21 Weeks old!

Wow!  How time flies when you're having fun!  Sorry I haven't posted lately but we've been so busy!  My mom went back to Kermit AND DJ started his new job both on September 20th.  Being home with Clara is WONDERFUL and such a blessing, but it sure makes it hard to get things posted on the Internet-not a lot of free time! :-)  We've been doing great!  Clara is doing all the "milestone" things she should be doing at this time-reaching and grabbing for things, smiling at people she knows, laughing hysterically at mommy and daddy, mimicking us, using both hands together to hold toys, play, etc.  It's amazing to me how much she develops in just a week's time!   This past weekend we went shopping with Debbie (DJ's mom) and she got her Halloween costume!  She is going to be a "flower child"!  Here's a sneak peak:

This Friday, we are going to go have pictures made with Clara and her cousin Nevaeh (who is 4 years old) in their Halloween costumes and little Halloween/fall outfits that Debbie got them.  It will be SO CUTE!  I'll post pics when we get them!  We are excited for this weekend!  Not only will we be doing our pictures, but my parents, brother, future sister-in-law, cousin, and uncle will all be in town.  We are all taking Clara to her first Ranger game on Saturday!  GO RANGERS!  We are SO excited they made the play-offs and can't wait to see the look on Clara's face when we get to the ballpark.  She is so intently interested in all of her surroundings right now and she loves being outside!  My mom will be with me next week so hopefully I'll have time to post some pics of our experience!  Until then, I hope all of you are doing well and I will hopefully be better at this blog thing in the future!

Love to all,

Melinda, DJ, & Clara

P.S. Here's a cute video to tide y'all over until you see Clara again. :-)

I love my daddy!

DJ and Clara had some good father/daughter bonding time today that I caught on film!  (Can we still use the saying "caught on film" if we no longer use film???)  I also took some cute ones of her little feet!  SO PRECIOUS!  Anyway, take a look!  The video is especially cute!

Uncle Austin's Birthday

We had a fun celebration last night for Uncle Austin's 20th birthday!  Here are some pics!  We also had fun at church this morning at McKinney Memorial Bible Church!

Our first stroll around the neighborhood

We could not believe it!  I walked outside this morning to put the trash out and the outside temperature was COOLER than the inside of our house!!!  It is still August, right???  Anyway, we were thrilled and my mom and I decided that this would be a great opportunity to take Miss Clara for her first walk around the neighborhood!  (It has just been WAY TOO HOT to do ANYTHING outside since she's been born!)  Well, she loved it!  She cooed and squeeled at all the new things she was seeing.  Speaking of seeing, the poor child hardly ever gets to go outside b/c of the oppressive heat, so her little eyes were not quite accustomed to the brightness of the sun!  I remembered that my mom had gotten her some little baby sunglasses so we grabbed those and hit the trail.  When we first got outside (before we put the sunglasses on Clara), she wouldn't even open her eyes-she was squinting so hard!  I put the sunglasses on her and she was able to open her eyes and enjoy her surroundings!  She really seemed to enjoy herself!  We ended up walking to my Aunt Pat's house (who just lives a few blocks down from us) and visiting with her and a few cousins for quite awhile.  It was great!  We had such a fun morning!

Trial Run!

Hi friends!  This is a little trial run for me!  I'm trying to decide if I need to keep a blog.  There are so many things I have opinions on (does that surprise you?), and I would love an outlet to express them!  Ha-seriously though I thought that there are a lot of people who want to keep up with us and our sweet baby (who's kidding whom-I know y'all just want to keep up with the baby!), and not everyone has facebook so maybe I'll try this.  I can post pictures, videos, etc. so we'll see how it goes!  FOLLOW US if you're interested!  Love to all!