Up to no good

Well, if you haven't noticed Pickle is growing up so fast. My dad used to say "I grew up in the blink of an eye." Now I really understand what that means. Right before our eyes she has grown so fast. She had teeth at 3months old, crawled at 6months and is now at almost 9months she standing proud. If I can say, she has quite the personality. She is full of life and very feisty! She is the most independent baby, sound familiar? She will give us a run for our money!

In everything!

Pickle is into everything and keeping us so busy. Everything goes straight for her mouth, including things that have been in Daisy's mouth. As you can see big sister Daisy is very patient with little sis. We are child proofing our house however; I refuse to convert my house into a primary color, blinking, singing mess. She has her space and we still have ours. For now at least!

Happy Dad's Day!

Let me just say that D is the best father. He adores Pickle! It's so interesting to see your husband in a new light. My favorite thing is just to sit back and watch them interact with each other.

We started a homemade waffle tradition for Father's Day. It was a hit for the little one. She couldn't get enough. Then we relaxed at the pool with a bunch of friends. It was a great day!

It was fun to celebrate Father's day with a new perspective.

Happy Father's Day D!

Baby Dessa

This little one has changed by brother's life. She is such a doll! I have to say that I'm so proud of my little brother and his girlfriend. They are such great parents. Stephen has a very special bond with his little girl. You can tell that she is a Daddy's girl. I just have to say that he would make my Dad proud.

Big Mama and Tom come to town.

We were so happy to finally have my Mom and Tom come visit. It has been since Lily was 2 weeks old since she has seen her. Big Mama is what the grand kids call my Mom. Kinda funny because she is so little! Big Mama has two new grand babies here. With a total of 8 grand kids. She is so proud of her family!

The visit was short, only a week. Dessa really got attached to Big Mama but Lily on the other hand is a busy one. Lily is very independent and always on the go. But by the end of big Mama's trip Lily was helping sew and following Big Mama around everywhere she went.
It was interesting to have my Mom here to see Lily. She said that Lily is just like I was as a baby. Everyone on my side of the family says that Lily is a mini me. Her personality is very similar to mine. When she wants something, she wants it NOW. Her Dad is already wondering how he is going to handle the two of us. Let's pray that the next one is like Daddy.

Needless to say, it was really hard to see my Mom leave. I wish she was closer to us

Welcome baby Cleo! It's a girl!

We have BIG news. After about 9 years of waiting, Ali finally got a dog. Her name is Cleo.

When we were in Switzerland we got to go visit the puppies. They were so cute!

After a lot of negotiating Ali finally convinced her mom and dad to get a dog. Ali is like me, she was born a dog lover. She goes around the neighborhood offering to walk other peoples dogs. And now finally she is a proud dog owner. I think it's going to be a great addition to their family. We'll see next year if Cleo gets to come to the States with them for vacation. Daisy would love for her to come visit. Cleo is going to change their lives. There is nothing better than having your own dog. It's one of the best feelings in the world. Ali will make a great owner.

I'm especially eager to hear Naree's dog stories. I have a feeling Cleo is going to flip their house upside down. I can't wait!

Memorial Day Weekend

Grandman Gunga and Grandpa Doda
Cousin Tracey and Eric

Cousins-Tommy, Jill and Brody

Evan and Dessa

We were excited to have my family come down for a long weekend! It had been 3 months since Glenda and Doda saw Lily. She has changed so much! Grandma Gunga (my aunte Glenda), Grandpa DoDa (my uncle DoDa) were eager to see Pickle. Stephen brought Dessa and Tommy and Tracey all came down with their family too. Unfortunately, Tommy and Tracey came on different days. But it was still fun to hang out.

We left the kiddos with the boys and headed out for a little shopping. I was treated to a pedi and lunch. It was so nice to relax and have someone do my toes for me. Thank you Glenda! What a nice treat! It was nice to get away for a little while but I'm pathetic, I missed Lily!

The weekend went fast and it was nice to catch up with the family!

1st Watermelon

Pickle's first time having Watermelon. She loved it! Her favorite foods are peas, watermelon, pumpkin, bananas, mango, squash, noodles and bread! She is quite the eater! I'm really trying to get her worked up on her veggies. I think it's so important to start early. So far, so good!

Big weekend ahead

We have a big weekend ahead of us. We will have my family visiting for the weekend. It's been 3 months since we have all been together. They are dying to catch up with Pickle. She has grown so much since they last saw her.

We'll be sure to post pics after the weekend is over.

Have a very safe, fun weekend!

F

Just the girls

Only two weeks apart and not sure what to think of each other. Pickle was very jealous of her little cousin. I could hardly hold Dessa without crushing pickle. Dessa was really wanting to play with pickle but she was not interested. Pickle is just a little clingy lately. Hope it's just a phase.

F

Lily is done talking!

Happy 7 months to me. Time goes fast! Right?

We started Lily talk to keep people in the now of my daily life. As most of you know babies change everyday, every hour. Initially, we wanted to find a way to keep everyone involved in my daily progress. It's like my personal journal or you can say it's all about me. Things that happen to me each day. What's new with me! But being a 7 month old has a lot of requirements. I'm learning to stand, they are trying to feed me food 3 meals a day, they are teaching me sign language, I play hard, I'm into everything and I'm constantly discovering new things around the house. You could say I'm a little demanding and I'm busy.

Well, I'm officially handing the blog over to my Mom. Doing a blog can be quite demanding. Who knew how much work it takes to take the pictures, post the pictures and journal. I never knew people were watching so closely. Thanks for your interest! My mom will do her best to keep it up to date. For now, Lily is done talking!

Bye Bye Switzerland

Well, our month long vacation has come to an end. It was so hard for us to say goodbye. My mom and her sister (Nomie) are so close and have a really hard time with the distance. When they are together there is no stopping them. I have never seen my mom laugh so hard. They both just feed off of each other and all they do is laugh. Sometimes it's about nothing. We just sit back and watch them be crazy. Nomie and the rest of her family took great care of us. We had gourmet meals, good wine (mom and dad that is) and wonderful tour guides. We stayed busy the entire time. Go go go!

These are the things I accomplished in the month:

Got 3 new teeth

Mastered the crawl

Learned how to pull myself up

Got showered with attention

Was able to be held 100% of the time

Ate a lot of fresh baked bread

Started saying braaa braaa (bread)

Ofically said Ma Ma

First long plane ride (I'm a pro traveler)

Vistited 3 countries, Switzerland, Germany, and Austria
Went on my first long hike (in the swiss alps, how fancy)

My Dad's company is based out of Switzerland and there was talk about moving there for awhile. ONLY TALK thus far.

Well, we had a great time in Swizerland visiting family. We can't wait to go back.

Mom loving the daisy shots

Breath taking, beauty.

Switzerland is so beautiful! I bet you thought I was talking about myself.

5 teeth and still managing to smile

AHHHH, I have lungs

I learned that if my parents turn their backs on me I scream. They come running.

The honor system

My mom totally went crazy over the fields of flowers. It was a constant hunt looking for fields of flowers. Obiviously, my mom is obsessed with flowers. There is Lily and Daisy what else can she name a flower?? We had many photo sessions with me posing in flowers. Okay, that's enough now.

In Switzerland they have fields of flowers where you can go and cut fresh flowers. It's based off of the honor system. You just cut and leave your money. The swiss do a lot of things on the honor system. They also have farms where you can go get your fresh milk and eggs and leave your money. How trusting. That would never work in America.

Vacation in the Swiss Alps

The Ruegg Family treated us to a weekend in the Alps. Urs and my Dad went by car and us girls went by train. We were tucked away in a little ski town in the middle of the Swiss Alps. It was so beautiful! They rented us a really cool apartment. It was a Reka travel area which is kid and baby friendly. They provided me a high chair, crib, hiking backpack and stroller. It was so neat to see a baby friendly vacation spot. There was a pool there and activities for the children. We all hung out and played games and did some hiking. The weather was pretty nice and the mountain tops were covered in snow. I did my first hike here and ate my first pasta.

First pasta noodles on the Italian border

Loving life eating pasta. This stuff is great! Yummy!

Disentis, Switzerland

We are headed for a 4 day trip to Disentis, Switzerland. It's located in the Swiss Alps. My Nomie rented a apartment for us to stay in. We are going to spend our time hiking the alps! We are so excited. We'll post pictures when we get home.

First time in Austria

Me and my Dad's first time in Austria. He forgot the memory card for the camera so needless to say, there are no pictures. My Mom wasn't very happy. "Ugh" she said! There were so many great photo opportunities.

This is Lake Constance, Central Europe's 3rd largest lake. Surrounding the lake is 3 countries, Switzerland, Germany and Austria.

Waldshut, Germany

Waldshut,
Germany is a small town that runs along the Rhine river. It lies on the border of Germany and Switzlerland. We came here for the famous German brats. There were a ton of different kinds of brats. My Dad ended up ordering a horse brat. Gross! He had no idea, and we won't tell Jenn.