Happy Halloween and a VERY Happy Gameday

This has been a very eventful October for our family. So much has happened!
We had a month full of firsts, which made us very excited. Now that our girl is up and on the move it takes twice as long to do anything. she can't decide if she wants to sit, crawl, be held, be left alone, play in her walker, play on the floor, etc. There are so many decisions to be made! :)

We are making a lot of progress on our house. Bryan sold his Honda Accord earlier this month in exchange for a Ford Taurus Station Wagon. Since we made a little money on the exchange we are going to invest in a tile floor for our library/home office. Bryan and I tore out the carpet and have painted the room to prepare for the tile being laid. Here is a picture pre-painting:

and here is Lorelei post-painting:

We are planning on covering that wall in bookshelves, so her painted message will not be visible.


We also took a trip to a pumpkin patch last weekend to get some pictures of Lori. As first time parents we made the mistake of assuming there would still be some left the week before Halloween. Silly mom and dad. We managed to get a few cute shots, but were not successful at picking a pumpkin!

When we saw the scarecrow we thought it would be cute to put her in it. As you can see, her face is pretty tiny for the hole, but she thought it was funny all the same.

And now for the pictures everyone has been asking me for!
For Lorelei's first Halloween we decided she should honor her name and dress as a little mermaid. (The Lorelei is, according to German folklore, an enchanting sea siren) Karen made her mermaid fins. It was really just a big skirt (so she could still crawl around). She did not get to see any trick-or-treaters because she was too tired and went to bed. But I had fun handing out the candy none the less!

I carved the pumpkin with its two bottom teeth so its smile would match Lori.

Now I can get to the title of this post... yesterday was the Florida-Georgia game. We had Ben, Bobby and Glenn over to watch with us. Bryan made burgers and hot dogs on the grill (which were delicious) and we hung out and watched the Gators destroy the Georgia Bulldogs. Even Lorelei enjoyed the game!

And on a totally unrelated note... Bryan and I were watching an episode of "The Office" the other night and they were playing "Deserted Island". In this game you have to name 5 (and only 5) movies you would want with you if you were stranded on a deserted island for the rest of your life (but I guess you have electricity and a DVD player??). Anyway, I woke up thinking about what my movies would be and came up with this list:

1. The Sound of Music (A Classic)
2. Pride and Prejudice (The BBC 6 hour version - because movies can not get any better!)
3. The Thomas Crown Affair (Every now and then you need a really good heist, and this one is the best.)
4. Wedding Crashers (Because sometimes you just need to laugh at dumb stuff.)
5. ?? I could not think of a number 5! Any suggestions?

Happy (7 Month) Birthday Lorelei!

Today is Lorelei's 7 month birthday! I can't believe it has gone by so fast. It was just about this time last year we were telling people we were pregnant.

I also have another big announcement:

Lorelei can crawl!

This morning we were sitting in the playroom at our house waiting for Grandma to come pick up Lorelei and mommy to leave for work when Lori started making her way across the floor. I was video taping her playing with her "Roll-A-Round" balls and managed to get the crawling on tape. I am so excited and proud of her all at the same time. After I managed to stop clapping and cheering for her, I called Bryan. He asked me to catch it on my cell phone and send it to him. Because my husband is a genius, I did. Then I realized, I can post this so everyone can see! Yay!

So, I think that today has already been a fabulous birthday for her, but it will only get better. We are having a party tonight for her. I don't know if anyone will come (it may be only mommy, daddy and grandma - grandpa has a meeting for work), but we will enjoy our lasagna all the same. And then we will probably all just sit around and watch her crawl. Because as first time parents, everything she does fascinates us!

Rough couple of nights...

So the past couple of nights I have been trying to have Lorelei sleep in her own crib in her own room. The first night we tried it Bryan gave up after 15 minutes and moved her back to our bed. Then two nights ago we managed to leave her in there until 9:45 before I went and got her. Last night (I was very proud of myself) she slept in her own room until 12:30 in the morning.

Now, when we are picking her up and bringing her into our room, it's not because she is crying. It's because we are such saps and can not sleep without her cuddly little body between us. She is just so sweet when she falls asleep holding your hand and curled up against you. I miss her when she is not there.

I'm ridiculous to the point of being unable to sleep without her.

I know many people have been warning me that I can't let it go on too long, but I figure what the heck... she's only 6 months old in her footie jammies for a little while. So maybe we will try the sleeping in her own crib thing again next month...

This is a cartoon I received in my email earlier this week that I found super appropriate.

<3, ZZ

A first word then a first tooth

So, I have had this blog for a long time, but never posted anything. Usually I only use my log in to leave everyone comments. Kim sent me an email today asking me to post updates on baby girl, so I thought I would let everyone know about our eventful week.

Last Thursday (October 9th) Lorelei said her first distinguishable word. "Da Da". She got stuck on it and repeated it over and over again for nearly an hour. Then it was back to her usual babble. She has, however, been saying it more and more often now. I think that she is realizing that "Da Da" elicits a response from the rest of us so she uses it to get our attention.

Then, this past Saturday (October 11th), on our car ride to Gainesville, I discovered her very first tooth! Her bottom right tooth has poked through. My baby is getting so big so fast! :(




This picture is from Lorelei's first Gator Game (vs. Hawaii on August 30th... the Gators won).


One of Glenn's friends from work (who is also a Gator Grad) bought this outfit for her.


I absolutely love the big polka dot bows on her shoulders. She loves them too because they are big enough to reach her mouth.







I took this picture yesterday when we were going to Costco to pickup a cake for my office.

Lorelei loved sitting in the cart like a big girl and not being stuck in her car seat.

She was able to look around at everything and smile at everyone.

One thing is for certain. This little lady loves to smile!