Christmas

This Christmas was really nice. This year we spent Christmas with my family, and although it ended up being overwhelming for Rachel, it meant a lot to her mommy. We were able to spend a lot of time with both my mom and dad's sides of the family. No one went overboard buying a ton of toys or unnecessary items for Rachel, which was very much appreciated. We did get some great pictures of her this season though:

Look at those two adorable girls with matching pj's!!!

Both Jason and I's mothers worked very hard together to make our stockings. Geri sewed together the stockings and my mom put our names on them. Aren't they adorable?

Rachel was completely intrigued with Alana. Alana's latest trend are mathbox cars. At Thanksgiving my Grandmother brought over all of hers for my cousin's boys to play with, and all 4 of those Great-Grandkids had a blast with them. Alana brought some with her when she came up for Christmas for a visit and played and played with them, which meant Rachel wanted to, too. And to the amazement of all of us, she'll actually make "car" noises when she plays with them. It's a little early for her to understand that cars make noise, let alone emulate the noise. And thankfully, someone was kind enough to give Rachel a few cars of her very own! Granted.....I've noticed she's not nearly as interested in the cars when Alana's not around. But at least she has some for later.

It was a wonderful holiday weekend and by Sunday afternoon we were all exhausted and ready to go home. Rachel has slept around 12 hours every night since we returned home Sunday evening.

Wednesday she needed to go in to get her flu shot and her chicken pox shot. As per usual, she was such a trooper (and secretly I feel the nurse who gave the shots was less than gentle....) but when we got home she just slept and slept. Last night she slept 12 hours and was very unhappy when I went in to wake her up this morning to leave.

She's got a cold coming on, which means we're going to have another round of diaper rash soon. All of us have been sick this week with sniffles, coughs, and I've even lost my voice. I'm ready for our daughter to get her immune system built up so we don't have so many rounds of the yuckies going through our home!

I hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas!

Tantrums

This past week has been interesting. Rachel's tantrums are picking up gusto. Monday morning Rachel woke up fussy as could be. Nothing would make her happy. Food, drink, toy, pacifier, blanket, toy. NOTHING. I finally managed to get her in the car and off to day care, then called later in the day to check on her. Apparently she was happy as a clam when she got to day care!

That evening she and I went up to visit my Grandma and she suddenly broke into tears that would not stop. We figured out it was her 1 year molars coming in. They were really bothering her. So I finally had to hold her down and barely managed to get some ora-gel on her gums before she started her alligator roll. She calmed down a bit and I let her bite on an ice cube, which seemed to help. Once we got in the car she calmed down even more.

Tuesday went okay, but last night we got home, were downstairs watching tv while she ate her dinner, and when I picked her up to put her in her gated play area she melted to the floor howling and would NOT stop. Nothing consoled her. I finally gave up trying and gave her a bath (boy did she need one) and managed to get her into her pj's. While she was on the changing table she had a pacifier and blanket and closed her eyes. I figured she was tired. So I gently moved her to her bed which started the crying process all over again. This lasted for about an hour. I finally just sat her on the floor and let her flop around crying. As a last resort, I dug into the laundry that hadn't been folded yet and pulled out her waffle blanket with the sating lining. Instantly her head fell on my shoulder and she began rubbing the blanket on her face. I think the transition she's making at day care to be on the toddler schedule is getting harder for her. I looked at her sheet from day care once she was asleep and realized she'd been up for 5 hours. She was way over tired and just couldn't handle it!

This morning when we were getting in the car to leave for the day she REFUSED to let me strap her into her car seat. She dug in her feet and slid herself out of the car seat as best she could. Thinking if I just let her get the fit out of her system I'd be able to buckle her in, I left her alone. She rolled over and stood in the car seat looking around. When she'd calmed down I tried once again to put her in the seat and she threw a fit again. I had a really hard time restraining her to get her in the seat. Once she was in the seat, she was fine. But she's bucking and trying hard to show her independence as much as she can.

But then when we get to day care she'll cry with a completely broken heart when I have to walk away. *sigh* I know this is a phase that will pass, but it sure isn't a fun one. And from what I've read, heard and experienced.....it's going to get worse before it gets better!!

Rachel and Santa

This weekend has been so fun. It's the first weekend in several weeks where we've been home all weekend and Rachel has too! Although these weekends wear me out completely, I am thankful for them. I get to play with my girl all day long for 2 days!

Last night I had asked Rachel something and she shook her head "no." That's the first time I've seen her do that! Throughout the day today she'd be dancing or playing and would shake her head for fun. I can tell she likes the sensation, because it's new!

Also, she's started to use her tongue more to talk. She'll say "La la la" and she'll also stick her tongue out while making noise and it comes out sounding kind of like "loba loba loba". In addition, she's also started moving her hand in front of her mouth when she makes noise. It gives the effect that you or I might have done as a kid to make an "Indian" sound. So cute!

This morning Jason and I took her to see Santa. I would like to once again express my gratitude and appreciation for our day care!!! Not only did we not have to wait in line at a mall or some other public place, but we got to go see Santa for free, no line, and they even served us breakfast! I LOVE OUR DAY CARE! I was impressed with the quality of the Santa as well. And to top it off, Rachel didn't cry!

Okay, so she wasn't HAPPY....but she didn't cry!

The guy did a great job and I love the effort they put in to making this special. We were in and out in 10 minutes, and I even talked with some of the ladies there! Awesome.

This evening I tried to put some effort into straightening up Rachel's room while she entertained herself. I stepped out of the room for a moment and when I came back, she'd disappeared. This is SO my daughter:

She somehow managed to wedge herself between her crib and the changing table, found a book, and was contently sitting there reading it to herself. I remember finding nooks and crannies to sit in and read quietly to myself. This was too cute!

Butterflies

When I was little, my parents would sometimes call me "Madam Butterfly" and I remember absolutely loving this nickname. Naturally, when Rachel came along I instinctively began to call her "Butterfly".

While we were on vacation and Rachel stayed with her Terry grandparents, Geri found these adorable pants and got them because they had butterflies:

This is our new "thing" in the morning. I'll set Rachel on the floor after feeding her some applesauce and she immediately goes over to her crib to try to pull her pacifier out of the crib as well as her blanket. She LOVES snuggling into a blanket. From the time she was an infant she's liked to touch soft things to her forehead. It used to be my hand she'll pull to her face. Then the cloth diaper. Now it's the pajamas I've just taken off of her, whatever blanket is close by, even a bib sometimes. It's how she tells me she's sleepy or she's comfy. And I love it!

A few other things she's doing that I haven't remembered to blog is that she loves music. And most of the time when she hears it she'll smile and clap her hands. Sometimes she'll bounce like she's dancing.

Oh - and I have the pictures of her big boo boo:

I'm grateful it didn't bleed, but it did bruise something horrible. I'm just glad she didn't hurt her eye! This week she also got another accident report. She apparently fell and hit a bookshelf hard enough that it made the inside of her mouth bleed. Poor toddler who toddles!

Yesterday before we left for the morning she kept trying to climb on her new horse that Connie got her for her birthday. And she giggled and cooed when I put her on it and pushed her around the living room. She LOVES being pushed on the horse or her little red car. I can tell when we bring her home from day care and she'll play for just a little bit before bed that she's happier. I think the one big nap a day is working well for her. Last night was the first night in a while that I've seen her just eat and eat and eat. Typically she'll be squirming to get out of her high chair after about 10 minutes. She ate turkey, cheese, and entire banana and some graham crackers. We're very blessed to have such a good eater!!

Her little "tantrums" have started to become fewer and far between....but I have a sinking feeling it's a calm before the storm. She'll be throwing really big fits before too much longer, so I'm enjoying the little tantrums and the fact that they seem to be subsiding for now.

Birthdays, Boo Boos and Bugs

Thank you THANK YOU to everyone who came and helped celebrate Rachel's first birthday. Although she was kind of fussy from having such a large week being around so many people, the entire week was a blast (for me) and I appreciate each and every one of you being a part of it!

Some of the birthday photos that were taken have been loaded into the Rachel 7 album, so please check them out!

Once her party was over with Jason and I headed to Jamaica while Rachel headed to Evansville with her grandparents. She had a great time down there visiting with them and Geri said she got very excited when they returned on Saturday and she saw her room with her bed.

We'd been home a little over a week when, last Wednesday, as I was putting Rachel in the car she threw up. I had given her water in the morning and put some vitamins in it. Thinking that the vitamins are what made her sick I thought nothing of it because she stopped. I just took her jacket off when I took her in to day care and got a call about an hour later that she was throwing up again. So I grabbed my stuff and left work to take her home. She threw up several more times in the car on the way home, resulting in a bath as soon as we got in the door. Once she was cleaned up I put her to bed and that kid slept for 2.5 hours.

When she woke up she started playing like nothing was wrong. As she "cruised" her way around the living room I sat down to do something for work and she was standing right beside me. Without warning she fell forward and bonked her head on the glass shelf of an electronics component stand we have in the living room right now (and is for sale!!!) Although I don't have the pictures of it with me right now I felt HORRIBLE. I'm thankful she didn't hurt her eye, as the bruise and the cut were very close to it. It left a bruise and barely cut the skin. Poor kid. She's home sick from day care and she bonks her head!

She's doing a lot better, but whatever bug she brought home that day has now found it's way to my friend Amber that watched her all day and night Thursday, myself, Jason, my mom and my brother. I'm trying to avoid as many people as possible for fear the bug is still with us and is still contagious. It's HORRIBLE. Jason ended up being in the ER on Friday. My mom came and took Rachel on Saturday morning and watched her until Sunday evening, which is how that household got it.

This morning when I went in to wake Rachel up she sat on my lap and ate some applesauce. In between a few bites I said, "You're funny!" and she stopped eating, looked up at me, and smiled like she knew what I was talking about. It was adorable!!