Eight GREAT months...

Tripp is eight months old today! Eight months old and he has just popped four more teeth this week. All the new teeth are on the top. This brings total teeth to 6 teeth all together. Remarkably like Juliette he has had very little problems teething. Neither of them have had much effect from teething. He is THIS CLOSE to crawling. I am going to say within a week or two and he'll be ready to go. He can push himself backwards but has not yet mastered pushing forward.

His BIG new development over the last month or so and his given him his new nickname of "The Parrot" is the high pitch squeal. Yes Tripp has learned to listen to his voice and has realized that the louder it is the more entertaining it is to listen to.Needless to say he has become a screecher! He does not screech when he is mad rather when he is looking for something and letting you know that there is something that he cannot reach or better yet, nothing wrong just listening to his very nice LOUD voice! Juliette told me today that Tripp must stop this nonsense. She does not enjoy his very loud voice. I do not remember Juliette ever having piercing noises like he does just for pure entertainment.

He is still such a happy and content baby. Like Juliette he really needs his sleep and that makes all the difference in the day for him. He usually takes a good nap in the morning and a good nap in the afternoon and he sleeps a good eleven hours at night.

Happy EIGHT months sweet boy!

The annual three generation Komen walk

We continued our annual three generation Komen walk with the three ladies and Tripp! Yes Tripp gets very used to be the only little guy when we are together for shopping or lunching. It is such an honor to be among such amazing survivors and those presently fighting the good fight. There were about 10,000 participants in the walk and the run this year. It is just a wonderful event.

Three generations (Tessa, Mommy, Juliette and Tripp)

Celebrating the pink with a breakfast of champions

...utter exhaustion after being around all the 7,500 women for the last two hours

"E" is for eggplant

Juliette was all prepared for the letter "E" show and tell today. She brought in an "eggplant" from Doh's garden that she planted and was able to pick off the vine. Tomorrow the class is going to fry the eggplant and eat it.

Juliette's school bag with the eggplant ready to go to school

Wow my babies keep growing!

I shot a few sweet pictures over the last week and was looking at them - Tripp and Juliette are just growing like little weeds.  Tripp is just shy of eight months old and Juliette is just over four years old. 

A wonderful trip to Fort Drum, NY

We just returned home from a wonderful trip to Fort Drum to visit Suzanne and Richard - Don's Sister and Brother-in-law. We had such a nice visiting with everyone and Juliette especially loved playing with her cousins Madeleine and Will. The leaves and the fall colors were amazing. Matter of fact they were in peak color the week that we were there. The weather was downright cold. We took a road trip 2 hours east to Lake Placid and by the time we got there it was snowing. Now that is crazy! They say that it gets unbelievably cold there since the lake is right in the mountains.

We went to dinner in Lake Placid one evening and met this wonderful man (we met him because he was sitting by himself and Juliette was insistent on bringing him a warm cookie that the Inn had just baked her). She walked over to him and Mr. Jay was shocked. Anyway, he invited us to his "Camp" and told us that he would take us out int he boat. We went to his "camp" the next day and had a wonderful afternoon getting sitting by a fire, getting a history lesson on "boat sheds" of Lake Placid and then took a lovely ride around the lake. To say that he lived on a "camp" was being quite modest. The place had been in his family since he was a boy and it was just amazing, It had been built around 1910 and it was just an experience that none of us will forget.

The trip was great but boy was I ready to get back to the beautiful fall sunny days here in Charleston.

Juliette singing with her cousins

Check out the 29 pound salmon I caught!

One SUPER chilly morning salmon fishing

My exhausted little girl... she never took a breath the whole vacation

"Look Mommy it's really snowing!"

Cousin Will and Juliette at a fancy dinner sipping on Shirley Temples

Suzanne, Don, Juliette and Mr. Jay

a picture on Lake Placid

Suzanne, Will and Madeleine

Here is my foot loose and fancy free little girl dancing away on the lake. She is putting on a show for all of her imaginary friends

Juliette was amazed at the fabulous assortment of the colored  leaves

Lake Placid, NY

On the boat ride with Mr. Jay

Juliette even brought an extra cookie for Mr. Jay

A day at the pumpkin patch

Juliette and Tripp jumped right into the Halloween season with a visit to the Boone Hall pumpkin patch! Juliette rode the hay ride and played on just about every slide, trampoline, sandbox you could find at the patch. We are in great anticipation for the Halloween season and Juliette loves to explain to Tripp why he needs to be excited about Halloween as well.

Look who flew home for Halloween!

Our favorite annual guest arrived home for the month of October. You cannot imagine the excitement the morning that Belinda came home. The night before she got here I told Juliette a story about Belinda. She was a beautiful Princess and was naughty to her Mommy. Her Mommy had to turn her into a witch. She looked for a wonderful family to love her for years and then she found our family. We think she is beautiful and she is so excited to be with us. Juliette knows to never be naughty to her Mommy. Well at least she knows it but that does not mean that it never happens.

Welcome home Belinda!

Pure fascination and awe.... "Mommy she's really here and I will even touch her."

"Mommy, I really need to draw her to show Mrs Kraft and my friends at school"

"Belinda, look how beautiful you are!"

Reunited once again and it feels so good! Belinda too was so excited too to get to meet sweet Trippy!