Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Don't Forget

Don't forget to set out cookies and milk for Santa tonight!

Baby It's Cold Outside!

Its been unseasonably cold here in Wilmington, but at least we are getting use out of Randal's heavy winter coat :)

Randal Jean Meets Santa

We took Randal Jean to meet Santa on Saturday night and she did NOT like Santa!  Randal loves everyone and is the biggest flirt I have ever met, but one look at Santa and she lost her mind.  We even planned it carefully so that Matt was holding her when she was handed to Santa as she rarely goes to anyone else if I have her.  But even with our careful planning she went in to a total meltdown.  Randal is such a happy baby that I really dont think I have ever seen her like this.  I promptly stepped in and expected her to calm right down when I picked her up, but NO!  This Santa character had her spooked for sure.  Finally Santa handed her a candy cane in a noisy plastic wrapper and she calmed down, but would not let Santa touch her.  So instead of Randal and Santa pictures we have family and Santa pictures.

Although it sounds harsh I wish the guy behind the camera would have taken a few shots of Randal's meltdown but he appeared to be all of 19 and probably doesnt realize that a baby losing it over Santa is still a moment that should be captured...they should really let us parents pay a fee and have a couple minutes to take pictures of our own.  Seriously I would have paid more if they would have just let me take my own pictures and then they wouldn't have had to waste their materials.  I digress...but seriously if any of you know who puts on these Santa shindigs you should totally suggest this BYOC (bring your own camera) idea.

Okay....on to pictures.

Trying to escape:

And finally a smile when we added Daddy:

9 1/2 months!

Randal Jean is 9 1/2 months and on the move!  I haven't done a true update about her in a while so here it goes...

She had her 9 month appt last week and weighed in at 20lbs (average) and 30in (off the charts!).  This keeps he consistent with being long and lean :)  No joke, the child is one tall 9 month old.  We are already having problems finding pants to fit her.  I completely expected to have a daughter that would have difficulty finding pants long enough, but I just didnt expect to have this issue before she was 1...I thought we would atleast wait until middle school.  Oh well, since she is only 9 1/2 months old she really could care less if her pants are short or if she has on pants at all (which she might prefer).

She is still the best eater :)  Fish and beef are her new foods and ofcourse she loved them (albeit they are mixed with lots of veggies...her faves!).  If I let her I think she would sustain off peas and cheerios...yes I said peas.  She is getting mighty good with a sippy cup, which is great as we prepare to wean around her first birthday.  I am still nursing and she nurses (or takes a bottle) 3 times a day.  Nursing only 3 times a day has meant I dropped one of my regularly scheduled pumpings at work....this makes me happy :)

She finally has teeth...two (as mentioned in the post below).

She is an EXPLORER and wants to be in to everything!  She is FAST.  Fast + Explorer = Mommy on her toes 24/7!  She is in a destructive phase right now wanting to pull everything she can out of drawers....I guess this goes along with exploring.

She likes to inspect peoples hands.  She loves bath time.  She likes to clap and gives "high fives"...she thinks she is pretty cool when she claps!

She is walking (kinda...and why didnt I mention this already!).  She can take about 4 steps at a time but needs to get some more confidence and stability before she is ready for take off.

She is increasingly interested in Cobi and Tessa and likes to share her Cheerios with them.  They don't mind the extra treats.

Occassionally she will give hugs and kisses and when she does I want to melt.

She is an absolute F-L-I-R-T.  Whenever we go shopping she will turn it on for anyone that talks to her. It is hilarious to watch her flirt with everyone and vice versa.  She seems to have a particularly enjoyable time flirting with the Costco and Tomlinson's employees.

She is happy happy happy and is the most loveable, kissable, and precious little girl ever!

Got Teeth?

Randal Jean finally has teeth, two to be exact!  And to help her teeth come along she enjoys teething on everything...literally the child will chew on any and everything.  We have plenty of frozen, textured, vibrating (you name it!) teething toys but she could care less for them and would rather chew on everything else.

Case in point...

She likes to chew on her activity center while watching Yo Gabba Gabba


Teething on daddy's old nail & hammer toy


When no toys are around the window will suffice


Exercaucer toys are yummy too


Daddy's belt...seriously kiddo?!?


And last but not least the toy chest.  (PS- Matt won the keyboard in the picture at a golf tournament and its dishwasher safe...b/c that's what everyone has always wanted in a keyboard, right?...I guess thats a good thing since its Randal's toy now)

Let It Snow!

Last weekend while Randal and I were in Kernersville it SNOWED!!!!  It was the perfect kind of snow. It accumulated a few inches so it was enough to excite all the kiddies, but it wasn't cold enough to mess up the roads, and within 24 hrs it was almost all gone!

Randal was not too fond of the snow the first time I took her out :(  She was fine until I made her stand by herself while using a snow covered tree for support...After that she wouldnt give the snow another chance until the following day.

By Sunday she was much more comfortable with the snow...even if it was quickly melting away.

For Jeanna

A couple weekends ago I met up with my friend Jeanna and her family for some pictures.  Ever since Randal Jean was born I have become more and more interested in photography.  I am so happy when I am behind a camera lens and love learning more about photography...and believe me have ALOT to learn.

I was happy with most of the images from our little get together but let me tell you something...photographing a 16 month old is tough stuff!  Ava is such an active and independent little girl.  She wanted to have nothing to do with getting together for a group shot so we will have to try and get that another time.

Anyways, I hope you like them :)  For now this is just a hobby but it makes oh so happy to take pictures.  Hopefully someday I can make it more than a hobby but for now I am just learning and practicing...and eagerly patiently awaiting my new camera to come in the mail (only ordered it a couple months ago!).

K'ville and the Great-grands

A couple weekends ago Randal Jean and I went home with my mom to K'ville to leave Matt home to study for the CPA exam.  It was beautiful back home.  The leaves were changing which is something we sadly don't get to see much of at the coast and the weather was mild.  It was perfect!  While we were home we also made the trip to my grandparents.  They hadn't seen Randal in a couple of months so it was nice getting to see Randal interact with her great-grandparents (So special!).

Here's some documentation of our weekend:

Fall foliage in the park

Sliding with mom.  Clearly, the manufacturers of slides have made some advancements since I was a kid.  This slide was super fast!  It was all I could do to hold on to Randal and not end up on my rear.  Lets just say the next slide we went on together was in the "mini" section of the park.

Randal with her great-grands and her cousins, Georgia Rae and Houston

Great-grandpa George with a big SMILE!

Sweet Georgia Rae

Houston

"Sissy, I love you!"

Lately...

Lately the Bork family has been B-U-S-Y!!!  Hence, no posts in almost a month.  Although I am not too sure if anyone other than Nana Rhonda or Grandma Lori checks for updates.  Oh well, on to journaling I go :)

Life has been hectic around here...Randal is on the move and let me tell you it is WORK keeping up with her.  She is so close to walking it is scary.  I really think we might have a walker on our hands just in time for Christmas.  Matt has been studying hard for the CPA exam.  He took his first of the 4 tests last week but we wont know how he did for a couple weeks (fingers crossed).  While studying he completely takes over the office...yet another reason for no blogging.  He is taking a break from studying this week so Randal and I are getting to see more of him.  It is nice :)  We have had places to go and people to see every weekend for atleast the past month...but will hopefully get a weekend of rest next weekend.  Although, it is almost Christmas (say what?) and I have ALOT of decorating, shopping, wrapping, etc, etc to do so we will see how well that nice weekend at home goes...

Some how in all this craziness someone came in and stole my baby and replaced her with a 9 month old?!?!  Just kidding (obviously) but really why is Randal Jean getting so big!  I thought babies were supposed to stop growing so fast by now...no such luck here.  All kidding aside I really cant complain...we have one of the happiest babies around and we are so lucky that she has remained healthy as we get in to cold/flu season (everyone knock on some wood for me).

Here's a few recent pics of our 9 (seriously, people!) month old baby girl!

On the Move!

Randal Jean has started crawling and pulling up!  She seems to enjoy crawling and being able to explore but prefers to use crawling as a means to get to somewhere to pull up.  She loves standing!!!!  I really don't think walking will be that far behind...

Check out our cutie in action  (PS-I can't get the audio to work so no need to mess with your computers):

Till Family Reunion

This past Saturday was the Till family reunion at my cousin John's farm in South Carolina.  I always look forward to the family reunion as it is usually the only time of year I get to see most of Tills and plus the Till farm is amazing!

We had around 40 people in attendance this year representing 4 generations of Tills.  As always we had way too much food, but we all made sure that not a crumb of Aunt Pauline's caramel cake was left.  We also carved pumpkins, went on a hay ride around the farm, and reminisced about past reunions.  I think it is so neat to hear people from my parents generation talk about coming to reunions before they had kids and now they are showing up with their grandkids!  And better yet I like to hear my dad and his cousins talk about going to the farm when it was owned by their granddaddy (my great-grandfather) and all the memories they made there. 

So like I mentioned up top the Till farm is AMAZING.  I believe its around 1000 acres total with around 500 acres of corn and soy fields, has a large pond stocked with fish, and enough farm equipment to make boys young and old grin ear to ear.  Doesn't that sound great!  Not to wish time away or anything but I can't wait for Randal Jean to be a little older and get to help drive the tractors and look around in amazement at all the space to run free!  

I am so grateful that John and his wife Susan have kept of the tradition of hosting the Till family reunion and invite us back year after year.  The sense of family at the reunions is something that really can't be paralleled.

Below are lots of pictures...my only regret is not taking more pictures of our gorgeous surroundings and of all of the attendees (Randal always seems to steal the picture...)

Swinging

With cousin John

Carving pumpkins

With Uncle Riley

Everybody...I LOVE LOVE LOVE big families

My dad and his siblings

Riley and Kacie....photogenic as ever

Randal's first hay ride

View of the "pond" on the hay ride

Randal sleeping through her first hay ride

Our branch of the family tree....We missed you Uncle Tyler!

Kacie having fun on the swing

Outfit change after daddy spilled punch all over his girl

Tractor tires are great!

"Mom, I am done!"