Less than 1 month away from the big day

That's right people Chaselyn is over 11 months old now. And she's got the cute little jeans, adorable shoes, and the walk to go with it! Just take a look at this chick!



She is completely off baby food. She even experienced her first McDonald's trip on Thursday.

Other notable occurrences are that Chaselyn is a full fledged walker! For some reason, I thought the little ones stayed in the phase where they take a few steps and stumble and fall for quite a while. Not our baby. She was only a stumbler for about a week before she was gone across the room or most notably, walking into the kitchen to find me. When I asked her what she was doing she just stood there and laughed. I wish I would have had the camera within reach for that one. Officially, I'm saying she was a walker at 10 and a half months. Needless to say, the security around the house has been beefed up, but we still have a little more to do. We were able to slow her down a little by adding shoes into the mix. In true Arkansan style, the sweet little girl hasn't really worn shoes up until now. It just seemed like an unnecessary hassle to try to get them on and keep them on. Even now, she just wants to take them off and eat them. She's currently in a size 4 shoes, which seems typical for her age. But, apparently the normal time for a baby to start walking is around 12 - 14 months, when the foot is typically a size 5. The options of shoes (readily available on store shelves) greatly increases for size 5. So I'm looking forward to getting her all decked out between her birthday and Christmas.

We were also able to take Chaselyn to her first Razorback football game. We had some pretty good seats, and she even learned how to "WOOOOOOO" and raise up her arms before we got to the game. It didn't actually happen at the game, because she seemed to be trying to take EVERYTHING in. That and the Grandma's may have worn out this little trick in the car on the way up to Fayetteville. Of course the Razorbacks beat Auburn! Chaselyn is a little good luck charm. We discovered her powers not too long after she was born, during the Arkansas vs. LSU game. When Stanton and I held her the hogs would do well, when Stanton's dad held her, LSU seemed to do well. I realized the trend and insisted that she stay with me until the end of the game. She was also at the basketball game when we beat OU. That's why it's imperative that we get back to the hills of Arkansas soon. (I'll have to update with game pictures later, they are on Stanton's camera)

Chaselyn has learned to actually pet Holly. She'll go up to the pup and move her hand down her back. She occassionally still likes to grab Holly's tail, so generally Holly runs away unless we keep her contented. But they are getting along much better. Now that Chaselyn is walking, she kind of chases Holly too. We also have 3 fish in the aquarium. Chaselyn loves them. And Granny and I swear she said "ish" while pointing at the fish. Of course she won't do it on command, but I know.

I also heard her say "cack, cack" after I repeatedly said "Quack, quack" while playing with the duckies in the tub. But again, it was an isolated instance. She definitely knows Stanton and calls for him. It's something close to "Da-da", but maybe more of a "g" sound like "Ga-ga" with the same vowel sounds. She also says "Mom-mom-mom-ma" and it's generally in my direction or when I'm not around, so I think she actually means me and not just babbling. She's also learning to be a ham for the camera when I say "Cheese", again, sometimes. Apparently 11 month olds don't perform tricks on command.

Chaselyn still has 7 teeth, and I don't see any others budding through right now. She's gone through 3 rounds of antibiotics for an ear infection in her right ear. She doesn't seemed phased by it, but it concerns me. She typically drinks five 6 oz. bottles of formula milk and has 3 full food meals and an afternoon snack. She loves ravioli, which is great for me, because they are super easy to cook. We haven't weighed her in a while, so I'll have to update that later.

This birthday took me a little off guard. I had been planning her birthday party a little and everything, but looking at her in her little jeans and shoes walking around and realizing that there are no more month celebrations before she is one year old hit me hard. So little time, so much to take in. It's just amazing! And I want to be sure I soak up every minute of it before a picture like this...
isn't just a cute little snapshot, but my little girl leaving to go do whatever God has planned for her undoubtedly fantastic life.