i like my kids

I mean, ain't they cute?? :)

halloween sans baby

First of all, the cute little Baby Ticker at the top of my page now just serves as a reminder that I am PAST DUE. But I'm trying to remind myself that we have a little time to take it easy before she arrives, and to be grateful for every second of peace and quiet I have for now. It's going to get crazy any day now! I am terribly uncomfortable, and I am really anxious to meet our little girl and give her a name, but other than that, I really cannot complain. I have been blessed with two uneventful pregnancies, and I am so thankful for that!

One of the bonuses of Baby Sister still being in her cushy little home is that I got to go to the mall for Trick-or-Treating with Daddy and Rachel. It was going to be a special Daddy-Daughter night, and I was planning to be home with Baby, but we got to go as a family instead! It is unfortunate that Baby has two very cute Halloween bodysuits that she won't get to wear, though. At the suggestion of a friend, I dressed her up anyway. We got lots of points and chuckles. Rachel was Little Red Riding Hood, and her best friend Wolfie was her Big Bad Wolf. I checked out a really simple (and not-scary) version of Little Red Riding Hood at the library this week, and we've been reading it every day. Rachel was very excited to get dressed up, and even agreed to TWO ponytails like Red Riding Hood has in the book. On a side-note, I was very proud of myself for making the basket liner to go in her Easter basket for her costume

I took Rachel to the mall last year and she had such a fun time. I didn't remember it being too terribly crowded, but I remembered terribly WRONG. It was a mad-house! We will not be doing that again. I guess I failed to consider that 16-month-old Rachel stayed content sitting in front of the candy store sorting a big bucket of gum, and then helping hand out candy the whole night. We never even ventured into the big part of the mall last year. It was almost unnerving how crowded it was this time. I was very thankful to have Jarrad there!

On the pregnancy side of things, I will be going back to see the midwife on Monday. They will give me some sort of stress test to be sure it's safe to continue. I think 42 weeks is the max they will let me go, and then they will try one drug-free option to get things started before ultimately sending me to the hospital to be induced with Pitocin. I will be really out-done if I end up in the hospital to have this little girl. I have been looking forward to trying a water birth and being in a home setting, letting my mother-in-law catch the baby, and just generally being supported in a different kind of way. I am trusting God that she will come how she comes, though, and I'm trying not to get stressed out about it...anxiety can't possibly help move things along.

musings by rachel

Ohhhh, Rachel...

We have been reading The Big Picture Story Bible before nap and bedtime, and Rachel has loved it! I have enjoyed it, too, because it really gives an overview of the story of Jesus and the grace God brought to humanity through His son. Anyway, I was discussing with Rachel that the Bible says that everyone who loves Jesus will be in heaven one day. She thoughtfully inquired, "Take toy?" Well, what would heaven be like without toys, eh??

And yesterday, my girl, who insists on doing everything, "my byself," was sitting on the floor, bare-bottomed, trying to get her undies on, when she calmly grabbed her left ankle, pulled her foot up, said, "spank spank," and smacked the bottom of her foot. She repeated this on her right foot. I was watching from behind, so I sat down by her and asked, "Rachel, what was that? Why did you do that?" She stayed focused on her task, but mumbled something about her feet not going in the holes of her undies. Oh, brother!

As my mom always says, kids are a "laugh a minute!"

i uv ooo

When I left Rachel in her room for nap time today, she played happily [and loudly] for several minutes before falling asleep, which is not unusual. Today, however, she added a new twist: in the middle of her play, she started sweetly yelling, "MOOOOMMY! MOMMY! MOOOOOOMMY! I UV OOO, MOMMY! I UV OOO!" As she probably predicted in her mind, I melted when I heard it. I did, however, resist the desire to go snuggle her to pieces, which disappointed her into her more usual pre-sleep whine. Still, it made me feel pretty warm and fuzzy...

Here is sweet Rachel, enjoying one of MY yummy, gourmet chocolate birthday cupcakes baked by Ms. Lynn. She was pretty Stokked. ;)

bags & bellies

I have had an itch to sew lately, but the room that houses my sewing machine is a disaster. While Jarrad was home and occupying Rachel yesterday afternoon, I cleared a path, and last night, as soon as my little precious baby went to bed, I hopped online to find a bag I could make out of an upholstery remnant I bought a long long time ago. Here is the finished product. It was SO much fun! I used this tutorial, and I think I'm going to modify the dimensions a bit and make a good sized diaper bag for our next baby. I also might venture into making some fitted diapers soon too, but we'll see!

As for Rachel, here is a better picture of her post-haircut style. See her bouncy little curls in the back?? I love it! She isn't exactly showing them off in the picture--she was turning from the camera so I couldn't take her picture. Silly girl...here are some random funny Rachel sayings:

• "Calm down, Mommy."
• "One more cookie, Mommy--that's all."
• "Bother you, bother you," (when her undies are riding up)
• (After singing an unknown song with unintelligible lyrics), "Know that song, Mommy?"
• "Ohhhh, how cuuuute!"
• "Spiderweb, eat the 'squitos. STAY OUTSIDE!"

As for the new baby...well...she's a'growin.' I hate this picture of me, but, in case you were wanting to see, here's my big baby belly, at almost 28 weeks (my hair is at 7 weeks; I had to sadly cancel my appointment last week because Rachel was sick). Rachel is fascinated by it, and is constantly asking to "see Mommy's baby." She talks to my belly, hugs it, kisses it. She says, "snuggle heeeeer," and then rubs her nose on my belly button. It's nice that she's so interested. When we ask her "What should we name our new baby, Rachel?" she always replies, "Baby Sister!" Not much help, but cute, all the same.

zoe girl

My little girl has been sweet so far this week. We've had some quality mommy-daughter time after a hectic weekend of having to share her with lots of friends and family. She's talking a lot more these days, too, and it's fun to hear what she has to say. She constantly asks to "eat," but doesn't really seem interested in food if I offer it. I think she just likes saying "eat." She's been having potty woes, but I'd like to blame it on this never-ending cold she has, although I can't really be sure that's what it is. She did quite well today, though, so I'm encouraged.

cute moment

Yesterday, Rachel was attempting to play with her LeapFrog radio, but the batteries were dead. I told her it needed batteries, it's broken, it needs to be fixed (to which she now always replies, "Daddy"). She ran over to her daddy and gave him the toy and then disappeared for a minute. When she returned, she had the rechargeable batteries that had been plugged into the power strip under our bed. Smart girl! She pointed to the batteries and then to the radio and looked at Jarrad, expectantly. I laughed for a while from that one.

This afternoon, Rachel decided she needed to barricade our door, so she began transferring a number of her toys and books, arranging them snugly against the door to our garage. Jarrad had trouble coming in when he got home! I'm not sure what got her started, but it was all her idea.

Tonight, as we were going through our nightly bedtime routine, I turned off the lights in Rachel's room and sat down with her in the rocking chair. She put her head on my shoulder, and then popped up and said, "Jeeeesus." She's never said that before! She wanted me to sing "Jesus Loves Me," per routine. I sang extra long for that.

weather for the soul

It has been so beautiful this week, and Rachel is being such a good girl (she was obviously missing her daddy last week). I sure do love her, and I sure think she's a pretty girl. Can you tell I'm feeling smitten today?

cute factor

It has been a while since I posted anything at all, so instead of catching you up on our goings-on, I just need to catch you up on all the cute moments you've missed...(don't you just love this cute giraffe chair? Jarrad's friend William gave it to us, since his youngest is now 5!!)

cute moment

Rachel has started using the word "no" appropriately, that is, to answer yes/no questions. "Rachel, can I have a kiss?" "no." "Rachel, it's time to go night night." "no." She even baits us to ask this next one. She's say "GOOgoo, GOOgoo, GOOgoo," (which means potty, in case you didn't know by now), even if she's just gone, and I'll finally say "Rachel, do you need to go potty?" "no." She says "no" before I've hardly even finished asking. So silly.

I've been letting Rachel self-feed a lot lately, and she has some interesting ideas, like putting Cheerios in applesauce and then eating it all with her fingers, while she holds her spoon in the other hand. In the picture, she has her milk cup in her bowl, and is picking it all up for a drink.

On Sunday, Rachel got into Jarrad's computer bag, and when he saw her, he said, sternly, "Rachel..." She responded by looking up, grinning, and said, "Daaaddy," and then made kissy faces at him and waved sweetly. It was hard not to laugh at that one.

She also likes getting into our bathroom cabinet and taking out bottles and lining them up. The other day, she took several out and set them up on the floor. Then she transferred them all to the bedroom, setting them up carefully. When Jarrad and I ended up chatting in the living room, she carried each bottle out, one by one, and set them up in the walkway. She then sat among them, moving them from her right to her left, very focused on setting them up each time. She also found some of my old hair ties, and she likes to put them around her upper arm. I think she looks like a little tribal baby when she's wearing just her diaper and armband.

Sometimes I let Rachel take toys with her when she goes potty. If we have a stuffed animal or doll, she makes it clap its hands when she goes.

There are some things around the house that I've told her are "no-touch" because they are Mommy's. She now will point to those things and say, "Mama." For example, I might be drinking soda out of a glass at mealtime, and she used to ask to have some, but now, she just points and says, "Mama."

Rachel has always loved bags--putting them around her arm, saying "byebye," and carrying them around the room. She got my brown bag that has a really long strap and dragged it around the whole downstairs, grinning sheepishly the whole way.

Rachel is really into throwing things away. She loves pulling the trash can cabinet in the kitchen open, putting in her "trash," and closing it again. She also likes the little trash can in our master bathroom, so, when we're playing in the master bedroom, she often wants to take little bits of whatever into the bathroom (which is usually kept closed) just to throw them away. If she sees me pick up anything out of the carpet, she immediately points right to the bathroom door, and then goes over to it and points in, saying "kuh, kuh, kuh" with every point. She doesn't stop until I take the trash in and throw it away. She's so bossy!

And speaking of bossy, she now readily demands that Jarrad or I vacate whatever seat we have so that she can freely sit there. It is amazing how directive she can be without much vocabulary!