THIS JUST IN: Will is one year old!

I was just looking at my friend Lisa's blog, and she reminded me that today is our buddy Will's birthday (I'm the worst at remembering birthdays). He was born a few days before Rachel, but he had a long road ahead of him because he weighed only three pounds! He has really grown this year, and I have been amazed by him and his mommy Christina. Check out their blog and praise God with them!

and another one

Rachel woke up at 5:15am again today. My first attempt to fix it was trying to put her down for an early morning nap at 6:30am. She never went to sleep, so that didn't work. She did make it to a normal 9:00am nap time, though, and both naps were good today (she did get 11 hours of sleep last night, after all). In an effort to keep her up later tonight, we went to Jarrad's softball game, where Rachel and PopPop explored the surrounding fields, finding shiny rocks and piles of cut grass. She whimpered all the way home, and went right to sleep when I put her in her crib at 7:45pm. Maybe that will help her sleep a little later!

Progress Report

	potty	diaper
peepee	5	4
poop	1	0

cute moment

Rachel and I met Aunt KiKi and Cousin Tyler at the mall today. On the way, I heard Rachel start giggling from the back seat. I looked to find that her hat was in a wad on top of her head. She seemed really pleased with her accomplishment.

non-toy toy of the day

I'm not exactly sure of the objective of her task, but Rachel worked really hard this afternoon, doing whatever she's doing with these diapers. She continued this activity for about 20 minutes, hardly breaking to even glance at anything else in the room. I wonder what she's doing...

repunzel

Today was such a long day. Rachel woke up, ready to play, at 5:15am. By 7:00am, she was one cranky baby, so she went down for her 1.5 hour morning nap at 7:15am. That made the whole day so weird. To make it worse, since Jarrad is working so hard on the half-bathroom, the whole downstairs is no-touch zone. To avoid chasing Rachel, saying, "No touch, no touch" all day, we have been locked in her room. We did take a field trip to WalMart to break up the morning, but her sleeping was so off that she was really difficult today. I could not keep her awake past 6:00pm tonight (well, not without pulling my hair out). If we have a repeat tomorrow...I'll figure out some way to fix it. Maybe...

PopPop is still working on painting our house (I'm so excited!!), so Aunt Mamber and Cousin Anthony joined us for dinner and a visit this evening. I thought I cooked a lot of food, but those hungry people did not leave any to spare! I guess big guys doing manual labor yields big appetites!

Progress Report

	potty	diaper
peepee	6	5
poop	1	0

Rachel figured out a potty trick of her own today. She learned that if she doesn't want to sit on the potty, I give in to her when she snuggles up and gives me a long hug. It feels so good...what's a mommy to do? I must counter her...but how...

cute moment

PopPop spent all day caulking the house (what a job!). He spent a good part of the afternoon right outside Rachel's window. Periodically, he climbed his ladder so that he was just on the other side of the pane. Rachel cackled at the faces he made, and I think it was just funny to her that someone was out there!

non-toy toy of the day

Rachel played with a pair of cute tiny tennis shoes that she's worn once (I cleaned them, don't worry). They're so difficult to get on her feet that she'll probably never wear them again. But what fun toys! She has always loved shoes, and these are just the right size to carry around. She also started saying, "shoes" in Rachel language: she loosely buzzes her lips and vocalizes at the same time, approximating the "oooo" sound in "shoes." It's so funny to hear her "words."

tired tired

Has it really been so long since I blogged?? We've been busy busy, and I've not been sleeping well, so I've been tired tired. I did finish Rachel's new birthday dress. It's much smaller than the other, but it's still too big!! She can wear it, though, so she will. I think it will fit much better at the end of the summer, and she can wear a shirt under it in the fall if the weather gets cooler before it fits. I'll post pictures soon! The outfit she's wearing in this picture was given to her by Aunt Mamber...so cute!

A lot has happened...let's see if I can remember. Thursday, Aunt Mamber came over for her Thursday visit. She came over tonight, too, so we could go to Bible Study. I am soooooo happy that Rachel really loves Aunt Mamber. She seems to feel as comfy and safe in her care as she feels with me. Rachel has started separation anxiety, and she's cried when I've left her in the nursery at church the last three Sundays (although she seems to recover fairly quickly). It's sad to leave her like that, but I know it's just a phase. Tonight, though, she hardly seemed to notice when we walked out. PopPop was entertaining Rachel with some blocks. Aunt Mamber put Rachel to bed without a hitch. What a relief to know she's taken care of!

I mentioned PopPop. He's here all week painting the exterior of our house!! I'm beside myself with excitement. Jarrad has been working hard on the half bathroom that's been sitting empty for two years, waiting for its remodel. He thinks he'll be finished by her birthday! It is looking great, and I can't wait to post pics of the finished product.

Since so much work was happening at our house, Rachel and I went to visit GiGi and Pop Saturday, and we spent the night there. I definitely have decided that there's something to be said for cultures where several generations live together; it is wonderful to have so much help with Rachel, and to know I'm not the only eyes watching to keep her safe. As usual, they let me go out and run an errand or two, which does wonders for a full-time mommy's mental health, and, even though I was only gone for a little over an hour, I missed my little girl. I was glad to get home and hold her, and I think she was glad to see me too. Oh, and, once again, I have pitures, but they are held hostage on GiGi's camera.

Anyway, we've had a pretty great few days, and it's all because of great family. Praise God for his blessings!

Progress Report (Thursday)

	potty	diaper
peepee	8	6
poop	0	0

There is an explanation for the high peepee count. Thursday afternoon, Rachel told me she needed to potty. This is not unusual, but what followed had not happened in a really long time: I removed her diaper, which was dry, she sat down on the potty, and she went, right away! I was so shocked at the sequence that my mouth dropped open. Rachel thought that was hilarious. The next time she sat on the potty, as soon as she started peepeeing, she looked up at me, scrunched her nose, and dropped her mouth wide open, waiting for me to do the same. We did this all afternoon, and she apparently was so excited to see my surprised face that she would stop midstream. So, I changed a lot of barely-wet diapers, and she did a lot of partial-peepees on the potty. So funny!

Progress Report (Friday)

	potty	diaper
peepee	5	4
poop	0	0

Progress Report (Saturday)

	potty	diaper
peepee	6	3
poop	1	1

Progress Report (Sunday)

	potty	diaper
peepee	6	2
poop	0	0

I know I usually don't post so many potty reports at once, but I am so excited about the apparent progress. This afternoon, she told me every single time she needed to potty, and her only two diapers she used today were early this morning and at church. Yay!

cute moment

Rachel has learned to lap sit. That is, she has figured out how to come over, turn around, and sit down in my lap. She discovered this new trick on Thursday, and she kept coming over, sitting down, getting right back up, only to walk away and start all over again. She giggled every time. She doesn't get it every time though; sometimes she tried to walk right into my lap, and ends up face forward on her belly, wondering what went wrong. Today, PopPop was lying on the floor in her room, and she kept going over and sitting on his shiny bald head. She go a kick out of that!

Rachel also, for some reason, has started randomly stretching her arms straight up over her head. She'll do it now when I say, "biiiiig Rachel." I don't know what started it, but I think it's pretty cute.

non-toy toy of the day

There are so many non-toys that I can't name them all. At one point on Friday, she was walking around with a yogurt container in one hand, and a Capri-Sun pouch and a greeting card in the other. There's no stopping her!

where's you from?

Okay, long story short...actually, short story short: The dress I made for Rachel is tooooooooo big. SO, I've started a new one, this time with a different pattern, but using the same material (I have barely enough left to piece it together). I hope this one fits! Anyway, the other one will be cute...someday!

Progress Report

	potty	diaper
peepee	4	5
poop	2	0

cute moment

Rachel is understanding so much these days, and she's saying a new word almost everyday (today, she started saying "bye bye," although it usually sounds like "da da"). To encourage her learning, I'm trying to teach her to point to her ear and her nose. Usually, there is some context because we read a book that has pictures of the body parts and we talk about them. But this morning, I was trying to get her to show off for Jarrad, and I randomly asked, "Rachel, where's your ear?" She looked around the room and thought about the question. Then, she picked up one of her stuffed animals. "Yep, Rachel, that is Eeyore." HAHA! Jarrad and I could not stop laughing.

non-toy toy of the day

Rachel is playing with one of her diapers...she loooooves playing with diapers, for whatever reason. In the first video, she actually says "diaper" (which, in Rachel language, sounds like "dagoon"). In the second video, she approximates the sign for "help" because she wants to put the diaper on Monkey. So silly!

a grin means happy

Rachel seemed to be feeling a bit better this afternoon. We went on a field trip to EarthFare today. I love that store--it's never crowded and everyone is so nice. I never have much to buy, but we always linger for several minutes. I think Rachel was glad to get out of the house, and I know I was glad to get out for some new scenery. Overall, it was a fairly quiet, restful day. Rachel finally got "new" toys that have been out of rotation for a while, and she was really content playing with them most of the day.

Progress Report

	potty	diaper
peepee	4	3
poop	0	0

cute moment

Here's Rachel waking up from her wonderful almost-two-hour morning nap...

non-toy toy of the day

Rachel gets really excited over her kitchen cabinet. I haven't switched what's in there at all; it's just the same couple pieces of tupperware, two cards mailed to her by two of her great-grandmas, a cereal box, and a few rectangular pieces of cardstock, perfect for gathering and carrying around. She usually toddles in the kitchen, goes for one of the locked cabinets, and then, as if to suddenly remember, she turns to her cabinet door with a yell of excitement. She opens the door and yells again, looks up at me, and then begins pulling things out, one by one, periodically shrieking or yelling, and sometimes picking one thing to carry around for a while.

on the move

Rachel and I have been traveling a lot lately! Ater meeting Aunt KiKi and Cousin Tyler at the mall for lunch on Friday, we drove 1.5 hours to visit MiMi and Poppy in my hometown. Rachel is really getting used to sleeping in her Pack n Play, and she slept great Friday night and during her naps Saturday. Jarrad stayed home to do more work on the house (not housework, unfortunately).

MiMi and Poppy really enjoyed Rachel's visit, as she made herself at home picking up everything she could reach, opening all their kitchen cabinets, and digging through their trash cans. She really thinks Poppy is funny because he copies all her faces and noises, and because I think she senses that he's really just a big kid at heart.

Aunt Mamber came over Sunday night so we could go to Bible Study. Sunday nights are such a nice break for us, and we are so grateful to our family for being available to babysit so often. Cousin Anthony came over this afternoon and was here to greet Rachel when she woke up from her nap. She walked around the living room grinning and giggling at him. I let her have Cheerios in the living room, again, and I let her play with a laundry basket full of clean diapers, again. Both of those things kept her happily occupied and gave us time to do school work.

Today was a great day, starting with Rachel sleeping late. She took two great naps, and went to bed a little early. She's not been feeling so great the last day or two, and I'm still blaming the coming teeth. But will they ever come??

Progress Report

Rachel is doing a much better job on the potty. I hope we can move along this week, and maybe actually progress for the first time in a while.

	potty	diaper
peepee	4	4
poop	1	0

cute moment DAILY DOUBLE

While Anthony was here, Rachel really turned into Little Miss Show-off. She pranced all around downstairs, cutting her eyes at him and belly-laughing for no reason at all. She was all smiles the whole time, until he was ready to leave. As he was walking out, I tried to get her to wave and say "bye bye," but she just sat on the floor with a really serious look on her face. After he left, she let out a quiet, kind of sad, "bye," and a weak wave.

Rachel is really into imitating now, which is really cute most of the time, except mealtime. At lunch, I was eating a sandwich and chips with dip. She desperately wanted some of my food. Since she clearly wanted to feed herself, I got out a piece of Zwieback toast. That was not good enough. I pretended to dip it in the chip dip, which appeased her momentarily. So, considering it was about bathtime anyway, I gave her the rest of her babyfood peas, and she spent the remainder of the meal dipping her toast in the peas. She ate it all!

non-toy toy of the day

Rachel played with so many non-toys this weekend. She loved carrying around a little tin with three clothespins, she played with lots of tupperware, Tia Milli's soccer ball pillow, and today, she found my trash bags...