Eating Grass

Here's a video of Randal trying to run around at my grandparents house last weekend.  There yard isn't quite as flat as ours but she enjoyed trying to climb up and run down the "hills"...unfortunately she ended up eating lots of grass in the process.

Note my father and brother laughing hysterically in the background as Randal falls repeatedly (no worries, she was fine) and me walking around with a camera on my neck snapping away....so typical

You might want to hit the "full screen" button to view...not that its an outstanding video but the size blogger defaults to is just too tiny.

Randal and her cupcake

Randal celebrated her first birthday this evening with a chocolate cupcake :)  She was really unsure of it at first and needed some help from daddy to even realize she should be eating it!!!  Then after that her emotions were all over the board....

Enjoy!

Randal Jean is O-N-E!!!

My oh my...my baby girl is 1 today!!!!  

This year has absolutely flown by.  She has grown up so quickly and I find myself constantly struggling to accurately remember the baby she was a year ago.  Randal has been such a blessing in our lives.  Becoming a mother was always in the plan I had for myself, but actually becoming a mother has exceeded every expectation I have ever had.  I love this baby girl to the very depths of my being and will never be able to convey to her what she means to me.  I love you baby girl....Happy FIRST Birthday!!!!

And now for a stroll down memory lane...

Newborn sleepiness

Already a goof at 1 month

Being a part of family conversation at 2 months

In the sun at 3 months

Loving the exersaucer at 4 months

Sitting all by herself at 5 months

Cutie patootie pie at 6 months

Wanting to crawl at 7 months

Obligatory pumpkin pictures at 8 months

All bundled up at 9 months

Silly girl at 10 months

A true beauty at 11 months

Keeping us on our toes at 12 months

So Randal

We're still here!!!  I was doing so good with blogging...and then before you know it I missed a week.  Not too much time to type, but as I was going through some pictures of our weekend trip to my grandparents I ran across this picture of Randal and thought "that is so her!"  It's so her in that she is grinning ear to ear, running at a pace her feet will not be able to keep up with, and hands full of grass.  

Hopefully, I can share more pictures of our weekend soon, but for now here's our girl!!
  

Happy Valentine's Day!

So there's only about 2 more hours to this Valentine's Day, but better late than never, right?!?  Were not too big on Valentine's in this household but it was an excuse to dress Randal up in a tutu so we celebrated :)

In her Valentine's attire:

Her Valentine treat which she had no clue what to do with at first:

Now she's figured it out :)

Yummy!!! 

All smiles after her first taste of sugar....you should have seen her smacking her lips.

And just in case your are wondering she only had the lollipop for a few minutes...now its mommy's Valentine treat!

Like Father Like Daughter

This was the scene today in the living room.  Daddy and Randal Jean playing on their laptops....and I'm pretty sure basketball was being watched on the TV at the same time :)

No Stroller No Problem

As its been mentioned on her quite a bit lately Randal is walking so when we headed downtown for lunch on Sunday and forgot our stroller Randal got walk around like a big kid :)  It was crazy to watch her walking around downtown holding her daddy's hand.  I need to get used to the fact that my baby is quickly turning in to a toddler full of independence.

Here are some pics of our afternoon downtown (not all of walking...but you're not going to complain, right?)

Sitting across from me at stuffing an entire animal cracker in her mouth.  This is how she prefers to eat them...one whole cookie at a time.  That's my girl!

I just can't believe she is already sitting across the table from me and feeding herself.  Such a big girl!

She cracks me up all day long

On to the walking... 

She thought this fire hydrant was cool....I thought it was a bit too close to the road

Walking around by herself meant we had to take some breaks to catch our balance

All balanced and back to it

"Mommy I'm gonna get you!"

Needing a break so she watched some people go by.  Could you check out her big girl sneakers!

And because she is only 11 months daddy had to fill in for the stroller for part of the afternoon

Who Knew?

Who knew a double chin could be so cute?!?

Channeling Tim Gunn & Gretchen Wilson

 Tim Gunn & Gretchen Wilson in the same sentence, say what?

Life is crazy hectic around here, per the usual.  Between two full-time working parents, one parent studying for the CPA exam, another parent trying to launch her own business (stay tuned folks!), and the most adorably distracting 11 month old you have ever seen it is sometimes trying just to get the bare minimum done around here.

So while trying to get the necessities complete flashes of Tim Gunn and Gretchen Wilson pop in my head.  Are you ready for the explanation of this?

Well back in my TV watching days I loved me some Project Runway and ofcourse if you love the show you adore Tim Gunn.  Tim was always telling the contestants "make it work!"  MAKE IT WORK! has become my personal mantra as of late.

Now on to Gretchen.  Remember her song "Red Neck Woman"?  Well hopefully the title of the song doesn't explain the Gretchen half of this to you.  Hopefully.  In that song there was a line about "with a baby on my hip."  If I am getting anything done while at home before the hour of 7pm it is quite likely that I have my baby on my hip.

So there you have it....in this hectic life of mine I am always telling myself to "make it work" all the while with "a baby on my hip."

Photo from Lifetime.com

Photo from CMT.com