In Loving Memory...

Dutch McDaniel

What a beauty...

"We Made Poo!!"

I am amazed, daily, at how drastically different my life has become. A year ago, I was spending my days helping children work through their problems, teaching classes, having meetings, talking to adults on a regular basis, puking from morning sickness.

Today, my big moment of excitement came when my darling daughter finally made poo. I apologize to the readers who would rather not hear about poo. Personally, I'd rather not write about it, but alas, this is my life, and it is best to write the truth. Gracen had gone three very long days without going, and I was beginning to stress. I researched online, called her Dr. Auntie Lala, emailed other mothers. Constipation is a funny thing with infants, and like any other topic on babies, the ideas and opinions are countless. Some say give white grape juice, others prefer prune juice (that would have been Gaga's recommendation as well), while still others think a glycerin suppository is best.

In the end, I tried none of the aforementioned techniques, and my little beauty made a BIG beauty of her own this morning. Odd that I should feel such a moment of pride from such a simple event, but I did. I even had to call her daddy and update him. For some reason, and I can't imagine why, I didn't feel the enthusiasm from him over this blessed occasion. Gracen felt it though. She was pleased and knew she'd done a good thing for herself and for her mama's nerves.

Random Pics for AnnieBelle

Daddy, Mommy and Gracie at Figure Eight Island. What a happy family!!
Elenor, Gracen and Sadie at the beach. Gracen is getting some good tutoring on how to be a fabulous girl from her friends.
Gracen is wearing her "My Grandpa is the best!" outfit for Papa Jim. She's a lucky girl to have such wonderful grandpas.
Here is Gracen and her new buddy Violet. They were ridiculously cute together on the beach. Violet likes to nap on the beach. Gracen, not so much. Mama had to spend a lot of naptime staring at the beach from afar...
Here are the beautiful Walton women, Sadie and her mommy Kelly. Adam was worried about having a child of our own, for fear another couldn't be as perfect as Sadie Mae. We can only hope!!
I FOUND MY FEET!!!!! These are her new favorite toys. She hasn't yet put them in her mouth, but she appears to have the flexibility to get 'em in there any moment now. We're so proud.
Notice how I'm on my tummy. Got there on my own. No help. I can even go back to where I started if I want, though it's more fun to just keep rolling. Seems to make Mama nervous--not sure why.
Mama and Gracie. Her hair almost looks like a normal baby!!!

Continued from the "Beautiful" pic posting...

So the oh so beautiful house seen a couple of postings ago is soon to be the new Casa de Riggsbee!! I fell in love with this place four years ago when we moved to Chapel Hill. It belongs, for the moment, to our dear friend Matt Jessee and is less than a mile from our current home. Matt has decided to move closer to the school where he works, so we jumped at this opportunity before it hit the market. It's all happening so fast. We started talking about it last week, and we're closing on the house this Friday! I had assumed that we would have to wait the 30 days, which I thought was just standard. Apparantly, people are willing to pick up the pace if you're willing to give them your business. Matt has found a new house so he'll be moving out in a couple of weeks, and then the fun begins. We have to paint, recarpet, and refinish the hardwoods before moving in. We also have to have the squirrel family removed from the attic. I'm meeting the wildlife removal guy over there tomorrow. It should be interesting. I'm hoping the little guys are out and about in the surrounding forests and not actually in the house.

Gracen is doing well. She is not so little anymore, and I seem to have injured my hand from carting her about. I guess this will force me into giving her more "independent" time. Adam and she are both asleep. I seem to stay up late and wake up early these days. It's so out of character for me. It would be one thing if Gracie was keeping me up, but no, she sleeps soundly every night. I'm going over paint colors. Adam decided to let me pick all of the paint colors for the new house, which I think he's starting to regret. He's more of a neutral kind of guy, and I prefer a little drama on the walls. I showed him my first go at the color scheme before he went to bed, and I think he was less than excited about it. I'm trying to tone it down, but all of the neutral colors look the same to me. I'll try to take some pics of the rooms and color options to post and take a group vote.

Camera Happy

beautiful

details to come...

Lil' Riggles

This is the second post I have written today, yet as you may notice, it is the only one on the blog. Apparantly, Mr. Bloggerman isn't a fan of the "back" button. Anyway, all of the profound and insightful ramble I gave to you this morning regarding our weekend trip is now in the cyber-burial grounds, never to be seen again. Most of you, especially my mother, are really more interested in the photos anyway, so I'll get to those as quickly as possible. Suffice it to say that we had a wonderful weekend in Charlotte with the Riggsbee/Diaz/Walton families. Gracen was quite popular with her cousins. Adam and I are going to have to catch up to Jon and Patti. Three is such a lovely number...

This is the beautful Miss Lauren (aka: reni, ren-ren; formerly aka: tallulah, tula, tules). Adam is her Godfather, poor thing.
This is the enormously handsome Jonathan, my Godson. He gives very sweet kisses to little Gracie!
This is Gracen and her Mimi, Lynn. They got in some good bonding time over some bottles and tears while Adam, Kelly Walton and I went to see Steely Dan. It was hard being away from her for so long, but we survived!! I must work on that whole separation thing--apparantly life is still going on outside my little bubble of mommyhood.
Here is the spectacular Katelyn with Chester. Katie used to not be such a fan of the puppies, but now seems to appreciate the importance and love of a sloppy, dirt-filled kiss.
I'm planning to kidnap cousin Ana and bring her to Chapel Hill as my nanny. She is so good with Gracen and baby-sat for us on Saturday so I could get a new phone. I didn't get the phone...
Here we have the oldest and youngest lil' Riggsbees. Katie has had practice with this whole baby thing, as she is the big sis of two!
Chillin on the couch, Zach took charge of Gracie. Isn't he a cutie?!?!
This is Mama Lessie and her fourth great-grandchild! Lessie will be 95 on her next birthday. We currently live in the house she raised her family in, and Gracen's nursery is in her old bedroom.

Laundry

I've never been much of a homemaker. Those that have lived with me can attest to that. I had assumed that as my life began to revolve solely around the house that my skills would have improved. I'm not there yet, but I'm working on it. One of the greatest struggles is the laundry. I have four hampers throughout the house, and it's not a very big house, and as a general rule, they're always, all of them, full. The odd thing is that I do laundry all the time, and it keeps appearing, reminding me that I'm always a step behind, mocking my struggle to become an exceptional domestic engineer.

The laundry yesterday was different. It was for a sweet, sad, proud purpose. Gracen has moved into the 3-6 month clothing. For the last several weeks, everytime we put her in her sleeper before bedtime, her little legs bow out a little more. Sure, she can stretch them all the way out if she puts forth the effort, but as soon as she relaxes, the fabric springs them back into a lovely bow position. She looks a bit like a roasting chicken. Adam pointed out the other night that the fabric has begun to split from the zipper. I guess this was quite literally a sign that I am trying to hold her back from growing up. So I caved. We hit the Target yesterday and invested in new sleepers, and I finally broke into the stored 3-6 monthers, cut off the tags, and I washed it all. I didn't mind this laundry so much. It was symbolic somehow. Life is moving along...Adam and I are more competent than we had imagined, and we're making this beautiful little girl a happy, and not so little, little girl.

PHOTOS:
(left)this is gracen and her great ma. we went for a vist on tuesday and got to hang out with this beautiful lady and aunts judy and renee.
(center)she is in the midst of a FOUR hour nap. she wouldn't wake up. i kept checking her breathing, poking at her, breathing heavily in her face, but i got nothing. one would think that this would be a good time to catch up on unattended chores, but no. i stared at her instead. is this normal?!?!
(right)her aunt hannah kept her on monday so i could run a few errands. while i was packing up my old office in moncure, gracen was showing hannah how strong her little lungs had gotten. i'm sure she really appreciated that, for a straight hour!

Expressions...

I'm sorry I've been a slacker about taking pictures lately. I feel like we've been busy doing something, though I don't really remember what. That happens a lot these days--time passes, not sure of where it went or what we're doing while it happened.

We spent today on the road in Raleigh, trying to decide where and if we should pack up and move our little family. We have such a wonderful home here that we hate to leave, but Adam's commute is taking away precious daddy time. We're making lists, analyzing the decision from every angle, and are still clueless about the best course of action to take. We'll keep you posted.

Below are just a few shots of Miss Gracen throughout the day. Enjoy...love you all...

"Chillin'": little miss just woke up from her nap, she's content, getting her stretch on, giving the sweet smiles...

"Casually Content": This is the face I see most often during the day, happy and observant...

"Miserable": All I wanted was a cute pic of mommy and baby. This was my first attempt to do this in over a month, and this is the reaction I receive! Gave up on that photo-op...
"Happy": Unfortunately, I attempted to take this one myself later in the day, thus the awkwardly strained expression on my face. Gracen's pretty stinkin' cute though!!

"Goofy": She is laughing and talking here. This is by far the most entertaining mood, which we're graced with two or three times a day. She's a nut!!

I'm a Big Girl Now...

Adam and I have managed to successfully keep another human being alive for over 12 whole weeks now. I can't believe how quickly the time is passing. I remember always hearing that time goes by more quickly after having children, but I never appreciated the sentiment until now. She is spending her THIRD night alone in her room. It's still a little sad for me, but she doesn't seem to mind the transition. I think she may even be falling asleep a little easier.

It's 1:45 AM as I write this, and I need to sleep. I'll write more later when I have a functioning vocabulary to work with...

Athena and Harley wanted to be on the blog too!

"Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On"

Doesn't that title just remind you of Gaga! Annie's probably the only one who gets that. Gracen wore jeans for the first time today, and she was incredibly excited about it. I tried explaining the importance of such pantalones in our society, and she seemed truly intrigued. I'm planning to steer her away from the designer types that her Aunts Belle and Hannah may try to encourage-- at least until she has a job and can afford them on her own.

This is Gracen and Adam. She gets so excited when he gets home from work. I hate that he has to miss hanging out with her all day. It hardly seems fair!!