So Thankful for Andi Stubblefield Photography!

If anyone reads this blog at all, it is immediately obvious I am not gifted in the art of photography. Despite my best attempts to document our life with pictures, I usually come up short with blurry, mis-timed shots. It can be frustrating for me because I feel like all we will have at the end of this short season of life are the pictures we take. That is why I practically begged our friend Andi Stubblefield to take some "fall" pictures of our family before our baby morphs into a girl. We were blessed by her willingness to sneak us into her busy photography shoot schedule in Novemeber. Boy are we glad we did!

 I expected at most to get 2-3 descent frames where the 3 of us were looking pleasant and in the same direction. I knew our girl would only put up with so much posing and smiling so 2 or 3 would have been a win. Therefore, it was utterly shocking when we got the pictures back and LOVED THEM ALL! I cannot say it enough. Shocked shocked shocked and pleased pleased pleased! Not only did Andi capture our family but all of us had a great time. I totally encourage anyone interested in a photo shoot in Dallas to use her.

Find her here:

http://www.facebook.com/andi.stubblefield.photography

Now without further delay...some of my favorites:

 Now what to do with all these great photos....

Nathalie

Team McClish Running Update

 Me and J after a Sat. AM run in October...

A few months ago I shared that I would be running the White Rock 1/2 Marathon on Sunday 12/4/2011. It was a goal of mine to run 13.1 miles as a Mommy and take up the hobby I missed during pregnancy and early infant raising. I trained by running many miles with baby and dog during the week, and spending all of my Saturday mornings on long runs while Andrew took care of Julianne. The training was fun, and challenging, and tiring, and annoying at times, and much harder than any of the other races I have trained for with just me, myself, and I to worry about. I was nervous about how it would all go down but eager to attempt it.....

That is....until it was clear I wouldn't be able to attempt it. As I would learn, despite my best efforts to prepare and plan for race day, my post Mommy 1/2 marathon was not meant to be. Let me explain. Saturday (the day before the race) we drove down the the race venue to pick up my bib number. This is something you have to do in order to run. On the way home, Julianne wouldn't stop crying and we had no idea why. I got in the back seat with her and realized she was warm and suspected a fever. No big deal we have had a fever before. A little Tylenol and we would be back in business....

Well it turned out not to be that easy. What was to follow was a high fever (103 was what it got up to) we couldn't get below 102.3, a miserable baby, and a long night of crying constantly and no sleep for anyone. Julianne could only be consoled by me holding her and nursing, otherwise she was crying. Somewhere around midnight we decided it would be impossible for me to run. The total exhaustion I would experience and our decision to take her to Urgent Care on Sunday morning was our ultimate reality.

It was immediately apparent to the doctor that our girl was suffering from her first ear infection. The news came as somewhat of a relief because we could treat it, and there was an explanation for all the pain she was in! She is doing much better now....and so are we! Lesson learned: baby cries all night long = EAR INFECTION...now we know.

I was sad to miss the race, but I suppose it just wasn't meant to be this time. It ended up being a terrible weather day so that made me feel a little better. Team McClish will have to run another day....

Julianne is 10 Months Old!

Dear Julianne-

You are 10 months old today! I am trying not to write that this fact blows my mind or that I just can't get over how grown up you are yada yada. Those things are true indeed, but we have had quite the month of events so lets get to the fun stuff.

 We kicked off the month by celebrating your first Halloween! You went in a hand-me-down lady bug costume we borrowed. It was perfect. I don't think I could have taken your reaction to wearing a costume if I had slaved hours over a sewing machine. You were a good sport, but didn't love being
inside a giant fluffy suit for long...

 We went over to your cousin Amelia's house for some trick-or-treat fun. You girls in your costumes made us laugh and laugh. Very entertaining for all of us and especially your daddy and Lee who did most of the trick or treating leg work. Us girls were pretty much just along for the ride...

 Amelia went as a chicken....her costume was hilarious....

 We hope you won't hate us as teenagers for doing this to you....

 About an hour of costume wear and you were done being a lady bug. Not so bad for our first round at Halloween.

Next Up: Baylor Homecoming.
I was finally able to talk your Daddy into joining me for Baylor Homecoming. Given he didn't go to Baylor, I haven't had the best luck selling how much fun the parade and other festivities can be. This year he obliged us and was a good sport through the whole thing. It was just a day trip, and you did great and were pretty happy even without naps.

 We went to the parade and saw old friends and some neat floats....

Then we went to lunch where Cita met up with us. Here you are flinging your green and gold!

Next to mention is our first trip to the zoo. Our friends were nice enough to bring us along on their season pass and we enjoyed a lovely cool morning with the animals.  

 Getting ready....

 Anticipation is mounting....

 Sadly you fell asleep during the elephant exhibit....

 You loved the giraffes however...not surprising given your relationship with Wubbs. 

 
Next time we will have to take Daddy and stay awake for the elephants....

The last and most recent event of November was of course Thanksgiving! We spent this one in Canyon at Gran and Gramp's house. Honestly we were dreading it given the lack of sleep we have experienced on other trips. To our great surprise though you slept like a champ there and we had a great time!

Now for some other updates to close out this post...

 1. You are what we have termed "dental advanced". You have 8 teeth and counting, more than the other babies in our life. I guess this is a good thing...you have bitten our shoulders one or twice though which we are working on avoiding. One of our fears as parents is that you would be the "biting kid".

 2. You have started to really crawl this month! Hooray! It has been a lifestyle adjustment however. Gone are the days were I put you in one place and you remain there until I move you. You are into everything and are quite quick. The other day I saw you pull up on the coffee table so that is coming next. How are you already doing these things?!

 3. Eating has taken on a whole new meaning this month...you can put it away all of a sudden. I am shocked sometimes at the quantity of food you are able to ingest in one sitting. I guess you need all of those calories with the moving you are doing. You only nurse 4 times a day now.

4. You are also talking! Over the last couple of weeks we have really started to notice words and an understanding of words. Last night you turned to Daddy and said, "Da-Da" for the first time. He about melted right there! He was very proud that you used his name first but I am sure MaMa is not far behind. You are also signing "More Please" and waving hello and goodbye with a nice "Ha" for "High". 

Well that is all I have time for today...naps are over and we have playing to do!

Love you baby girl!

Mommy