July | 2015 | The Gardner's are Growing

Our sweet girl is inching closer and closer to one whole year old. It feels like I was just nine months pregnant and begging my body to go into labor. It’s crazy how quickly a year can pass when you have young kids.

weight: 17 lbs

height: 27 inches

size: Still 6-9 month clothes and size 3 diapers. We’ve pulled out some 9-12 month clothing, and it’s pretty big on her still. I can’t believe we haven’t moved up in sizes. I bought mostly 12 month summer clothes, and we’ve yet to wear most of it. I’m hoping we have a warm fall so it gets worn.

sleep: She’s sleeping through the night 75% of the time. She likes to go to sleep when the sun goes down. She takes one or two naps a day.

eat: She’s still breastfeeding on demand, and she still eats whatever we are eating. Her favorites lately are goat cheese, goldfish crackers, bananas, blueberries, granola bars, and cooked carrots.

teeth: Four on top and two on the bottom.

moving: She’s not attempted walking much in the past week or two. She was sick over last weekend with a high fever and she took a while to recover from being so lethargic. She’s still a quick crawler, and she loves to stand up and cruise holding on to something.

Talking: She’s finally saying “Mom.” Sometimes it sounds more like “Mommy,” and I love it. She says “Bo,” “Dada,” “Coco,” “Hi,” “Bye.” I can already hear her southern accent, especially with her “bye.”

Likes: being held, playing with Bowen’s toys

Dislikes: being left alone

Here’s a ten and eleven month comparison –

Here’s a comparison of Bowen and Nellie at 11 months –

On to the next month.

We just spent a fun week in Outer Banks, North Carolina with family. It was a long 12 + hour drive, so we stopped in Rickmond, VA on the 4th of July.

Nellie modeled her amazing 4th of July outfit made by Aunt Rose.

We did a little swimming, and attempted to find fireworks.

We stayed in Duck, which was the perfect place for our family. There were lots of fun things within walking distance, including Duck Donuts, shopping, and the boardwalk.

I loved walking Nellie Lou in the early morning when she woke up before everyone else.

The beach was beautiful. We sat near a lifeguard tower, which was necessary after so many nearby shark attacks in the past month.

The weather was gorgeous, and we were able to spend everyday playing in the ocean and pool.

Bowen turned into quite the fish. He even learned to swim without his puddle jumper.

Our kiddos loved the sand and water, which made our week super fun. Nellie Lou left the beach every afternoon for a nap covered in sand from head to toe.

We saw lots of dolphins, and even a manatee. Thankfully, we didn’t have a single shark spotting.

Bowen became quite the surfer and enjoyed playing on his boogie board.

There was a presentation about turtles at the Duck Amphitheater. Bowen enjoyed seeing a few turtles up close, and loved seeing Daddy get up on the stage.

We all loved every minute of spending time with family. Now that Robin is in Denver and we are in Morgantown, it’s rare that we all get together.

We had game night every night after dinner – Left Right Center, Headbanz, Uno, Trivial Pursuit (circa 1981, which was incredible difficult), Yahtzee.

Bowen even joined in and played some Yahtzee and Headbanz. He was so sweet playing Headbanz. He had watched us play for a few nights prior, so when it was his turn he just guessed all of the things we had been during previous rounds. Papaw helped him out a little and he was able to correctly guess “garage” as one of his cards.

We celebrated Baker’s 30th and Harper’s 3rd birthday on the trip. I didn’t get many pictures of Baker on his 30th, but we enjoyed a night out for dinner and a delicious ice cream cake.

Harper loved her new My Little Ponies. We celebrated with strawberry cupcakes, her favorite and mine!