First Bite of Food!

AHHH I can NOT believe that I almost forgot to post about Raleigh Grace's first bite of baby food!! 

On Monday, March 26th, K and I introduced Raleigh Grace to the world of PEACHES! K and I had been to the store and he picked that to be her first food!  She immediately LOVED them and continued to eat about half a jar in her first feeding.  We stripped her shirt for easy cleaning but surprisingly she did very well eating with minimal mess.  K fed her the whole time while mommy tried to capture some pictures.  It was easy to tell when she was finished eating because she simply quit opening her mouth and tried her hardest to find a way out of her bumbo seat ha! 

I am so happy that we had a great experience all around! It is still very hard for me to believe that she is actually eating food now.  Look at this sweet, happy face! Isn't she a DOLL!? We love you Raleigh Grace!!

and when she was done: 

 but then we tried to give her one last bite... just to make sure she was finished... 

 yup. pretty sure she doesn't want anymore! 

... still trying to escape...

 "MOM! Enough with the pictures!"

"yep! I know I'm cute!" :)

What was your child's first food? Did she/he enjoy it or was it a disaster? 

Singing her praises!

My mom has been in town the past few days and I can not thank her enough for all of her help with Raleigh Grace (hi mom!)!! It has truly been wonderful to sit back and relax for what feels like the first time since early on in RG's life (when mom stayed up with RG so I could sleep!)!

my mom and RG at my grandma and grandpa's a couple weeks ago :)

The past 2 nights Raleigh Grace has slept in her room for the FIRST time in her LIFE!  She slept in her bouncer in her crib :).  We will continue to get to the point where she is ready to sleep in her crib (without the bouncer).

The first night mom put her down and RG slept from 2am (sigh) until around 3am then mom rocked her and she fell back asleep (usually she demands food so this is huge on its own) and slept until 6am.  Pretty dandy night for us- especially since last weekend at the beach she was waking up ever hour and half or so!

Now, lets talk about LAST night... again, mom put RG down around 1am and my sweet little girl didn't wake up until 6am!!!!!!!!!!! This is the first night that RG has "slept through the night" since around Christmas!!! :) :) :)

I am one happy mamma today!!!!!!!! Thanks MOM for all your help!! YAY!!!

Thanks for listening to my excited self document PROGRESS!!! :) and... I will pray that this continues for some time or gets even better!

Project 365: Week 11-15

Wednesday Love!

linking up {here} :) 

Just a few things that I am loving today: 

+that I just finished the book, The Last Song- see my review {here}

+TJMaxx

and their great deals... like...

+my new curling iron

umm yes please! Cheaper than the original one I had (from wal-mart of all places)

+the awesome deals on name brand shampoo/conditioner (thanks for the suggestion to go to TJMaxx, Lori)

and the conditioner was even cheaper- 7.99

+plug-in's from Bath and Body Works, specifically the Lavender and Vanilla mmm! 

+and of course this sweet face! and her new jewelry from her aunt, Donna - it was hers when she was a baby :)

Book Review: The Last Song

{via}

The Last Song, by Nicholas Sparks 

I'm not really sure where to start with this book, so let me start by saying that I LOVED this book! It only took me about 8 months to finish reading it because I kept sitting it down, simply because I did not want it to end! It was that good!  I am really looking forward to seeing the movie (even though I am usually disappointed by the movie after I have read the book). K was going to buy it for me last night but all the Targets near us are sold out.  I guess that could be a good sign.  Out of all of the N.Sparks books I have read, this one is one of my favorites! Amazon rates it 4.5 stars out of 5!

Like in most of his books, Nicholas Sparks uses the first few chapters of this book to introduce a lot of the characters and set the rest of the book up.  In my opinion the first few chapters took a while to get through but once I got past that this book was such an easy read for me. 

Here is the description of this book:

Seventeen year old Veronica "Ronnie" Miller's life was turned upside-down when her parents divorced and her father moved from New York City to Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. Three years later, she remains angry and alientated from her parents, especially her father...until her mother decides it would be in everyone's best interest if she spent the summer in Wilmington with him. Ronnie's father, a former concert pianist and teacher, is living a quiet life in the beach town, immersed in creating a work of art that will become the centerpiece of a local church.

The tale that unfolds is an unforgettable story of love on many levels--first love, love between parents and children -- that demonstrates, as only a Nicholas Sparks novel can, the many ways that love can break our hearts...and heal them.

If you love MUSIC, you will love this book.

If you love THE BEACH, you will love this book.

If you love FAMILY, you will love this book.

If you love FRIENDS, you will love this book.

If you love SUSPENSE, you will love this book.

and last, but NOT least...

If you love ROMANCE, you will LOVE this book!

It's a First...Rice Cereal!

We have a fun, free spirited little girl on our hands and for the past few weeks she has been learning to sit on her own and she has definitely shown interest in what mommy and daddy are having at the dinner table.  These two combined give us the "go ahead" to start solid's according to many baby "experts."  

We decided (a week ago today-March 19) to give our little baby girl some rice cereal.  She was very unsure about it but with each bite she became a little more interested.  She did a great job and we had fun watching her explore and learn about the food.  I love watching her grow every single day... it seems everyday she is so much more advanced than the day before! As I have said many times before, she is growing up way too quickly! Mommy and Daddy love you  so much, Raleigh Grace!!

Her poor little eyes are so red... we took her to the doctor and she was diagnosed with severe allergies. Thankfully, she is doing much better now :)

RG by the Week: 22 Weeks!

(this post is exactly a week late. there are only about 900 pictures in this post.)

march 13-19th

this picture screams "I did it!!!"

yup, shes now sitting up on her own.... for about 60 seconds!! :)

she likes to chew on the side of the passy

really reaching for the toys now... and getting ahold of them!

she loves driving with her daddy!

playing with Aunt Nee Nee

hanging out with Pop 

right before our 7am hike with Pop... this cracked me up :)  One size truly does fit all with the Moby :)

Sic Em Bears :) and Happy St. Patty's Day with Aunt Carrie :) 

RG checking out her new hair bows from her Aunt

I LOVE this image... so sweet! Aunt Carrie and Uncle Dusty

the driveway

it was a beautiful cool but not cold morning 

the dew on a branch- if you look closely you can see the reflection of all the trees :)

at the bottom of the driveway- the old wheelbarrow

the beautiful bradford pears blooming 

Our walk was on St. Patty's day so I thought it was only fitting to take a picture of the beautiful clover patch :)

Mommy found a 4 leaf clover and someone was thrilled (She hadn't put on her green yet so she got the clover so she didn't get pinched)... oh and I also found a 5 leaf clover is that good luck too?

the trees blooming

the 4 leaf clover Mommy found :) I was so excited!

trying to keep her head up... someone was dozing off ;) 

and shes gone!

going up the driveway

my grandparent's beautiful log home!

the shed out back

sitting on the swing on the front porch

three generations :) 

playing with Grandma

found on our walk sunday :)

RG's newest BEST friend... they really did love each other! I need to get the video from my mom... RG would pet Dotty and Dotty would just purrr and RG would laugh... this went on for about 10 minutes!! Dotty would keep walking back and forth near RG so that RG would pet her. It was soo cute!

 Great Grandpa!

 Great Grandma!

 kisses on the hand from Great Gpa

This Week Raleigh Grace:

-intentionally picked up her passy that was laying on the bed

-enjoyed her first St. Patrick's Day at Great Gma and Gpa's in the mountains

-vocals are changing -- more like yodaling according to K

-sitting up on her own for approx 60 seconds.

-fell asleep in the Moby when Pat was carrying her on her walk to the mailbox at my grandparents.

-sleeping 4ish hrs on good nights...

-tried: celery (and somehow with no teeth managed to bite the end off... I think she liked it to say the least ha) , grapes and sun drop :)

-started her on SOLIDS!!! She enjoyed her first taste of Rice Cereal !!!

-First weekend alone without hubby-- I was really nervous and super sad but we made it out
alive! I am sooo thankful that my family let us come hang out with them up in the mountains and that my sister, mom and dad were there from Mississippi! It was so great to see everyone and for them to keep my occupied while the hubby took a backpacking trip with some of his friends!

-Rubs her eyes when sleepy... its so sweet and innocent :)

-First time really sick-- took her to doc on Monday and she was diagnosed with severe allergies :( poor girl! Her eyes were sooo watery that tears just poured down her face 24/7... her nose was super runny and she couldn't stop sneezing and rubbing her face, nose and eyes. (this started on Friday with a runny nose and just progressed).  They gave her baby Zyrtec- 1/2 a teaspoon before bedtime.  It seemed to help it by Tuesday morning- but not completely.  Her cough became more a croupy cough rather than a dry cough and I got worried- I called the doc back and they put her on some drops for her cough and said to use those (.50 ml every 4-6 hours) until her cough got better and then go back on Z. if needed.

-weighed 13lbs 12 oz on Monday  (5-10th percentile, sweet little petite girlie!)

-Friday- she really reached for me when Denise was holding her.

-She seems like she is noticing when I leave the room and gets a little sad/worried.

-there are real tears when she cries!... sad sad!

and there you have it... thats about all that I wrote down this week.... time to get back on the ball with my updates ... don't yah think!?