Kumquats and such

On Friday, July 23rd at 7:58pm, we welcomed Reagan Campbell Goodale into the world!  (Hence the longer than usual hiatus from the blog update.)  She was 10lbs 1 oz and measured 23.25 inches...just shy of most babies in the 5-6 month range:)  In the nursery, they referred to her as "the toddler."  Right now I'm blessed to have my in-laws staying with me to help out (a.k.a. "do everything") for me.  They are wonderful to me - preparing meals, reminding me to do things here and there that I would undoubtedly have forgotten, and cleaning the house to name a few.  And they are even better with  Reagan - especially Geoffrey!  I'll do a separate post about him, but let me just say for the record, that I can't imagine anyone being a better uncle.  He's been great! Here's a picture of her big brother Tommy welcoming her home.  Ok, not exactly welcoming since it took well over 24 hours for him to get over his fear of approaching her,...

My mother-in-law, Cindi, arrived here on the 6th to be here for the much anticipated arrival of our little girl.  Unfortunately, here we are on the 21st twiddling our thumbs... So in our efforts to remain busy (and somewhat distracted if that's even possible), we've filled our days with activities.  Here's a quick rundown: we've had guests for dinner twice, gone to my doctor twice, gone to the vet for Daisy twice (more on that later), visited Emerald Isle, Swansboro, Top Sail, and Wilmington, made black pepper pasta from scratch, cleaned the house from top to bottom, gone to Babies R Us, finished a puzzle, played games and taken more walks than I could ever recall.  I don't have pictures of most of it, but here are a few. Cindi's first attempt at homemade pasta - looks great, huh?!!! Final Product Umbrella stroller (from MIL) & the bouncer/swing seat. A Charles Wysocki puzzle I finally finished putting together. In addition to the above, MIL has s...

Enjoyed my first ear of corn yesterday!  It was sweet and tender.  Unfortunatley, the other ear I picked looked like a British smile... Keeping my fingers crossed for the next ones!

I may be the luckiest girl I know.  Wonderful family, semi-behaved dog, and incredibly talented friends!  As you may recall, I posted earlier about some handmade gifts we received from friends in preparation for the arrival of our little girl.  Well, here's the most recent gifts made by my friend Amy (who is also expecting!).  She's absolutely amazing. She also made this beautiful burp cloth which I've got to say is probably too pretty to use!  There are no words to say thank you for such thoughtful gifts.  Amy, you are one in a million!

Some of the spouses of BLT 1/9 threw me a fantastic baby shower on Saturday June 11th!  It was so thoughtful of them and we had a wonderful time getting together.  I didn't get enough pictures, but here are a few (and some I took from Robyn's facebook page:)  To Robyn, Holly, and Maria:  Thanks you so much for putting together such a special day for us!  Cute "It's a Girl" Decorations adorned Robyn's beautiful home Jeanmarie doing what she does best! Multitasking! The AMAZING & DELICIOUS cake Maria brought for the shower! Jen & Jeanmarie Maria & Robert Michael - isn't he a cutie! One of the shower games we played...Michelle did not win this one:) 

Recently, Jason was in Amman & Aqaba - two large cities in Jordan. He took some amazing photos of a mosque and a 200-year old christian church. These are just some of the wonderful shots he got:  

In February, shortly after we announced the big news about our newest family member, I went to the beach with Lynsey & her parents.  They surprised me with this (see picture).  It was handmade by Lynsey's husband, Brian who is quite the craftsman as you can see! It's going to be a perfect place for our little girl to rest in when we're downstairs. And last weekend, at the baby shower, my friend Colleen presented this hand-sewn quilt!  It is absolutely gorgeous, and everyone made me pass it around to see it up close!  She did a beautiful job & I just know our girl is going to love it.