well now. Bananas, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, pears, peaches, etc. -- she is a good eater and though she is short for her high chair -- she loves sitting in it and still loves the spoon as well! She is a very vocal baby with lots of facial expressions. Her face is the same every time she takes the first bite at a meal -- a look of disgust and then, give me more. She likes to talk with her food in her mouth -- looks like we'll have a lot to look forward to!

Relaxing in St. Louis

Following the Von Gunten family reunion, Caroline and I went to St. Louis to visit family. It worked out fantastic as my five cousins, Aunt Marlene and Uncle Jim were visiting from Texas and my Aunt Linda and Uncle Rich were visiting from Minnesota -- so we were able to visit with everyone. We spent an afternoon in the park where these pictures were taking -- Caroline loves to swing and her smile is contagious -- she had all the other kids around us laughing and smiling. She wasn't sure what to do with the St. Louis humidity -- I think she experienced true sweating for the first time and also saw her first rain storm (it hasn't rained in CA for over 5 months!).