July... Come and Gone

OK, so we definitely recognize the fact that we are HORRIBLE at this whole blogging thing, and we have overused our excuse that we're just too busy to keep updating. We think we're also a little spoiled in that we get to see Rorey, laugh with her, and watch her grow, that we often forget you cannot see her as well. So here's our update for July and hopefully you will not have to wait until September to hear about August.

July was a good month for our family. It began with the return of Rorey, Leigh, and Kelsey (Leigh's sister) to North Carolina. Andrew had been back for a few weeks and was ready for the women in his life to return (not to be forgotten Emma and Chaco as well). Andrew spent a week cleaning the whole house top to bottom, only to literally have a trailer unloaded in the front room (we're just now finally getting everything cleared out and organized). Leigh's sister Kelsey joined Leigh to help with the drive and once again... Kelsey was a phenomenal support from climbing in the back to hold Rorey's hand to sitting in a motel room in Arkansas with two dogs and a one month old baby while Leigh was with the car getting fixed. In the end they made it safely back, and Rorey was introduced to the wonderful world of our cabin on a hill.

After a couple of weeks of being put on tour around Boone visiting people in Andrew's office and others at church (she's kind of a big deal, but don't worry, we're not letting her get a complex...), we found ourselves in a car driving back to Dallas for Annie's wedding (Leigh's best friend, Andrew's best friend, Rorey's adopted aunt, former roommate, and pretty much the glue of our family on more than one occasion). Fortunately for us this drive was a little less eventful than Leigh and Kelsey's drive to North Carolina. We were also fortunate that it rained most the way, which meant that it was cooler in the car equaling a calmer Rorey. One thing we learned on this drive... Rorey is amazing on road trips... up to about the 7.5 hour mark, beyond that she will howl, scream, kick until somebody climbs in the back to hold her hand or give her some type of physical contact. Unfortunately Chaco's love and affection was not sufficient for her.

We were in Dallas for just under a week but it was great to be home. Andrew once again brought his bike and had some good rides, despite the soaring temperatures. Most of the week was spent with family on Leigh's side and it was so great for them to get to see Rorey (it is amazing how fast babies grow and go from sleep all the time to oohing and ahhing and playing). She was also indoctrinated in the way of women spending time helping prepare for Annie's wedding, attending her bridal shower, the BBQ the night before and the wedding reception, and even a little dancing. We have realized that she is quite the social baby and at most these types of things we hardly have her with us because everybody wants a chance to hold her, and lets face it, we like to share the joy we have found in our lives with Rorey.

Sadly, our time in Dallas this time was shorter and it was soon time for us to be back on the road to North Carolina again. We stopped in Birmingham to stay with our friends the Wrights, where we celebrated Andrew's birthday a day early with to go cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory.  The next day we were back on the road (this will be we think the 3rd or 4th year we have spent Andrew's birthday traveling somewhere). When we finally got home, we celebrated Andrew's birthday with mashed potatoes (don't worry Vanalee, Leigh made him eat meat too), watched a movie, and went to bed early.

The next week was really spent doing not much of anything. We realized that it was just a week until Andrew began training for his assistantship at App State, so we tried to spend as much time as we could together. We decided that every night we would watch a movie (we have since finished the Ocean's Trilogy, Bourne Trilogy, Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and are currently considering starting the Harry Potters). We also took a road trip to Asheville (civilization for us, they have a REI, Babies R' Us, Target, and Sam's Club) where we bought a tent so that we can now attempt to go camping, as well as became members of Sam's Club (we are actually "Business" members since Leigh is a licensed CNA in North Carolina... which basically translates we can get in at 7:00am if we ever wish the make the two hour drive just to shop early!).

Well the summer has flown by and we cannot believe it is gone. Andrew is back in training, and in just a few short weeks school will be starting again. It has been a roller coaster of a summer and it's not quite finished, we still have a few more adventures planned, and really, we wouldn't have traded the last two months for anything! So that's our update, and now here are the pictures:

After two days trapped in a car and hotel rooms, everyone was ready to be home.

 Kelsey laying out the ground rules for Chaco seeing Rorey... for whatever reason, Andrew laughs out loud every time he sees this picture.

Chaco accepted Kelsey's terms and was able to see Rorey.

Our little sultan, once again what happens when Leigh and Kelsey are a little delirious and play dress up with Rorey!

Still no formal family pictures... Rorey was a little less than happy here... she would rather have been asleep.

One of her favorite napping spots... Leigh's shoulder.

One of many of Rorey's "girl" experiences during the week. With Hannah, Annie, Lindsay, and Leigh at Annie and Brad's BBQ the night before their wedding. 

Another picture at the BBQ with friends... once again, Rorey in a new set of loving arms... story of our lives. We joke that Rorey has probably been held by hundreds of people now. 

Rorey at the wedding with Uncle Zach and Aunt Kelsey (aka All Star Baby Sitters this week).

Rorey with her Lola (Leigh's mom Jan) at the wedding. Probably two of the best dressed women there that night!

Rorey with Leigh and Annie at Annie's wedding.

Does this count for a family photo?

Andrew's first dance with Rorey!

Brad, Annie, Leigh, and Andrew

Rorey hits the dance floor with Brad, Lindsay, Annie, and Hannah. 

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.

She's still alive... So are we...

So it seems that our productivity is shot now that Rorey is here. What used to take one day to accomplish now seems to take 2-3, but she's cute so we don't mind. We apologize as we know many of you have been waiting anxiously for updaes and more pictures. So without further adieu, here you go...

Baby Showers: It seems, everywhere we turn, somebody is throwing us a baby shower. Those of you who know us well, know that neither of us like being the center of attention, and it seems there is no way to avoid that at a baby shower for our baby. We had one with family and friends, Dr. Pepper/Snapple Group (where Leigh's mom works) threw a surprise one for us, and the nurses at the hospital Leigh worked at last year had one as well. We're so grateful for everyone's generosity, and crazy as it sounds... we still have two more! One when Leigh goes to Houston with the girls from the TexasA&M Women's Rugby Team, and then one when we get back to Boone. We are actually now going to have to rent a U-Haul trailer to drive back everything we have received. We are not lying when we say we are so truly blessed!

Rorey is doing well. She went to the doctor last week and weighed in at 6lbs 8oz... meaning she gained a pound in two weeks. Andrew keeps joking about filling her bottle with whey protein so that he can get her up to 8lbs and put her in the baby bjorn and not have to carry her around like a football (he has however mastered his Heisman pose). We are extremely blessed to be surrounded by family and friends that have been wonderful in stepping in and helping out. We found out last week that Rorey has acid reflux (which turns out to be common in babies for the first 6 months), so she's had a rough go of it the last couple of days. The doctor has her taking some medication to ease the pain but there was a point where she had pretty much lost her voice and it was hard not to laugh a little whenever she would scream.
This past week was a busy one for all of us. Andrew's mom, sister, and brother in law came down to visit last weekend. We had a lot of fun having them here, even if we did max out the bed capacity at the Vernon home.

We're doing well. Rorey has some nights where she'll sleep 4-6 hours straight, others 2. We have gotten pretty good at going back and forth regarding who gets up with her. We are grateful to have some great friends and some great nieces and nephew that we have had some practice on. Leigh has fulfilled everyone's belief that she was meant to be a mother as she handles every crisis with a bit of patience, compassion, and humor. Andrew is still on the bike 4-5 times a week, so we're hoping this continues when we get back to Boone (sadly, he had to be convinced this past week that he no longer has a 34" waist but is moving towards a 36"... the joys of old age we guess). Chaco and Emma are doing well, I think they're getting adjusted pretty well to having a little one around. Chaco is taking on the protective role and Emma the "I'm excited, we should play, what are you? Squirrel!" role.

So here is our shameless plug... these are some of the things that have been our saving grace the past few weeks: Nap Nanny, Mylicon Drops, Playtex VentAire bottles, and last but not least, Leigh's parents' big screen TV and Blu-Ray DVD player (oh and the DVR as well for those late night feedings... Andrew and Rorey have a pretty regular 3:00am date with Sportscenter).

And here is what you really want... more pictures:

One of the funniest gifts we've received, a close friend of the family gave us these pink cowgirl boots!

Doing our best to accept being the center of attention...

It seems the University of Texas alumnus in the family were not too fond of all the pictures of Rorey's pictures in a Texas A&M beanie. She now has apparel from App State, Texas A&M, UT, UCLA, and Indiana University.

After Rorey's first bath... "Mommy, I like you this much right about now..."

We call this her Rocky pose... eat your heart out Mike Tyson.

Rorey with Lola (Leigh's mom Jan).

Rorey with Grammy Bammy (Andrew's mom Vanalee), who Andrew often refers to as The Bamminator!

Chillin', learning to hold in her own pacifier... yes, she is still that small.

Showing off her manicure... thank you Marianne!

One of our favorite post eating faces.

This is what happens when Leigh does her hair, really though, there's not much else to do with it.

We had to put this one in, this is Emma after finding out that a bird had fallen down the chimney into the fireplace. Not to fear, Leigh's dad Bob caught the bird and freed it outside, after Emma had a thorough search of the fireplace.

Update!

So, after the many requests, threats, etc. it's time we guess to update everyone on how Rorey is doing. Rorey came home on Monday, and she has kept us busy. She had her first appointment with the pediatrician on Thursday. He said she looked great, was healthy, we would have difficulty buying her shoes (she seems to have long/narrow feet), and that she had lost 7 ounces since birth (which he said was nothing to be concerned with).

Chaco and Emma (Chaco more than Emma) have begun to recognize that Rorey is living, and something important to us. Chaco becomes very concerned when Rorey is crying, at times to the point of  not eating his food. Emma is getting there, but she's still young and too busy chasing her tail sometimes to notice anything else.

Rorey seems to find it entertaining to trick us in the night. We have her on a schedule feeding her at midnight, 3:00am, 6:00am, and 9:00am, then repeat in the pm hours. Her tricks come when she wakes up crying, we bring her downstairs, and in the process falls back asleep. She usually stays this way for a couple of hours until she wakes up a couple hours later and is ready to eat. Andrew has mastered this by DVRing the Tour of California bike race and watches it early in the morning while Rorey "waits" to eat.

Today was a fun day, we had a lot of friends and family come by to see Rorey, including Papa Ricky (Andrew's dad) flew in from a business trip in Houston for the day to see her. We are so blessed to be close to friends and family.

Well, once again... we know what you want to see... PICTURES:

Chaco meets Rorey. 

Just to give you an idea of how big (or small) she is, this is Rorey laying on the futon we sleep on.

Rorey LOVES her pacifier. 

Papa Ricky and Rorey... The debate is still up as to who has more hair!

Rorey being sniffed/investigated by Emma and Chaco.

Leigh, Papa Ricky, and Rorey during Papa Ricky's visit.

Rorey sleeping in her "Superman" pose. Ironically, this is the way Andrew came into the world when he was born.... something his mom still gives him a hard time about.