10 Months & Family Update:

Daddy and Sophia got to take a Daddy/Daughter date night to a special advance screening of the Minions!

As I posted about in my last post, I started making cloth diapers and undies! Here's an Aurora one that I made for Rosalie.

One weekend, we got up and decided we wanted to go on an adventure, so we stopped for a quick lunch at Panera, 

then headed off to do a short hike to the Westcave Preserve. The girls did fantastic! Sophia hiked the majority of the time, and loved getting to go behind the tiny waterfall and into the cave. There weren't any bats, but there was a ridiculous amount of Daddy Long Legs.

When we were done there, it was still relatively early and we were still on an adventurous kick, so we decided to take a chance and check out Hamilton Pool Preserve just down the street. OMG, am I soooo glad that we did! It was just stunning. I mean, there are no words for the beauty and magic that this place has about it. I am dying to go back when it is open for swimming. Unfortunately, it was closed to swimming for a bit because of the Memorial Day floods that brought in a lovely bit of bacteria. The ONLY flaw, was that it was cash only. Luckily though, a family we met at the Preserve warned us of that ahead of time, so we were able to stop and pick up cash, and actually ran into them again at the pool. Sadly they lived in San Antonio, otherwise we could have definitely been friends. :) 

The next day, we decided to go check out a cute little German town we'd heard about, Fredericksburg. It's about an hour and half away from Austin, and sort of Gatlinburg-like but not quite as touristy. We stopped along the way at Wildseed Farms, which was a large, beautiful wildflower garden/nursery. They had a really pretty/rather large gift shop, a little restaurant and a ton of jams, salsa's, pickled items, etc. for sale as well as samples to try. They were pretty darn tasty.

Once we made it to Fredericksburg, we stopped for a nice little picnic lunch at a park in historic downtown, and afterwards decided to walk to strip to check out some of the cute little shops that they had. Goose got to pick out her first Pez dispenser because she was being really good, and I got a delicious Chocolate Covered Marshmallow, a S'Mores Marshmallow, and a yummy Dublin Vanilla Cream Soda in a glass bottle. :) We will definitely be going back, there are so many things that we didn't get to stop and do, unfortunately, both because of the late start, and it also being a Sunday.

We drove around just a little, but since it was a Sunday and was after 5pm, everything was closing, so we started the trek home. On the way home, however, we saw the LBJ State Park and Historic Site and that the trails were still open, so we stopped by and walked a few of the little trails. We saw easily over 100 deer, including a few babies and two bucks. We also saw some cows, goats, rams, and even some bison. 

On the way home, Sophia and I got out on Congress Bridge to watch the bats since we were already down there at the right time, and wouldn't otherwise see them since they don't come out until just after sunset, which here is 9pm+ and the girls' bedtime. We didn't stick around for them to completely come out but we did see a ton of the little ninjas flying in circles from under the bridge as they all started to wake up. It was way too dark for pictures unfortunately. 

The next week, I got to go back to pole again, and it felt amazing. I was super sore for a day or two after, but man it feels good, and I'm officially back down to the lowest I've been since getting pregnant with Rosalie, weighing in at 121.3lbs. Just 1.3lbs more to go!

The girls have been playing together more and more and it's seriously something amazing to watch them become such best friends.

In other exciting news, the mini bows that I'd ordered a few weeks ago for our Disney trip in December came in! I am absolutely in love and obsessed with them! Seriously, go check out MickeyWaffles on Etsy! She will change your life, and is even local(ish) to my hometown. Her work is amazing, and I want one of everything! We can't WAIT to wear these! Now I just have to make our matching outfits.

And I made Sophia's first pair of undies, which she loved to much, she refused to take off to be washed for three days. Needless to say, I had to make her some more.

Sophia also started to learn how to use the laptop vs. just the touchscreen Ipad.

When the weekend came again, we'd decided that we enjoyed the picnic in the park so much, that we were going to try to make that a weekly thing. So off we headed to Round Rock Memorial Park this time. 

Here we got to see several geese hanging out just feet from us, 

and our first groundhog! So stinking cute!

We also got to see The Round Rock in which Round Rock was named after.

Afterwards, we headed to Bass Pro in search of a new life vest for Sophia, since she'd outgrown hers. Luckily, hers now fits Rosalie perfectly. So we picked up a life vest and a face mask for Goose so that we could try to take Daddy's boat (canoe) out for a test run. Afterwards we headed to another park, that is seriously amazing. It is perfect for both typical children, as well as those with all sorts of special needs. It is a very spread out park that features all sorts of sensory play. It even features a miniature city, complete with working street signs and lights. Amazing!

(Rosalie's first experience with sand, and she LOVED it)

The next day, Sophia helped Daddy clean up Cleo, went swimming at the neighborhood pool,

then we decided to take the boat for a test run since we've moved. Unfortunately, where we chose was not a great location. Current moving the wrong direction, thick gross mossy crap, completely open with no shade or breeze, so very hot, and Tiny was NOT digging being restricted in her vest, nor having to sit still so that we didn't all fall out. Sophia did really well though, so I think that maybe at least for the next while, it will have to have to be a Daddy or Daddy/Daughter bonding trip and the rest of us will just have to stick to our picnics and hikes. 

The positive to the location is that there is a nice covered park there, as well as a large free splash pad that the kids loved. 

Rosalie moved into 12 month clothing.

Sophia also learned to play on the Xbox and has been playing a How to Train Your Dragon game with Daddy. 

Sophia learned to eat using chop sticks,

and she got to go to Chuck E. Cheese. The girls were so excited!

Rosalie got to ride her first rides! She loved them! It makes me so excited for Disney!

Daddy helped Sophia make her first dream catcher.

David and I celebrated TEN YEARS since our first date!

We went to Mayfield Park and visited with some peacocks, had a tasty lunch downtown,

and visited the Texas Military Forces Museum. It was HUGE and amazing!

We went to the local flea market.

We also went to a farmer's market at The Domain, and found this cute play area and concert area. It's beautiful and peaceful there.

We finally got our photo released from the NOH8 campaign!

We celebrated World Breastfeeding Week,

and went to the mall to play.

We had a picnic in the park, 

and took a miniature train ride.

Rosalie also started taking her first steps!!! She's been doing about THREE steps here and there, unfortunately so far I've only caught about 1.5 on camera. 

She's so big! She's approximately 28 inches and 16.5 lbs. :) She still only has her bottom two teeth but is still working on cutting more (as the biting would indicate). She is trying hard to communicate with us, and is both a mommy and daddy's girl. She LOVES her sister so stinking much and wants to do anything and everything that she is doing. She gives the best snuggles, and loves to get into trouble. She recently started trying to climb up the gate that we currently have blocking the fireplace and loves to go find whatever small crevice she can get into, or climb whatever dangerous looking concoction that she can. She eats anything and everything we put in front of her, and loves to drink water from my water bottle.