the ONE!

I can't believe it's Rachel's birthday!! How does a year go by so fast, when they went so slowly before? Aunt KiKi made the most beautiful scrapbook of Rachel's first year...it's unbelievable how little she was, and how much she's grown.

We had a great weekend, ending with a great party for Rachel. Rachel even had three great-grandparents (GGPaw and MeMaw, and Grandma Mae) at her party! Unfortunately, with all the partying, we never stopped and took pictures with them. I'm really sad about that, but we'll have to make up for it on another visit. Here's a slideshow from today's festivities!

Happy Fathers Day to all the daddies out there. Rachel is so blessed to have a wonderful, loving, involved daddy. I couldn't be happier that the man who has made such a wonderful husband to me for five years (our anniversary was June 15th!), has made an equally-as-wonderful daddy. I always hoped we'd have at least one girl, because little girls LOVE their daddies. Rachel is definitely no exception!! (And Jarrad will tell you, I'm no exception either...I love you Daddy...er...I guess you're "Poppy" now!)

Progress Report

Rachel has done really well this weekend. She has actually been telling us she needs to potty more than half the time, and her diaper is staying dry a lot more of those times. I'm excited, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up [again].

cute moment

All weekend, Rachel has been really excited about sitting on things. She finds her target, she turns, and she sits. She still misses a lot, and she often tries to sit on things that are un-sit-on-able (like the sliding glass door), but she still gets really excited over her little triumphs.

non-toy toy of the day

Of course, Rachel loved the wrapping paper and giftbags from her party today. We visited MiMi and Poppy Friday and Saturday, and she fell in love with their kitty cat (named Bear...try to explain that one to a 1-year-old). She constantly went flying to the door, meowing at the top of her lungs. A couple times, Bear was feeling purry, and he brushed up against Rachel, walking round and round. Rachel was thrilled, and she is still talking about him ("MOW...MOW...MOOOOOOW...").