What a beautiful day!

And I got to spend it with the cutest, funniest baby girl! 

We went on a long walk with Fancy and then dropped her off at the house.

Then, we went to the playground and RK got in the swing for the first time! Think she liked it? 

Swinging made her tired! Five minutes after I snapped the picture above, I snapped the picture below.

So, Mama got to go on another long, peaceful walk!  She was still sleeping when we got back to the house, so I parked her in the garage while I cleaned out the car. 

I captured some of the swinging on my iPhone...

And also some of the burping. (Oops!) Ray says this is rehearsal dinner material! 

The Culprit

So, usually after at least 6 hours of sleep at night, I'm ready to get up and go in the morning.  For the past few months, that hasn't been the case.  I've had to drag myself out of bed; working out is the last thing I feel like doing.  Also, my hair was coming out by (what seemed like) the handful every time I would take a shower.  I got some blood work done and they called me with the results this morning... mild anemia (low iron).  Explains everything!  I'm glad I know the culprit now.  With a supplement, I should be feeling like myself again in no time!

WOLF...

PACK!

I think I need to go to Pack's Tavern for every State game from here on out.

First, I went out with a friend and ended up there to watch NC State beat Florida State in football (Oct. 6, 2012).

Me & Jordan

Then, Ray, Raleigh Kate and I went there to watch the NC State/Duke game (Jan. 12, 2013) with many other Asheville-area alum. We all know how that turned out. :)

And most recently, on Saturday night, we joined our Wolfpackers at Pack's Tavern to watch State beat Carolina.  Raleigh stayed awake for the whole game and fell asleep as soon as we got in the car to head home. She's a trooper!

Roll Pack!

Before & After

When we began to look at homes and stumbled across the one we settled on, one of the first things I knew I wanted to do with it was paint the walls.  We bought a foreclosed home, and the only thing that really (physically) showed us it was a "foreclosure" was the wall damage.  It wasn't anything crazy bad, but the construction white walls were a little beat up with scattered black marks in random places and tiny holes here and there from where they moved the furniture down the stairs.  (Oh, and the rotating plate in the microwave wasn't there...minor, right? Except that it costs $80 and we've yet to shell that out to replace it! Ha.)  Anyway, almost two years later and we finally painted! It's amazing what a paint job can do.  Our house feels much warmer.  We got all the common areas professionally painted because of the high walls and some awkward areas.  We will eventually do the bedrooms, dining room, and bathrooms ourselves.

Special Date!

I just realized I never documented one of my favorite nights of the year thus far.  Ray surprised me with an overnight date night in downtown Asheville.  He had his mom and brother come stay with Raleigh for the evening, while we enjoyed dinner and an evening out.  We stayed in a fun hotel and got upgraded to a corner suite!  It was amazing! I really didn't want to go anywhere, I just wanted to stay in the room.  Ha!  We decided to get pizza for dinner at Barley's, which was right across the street.  Then, we hung out at the hotel bar (called wxyz) and sat by the outdoor fire pit for a little while.  It was perfect.  It was the first time I had been without RK overnight, but I did fine and so did she.  I knew she was in good hands!  I was definitely ready to see her in the morning, though.

The pool area - I've decided we must go back this summer.
They have bungalow style rooms at the pool level.  Perfection!

The sweet suite

Fire pit

 

It's the little things

My husband is amazing because last week, instead of relaxing on his "lunch break," he went to Target with us to get groceries.  It was raining and I was dreading getting out in it with Raleigh Kate.  We stopped by his store to say hey, and he said he'd go with us!  Talk about making a rainy day better!  I was able to pull the car up to the store so he could load the groceries and put RK in the car without getting wet.  Made my day!

Then, tonight, I went to the grocery store for a whole hour by myself! It's amazing how much less money I spend when I have the time to compare prices and I'm not trying to get in and out with the baby.  I think I'll make this a weekly excursion! ;)

I love my hubby...just sayin!

And when I say it was raining, it rained for at least four days straight and never snowed.

Flooded corn field outside of our neighborhood

Flooded road that Ray drove through (ignoring the ROAD CLOSED - HIGH WATER sign!)
We were NOT with him.

Corn field

Six Months

Raleigh Katherine is halfway to a year!

She loves:

• Bath time - She's learned to splash with her hands and feet.
• BabyFirst TV - We bought a couple of DVDs for the car, and it's the only thing that keeps her calm and entertained. No more crying in the car!
• Fancy and Tink, and all dogs - She pets them and makes funny noises when they get around her.  Just wait until she's up and running - she's going to terrorize them!
• Crinkly toys - She loves hearing the crinkle noise.
• Noise in general - She has to hear the toy to appreciate it.  She has a play set of keys and she loves to throw them up and down and bang them on the floor.
• People - She will smile at anyone (as long as she's not tired).  If she really likes someone, she will make lots of sounds!
• Peaches, Pears, and Prunes.  So far, she doesn't like any vegetables!
• Frozen yogurt - We gave her a few bites of my fro yo the other day and she ate it up! She loved it so much that she fussed when I didn't have anymore to give her.

She can:

• Roll over both ways.
• Sit on her own for a few seconds!
• Kick so fast.
• Clap (almost)
• Make the sounds "B," "D" and "G."  (Most often - "dadadada")
• Scream - in a good way!
• Pick things up and pass them easily from hand to hand

Looking forward to:

• More laughing.
• Beginning to crawl...she's almost there!
• Watching her pick up food on her own

Bedtime routine:  Bath, pajamas, bottle, sit and hang out with us for a little while if she's not tired yet, bounce on exercise ball/sing for a few minutes and then put her in the crib.  She usually starts crying the first time I put her down, so I go downstairs and wash bottles or do something that will take my mind off the crying.  If ten minutes goes by and she's not asleep yet, I will go up and pat her back.  Most of the time she will stop crying and fall asleep when I do that, but sometimes I have to get her out and rock her for a few minutes.  When I put her back in, if she starts crying, it usually only lasts for about 5 minutes before she falls asleep, but most of the time she just goes to sleep.  Some nights I just can't help myself...if she's crying, I'll go get her and let her lay in bed with me until she's completely asleep.  CAN'T. GET. ENOUGH.

At six months, RK is sleeping at least 10 hours through the night.  She is taking two 1-1 1/2 hour naps and one 1/2 hour nap each day.  She goes to Trivia with us every Monday night at Beef O'Brady's.  (Our team name is Team With a Baby.)   She plays in gym childcare for 45 minutes at a time while I workout.  She does great sitting in church with us, but I think I'll start putting her in the nursery starting this Sunday.  She still has her bald spot on the back of her head, which should go away as she starts sitting up more and crawling.  She's eating four (sometimes five) 8-oz bottles per day--one bottle every three hours.  She is still on Enfamil A.R. for spit-up, which makes her a little constipated, but it's improving and prunes and peaches definitely help with that!  We no longer give her gas drops at night.  She only cries when she's getting tired or hungry.  Sometimes she'll fuss if she's bored, but that can usually be fixed by a change of scenery.  Her two bottom teeth are in, and thankfully it didn't phase her!  She just drooled a lot more than usual for a few days. :)  She loves to feel her teeth on her bottom lip...I need to capture that face on camera soon!

For her six month photos, she was so cold in her white onesie that she wouldn't smile!  So, I re-took some when I put her sleeper on.  :)  

You can see her two little teeth sticking out of her gums in this picture <3