Weddings

This pic was taken after the wedding at Otey's.

Patrick, William and I

Frances Ellen, Elizabeth, and Me

Last night my entire family on my dad's side of the family went to St. Mary's to celebrate my cousin Patricia, or Pippi, as we call her, getting married. The wedding was beautiful, and it was so much fun to run into friends from high school. I love weddings more than any other occasion. It's such a happy celebration, you have a chance to spend time with loved ones, and wedding cake is my favorite dessert. Plus there is sometimes champagne, which I LOVE, but always regret drinking later because it's so sweet. The band last night was great, and we danced as much as we could. It was so fun to see my parents, brothers, cousins and aunts and uncles all out on the floor. Here are a few pics, although I can't wait to see the ones from the photographer.

laughter is the best medicine

I keep managing to catch the most precious moments with Raughley on film. I am so excited to have a video of him laughing to share! In this video I am giving him raspberries on his tummy, which he thinks is really funny...

Go Spartans!

Last night Chase and I took Raughley to his first MB Spartans football game. MB was playing Thompson, and we went for the first half of the game. We sat in the middle of the Jr. High kids section apparently, because there were 13 year olds squawking all around us. It was really fun to be back though, and R seemed to really enjoy it, up until the 3rd quarter when he decided he'd had enough and was ready to go. What was so interesting though, was that he wanted my yellow spartan cup with my diet coke so badly that he pulled it towards his mouth repeatedly until I had to set it far away from his reach. Are we ready for a sippy cup perhaps? Or maybe he's letting us know his favorite color is yellow. Anyway, it was a fun way to spend a Friday night as a family, and I hope we go back.

Wiggle Worm

The past two mornings Chase has checked on Raughley on his way out the door to work. I hear him laughing to himself and he comes back in the bedroom and tells me that R has wiggled his way upside down from where he fell asleep the night before. He has become quite the wiggle worm, working his way around his playmat during the day, and trying his hardest to wiggle out of your arms when you hold him. I love watching his little personality unfold more and more every day. He is such an amazing little guy!

"I wuh ooo"

Okay, so I know he can't speak right now, but this first thing he says sounds so much like "I love you" that it might make you cry. I caught him talking to himself for about 30 minutes yesterday and managed to get a lot of it on video tape. It is so interesting to hear him playing with sounds and experimenting with new ones.

In other news, he is still sleeping through the night- and I feel like a new person. Chase and I went to see "Inglorious Basterds" last night, and Im amazed I could sleep after all that gore, but I slept great, and for 8 hours uninterrupted!!! The movie was really great besides all the gore. Brad Pitt is really good in it, as well as the French star and Diane Kruger.

Foot Fetish

Raughley is obsessed with his feet right now. So much so, that he fell asleep holding them the other day. It doesn't even look comfortable, but they keep him calm and happy when he's playing with them, so I can't complain!

How cute

My brother in law Carl just got a new dog last week, a companion for his dog Jack. Here is a pic of the two of them making friends. Jack is on the right, new dog on the left. They are so cute!!!

old friends

There is nothing like seeing old friends again, even if for a short time. Mason came in town this weekend, and we got to meet up Friday afternoon at Dram for an afternoon drink with him, Rachel and Mason's friend Christina. Drinks were followed by a party that night at The Club with Super T, and Mason's niece McCray's 2nd birthday party Saturday afternoon. One weekend is never long enough, and I am going to really have to make an effort to get to LA this year to have a good visit with him and my other LA friends and fam.

Yummy!

I chew on my fingers just like mommy and daddy!

Nothing tastes better than piggies!

Sleeping through the night!

Not happy about it at all.

Now that I can eat my bib I'm okay

Finally! Raughley slept last night from 8 pm to 7 pm this morning without waking up once! I guess we have the cereal to blame. I hope this keeps happening- fingers crossed!

last one i promise

Another Video

Just in case you didn't get enough the first time...

Rice Cereal

Last night was a big first in the Wise household. Chase and I got to experience spoon feeding a child for the first time. I've never seen anything so messy in my life!

In other news, Chase and I are trying to teach Raughley sign language- not the full blown thing but just a few important signs to help him communicate with us before he can talk. Supposedly this cuts down on lots of temper tantrums and frustrations. Right now the only way I know how to teach it is to show him the Baby Einstein signs video in the mornings while I'm getting ready for the day. Then later I try to reinforce the important signs as we encounter them during the day. It's an interesting experience, and if it works I will be very excited. More to come on that.

Not at the table, Carlos!

A little shout out to "The Hangover"

4 Month Checkup

Well, Raughley had his four month check up yesterday and we returned with lots of fun information. He is 25 3/4 inches and 12 pounds 4 ounces. His head is 16 inches around. He is going to start on rice cereal this week and next week will start fruits and vegetables! I can't believe he is already graduating to baby food! Four months has flown by, and I have loved every minute of it. Raughley is in the 10th percentile for his weight and the 75th percentile for height, so he is long and lean, as the doctor put it. He got two shots yesterday though, and has been feeling feverish now for 24 hours. Poor little guy has these flushed red cheeks and can't stop fussing. Hopefully everything will have cleared up by tomorrow.

Boca Grande Baby

Chase and I just returned last night from another trip down south to Boca. It is very different vacationing with a baby. First of all, your time is not your own anymore. So in order to get in the ocean for instance, you have to either have someone else watch the baby inside, or wait until he is asleep and carry the monitor with you, keeping it from getting wet, or lather up the baby with 65 sunscreen and sit him under an umbrella with a fan on him. Even then you still have to keep your eyes on him all the time, or have someone sit with him. Needless to say it is no easy task.

The upside though, is that you get to go on vacation with your family. Raughley was pretty easy company 90% of the time, and even got in the pool, which he loved. We also got to hear him start giggling almost every day. I wouldn't have missed that for any amount of time in the ocean.

While I'm on the subject of Boca, I thought I ought to tell you a little about the island. Boca Grande is about an hour and a half south of Tampa, 45 minutes south of Sarasota, and North of Fort Myers. It is the northern most Barrier Island of a chain of islands that include Sanibel, Captiva and Marco Island to name a few. The island is seven miles long, and includes a town similar to Mayberry with a Grocery Store, Outfitters, Harware store, a few boutiques, and a number of restaurants. The town also hosts the famous Gasparilla Inn, where the Bush family stays when they vacation down south. The Boca Grande Pass is at the south end of the island where you can experience the world famous Tarpon fishing. This is the main draw for my husband Chase, and the reason we lived in Boca the year after we got married. He had a charter business on the island where he took people fishing for a living. CT, Jennie and Matt went with us on this trip, and CT and Matt were lucky enough to catch a few of these water beasts. Matt has pics that I would love to post sometime.

I hope I've gotten my facts right, but if not, Ill hear about it sooner or later and will correct myself ASAP. Enjoy these websites if you want more info about the island.

www.bocabeacon.com

www.bocagrandechamber.com

A few pics of the life in Boca. L-R: the famous light house, Hudson's grocery, a tarpon jumping, Boca Grande Outfitters, and a bird's eye view of the island.

Back to Lake Logan Martin!

Frances Ellen bought Raughley this bathing suit, and the tag says 12 months, but it fit his little waist already! It has a smocked pirate on the leg, so fitting.
At the lake, Raughley got to sit out on the dock because there was such a nice breeze. I still had a moment of anxiety about the sun damaging his little skin, so I slathered him with so much sunscreen that he looked like a Q-tip. That's right, I had to put suncreen on his scalp, which involved it getting all in his hair. Talk about dandruff. It took two washes to get it out, but it was worth it.

Happy Birthday Kara and 3 month old pics

3 1/2 months old and enjoying his Bumbo. He is working so hard on hand eye coordination and practices by grabbing his rattles. This works about 50% of the time, the other half he just bangs his hands on the table.
Raughley and Phillip
Kara rockin out at her bday party
Me and Jessica, Kara's high school friend, hanging out by the cooler, where else?
Kara's mom, Kathy, and Raughley, bonding.

Raughley and Jenny