spring cleaning

Well, it's not spring, but I've got this nesting thing down to a science, thanks to the help of so many people. PopPop and Uma came this week and helped get our spare room in order (the room that's always been full of junk and has never been used as a functional space). It's like having an addition put on our house! I have my sewing machine set up in there, two brand new bookshelves (compliments of PopPop and Uma) and the guest bed, and there's room left for Rachel to play too! I am really excited, and relieved to have a place for the moms to stay after Baby Sister arrives. My daddy (Poppy) came today and aerated and over-seeded our yard using the riding lawn mower we borrowed from our neighbor, Mr. Henry. My dear husband has been working on remodeling the girls' upstairs bathroom, AND we got new carpet upstairs. My friend who owns the maid business where I was office manager several years ago sent a team of maids over to clean recently, which motivated Jarrad and me to go through a lot of JUNK that had been cluttering up our various extra areas, so the house feels all ready! Another friend kept Rachel Monday morning while I ran some errands, including getting my car cleaned and Rachel's seat moved over to make room for the second carseat that will need to squeeze back there. I love fall and have always associated it with going back to campus, to be near my love, Jarrad. We met and fell in love in the fall, and that's such a sweet memory. I am excited to share this time with a new memory of having our second little girl, choosing her name, and settling down to life with her. Next fall will be full of all of the familiar nostalgia with the added excitement of this little girl's first birthday. I can't wait to meet her!

Now...where's this baby??

redeemed

Rachel keeps me laughing most days, but I usually have a hard time explaining what she's done to crack me up so much. Her antics are hard to put into words, I guess. But this afternoon, after happily accepting me in her father's stead, I managed to confuse the poor girl, leaving me in stitches:

• Mommy (finding a matchbox car): Here, Rachel--you can play with this.
• Rachel: Where's this from? Where's this from, Mommy?
• Mommy: I think maybe that was Daddy's from when he was a boy.
• Rachel (looking at the car, then at Mommy): He's a girl now?

HA! It still makes me laugh...

moody

Maybe it's the hormones from being soooo pregnant, but I'm feeling a little hurt today. This morning, Jarrad went early to church to help set things up, so I went in Rachel's room when she woke up. Although Jarrad has been the first to her bedside more often lately, it is still I who usually greets her in the morning. Today, she woke up happy, and was talking and singing, and I went in with a big smile and happy, "Good morning, Sweet Girl!" Rachel burst into tears. "I WANT DAAAADDY!" It took some consolation and promises that we'd see him at church before she was content with just raggedy ole Mommy.

Right now, she's been in her room for naptime for a little less than two hours. She's been yelling "DAAAAAADDY" for almost 45 minutes, taking breaks here and there to sing or talk to her friends, and occasionally specifying, "not Mommy--DAAAAAADDY."

sheesh.

rachel goes to the museum

We are very blessed to live so close to most of our families. Rachel is surrounded by grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins, and she just loves them all so much. It is also most helpful to have them all around. Their visits are a great distraction for me and for Rachel, and they willingly babysit regularly.

Last Saturday, Aunt Julie took Rachel to the museum for a fun morning of bonding. They saw butterflies and pigs, chickens, and bears. Rachel was most impressed with the train ride, though, and the plush butterfly and personalized "Rachel" mug she brought home. She's been dragging her butterfly, cup, and Wolfie (another new addition to her friends) around all week and refusing to sleep without them.

Thank you, Aunt Julie, for the free morning for Mommy.

Saturday night, Aunt Mamber babysat so Jarrad and I could attend an appreciation dinner for a friend. We called it a "date" and had a great time, and Rachel appreciated her special time with Aunt Mamber. Rachel also got a fun visit from her cousin, Tyler, this week. Rachel tried her best to boss him around, but he just kept looking at me and saying, "What's she doing?" He was really funny to pick up toys and hold them really close instead of playing with them, and he'd come running to me saying Rachel was going to take the toy, even when she was on the other side of the room. Once, he was holding a toy tightly and running around in a circle around our kitchen island. Rachel was watching, and she asked me, "Where's he going?" I said, "I don't know, Rachel." So she started following, which prompted him to immediately say, "Ahh! She's chasing me!" I couldn't stop laughing all morning.

We just love our family.

a new day, a new post...finally

Rachel is full of ideas and opinions these days, and, almost always, I can curb her little desires by pointing out potential conflicts or consequences. Lucky for me, she accepts reasoning pretty well, and does not usually insist on the impossible (or inconvenient). For example, today, I told her we could go to the park for a few minutes and play on the playground, but when we got there, it had started to rain. Although it wasn't raining hard, and although she was disappointed and tried to negotiate with me, she ultimately returned to the car without a fight.

A common reason she can't do this or that during the day is that she's too little ("I wanna drive, Mommy." "You want to drive? But you're too short!"), and she's okay with that. Sometimes it's that she's too big ("Don't sit in the bouncy seat, Rachel; that's for babies"), and she does not argue.

Tonight, the silly little thing found a tiny newborn diaper in one of her drawers (she has a couple she uses when she plays with her dolls). She said she wanted to "put it on..."

• Rachel: Wanna wear it, Mommy.
• Mommy: Rachel, you don't even wear diapers anymore. You're too big! You are a big girl who wears undies!
• Rachel (as she tugs the diaper between her legs): Wanna try, Mommy.
• Mommy: No, honey, you are too big for that.
• Rachel goes over to her light switch, attempts to flip the switch to turn off the light, grunting dramatically.
• Rachel: Can't reach it, Mommy. I'm not big yet. I'm little.

Touche, Little Girl. Touche.

singin' the blues

I have been a completely uninspired blogger of late. Rachel has so much personality these days, and I feel so brain-dead that I can't seem to put her little personality into words for a blog. I hope it will come back to me soon...

I did want to point out one unbelievable thing (to me, anyway): Jarrad and I hit double-digits today. 10 years ago--TEN--we went on our first official date. Woah. We're getting old. Ten years ago, I was barely 18 and he was 19, and he took me to Chili's and to hear a friend of his play the blues at a cute little bookstore/coffee shop. He introduced me to intimate live music and Stewart's Orange Cream Soda that night, and, although it took me a while to come around, I really did start to fall in love with him then. He was so sweet and boyish, with his big blue eyes and James Dean-like wardrobe. I heard Jarrad play the blues a few weeks later at another hole-in-the-wall down the road from the site of our first date, and can I just say that...um...there's nothing like a cute boy playing soulful music. Chili's became a fav date for us throughout college, and he eventually proposed to me there, almost three years later. Remembering my college years is equivalent to remembering that season when we were so carefree and in love, and I wouldn't trade that experience for anything in the world. In fact, I'd relive it several times over if I could!

Anyway, sorry to all you Rachel-followers who are mostly waiting for another blog about our little sugarplum...here are a few pics to keep you afloat...