It's not funny (or at least I'm not supposed to laugh)

When Jeff and I got married, I told him that I was kind of tired of eating pizza. It's not that I don't like it, but I certainly don't want it as often as I used to. Well, now I am more tired of thinking of different dinners to prepare than I am of pizza, so I'm okay with eating pizza more often now.

So I bought a pizza at Walmart yesterday (Saturday) to fix for dinner (it's not delivery, it's digiorno). I cut up a piece for Rachel in really small pieces for her to feed herself, and at first I put them on a little plate for her, but then I decided that to avoid having a plate full of pizza end up on the floor, I should put the pieces directly on the tray of her high chair, which I did, but I left the little plate there. The plate is kind of half plate, half bowl. Rachel picked it up and put it on her head. It was (not) funny. Jeff laughed. (Shame on him!)

Tonight we had beef stew with mashed potatoes. I put that in the same kind of plate. She ate it pretty well (and had it all over her hands and face). As she was finishing it up she decided to swing the plate all around. I had to wrestle it out of her hands to avoid a really big mess. Scout (the dog) is pretty good at cleaning up Rachel's dinner droppings (and breakfast dropping and lunch droppings), but I suspect that beef stew with mashed potatoes was more of a challenge than even Scout could handle.

New Subject

I got a phone call on Christmas Eve (a.k.a. my birthday) from my nephew Cortney. After effusively wishing me a happy birthday he told me that he and his family are being relocated by his company from Utah to South Carolina, and that they were leaving the day after Christmas. Since they were passing by so close, they decided to drop in. So tonight I had the pleasure of passing a few hours with Cortney and his wife Misty, and their kids Cashton, Parker and Quinley. We played Guitar Hero World Tour. Cortney is a triple threat. He played the drums, did the vocals, and played the fake guitar much better than I can. We made a great band all together. I'm sure that we will be on tour any time now.

(I'm mad that I forgot to take pictures when they were here!)

Busy Week

Merry Christmas
I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas. We sure did. We probably don't have many more Christmases ahead of us when we can sleep so late. Rachel didn't wake up until 8:45. We opened our presents and had some breakfast. Then we went to Jeff's parents' house where we ate some more and opened more presents. We were able to talk to Jeff's sister Michelle who is currently serving a full-time mission in Argentina, and we also were able to video chat with some of Jeff's other siblings. We played games, we watched a movie, and we more or less sat around and did nothing. It was great!

I made pajama bottoms as Christmas gifts for Jeff, Rachel and myself. This was my first experiment with sewing with no supervision, although Jeff's mom helped me get started with the first pair. Here are the final results. Please hold your applause until all of the models have been presented.


My favorite present was actually a gift from Jeff's sister Michelle to Rachel, an Argentine national team fútbol (soccer) jersey. AWESOME!!!!!!! She is going to wear it every day, even to church, until she outgrows it, and by then, maybe her little brother or sister will be able to wear it.


Rachel's Vital Statistics
Today I took Rachel to the doctor for her 15 month shots. After I arrived I learned that it was just one shot. (Good!) I was prepared with a lollipop to give her immediately afterward to minimize the crying. It worked like a charm. They also weighed and measured her.

weight: 23 lbs. 3.5 oz. (65-70 percentile)
height: 31 ¼ inches (75 percentile)

The weight thing surprised me, because a week and a half ago I took her to the doctor because of her ear infection, and she weighed a little over 24 lbs. That means she lost nearly a pound. What's up with that? She eats like a horse! Maybe it's all that time she spends on the Wii Fit.

From my sister Teddie from our family blog

I am copying this post from my sister Teddie about me on my birthday for your entertainment and pleasure. Teddie is a great writer, but I cannot attest to the truthfulness of this entire post as I was too young to remember most of it.

We've gotta hand it to Noelle

She risked having her birthday forgotten year after year by being born on December 24th. The first time we older brothers and sisters saw her was on Christmas Day through the first floor window of Mom's hospital room. We were all standing outside on the lawn watching Mom open her presents that Dad brought for her. I was sixteen by then (now don't anybody go and do any math, you hear?) and Lamona and I were old enough to go inside and visit (in those days you had to be 14), but we were on babysitting duty for those that weren't.

It matters not that she was/is one of the cutest little girls ever born. Frankly, she did not like being a cute little girl. When, on Sunday mornings I would insist on doing her long, thick, dark brown hair, to capitalize on said cuteness, she would pout, looking mad and miserable until time to go to church. I hope she has forgiven me by now, even though I am not sorry. She was still cute, even when she was mad.

(photo courtesy of my sister Luella)

She distinguished herself early on as somebody not to be messed with, small size, gender and cuteness notwithstanding. When she was five, we, the Bateman family, were headed back to camp after yet another long day at the Hill Cumorah Pageant meetings and rehearsal. There was this sixteen year old kid, who also thought Noelle was cute, who did what all boys do when they want attention from a girl. He teased her by bopping her on the head repeatedly with his Book of Mormon while walking behind her. He got her attention all right, but not in the way he probably hoped. Instead of reacting by whining and charmingly telling him to stop it, she turned, grabbed him around the lower legs and leaned into him, causing him to fall over backward, Book of Mormon and all, over a strategically placed piece of seating equipment. So, Jeff, now you know who to call if ever anyone gets on your nerves. Noelle's your woman.

Happy Birthday Noelle, and have a great birthday and Christmas!

With Love, from Teddie.

15 Months Old

Today Rachel is 15 months old. Okay, this month flew by! I think I'm ready to call it official, and say that "dog" is her first word. Today she said "dah" while she did the sign for dog. She also says "mama" and "dada" but I'm still not sure she really means it when she says it.

I am happy to report that Rachel is over her ear infection. Finally last Friday she started acting like herself again. Prior to that all she wanted to do was to have me or Jeff hold her, and sleep. I encouraged the sleeping, and was happy to join her, but it did make it difficult to get anything done.

Today we went to Grandma's house and made and decorated cookies. We got some good pictures, but they are on Grandma's camera, so I don't have them yet. I'll post them later.

Today was cold, cold, COLD, COLD! It's crazy because last Friday it was in the 60s. Last night we watched the temperature drop to 7 degrees, and this morning it was 5 degrees. I know for the northerners that's nothing, but we were really cold. It is supposed to snow tomorrow, but then it's supposed to warm up again. That is my only real complaint about the weather here, that the temperature in the winter bounces around so much. If it would get cold and stay that way I would get used to it, but when it is a balmy 60 degrees one day, and then 5 degrees two days later, it is tough to get acclimated.

Last Saturday Jeff threw a surprise birthday party for me. I was completely surprised too. I had no idea. His mom lured me to her house telling me that the grandkids were all coming over to make cookies, but it was just a ploy. The funny thing is that I really try to be on time to places, and I was going to arrive too early for the party, so they had to slow me down by sending me to the store to pick up some chocolate sprinkles. I still beat a lot of the attendees there. I got some great gifts. Jeff gave me Guitar Hero World Tour. (I rock!) Jeff's mom gave me a Wii Fit. I'm really excited to use it too. It's fun. I'm only a little worried that as I gain weight with this whole pregnancy thing, it is going to mock me. There is no way of explaining pregnancy to it.

I'm sorry there are no pictures on this post at this time. I'll try to get around to remedying that.

Poor Rachel's Almanac

Rachel has had a rough past few days. I felt last week that she had a fever, but I didn't take her temperature until Saturday. It was 102.5. So we started giving her baby Tylenol. Early Sunday morning she was feeling very warm again, and I took her temperature and it was 103.6. She stayed home from church with Jeff. I went to church to sing in the choir and to play a piano duet, and then I came home. Jeff went to church after that so he could fulfill his calling.

That afternoon we went to Jeff's parent's house, along with Brian and Amber, to decorate their Christmas tree. Rachel played an important role. She was able to excel as her job in that project really played to her strength. She got to take the ornaments out of the box and hand them to people. That is her favorite past time, emptying boxes. She did her job with great professionalism.


On Monday morning Rachel's temperature got to 104.5. I took her to the doctor and it turns out that she has an ear infection. So we got a prescription for an antibiotic.

While it is really sad that Rachel is sick, I have to admit that I am taking advantage of her excessive sleeping with a little extra napping of my own.


Here are some more pictures from our decorating of the Christmas tree on Sunday with Jeff's parents:

Jeff getting the lights on

Everybody's getting in on the action

Amber

Brian

Rachel distributing ornaments

Rachel in her garland halo

Brian and Amber under the mistletoe

Brian and Amber in the classic "we're pregnant" pose

Noelle and Jeff in the classic "we're pregnant" pose. (I admit, I'm still trying to suck in my gut. Am I fooling anybody?)

Rachel loves the Christmas tree

Rachel's Long Reach

Keeping things out of Rachel's reach is getting harder and harder. She can stand on her tippy toes, and climb on things to reach practically everything.

We have a plate of brownies that were leftover from a Christmas Party we went to.

Yeah, she reached them.

And liked them.

A lot.

Doctor's Appointment

I had an appointment with my doctor today. I was looking forward to it because I have been feeling a little disconnected and worried that this whole pregnancy thing wasn't really true. Well, she found a heartbeat, and since it was below my belly button, I'm pretty sure it wasn't mine. Of course, as long as it is inside my body it is mine, right? So I guess I now have two hearts. No wonder I'm so nice.

Jeff came to the appointment with me. When he heard the heartbeat he teared up a little. I can relate. I did the same thing when I heard it for the first time.

When she was listening to the heart beat, the doctor also said that she heard the baby kick. I heard what she was talking about, but I don't think I would have recognized it as a kick. I sure didn't feel anything.

They weighed me. I didn't even gain one pound. The truth is, though, the clothes I was wearing today are lighter weight than what I wore last month, so I probably did gain a little. Next month I'll wear heavier clothes, and then they'll get mad at me for gaining too much weight.

So I guess I am more or less officially past the risky time (nearly 13 weeks), so I guess I don't have to keep the pregnancy a secret anymore.

Rachel Spinning

It took me longer than I meant for it, to get around to posting a video of Rachel spinning on Jeff's chair, but finally here it is.

Don't Tell

Okay, if you are going to read this post, you have to promise me that you will never tell Rachel about it. I don't want to embarrass her. Of course if she embarrasses me enough times I might change my mind, but for now, no telling.

We we were hanging out downstairs lying on the bed watching the First Presidency Christmas Devotional on the computer last night. It was getting to be time for Rachel to go to bed, so I took off all of her clothes except for her diaper in anticipation of dragging myself off the bed to get her ready for bed. I was taking my sweet time, though, and Rachel got bored hanging out with us and went upstairs to play with Scout. She crawled into his kennel, but her diaper snagged on the latch, and as she tried to free herself, the diaper tore so that one side came loose. Rachel was not happy about her situation, and when I went upstairs to find out what the problem was she was crying a little, so I didn't take a picture of her in the kennel, but after I freed her and got her out I had to take a picture because it was so funny.


Today I tuned the piano of a friend of mine, and Rachel came with me. My friend has a daughter and two little boys, and another little boy on the way. Her daughter, who is the oldest, is no longer super cooperative with getting her hair done, so she took advantage of Rachel head full of hair while I was working and gave her this cute do. (Hopefully this cute picture will make up for my misdeed of sharing a picture of Rachel's bare bum.)


Last note: Jeff has some Wii Fits for sale if anybody has that on their Christmas wish list.

Funny commercial

Not much news, but here I am anyway.

It's weird. Even though I have probably the most drastic life changing event occurring right now, I don't really have anything to blog about. I don't feel any different now than I did before, except tired, but even that I am used to it, and I forgot what it is like to not be tired. I'm not sure I was ever not tired.

We are getting our second snow of the year right now. The first snow occurred last Monday, and even after snowing all day there was barely a half a millimeter on the ground. Today it is snowing again, and while there is not a lot of accumulation, there is a little bit.


I went to a Christmas Party this morning. It was an ornament exchange. This is the ornament I got. I think it is cute and funny.


Rachel is continuing to do very well. She still isn't really talking much, but I think her first word might be "dog." It is certainly her favorite sign, along with cracker. She says "daw" and I think she is saying "dog." I have never seen a baby who loved dogs as much as she does.

She also has a new favorite past-time. Jeff and I are in the process of completely rearranging our house. We moved our bedroom into the basement where the room is much larger, and Jeff's office into our former bedroom. It is still very much a work in progress, and it has left Jeff's desk chair in our front room. One day Rachel was a little cranky, so I put her on Jeff's chair and started spinning it. She loved it! She laughed and laughed. Right now she is napping, but when she wakes up I'll take a movie of it and post it here. So if you are reading this, come back later for the movie.

Elf Yourself Dance

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a very nice Thanksgiving yesterday. We went to Jeff's parents' house and were able to visit with a lot of family.

Rachel, being Rachel, made things a bit exciting when she tried treating a cat the way she is used to treating Scout. The cat didn't like it and Rachel got clawed pretty good on her arm. The good thing is that Rachel isn't afraid of the cat. Shortly afterward with the cat securely in Jeff's arms Rachel was happy to greet it again. (This time under the supervision of several adults.) We showed her to be soft with the kitty cat, and she was fine. So was the cat.

We enjoyed a delicious traditional Thanksgiving dinner, complete with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and lots of pie.

That evening Jeff and I went with Brian and Amber to see the movie Twilight. I enjoyed it. Rachel stayed with Grandma where she happily tore the house apart. We didn't get home until well after 11:00.

Today Rachel turned 14 months old

What a momentous day. Rachel is 14 months old. This past month Rachel has spent perfecting her walking ability. She almost never crawls anymore. Of course that means the occasional tumble, but she's pretty tough. She has also started learning more signs. She is very skilled at signing "dog" (that's her favorite), and just a week ago she learned "cracker" and since she is often rewarded with a cracker when she pulls that one out, maybe that's her new favorite. She is also skilled at signing "eat." She signs "Daddy" and "Mama," but she is not quite as predictable on those, and she signs "Daddy" more than "Mama," so I'm a little jealous.

Rachel has recently learned how to climb out of the bathtub by herself and she is learning to fold her arms to pray. If the prayer is short enough (like 5 seconds) she might even keep her arms folded the whole time.

Rachel is also developing quite a skill at playing the trombone shaped kazoo.



We are still working on the harmonica, but she doesn't have that quite down yet.



Overall it has been an eventful month for all of us.

Early Christmas

A couple of weeks ago the mother of one of my piano students offered to pass down to Rachel some of her daughter's toys that she had outgrown. Well, yesterday she brought Rachel a ton of Fisher Price Little People toys. Rachel was in heaven. So many toys to strew across the floor. I had to buy a little storage cabinet to hold them all.


We went to the zoo yesterday. It was the warmest day of the week, and it wasn't really that warm. I think it got up into the 50s. But it was still nice to get out of the house. Rachel really liked the monkeys and the gorillas. I think she feels an affinity for them as they share an enthusiasm for climbing all over everything. I brought the camera, but the batteries were dead. Luckily there were spare batteries in the pocket of the camera case, but they were dead too.

Rachel spent most of the time in her stroller, but she wanted to get out and walk around a bit. Unfortunately she took a tumble and bumped her chin. She now has red spot on her chin. Otherwise she is unharmed.


Today we had a light dusting of snow. It wasn't a lot, but it still happened - the first snow of the season. Hopefully it is a good omen of a white Christmas.

So last Monday the doctor asked me two questions that I couldn't really give great answers to: "How is your diet?" and "How is your exercise?" I'm not terrible, but I'm not great either. I told her that I usually walk a little over a mile nearly every day. She told me to pick up the pace a little, and walk a bit farther, so I decided to double my walk. I missed my walk on Monday because I was at the doctor's office for so long, in fact I also missed my first two piano students too (sorry). I missed my walk on Tuesday because it was miserable and cold, and so was I, but on Wednesday I got my act together and went for a morning walk. We had to bundle up a little bit because it was still kind of cold and wet, but by the end I was pretty warm in my jacket. Rachel, of course, was too cute for words!


It occurs to me that if Anne would not have asked, I might still not know that I'm pregnant. I know that seems impossible, but it's true. Now that I know I can kind of see some symptoms, but seriously they are subtle, and I'm not that smart. But she did, so now I know.

Last night I was so tired I was nearly incapacitated. At 7:30 I told Jeff that I didn't think I could last any longer. He told me to go to bed. When I finally got the energy to pull myself off the couch, it was almost 8:00, but unfortunately I didn't actually get to sleep until around 9:30. Then I woke up at around 1:30 and couldn't go back to sleep until like 4:00, but then I slept until after 8:30. Jeff, being the superhero that he is, took over the bedtime routine for Rachel, and Rachel, being the angel that she is, didn't wake up until around 8:30 this morning. When I finally did wake up I felt pretty good. I had to get going pretty fast because I had a piano student coming at 9:00.

Jeff came home for lunch, and as soon as we finished eating we put Rachel down for a nap, and (surprise surprise) I put myself down for a nap too. I got a good two hours of sleep.

"Rachel Has Allergies" or "How Being Tired Changed My Life"

A week ago Sunday I called my friend Anne for some medical advice. Anne is a nurse and a mother of four, so she is an excellent resource for information. Not to mention her husband is a doctor. It's like having my own medical team on staff. So I called Anne to consult with her about Rachel. Rachel has allergies, so I just wanted to get some advice on what I should be doing. During the course of the conversation I mentioned that I have been so tired lately. I figured it was Rachel's fault, because she hadn't been sleeping as well as normal, which means I don't sleep as well either, but that had only happened a couple of days, and I had had plenty of time to catch up on my sleep, but was still so tired that all I wanted to do was sleep. Anne asked "Are you pregnant."

"Uh," I said, "I don't know that I'm not, but I don't think I am either." But there had been that one other little thing that made it a possibility, so after I finished freaking out, I decided that the next day, Monday, I would buy a pregnancy test. I did. I passed.

So I called my doctor and told them that I think I'm pregnant. They scheduled me to come in the following Thursday, which I did. (In the meantime I took the second test that was in the box on Wednesday, just to be sure. I passed again.)

So on Thursday in the doctor's office I took a third test. Turns out the first two tests were accurate. So the doctor told me that since I have 40 years of youth, and the fact that this is my first pregnancy, I am considered high risk. She referred me to an OB who got me in today.

My appointment was supposed to start at 12:50. Now I know that "supposed to" does not equal "actually does," but still, I waited for over an hour. During that time two other people who I know came into the office. I was finally brought back after 2:00 where I waited for another while in a consulting room. The doctor who came in was very nice, very helpful, and very informative.

I had an ultrasound, and I was able to hear the heartbeat of the little teeny tiny baby, and I got some pictures too.

Rachel the Precocious

I was in the living room when I heard a noise coming from the kitchen. I went in to see Rachel standing on top of the small cooler where she had reached the rattle (coins in a drink can, in this case V8 juice) I had made a long time ago to discipline Scout (it didn't really work, though). Of course I snapped a couple of pictures.


That reminded me that I had gotten requests from those who live far away and have not seen Rachel walking that they wanted to see that too, so I took two movies. The first is her walking a little (still holding the rattle), and the second is some of the sign language she knows.

She knows how to sign "Daddy", "eat", "more" and "milk" too, but she is not perfectly consistent on those.

Basketball

Last Saturday Jeff got a phone call from his mom who offered us two tickets to the U of L preseason basketball game against Georgetown. That is not the Georgetown Hoyas, but rather the Georgetown Tigers from Georgetown Kentucky.

We had a lot of fun. U of L won, but it was a lot closer than it should have been. I hope they get all of their preseason jitters out of the way so that we can have an awesome season.

Halloween at our house

Today is Halloween, but since Rachel has already been trick or treating three times, we figured we would not go again tonight.

The day started differently. Lately Rachel has not been sleeping through the night as well as she used to. She woke up crying twice after I went to bed. The first time I left her in her crib, but stayed with her rubbing her back, and she fell asleep again. The second time I was too tired, so I just brought her into bed with us. Where she slept, and slept, and slept.


I had to get up at my regular time to get Jeff off to work and everything, but Rachel slept. Finally it was after 9:30, so I just woke her up. We had breakfast, and then we were off on our mystery project (more on that later - much later).

We got home again at around 3:00, and we had lunch. (I know it was late, but our schedule was off.) Jeff got home early from work. His benevolent dictator boss (his words, not mine), has a soft spot for kids, so they got to leave early to prepare for trick or treating. We played cornhole for a while, and Jeff crushed me 21 - 4. (I had 4.) Meanwhile Rachel played in the dirt.

We went inside, and I prepared our special Halloween dinner. I got this recipe from a friend. It is cute and easy. Jeff gave me credit for being creative, but let's be honest, I can only take credit for the ingenuity to actually make it. May I introduce the yummy mummy dog.


After dinner I gave Rachel a bath. I don't know who has more fun during Rachel's baths, her or me. An interesting bath side note, not today but Wednesday during her last bath, Rachel did something she has never done before. First, Rachel really likes the water, and really likes her bath time. She likes to put her face in the water, but she is very careful to keep her mouth and nose out. She usually puts her chin or her ear in the water. On Wednesday, though, she actually put her mouth in the water and blew bubbles. She has only done it the one time, but I thought that was pretty cool.

Is it too early to start planning for Christmas?

I, for one, don't think so. And so, in anticipation of my favorite holiday, I had a tee shirt made. You might think that this tee shirt is for the sole purpose of focusing on me, but since my name is "Noelle" which means "Christmas" I can hardly be blamed if it seems like that.

NOËL

Gender: Masculine (adding "le" makes it feminine, though) Usage: French Pronounced: no-EL [key]

Means "Christmas" in French. In the Middle Ages it was used for children born on the holiday. A famous bearer was the English playwright and composer Noël Coward (1899-1973).

So I designed this tee shirt and had it made for myself. What do you think?


The same place that made my tee-shirt also does free business cards, so I had some of them made too for my piano teaching/piano tuning business. The design wasn't perfect. I would have liked a piano theme, but it was free, so I can hardly complain. I could have gotten a piano theme if I was willing to pay more, which I wasn't, so there you have it.

The Cat in the Hat Comes Back

Last night our ward had its "Trunk or Treat" activity, where we play some games, then go trick or treating in the parking lot. Everybody is supposed to decorate their trunks for Halloween, then the kids get to load up on candy and the adults get to admire the cute costumes.


Rachel returned as the Cat in the Hat. You will notice two additions to her costume. 1. Safety pins to hold the bow tie out, and 2. an extra whisker on each cheek. In our home we are always striving for improvement.


On another topic, Jeff finished making a cornhole game for us. For those of you who have never heard of cornhole (like I hadn't until I moved to Kentucky), it is a game where you throw a beanbag (actually a cornbag) into a hole. Hence the name "cornhole." One board is painted for the University of Louisville Cardinals (from where Jeff graduated), and the other is painted for Brigham Young University (my alma mater). I thought he did a pretty impressive job on the painting.