Pumpkin carving 2016

WADDUP I LOVE PUMPKINS. I love holidays. Any excuse to do anything festive. But I loooove Halloween. It's just so fun. That's what Halloween is, pure fun. I mean, yeah it can be scary too, but I ain't about that life. For me it's just fun. And PUMPKINS! Ah! They're fun too! The most wonderful time of the year begins when those pumpkins start sneaking out.

Brendon and I have carved pumpkins together every year for the past I dunno, decade? But last year we invited people over to carve them with us and it was a blast. So this year we did the same! (I can't wait until we've got a bigger place and can finally throw a real Halloween party!!! You're all invited.)

Here are some very candid slightly low quality photos. It's hard to take good photos while also keeping a baby out of too much pumpkin trouble! Also Indiana is topless because she puked on her dress right as we started carving. Babies, man.

Indiana was helping Amy, by eating her pumpkin.

Indiana really likes pumpkins. Maybe because they're big and orange? Who knows, but she loves 'em.

The final products! Ben's, Amy's, Ben's (we had two Bens!), and the Hogans' pumpkins!

Brendon and I carved a joint pumpkin this year since we knew one of us would have to watch Indy. So we found the biggest pumpkin we could. Brendon cleaned it out, I carved it, and when we were done... we put our baby in it.

Contrary to this face she's making, she loved it. She was dancing and smiling and was pretty dang content to just hang out in a pumpkin. Best (and weirdest?) baby award.

And of course, we had to light them up! Everyone left their pumpkins with us for the night so our place looks like the coolest porch in the hood!

Halloween is the best! I'll be sad when it's over. But that means Turkey Day is coming and that means Christmas is coming and it's just the best time of the year!

9 Months

Nine months, y'all! Nine months with this little monster and these photos are getting harder and harder to take! Luckily daddy was home this go round so I had some help in getting her attention. She's just so wiggly!

I got a whopping two photos of her on her back before she flipped over to eat those letters.

This past month has been WILD. It's been a really good month, but it's also been challenging. Indiana has been the feistiest she's been in months, and her sleep has been wacky which definitely hasn't helped. But she has been developing like crazy and with developmental leaps comes some growing pains. It's all worth it, she's morphed into a whole new baby in the past month. And "grumpy" Indiana is still mostly a happy camper. She's just very... intense about how she feels. If she's happy, you know it, and if she's not... well, you know it!

Her face is like, Mom. These photos are BORING.

So here's the fun stuff! In the past month Indiana has started sitting up on her own, army crawling everywhere, and pulling up on stuff. And she'll "walk" if we hold her hands and help her. She is everywhere and into everything. She can clap and "dances" to music. She's learned to drink out of a straw and oh my gosh that girl can put away some food. She loves to eat and she eats pretty much everything we do! We stay away from processed/packaged food, salt, sugar, and allergen type things (and we're vegetarian so no meat) but otherwise she's a little piggy who will grab whatever you put in front of her and shove it in her mouth. It's a lot of fun.

Indiana is a goof. Her personality is blooming by the day and it's been a blast to experience. She still loves being out and about and people watching, although she's all into burying her head in my chest and peeking out to give shy flirty smiles when she meets new people. (I LOVE IT.) And I love her "hugs". She'll wrap her arms around my neck and I just die. Right before I lay her down for her naps I sing her "Edelweiss" and sometimes she'll snuggle into my neck and lay her head on my shoulder with her arms around me while I sing. I never ever want to let go, laying her down is nearly impossible!

Climbing on mama (and everything) also a new favorite hobby!

She's so wonderful. Slightly exhausting, but wonderful. And every time I think, "oh my gosh, I'm tired" I make myself remember those days around 3-4 months when she was up every hour or so at night and would only fall asleep if I rocked her. Bleh! This is nothin'!

We're rapidly closing in on A YEAR of life with this wonder baby, and it's blowing my mind! It feels both like just yesterday that she was born, and also like a million years ago! I can't imagine life without Indiana, she's da best.

Here's the rest of Indiana's first year so far!

Pumpkin Patch 2016

Pumpkin patches are great. But pumpkin patches with a baby, they're even better! This was our first trip to a pumpkin patch in Temple. The weather this weekend has been pretty stellar, so we decided to hit up them pumpkins! We went to the Robinson Family Farm, and it was awesome! They have a ton of kid friendly activities, lots of snacks, and of course pumpkins! They also had ample photo opportunities, obviously I loved that. We got there early so it wasn't too crowded and it was still pretty cool out, even in the sun. Indiana was too young for most of the activities, but we had fun just walking around and looking at stuff.

Animals! They had some goats, sheep, and ducks! We forgot change so we couldn't feed them, and the animals quickly realized we had no food and moved on, but Indiana liked looking at them anyway. She was also very into the pumpkins!

  

They had fresh spun, made to order cotton candy, and it was the bomb. I looooove cotton candy. And that man. ;)

Clearly not that into the swings.

That baby loves some pumpkins! We got a big fat pumpkin for carving and then a tiny mini pumpkin for Indiana to chew on. She loves it, new favorite toy.

Pumpkin patches are the best. October is the best. Indiana is the best!