Busy Summer

This has been a really busy few weeks for us! It didn't seem like we had that much going on until I realized that it's been more than a month since I last posted (thank you to my faithful readers for your gentle reminders!) Thankfully, I've had my camera handy now and again so I can remember to provide updates.

Rachel spent a wonderful week with her grandparents and I have countless photos I would love to post, but unfortunately they're on my computer at home and I'm right now at work. I will get those loaded as soon as I can!

She had a blast with her Terry family, including a trip to the local Children's museum and her Aunt Heather was kind enough to use her brand new professionall camera to take photos!

Up next, the Great Terry Sickness of 2012. First Jason was sick for 2 weeks with an upper respiratory infection that required the use of an inhaler for a few days. Then I got VERY sick for an entire week while Jason was out of town and had to have my Aunt Gail come and stay with me for several days to help out. Then Rachel started running a fever a few weeks ago for what seemed like absolutely no reason. I guess we're all preparing for flu season? Gee wiz! Come to find out Rachel had an ear infection in her right ear and needed to be on antibiotics (we're finishing those up today!) Poor kid has been so lethargic as a result of it. So much so, that we've decided to stop fighting her to put her in her bed and will allow her to sleep anywhere...even under a palm tree:

I also think it's a good thing for her to get used to sleeping in places other than her bed because if we travel or she stays with someone else, this will help her to sleep without the need to have her bed and normal surroundings. We're all about this child being flexible!

Here's just a few fun photos of her:

"Uh, mom?" This is where we sit in the mornings to wake up and get a snack before heading out for the day. She sits here and watches Sesame Street on my laptop while munching on cheerios or in this case, Goldfish crackers. This was probably taken in the evening. I believe I took this one to show how swollen her forehead gets when she gets a fever, poor kid.

This adorable dress is courtesy of my Aunt Gail. She loves seersucker fabric and primary colors, so she couldn't pass this up. I took several photos of Rachel in the yard in this dress. She wasn't being cooperative.

Rachel loves "Babies". Any photo, doll, or even real baby she sees she gets excited and says "Babee!!!" This "Babee" was a present my mom got me while I was still pregnant for Rachel and I lovingly tried to tell my mom that this doll was a bit on the creepy side. For some reason, Rachel wanted it and gave it a big hug.

A few new developments from Rachel: she can give hugs and kisses upon request....but only if she feels like it. She'll throw her arms out and go running towards her hugging target. And just this past weekend instead of giving a kiss like she usually does, which is saying "Mmmm!" and putting her face against yours, she actually puckered up and gave me a kiss smack on the lips. Talk about metling your heart!!!! She also will finally throw her arms around me and squeeze like she means it. I love it!

While Rachel was a bit sick and Aunt Gail was helping me I bought a new printer. As I was unpacking it Rachel started playing with the packing materials, including the styrofoam forms used to hold the printer in the box. She started banging me on the head so I pretended to cry. I was stunned when she stopped, put her arms around me, patted me and said, "Mommy." As in, don't cry mommy! Then she gave me her beloved blankie (nigh-nigh). I almost started crying. She's never done that before! I try not to pull this guilt trip on her often. But if I start to frown or pout, she'll hold out her arms and say, "Mommy" to make me stop being sad. She's so tenderhearted!

This past weekend we went to a Lake House with my family on a whim. This was Rachel's first time at a lake and on a boat! Here just a few of the many photos I took:

I feel like I'm a pretty lax parent, but when it came to her being in the water....she HAD to have a life jacket. Thankfully, these people already had one that was almost her size for us to borrow!

This is her "hug" stance. Arms wide out! She was wanting to "hug" all the statues these people had in their yard. I finally moved one so she could hug it:

She LOVED all the birds flying around and making noise. While we were playing with the statues, a yellow finch flew into a window and landed in the yard a few feet from us. Mom picked it up and helped get it back to normal, it'd just knocked itself silly. But she held it so Rachel could see it. How wonderful is this moment?

Look at this cutie patootie with her fluffy blonde hair!

Her first boat ride!!

She seemed to like it just okay. Not excited, not upset....she just was.

Whenever Rachel hears a horn honk, she waves. She does this because every Tuesday when I leave my Grandma's house, we always honk right as we've backed out of her driveway to wave bye bye. Rachel now associates horn honks with Goodbye. So every boat that passed by or honked she would wave.

Rachel and Jason played a game of "Tease Daddy". She took his sunglasses, so he pretended to be surprised. Then she'd put them back on his face. Then she took his hat and put it on her head. This went on for quite a while. Both of them looked like they were having fun!

They had a couple of swings in their yard and Rachel loves to swing! She actually held on without falling off. I was impressed with her coordination!

Someone found a fishing lure in the water and pulled it out. It was laying in the grass and Rachel picked it up. It felt SO ucky and weird. I started making faces, so when Rachel picked it up, she made faces too. I barely captured one on film. Hilarious!

On Sunday Rachel helped GramE in the yard pulling weeds and watering flowers. Grandma Terry let's Rachel water the flowers at her house too, so this is something she does with both Grandmas!

On the go! I love this little orange shirt she's wearing.

Also while we were at the lakes I brought several bottles of polish to play with. We picked up a few more at the local dollar store. As we were sitting going through them Rachel picked up one of my favorite blue polishes and said, "Boo!" Earlier this week she had picked up a pad of small yellow postits and said, "Yello!" It's hard to determine if she actually knows her colors or not, because all pens/crayons/pencils are "Lello" or "Yellow". So when she picked up the blue polish and said "Boo!" I wonder if she does know them, she just can't articulate it yet!

As we were in the kitchen one day this weekend she asked for a cracker "Cacker" (it was a pop tart) and when I gave her a piece I'm pretty sure what I heard was "Dadoo Mommy (mumble)", which I translated as "Thank you Mommy!"

She also found a pair of tiny sailor figurines wearing yellow rain jackets to play with. She named one mommy and the other daddy and played with them like they were people. She's starting to pretend! In a sweet sing song voice she kept saying, "Mommy. Daddy." and her voice would get higher as she said it.

Her tantrums are still there, but are decreasing in number, volume, and overall escalation. They tend to happen when she's tired or hungry, and sometimes around going to bed. But her demeanor has drastically changed from the time she was a year old thru 18 months. That was an AWFUL stage. Now she's pleasant, giggly, smiley, sweet, thoughtful and dang adorable. I love watching her play. I love watching her learn. I love loving on her and interacting with her.