Dear June, So Long, Farewell...

June, where have you gone. Time has gone by so quickly we can hardly believe it, not to mention how crazy it is to accept the fact that Rorey is over a month old now... it seems like only yesterday we were still with her in the hospital.

Well June has been a busy month for all of us. We had Andrew's mom, sister, and brother in law come into visit. Shortly after that we headed down to Salado, TX for the Hay Family Reunion (Leigh's mother's side). We had a great time and it was great for all of Leigh's extended family to get to meet Rorey. Once again, our belief that we have a beautiful baby was confirmed (not that we really doubted that). Rorey is definitely more like Leigh than Andrew in that she is completely happy to be in a large group. She is quiet the social butterfly, and remains pretty relaxed as she gets passed from person to person. Andrew's pretty sure after only a month and a half that she is going to be a heartbreaker!

We had the neat opportunity while in Salado to travel to San Antonio for our friends Rorey and Andrew's wedding (you might recall, this is the Rorey that we named our child after). Rorey handled the drive well, and slept through most the wedding. After about two hours, we realized that having a newborn will be impacting our ability to stay at wedding receptions until the end. We think it was a combination of a long day, dirty diapers, gas, and the heat that led to Rorey sharing with us that she was ready to go. We said goodbye to some of our friends from Texas A&M that Andrew was in organizations with, and then made our dash in the night. While our stay was short, it was definitely worth the two hour each way drive to San Antonio for the Roreys to finally be able to meet.

The next Thursday, Andrew flew back to North Carolina to prepare to lead a group of undergraduate students to San Diego, CA, for a national conference (did we mention all of his delegates were female). Throughout the trip, Andrew shares that he was often reminded by his students that someday his daughter would grow up to be just like them... he would respond with "Not for a long time!" While Andrew was gone, Leigh took the opportunity to travel to visit family and friends in Houston and College Station. We often joke that if only we had kept track of exactly how many people Rorey has met up to this point in her life... the number would be in the hundreds. We are truly grateful to have a baby that is so loved by family and friends. Leigh was glad that she was able to introduce Rorey to so many people that are special and important to us, who we see on a limited basis now that we live in North Carolina.

So June slowly came to a close, and Andrew had an actual countdown at the house for how many days until Leigh, Rorey, Chaco, and Emma returned home in North Carolina. It can get lonely living on the side of a mountain by yourself for a week and a half.

Rorey is doing well, she is growing, up to about 8 pounds now! She eats a lot, but we are told that is a good thing. Still has acid reflux, but has a conglomerate of medications she can take to help alleviate the pain from that. She is sleeping longer (which we are both continually grateful for), and shows a lot more emotion. We often still find ourselves staring at her for long periods of time and not even realizing how much time has passed. I guess we could use that excuse for why it has taken us so long to update the blog!

Well here are some pictures of Rorey's adventures over the past month:

One of her many faces... she's a pretty happy baby.

At this point, the mohawk is really the only thing you can do with her hair. We think it's cute.

Rorey with Oma at Rorey's first Hay Family Reunion.

She's growing, but she's still just a peanut... we like her this way.

Mom and Daughter at Rorey's wedding, Andrew might have "encouraged" both to wear black dresses and green cardigans. He thought it was cute.

Andrew, Rorey, and Rorey at the wedding. Rorey slept through the first meeting, but we still can define it as a successful one.

Happy 1 Month Rorey Taylor.

Rorey with her cousin Aimee when Leigh and Rorey went to visit in Houston.

Rorey and her oldest cousin Caitlyn.

Rorey and Lainey on Lainey's birthday... Lainey just woke up...

Rorey and her other cousin Havana. Havana was a big help to Leigh in taking care of Rorey, broken wrist/elbow and all. Here she's singing her to sleep.

Rorey and her Aunt Krissy (or Lupe) in Houston. That's the blanket Andrew's mom made Rorey... she's a fan!

Leigh's attempt at getting Rorey self-sustaining by 12 weeks... not really, but it helps when you're trying to do three things at once.

Rorey and Annie on their road trip to Houston and College Station. Rorey's all about stretching now days.

Rorey had quite the photo shoot laying on the all white bed in her white onesie. We like her.

Not sure if baby sneezes are as cute as panda sneezes, but we'd say they're pretty close.

Barbara Rees and Emily Nixon (church friends from College Station) at Rorey's baby shower in College Station.

Rorey was quite the hit at Amy's (Kyle) wedding with the rugby girls from A&M. Here she is with our friend Brea, who used to graciously hit people for Andrew during her rugby games.

Rorey in her little black dress for the wedding.

Like we said... she was a big hit. Rorey with Kristine (Air Force) and Lenae.