Walden Farm

Kaitlyn, my mom and I went to Walden Farm recently to pick out her first pumpkin. She was moderately interested in the pumpkins, but she loved playing with the straw on the ground. And one of the calves at the petting zoo took a particular liking to her. It tried to nibble on her foot through the fence! I think she makes a cute pumpkin.

Weekend Getaway

Kaitlyn got to experience her first weekend without her parents! Jeff and I took a much-needed vacation this weekend while my mom took care of Kaitlyn. On Saturday, we went down to Lynchburg, TN to sample the tasty barbeque at the Jack Daniels World BBQ Celebration. Then we headed on to Chattanooga via lots of back roads. I haven't been to Chattanooga in years (other than to drive though it on my way to other places), but I was very impressed with its downtown area. They have done a marvelous job of revitalizing the waterfront area. In addition to the famous aquarium, there's a pedestrian bridge over the Tennessee River, and a charming artistic district located on a river bluff. Not ones to rest on vacation, we got up Sunday morning and drove up Lookout Mountain and on into North Georgia. We did a very strenuous hike in Cloudland Canyon and enjoyed some nice fall foliage.

According to mom, Kaitlyn did great all weekend without us. But judging from her smile, she was very glad to see us when we got home. A couple of quick updates on the little one: she now loves eating all kinds of vegetables; she's started rolling over and sleeping on her stomach on occasion; and even though she's only six months old, she's already growing out of some of her nine month clothes!!!

Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

Chattanooga's art museum on the bluff as seen from the pedestrian bridge.

Downtown fountains on the Tennessee River

Civil War monument atop Lookout Mountain

Funny Faces

Kaitlyn still hasn't come to terms with green beans. Jeff took some pictures of her while she was attempting to eat the offensive vegetable.

But thankfully, she is quick to forgive and forget. She has been sitting up for a few weeks now, so we decided that we should probably post some pictures of this milestone. She still topples over from time to time when she reaches for a distant toy, or when she leans back a little too far. But it's all part of the learning process. At least she doesn't have very far to fall yet.

Vegetables!

Over the last few weeks, Kaitlyn has grown quite fond of her bland rice cereal. She happily eats it three times a day. Imagine her surprise when she discovered green beans on her spoon instead of her beloved cereal! Fortunately Jeff was standing by with the video camera to capture her priceless expressions. Judging from her contorted face, squinted eyes and gagging noises, I'd say that she definitely did not like the taste. And who can blame her? Unsalted, pureed green beans aren't high on my list of favorite foods either! But we'll keep on trying. Next week, it's on to peas!

Family Reunion

It's been a very busy week, so I haven't gotten a chance to post about a fun thing that happened last weekend. We took Kaitlyn down to Alabama for my extended family's annual reunion. To set the stage a bit, my grandmother was one 12 children. The reunion is for those siblings and all of their descendants. Unfortunately, my grandmother has passed on, and so have many of her brothers and sisters, but the Williams reunion is still going strong.

Here are a couple of pictures from the reunion. The rest of the pictures are posted in the "Photos" section (for any interested family members). The first picture is of Kaitlyn, me, my mom and her Aunt Betty, the youngest of the original Williams siblings.


The second picture is Kaitlyn playing with my uncle Charles (Mom's oldest brother) and my great-uncle "Spud." Uncle Spud is a wonderful bluegrass musician, and I have fond memories growing up of him and his friends making music at our reunions. He still plays a mean guitar!


I mentioned that this reunion is held in Alabama. For those of you who like geography humor, the reunion is held on Butter and Egg Road, not far from Lickskillet, Alabama. No joke!

Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest is an outdoor festival held every year in the Germantown area of downtown Nashville. It's a fun time of polka music, bratwurst, and lederhosen. Jeff and I have been for the last four or five years, so it seems to have become a family tradition. Today, we introduced Kaitlyn to the festivities. It was a beautifully sunny day, so we had to put on her oh-so-cute sun hat :) In crowds of people, she's always too distracted to smile.


There are all kinds of colorful people at the festival. This organ grinder is there every year in the same spot. I guess it's not politically correct to have a real monkey anymore, so he has a stuffed monkey that dances around as he cranks out a version of the "Chicken Dance." He was nice enough to pose while we took a picture.


I also finally posted some more pics on Picasa. Click the link on the right.

A Swaddle-Free Life

Although Kaitlyn is almost 5 months old, we've still been swaddling her for naps and bedtime. She's always slept so well when wrapped up...and so poorly when she wasn't. But now that she's getting more active, we realized that swaddling was no longer safe. So we took the plunge this weekend--we ditched the swaddle wrap. We expected lots of crying and flailing arms. We were prepared for some sleepless nights while she made the transition and got used to sleeping with more freedom. But to our utter amazement, none of that happened. Kaitlyn fell asleep immediately the first night and didn't wake up until morning time! We're still working on naps, but hopefully she'll get those figured out soon.

One side effect of not being swaddled...she is now free to move around the crib as much as she wants. This is a picture of her when she woke up Saturday morning. I'm not sure how she got all the way down there, but she was quite proud of herself.

Kaitlyn and her Grandparents

Kaitlyn has gotten her share of spoiling lately. Jeff was out of town on business for a few days last week, and my mom (Gran) came up to help with Kaitlyn. I think my mom's greatest pleasure in life is playing with Kaitlyn and making her laugh. And I'm quite happy to let her while I run errands and catch up on housework!

Kaitlyn loves her Gran!

A couple of days after Gran left, Jeff's parents (Mimi and Papa Greg) came into town, and the spoiling continued. We had a picnic at the Bicentennial Mall where Kaitlyn got to put her hands in the fountains. She wasn't quite sure what to make of that.

Kaitlyn with Papa Greg and Mimi at Bicentennial Mall

In keeping with the water theme of the weekend, Kaitlyn got to experience her first boat ride when we took a cruise down the Cumberland River on the General Jackson. She was fascinated by the lights of downtown. And she loved staring at bridges as they passed overhead. We're really enjoying this cooler weather so that we can enjoy the outdoors again!

Saturday Fun

The weather in Nashville was absolutely gorgeous this past weekend! After a brutally hot summer, it was so refreshing to be outside in cooler temps. We took advantage of the nice weather and went downtown to Centennial Park, where Jeff took these pics of the Parthenon.

A Whole New World

Kaitlyn entered the world of solid food today with her first bowl of rice cereal. Jeff was standing nearby with both the video camera and the digital camera to capture the momentous occasion (we're obviously first-time parents!). We put Kaitlyn in her brand-new high chair and got out the personalized bib. She was quite perplexed at first and wasn't sure what to do with the foreign substance. She mostly pushed it around with her tongue. While most of the cereal ended up on her face and hands, some actually went inside her mouth and was swallowed. Not too bad for the first time.