Lovies and another Zoo Trip

Gretchen says "Oh No" and grabs her cheeks when she drops something. I was lucky to catch her in action.

Gretchen does not like to sit and cuddle, but she is really good about giving hugs and kisses.

I realized we go to the zoo a lot. I guess that is what happens when you live 40mins away and you bought a season pass. It has been a wise investment for us.

The face of intensity as she watches the sea lions.

She got a kick out of getting so close to the "kitty cat." She was mad at the bears for sleeping and she kept yelling "wake up bear!" I wished we had got that on tape, it was to cute.

Julie's Baby Shower

Here are a few shots of the places after we decorated.

Here is a shot of the shower organizers.

Mommy and Daddy

Opening presents

Julie and I

Happy Halloween

We took Gretchen trick or treating the weekend before Halloween in downtown Downers Grove. The weather was perfect and she loved being able to put things into her bucket. She had her first piece of candy, a dum dum. She loved it to say the least.

Here are a few shots from our housewarming/Halloween party. I actually forgot to bust out the camera for the majority of the evening. I know crazy Jen forgetting to take pictures.

The Great Pumpkin!

Numbers

Here is Gretchen counting to 10!

Reading

Gretchen has been reading/recognizing words for quite a while now. Although she is not reading books independently we are certainly working on the building blocks. We are very proud of our little girl.

Pumpkin Carving

We had a great time carving pumpkins with friends.

Doesn't it look like Annabell just told Gretchen a juicy piece of gossip? She thinks it is hilarious and Gretchen is in shock.

The carvers hard at work.

Elmo! Gretchen picked it, can you tell?

Gretchen's New Digs

We painted Gretchen's room, put up a chair rail, added new curtains and put her name up over her crib. I am happy with how it turned out. I was trying to make her yellow bumble bee room a little more girlie.

This might be my new favorite picture of me with my little girl.

Pumpkin Patch

She is getting so big!

Gretchen and her buddy Chloe

Gretchen day dreaming amongst the pumpkins, she blends right in.

Ariana's B-day

My niece Ariana turned eight last Monday! I can not believe that little girl is already eight years old, where is the time going. She spent the night this past Friday and we had a great time playing all evening. Here she is with Gretchen.

She was trying on all my old Halloween costumes. Here she is as a vampire. I decided to be nice to Nathan and not post the one of him using a duck towel to play vampire as well.

Here we are the next day at the zoo.

St. Louis Trip

We were down in St. Louis for a family wedding this past weekend. Gretchen was able to spend some quality time playing with her cousins. Here they are working on a musical collaboration.

I took this shot before we left after I got G's costume in the mail. I know I am biased but what a cute pumpkin!

Here she is back at the piano.

A full length shot with the tights.

Grandma and her girls in costume. (Anna is actually going to be Jessie from Toy Story and Sara is still working on the cowgirl look.)

Here are a couple of shots of Chadd and Sarah's cake. The wedding was Halloween themed, if you could not tell. It was neat, I have never been to a theme wedding. I wish more of my pictures turned out, but I had terrible timing at the wedding.

A shot of the couple during the ceremony. Congrats Chadd and Sarah!

18 Months

Gretchen’s 18 month checkup went well. She weights 26 lb 5 oz and is 34 ¼ inches in length. Those numbers put her in the 75 percentile for weight and off the chart for height. If you follow the old wives tale of doubling a child’s height at two, she would already be 5’ 8.” We still have six month to go before we are suppose to double her height! She is definitely taking after Daddy in the height department. We do suspect she is allergic to eggs like her mommy. She has broken out in hives the two times she tried them. So we are going to take her for testing soon.

Gretchen’s is doing very well with talking. She knows all her aunts, uncles, and cousins by name. She can do all her alphabet cards, most without help, and she is counting to five. She is speaking in three word sentences. I could not be prouder of my little bean. For the most part she is a happy camper, although she has her toddler moments. So overall we are blessed with a healthy happy little one.