Visits and Accomplishments

A few weeks ago all 3 of us had the pleasure of visiting with some of Jason's family. They live in Richmond, IN and we hadn't seen them in about 6 months. Connie, Jason's Aunt, has been very gracious about sending Rachel the most adorable presents. I know she's one of my avid readers on this blog, so it was time to visit in person!

I will forever be ashamed that I forgot my camera!!! However, the trip went well. Rachel does great in the car, but she's hit that stage where she must be entertained at all times and wants to touch EVERYTHING. Connie's home is full of beautiful antiques, therefore I was nervous constantly that Rachel would find something breakable...and break it. Thankfully, she did fine! We had a lovely visit with Connie, her brother Barry and her husband Paul. And as is her custom, Connie lavished Rachel with gifts. Here's some of the outfits she bought:

This one Connie gave us a long time ago and Rachel was just recently able to fit into it. Sorry she looks a little cross eyed...this little booger doesn't hold still for very long anymore.

It's hard to see it, but this ensemble is the cutest sweater vest and denim skirt. She's so stylish!

How sweet is this top? It's got a Paris-like background and says in French "I love you with all my heart Rachel". Connie actually had this made. It's too cute! (The jeans are from her Great-Grandma Gina).

I need to put her in dresses more often. Right now whenever I do I think she looks funny since I'm so used to seeing her in pants! But I love this flowered dress. The ladies at Day Care thought it was adorable.

There's a few more items that I need to get her picture in, but these are the ones she's worn so far.

Connie, Paul and Barry - thank you all again so very very much!!!

In other news, there's a lot to report.

First and foremost, the most exciting news: SHE'S GETTING HAIR!!! Our daughter is absolutely adorable! But she's bald. And I"m ready for her to have hair. It's still so light that it doesn't show up in pictures, but instead of 20 stray hairs that stick up, she's starting to get them all over. And they're getting long! About the only time you can see them, however, is when her hair is wet and I mess it up. Regardless, I can see that her hair is finally starting to come up faster than her head is growing and I am elated.

Next up...this kid does NOT like to sit still often anymore. She's on the move....or rather, she really wants to be. We've hit that stage where she's actually rolling onto her tummy from her back (which was a shock to everyone since she normally hates it so much!) and while this does get her from point A to point B (whether that was her goal or not)....she's realized she can get around by rolling and thus far has shown no signs of wanting to crawl. I have a feeling this kid will go from rolling to walking and skip crawling altogether. Some kids do, and that's just fine. She'll develop in whatever way she wants to!

Just within the last couple of days she's starting to make an "ape" face. And of course, I can't capture it on camera and I never have it handy when she does it and she stops making the face too quickly when I do. But she sticks her lips out, almost like she's asking for a kiss, and blows so she sounds like a deflating balloon (sorry, that's the best way I can think of to describe it). It's adorable.

She's also standing on her own....to a point. She can hang on to something and stand for a bit without me helping, but it doesn't last long. And I learned the hard way this evening when I was leaving a message for someone and didn't catch her fast enough before she went face first into a toy and bruised her eye. Yup. I'm one of THOSE moms. At least I wasn't walking her in a stroller....in the street....with the dog....smoking a cigarette.....while on the phone. Still, I feel terrible. (This happened right after I went face first into the floor after triping on her baby fence for the front room....but let's not go there).

I do have more pictures though. Recently Jason and I purchased the blow up pool that I'd planned to use for Rachel, but it's too big (so Jason and I use it :o) ). I have pictures of her playing in it....and these about melted my heart:

Is that little pool sweet or what?! It's perfect for her. I can sit her in there, and when she reaches too far and goes diving on her face, she'll land in the water, but not enough to be a problem. There's just enough water for her to move her feet and splash a bit. It was about 90 degrees outside and she was out there for at least an hour playing in that thing. When her feet started to prune, we just dumped the water out and let her sit in there. She's got shade and water. Perfect! We had a ball playing in the water (and mom and dad loved the sprinkler since the water was actually cooler).

Some other fun pictures I've taken recently:

I finally managed to get this one off of my phone. This was Rachel's first time in a grocery cart. We had SO much fun! She's a hoot to shop with!

I don't remember what she was doing, but this one was darn cute.

And this is the most recent one. Our daughter has started sleeping....a LOT. I put her down for the night around 7 or 8 and some mornings I have to wake her up at 7. That's about 12 hours of sleeping....and we LOVE it! Normally she falls asleep with her arms out to her sides, so she's shaped like a cross. The other morning I went in there and she'd fallen asleep just like her GramE: one arm over her head. I had to snap a picture before I woke her up!

She is enjoying eating from a spoon and is doing so well with it. Currently she likes everything we've tried with her except for the "textured" baby food. I don't know what it is, but every time I've tried the textured baby food she throws up. Day Care can't get her to eat it either. And the canned baby meats are gross. Apparently very few kids like them (ok, so now we know) so Day Care has asked that I stop bringing them in. She loves all fruits and vegetables and this morning at breakfast I tore off a bit of my bagel and gave it to her to munch on. I don't think she was able to gum much off of it, but I think she liked the taste. So from now on I have one of those little gadgets that has a handle with a mesh bag on it that you can put food in so babies can taste the food, but not actually ingest it and choke. Not sure what we'll try next, but I'm excited to try and see what she likes!

Next weekend her Terry Grandparents will be coming up for the weekend and taking her to Evansville with them. Jason and I are heading to Sandusky, Ohio for a trip we've been talking about for a long, long time!

Finally, I'll leave you with some photos I had specially made for Connie: