Trick or Treating in the Marketplace.

Baby V is rockin her Halloween costume.


Polyester outfit + duck feet + duck hat + FL heat = no problem for Baby V


The duck met a lady bug and decided to strike a pose for the camera. (You can see that the duck was starting to get drowsy. She eventually fell asleep in her duck costume and I had to pull off her duck hat to let her head air out.)

Chalk Outline Baby

Profile outline.


Close-up outline.


Silly outline.

Serious outline.

Florida Girl stops by Orlando before moving to London.

Florida Girl, aka Jen, and her husband Chris (we all went to high school together and then college) stopped by Orlando before their big move to London. I can't believe that they're leaving us stateside but there are many journeys to be conquered abroad... I'll just have to live vicariously through her blog. We're going to miss you guys! Come back and visit often, k?

Violet was striking her "DJ Violet" pose for the Kodak moment.

Aunt Jason, Uncle Phil, and Uncle Mark were also in Orlando (playing hooky from work might I add) to go to Halloween Horror Nights. Jen and Chris went too. I was too big of a wuss to go... So we had breakfast the next morning instead. Sadly Joe missed our high school reunion (Jason and Phillip were in our graduating class at Plant too!) because he was responsible and went to work.

We borrowed our neighbor's swing.

When we moved into the neighborhood, one of the first things that caught my eye was our neighbor's Winnie the Pooh Swing.

It was a nice fall day last Thursday so I decided to dust off their swing (I asked my neighbors for permission of course) and put Violet in for a spin... erm, swing.


She LOVED swinging very high. This girl is crazy!


Violet collected her thoughts after being on the swing for 10 minutes and thanked Winnie for his time.

Violet & Finn

"Finn, do you think that eating too much lobster makes my toes smell bad?"


"Seriously Finn, smell my feet."


"Uh-okay Violet, but I'm kind of scared. I overheard your mom saying that you have stinky toes."

"Didn't she nickname you Stinky Toes Russo?"

Giovanni visits Violet.

"Hey Violet, I'm here!"


"Giovanni, what do you feel like eating today?"


"We can always eat corn on the cob."


"Violet, I have a better idea. Here's the lid to my bottle of formula. Play with this."


Giovanni, understanding how 7 month old babies think, knew that the lid would distract her just long enough so he wouldn't have to explain to her that they don't have enough teeth to eat corn on the cob just yet.

Puppy Snapshots

Benson was looking dapper in the corner of the house. He's in his "alert" pose because I was holding his toy bird hostage in order to get the picture.


Skooter grabbed the toy bird away from me. Skooter showed off his win.

She's cutting teeth.

Two weeks ago at Sweet Tomatoes (Souplantation on the west coast), I felt a tooth popping out of her gums!! Just to double and triple check that she was cutting teeth, I kept putting my finger in her mouth to feel the tooth. Now she won't open her mouth. ha ha.


We have a variety of teething toys for her. We stick them in the freezer and she proceeds to gnaw on them. Supposedly this is soothing for her gums. You be the judge.

She crawls!!

She crawls with no assistance needed! I like to put down TONS of pillows around her. Subconsciously I'm thinking that the pillows will "contain" her in the immediate area that she's in...


I can't really pinpoint the exact moment she started to crawl. She practiced a lot while I was at work. One day I came back home and saw that she could crawl from one side of the living room to the other side, on her stomach using just her hands (think military style).


One day, she just popped up her on her knees and started to crawl.


She's definitely no "expert" just yet but, like everything, it's only a matter of time.

We need to start child-proofing the house. Maybe that will be a good activity for this weekend.

Bath Time Fun

"Violet, it's time for your bath." She always happily complies. (Side note, she's discovered how to jump in the jumperoo-- she very amused by it.)


She LOVES bath time. No more faux pas anymore! I won't post up naked baby pictures... I'll just post post-time bath pictures.


Take two! I like to hold her in front of the mirror and ask her, "Where's the pretty girl?" She'll find herself in the mirror and smile from ear to ear.

Violet's Favorite Toy

Mimi bought Finn and Violet stacking plastic cups. Out of all the toys that Violet owns, give her the stacking cups and she can amuse herself for hours... Other toys she might play with for a second or two and discard.

Remember the chair?

It seemed like just the other day when I posted this up on the blog. People aren't lying when they say that babies grow up fast.

Violet meets Figment.

I told Violet all about my favorite Disney character, Figment. This picture was taken moments before we rode "Journey into Imagination with Figment." Violet was very excited.

Violet's First "Boat" Ride

Yay, Violet, and I were on the boat that takes you from the World Showcase to Future World at Epcot. We went for the 13th Annual Food and Wine Festival.


You can see China in the background.

Just For Fun

This wasn't a "I-took-this-picture-and-captured-her-midpose." She was already in that position and decided to stay that way for a while... Long enough for me to reach into my bag and grab my camera.


Violet is happiest in her walker. Notice that she's wearing layers now. Shayna brought the fall weather with her when she visited. Thank goodness-- cause I am done with the summer heat for awhile.

Passed Out After a Day at Disney