Goodbye, October

Oh, October, you are my favorite month. The kickoff of the festive exciting months. The time when there is a touch of crispness in the air. The month when no one can judge you any longer for all of those pumpkins on your porch or baking pumpkin pie. October is the month we get to celebrate our life together! The third was our second wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe that is has only been two years because I have a hard time remembering life before this little family of mine.

This October was a little different because in the mix of chaos with work events, a new puppy (Pearl), and wrangling Claire; Wise County was the host of NACo RAC Symposium 2017. We had elected officials from all over the United States visiting our county to discuss rural issues. It was truly a wonderful event! I'm so proud of my husband and all of the outstanding work he does for our community. He makes me strive to be a better public servant. To know him is special but to be his wife is the greatest blessing.

We have officially had Pearl for a whole month. She may end up being the death of me. She wreaks havoc on my house constantly but then she will come snuggle down in my blanket and I love her all over again. I think eventually I will probably be crazy over her but right now she just makes me crazy!

The Peach, where do I begin? This girl of ours is so smart. She counts to THREE already! She says so many words. She is constantly getting into trouble or trying to get Pearl in trouble. She is the sweetest little lady. I'm always waiting for a sweet kiss or a mischievous grin. Claire Grace is all girl! She loves wearing all of her bracelets and necklaces. She loves animals. She loves listing off all her cousin's names. Claire is 15 months old. She LOVED Halloween. She would walk up and say "treat"! She walked right up to houses not scared at all. This year her costume was the fox and the hound. She was a whimsical little fox with a wild hound dog as her sidekick. We went for a homemade costume this year and I couldn't be more proud of how well it turned out. She is still a great eater and weighed 21 pounds at her last checkup. She is a skinny little think, still wearing clothes from 6 to 12 months sizing. She still sleeps all night and loves her bath time. Claire Grace is our greatest treasure. I can't wait to hug her every afternoon.

        

    

It's officially the holidays and I sure love it! We have some busy work weeks ahead but I'm looking forward to getting some extra quality time with my sweet family.

August Life

How has it already been a whole month since my baby turned 1?! Also, how is it so quickly nearing the end of August and summer? I long for fall days all year long. I have already brought out all things fall at home and I don't regret it a bit. It makes the hot Texas days seem cooler somehow. The rain has helped me feel more inspired and less lethargic. We are drowning in our calendars and to do lists. So much is going on in our lives right now and we are trying to enjoy the rainy afternoons by hanging out at home just the three of us. So, here is a recap of what we have been up to lately...

Claire's birthday party was a success! We are so grateful to all of the family and friends that came to make her day so special. I think that she loved having all of her people around. She was surprisingly very interested in all of her birthday gifts. She kept saying "ooohh" every time we pulled the tissue out of the gift bags.

Claire loves all of the animals but she was a little overwhelmed by her trip to meet some cows.
She shows everyone her belly button all of the time. She has finished her first set of 100 books for her journey to 1000 books before kindergarten at the Decatur Public Library. She is constantly bringing books for us to read to her. She still loves her babies and ALL of her stuffed animals. It is usually a different animal every day. She still loves to eat fish best. She recently discovered that she really really loves cocktail sauce. We try to take her swimming at least once a week because she enjoys it so much.

We have been working really hard on our house renovation. Fingers crossed we can still move in around early November. It has been much slower than we had though but we are about to get the plumbing work finished. We are hoping to get the electric done in the next month then the fun stuff can start! I feel so overwhelmed with inspirartion and decorating ideas for this house. I try so hard not to buy anything except what we need to do renovations right now. I can see what it is going to look like and I just can't wait for everyone else to be able to see it!! Our goal was to have the whole house finished before we move but we are so excited about this adventure that I don't know if we will be able to hold out that long.

We are loving these crazy August rainstorms. We are  happy, healthy and looking forward to a few new adventures in September! Come on fall!!

Claire Grace: 10 months

The queen of peek-a-boo is 10 months old today. It is so hard to believe just how quickly time passes. In the last week Claire has figured out how to clap and walk! She is pretty good at regaining her balance as she moves around. She can carry things while she walks now also.

Our girl loves to play peek-a-boo. She knows how to cover up her face with anything she can reach and she waits for someone to say "where's Claire?" and then she pops her head out from behind whatever is hiding it and has a big smile. It is fantastic and we all (she included) think it is so fun! Not only can she walk, clap, and wave but she can say "hi." She is mostly shy about it but once she gets comfortable she will shout "hi" at everyone.

We fall more in love with her everyday. She is at such a fun age and if I could stop her right now I would keep her 10 months old for always. She is a complete daddy's girl until bedtime and then she is all about her momma. I love those bedtime snuggles. I'm still the only person she calls by name but I think it won't be long before she says more. She loves all animals and tries her best to make a few animal noises.

We love our Claire Grace!

Claire Grace: 9 months

This girl of ours is growing and changing so quickly. In the last month she has acquired quite the little personality. She is much easier to make laugh than ever before. She thinks peek-a-boo is a real fun game. She loves all of her stuffed animals but maybe her new "Hedwig" owl the most.

She is quite the little traveler. We were so proud of her on our recent trip. We were gone from home for 10 days and we went to England, Scotland, and France. She has now flown almost 10,000 miles and she did so good. She has now been on four train rides, countless taxis and buses, and she has even been on the underground in London!

Claire still sleeps through the night almost every night! We always try to put her in her crib when it is bed time but she doesn't always stay in her bed all night. She slept really good for the entire trip and only had jetlag  for a few days when we made it back to Texas. She is the best eater! She will eat anything, sometimes that is good and sometimes not so much. Her regular meals are usually made up of chicken, veggies, and pasta. While we were gone she tried so many new things. In London, she had lamb. In Edinburgh, she tried haggis and neeps (turnips). In Paris, she ate up half of a croque monsier and falafel. She had tons of sweet treats everyday--things like gelato, Nutella crepes, French macarons, and chocolate tarts. I never doubted that we would have any problems with her trying foods and thank goodness she was such a good sport!

I think she really enjoyed getting to spend tons of time with her grandparents and I think they all enjoyed it too! Claire thought it was fun to get passed around from person to person throughout the day. As long as we were moving and not standing in a line she was content. Lines aren't really her thing. It was so cold in Edinburgh and we tried to keep her in her stroller as much as possible. I was so glad that I went ahead and ordered her some stroller accessories before we left. I added a cushion, weather shields, and a cup tether to her stroller. All three of those were such a life saver.

We love our girl!

Geeslin Family Pictures

For Christmas my brothers and I gave our parents a family photo session. We seriously haven't taken real family pictures (other than weddings) since I was still in elementary school! We though now that we are married and have children that they would really enjoy having some new photos of everyone together to display in their home. It was a great way to get together and spend the afternoon hanging out with each other because we hardly ever find the time except during the holidays. So here is a little sneak peek of our fun day in the Fort Worth Stockyards!

It is hard getting clothes together and matching without being too match-y but I think we did pretty good! We all waited until the last minute and felt stressed but I am so pleased with the way all of our pictures turned out. All of the kids had individual portraits taken and each family had their pictures done. I'm having a hard time choosing because I love them all! Special thanks to Mack and Chelsea at McGowan images. They did such a wonderful job capturing our family!

Claire Grace: 8 months

My girl isn't quite so tiny anymore and these pictures are getting more and more difficult to get. She is still pretty small but she acts like she is so big! She is really getting quite the personality. She is very affectionate but she only gives kisses when it is her idea. If you ask, you probably will not get a kiss. She is so happy to see Judson and I in the afternoons when we get home from work. She is extremely fond of babies, whether it is because she sees herself in the mirror, a baby on a magazine or the tv, or seeing other babies while we are out. She loves babies!

Claire Grace has been crawling for a while now. She has also been pulling up very well for the last month. She can go all over the room using furniture to hold herself up. We have see her stand without holding on about 4 times this month! Heaven help us because I don't know if I am ready for her to be walking just yet! However, I really feel that it will be soon.

She has been loving being outside lately. We have been having the most beautiful weather this is almost summer like in Texas. It has been a very mild winter and now it is the end of March and all of our trees and flowers are blooming. Claire is so happy to just sit and play in her outdoor play pen. I'm thinking that was probably a really smart purchase. We love that it has a canopy so we don't have to worry about mosquitos and wasps that are already out.

This girl is still one GREAT eater! She loves everything. The month some new foods for her were a donut hole, lasagna, Brussel sprouts, and marshmallows. She prefers whatever we are having and that makes it pretty great so that we don't have to fix more than one meal. She still only has one tooth and she loves to bite you with it!

She jabbers and chatters all day long. She squeals and giggles and swings her arms up and down when she is excited or proud of herself. She waves at people to get their attention and she knows to wave when we say "hi" and "bye bye". She likes for you to help her stand on her hands. She thinks that is so silly when you turn her upside down. If you accidently scare her she doesn't get upset but just gives you a quizzical look and then smiles after realizing it is just someone she knows.

She is our favorite part of everyday. She smiles so big when she wakes up and fights us so hard before falling asleep. We love her more than words. I can't even remember what life was like without her. Happy 8 months to our Claire Grace!