It's a GIRL...One Year Later

One year ago today Matt and I had an ultrasound and were told...It's a GIRL!

Boy oh boy :) do I love this little girl. It's hard to believe that one year ago I was not even half way through my pregnancy and now I have a 7 month old!

I am not going to lie..I was hoping for a girl and was "tickled pink" when the tech told us we were indeed having a girl! There are a million reasons why I was hoping for a girl (and another million why I do want a boy one day). Many of the reasons are frivolous like wanting to play dress up, buying more pink and purple than any one person ever should, and so on and so on. But the main reason I wanted a daughter was to experience a mother-daughter relationship from the mother end of things. My mom is my best friend and knows me better than anyone. I really don't know what I would do without my mom. One of my greatest wishes is that Randal and I build a relationship like the one I have with my mom and that she always knows that I am her #1 fan and confidant just like my mom is to me.

Here's to mother-daughter relationships :)

Holding On

Oh my gosh I can not begin to tell you how much Randal Jean loves to stand up. She must be holding on to something (and holding tight), but boy does she think she is hot stuff when she is standing. She gets the biggest grin, starts to make high pitched noises, and bounces. It is just the cutest thing!

Little Miss Priss standing :)

Cluster Poster

Okay, so I have labeled myself as a cluster poster which means that when I post I usually have multiple posts. So scroll down and check out all of tonight's additions.

And because a post is nothing without a picture...

Another Saturday Downtown

The weather was very nice on Saturday so we decided to go walk around downtown and grab lunch. Hopefully, with the fall weather approaching we will be able to have more Saturday's like this.

After a stroll by the river we went to eat at Press 102. We had the special soup of the day to start off which was a White Peach Pineapple Mint chilled soup. We then split two panini: the fried chicken and waffle and the meatloaf. They were both WONDERFUL!!! These are both on the regular menu...but not on the menu posted online. I think there has been a lot added to the menu since they posted it to the website. So I guess you must go check it out :) It was also very reasonably priced and we could have gotten out of there for less than $20 but we needed to try some of their French Press coffee. They say they have the "best coffee" in Wilmington and I must say I agree.

Fleeting "Babyness"

First, do you like my made up word, "babyness"?

Randal is growing so quickly and I feel like all her babyness is going away, but occasionally she will give you an extra special dose of the babyness you need.

This is what I came home to the other day when I got in from work. My mom said Randal had woke up after 15 mins of a nap (not unusual for her last nap) so she brought her in to the living room and while Randal was crawling on her chest she must have decided she wanted more sleep. When I saw this I thought the following: 1) I wish she would fall asleep at random on my chest :( 2) What a sweet moment with nana 3) Gosh, my girl looks long and 4) get the camera!

Puppy

Randal has developed an attachment to a small blanket with a puppy head attached...I think most people call them loveys but we just call this one "puppy." Puppy sleeps in Randal's left hand at night and during all naps. Puppy also comes along when Randal is first waking up and when we rock her to sleep. He is also a great partner to play peek-a-boo with :)

I am in search of 1 or 2 more puppies like this one but the place I got this one is sold out of all the puppies and only has monkeys, lambs, etc right now. Fingers crossed we can continue to get this one in the wash and out of the dryer in between naps.

6 month stats

Randal had her 6 month well visit on Friday. She weighed in at 16.4 lbs (50th percentile) and 27.25 in long (90th percentile)...she is one long little girl! She had to get 4 shots and 1 oral vaccine. Despite using her as a pin cushion she cried for less than 10 seconds. Hopefully, she will continue to act like this for shots because if she ends up taking after me the nurses will be chasing her around the office to give her shots once she's mobile (not kidding, I really did this!). The doc said she looked great and told us to go ahead and let her try cheerios. I have started to put some cheerios on her high chair before every meal but she isnt showing much interest in eating them, just playing with them.

The below is the result of putting a cheerio in her mouth:

Thinking about it...

"Mom, I dont know about this!"

Maybe some other time...

Labor Day Weekend

During Labor Day weekend we visited Matt's family in Calabash. The boys played a round of golf in the afternoon while Randal and I stayed back at the house with Lori (Matt's mom). Lori cooked a feast for everyone when the boys got back that included shrimp, clams, fish, hush puppies, cheesy grits, cole slaw, and more. It was all very very yummy and I was stuffed by the time we left.

While we were there our friends Josh and Amy stopped by with their 4 1/2 month old Caroline. The girls can't interact too much right now but it was cute to see them check out each other. This was the first time Randal has had the opportunity to "play" with another baby close to her age. It was so good to see Josh and Amy and their sweet girl...I really wish we lived closer to see them more often. Josh and Amy got married just before Matt and I so it is funny to see us have our first child around the same time :)

Here are some pics from our trip to Calabash:

We were going to eat clams...so I dressed Randal to match :)

Caroline and Randal checking each other out

The Linville and Bork families :)

They are sharing well for now...we'll see about next year

And almost three years ago we were at Josh and Amy's wedding. Happy (almost) 3 year anniversary!!!