the camera comes clean

Our camera batteries do not usually cooperate long enough to get many good series o pictures these days, so I've been a bit lazy getting the pics onto the computer. When I cleaned off the card today, I remembered this...

cute moment

The glimmer and newness of the fun fun bucket of gum Rachel gained on Halloween night has finally begun to wear off. Yesterday was probably the first day she didn't drag it around everywhere (or demand that I carry it behind her like her attendant). The day after Halloween, she could hardly bear to part with it even long enough to eat breakfast. We finally compromised, and she agreed to eat her scrambled eggs.

And here is Rachel with two of her bff's, Lyssette and Ella

Cousin Tyler taught Rachel to hug her friends. Lyssette was unsure...

double the sleep

Rachel had her 15-month physical yesterday, weighing in at 21lb 13oz (35%), measuring 30" long (45%--she'll be 3 ft tall before we know it!), with a head circumference at 90%. The doctor assured me her head size was due to all her brains (I didn't even ask). The doc also commented that, of all the 15-month-olds she'd seen, Rachel did really well with her shots; she only cried about 20 seconds before I was able to distract her by pointing out all the trash the doctor had left behind on the examining table. Rachel promptly pointed to the trash can in the room. The doctor said she could tell Rachel is a helper. I think helper is code for bossy.

Rachel visited some friends at lunch today. Leah is 2.5 months younger than Rachel, and Kyler (pictured) is 6 months old. It was fun to watch the babies interact, and Rachel definitely pulled rank on the other girls by snatching toys away. I hope she doesn't turn into a bully.

I think partially due to her shots, and partly due to her level of activity and lack of sleep yesterday, Rachel took two awesome naps today for the first time in at least a month. Rachel has been a one-nap baby for quite some time now, and I've reconciled myself to that. She has a ~40-minute quiet time in her crib mid-morning, usually, and then one nap in the afternoon (of course, her one nap is rarely longer than 1.5 hours). This morning, she fell asleep almost as soon as I put her in her crib for quiet time, and she slept 2 hours! So mid-afternoon, after we got home from our playdate, I put her in her crib for quiet time, and she fell asleep again--this time for almost 1.5 hours!! I couldn't believe it. I forgot how much I can get done with that kind of time on my hands. So by the time she got up from the 2nd nap, my kitchen and floors were spotless, a load of laundry was clean, and I was in a great mood.

My wonderful cousin DeeDee is always bringing fun new toys for Rachel to play with (her kids are older, so we get their hand-me-downs). We hit the jackpot this week when she brought over their old play kitchen! We put it in the dining room by the windows, and Rachel has been playing there almost non-stop. I even caught her pretending to wash her hands in the tiny sink!

cute moment

Rachel has noticed the birds chirping outside, and she likes to imitate them. She listens intently, and then she grins and says, "teh, teh, teh."

My favorite outside noise, though, is when airplanes fly over. Our house is right under the path of some of the planes taking off and landing at the nearby airport, and Rachel still has not grown accustomed to the noise. When we are downstairs, it's a little louder, (I guess because of all the windows), and when a plane comes by (5 or 6 times a day, maybe?), Rachel almost always stops what she's doing, looks at me with a really serious look and wide eyes, and then sprints over and clings on until the plane is gone. She knows what it is now, but she still likes to be near me. And I don't mind if that doesn't change just yet.

non-toy toy of the day

Yesterday, while I was getting myself ready for the day, I stepped out of my bathroom to look for Rachel, who had grown unusually quiet. There she sat on our bedroom floor, with an open tub of Vaseline, greasy all over. I guess she figured out how to remove the lid. Oops!

a narrow win

Rachel was in a pretty good mood today and yesterday, and so was I. She took at 1.5-hour morning nap, which allowed me to be really productive. I put an old sheet under her high chair (per GiGi's recommendation), which greatly reduced mealtime stress (Rachel will not stop throwing food. I get so frustrated with her because she throws food, then says, "nahnah"...I don't know what to do!). Yesterday afternoon, we met Koen and Carla at a museum. It was a 25-minute drive there, but a 40-minute drive back (rush hour). Rachel was not happy being strapped down that long. It didn't help that we were driving home during her normal dinner time. If I had any sense, we would have stayed put and had dinner near the museum, and then gone home after rush hour. DUH.

We met my friend Shawna for lunch today. We went to a place with a salad bar and pizza buffet. Rachel ate a bunch of cottage cheese, some crackers, and she devoured some vanilla pudding. I was going to let her taste a peanut butter cookie (yum!), but she threw it overboard before she even tasted it. Her loss, I say!

Aunt Mamber came over after work, and Rachel pranced around as usual. She really loves having Aunt Mamber around so much, and it's always a nice break for me, even if all I do is look at a magazine for a few minutes while she's playing with Rachel. Here is a picture of Rachel giving Aunt Mamber one of her sweet hugs.

Progress Report

	potty	diaper
peepee	5	4
poop	1	1

I tried to relax a little about the potty yesterday. As a result, she only used it a couple times. Today, I broke out the Cheerios and bribed her shamelessly. I think it worked, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up. For the first time in a while, though, she used the potty more than her diaper, and she was consistently telling me she needed to go all afternoon. She only used one diaper between lunch and bedtime!

cute moment

There was another baby at the restaurant today, and, as her family left, I leaned over to Rachel and said, "Say, 'bye bye' Rachel." Rachel looked over and started waving. Awwwww. Then she yelled "BYE BYE, BYE BYE, BYE BYE, BYE BYE," at the top of her lungs--not exactly what I had in mind.

non-toy toy of the day

Since Rachel is finished using the toddler tub (I need to give it back to her cousin, who kindly let us borrow it), I put it in Rachel's room to keep her busy while I vacuumed upstairs. She thought it was a funny to have the tub in her room, and she enjoyed climbing in and out, and pretending to bathe the giant teddy bear.

a tribute

A quick, lots-of-pics-to-post blog today. Tia Milli is going home to Honduras on Saturday, so she came for a visit and to say goodbye to the kiddos. She even hung out with Rachel while I went out for a couple hours this afternoon. She is going to miss Tyler and Rachel so much, and they will miss her too. We'll look forward to seeing her again in August, and I know she will be keeping her eye on the blog!

Milli, Rachel, Aunt KiKi, and Cousin Tyler. So cute!

Aunt Milli took this pic while I was gone...she let Rachel have free reign over a bowl of Cheerios! Nice face, huh?

Rachel took two great naps again today: 1.5 hours this morning and 2.5 hours this afternoon. Good baby!

Progress Report

	potty	diaper
peepee	7	2
poop	1	1

Rachel woke up for the day at 6:30am and played in her crib until 7:00am. When I went to get her up, she had a poopy diaper! I look forward to the day when she can yell, "Mommy, I gotta gooooooo." Or something like that, anyway.

cute moment

You can hear Milli and me laughing. This is Rachel, trying her best to put her own diaper on. So silly!

rocker baby

We had a fun day today, especially since Rachel slept in until 7:00am, and even played in her crib happily until 7:15am, when I greeted her for the morning. Her morning nap was 1 hour 40 minutes, but her afternoon nap was less than an hour. I put her down really early again tonight, at 6:30pm. The sleep book says to make her bedtime earlier to cure the night waking and the super-early mornings. I hope it works! She was really happy and hyper when I was getting her ready for bed, but she went to sleep in no time, which is exactly what the book says should happen. She usually starts rubbing her eyes and face, tugging on her ears, and getting really fussy by her usual bedtime, and the book says that means we're putting her to sleep too late! We'll see!

We had a visitor in the middle of the day--Rachel's friend Leah! Leah is coming close to figuring out how to crawl, so she seemed pretty interested in watching Rachel crawl circles around her. I took several pictures of them. In almost every one, Leah is looking straight at the camera with a beautiful smile, and Rachel is turning around, stealing Leah's toy, looking at her toes, just being a busy-body. Koen and Bob also came over late this afternoon. Bob had fun playing hide-and-seek with Rachel, and he got a big kick out of her love for Little Rex.

Aunt Mamber came over for her usual Thursday visit. She and PopPop will be running in a half-marathon in Nashville this weekend, and Rachel is excited to be rooting for them from home!

Progress Report

	potty	diaper
peepee	2	3
poop	2	0

cute moment

She talks a lot on this video, AND she shows off a couple of her tricks.

non-toy toy of the day

I let Rachel play with my Valentine's Day candy hearts necklace today. They make a great noise when she shakes them around, and she loves to examine the little beads.

ketchup

I hate getting blogged down (I know--corny). Let me start from the beginning...

Saturday was a really fun day. Rachel slept just okay Friday night, so she went down early, at 8:45am, for her morning nap. She woke up at 9:30am (of course), just as our friends Koen(8) and Bob(10) arrived to spend the day with us. Their parents had a fun wedding to attend, so they got to hang out at our place until about 3:00pm. Bob loves video games, so he brought those along, and Jarrad even got to play some too. Koen enjoyed Rachel and Rachel's singing bunny that wiggles his ears and taps his foot. I attempted to make kid food for lunch: hotdogs made to look like butterflies. They turned out rather well (it's not rocket science), although, as predicted, they weren't as pretty as the picture in the magazine. Jarrad had fun teasing Bob about eating butterflies. Koen enjoyed the french fries. Rachel slept better in the afternoon, which was a big relief. Jarrad managed to get some work done on the house Saturday evening, and we all turned in early.

Sunday was crazy, as usual. Rachel woke up at 4:30am, but I didn't hestitate to put her back to sleep myself, praying she would sleep late (since she always misses her morning nap on Sunday). She obliged, and didn't wake up until a little after 7:30am; it was so nice to "sleep in" a bit. We had fun at church, and Rachel, though tired, was in a good mood on the way home. She took a normal afternoon nap before our mystery guest arrived, in full ninja turtle attire. Actually, he is a friend of mine from home who likes to dress up and be crazy. He was in town to watch the local Roller Derby bout. We gave the little boys (5-year-old Jackson and 4-year-old Mason) across the street a big thrill by ringing the doorbell and having the ninja turtle (Raphael maybe?) greet them.

Aunt Julie came over last night to babysit while Jarrad and I went to Bible Study. I know I say it all the time, but we are SO blessed to have such willing family members. Aunt Mamber was originally going to come Sunday night, but ended up with a stomach ache. We called Aunt Julie, who loaded up her knitting supplies and came right over! Landin joined her after we left, so it was nice to see them for a few minutes after we got home.

Rachel slept through last night for the first time in a long time. She got up at 6:00am, which seems really early, but I'll compromise for the uninterrupted sleep. She slept one hour 15 minutes this morning and 1 hour 40 minutes this afternoon. Between her naps, we went to the mall, where we got to see Aunt KiKi and Cousin Tyler (again!) and our friends Denise and Jon David (who is two days older than Tyler). Jon David WON the BabyGap casting call this winter, so there is a huge poster with his cute little face in the front window of the Gap store (look for it next time you're at any mall!) The employees at Gap let him play around in the window and look at all the pictures of himself. It was so cute!

Progress Report

To sum up the weekend pottying: Saturday was a good day, Sunday was not. She was wet both mornings, but dry today.

	potty	diaper
peepee	4	4
poop	2	0

cute moment

Rachel loves Little Rex. While she was eating Cheerios last night, I remembered Little Rex was in my purse. I stuck him in my pocket, head first, so only a little of his tail and feet were visible. It took her a couple minutes, but she finally noticed him, and she went nuts! She grinned and kicked her feet and waved her arms. She squealed and screamed at him, and stretched to get him out of my pocket. This evening, Rachel fell and bumped her lip, and she cried and reached to hold Little Rex!

Also cute, and a little strange, are Rachel's developing fears of...things. So far, she's shown definite timidness around dogs and singing bunnies. Today I sat her down in the grass to get a picture. She was afraid of the grass. She tried her best not to touch it at all, and she was shaking when Aunt KiKi rescued her. Sheesh.

non-toy toy of the day

Yesterday, I occupied Rachel by letting her play with a styrofoam plate while I tidied up the kitchen.

back on track

Okay, first of all, yes, Rachel is wearing the same outfit as yesterday. I washed it last night and put it right back on her this morning, since it might be the last warm day we have before she grows out of it. I think it's fair that I want her to wear it at least twice before she grows out of it!

Rachel was one good baby today! She did get up a bit early, around 6:10am, but I knew that meant she'd take a good morning nap, so I didn't mind. After her morning nap, we went to see Koen! We had a great time hanging out at his house, and Rachel was in a great mood, finding lots of new things to get into. She got to sit in a big bean bag to eat her lunch, which she thought was really great!

I am ashamed to say that I got four new FuzziBunz diapers today! In my defense, I ordered them a while ago, before I really knew we probably don't need them. Also in my defense, two are really cute girly colors: Bubblegum Pink and Lavendar. All of Rachel's diapers are gender-neutral or even boy colors (because I bought them used from mommies of boys). Still, I can't decide if I want to put them in rotation or try to resell them as new. The pink one is just so especially cute!!

Jarrad came home a little early from work so I could go get a haircut in peace. He and Rachel had a fun time. The best part of leaving Rachel for an hour or two is that she seems so happy to see me when I get back. Tonight, when I put her in her crib for bedtime, she started talking to herself as usual. Although she rarely has any problem going to sleep, she started crying tonight. Since I had missed her too, I went right back in her room and rocked her to sleep. I really enjoyed that, since she doesn't do it often anymore.

Progress Report

	potty	diaper
peepee	7	2
poop	2	0

	AM nap	PM nap
duration	1:25	0:55
diaper	dry	dry

Rachel was back to her old self on the potty today. Thank goodness!

cute moment

There are three "no-touch" zones in Rachel's room, and she doesn't seem to mind that so far. She is not allowed to touch the outlets, the cord to her lamp, and she's not allowed to crawl behind the rocking chair and get into the cable that's back there. Behind the rocking chair is number one on her "I want to sneak back there and play" list. So, as soon as she thinks I'm not paying attention, straight back there she goes. Of course, I remove her and remind her, "that's a 'no touch.'" What does she do? She grins and refuses to sit down anywhere, which forces me to just hold her hands and let her walk laps around the room. And so she walks, cooing and grinning, with no particular destination, until she gets tired or sees a toy she wants and decides to plop down so she can play. Her laps are getting longer and longer, and she's holding onto my fingers less and less. I don't think it will be long until she is taking some steps!!

non-toy toy of the day

Rachel's container of Cheerios is a great toy. It makes a pleasant rattle sound when Rachel shakes it, and it's the perfect size for her to hold in her hands (and feet).

i love her

Rachel had a weird morning. She woke up crying at 5:45am, and she was not going back to sleep. I dragged myself out of bed (I think I was in the middle of a dream) and prepared for a long morning. As I stumbled up the stairs, I dreaded what invariably happens when she wakes up so early: she's miserable by 7:00am, and I try to keep her awake and happy until as close to 9:00am as possible so I can be sure she gets a proper nap (she never sleeps longer than 45 minutes if I try to put her down long before 9:00am). It occurred to me that I didn't want to be awake yet, so maybe she didn't either. I entered her room, but decided not to talk to her or turn on her lights just yet. I sat down with her in the rocking chair, as is our morning routine, and I nursed her in silence (still half-asleep myself). Sure enough, she calmed right down and seemed to be extremely sleepy. I put her back in her crib and she drifted back to sleep until almost 7:15am. Now, that's a better wake-up time! She took her morning nap a little late, at 9:30am, but both her naps were GREAT today, so I am convinced I did the right thing. And I got a lot of extra sleep, too, which always helps! Praise God for flexibility!

We saw our friend Koen this afternoon, and Aunt Mamber this evening. Rachel had a good Thursday and should sleep great tonight!

Progress Report

	potty	diaper
peepee	6	2
poop	1	1	I was doing chores and never saw it coming!

	AM nap	PM nap
duration	1:30	1:25
diaper	dry	dry

cute moment

Aunt Mamber pulled into our driveway just ahead of us when we got home from Koen's house this afternoon. She came over and peeked in the car window at Rachel, and Rachel grinned her Hey-I-know-you-and-I-like-you grin, the same one she gives her daddy when he gets home. I'm so glad she is enjoying familiar people!

non-toy toy of the day

At Koen's house, Rachel always enjoys playing with Bob's Playstation controllers. Here's a picture of Bob and Rachel from a couple months ago.

she's so big

Today was busy but fun. After Rachel's extremely short morning nap, she played a few minutes, and then we went to see my friend, John (pictured) at his work. He hasn't seen Rachel since she was really tiny, so it was fun to show off her newest tricks. Everyone at his work exclaimed that she is a beautiful baby, so well-proportioned, with a perfect head, looks like a baby doll, should be in commercials. Haha! I don't think they see many babies around there, but I do have to agree with them.

As soon as Jarrad got home from work this evening, we went to meet a brand new baby! Kyler was born just last week, and was a tiny 5lb 13oz. Rachel looked like such a big girl next to Kyler. Vern & Kelly invited us to stay and have dinner with them, so we had a nice visit while cute little Kyler snoozed away.

I am excited to report that Rachel now eats real bananas and Cheerios! I took some Cheerios with us to Vern & Kelly's house, and it was a great distraction while we visited. She hasn't figured out how to feed them to herself yet, but she likes to gum them down!

Progress Report

	potty	diaper
peepee	11	1
poop	2	0

	AM nap	PM nap
duration	0:45	1:15
diaper	dry	dry

Rachel was very cooperative today. She didn't give me the "stiff leg" at all when I tried to sit her on the potty. It seems that she's learned to "hold it" when she's expecting that I will sit her on the potty, explaining her post-nap and post-outing dry diapers. She only had one accident, this morning, which I can only assume is a result of not giving her a potty opportunity in a timely manner.

cute moment

We experienced another first for Rachel. Vern & Kelly have a one-year-old black lab who is very well-behaved and mild-mannered, especially for a puppy. You may know that I am not a dog person, especially big dogs. I try hard to disguise my uneasiness when they're around, but they make me nervous. It doesn't help that I'm usually allergic to them. Their dog was so good, though, that she didn't really make me nervous, and I tried extra-hard to be calm for Rachel's benefit. At first, Rachel didn't react much. She just watched the dog prance around and sniff everything. But everytime the dog came near, Vern hollered abruptly for her to behave, or Jarrad swatted her away from Rachel and me (he was worried about my allergies). Then, out of the blue, Rachel burst into a fearful cry and clung onto me for dear life. She was scared of the dog! She's never really reacted that way to anything! After that, when the dog got near, Rachel sort of whimpered and clung on, burying her face in my shirt. I really hope this isn't the beginning of an irrational fear (like mine)!

non-toy toy of the day

The strings that tie her bumper pad to her crib...

rhyme time

Sunday/Monday were good days (and they rhyme). She was dry both mornings, which makes four dry mornings in a row! It's unbelievable. I've looked back, and, except Sunday, we're using only 2-3 diapers a day now! I'm still waiting for the day she is reliable in communicating her need to use the potty, but I am convinced that will be the final piece to the puzzle.

On Sunday afternoon, Pop helped Jarrad change the brake pads on my car, so Rachel and I were home alone, and we were both exhausted from an eventful weekend. Feeling a little down, I decided to eat a sugar-free popsicle (what's happier than that?). Rachel seemed down, too, so I let her have a few licks. It was her first taste of something purely artificial and she loved it (of course).

Aunt Mamber watched the devastating end to the UNC NCAA game (she's a Tar Heel) at our house while Jarrad and I went to our friends' house for Bible study. Even though Aunt Mamber gets really into her Carolina games, she was very good not to scream loudly and wake up Rachel. We thanked her for her self-control.

My buddy, Koen came over this afternoon to hang out while his older brother, Bob celebrated his birthday with a few friends. After Jarrad came home and we put Rachel down for the night, Jarrad and Koen played together. Koen doesn't know Jarrad very well, but he seemed to enjoy his silliness almost as much as Rachel does!

Progress Report (Sunday)

	potty	diaper
peepee	2	4	Did I miscalculate?
poop	1	1

Progress Report (Monday)

	potty	diaper
peepee	8	2
poop	2	0

	AM nap	PM nap
duration	0:45	2:30
diaper	dry	dry

She's not had a wet diaper after a nap in so long!

cute moment

non-toy toy of the day

I let Rachel play with our drumsticks (they really belong to our friend Jesse). She likes to bang things together and slam them on the ground, so she really seemed to know what she was doing with those sticks! Rachel's Uncle Travis played drums, so it's in her blood. Koen's brother Bob also plays the drums. Maybe they can play a duet sometime!

saturday's child

What a long day! Rachel woke up at 6:20am with another DRY diaper! That is two mornings in a row she's been dry. I am very excited! Her short morning nap enabled an early afternoon nap, which worked out great since she was invited to her friends' birthday party! Zahra just turned 3 years old, and her sister, Maya (picture) is about to turn 1! Their mom, Abbey, and I worked together at our elementary school last year. We were prego at the same time, and she was a great resource for me, since this was her second. She helped me remember all the rules that come with pregnancy, and she gave me tips on how to relieve the many discomforts. She has been an awesome friend!

Right after the party, we piled back in the car to head to GiGi and Pop's house for a birthday celebration honoring Aunt Julie, Aunt Katie, and Jarrad. Aunt Julie, who has taken up knitting in a serious way, surprised Rachel with a beautiful new dress (pictured)! It's still a bit roomy, but it is SO CUTE! I am very excited and can't wait for her to wear it. GiGi also surprised Rachel by bringing out one of Aunt Mamber's old toys: a ride-on rolling horsey. She's too little to ride yet, but she enjoyed her first horsey-sit. We were only missing Uncle John tonight, but we hope to see him soon!

Progress Report

	potty	diaper
peepee	6	2
poop	0	0

	AM nap	PM nap
duration	0:45	1:15
diaper	dry	dry

cute moment

On the way to GiGi's house, I sat with Rachel in the back seat (to keep her entertained). I was really hoping she would take a little nap, but she was wound up and wanted to play. With about 20 minutes left to go, I put her sunshade up in hopes she'd get bored of looking at it, close her eyes, and fall asleep. Instead, she swatted at it and grabbed for it until she was able to pull it completely in front of her. She was so proud of herself, and she enjoyed propping her feet on it for the rest of the ride.

non-toy toy of the day

At the birthday party, while the older kids were interested in Zahra's gift-opening, Rachel sat alongside and played with the discarded wrapping paper. At one point, she had little torn pieces of wrapping paper stuck to both arms as she crawled from one wrapping paper ball to another.

THIS JUST IN: Will is a two-timer!

Two days after Rachel's big date with Will, he was caught with another girl! I guess Will and Leah are pretty cute together...

Rachel isn't worried, though, as she only has eyes for Alexander. You may recall that we've agreed to an arranged marriage between these two.

what's in a name

Rachel knows Little Rex! It's amazing how much more Rachel is understanding lately. Yesterday, she had been carrying Little Rex around all afternoon. At some point after Jarrad came home, she dropped Little Rex and ended up playing with another toy on the other side of the room. I said, "Rachel, where's Little Rex?" She looked all around and finally crawled over and picked him up. Could it be? So we set up a series of experiments to test her, and she passed with flying colors! We named him only 3 or 4 weeks ago, and already she knows his name!

Rachel's new friend Will came over today! He is just 5 days older than Rachel, and he was dressed like a big boy in his orange polo shirt and blue jeans. He is SO cute, and he actually has less hair than Rachel! The pair had lunch together. Will's mommy, Christina, has also started using cloth diapers, so we've had fun comparing notes and learning together. I showed Christina our growing stash of dipes; she and I split an order of FuzziBunz that should be shipped soon. I'm excited to get some fun colors!

Progress Report

	potty	diaper
peepee	4	6
poop	2	0

	AM nap	PM nap
duration	1:25	0:50
diaper	dry	dry

cute moment

Rachel is giggling and clapping for all kinds of things lately. Today, she finally started laughing at a game Aunt KiKi made up. I close my eyes and let my facial expression fall flat for a second, and then I pop open my eyes, open my mouth to a grin, and gasp, like something has pleasantly surprised me. She laughed at this over and over. I hope I don't hyperventilate!

non-toy toy of the day

On our walk, though she didn't want to wear them, Rachel liked holding her sunglasses in her hand and waving them around. I did snatch one picture of her before she pulled them off...

life lesson

I've still been processing Pastor Scott's lesson from Sunday. After having a relationship with Christ for 20 years, last night, it really sunk in that God does care about ME. I've always had a big-picture view of God and how He must think of His creation (us, this world, etc). God created the world, created Man, to ultimately and exclusively glorify Him. So, it follows, that all things happen to that end: good, bad, big, small. In that case, MY circumstances and worries are merely bumps in MY road, not His. They may trip ME up, but not Him. They might bother ME, but they surely do not bother Him. But wait, that's not true is it? He does care; my worries do bother Him. It's incomprehensible, but so true. If Jesus cared about the wine at that wedding (John 2:1-11, Jesus' first miracle), and He cared about how He was regarded by those few people (His disciples), then He must care about ME. I would never have claimed to think God didn't care about me, but that is how I've conducted my inner thoughts and conflicts: as if they were mine to deal with. What a relief to know I should give them to God after all. That's how He wants it. That's how He intended it.

big girls do cry

First of all, I forgot to report yesterday that Rachel had a paci breakthrough! She wasn't very sleepy when I put her down for her morning nap, so it took her 45 minutes to get to sleep. When I peeked in, I noticed she had thrown all four pacis from her crib to the floor, and she had fallen asleep paciless! I was amazed.

Okay, have you ever had a good cry in the middle of the day? Rachel and I cried together this afternoon when I accidently smashed her fingers, leaving them with nasty red marks. I felt horrible. I was doing a mundane chore (replacing the bag in her diaper pail) and I wasn't paying attention to the fact that she had put her tiny little innocent hand up on the edge, right where I slammed the lid--hard. She screamed, but recovered more quickly than I. I felt so guilty.

She had a pretty good day in spite of a rough night last night. She woke up around 1:45am, crying, and, for the first time, it sounded like she was saying "mamamamama" through her tears. It broke my heart. After trying to leave her alone and let her settle herself back down, I went in and fixed it for her. I know she wasn't hungry, she didn't have a dirty diaper, and I think she felt fine, so I guess it was some separation anxiety. Poor baby.

Today, MiMi and Tia Milli came to visit (pic), and PopPop and Uma came by for a few minutes in the evening. Rachel is sure loved by a lot of people!

Progress Report

	potty	diaper
peepee	7	5
poop	0	1

cute moment

I'm trying to teach Rachel to be gentle. She mostly whacks things right now, and she thinks it is especially funny when she whacks a doll or stuffed animal and he says "ow!" When my friend Lisa suggested that perhaps her daughter, Leah, and Rachel shouldn't play together anymore based on this fact, I knew we had a problem (yes, Lisa was kidding, but still...). So now we practice, "Love PinkBear, gentle." Of course, she doesn't have much control right now, but I want her to understand the concept. On the other hand, I don't want to spoil her fun. So, I have designated a small, green finger puppet dinosaur, Little Rex, as her mean animal that she can whack (he growls at her, after all). This morning, I was holding CarSeatBaby (who used to live exclusively in the car seat) and Little Rex. CarSeatBaby was begging for a kiss, while Little Rex kept growling at Rachel. Rachel grinned and looked at CarSeatBaby and then proceeded to give Little Rex a sloppy kiss. She did this several times; poor CarSeatBaby never did get her kiss.

Here are Rachel and Leah playing together about a month ago.

non-toy toy of the day

Today, we retire a long-cherished non-toy toy. Rachel's Kleenex box has slowly deteriorated until it is unsafe and unfun. Not to worry, Rachel--Mommy is almost finished with her next box.

knock, knock...

Wow, Rachel had lots of visitors today! Miles (who is 2 months older than Rachel) and his mommy, Karen visited at lunchtime, then Poppy came, and then PopPop and Uma came! Rachel had a full day, so it was convenient that she had a good sleeping day as well.

We had terrible weather last night, so, at GiGi's urging, Rachel slept in her Pack 'n' Play setup in the hallway outside our room for most of the night. She woke up around 4:15am. Jarrad checked the radar online, and it seemed the worst weather had passed. I took Rachel to her room upstairs and rocked her back to sleep. She must have been happy to be back in her crib, because she slept until almost 7:45am! She took a late 1.5-hour morning nap before Miles came to play, and a short afternoon nap.

Poppy, Rachel and I went for a stroll around the neighborhood, but Rachel got antsy and we had to return home quicker than usual. She did not enjoy being strapped in that stroller today! When we got back home, Rachel played and played. Poppy took lots of great pictures (I'm hoping he'll send us a few). PopPop and Uma came for about an hour before Rachel's bedtime, and Rachel entertained them with silly noises and funny faces. Overall, we had a great Friday!

Progress Report

	potty	diaper	floor
peepee	5	5
poop	1	0	1	I guess I should throw a diaper on her before I answer the phone. oops!

cute moment

Rachel enjoyed playing with her new friend Miles. Since Miles is a little older, he seemed to know he was more in control. When Rachel picked up a toy, he wanted it, and he came over and got it. Rachel doesn't know to care, so she just looked at him with a confused expression on her face. Eventually, he'd drop the toy, and she'd pick it back up and continue to play. Miles and Rachel found each other very interesting!

non-toy toy of the day

When she gets antsy on our walk, I try to find something to entertain her. She loves a leaf. She crunches it and stares at it. I can only give her a leaf when she has her paci in her mouth, though, or she'll try to eat it. Yuck!

to sleep is divine

Rachel's afternoon nap lasted 1 hour 45 minutes! This, after waking this morning at 5:45am and taking a short 40-minutes nap at 9:00am, was a big relief. To make it even better, her diaper was dry, and she was clearly requesting a potty-sit when I got her out of her crib. I had a tummy ache this morning from eating too much Mexican food last night, but I felt much better by lunchtime. What started out as a rough day turned out great!

Usually on Thursdays, Rachel and I go visit our friend Koen. I worked with Koen in the school system last year, and his mommy has graciously allowed me to stay a part of his world. Today, Koen and Carla came to our house! Rachel showed off all her tricks, and Koen walked around and explored. He even found Rachel's Adidas cheerleading uniform and put it on his Stitch stuffed animal! Chris, Carla, Koen, and his brother Bob have become good friends.

Progress Report

	potty	diaper	floor
peepee	5	5	2	I never pay attention after bathtime!
poop	1	2

cute moment

Rachel's paci is as much a toy as it is a pacifier. She likes to drop it and pick it up, chase it around on the floor, throw it over the side of her crib, trade one paci for another, bang them together, and whack other toys with it. She also likes to spit it out. Tonight, she was lying on her back with her paci in her mouth, when she decided to spit it out. It flipped straight over her nose and landed between her eyes, where it stayed until she shook it off. Aunt Mamber was here to witness this amazing feat!

non-toy toy of the day

Rachel likes to chew on...everything. Today, she especially enjoyed gnawing on her paci strap (the one that attaches to her clothes so she doesn't lose her paci when we're out). She loved it so much that she didn't want to let go when she was ready to crawl; so she just kept it.