State Fair Festivities!

Yesterday marked the last day the fair was in town. It was in Raleigh for a little over a week and we were lucky to get to go twice! My Mom has a customer who works one of the gates every year and she is sweet enough to let us in free, which is awesome because we probably wouldnt be able to afford going!

Wednesday night after Dan got off work we headed out there. Traffic was very mild and it was easy to get in and out. The crowds were no where near as packed as other nights. Gabby had never witnessed anything like that before and was overjoyed. We played a few games & enjoyed the most deliciously unhealthy food all night. We had to get the infamous 'Al's Fries' drenched in vinegar. Yum. We also indulged in deep fried Snicker's, Reese's & Oreo's (don't judge, it was a combo deal!)


In Heritage Circle, our favorite section, we danced to bluegrass, sipped on apple cider & couldn't pass up the apple pie at Smitty's Apples. On the way out we may or may not have stopped for some deep fried cinnamon buns! This was the latest we ever had Gabby up & left the park at 10pm. Her bedtime is around 7:45. She did excellent & was in good spirits the whole time.

Deep Friend Cinnamon Buns!

We had no idea we would end up going again, just 2 nights later. My brother, Daniel & his girlfriend, Lindsay came to town from the mountains and we thought it would be fun to all go together. While we were waiting for their friends to get there we noticed a Duke University bus and a sign out front that said 'Make $$ for Surveys.' The guys were skeptical but Lindsay and I were all for it. The guy in charge told us it would take 15 minutes and we persuaded the guys to do it. It was easy, quick and painless & we walked out of there with $35 bucks. Not bad! We will definitely be doing this next year!

We were there on a Friday night this time around and it was packed! Pushing the stroller through the crowd was a task. This time around we tried the deep friend Girl Scout Samoa cookies that Dan & I both agreed were the best thing we ever tasted! We walked around while Gabby got to play with her Uncle & Aunt and even with the rest of our group! Gabby protested early & we headed for the car, but not before grabbing a gourmet turtle brownie funnel cake. HOLYYYYY, yeah.

See ya next year NC State Fair!

Turtle Browie Funnel Cake!

Raising a FOODIE!

What a mess!

Penne alla Vodka!

Ohh boy, Gabby's favorite thing to do.. 'TEE' or how the rest of us say it, eat! Up until Gabby turned 1, I was very particular about what she ate. I swarmed off the Grandparents the best I could to keep her from having allergies as an older kid & just stuck with plain ol' baby food. But, now? Now that we are 1? Its time to really dig in.

Can you guess her favorite food? What more can you expect from a little italian baby.. PASTA.. with sauce! YUMM. Yesterday, I made a bolognese sauce  and slow cooked  in the crock pot for 5 hours. It was delicious, and Gabby thought so too. She ate 2 plates of it!

Mm, pretty good!

So that is what heaven tastes like?

Last week, we went to Dickey's BBQ downtown & Gabby tried her first taste of soft serve ice cream. Lucky girl! We even took a trip to Chick-fil-a, my favorite. She gobbled up some grilled chicken nuggets! I am one happy Momma to give her a variety of foods now, instead of boring purees! Bon Appetite, munchkin!

Look WHOO's 1!

After months of planning, Gabby's 1st Birthday party was a hit! I decided to do an owl theme. Of course, my first thought was a princess party, but how many years is she going to want a princess party?? I figure while I have the choice, it will be something cute & fun.. like OWLS!!! I seriously love owls. If I could decorate my whole house in them, I would. Ok, maybe not my whole house.

Anywhoo.. it was fun! I got a lot of ideas via pintrest. I made decorated paper lanterns to look like owls & made felt owls with big googly eyes! I painted cork board decor in the shape of an owl, made pendant banners & a picture collage of Gabby's first year. I even did a video slide show of Gabby from the kicks in my stomach to saying her first words!

We bought the cake from Whole Foods & they did SUCH an amazing job. I gave them almost nothing to work with and trusted them completely... But I did designed the owl on the cake, which was cool. I gave the lady the picture of the owl & asked to include pink in the cake.. and the owl. No other colors or design specifications. So neat!

Gabby's party included family & friends since I have known since childhood. She had a blast opening presents and pulling all of the tissue paper out! During cake time she was a little unsure about what it was. After I let her taste it, she went to town! No real mess, but it was fun to watch. If this is any inclination about how she is going to be as a kid, she will be very particular about being dirty :)


The sandwiches & cupcakes were catered, thanks to my Mom, from Carolina Cafe. I made a yummy homemade mac & cheese with a white pizza dip. My Dad, Mom & Dan's Mom all brought delicious sides including ambrosia salad, cucumber dill salad & shrimp cilantro dish!

Thanks to all who came out & made this day very special for Gabby. Lets hope she remembers it ;) Hehe.

Happy Birthday, Gabby!! XOXO

Happy Birthday, Sweet Gabrielle.

Dear Sweet Gabrielle-

My beautiful, free-spirited first child. My goodness, you are already one. Where has the time gone? One year ago, I saw your perfect little face & held you in my arms for the first time. I knew we would have something so special, something other Mom's may not experience. You are everything to me. In one year, I have not spent more than 3 hours away from you. Not because I can't, simply because I don't want to. Every morning I look forward to seeing your smile and spending my days with you. This motherly love thing is surely something spectacular. The way you will only lay your head on me, the way you will only reach to come to me, & crawl to me to want to be picked up really does mean what you feel for me is just as strong as the way I feel about needing you.

You continue to amaze me everyday. I am so thrilled to watch you grow & become the most loving, kind little girl, teen & woman. Today is a bittersweet day for me & your father. As much as I am happy to see you grow, I know I will never hold you in my arms as a 'baby' again.. but you will always be my baby. You have turned out to be such a happy, funny spirit. Such a personality! From a young age, you love to make us laugh & you respond so excitedly to a laugh. It is the sweetest thing. I am such a lucky person to have been blessed with such an extraordinary child. So innocent, and such an angel you are. When you walk into a room, all eyes are on you & in 20 years I can imagine that will be the same case. Don't change, sweet girl, you are perfect. You will do amazing things one day, I just know it. Happy 1st Birthday, Gabby.

Love,
Mommy.

Our Super Smart Girl! (& her tricks, too!)

It is really starting to sink in that our little cooing baby isn't so coo-y anymore. She is a talking, animal noise making, crawling boddler (baby/toddler!) I should have known with my talkative ways, Gabrielle would be a little chatterbox.. and with a name like Gabby, could you guess otherwise? From the minute she wakes up, it's non-stop chit chat. She tries her hardest to attempt every word we try to teach her. Gabby really loves talking.


We play a hand game with her that my parents played with me as a child called "Roundball, Roundball." She just loves it, and this week started saying "Rou-bow, Rou-bow" while doing the motion of the game. It blows my mind that she is just 11 months and has a vocabulary of about 10 words. I am totally having a braggy moment, so bare with me here, Gabby's my first and so so smart I can't resist! Maaaaybe this means she will be an English major? Singer? Public speaker?!

Gabby Graduated from the Army Crawl

Gabby started scooting, pushing off with her foot around 7-8 months. Over the months, her army crawl has gotten reeeally fast. She follows behind me all over the house just as quick as regular crawling. Everyone, including myself thought she would just go straight to walking since she was so comfortable with the way she crawled. Welp, we were wrong! In the few days she has been crawling, crawling! Yay, Gabs!!

Gabrielle's Room

I can't say that I've ever posted pictures of Gabby's room in our new house so I thought I would. Recently we switched rooms with her because the little girls next door were waking her up during nap time when they would play right outside of her window. We actually like it better for her & us! We did sacrifice the bigger room but we spend way more time in her room during the day than ours & the closet works better for her things. Enjoy!

When you enter closet you can walk to the left and right

Collage on the wall I made & changing area

This lamp was yellow and white and I painted it!

Books galore!

Looking at the closet

The trees are so nice outside 

Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve

Weekend after weekend passed that we never visited Hemlock Bluffs when we said we were going to. We had nothing planned for Sunday which was very rare so we packed the backpack & headed to Cary.

 It was Gabby's first time riding in the child carrier backpack & she loved that thing! The trail was mulched & lined so it wasn't extremely advanced, which was a good thing because we aren't! When we started the trail I noticed we were going slightly downhill the whole time. We reached the lookout point and could see the lush preserve and the Western Hemlock trees. Pretty cool.

On the trail

Western Hemlocks

 Going back up hill for .5 miles was just short of suicidal. And to make the incline worse, we passed our turn off point and had to back track! Clearly pro hikers.

Yep.

It was really nice to do something different. We were both a sweaty mess afterwards & it felt great to get such a workout!

Surprise Visit

I always grew up closer to Daniel, my younger brother. We grew up hanging out with each others friends, telling secrets & having each others backs. We were both living at my Mom's house a little over a year ago when he announced he was moving to the mountains with his sweetheart of a girlfriend, Lindsay. It was no big deal then, but it's really starting to hit me now. It has been such a busy year for both of us. I had a baby & he is in school & working. It felt in a way like we drifted apart but he came home for a surprise visit this week that confirmed we were still as close as the day he left.

Uncle Daniel!

I see that smile :)

Daniel hadn't seen Gabby since Christmas and was so excited to see her! At first, the beard & long hair was a bit intimidating to Gabrielle. Soon she realized he was a trusting person who wanted to play & she opened up to him! Gabby still struggles with men. Lol.

Don't leeeeave! 

Daniel & Lindsay headed home after a short visit. It was so thrilling knowing they were in town & so heartbreaking knowing they were leaving. They are two of the most dear people to me. We love you guys so much!

Gabby's First Trip

Before being all sandy

After being in Raleigh for 18 months, we decided it was time to get out of Raleigh! Gabby has been more managable in the car and figured she could handle the 2 hour drive to the beach. Dan had already reached his 40 hours by Wednesday (long three days for me) so he decided to take a few vacation days. The forecast looked superb. All of the hotels were booked for the weekend before we decided to go on Thursday instead. We are so glad we were able to go earlier because the beach was dead and the traffic in Wilmington was a lot less than a typical weekend.

Sandy & Sad

Carrying a baby with beach gear was something we were not prepared for. The most excruciating walk. Baby, umbrella, chairs, cooler, beach bag. We looked funny. The beach was something new for Gabby and she was a bit hesitant. Ok, she was a lot hesitant. It started off great before she got all sandy & felt the water. There was no downhill from there. Despite the fact that Gabby was unhappy, Dan & I were still on cloud 9 that we were at the beach for the first time with our baby girl.

One thing Gabby has loved for months now, she got to do in Wilimington.. Go to the pool!!

10 minutes before I ate it. Lol

On Friday we got up early to visit the NC Aquarium. We drove 45 minutes to Fisher Island and had time to kill before it opened. There were rocks near the beach and I had an idea to get out and have a photo shoot! I climbed carefully on the rocks and had Dan pass me Gabby when I was up there. On the way down, I passed her back and slowly jumped rocks. One more step until I reached the ground & I went down with speed thinking I was home free. To my dismay, there was a raised rock that blended with the ground. I caught it and took the worst face dive imaginable into the gravel. It happened so quick I had no time to catch myself. My shoulder hit first. Bloody and crying, we still went to the museum & asked for a first aid kit. When I got back to Raleigh I had it x-rayed since my elbow was blue, swollen and I couldn't move it. I was shocked to find out it wasn't broken but so relieved too. The swelling is sticking around but its getting better! Next time I decide to climb on rocks I will be WAY more cautious.

We all enjoyed the aquarium & afterwards took the ferry that we drove our cars on, to Southport. It is my favorite little beach town. There are cute shops & yummy seafood cafes.

The next morning I got up early and ventured out to a few yard sales in Wilmington. Dan & Gabby stayed in the hotel room while I got my weekly Mother's morning out! I found some great deals!

The car ride home Gabby slept the whole way. It was a quiet, relaxing drive with minimal traffic. It feels good to be back in Raleigh even if it was for a few days but we are already planning our next trip to the beach! We had a blast.

Southport shoppes!

Gabby pulling up

Today Gabby pulled up for the first time! She is still figuring out how to get on her feet but she is on her knees.


 I am a firm believer in not "working" with your children to advance physically. When she wants to & is capable of doing it, she will. There is too much pressure in our society that our kids need to be doing things by a certain time frame. It's just ridiculous. They will all crawl, walk, feed themselves & talk eventually, so what's the rush!?

Baby's First Easter

Holidays were special before, but they are even more special when you are sharing them with a new addition to your family. We were excited to take Gabby to an Easter egg hunt & decided to go to the one ran by the City of Raleigh. It was awesome. Gabby had a blast and we couldn't have asked for nicer weather.

Easter Eve we spent with my Dad. He made barbeque, asparagus & baked potatoes on the grill. He gave Gabby her first baby doll and an awesome glow in the dark book.

Easter Day we met my Mom at Twisted Fork. They had an Easter brunch buffet that was delicious. The only negative was the line. By the time Dan & I got our food, my Mom had to start waiting for probably 15 minutes! Gabby was showered with a basket full of bunnies & the Easter bunny brought me a beautiful glass hummingbird feeder. 

Next year when Gabs is older we will go to Sacred Heart & celebrate the true meaning of Easter.

Ruby came & Ruby went.

We met a little girl around the same age as Gabby at storytime one day. Her name is Ruby. Her mother, Sonya was looking for extra care during the week and it sounded like something I was interested in. After a few chats on the phone, reference checks & a visit to my home Sonya decided we should give it a go!

The first few days were rough. Ruby was showing signs of separation anxiety. All Gabby wanted to do wash laugh and play, chase Ruby around with a smile from ear to ear on, while Ruby wanted nothing to do with Gabby. This lasted a couple months until one day Ruby cried for one hour straight. There was nothing I could do to help her separation anxiety. I called Sonya and told her. Ruby took a nap and finished out the day. When Sonya came to pick up, we never talked about ending the gig. It was later that day that I decided I couldn't do it anymore. I was beginning to dread it. Poor Ruby was tired of crying and Gabby & I were tired of hearing it.

I informed Sonya I could not continue giving care after 2 weeks. She understood & agreed. We are on the search again for another kiddo to watch!

Here are the rare times I got a smile out of Ruby.. & other fun pictures of them together..

Farewell Rubs..

Playing in Gabby's crib

Feeding time!

Ruby's first day.

Swinging at Pullen Park

Raleigh Parks.

We have taken quite a tour of parks in Raleigh in the past month. Every beautiful day we head out and enjoy the weather! Pullen Park downtown Raleigh is by far our favorite. They have the restored carousel and train for only a dollar per ticket.. a great deal! They have the Pullen Place Cafe that offers local, fresh foods! They have done an excellent job with that park. Another great find is the renovated community park off Strickland rd. They have a huge sand area with kid-sized cranes & tot swings. I love the location in the middle of a wooded area. We still have a few more parks to see but have enjoyed scooting around Raleigh and checking out the parks! Gabby LOVES the swings, as you can see ;)

Gabby clapping on her 7 month mark!

Happy 7 months, Gabs! Going to storytime at the libraries the past few months have jump-started Gabby with clapping. There is A LOT of clapping & dancing!

Bon Appetite.

Plum

For about 3 months now I have been making Gabrielle's food. It has actually become a fun activity for me! I research how and when to give her different foods & experiment with blending foods! I imagine Gabby will be a very versatile eater when she grows up :) Every food is prepared differently. If it is a root vegetable I either chop it up and throw it on a pan to bake or saute it in a pan with a little olive oil. For fruits and other thin skin vegetables, I peel them and chop them up, toss them into the baby food processor for a few seconds and it's ready to go.

Gabrielle has eaten a wide array of foods so far and their still are SO many for her to try. She is a fan of nectarines, cherries and avocado! Foods we are still working on are green beans & peas. Who knew?

Zucchini